sunshine & clams

Last night after Matt and I got back from the city I fell asleep for 2 hours. There's construction going on in the subways and it seemed like every last train was out of service, so we walked everywhere. We figured out that we walked for about 4 hours in all and the last bit of it was about 40 blocks in a row.

We really enjoyed the walking as it was the most beautiful 60 degree January day- record highs according to the weather lady. It felt like spring and I wore a light jacket which I carried most of the time.

Ok, listen up.. if you find yourself in Manhattan make your way down to Otto, a pizzeria owned by Mario Batali. It is so good. We stopped in for lunch and had Gaeta, Scilian and Alfonso olives, artichokes alla romana salad, and vongole pizza which has clams, garlic and mozzarella. We had the kind of meal that causes every passerby to take a second, longing, look. 

We also stopped in Uniqlo; a Japanese clothing store that's made its way to Manhattan.. I think you would really like it; a very fancy suit store; Lord 'n Taylor; and Barnes and Noble so I could pick up a few things including "the Hunger Games," finally. I've been meaning to buy it after reading about 892835 blog posts about how great the books are! You all sold me! I plan on starting it this coming week. 

Ah it's Sunday already. That is silly. I have to do a ton of stuff before I leave tomorrow for Connecticut.. and Boston. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

a postcard of sorts

A few summers ago I had to meet with one of my vendors (at my old job) in the Manhattan office. He was from San Diego and he was super nice, calm, and laid back.. exactly how I imagine people from San Diego to be. We were breaking for lunch and stood by the floor to ceiling windows staring down at the busy streets 40 something floors below. He was telling me about about the San Diego wildlife.. I can't remember if it was actual wildlife or the kind you find at the zoo, but whatever the case was it prompted me to say "you make it sound like a jungle." And he looked at me and pointed outside and said "I don't live in a jungle, Sarah.. you do. The concrete jungle." And he looked scared.

It was hilarious and possibly a "you had to be there moment." Whenever I hear the phrase "concrete jungle," I think of him and his comical look of fear. I wonder what he's up to now.. nice guy.

Happy Weekend!

p.s. thank you for all of your comments on my last post. I was so incredibly disheartened after hearing the bit of news that prompted that post and your comments reminded me that there are absolutely good people in the world who have the same concerns I do. Thank you for that.

a quick trip with my iphone

instagram: @alostfeather

Yesterday afternoon I watched Manhattan disappear through the side view mirror. We drove out of one city and into another- Philadelphia. Marissa started classes again today, so I took a trip down to Philly with her and my mom-  to have her company for a little bit longer and to visit and shop at Wegmans (of course.)

Now that Marissa is back at school I think that means my vacation is over as well. November and December were insane, so I feel like I earned the break!

I hope the end of this vacation means the end of my workout vacation as well. Hm. I saw something on tv last night about how the people that go on "dancing with the stars" work out 8 hours per day.. 8 HOURS in one DAY. I think my body would seriously protest. I guess I've done 8 hour hikes, but that doesn't seem nearly as awful. An 8 hour hike actually sounds wonderful. I wish the idea of hiking in 20 degree weather didn't sound like torture to me. Yes. If I lived closer to the mountains and in a warm climate I would be in amazing shape. Shoot.

city sidewalks on Christmas day

For the past month my family and I have been laboring under the delusion that Manhattan would be quiet on Christmas day. We were dead wrong. The city was busier than I've seen it in a while, and it's been very busy in my opinion. The only time I've (personally) ever seen more people in Manhattan was when I accidentally turned up in the middle of Rockefeller Center on the very evening of the tree lighting ceremony. Talk about claustrophobia.

Despite the severely packed sidewalks, we had a great time and even found parking on the street.. a first for us because we only take the train (because driving in the city is a straight up nightmare and parking is even worse.. and trains are nice because you don't have to drive them.)

We took a stroll through Central Park, stopped in the Plaza in search of a restroom- fail, glanced at the Bergdorf windows, wandered into one of the Trump buildings and actually found a restroom- thanks mr. trump, stopped in St. Patrick's Cathedral, and then walked over to see the tree.

The tree was a bit fatter than usual, which is great. I love a good fat tree. The rounder the better, really. It was a lot prettier this time than the last time I saw it.. that could be because the darn thing was covered in scaffolding when I was last there at 1am on a chilly November evening.

After seeing the tree we ducked into a little cafe for some hot chocolate although it really wasn't cold enough to warrant a steamy beverage.. 45 degrees on Christmas day when just last year we had a major blizzard the day after Christmas. That's ok though, I'd drink hot chocolate even on a summer day. Actually, I heard that hypothermia can set in even at 50 degrees, so I take back what I said about it not being cold enough for a hot beverage.

And on that note, I think I'll go to sleep! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I loved seeing your Christmasy instagram snaps throughout the day!

Places: The Italy in New York

Yes! Really. There is an Italy in New York City and I'm not talking about "Little Italy" in Manhattan (although it has some great restaurants and Italian festivals.) This is the Italy of the Bronx- commonly referred to as Arthur Ave.

My first trip to Arthur Ave was only a few months ago with Matt and some of his family. They are pros. They knew all the great butchers, bakeries, pizza places, restaurants, and pasta shops- there are multiple specialty shops for each specialty and I'm fairly sure that they're all pretty amazing.

After learning where to park (potential nightmare) and where to shop I felt confident enough to venture over to the Italy of NY with Marissa to pick up some birthday presents for our mom. Birthday presents in the form of food.. for all of us to enjoy.. pretty great idea, I must say.

We left this morning around 10:15am and arrived before 11am.. parking around that time on a weekday seems to be a good bet. We fed the meter and walked around, shopped, and ate until around 2:15pm. Parking on a Saturday, no matter what time, is.. not fun.

Eat..

• Umbertos Clam house - the 2 food photos above are from Umbertos.. I had the homemade lobster ravioli. ahhmazing.
• Full Moon Pizza- I am yet to taste this famous pizza, but I've smelled it and heard wonderful things
• Trattoria Zero Otto Nove- such a gorgeous atmosphere (kind of like you're outside, but you're inside) with delicious food 
• Roberto's - probably the most famous restaurant in the area, but I've never been. There is no menu and no prices. The waiter will tell you what they have and you'll get the bill at the end. If I ever get there I'll fill you in on how that works (confusing, no??)

Shop:

• Madonia Brothers Bakery- for biscotti and cannoli (I'm betting the other baked goods are great, too)

• Teitel Brothers- for fresh pasta and parmesan cheese
• Casa Della Mozzarella- for fresh, fresh, fresh delicious mozzarella cheese
• Vincent's- for meat- mmm sweet or spicy sausage- at amazing prices
• There are a bunch of cute gift type shops that have tons of Italian imports 

Park:

• Street parking in the area if you can deal (I'd rather not unless there are 2 open spots in a row.. I hate parallel parking.)
• Municipal Parking Lot! Yay! It's off Arthur Ave between 186th and Crescent. There's a man there that is totally not employed by the parking lot.. but he will help you find a spot if it's a busy time. Apparently he's always there and people tip him for helping out.

Generations of Italian families have lived in the area and you'll hear the language as you walk down the street. I love it. Next time your in NYC you should totally venture over to the Bronx to dine and shop on Arthur Ave. It's also 2 seconds from the Bronx Zoo and the botanical gardens! 3 great reasons to visit one of the other boroughs. 

Manhattan and Adios

I got the cutest brown leather sandals at the JCrew sample sale yesterday! I don't think they're made for walking though. I made up for that by buying my first pair of bright coral Toms. I'm pretty excited about them. I figure they'll be great for walking around San Francisco (where I will be landing tomorrow afternoon!) I gave my Toms a test drive in Manhattan after my sandals started to annoy me. So far, so good.

^ How not to serve sangria. Silly sister.

We had lunch at "the Coffee Shop" by Union Square. It was so cute and we got to sit outside right on the street, my favorite. I had the lump crab arugula salad with mango, avocado and tomato.. amazing combination, no? Delicious.

Hey! So, I'm leaving tomorrow morning for California for the next few days! Yay! I've lined up some posts by reaaallly fun/funny/awesome/sweet/adorable guest bloggers so get excited!

I'll be back next week and will catch up with all of you then! I haven't been able to do much blog reading this past week.. total booooo and not my dog! Maybe tonight I'll have a little time to catch up if I actually finish packing.. ever. Packing stinks.. but trips do not, so it's fair.

Think of me tomorrow morning/afternoon while I'm in the air panicking for 5 hours because I hate flying. Do you ever look at airplanes in the sky and try to imagine what the passengers are doing? It's so weird to think there are people in those hunks of metal soaring through the sky.
Alright friends, have a really fun week! I'll see ya next Monday!
If Matt let's me use my iPhone during this trip I'll post fun pictures on twitter... @alostfeather 

Adios!

Flat Iron, Ramen, & Wandering

Hiking in the mountains didn't happen this weekend, but 4 hours of briskly strolling through Manhattan did, so I think I'll count this as my 3rd week in a row of hiking.

Matt and I grabbed bacon, egg & cheese sandwiches and caught the train into the city on Saturday morning. Delicious, although I have to remember in the future that if I'm going to have a large breakfast on the train I better sit in a car that's going forwards. Backwards= not so much fun.

We walked the 15+ blocks down to an outdoorsy type store called Paragon so Matt could pick up some gear for our trip to Yosemite in 2 weeks. (YAY!) We both had to resist the backpack section because we both love packs. On our way to Paragon we passed the Flat Iron Building.. actually, we passed the Flat Iron Building about 5 times, which means I took at least 5 pictures of the Flat Iron Building.

After Paragon we continued down towards Ippudo, a Japanese ramen restaurant that Matt's been wanting to go to since forever and I've been wanting to go to since he told me it existed. It was delicious. We ordered the pork buns and a bowl of ramen each. I had the miso ramen. I wish I had more right now.

Next time you're in Manhattan go to Ippudo. It is sooo good. But goodness- go for lunch. The dinner wait time can be 3 hours long and they do not take reservations. We had to wait 20 minutes around 12:30pm on a Saturday- not bad.

Also, be prepared to eat with chopsticks only. I personally love this challenge because I used to work for a Japanese company and I learned how to use chopsticks at a business luncheon from a large authentic German man who learned how to use them in the jungles of Singapore. Yup.

(but really, eating ramen noodles with chopsticks is kinda tricky and I usually wait to see how Matt does it before I dig in. He's a pro.)

No, I wasn't this hungry on Saturday.. I did not have Ippudo AND Shake Shack. I just felt the need to document the fact that we walked through Madison Park and did not get Shake Shack. That's ok though.. Shake Shack is also located in CitiField.. and where was I on Sunday? That's right.. a Met's Game at CitiField.. muhahaha.

Red Carpet @ Tribeca Film Festival

Saturday was so amazing. I've always thought it would be really great to go to an event like the Tribeca Film Festival, but I didn't think it would happen. Of course it happened- I'd forgotten that my friends, Niki and Matt, not only work in film production, but are amazing at their jobs. They, along with their team at Triple Threat TV, produced the film "Catching Hell," an ESPN documentary about the curse on the Chicago Cubs and one innocent (or not?) fan's part in all of the infamous bad luck.

Niki and Matt got to work with Alex Gibney, who directed the Oscar®-winning film Taxi to the Dark Side and the 2006 Oscar®-nominated film Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. Or, I should say, Alexi Gibney had the pleasure of working with Niki and Matt!

Aside from the general "oh my gosh this film is premiering at Tribeca," another thing that we were pretty excited about was the red carpet. I've never stood on a red carpet before.. maybe maroon in some hotels or something, but certainly not red.

Director, Alex Gibney, introducing the film and thanking everyone who was part of it.. namely MY friends! So exciting!

Immediately after the film we followed Niki into another room where we watched her do an interview with ESPN's Michelle Beadle.

And here are Matt and Niki with one of the guys that was in the film.

The film was really, really excellent and I recommend it.. not only to sports fans, but to everyone. It's an interesting story and I don't think you need to be a sports fanatic to appreciate it.

I am sooo proud of Niki and Matt, they are amazing!

Try it out: Camera Lens Filters

Camera lens filters.. with something you already own: your sunglasses! I took these three photos from the Top of the Rock on Saturday. I just love the way the world looks through a great pair of purple or rose colored sunglasses, and so does my camera. Next time your out on a sunny day try using your sunglasses as a filter! Just hold them in front of your lens and shoot away.. no Photoshop required.

^Shot with no sunglasses

^Amber Sunglasses like the ones below

((sunglasses here))

^Purple Sunglasses like the ones below (my favorite!)

((sunglasses here))

Has anyone tried this? I can't wait for more sunny weather. I can just see myself making all of my friends take off their sunglasses so I can use them as filters while we're out. Oh, it's going to be good. Unfortunately, it's currently grey, cold and miserable. Not ok.