Solo date

Earlier this month J was having a "guys night," and I was going to have a "girls night," but my plans fell through.  Ordinarily, I would shrug and put on the comfy couch clothes and watch a movie J wouldn't want to watch, but I decided to go out solo and had such a great time!

 

One of my favorite things about New York City is that when you look around, you never know what you'll see.  Maybe it's a street performer, street art, a restaurant you forgot about, or a frozen ball field. 

 

Here are some of my pics from my solo date:

 

 

In New York most of the schools have these outdoor "fields." All of the kids funnel out for recess and scream and shout and bounce off the chain-link fences, but because of all of the snow and ice I discovered this one was completely covered in ice.  The ball field is now an ice rink!

Street Art! Amor Fati roughly translates to love of fate.

 

 

I was a late arrival to the Breaking Bad party, but after finishing the series right after Christmas, I'm still obsessed.  A custom t-shirt shop in the village had this gem on display.

Is there anything better than Pho on a cold day? In Seattle Pho shops are everywhere you look.  Almost as pervasive as Starbucks (maybe a stretch, but there are a lot).  Here, there are only a few, and I think Saigon Shack in the village is probably the best of them.  Where else can you get a hearty meal in NYC for $8?

We desperately need everything for our apartment.  Seriously, everything.  Before I moved in J's brother lived with him, and the two of them didn't decorate anything.  I hit up Home Depot in Chelsea and saw this mirror on display (on the floor), and thought it was a funny way to display a mirror.  I was considering this as a front runner for our entry way, but J vetoed it on the grounds that it "looked like something you'd find in a west village bathroom."  I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing, but the search for the perfect entry way mirror continues.

And finally, I leave you with the "Beyond" from Bed Bath & Beyond...chipless cookies.  My dream. 

Date night - A year later

First of all, I would like to say, New York City doesn't disappoint.  There is always something novel to see...in this case, "Clean Underwear on Demand." 

You know who else doesn't disappoint? J! He was so sweet and planned an evening to celebrate our 1-year-anniversary. I'm always half teasing that we should go ice-skating so he decided it would be  a good night to give in and take me ice skating.  The only problem was that it was 20 degrees out.  

Once we got to the city we scrapped the ice skating (for now), and went to dinner first.  He had planned a dinner at Malatesta Tratorria in the West Village...the scene of our first date.  So we had dinner (I'm sorry for forgetting to take pics of the delicious food), and then dessert and coffee....mmm

After dinner we headed to Smalls (also in the West Village) for some live jazz.  It's one of our favorite date night spots.  The bands are always great, it's a tiny, dark, packed basement vibe and it's just so chill.


We had the best time.  It's so crazy to think about how much life has changed over the past year, there was a couple at the restaurant obviously on an early awkward date, and it was so funny to think that was us last year.

A Christmas Story of Mistaken Dates

You know that scene in "A Christmas Story" when all of the kids are ogling Higgbee's corner window display? It was recreated last night as J and his friend passed this liquor store in the West Village. Stopped them in their tracks and I watched as they nearly smashed their noses to the window. 

We were on our way to see Jimmy Stewart in all his glory in "It's a Wonderful Life" at the IFC center...that was until we got to the theater and picked up our tickets and they were for Thursday the 18th. I even remember double checking dates when I bought them but apparently I was having a lapse in mental clarity then because they don't even start showing it until Friday. 

Thankfully we had also had an amazing Italian dinner with a friend (fresh pasta, bread, wine, dessert...so much gluten...so much goodness) so the evening wasn't a wash. We even had tiramisu! I wish I had pics for you, but we devoured it too quickly. 

So I tried to be a grown up about it and not cry in disappointment, and J and I went to one of our favorite book shops, bookbook before heading home. Tiramisu and books, not exactly the night I had planned but not too shabby when I think about it. 

Highly recommend this class for kids birthday parties, and with drinks involved a fun adult bday activity, too! 

 Hmm...what to do for that first Birthday spent together?  Build robots of course!

I tend to be an over-thinker about just about every detail of daily life and decision maker.  I wish I wasn't, but I just can't help it.  So when it came down to planning something for J's birthday I had no idea what to do.  I toyed with the idea of a surprise party, but I only have contact information for 2 friends and his brother.  So I asked him, and got the "don't do anything extravagant," and "I don't know who I'd invite" responses that meant he didn't want to be a burden, but I couldn't do nothing.  I scoured the internet, and then went on howaboutwe and discovered this robot building class from Brooklyn Robot Foundry in TriBeCa.  Neither of us have a particular love of robotics, but you're encouraged to bring your own beverages, and it's something we've never done before so I booked it.

I think he enjoyed it.  I didn't tell him what we were doing leading up to it because I didn't want him to have a chance to start thinking about how boring it could be...I was already doing enough of that for both of us.  The experience was definitely helped by the mason jar of Wild Turkey we brought, and I think he really got into it towards the end.  We both enjoyed using the Glue Gun way more than we probably should have.

Afterwards we packed up our robots and had an amazing dinner at Jeanne & Gaston with a couple of his friends.  While not an every day affair, the Prix Fixe is incredible.  For $43 each you get an appetizer, entree, and dessert.  Everyone at the table got the Escargots for appetizers they were perfect in an herbed garlic butter sauce.  Next for the entree I ordered the Lamb Croustillant, Natural Jus.  Lamb isn't typically my go to, but I could eat this dish every day.  The flavor was spot on, and with the hint of buttery flaky croissant crust on it, mmmm.  Other dishes that received exclamations of perfection from the table were the Pork Belly, Steak Tartare, and Le Bourguignon.  Last but not least Dessert -- I got the Grand Marnier Souffle which was a touch too eggy for me.  I know that is essentially what a souffle is, but I guess I've never had a non-chocolate souffle before.  I can't remember what everyone else had but once again, all full of praise for the meal.

After dinner we parted ways with our friends and groggily made our way back to Brooklyn.  It was one of those great days so full of activity that you fall into bed and wake up in the morning not really remembering the process of falling asleep.

*By the way - this post would greatly be improved by pictures.  Will try to be better about that in future.