Magnolia Bakery

I'm trying to catch up documenting for my own sake the things I did this summer. It feels a bit like an elementary school essay. But I will not let that ridiculous feeling keep me down.

The thing is, I had a great touristy summer, because whenever friends and family visit, we get to sightsee in a way we usually forget to do. It's hard to remember to see the unique NYC sights when we have laundry, errands, groceries and jobs to do. I dont want to settle in to just living here, or get so caught up in errands that I forget to stop and smell the roses.

Like the time we went to Magnolia Bakery, famous because of its Sex and the City episode shout-out. I'm sure it's famous on its own right, but I know if from SATC. We squeezed it in the middle of an errand filled day, having to buy a shirt for Nate, do some shopping for the upcoming wedding.

We both ordered red velvet cupcakes, which are rapidly becoming my favorites.

Computer Drama

So it happened; my computer caught a virus a few weeks ago and I half-lost everything. I say "half" because a lot of my stuff was backed up on an external drive, but it hadn't been updated for a few months. I got those but most of my new stuff got messed up. Long story short, after a couple of file recovery programs and having to wipe my computer clean, I am starting over from scratch.

All fine and well, my files are a mess and they got unfortunately shuffled around. My pictures and music, specifically, were the most affected by the big virus and consequentially are randomly corrupted. This means that when I find a corrupt file, I have to go search for a clean copy in the recovered folders. This entire process is exhausting and emotionally frustrating. I mean, I know all my pictures are "there", I'm just having a hard time getting to them.

All this is a thinly veiled excuse as to why I have neglected this blog. That and the fact that summer was fabulous, I had a lot of friends visit, I started a full time job, and it seems that life got in the way of my documenting it. Now that the weather is turning to fall, I envision myself having some time to catch up on musing of what summer is like in NYC.

Tavern on the Green

This place is a NYC institution, that I knew mostly due to it being referenced in SATC and other chick lit items featuring the city. I just never thought it accessible to the brethren that I belong to. Silly me, the garden has parties all the time, so long as you want to pay the very reasonable five dollar cover.

We went (we being Nate, Sabrina, Jenn and me, i.e. the gang) a couple of weeks ago to celebrate Peuvian Independence. Though I still struggle to figure out what made this party Peruvian themed beyond the pisco specials. No matter, the weather was beautiful, and we spent the evening watching the sky above us get progressively darker and the chinese lamps floating on the trees look progressively more magical.

Green-Wood Cemetery

Last weekend Nate and I went to the Pre-Cana session in preparation for the catholic wedding. It's been interesting, doing this process in Brooklyn, finding a local church, and a local arch-diocese. The pre-cana session was great, probably because it was an interfetih workshop, because it was open minded, funny and full of get-to-know you activities.

On Saturday, we had an open lunch, where we could leave the building and explore the area. We ended up having lunch at the Green-Wood Cemetery, a national landmark and an item on our list of attractions to check out. Which gave us some nice photo opportunities.

Midsummer's Nigth Swing

It was raining, but still, Nate and I made it to at least a bit of the Lincoln Center's Midsummer's Night Salsa Dura night. The dance floor was closed, which was no issue for us, since you have to pay to go on it anyway.

So instead, we danced for free just beyond the roped off area.

Afternoon beer at The Gate

Summer days at The Gate's patio. Great relaxed Brooklyn vibe. Reminds me of hanging out at the Dog and Duck in Austin.

I love summer, and it seems my camera really loves beer.

Las Ramblas

My friend Laura visited from Austin, and it gave us a chance to take her to one of our favorite tapas places in the Village: Las Ramblas.

I'd always heard that as soon as you move to NY, you discover that you have many friends, because everyone wants to come visit and crash on your couch. I don't know what this implies about me, because I've been here for a year and a half, and Laura is one of the few friends that has stayed at our place. It's been all family up till now.

Laura is part of the Austin crew, and it's always nice to show those people who have known me for years what life is like in the city. I mean, Laura knew me when I was a broke a$$ undergrad drinking tecates and staying up way too late for my own good. Not much has changed, except that now we go to pretty tapas bars in the Village.

Las Ramblas, in addition to being a lovely intimate yet lively space, has very authentic tasting tapas. And I mean that as the biggest compliment. As Laura is vegetarian, we ended up ordering mostly meat free fare, such as croquetas de queso, asparagus, olives, and the delicious tortilla espanola.

And finally, because of the festive occasion of having guest, we ordered a Porron. I haven't seen porrones anywhere else, but i trust them that it's a drink at least fringe related to Spanish cuisine. Basically, it's more about the decanter you use to pour the drink into your mouth. Nate like to call it a hipster beer bong, and I think the name is quite appropriate.

At previous outings, we had Porron with muscatel wine, but since it was summer we tried the clara beer. In Spain, the claras I've had were beer mixed with lemonade, which sounds weird but is actually incredibly refreshing. Here they mixed beer with lemonade and I believe white wine. It was good but the carbonation made it hard to swallow properly (that's what she said). We ended the night with many a spill on our shirts.

Prospect Park

Summer is finally here, and one of the greatest parts of living in Park Slope, is the proximity to Prospect Park. I like it better than Central Park, in many ways, and not just because it's three blocks from my apartment as opposed to a 30+ min subway ride.

Both have the same style, having been designed by Frederick L. Olmsted, but Prospect Park was designed later, so it's supposed to be the park he was proudest of. The landscape architecture geek in me really digs this. Additionally, Prospect has a more intimate feel from Central, less tourists, more people just sunbathing and having picnics. It feels more like a park for the neighborhood, where people are there to truly use the open space for it's intended purpose.

I had some fun taking pictures, playing with the macros and light settings.

REACH, An Urban Musical Instrument

This interactive musical chimes art installation has been on display since 1996, but apparently, even though for 8 months I used the Herald Square subway stop every day, I was too oblivious to notice it. And now, that I frequent the 6 and am getting better acquainted with the Union Square stop, now that I only come to Herald Square when I'm meeting up with Nate, now I notice this green installation. What is it about human brain that only observes closely the unfamiliar?

It's quite wonderful. To quote the NYC Subway website: "This piece consists of a rack hanging along each platform with sensors along the length. Waving your hand in front of a sensor creates a corresponding sound from the rack-- on the other side of the station. People on the opposite platforms can interact using the instrument."

4th of July Fireworks

This year the fireworks were on the NJ side, so instead of being able to see them from our rooftop (like last year), we were in this crowd.

I'll take the crowd. It's nice to feel a part of the mass, something bigger than yourself, the excitement of chaos. Plus the fireworks always look better up close, with the loud sounds and burning smell. The NY fireworks are supposed to be the largest in the country, and they certainly didn't disappoint. It's hard to capture the magic on camera, specially without tripods and space, but here is the best shot.