30 Before 30

#1 - Travel To Italy

It's been a long time since I posted a blog. In fact, it's been almost 2 years. So I thought the best way to get started again was to post about what I've been up to this last year - the 30 before 30 list. My dear friend Casey told be about a friend of hers who wrote 30 things she wanted to do before she turned 30 and blogged about it. It was such a great story that we both took the challenge. I'm about a month from the big day and only half way there. I estimate that I'll finish another 5-8 before then, but honestly there's some that will not get checked off the list, such as:

#21 - Learn to Whistle - Who am I kidding? I just can't get the hang of it.

#7 - Sky Dive - It's just a little too cold to do this one before March 8th, guess I'll just have to join in with CB when she goes for her 30th!

It's been a lot of fun checking off the list, here are some of my favorite ones so far:

#13 - Go Snowboarding - Karen, Paige and I at Okemo

#3 - Take a Trip with Dad - At the "home office" of Budweiser St. Louis, MO

#5 - Take a Cooking Class - Learning From the Natives of Florence

#16 - Cherry Blossoms at the Brooklyn Botanical - With Paige

#29 - Climb a 14er - Technically We Drove Up to Pikes Peak, But After 12,000 the Day Before, I'll Still Count This!

How Great Thou Art!

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Vasily Kandinsky's Panel for Edward R. Campbell No. 4, 1914

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Pablo Picasso's Woman with a Guitar, 1914

Let's face it, the economy sucks right now and everyone is feeling it in their pocketbooks. I've been trying to save money, but I still want to enjoy New York and go out with friends. To my surprise you can do all 3! Enter "Free Friday Nights" at the Museum of Modern Art, otherwise known as the MoMA! Target sponsors free admission for all guest from 4-8pm on Fridays and this past week Casey, Karen and myself took advantage. Both girls have never been to the MoMA and I got to put my many hours in KU art history to work and play tour guide. I really do love spending time in a museum even if it is over-crowded because of the free admission. The MoMA has an excellent collection sure to please any level of art enthusiasts with several big names and pieces of work: Picasso, Monet, Dali, Van Gogh, etc. I took pictures (yes, they actually let you take flash-less pictures there) of a couple of my favorite paintings (above).

We ended the evening at a cute BYOB called Chili Thai catching each other up on the latest happenings with work, life and whatnot. The night ended with a cheap wine buzz, full bellies, art inspiration in our mind, and a full wallet - total costs for the night...$25 bucks! And you thought everything in New York was expensive!

But Baby It's Cold...Inside?

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On New Years Eve, all eyes are on New York and Times Square. For the countless times I've been in New York and during the almost 4 years I've lived here, I have never made it to the NYE festivities. Luckily this year I was (1) in town and (2) living in the Times Square area and got to see the madness coming to and from my subway stop. I'd love to claim that the above picture is the infamous ball on the actual 31st eve, but I took this the day before. I got off at 42nd street and they happened to be testing the lights before the big day, so I caught the shot with my camera. The shot below is the morning of New Years Eve - it was the quietest walk to the subway I've ever had. Reasons being - all residents on vacation, no one working that day (except me of course) and all tourists saving up their energy for the 9 hours of standing they were about to incur. By 5 o'clock when I was on my way home to get ready, the place was already chaos - police barriers, New York's finest, crowds, lines, etc. It would be awesome to do this one year - in fact a couple friends did and they had a blast - but I just don't know if I could handle it. Especially since it was FREEZING this year.

Speaking of freezing, let's hear what I did for New Years Eve! I joined Casey, her roomie Katie and some other peeps at 49 Grove, an IGLOO formally known as a lounge in the West Village. Seriously, I saw at least 20 people (who paid good money to get in, by the way) ask what was up with the AC blasting. All were told that we would be thankful when the place got packed at midnight....but it wasn't and we weren't! Case in point, the second picture below of Casey and I drinking our beers with mittens on - LOVES IT! Did I mention they had a mandatory coat check? Yeah, by 11:30 we didn't care and it was a party in our sleeping bags! Like most New Years, the hype always leads to disappointment, but I had a great time with the girls and like Case said "we'll be laughing about this next year!"

Happy New Years to everyone - many blessings and laughter in 2009!

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View looking south at 42nd street - look close to see the 2009 sign!

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¿Por qué es tan frío aquí?

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New Years Eve 2009!

Tourist In My Own City!

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Christmas Tree at the Bloomberg Building

On the weekend before Christmas, my Dad and Cindy came to New York to visit me and also enjoy the holiday extravaganza around the city. The Christmas season is one of my favorite times of the year and living here makes it even more magical. There's so much to do and see: window displays, lights galore, Christmas Trees, the Nutcracker, the Rockettes Holiday Spectacular, ice skating in Central Park, Holiday shopping, and so much more! During our weekend we did a lot of the previously mentioned (see pics below), but two events in particular were new to me. The first was riding the Ferris Wheel inside the Times Square Toys R Us. We passed it on our post Chili Thai stroll and my Dad suggested that we take it for a ride. Although I was a little upset that we didn't get the Monopoly Mr. Moneybags cab, it was so much fun and I felt like a kid again. The next night, after an amazing dinner at the Atlantic Grill, we took a Carriage Horse Ride in Central Park just as it began to snow. It was really beautiful and so quite - another NY experience I have never had. It was a great weekend and I invite all my friends and family to come up next year to experience Christmas in New York!

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My favorite window display at Bloomingdales

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Riding the Mr. Potato Head cab on the Toys R Us Ferris Wheel

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Desert tray at the Atlantic Grill

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Carriage ride in Central Park

Mouse Trap

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When I was a kid I had the board game "Mouse Trap," which had you set up an elaborate trap (Pee Wee Herman's Big Adventure breakfast maker-style) while marching your mouse around the board by rolling the die. Little did I know that later in life I would again be marching around setting up traps for mice...this time around I wouldn't call it fun. I've always heard in NY you were almost guaranteed to have a mouse in your house at least once. I thought that time for me was in my first apartment in '06. My neighbors moved out and they renovated the apartment causing a little mouse to lose his home and come into my apt under the door. He was a little guy and he died a horrible death at the hands of my super after getting caught in my shower tub. Poor little guy...it really is a horrific story that I cannot repeat, but feel free to ask me if you are truly curious.
So, two years later in my new upgrade apartment, there's an economic crisis and about 4 apartments in my building become vacant from move-outs. I am currently blaming the moving, but ask me in another week or so as I might think my building needs to be condemned! So, before my roommate and I left for the holidays we caught 2 mice that we suspected were hiding (well actually fighting) behind the fridge. One had the ugliest mug I have ever seen...he was an evil version of Jerry with big ears who has haunted my dreams ever since I had to throw him and his trap out! For a while there was about 10 traps lining every wall area soaked with pied piper mouse-juice I was recommended by another NY mouse catcher.
I thought surely I was safe from these filthy little rodents and free to go back to doing things like walking around barefoot. But oh no, yesterday in the bathroom as I'm brushing my teeth, I caught something from the corner of my eye and realized that I was trapped with another mouse in my own bathroom! Determined to catch the little bugger, I left and locked him in there while I armed myself with shoes and a broom...and roommate "support." When I came back in the mouse was gone! Obviously there is another pathway behind my laundry machine that is providing a Grand Central Station like tunnel for all these creatures! Unable to get the super to come until Tuesday, I came home tonight to find another baby mouse in my bathtub (I know it is not the same one from yesterday...my guess is that this one is the newbie and he got suckered by the bigger mouse to go out there and test the waters). After some freaking out and setting up a game plan for this mouse trap, we suckered the mouse out in a trash bag and I ran him out. It was a traumatic experience and somehow I fear it's not over. It's time for my super to get on board, I'm tired of this game!!!

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Me assessing the situation - I have a pic of the little guy but it grosses me out to even post it!

So this is Christmas...

For the first time ever I am not ready for Christmas this year! For one, what the hell happened to the time? Wasn't it just Thanksgiving and today it's two weeks from Christmas Eve? Second, as most of you know, I lost my sweet Grandma Hudson a week ago today. Christmas Eve was always the day we would go out to her place - I can see her now with her apron on sneaking her own Christmas fudge while finishing up the food for dinner. Her 1945 tree is by the window standing a proud 3 feet tall with multi-color stranded bulbs as big as an egg. A lot of us forget the true meaning of Christmas, but it is because of this story that my Grandmother is celebrating in Heaven as we speak. Although it doesn't feel like a time for cheer, it's really a joyous occasion!
So in the battle of Crystal vs. the Grinch, I am slowly winning. I took the first step by purchasing a tree, a haggled $35 tree from the corner of 49th and 9th. My roommate and I decorated it tonight while listening to Christmas tunes, a two-year tradition for us. I think I'm on my way to holiday cheer...next up "It's A Wonderful Life." Hell, maybe I'll try that Christmas fudge again this year - got to do Wilma proud!
Happy Holidays friends and loved ones!

Can't take the heat...got to get out of Hell's Kitchen!

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For the second time since I have lived in the HK, there has been a building fire on my street. Around 11am on Sunday morning (no judgement on my sleep patterns...) I awoke to the smell of smoke from my open bedroom window. I was actually thinking about the smell in a dream and then my conscious was like "wake up, there could be a fire!" When I looked out the window a huge billow of black smoke came toward me and I was sure that my building was on fire. No fire alarms going off and no smoke in my hall, I went back to the window and realized it was coming from the corner building on my block (I'm about 2 building down from 10th Avenue). As the fire trucks wailed on my street I threw on some clothes/shoes, grabbed my purse (and Ricky), went wake up my roommate and then flew out the door. The adrenaline running through my body was so intense! I went across the street and watched the building en fuego...I was shaking, watching it was frightening. I knew it wouldn't spread into my building, but I was more concerned with the people waiting on their fire escape to be rescued by the FDNY. Thankfully, no one was hurt and everyone made it safely out of the building! My grandma has this saying "jaimes deux sans trois" which means "never two without three"...needless to say I'll be purchasing some fire insurance on my apartment!

Here's a video I found online of the fire that day!

Find more videos like this on www.truveo.com.