Crys-tales of New York: January 2009

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

How Great Thou Art!

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

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!

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

But Baby It's Cold...Inside?

From Blogger Pics

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!

From Blogger Pics

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

From Blogger Pics

¿Por qué es tan frío aquí?

From Blogger Pics

New Years Eve 2009!

Monday, January 5, 2009

Tourist In My Own City!

From Blogger Pics

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!