Last Week

Seems as if I'm missing a few updates... while this might not reflect all new things encountered on the right days, I did do a bunch of new things and likely 1 a day every day. Friday, I went to hang out with cousin Sarah and her Mom at Sheep's Meadow in Central Park. That morning, I had walked/jogged the inner circle of Central Park, a 6.2 mile feat. I was exhausted by the end of the day.
On Saturday, a group of us went up to the Cloisters along the West Hudson River, way up around 190th street. Nice park to walk and enjoy while taking in some churches reconstructed here after being sacked.
Monday, I went to the DMV... Yuck! Over 2 hours in line and all I get is a NYC license with my old name. Need a few more documents with my married name to get any further... grr. So, in a couple weeks, I might get a little farther. 6 points of identification!?!? !!!!!!! That's all I can say.
Tuesday - Found a donation center a bit closer than the 10 block walk - this one is only 2 blocks, so I trucked a few bags there, then a few more to the Goodwill and then to a Coinstar! Yay for getting rid of change in exchange for a certificate that I know I will use. Also, first sighting of a mouse in my apt. Actually, I saw it three times. Little bugger. Very Bold.

Tuesday - I walked down 5th Avenue in all its' glory after having lunch with Joel at Yummy Sushi. Souvenier shops galore and all the way down to 27th (starting at 49th st.). Also for the first time, I went to Bryant Park. It is a large park adjacent to the New York Library - the one with the Lion Statues out front. I sat and read for an hour and thought how I'd like to attend one of the Monday evening showings of movies this summer. I also got my new passport photos taken at Walgreens. I thought they only had Duane Reed and CVS here in NY, guess I was wrong.

New tasks...

Friday - First evening out at Donny and Abbys seeing their apt and have barbeque in new york! We had burgers and we brought chips/dip and a veggie platter with hummus. A yummy evening finished with cheesecake...

Saturday - 1st 4th of July Married! We spent it watching the Macy's Fire works on the 49th floor balcony on the West Side - Hudson river. 6 barges produced a pretty spectacular show. Met a bunch of new people and took another walk on Ward's Island, with Joel this time.

Sunday - We walked to the Northern end of Central Park and saw the pool up near 100th AV. It was quite a walk and it seemed as if everyone and their brother was out at the park today.

Monday - Today I went to give blood! If you are eligible, you should too... It is always in need. Probably should have eaten more sugary things before I went, but all's well that ends well.

New adventures!

So this whole making me get out and do something new everyday isn't so bad. I might have lacked inspiration and ideas at the beginning and might be fighting it off now while wanting to get comfortable in a routine, but it'll be good for me in the end. I'll know better how to get around and will have seem some cool things along the way. So... let's see.
Tuesday: There are lots of things that I'm tempted to put here, but only a few of which are new. I could say I went to Goodwill and the Petshop as new things, but I did those with Joel before I lived here, so that's kind of cheating. I could say I met up with him for lunch, and it would be the first time I did that while Living in NY... but my conscience is too scrupulous for that. So, instead, I went to Old Navy and Godiva. Godiva was in the mall under 6th Ave (Avenue of the Americas) and I tracked it down and got my birthday truffle and some chocolate bars at 10% off - again, yay birthday! And because I was so close... like 10 blocks, I took my self down to the Old Navy Flagship store. I had it on my list of things to do as they had a sale going and while I was this close, and I had looked up directions last week thinking I might make it there some time.... So I got some shorts and meandered my way back home...
Wednesday was a good one. I went up to the New York Botanical Gardens... It was a bit of a trek, took about an hour to get there, but all on the metro card - $2.25 each way? The pass is unlimited...so I guess it is less than that. But anyway, it was pretty nice. If nothing else, it was a lot of greenspace all together. There was forested areas and the Bronx river flowed right though the park. There were big old trees, a vegetable garden, rose garden, and then some other stuff which you had to pay for. I did not go in those parts as it was Free Admission to the Grounds only on Wednesdays and Sat from 10-12. I would say that the botanical gardens in STL is better compared with this one. It was also in the mid 80s, no wind and high humidity, a bad combination for the pants that I decided to wear... what was I thinking? Alas, I enjoyed it and here are a few of my photos...

Saturday-Monday

Saturday, Joel and I explored Roosevelt Island. We took the air tram over to the island then walked/road the red bus all around - to the Octagon, Manhattan Park Apt, the one and only Gristedes, and the beautiful riverwalk. It was a nice step away from the busy life of the Upper East side and it's nice to know that that green space does exist.

Sunday was two notable item - new tennis shoes from Easy Spirit, YAY! and... A hotdog and smoothie from Gray's Papaya. Maybe I didn't get the right thing, but I am so not impressed. Will have to try again at a different shop.

Monday - I explored Carl Schurz's park - beautiful flowers and then headed along a different riverwalk (running some) and walked over a bridge to Ward's Island. Once crossing the big blue bridge for walkers only, it is green and there are ball fields and people fishing. Closes at 1am. Would be a great place for a picnic if you didn't mind the walk. I also experienced my first 'missing store'. I thought I'd head out to Godiva and Walgreens. I took my notes on where these places were and set out. Passing walgreens on the way, I headed to my farther destination of Godiva. Once I arrived at the location, I searched and searched... to no avail. This is wonderful chocolate you understand and after circling the area a few times, I admit, I had to give up and say, it isn't here. I'm not sure Where it is at, but I will try and find another one on Tuesday.

Day 5

Yesterday, I encountered the DMV... and the RMV for that matter. I tend to think about an episode of 'Two and a half Men' when I think about the DMV and my encounter with them yestererday. In that episode, Allen gets in line early in the morning and waits all day and then gets duped in to giving his good spot away to some pretty girl. What I'm trying to do is no less than top Mount Everest with these guys. Getting them on the phone is a challenge in and of itself. I tried three times earlier in the week, including Thursday afternoon and was encountered with this message: if your call is not urgent, please consider calling back at a later time in the week. Isn't Thursday at 3 late enough. Guess not. When I actually heed their request and call at 5:00, oh no, they're closed. 9:00-4:00. Must be a nice place to work, well, minus all the grumpy people who have to stand in line to see them with the shoebox full of identification they must track down. Really???
I guess I shot myself in the foot when I wanted to do more than a 1 step process. Move my license from MA and change my name.
It could be as long as 2 1/2 months before I end up with my license as I tote the 14 pieces of credit cards/passport/misc. certificates/esc. over there to prove who I was and who I am. 14? Yes. 14.

Blah.

Days continued...

Day 3 - It's been raining most of the day, so I stayed in until 5 working on more name changing shenanigans, it's a pain and also not new in NY. After the rain I headed out to Rainbow Hardware with a S hook in hand hoping to add some more hanging places in the kitchen. What I found out when I got there, was that I'd already been there with Joel! Foiled! Doubly foiled in that they didn't have any S hooks - Pots, pans, ice cream, shelving units, toiletries and a pharmacy, and more. That's a strange Hardware store. In my search through every aisle though, I did come across something super beneficial for the sink. It's a flow meter. While I'm not super concerned about how much water comes through the sink, it will at least assure me that it comes out in an even flow and downward - not some funky angle that always hits whatever is in the sink and coats the front of me... I like! After the 'hardware' store run, my new adventure took me up to the AT&T store. After a 25 min wait in line and almost getting turned away with a smug look of, honey, it's a setting on your phone, it isn't hard to fix... I can now receive MMS messages - pictures! Somehow it had gotten disabled on their system and Ha. Not. My. Fault. But that's it - that was my adventure for the day, I went to the At&t store.

Day 4 - Today I did something new and hopefully non-recurring. I woke up late (not new), decided to head out to Central Park and read (not new), picked up my phone and my book and walked out the door. Something in that last sentence is new. Phone - check. Book - check. Self - check. Keys - ? um. NOT CHECK!!! AGHGHHGH.... Things start swirling through my mind. It hasn't been even 5 seconds since the door has locked - can't we institute the 10 second rule you know? Like when food falls on the floor, you have 5 or 10 seconds to open your door again before you are locked out. I had no inspiration for what today's activities would be originally, but I do now. Today - I locked myself out of the apt. without keys or a metro card. So, new plan. I called Joel and met up with him at Rockefeller Center and made myself walk home too just so that maybe it'll sink in that it is a bad idea to walk out the door without ones keys. Bad. AKA, do not do again. On my walk home though, I got tired and say down in the park to read, so all was not lost. I even got my ~5 mile walk in for the day. Maybe I should put this day back to bed and take a nap.... :)

1 New thing...

Perhaps I have let this little guy go too long, and perhaps not. It's been a pretty hectic last.... um, gulp, 9 months. Now, it seems a daunting task to update my 'life story'. I think that's why I haven't written as I'm not sure how to jump from where I was in September and properly do justice to all that has really happened and is currently happening... For heaven sakes, I got married - it's not official you know, until you announce it on facebook and on your blog. 2 1/2 weeks ago now and I can't say as it has really set in. For all I know, I'm just visiting New York like I have 5 or 6 times in the past 9 months - minus my stuff sitting all over... and the fact that I have to make lunch for Joel in the morning and dinner at night - that's pulling on the reality string a little. I can at least do that as I'm a homemaker now, stopped the job at the end of April. All the wedding planning and stuff is over, minus those darn thank you notes - I shall start them soon. In the mean time though, I've issued myself a bit of a challenge. We are in this apt. until Sept 1st at which point we will be moving to somewhere yet unknown (that's a tricky little unknown right there) in the city. Since it might not be in as ideal location as this Upper East side - 15 min from everything - I have got to take advantage of where I'm at, by force if necessary. So, starting 2 days ago on Monday June 22, I started my pursuit.
Day 1 - I went to the post office. Blah blah, easy peasy you might say. NO! USPS was holding a package for us while we were gone and with the address and hopstop.com, I found it. I then stood in a line for 20 min only to find out I was in the wrong one and needed to go through the doors to the right and then make two lefts, OH, and I needed my ID and his. Sure. Couldn't they have mentioned that somewhere? A sign or something...? That and the ID thing - who else gets the mail that only I have a key to. Bah. So, with nothing in hand, I headed to Central Park for a walk and a read.
Day 2 - Target. Remember the good old days of jumping in the car? Yea, no. Another visit to hopstop - which will be my best friend - showed the closest in Brooklyn, so there identified where I was headed. 45 min there, 30 min back and not a wrong train taken yet. I did walk around for 20 min in the Atlantic Terminal as there was construction and about 5 unmarked dead ends I managed to find... but I did find the Target. I bought up as much as I could carry and then walked around outside just a bit before heading back on a new route that I may have had to call Joel to get. What would I do without him? I must have been hankering for sweets as when I unloaded at home, I had 3 boxes of cookies.

And now I sit here on Day 3 uninspired. Old Navy downtown? New York Public Library? There has to be something... I guess I will have to decide by the time the FedEx guy gets here - waiting on a package today and tomorrow...