Viva Espana!!

Spain was AMAZING. Barcelona, Zaragoza and Madrid are beautiful cities and I enjoyed every second of it, despite any mishaps that occurred along the way.

First stop: Barcelona (December 25 – 29, 2008)

I arrived before Justin so I was able to explore the city on my own for a couple hours. I’m lucky that I got the last bit of sun before the rain set in!

After settling in (and to ease my travel woes), I decided to lose myself in the city and go barhopping–probably not the best idea for someone who doesn’t speak a lick of Spanish.

Then Justin arrived and we tried to go around the city but everything was starting to close. It was Christmas Day after all and Spaniards also celebrate Boxing Day (which is the 26th).

The morning after, we went to La Sagrada Familia. It’s amazing! The nativity facade is rather intense. The entire temple is scheduled for completion around 2026 & construction started in 1882.

The rain hadn’t stopped so after lunch (tapas, of course!), we siesta’d through the afternoon. We visited the Magic Fountain of Montjuic later that evening before heading out to a couple bars.

Gaudi’s work is all over Barca; Casa Batllo was closeby to our hostel.

We went to La Boqueria for brunch. It’s huge (TWSS!!) and it’s so vibrant! I fell in love with their setup and arrangements.

Next stop was Gaudi’s other beauty–Parc Guell. God, trekking up was such hard work. The street leading to the park’s entrance is incredibly steep and they even have sets of esclators towards the top of the street. This park was BREATHTAKING. I didn’t know anything about it except for the view and the Gaudi houses so I was thrilled when we came across the Roadway in the Park (aka where Melrose & Caridee had their ANTM final competition!!!). And of course we had a quick photoshoot.

We had incredible seafood paella for dinner (thanks J) but um, there was a bit of a misunderstanding on the menu.. I’m afraid something was lost in translation. Kids, please behave while you’re in Spain or you’ll be roasted in your own juices.

And then after manymanymanymany drinks, we made it out to a club. Oh, discotecas. It was PACKED. And Justin, really, thanks for putting up with me and making sure I didn’t run away with some Spanish man. HAHA. What a good friend.

I slept in the next morning but we finally made it out to the Gothic Quarter. It is stunning. UGH, Barcelona is so BEAUTIFUL–even the graffiti is romantic!

We got lost (which I seriously think is the best way to get to know a city) and stumbled upon a few interesting plazas before heading out to the port.

I think we pretty much did everything we could in Barca (excluding the Picasso Museum) so we decided to leave a day early and take a day trip out to Zaragoza. It was the best possible city to visit since it’s between Barcelona & Madrid. We hopped on a bus and approximately 3 hours later, we were left on our own to navigate another Spanish city. This time with less English speakers! It was a real testament to Justin’s HS Spanish (I, of course, was a complete dead-weight but my terrible French came in handy a few times.. kinda, not really).

Second stop: Zaragoza (December 29 – 30, 2008)

Zaragoza was beautiful also. It’s a small city so there weren’t many sights to see but we did see the Basilica de Nuestra Senora and the Mercado Central (which was not as big or vibrant as La Boqueria but it did have suckling pigs).

Best part of Zaragoza was our hotel! It had a bidet!!!!! And amazing views from the window.

Last stop: Madrid (December 30, 2008 – January 1, 2009)

After an unfortunate misstep, we got to Madrid late. We were hosted by the wonderful Peter & Claire, who are studying abroad. Thanks again, guys! Oh and I LOVE MADRID. It has that city feel that I crave; it reminds me of NYC!

The next day was basically MY only full day in Madrid so we did the few touristy things we could–walked through Parc Retiro, visited the Prado Museum and went shopping in Salamanca.

After returning to the apartment (where the 4 of us were stuck in a 3.5 by 3.5 elevator for 30 minutes between the 1st and 2nd floor!!!!), we joined Peter and Claire’s friends to celebrate NYE in Puerta del Sol, which is kind of like Madrid’s version of Times Square. OH MY GOD, it was amazing. The tradition is to eat grapes at midnight, by the way, one for each bell chime (12 total). What an interesting way to bring in the new year. And yes.. we all wore wigs (which we bought in nearby Plaza Mayor).

The wigs were a HIT!

Midnight! Time to eat grapes!

OMG what a great vacation. I think I may have to go back to Madrid because I didn’t get enough time to immerse myself into the city but besides that, it really was FRICKIN AMAZING. I love Spain! It was a great experience. And Justin!!!! Sorry for my work-hard-play-as-hard-as-humanly-possible attitude and thank you for everything!!! Seriously, when you come to NYC, I’ll take care of it all so you can be as crazy as you want. And I owe you some amazing home cooking, right?

Happy 2009 everybody!

<3

E

Happy Holidays!

Hope everyone has a good one!

<3,

E

Jamaica Jamaica!

Sorry for the delay of pictures from my trip to Jamaica. I brought my camera but it is old and janky and it pooped out on me before I could even take a photo. I was waiting for all my friends to upload their pictures

So first off, about the trip: there were 7 of us total. 6 girls and 1 guy. My friends took a red-eye flight from LAX to Montego Bay on Halloween and I flew from JFK the morning after. I hadn’t seen some of them since  the last time I was in San Diego (March of 2007 maybe?) so I was really, really excited to be reunited with everybody!

The plan was to spend 2 days in Montego Bay and then the rest of the week in Negril. We booked 2 rooms at Doctor’s Cave Hotel in Montego Bay and stayed in a beautiful Rondel Village 3 bedroom villa in Negril.

Because of our ratio of women to, uh, man, we claimed that we were polygamists and that I was the new bride and we were on our honeymoon. Poor Demian was constantly asked why and how he had so many women. Actually, being “married” was a funny thing because I think it was easier to bargain for things. We even got a cigar, hahaha.

Another thing about Jamaica: all the taxi drivers are tour guides as well. Everyone wears multiple hats! We met such a man at Doctor’s Cave Beach on our first day who was an unfortunate victim in our “Oh, we’re married.. it’s our honeymoon.. actually we’re polygamists” scheme. But hey, we got a pretty good deal to get to Ochos Rios to climb Dunn’s River Waterfalls.

That’s what we did our second day. We drove ~2 hours to Ochos Rios to Dunn’s River Waterfalls. You basically hold hands and climb up a waterfall. It was beautiful!! I don’t know if the holding-of-the-hands thing is the best way to hike up a RUNNING waterfall, but it was fun nonetheless. We didn’t hold hands the entire time either. That whole excursion was pretty dangerous with all the slippery rocks and such; don’t expect to be able to do anything like that in the US.

When we got to Negril, we were situated in the middle of Seven Mile Beach. When we were in Montego Bay, we only went to one beach, Doctor’s Cave. It’s a private beach so we didn’t have to deal w/ any hustlers. But man!! Seven Mile Beach is  a public beach and was FULL of hustlers!! Every frickin day was a new opportunity for the locals to sell you things. ANYTHING. Our first day there, a man approached me and asked if I needed a “date” for the week. Really though?!?? I said quickly, “UHHHH my husband wouldn’t like that.” Speaking of the husband, he was propositioned by 2 prostitutes as well.. hahahha.

Every day was spent on the beach. It was FANTASTIC. Oh! And we went parasailing!! That was a lot of fun.  I was all about the beach, though. In fact, I spent an entire day on the beach.. most of which I spent alone. I was literally the first tourist on the beach in the morning and I was there until they took away the beach chairs. Some of my friends went to Rick’s Cafe and others went to the craft market while I read (“The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” by Junot Diaz), drank Red Stripes (bar opened at 9 am and only cost $1.35 USD!!!!), and napped. Our area was relatively safe because we had a hotel-provisioned security guard manning the area (and he handed out towels and propped up the beach chairs). We usually took a spot right in front of the security guard anyway.

Also, since I was usually the first person up and on the beach (out of our group @ least), the hustlers started to recognize me. And my friends are friendly (and we’re all talkative) so the locals eventually got to know us. In fact, they all knew our names, where we’re from, where we’re staying, and they were so obesrvant that they knew when one of us wasn’t present!! We made friends with other tourists as well.

All in all, it was an incredibly relaxing vacation, even though we were on the cusp of the oncoming hurricane. We didn’t get a lot of direct sunlight and it rained sometimes but it was fine. We still tanned. And we ate really well. Jamaican food is soo soooo SOOOO good. Their spices are no joke, man. MMMMM so spicy, I LOVED IT.

Enough words! Here are the pictures! Just a note: some of the photos have a black ring around them; that’s because of the EXCELLENT waterproof camera case that I bought. I highly recommend it if you’ll be vacationing anywhere there’s a body of water and you want to take underwater photos.

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Most of the girls @ Doctor’s Cave Beach, Montego Bay

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Walking to the cafe

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Our first (and only) wedding gift: a discounted cigar from a shopkeeper

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It was cloudy !

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At our hotel’s bar

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Margaritaville!

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We had brunch @ Dolly’s & she actually served us!

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Dunn’s River Waterfalls

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King Demian & the Sisterwives. We look so happy!

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Climbing

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It started to get cold!

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An excellent massage

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After we finished climbing, we went down about halfway & hiked back up so we could take more photos

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Villas @ Rondel Village in Negril, Jamaica. I highly recommend this place!

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The pool

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Mary, Christina and I

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Celebrating Obama’s victory at a local spot (ignore my facial expression; I was happy!)

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The sisterwives

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Traci & I taking off!

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Kristen found a starfish (it’s covering part of my face)!

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We ate @ the Jerk Joint a couple times; excellent chicken!

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Demian & Christina jumped off of this cliff @ Rick’s Cafe

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Most of the group @ dinner on our last night

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Thanks to Anna, Christina, Demian, Kristen, Mary & Traci for your pictures and an AMAZING vacation!!! <3

<3,

E

Quick Update

First off, I’m alive! My blog is not dead! I just don’t have time (or pictures) to post anything!

Secondly, hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving! Mine was easy; we ordered from a Thanksgiving to go menu. Easiest Thanksgiving meal ever!

Just a glimpse of the Jamaican pictures to come (hopefully before I come back with pictures from Spain!)–

<3

E

Full-fledged fall season!

Crisp air, chilly breeze, scarves and boots all about–can only mean one thing! FALL IS HERE! I can’t believe it’s already mid-October!

I currently live TWO BLOCKS (literally down the street) from my office. It is SO convenient!!! It’s a great location! I know people tend to dismiss the financial district as a place of residence but it’s really not bad at all. Sure, there aren’t as many bars, restaurants, diners or grocery stores AND things tend to close a little earlier, but SUBWAYS ARE ALL AROUND. All the subway lines I need are within a 5 block radius, literally. Miss the wonderful dive bars of the East Village? The R/W is 2 blocks away. Need to meet someone @ Grand Central? 4/5 is 3 blocks away. Meeting someone in Chelsea? Take the 1, which is a block from my apartment. SO. AWESOME.

Also, the best thing about living downtown is that almost all the apartment buildings are luxury high-rise buildings with full amenities. We have a concierge service, doorman, laundry on every floor, a roof deck with AMAZING views, a full gym (I work out during lunch sometimes), etc. etc. The location is unbeatable (in terms of proximity to work) and the rent is definitely not breaking the bank. I’m a pleased peach

Besides that, nothing new has changed. I’m still very busy. I still work long hours. I still have Peanut (he loves it down here too but there are considerably less trees around so he tends to make his mark on other things.. like corners of buildings and garbage bags).

Oh! I got my driver’s license AND I registered to vote. Looks like I really am a full-fledged New Yorker now..

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Views of Battery Park City and New Jersey from the roof deck of my apartment building.

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Battery Park City at sunset. STUNNING. If you look closely, you’ll be able to see the Statue of Liberty.

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Peanut at Bed Bath & Beyond in Tribeca.

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My birthday is coming up!!!! Don’t forget to send me gifts!! I’m serious! I want gifts!!!! Comment and leave your email address if you’d like to send me something and need my address. A card would be nice.

<3

E

Finally, a real update!

There is one thing I absolutely do not like about New York–being outside between 3 am and sunrise. And I don’t mean being out at a bar or a club or a friend’s place, I mean literally being OUTSIDE during those hours. Not only is sketchy and dark, it’s COLD too!! Well, NOW it is. I didn’t mind being outside during the summer, I guess. But oh, seasons–I do love that you change.

So, I’m sure you can tell from my lack of weekly updates that life has been very, very busy as of late. My social life has been fairly nonexistent (save for Beer Wednesdays with my company–by far my FAVORITE day of the week, and with good reason!). I suppose I didn’t really have time to care about it because I’ve been so busy with work. Speaking of, I have a new workspace at work!! I went from a cubicle to this:

I know, I know. I have it good. A desk AND a couch? Bossman, where’s my ottoman! Haha, just kidding! I asked for the couch because I’ve been cursed with being short and the desks aren’t fitting ergonomically with me, even with the chair set at its maximum height. I told my boss that I didn’t need a desk but he insisted.. and I do use it time to time (as you can see in the picture), but I sit on the couch more often. Work’s been good, though. Busybusybusy but good nonetheless. I recently joked with my boss that I only think about two things: work and hot men, to which he responded, “GOOD! I’m glad you think about work so much.. and.. hot men.. but GOOD!” Hahaha. I definitely have my priorities straight!

SO SO much has happened lately and I’ve been promising photos for sooooo long so ONTO THE PHOTOS! (They’re all from my facebook, by the way.. nothing you haven’t seen before, fbook friends!)

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Sometimes I like to walk around during my lunch break to clear my head or soak up as much sun as possible. It was particularly beautiful this day. This was in Battery Park. I was among all the tourists waiting in line to take a boat to the Statue of Liberty. FYI for tourists — going INTO the Statue of Liberty has been restricted for yeeeeears, so if you do decide to take the ferry, you will get a chance to be photographed with her feet once you’re on the island. But the ferry ride gives you absolutely stunning views of Lady liberty on your way to the island, so it may not be a bad thing after all!

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This is Stone Street. Bars and restaurants line the cobblestoned street while patrons enjoy their food and/or beverages outdoors. After my interview with my company, they took me here for drinks and ahh, it just felt SO New York! It’s a really cute area.

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I had a dinner party with Tim, Cindy and Kim a while back and I cooked! The first course was a Mexican grilled corn salad with grilled scallops. The main entree was a baked stuffed lobster with broiled zucchini & potatoes. For dessert, we had a fresh fruit tart with vanilla ice cream. Everything was SOOOO good! We had really, really good rose and chardonnay to accompany everything as well. Aw, I LOVE dinner parties!

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Late last month, Tim invited Cindy and I to accompany him to the Barclay’s Golf tournament in New Jersey. OH MY GOD, it was SOOOO hot that day. Golf is such an active spectator sport. So much walking is involved! Most of these were taken from the 5th hole, right next to the green. From left to right: (1) a caddy, Jesper Parnevik and Phil Mickelson; (2) Jason Day, a caddy and Sergio Garcia; (3) Mike Weir and his caddy; (4) caddy, Kevin Streelman, Vijay Singh and another caddy.

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The Empire State building. So pretty!

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Assorted tomatoes at the Union Square farmer’s market.

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Coney Island from the docks. They’re auctioning all the rides so if you have $15k lying around and can’t figure out what to do with your backyard..

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Bossmen and coworkers on Beer Wednesday.

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9/11

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A view of the sunset from the North Cove Marina.

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Peanut waiting anxiously to be served!

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I don’t know WHY he’s licking the wall.

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Oh, I cut my hair!

I cut it MYSELF. What do you think?

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Andi and I at Cain last night. Clubbing is a lot of work!

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And because I promised her, here is a photo of my mother. I promised to put up a picture for her birthday and when she showed me this, I was like.. that’s it, that’s the one! This one will show everybody where I get my crazies from!

Of course my mom’s the only one in the photo with an entire bottle of champagne. Hahahahahahahhhaha.

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And this is her saying “Oh yes she did!” to her colleague.

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And finally, my beautiful mother with a friend!

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That’s it for now. I think Peanut’s due for a walk. Hope everyone has a good weekend!

<3

E

Cooling down (for now).. but sweating a LOT!

City life is incredibly fun but man, it is expensive! All of the temptations I’ve mentioned before (shopping, going out and eating out) are now strictly moderated. City life’s pleasures tend to stack up money-wise pretty quickly. In order to maximize my savings, take care of my expenses and STILL have a life, I’ve come up with a decent budget plan. Hm, this must mean I’m growing up. Ah, adulthood.. rearing your ugly head.

Now the thing that I do love about New York is that you really don’t have to spend a whole lot (sometimes even nothing!) to continue adventuring. Take walking for instance–it kills 2 birds with 1 stone! Exercise AND sight-seeing! Best of all, it’s free!! People watching is also a fun thing to do. Everyone stares at everybody.. it’s frickin’ ridiculous. I can’t tell if you’re admiring or judging but either way, I’m going to do it right back at you. And the subway.. man oh man, I love the subway. You can go anywhere the subway goes as many times as you want! With the unlimited metrocard, you might as well take advantage of it! It runs 24 hours and it goes pretty far.

Last weekend, I decided to be more proactive about the walkability of Manhattan. The week prior, Peanut and I ran to the Empire State building. It’s about a mile away (~20 NYC blocks = 1 mile) so it wasn’t that bad of a run at all. Anyway, I thought it’d be good to run a longer distance.. say to Central Park. Tim told me that he once ran to the Park and then IN the park.. that’s, like, a 40 block distance. 40+ actually. So I was like, what the heck, why not?? Sure, Tim did track in high school and works out regularly but if HE can do it, so can I!

And so I did. Peanut and I ran to Central Park from Gramercy, ran within the park, kiiiinda ran back (actually we walked most of the way.. hey, we were tired!) and drank gallons of water while we cooled down in front of the AC at home.

Pictures to prove all of this:

We walked past the Helmsley building but didn’t actually walk through it.. I don’t know if you can but anyway, the dog and I walked on Park avenue most of the way.

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The path at the 5th avenue entrance. Yes, Peanut and I walked down 5th avenue amidst all the crazy shoppers and tourists. Ugh, it was an absolute NIGHTMARE for runners (not that I’d call myself a runner just yet but you know what I mean).

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Victoria Gardens @ Wollman Rink! This is a tiny amusement park in the middle of Central Park.

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Hahaha I mentioned before that there isn’t a lot of grass here unless you go to a park. Well, I guess Peanut must’ve missed all the grass because he spent about 10 minutes rolling on his back (and consequently rolling down the small slope). And no, obviously, he is not neutered nor do I plan on fixing him.

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We passed the apple store off of 5th and man, the line was crazy long. This was the weekend the new iPhone came out.

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The day after, I was feeling even more driven to keep up the running so Peanut and I ran south this time to Battery Park. We ran along the East River on FDR and man.. what a view and what a WORKOUT. About 5 miles total on Saturday and then another 6 on Sunday! My legs were exhausted!!!

Part of the midtown skyline. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL that day; perfect for a run!

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Manhattan Bridge in the foreground with the Brooklyn Bridge and part of the downtown skyline in the background.

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This is one of 4 waterfalls that’s an art.. thing?.. displayed through mid-October. You can read about it here: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/26/waterfalls-display-opens-on-harbor/index.html?hp Oh, and that’s Brooklyn in the background.

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Peanut was SO tired from our run that every time we passed a spot of grass, he’d seriously just collapse and REFUSE to get up. We walked the entire way back home.

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Anyway, another reason I’ve been slowing down with the nightlife activities is the fact that my friends have been busy! Tim’s been working late hours and Cindy’s been kinda MIA (or maybe I’ve been MIA?) so we haven’t seen each other for quite some time. Yes, I only have 2 friends and I’m okay with that. We went to Dos Caminos for dinner last week (the midtown location but my coworker Steve went to the one in Gramercy/Flatiron and saw Matt Damon and Ben Affleck there!) and Mexican food here is.. well.. it’s not the same. I agree with the Yelp reviewers that the guacamole IS delicious but man, I can make the exact same thing AND make it better.. so, ha! Anyway! Tim works in the Metlife building and I could not resist taking a picture of it with Grand Central station in the foreground.

So pretty! Forgive me for the blurry photo but I took it on my phone so give me a break (I got the new Blackberry Curve for Verizon Wireless and it is a MAJOR upgrade from that crappy Motorola Moto q9m that I had.. MAJOR upgrade)!

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Tim is actually on vacation in Germany visiting his lovely girlfriend, Lena, so Cindy and I had to make do by ourselves this weekend. With no experienced locals showing us the ropes, we didn’t really know what to do, haha. Well, that’s not entirely true.. we watched “The Dark Knight” on Friday (I liked it!) and tried our best to avoid and out-walk the tourists in Times Square.

Oh! And we made it out to CONEY ISLAND on Saturday!!!

My coworker Jason goes to Coney Island all the time and raves about it and although I’ve heard how “ghetto” and “dangerous” it is, I wanted to see what all the hype was about. You guys, honestly, it’s just like Santa Cruz.. except the amusement park is bigger, WAY bigger. More rides and stuff.

It was RIDICULOUSLY hot, though. Man. I think Cindy and I sweat out about 5 gallons each. Seriously.. it was crazy, CRAZY hot but it was really good to get out of the city. We are planning to go again next Saturday!

Today, Cindy and I did girly stuff.. spa pedicure and manicure. Another thing about New York is that women put in a lot more effort into their looks and hence, I’m a lot more self conscious!!!!! I actually put an effort into my appearance now. I KNOW! ME, ERIKA RAMOS, CARING ABOUT MY APPEARANCE! I’m usually so laid back that I’ll walk Peanut in a ripped high school PE t-shirt and boxers with my uggs, unshaved legs and hair uncombed, greasy, and pulled back in an ugly ponytail.. always with no makeup, my glasses, and probably some food stuck somewhere between my molars. In my defense, I only did that because I saw others do it so I knew it was okay to be ugly in public! That doesn’t fly in NYC, man. Nope, you can’t do that here. I suppose it’s good for mankind that I look presentable in public.. oh and it’s not bad for me either.. not bad at all.

Anyway, where was I.. oh yes, the spa! Some woman actually brought her 3 year old daughter in for a pedicure. A PEDICURE. What is a 3 year old girl going to do with painted toe nails???!?!?!!!!! She doesn’t even understand what it is! All she sees is bright orange on her toes! Whatever, to each his own.

Besides the girlification, Cindy and I roamed Chinatown for some last minute dim sum, tapioca milk tea, fresh lychee by the pound and then ended up walking through Little Italy to eat MORE (cannoli and Italian ice.. SO GOOD. SO GOOOOOD). I swear.. if I lived in Little Italy, I think I’d be morbidly obese. All the apartments are above restaurants and cafes. There’s absolutely no way you can fight off that temptation; it’d be too hard to NOT be fat.

Oh, and on the subway.. guess who I spotted..

TAYLOR MOMSEN. She plays Jenny Humphrey on “Gossip Girl.” She’s only 14 years old and almost 5′8″. She is beautiful in person and very skinny. When I saw her, OH MY GOD, I started FREAKING. OUT. Cindy doesn’t watch GG (how blasphemous!) so she was all calm and stuff but man. I had to control my celeb-craziness because 1) the subway was packed and 2) I was already sweating from the heat and humidity and at this point, I was teetering on the point of dehydration because I was sweating even more from the celeb-sighting excitement. I thought about approaching her but I don’t think anyone would want to talk to me when I’m THAT sweaty (and I know she was too.. it was really hot today!!!!) plus I think it’s kind of disrespectful. She’s only a kid and she’s already on TV.. I didn’t want to make it awkward for her on her day off so I just sneakily took some blurry photos with my phone (as if taking secret photos is any better, right?). Too bad the flash went off on the last one. Whoops! Good one, Erika.. way to be sneaky.

Goodness, it was really hot again today. The heat will continue this week.. ugh. At least I’ll be in the wonderfully air conditioned office freezing my butt off SO much that I actually (get this) USE A PERSONAL HEATER. Yea. 90+ degrees AND humid outside but I use a heater in the office. Funny, I know.

<3

E

PS – I don’t know what it is but I swear, pictures taken of me on iPhones are very flattering. Andi took this of me with her brand spankin’ new iPhone (3G anyone?) when I got home today. This is me newly tanned, ridiculously sweaty and still freaking out about Jenny Humphrey (ignore my ugly facial expression please):

And yes, if you must know, I have lost weight. It’s still a work in progress but progress has been made. Thank you, 4 flights of stairs and walking everywhere because I have no choice.

City life!

I LOVE city life. I love that I can go out for drinks and not have to worry about the drive home. I love that everything I need is within 5 blocks of my apartment. I love that pretty much every store and restaurant has a delivery policy. I love that this city is incredibly dog friendly. I love that there is no other comparable city.

New York City, I love you. I don’t think I’ll ever leave you! Maybe for a weekend trip or a short vacation, but I love you too much to ever leave for good!

What’s also great is that there are always people visiting! Who can resist the Big Apple? My friend Ryan is in town for the week and on Thursday, Erica arrives! Yay!

I went out for a jog this morning. I know, I know.. all this walking, all the stairs and yet I still need to exercise. Peanut and I ran along the East River for about 40 minutes. I feel good! I’m starting to feel the pain and exhaustion in my legs though.. I’m so out of shape but this is a good start!

So, like I said, this city is so wonderfully walkable and the public transportation is great. I don’t take the bus so I’m not really familiar with it (I’m actually kind of afraid of buses..) but it seems reliable. There are times when the subway is delayed but you know, that kind of stuff happens. I admit I get really irritated when the subway is delayed. Time is money and people need to get to work!

My parents recently returned my leased Volkswagen GTI to the dealer. There is absolutely NO WAY I would’ve brought that car to NYC. It just doesn’t make sense! Plus, parking here is ridiculous and I’d be paranoid about scratches and bumps. Oh, and you can’t forget the gas prices.. I don’t even know where the gas station is! Anyway, if you are car-less but need one for the day, you can get a Zip Car. Tim’s a member and reserved one for a couple hours this past Saturday. What’d he need the car for?

COSTCO!

I took the photo while we were in the car. Anyway, Cindy, Tim and I drove over to Brooklyn to pick up some essentials at Costco. It was 2 stories! I’ve never seen a 2 story Costco! Afterwards, I picked up some items at The Container Store and Bed, Bath and Beyond. I think I’m pretty much set in terms of furnishing my room.. except for my bed frame. Oh, I got my mattress yesterday! I bought a memory foam mattress from overstock.com. I highly recommend it! So anyway, I was dead-set on building an elevated bed frame but after spending an arm and a leg on closet organizational stuff at The Container Store, I think a box spring will do just fine. No need to cram things under my bed!

Alright, enough writing and more pictures! All of these are from my Facebook and taken with my phone (I don’t use my digital camera as much anymore but I will soon! Promise!).

Peanut napping.

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The protesters outside of my office building. They were particularly loud this day.. banging on buckets! The police arrived and enclosed them in a fence, haha. I have no idea what they’re protesting, by the way, but they’re here every single day. It’s usually just a handful of people.. this was a special day, I guess.

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I took this while walking on Exchange Place.

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My roommate Nick and Peanut. He’s not sleeping, he was blinking, hahaha. Oh, Peanut!

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Tim and Cindy in the zip car.

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The Brooklyn Bridge.. obviously taken from the (moving) car.

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The buildings across the street from my apartment.

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3rd avenue around Gramercy.

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Pravda for Nick’s birthday. I like this lounge.

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MMM, Sam’s Falafel cart! This is probably the cheapest place in the city. $3 for a sandwich! And it’s actually delicious! I get one whenever I have cash (like once a week? I never have cash).

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Stuyvesant Square.

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Peanut at the dog park with another beagle!

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Well, that’s it for now. Leave me comments!!!

<3

E

A photo post!

I’ve been taking pictures on my phone and posting them on Facebook so if you’ve already seen them then uh, too bad.

One large suitcase (full of shoes), three large boxes (full of clothes) and two carry-ons later, I am finally in NY!

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At the subway station, waiting for the train.

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I had a DELICIOUS chicken gyro on the steps of some building across the NYSE. This was the same day I walked by a film/tv set. Some actor (his name escapes me) was filming a scene. He’s the guy who kinda resembles Kato Kaelin.. I can’t remember his name! I wasn’t able to take a picture because I was on my lunch break and had no time to freak out over my first celeb sighting. Anyway, cool place to eat lunch and people watch for a bit.

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I walk through Soho to take the subway to work. Boss man told me that there are closer trains but I really enjoy the walk. It was especially beautiful this day.

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Christina, Kristen & Traci are visiting at the moment (their trip was planned prior to my move but man.. great planning, guys!! =)) and this was taken while we were walking to the Soup Man. “NO SOUP FOR YOU!” Anyway, we saw a whole bunch of cops line up in case this rally or protest or whatever got out of hand. Their posters bared this message: “Socialist revolution is the only solution!”

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It was raining Friday and on my walk through Soho, I came across this broken umbrella. It was one of many. People–don’t skimp on your umbrella purchases! A $10 minimum should be in effect when deciding on a worthy umbrella!

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I made a wrong turn coming from the subway the other day and ended up getting lost for an hour around Soho, hahaha. For your reference, Soho and Greenwich Village (where I currently live) are neighboring areas. Like, RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER. Anyway, check it out! A model! If anyone can identify her, please let me know! Haha @ the woman in the foreground.

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I ended up walking through Little Italy while I was lost.

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This man was blowing bubbles on Broadway.

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Like I mentioned earlier, Christina, Kristen and Traci are in town and man.. they are really good at planning vacations. Thank God I’m going to Jamaica with such thorough planners! For NYC, they planned a DRINKING TOUR (omg) of the East Village!! Don’t worry, it wasn’t JUST drinking, it was a fusion of beer & history. East Village is a pretty cool, historical place. This was the group at the beginning of the tour.. still presentable.

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The first bar we went to is the OLDEST bar in NYC. So much history in that little bar. I’m talking Prohibition, Harry Houdini, Abe Lincoln and yea.. pretty awesome. This was the second bar on our list. And yes.. they are serious.

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CBGB = Country blue grass & blues. OMFUG = omf-unbelievable-g? No.. OMFUG = Other music for uplifting gormandizers.

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A lot of locals would stop and listen to Eric talk about the history of the East Village. This woman was one of them.

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This man is 90+ years old and he STILL works his own bar. In fact, this bar was a Rat Pack bar. Frank Sinatra and Madonna (among other greats) used to frequent this joint. Amazing, huh!! Also, this man works based on his mood. If he is tired at 7 pm and wants to take a nap, busy night or not, he will close up shop and tell everyone to come back in a couple hours. Needless to say, all I wanted to do was not anger this old man. Christina and I were very intimidated.

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It is Sunday today and besides enjoying this beautiful weather with a group of fabulous ladies, I plan on cleaning my mess of an apartment.

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HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY, MOMMY!!!!! And to all Mothers out there. =)

<3

E