Mitch and Kathy Come to Visit

So my brother Mitch and his girlfriend Kathy came to visit me for the weekend. I was thrilled to see them, and thrilled for an excuse to have some fun.

Here are some of the things we did:

• walked through Central Park
• went to the Museum of Natural History to see the butterflies and the H2O exhibit
• had lunch in the Upper West Side
• went to Union Square, where a hungry squirrel ate peanuts out of Mitchell's hand
• toured my school
• went to the Build-A-Bear store on 5th where Mitch and Kathy added two to their collection
• took a pedi-cab ride down 5th
• ate BBQ in Times Square
• went to see Horton Hears a Who at the AMC on 42nd Street
• on Sunday, spent the morning at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, where we bought cactuses

Looking at some of the awesome plants at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden.

Kate's NYC Weekend

I am a little late in blogging this, but Kate came to visit for the weekend of Nov. 16, and we packed the two days full of stuff. Here, proof in pics.

She's going to kill me for posting two pics of her eating, but that's ok. We went to a Malaysian restaurant for dinner in Chinatown. . .

We ate at the nothing-but-peanut-butter-sandwiches restaurant in the West Village for lunch--Kate had the Elvis, of course--a sandwich that consisted of peanut butter, bananas, honey, and bacon. Mmmmm. . .

We went to the Museum of Natural History to check out the always-amazing butterfly exhibit. . .

Kate buys a souvenir for Matt from the museum gift shop. . .

And we saw a jovial Bob Saget in Times Square in front of the Drowsy Chaperone (in which he's starring right now) theater, supporting the striking stagehands.

A good was time had by all. :-)

Mario Comes to NYC

My Swiss mister Mario came to visit me for 10 days earlier this month. It was his first time to the states, so I was really looking forward to showing him around the city. It was a great, great time. We did sooooooo much sightseeing and exploring, it was terrific (and exhausting!). It also served as a really efficient and fun refresher of the city for me.

Here are some of the things we did:
--saw three Broadway shows: Spamalot, Avenue Q and Stomp. I had seen both Ave Q and Stomp before; Spamalot was fun and charming, and hysterical. Nate came with us to Stomp, and we sat in the first row, which was quite the experience. MUCH funnier than I remembered.

--saw two movies: Once, and Stardust. Already saw Once, but it was just as great the second time. Loooooved Stardust.

--attended two sporting events: a Mets game and the U.S. Open Final. Mets are always fun; the Open was an amazing experience. Roger Federer, the champion of that match and of the world, is Swiss, so of course Mario was very excited to see the game.
--went to a Letterman taping. The guests were Jessica Alba, and a band that I never heard of before, but they were pretty cool--Manchester Orchestra.

--went to the Museum of Natural History, where we chilled with the dinosaurs for a bit and went to the IMAX movie, about dinosaurs, of course.

--went to Coney Island, and the New York Aquarium, which is right on the boardwalk. Favorite part: the walrus feeding, by far! :-)
--went to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Hadn't done this since I was like, 10, maybe?
--walked across the Brooklyn Bridge at night. My first time ever! There are gorgeous views of Manhattan from there.

--visited Ground Zero on 9/11. Seemed like the right thing to do.

Also, we had dinner in Chinatown, walked around (and bought lunch at) Zabar's, had drinks in the West--and East--Villages, walked around Central Park, went to the United Nations (but the flags were down, so it was a pretty boring sight), walked and shopped on Fifth, and so many other things I completely lost track. All in all, a great time. :-)

Three of My Favorite Museums

1. the Tate Modern (London)
2. the Louvre (Paris)
3. MoMA (New York)

FUNNY Rotten Scoundrels!

Oh my god, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels could very likely be the funniest thing I've ever seen. And I've seen some funny things in my time. In addition to making the audience hoot and howl, Jonathan Pryce and Norbert Leo Butz (who just won a Tony for his role) kept cracking each other up, which made watching them even funnier. It was absolutely, perfectly hysterical.

And the Darwin exhibit at the Museum of Natural History was great--if you go, allow yourself a LOT of time to make your way through the exhibit. An hour minimum, I'd say. There's a lot of information to absorb and lots to see. Including some giant turtles and iguananas. Which, I now know, are both pretty yummy as dinner.

I added to my book collection this weekend. *Cringe!* I'm so bad. I keep promising myself the madness will stop! I think I'm really going to have to break down and buy another bookcase. This weekend I acquired two T.C. Boyle books and The Ghost of Hannah Mendes by Naomi Ragen (thanks, Gram!!); while in the city we also bought The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie, Newjack by Ted Conover, and The Jewish Kitchen by Clarissa Hymen (this one in particular is super, because this book will actually teach me how to make hazelnut rugelach! I can't even tell you how exciting this is).

We had a nice, respectable kosher lunch at Fine & Shapiro in the Upper West Side, and dinner at Ollie's. Yum. Till next time. . .

It's Thursday. . .

. . . and I've been daydreaming . . . all day long . . .

This weekend I'll be in the city to see a matinee of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (starring Jonathan Pryce!) and to visit one of my favorite places on earth, Zabar's. And to see the Darwin exhibit at the Museum of Natural History. (And the butterflies if I have time--I love the butterflies!)

I'd love to stop by the New York Press office to visit my new friends, but I doubt anyone will be there on a Saturday. I'm just going to have to play hooky from work one day and go down during the week.

Back From London, Unfortunately

This is one of my favorite views of London. It's the Millenium Bridge, with St. Paul's Cathedral in the background (yes, the "Feed the Birds" church). St. Paul's looks like a water-color painting in real life. It's one of the most beautiful churches on earth, as far as I'm concerned.

On the other end of the Millenium Bridge sits the Tate Modern, the most beautiful museum ever. It's breathtaking inside--for one, it's HUGE. In 1995 the building was converted from a defunct power company into this amazing place. It's seven stories tall and it holds Duchamp's Fountain.