very simple

I have no idea why the cute little Italian coffee shop in my neighborhood has started selling pastries that look like angry birds, but they are. They’re pretty well done, too.

Back in the dark days before blogging was a widespread “thing”, and well before there were smartphones and tablets and other machines with the type of portability that allowed for being brought along on bicycle trips through europe, there was a thing called “writing” in “journals”.

Cleaning out all of my shelves yesterday, I found my travel journal from my bike trip through France and Switzerland back in 1999. There was one guy on the trip who would periodically check his email – by tracking down an internet cafe and paying for 20 minutes of use once every couple of days.

I’ve spent the past few weeks/months working on a plan to improve my apartment. The largest part of the project is redoing the bathroom, and I will hopefully be able to submit the paperwork to my board in the next week or two. A smaller project involved rearranging all of the stuff in the living room (and eventually replacing some of the furniture). So today was the day for the big “moving all the stuff” piece. I planned it for a holiday weekend so that I’ve have the extra day for recovery.

All went fairly well until I went to put the TV in its new place, on top of my bookshelf. I didn’t drop it, but apparently jeans with rivets are a really bad clothing choice when picking up an LCD display with both arms. Needless to say this was a bit upsetting. At least it’s Presidents’ Day weekend, and everyone’s having sales on new TVs.

The second casualty was my toe. I managed to drop something on it (NOT the TV – just an old, small, camera I had lying around that fell in the exact wrong way), and I’m pretty sure it’s broken. It’s certainly bruised. You’ll just have to trust me on it, because a photo would be gross. And just when I was getting back into wearing heels. At least it’s not the big toe like last time – although I should have some extra tape lying around so that’s…something.

I must have moved these records through at least 6 apartments and 20 years worth of living since the last time I actually owned a record player on which to play them.

These are actually leftover Chanukah candles – I buy a box every year with the best of intentions to make it through all eight nights, and then, inevitably, I get stuck at work or simply fall down on the job. Of course, they give you EXACTLY the amount of candles you need for the eight nights, so you still need to go out the next year and buy another box.

There are times when you think…maybe my parents don’t know me at all. And then there are times when they give you a birthday card with a picture of a cosmopolitan on the front and you think…maybe they know me too well. In any event. It’s my birthday. had a lovely dinner with my parents at a new place in the ‘hood. and now I’m home and thinking that maybe actually drinking that cosmopolitan wasn’t the brightest idea on a school night. Nah. It was great.

Purse hook. And another circle.

I’m sure I posted another photo of this for an earlier 365 project, but hey, I’m not proud. I’m also trying to not be a hoarder, so my tchochke supply is not unlimited. One of the many random classic cameras I’ve found over the years. The last time I attempted to use it (in college) it actually worked, but it’s become substantially harder to find film for such antiquities in the years since the advent of digital. So it just sits on a shelf looking cute.

The girl sitting next to me at the cafe this morning was very diligently creating her own note cards, so I asked if I could take a picture. We ended up getting into a whole discussion of 365 projects and what she was doing as well, in terms of trying to be creative.

Then, as a bonus, as I was getting up to leave, she handed me a card of my own (with a lovely note inside)! Totally made my day.

They’ve started naming snowstorms now, which is generally stupid, but does make for easier blog post naming. New York City got spared the brunt of nemo, which hit most of the northeast with 2-3 feet of snow. But we still got about a foot. My goal was to wake up bright and early to take pictures before the melting/shoveling started in earnest, but thanks to the diligent efforts of the workers in my building last night, I didn’t get much sleep. Don’t get me wrong – I totally appreciate their efforts and wouldn’t have it any other way, but the all-night shoveling wasn’t exactly…quiet. I was finally able to get a few hours of sleep when they switched to the snowblower – for some reason the constant drone was easier to block out. So I got late start.

In any event, traditional snow day jaunt into central park to see it before it all turns into a slushy mess. First picture is the “official” 365 photo, the rest are just, well, the rest.