very simple

Different streets on the upper west side have varying levels of enthusiasm for holiday decorations. One of the prettier streets in the wintertime is 67th, where every building along the block covers every tree they’re responsible for with white lights. It just makes everything a little less bleak in the dead of winter.

Went to a party in queens tonight for some friends who are moving out of town. I had a lot of fun, and a lot of wine, which is probably not a good combination with blogging but…whatever. The biggest issue was getting out there. It’s normally a pain to get out there from the upper west side, since I have to go to Times Square and essentially double back on the N train to get to Astoria, but tonight was just classic. Apparently, the MTA decided that the N train didn’t need to run between Times Square and Queensboro Plaza, so, after finally discovering the signs indicating as much, I trekked over to the 7 train, to go to Queensboro Plaza, where I could pick up the N “shuttle” to Astoria Blvd. When I FINALLY got to QP, I stood waiting for the N for about 20 minutes, with about 150 other people. After said 20 minutes, they finally announced that we really needed to be on the downstairs platform. There were no signs anywhere indicating this. So all 150 of us raced down to the lower platform to hop on the train, which proceeded to sit for another full 20 minutes. So that was fun. All-in-all, it took me about 90 minutes to get there.

Needless to say I took a car service home. Which took a total of 20 minutes, including dropping someone else off first.

Photo is from my long wait on the OUTDOOR platform in queens.

About a gazillion years ago, I went with some girlfriends to Vegas. Since none of us actually gamble (other than about $20 in slot machines), we took a day and drove out to visit the Hoover Dam. I worked with electric utility companies, and one of my friends was an architect, so we had an incredibly nerdy time, and made sure to take the hard hat tour, which allowed us to actually go inside the dam and see its inner workings. For obvious reasons, post-9/11, this tour is no longer available. I also seem to be missing any actual photos from the trip, largely due to the fact that I was using my first, incredibly crappy digital camera, and I don’t think those pictures ever made it onto any sort of computer, but I did bring back one souvenir, which I’ve managed to hold onto all of this time. Periodically I wonder what the heck I’m actually going to do with a hard hat, but for now, it’s something to take a picture of.

The Time Warner Center here in Manhattan is essentially a very fancy mall. A very fancy mall that installs giant sculpture shows in the lobby, because it’s classy. Normally, there are two giant Botero sculptures of a naked man and woman, but those have been removed (I believe temporarily) in favor of an exhibition of sculptures by Dali. or based on artwork by Dali. I’m not really sure.

I don’t actually go into this shop very often, mostly because I don’t drink tea, and I certainly don’t need to start a scone-eating habit, but it’s always been one of my favorite storefronts in the neighborhood. Amidst a sea of ever-expanding chain stores that seem to be invading the upper west side, alice’s is at least a little bit unique (even if this isn’t their only location!)

This was my favorite cold-weather purchase this year. I’ve been looking for a hat like this for a while, and none of them were quite right. What I particularly like about this is that it is both soft and oversized, so I can stuff all of my hair into the top. And it’s extremely warm. Purchased at H&M for something ridiculous like $8.

I know it’s cliched, but I just couldn’t help myself when I was walking down broadway earlier today. It’s still a great-looking building, even if everyone and their mother has taken some variation on this picture.

In November, I rearranged my living room. This involved moving my giant, heavy bookshelf, which in turn required me to remove all the books for the first time in several years.

As a consequence, I ended up with a pile of (mostly) mass market paperbacks that I really never planned on reading again and had no sentimental attachment to, so I decided to pack them up for Housing Works. And here they sit, because I never seem to remember to actually take them with me when I leave my apartment. And lest you think I’m entitled to avoid a big hassle, there’s a Housing Works shop two blocks away.

This may be my favorite sign at my local post office branch. Because you know that it is the result of someone smashing their face into the giant pane of glass.

We got more snow today. Not anything approaching last week’s blizzard, but a few inches. Just enough to (a) be annoying (b) be slippery, and (c) cover all the dirty sooty leftover blizzard snow so that it doesn’t look quite as disgusting here.

With my perfect timing as always, I managed to go out to grab a cup of coffee during the heaviest part of the storm.