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Well, I must admit, I think I’ve been quite spoiled not working these past 5 months…Ok it was great, I won’t lie one bit…:O) 

But, the grind goes on. Tomorrow I will board the Carnival Spirit, out of Seattle, for about a month—which wil take me to the Alaskan Inner Passage. And after that? Well, it may be cruiseshipping, but quite possibly not with Carnival anymore…Which is ok!

At any rate, most likely the next time I write, it will be from the shores of the Alaskan Inner Passage…Bye for now!

Hey ya’ll! Photos are up from the NYC trip…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/50339912@N06/sets/

Today is a day for chillin’. Mostly. 

The last couple days have been spent galavanting all about Manhattan, meeting people for lunch, etc…Wednesday was sushi for lunch with 2 old friends from high school, followed by LOTS of walking around town. Visited Central Park, the M&M store(yes I did!), Times Square…Mainly for nostalgia, as the last time I think I was there, Mom was still around. Though it’s interesting what they’ve done with it—they’ve closed down a couple blocks and made a big promenade out of it.I kinda like it, but apparently it makes traffic crappier. Oh well…

Thursday, really just more of the same, only I just walked around Manhattan like a crazy person, running a few errands, and just enjoying the city’s energy, really. 

Today is a chill day. Mainly just doing some light practicing, packing, grabbing some tasty fro-yo in Manhattan followed by getting ready for the journey back to LA tomorrow.

Needless to say, it’s been an AWESOME trip. I definitely needed to do this, even if it meant I sacrificed a month of income. Mental sanity is SO much more important. Reconnecting with old friends and family, holding my first baby, and meeting a mouse named Ralph were just some of the things I got to do. Ralph was hiding out in my sheets one night, as he brushed up against my leg. He’s into football and likes Belgian style beer…

Though the one thing I didn’t get to was visiting my BFF in New Hampshire—just so much to do and travel to in so little time! But next time, I’m planning on a lobster party at her house, dammit! :O)

Definitely check out the Flickr page in a few days, as I’ll have pics up there to check out! 

Peace out from The Apple! 

And PS—Ralph says hello to everyone. 

Well, this past weekend was busy-busy! Last Thursday, I hung out with my cuz who I hadn’t seen in a while.

Then Friday, it was off to Montclair to pick up the rental car. A bit of a shlep, but worth the cheaper rental! Then it was off to Mt Laurel, where I chilled with some fam and stayed the night at my aunt & uncle’s lovely home. I got to have some great food, and did some shopping with my grandmom. All was good. 

Saturday evening it was off to some old friends of my mom’s(since she was at college!). They were in Berlin, about 15 minutes away. We went to Outback, had yummy steak, and caught up. Afterwards I spent the night. 

Sunday it was off to my old stomping grounds in South Jersey, in Egg Harbor Township. I met up with an old best friend of mine I hadn’t seen in almost 12 years…She has an ADORABLE little 2 year old daughter, who’s just as smart and outgoing as her mommy…After lunch, my friend gave me a quick tour of Atlantic City, and how much it’s changed. A LOT. All the crackheads that used to live there aren’t really there anymore, which is nice. But there are all these fancy outlets strips they put in right by all the casinos, which didn’t used to be there….Anywho, a lot had changed. Then it was back in the rental car to my friends’ place in Berlin, for some tasty BBQ dinner. Their son was over with his girlfriend too. I hadn’t seen him in a while, so we got to catch up. They took off that night, and I spent one more night there. 

Then Monday I said goodbye and left early in the morning to get the rental car back. I was poooooooped! I got back to the city around midday. 

All in all, it was a great trip. Though come to think of it, I didn’t get to have a cheesesteak…Damn! 

Today was a busy little day. Slept in a little. Then headed out for MoMA and Manhattan. First, an observation…Well two actually. First, people who take the subway in LA, generally, are doing so because they can’t afford cars. And the people who drive cars don’t want to wait. The people who take the subway in NYC however, are basically everyone. That’s just how they do. I mean, I got home from 59th St. to almost Coney Island in 30 minutes. LA eat your heart out! Ha! The second observation: women with ginormous handbags. Now, in LA, women just have that crap because they wanna look all trendy and all. Women in NYC however, have those because THEY COULD BE OUT ALL DAY AND VERY WELL NEED THEM. Just funny little notes to myself. 

So, MoMA was my first order of business. Went in and checked out all the floors and exhibits. There was a generous Picasso exhibit, which was cool. The 5th floor was chock-full of the classics guys, like Matisse, Picasso, Van Gogh, some Kandinskys…Was very cool. After checking out all the art, I went and chilled in the great courtyard out back. Fountains, trees, very relaxing. I fulfilled my MoMA goal. Check. 

After walking outside, I wanted to check off another food item. So I grabbed a tasty hot dog off a vendor, followed by a pure-fruit smoothie. Then I wanted to check out the flagship Apple store on 5th Ave. After walking in the wrong direction for half an hour, I grabbed the W train uptown to 59th, and was right there. Ah, Apple…Anywho, the store was pretty large. And ridiculous. Absolutely packed full of people, and the most Apple employees I’ve ever seen in one place. But, I’ve been there now, I can say. Then I grabbed a pretzel from the vendor on the corner to fulfill all but one on my food checklist(the last being a cheesesteak from South Jersey/Philly). 

After which I headed home. A good day indeed. Lots of walking. Good food. And neighborhood shootouts. Wha???? Yes, you read right. After about 30 minutes of being back, I was chilling towards the window side of the apartment, on the couch, when I heard some people being loud out front of the building. No biggie, same as every other night. Except it crescendoed into 6 very loud gunshots. I immediately ducked to floor needless to say, cause if a bullet was gonna fly up here, I sure as hell didn’t plan on catching it! Thank you, nooooooo! Then the po-po came, secured the scene, and left just as quickly, which looked like no one was actually shot. Good, grief. 

So, that’s all for now. Will be posting photos to my Flickr page, so check ‘em all out there! Needless to say, I won’t be sleeping near the window tonight…

Yesterday I basically chilled out most of the day. Then it was off to Long Island City(LIC) to meet with an old friend I haven’t seen since high school—at LEAST 12 years, maybe longer. 

It was great to see her, of course. But it was also cool to see Long Island City. VERY hip area. I would totally consider living there, I think. Of course, it depends on the rent, as always….:OP

The place she works at, called The Creek and Cave, is a TOTALLY hip little bar. It’s got several levels—bar, patio, a front restaurant….GREAT place. Food was fantastic:

http://www.creekandcave.com

All in all, a good night. 

Today was a good day.

I slept in a little bit, and then met up with a ship friend of mine, Tom, who gave me a tour of the Brooklyn Experience…

First we went to a small little coffee shop in an area called Park Slope—called Cafe Regular on Bergen St. Park Slope is kind of a nice little residential area in Brooklyn. Lots of cute townhouses line the streets. Cute, adorable, million-dollar townhouses. Oh yeah. I’ll be living there quite soon…The coffee was great though! 

Then it was off to grub at City Sub on 11th Ave. Perhaps the GREATEST sub I’ve ever had! Howmp! It was a full footlong sub for 7 dollars…Dee-lish! Bread was perfectly toasted, cheese melted just right, all the perfect veggies…It, was, heaven. 

Then off to another hip area called Williamsburg. Basically this area is more like hipster-posh. Very cool little area. We walked up and down Bedford Ave, checking out all the cool shops and restaurants. We passed a great vintage shop called Monk, and stopped in for a bit of shopping. Then we went back to Bedford Ave and passed this cool bar called Slopehill(I think), and Tom’s friend was playing there, so we went in. It was a great little jazz trio, so I got to chill with great company, hearing some great jazz for an hour…Then Tom drove around for 30 minutes to get me to a stop where I wouldn’t have to worry about line changes, since I completely screwed that up going to meet him earlier…Ha! Lisa had a special moment…

And so, that was today. Tomorrow not sure—perhaps MOMA and Manhattan…Pics will follow at some point of what I’ve taken so far!…

Cheerio! 

Well now that I’ve cured my pizza fix, it was off to Trader Joe’s. I went to the one in Brooklyn Heights. Getting up there was a single far bus ride of $2.25. I got 2 singles and a quarter ready. The driver looks at me and says, “If you ain’t got change, you need to get off at the next stop.” some drunk guy offers to swipe his for me—I politely say no thanks. And, the buses here have this “strip” you push to request a stop—no wire pulls or anything. I was confused at first. Oy!

I came in to TJs and saw this huge line for something—didn’t give it a second thought. I continued my shopping. I’m ready to check out, and look or the checkout line. “This is it,” says the cute employee…that big line I saw earlier? THAT was the checkout line! It started at the front, went down the length ofthe store, around the dairy, and back towards the front…Ho-lee Krap! I think they have LA TJs beat any day…

And then it started raining. Just a nice pleasant light rain…some people didn’t use umbrellas even. With the humidity, it reminded me of summer days in Jersey when I was a kid. This trip is off to a good start! TTFN…