Weekend Wrap-Up: Weekend number 4 in New York City and still loving it just as much as day 1! After a week filled with tornado and flood warnings (both of which we never got) the weather decided to give us a break and show its sunnier side (at least for a couple of days). I cannot express my excitement for my rain boots to come in the mail tomorrow! It only took a week of getting to work with soaking wet feet to realize that needed to change asap. I think my feet would agree.

Here were this weekend’s locations that were hit. SVA photography studio, Empire State Building, Five Guys, The Playwright Irish Pub, and Trader Joes. After a long and productive week I was looking forward to having a “low-key” weekend. It’s kind of hard to stay true to that though when you’re living in this city I’m finding. So anyways, here is the rundown.

Friday after work I was off to meet up with my roommate before heading to a friend’s art studio. I rode down on the subway to City Hall and peaked outside of the subway station before catching my next subway to the stop I needed to be at. The first couple pictures are from the City Hall area. I’m a sucker for old architecture and loved the pillars. After snapping a few pictures on my phone I was onto my final destination and met up with my roommate. Let it be noted that this was the smoothest meet-up with my roommate in the history of my time in the city. Usually when I try and meet up with her something usually goes wrong on my end and the first call she usually gets from me is, “Uh, I think I’m lost.” It’s kind of turned into a game of where in the world is Anna. Maybe my luck is turning around though because this trip was a straight shot.

After I met up with my roommate we headed back uptown to meet up with a couple of friends and check out their apartment before heading to the Gallery. After visiting a little, it was in a cab and off to SVA to check out one of our friend’s recent photography project. Her concept of her project was of time and of different photos and notes that she had kept throughout her life. She had a really great quote posted around her theme that I think is worth sharing, “The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.” Personally, I loved the quote and her work was fantastic! Personally, I’ve never been very artistic but I have such respect for those that are. Once we checked out her project, we headed back uptown back to our apartment to stay in for the night with a couple of friends. And, yes we actually “stayed-in” the whole night even after a failed attempt last weekend (back to it’s hard having low-key weekends). 

On Saturday I was off to meet-up at the Empire State Building. I don’t mind riding public transportation, but the scene was definitely a different place this weekend. You would think the subways would be a little bit more relaxed, but I’ve come to find the opposite. The trains are more crowded, more likely to be late, and the riders seem to be more irritated. My wait for the 6 train seemed to drag on and on before it finally arrived. If I wouldn’t have been on a mission I might have waited for the next train, but instead I nudged through the sea of passengers and into an already standing room only car. I’ve never been on a more crowded train, and between train traffic, the heat, and amount of people there were some not-to-happy passengers. I tried to just laugh at the situation though, but was pretty happy to get off at the 33rd Street stop. Up the stairs, and I was off to the Empire State Building. 

I’m still amazed at this city each day, but now that I live here I’m starting to get a different perspective than the tourists’ view so it was different being somewhere that is mostly tourists. By the end of our visit, it was funny to pick-out who in line was definitely visiting, or who maybe lived here. Tourist pick-out 1.) Gift Bags 2.) Excess clothing and 3.) Tourist Maps. Want to blend in like a local? Then avoid all of the following! Not that it’s bad being one, it’s just funny to be able to point them out now.

The view from the top of the Empire State Building is absolutely gorgeous! Just being able to look out from every direction and take in all of the city is something I don’t think I could ever get sick of. I got to test out a little of my new city knowledge with the buildings too. I still have a long ways to go before I stack up against a 5 year veteran.. but I gave it my best shot! 

After the beautiful view, we were onto another must-visit locations Five Guys! Their press is not under-rated and we had some delicious burgers and fries! For anyone who knows me well, I’m a self-proclaimed “condiment whore.” Especially when it comes to ketchup, and if you’ve lived with me you’ve definitely seen this first-hand. Anyways, you probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you, but I actually wasted almost my whole little cup of ketchup… I don’t know what happened, but the burger and fries were so good I didn’t feel totally inclined to use as much ketchup I guess. Moral of the story? Five guys puts down a mean burger and I will definitely be back for more :)

After a fun day of exploring I needed to head back uptown to change into my duck gear, grab my roommate and head back downtown to the Playwright Irish Pub to meet up with some fellow ducks and yell O! I talked my roommate into checking it out with me with the expectations that there probably weren’t that many ducks in New York so we probably didn’t need to get their that much earlier than the game. Boy, was I wrong! The pub was two stories, with the second story reserved for ducks and the bottom a sea of yellow and green as well. Did I die and go to New York City duck heaven? I think so! It was a great game, the ducks conquered and it was a good night filled with celebration afterwards.

To wrap-up the weekend we headed to Trader Joes today. Normally, I wouldn’t consider grocery shopping blogging material, but this time it seems totally appropriate. Within the last month a new Trader Joes just opened up on the Upper West Side on 72nd Street and Broadway. It was a pretty big deal. The media noted people crying over how great the prices were. Yes, apparently New Yorkers will cry over great prices since they can be so far and in between. We’ve made our rounds in checking out local grocery stores including Gristedes, D’agastinos, and Food Emporium. All of which, well, meet New York’s prices of being pretty high. I’ve just gotten used to not buying some things I used to buy because the prices are just outrageous. Most of the prices are pretty comparable, but some things are double or more. We’ve been talking about going to Trader Joes since the last time we went grocery shopping to try and save a couple of dollars. Needless to say, we were pretty excited about the trip, hence blogging material.

Two floors of amazingness and great prices and I’m hooked. $3.49 for Swiss cheese?! $2.99 for orange juice?! The prices were great, the selection was good, and the people were very helpful. Downside? The whole trip ending up taking us about 2 and a half hours.. between walking and buses. Plus the store is super crowded! I guess I’m getting used to that as a New York standard, but there was definitely at least 150 people in the checkout lines that wrapped around the store. Surprisingly, the lines moved at a decent speed though and because of the prices, the commute or lines didn’t bother me too much. 

After grocery shopping I would complete the other part of my “relaxing” weekend with a little nap, cleaning session and a skype filled evening with some friends and family from back home. Sundays are my officially skype day, which seems to be working out pretty well at keeping me in touch.

Well, that’s that for the weekend wrap-up I need to catch a couple hours of sleep before I’m off to the start of another work week!

Another Friday, and another ducks video for you all! Getting pumped up to take down Stanford tomorrow! I’ll be watching the game tv side (wishing it  with the New York Oregon Alumni crew in my I love my ducks shirt! 

The rain has found me over on the east coast. I knew I couldn’t escape it forever, but you can bet I was going to try. Regardless, The last three weeks of sunshine and perfect weather account for more of a summer than I had in about three months in Portland. So out with the umbrellas and hooded coats! 

I laughed when my Mom asked me if I was going to bring my rain boots to New York and told her I wouldn’t be needing them. Boy, was I regretting that decision today! Even with an umbrella and hooded coat I was absolutely soaked by the time I made it to work. I might as well not have done my hair or make-up this morning because I ended up rocking the drowned rat look most of the day. That is the one thing about the rain on the west coast, I didn’t enjoy it anymore than here, but I never spent much time actually in it. The only time I really had to roam into the wetlands of Portland was going to or from my car. So even though it rained about 10 months of the year I still probably spent less time in it in a month in Portland than the time I did here today.

On my way home I needed to stop by a couple of stores on the Upper East Side. I used my favorite website HopStop to get directions there and back to my apartment and felt pretty confident. It was simple, Take the N or R up to 57th street, walk 5 blocks and I would be there. That is if the world went according to plan. You can bet that rarely happens in my world of missed directions though. I ended up getting off at the right stop, but on the wrong side of the city. By the time I stepped out of the subway station and realized my mistake I decided I’d rather take a little stroll than to head back into the station. Plus, Central Park was just a hop and skip to the East Side so I decided to walk through.

Today was the first time I’d been there since moving and even while the drizzle drained off of the trees and sidewalks it was still beautiful and full of people. You could spend days in Central Park and still probably not see the whole thing. I knew this walking into the park, but decided I had a general idea of where I was and knew that I just needed to follow the paths to the other side of the park. The thing is, there isn’t really a path that simply goes through the park in a straight line. All of the walkways are pretty curvy going through trees, boulders, and over bridges. I didn’t mind taking the risk though. I’ve found when I have a couple of extra minutes I actually don’t mind much if I get myself a little away from my original plan. It’s not that I’m lost, just that I’m taking a detour to my final destination. Sometimes your favorite memories or places are found by accident and I try not to take advantage of the chance.

I ended up finding my path to the other side, to my destination, back on the subway and back to my apartment just fine. Not home before getting caught up in another downpour of course though! Tomorrow I will pay a little bit more attention to how other New Yorkers manage the rain and less about worrying if my hair gets wet!