Freedom Is[n't] Free

These last few days, I checked off a few long-awaited (and free!) activities off my list. Friday night Evan and I headed up to the Highline.

I had read about it and wasn't sure what the big deal was other than that it was an elevated park. But once we made our way up, it was clear what all the excitement was about!

The park is created on old rails and it incorporates the tracks within the landscape design.

My favorite were these lounge chairs that not only fit on top of the tracks, they also rolled along them!

The next morning, Evan met me after work in Times Square and we got an early start on our Fourth of July plans. We headed to the Intrepid. It's a WWII aircraft carrier and was one of the coolest spots I've been in the city. We got in for free, thanks to the Bank of America free museums program.

Evan totally geeked out!

Okay, I guess I geeked a little too...

There was so much to see!

Along with the carrier and the planes docked on the deck, there was the Concorde and a submarine. We didn't see the submarine because of the hour-long wait, but everything else was so impressive.

And free for us!

That afternoon, we headed to Battery Park for a free concert with indie rockstars Conor Oberst and Jenny Lewis. We ran into some favorite familiar faces there... along with thousands of other indie hipsters. I took a little nap and awoke to a huge crowd that reminded me of Portlanders... from the way they dressed, danced, smelled... all of it.

This year the fireworks moved to the Hudson. We headed down to 14th Street. Since police blocked our way to the pier where our friends were sitting, we stood in the streets with a few million of our closest neighbors. We couldn't hear the music playing along, so Evan chose to sing instead.

Our view was okay. Above the crowd, the street lights, and beyond the buildings was quite a lovely display.

We moved our scheduled bbq to Sunday since we didn't have enough time on the Fourth. Evan was pretty stoked to grill this huge slab of beef that he bought in the meatpacking district. You can find great deals there!

As the token vegetarian in the group, I enjoyed the smell of the steak and the taste of the cupcakes. YUM!!! We had a really great 5th of July BBQ with our friends and then I caught up on some much-needed sleep. Still, I had to get up early the next morning for my next adventure...

This year, tickets to Shakespeare in the Park are extremely hard to get. The play is free, but you have to wait in line to get tickets -- two tickets are granted to each person. And since this summer Anne Hathaway is starring in Twelfth Night, the tickets are really hard to get! Kathryn, Russell, and I headed to the line in Central Park at 7:00am and there were already 400 people in front of us. We weren't sure what our chances were. The first bunch of seats are given to sponsors, and there are also many set aside for the virtual line. In a 1,900 seat theatre, we were sure we had a chance.

At one point, a member of the staff came to talk to us, and announced that before us stood the people sitting near the Rock of Hope, then those near the Tree of Possibility. As for us, we were sitting on the Grass of Uncertainty.

At 1:00pm, after six hours of waiting, we didn't get in.

So the next day we started earlier. At 5:30, we had a bigger group show up. We brought a survival kit, including donuts, games, and rain gear. We were much closer, with maybe 100 people ahead of us.

And we got in!

It was one of the best shows I've seen in a really long time. It was so good it made me cry! Yes! At a comedy! :)

So far, the summer of free fun has been going rather well. I hope yours is going great too!

Fun for Free!

This Summer, I'm giving myself a little goal. I hope to hit up two free activities a week. Living in New York makes this really easy. Not only are there a lot of recession-friendly deals, but the city has lots of Summer-time sponsored events at museums and in the parks.

On Saturday, Evan, Megan, and I hit up the Bronx Zoo. We each got in free with our cards from Bank of America. Every first Saturday of the month, BOA sponsors free admission to 100 venues across the U.S. So if you have a credit or debit card or whatever, check out where you can get in for free!

At the Bronx Zoo, the must-see exhibit is the one with the gorillas. In addition to the cost of admission, it's $3. Not a bad deal when you get in for free!

I loved the gorillas so much. There were about 10 gorillas in all, including three toddlers chasing each other and an old silverback who was lounging around.

I wanted this one gorilla to fall in love with me and run away with me King Kong style... and then I found out it was a girl.

Hm.

Then last night was the annual Museum Mile. The museums on the east side were all free and open late. We wanted to see the Guggenheim.

Evan and I planned to meet up on the west side before heading over. And he ran into our friend Mitzi who was heading to meet her fiance, Tony! What luck! Tony had been waiting in the long line for the Guggenheim, so luckily we got in without having to wait.

It was so cool inside! I loved the Frank Lloyd Wright architecture. He designed it so that it was conical, which allowed us to take the elevator to the top and just walk the spiraling ramp to the bottom.

I was excited that the museum was filled with art from my two favorite eras: Impressionism and Modern. So much fun... for free!

My First Fondant

I always wanted an EasyBake Oven.

Instead, I pretended our kitchen was a restaurant and made up menus listing the few items I could make: hot dogs, toast, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches... the classics. I can't remember how much I charged, but I'm pretty sure that I was willing to negotiate for nothing.

I inherited my sweet tooth from both sides of my family, and although cooking meals has yet to come naturally, my love for baking desserts seems to just keep growing. I guess I just figure there's a lot of intimidating science involved with the accuracy in cooking. But baking seems harder to mess up... (Although the infamous "Salt-for-Sugar Swap" of '85 in our brownies was a baking benchmark for me and my friend, Jenny).

I have since learned to be a little more patient with myself. A little. In the past I've spent time teaching myself how to create yummy cookies, cupcakes, and pies. More recently I've been wanting to become a little better at making cakes. Recently, I finally took a stab at making a cake with fondant on top. Allison (quite the savvy cake-maker) gave us some advice. It was followed by a last-minute phone call for help to Michal, who might be one of the best cooks I know.

Okay, so here's what we made. A four-layer chocolate cake with raspberry and whipped cream, plus buttercream with fondant on top.


The marshmallow fondant was quite the adventure to work with. I guess the big thing that we quickly learned was to grease the countertop before working with the fondant. We ended up making it work, but it was just a little messier to clean up than it would have been had we greased the counter.


We dyed some fondant and used the Spring colors to make a Spring-themed cake.
Look! Pretty flowers...

Evan added a butterfly... and a sun with - of course - sunglasses. (I'm sure there's something existential about that). Oh... and I made some grass with a lil' bunny hiding.

And Megan was kind enough to add a ladybug (cute!) and a caterpillar.

It was not only the cutest cake ever but also one of the yummiest! :)

Self Motivation

I think... if I post on this blog, I'd like to make it a venue of "Good Vibes Only." So I want to post things on here that make me feel good, and hopefully some things that might make you feel good too.
Today I needed some words of wisdom on writing.

So here's the deal. I've been writing. A bit.
There's this book I'm working on. Maybe you've heard of my insane dating project that somehow landed me a lil' interest from: the book world, Hollywood, and a handsome beau. I'm writing up my adventures - along with some tales of dating woes and wonders and magical moments of finding visions of hope while in the depths of despair - and am hoping to compile it in book form soon-ish.

In reality, the book feels very, very possible. Extremely possible in fact. But I have been standing in my way of getting it done. Some call it writer's block. But I believe the only block standing in any writer's way (or anyone's way from his own success)... is himself.

I took a break from writing for a few weeks. And I've successfully come up with a few excuses as to why...

One.
It's not really an awesome feeling writing about my failed relationships in a way that "takes the reader there." Ouch. For real. Let's just photocopy my journal, shall we? Very humbling. And it makes me ornery.
Not attractive.

Two.
I am not giving my life enough credit. I keep thinking this book is basically my take on a sort of memoir... when my life is not even a third over yet (I expect to live FOR-EV-ER). And I keep thinking my life is not interesting.

Three.
I have been feeling like I suck at writing.

So I went to a writer I really respect for some inspiration.
Here's what Liz Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love) has to say:

"As for discipline – it’s important, but sort of over-rated. The more important virtue for a writer, I believe, is self-forgiveness. Because your writing will always disappoint you. Your laziness will always disappoint you. You will make vows: “I’m going to write for an hour every day,” and then you won’t do it. You will think: “I suck, I’m such a failure. I’m washed-up.” Continuing to write after that heartache of disappointment doesn’t take only discipline, but also self-forgiveness (which comes from a place of kind and encouraging and motherly love). The other thing to realize is that all writers think they suck. When I was writing “Eat, Pray, Love”, I had just as a strong a mantra of THIS SUCKS ringing through my head as anyone does when they write anything. But I had a clarion moment of truth during the process of that book. One day, when I was agonizing over how utterly bad my writing felt, I realized: “That’s actually not my problem.” The point I realized was this – I never promised the universe that I would write brilliantly; I only promised the universe that I would write. So I put my head down and sweated through it, as per my vows."
-Elizabeth Gilbert

So...... I think that makes sense. I need to throw out my excuses and just write.
I really do.

--------------------------------------------
Here's the thing. I'm not posting this whiney complaint in an effort to lure fantastic compliments my way.
Really.
I just wanted to post something to give myself some motivation. Plus, I want to start making this blog a haven for the good words of good people. So there you go.

Do you have any cool phrases you've heard recently that have given you a boost?
What motivates you???

One More Reason...

Wednesday night I was talking about this cool walking mystery tour around the city that I wanted to do (kinda like "How to Host a Murder" but out and about). Neil Patrick Harris had mentioned it about a year ago on the Regis and Kelly show and I've been trying to track it down ever since.

The next day, my friend, Dan, and I headed to the Starbucks across the street from work. And who walked in behind me wearing a black leather jacket and sunglasses??

That's right.

Neil. Patrick. Harris!

As I waited for my grande hazelnut hot chocolate, I gently touched Neil (we're on a first name basis now, apparently) on the arm.

"I was just talking about you last night!" I said. "What's the name of that mystery tour around the city?"

"Accomplice."

"Is it an all-day thing?" I asked.

"No, only a few hours."

Um....

So there you go. More cool moments and serendipity giving just one more reason why my life is awesome. That was such a cool experience! Right??!

Okay, so here's that tour (they also have it in L.A.).

And here is some more Neil Patrick Harris joy that you will love!!!

Westward Bound

heading to P-town next week. Interesting that so many people have mistaken that term for Provo and not my beloved Portland.
But yes, I will be in Portland soon and can't wait to see family and friends! There's a baby due in the fam next week, one of my old work buds is having a going away party, and Krikava is gettin' hitched, so good vibes are all around! :)
In other news, I just got a Blackberry and can already tell it will require some sort of intervention to tie me away. In fact, this is my first attempt at blogging from it.
In the meantime, I'm enjoying a blissful evening in the city with Becca and Amy and whoever else arrives. We will be venturing a journey across these united States with our most favorite game ever, Ticket to Ride. And they are in search of counter space while I type.
Good times had by all.

Joy in the Journey

I've kinda been walking around doing my own dance of joy lately, singing to myself, "I love my life!!!"

It's true. The Bonnie-cat has been getting a daily dose of blissful serenades and has been watching me awake with excitement for every new day. It's good times.

And in honor of my giddy jigs, I bring you a classic from Balki Bartokomous and Cousin Larry...