the weekynd (mom edition)

last week when my mom was here was A W E S O M E.  you just don't understand.  but i will help you understand the awesomeness by writing it right now!!!!!

scary tree in Greenpoint! ah!

my mom arrived late on Friday night last week (the 19th).  it was pretty much too late to do anything but my little (but bigger than me) brothers came over to my apartment and greeted my mom as she got in.  saturday morning we went to Cafe Grumpy and got cappuccinos, a pumpkin chocolate financier, and a cinnamon chilean raisin pecan oat scone (yeah i had to write that one down).  it was so cute because my mom doesn't drink a lot of coffee and Grumpy makes their drinks really strong so she got all hyped up on caffeine!  we then did a little shopping at Brooklyn Industries because they were having a sale on top of a sale (yeah that's a real thing).

my mom getting hyped up at Grumpy! :) look at her! gettin crazy!

we then walked to meet my friend adam at Smorgasburg, a brooklyn food flea market held at the edge of williamsburg.  we ate pan seared scallops, s'mores from S'more Bakery, shrimp tempura tacos from Takumi Taco, s'mores pie from First Prize Pies (yes a lot of s'mores i know), and had some delicious homemade sodas from Brooklyn Soda Works.

my mom looking adorb at Smorgasburg!  (we changed outfits after
our early morning coffee run.  these are things girls do)

our buddy at S'mores Bakery making our s'mores!
they even hand blow torch them! See the thing
on the left? - blow torch!

post-Smorgasburg we walked around billyburg, sort of on a mission to find a dress for an event i'm going to, sort of just walking around to show my mom the neighborhood.  the weather was absolutely glorious on saturday and the entire weekynd in fact.  we ended up landing at a bar near where adam lives in the lower part of billyburg called the Woods, which has a large outdoor garden in the back.  andrew, my bro, met up with us here and we all had a round and watched Landhaus open up their little cart outside (they have a little food truck in the outdoor garden).  the food smelled delicious, so we snacked on some delicious butternut squash quesadillas.

andrew looking dashing in the backyard at the Woods.

after the Woods we went to a sports bar because alabama was playing some other team and andrew wanted to watch it.  chris met up with us here, which was nice.  the sports bar, called 4th Down, was alright, but i really didn't like their questionable strategy of playing the same game on two huge screen right beside each other.  the alabama game started on one of the screens, but halfway through they put the florida game on instead which was already playing right beside it and moved the alabama game to a small screen where we couldn't see.  this was pretty stupid to me, but whatever.  the best thing was that andrew and chris got to tell adam (who's from scotland and doesn't understand american football) how football works.  needless to say, it was really entertaining.

andrew telling adam the rules of american football. 

it was a lot for adam to take in at once. 

upon finishing our stint at 4th down, we had to leave chris and andrew behind because, well, we just couldn't take it anymore, and we headed back towards Greenpoint.  it was a nice night, so we walked back, and stopped in a cheese shop where i got some goodies for a care package for joseph, while adam bought some really expensive cheese.  we returned to Greenpoint and i took mom and adam to the Manhattan Inn (I've already mentioned this place on the blog once), my favorite piano bar (and place) in Greenpoint.  the ambiance was perfect and adam was beside himself with joy (as was i) after our seemingly long stay at the sports bar.

wonderful seats at the Manhattan Inn. 

the next day (sunday, 21st) mom and i went to Milk and Roses (previously mentioned) another favorite of mine in Greenpoint.  i had the oatmeal again, but this time with bananas and honey and my mom had an eggplant panini with goat cheese.  chris trickled in and then andrew and we all talked and drank coffee together and it was swell.

first it was mom and me

then chris dropped in

then andrew arrived! yay! :)

after breakfast, we walked around northern greenpoint and then made our way to the east river ferry! chris had to go read because he's in grad school and that involves a lot of reading, but adam met up with us at the pier!

view from the ferry 

mom!

adam, me, and a little greenpoint/LIC

after we arrived to midtown east via the ferry, we took a train up to central park to get some Wafels and Dinges, which has become a tradition for when my mom comes to the city.  we took a looooooong walk through central park because it was beautiful outside and all the trees were turning so it was really gorgeous.

mom getting some Wafels & Dinges 

CP!

this is actually the view from where joseph proposed to me!!!
:) he did good.

fam! andrew's hair looks really good here i think. 

one of me cuz it's fally. next prof pic?

after CP, which as i said before took quite a while because we explored the heck out of it, we headed back to brooklyn to go to Mister Sunday!  the only way to describe Mister Sunday is a huge outside dance party with food and drinks that takes place in gowanus grove.  it was so fun that even andrew danced.  imma say that again: andrew danced.  yep.  :)  after Mister Sunday, we went to a bar across the street to meet chris called Lavendar Lake that had a huge outside area which was really nice.  then home!  mom and i did lots more stuff that week that i will have to either update on the next bloggity blog or maybe just post some pics real quick sometime soon.

Mister Sunday!

Thanks for reading, y'all!

http://www.cafegrumpy.com/locations/cafe-grumpy-greenpoint/
http://www.brooklynindustries.com/
http://www.smorgasburg.com/
http://brooklynsodaworks.blogspot.com/
http://store.firstprizepies.com/
http://www.takumitaco.com/
http://smorebakery.com/
http://nymag.com/listings/bar/the-woods/
http://www.thelandhaus.com/  
http://www.4thdownbrooklyn.com/
http://www.themanhattaninn.com/
http://www.yelp.com/biz/milk-and-roses-brooklyn
http://www.wafelsanddinges.com/
http://www.nywaterway.com/erf-home.aspx
http://mistersaturdaynight.com/category/mister-sunday/
http://lavenderlake.com/

a marathon and a reunion

let's just say that the very start of last weekend began on the right foot.  friday night i caught up with my good friend hannah, who i haven't seen in a while because she's a super awesome film school student, which also means she's super awesomely busy!  it was a wonderful, chilly, and laid back evening spent in her apartment in manhattan where together, we consumed a large amount of cheese and crackers.  this was near heaven for me as my two favorite things were brought together: cheese and hannah.

this is an old pic, but i wanted to introduce hannah, you know -
put a gorgeous face to the name!

saturday morning, i woke up to a text from my lovely brother andrew inviting me to brunch. well sort of.  he said "do you wanna meet at a cafe in greenpoint called Milk and Roses?" and obviously, i said yes!  when we got there it was more of a sit-down, brunch type of place, at least at that time of day, and i realized that andrew had in fact invited me to brunch. this was a proud moment for me, and despite his claims that he "didn't know" that it was a "brunch type" place, i realized that in reality, he wanted brunch with his sister, but didn't want to say words like "brunch" and "mimosas", as young, straight men are often want to do.  or so i tell myself.

in the backyard garden of Milk and Roses!

i had the oatmeal with maple syrup, dried cranberries, and walnuts (delish) and an excellent cappuccino, and andrew had a grilled panini with three cheeses (ricotta, parmesan, & i can't remember the third one) and prosciutto and a capp as well.

andrew hates pics, but i don't understand why.
he always looks so cool. :)

after our brunch and discussion in the backyard garden of Milk and Roses on what can only be described as a crisp, very cool afternoon, andrew and i retired to a local bar called Berry Park, where we were able to watch the alabama - missouri football game.  berry park is not a sports bar by any means, but they have big screens that you can utilize (except not the larger one on saturdays for sports) if not already occupied.  at this point, andrew told me about his psychological attachment to alabama football, which developed at his most recently completed stint at a school called Deep Springs College, and let's just say, it was a good thing that alabama not only won, but never even almost lost the lead in the game.  so, uh... ROLL TIDE! :)

from there i attended a Neo-Futurist show called On the Future with my friends chloe and david in manhattan.  as always with the Neo-Futurists, the show was amazing.  i've seen three Neo-Futurist shows to date, and have always been impressed.  i highly recommend their shows, especially if you're looking for some ingenius nyc performance-theatre and a break from the larger productions of broadway shows.

sunday was spent in glorious weather in central park as i watched one of my bffs, chloe, complete a half marathon*.  this was such a wonderful experience, and i'm so glad i got to watch her and cheer her on as she attained a goal she had been working on for months.  it was a perfect day for an inspiring marathon watch and afterwards we retreated to an amazing cuban restaurant called Cafe Con Leche on the upper west side.  after that, i went shopping with my bf adam at Banana Republic, where we had poor service, but fortunately we powered through, and adam was able to eventually find some things for his new fall wardrobe including a couple of awesome argyle sweaters, picked out by yours truly.

chloe finishing her half marathon!
so proud! and she looked amazing doing it, too.  

posing in good ole CP (central park)
TEXAS!!!

the runner and her fans!

post-shopping adam and i declared that we wanted to find a rooftop to sit on, which we did.  we found a lovely little place right under the empire state building, which was great.  we then headed over for dinner and a movie at my FAVORITE PLACE EVER, Nitehawk Cinema.  if you live in nyc and have not been here GO. GO NOW.  it's a wonderful experience.  you sit at a little table, consume delicious food and drink, all in front of the new film you want to see.  they even have a little 30 minute pre-film show that they make themselves which is always amazing, so get there early to catch that.

view of the empire state building from the rooftop underneath.

then, on monday, I SAW LEEAAN AGAIN!!! haha, that's right.  she and another friend david made the trek from georgia in her toyota echo for a belated birthday nyc extravaganza.  i was able to show them some of my hood here in greenpoint, and took them to one of the favorite spots of the neighborhood - a piano bar, the Manhattan Inn.  splendid.

rendezvous with leeann at the Manhattan Inn!!!!
reunion #2!!

this is a preview for a future post. not sure when
it shall be revealed, but doctor ducky represents
joseph!!!! :-D

thanks for reading y'all!  coming up: my mom will be here this week! YAYYAYYAYYAY

*i previously posted that this was chloe's first half marathon, which was not correct!

http://www.deepsprings.edu/home

http://www.nyneofuturists.org/site/index.php?/site/shows_schedule/

http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/milk-and-roses/

http://www.berryparkbk.com/

http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/cafe-con-leche00/

http://www.themanhattaninn.com/

http://www.nitehawkcinema.com/screenings.php

southern summertime sadness

so, my title is kinda sad, but last weekend (10/5-10/7) was actually awesome!!!  i just wanted to make a reference to that lana del rey song that i really like, but would NEVER admit to anyone, and would definitely never play on the subway in front of people.

jk, i play that jam all the time on the subway. :)

anyways, i traveled to athens, ga from atlanta airport [via my mom - thanks mom! - i forgive u for not bringing amara, my cat] friday afternoon and it was still very summery down south, but i pretty much knew that that weather would be my last little bit of summer because upon returning to nyc, the weather would be getting chilly!  hence, the title ^.

on saturday, joseph took me to a really yummy restaurant called the White Tiger Gourmet, which was DELICIOUS!  we had actually been there before with my brother, chris, a long time ago, but i didn't realize then that it was so popular and such a big deal because it's built in a really old, sorta run down looking house (which of course reminded me of brooklyn).  it's even BYOB! WHAT??!?  i was so proud that joseph picked this place to take me to eat because i felt right at home.  i had the seared salmon ciabatta, which was insanely good, and joseph had the barbarella, which i can tell you - he'd highly recommend.

next we went to the third annual Hop Harvest Beer Festival held at Terrapin Beer Company (colloquially known as 'Terrapin').  if you missed this & you enjoy beer in any capacity & you're a mildly social person, you NEED TO GO NEXT YEAR.  it was so much fun.  there was free (you had to pay for a ticket to get in) Mellow Mushroom pizza and fancy popsicles by Hip Pops and bluegrass.  not to mention an absurd number of different types of beer.  i really liked the calypso beer, which was refreshing & citrusy in the 80 degree weather and i also enjoyed the pumpkin ale.

then we went to a place that sold growlers of beer for a growler football party.
you:  "i'm sorry what???"
me:   "yes, you heard me correctly.  GROWLERS OF BEER."
 (see below for pic)

up here in the good ole center-of-the-universe known as brooklyn, we like to think we have a monopoly on awesome craft beer and accessories, such as growlers, etc, but lemme just say, athens really shone last weekend in the fermented hops department. athens, ga, i salute you.  we got our growler of pumpkin wheat beer & attended the growler party hosted by one of joseph's med school colleagues, who made an awesome brisket and yummy boiled peanuts - which i hadn't had in forever.  the dawgs lost & people were sad, but it was a fun party nonetheless, and i got to meet a few more med schools friends and wives of med school friends, which i appreciated.

i also go to see leeann on her birthday this weekend!!!  we met up at Hendershots on her special day and got some specialty coffee - punkin latte & apocolypse mocha to be exact.  mmmmmmm.  she also sang at open mic later that night, which i missed because of my flight, but i know for a fact she was awesome.

the adorable White Tiger! 

huge barbarella!

huge salmon!!!

there was some awesome art work at White Tiger
i really liked these mugs - should've got the name of the maker!
**update: my friend, lauren, informed me that the maker is
marmalade pottery by maria dondero :)

a bike at jittery joe's!

he's so cute. he made a b line for the books of course.
if i weren't his wife this
pic would be really stalkery.

melissa at Hip Pops!!! make sure you check it out, athenians!

can you believe those flavors?!?
Hip Pops is usually on Jackson St. somewhere
-look it up!!

got myself a kanye zest! nomnomnom

Mellow Mushroom bus!!
WHHHAAAAAAAAT!!!??

the growler!!!! you can take your beer away!

another bike at Hendershots.  i think you see a pattern here.
ILOVEBIKES

leeann, looking stunning on her bday. xxoo

leeann got so many phone calls on her bday!

so much love!!! :D

thanx 4 reading, y'all! xo, S

http://www.whitetigergourmet.com/
http://terrapinbeer.com/
http://www.hendershotscoffee.com/
http://hippopsathens.com/
http://mariadondero.com/home.html

the weekynd 9/28-9/30

this past weekynd (a term i have created for weekends i spend in brooklyn - or mostly in brooklyn), i spent a lot of time in bushie (bushwick).  after work on friday i biked down (from greenpoint - north brooklyn) to a little warehouse party in bushie and then decided to crash at my brothers' place because it was only a few blocks away.  the next morning my brothers (chris and andrew) and i all had brunch together at a place called Northern Kingdom.  it was a really nice time & i got to catch up on both of their lives and hear about what they are up to.

when i was growing up, i'd always wanted to live in nyc.  but never did i really imagine that i would live here with my 2 little brothers.  throughout our brunch i kept thinking to myself "i am the luckiest sister in the world to have both of my brothers so close to me that we can all three enjoy this exciting season of our lives together in one of the greatest places in the world".  i can't say i thought it out that clearly, but as i sat with my brothers drinking coffee and eating a delicious brunch, surrounded by tons of other young people and some awesome rustic decor that is so very "brooklyn", i certainly felt it.  my life isn't perfect - there are things i would tweak ;) - but moments like these remind me that it's pretty stinkin' cool.

i spent the rest of the weekynd visiting an installation hosted by Performance Space 122 called Habit (full disclosure - it's in manhattan), which was pretty intriguing, but after reading on the website that it was meant to be "the real world meets no exit", (and honestly not reading much further after that) i was a bit disappointed to find that it was all pretty much scripted.  it was evocative, nonetheless, and although not my favorite performance i've ever seen, definitely not the worst.  the most interesting part was watching people run to see the action of the scenes (the stage was the shell of a house & the scenes could only be viewed through the windows).  i mean, unless they're wearing workout clothes or trying to catch the g train, people don't run in new york.

post-performance, some friends & i retreated to one of my favorite bars in LES called Welcome to the Johnson's (highly recommend unless you consider yourself to be "classy") & then headed back to brooklyn of course!

below are some photos for your viewing pleasure! & stay tuned for next weekend (not weekynd) where i shall be traveling to the good ol' south - GA - to visit joseph!!!

a piece of ephemera from Northeast Kingdom.
make sure you check this place out if you live in bushie!

i said "andrew, act natural!" he started texting on his phone - ha!

blurry one of chris perusing the menu. i gave him that shirt for xmas.
let's just say you'll see it again.  

outside of Welcome to the Johnson's figuring out how to use my new panorama camera! (can u spot the glitch??)

subwaypanorama!!! my friends are here ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^         and                                            ^^^^^^ here 

                                                                                                                                                               love the face, jazz

thanks, y'all!

http://www.north-eastkingdom.com/
http://www.ps122.org/
http://nymag.com/listings/bar/welcome_to_the_johnsons/