Saturday, March 16, 2013

my favorites & hanging with susan sarandon


okay. so, we didn't get to hang out with susan sarandon actually. BUT she was at the basketball game we went to and they showed her on the big screen and so she was in the same room as us, breathing the same air, so we're basically best friends now.  :)

we didn't literally hang with susan sarandon, but we DID, however, have happy birthdays full of my FAVORITE things!  joseph got to visit for almost an entire week for his spring break and i decided to take those days off of work because, well, i have a jobby in jobby world and i get paid time off! what?!?  there were a lot of flowers, sweets, walks, pictures, and dates involved, so it was obviously a week full of my favorite things i would like to share!

joseph showed up to my apartment with these awesome flowers!

i mean, he's good. :)

we started out on saturday with a sort of combo birthday party at spritzenhaus in greenpoint.  this is one of my very favorite places because it's huge and it has great big fireplaces and can accomodate a lot of friends!  here's a few pics from the night's festivities:

my AMAZING friend & co-worker, laura, surprised me with an assortment of delicious little debbie-like cakes from empire cake (highly recommending you visit if you're in the city!)

chloe & i found (yes, found) these hand puppet tattoos, so OF COURSE we applied them to our hands.  chloe did a really good job with her monster and my dog was okay, but they were friends.

naturally, my beer wore a mustache


and chloe, my BF, (& sister - newly adopted by my bros) was there!!
overall, it was an unforgettable night and joseph & i were happy to see new & old friends alike!!!!

the next day, we went to the ides at the wythe hotel with some friends, which is this really neat rooftop (sort of - i say sort of because it's not actually on the rooftop but that's what people say) bar at the top of the hotel.  when we were first going in i was thinking, "wait, do we have to be on a list for this, this seems WAY TOO COOL for just anybody to go up there", but they let us right up and it was awesome!

we got to take some fun pictures with the manhattan skyline:

laura & me with our champagne!  my friend adam was at SXSW for the festivities, so he had laura buy me champagne in his absence!  (what a good friend)

i love this man!

and we had a STUNNING view of the manhattan skyline during sunset.  i almost didn't want to tell you guys about this place because it's SO AMAZING.  but in the end, i HAD to share.  :)

can't beat that view of the rising freedom tower!
it got a little chilly after the sunset so we headed inside and looked at the view from inside:





a couple of weeks before joseph visited, i sent him a care package to georgia, which is nothing special because i send a lot of them, but THIS one had something awesome in it - two tickets to the brooklyn nets game for his birthday!  i basically care nothing about basketball, but i know joseph likes live sporting events, so i thought it would be a good surprise.  we ended up having a BLAST! (and like i said, susan sarandon was there, so yeah.)  also, i found out that the brooklyn nets are the first major sports team in brooklyn in over half a century!  before that it was the brooklyn dodgers who left in 1957!  so if you live in brooklyn, you should show some love.  (there's really good food there, too, ladies.)


we were pretty high up there, but the seats were actually great.  we could see everything.  if you're looking to see some great sports on a budget, it's definitely worth it to get the high up seats. 

i must say, one of my favorite parts (besides susan sarandon) was during half time when these little kids played!  they were so tiny and fun to watch!

having fun in the nosebleeds!!!! :-D

the next day joseph and i spent a whole day out in greenpoint!  we started at cafe grumpy (my favorite coffee shop):

NOM

then we grabbed cookies at cookie road on the way to transmitter park:

cookie road!  i got  peanut butter bar & joseph got a chocolate chip cookie & a green tea shortbread cookie!
then we had a fun photo session in the park!  this was the first time i'd been to this park - it recently opened, but it's my new favorite.





what a view!

joseph doesn't love taking pictures, but he was such a good sport because he's sweet and he knows i'm trying to learn how to use my new camera!!  :-)






and we made a new friend.  his name is carter.  he looks mean, but he's a sweetie.


after our trip to the park and eating cookies, joseph took me to my favorite restaurant (five leaves) for my birthday!

YUMMY! i had a steak and an ingalls wilder cocktail & it was superb. we also had gelato for dessert!


then we met my brothers at my favorite bar (yes, lots of favorites) manhattan inn for some silent films accompanied by awesome piano playing - courtesy of joel forrester.






andrew was enthralled

hey chris!

much fun was had by all!
i was sad joseph had to leave, but i got to work the next day and found this on my desk:

HE'S THE BEST!

overall, it was a perfect birthday celebration with all my favorite things and my FAVORITE person. :-)

thanks, y'all!








Tuesday, February 19, 2013

snowy greenpoint


just some pics of my snowy 'hood after the blizzard (2/9) and some documentation of brunch that happened last weekend.  (2/16)


little bird


have you seen GIRLS?
well, this is Cafe Grumpy! <3
just a couple blocks away from me! :-)

Greenpoint

Nobel Street

brooklyn water tower

this is where my restaurant shall be
on Nobel St.

Greenpoint!

brunch at Miller's Tavern 

lovely laura & i 

our entire table ordered bloody mary's

hip jenga set up
frands!

any cool bklyn bar must have cool
lights

brilliant

the bros

the counting room in williamsburg.
pretty cool//terrible service

Greenpoint snowy street
http://millerstavernbrooklyn.com/
http://www.cafegrumpy.com/locations/cafe-grumpy-greenpoint/

<3 y'all!