thankful.

This may be a little late, but I am thankful for:
lemons that have finally ripened, kir royale and surprise on-sale lace dresses, Scrabble with my sisters and their loves (and champagne), Moroccan carrot salad, comfortable love, cheap beer, new friends, a night drinking and laughing just like high school, and a day out getting fresh air, unexpected toad-in-the-hole, and a glass of white wine with my dear Mum.

c'est arrivé!

Today, the third Thursday in November, we welcomed the arrival of Beaujolais nouveau with un poulet rôti, des frites, and a chilled bottle of this year's "bo-jo".
Beaujolais nouveau stands out because it is such a young wine, bottled and sold only a few weeks after the fermentation process has begun.  Across France and among oenophiles worldwide, this wine is greeted with banners and one-minute-after-midnight tastings.  Reviews are mixed among the French; critics cannot get past its youth, but it seems that its devotees believe a comeback is brewing (or fermenting, so to speak).
I liked what we tasted tonight.  Though its initial introduction is a bit astringent, I found the taste grew more rounded.  And it was a perfect accompaniment to our easy, tasty meal on this chilly autumn evening.

Bienvenue, bo-jo.

And as a side note, is there anything better than a rotisserie chicken?  Moist, flavorful, topped with a juicy skin-- not to mention incredibly convenient after a long day at work.  Paired with some Trader Joe's oven fries and a salad, it might just be the perfect dinner.  At least I think so.

oh, how the light has changed.

Autumn is a season of changing light.

The light of the early morning is the perfect place to enjoy that first cup of tea, though the air is still cool and bed beckons.

There are delicious long runs on Sunday afternoons, each one a race to beat the dying day.  An end to the weekend that leaves me juxtaposed between flushed cheeks and skin that is cool to the touch.

Darkness falls earlier in the city these days.  The shadows of buildings and skyscrapers lengthen and meet the setting sun, the warmth of the light fades, and a chill moves in.

This is my favorite season.  I guess I've always loved change.

a weekend in the city.

Part of the move to Brooklyn and adjustment to city life has been trying to sort through the overwhelming number of things going on here on any given day.  Every weekend there's a round of questioning that goes something like this:

- Oh, the weather will be nice this weekend.  I should probably take some time to go for a run and sit and have a coffee somewhere, maybe read in the park...
- But then there's this street fair in downtown Manhattan on Saturday and it would be really great to eat lunch from one of the food trucks that will be there...
- But then again, Brooklyn Based is sponsoring an event in the neighborhood...
- And the event has free beer, sold...
- I need to see Friend X today, and also Friend Y, and Friend Z is visiting but only knows Friend X...
- There is a huge pile of laundry still sitting in my room.
- Wait, it's Sunday?

I'm not complaining; part of my motivation for moving here was the appeal of all these exciting, interesting happenings.  It's just exhausting!

But it does lead to some pretty sweet photos.  Enjoy.

hello brooklyn.

The past few weeks have been among the craziest since I got home from South Africa.  I have no complaints, but life has happened at warp speed.  I unpacked my bags, got a job (twice), and then had to suffer only two months of commuting before moving into a gorgeous apartment with two very cool roommates in Brooklyn.  We joke that our walk from the subway to the front door is a little like wandering down Sesame Street-- it sure looks that way.

Here are some photos from our first few nights.  It's time to get into some semblance of a routine, including regular posting again.

Our move-in weekend mostly involved high levels of stress, but luckily such worries were eclipsed by champagne toasts, avocado and lemon pepper, the record collections of both our dads, finding working speakers on a stoop in Carroll Gardens, and the view of downtown Manhattan from the roof.  That and the company of some good friends have me very happy to be here.  It's going to be a good summer.

 

Postscript: I am so ok with how central our hardwood floors are to these photos.

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a day at the museum.

Back at the end of February, just before I started my new job in Brooklyn, I spent a day running around my beloved Philadelphia with Kevin.  It was a beautiful early spring day, and a fitting "farewell" to the city of brotherly love.

We had some Robsons beers that I'd smuggled home from Durban to go with our giant plates of brunch at Sabrina's.  We walked up the Parkway to the Art Museum where we got given the red member badges, for the sole purpose, the girl at the counter told us, of making us feel superior.  We saw armor that seemed to be made to transform horses into unicorns, lots of modern art installations, and scoffed at tourists running up and down the museum steps (I guess the red badges worked).

It was a very nice day.




All photos taking with the iPhone, some with the instagr.am App.

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oh, life.

Life has been crazy lately.  Since my last post, I wrapped up a very short-lived career "trading for Joe", and began a new job at a non-profit in Brooklyn.
Yep, that's right.  Brooklyn.  As in, "I live in Pennsylvania and commute to Brooklyn every morning and every evening".  Luckily it hasn't been as bad (yet) as I'd thought and within a few months I'll have saved enough money to pay a deposit on an apartment in New York.  But for now, my travel time clocks in at just under 2 hours each way, which I'm viewing as extremely valuable reading/podcast time (Ira Glass, I'm lookin at you).

I've got a lot of figuring out to do, most especially in the How will I ever find time to do the things I enjoy doing in the free time I don't have? category, but it will come with time.  And for now, I've got my first real job working for an organization I believe in in one of the greatest cities in the world.  And though the commute may get long at times, that fact is certainly nothing to complain about.

This weekend, updates about life.  Promise.