Thanks Doe fund man!

It was chilly this morning as I waited for the light to change on my corner. I was doing a little wiggle in my jacket when a voice next to me said, "it's cold you should put up your hood." I looked over and saw one of those Doe Fund guys, all dressed in blue, getting ready to cross the street to change the garbage bag on the far corner of the block. I smiled and told him that I was ok. He then put my hood up and said" that's better". It was a little odd but I thanked the stranger and then went to cross the street. He put his arm out in front of me with an exclaimed "Wait!" I looked up and there was no car coming and the walk man had just appeared on the cross signal. He then informed me that people like to run the lights in New York and I should be careful and have a nice day.

Totally random kindness on a cold NYC day.

Big box little car

Last weekend, I took a drive out of the city up to Albany, NY with a friend. She is moving into a new place in a few weeks and was looking for some new things for the apartment while we were there. So we ended up at the Christmas Tree Shop (which is a closeout store). She found a huge bookshelf unit and fell in love with it and the price. So she bought it and we drove around to the back of the store to have it loaded into my car. My little car. The box was pretty big and my car is not so much. After taking everything out of the trunk and the backseat we finally figured out how to put the seats down to fit the box and we were on our way.

Fast forward to arriving at the apartment to take out the box. My friend and I pulled and pushed it to get it out of the car but when it came to lifting it up there was no way we could hold it for more than a minute, let alone up the stairs. Out of nowhere, this guy came and asked if we needed some help. He called over another guy who was sitting on a stoop and together they lifted the box up the 4 stairs into the elevator and down the hall while we watched. We said thank you and they left. It was a double random act of kindness. As we slid the box toward the wall, I noticed that the box said the contents was 97 pounds! A extra big thank you to the random stangers in the neighborhood!

Metrosexual tow truck driver

When I go to get gas put in my car (yep I am not legally allowed to do it when I fill up in Jersey) I don't really expect to have to encounter any real social interactions. I hand over the credit card and sign, say thank you and drive off. But today I had to maneuver my car around the pumps so that another car could get out. A tow truck was getting filled up and watched the whole thing. As I pulled up he leaned out his window and said to me "That eyeliner really makes your eyes pop!"

I was really confused and muttered "thanks!" Since when do truck drivers know about eyeliner?! It was a nice compliment and made me feel great but was a bit odd :)

Here comes the parade... there goes the car!

A few weeks ago on a Saturday morning, I went to go out to my car to drive to LI. When I arrived on the street where I left my car, I found people dressed in costumes and huge floats in the middle. So where was my car? Well in the spot where I left it was a float from the My Lady of Grace church! So I ran into the street and screamed at a cop, "Did you tow my car???" After explaining to me that it was towed but not to the impound lot and that I wouldn't have to pay to free it, she directed me over to a sign. The sign had the phone number of the local precinct. I called and over the loud music of the parade gave him the make and model of my car as well as the license plate number. He told me that they towed about 200 cars to all different places in the surrounding area. My car had been "relocated" by a tow truck to one street over. He gave me the apartment number that was closest to my car and I was off on a hunt. So climbed up the hill and did not find my car. I was hot, sweaty and mad at this point and about to call the police back when I noticed my car across the street parked next to a fire hydrant.

I was about to freak out that they moved my car to where it could get ticketed when I saw a yellow sticker attached to my windshield. The sticker said that my car was relocated and to not ticket it for 48 hours. Good thing I had to move it or it could have disappeared!

Well all was good but I don't like that my car can me moved without any notice. Put a sign up a few days before so I have fair warning. At least I didn't have to pay!

Hold my spot please!

Here's another adventure in parking to smile about:

As I was scouting out a place to leave my car for the night, I saw a woman get into her car that was parked right on the corner close to my building. I slowed down and asked out the window if she was leaving. With a nod of her head, I pulled up next to the car in front of hers while I waited for traffic to pass so she could pull out. Just then a huge Mack truck honked the honk, startling me. He started gesturing wildly telling me that he could not fit through with my car there. I moved my car to the other side of the block and illegally pulled in front of a hydrant. The truck passed and the woman had not pulled out of the spot yet but there was no way for me to back up in order to take the spot, there was just too many other cars driving up the street. So I reluctantly drove away from my parking spot and around the block to search for another open space. The traffic inched and I sat at the light for 3 changes.

As I pulled back around to the block, I figured maybe just maybe no one will have taken the spot yet and I will be able to pull in. So I pulled up to the area and saw that a car was in my spot. On closer inspection it was the same lady... she hadn’t left the spot yet! She opened her window and said, “Let’s do this!” I smiled and pulled up in front of her. She expertly pulled out halfway and said “Take your time.” I wiggled behind her car and she pulled into the street so to block anyone from coming around the corner to take my spot!

I pulled in and waved and thanked her as she pulled away. What a fantastically sweet and nice lady!! Only in NYC ☺

It's a small world!

Two days ago I was driving up my usual parking streets when I saw a spot and got into attack mode (aka ready to parallel park). As I went to pull in the car in front of me went to take the spot, luckily the space was big enough for two cars. So I pulled up next to the car that had just pulled in and looked over at the driver who was none other than a friend of mine, Keira (named changed)!

We both opened our windows exclaimed our excitement at seeing each other. I finished parking then we both caught up. She used to have her car in a garage (lucky!) but moved and now has to park on the street. We are both fighting for spots everyday :)

We parted ways and her car was gone in the morning.

The next day I was driving home from work and saw a number on my phone I didnt know but i picked up. It was Kiera! She had gotten a parking spot and there was one right behind her! She was holding it for me. Luckily I was a few blocks away and got there, honked and she moved up with enough room for me to slip my car in. How cool!

Parking in NYC is a fun adventure!

Missing: 1 green Toyota Camry

I park my car on the street every night but this morning when I went to go to work, my car was not where I left it! Start of a mini heart attack! In my car’s place were some orange cones and some helpful (yet quasi-evil) construction workers. I made sure my car was not in a different place as I could have just forgotten where I had parked it (It does live in a different spot every night). The green Camry was definitely missing. Then I saw a tow truck. Oh no! I had to get to work where was my car? I ran over to the construction worker and screamed, “umm where’s my car??” He politely asked what kind of car was it and then informed me they were moving cars down the street.

I had seen signs about construction the night before but it was on the opposite side of the street. So I thought since there was no signage on the other side it was safe to park there. Nope. The construction worker said they put up the signs late last night. Really smart! I was fuming as I walked down the street and found my pretty little car on the opposite side perfectly placed hugging the curb. They were playing musical cars! A big SUV was being towed down the street as I pulled out.

I feel like it can’t be legal to just pick up cars and move them wherever they want to. Oh NYC I do love you but quit the silly games!

I gave my car a mini lecture on not letting anyone (even a big machine) push him around and pick him up. He is to stay where I leave him no matter what. I think he understands now ☺

Pup in the park!

The weather got nice for one day 2 weekends ago and I wanted to go outside and enjoy it. Being lazy on the weekends, I didn’t get outside until almost 5pm and it wasn’t quite as nice but I still headed off to Central Park to meet a friend and his roommate's dog.

I grabbed a bouncy blue ball for the pup to play with and walked down toward the middle of the park where we were going to meet up. The pup's name is Seven and she just turned 4 and is full of spunk. Three minutes after I gave her the ball she popped it with her teeth. Oh well!
Say hi seven!

So we continued to wander about and stopped every few minutes to smell another dog or pick up a stick or just to smell a tree. I have wanted a dog of my own for a long time and I started to notice the dog etiquette in the park or should I say owner etiquette. Dogs like to sniff and that can get strange and leaves owners with 30 seconds to a minute to have an awkward convo (“what kind of dog is she? Stop, muffin be nice! And what’s her name?”)

So overall, Seven was well behaved and we walked around for over 2 hours. We visited Belvedere Castle and took some pretty pictures. Then as the sun was setting took some nice pictures on the bridge. It was really nice and relaxing. I love the park when it’s not crowded. Having a pup around makes everything 100% better.


I cannot wait until the weather gets nicer and I can have days like this every weekend.

Thanks Cabbie!

Last night as I attempted to find a parking spot on my favorite street, I saw two cars that seemed to be pulling out, score! I quickly revered down the street and found that one of the cars was pulling out while the other (which was a cab) was pulling in. The cabbie was fully parked and he stepped out of his car. I was backing up into my spot when I realized that there was almost enough room to park but the tush of my car would be hanging out into the driveway of a parking garage. While I was not sure this was a ticketable offense, I was afraid that my car would be hit. The cabbie started to walk away and turned and said "Are you parking there?"
I replied "Yes, but I don't think I will fit."

At this point, he jumped back into his cab, turned it on and with his foot out of the car and the door open he moved his car up a few inches giving me enough room to fit. Before I could even say thank you, he was back on the sidewalk and off to his destination.

50 cents

Today I had to park much further downtown than I usually do today at an earlier time. I have not memorized the signs and where the pumps are in this area so finding a spot was a challenge. I finally found a spot and then saw a meter in front of it. I was running late so I parked and then walked to the middle of the block to see what the sign said. I found out the meter runs until 7pm and it was currently 6pm. Just then another car pulled in behind me and I asked (just to make sure) that I had to feed the meter till 7. The man confirmed this for me.

So then I walked over to the meter which told me my quarter would get me 10 minutes of parking time. I am really bad with math but figured out that i would need 6 quarters to get me to the time when the meters shut off. I started to dig around my purse and pulled out 4 quarters. Then I climbed halfway back into my car to look in my work bag. There were none in there. So I started to l look around the car and was about to give up and go across the street to get some when the man who was parked behind me came over from in front of my car and said, "Looks like you are searching for more quarters. Here. "

He had gone over to the meter and saw that I needed two more quarters and gave me them. I was speechless. I stammered a thank you and then he was gone.

I really love this city and the people in it :)

(I felt like I was in that commercial where people pass along a good deed and it follows the good deed from the start. I will be passing along his generosity as soon as I can.)

The Parking (sweet) Spot

I have not struggled with parking for the last 2 weeks. Yep, this is coming from the same girl who drove around for an entire hour without finding on single parking spot. I have found a secret street to park on where I get a parking spot almost every night. Sometimes I don't even have to parallel park!

It is 1 block from my apartment and I don't have to move my car until 9:30 am the next morning. All of the other parking spots in the city have to be moved by 9am on alternating days. No, I can't tell you where it is because I want it to remain a secret. But it is pretty fabulous.

The word fabulous is a bit deceiving. I am parking on a street with a large group of housing projects on one side and a huge ass mosque on the other. Yeah, think about it. There could be gang fights and terrorists in front of my car in the middle of the night. Hmmm yeah not the best area but I have no fear!

It is actually pretty safe don't worry about me. I leave my car when it's dinner time and don't retrieve it until a little after 9 in the morning. It exciting to know that when I get off the highway I am actually almost home and don't have to drive in circles doing the parking dance.

If only I could figure out a way to surpass that darn toll everyday...

New Room New Views

I just moved into the biggest room in my 3 bedroom apartment. Not only do I have more space for all my stuff but I have a different view of the city. As I type this, I am watching out of the corner of my eye, the east and west bound traffic on 96th street creep up and down the hill. I can see the buses lurching forward and stopping to pick up and drop off all the tired passengers. The cars line up and stop and then the light switches over and its time for them to move forward. A car just parked in an award winning spot right in front of a building. It took two tries but it was worth it.

I can see into the next building and a man is playing the guitar while his roommate is cooking in the kitchen.

I can see all of this with a birds eye view from a high floor in a high rise. Boy am I lucky to live in such an amazing city.

Sweet Garbage..man

While the never ending battle to find parking every night continues, so do the stories.

A few nights ago I was circling and saw a car pulling out of a spot. I got into the correct position in front of the car so that no one else would try to zoom in and steal my space. I felt excited as a began to pull backwards. I looked in my rear view mirror only to find a garbage truck waiting to pass me to continue swallowing the refuse of the city. Panic set in and I got all nervous that I would not be able to park in one try and that would lead to horn honking and anger from the other cars behind the truck. The garbage men had jumped off their truck at this point and one of them said to me, "You can do it! I know you can!" I expressed a bit of fear with my face which he noticed and then he began to instruct me. "Turn your wheel to the right, now the left. Pull up. Ok stop. Back up and yes! you did it!" I was smiling at this point. A garbageman had helped me parallel park! I thanked him as he was heaving a bag into the gaping mouth of the truck. He smiled told me to have a great night and went on down the street.

I love NYC :)

How to find parking in NYC

Parking in NYC without having to pay for it is a real adventure. I took for granted the nice driveway and curbside parking I had in the suburbs. To park my car now I must have excellent reading skills (for the street signs), math ability (for the angles to parallel park the car) a good memory (to remember what time i have to move the car in the morning and also where i parked the night before) and patience (to drive around forever).

I have an entire routine as to how i find a parking spot every night. It involves driving down certain streets all close to my building. I start in the slightly sketchy area and work my way down. Up and down and up and down. Sometimes I get behind another person looking for a parking spot and then there is a non verbal fight for a spot.

By the time I actually find a parking spot the real fun is just beginning . I have to attempt to get into it. My parallel parking skills suck and it takes me a few times to get into the spot before I still have to correct and wiggle around. If I have to park on a main street with lots of traffic I get really nervous but I refuse to give up a spot so i get honked at a million times until I am finally in! I have yet to park in one shot. That is my goal.

One night I was parking on a main street right in front of a doorman building. The doorman, unknown to me, was standing there and watching my attempts to park. That night was particularly bad and it took me a good 5 times to get into the spot (pathetic I know). Well once i finally parked, I got out of the car and the doorman asked, "Are you a new driver?" I said,"Nope just a really bad parallel parker." He then offered to teach me how to park and after we could get dinner! I laughed and politely declined.

Who would have thought that I could get a date just by being a bad parker!

I do feel ashamed and a bit guilty but I must share with you, my loyal readers, that I am no longer reliant on the public transportation system of my beloved city. Yes, it is true, I now have a car in NYC. Please put away your judgment while I tell the story of why I have a car and how it is making my life more enjoyable.

My very cool city grandparents had a car which they kept in a garage under their building. They used the car on weekends and on trips to see their friends. Well my grandpa just got sick and my grandma can not drive anymore so they decided last week that rather than pay to have the car sitting in the garage at the insane price of $420 a month that they would rather their granddaughter have it. Last Monday, I picked the car up and due to the late hour I parked the car in a garage in my building. For the privilege, I had to shell out $29 plus a dollar tip for 12 hours. Not cool.

The next morning I headed out to New Jersey and found that the entire trip of one highway a bridge and a side street took me 20 mins! Astonishing that I could be at work so fast when my morning commute using public transportation took me an hour to an hour and a half.

The trip home takes a bit longer but its basically much more enjoyable and relaxing.

Parking in NYC deserves its own entry but I will just say that I suck at parallel parking and it takes 20-40 mins of driving in circles trying to find a parking spot.

If you see me driving around in my green Camry wave! :)

Adventures in Crocheting

My commute is so very long everyday that it allows me plenty of time to work on the three baby blankets that I am crocheting. I don’t have much time before the babies are born so even with all the transfers I make I still take out my hook and huge ball of yarn to crochet on the subway.

I have found out that people become mesmerized by the repetitive action of my hook grasping the yarn. Whenever I crochet on the subway, I have an audience. Most of the time the onlookers look away quickly when I look up, ashamed to have been catch watching me. I play a little game of counting how many people I can catch staring at my hands.

Sometimes some of the onlookers ask questions. I had a couple who were sitting across from me ask what I was making and if my mom taught me how to crochet. (A baby blanket, and no a friend in college.) They were intrigued and the woman said she always wanted to learn how. They complimented me and then continued to watch until they departed from the train.

Another morning, a man on the bus asked me in broken English about what I was making and if I was pregnant and it was for my baby. I laughed and told him no and then he shared a story with me about an old lady in the community (Harlem) who makes sweaters and sells them.

A few nights back, I was busily crocheting on the train when a couple walked on. They sat down and the man pulled out a digital camera. I thought at first he was just showing the images to the woman he was with but then I saw him discreetly press the button. He was photographing me crocheting! Then he showed the woman and she smiled and then looked up at me. It felt really cool to be doing something that a random person felt the need to record forever (or at least for a little while.)

So I continue to stitch 1000’s of little knots….

The urge to SING!

On my way home from work today I got into a completely empty subway car. This is a rare unless it is 3 in the morning and then you purposely should move to a full subway car so you don't have any bad interactions.

Well anyway, I wanted to take full advantage of this empty train so I cranked up my Ipod to Billy Joel's Uptown Girl and began to sing at full volume. "Uptown girl she's been living in an uptown world..... " That is my karaoke song of choice. The acoustics on a train are pretty fabulous and for two local stops on the C train I sang my song. I felt so free and almost like I was starring in some movie where the heroine just had a life changing event happen and was so happy about it she had to sing! Although I keep looking at the doors to make sure no one interrupted my private show, I felt like the train was moving just for me.

Ironically ,it was a very appropriate song choice as I went from 125th street down to 96th street. Not only am I an NYCbean but also an uptown girl.

Unfortunately, one man choose to enter my haven of a subway car at 103rd street. I went silent as the doors opened and stayed that way until I got home when I cranked up my radio and sang at the top of my lungs again.

I love NYC :)

Sushi, Music and Sun!

Oh how I love summer in NYC! Although I now spend more time in NJ than I do in the city I still can be found frolicking the streets over the weekend. Last weekend, I attended Summer Stage. Summer Stage is a series of free concerts in Central Park all summer long with a wide array of different music and comedy acts. The day I went was all music and very enjoyable. The company made it even better! There's nothing like enjoying a concert with friends.

Sushi is fab and even better when eaten on a blanket in the middle of the park in the shade from a huge tree. We ate tons of delicious raw fish and then got up to go to the concert.

After waiting on line at 1:30 pm(which was not necessary) for a concert that started at 3 pm, we went "inside" the metal dividers and saw a stage area and some bleachers with fake turf in front of it. We put our blanket down and relaxed in the hot sun. Snapple was the sponsor and was giving out free samples of their new teas. I don't usually like tea but their red peach pomegranate doesn't taste like tea just like watered down juice. I was also pretty thirsty so it may have just tasted good then. Anyway, sitting in the park in front of the stage transported me out of the city and I felt as though I could have been anywhere. I was away from the big city for the day.

The music was nice and although it wasn't particularly memorable I felt myself swaying as I sat. It was just enjoyable.

As the temperature rose, I didn't leave as many people would have. Instead I walked over to the misting station and sat in a chair while a fan blew on me and I was sprayed with icy water. I was then rewarded with a free POM juice t-shirt! Score! Free stuff is always nice. I also got a free subscription to New York Moves magazine.

The day was really nice and I really hope to take advantage of more free summer events.

Bus Hell

This morning the bus driver had a temper tantrum. He yelled and screamed at the passengers. I don't need coffee in the morning just give me an irate bus driver to wake me right up! The M98 has been a source of annoyance the past couple weeks. It stopped showing up and forcing me to arrive at work at 10 am.
Back to this morning's exciting adventure. The bus driver stopped at a traffic light and when it turned green he didn't go. There were no cars in front of him and yet he just sat there. A man at the back of the bus asked "Why are you just sitting here?" The bus driver raised his voice and yelled "I cannot go near the bus stop if there is another bus there. I got a ticket once and now I won't do it again. We have to sit here until the other bus leaves!" And there we sat for 3 cycles of the traffic light at 125th Street. The bus driver then told us that he has to follow the rules and if we don't like it we can walk. He is only going to drive 25 MPH because that is the rule of buses. Huh? We take the highway. A bus going 25 miles an hour on the highway equals dangerous. So we finally pull up to the stop and the people waiting had some words for the bus driver. Most of them included "Why were you waiting there?" The bus driver started his rant again and then picked up his internal bus phone and called to complain to the MTA. It was hard to hear but he was giving them suggestions about announcements for all the buses that say it is the law to not have more than one bus at a bus stop at a time. Umm can we say crazy? He got on the highway and drove around 25mph as promised.

What I do love about these situations is that it is a chance to make what I shall call "bus buddies". These are people you start talking to because there is now a common bond of banding together against the crazy bus driver. The people that are on this bus are mostly the same each day so we all smile at each other and roll our eyes.

Just another joy of my commute!

P.S. I am in Newsday again today. Check out my review of a new club, Boucarou. newsday.typepad.com

I review, just for you!

I failed to tell you, my trusty blog-readers, that I not only write this fabulous blog but I am also published bi-weekly in a newspaper. I am part of Newsday's Impulse section and I am on the Review Crew. I write reviews of bars, clubs, movies and CDs. The reviews are published in a blog online and also that day in the paper. The review is accompanied by a picture of me (you will get to see what I look like!). If you click on my name under my writing you can see the previous reviews that I have written. This is a 6 month gig and I am loving it. This is actually the second time I am reviewing for Newsday. They picked me to write again as an All-Star!

So everyone visit:

newsday.typepad.com and read the reviews written by the blond girl from Manhattan! That's me!!! (Scroll down a bit for today's review about the Timbaland's new CD! )