NYC Freebies!

Last night I went out with an old friend who has a rule… she never pays for her drinks. She will go to a bar and magically the guys will flock to her side to offer her a beverage. When she told me she had made the acquaintance of a bartender in a very classy bar, I knew this was going to be a fun night.

A general rule of thumb for the start of a fun night, do not take the 2nd Ave bus down from the UES to Alphabet City. It takes about an hour off of your life. Once we finally got to dinner we were ravenous, devoured the food and moved on to the next part to the night.

My friend wanted to take the bus uptown to midtown and I offered to pay for a cab. My previous bus trek was too fresh in my mind. A guy who was standing at the bus stop called out “Are you ladies giving up on the bus?” He promised that if we took the bus he would provide entertainment. The bus arrived at that moment and I agreed to get on. Then my Metrocard failed me. Only 50-cents leftover (darn, uneven fare!) meant I couldn’t ride. The nice guy offered to swipe my ride for me. Freebie number one ☺

After some entertaining conversation and an offer for us to go to a bar with him next week, we got off the bus to the next part of the adventure.

We entered the classy bar to find out we were the only ones there and the bartender wanted to test new drinks on us. He attempted to make an avocado shake drink, without a blender. It did not work very well. So he created two other very interesting martinis for us to try. All on the house.

After some great conversation, he offered us some fancy chocolates and we nibbled and enjoyed round two of our fancy (free!) mixed cocktails. By now the restaurant was closed and we had a private bar.

It was a work night and it was approaching 1:30 am. A couple hours past my bedtime. So the bartender locked up and in true gentleman fashion hailed us all a cab uptown.

What a fabulous freebie night in NYC.

Free Burger night..

You know it's a serious situation when you haven't done your laundry in almost a month, which included a ski trip where I changed clothes 3 times a day! Last night had to be the night I attempted to wash it all but I had promised a friend I would go to free burger night at a bar. Lucky for me, the bar with this awesome deal was right across the street from my apartment buildings basement. There are a ton of washers and dryers just steps from a bar making it possible to do my laundry while I was eating and drinking. I loaded up the dryers with 3 loads of clothing checked my watch. I had exactly 32 minutes to eat and have a beer.

The Second Ave subway construction had destroyed businesses that are hidden behind the scaffolding so this bar decided to have some specials to lure people in. On Wednesday nights and all day Saturday and Sunday when you order a drink you get a free burger. Pretty freaking awesome… if you aren’t a pescatarian like yours truly. The deal is for a grilled BEEF burger and if you ask for a veggie burger like I did they say nope, sucks to be you and hand you a menu.

My friend was thrilled because not only did he get his burger but he got mine wrapped up to eat for lunch. I was stuck paying for not only my beer but a veggie burger and fries for $11.45. So much for a good deal.

As I ate, my laundry dried. I paid the bill crossed the street and magically came back to three fully dried batches of clothing. (You’d be surprised as to how many times I came back to a dryer filled with still soaked jeans).

Just another fun night in NYC ☺

Goldfish on the subway!

Last night, I attended a press event sponsored by Post-it. The event was held at a place called Carnival which was in fact a carnival on the fifth floor of a NYC building. I received my tickets and went into the room where they had fun games for us to play, ring toss, toss a ball in a basket, get a ping pong ball into a fish bowl and darts.

After spending most of my tickets, another editor handed over her extras. I played the fish game a few times and finally landed the ball in the bowl. Thinking about it now,I was pretty excited after winning such a cruel game. Here is a somewhat crappy cell phone picture of the game.



Those bowls have live fish in them. These poor fish must freak out every second a ball smacks their bowl. If the ball actually makes it in, there is a giant while meteor attacking their home. Poor fishy... I guess it was very nice of me to save a fish from this fate by bringing him home!

After the event, I went to take the subway home. I was carrying my fish in a plastic baggy down the street to Union Square and received a bunch of interesting looks.

I got on the subway and was lucky enough to get a seat for Post (his name.. I'm clearly original) and I. The man next to me struck up a convo with me. Apparently a fish in a bag is a conversation starter. I noticed the couple across the aisle from me pointing at Post and talking in another language about the fish. They looked up at me and smiled. I'm glad my fish could make others happy.

Here is Post on the subway. Hold on fishy!



Post is now at my apartment in a vase with some nice rocks at the bottom and is hopefully still alive. I ran out this morning to get him food. Let's see home many days my carnival fish lasts :)

I may be crazyyyy

As I was driving to work this morning, I had the radio on when a Billy Joel song came on. I love every Billy song, so I cranked up the volume as the car inched forward. I was singing along to "You May Be Right" when I noticed the license plate on the SUV in front of me.

Lunitk

I couldn't help the wide grin that appeared on my face. I tried to take a picture of it but my cell phone camera didn't save the photo. :( What a fun way to start my day.

In case you aren't a Billy fan here are the lyrics to the chorus...

You may be right
I may be crazy
But it just might be a lunatic you're looking for
Turn out the light
Don't try to save me
You may be wrong for all I know
But you may be right

The Anonymous Note

A few weekends ago, I drove out to NJ for bridesmaid dress shopping . Yep that trip added a sixth day to my presence in Jersey, plus another $8 donated to my favorite bridge, the George Washington. I really feel like I should own a tiny piece of it by now. Maybe a screw or something.

I parked my car by the bridal store and dropped a few quarters into the meter. After shopping for the dresses, I went back to the car to drop a few more quarters in and went to eat lunch.

I came back to my car and found this sticker stuck to my car.




This was stuck right above the keyhole. I looked around and didn’t see anyone by my car or on the sidewalk. I smiled at the randomness as I peeled the sticker off my car. I was wearing boots but was still very confused. Also, doesn’t that handwriting look like a girls?

The sticker now lives on my dashboard and makes me smile whenever I get into my car.

Human Decency

When someone sneezes, the response is“Bless you”. It’s almost automatic but even if you barely know the person, it slips out. When someone hurts himself or herself, the proper reaction should be “Are you okay?” It’s not really that hard of a concept, especially if something happens in an office to a co-worker. It’s common decency or so I thought until this morning.

I dress up for work every so often (most days you can find me in jeans and a sweater). I own a great collection of high heels thanks to a fabulous friend who works in the shoe world. Today I chose to wear a 3-inch pair of red heels that are not too uncomfortable (high heels are never comfortable, never believe anyone who tells you that). I got to work and walked on our leopard-carpeted floor toward the kitchen. Why yes, isn’t every office carpeted in leopard? Anyway, I was holding my Tupperware filled with my lunch in my hand ready to place it in the fridge. I stepped onto the tile and felt myself slip. I tried to catch myself with the counter but forgot my food container was in my hand and slipped again and very ungracefully crashed down onto the floor. Once I was on my, now tingling, tush, I looked up to see a coworker making her breakfast. She looked down at me and simply said, “Have a problem with your shoes?” She turned back to the toaster as I struggled to get up and inspect the damage. I mumbled something about my butt hurting and she asked, “Are those new shoes?” They weren’t but where was her concern for the fact that I had just landed on the floor. I didn’t expect her to lift me back up, all I had expected was a simple “are you ok?” but nope. Then she walked out of the kitchen and said, “Remember toe to heel!”

This coworker and I are not really friends but come on! I have been giving the back of her head daggers all day but I kind of wish I could revert back to kindergarten and push her down in the kitchen.

I am left with a rip in my tights, a bruised tush and a little taste of reality.

~Bean

It's been a long time

The bean in the city is back!

A slight recap on things I haven't blogged about since April…

The bean in the city took a trip to another city and visited San Francisco. I had a great time camping, meeting new friends, visiting with my cousin and exploring their city and vineyards. But don’t fret NYC; I have no plans to leave you for SF. Here’s a shot from Big Sur.

I started biking all over the place and in September I biked in the NYC Century bike tour and completed 90 miles in about 11 hours! It was exhilarating and a beautiful way to see all of Brooklyn and Queens. Here is a picture of my bike and me in Queens by the Throgs Neck Bridge.

I don’t know if I have shared my love with eating and taking photos of food I eat with my blog readers but as I attempt to keep writing regularly I think I will include details about meals I have enjoyed. These will include homemade creations and also restaurant delights. These are a few shots from my visit to Citi Field to see the Mets over the summer. We got a feast of food to celebrate my dad's birthday.

Lobster rolls YUM!

The first bite is the best!

Looking forward to getting back into blogging!

The missing gloves...

I am not only navigating the street of NYC by car but also by bike! That’s right I am braving the crazy NYC drivers while gliding around on a light blue bike with my purple helmet securely fastened on my head. If you thought my driving adventures were fun... you are sure to enjoy the tales of my two spinning wheels!

A few weeks ago it was getting warmer but it was still a bit chilly to be outside. I really wanted to ride my bike so I bundled up in three layers and put on gloves. I lent my riding buddy a pair of gloves too and off we went to navigate the streets and the park. We rode for a while and as it got warmer we removed layers. After riding in the park, we visited the bike store to try to find out why my bike was not working well. We refilled the tires with air and off we went! At that point, my riding buddy realized that he had lost both of the gloves I had lent him. We tried to retrace our route but then just ended up back in the park. I figured I would never see those gloves again and they were old so I wouldn’t miss them too much.

As I rode down the east side river park, with the traffic from the FDR whizzing by on my left and the river splashing against the city on my right, I was actually really happy and forgot about the missing gloves. I looked down and there was one of the gloves lying in the pathway! I excitedly picked it up and thought that if one had just been lying there the other could have fallen out a few steps away. So we continued the ride and a few spins of my tires later, I noticed a green object on a park bench! It was the other glove. What are the chances that an hour later in NYC I could find two lost gloves? Just another NYC story to smile (and blog) about!

Thanks taxi driver!

The other night I was heading down to the Penn Station area from my apartment and needed to get there fast. I was running late and my friends were upset that I wasn't at the bar yet. I hailed a cab and told the cabbie to get me there fast.

I turned off the annoying TV screen in the cab (ugh they make me feel carsick). Then I noticed that he had the radio on and it was playing just the song to get me in the mood for a night out, Beyonce's "Single Ladies". So I leaned onto the cab partition and asked if he could turn it up a little. He turned the volume way up and I swayed in my seat. After the song was over and we were still speeding down 5th Ave, the cabbie asked me what stations I liked to listen to. We went through a few different ones until we found another dance song. He was a fan of 103.5 while I like 95.5.

A few minutes later we arrived at the bar and it had only taken about 3 songs worth of time to get me to midtown!

I gave him a good tip and left the cab happier than when I had gotten in!

How I hate you NYPD.. let me count the ways!

This morning I went to my car to go to work but when I arrived at the street where I left it, it was closed off and the cars were gone! I asked the police officer where my car was and they said they "relocated" them. Great. He couldn't get the guy with the list on the phone, so I had to walk an avenue to a police van. The police officer then asked for my car make and color and license plate number and said to me, "It's in Brooklyn." I blurted out "Are you serious?" He said "No". What an ass!

My car was relocated on 2nd Ave where I had just come from. I walked down the street and found that my car was parked and left in a spot... next to a fire hydrant! The cops towed my car to an illegal spot. So then at 7:35 am a nice cop came along and wrote me a nice $110 ticket. Fabulous.

I was fuming and should have gone and yelled at the cop in the car that the NYPD is evil and made me get a ticket when they moved my car after only posting a sign on a Sunday when i didn't have to move my car till Monday!!!

I wrote a nice long letter explaining why I am not paying them any money.

I just hope I don't have to go to court to fight it.

Car adventures are tons of fun!

NJ is paying me to drive...

There is some new program that NJ has developed to provide incentive for people who live and work in NJ to carpool. I found out about this program called "Carpooling Makes sense" and signed up. While the website doesn't exactly tell me how long this promotion is going on.. I think that they will send me a gas card for $150 to carpool to work 24 days in two months. So far I have carpooled 3 out of the 4 days of December. I'm on my way to getting my gas card.

Although I'm not really sure how they can prove that you really had another person in the car with you, they told me they will be sending me a packet with information.

I never say no to free money in this craptastic economy so thanks for a little something extra NJ. Now do you think you could do something about the $8 toll on the GW bridge that i have to pay every freakin day?

I was on auto pilot as I am most mornings while singing along to the radio and driving over the GW bridge yesterday. I was behind a truck which is very common on that bridge. All of a sudden a huge chunk of what i believe was sheetrock came flying at my windshield! I screamed and luckily didn't lose control of the car. The sweat began to pour out of my pores and I trying to put the whole thing together in my head. Once i figured out that my windshield was still intact and that there were a few white marks and that I was fine, I was able to calm down and get to work.

I was a bit freaked out about the whole thing but am so lucky that the windshield didnt shatter. I felt like i was in some action movie where the heroine is dodging the villan tossing things at her speeding car!

A toast to only smooth, safe trips back and forth to the Jersey every day!

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.