Month: May 2013

  • Toronto!

      
    The trip to Toronto was REALLY fun. Gwen was a fantabulous hostess, and I had a wonderful time. The pics are all on FB as well.. but here’s a small sample. I got to Toronto on Friday, it was raining, we headed back to Casa Gwen (which I loved!) and had some wine and chatted till pretty early.. or late. The next day we headed out for brunch at a place called Hemmingways in Yorkville. After some eggs benny and Ceasars (the Canadian Bloody Mary) we walked around Kensington Market and China Town.
      
     
    Did a lot of browsing, and a little shopping and after a full day of walking around we went back to the house to rest- and clean- up for dinner. Instead of going out for food though, we decided we’d go to the grocery store, get a bunch of snacks and eat at home. Cheese, crackers, mushrooms, salami, baked brie, olives, baguette.. it was all so good!  
    That night we went to Gwen’s friend’s b’day party at a bowling alley. It was very old school and a lot of fun. Gwen won the first game, and I ended up winning the 2nd. Who wouldda thunk?! In case anyone was wondering, Gwen has fun friends! (duh )
     
     
    On Sunday we took Gwen jr. with us and headed out for a b’day/mothers-day brunch at Pogue Mahone. After that Gwen and I walked through the Antique Market at St. Lawrence Market. Despite some brief hail, it was really cool. Eventually it was time for me to head back to NYC.. and I was pretty zonked too. 
     
    I had such a nice time though. Gwen knows me well to take me to Kensington and then an antique market It was a weekend of good food, a fun city and an awesome friend. I left grateful and happy.

    In other news:
    • I’ve been listening to Asaf Avidan. I want to check out Emeli Sande too. Time to step away from Pink’s Just Give Me A Reason..
    • I’m glad that Cochran won Survivor. Once Malcolm was voted off he was who I was rooting for.
    • Sayonara 90210 and Smash. I might seem sad, but i’m also just really glad I get 2 wasted hours of my life back now every week.
    • This summer is shaping up to be a lot of fun. I head out to the west coast (LA, San Fran and Vegas) in 2 weeks time. Then there are trips to Maine, Chicago and the Berkshires on the horizon. 
    • This week the theater group I’m producing for has 2 shows at a local festival as well as their monthly regular performance. Tonight I am meeting a friend at the Oyster Bar for dinner. It will be quite a busy week. Busy but also very fun though.
    • I’m seeing Joan Baez and the Indigo Girls, Passenger, Fun, Pilobolus and Blue Man Group perform this summer.
    • I’m hoping to also go to the Snowmass Festival in Colorado. I’d love to see Jason Mraz and Grace Potter in the mountains, in the sun.
    • Happy Summertime!

  • Amsterdam

    So I had an amazing time in Amsterdam. It seriously is good for my soul to be home for a bit. It was such a short trip! I arrived on Saturday, got big hugs from my sister and dad at the airport, came home for some b’fast and then passed out for 3 hours. This saved me from jet-lag which was kind of awesome. I got up again around 2PM and my sister and I went to the center of town and walked around. We saw the Waterlooplein, the Dam, Kalverstraat… walked all over the place. Then we met up with dad for dinner at the tapas place around the corner form the house. Amsterdam is a wonderful city and it was so nice to stroll through it. I hung out with one of my US college friends that night and saw his amazing new apartment.

    The following day I met up with a friend in the park. She has a cute 3-mo old baby girl (more pics on FB-in fact, there are pictures of the whole trip on FB).
      And then that night we took my dad out to a Japanese restaurant for a sushi dinner to celebrate his birthday and retirement. It was delicious and fun.

    On Monday I met up with some friends and went to the Noordermarkt which is a flea market on Monday mornings near a church. Afterwards I had lunch with a good friend who told some fun and exciting news (i get to be privy to early info since I live far away I guess ).

    After lunch and a walk back through town, my dad, sister and I went to a family friends place (my mom’s best friend in Amsterdam) for dinner. After a fun and yummy meal my sister took me to a Dubstep concert called RFLX. It was at the Heineken Music Hall which is pretty ginormous. Normally I would not have attended such a thing as it is not my kind of music however my sister really wanted me to go and she was very convincing. After being promised that we could leave at any time, I agreed. I went having amazingly low expectations and figuring I’d suffer through it. Insead? I ended up having a really good time. Netski, Zed’s Dead and Datsik performed which supposedly is quite awesome. I’m a n00b when it comes to this stuff…but good times were definitely had.
     

    Driving home in a taxi at 6.30AM it was amazing to see that people were already setting up, selling, and even already shopping for Queensday. On Queensday the whole town becomes a flea market. This year was an extra large spectacle since the queen abdicated and her son, the king was crowned. Next year it will be Kingsday..

    My sis and I got home from the club and went to bed. We woke up around 1PM and went walking around through the park. We didn’t hit up the main busy parts of town since neither one of us desired that kind of crazy. We stayed in the neighborhood which was still quite crowded but also really nice. We walked around the park and didn’t buy much but saw some cute kids trying to make some extra money. That night, we caught some of the concert that was going on on one of the large squares too. Andre Rieu. Oh joy. LOL.
     

    The next morning I woke up and ran some errands (bought cheese and stroopwafels and birth control to bring back) and then it was time to head out to the airport and fly back to NYC. Armin van Buuren was on my flight.. aw yeah!
     

    It was such a great trip! I finally managed to unpack this weekend and now I’m stoked to be going to Toronto on Friday. Travel bug, I love you!