Come One, Come All!

AHOP and I welcomed the first visitor to our little apartment this past weekend. My good friend from IU flew in from Chicago for a few days. The weather was a little chilly but will still managed to stomp all over Manhattan and have a really great time!


Riding the Staten Island Ferry...IT'S FREE and provides great views of the Brooklyn Bridge, Lady Liberty, and Manhattan on the way back from S. Island.

Taking in the scene in Times Square

My Little Colombia aka Jackson Heights

On Sunday AHOP and I took the subway a few stops into Queens. The borough is home to a large Colombian population, many have settled in the area of Jackson Heights. A friend of AHOP recommended we eat at "My Little Colombia" for an authentic meal.

I was amazed at how quickly the vibe, people, and language changed after only traveling 4 short subway stops! I suddenly felt like I was really in Colombia. Streed vendors were selling Obleas and Arepas and cars/stores were blasting reggaetone music.

The meal at My Little Colombia was fantastic. We feasted on the usual plantains and the popular Colombian soup, Sancocho. After lunch we returned to our little haven in the big city but what a great discovery we made. Who knew you could travel to Colombia in just 15 minutes?

*Just a side note, if anyone has seen Maria Full of Grace it takes place in Jackson Heights. I saw the movie a few months ago and didn't realize what part of NYC it took place in until Sunday. And... I highly recommend the movie!

Sneak Peak!

While I was walking through the Flatiron District the other day there was a large crowd of people gathering around hundreds of cups laid out in a weird shape. Apparently Starbucks was filming a new commercial. All the cups were filled with real java...it smelled delicious!

I'm anxious to see the commercial and see how the scene plays out with the crazy tree figure on the ground.

a picture is worth 1,000 words

My brother suggested I snap some pictures of the happenings in my daily life so people can get an idea of what my new routine consists of or maybe he's just wanting to live vicariously through me?

Here are a couple shots from the past few days

I stopped by AHOP's work tonight to meet up with him for a quick bite to eat. He works right beside the FLATIRON building-


Today during my lunch hour I walked four blocks north to Central Park and sat in the warm sun for a few minutes.


Yesterday the NYC St. Patrick's Day Parade took place one block from our office building so I popped on over to the parade with my co-worker Laura during our lunch break and we finished the excursion off with a couple of hot dogs from a street vendor.



I guess these are not totally normal pictures.. so maybe later I will do a plain jane day post of wake up, office, subway ride, go home subway ride, cook dinner, sleep time.

new city, old friends

This past weekend my new city felt a little more like home with the invasion of a few old college friends. Without planning we all ended up in Manhattan on the same weekend for different reasons; interviews, jobs, visits, etc. It was nice to run into each other and have an old crowd to run around with for a bit. For a few hours I think I even felt like a veteran city slicker, showing the guests the ropes of city life.

a night out in SoHo

the MoMA and Guggenheim

I'll be honest- I'm not a huge fan of museums. I do get a kick out of going to exhibits where I do recognize famous stuff though. Who doesn't want to see the famous paintings they studied in middle and high school art?

Danielle and I took advantage of the "free Friday nights" offered at the Museum of Modern Art and decided to check out a few pieces of work at the museum we were especially interested in.

One of my all time favorites- Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh


The museum had a nice collection of Andy Warhol including a big portion of the Campbell Soup Cans.


I also visited the Guggenheim with AHOP and Danielle. The Guggenheim has a very abstract, modern feeling. The exhibits at the museum are constantly changing. The question surrounding our visit was, "what is progress?"