Bee-Boppin' the Boroughs

bye, bye, bee-boppin'

2011-05-27T15:18:00.000-04:00

31: Best of the Upper West Side

2011-05-27T15:17:00.000-04:00

Hi friends, if any of you are still out there. No, we aren't resuming the bee-bop blog, but I was feeling nostalgic today and came poking around, only to realize we had an unposted walk! The upper west side was my neighborhood for almost 4 years, so these are some of my favorite spots in NYC. I didn't write captions for everything, but all these pictures are on the west side between about 71st St. and 90th St. Enjoy!

Jill


Sarabeth's

Land, my favorite Thai restaurant

little Oscar, joining us for his first bee-bop walk!

pretending to be Meg Ryan in "You've Got Mail"

Megan, hating on Turkish Delight

Megan, loving the fact you can find a Doughnut Plant doughnut on the UWS

Too many peanut butters. Zabar's was the first grocery store I ever stepped into when I moved to NYC, and I had no idea what I was walking into. Imagine my distress when I could not find a jar of Skippy and had to choose a brand of peanut butter that was handmade by monks or something crazy. I did love Zabar's, but not for my everyday shopping.

my favorite row of buildings on West End Ave.

my favorite neighborhood cross-dresser

Big Nick's, the best place to order milkshakes and waffle fries at midnight

world's best cream puff at Beard Papa's - I could really go for one of these right about now

oh, Gray's. I miss your recession special. If you are visiting NYC, please do not by a hot dog on the street. Go to 72nd Street and get two hot dogs and a pina colada drink. Do not share with a friend. You'll want to eat both. Also, stop in before 11am for the world's most perfect breakfast sandwich. I'm feeling hungry.

Levain Bakery on 74th - get the double chocolate peanut butter masterpiece and thank me later

#1 favorite picture ever of Megan

I wish I still lived in a neighborhood with a sharpening truck - my sewing shears need a spruce

Allan & Suzi on 80th and Amsterdam - my neighbor all my years in NYC. I loved looking at the eclectic window displays, but never had the courage to go inside (which is ridiculous, looking back on it).

30: Central Park

2009-06-15T00:00:00.000-04:00

Central Park ... September '08. I am a big fan of this walk because it was my typical route through the park.

We started at the Diana Ross Playground. Diana Ross, herself, lives in the building across the street. In 1983, the year of both bee-bopper's births, Ms. Ross gave a free concert in Central Park. The playground was built three years later.

Notice how I don't even look pregnant from behind?

Do not be fooled - I am massively pregnant at this point.

Here we are at the Delacort Theatre in Central Park. The Delacort rocks because it is home to Shakespeare in the Park, one of the most amazing free summer events in NYC. Repeat, AMAZING. If you ever have the chance to go, it is well worth a morning's wait in line.

True Fact - Central Park is the most visited park in the United States. It is truly beautiful and has many, many footpaths to frolick along.

We've always been fans of Belvedere Castle, which is both pretty and functional - it serves as Cental Park's weather station.
From Belvedere Castle, you get a nice view of the Upper East Side, The Great Lawn, and Turtle Pond.

One of the lovely things about Central Park is the lack of a skyline in certain areas. There is nothing better than to look out over the Great Lawn when it is empty - no people, no buildings, just GRASS. So rare in NYC.
It makes you want to do silly things, like cartwheels ...

which will make you feel sheepish.

Across from Turtle Pond sits the King Jageillo Monument, which depicts the triumph of one of the most famous kings in the histories of Poland and Lithuania. The monument was originally supposed to return to Poland after the World's Fair in 1939, but remained in the U.S. due to Germany's invasion of Poland. In 1945 it was permanently placed in Central Park.

Megan: "V for victory!"
Jill - "No, I won't pose like the statue. You can't make me."

ugh ... fine. Can we please move on?

Megan overlooking beautiful Turtle Pond, which was completed in 1997. Interesting tidbit: Turtle Pond was designed so that at no position can a viewer take in all its perimeter.

Hans Christian Andersen reads "The Ugly Duckling" to me, and I gaze at him adoringly. There is hope for us all.

Megan chills with children and tourists at the Alice in Wonderland statue.

Did you know that Megan is the rat queen?

29: Rockefeller Center

2009-06-08T12:16:00.000-04:00

Rockefeller Center - woo! We visited this neighborhood in August '08.

Joining us for the walk were guest boppers, Lauren and Amber, old friends and NYC vacationers.

There was massive weirdness in from of NBC Studios. I believe we were supposed to each be a letter of "NBC," but according to this photo we failed miserably.

NBC Studios at Rockefeller Center is home to Saturday Night Live, The Today Show, and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. You have to wait in line a ridiculously long time to get tickets to SNL, so I never did it, but I think Megan may have camped out once or twice. She is the adventurous friend.

Underground in the Concourse, Meg sought (and apparently found) inspiration in these figurines. (gag)

Rockefeller Center is famous for it's Art Deco style. One of the most prominent works is Wisdom, by Lee Lawrie (who also did the Atlas statue).

Do you remember when this guy was the face of the $1 U.S. postal stamp? Because for some reason, I do.

The Tree at Rockefeller Center is awesome and horrible. It is awesome for the obvious reasons - it is gigantic, has a bizillion lights, and ignites the spirit of Christmas in all who view it. A Christmas miracle, if you will.

It is horrible because it is a complete nightmare to go see during the holidays. This past holiday season I got stuck in a crowd of people so thick and unruly that the stroller containing my dear infant child was nearly overturned no less that three times. I think I can safely say that I'll never see the Rockefeller Center Tree in person again. And I am okay with that!
Random fact that I remember about this walk - the scrolly news ticker thing above the Today Show studio was announcing Joe Biden as Obama's running-mate that morning.

Also, we had a delicious (and healthy!) breakfast of chocolate milk and chocolate croissants.

More artwork (above the Kenneth Cole store) and awkward posing as the artwork - except that I am confused about how I am supposed to stand.
This is the inescapable advertisement for the "Top of the Rock," the most romantic destination at Rockefeller Center. If you go to the Top of the Rock, you are expected to embrace affectionately. And recieve a marriage proposal. Really! More people get engaged at Top of the Rock than any other location in NYC. Actually, I made that up.

Lauren rode every fountain/statue in the plaza.

Megan fell off of this bench and publicly embarrassed herself. Plus she got a killer bruise. It was real sad.

St. Patrick's Cathedral:
We felt only slightly awkward about walking into these strangers' wedding.

Me and the Atlas.

27: Museum Mile? (I don't remember what this card was called)

2009-02-17T13:10:00.000-05:00

We are so lazy. I wasn't even hugely pregnant at the time of this walk, and now I have a 4 month old baby. oops! So I am posting this from-way-back-in-August walk in hopes that 1) it will inspire Megan to post her photos of old walks, and 2) (and more importantly) that we will get back into the bee-boppin' groove. I am more than ready.

This walk was over on the East Side, mainly on 5th and Madison Avenues. We started out at the beautiful Metropolitan Museum of Art, or the Met.

The Met has a permanant collection of over 2 million pieces of art, and the main building is one of the world's largest galleries. My favorite part of the museum is the antique weapons and armor.

I love all the old, beautiful buildings on 5th Ave. Did you know it is one of the most expensive streets in the world to live on?

You can also find the French Embassy on 5th.

I have vivid memories of this walk, because things got really silly. Lets face it, 5th Ave is pretty, but not all that exciting, so we had to make our own fun (not hard to do).

We found these cuddly naked babies in the window of a doctor's office.

This building was supposed to be a highlight, but it turned out to be not-so-thrilling.

Instead we stopped at a neighboring doctor's office to reminisce about sports injuries of old, and to mourn the fact that I have arthritic knees at 25.

Megan got grumpy at the Frick Collection. It is a fancy-pants small art museum in the former residential mansion of Henry Clay Frick.

I think the Frick is the most beautiful building on 5th Ave.

At this point we have turned back uptown on Madison Avenue, and Meg got her energy back in front of the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church. It was pretty.

And she began imitating bushes.

Continuing our museum tour, we passed by the Whitney Museum of American Art, or "The Whitney." The Whitney emphasizes exhibiting the work of living artists.

Madison Ave has more shopping than architecture, so we posed like the mannequins,

and mocked the boobie pottery (we just don't get it, Jonathan Adler!).

And after a long hot walk, we wondered FAR out of our way to patronize the always delectable Two Little Red Hens bakery in hopes of a giant cinnamon roll. And they had run out! So we settled on lemon bars. Also delicious! Megan is a messy eater.

We are not dead...Promise.

2008-10-30T18:01:00.002-04:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Friends....it may seem like we have fallen off the planet, but alas, we have not. Life got a bit busy there for a bit, we were not as diligent about bopping and even less diligent about posting when we did indeed bop. Summary: we have 3 beebops that need a postin'. Be patient please.

In the meanwhile...Jill had a baby. Then we tried on these holiday wigs.

We thought no captions were necessary...until this picture of me looks like Susan Margaret.

Don't lose faith in us, dear friends....we shall return.

And for the record, that necklace is NOT mine. I do not wear such bling to the workplace.
Most of the time.

26: 57th Street

2008-08-22T08:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to 57th Street!

We started out at Sutton Place Park, where Megan enjoyed the blinding waterfront view.

The Sutton Parks are a series of five vest-pocket parks along the East River waterfront near Sutton Place. They were featured prominently in Woody Allen’s Manhattan (1979).

The park contains the Wild Boar statue, which is a replica of the bronze wild boar completed in 1634 by Renaissance sculptor Pietro Tacca (1557–1640) that stands in Florence, Italy (it is known as Porcellino). Fun fact: Another notable replica of the boar sat on the desk of President Bill Clinton.

Effingham B. Sutton (1817–1891), after whom the parks/neighborhood were named, was a shipping merchant and entrepreneur, and one of the few prospectors who actually made a fortune during the California Gold Rush of 1849. Around the turn of the century, the waterfront neighborhood became neglected and was infamous for street gangs (most notably, the Dead End Kids). The neighborhood was saved by the arrival of the Vanderbilts and Morgans in 1920, which began the neighborhood’s transformation into a wealthy enclave. Today, the brownstones are still quite swanky.

Had enough history? Good. I don't know any facts about this door, except that it is SWEET. I had to slide my camera through the gate to get a good shot of it. With a door like this, I wonder what the home looks like inside...

This is Riverview Terrace, one of the few private streets in Manhattan.

I have a thing for seeing squat little buildings squeezed between two tall buildings. It makes me happy.

Here I am in front of the High School for Art & Design. Not all that notable, except ...

Enhance!

This is one of the school's windows. I certainly hope there is an elementary school in the building as well. Otherwise, I fear for the future of kids studying art and design here.

Megan posing with one of the many lovely views from 57th Street.

I don't remember what this building is, or why Megan wanted me to look so excited about it.

This is the Fuller Building at 57th & Madison. Completed in 1929, it was the first skyscraper built north of mid-Manhattan. It is 42-stories tall, and considered an Art-Deco treasure. Side note: There are actually two Fuller Buildings in NY - the other is more famous and commonly known as the Flatiron Building.

Meg really liked these mannequin ladies. Remember the movie, Mannequin? It has always freaked me out.

anyone know the name of this sculpture?

We really liked all the clocks outside Tourneau headquarters - Here's a special shoutout to Meg's Nan, who is British, and a pretty cool lady, since Megan is posing under London time.

Megan and the Big 9 at 9 W. 57th Street - there is a yummy restaurant here called Brasserie 8 1/2. I've never actually eaten there (because it costs a small fortune), but I can imagine the deliciousness. Maybe Jared's lawfirm will do an event there and I'll get to go (fingers-crossed).

When in the right mood, Megan will do anything I tell her for a bee-bop photo op. Love it.

Here I am getting jazzy in front of Steinway Hall, home of the uber-famous pianos. Judging from the website, we totally should have gone inside.

Field trip! 57th Street is home to some of my favorite crafty places in the city, like Kate's Paperie. We had to go inside.

ribbon heaven

walls of paper

Megan being dorky

57th Street is also home of the Russian Tea Room. We weren't quite dressed, so we skipped our usual morning tea.

Megan takes every opportunity to make me do a Russian dance (this nearly killed me - I think at this point I was almost 5 months pregnant).

sidenote: Did you know that you are actually not supposed to stick your pinky out when drinking tea? In other pinky factdom, did you know that pinky swears are binding and the original idea was that the person who broke their promise had to cut off their pinky? Wikipedia says it's true!

We neglected to take a full photo of Carnegie Hall, but did get a shot of this pretty stained glass on the sign.

Last stop on this walk was Le Parker Meridian Hotel - it wasn't on the card, but the stop was necessary. There are a couple of really delicious places in Le Parker Meridian - Norma's, fabulous for breakfast/brunch and Burger Joint, a true NY gem. We were jonesin for a milkshake and fries and were devestated to find that Burger Joint is not open pre-lunch. Sad.

We always take visitors to Burger Joint. It is delicious and you feel like you are in on a great NY secret - it is hidden behind a curtain in the hotel lobby.

Remember when we used to post on a weekly basis? For a while there, we were mad-reliable. Thanks to everyone who keeps coming by, and hopefully the regular posting will be back on track soon.

p.s. to Megan - I'm missing the bop!

25: Fifth Avenue

2008-07-24T09:00:00.001-04:00

Welcome to 5th Avenue! We started on Central Park South, home of the Plaza Hotel, which I'm sure you remember fondly from Home Alone 2: Lost in NY (Megan's favorite movie EVER). On an interesting sidenote, the Beatles stayed at the Plaza during their first visit to the United States in February, 1964.

The many flags of the Plaza:

Still up at the corner of CPS and 5th Ave. is Grand Army Plaza, where many horse and buggies and this golden statue reside. Wanting to know what it is all about, I googled "gold statue at 5th Ave" and found this nugget of information:

The statue is of William Tecumseh Sherman, the ruthless but effective Civil War general who devastated the Southern countryside and brought the civilian population to its knees with the Union army's scorched-earth March to the Sea. Created by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, it's a classical equestrian statue of the crusty general with a female Winged Victory striding along in front of the horse.

I am Winged Victory and Jared is the crusty general - although he looks pretty good natured about it in the photo. He fought this one hard.

Megan and Jared at the fountain near the Plaza Hotel. Jared's patience for beebopping has already run out.

Here we are in front of the Apple Store. The actual store is underground. Neat!

At the entrance of FAO Schwarz, one of the happiest places on earth, Jared looks like the most unhappy person. We love FAO for the gigantic stuffed animals, the dedicated Harry Potter section, and the happy piano dancers who perform regularly on the giant piano from the movie "BIG."

Outside of FAO, which was sadly closed early on a Saturday morning.

Megan at Bergdorf's, the only store she will buy clothes from (besides Target).

The Bergdorf's windows are always interesting, especially at Christmas. We like the woman with the cat-head in this one.

Meg and I will never own a Louis Vuitton anything. We tend to prefer discount purses from Filene's Basement.

This store, Van Cleef & Arpels, was on our walking tour card as one of the many prestigious jewelry stores on 5th ave. They too, were closed, and thus had very unimpressive window displays.
Megan in front of Tiffany's. Can you believe neither of us have ever seen "Breakfast at Tiffany's?"

you're fired! Trump Tower

Trump Tower again - It has a big gaudy golden lobby.

Will you marry me .... again? Jared re-proposed in front of Harry Winston (we made him, and he was really embarrassed about it, even though he was down on one knee for less than 10 seconds. He was so embarrassed that he wouldn't do it for another shot so I could have a second chance at making a non-stupid face).

A big ad for WALL-E in front of the big Disney Store. We went on this walk well before the movie came out, and I was REALLY excited about it. Then we went to a late night showing, and I fell asleep at the end. I blame the baby. What I saw was fantastic though.

This is Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, completed in 1876. Jared and I attended a Christmas Eve service here on our first Christmas here in NY, and it was really lovely.

Megan and the St. Regis Hotel - Fancy!

Another pretty church - St. Thomas , completed in 1913.

Megan is awaiting a diamond ring from Cartier. Just kidding! She prefers the man-made variety of diamond.

Cartier is housed in the former mansion of Morton Freeman Plant. Cartier bought the mansion from Morton Plant and his wife in 1917 in exchange for a pearl necklace (valued at the time at $1 million).

There is all kinds of hoity-toity shopping along 5th Ave. We fit right in.

Getting towards the end of our walk, we arrived at the beautiful St. Patrick's Cathedral - completed in 1878. The police had it closed off for something that morning, but there is plenty to see on the outside. Check out these doors!

Saks Fifth Avenue - my Uncle Rodney loves their cafe. I love their Holiday light show. They project hundreds of falling snowflakes on the outside of the building set to Christmas music.

Another shot of St. Patrick's

Turning back uptown on Madison Avenue, we came across The New York Palace Hotel - home of the glamorous Serena van der Woodsen

I received a shocking text from gossip girl outside the Palace to end the walk.

You know you love us. XOXO,

Jill & Meg

Billy Joel!!!!!

2008-07-18T00:01:00.001-04:00

Billy Joel - Last Play at Shea - July 16, 2008

BEST. CONCERT. EVER.

AND today is Megan's birthday! So Happy Birthday to Meg, one of the best girls out there.

24: Central Park 2 - The Heart of the Park

2008-06-22T09:08:00.047-04:00

HELLO!! So the summer has proven to be an absurdly rough time for our beebopping adventures. We are beebopping less and being SO slow posting. FYI - we did this walk 114 years ago. Guest beebopper, mi amigo Evan, came with us as a farewell to the city for the summer, and he left over a month ago. WHOOPS! Anyhow - we enjoyed another grand adventure through Central Park (let's hope I can remember what the heck these pictures are of).

We entered the park at the Naturalists Gate (West 77th Street). I might be too squinky or drunken to truly study or appreciate nature.

Our jaunt took us down the path through one of many little covered nature bridge deals in the park. Evan is a jovial acrobat, swinging gleefully in the shade. I am the world's most pathetic jumper, and my two inch vertical was not quite enough for me to reach the lentil.

"Hello friends and tourists!!" Ev is the most friendly man on this planet, and these bus riders are the most oblivious. Also - I did see The Lion King when my parents were in town; it is sort of unbelievably amazing. Mi madre may have been moved to tears within the first five minutes. The apple may not fall far from the tree.

This is The Dakota apartment building, just outside the park at 72nd Street. John Lennon lived here and was killed right in front of it.

You are not alone - the doorman is also wondering why Ev is standing like that.

Finally - a picture featuring our cutely pregnant Jilly. There she is - standing in front of the weird creepy vehicle parked outside of The Dakota. Yes I did go to that website, and yes they do claim that Stephen King killed Lennon. Conspiracy theorists are the funk.

We were lucky enough to catch a Star Wars group leaving the park - light saber at the ready. Here is where I would cleverly slip in an appropriate Star Wars quote if I knew one. I do have a few from Willow and Clueless, however, available upon request.

Strawberry Fields is an area of Central Park dedicated to "the life and music of John Lennon" and named after the song Strawberry Fields Forever. That might be one Beatles' song that I do not know.

This is the famous mosaic in Strawberry Fields. Most of the time this is covered with flowers and/or candles and surrounded by semi-strange people who are clinging to the past with all their might.

Ahhh....David Archuleta, Jill's and my American Idol. Remember how he sings like an angel? When he sang Lennon's Imagine - we were beyond moved, and Jill and I watched the youtube clip at least 14 times. You probably should check out that link, and take note of the following: at 33-39 seconds, the greatness begins, my favorite note comes at 52 seconds, AND he does this little head nod at 1:28 - 1:30 that marks him as the cutest little guy that American Idol has ever beheld.

Caption: Imagine.

Evan's face shows the wonder of an 8 year-old girl at High School Musical on Ice.

It made sense to me that the guy who compiled the dictionary would deserve a statute. And he has one. It is just not this one. I just assumed that good old Dan Webster was the dictionary guy - NOPE he was a very important early politician in the Whig party. He served in the House of Representatives, the Senate AND as the Secretary of State. Because of my confusion, I will also give a shout out to Noah Webster for his great book of words.

It was very, very hot outside. Ice Cream was necessary. Thank you Ev for using two hands, Jill for the fakest smile on this planet and both of you for dealing with my ever-pleasant-and-present rat-tastic nature.

Enjoying our treats overlooking Bethesda Fountain. Side thought: I wanted to be comfy that morning, so I threw on some old baggy jeans. There was regret as I struggled all day to keep them up. Jill pointed out how completely ridiculous I look in some of these pictures, due to the big pants. They are not terrible in this pic, but the saggy bum gets worse. Just a warning.

Bethesda Fountain is GORGEOUS. It was designed by a girl (!) Emma Stebbins and unveiled in 1873. It is featured in a bunch of movies including Enchanted, which is too cute. (3:39 in the clip)

The fountain is also frequented by Serena VanDerwoodsen and Dan Humprhies. I just received a shocking text from Gossip Girl! (or from Evan hiding in the background)

The boathouse! It is the cutest little thing. AND - it is also featured in Enchanted in the same clip from earlier (1:45).

We were at the terrace just in time for Evan to meet up with his calisthenics group. Stretch it out, Ev! And the poor girl in the green shirt was captured doing the wrong move. Embarrassing.

Pretty tiled ceiling under Bethesda Terrace. Jill eats up junk like this. :)

Our nerd-faceness continues. Remember us poking out from behind a tree in the last post? Here we are again. What started in 1999 probably should have finished in 1999.

There was a race in the park, and they were handing out these really, really delicious drinks.

Another great sector of the park.

We are walking the mall. (my screen is dark, as usual, but I suspect that the saggy bum jeans are making another appearance) Central Park really IS fabulouso.

Evan does a great job of capturing the stoicism of this man. This really, really famous and great and accomplished man. I have no idea who the Heck it is!

I know from the Authors card game that I played with my Grandma as a kid that Sir Walter Scott wrote Ivanhoe, Lady of the Lake and Kenilworth. I rocked at that game.

Robert Burns wrote the poem Auld Lang Syne (which reminds me of Billy Joel every time for who knows what reason) AND he also wrote the poem Red, Red Rose (which reminds me of high school choir and not Billy)

Compass Rose.

I will fix the caption on this guy later. My darker than dark screen doth not permit me to read his name.

Sheep's Meadow was not yet opened for the day. Ev and saggy bum are looking longingly at the lush grass.

One time Ev, my roommate Mitz and I were in Sheep's Meadow, basking in the spring weather. Evan attempted to fly a kite in windless conditions. He ran his heart out ALL the way across the park, and the second the running stopped - the kite ate it. He tried twice and failed twice. This anecdote is not amusing or interesting in anyway. Sorry.

Since the Spring began, there have been races in the park almost daily. Whoop Whoop! These people are amped!

Oooh - The Tavern on the Green is a restaurant in Central Park. They have these great sculpted plants (topiaries - is that what they are called??). Ev is shaking hands with this circus bear.

J is standing sweetly by these floras, with a leafy horse hovering behind her.

This place really is absurdly cute.

This photo is dedicated to Buns, Jill's pet bunny.

The Tavern on the Green is the second highest-grossing independently-owned restaurant in the United States. My intensely boring job allows me to do a bit of internet perusing, from which I learned that Suri Cruise celebrated her second birthday with a party here. I know that many of you are beyond excited about that tid-bit. Also - Wikipedia informs me that great and famous shows such as Elimi-date have featured this restaurant.

These flowers are sort of amazing.

What is art? Are we art? Is art art? (can anyone think of the next line??)

I think King Kong, and Evan for that matter, go quite well with the froofy pink table clothes.

Thanks Ev for beeboppin! Holla!

23: Central Park 1: Childproof

2008-05-28T00:02:00.043-04:00

Long time, no post! We - okay I - am a lazy bum. We have been on 3 walks since our last post!!! I cannot believe this absurd delay. My instinct is to dish out excuses, but I will spare you the fluff. This walk (which happened mid-May) was our first through Central Park, and we got to experience many of the park's children attractions. Jared, Jill's husband, decided to join us for the first time!!! This may be because I forgot to wear my purple shirt, and therefore Jared was free to dress sans purple without judgment. Whatever the reason, we were stoked that he came.

Jared is SO excited to be at this statue marking the beginning of our walk. We are at East 67th and 5th Ave., and this sculpture is a monument to the 107th New York Infantry in World War I. While that seems mildly uninteresting - there is a cool part: it was designed by Karl Illava, who was a member of that Infantry Regiment. Holla.

This is the lush and lovely entrance to the park at East 67th. It was not hot as hell that day; it is today, just FYI

The happy couple posing on a cute little bridge. Okay - so this picture is corny to the max, I made them participate and yet it is kind of tender.

Another happy couple - of BFFs - chillin' in a gazebo. Side note: You know how many parks are named after obvious historical figures (i.e. Thomas Jefferson) or important, yet completely unknown local people (i.e. a park in my native St. Charles is called Blanchette Park, after our city's founder Louis Blanchette)? This little playground area in Central Park was called "Diana Ross Park." I love New York and the Supremes.

We posed next to these purple flowers to let that beautiful color know that we have not forgotten her completely.

As I was flipping through our pictures, it took me a minute to figure out the significance of this particular one. I am blind as a bat. Central Park is an amazing place to people watch; one can only hope that they will encounter a man using suspenders to hold up his elastic-waist heart, heart, heart pants.

This is the Delacorte Music Clock. I just thought it was a fun clock with animals, but little did I know that on the half hour, a nursery rhyme plays and these whimsical little instrument-wielding creatures move around the clock. We apparently were there around the quarter hour and therefore were completely and totally gyped.

Nothing like an awkward handhold to welcome us to the Central Park Children's Zoo. (they started skipping shortly thereafter)

Isn't this a great little sign? It talks about the fast lane but shows a turtle, which is known for being slow. How unique, funny and clever.

Okay - so these signs in the children's zoo are obviously cheesy to the max. Jared is pointing out his lack of a black tie. Jill is pointing out the appropriate penguin on Jared's polo. Apparently, if Jared did don a black tie - he would wear it much lower than most men.

Don't worry! While Jill is having a baby - it is not a walrus. The future papa is very disappointed.

First - the gift shop is called "Zootique," which, you must admit, is awesome. Second - this family went a bit nutso at the Zootique and felt that they needed to take home two huge grocery sacks full of memories.

"Enough pidgeons"!! BWAHAHA! Those clever sign makers are at it again!

Behind us are the sea lions. I have an overall aversion to animals, but nonetheless, I am totally fascinated by zoos. Bunches of people come to look at creatures stand there or swim or eat. I suppose it makes sense - but whatevs. Interesting fact: the Central Park Zoo is one one-hundreth the size of the Bronx Zoo.

This is a really long tunnel is central park. Jill appears to be line dancing. Jared would never line dance.

My computer screen is so very dark that I cannot see what is happening in this picture. I will revisit when I am at home. (Not that I blog while at work or anything)

There are always a bunch of performers in the park looking to earn a few bucks. Confession: Like this man, I too play the saxophone - well played the saxophone. Notice how this man, even in his pleated khakis, looks sort of jazzy. As you can tell by my corn-ball smile - I am zero percent jazzified - which is why I quit. That and the fact that being on the math team was far cooler than being in the band.

Remember the movie "Return to Oz"? Jill and I are being gnomes in one of Central Park's collections of big rocks.

In the winter, this is Wollman's Skating Rink. In the summer it is this carnival thing. In the winter, I loved walking home through the park and watching the families ice skate. Such a pleasant, happiness-inducing cold weather activity.

Jared grows weary.

This is the south end of the park. Jill and I both love views from in the park where you can see the tops of some tall buildings. It is sort of beautiful.

This little cottage is the Dairy. Apparently, there used to be a real dairy in Central Park. Weird. Now this building is a visitor's center and holds the park's reference library. I find it interesting that the park lacks a dairy but has a reference library. Do all parks have reference libraries and I was just unaware?

Jill and I began taking versions of this tree-peeking picture starting at youth conference 1999ish. I think we have photos of us peeking out from behind at least 7 trees over the 9 years. See - this is not a new thing. We have ALWAYS been nerdfaces.

Jared contemplates his move. He thinks he is so smart, because he just graduated from law school.

CHECKMATE! Just look at the surprise on his face as I dominate in this game of fake chess.

At this fun little gazebo chess/checker board place - these dudes are actually playing chess for real. They are super intense, and I really, really want to challenge one of them to a match - which I will undoubtedly lose. The fun part will be in seeing how quickly I lose.

Carriage rides through the park are a very popular thing. For this reason, Central Park South constantly smells like horse bum. Just so you know.

We have arrived at the carousel, aka the most fun thing ever.

Unlike me, Jared does not wear his emotions on his sleeve. He is actually more excited than I look. If you look closely you can tell.

My mouth is 14 times the size of any of my other facial features.

Jared's first close up! It really was too fun to have his company on the beebop. Jill looks minuscule in this picture. Or Jared looks huger than huge.

Jill and friend.

Jared and friend.

I accidentally deleted the picture of Meg and friend. AND my writing is mysteriously underlined now, and I have no control of it, and it will not stop.

The next few shots are of the most exellent carousel scenery. AND underlining continues.

I used to wonder why people were afraid of clowns. Maybe it is because they strap rockets to themselves, carry around shady black purses, wear Clark Kent glasses and have smiles that remind me of Satan himself.

These lovely swans are positioned right above the Lucifer clown. Such uniform decor.

This clown lacks the creeper smile, but has a hand that is both three times the size of his face and the exact size of his one button.

Jill pulled a fast one here. This blue-haired beauty was juggling just outside the carousel and was charging a dollar to juggle or have your picture taken. Jill caught him in the act without giving him a cent. A resume worthy accomplishment.

Our walk ends with us posing by the baseball fields.

It was, as you can see, the most enthralling part of our walk - so we had to take two pictures.

Now - this is a video of us on our absolutely too-much-fun carousel ride. I have not seen it but feel confident that I will be embarrassed.

22: NYC Street Fair

2008-05-27T22:57:00.033-04:00

Sorry for the long absence. We missed a week due to an intense headache (Meg) and are late in posting solely due to laziness (me). Luckily, we're over it now, so get ready for TWO posts this week!

So two Saturdays ago we headed off to do a Rockefeller Center walk, but were distracted by one of our favorite things...

A NYC street fair! We love these. They are scattered all over town on the weekends throughout the summer, and always have the same stuff. The same awesome stuff!

Megan is kind of addicted to rings, and picked one up for a bargain price at this jewelry stand.

We had a fun time trying out sunglasses and both bought a pair at this stand (but not these). I love the sunglasses at the street fairs because they are only $5 - so I can lose or break them without feeling too bad.

I think this pink pair suits Meg's outrageous personality. Not quite her style though. (Sadly, this is something that was totally my style in high school - I had a pair of red sunglasses with red lenses that I sported for a while).

Another great part of the street fairs is the food. You can depend on seeing gyros on every block, along with fresh fruit smoothies, roasted corn on the cob, lemonade, deep fried this and that, etc. Yum.

A tricky part of the street fair is that we want to try on everything without actually talking to the salespeople (who are generally pretty pushy). It was a mad dash to photograph the most ridiculous item in the shop and run - like these weird "sunglasses."

(sidenote: I actually saw a person walking down the street in real life this past weekend, wearing these shades in orange)

Meg is one cool cookie.

We admired the earrings,

and bracelets,

thought of countless sock-animal possibilities,

pretended to shop for hideous bags,

and summer dresses (Meg bought one later after I ran off to a baby shower - I still haven't seen it but trust that it is cuter than this red number).

Meg thought about updating her look with more spikes and leather. We got caught by the salesman at this booth who encouraged the change. What do you think? Is she tough enough to pull it off?

I busted out some percussion skills from years past.

we get excited about really ugly stuff.

Meg came this close to buying this halter. It is one of those hideous "one-size-fits-all" numbers that really should be worn by no person or beast.

Did I mention that there are lots of gyros at the street fair? One thing we noticed is that hot 80's chicks really love their gyros.

I was most unhappy that there was not a churro stand in sight (even this Mexican food stand did not make them). That is actually what got us into this mess in the first place. You see, my body is not my own these days and the baby was demanding a churro - another street fair staple. I kept telling Megan, "just one more block," to find the churros, thus leading us further and further away from Rockefeller Center until we had reached a point of no return. We were fully committed to the street fair.

Isn't Megan cute?

I liked all the blue at this stand.

At last, we have reached our favorite part of any street fair - the finger puppet bin. We spent at least a half an hour here. These finger puppets are not all created equal. You have to really dig through the bin to find the best designs and craftsmanship. That's how they get you.

Look how awesome!!!!

Meg bought like 6 for nieces and nephews and I bought three for Jared and I to distract children with during church. Works every time.

Flashback: This was not our first visit to the bin - Meg and I were first suckered in when she came to visit me before moving here in the summer of 2007. We are powerless to resist the puppets.

So - hope you didn't mind looking at endless photos of us trying things on! We heart NYC street fairs.

21: Grand Central Terminal and East Midtown

2008-05-07T22:42:00.052-04:00

This week we got the pleasure of perusing one of my favorite NY spots: Grand Central Station. We enjoyed the company of two fabulous guest beeboppers as well: Lauren and Darren. Lauren met Jill and I when we were crazy, wee 18 year-old freshman at BYU and I picked up friend Darren a bunch of years after that. Note about Laur: we were next door neighbs for two years in Utah and roommates for four. Her visit was a fantastic reunion; nine months without her caused some major miss-age. It was alright to see Darren, too.

Disclaimer: Having just finished posting - I feel that you need to be warned. I am in a very chatty mood. Consequently, this post is absurdly long and ridiculously wordy. I am being truthful - it is kind of an outrage just how long and just how wordy.

This is Laur and I in front of the train schedule board thing. You know those cool boards where the numbers and letters flip around and make the clickity sound as they update every few minutes? This board is unfortunately not one of those. Still cool, though.

This is the main information booth, the recognizable 4-faced clock sitting atop of it. Fascinating facts: the four clock-faces are made of opal, and Sotheby's estimates the clock to be worth between 10 and 20 million smackers. I feel like it is something Carmen SanDiego might try to swipe.

I commented that whenever I am meeting someone in Grand Central, we typically choose the clock as our meeting spot. Laur had this really great idea to do a dramatic role play where she would come up to Jill as if Jill had been waiting for her. We captured the moment where L realizes that this idea is not great. Jill knew the whole time.

Yep - I love NY Tourism. It brings my friends to visit me.

The ceiling of the main concourse at GC shows many constellations in the night sky. It was painted by French artist Paul Cesar Helleu in 1912, before the station was completed in 1913. Let's be real - it is the bomb. In 1998 they completed a restoration of the ceiling because it had been made beyond disgusting by tar from 86 years of cigarette and cigar smoke. Gross.

Here is another view of the main concourse. The card informs us that it is 470 feet long, 160 feet wide, 150 feet high, that it is modeled after Roman baths and that my skin is so white that its almost opaque.

BFFs posing on one end of the concourse. Because I love numbers and there is nothing else to say about this picture, I will share some interesting GC stats. Approximately 125,000 commuters bust through this station every day (plus an extra 375,000 other people). I am not sure if you realize -- but that is an obscenely humongous number. A million people tread through there every two days! If we had not gone, it would have only been 999,996. Such a difference we make!

Darren and I are purchasing tickets to take one of the 660 trains that go through Grand Central. We have to be quick, because 98% of the trains run on time.

Here we are in front of Grand Central Market, which we love. However - we visit there again in like five pictures, so I will get back to it.

Darren and I are excited to enter the Dining Concourse where there is all kinds of tasty food and also bathrooms. Jill was adamant that we use this spoon in the picture. It was in her purse - probably just in case she has an emergency that requires her to eat pudding.

A lovely chandelier, which must be accompanied by a lovely fact. There are about 19,000 items in the GC lost and found! Nuts. Quick story: I am constantly (CONSTANTLY) losing umbrellas. I think I have lost every single one I have ever possessed within a week of purchasing it. Anyway - when I was in college, I finally got sick and tired of walking home in the rain and so I devised a scheme. If I found myself sans umbrella, I hit up the lost and found claiming that I had misplaced a black umbrella (This is not a lie, really. I had indeed lost many dozens of black umbrellas while at BYU). Anyway - they always, always came through for me. If you find yourself in GC with no protection from the pouring rain - remember this tale.

Jill's fishy friend is whispering something to her. I cannot hear what he is saying.

OH - he wants to meet her at the Oyster Bar! It just happens to be the oldest restaurant in Grand Central - having opened in 1913.

Jill and L are resting on a very cute seat in the Dining Concourse right in front of Dishes. (p.s. Dishes has outrageously tasty rice puddin... ooh - good thing Jill has her spoon)

This man is proposing to the MTA Subway map. In lieu of a ring, he has a venti latte.

We are back at the market.

They sell tons of tasty food and also a lot of nappy, stank fish. Apparently many restaurants in the city buy their seafood from this market, because it is extremely fresh. It smells extremely fresh.

Lots of spices. Apparently, I am disgusted by oregano.

We love treats almost more than we love some members of our own families. Bonnie never was very nice anyway. :)

There are some really janky looking sausages in the background of this picture. Jill is humoring me.

It was necessary to take Laur's picture in front of the bakery, because she has a deep love for bread. She is quite the carb-avore.

From carb-ivore to carnivore. Fact: Darren actually does like bacon more than he likes some members of his family.

This upside down tree chandelier is gorgeous. It is at the end of the market, and we are at the end of our time in Grand Central. Don't worry - there is still more.

We actually covered two cards today - thinking that we would be speedy in Grand Central. We were not. Can you name this building??

You were right! The Chrysler Building is the third tallest building in NYC and the tallest brick building in the world. I was completely unaware until this moment that it was made of brick.
By the way - this walk is taking us from Grand Central all the way down 42nd Street to the east edge of the island.

Enjoy some Chrysler Building facts.

I am bursting with excitement to see the Chanin Building.

The Chanin Building, built in 1929, was designed by Sloan & Robertson in the Art Deco style. It really is quite lovely.

Just bein' a gangsta.

Lauren has this great skill where she can heel click on both the right AND left sides. As she clicked her way down an entire block, Jill caught her going right.

There was a cute little fountain (I love, love and love fountains) outside of one building, and after noticing coins in the bottom, we just had to stop and make wishes.

Quirky Darren tosses in his penny. He is probably wishing that one of the girls he is with will want to date him. He probably should have wished for a cookie or something.

Jill and I wishing together. (I realize that I have already wished - but as I tossed in the coin the first time, I forgot to wish. A redo was definitely in order.)

More lions. Fierce.

You know, The News. This building is home to the New York Daily News, the 5th most-widely circulated daily newspaper in the U.S. Holla.

This beautiful line of American flags needed to be captured. This picture is dedicated to our American Idol favorite, David Archuleta, for his fabulous rendition of "We're Comin' to America." We did sing that song for about 10 minutes of this walk.

Additional info: Today Jill gchatted me with a humorous tidbit from the Washington Post. On the opinion page, our little American Idol superstar was referred to as "David 'Baby Elmo' Archuleta." Hilarious.

Another sweet shot of the Chrysler Building, which was designed by William Van Alen and completed in 1930.

This is the Ford Foundation's "modernist jewelbox." The card says that the building "discreetly shelters assets of a billion or so." I am wondering where they heck they are hiding all of the jewels.

AND - As we have already established - I am unintentionally a show-stealing narcissist.

This is a picture of one of the parks near Tudor City, "an elevated redoubt of 12 apartment houses with names such as 'The Cloister' and 'The Manor.'"

Three pals in Tudor City. Love the candid shot.

This park actually looked more lovely than it actually is. They strategically place these beautiful tulips at the corner of the park to lure in passersby. Once inside - there is only grass and approximately 3 shrubs. Nice, but definitely falsely advertised.

Tudor City - built in the mid 1920's. Apparently, it used to be a neighborhood of slaughterhouses and breweries and gangs. Now - it is quiet and nice, and appeals more to the likes of the Apple-Dumpling Gang.

This scripture was on the wall along the stairs leading down to the United Nations. First off - it is a HUGE engraving. Second - we thought it was sort of excellent.

The United Nations! Usually the UN is a much prettier place (or so we hear). The many flags that are usually waving outside in the wind were not out. Hopefully they will be out when we are back at the UN for one of our upcoming walks.

That being said - we have reached the end. Booya.

20: Gramercy Park

2008-04-27T21:49:00.044-04:00

This week we had the pleasure of going to Gramercy Park and the neighborhood surrounding it, which was new to both of us. I guess I should say we went around Gramercy Park, because it is the only private park in Manhattan, and we are not one of the lucky few key holders.

As we approached the park, Meg was still super excited. This is before the feelings of disappointment and injustice settled in.

A few tidbits about Gramercy Park.

We peered longingly through the gate for quite a few minutes. Until a key-holder approached, said "excuse me, ladies" and entered the park, quickly locking the gate behind him. :(

This is an especially pretty New York park - the landscaping is gorgeous. We were really jealous of everyone inside.

Meg took it all pretty hard. As we circled the park, she became more and more disappointed.

There are a limited number of keys each year, available only to the residents of buildings that face the park - it is a pretty posh neighborhood, and a historical district. A lot of famous people have lived in the private brownstones surrounding the park. I liked the birdhouses here - even they have cushy pads.

By now, Meg is really feeling left out. Check out this pink tree! It must be even better on the other side of the fence. There were quite of people in the park working on their physical fitness (lots of old people in particular), and Meg asked one elderly couple, a little too loudly I might add, if she could have their key when they died. We also contemplated buying one of those roll-up fire escape ladders to scale the fence.

Here are some of the fancy brownstones facing the park.

The neighborhood around the park had some pretty trees as well, so we made do. We love spring!

Meg still felt the need to take out her frustrations on this parking meter.

Here she is in front of the Players Club and the National Arts Club. I read that the National Arts Club is known for giving members access to a park key. Maybe we should join?

Here is a statue of Edwin Booth, an Shakespearean actor and one of the neighborhood's most famous residents. He is also the brother of John Wilkes Booth, Abraham Lincoln's assassin, and his former home is now the Players Club. That is the Chrysler Building in the background.

We could not figure out what this statue is to represent. Any thoughts, interpretations?

We were fans of these knights standing guard in front of another fancy residence.

Meg with fire fingers. We really like gas lamps.

This guy lived in the cool building pictured below.

Just a shot of two large apartment buildings facing the park.

"Now this is how you do vines."

Things are getting really green around here.

19th Street, one block south of the park, has some interesting buildings as well. This one had two cute white porches.

This building was Megan's favorite on the block by far. If she lived here and was giving you directions to her place, she said she would just say, "I live in the cottage with the red door on 19th Street." There was no other building like it.

The whole street was super cute and had a lot of character.

Meg was fond of the lions guarding this entryway.

See the resemblance?

This was the end of the Gramercy Park walk ... so we now return to the NYC parks we are allowed to enter. :(

But we are not done! Have you ever been to the 23rd Street subway station on the N/R/W line? It is fabulous! It has tons of fun hat mosaics - you can read what it's all about here. We took this opportunity to let the crazy out a little bit. I'm not going to comment on all these photos - no explanation needed. Enjoy!

(this one is my favorite)

Not our most flattering photo, but can you tell we had a great time? I think this is the best 5 minutes I've ever spent waiting for a train.

19: Times Square

2008-04-21T21:48:00.062-04:00

Ahhh....Times Square. We are moving on up the island of Manhattan and finally entering territory that we are more familiar with. Warning: Jill and I went a bit nuts on this walk. Neither of us have ever participated in most of Times Square's many wonders - so we took this opportunity to bond with the horde of tourists.

This post is longer than long by the way. Hopefully many of you have nothing to do at work all day, like me.

TA DA! Introducing the new beeboppin' garb! Our talented Jill made these outrageously cute tee's. We will sport these (or other varieties of them) until it gets cold enough to break out our hats again.

Jill knew we'd miss the hats, so she put one on the back of each shirt. Do not fear: it is equally ridiculous for 24/25 year old girls to wear matching shirts as it is for them to wear matching hats.

We felt like these nouns sum up Times Square. I was glad that the camera glare kind of blurred out the word "sex." I wouldn't want to make my mother nervous.

WOW! Look at these AMAZING deals!! Times Square is dotted with electronics stores that always claim to be having the biggest sale of the century. Jill cannot contain her excitement.

This walked took place the day after I stopped participation in "The Master Cleanse," where I survived on rations of water, lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper for 5 days. Note the appropriate billboard: I Miss Food. And I really did.

The Hershey Store: vendor of a zillion varieties of useless, chocolate-themed everything.

My favorite items are ones that combine chocolate and New York. It would be a crime for someone to visit New York and go home without a Hershey bar dressed up like Lady Liberty.

Jill was ecstatic to be reunited with an old friend; she is hugging the syrup with all her might.

The middle of an intersection provides a great view of Times Square and of me marching to the beat of a different drum.

We crossed the street and headed to the M&M's Store. The Hershey bar Lady Lib's have some stiff competition.

Jill creepily presents a tasty wall of multi-colored M&M's.

I just could not help myself - I desperately needed many, many polychromatic M&M tee's.

The King and Queen of M&M world. (for the record: M&M Elvis is bigger than an elephant)

This is the funk.

My computer screen is uber dark. I cannot tell if this is Jill or me, nor can I tell if there is anything of import that needs mentioning.

OMG - I love, love and love Legally Blonde the musical. It is a must see - no question. Also I hate, hate and hate how nast my face looks in this pic.

I am on the phone discussing details for the watching of Gossip Girl. xoxo

Black and White's are a NY specialty and Roxy's have the best ones I have ever tasted! I am not fibbing - it is such a soft and cake-like joy that I can hardly resist leaving my office this very second and heading 10 blocks up to Roxy's. (I just now realized that it is only 10 blocks from work - and now I am excitedly pondering adding a black and white to my lunch today)

Umberto and Megan: Best Friends Forever

Jill LOVES the musical Curtains starring David Hyde Peirce (aka Niles Crane).

Fun fact about beebopper Meg: musicals are among the great loves of my life. I ADORE them. All of them. This shot shows signs for a handful of Broadway shows that I love. Another fun fact: when I saw Hairspray, I was overjoyed to find the role of the mom being played by none other than George Wendt. Yes friends, our pal Norm from Cheers danced and sang his way into my heart.

We both have strong desires to see the new musical The Little Mermaid. Jill broke into Ariel's famous chorus, "Ah ah ah. Ah ah ah....." (fun fact: Jill actually wrote the lyrics to that song)

This is the TKTS booth where you can get cheap theater tickets. Word.

This family of street performers was fabulous. I commented to Jill that they reminded me of the VonTrapp Family Singers. About three seconds later they broke into a harmonic rendition of "Do-Re-Mi." You can see the amazement on my face.

Another great view of Times Square and an even more fabulous view of Jill.

This place is loaded with traffic and people. Our little photographer Jill captured this fab shot of the long line of cabs speeding down Broadway. We almost got hit by one of these cabs only minutes before.

At this point of our walk - we went into the huge Toys R' Us at Times Square. The next one thousand pictures are all taken inside where our level of ridiculous soared to new heights.

mmmm....Chocolate milk is one of our favorite treats! When we were roommates in college, we used to have "Chocolate Milk Time" every night before we went to bed. As we sipped our Nesquick, we would talk about life and discuss our deepest hopes, dreams and fears. But mostly we would attempt to make the other person laugh to the point where they would spit the milk all over the table, window or computer.

Go Mets.

This ticket is the ticket to FUN!

Yes - Jill felt strongly that we needed to ride the huge ferris wheel.

Each car on the wheel had a different theme. We REALLY wanted the Barbie Car, the Monopoly car or the My Little Pony car. This M&M suicide car was the one we got stuck with. M&M's were apparently, the running theme of this trip.

Beeboppin' on the wheel!

We were bummed that all the M&Ms on our car were facing outward so we could not take pictures with them. Rule-breaker Jill stuck her hand outside of the car and caught this humorous shot of a large-lipped treat, with a hard-candy shell.

BFFs

What can I say? It was the ride of a lifetime.

The ferris wheel took us past the magical land where My Little Ponies dwell.

WA-HOO!!

I cannot believe were just on that!

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..." Alright - I am obsessed with the Statue of Liberty (including, but not limited to: Lady Lib cookie cutters, Hershey and M&M figurines AND this Lego beauty) Lego Liberty.

Jill is scaling the lego Empire State Building - ready to fight King Kong to the death.

T-Rex arms. Mom and sisters: do these look familiar to you?

On our last post - our friend Shark requested that several things appear on the blog. Item 4 on his list: dressed up cats. Check.

Item 2 on the list: a jump in the air. Jill is jumping for joy in the window of the human sized Barbie Dream House. (who wouldn't?)

Let's be real. We have experienced some major bonding with M&Ms at this point on our walk. Tired Jill cozied right up to this big red guy.

ENTERING: Candy Land (this next bit features many characters from the Candyland Game)

Jolly is unaware that I am stealing a bite of her cupcake. (Item 3 on Shark's list: Megan eating something gross)

Hiding in the Candy Cane Forest.

Princess Lolly has a tasty crown. If only Jill's tongue was 7 inches longer.

Gloppy the Chocolate Monster looked on as I searched his candy wonderland for one of my favorite treats: chocolate-covered gummy bears.

The blue gingerbread man has a cataract.

Plumpy the Plumpa Troll! Jill is in the picture, too, but as usual, the plumpa troll steals the show.

Jill sweetly befriends the green gingerbread man. (p.s. as I am writing this post, where nearly every picture involves some sort of delicious treat - my hunger is becoming out of control)

Mr. Mint wears his overalls like I did in the 5th grade.

There she is!

Times Square subway station is quite the hub.

Our first video!

Jill expertly films a full 360 of Times Square glory.
The narcissist might make a cameo appearance.

18:The Public Library and Bryant Park

2008-04-12T17:15:00.030-04:00

This week's walk was a short one, but a great one - around one of the city's most beautiful blocks.

The New York Public Library has been called the "greatest legacy of the city's Gilded Age" and a "marble beaux arts palace beloved be scholars, schoolchildren, and ordinary readers." More importantly, it was prominently featured in the movie "Ghostbusters."

The NYPL means business - you have to be quiet before you can even go inside. This "Quiet Zone" was on the sidewalk before reaching the library steps.

We had another guest BeeBopper this week - wooo! Meet Karen, another of Megan's lucky cousins. She was a great guest.

This week is also special because we are bidding a fond farewell to the purple hats (at least until next winter). We'll have something new and fun to wear next week ... I bet you can hardly wait!

Megan loved the NYPL lions and apparently is over her fear of getting in trouble (from who?) for climbing on public property. I'm not afraid - just generally more respectful. :)

Do you love the beautiful shrubbery around the inner library wall? Don't be fooled, it is painted on, just like Barbie's dream house.

Meg thought it would be great if this fountain man wore the hat - imagine her disappointment when he was just too tall.

The NYPL was kind of beautiful in the morning. It was closed, and still quite deserted. By lunchtime each day, these steps are filled with hundreds of lunchers.

Meg really likes the library. I was sad to miss the reading room, which in my three years here, I still have never seen. It is supposedly quite the sight!

Karen admiring the entrance portico.

See - I was on this walk! I was super sick this weekend and looked like a sad sack, so elected to be in as few photos as possible. Megan was happy to pick up the slack.

Here, the little men around the bottom of the library flagpole wear ALL the hats! It was one of Meg's finest ideas of the day.

She's a thinker. For those of you who don't know Meg personally, here's a tidbit - she's a math teacher! And a darn good one too. She is particularly fond of FOIL.

Here is where Meg started wanting to put the hat on everything. We tried to humor her, even when it wasn't very funny. :)

The purple hat fit Gertude Stein like a glove. We are now entering Bryant Park.

Here we are with William Cullen Bryant, a romantic poet, journalist and long-time editor of the New York Evening Post.

Isn't Bryant Park gorgeous? Bryant Park is directly behind the NYPL (all on the same city block). It is a popular lunch spot, has a nice grassy field for catching some sun, and shows free outdoor movies in the summer. During the holidays, they set up an ice rink here and a really festive holiday market. It is a fantastic park!

This is the Bryant Park Hotel and Meg's finger (she really likes to be in every photo). At the time, I just thought the black/gold combo looked interesting. Later, I read that it represents coal and fire and is modeled after Chicago's Tribune building.

Megan love, love, LOVED this tree lined sidewalk. It is even more lovely when it is leafy.

This is William Earl Dodge. As you can see, we hit the statue jackpot again this week.

Here is Meg, chillin' with Benito Juarez. The hat fit Benito very nicely.

Again, such a pretty park. It has come a long way since the 70's when it was nicknamed "Needle Park" and non-drug dealers and heroine addicts steered clear.

This fine gentleman is Jose Bonifacio de Andrada. I know nothing about him.

Last, but not least, is the Bryant Park Carousel. It is super cute when not so covered-up.

This AMAZING trimming store was not on the card, but it is one of my very favorite NYC craft spots, so we had to stop in. M&J Trimming is just a couple blocks south of Bryant Park, and is something to experience, even for those of you who aren't ribbon fanatics.

17: Union Square to Madison Square

2008-04-06T20:59:00.039-04:00

This week we welcomed two guest beeboppers: my cousin Jana and her husband Kevin. The weather was out-of-this-world amazing, and we are thinking that the purple hats will soon be packed away for the summer - so enjoy them while they last.

For starters - the "union" in Union Square refers to the union of the old Bowery Road with Broadway in 1831.

Union Square is home to the largest farmers' market in NYC. This is me being super excited about the apple donuts that I just purchased.

While they are no tres leches donut from my beloved Doughnut Plant, they are still quite tasty. Jana and Kevin enjoyed them as well. (just FYI - I have heard from a somewhat reliable source that this farmers' market is also home to the best oatmeal cookie of all times. Thanks for the tip, Evan)

Both Jill and I know no greater joy than finding a good deal. Imagine our excitement when this booth was selling their very best Apple Opportunities for only two dollars a piece!! If anyone has a clue what on earth an Apple Opportunity is - please let us know.

Union Square Park has a bunch of these cute plaque things embedded in the sidewalk. They are almost as cute as Jill.

First - pardon my spandex. Second - there is a full-blown life guard tower in Union Square Park!! The marketing tactics of New York never cease to amuse me. Also - Jill and I are both weenies. Neither of us wanted to climb up the tower for fear we would get in trouble. Is it possible that a lifeguard tower security person would leap out from behind a bush and get angry with us? We are nerds.

Park goers can breathe easy now that a life saving ring hangs right in Union Square. I look bugged. I am not; I am just still nervous that I will get in trouble.

Finally, a picture of Jill! She is standing in front of Metronome - which is a large public piece of art along Union Square south. There is a digital counter of numbers behind Jill's hand. You may wonder what the hey it is counting. I always hoped that it had something to do with Lost - but I never knew its true meaning until several minutes ago when I consulted the omniscient Wikipedia. In some strange way - it represents the time. If you want details - click.

The cousins and I pose with General George Washington. I realize that his face has been cut off, but trust me - it is George.

Welcome Spring!! Yellow daffodils - magnificent. The card also tells us that as we wander the market - we will see New Yorkers at their most cheerful. The card is right again. People were smiling and two strangers even said, "Good morning!" Thank you farmers' market and friendly people.

I believe it has been mentioned before - Jill and I love cheese. LOVE. However - I have a strong aversion to goat cheese. I look calm and chill in this picture, but do not be fooled! I am merely being disgusted by the very thought of goat cheese. I think it tastes like an animal. I would use the word "gamey" but I gag upon speaking it.

Only Jill can capture the nobility that encompasses our nation's sixteenth president.

In the middle of Union Square Park - there is a big statue with cool relief sculpture all the way around the base. Apparently, I am attention starved and felt that I needed to be in every picture. Yes - that is my finger pointing to the statue. I am embarrassed.

This is quite the salesman. First - he is wearing a suit and sitting against a trashcan. Second - his demonstration of his vege-slicer is so efficient and convincing it is almost infomercial-like. Third - and most importantly - he has a thick British accent. I am so much more willing to listen when I am being spoken to in such beautiful English.

This is a little mousy-rat. Well - I suppose this is 2 little mousy-rats.

For those who do not know - Jill is the ultimate athlete. She would modestly deny this, but I promise that it is true. She majored in PE teaching in college, for Pete's sake. And look at that face; it is the face of an outrageously tough cookie. Behind her is Paragon Sports - a large and important sporting goods store.

Jana and I pose in front of a fire station. These little hidden stations are all over in the city - I think they are supremely charming.

That is the Empire State Building behind us. Later that day - Jana, Kevin and I traveled to the top. This is quite a touristy thing to do - and I think it rocks.

Raise it for appearance numero dos of Otto Tootsie Plohound.

This is the wide side of the famous Flatiron building. Jill's arms are outstretched to show just how wide! The Flatiron building is often considered the oldest skyscraper in NYC. It was completed in 1902.

This is the other side. SO SKINNY!!!

This is kind of an amazing building. It appears as if I am about to spin around and sing songs from The Sound of Music.

Holy Hannah - I adore this triangular beauty.

Kevo earned the privilege of posing in front of William H. Seward - as Kev was the only one who had ever heard of the man. Seward was a governor of New York and also the Secretary of State under Presidents Lincoln and Jackson. Kevin looks rather proud of himself and his vast knowledge of useless junk. :) (p.s. we are now in Madison Square Park)

Jill knows better than most that gold bikinis really never ever go out of style.

This is the Shake Shack - a popular little burger and shake place in Madison Square Park. I am giving a little shake by busting a shimmy. Fear not - I am more adept at shimmying than it appears.

This gold-clad man happened by immediately after I finished the shimmy. Jill was quick on her feet and captured this GREAT shot. He seems completely oblivious to the fact that he is wearing a very unattractive outfit.

Even Kevin had never heard of Roscoe Conkling. He was a New York politician but is mostly known for having such a fantastic name.

This is the MetLife building. It is old, tall and has a clock on it.

This building is extremely Greek looking.

Kevin is forever amused by my ridiculousness. I am just very happy to be standing in front of Chester A. Arthur - the 21st president of the United States. This statue reminded me of Chester Copperpot. My fellow beeboppers did not know who that was. Do you?

Jill is sweetly enjoying this statue of David Farragut. He was the first senior officer in the US Navy during the Civil War. AND - his picture on Wikipedia suggests that he also might have had the first comb-over. And in case you had not noticed - Madison Square Park is LOADED with statues.

I kind of like to stand in fountains. It also looks as if I just ended a great gymnastic feat, am cheering support for my alma mater (BYU) OR am at the start of the YMCA dance.

Adieu!

16: Greenwich Village 2

2008-03-24T22:11:00.027-04:00

Friends - as many of you may know - I am lazy. We actually did this walk 2 Saturdays ago, and I am just now getting around to posting. April resolution: Be a more efficient poster. Anyhow - this was a very pleasant little walk through Greenwich Village, which is becoming one of my fave NYC spots.

Our walk commenced with a blast from the past. Several walks ago (post 12) - we became curious about this lovely tower. Jill referred to it as the "Tower of Power" a la The Backyardagins. This walk did not cure our curiosity as we still have no idea what this tower is.

In 1970 - a bomb exploded right here on 11th Street destroying the old building. That is why this little townhouse looks different from every other one on the street. The bomb was built by the Weather Underground which Wikipedia informed me was a radical group of leftists trying to overthrow the US government. More importantly - Jill looks ridiculous.

Once again we tried to capture the super cute ambiance of this great neighborhood, and once again we fail. It has a very "Cosby Show" feel to it. I like.

Why do I wait so long to post!!?!?! Because I have absolutely no memory of what inspired me to take this picture, I will just have to let you enjoy my "What you talkin' about Willis?" face.

As we have mentioned before (and mention twice again in this post) New Yorker's think their dogs are the cat's pajamas. This sign warns passersby that the fierce terrier Lola is on guard. We thought that you also needed warning.

How fantastic is this?! A dusty blue building with rod iron window things = excellent. We are suckers for cute NY apartments - seeing as the entry way of Jill's building sometimes smells like garbage and my bedroom window provides a lovely view of my kitchen.

This apartment has a crazy unique shape to it that had to be photographed. It might smell strange or I might be ready to sneeze or I might just make weird faces sometimes.

Cool old church that the card failed to mention.

Our weekly beebopping is really tweaking Jill's photography skillz. For no particular reason - I kind of love this shot.

We love New Yorkers' devotion to their dogs AND we love yarn crafts. Our hearts are full.

Many of the cute townhomes in the village are covered in lovely vines. This building had it all wrong; this is a tangled knot of nastiness. It looks like something from a dead portion of the rainforest.

Look at this mess!!! It sticks out like 4 feet from the building - and it is untamed to the max. I was fascinated.

Please compare the size of the dog to the size of the car. This canine is HUGE. I do not know how this dog fits inside of any New York apartment. Nor do I know how this dog lover abstained from barfing as he caught, in his bagged hand, poo coming out of this giant pooch's bum. Vile. And we witnessed it.

Now that is how you do vines.

This darling little cobblestoned lane is a row of converted carriage houses that used to service the townhouses overlooking Washington Square. It was quite the hidden little gem.

We had to capture this somewhat hideous feline door-knocker in memory of Jill's cat-cat-cat socks that were laid to rest several weeks ago.

Undoubtedly the most famous sight on our walk this week: the arch in Washington Square Park. The arch was built in 1889 to celebrate the centenary of George Washington's inauguration. Designed by Stanford White - the arch stands 77 feet tall. It is also featured in the not-really-good-at-all movie "August Rush."

As we approached the arch, we saw an open gate, and we felt compelled to explore. The path led to this statue of Cervantes, author of Don Quixote. Despite my love of The Man of La Mancha and the song "The Impossible Dream," this was a somewhat disappointing exploration.

We must celebrate NYU wherever possible, as Jill's husband is completing his last semester of law school. Whoop Whoop, Jared! p.s. NYU is the biggest landowner in the village.

Weird hugging monkies - done and done.

Following our morning beebop - Jill and I headed straight home and got to work with Easter preparations for the following day. For those unaware, Jill is the ultimate crafter (see: her other blog). We had too much fun going ridiculously overboard. We were especially proud of our Easter cookies.

Each member of our Easter dinner party had a lovely personalized cookie marking their spot at the table. Jill would not allow me to put the names on for fear that my unsteady hand would ruin Easter. Please note the cookie in the bottom right corner: even Jill and Jared's pet rabbit, Buns, got her very own cookie.

Several months ago, I convinced Jill to purchase a Statue of Liberty cookie cutter, and I took this opportunity to use it. Not to boast, but they turned out BEAUTIFULLY! Good old Lady Lib - covered in sugary, green goodness. mmmmmmm

15: Chelsea

2008-03-19T23:13:00.022-04:00

We love Chelsea. It is just a charming neighborhood. We were kind of on the south side of Chelsea, away from the many, many art galleries, so we may have to catch that scene on another walk.

We did come across some delightful little restaurants like Sauce:

And this place, right next door. Megan took one look at the building and said "Swirly, Swirly, Swirly!"

You can imagine her delight when she saw that the name of the restaurant was Klee Klee Klee. :)

We love the re-occuring themes around here. Like funny store names - HA HA Fresh market, for example (remember Wing On Wo & Co in Chinatown?).

Megan was especially charmed by all the beautiful apartment buildings. We both agree that this would be a nice part of town to live in.

Here we are at Clement Clarke Moore Park, named after Clement Clarke Moore, the man who wrote "The Night Before Christmas." And that is me, being Santa Claus, obviously.

Apparently, the residents of Chelsea gather in Clement Clarke Moore Park each Christmas Eve for a reading. We love this!

Another cute street.

Megan LOVES her shiny new rain boots - a must have in NYC. What we don't love is the nasty paper and trash slush that accumulates in the streets and sidewalks when it rains.

For those of you who live here, you might be thinking to yourselves, "It didn't rain here last weekend!" (but I assume most of you don't care). In fact, it was a beautiful, warm, sunny, almost spring-like day. We visited Chelsea two weeks ago, after our Nolita walk. Megan was in CT this weekend. And I am just too lazy to post on time.

One of my favorite stops on the Chelsea walk - The General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church. The grounds were HUGE and looked gorgeous, but were unfortunately closed.

We took a couple of good peaks through the gates. It looked beautiful - I want to go back when it is warmer.

Have you ever wondered where New Yorkers park their cars? Most of the garages are normal, parking garage-style, but my favorite kind are these metal quadruple-deckers. It seems like it would be a real pain to get the top cars down.

I'm not sure what this building is, but I just thought it looked really cool. We spotted it on our way to Chelsea Piers.

This was Megan's first visit to the piers - we thought this old one looked like a pier graveyard. I love Chelsea Piers - It has a golf range, bowling ally, ice rink, gym, spa, lots of indoor fields, a sun deck ... and lots more. It is crazy big. Of course, it is also a place to park your yacht.

Here I am demonstrating my best swing. See the the big netted area in the background? That is the Chelsea Piers driving range. The stalls are stacked 3 or 4 levels high, just like you see in the movies. :)

We ended the morning by stopping into the Chelsea Market - it has an amazing selection of delicious foods (although beware of the seafood market, it is potent). We had lunch at the Ronnybrook Milk Bar, which just might be my new favorite lunch spot in the city. Ronnybrook Farms is a local dairy farm in NY, and this restaurant features their delicious milk products. I don't know of a lot of other places that offer cookies and milk on the menu. And the potato soup is to die for!

14: Nolita

2008-03-12T20:48:00.024-04:00

Welcome to Nolita, a.k.a. the neighborhood North of Little Italy. This week we enjoyed a short walk though a small neighborhood.

First stop is ... wait for it .... this is very exciting ... a Gas Station!! This was so not on the card but it has been a long time since I have had a delicious cup of gas station hot chocolate, complete with the yummy creamers, so we stopped in. Here is Meg, looking angry on my behalf that the hot chocolate machine was out of order.

Lest you think we are pulling your leg, here is another photo. :) This gas station may not be interesting to our suburban readers, but you don't often come across them on foot in the city. I've lived here for almost 3 years and this is my first visit to a gas station here! It is not everyday that you see a gas station and a subway station side by side. Ok - moving on.

Here I am in front of the Puck Building, which proclaims itself "One of New York's Most Celebrated Landmarks." Apparently, it is the happening place to throw your next wedding, social function or corporate event. I mostly just liked the little gold guy in the doorway.

Meg was especially pleased when we came across Otto Tootsi Plohound. She has a friend who adores this clothing store. Great name, Otto Tootsi Plohound!

Sometimes our tour card lies. This week's card directed us to the Firestation and promised us a "Fire and Police Store." We were so pumped about the store and were sad to find the Nolita location no longer exists. There is one in the Village, so we may head there for all our FDNY t-shirt and mug needs on a later walk.

Store or no store, the firemen were friendly.

This is Old St. Patrick's Cathedral, the first cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York. You can read more about it on the plaque below.

The best part of the cathedral was the pretty brick wall.

Megan peeked through the gate...

and found a neat old cemetary. The grounds were locked. Foiled again!

Here is a view around the other side of the gate. We wrote down the name from a particularly impressive grave, thinking you might have to be pretty important to be buried here. My most trusted research tool, Google search, shed very little light on Charles C. Cashman, though it appears an elementary school in Massachusetts was named after him.

This is Elizabeth Street Gallery, by far the most interesting thing we came across in Nolita. It is so rare to see a large amount of open space in the city, let alone one filled with a variety of sculptures. You should check out this guy's flickr set of the inside of the gallery. It looks amazing!

Curse you, Saturday mornings! Nothing is ever open.

Nolita is also home to the Eastern United States Taosist Association. Megan is looking very Napoleon Dynamite in this photo (in a good way).

This is where we let the crazy out a little bit. I had been having wardrobe malfunctions all throughout this walk - my sock kept sliding off my foot and down into my rainboot. So annoying! I was about to stop into the nearest Duane Reade to buy a new pair when Meg whips out a pair of spare socks from her purse. Because she's prepared like that. I am not as prepared, but have excellent balance.

It was really hard for me to admit that my Cat Cat Cat socks were past their prime, but we (I) bid them a fond farewell. Want a backstory on the Cat Cat Cat socks? Believe it or not, my beloved cat, Ciao, (may he rest in peace) actually mailed me these socks as a Halloween gift in 2001. I was a freshman at BYU, it was the first time we had ever been apart, and he missed me. Here is the card to prove it:

The back of the card says:

Meow! Just wanted to say Happy Halloween! It's kind of spooky here without you! Love, Ciao

I don't know what I love most - the fact that my mom sent me packages from my cat, the fact that I still have this card, or the fact that over 6 years later, I was still wearing the socks! (I really liked them!) Meg, hater of all cats and cat related items, was really happy to see them go.

We went the only place that could cheer me up - The Doughnut Plant. It is, after all, the most delicious way to end a walk.

See you next week, when I promise to do my best to post on time.

Beebop ROCK!

2008-03-01T12:46:00.006-05:00

Jill was not feeling 100% - so we nixed the walk this week. We are feeling slightly guilty and felt we should blog about this Saturday's activities even though they are not intensely New Yorky.

Sometimes, we cannot help but to feel the beat, so this morning we busted out a Guitar Hero jam session.

Instead of beebopping - we ROCKED OUT! I cannot tell a lie - we are quite the guitar heroines.

I am the most grateful for this great little invention. Finally a video game that is more excellent than Dr. Mario. I did not think it was possible - but GH is like Nintendo with a kick.

Whoop whoop to quality BFF time and another whoop for GH. We promise a walk next week - hopefully.

13: Bleecker Street in Three Parts

2008-02-25T22:18:00.040-05:00

Bleeker Street - which also happens to be a song (which Jill hates) by Simon and Garfunkel about this very street - cuts across Greenwich Village east to west. We had no guest beeboppers this week, so Jill and I had some much needed BFF bonding. AND - added bonus - New York saw some massive snowing on Friday which 1) got me out of work early (booya) and 2) added a little winter flava to our beloved beebop.

Bleeker Street begins at Abingdon Square, a park like all of the other fenced in patches of grass in New York. This fence, however, held a laminated sign telling us to keep off the precious grass. Being the rebel I am - I snuck my toe under the fence. My facial expression makes it seem like this move caused me extreme pain - don't be fooled - I am just overly excited to be disobedient.

This is a statue honoring soldiers from one of the World Wars. Jill was trying to imitate the statue but is facing the wrong way and doing the wrong things with her arms. Noble effort.

This man's top hat brought us back to the early 1800's when Anthony Bleeker, a lawyer and poet whose farm surrounded this street, donated a chunk of land to the city. Thank you Tony.

A good biography brings me happiness that few other things are capable of.

A good bakery brings Jill the same type of happiness. (Dang Magnolia's for not opening until ten. Note: their banana pudding is out-of-control tasty)

At this point of our walk - we began to realize several things. 1) Bleeker Street is known for its night life which unfortunately does not begin at 8:30 as we do. 2) Due to #1 - things are deader than dead around here 3) EVERY store on Bleeker Street announces in its title that it is indeed on Bleeker Street. You will notice that #3 becomes a running theme.

This flower shop was swankified. Jill introduced me to the ranunculus - which is a fun name and a flower with an obscene amount of petals. Holla to her botany skillz.

Ta Da - another shop on Bleeker!

We took this picture when we realized that there was nothing to SEE on Bleeker Street. I also enjoyed pointing in my mittens. You didn't even know I was pointing - did you?

I think Jill is prettier than the model.

These are faces of contemplation. We encountered a clairvoyant and palm reading place and debated for five to ten minutes if I should have my palm read. I was terrified. Jill appears to seem scared, when in reality she was attempting to be an encouraging bully. We walked away - tarot cards unturned and palm unread.

Notice the old dance hall across the street. I was embarrassing Jill (and myself for that matter) by busting a can-can on the corner of Bleeker and something.

Jill is wary of the rude van that cut our sign in half. Bleeker Farm - go fig.

Shock of shocks - a Bleeker Store. I think my cud-chewing face belongs at the Bleeker Farm.

Cheese, Cheese, Cheese!!! Murray's Cheese Shop. We both kind of love cheese with our whole souls a little bit.

These cheese wheels are so large and tasty looking. Yum-a-Rum. This picture makes me crave Ritz crackers.

Beeboppers' breakfast. Jill is having a moment with her croissant. Creep-fest.

What is up with this picture? I think there is a Bleeker record shop in the background.

Again - who knows. We were desperate for pics and while we were still sincerely loving the massive amount of Bleeker stores, we were nervous that too many of them would be boring. This is Jill's attempt to liven things up.

Bleeker Street has so many rules. No biking, no roller skating, no scottie dogs and no martinis. All you are permitted to do is stand there or drop things into a basket.

Mitten pointing at the Bleeker Deli (or at the young child with a comb-over).

True love on Bleeker.

More Bleeka lovin'.

Jill continually has a difficult time following directions. Geez.

Statue of Mayor LaGuardia - 99th mayor of New York City and quite a jolly fella.

Jill's husband is at NYU law school. Here she holds a torch in honor of his last semester.

Dogs in clothes! We cannot get enough.

Action shot! Here we are in Washington Square Park - Me chucking a snowball at Jill. I totally missed.

Bleeker Street ROCKS!

This is the most disturbing bar of all times. Skeletons are hanging everywhere, and the sign features a salivating wolf. Enticing.

There is NOTHING that I have enjoyed more than fractional addresses. We thought 1/2 was exciting - 18 3/4 is off the Hizzie!

Jill was fond of these female statues. hmmm...

Yahtzee!

Affectionate men. I am totally comfortable with that - but not with Jill adding herself into their love.

12: Greenwich Village 1 - The West Village

2008-02-18T09:38:00.054-05:00

"Despite the erratic course of most streets in the West Village, you can't get seriously lost, only pleasantly so."

This card rarely lies. I pride myself on being a pretty good navigator, but I got us pretty lost at the beginning of this walk. Who knew that Bedford Street (a major street bisecting the village) could be so elusive?

Luckily, we came across some great sites. Take this giant teak lion, for instance. It was just hanging out in the deli next to the Houston subway station. James, our special guest of the week, was the first to spot it, but Meg had the honor of growling beside it.

Then we found this sign, explaining the beast:

In case you don't want to click on it to enlarge, it asks, "What's up with that ginormous wooden lion at the Getting Hungry deli?" which made us laugh, because that is precisely how Megan would have worded it. I'm convinced she writes into Time Out New York under the pseudonym Jay Demaio.

Meg and James wanted to climb inside of the sphere. You can't see me, but I'm shaking my head with disapproval.

The Village has some awesome architecture. Here we are looking especially pious in front of a beautiful church (p.s. still lost).

These walks bring out the recklessness in me. I'll do almost anything on a dare. So James says, "Run through that sick flock of pigeons!"

and off I go...

This is pretty shameful. There are few things in life more disgusting than a NY pigeon.

Still lost, but thrilled with our finds, we come across this theater putting on a musical production of the Adding Machine. There is nothing in this world that Meg loves more than musicals, except perhaps math - she's a real live {fun-loving, fantastic to be around, best-girl-I-know} nerd.

I'm so glad we got lost so we could find Cafe Wha? Meg and I have long loved to say, "Wha happened?" (do you love Fred Willard, too? - more Christopher Guest movie references to come).

Another photo from Cafe Wha? This place was made for us!

And we're baaaack! Back to the tour route that is - we finally found our way. Megan has eagle eyes and spotted this creepy skull (see it?) in some lucky fellow's rooftop garden, a rare commodity in NYC.

One of the hardships of our weekly walks is that it can be so difficult to capture the awesomeness of any given neighborhood. First of all, we are not photographers. Secondly, we have to stick to a schedule (we can't take 15 shots at each location). My point is, I am sometimes disappointed that we cannot effectively show all of you how amazing this place is. This is St. Luke's Place, a most beautiful line of "Italianate brownstones." I really loved this street!

This white brownstone was a favorite. We wonder how often it gets painted to maintain its pristine appearance? New discovery: thanks to our friend Becca - we have discovered that the house just to the left of this white beauty is the Huxtabul's house on The Cosby Show. I love that we took a picture of the unimportant house, while a real gem is right next door.

James, who was visiting from Wisconsin, sometimes pretends he is a scientist.

The West Village has an abundance of red doors, which is quite possibly my favorite feature to have in a house. The best part of these particular doors, however, are the street numbers above them. Undoubtedly, the residents of 449 1/2 have oodles more fun than lame-o 449.

This secret garden is part of St. Luke's Seminary. Megan and I were reminiscent of a certain set of twins (Benthany Gardener) from our freshman year at BYU, who sang, on more than one occasion, a dramatic rendition of "Lily's Eyes" from the Secret Garden Soundtrack. (Fugal girls - don't pretend you don't remember what I'm talking about!).

Still at St. Luke's Seminary - the courtyard was a pretty little place, and oh so funny.

I felt blessed just to be there.

Megan can do a mean heel-click. Here, she demonstrates her talent in front of one of the more beautiful subway entrances.

All of your favorite off-Broadway playwrites can be found at the Lucille Lortel Playwright Star Sidewalk - Mbongeni Ngema, Athol Fugard, Bertolt Brecht. I'm all aflutter just thinking about it! I jest - there were actually a few recognizable names there, like Langston Hughes and Tennessee Williams.

We were fans of the Christopher Street clothier that sported this purple sign.

This is my favorite spot in all the West Village: Grove Court. Grove Court is "a row of shaded mews houses set within a deep courtyard, built as laborers' housing in 1854." The place looked really lovely.

Here's a little more about Grove Street:

This house won my heart with its crumbling outer wall and giant stovepipe. Not sure what is going on with the creepy expressions on Meg and James' faces.

more beautiful and historic west village homes

Here comes that reference I promised. The Cherry Lane Theater was where Beckett's Waiting for Godot has its American premiere. We youngins might know the story better from Waiting for Guffman.

Can you find Meg in this photo?

This is the Isaac Hendricks House, built in 1799 and the oldest surviving house in the Village.

This is Washington Irving's house! (lie - it is actually Washington Irving Jr.'s house, but Megan didn't think that was as cool)

Meg looked into the future at Zena ClairVoyant, a local fortune teller (we didn't plan on the cabbages matching her hat).

We love reoccurring themes around here. Remember the last time we found over-sized school supplies? (hint: it was at the Tenement Museum gift shop)

Good times at the Riviera! Very appropriate since the two of us first met James at The Riviera apartment complex in Provo, UT.

It is looking as dilapidated as ever.

James is a brave soul and ventured down into this scary hole.

When we found this giant map of the west village, we became very ashamed of how difficult it was for us to find Bedford Street. It practically intersects the entire neighborhood!

Another shout out to Megan's sister, Bonnie, who despite not really reading this blog, gets referenced in most posts. We love Labonna Jean.

Wha?

We are so curious to find out what that tower in the distance is (perhaps next week?). James was so disappointed that he wouldn't be here to see it up close, but is counting on us to not only find out what it is, but to also go to the top of the tower. Only time will tell.

more love for the interesting things you can see in ano 2008, west village

It appears I am not the only fan of iron dragons...

This is one of the many very-pointy buildings you can find in the west village. Megan was absolutely baffled by them - I mean, what will fit in that tiny corner space?!! Her best guess for this Laser Hair Removal place was tweezers. Gotta love her.

Tiles for America (a 9-11 memorial) was touching.

More West Village house love - this one had a red door, red windows, a swirly iron gate AND a vine-covered wall. Love it!

Last but not least, Meg and I attempt to recreate a disturbing statue. Gut-busting laughter ensues.

But WAIT ... you didn't think we would skip out on the Doughnut Plant, do you? Not when it was a mere subway ride, cab ride and brief walk away! This was James' maiden voyage to the DP.

This is Mark Israel, the owner of the DP. We have always wanted to meet him and lo and behold, there he was! Standing only feet away as we devoured doughnuts like animals. I got the courage to speak to him, and when he recommended the Rose Petal doughnut, we went back for more. After all, the Rose Petal doughnuts are only offered once a year. They were suprisingly delicious for something that tasted exactly like what you would expect a rose to taste like. Thanks, Mark!

We left happy.

and a feeling a little sick.

See you next week!

11: Williamsburg Bridge

2008-02-10T19:35:00.000-05:00

This week our walk took us across the Williamsburg Bridge which connects Manhattan to Williamsburg, Brooklyn. We were excited to loan the spare purple hat to our guest beebopper - roommate Mitzi.

En route to the bridge, we encountered this health-conscious man wielding a HUGE bag of beans Santa Claus style. We found it to be quite a site. FYI - seconds before, we missed a great photo opp when a cute Chinese woman was seen dragging a laundry basket full of flopping fish down the sidewalk. Sickest.

Hallelujah! Luckily, the Williamsberg Bridge is kind of, somewhat, almost near one of our favorite NY treats - The Doughnut Plant.

Our doughnut shop was decorated for the Chinese New Year! (I believe this is the 5th walk that has brought us to the Doughnut Plant...or 6th)

This is the jolly guy that works the counter at the Doughnut Plant. Over the past few months, as we find any excuse we can to stop in for a doughnut, we have become fast friends with him. He LOVES our purple hats, and because he had on a festive Chinese New Years hat - we took the opportunity to trade. In honor of the holiday - my Asian potential is through the roof.

Mitzi is messy. She spilled/spit her hot chocolate all over the place. Though I have been mocked for my preparedness, I was glad to have wet wipes on hand. I was also glad to be making a very creepy face.

We have arrived at the bridge! WHOOP WHOOP!

I really love this picture. Jill is being the perfect combination of cutsie and sneaky. Well done.

According to the card - the Williamsburg Bridge has better views of the city than the Brooklyn Bridge. For the first time - the card lies. It was a bit of a foggy morning - and though it appears that Mitz and Jill are posing in front of a bunch of nothing - there actually is a big and grand city somewhere behind them.

We think a really, really tall person got shot here. Mitzi wanted to spend a minute in their shoes. AND - what is up with my brave friends' willingness to lay on the dirty ground anywhere in NYC?! First Jill at the African Burial Ground (see "City Hall" post), and now this.

Both Jill and I commented about this graffiti being the most beautiful color! Love it.

I just deleted a picture! DANGIT! If anyone knows how to "undo" while blog posting - please let me know.

The J train comes across the bridge. A real thrill.

This is a sad me wanting the view to be better. We will replace my sadness with a fun fact: the Williamsburg Bridge was built in 1903, only twenty years after the Brooklyn Bridge (which coincidentally, has GREAT views).

Three good pals walking and talking. Jill is looking at us adoringly - she loves us.

At this point of the walk, we began to let the crazy out. Some graffiti-er had put a hula-hoop on this walking man. Mit and I were attempting to capture the essence of the hula-hooping sport. I think we NAILED it.

A boat! Jill is humoring me by participating in this picture. Mitz the photographer also told me that my hands were in perfect position where it looked like I was holding the little boat. She was lying, and I look ridiculous - like Oliver Twist: "Please sir, I want some more."

The card said that this bridge has an "Ayn Rand" feel. This time - the card was truthful. Both Mitz and I love Ayn Rand. I feel like Howard Roarke is about to swing down from one of these steel beams and say something profound.

Mitz is training for a triathlon. Go Mitz!

Jill is using her impeccable balance to stand atop of this pointy grey thing. Lets give a shout out to her inner ear.

As I looked at these pictures, I was reminded of the many clever posters in this world that picture some animal (an opossum, a bat, a cat, a koala, etc.) dangling from a tree with the caption "Just Hangin' Around." I really, really have an aversion to ridiculous animal posters.

I deleted ANOTHER picture. DANG! It was a great one displaying my adventurous spirit taking hold of me. I had climbed up on this railing and was precariously hanging over the edge of the bridge with the river surging beneath me. OR - I was standing on a railing smiling. Whatev - still a good pic.

WAHOO!

The important part of this picture is the man in the back. The card informs us that the footbridge is frequently used by Hasidic Jews on the Sabbath. He is going to church. I am not sure what I am doing.

We discovered a small sign that perfectly explains Mitzi's current life predicament.

ENHANCE!!

She can't get some.

The part of Williamsburg right by our bridge was covered in graffiti. This wall was particularly lovely, and we are particularly gangstas.

This walk was not full of spectacular sites, BUT I feel like we do not need much to keep ourselves entertained. Also - here is a shout out to our guest BeeBopper - whoop whoop Mitz!