It was another hot and humid weekend, a heathen summer, thus far. I can count the many hours the heat has hindered me and held me down to slumber. This weekend was not going to be another wasted weekend.
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Jazz Cruising into Her 30th
“The training wheels are officially off,” said my friend on her 30th birthday.
It’s true because I found the 20s was just an extension of one’s teenage years, full of angst, uncertainty, self consciousness, and self loathing at times. But something clicks when you reach a certain point and life changes, in a very good way. Work is still hard and loathsome at times. But life appears more vast and more exciting, if you don’t have regrets and longing for the past. It has open-doors everywhere and any of them can be great if you took a chance, instead of holding on to memories.
My friend hasn’t always been the type of girl to put herself out there. But in the past couple of years, she’s been slowly moving out of the shell she encompassed herself. She ventured out of several doors, sometimes running through them, and seeing the world! And I found I love her even more, admire her strength to face her fears, and am encouraged by her outlook on life. She may not have been the outgoing, rambunctious, party goer, drinker, and average 20 years old but she has always been a constant friend even with distance.
I was so excited when she invited me to her 30th birthday party on a jazz cruise on the Hudson River. I didn’t know anyone save her parents who I haven’t seen since sophomore year in college. But the moment they saw me, they all hugged and kissed me, enveloping me into their family. I felt so loved and welcomed. There was no pretension or ingenuity.
Her family and friends are loving, respectful, and just so much fun. They never made me feel like an outsider or the random friend who wanted brunch buffet on a cruise with them (the company makes the food and the entire experience amazing!).
I feel so grateful to know her and her family and friends.
Prepping the cruise with some motion sickness pills and keeping hydrated in the heat.
Arriving at Pier 40. Fortunately, there was a sign to the ship.
Amazing venue for a great price!
They seated us to a large table for 13 as a jazz trio played music as we entered.
I think I overdid my first plate.
Dessert was overfloweth!
Hanging out with the birthday girl on the top deck as we arrive towards the Statue of Liberty.
Ending the cruise with cake and view of Statue of Liberty. Did you know her parents have been together and in love for over 30 years? I can’t wait until that’ll be me one day.
A Berry Happy Afternoon
Every year after Father’s Day, my mother used to take us all out of the house, after a long winter hibernating at home and school, to go strawberry picking. It was an annual outing that I loved! To be out in the sun, in the field, eating fresh fruits, and listening to wild birds and bugs chirping. Massachusetts’ farms are the type that are deep in the towns, hard to find places, surrounded by thick forests. So I imagined it would be much like that when my roommate suggested going strawberry picking in Long Island. It’s not as romantic as when I was a child but it’s the company that makes it memorable.
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A Very Hoboken Afternoon
It’s not everyday you’ll hear me say, I’m in New Jersey! I avoid it like the plague since I always feel trapped if I go there, despite knowing there’s public transportation available. But this past weekend, my boyfriend needed to send a package from New Jersey so I thought a good compromise was to visit Hoboken. It’s an island off New Jersey so less daunting than the entire state known as the armpit of America.
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Castle Williams & LMCC Open Studios
Memorial Day weekend came and went like a blur. Every time I have a three-day weekend, I say to myself, why can’t it always be a 3-day weekend? Wouldn’t that be perfect? Of course, it’s never truly a 3-day weekend when you inject work into one of the day to prepare for the week in advance. In any case, I didn’t want to travel far this time and decided to just keep it close to home.
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Poughkeepsie: The Houses of FDR and the Vanderbilt’s
The Northeast isn’t known for its mountain and beaches like the west nor is it known for its great plain like the Midwest. Instead, it’s known for its quaint historical towns littered with historical estates that rivals that of the chateaus of Loire Valley in France. Having grown up in New England most of my life and then moving to New York for college and eventually staying for my career, I’ve seen and done my fair share of tourism and historical walks. You cannot visit Massachusetts without doing the Freedom Trail, remnants of the American Revolution. Likewise, you also cannot visit the Hudson Valley without visiting the buccaneers’ home from the Industrial Revolution.
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Whirlwind Weekend Paris
The last I visited Paris was with a broken heart. I went to mend the last few strands of dignity I had left, figured out my goals, and renewed my purpose so that I wouldn’t ever be that silly, naive girl again.
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Smorgasburg Winter Flea Market
This would be my second weekend in a row visiting Brooklyn. Now that’s an anomaly since I rarely visit that borough, being that it takes an hour train ride. But I needed to visit BAM to exchange performance tickets. Since I’ve been told time and again from my friend, Chris to visit the Flea Market at the Skylight One Hanson and I didn’t want my trip to Brooklyn wasted on changing tickets, I walked around the corner and found the entrance to the winter flea market.
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Vinegar Hill & More
Groundhog Chuck (from Staten Island) said that it was going to be an early spring and I decided to leave hibernation mode and finally explore the world. Having started a new job and enjoying the cosiness of my warm apartment, I forgot what a real world was like. WIth my boyfriend, we went on our first date-ploration of the year, visiting a place I had on my checklist of places to visit in 2013.
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Cooking Class: Polynesian Dishes
One day, Groupon offered a cooking class deal and my coworkers and I decided to jump on it and take the opportunity to spend the night out. Of course, when we booked the class, I didn’t know that it would on my second to last day at work.
So as part of celebrating my good-bye before the imminent blizzard, we caught some drinks and appetizer by the Meatpacking District. Of course, we didn’t realize how shi-shi that area is and the first few bars we passed, we got rejected! Not really, it was just they had private menus. Eventually, we settled at Sea Thai across from the beer garden of the Standard hotel.
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