Tourist Season

My spontaneous trip to Washington D.C. was a blast. Again, it was cool to actually see these historic places I've learned about since grade school. We did the paddle boats on the Potomac River, which was awesome, but a workout!
I'm back in NYC now and playing hostess/tourist with Naomi and Dianne who are visiting from Utah. Needless to say, I'm exhausted but am also enjoying it. Summertime is fleeting. I downloaded a new iPhone app that takes pictures with this cool affect. It's called Hipstamatic and it's awesome. I tested it out at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island on Friday. Ellis Island Naomi and Dianne New York Stock Exchange/Wall Street

America, the Beautiful

Washington, D.C., to be exact. I hopped on a bus for a mini vacation this week, since the family I regularly nanny for went out of town. This is my first time to the nation's capital, and it's pretty cool to see the monuments and buildings I've only ever read about or seen on TV.My friend Julie is kindly letting me stay with her AND is playing tourist/tour guide with me. Today we rode bikes around the National Mall, and it was a blast. I'm re-learning history, as well. I really should make a point to brush up on my country's history, and this trip definitely helps. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers

John F. Kennedy's grave (He's been showin' up a lot in my life, lately).

I also saw the House of Representatives Gallery and listened to some Reps bring up different problems to the Speaker of the House. All I remember is the Rep with a drawl who said, in relation to our country giving more money to Pakistan, "You don't have to pay people to hate you! They'll do it for free!"

Tomorrow, Georgetown, free cupcakes, boats on the Potomac, and museums!

Weekend in Pictures

Shake Shack time

aka: Delicious time

Movie time!

Central Park time

Hudson Sunset time

Free Stuff Always Tastes Good

Tonight I got to experience my first free concert in NYC! They happen all over the place in the summer here, and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra plays every year in Central Park. A few girls I know sent a Facebook invite out and the turn-out was a good size group--about 20 people or so, I'd guesstimate. As I mentioned in the last post, it's been raining a lot here lately, and today was no exception. We brought various forms of plastic to put down on the ground to keep our blankets from getting wet. Someone brought an extra shower curtain they happened to have lying around her apartment, I brought two large garbage bags and a few park/concert pads to sit on, and my friend Karene brought this huge plastic sheet thing she bought at Home Depot for $2! That turned out to be the life saver, as we had plenty of seats for everyone. The rain stopped long enough for the concert to happen, which included fireworks at the end of the performance! Everyone kinda chatted and socialized the whole time, because, ya know, we were in picnic-like form, and it was like the orchestra was providing background music. We were too far away from the stage to actually see the performance, but hearing was the important part, anyway. I forgot my camera, but I borrowed this image from elsewhere, and it is pretty much exactly what it looked like from where we were sitting:The NY Phil. sounded sooooo good. I learned from the program handed out that it's the oldest orchestra in the United States. Not surprising. And I think it said there are 108 members. For the last part of the performance they played some of the music from Romeo and Juliet, so I actually recognized some songs! That was cool. Yes, I like classical music and such, but I only recognize the popular stuff. Don't judge me. Needless to say, it was a lovely evening spent with lovely people in a lovely park with lovely music.

It's Raining, It's Pouring

New York City summer weather is so indecisive (and I should know, because so am I). Twice this weekend I got caught in a downpour that pretty much came out of nowhere. But I can't say it was a total surprise. I have this iPhone app called Weather Bug that tells the weather forecast, and I must say, it's pretty dang accurate. I guess I should pay attention better next time.

July is blazing by and summer will be over before I know it. That will be a sad day, but I think I'll be ready to get back to school an start my new internship. I recently had an interview for a spot at an adoption agency where I'll be working with birth parents. Yeah. I know. I think it's going to be great. The woman who will be my supervisor liked me a lot, and I'll be her first student she supervises, meaning she'll do a great job because it's new to her. I'm glad about that! And the agency is located really close by where I live. It will require a 25-min bus ride through Central Park to the Upper East Side. I think I can manage that.

In the meantime, I'll be sure to plan out my days so very little time is wasted the rest of the summer.

Photo of the day:

At Random

The other day, the temperature reached 102. I was hungry, had no food in the apartment, and did not want to go back outside. I decided cold, light, delicious sushi would be the perfect lunch for me. I found the place up the street from me online and ordered for delivery. It seriously is a block away, but that's how bad it was outside. So the web page got stuck, so I thought the order didn't go through. Frustrated, I went relunctantly back into the heat, after all. Well, upon my return from picking up my own sushi, I found the delivery guy waiting for me. Instead of one lunch special orders, I now had two:


Needless to say, I had sushi for lunch AND dinner that day. No complaints here.

On a different note, I saw this today and wanted to follow them to wherever it was they were headed.


Can you say incredibly adorable!? Oh my.

Fireworks, New York Style

I forgot to post photos of the actual 4th fireworks night. I went with my friend Rebecca to her friend's apartment that overlooks the Hudson River.It just so happened that this is where the Macy's fireworks show took place this year. There were six barges all in a row out in the water that contained the fireworks,and we could see them all at once. They each had the same fireworks go off at the exact same time. It was pretty stinkin' impressive. Behold!:It was quite a sight.

Beach Bum Day

I joined a group of people headed to Fire Island yesterday. It's quite the ordeal to get to it, requiring three different forms of transportation (not that's unusual in New York), totaling 2 hours one way. We made sure to get our time and money's worth and stayed from noon till 7. Here's a few photos:





Now, THAT'S summer!

I Am An American

Upon pondering this holiday, I realized that I have never been more aware of my American citizen status than while living in New York City. In a city full of millions, I hear various languages being spoken on a daily basis, I see various cultures represented on a daily basis, I eat food of different nations any time I want to. All the while, my identity as a native of this country is ever present. I can't help but wonder about all these people, from all over the world, living here. Perhaps most of them were in search of some freedom, or at least their ancestors were. Maybe many have fled persecution. Some have probably come in search of family members and friends or jobs. Whatever it is, they are here for a reason, and there are lots of them! They come and they stay because this country IS, indeed, great and strong and was built on a God-given foundation. We sang The Star Spangled Banner in church today, while standing, and the last stanza hit me most:

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand,
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."

A lot of this country's people, as a whole, have moved further away from the God-trusting principles that the Founding Fathers had in their hearts. But I'm grateful to be reminded and know that these principles will be preserved, no matter how far off the path anyone tries to take it.

Downtown Days

For the past two months I've been spending a lot of time in Lower Manhattan. It began with my first regular nanny/babysitting job of the summer in Battery Park City. Then I started spending more time with new friends who live in the Financial District. The next few jobs I was called on are also located in that area. I'm really glad I've had the opportunity to walk around that area a lot more to see the sights and enjoy the downtown area. I've seen the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island more times than I can keep track of now, I've rode the Staten Island Ferry, enjoying the therapeutic cruise across the water, and I've walked by the World Trade Center construction site numerous times. And each time I do, the obvious happens; I think of September 11th and how crazy of a time that was. I think I may have written about this recently, but it just kinda puts things into perspective, when recalling a tragedy of that magnitude. I can't believe it's already been almost 9 years since the terrorist attacks. I'm a little shocked that there isn't more to show on the progress of the new tower and the memorial park that will stand in the Twin Towers' place. I took this photo last night with my phone:


All you can really see is a bunch of cranes sticking up everywhere. I think there may be a visitor's center you can enter to see what the grounds will look like upon completion. Next time I walk by the area, I think I'll step in and check it out.