Blueberries!

I made these Blueberry Crumb Bars a couple of weeks ago. I got the recipe off of 

Smitten Kitchen :) 

Note: I found that putting them in the fridge to store makes them less crunchy! I like crunch, so def won't store in fridge next time...

Oh, and I ran out of blueberries-so I threw in some raspberries I had. LOVED the raspberries in this recipe. Would add more next time. 

You've GOT to be kidding me?

You've got to be kidding me #1: 

We have Reinier's car this week-YAY! I drive to Tod's Point yesterday morning, arriving at 7AM on the DOT (again, if you go before 7AM, no pass required). 

The woman comes out of her booth saying, "Can I help you?" 

I reply sweetly, "Is it after 7?" 

"Yes, it's 7:01." 

Me, "Oh, well 7:01?" Thinking, who cares?! It's one minute past. I'll be more prompt next time :) 

She doesn't budge. "Town rules." 

WHAT?! I say, "Really?" 

Robotically, "Town rules." 

UGH. I turn around, pull my phone out of my purse and notice: it's 7:00AM RIGHT THIS MINUTE! I pull BACK around. 

"Ma'am, my phone says 7!" holding my phone out the window for her to see. 

"Well my clock says 7:03!" What?? How did we just advance three minutes in a matter of 30 seconds??? 

"Well, my phone is on satellite time-most accurate!" 

Angrily, "Do you live here!? Where is your pass?!" 

"I don't have one yet!" 

"TOWN RULES!" 

You've GOT to be kidding me.

You've got to be kidding me #2: 

So, I have the car this week, right? I am thrilled to venture out to Whole Foods in Cos Cob! After driving around (lost) for half an hour, I arrive to find Whole Foods closed. They lost power. You've GOT to be kidding me. 

And finally, You've got to be kidding me #3:

I drop off a couple of dresses and a scarf at the dry cleaners, they hand me my ticket, I leave. Glancing down at the ticket in the car, I notice that to dry clean a small scarf cost $10.50! I bought the scarf at a yard sale for $2!! It's not even real silk! And a dress-$19.75?! I could buy a whole new dress for $20!!! You've GOT to be kidding me????

Hot & (Totally) Bothered

To save $89.99, I took Big Red into the city for a tune-up on Thursday. It was free at HUB where we bought our bikes. And as my only mode of transportation, the poor thing has taken a beating over the past couple of weeks.  

It was about 110 degrees in the city on Thursday. I rode to the Old Greenwich train station around 10AM (you can only take bikes on trains that arrive at Grand Central AFTER 11AM). As people stared, I lugged Big Red up two flights of stairs, spilling my coffee all into the basket AND into my helmut resting in my basket. Ugh. No one offered to help. 

Then I wheeled her onto the train and took an awkward seat around her. We arrived at Grand Central, and walking off I notice we are at the lower level. Awesome. I pick the bike up (barely) and walk up FOUR flights of stairs to ground level. Chanting, "I can do it. I can do it." The thing ways a TON. 

Again, no one offers to help. Well, ok, I take that back. One old man said to me gruffly, "want me to help?" No no, I've got it. Don't bother. He tried to pick up the back, but it only made it worse. 

Where are all the gentlemen when you need them?? Oh, right... I'm in yankee-ville. Not down in the sweet South. 

Shoot. 

I feel as if I might faint. I now have to walk the damn thing down 42nd street across eleven avenues till I reach the West Side Hwy. Now I am chanting, "I can't do it. I can't doooooo it."

Dripping. My elbows and eyelids were sweating. Finger tips and toe-nails, sweating. Anything that could sweat-was. 

DRIPPING. 

I finally make it. Get on, and cruise down to Charles street. Drop my bike off with George and proceed to wipe my entire body off with paper towels. My pretty little silk,  just-dry-cleaned dress is SOAKED. Gross. 

ooops, these are out of order. Big Red in Times Square & (below) Grand Central

I want to badly to just cruise around my old hood for a bit, before meeting Alst for lunch. But in this heat-there was no way. I hop in a cab. I'm WAY early, so I stop into Red Cat, sit at the bar with my book and sip on pink sangria and snack on cold fresh radishes :) 

Alst and I chat catch up over lunch :)  Then I head to photog class, where we work with reflectors and diffusers. SO much fun!! 

Below are my two best shots of the class assistant, Oscar. 

I beg Chris to stay in the city for dinner and we do. We meet downtown at Hudson Clearwater. SO delish! I took the Highline down. These are some shots from the new addition. 

Look!

I spotted these guys outside my window this afternoon. 

I can't WAIT to get our board over here. 

Date Night!

Last night the two of us set out for great conversation and great Mexican food! 

Not Chris and me. But me and my new fun Greenwich friend, Virginia. (Remember the cute housewarming cookies? From her :) 

We met a little over a year ago at Cafe Cluny. It was a quiet afternoon at the restaurant and pregnant pretty Virginia came in for a late lunch. Right as her lunch hit the table, Virginia grabs her belly and has a distressed look on her face. I walk over from my podium, "Are you ok!?!" I think to myself-this girl about to give birth in the restaurant!? She casually replies, saying something along the lines of, "Yeah, I'm fine. I just can't eat when she's sitting right on my ribs like this!" 

I settle down and we begin chatting. I'm not sure how it all came about, but we discovered that: 

A.) She used to live in NYC. 

B.) She recently married a man 9 years older than her. (My boyfriend is 9 years older TOO!) 

C.) They had just moved to Greenwich, CT (MY boyfriend is from there, and is dying to move out there one day!) 

Anyway, we hit it off. She gave me her card and we emailed once or twice after that meeting. I even received the cutest baby announcement when her, now almost 1 year-old, was born :) 

So, when we finalized all the tedious phases of purchasing our house in Old Greenwich, I reached out to her again - filling her in on our impending move. 

We finally set a date to get together, she picked me up last night (again, no car) and we headed out to one of her faves, Lolita on the border of Greenwich and Port Chester. 

We lucked out with a table outside where there was an old movie being projected onto the restaurant wall. They started us off with like a little grapefruit granita. The server asked if we would like it topped off with a complimentary shot of tequila. But, of course!

We chatted, drank margs, and way over-ordered! We exchanged bits & pieces of each others life story and even closed the place down! oops. 

It's funny this making new friends thing. I mean, just a month ago I felt like I had a bazillion friends and knew everything there was to know about each one! But even moving just 45 minutes away-I feel WORLDS apart from them. 

Such as life, I guess. You move on. Make new friends. Keep the old, for sure! (My girlies from the city are hopefully dropping by Monday night to see the house :) But you build a life in the next locale. 

We had a great time and it was nice to have some girly talks. Thanks Virginia :) 

P.S. I did get up at 5:30AM to make Chris breakfast... HOWEVER, I went RIGHT back to sleep for another 3 hours when he left. I figured if you could wake up with a baby after going to sleep at 1AM and not be able to go back to bed. I could at least do this ;)

Solo

I knew it would come. Slowly but surely, the joyous freedom, endless sunshine, and this blissful spirit have faded a bit. I've definitely felt the pangs of moving to a new place and knowing NO ONE, recently. I miss my friends. I, of course, miss the restaurants. I miss being completely alone in New York. It's different being alone out here in the burbs. I feel people wondering silently from their car windows, "who is this girl on the red bike? she is always alone.. and usually carrying many different things in her basket, and she's always in the way!" 

I say alone, I mean I do have a very sweet roommate. But he goes to work everyday. And sometimes he has to work late, or go to after work drinks. And I remain here. To sulk. 

Which is so not fair for me to even say. I couldn't ask for more right now! I have complete and utter freedom. I have NOTHING to do. (Minus the daunting task of writing thank you notes.) I can go to the beach and read a book-and I have! I can ride my bike-and I do! I can cook-yes! I can workout! I can play with my camera and write and ponder this wild and lovely little secret idea I have been harboring. 

Free as a bird. 

And I know if life continues, as it does, this freedom will be short-lived. So why not SOAK IT UP!?

I was supposed to have some friends out tonight to sip cocktails in Connecticut. Have girly chats and giggle and catch up. Well, of course, TODAY it decides it's going to rain, possibly even HAIL. It hasn't rained one day since we moved out here. 

Re-scheduling is a nightmare with such fun & busy girls and we find ourselves settling on next week. Sigh.... 

So, I sit alone with my book, homemade walnut pesto pasta and a glass of wine. At 5PM, mind you-with no husband to wait for (work drinks) there is no need to wait to serve dinner for one. 

I watch the rain from inside and listen to weird Indian music. Chris' brother has an affinity for finding cool and interesting tunes and then creating great play lists. It's actually pretty calming. I feel like I'm in yoga class! 

It's raining. But no hail. (It's actually really bright out!) I know that tomorrow will be the same. Unless I take advantage of this time that I have. Which Chris reminds me of often, "I am lucky to have it!" And it's true. Fast forward five years and two or three children later (God willing). I'm not envisioning much free time? Or much wine for that matter! 

So tomorrow WILL be different. I will work on my photography website-almost ready for a reveal! I will write more than five thank you notes, and I will continue to research and toil away at this little idea that I hope will one day come into fruition. And I will appreciate every second of it. Rather than feeding into the loneliness...

Toddy!

Last week my new Toddy came in the mail! It's a cold brew coffee system and I'm obsessed. We got a restaurant sized Toddy at Cluny (old stomping grounds) a couple of months ago and I became hooked on what I liked to call, "Magic Coffee", always begging Nicole (the sweet barista) to give me more ;) 

So, I got my own! 

Cold brew coffee is 67% less acidic than regular coffee :) 

I had to wait a couple of days on the coffee. You need coarse ground beans and the ONLY coffee shop in town's grinder was broken for two days...... 

Chris says this is not "coarsely ground"..... shoot. 

Once you add the grinds and the water, you must let it brew for at LEAST 12 hours. Then the concentrate is good in the fridge for up to two weeks. 

muddy.

So now I'm sipping my magic coffee and catching up on the adorable blog: Olive Singley and the beautiful blog Kiss My Spatula (she blogs about Vietnamese iced coffee today...process sounds kind of similar).