Zum and Alpha Bar

Tonight Dave and I headed over to Zum (Schneider), a Bavarian restaurant across the street from Alpha Bar, where Geron played (and where Dave is playing tomorrow night).

Zum always caught our eye- not just for the German food, but for how popular that place seems to be... It’s been over-packed with people inside and out, every single time we’ve walked by. So, we went after work- and it was very good- the only problem is that it's even more crammed when you're right in the middle of it! It was so loud, Dave and I had to practically scream to hear each other. The food and beer was good though, and I can guess that it’s much more enjoyable during off-peak hours.

Geron played really well- he jammed along a deep bass groove using all kinds of effects on his acoustic for one song- it was extremely creative and soothing at the same time. He's very talented!

Eric, Dave and I goofing off as usual-


Deb and Jef showed up later. Not a bad looking group, I must say... oh, minus Eric ;)


You know, as cool as everyone in this photo is, it must have been pretty weird looking with all of us standing there posing for almost ten seconds! My camera is still stuck on "night", which means everyone has to stay perfectly still until the lens sucks in all the light it needs in order to take the photo. On top of that, I placed my camera on top of my beer on the bar, then hit the timer so I could be in it. So imagine a hip group of people in a hip bar, all standing there posing for the timer, the flash and then a 5 good seconds afterwards. Ha! Oh well. It was well worth it, and I'm planning on buying a NEW camera tomorrow!

Girl’s Night out

The girls (Marina, Deb, Simone, Aubrey, Sinae and I) headed out after work for dinner together over at Tea and Sympathy, a little British café in Greenwich Village. They’re known for their tea and scones, but they also serve comfort foods like casseroles, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes and all sorts of pies.

It’s been so long since I had dinner with just girls- it was nice to go to a restaurant for the food (not the beer). I’d forgotten how refreshing it is! I’ll take photos next other time-I think we’re going to try and all go out at least once a month.

MARINA: Again, thanks so much for getting everyone together! =)

A photo: Out of the cab

Today’s weather was GLORIOUS! FALL IS FINALLY HERE!!! It was so nice, I stuck my camera out the window of our cab on the way to work. (We’re on 31st heading towards 10th.)





I’ve finally gotten all my blogs back up to date- all the way back to September 13th! Happy reading!!!!

All those ESB photos

I know I take a bazillion photos of the Empire State Building, but it’s Dave’s favorite New York building, and it’s just so mesmerizing on certain nights!

Tonight after Dave’s show at open-mic night, the sky was full of fast moving rain clouds…


Literally FIVE seconds later…


...A photo op that was too cool to pass up. It was twice as cool in person!

Septemberfest!

Our great friend Bobby held Octoberfest at his place in Long Island (for those of you who don’t know, Octoberfest runs from Sept 17th through October 3rd in Germany). I wore pig-tails with green ribbons hanging down and was ready to party!

Jeff, Eric, Dave and I shut the party down and sat outside in the COLD wet air (It dropped into the 50s!) and just hung out for a few hours. It was a nice getaway.

And after all that, I didn’t even take any photos of the night except for one, really great photo of Eric passed out on the train ride back. (Which I won’t post….unless he pays me the amount I so politely demanded…)

Dave took one shot of me on the train. (NOT passed out, thank you.)

A photo on the way home (ESB)

The Circle Line Cruise

Ok, here’s something Dave and I have always wanted to do, but never would have if we didn’t have company: The Circle Line Cruise that well, circles– the island of Manhattan!

I’m only going to post one photo of the Brooklyn Bridge. I must have taken about 40 photos, but you’ll have to take the cruise to see the real beauty.


Later on, we strolled through the city, ending up in Columbus Circle:

Central park runs down the left in this photo


One of the statues in Columbus Circle

A long day @ Café Du Sole

Today we took Dave’s parents over to Chelsea Piers via ferry and had lunch at Café du Sole. Dave’s Aunt and Uncle were meeting us there but were really late, so between the warm, salty sea air and all the beers, we were all pretty relaxed by the time they finally arrived. By the time we finished eating, we had been there for over four hours!

(FYI- for my previous blog and photos about Chelsea Piers, click here.)

Here are just a few of the sights we took in…

The walkway/park just outside the pier that leads back into the city...


The Hudson from our table


The water taxi parking right up being Dave


Dave and I


A view from above one section of the café


We left from there and wandered all over the city. Here are three more images from that night…

Here’s Hotel Chelsea- You know… “Where Sid killed Nancy”… Actually, I hear this is a pretty cool place to stay, and not too over-priced.


The Flat Iron building at night


The ESB


The weather is working on getting cooler…FALL starts next week!

Blue Man Group

My first Blue Man show! It was GREAT. It’s held in the tiny Astor Place Theater in Greenwich Village.

Dave and I with two of the guys after the show (using the camera on my trusty cell phone)…




And a photo from a jaunt through Union Square afterwards…

Back to the paper mines!

It’s already at that point of the project where we work long hours at no extra cost. Yup, that would be the Social Studies project again. Ahh, it feels like it was only yesterday when we were working 11-plus hours every night. That was actually from November to January last year! The hours will be heavy from now until the first week of November. (Unless they add more time on. Eugh.) Buh bye, Yoga.

Then mid-November, we’re scheduled to begin 1-2 additional SS books. Hopefully by then the design will be set and we will have grown back the hair we’ve been yanking out all this month.

Dave’s parents are back in town tomorrow morning!

Special days all around

It’s both my Mom’s birthday and Dave's and my Anniversary. (Was that poor English or did I get that right?)

My parents are going taking a rain check for a mini vacation to Cape May for my mom’s birthday. Instead, Dave’s parents are visiting us this upcoming weekend.

Happy Birthday, Mom! I hope you have a great day and get all the loot you’ve been hoping for!

Our Sept. 11th day

I ended up shopping over at Macy's while the guys watched the Bills game over at McFadden's. (Bill's Backers was too full!!!) After having dinner at Joe O's, we went to see the 9-11 memorial beams, but instead opted to see them from an emptier, quieter area with the best view around: Exchange Place, Jersey City. We were imagining the memorial scene to be an overwhelming stream of people, with the vendor stands trying to sell 9-11 "memorabilia" filling the little available spaces in the street.

We are actually at the WTC site often whenever we take the PATH to go downtown. It's only two stops (5 minutes) from Jersey City. When we pull in, we're right there in the base of it, surrounded by the old walls and pipes of the towers left behind. It's pretty incredible.

I took a few photos from today and tonight. The beams were angelic and mystical, but the beams weren't placed at the original site this time! I'll have to find out why. It seemed less symbolic. I can also imagine that many tourists were misconstrued on the whereabouts of the original site.

One more thing that was disappointing (to us)… A huge party boat came down the river with loud, pulsing dance music, dance lights, and people yelling and partying as they passed the memorial. It felt disgraceful. I wasn’t here when the tragedy happened, but it still felt offensive and disrespectful. You could hear the music a mile away, and it was driving by way too slowly. I feel like they should have had the decency to turn the music down while drifting by, if not off for just a few minutes. If anyone else saw or heard this, it was the “Queen of Hearts” party boat that leaves from the Christopher Street piers. (I looked it up.)

A “nice” note: at exactly 9:11pm, the red, white and blue lights from the Empire State Building went out, leaving it pitch black. You could still see the flashes from all the people taking photos from the top.

The ESB earlier this afternoon (More “FlySong.com” plane writing in the sky above it)


The ESB behind the "?" buildings


Later: The beams from our bedroom window overlooking the building next door


From Exchange Place, on the pier (the towers stood just to the right of the first tall buildings from the left)


From Exchange Place, on the pier outside the Hyatt


The beams shone into infinity…

Beautiful day!

I've opened the windows for the first time in months, now that the weather is crisp and cooler.

Baby, my first cat (of three)


Spooky and Baby are are loving the fresh air!


But unfortunately, Lou has come down down with a cold. I've been making sure he has a lot of sun to sleep in.


We're heading over to the city in a bit to shop, watch a Bills game, and then see the Sept 11th memorial. We only arrived last October, so we weren't anywhere near the date of the September 11th attacks. I refuse to buy anything with the towers on them. I don't want to not only own anything that has buildings on it that no longer exist, but I don't feel right "remembering" an event like that I was not a part of. In other words, I don't want to buy something that has caused so much sadness to others when I was not any part of it. I hope that comes across correctly in writing it.

I'll try and post some photos of today's events and of the memorial beams. We've seen them in the sky from here for a few nights as they tested them out, but tonight, we're going to try and be there up close.

Last night at Alpha Bar

...was awesome!!! Lots of people showed up to see Dave play. Dave even made 16 bucks. I didn't really try to get any photos of him, though. The stage has a weird wood bar that goes across the front of the stage, which is a good four to five feet high. I guess it's to keep people from falling off the stage or something.

Dave performed better than ever- Every show is better than the last. His voice was awesome! He played like he was having a great time, which made everyone transform into a partying mood! I can only imagine what it will be like when he begins playing in a full band!

The night continued over to Doc Holiday's. By the end of the night, lots of various beers and other concoctions had been drunk. I'm actually staying home today to recoop while Dave and Jef head over to Ron's for more partying at a giant block party in Hoboken. I know I should go, but I'm just so tired from last night and the entire week!

Here are a few photos from last night:

Alpha Bar, pre-show shots (none for me, thanks!)


Just a few of the people that were there for Dave: Steve, Marina, Bobby, Eric, me and Shannon...


Iris & Scott with Dave after the show


"Eat Me": Some hot-dog hangout (on St.Mark's St) that we passed on the way to Doc's


The weather is starting to get cooler, more crisp. It was a beautiful night and the music was amazing! Thanks, Dave!!!

Dave @ Alphabet Lounge Friday night!

If you're in the area, Dave is playing at the Alphabet Lounge tomorrow night (Friday)! He'll be playing at 8:30 for a 45 minute set.

UPDATED!

Ok, I can’t sleep until I load up all the "backblogs" once and for all!!!

Enjoy the updates from 8/19 through 9/6! (And I'll try to keep consistent, kids.)

New apartment coming up!?

We stopped by the office after work today and learned that there are two 2-bedroom apartments down the hall from our place that will be available by the end of the month! Each of them has 1 1/2 bathrooms, a large terrace and spiral staircases! I’ll try and take some photos when we get to see them. We’re excited!!!

Bar-B-Q at Jef’s

We had a great time over at Jef’s with friends last night. He had a barbeque up on his roof again. We were there around 5pm and stayed until about 1am before we hit a local bar before last call!

It was a great party: the sunset, acoustic guitar, lots of beer and spicy sausages! It was awesome. And Jef’s place is so great. THANKS SO MUCH, JEF!!!

The sunset over a part of Jersey City.


Eric, Deb and Dave


Deb and Geron singing


Manhattan and Newport @ night from the rooftop


Late night at Barrow Street bar


By the way- the Manhattan skyline is beginning to get blocked by upcoming condos being built in Jersey City and Newport. If you want to buy a place with a New York skyline view, now is the time!!!

A visit to the US OPEN!

So yesterday, a friend had passed us two tickets to the US Open for tonight! Dave was totally psyched- he played tennis for quite a few years, and he’s been watching tennis with his dad since he was little. I’m not much into tennis, but this event is a really huge deal- I was looking forward to the experience.

The USTA National Tennis Center is located in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, and the stadium (the Arthur Ashe stadium) sits practically right beside Shea Stadium. (Go, Mets!) The old World’s Fair sits right off in the distance. The grounds are beautifully designed.

The crowd was definitely different than your typical baseball fans! We saw stars like Nicole Kidman, Amanda Peet and Tony Bennett! The food and drinks were non-typical as well: veggie wraps, mixed drinks, crepes and Hagan Daaz ice cream.

Here are a few pics:

During a match


New York sunset


The World's Fair