Happy Holidays NYC style

Tuesday, December 20th was officially my first day of my vacation.
Tuesday, December 20th the TWU went on strike.
Isn't that a bitch? I thought I would have a nice time shopping for Christmas, check out some museums and other activities at my leisure. Wrong.

I spent Tuesday and Wednesday at home. It was cold, too cold to venture out on foot or bike. Heck I didn't have to be anywhere so there was no incentive for me to suffer. Turned out it was a good thing. Forced me to deal with things I've been putting off. My sister was also happy for my situation. I cooked. Lately I've been so busy that I haven't cooked dinner in a while. Well I've more than made up for that.

Today I decided to head to my office. I had a few things left to do which should be done before Christmas. Holiday tipping which I'd planned to do Tuesday morning. So I bundled up and headed out the door. Initially I was going to bike down but then I had a few technical difficulties. Since I didn't have any time commitment I decided I could walk the 87 blocks to work. It wasn't too bad. It was cold but the sun was out and no wind. I had my ipod and comfortable shoes. All good to go.


After 15 blocks I stopped by Citibank. I wanted to close an account for a while. I did that. Two blocks later I got myself a nice, hot, tall, skim latte at Starbucks. Yum. At 88th Street I stopped by Club Monaco. I wanted to check out a different size on this jacket I'd already gotten. They only had large. But I did notice the cashmere sweater went on further sale from $99 to $69. Have to go back later. At 79th I stopped at Filene's Basement and got two pairs of gloves. One is cute but not warm. The other warm but plain. A few blocks down I stopped to get two bottles of champagne for two clients. I was to do this Tuesday along with holiday tipping. At 65th I went in Le Pain Quotidienne for lunch. I do love their Chicken Curry Sandwich with Cranberry Chutney. So satifying. Finally I made it into work. The whole thing took me 3 hours. Not bad. Of course I'm spent.

At the office I finished the last bit of work. Now I can enjoy my vacation purely. Yeah.
I also took the opportunity to update my blog (as you can see). For some reason my uploading sucks at home. I have pictures from today's walk but that will be posted much later. Sorry didn't bring my transfer cable.

Well now I must head back. Two hour walk home. No sun. It will be colder. I think I've also caught up on my exercise for the week. Tomorrow vegetation.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.
Lots of love,
Cindy

Another early Christmas Gift

Jae and Saehee got engaged Sunday, December 18th.

Congratulations!!!!!

Christmas Came Early for Hyun

Hyun and Eugene got engaged on Friday, December 16th.
I'll let you know how he proposed after I get an OK from them to publish it. =)
Until then here's the ring. Isn't it lovely? It's a little over one carat. Nice.

Multiple Happiness

December 17th the community center hosted two wonderful celebrations:
1. Birthday of Susan Due. She's a baby. Just turned 30.
2. Engagement of two nicest people: Julianna and Val

Of course the center provided a killer feast with two (yes, two) FRIED TURKEYS. Yummy! Linda also made a delicious Chestnut Stuffing. Angel (Susan's boyfriend) made the spiciest Jambalya and creamy Mac & Cheese. Julianna and Val brought an amazing and numerous cheeses with crackers. There were other things but my head was spinning from so much food. We finished the night off with Tiramisu from Veniros and nice, cool Champagne.

A lovely evening.

TARGET!!!

Thanks to Dennis I found out that there is a huge Target only five stops away from my home. First stop in the Bronx. It's so convenient too. Right off the station. So of course I went a little crazy on my first outing. Thank god I was limited to what I could carry. Man if I had a car I would have been in serious trouble. Well I am in serious trouble cause now that I know it exists and so near I'll be making multiple trips. Maybe this transit strike isn't such a bad thing.


There is good in the world.

Heidi's Birthday

Heidi's birthday was December 11th.
We celebrated in two parts: bar on Sat and small dinner on Sun.

The bar in Brooklyn was packed. There were two other birthday parties. I didn't stay long cause it's a long trek out to Brooklyn from where I live and I had an early Sunday. But I was there to witness the start of drinks flowing to Heidi from her loving friends. I was not, however, there to witness Heidi dancing on the bar. Yep there were other witnesses. Sorry to have missed it. It would have made interesting conversation topic at her wedding.

Then on Sunday a smaller, tamed group met at her place for a relaxing dinner. I cooked a mean Chicken with Sundried Tomatoes and Artichoke Heart with Israelian Couscous. Kathy made a delicious Spicy Angel Pasta dish. Hyun brought a yummy cake that Eugene baked. Eumi came later with three bottles of wine. A nice evening full of good food and conversation.


I think Heidi enjoyed this birthday.

It just got worse

My colleague of 4 and 1/2 years just got canned yesterday.
Luke returned from his vacation to be told that his service is no longer wanted/needed.
After giving them 5 years they gave him the rest of the day to clear out.

Now I have no one at the office.
Luke and I were the only ones left from the original team.
Now I'm all alone with them (my two bosses).
I took this job and stayed there primarily because of the people.
With him gone I now truly have no reason to stay.
This totally sucks and is going to get a lot worse.

best place in NYC any season

This was Central Park on the first snow day of this winter.

Why would you be anywhere else

The Christmas holiday in NYC is the best. The city is decked out in sparkling lights like it was a hot party to go to. This time of year I feel like NYC is a gal, a SEX in the CITY kind. Check out Lincoln Center and Columbus Circle. Lovely.

The Christmas Tree's ornaments are in shapes of musical instruments.





Inside Time Warner Columbus Circle. The lights are synchronized with the holiday music.

Balthazar

I finally ate at Balthazar. I'm a sucker for good, really good French cuisine. A new friend Mubasher (met through Eumi) took me there for my birthday. I've been missing out. Balthazar was a treat. The service was excellent. Food was fantastic. Mubasher and I both had the grilled trout over a bed of spinach and walnuts. Yummy. The atmosphere was so cool. It totally reminded me of some bistros I went in Paris. Tres beau.

Unfortunately cause I was enjoying the experience so much I forgot to take pictures until the end. The pictures don't do justice. I advise you go and experience it yourself. It's so worth it.

As Promised

So with the new camera I have been shooting more. So one would think I would be updating this blog like ridiculously. Well I didn't factor in my incredibly awful connection at home. I having problems uploading from my home network so only when I can sneak doing my blog at work will you get updates. (Right now the bosses are away!)

Here's some pics right after I got my camera.
Pretty nice. You can tell it's a good camera cause I look pretty good. =) Thanks Donna for being the photographer.

In the name of blogging

My sisters bought me a digital camera for my birthday. Actually I picked it out and got it. They paid for it. It's a good arrangement. I've been wanting something compact since Lena came to visit. Lena and Grace would whip out their compact cameras and take tons of pictures while I struggled to get out my wonderful but cumbersome camera out of its case. Granted mine takes awesome pictures but it is quite heavy. So I'll keep that one for "serious" photography. But for my blogging and personal recording of my life I'll use my new toy, Nikon Coolpix S1

It was between that and the Canon ELP450. I picked the Nikon since my other digital is a Nikon. I am very familiar with Nikon's setting and navigation. I also have a Nikon F3 and N75. I favor Nikon, sure. But if a compact digital that takes great picture in low-light settings existed I would have dump the Nikon in a heart-beat. Turns out no compact can deliver that. No need for me to turn Benedict Arnold.

It's still very new to me but hopefully it will inspire me to take more shots and blog often.