Busy as a bee!

Oh me, oh my! My schedule is June has been crazy busy and the craziness has just started. Last weekend was the Stein-Gray Wedding (see previous post). This Saturday is the annual Mermaid Parade. In the Mermaid Parade, participants dress as up as various kinds of mermaids and promenade around Coney Island. Later in the evening is the Mermaid Ball, where all the spectators and participants mingle for dancing and burlesque. Sunday is Punk Island, where 130+ tri-state and New England punk rock bands takeover Governor's Island for a free music festival.

The following weekend I will be in DC for the annual American Libraries Association Conference with my good friend Lis. I come back to New York for a four days and then jet off to Salt Lake for a week to visit my friends and family. When I get back I am going to need a vacation from all this craziness!

Memorial Day Weekend

My visit with Kara this past week went splendidly! She was tied up with Fordham a lot of the time, but we still managed to have fun. This past week was Fleet Week here in NYC, where all the Navy ships dock in New York Harbor and the city is overrun with sailors.

We went dancing at Webster Hall on Friday night, followed by drinks at Otto's on Saturday. We also tried Foodswings, a vegan fast-food joint in Williamsburg. Now, just because its vegan, doesn't make it good for you. The menu is full of all sorts of burgers, shakes, and other bad for you fried goodness. I had a gyro with a peanut butter whoopie pie and Kara tried the Ranch Bacon Chicken sandwich with a pistachio milkshake (with fresh chopped pistachios!). Kara has decided that she wants us to live within a 12 block radius of this place. No, seriously. So we've added Williamsburg to the list of potential places to live.

Jeanette's Visit Part I

This past weekend my friend Jeanette from SLC came out to visit me and see New York. It was her second time here, the first being when she was 16 and came for a 3 day visit with her high school. I decided to give her a real taste of New York.

Thursday we lunched at Soy & Sake, a delicious vegan restaurant in Greenwich Village. We then stood in line at the Times Square TKTS booth hoping for some decent discount tickets to a Broadway show. Can't say that we were too disappointed with what we got:


Before the show I took her to the world famous Carnegie Deli where we split a grilled cheese, potato knish, and two black & white cookies.

The next day we went to MOMA. Modern art is really not my thing, but I enjoyed some of the interior design pieces.

We finished the night off at my favorite NYC bar, Otto's Tiki Lounge where we indulged in the monsterous Lava Blast. What's in it? Pretty much everything but the kitchen sink.

Art Opening

Last night I went to my first NYC art opening. It was called Tres Belles, and featured the work of Elisa Velazquez and two other artists. I met Elisa a few weeks ago at Beauty Bar. She is an art teacher, artist, and DJ. Her main mediums are painting and crochet-sculpture, which is what she featured at this show. The show was small, but her pieces really stood out! Two of her pieces are on the flyer below, the eye in the bottom left corner and then hand over the lips in the top right.


Afterwards I headed to Otto's Shrunken Head, my favorite rock n' roll tiki bar, for Elisa's bar night.