home sweet home!

despite feeling a little sad about leaving brooklyn and wistful about our impending separation with our lovely neighborhood, i couldn't sleep well at all last night! i had a few dreams, which i forgot shortly after awaking, but most of all, i was EXCITED to move into our new home together :)

it's MOVING DAY! but a fun moving day because we had just 3-4 bags each which were 99% packed last night. i enjoyed seeing lizzie & michael's apartment one last night sans all our crap lying around, organized, and neat, took a few photos of our october home, before closing the door behind us and that chapter of our lives.

we ubered to chelsea and did a quick walk through of the apartment. still no bathroom vanities! haha ... but 95% of the construction materials and equipment had been removed, and the floor protection throughout the apartment was removed. the blue protection on the cabinets were all removed and our kitchen started to look like home. i can't wait to unpack our cutting board, pots, and pans, and cooking ingredients, and start making a huge batch of stock, braised beef, stir fry some veggies, and steam our japanese short-grain rice.

staycation was very nice, and it kept me distracted from realizing how much i missed our belongings and our kitchen routines :)

friday @ work = BLUR. it was sheer madness from 730am until 630pm, thank goodness i picked up a doughnut plant pbj donut, breakfast of champions! every index provider made announcements multiple times throughout the day and there were a number of spin-offs and a russell monthly rebalance on top of it all. i think the anticipation of going back to our new home kept me excited and focused, and i was able to maintain relatively humored about the action-packed day.

kevin made it home before me for a change, and we were pleasantly surprised with a gorgeous arrangement or welcome home flowers (stunning birds of paradise!) from our contractor and a six pack in the fridge. well, half of a six pack in the fridge. 

we spent the next few hours vacuuming, unpacking boxes, and i started to put our life back together one cupboard at a time. we skyped with my parents and jess&ben, and celebrated our first night in the new place with kimchi jijimi, sul lung tang, and kimchi fried rice delivery. i think we'd unpacked just 15 or so boxes that night and the place was still covered in dust, but it's a start.


finally, home sweet home begins!

best: sleeping in our own bed with our own pillows! :)

worst: busy month end fridays! and daisy reminded me that november will also have a month-end friday. boo!!!!

smile: im pretty sure our contractor mike got a kick out of drinking beers and leaving the leftovers in our fridge. lol. we've had a great experience with these guys and i couldn't be more pleased with the construction process and quality. how often can you say THAT about your contractor?

last night in brooklyn

thursday started off on the right foot (and not because i'm a righty :p) as i arrived to midtown 15 minutes early and decided, what the heck - let's treat the guys on the desk to some maison kayser pastries. it was my first time to MK on a weekday morning and i picked up a dozen pliets, pain au chocolat, and almond croissants. they were gone within minutes of arriving at the desk :)

the rest of the day was a blur as the indices ripped me a new one, but there was one shining light! i interviewed a third candidate who had a good amount of experience in index work and was also very sweet and candid. she also left a very good impression on my boss, which is a good sign. since we have only spoken with a few candidates at this point, i think we will speak to a few more and then hopefully make a decision we're both comfortable with.

after work, kevin and i made our way over to the jacob javitts center where we picked up our bibs for both races this weekend: nyrr dash to the finish 5k and nyrr marathon 26.2. the place was PACKED with all types of runners, different shapes and sizes, from all over the world. it's pretty exciting! also asics, paragon, powergel, newtons, skechers - all the big guns had booths and people were trying on and buying up anything they could get their hands on with "TCS marathon 2014" embroidered on it. kevin and i did not participate ... but we did receive two long-sleeve tech shirts for these races. yay :)

then we took the L towards brooklyn, for probably the last time in a while, getting off at lorimer station for one last visit to okonomi's for its weeknight moonshine: yuji's ramen! we were lucky to be seated immediately at the bar and ordered the barley tea, boston mackerel sashimi, braised squash, and two types of ramen with onsen tamagos: one with a monkfish liver base and the other with a pork broth. the former was heavier with a stronger flavor, while the latter was a pure broth and very light. i think both were filling, but a little underwhelming, so we will probably stick with okonomi's weekend breakfast menu going forward. we picked up cereal milk soft-serve with cereal flakes on the way home.

it's really been a nice staycation in williamsburg and i will miss it!

best: a relatively quick pack and cleanup at the apartment after dinner because we got started with the vacuuming the night before. splitting up the tasks made it more pleasant and easier.

worst: getting caught in cold weather. :/ unprepared for the cold weather, i donned a silk long-sleeve dress with my fur vest, a blazer, and birkenstocks. eek! it was an especially long, cold walk to and from the jacob javitts.

smile: the asics salesperson at the expo KNEW what she was talking about! she knew all about the different models and their heel drops. this type of passion makes me happy.

salt + charcoal

happy hump day!

it's been a while since wednesday has actually felt like a hump day, but this week (and parts of last week) has been a bit crazy so it was good to get through hump day. some of my anxiety was due this recent constant feeling of being behind at the office. playing catch-up annoys me and on top of that, i interviewed two candidates for the junior index analyst role. they were both very nice, though neither seemed to be the right fit.

a few things outside of the office did brighten my day however: 

a trip to the apt: updates ... glass shower doors and washing machine installed! it will be the first time since high school i can do laundry in my home. multiple times a week if i want! :) :) though that probably won't be necessary.

a light three mile trot through williamsburg and greenpoint along kent ave. it was the first time we went that far north on kent and we saw lots of lovely restaurants, bars, and shops in greenpoint. it feels very residential there and i could totally see us living there as well.

interesting how our tastes change as we get older and while the suburbs of brooklyn never appealed to me before, i find it very quaint and love the neighborhood feeling in greenpoint. we definitely need to check out the polish food here sometime as it's supposed to be quite authentic.

then we treated ourselves to dinner at salt+charcoal, the japanese robata restaurant across from our apt which had its soft opening last wednesday. the restaurant exterior has piqued my curiosity for weeks now with its clean, gilded industrial look - white bricks, black steel, retro brushed bronze and white lamps. the interior was equally impressive, with marble counters and simple wooden seating along the left side, low hanging industrial lamps over booth seating along the right side, and a handful of seats along the yakitori and robata grill in the center.

we were seated in front of the grills and the view was great! all the chefs were japanese and very hard at work during our hour-long dinner, meticulously preparing sashimi, yakitori, robatayaki, and side dishes. we ordered kimpira, asparagus gomae, half a dozen yakitori each, kanpachi kama, and tsukune which came on a large paddle. service was a bit slow, but it seemed like they were still working out the kinks due to the soft opening. while the dishes were all tasty, kevin and i both thought the tsukune and the kanpachi kama were oustanding - they were also the two robata dishes.

with laundry to pick up (because we are doing laundry at a laundromat these days), we weren't able to stay for dessert, but i would have definitely gone for the matcha shiratama anmitsu!

best: running in light rain - it's a little romantic and it cools you down!

worst: not being able to buy lunch until 1:30pm, and then not being able to eat the lunch until 2:30. doh!

smile: our general contractor foreman told me that we can move it on friday, but we won't have any vanities in the bathroom. boo! but hopefully he's joking, otherwise, we'll just have to work with the kitchen sink!

marathon on my mind

today was a marathon of a day.

strapped to my desk from 730-330, just enough time to coordinate our cable installation and get a set of forecasts out, yet still behind and playing catch up. not my a-game ... and i dislike this feeling. rushed down to water street for an advisory panel and cocktails with clients, surprisingly interesting and dare i say fun? an hour late for our dinner reservation in the east village, client in town from boston and i cabbed up to narcissa and were seated at the community table yay. food was tasty, though all of the dishes had a bit of a twist, a pleasant surprise. we ordered the brussel sprout leaves, raw tuna, and roasted octopus as appetizers, and the lacquered duck breast, maine scallops, and braised lamb as entrees. drinks were flowing and i learned that my client was a former line chef - how cool.

it was a beautiful night out and i would have liked to stay for a drink after dinner, but it would make getting up the next morning that much more painful. practicality won! got home around 10pm zzz ...

learned a couple interesting things recently ...

maison kayser is opening a new UWS and bleecker st locations! yay! and *possibly* chelsea as well, although we do have the flatiron location relatively nearby.

and ... eric kayser himself will be running the ny marathon! how totally inspiring! and this will be the ny marathon with the millionth runner of ny marathon history! i think nyrr is expecting that runner to cross the line around 4:10, hopefully it's not me :p

finally, an awesome video i watched this morning which made me excited yet a little anxious tbh haha. helicopters? reminds me of bad boys, the movie! i don't want to see anymore, just let me run ...

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/28/sports/marathon-videos.html

best: getting back to the apt late after a long day and learning that kevin has gotten a headstart on cleaning up and run the dishwasher in preparation for our move on friday. one less thing to think about yay.

worst: realizing that kevin won't actually be in our new place much over the month of november. boo! his schedule (work and personal):

nov 3-5 virginia
nov 9-12 taipei
nov 21-24 la
nov 25-30 seattle

smile: i was chatting with my sister online and mentioning how kevin and i have had boxes of personal belongings stored at my parents' house for over a year that we dont "need" and her response was: "hahah yeah but maybe you'll find some treasures you forgot about??"
hahahaha treasures? i think more like trash =p

too many whites

monday again and today was BEAUTIFUL out.

even after a blueberry muffin for breakfast, i felt hungry by 11am and RAVENOUS by 12:45pm when dais and i went to buy lunch. therefore, i treated myself to a large market lunch at diginn, a yakimochi, and a box of sesame biscuits from cafe zaiya. i was quite stuffed afterwards :)

the work day flew by and before i knew it, it was time to head out for my weekly meeting with the contractors. the meeting was quick and it sounds like they are working to finish by 12noon this friday, october 31st (one week earlier than their original projected timeline), in time for our move-in. how sweet! i have had a wonderful experience with russ, mike, and grant, and all their subs at fulton landing and would definitely recommend them to friends and family based on our experience.

then off to home depot to pick out materials and order window treatments - done! and back to the office for some late S&P announcements and a quick dinner at tappo (their margherita is awesome!), before returning to the apartment to ... yes, MOVE MORE BOXES.

apparently we didn't move enough out of the master bedroom on saturday so the painters couldn't finish the ceilings. it might sound a bit wierd, but it's fun to get involved in the remodel, even if it is just moving boxes. and it's a little empowering to accomplish something as a couple (boxes moved - check!). maybe a little like nailing the first dance at your wedding?

backsplash colors and materials - we decided to go with glass because we like to cook a LOT and i didn't want to have to deal with stained grout lines, which you can get with tiles. although i LOVE marble herringbone backsplashes! i think they're probably more pretty than practical. now for glass, our options were acid etched or back-painted glass? acid etched gives a soft milky look, but again, i think oil and cooking particles can get easily caught in there, so back-painted glass it is. now colors ... cool white, polar white, chantilly lace, matte white, lace white, wedding white, on and on ...  i think we chose the one in the middle ("matte white").

and finally our pendant lamps are up :) though their heights will need a little fine-tuning.

best: relishing the fact that i have amazing supportive girlfriends! i mentioned the possibility of a france trip over the holidays to them over email this afternoon and i was floored with the quick and comprehensive responses with regards to accommodations, places to eat and visit, and other suggestions based on their recent trips. love you guys, dais, rose, & han!

worst: eating too many sweets! im not putting in our usual mileage these last two weeks so probably need to tone it down with the treats ... 

smile: osmin at home depot shades dept was amazing to work with! she was friendly and efficient, and very thoughtful when answering my questions about the differences in shade materials. i have had a very good experience with HD's shade dept and would highly recommend them in the future.

blue hill at stone barns

we've been blessed with a weekend of amazing weather! temperatures on sunday ranged from 50-60F, and the sun was out shining brightly (good and bad, ha!).

as usual, we rolled out of bed before the sun rose to get to central park by 8am to pick up our bibs and pins for the nyrr poland spring marathon kickoff (5 mile). the weather was cool and crisp, not a sign of humidity, and the bleachers were partly set up for next weekend's marathon finish. we got a three-mile warm-up in and then slid into the back of a slower corral as not to disturb the organization of the runners who had lined up early.

the race course was a loop at the park, less harlem hill, in the clockwise direction. first mile was just trying to get in the proper pack of runners and it took a lot of shuffling around, a lot of stop-n-go running, but it wasn't terrible given the three sisters hills. legs were feeling warmed up around now, and we pushed the pace for the next four miles (yay for fresh legs - we had run just 6 miles all wk) and squeak out a 7:27 avg pace. getting sub 7:00 was my goal for the last mile and we almost did it for two!

well, one of the reasons was also because there was an annoying guy running in sandals who was basically stalking us for half the race. you'd hear the loud slapping of his sandals against the pavement and every time he saw us, he would look over (why??) and then push the pace again. around mile 5, he blew a nasty snotrocket which i think hit the back of kevin's calf, so kevin lost it and sped up to finish up the last mile far way from the sandal runner.

i guess in a way, the annoying sandal runner actually helped us reach the sub-7:00 goal :)

we scurried straight to okonomi for its 10am open after the race: kevin in black shorts and an orange long sleeve shirt on top of a green tshirt and a white tshirt, and me in purple shorts and a green tshirt on top of an orange long sleeve shirt. we looked quite the mess :p

the hostess/waitress remembered us and seated us at the bar, where we met yuji, the chef and ramen master! i had the big eye tuna belly marinated in sake kasu, which is a leftover-byproduct from sake making, with the onsen tamago and a HUGE piece of uni. kevin got the mackerel marinated in sweet miso with the onsen tamago. the mackerel was sooooo buttery good, the softness melting right as it hit your tongue. the sides were similar to last weekend and overall the meal was just filling enough for a light breakfast.

looking forward to trying yuji's ramen next time!

then we had a nice walk home and got ready for our big lunch-dinner up in poncantico hills! it was my first time taking the metro north hudson line, which runs north from grand central and then veers west along the hudson river, stopping at towns along the the east side of the river. man is the view pretty! it actually reminded me of the running/cycling path along the tamsui river from taipei up to tamsui. and seeing all the towns on our way up, i could imagine how they must have thrived back in the early 1900s when the vanderbilts and the upper echelon society rode their yachts along the river and their guests arrived by train for parties all summer long.

the leaves were changing colors too! i realized that it was the first time i've really see the autumn foliage this year. glad we were able to catch a glimpse of it before the winter sets in.

we had a really nice time at the stone barns, browsing the farmer's market, gift shop, and cafe for some time before our reservation at 2:30. we picked up a couple gifts for lizzie & michael (our sublettors) and kevin picked up another coffee mug for his collection.

for our lunch-dinner, blue hill was really amazing! almost a bit magical? i didn't have any expectations, never having heard much about it other than you get fed very well and leave VERY FULL. we were seated side-by-side at a table by the window facing the main dining room and fussed over by 3-4 different servers. our centerpiece was so pretty - reddening leaves and green flowers in a birch-style white porcelain vase, it reminded me of sogetsu style ikebana.

over the next three hours, we were fed plate after plate of delicious vegetables and small dishes, an assortment of wines, and given a tour and seated inside the kitchen as well! it was a beautiful kitchen, alive with action and buzzing with +20 chefs. and SO clean! kevin commented on the stark contrast between the calm, private feel of the dining room versus the hustle and bustle of the kitchen. we were fed fresh warm ricotta cheese on warm potato bread with kosher salt! i'm not going to include too many food photos here, but i have a LOT.

after countless courses and stories behind the food and some of the interesting inner-workings of the farm (they make their own coal out of some of their compost, and they managed to bake an unedible fennel in fennel bread and make it tender, juicy, and tasty!), they surprised us with two courses of desserts as well as a special treat to celebrate our monthiversary! big thanks to daisy & bram for their wedding gift card which  we used at blue hill.

here is a photo of the hudson river on our ride back to the city. kevin fell asleep :)

best: seeing our training pay off as we finished the race with negative splits and without feeling terrible afterwards. getting excited for our marathon and setting new running goals for 2015.

worst: annoying sandal runner blowing snotrockets. @_@

smile: we shared a taxi with an older, loquacious woman in town from fort worth on our way to the stone barns. she had sharp eyes and was following an intense itinerary of weeklong activities in the city and several daytrips outside of the city. i think both kevin and i thought that with her strong personality, she seemed much more the new yorker than us! lol.

one week till move-in!

we are one week away from moving back into manhattan! 

it's been a really fun four weeks living in williamsburg, and i don't think either kevin or i can say that we are tired of the commute or neighborhood, and ready to move back to manhattan right this instant. some conveniences we will definitely appreciate, like proximity to central park, a central location in manhattan, elevators (!!), the rest of our clothes, and our bikes! 

but we have also really enjoyed exploring williamsburg, all the coffee shops, restaurants (there are SO MANY!!!!), and especially the new running routes. i love the neighborhood vibe around here - there are families up and down every street, and you can see them getting together on the sidewalk, hanging out on the stoops, and to be honest, it's more down to earth than chelsea. folks are relaxed and easy going, and it's so nice to be able to see the beautiful blue sky every morning above the low-rise homes. they do need a maison kayser out here though ...

oh man, we are so excited that the apartment remodel to finally coming to an end, but there's also the realization that we will have to unpack those boxes. oh boy ... living in lizzie & mike's nice home has been a bit magical i guess. a five-week long vacation coming to its end ...

anyways, reality started sinking in on saturday morning as we spent a couple hours at the apt moving boxes and furniture from one room to the other, so the painters could access the ceiling for a couple coats of paint. we followed the hard labor with gahm mi oak sul long tang yummm. what's better than a stone pot of bone broth, tender beef, noodles, and UNLIMITED daikon and napa kimchi. the hostess spoke to us in korean for the first few minutes, until we clarified with her that we are not korean ...

check out this awesome coffee mug. if something looks wierd, it's because the mug is actually three feet wide. you can sort of tell by the relative size to the coffee beans!

hard work deserves reward and so we treated ourselves to saltie's balmy sandwich and olive oil cake, since i'm sort of on an olive oil cake kick these days. saltie's is a delicious hole-in-the-wall with minimal seating inside, more of an order to go sort of place, next door to momofuku milk bar on metropolitan ave aka dangerously close to our place.

the balmy was vietnamese banh mi inspired, although its list of ingredients was quite long: chicken liver pate, ham, jalapenos, pickled veggies, cilantro, and mayo all on a homemade focaccia. a lot of flavors going on in there, though VERY tasty. the olive oil cake was very nice! it was a little drier than i'd expected, but some of the pluses were the flavorful bursts of kosher salt in the cake and the crunchy toppings.

finally, a late dinner back in the city at ravagh persian grill with some close college friends. it was great to catch up with grace, even if she was only in town for less than 36 hours! and ravagh ... PHENOMENAL. we will be coming back! faves: babaganoosh with naan, chicken kebab, green hot sauce, burnt-bottom-of-the-pot basmati rice, and albaloo polo (sour cherries mixed with basmati rice). eating with saied is KEY :)

in good company

friday friday friday !!!!! i heart jeans fridays! TGIJF!

man times have changed. i remember starting work at lehman brothers in 2003 fresh out of university and it felt great to put on a suit every morning. everyone looked so trim and proper, and to be honest, it allowed you to focus on your work and less on what the woman at the end of the next aisle was wearing. in addition, the wardrobe rotation was simple - ten suits and then mix and match tops and accessories. brilliant!

sometime in mid-2009 (after the brunt of the financial crisis), when i joined nomura new york, the work dress code changed from "business formal" to "business casual". what this meant essentially was the same outfit, but drop the jacket, five days a week. fairly simple.

flash forward to december 2012: upon joining instinet, i learned that every friday all year round was JEANS FRIDAY! it was a little appalling to me at first and the sight of my coworkers in their unruly tops (which apparently range from tshirts to hoodies to polo shirts to crisp dress shirts) and varied jeans style made me want to gag a little.

started off the beautiful crisp friday morning with an apple cinnamon cake donut from the doughnut plant. two thumbs up! the doughtnut plant rarely disappoints!

after a non-stop afternoon of working on a few different forecasts and notes at work, i finally finished - thank you s&p for not making a slew of announcements - around 5:45, totally exhausted and brains fried. i don't like afternoons like that ...

the evening made up for the crazy afternoon as we met up with good friends for dinner at cafe mogador in williamsburg. the restaurant had rustic decor and a very comfortable and fun vibe. also noticeable was the spaciousness in the restaurant relative to manhattan restaurants. despite the roominess of the resto, we still ha trouble fitting our drinks, apps, and entrees on the small tables, even with our tiny dinner plates!

we shared all the dishes and ordered: slow-cooked meat-falling-off-the-bones lamb, chicken with couscous, seated salmon, hummus, naan with various dipping sauces, and a greek salad. everyone was in high spirits and we finished the night off with desserts at momofuku milk bar and a little tour of the loft.

i couldn't have asked for a more relaxing and fun evening with our great company.

nyawc gala

tonight we attended the new york asian women's center (nyawc) annual phoenix awards gala with a table of our close friends and as guests of our friend, jay. the evening consisted of a silent auction, a live auction (with an auctioneer), cocktails, and a pretty tasty dinner! two important guests were honored: ambassador sumio kusaka, the consul-general of japan in new york, and andrea jung, the current ceo of grameen america and former ceo of avon products. in addition, two former victims of domestic violence and nyawc survivors told their stories.

i was impressed by the ambassador's attendance and his award acceptance speech. he emphasized japan's commitment to advocating against domestic violence and creating a society in which women can realize their full potential. it resonated with me as japanese prime minister abe has made it a clear priority in the last two years to support female empowerment in his cabinet and his country. kusaka-san's speech and presence at the gala underscored the alignment within the government's top officials. sadly, last week abe's efforts were temporarily thwarted as two female cabinet members appointed last year resigned for campaign spending violations. doh.

we were not as impressed by ms. jung's acceptance speech. despite the passion and fervor she emanated, her speech seemed stilted and unprepared, and frankly i expected much more from the longest-standing female ceo of a fortune 500 company. however, i am interested in learning more about her microfinance organization, grameen america.

the survivor stories left me feeling very uneasy inside - wincing at times and smiling at other times. it's not easy to hear about domestic abuse, sex-trafficking, and hopelessness when you're having dinner with friends. correction: it's not easy to be a victim of domestic abuse, sex-trafficking, and hopelessness.

in the silent auction, i saw that the shiseido products basket had not been bid on and so i decided to put in the minimum bid and hoped to win :) little did i realize that a nyawc volunteer was lurking around, waiting for the mc to collect all the silent bid forms and she scooped me seconds before the form was collected! darn! :p

it was a thoughtful and fun way to spend a thursday night. a couple of our friends got decked out and made it a "date night" :) it's a night to remember! i'm glad we are learning more about the organization and feeling closer to the people involved.

sorry, i was having too much fun and didn't have a chance to take photos!

best: meeting a good friend's new significant other! i've never seen him like this. i feel like, this could be it ...

worst: getting scooped at the silent auction! what the heck .. at least the gift bags had some small product samples :)

smile: with a client in town early next week and the sales coverage out of town that day, i was pleasantly surprised when my boss, gerry, offered to join us for dinner. gerry's been on the road for 6 of the last 10 business days in london and on the west coast, so i'm impressed he's making the effort!

lemon drop papers

my friend, yuan, will be showcasing her stationary business, lemon drop papers, at the artists & fleas market in williamsburg on thanksgiving weekend, november 29 & 30. swing by and check out their exciting new line of holiday cards and gift tags! i love her stuff ~

artists & fleas
70 north 7th st brooklyn
williamsburg, ny
nov 29 & 30 10am-7pm

and if you cannot make it to the market, you can find her stuff on etsy as well :)

little moments

today was cold and raining cats-and-dogs! a series of little moments throughout the day brightened my mood though :)

started off the morning with a little love: an 8 oz white moustache homemade yogurt in the kiss with orange blossom honey & walnuts. at first i was a little confused because when i mixed the yogurt, i didn't see any honey or walnuts, but when i put the first spoonful to my lips, i tasted the subtle flavors of a orange blossoms with little morsels of walnuts. it was heavenly!!! also a greek yogurt, the consistency of the white moustache was much creamier and luxurious than siggi's, fage, or chobani. and it tasted extremely fresh, similar to the yogurt my mom makes at home with homegrown bacteria cultures (but hers is watery, which i don't care for much). despite the 8 oz size, i finished the entire serving without a hitch and as a little bonus, i was left with a cute glass jar which i can't wait to repurpose!

the only thing that makes me wonder is what are the nutritional facts for this product? as i researched the product online, i learned that it's a small father-and-daughter business based in brooklyn, but no nutritional facts on their company website either. what makes this thing so creamy and delicious?

the white moustache homemade yogurt: kiss

at the apartment, today the stone guy and the backsplash guy came! here is a photo of our waterfall island and kitchen countertops. one of my favorite details is the mitered joint where the vertical and horizontal stone pieces meet. so pretty.

i'm still deciding between backsplash colors (eggshell white, lace white, or polar white? reminds me of american psycho hahaha) and the leadtime is 5-10 days so that will take a bit longer. i am getting excited for hotpot gatherings in the winter!

waterfall island

then i was off to dinner with monica and sonam at toro! in the pouring rain, i managed to bus one block, train one stop, and walk one block. lol. thank goodness for the unlimited metro card! saw that a sorel shop is opening on w14th st by ninth ave. yay! they make the best boots for the winter! i love my sorel joan of arcs - they totally saved me through the rain, snow, ice, and slush of last winter.

also found these adorable rice bowls at anthropologie that i want to get. check out the colors and designs! i want like 10 of each :/ but that is not practical ..

sorel on w14th st

anthropologie finds

dinner at toro was lovely! this is how it looked when i arrived ... it was completely packed and every table was full by the time we left three hours later! for monica and sonam, i think it was rare to get a night off so it was nice to get out with them. it's the first time we've managed to get out without the husbands and boy is the conversation different. food-wise, almost everything we ordered was delicious! we had the pan con tomate, tortilla espanola, and pimientos del padron for starters. and then we ventured into some of the slightly larger tapa dishes, including sausage with chickpeas, galician octopus, patatas bravas, hamburguesas (dry aged), and grilled corn with aioli. it was all superbly done - especially the three pinchos. my one complaint was the grilled corn, basically mexican corn, had waaaay too much butter and mayo on it. oh and for dessert, we had a chocolate ganache cake with crushed peanuts and sea salt with a side of olive oil ice cream. a great way to end the night before stepping back out into the unforgiving rain.

toro

best: spontaneous walk with my gf, daisy, to our go-to-spot, diginn, on 40th and madison for a spicy meatball lunch. it was the only time of the day where it wasn't raining and it's always nice to catch up after the weekend. it's become a weekly ritual!

worst: not wearing tights or pantyhose today. it was so cold and the rain was coming down sideways today. really looking forward to having all our stuff again after we move in next friday, though not looking forward to unpacking after 1.5 months. who can remember what's in those boxes at this point ...

smile: monica made me smile big time over dinner with her stories about her boys. her 10 and 15 yr old boys dislike getting shots at the doctor's office and have broken down at appointments begging not to have to take the shots. after the appointment, andrei, the younger one, bragged to me that he got 4 shots and his older brother, sasha, only got 2! shots apparently give you bragging rights - they crack me up. shots are inevitable. i don't look forward to getting shots, but their inevitable so i just look away and wince ... luckily it's usually over in 5-10 seconds or so.

night run

today was just another busy tuesday at the office. just a few highlights:

the new asics store opened across the atrium from our office building! it's 2-3 times the size of the former location a block away, with many more shoe options it seems. unfortunately when i went inside to ask some questions about the elite performance vs performance socks, the salesguy didn't seem to know much. in fact, all the sales people on the floor looked like they were picked off the street. bummer that they don't educate their sales staff more to better represent their product, like paragon or jackrabbit.

new asics store

the stone guys came today and started our counter installation! yay. the painters were also there starting with the first coat.

counters being installed

after work, met kevin at grand central and we went for a night run at the park.  i think there was a nike training run going on too because we saw probably a hundred people stretching and women wearing lime green nike pacer tops. it's exciting and motivating to see strangers in the city congregating at the park to get their workouts in :)

legs were heavy from sunday's run, but the cool temperature and darkness were really helpful in terms of keeping us focused. we managed to squeak out 6 miles at 7:52. achilles was a bit tender in the first mile, but otherwise, felt pretty good. harlem hill and the three sisters are starting to feel like good old friends.

central park night run

best: bumped into a friend, nate, on my way to grand central! what a small world ... haven't seen him much since he's moved back to the city after bschool, but hopefully we'll get together soon and catch up.

worst: disappointing donuts working at the asics store. the couple guys i spoke with were not knowledgeable about their product offerings, and i don't think really had much interest in running either. bummer! i could see a lot of potential there.

smile: kevin brought me into the grand central marketplace to check out this cute little yogurt at murray's cheese. haha ... the little sweet pleasures in life! we treated ourselves to one each :D

bed day

today was a bed day. physically i got out of bed in the morning, but mentally my brain was still on my pillow all day. and. all. evening.

at work, it was the busiest day for me since this past spring, as it was my first day flying solo sans pedro. although there was one fire after the next, and there were a couple things i didn't have a chance to get to, overall it was still manageable and i didn't feel unraveled (yet). found out that i am going to toronto for a client dinner first week of november and one of the senior sales guys wants us to make a trip out to sf next month, but i told him not likely for 2014. work travel always stresses me out since it requires additional preparation (content) for me and absolutely no work on the part of the salesperson. :p

actually it was so busy today that i forgot to revel in the fact that i would leave early for my weekly meeting with the contractors. lol. the floors are done and the master bath tiling is finished (just getting started with grouting). yay!

sanded and sealed 2x

master bath tiling complete

then i treated myself to a little maison kayser and poured over the November issue of dwell magazine over a pain au chocolat and warm cider. :) 

kevin had drinks in the wv so i wandered around abc carpet & home looking for home decor inspiration. that place is so amazing and ethereal! unfortunately i don't think ethereal would work for kevin, so i'll have to figure out something in between :)

here are some of the bedspreads i thought were quite picturesque (and  expensive):

abc carpet & home

abc carpet & home

abc carpet & home

best: black and white sesame cookies with my zaiya cafe lunch. asian desserts are zee best!

worst: feeling totally drained by 6:45pm. so drained that i didn't even want to be bothered to think about dinner, or eat dinner. is this a sign of aging? but it's only monday ... and this is why i felt like I never actually got out of bed today.

smile: my husband delivered our dinner - 2 small pizzas and a side salad from fornino - to the apt with a smile on his face, so i was able to eat after all. my hero! it was so tasty!!! especially for a place right off the subway station which in my opinion is a slight turn-off, but it was thin crust, light on the sauce, and with a chewy outer crust ... reminded me of roberta's, to be honest. 

but boy do i miss my kitchen and homemade cooking and short grain rice from our zojirushi !!