an act of kindness

this morning as i was waiting for the 1 train at the 23rd st station heading into the office, i heard the faint raspy sound of a man's voice mumbling "hello hello" and felt his presence coming from behind me. a bit disenchanted from the variety of characters which pass through nyc, i didn't bother to turn around and assumed he was on his phone losing service underground.

as he neared and the volume of his "hello hello" increased, i turned around and realized that the man was blind and was using his walking stick to try to identify end of the train platform. a little confused at who he was speaking to, i paused momentarily and looked around, during which time a guy who had also been waiting walked over and helped guide him to the edge of the platform, and then when the train arrived, helped him onto the train and secure a seat.

seeing this act of kindness from a stranger was an inspiring way to start my friday. next time, i'll know better myself.

after work, kevin and i met up with a friend in town from austin, komson, for drinks in the east village, and finished the night with a nice dinner with college friends at ravagh's new location around the corner. 

our first experience at the ravagh in murray hill was so memorable, i wanted to bring all our college friends, and luckily, saied was with us to do all the ordering :) we had a few types of eggplant appetizers, chicken, beef, and lamb shish kebabs (whole meat and ground meat), four types of rice seasoned with barberries, sour cherries, fava beans, and saffron, as well as persian desserts with tea. it was really nice seeing everyone after the holidays, the guys anyways as most of the wives and girlfriends couldn't make it. we learned that ray and syl are expecting a baby girl in april so sydney will be a big sister!

bonjour, paris!

we woke up to sunshine and panoramic views of the paris from our flat bedroom window today. it made it very difficult to get out of bed much less get out of the flat.


olivier and charlotte's little nespresso machine helped do the trick! and we were off walking along rue de bac through the tuileries and opera, awe-struck by the long lines at all the little japanese restaurants in the opera.
nestled not too far, we found one of the nicest travel bookstores: voyageurs. the interiors, the books, and the endless maps ... if i had a library in my house, i would want it to look and feel like this place :)

we walked from opera to the centre pompidou and le marais, a bohemian area with lots of cute shops and boutiques. this is also where we experienced the sloooooweeesssst parisian dining experience ever over a 2-3 hour creperie lunch. it turns out they had forgotten about kevin's dessert crepe! lol. despite it all, they were super tasty!

the rest of the afternoon was filled with bvh shopping ~~ i got some SANDRO dresses! and saw this adorable pillow which reminded me of rose & dustin. unfortunately it was EUR 50 or i would have picked it up for them @_@

we finished off the evening with falafel and kebabs in le marais. it wasn't l'as du fallafel which kevin's friend had recommended, because he got so excited seeing the falafel shops on rue des rosiers that we just entered the first one we saw and sat down immediately and ordered. lol. it's purple in this picture because it was purple in the restaurant. it was disorganized, we were sitting back to back and thigh to thigh with people around us, but the service was great and the food was excellent!