NEW YORK IN JUNE

About a month ago (although it feels so much longer !), I took the train up to New York City to meet my parents, who had just flown in from Korea the day before. I was traveling to spend a long weekend up there with them, visiting the city, and my sister and brother-in-law, who live up there.

I have a ton of photos and they document almost all the activities and food consumed up there, so I figured I would compile it here as a guide of sorts - for you if you'd like and for my future self as reference. 

I took a train from Richmond this time, by way of Ashland train station - the sweetest station there ever was - and it ended up being a lovely way to travel.  There was a moment of claustrophobia, which quickly passed, and I didn't get to read for as long as I thought I would, but I did get a very satisfying nap in. 

My parents had flown in from Korea the day before into New York, and we had plans to meet at Chelsea Market - a spot that I had never been before.  Goes to show, no matter how many times you go to New York, there will always be places to discover - one of the reasons why I love this city so much.  My mom is a huge fan of one of the restaurants in Chelsea Market called Miznon, which has delicious Mediterranean fare, and that's where we met up. 

Found them! 

The food here was so good. I got a giant roasted cauliflower for my meal and I couldn't finish it - it was so filling!

We roamed around the other shops in Chelsea market, including this one for spices and tea. 

This place at the end of Chelsea market called artists and fleas had local makers set up with their goods - there was so much amazing stuff in there. 

It was wonderful to see them and especially fun to meet up in New York like this. 

This is my adorable mama, on the subway, looking at my dad. 

We met my sister at Bemelman's Bar, a bar downstairs of The Carlyle, which has illustrations of New York all over its walls, done by Ludwig Bemelman (the illustrator of the children's books, "Madeline"). I loved this place - the illustrations were beautiful, the drinks were good, and they had a live jazz pianist there.

The next day, my mom and I ventured out for a walking adventure through midtown, starting with Bubble & Sip, a bakery that a friend told me about. I didn't get what I went for (the cream puffs weren't ready yet when we got there) but we got this black sesame croissant and this amazing matcha pudding, both of which were entirely satisfying and delicious.

We did a little bit of window shopping and bunch of walking, and for lunch we made a quick stop at this place called The Kati Roll, which had Indian street fare. It was exactly the kind of thing that I want to eat when I'm in NYC.

How beautiful is my mom!

We strolled through Bryant Park to get to the library, and got to witness the morning blossoming into a beautiful day. 

To no one's surprise, I absolutely loved the New York Public Library. I had never been before, and it felt like arriving at a pilgrim's destination.  the architecture was stunning, I loved all the different rooms, and I wish I could have stayed there all day browsing its books.

They were having a Walt Whitman exhibit there, and we made sure to take our sweet time walking through it - I learned so much more about Whitman and ended up buying a really lovely copy of "Leaves of Grass"

The heat was pretty scorching this weekend, and we ended up walking about five miles all together. Random stops for popsicles were an absolute necessity. 

We made our way down to Chelsea art galleries, and roamed in and out of 8-9 galleries, exploring the exhibits that were up.  One of my favorites was this exhibit by Jonah Wood, pictured here. 

After the galleries, we jumped on to the Highline, to walk through this little oasis of a pathway created in the middle of the city, higher up than the sidewalk to offer up unexpected views of the city.

I loved seeing all the plants growing along the path.

To end our afternoon, we stopped into Starbucks Reserve Roastery, which is this giant Starbucks with three coffee bars and then an alcohol bar with the most creative drinks, which we dried. This one here on the right was the Boulevardier, which was made from barrel-aged vaniall syrup, campari, sweet vermouth and bourbon poured over freshly ground coffee.  It was amazing....and very expensive.

For dinner, my parents and I got dressed and we met my sister and brother-in-law in Bushwick for dinner. 

We passed by House of Yes, which I have always wanted to peek inside, so we bypassed a very friendly bouncer, got handed some rainbow popcorn, and took some pictures in their eclectic courtyard. 

We had Vietnamese food at Bunker in East Williamsburg, and everything was so good.

After dinner, we went up to Greenpoint to explore a bit and peeked into Transmitter Park, where they were playing a movie on a big projector alongside the river. I made mental notes to come back here during another summer. 

The next day, Saturday, we designated for Brooklyn, and went first to a bookstore I've been wanting to visit called Books are Magic.  It was a really lovely bookstore, with great selections, friendly staff, and books and sitting area for children.  

We then meandered over to a space called Public Record, which is an event space with a coffee shop and hang out area during the day and bar and live music/dance during the night.  I love seeing spaces like this and seeing how they use it! We ended up coming back here later in the night for music, so it was neat to see how it functioned both in the day and night.



They had some sort of yerba mate drink here that was incredible.  Also, all sorts of magazines!

By wonderful coincidence and some sort of fate, my friend Soonie and I happened to be in NYC during the same weekend. She lives in California but was in town for a wedding, so we got to hang out for the morning in Brooklyn and it was wonderful to see her. She is one of my favorite people.

We had been in the Carroll Gardens and Gowanus area, but for lunch we went over to Prospect Heights.  We perused through Unnameable Books, and then went to Zaytoons across the street for lunch. 

The food here was so good...just look at the schwarma fries and platter full of salads.  And then right across the street, there was Ample Hill Creamey, which had the tartest lemon ice cream



While walking back, we found this small garden wedged in between the buildings. It was Prospect Heights Community Farm, which was lush, with things growing every which way, and we slowly made our way around, feeling like we had discovered a secret garden.

There was a lovely woman there, working the garden, sweat streaming down her face, a bucket full of weeds in her bucket.  She let me take a lace flower home, advising me to plant it in a pot so that it would grow root, and it made my day. 

Sharon, Paul and I went back to Public Records for music and dancing; we danced for about two hours straight and it felt wonderful. We were very sweaty afterwards, and these photos are poor proof of that.

I spent Saturday night at Sharon and Paul's place (my parents were at their hotel) and it was so serene waking up here. 

This was dinner on Sharon and Paul's terrace - really delicious sushi they ordered in - with Rusty begging for fish, as he does, and a stunning backdrop behind them. 

Whew! I made it through. That took me several days to complete, but it's always worth it for the joy of being able to relive my experiences this way.  New York, as always, I'll be back! 

WHAT I'M READING V. 54

1. Shakespeare by Bill Bryson

I love Bill Bryson's writing and have loved every book I've read of his so far.  I was excited to discover that he wrote one on Shakespeare and really enjoyed listening to this one.  Some things were familiar to me, some things were new information, and all of them were presented with wit and his eye for detail in a way that all felt fresh and important.

2. Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan

I have read many books set in England, and this one more than the others made me want to go visit. Callahan's description of England are so beautiful.  This book is a piece of historical fiction regarding the story of how C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman began as pen pals and ended up married to one another.  I was intrigued, enjoyed most of the book - although at one point midway through I felt a little fatigue - and really liked seeing C.S. Lewis from a woman's perspective. Joy Davidman was a writer in her own right and the book includes many of her poems and details of a woman's writing life. I am glad I read this one and would recommend it to other Lewis enthusiasts.

3. The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giono

My cousin Lois handed this one to me to read. It's a short story, bound up into a beautiful book, telling the story of a man's diligent and consistent effort to plant as many trees as he can in a valley in the foothills of the Alps in Provence throughout the first half of the 20th century.  It's quiet, lovely and hopeful.

4. Talk Triggers by Jay Baer and Daniel Lemin

We read this one at work for our book study.  It's a book about marketing, and it asserts that the best sort of marketing is word of mouth because it is free, genuine and impactful.  It makes the case that customers value stories and authenticity, and prompts businesses to ask themselves what they are doing to get people talking about their business.  They call this strategy a "talk trigger" and the book details why it is important, examples of other businesses that have successfully employed it, and details how one can determine their own talk trigger.  We're working on implementing ours at work and will find out if it is as imapctful as this book suggests!

A SATURDAY MORNING

One morning a few mornings back, we made space to sit over breakfast and listen to the wind in the trees, birds chatter, and hear about the rhythms of each other's days. 

We gathered hot coffee, steaming casserole and fresh fruit, and walked it outside to a summer morning that carried with it some of the night's briskness, but in the light of day, it felt like we had come upon a new world. Mornings are magnificent like that.   

WHAT I'M READING V. 53

1. Babette's Feast and Other Stories by Isak Dinesen

I knew the story of Babette's Feast but never read the short story itself, written by Isak Dinesen, which is a pen name for Karen Blixen (who also wrote "Out of Africa"). My friend lent me this copy, which includes some of her other short stories. I really loved the story, as well as the other ones, which all seem to explore the idea of passion and the place it has in community, in love, in career, in family.

2. Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid 

Reviews of this book made me take notice of it because readers kept saying that not only did they love this book, but they found themselves trying to research the musicians and band that are the book's main characters because they seemed so real, even though it is an entirely fictional book about a fictional band.  I read this because I wanted to experience that for myself and was so surprised to find that the entire book is in the form of a documentary script.  The book is a script of a documentary movie made about the band (in the stylings of VH1's Behind the Music) and it was pretty amazing to have the documentary come to life in my mind as a I read the script. It was very well done, and the back of the book even includes the lyrics of songs that the (fictional) band wrote!

3. Listen, Slowly by Thanhha Lai

I was intrigued by the premise of this novel: Mai, a young Vietnamese-American girl born and raised in California has to travel to Vietnam with her grandmother, who is going back to find out what happened to her husband during the Vietnam War. Mai is resistant to say the least, she doesn't know the language, culture or customs of the country and would rather spend her summer on the beach at home, but she complies, and over the span of the book, she slowly opens up as she learns about her grandmother's country.  It's a wonderful plot, but it's not a book I would recommend - Mai starts off as whiny pre-teen, and while she progresses in her views of Vietnam while she is there, it was hard to take the self-entitled whine that seemed to underlay her character.  The grandmother's words, on the other hand, as the book sometimes gave insight into her perspective, was beautiful and captivating and it made me wish I had read the story from the grandmother's perspective instead.

4. The War on Normal People by Andrew Yang

I was completely captivated by this book. Andrew Yang founded Venture for America and is currently running for president in 2020. I heard him on a few different podcasts being interviewed and was entirely convinced but intrigued enough to find his book and read it, and I thought it was excellent. He articulates the problems and issues that this country faces so clearly and reasonably, and offers seemingly radical solutions but lays out how it can be accomplished and also explains why it is so important to move in those particular directions.  I especially appreciated his definition of Human-centered Capitalism, the idea that humans are more important than money. While Yang states he is a huge proponent of capitalism, he points out that we are looking the human element in our economy and politics, and he foresees catastrophic consequences if we keep going down this road. It's a fascinating book, I recommend it!

WHAT I'M READING V. 56

The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary

This was a really fun book.  It's in the vein of "chick-lit" (terrible term, but you know what i'm talking about) which I can take in small, tiny doses if I'm in the mood and it's not too cloying, but this one is a more modern take that I would and have recommended. The relationship between the characters grow through notes, post-it notes at that, and they are both strong individuals that have a distinct voice, which make for a convincing relationship. It's also funny and I felt all the fuzzies of a good romantic comedy afterwards.

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

After reading "Americanah", I felt compelled to read all of her novels immediately, and that I did. I read "Half of a Yellow Sun" and then this one was my third Adichie novel; I loved all of them.  In this one, which takes place in Nigeria, Kambili and her brother grow up under a very religious, strict and violent father.  The main character is a 15 year old girl, and we see from her perspective what it is to exist and survive in a family environment with violence and abuse, while she is trying to understand her own place in regards to religion, friendships and the politics of her country.  Adichie is a master story-teller and I am looking forward to read the last one of her novels that I haven't read yet - "The Thing Around Your Neck".

A Separate Peace by John Knowles

Apparently this is a classic that is often on high school reading lists; I had never heard of it until recently. It's a quiet, well-crafted and darker coming of age story about a friendship between two boys.  It read like a diary, sounding as if the narrator didn't really expect anyone to read it; its honesty felt strikingly raw . I didn't love it, but felt the reverberations of it as days past: the tumultuous story of a teenage boy growing into a man and revealing the inner turmoil of identity and jealousy within a complicated friendship.

Adopted: God's Plan "A"by Aaron H. Hartman 

I read this book because we know Aaron and Becky Hartman from church and had them over for Aaron to be on our podcast. During our conversation, Aaron described a little bit of the amazing situations surround the adoption of their three children, and mentioned that he had written a book on their experience.  I found the kindle version on Amazon and really appreciated reading about their story and Aaron's understanding on the theology of adoption.

AT HOME

June was a busy month for us, with lots of activities outside of the house - including a camping trip, visits from Eunice and Val, blueberry picking, birthday parties, our summer kickoff party and a trip to New York - which means we savored moments at home all the more. These are some photos that I captured on my big camera, spontaneously, whenever the thought arose, from such moments.

I am coming off an especially relaxing fourth of July, some of which we spent running errands, but most of which we spent at home.  One of our errands including buying seeds to plant, as our way of celebrating America's birthday, and I found both peace and delight in clearing the ground of weeds to make space for new things to grow.  The girls were equally enthusiastic and it grounded our sense of home, into the earth that we are surrounded by, as we felt dirt on our hands and between our toes.

July is equally full, but I'm making time for quiet moments around the house, and more moments with my hands in the earth. I'm hoping to finally plant some vegetables to grow, to linger in conversation with my parents who are here, and celebrate all the birthdays coming up with a heart full of gratitude. 

WHAT I'M READING V. 52

1. I'd Rather be Reading by Anne Bogel

Anne Bogel's "What Should I Read Next" podcast has been such a favorite - for its book recommendations and for all the 'eavesdropping' I get to do on bookish conversations. I read her first book, "Reading People" which is about personality tests and it was fine and interesting, but more of a primer than a deep dive.  I liked this second book much better, as it was a short and lovely book traversing through things that book-obsessed people would be delighted to relate to - the joys of living next to a library, library fines, trying to decide what to read next, reading slumps, reading accessories, etc.   A read through this book was coffee with a bookish friend.

2. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

I saw this one touted as an alternative to Jane Eyre, if you didn't like Jane Eyre, and although that sounds sounded like a pretty lofty claim to me, I was intrigued by that claim and picked it up. It's a more modern retelling that speculates where Antoinette Cosway came from before she was shut up in the attic at Mr. Rochester's house.  It was evocative, dark and beautiful, but I didn't love it like those recommending it did. It felt like a dream, and if that is the intended effect, it was successful. But I wanted more than just the emotions, I wanted clarity to see deeper into what was happening on this island. 

3. Deep Work by Cal Newport

This one was solid and falls along the ranks of Greg McKewon's "Essentialism"; many of the ideas reminded me of that one. It has good information about how important deep work is to achieving goals and mindfulness and makes the point that interruptions and multi-tasking are at odds with focus and productivity.  It points toward time management, prioritizing and being aware of distractions like social media. Many of the concepts were things that were familiar to me, but was organized in a direct and convincing way. The most helpful thing for me that I will apply is making sure I actually schedule uninterrupted periods of deep work when I'm working on a project. If I were to reread a book between the two though, I would probably pick up "Essentialism".

4.  Dear Life by Alice Munro

It took me a while to catch on to the wonderful train that is Alice Munro.  I read a few stories and was puzzled by the feel of these short stories - they felt like excerpts out of a novel, and left me wanting more. As I read on, I realized this is her art, and she's very good at it. She drops you into a life and you are fully immersed in its parameters, details, and tragedies and then you step out. She is masterful and I clutched it in appreciation after I was done. 

2019 SUMMER KICK OFF POOL PARTY

We had our summer kick-off party this past weekend, and it was such a fun and relaxing time with friends. I didn't get a lot of footage because I was too busy enjoying myself, but here is a compilation of some clips I did get, all to Kishi Bashi's "m'lover" song - which I'm obsessed with!