Looking Backwards at 2009...

It's time to review last year's resolutions...

-drink less coffee: So didn’t happen, and probably never will considering the lovely coffee grinder, Bodum storage containers and green French press I acquired over the holiday season. I’m not disappointed about this one though. Here’s why: "Good News in the Daily Grind."
-drink more water: check
-read more fiction instead of just news: half check—I definitely picked up the fiction reading—joining a book club has aided this resolution—but I’m still not at the point that I want to be at. It takes me too long to finish a book and I’m still more likely to read the New Yorker or the newspaper on the train than a novel.
-yoga: I’m going to blame this one on the lack of an affordable studio in Hoboken and the loss of my yoga mat. Lame, I know.
-learn to cook: 1/4th check—This is still a huge challenge, but I’m headed in the right direction. In the last several months I’ve definitely started to eat out less and make my own meals, even if it’s just boiling some water for whole wheat pasta and broccoli.
-cook more: see above
-learn another language, preferably french: This is where I disappoint myself. Not only did I not even attempt to learn French, but I didn’t practice Italian as much as I should. I’m re-resolving this for 2010.
-organize: 1/3 check—I’ve started and stopped this process a few times. I’m definitely more organized than I was at this time last year, but it’s still an uphill battle.
-create a budget and stick to it: 1/3 check—I started using Quicken and am pretty aware of my finances and spending habits. Could I spend less and save more? Sure, who can’t? Do I refuse to waste my youth in New York City? Of course.
-exercise more: Well, I walked more for sure (moving to a part of town that doesn’t terrify you can do that) but I’m still without a gym membership. I plan to keep it that way though, no reason to waste the money. I’ll continue walking, maybe throw in some push ups and sit ups here and there, and consider working up to a jog. I’m removing this from my yearly resolution list though because it’s just dumb.
-declutter: 1/3 check—moving helped with this one. Moving again might help even more.
-laugh more: check
-take a trip on my own: check (San Francisco—next stop, Portugal?)
-write every day: 3/4 check—the nature of my job means that every day involves writing, but this resolution was more about non-work related musings which is why I didn’t give it a full check. If I only limited this to blog writing, I’d only get 1/16 of a check.
-start investing: check
-write more letters: 1/3 check—I’ve kept up on the birthday card and holiday card front, and even threw in a few just saying hi cards which warrants the 1/3 check. I could up the just saying hi quotient though.
-watch less TV: I wish I could say that I kept this one, but I definitely didn’t, especially when I factor in Netflix movies watched at home. Sure, it’s beyond wasteful to watch a marathon of America’s Next Top Model, especially if you’ve already seen every episode in that season. But what can I say? Sometimes I just can’t change the channel on Tyra.
-eat more whole grains and veggies: half check—I’ve definitely made improvements on eating less crap. Still have a ways to go though…

I'm working on the list for 2010...will post soon...

...Weekend Anna

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

Decorating, check. Buy Christmas cards, check. Bust out the holiday music, check. Smell the Christmas trees for sale on Broadway, check...


...Weekend Anna

Visitors in the Fall...

...November got off to a lively start, full of visitors from all over the country (Jacksonville, Fla., San Francisco, Calf., Youngstown, Ohio). While most people that head my way prefer to spend time in the city--completely understandable--some of the visiting involved trips across the river to my new(ish) home in the sixth borough. My parents and a pair of family friends joined me in Hoboken for dinner at Chucharamama, a lovely little South American restaurant on 3rd and Clinton. Quinoa encrusted chicken, rice and cheese croquettes, a pepper stuffed with pumpkin drizzled with queso sauce, Venezuelan hot chocolate--yum ,yum, yum. Plus, our friends brought me a gift: two perfect white coffee mugs and a small wooden serving tray from MUJI. It was so sweet of them to bring me a present, and I'm slightly obsessed with my new mugs and tray. It's the perfect mug...the right size, and although the handle is flawless in its design, the mug fits my cupped hands perfectly.

Sadly, my camera USB cord was misplaced during my move, so I only have the catalogue photo of the mug for now...

...Weekend Anna

Happy Halloween!

I love Halloween. It feels like an excuse to be a kid again, despite the fact that many view it as a time to dress in very little at all. Instead, it's a chance to dress up as a favorite character or profession or dream, and to eat a lot of candy without feeling too guilty. Plus, celebrating being scared has it's charms as well. Every year I watch Psycho, one of my favorite Hitchcock films, even one of my favorite movies. No matter how many times I see that movie I still get chills when I see the shadowy figure opening the door to the bathroom with unsuspecting Marion Crane showering in the foreground, or when Norman Bates looks up at the end while the voiceover of his mother talks about how harmless she is. It's fun to be scared a little bit...


....Weekend Anna

I moved...

...to Hoboken!


...Weekend Anna

Map courtesy of joysikorski.com.

Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair...

...Weekend Anna

Fall is in the air...

My favorite season is fast approaching--it's been a lovely weekend full of sun and a slight chill every now and then. A good part of this weekend was spent with the lovely RMB. We grabbed Thai food on Friday night before catching a late showing of "Taking Woodstock," which was every bit as wonderful as I wanted it to be. Saturday was spent bumming around and watching college football...yes, I like college football...it must be a Midwest thing...

Northwestern won, as did Michigan so it was a good football day, and it turned into a good music evening. RMB and I headed into the city to Terra Blues on Bleeker St. where we caught some fantastic blues music. Apologies for the darkness and poor quality of the photo--it was taken with my BlackBerry without a flash. For some reason, the flash on a BlackBerry is blinding and since I didn't want to cause anyone serious retinal damage, I turned it off.


RMB departed yesterday and I attempted to shop away my feelings...Old Navy and Lush are always good places to spend money. Now I've got some nice fall clothes and I smell good.

I'm headed to San Francisco in two days...I'm excited, to say the least--traveling out West is exactly what I need right now...


...Weekend Anna

That state of mind...

...Weekend Anna

Play it again...

Music is slowly creeping back into my life. It never really left, but for the last three years or so it was pushed aside by various duties--studying, working, writing, planning, growing up. I'm not sure I like the way that sounds--like music was something infantile and unimportant, easy to put into a box and forget about--but to some extent it's the truth, and I just can't think of a sweeter way to put it. See, music has been part of my life for as far back as I can remember--the Beatles, Bruce, Billy Joel and Juice Newton all bring back memories of my childhood. And then there was the interest in musical theater. Peter Pan was the first show I saw on Broadway. I was six. I don't remember much from the show, just Cathy Rigby flying up near the balcony near the end of the show and the neon Joe Camel sign glowing outside the second floor lobby. Les Miserables, the Lion King, 42nd Street, Jersey Boys and Hair have followed, not to mention the touring shows I've seen throughout the Midwest (The Wizard of Oz, Footloose, Wicked, Rent, the Phantom of the Opera). I never considered myself to be a fan of musical theater, but recent reflection on this point has caused me to reconsider that notion. In any event, piano lessons soon followed, and then came the horn. I was in fourth grade and had to pick an instrument for band--I almost immediately gravitated towards the french horn, due to the fact that I loved the way it sounded in Peter and the Wolf (I had an illustrated book and cassette tape of the story that I listened to on a regular basis). Plus, no one else was signing up for the french horn. I never could understand why--it sounds lovely but it's also visually stunning, the metal all looped and twisted together with that brilliant bell at the end. Anyways, band gave way to private lessons, youth orchestras, competitions, summer camps, all-state bands and orchestras and soon I was considering heading off to college as a music major.

I need to back up for a minute and note that something else was happening concurrently with my growing love of playing the horn--I developed an insatiable taste for the sound of guitars and drums. While my love of rock was most likely always present, it exploded after a week at camp, the summer before I entered high school. I was taking a music class and the instructor was sick, so a young camp counselor filled in. Instead of teaching us Bach, he taught us about the Beatles. It was magic...I can still hear him playing the piano and all of us singing Hey Jude. When I returned home I went through all of my mom's records, and well, the rest is simple--live concerts as often as possible (conning my way in when I didn't have enough money or wasn't old enough), scraping together lunch money to buy the newest White Stripes album (it was the only time I ever seriously considered shoplifting something) and spending my Friday nights interning at the local independent radio station. Those shows were some of the best moments of my life--the White Stripes, the Soundtrack of Our Lives, Weezer, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Pete Yorn, whatever I could get in to. I loved those experiences...but it was a very childish love. I always fancied myself above those around me just there for the booze and socializing...I was there for the music. But, really, was I?

And then college...instead of music I majored in academia and literature-in-a-hurry, and by the time I was halfway through my sophomore year, my horn was put stashed in my closet and I no longer played in ensembles or orchestras. I don't regret those choices, my passions in life extend to so much more than music (just ask me about the American Revolution, I dare you). But lately, as I've thought about this and started falling back into my love (my record player is back in my possession, my horn is getting repaired in the city as I'm writing this, music documentaries have grabbed my attention again, and I've been to four shows in the last six months, with tickets purchased for another show in October), and I'm finding it a lot easier to reconcile my adult self with this love. Sure, it's still all about the music...but this time I mean it.


...Weekend Anna

Hair! (An exercise in whims, control and vanity)

I'm still slacking on this posting thing--I can't believe it's been a month since I went to see "Hair" on Broadway. Weekends since then have brought a trip to Detroit for an old friend's wedding, 4th of July celebrations with the coolest people in New Jersey, and some wonderful times with friends.
In preparation for the coming weekend (and because I felt like it), I got my hair chopped off today. I've always love getting my hair cut--it's almost always an exercise in going with my whims (bangs were a result of walking by a hair salon in Portland, Ore. one rainy afternoon in the fall of 2006). It is also an exercise in restraint--one of my dream haircuts is a pixie a la Audrey Hepburn in "Roman Holiday," a fun 'do that would be a disaster on my large round head. Lately, I've been feeling a pull towards a classic 1930s-style bob--short, blunt, smooth. There's something poetic about having a Depression-era style during the current economic slump...well, I at least there's something poetic about it.
An updated version of this style--and another haircut I've admired for years--is the short, offbeat bob another Audrey (Tautou) sported in "Amelie"--the movie from which I draw almost all of my views on style and aesthetics.


However, the shortness, again, would wreak havoc on my round face. So I opted for a longer version of the traditional 1930s bob--short in the back, slightly angled towards my face.


Ok, I hate posting pictures of myself so this will most likely be the last time my face graces a post. Urgh.


The weekend can't come soon enough...


...Weekend Anna

I believe in love.

Yes, I have continued in my youth-fulfilling adventures. I saw the new Broadway revival of "Hair" on Thursday and it was perfect. The music, the staging, the lighting (so colorful!), the performances...all amazing. There was much dancing and smiling to be had...


...Weekend Anna

Nothing to get hung about...

...yes, a visit to Strawberry Fields in Central Park was in order, although it happened somewhat by accident. The plan was to meet a friend in Central Park for lunch on Saturday before heading to The Met and I intended to arrive a little bit early to just sit and relax. I meant to hop off the subway at 59th/Columbus Circle but I got lost in "Scoop" and didn't realize my mistake until 72nd. I walked into the west side of the park on 72nd expecting to make my way over to the east side, when I realized where I was. I had planned on coming to this mosaic since I was 13, listening to "She Loves You" and running my hand over the print--"Anna (Go to Him)"--on the back of my mom's record, Introducing...the Beatles. In high school I was obsessed with John Lennon...every documentary, book, exhibit (I spent a whole day just in the John Lennon exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland), article, photograph, video captured my attention and fed my peace/love/rock and roll understanding of the world. I stood at the corner of North Broadway and High Street in Columbus with my No War sign, I wrote Imagine all over my notebooks and on chalk boards, I wanted my life to be like "The Wonder Years"...circa 2001. As I grew up my extremes became much more moderate, as happens to most people as they age and idealism becomes much harder to hold on to...I still love John Lennon's music and I felt nostalgic looking at the Imagine mosaic even though I had never been there before.

I sat on one of the benches to pass the time and it was one of those absolutely perfect moments--a bright sunny day with a slight breeze, light streaming through the trees' branches, a steady flow of people but not too many, the sound of a jazz trumpet far off in the distance--it was satisfying. I took out the paper and began to read, and it was then that all nostalgia left and I was face to face with the older me. The story was about Now Zad, Afghanistan and the stalemate between the U.S. troops stationed there and the militants...this line sums it up: "For the U.S., it’s a prize too valuable to lose, not valuable enough to win." What would have raised only anger in me as a teenager now made me feel sad, intrigued and left me trying to figure out where this story fit in the larger picture of that region...and then came the amusement when I realized the irony of objectively reading a story about war right next to a mosaic dedicated to man who was--and still is--a symbol of peace...


...Weekend Anna

P.S. The awesome photo is courtesy of rootinshootin.

"Just a perfect day, Drink sangria in the park..."

I love May and I love the fact that it actually feels like spring--a rather elusive season I haven't truly experienced in a while since teeth-chattering Chicago winters usually transitioned immediately into sweat-inducing summer. I got a taste of that heat the weekend before last while I was in Florida visiting the family. It's still weird to think of my parents down there among the palm trees, backyard swimming pools and alligators...going to visit them feels like going on vacation instead of going home. Anyways, I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend with my parents and sister. It was filled with lounging, a little bit of swimming, and games of Scrabble, Sorry and Euchre. I miss all of them, although I will get to see my Dad in a few weeks (Yankee game!).

Last weekend was another New York weekend with dear friends--from an exhibit of Picasso's later paintings in a Chelsea gallery to a lovely outdoor brunch in the West Village, a street fair on Barrow St. (whoopie pies!), a stop at Bleeker Street Records, dinner in Little Italy, mass at St. Pat's, the Museum of Natural History and pizza at John's on Bleeker. My wallet was lighter by Sunday night (beautiful stationary--pictured above!--from the street fair, chocolate covered espresso beans from Porto Rico Importing Co., Lou Reed's "Transformer" on vinyl, to name a few culprits), but I was filled with satisfaction, happiness, and a feeling of gratitude for being lucky enough to have some pretty awesome friends, both near and far.

My next weekend is approaching rapidly and Memorial Day means another one of those rare Mondays that I look forward to...and the return of another dear friend...


...Weekend Anna

I'm still here.

I’m sorry. I’ve been failing at the whole weekly posting thing—as the wonderful Papermoon pointed out the other night I haven’t updated in a while. I’ve been busy, but I’ve also found it overwhelming to sit down and write something worthwhile about my weekends. I’ve started a post several times over the last several weeks, but each time I get distracted or don’t like how the words are coming out. I can be very picky sometimes with writing…not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing.

I’ve had five wonderful weekends since my last post, with too many things to fully recount—Easter in Chicago, the return of the lovely RMB, Jersey Boys with my Dad, movies galore courtesy of the Tribeca Film Festival, Glasvegas and Ida Maria at Webster Hall, Pete Seeger’s 90^th Birthday concert—including Bruce!—at Madison Square Garden, “Around the World in 80 Days” at the Shakespeare Theatre of NJ, a visit to my new favorite bookstore Idlewild Books, and lots of time spent with friends.

Today I continue my busy weekend theme with a trip to Jacksonville—I’m giving the gift of myself to my mother for Mother’s Day. The Florida weather will be hotter than I desire, but it is so nice to see the family.

Maybe I’ll even post about it later…

...Weekend Anna

Simple. Wonderful.

It's been a beautiful weekend, the perfect blend of lounging, visiting, seeing, buying and experiencing. Staying in Friday night was a glorious decision--it gave me time to go through some of my files (a task I'm still working on today), watch a couple movies ("Age of Innocence") and chat with that lovely Papermoon girl. My plans for Saturday included a trip to the dry cleaners, a stop by Macy's and Old Navy and a visit with my darling cousin who was down from Montreal for a quick weekend trip with her boyfriend. Oversleeping caused me to miss the dry cleaners and to rearrange the rest of my day, but it was perfect. I met up with my cousin in Midtown and we walked up Broadway, through Times Square and over to Fifth Ave. Some coffee at Dean & DeLuca kept me caffeinated and on a slight whim I decided to go over to the Museum of Modern Art and become a member. I had come across a coupon in a special museum section of Thursday's Times and after considering the benefits for a few moments, decided it was worth the expense. Now I can visit the museum whenever I want in addition to bringing guests for only five bucks, free screenings of MoMA movies and entrance to special exhibits and previews. I am official a patron of the arts in my own tiny way.

Next up was a subway ride down to SoHo which was pretty crowded with shoppers and tourists. The sun was so uplifting--and so was my second stop for coffee--that I didn't mind all of the people. We made our way all the way up to St. Mark's Place and stopped at a bakery, recommended by my cousin's boyfriend, on 1st ave. and 11th. The cases in the front of Veniero's Pasticceria were filled with cannoli, biscotti, zeppole, pignolli and at least twenty other kinds of cookies. I had a chocolate chocolate cannoli that was perfection. After I parted ways with my cousin, I fulfilled part of my original plan for the with a stop at Old Navy for some jeans, a fun red spring jacket and some black, gray and white t-shirts--hey, at least the jacket was red (I'm still working on the whole incorporating color into my wardrobe thing)!

Today has been a lazy day thus far filled with more filing, taxes and some clean up. Simple. Wonderful.

Now it's time for some old movie viewing--"Niagara," a 1953 thriller starring Joseph Cotten and Marilyn Monroe...


...Weekend Anna

Happy Birthday Mr. President....

It's James Madison's birthday today--so I'm toasting the occasion with some red wine and the reading of the Constitution. Yes, for once I have red wine in my apartment. The red wine, aka "date rape wine" because it knocks you right out, is leftover from a weekend-o-fun with my aunt, uncle and cousin. We had so much fun and I miss them already. We did too much to recount in anything but a list: pizza/date rape wine, Hoboken, walking along the water front, Ellis island, LES, Rockefeller Center, St. Pat's, MOMA, Upper East Side, Bagels!, Central Park...

So much fun. So exhausted...


...Weekend Anna

Easily Distracted...

I keep sitting down to write a post and then something else grabs my attention. Last night it was a combination of realizing that Ida Maria is opening for Glasvegas at the end of the month at Webster Hall and the release of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs newest album, "It's Blitz!" on iTunes at midnight. I've had a love for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs since I stumbled across a recording of "Art Star" online the summer before my sophomore year of high school, smack in the middle of my I-love-the-Beatles- and-everything-about-the-1960s-and-maybe-I-will-dress-in-hippie-clothes-and-not-wash-my- hair phase. I fell head over heels for Karen O--her crazy outfits, her onstage writhing, and her howling scream punctuated with flirtatiously coy lines ("I've got a dealer in Tokyo/ I've got a rep in Paris/ I've got an agent in Cologne/ Shit, I've got a gallery in New York!). I was hooked and the rest is simple: "Fever to Tell" was next followed by a trip up to Cleveland to see that writhing in person. Then relatively unknown TV on the Radio (Colbert bump!) opened on the waist-high stage in the tiny ballroom. I was right in the front, close enough to feel the sweat from Karen O.'s hair whipping around when she danced and the champagne she squirted out of her mouth like a fountain. It was glorious.

"Gold Lion" from "Show Your Bones" pops up on my playlist at least half a dozen times a week and I've listened to their latest album in full three times since I downloaded it less than 24 hours ago (not including the dozen times I've listened to "Zero" and "Hysteric", my two current favorites). "It's Blitz!" is different from the others, less raw and disjointed. I love it though and right now time will tell if it enters my list of favorite albums.

The last two weekends have been amazing...but the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have kept me from writing about those weekends for at least another 24 hours...

...YYY Anna

I like this place...it's not pretentious...

...this of course being my paraphrased attempt of quoting "Priceless," a beautiful and light movie starring the lovely Audrey Tautou. I love this movie because it makes me think of some of my old favorites, like "Charade" or "To Catch a Thief." I like that quote because it sums up my view of Chicago, a city that I've loved more and more only after I left it. Not that I didn't love it while I was there--I always felt lucky to be in or near Chicago, but New York was always the goal, the dream. I'm as close to that dream now as I could hope to be at 23, but Chicago has entered my heart and refuses to relinquish its grip. For one thing, Chicago is cleaner, more spread out, less chaotic--the people are nice and lack the pretension displayed by so many New Yorkers and their wannabe counterparts. Chicagoans have pride, but it's a pride in something real and seemingly more deserving...maybe it's hard work without the glitz or bright lights? I don't know, but it's this feeling that Chicago is a wonderful place, but it isn't all there is--there's a whole world outside of Chicago, one that people go out and explore. Chicago is the place that you return to, it's home. Some New Yorkers think that they are at the center of the world, not just part of it, giving them the false sense of worldliness, even if they never leave the island of Manhattan. Of course, not all New Yorkers are like that and not all Chicagoans are wonderful. New York will always have more than The Second City and I feel more connected to the history of the New York/New Jersey area then I ever will to the Midwest. But Chicago is a nice place, a place I hope to go back to at some point in my life.

Yes, I had a lovely visit to Chicago--I am always happy when I'm surrounded by friends and family, and I got a taste of both last weekend. Recapping it will just make me miss them more, so I'll just leave it at that for now.

On to this weekend, my independent/Italian weekend of randomness--"A Room with a View" (ah, Firenze!) on Friday night with some popcorn a la Sarah-style (kernels, oil, salt, oregano, paper bag, microwave, yum). Yesterday was organizing parts of my life and then a date with myself. I took myself to see "Gamorra" at the IFC center (stopped off for a peanut butter and nutella sandwich at Peanut Butter & Co. first). The movie was wonderful--dark and horrific, but beautifully shot and moving. The film looks at five different characters all attached in some way to the Camorra family (mafia) in Naples. The dialect was strong so I had to rely on the subtitles, but that made it all the more real. I think that's what was so troubling about it--I've seen plenty of violent films but over the top violence seems more like entertainment. I can watch it because I know it's not real. This violence, the killing and revenge and depravity of the whole situation was (and is) just so real. In any event, I'm glad I saw this movie, even if it wasn't uplifting at all.




Today was Italian mass (I love all of the old Italians and how they talk with their hands...their gestures are amusing and pleasant), a quick stop by the hairdresser's for a bangs trim and a visit to the bookstore for Ian McEwan's "Enduring Love" and Evelyn Waugh's "Brideshead Revisited"--yes I have an illness called compulsive bookbuying...


...Weekend Anna

Happy Valentine's Day!

Photo courtesy of yoshiko314.

My Valentine's Day? Packing, flying to Chicago, fig and cashew butter sandwich and beer with Sarah at the Hopleaf!

The Black Keys...

I love live music. Nothing is better than being able to see, hear, smell and feel the music, especially when your whole body vibrates with the rhythm. I like that you can move and dance with no fear of looking like too much of an idiot because there is almost always someone else there dancing, swaying, breaking it down, in a much more idiotic fashion. It's liberating in a way, and so much more satisfying than dancing alone in a bedroom.

The weekend started out with a trip into the city to check out the Whitney Museum of American Art. It was a balmy 45 degrees or so and sunny, which made for lovely-walking-around-the-Upper-East-Side weather. The museum is small, but full of some very interesting pieces. My favorites included latex paint spilled on the floor (I really wanted to touch it), three video pieces (the room was dark and cool, and the only noise was the whirring of the film projectors, it was like a dream), and the exhibit of Alexander Calder's wire sculptures (his circus was so whimsical, so of course I loved it).


Today I continued my whimsy kick with the movie "Coraline"--it was beautiful, although the storyline itself wasn't developed too much. But it was worth it to see the animation. And then The Black Keys. I hadn't been to a concert since seeing Eddie Vedder in Chicago back in August. It was the prefect show--not too crowded but not dead, smallish venue and a great set list with a good mix out of their discography. The lovely RMB and I got there fairly early, bought some overpriced beer, and staked out our spot along the rail of the first raised level. We had a great view above the sea of plaid shirts (when did plaid become hipster? did I miss something?) and knit caps--overall, a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

I'm just trying not to think about the fact that the lovely RMB is leaving me and returning to Ohio...

Next up...Chicago!!!

...Weekend Anna