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

Weekend NYC

It truly was a New York City weekend. After living in the New York City metropolitan area for almost four months, I finally did something more than just dine, drink coffee or walk around. The weekend started out waiting in line at the discount ticket booth in Times Square for tickets to a Broadway play. I had my heart set on (and fingers crossed) for "Speed-the-Plow" and after waiting in line outside in the cold for an hour (I'm getting used to standing in Times Square in single digit temperatures) my fingers were rewarded.

The rest of the afternoon was spent walking around the Upper West side and stopping in at Cafe Lalo for a sandwich (eggplant and goat cheese!), a cappuccino, and a slice of apple pear raspberry pie. Then off to Broadway. The last time I went to a Broadway show was five years ago--and it was "42nd Street." While the musical was lovely and fun, "Speed-the-Plow" was perfect--hilarious, thought-provoking and thoroughly entertaining. Jeremy Piven had already left the cast due to "mercury poisoning" but his replacement, Norbert Leo Butz, was fantastic. The fast paced dialogue and short scenes made the 90 minutes fly by, and Mamet's moral ambiguity gave me things to think about all night (and the next day).

Sunday morning meant mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral with Cardinal Eagen and then the Museum of Modern Art. The goal was to see the Van Gogh exhibit but tickets were sold out. No matter though, the next two and half hours were filled with wandering through the floors of MOMA enjoying some of the pieces and trying to make sense of others. Some aspects of modern art really appeal to me--especially if a piece is clever, brightly colored, or functional. Other aspects, do not--the eerie flickering films, the muted paintings of disfigured babies, or layers of Vaseline formed into a "box". I also found some of the pieces annoying--a canvas painted red doesn't seem to require that much artistic talent. However, as a friend and partner-in-weekend NYC-crime pointed out, the thing that made that red canvas "art"--or at the very least, worthy of its space in the museum--is that the artist even conceived to do it. Yes, I am perfectly capable of painting a canvas red, but that thought of expression would never have crossed my mind without my having seen it hanging in a museum.

The weekend ended back in the Jersey with the lovely lady of Papermoon, whose back in Chicago. And who I miss much.

...Weekend Anna.