on coming to New York someone said to me 'you have never seen so many shoe stores in your life! you see one massive store, and then another and another, all lined up to the ceilings with shoes'... well its true, but not only that, they all have a roaring trade... and now I can see why... in a city where everyone walks everywhere, you go through shoes like no tomorrow... there is no 'wearing in a shoe', if you get a blister, chuck them... the uneven pavement and cobblestone streets are enough to eat up any jimmy choo heel... that's wear the clever new york woman's mind comes in to play... every girl's handbag has the essential item of a pair of flats... mandatory for anyone without a limo taking you door to door... the flats are for walking in the street, then once inside the flats are swapped for heels and the flats make their way into your handbag... two pairs of shoes for every journey..
as a walker to work, i too carry multiple shoes with me.. underneath my desk at work resembles a small shoe store in itself, as i wear my thongs (aka flip flops) to work, and swap to heels whilst inside... this week i went shoe shopping, and very maturely shopped for shoes depending on their soles rather then what they looked like!
so I was in macy's looking at shoes, and I had a pair in my hand I wanted to try on, instead of queuing up and asking for the size, a lady approached me to help me (yes this is service city...) I told her what size and she pulled out this little electronic device, scanned the bar code on my shoe, offered me it in different colours, told me what sizes she had left in the storeroom, took my name, and said they'll be with you in a minute if youd like to keep browsing, and that was that, she went on to the next lady, and in a few minutes someone had brought me not only the pair I asked for, but a size larger and a size smaller just in case!!! this city has it sorted... love it.
I got a few nice pairs for indoors and a great pair of rain boots for outdoors! Rain boots are THE accessory, stripe ones, spotty ones, marc jacobs ones, burberry ones, red ones, pink ones, flowery ones, you name it you can get it on your rain boots! me, I just stuck to black... but I love them! bring on the snow!! i feel like a kid again, it was raining this week so i wore them to work, (and of course changed when i got there!) it was great....walked straight through flooded streets, wasn't afraid of soggy toes!!!
as a side note... the biggest Australian import into New York has to be the ugg boot! every shoe store stocks aussie ugg boots, I havent even seen this many ugg boots in australia... they go crazy for them here!!!... looking for a new job? export ugg boots!
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
its not how you play the game, its if you win or lose...
.... and unfortunately we lost...
...but we played well :) This weekend gone I ventured up to Connecticut for a netball tournament.. everyone I tell kind of laughs at me and then says 'what did you say?'... as you would imagine if Americans don't play it or know what it is, it can hardly be a real sport (even though wikipedia says the game was invented in the States!) Anyway just to backtrack a little... as I've been playing forever, I thought I would see if I could find anyone in the city who plays netball, I found 1 club in New York, Manhattan International Netball Club. There's about 50 girls in total and we train every week, most of the girls are English or Australian and its been great meeting new people and getting some exercise... As its such an unknown sport here, there is no local competition, instead there are day tournaments around the country which teams are invited to play in... We entered two teams in the connecticut one so I went up to play...
Myself and a friend of mine thought we'd make a weekend of it so we attempted to get up there on Friday night... squashed in a little mini van the 2 hour journey up took us 4 and a half hours, leaving manhattan on a friday afternoon coupled with lots of rain i guess just made it a part of the adventure! We met some quirky types on the bus, and got some tips of where to go so it wasnt all bad...
We stayed in the Marriott in Hartford, which is the capital of Connecticut... (not the marriott but you get it...)... lovely hotel, bit of a boring town. Hartford is where a part of the Gilmore Girls is set... the grandparents live there!... It is also known as the insurance capital of America so as you can imagine its not the most pumping place on a Friday night.. regardless we had some dinner and walked around the deserted streets a little and then had an early one before the big day..
Saturday morning we attempted to get a bus except I took us to the wrong bus station (..oops..) worried we would be late we jumped in a cab to get there in time.. the ride through suburban hartford was lovely, seeing all the weatherboard houses was just like in the movies... real America!! So we arrived on time to Weaver High School (the Home of the Beavers is there tagline.. no joke!)... we'd been warned on the bus up that the school was known as the ghetto so we were a little weary... especially cos there was noone in sight and there we were two little white girls wondering around a huge American highschool... we bumped in to a caretaker who took us to a room full of kids who were writing their SAT's or on detention ... still trying to work it out... anyway eventually he led us to the gym.. it was empty, it was 9am and noone was there!!! At that time I didnt really mind, I was still in awe about being in a real American highschool gym! I was waiting for the girls from Bring it On, or Coach Carter to come out, but no...noone came... by 9:30 the rest of our club had arrived and a few of the organisers were straggling in... anyway two hours later we finally got to play... most of the teams were made up of jamaicans and other island countries (call me ignorant... i dont know where they were from) but until saturday i was convinced netball was a non-contact sport! well not over here... i think everyone in my team left with at least one bruise on their body as a souveneir... if you were lucky it was on your face! Anyway we played 5 games, our best result was a draw, the other team did a little better, but it was good excercise and another experience to add to the list! Saturday night we ached all over so took it easy and went to West Hartford, nicer then the real hartford we found a restaraunt serving great steaks and filled our appetites!
Sunday we decided to stop by New Haven, another Connecticut town and home to Yale, one of the three Ivy League US colleges (what college you study at is a massive deal here and Yale is one of the best... story for another time). With all our heavy luggage and our bodies still aching there was no way were going to shlep it around all day...so we casually strolled in to a classy hotel nearby, asked if we could leave our luggage there... they thought we were staying at the hotel so they said 'sure', took it off our backs and put it in there luggage room! that little trick was my favourite part of the day!!
So we ventured out to find Yale, the town was again beautiful, all the weatherboard houses! I wanted to go inside and see if they were as beautiful as in Father of the Bride, but i refrained and ventured into school territory... Yale was beautiful... massive stone carved buildings... huge green parks, flags, the whole bit... hard to explain but I'll post some pictures soon! We ventured in to the gym and stumbled in to the Yale basketball arena... i dont think we were supposed to be in there but we climbed down the bleachers (like in the movies :) ) and took some photos in the middle of the court... we then bought a Yale sweater each and moved on to some lunch at Pepe's pizza, apparently the best pizza in town... im no connoisseur but it was pretty good...
So the day came to an end, we went back and collected our luggage from our faux stay in the pretty hotel and trained back to New York... back on the subways and through the streets of the East Village, there was something nice about coming back... kinda like the feeling you get driving through the Rushcutters Bay tunnel... ahhh home.... :)
...but we played well :) This weekend gone I ventured up to Connecticut for a netball tournament.. everyone I tell kind of laughs at me and then says 'what did you say?'... as you would imagine if Americans don't play it or know what it is, it can hardly be a real sport (even though wikipedia says the game was invented in the States!) Anyway just to backtrack a little... as I've been playing forever, I thought I would see if I could find anyone in the city who plays netball, I found 1 club in New York, Manhattan International Netball Club. There's about 50 girls in total and we train every week, most of the girls are English or Australian and its been great meeting new people and getting some exercise... As its such an unknown sport here, there is no local competition, instead there are day tournaments around the country which teams are invited to play in... We entered two teams in the connecticut one so I went up to play...
Myself and a friend of mine thought we'd make a weekend of it so we attempted to get up there on Friday night... squashed in a little mini van the 2 hour journey up took us 4 and a half hours, leaving manhattan on a friday afternoon coupled with lots of rain i guess just made it a part of the adventure! We met some quirky types on the bus, and got some tips of where to go so it wasnt all bad...
We stayed in the Marriott in Hartford, which is the capital of Connecticut... (not the marriott but you get it...)... lovely hotel, bit of a boring town. Hartford is where a part of the Gilmore Girls is set... the grandparents live there!... It is also known as the insurance capital of America so as you can imagine its not the most pumping place on a Friday night.. regardless we had some dinner and walked around the deserted streets a little and then had an early one before the big day..
Saturday morning we attempted to get a bus except I took us to the wrong bus station (..oops..) worried we would be late we jumped in a cab to get there in time.. the ride through suburban hartford was lovely, seeing all the weatherboard houses was just like in the movies... real America!! So we arrived on time to Weaver High School (the Home of the Beavers is there tagline.. no joke!)... we'd been warned on the bus up that the school was known as the ghetto so we were a little weary... especially cos there was noone in sight and there we were two little white girls wondering around a huge American highschool... we bumped in to a caretaker who took us to a room full of kids who were writing their SAT's or on detention ... still trying to work it out... anyway eventually he led us to the gym.. it was empty, it was 9am and noone was there!!! At that time I didnt really mind, I was still in awe about being in a real American highschool gym! I was waiting for the girls from Bring it On, or Coach Carter to come out, but no...noone came... by 9:30 the rest of our club had arrived and a few of the organisers were straggling in... anyway two hours later we finally got to play... most of the teams were made up of jamaicans and other island countries (call me ignorant... i dont know where they were from) but until saturday i was convinced netball was a non-contact sport! well not over here... i think everyone in my team left with at least one bruise on their body as a souveneir... if you were lucky it was on your face! Anyway we played 5 games, our best result was a draw, the other team did a little better, but it was good excercise and another experience to add to the list! Saturday night we ached all over so took it easy and went to West Hartford, nicer then the real hartford we found a restaraunt serving great steaks and filled our appetites!
Sunday we decided to stop by New Haven, another Connecticut town and home to Yale, one of the three Ivy League US colleges (what college you study at is a massive deal here and Yale is one of the best... story for another time). With all our heavy luggage and our bodies still aching there was no way were going to shlep it around all day...so we casually strolled in to a classy hotel nearby, asked if we could leave our luggage there... they thought we were staying at the hotel so they said 'sure', took it off our backs and put it in there luggage room! that little trick was my favourite part of the day!!
So we ventured out to find Yale, the town was again beautiful, all the weatherboard houses! I wanted to go inside and see if they were as beautiful as in Father of the Bride, but i refrained and ventured into school territory... Yale was beautiful... massive stone carved buildings... huge green parks, flags, the whole bit... hard to explain but I'll post some pictures soon! We ventured in to the gym and stumbled in to the Yale basketball arena... i dont think we were supposed to be in there but we climbed down the bleachers (like in the movies :) ) and took some photos in the middle of the court... we then bought a Yale sweater each and moved on to some lunch at Pepe's pizza, apparently the best pizza in town... im no connoisseur but it was pretty good...
So the day came to an end, we went back and collected our luggage from our faux stay in the pretty hotel and trained back to New York... back on the subways and through the streets of the East Village, there was something nice about coming back... kinda like the feeling you get driving through the Rushcutters Bay tunnel... ahhh home.... :)
Monday, September 15, 2008
Apologies for not writing more sooner, but well, two reasons... one... i have been really busy... and two... things are becoming a normal part of life now that I feel silly writing about them!
Gail and Dave have been in town lately and we had a lot of fun! My first long term guests in town (if 5 days is a long time...) and I got to take them to lots of cool places... it was so nice to have familiar faces around and talk to them about how i am finding life here.. and it made me realise how proud i am of myself... (stop laughing at me...) I think I've done pretty well over the past two months, fitting into life over here... no major dramas, got everything in order, got a roof over my head...made some friends and am having a great time doing it... so for the moment im pretty happy... they asked me how long i would stay here, my response was as long as I'm still enjoying it I'll be staying...scarily I can't imagine moving home any time in the next 2 years... but don't hold me to that.. .and i will be visiting! Anyway, back to Gail and Dave, we had a great time traipsing around the city.. from piano bars where the waitresses sing, to fancy hotel rooftops, tasti-d-lite and underground lairs.. it was a hectic week with little sleep but hey thats what New York is all about!
This week Gila is in town and time to do it all over again :)
Gail and Dave have been in town lately and we had a lot of fun! My first long term guests in town (if 5 days is a long time...) and I got to take them to lots of cool places... it was so nice to have familiar faces around and talk to them about how i am finding life here.. and it made me realise how proud i am of myself... (stop laughing at me...) I think I've done pretty well over the past two months, fitting into life over here... no major dramas, got everything in order, got a roof over my head...made some friends and am having a great time doing it... so for the moment im pretty happy... they asked me how long i would stay here, my response was as long as I'm still enjoying it I'll be staying...scarily I can't imagine moving home any time in the next 2 years... but don't hold me to that.. .and i will be visiting! Anyway, back to Gail and Dave, we had a great time traipsing around the city.. from piano bars where the waitresses sing, to fancy hotel rooftops, tasti-d-lite and underground lairs.. it was a hectic week with little sleep but hey thats what New York is all about!
This week Gila is in town and time to do it all over again :)
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Coming up for air
Sorry for not writing sooner... but wow... busy is an understatement... the past 7 days or so have been a bit of a whirlwind as I've been sucked in to the after work life of manhattan... I've danced away on a harbour cruise at night, seen Hair the musical out in the open at Central Park, rooftop drinks x 2 (some apartments here have amazing rooftops!!), had a quirky night out to see some live bands, been to coney island, park slope, the US Open and of course whats a week without my favourite (sorry thats favorite) dumplings.. had them too... and in all that somewhere I also went to work...
Best part of the week was probably seeing Hair, it is it put on by the public theatre who run an event every summer called 'shakespeare in the park'... I know, Hair isnt shakespeare but it had some connection.. i don't really know... anyway they give away the tickets for free each day, but as you can imagine the queues are enourmous and people get there at 2am when the box office only opens at 1pm and the show at 8! Being as resourceful as we are, some friends and i found people selling tickets online, they queue in the line all day and night for you, you give them $50 and you get tickets! worked perfectly, the show was amazing, i think being in the middle of the park at night added to it as well as the beautiful castle in the middle of central park behind it (at first i thought it was part of the set... but its an actual castle in the park, ill have to check it out in daylight.) I took a photo of the musical but got in trouble, no photos allowed! the security guard stood there and made me delete it!!
Coney Island was also great... first day really out of manhattan...its a small beach suburb with a massive boardwalk along the beach and sideshows and a theme park with rides, the most amusing part being the 'shoot the freak' sideshow... a guy stands about 20 yards away (notice im saying yards...) and you get to aim at him with a paintball gun, if you hit him you win a prize.. he dodges behind his little sheild.. weird message i think, but it is america :) theres lots of russians down there, fat kids, and greasy food. highlight of the place.. there is a man outside the public toilets whose job is to sit all day on a chair with a power hose and he washes the sand off your feet and thongs after you leave the beach... genius. On the way home we went via park slope a great little suburb in brooklyn, very 'young families with little children' type place, but beautiful tree lined streets full of pretty brownstone apartments... very quaint and un-manhattan like!
Another great part of the week was the US Open! I love going to the tennis and Nadal and Venus were great to see live.. vocal americans make for a humourous atmosphere... (can an atmosphere be humorous?).. as do the security restrictions in the city... i wasn't allowed to take my back pack in as it had two straps!! I could take the same size bag in though if it had one strap.. she couldnt explain to me why so I told her to cut one of the straps off... nope... she didnt like that... I had to go to the back of the line put my bag in a locker and carry around a plastic bag all day.. grrr.
Last night I caught up with Dave and Gail (friends from Sydney) was really good to see familiar faces, we went to a funny little bar with singing bartenders :P They're here for the week so Im sure I'll be seeing lots of them.. I get to play tour guide.. loving it :)
Best part of the week was probably seeing Hair, it is it put on by the public theatre who run an event every summer called 'shakespeare in the park'... I know, Hair isnt shakespeare but it had some connection.. i don't really know... anyway they give away the tickets for free each day, but as you can imagine the queues are enourmous and people get there at 2am when the box office only opens at 1pm and the show at 8! Being as resourceful as we are, some friends and i found people selling tickets online, they queue in the line all day and night for you, you give them $50 and you get tickets! worked perfectly, the show was amazing, i think being in the middle of the park at night added to it as well as the beautiful castle in the middle of central park behind it (at first i thought it was part of the set... but its an actual castle in the park, ill have to check it out in daylight.) I took a photo of the musical but got in trouble, no photos allowed! the security guard stood there and made me delete it!!
Coney Island was also great... first day really out of manhattan...its a small beach suburb with a massive boardwalk along the beach and sideshows and a theme park with rides, the most amusing part being the 'shoot the freak' sideshow... a guy stands about 20 yards away (notice im saying yards...) and you get to aim at him with a paintball gun, if you hit him you win a prize.. he dodges behind his little sheild.. weird message i think, but it is america :) theres lots of russians down there, fat kids, and greasy food. highlight of the place.. there is a man outside the public toilets whose job is to sit all day on a chair with a power hose and he washes the sand off your feet and thongs after you leave the beach... genius. On the way home we went via park slope a great little suburb in brooklyn, very 'young families with little children' type place, but beautiful tree lined streets full of pretty brownstone apartments... very quaint and un-manhattan like!
Another great part of the week was the US Open! I love going to the tennis and Nadal and Venus were great to see live.. vocal americans make for a humourous atmosphere... (can an atmosphere be humorous?).. as do the security restrictions in the city... i wasn't allowed to take my back pack in as it had two straps!! I could take the same size bag in though if it had one strap.. she couldnt explain to me why so I told her to cut one of the straps off... nope... she didnt like that... I had to go to the back of the line put my bag in a locker and carry around a plastic bag all day.. grrr.
Last night I caught up with Dave and Gail (friends from Sydney) was really good to see familiar faces, we went to a funny little bar with singing bartenders :P They're here for the week so Im sure I'll be seeing lots of them.. I get to play tour guide.. loving it :)
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