Snow in London!!!

April 6th 2008

I woke up today feeling a bit under the weather (Britishism cockney: tom and dick) with a sore throat and just a bit weak and tired. But, it was SNOWING outside so I could I not go outside, especially Brockwell Park. I got out of bed around 11:30 and made my way to the park to take some photos and enjoy the pretty whiteness all around and collecting on the trees and flowers. It was stunning, really gorgeous how the snow collects and bunches up on the different plants. Lots of people were out and playing in the snow and I was really wishing I had someone to play around in the snow with. Still haven't had a proper snow ball fight, snow angel's or snow man making since I've been in colder regions where snow is possible in the winter. It's a bit odd that snow came in April of all times, that was a bit shocking but then again I welcomed it and so did everyone else in the park :-) I passed a few people and was taking photos as they passed. Most of them commented on the scene like "it's beautiful isn't it?" or "what a gorgeous park in the snow!" It was nice to have people just chatting around, I don't think I ever had anyone speak to me when I was taking pictures in NY. It could just be because I looked like a goof with my hat and camera around my neck or it could also be that snow doesn't come all that much in England and people were just in a happy and talkative mood. Either way, it was nice.

PICTURES

Wintery Goodness

Snow snow snow!!! We've been getting quite a lot here as of late and it's AWESOME! It's making up for the dismal snow year of 2006. I'm watching the white specks stream down through the windows at my office. It brings a smile to my face this morning.

SNOW DAY!!!!!!!!!!

It was great having Michelle's parents here to visit. We did most of the things we planned on doing and most importantly went to the restaurants we planned on taking them to. NY is all about the food, well any city is about the food for me!

I don't mean to...ah, the words are NOT coming to my head and I can't figure out how to best put it. So forget that sentence, all I really want to say was IT SNOWED TODAY!!!! I woke up to a winter wonderland outside as a blanket of white powder covered the area outside the apartment. I quickly showered, had some yogurt, got dressed and put my boots on. Michelle asked "where are you going?" I didn't need to respond since the look on her face knew my response was going to be "I'm going to play in the snow!" I bundled up, grabbed my camera and headed out the door to find flakes fluttering through the air. The picked up speed and showered me with white flakes. I had a HUGE smile on my face as I walked around, cozy in my coat, scarf and sweater. I snapped a few photos of the wintery goodness but mostly I just walked around and let the snow piled up on me. I think this photo brings that description to light (it's blurry because the camera chose to focus on the background instead of yours truly).


More pictures of the snow! View the rest on my flickr page.








The city was absolutely beautiful today as we walked around. Snow covered every spot of the city: signs, doorways, rooftops, car windows, benches, christmas trees on the street. Ahhhhh, how lovely to see the city in the middle of the holiday season AND fully covered in snow. It was gorgeous!

Tonight we made use of the Bowbeer's rental car and drove to Jersey (i know, we're crazy but keep reading) to go to Bertucci's. It's the italian place with the AWESOME bread. Oh man, so so so good. I haven't had that since I went to Michelle's graduation in May.

Last night we went down to Rockfeller center to see the tree. We got there around 11pm and it was practically empty. Our strategy of going late seemed to pay off. I took a couple of photos (of course) and here are a few of them:

IT'S SNOWING!

We woke up on November 19th to some lovely white flakes falling out of the sky. It wasn't snowing very hard but it's technically the first snow day of the season. When I walked outside to go to work, the snow was very wet and melted when it hit the ground but it was SNOW nonetheless :-) Last year snow didn't come until January so this is very exciting!

Autumn in Central Park

Michelle and I took a nice long stroll through the park today and down to 34th street to do some shopping. We had lunch at a pizza place we've been wanting to try for some time and really enjoyed it. The park is beginning to resemble fall but it's still on the verge of breaking out. I witnessed more fall colors in Chicago than I have here. However, I still took a couple of nice, fall photos. I am hoping more will come next week.

The day was absolutely perfect: a brisk 40 degrees and bright blue sunny skies. Couldn't have asked for a more gorgeous day!

Chicago Trip and NY Cold Weather

I'm back in NYC after being in Chicago for almost a week! I had a brilliant time with Michael last weekend and the conference and working from the Chicago GS office was a great experience as well.

I departed last Friday afternoon, Nov. 2nd and spent Friday and Saturday with Michael. We ate dinner and had a few pints at The Red Lion which is an English pub in Lincoln Park. I absolutely loved it! It was so homely and quaint and they had BOTH Boddington's and Speckled Hen. Oh yeah! And to make it that much more of a British evening, I ordered bangers and mash for dinner. Quite good, I'd say. I'm a fan!


On Saturday, we toured around Chicago and took in the city, the brisk air and oranges and reds all around (no, this doesn't include me!). Naturally, I took a gazillion photos and Michael was very patient about it. Thanks, old chap!

Well more to come later, I'm off to the Chocolate Show! Yep, you heard me, an entire show devoted to chocolate which pretty much equals my heaven! :-)

Ok, back to Chicago.

Restaurants I visited:
Giordano's pizza
Great deep dish pizza but I like Gino's East better.
Chicago Chop House
Absolutely magnificent steak dinner! I had a great time here with Michael and it is the best steak I've had so far. SO GOOD!
The Red Lion
Loved this British pub and wish we had something like this in NYC
Jimmy John's
Good sandwich shop for quite cheap (relative to new york prices)
Adobo Grill
Excellent Mexican food. They definitely have a different way of preparing it and I was skeptical at first but the food turned out really really well. They also made guacamole tableside which was TOWTALLY AWESOME!


I've only listed a FEW of the pictures from Chicago, take a look at the rest here. There are at least 30 more than this! Feel free to leave a comment on flickr if you like a particular photo. I always love feedback!












On to the next topic which is the chilly weather we've been having! For the past 4 or 5 days, it's been hovering in the 40's with overnight lows of mid-30's!! Man, compared to last year this is quite a surprising drop in temperature. Then again, last year what quite an anomaly with temperatures not getting really low until January. Maybe this a proper weather for this time of year? The 10-day forecast shows temperatures staying roughly the same with a few higher temps that what we've seen in the last couple of days. I'm stoked!! I love the cold! Bring on the snow, duuuuuuude!

Just a TAD bit cold...

Listening to: Nothing, my headphones are broken :(

I'd say it's fairly chilly outside today:


11°F

Feels Like

-5°F

Friday is the Designated Cold Day

Listening to: Alpha Rev - Phoenix Burn

The temperature has really dropped in the last few days. I read this morning in amNewYork (I canceled NY Times because amNewYork is free) that buffalo got an early snowstorm that covered the city. I think it's going to be a cold winter. When I visited my sister, her friend, a native northeasterner, predicted it was going to be a chilly year. It looks that way so far. Tonight it's supposed to dropped into the low 40's. Let's compare this with my other cities: Austin is going to be 70 tonight and Del Mar is going to 58. Nice!



Michelle is in town this weekend for a concert. One of her favorite artists, Jenny Lewis, is playing in NY and I bought tickets for us awhile back. Other than that, a walk in the park might happen on Saturday and I have thoughts of going to the Bronx Zoo but we'll see if that works out. On Sunday I am going to jam with a guy I met in training. I'm really looking forward to it since I haven't played guitar with anyone in awhile. He's exactly where I was two years ago: just starting out. Hopefully I can show him a few things.

It's Chilly and it's Friday!

Listening to: Incubus - Anna Molly (their new single!)

It's nice a cold out right now. I had to wear a sweater to work today for the first time since I started. It was pretty chilly this morning and it felt great. However, I must say it was a lot harder getting out of bed this morning and making it to work on time. Michelle is here for the weekend and tonight I'm taking her to Nonna which is the restaurant I went to with my dad when we were apartment hunting in June and with my sister and my mom when they came in July.



It''s official that I'm not coming home for Thanksgiving which will make it the first time that I haven't had Thanksgiving with my parents. It's kind of depressing not to go home. It makes me realize how precious my time off will be from now on. It sucks going from 3 months off per year to 3 weeks. That's what I get for joining the workforce though.



That's it for now, I'm hungry and can't think of anything else to say.