Harriman Park

I went on a hike in Harriman State Park today, a national park about an hour North of the city. There's an organization that takes vans out every weekend and I've wanted to go all summer long. I met lots of nice people and spent a very exhausting, but fun day hiking 4 miles in to Lake Skenonto, where we swam and jumped off a rope swing, and 4 miles back out. What beautiful scenery!

Shakespeare in the Park

There's a wonderful tradition in New York, that every summer the Public Theater Group puts on Shakespeare in the Park. It's free, and presented on a stage in the center of Central Park under the stars. This weekend was the last presentation of Hamlet, before a new show starts in July, so we really wanted to try to go. Although the tickets are free, it's not as easy as it seems to acquire them. Tickets are handed out beginning at 1 pm the day of the show. So to get in line, you have to be there early...as in REALLY early. We awoke at 5:30 to get there at 6:30 am and we were about halfway down the line. We set up a picnic and spent the next six and a half hours sleeping, reading, talking with our line neighbors, people watching, and doing crosswords. The time passed surprisingly quickly and we ended up with great seats. We couldn't take pictures at the show, but here's one of Andrea, Emily and Rachel on our blanket. You can see how long the line stretches in front of us!

Waterfalls and Brooklyn

We had such a great Friday today! We signed a big author on for two more books that will be narrative travelogues, that, if they're as good as the last two books he wrote, will be hilarious, informative, and lots of fun. I'm very excited that Becky and I get to work with him now, as his old editor has left the company.


So we got out of work at 1 (yay summer hours!) and took the train over to Brooklyn. We're pictured here at Grimaldi's, underneath the Brooklyn Bridge. It's labeled the "Best Pizza in New York," and it really is amazing. There's always a line outside no matter what time of day, and it's well worth the wait.


Next we walked over to the pier to the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory to see the Waterfalls exhibit. If you remember hearing about the "Gates" art exhibit in Central Park a few years ago, this is a similar venture. The artist constructed four waterfalls along the East River, one of which you can see under the Brooklyn Bridge behind Rachel, Emily and I.


Then this is a view of the same waterfall, but from across the river, at the South Street Sea Port. We headed over there for a drink on the water and to see the other three waterfalls, which are all visible from this vantage point. We got there by walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, something I've wanted to do ever since I moved here. What an incredible structure! And beautiful views too.

Goodbye Alex / Hello LL Cool J

So first and most importantly, Alex left town today for a two week trip to Egypt with his dad. They're both so excited to go on what will surely be an amazing trip! Then he goes to Turkey for a wedding for a week. We won't see eachother for a few weeks, which is sad, but I'm okay because I went to a party tonight with LL COOL J (aka Ladies Love Cool James)!!! For those too old to know who he is, here is a picture of the world famous rapper/actor:


(He looks just as beautiful in person). The party was at Sirius Radio headquarters on 49th and 6th, where LL interviewed Grandmaster Flash (a pioneer DJ of the Hip Hop/Rap movement from the 80s) live on the radio while we watched. We published Grandmaster's book, hence the invite to the exclusive party. It was so cool!

Wedding Shower/Beer Garden/Rooftop Party

We had a wedding shower for my friend/coworker Jenna (left) in Central Park on Friday. We have summer hours now so we got out at 1 (!) and had such a nice picnic in the park. That's Jillian in the middle and Stephanie on the end.


After the shower I took the train to Queens to a beautiful outdoor Beer Garden. I just had one drink since I had a 10k race the next day. It was the perfect evening to sit outside, drink beer and chat. That's Andrea to my right and Rachel on the end.


The race went great the next day despite it being so hot and humid. I ran the entire loop around Central Park with 7000 other women, including one who will run in the Beijiing Olympics in August! That night we had drinks on the roof deck across from Alex's with a big group of friends from France, Italy and even Singapore. It was great fun as always!

Fun Weekend

I had a marathon day on Saturday starting with lunch at Palma with Alex, his roommate Alah, and Alah's girlfriend Hanya. She took the GMAT that morning and got a great score so she was relieved to finally be finished! Later on I met Kate and a ton of our friends at a bar called Fat Cat for a birthday party. We played pool, fooseball, scrabble and all sorts of other fun bar games. I left Fat Cat about midnight to head over to a club called Kiss n' Fly in the Meatpacking District. It was great, we skipped the line and got let in through the velvet ropes by Alex's friend Tunch who is the champagne distributor for the club. Champagne table service for two hours and we were dancing and having such a good time! It got to be about 2, but the night wasn't over yet. It was Esther's first time back in town for over three weeks (she was on vacation out in California at her parent's place) so I had to go out to meet her and some other friends. Luckily they were only a few blocks away at an Irish pub, so it was easy to get there despite the fact I had now been standing and dancing in my heels for over 8 hours now!


Overall it was lots and lots of fun, but I definitely needed to rest today. We went to see the Sex and the City movie and I just loved it! It's really, really cute, I highly recommend it!