City Bakery + Union Sq Greenmarket

We went to City Bakery on the recommendation of several friends to try the famous pretzel croissant and hot chocolate. We also tried the caramelized french toast and macaroni and cheese. The unique/salty/crunchy/soft croissant and the french toast were our favorites. The hot chocolate was about twice as chocolatey as we could stand; we brought it home, split it between two mugs and added milk, and then it was just perfect. The homemade marshmallow was also delicious. We're glad we went!









Walked through the Union Square Greenmarket on the way home. I'm amazed they keep it up and running even in the freezing cold. (And it was cold! It was 17 degrees today. We couldn't feel our hands or feet after walking around for only ten minutes or so.) There is so much to see at the Greenmarket walking between the booths. Fresh food, handmade crafts, art, and all kinds of interesting people. Look for Klane peeking into a couple shots. It made me giggle.

Guitarist at Lex/63rd Station

whoooosh!

Did you hear that? That was the sound of January flying past.

Where the heck did it go? I don't know, but I think we got some pretty good things done this month, so I'm happy. Aren't you? January was fun.

I was treated to some bluesy guitar tunes while waiting for the train home yesterday. Wait for his fun little riff about halfway through the video.




It was COLD today! Really really cold. After walking half a block this morning I could feel the inside of my nose start to freeze. It really feels like winter out there! I'm glad our space heater is being put to good use.

And I'm sorry for all the subway posts. And the camera phone posts. What can I say? I work. I commute. I don't lug a large camera around with me on these daily ventures. Maybe I should. Sometimes I'm walking along and I see something and I envision the photo that I would take of it and how great it would look - if I had my camera. (It's just so heavy!)

Take the stairs

Here are the stairs out of the the Lexington Ave/63rd Street station. In an effort to put some physical activity back into my daily life, I've started taking the stairs out of the subway. This is an especially big accomplishment at my station!

The first set: four flights.


Set number two: three flights.


Set numero tres: three flights.


The final set: three more flights!

Bringing the grand total to: 13 flights of stairs. We'll count it as my morning workout. (If only it lasted more than 3 or 4 minutes, it might make more of a difference...) I still feel powerful taking the stairs, striding past all the people waiting in line to cram onto the escalator. Yeah!

SNOW!!!!

I looked out the window this morning and saw snow falling! I was unbelievably excited! Not just wimpy flurries either, we're talking big, fat, fluffy snowflakes, and lots of them! It reminded me of home and made me so happy. I really miss the snow! I took some pictures on the way to work.


A view of a Harlem street corner, on my walk to the subway.



On Park Ave. The pictures don't do it justice, it was really really snowing!


Excuse the no-hair look and the squinting from trying to keep snow out of my eyes. But I was happy!



A couple photos from the window at work. All my coworkers knew just how thrilled I was about the snow.

And after an hour or two, it stopped. By lunchtime the skies were blue and it was back up in the mid 40's. I even still took a lunchtime walk!

A rainy, happy Sunday

We got a call on Sunday morning telling us our speaking assignment had been postponed for a week! Perfect!

It was a fun day at church. My lesson on the Fall of Adam and Eve went well. The students liked my brownies. After church we had a ward Linger Longer. The activities committee leaders in our ward are this awesome, cool, energetic couple who have really made the ward activities great in the 6 months they've been in the ward. This Sunday we had a cereal bar with tons of different types of cereal.

So simple yet so fun! (One of my favorite moments of church was during announcements when the bishop clarified that the 'cereal bar' was actually a buffet with cereal, not just a lonely little Nutrigrain bar on a table.)

Klane helped Ibrahim, one of our cute students, with some schoolwork before we headed home.

I sat on the windowsill and watched the rain. It was a great Sunday at church!

To see more of the Harlem 1st Ward, check out our ward activities blog!

Ice skating at Bryant Park

True to his word, Klane took me ice skating at Bryant Park. It was on my to-do list this winter. Turns out we were just in time, because this was the last weekend for skating! I haven't been out with the camera in a while, so we took quite a few pictures. It was so much fun!

so excited. (he loves when I post embarrassing pictures of him.)


haha. so posed.


the Bryant Park Hotel (in the background) is a cool building, with the black and gold.







I do love Bryant Park. I do indeed. It's just pretty.



The New York Public Library makes a nice backdrop.



This is my embarrassed, "Uh oh I think people are looking at me" face. Those who know me may recognize it.



He was happy. It's just at the very moment I took this picture, I was getting in trouble with the Skate Police for having a camera on the ice. It was a little awkward. I was a little annoyed. I get really bothered by things like that.


extreme close-up!!

And... now I have to go prepare a talk and a lesson for church tomorrow. I'm feeling picked-on, yes. It will be good for me though. Wish me luck.