bootyful new york

as we all know, one of the great gifts that rain brings is the ability to actually see the city that we live in (which would otherwise be covered in smog). here are some recent captures with what courtney calls, "verizon's finest camera."

at my subway stop.






stopped in the rain to take this one in washington square park.

giving thanks

for the big holiday this year, i opted out of going to my grandparent's house in favor of spending it with courtney and john. even though the latter ended up ditching us to visit his friend in boston, courtney and i still had a lovely time.

i made this for dinner: homemade hummus!



my very first attempt proved to be a success albeit everyone left the party needing to brush their teeth due to my large portions of garlic, lemon juice, and dill.

and courtney brought gilbert, an edible turkey!



unforunately, gilbert didn't live to see the end of the day which left geenie (who had taken quite an interest in him) in a mild state of depression. or maybe that was just a turkey-induced coma.

thanks again to our hosts, the generous melody and jarrod.

our dinner was supplemented with a healthy dose of Thankskilling, the worst, yet the most enjoyable holiday movie could you ever dream of. Check it out if there's an hour and a half of your life you're not concerned about wasting. But be sure to invite your friends to the fun!

오랫만이야

it's been a long time. a busy month is to blame for my month hiatus. reasons included: trip to chicago, trips to stamford, working nearly full-time at !two jobs, and naturally a dash of laziness.

here's a little nostalgia from my trip back home:



this year, some child will receive this as a christmas gift like i did so many years ago.

from cutie

a while back, i was pleasantly surprised to receive a package from my cutie.



from left to right:

a lee so-ra's sixth studio album, the "most seoul-ish" postcard he could find, and last but not least, pepero's! needless to say, after opening the package at the post office, i got many concerned looks on the street, most likely due to the wide grin that was painted across my face.

reconstructed

i recently inherited a vintage Kenneth Cole black leather briefcase-type bag from the pops. however, the softshell lining wasn't making the cut; i wanted to be able to set the bag on the ground and have it stand on its own two feet. so what to do? one cardboard box and some ingenue later, i slipped a cut out into the lining and sewed it back up. time needed to make this alteration: one hour. cost: 88 cents. bag: free. style: timeless.

eating and time

what is it with old people and eating supper (re: dinner) early? in the midst of making plans with my mother and her best friend, a.k.a. my second mother, for dinner tonight at our favorite haunt, Panera Bread, my mom's friend first asked me, "Is 6:30 too late?" and then when i confirmed the time with my mother she questioned me, "Why so late?"

Fox News

if you were taking a tour of my deceased grandparent's house in the future, it would go something like this:

"And now we come to the living room, where the Michalsky's spent most of their time doing various activities such as reading The Stamford Advocate, napping, eating, arguing, and watching Fox News."

naturally, the preserved television would be permanently fixed on the Fox News Channel. (but what would be the news story?)



they seriously watch Fox News all day and night and it is because of this reason, i have developed love for Bill O'Reilly and Greta Van Susteren's plastic surger-ied self. bill is definitely an entertainer; everytime i watch him I have a hoot of a time.

grandmother's recipe

although i had just eaten an overstuffed ham & cheese sandwich at 12:30 pm, supper* was promptly served at 4 pm. (*please note that according to my grandmother, supper is our dinner and dinner is our lunch) it included canned peas & carrots, canned cranberry sauce, and baked chicken. quite a spread.



yes, dinner was also served on restaurant trays because my family doesn't like to talk to each other so we usually take our meals to the couch to watch Bill O'Reilly.

dinner was followed up with my absolute favorite nyc pizza four hours later as a snack. this is the pizza i think about when i praise the joys of nyc pizza.

quotes of day one

walking past my grandpa reclining on his La-Z-Boy in my worn everyday standard black jeans, i was questioned: "are these the new style these days?" to which i responded, "what do you mean?" you see, he was wearing wide-leg pants and mine obviously weren't, so he couldn't understand it. so i had to explain, "these are just straight-leg jeans, as opposed to yours which are wide-leg." thank goodness i hadn't worn my skinnys.

quotes of day one

soon after being retrieved at the metro-north station by my cataract-cured grandpa, he took me on a search through the supermarket snack aisle for something really special. he described this snack not as a chip, nor as a puff, but as something 'new.' when i asked him if i could help him find it, he shrugged me off. however, not soon thereafter, he spotted the aforementioned snack. ladies and gentlemen, brace yourselves. this revolutionary new snack my grandpa has never seen before recently is nacho cheesier doritos. god bless his 84-year-old heart.