engagement

r was back in new york for a weekend trip a couple of weeks ago. he got in on friday night, and i had ordered thai food, at his request, for when he walked in the door. even after having been with him for over a year and a half, it still takes my breath away to see him after a period of separation. we happily ate up the thai take out and went to bed.

the next day, i made german pancake and cooked up sausages from esposito for brunch. esposito is a basic butcher shop and makes the most delicious, flavorful sausages. they are also amazing friendly, just as you would expect a neighborhood butcher shop to be. then, r asked me what i wanted to do that day. i told him that it was really up to him because he was only back for the weekend. but he kept making me make the plans. so i suggested seeing the walker evans and the picture postcard exhibit at the met and that we could walk there by cutting through central park. he agreed but also wanted to head down to the east village afterward to hang out in his old 'hood.

we headed into the park. it was a beautiful day so the park was packed with joggers and pedestrians. we kept to the busy route for a while, but then he started leading me down a more secluded path. i've gotten lost in the park before so i was a little hesitant but then figured i would just blame it on him if we got lost. a little way down the path, all of a sudden, he stepped off the walkway to stand in front of a large rock. he turned to me and said, "come over here." i complied, thinking he just wanted to take advantage of the gorgeous weather and the romantic surrounding to share a kiss. but he simply took me hands into his and asked, "will you marry me?" i was completely taken by surprise, not expecting him to ask for another year or two.

it took me a moment to realize what just happened. i replied, "really?" he nodded. "yes!" then, i sobbed the happiest tears, uncertain if i could stop crying, the second time in my life when i thought i would never stop crying although the other time was tears of grieve. we kept hugging and crying. one jogger aw-ed us as he passed us. i confessed that i had hoped for this moment, and he confessed that he had been thinking about it for a while. he reassured me that he was certain about his proposal, and i reassured him that my "yes" was certain. i also asked if this meant i could change my status on facebook. he laughed and said yes. only later did i realize that he didn't even have a ring on him at the time. i called my sister, my mom, and my father. my mom started crying on the phone so then i started crying again.

after the phone calls, we stopped at the boat house, which we were near, and got drinks to gather ourselves. but as we sat there, we talked about our relationship and our feelings for each other, and i started crying again. my eyelids ended up developing slight rashes the next day from the exposure to the salty tears and cold wind. i sent a text of the news to my dearest friends.

when we finished our drinks, we continued our way to the met. the walker evans exhibit was wonderful and made me fall in love with him as a human being and artist, to see how very simple things inspired him to see the bigger world so beautifully. we had dinner at purnima that evening, indian being r's favorite cuisine. we were blown away by the meal, this having been our first time there.

the next day, we had dimsum for brunch with my dad in chinatown. then, he had to fly back to new orleans late afternoon. unfortunately, his flight was delayed for 6 hours at jfk because of the bad weather conditions. but he made it back safely.

and he was back this weekend for a 3-day weekend. he arrived home friday around 11a, and i had german pancake and sausages in the works for him. that evening, we went to west village to look into a gym membership he had started in the area and then onto dinner at en, a japanese restaurant nearby. it was one of the most wonderful meals, consisting of what i would guess to be japanese comfort food, a heavenly combination of the sea and earth. yesterday, we traveled up to marlboro, ny where r's brother lives. r's brother had suggested that i choose one of their grandmother's rings as my engagement ring. i will post a picture of it after we have it cleaned and resized.

we had to rush back to the city that afternoon for r's interview. it was actually for a position on the project i'm currently working on in the city. of course, he was offered the job at the end of the meeting and arrived home ecstatic. it would be an opportunity to work with people he has admire from early in his career. we decided to celebrate with indian for dinner again, but this time, we ordered delivery from purnima, which was just as delicious as we remembered it.

then, this morning, we had brunch at benny's burritos in east village. the reason r had brought up east village on his last trip home was because he had wanted to propose in tompkins square park. it was one of the places we went to on our first date, and we had spent a lot of time in the area at the beginning of our relationship because it was where he lived at the time. but we have special memories from central park as well, summer concerts and hamlet in the park. besides, he knew he was going to pop the question that weekend and was too anxious to wait until we made it to east village. so after brunch, we walked past tompkins square park and through east village to union square.

he flew back to new orleans this evening, having just called to say he landed safely. so now, i can go to bed and sleep in peace.

thanksgiving 2008

r took me to orlando, fl this past thanksgiving to spend the holiday with his family. his gravitation to new york city stems from having grown up on a ranch/farm; he felt he had already lived the rural lifestyle and wanted to experience the urban life. i had met his mother on her visits to new york and a previous short trip to orlando but had never seen her ranch, located just outside of orlando. i am just realizing i didn't take any pictures of her place! argh!

she has two horses (at the time, she had three, but one of them passed away around christmas so she now has two), four border collies (r's favorite breed), a parakeet, and a greenhouse where she has been growing ponytail palms as a business venture. she lives there by herself and takes care of the entire six acres pretty much single-handedly when she isn't on nurse duty at the local hospital or teaching at the community college.

her parents and sisters live around the orlando area and convened at her house for thanksgiving. i found it kind of odd but endearing that they all kept commenting on my prettiness. i guess it's a southern politeness, but i would've thought that being a nice person is more important for r's well-being and happiness than being a pretty girl. but it's one of life's graces to learn to accept compliments.

with the exception of r and me, having just traveled the evening before, everyone contributed to the meal which was delicious. i might've even had too much turkey because i had to excuse myself for a three-hour nap.

later in the day, r met up with an old friend from high school while i stayed at his mom's house and looked through some old photographs and newspaper clippings from his childhood. the local newspaper had a picture of r in the eighth grade, standing next to a mural he had painted at his middle school, something he had initiated at that young age. i was so impressed he had this drive and focus to make art so early on in life; he had never mentioned the mural to me before. r's mom also showed me other pictures of his earlier artwork which included winning prizes at regional shows and having been commissioned by local businesses. i felt a little overwhelmed by how deeply his love for art has always been.

the next day, we took his grandmother out for lunch, a break from her nursing home, and to visit his other set of grandparents in their new home. they had become great friends once they had become in-laws, and the friendship lasted even into r's grandmother's dementia. she became so alive as soon as she saw her old friends and reminisced about their younger days. we went for a short walk to the edge of lake apopka. the waters are now polluted, from having been treated as a chemical dumping ground, but had once been a huge fishing attraction, particularly for bass. the community and government are slowly working to clean up the lake. it is a peaceful neighborhood that i hope r's grandparents will enjoy.

for our last day of the trip, r took me to new smyrna beach. r had grown up going to jb's fishcamp and restaurant with his father who knew the owner, jb. he has always stated that their crabcakes were unbeatable. knowing that i shared his love of seafood, we feasted there. the restaurant draws almost all of their seafood from the water just behind the building:




people docking at the restaurant for a meal

we had our sleeves rolled up and dug into oysters, crabcakes, grilled fish, hush puppies, steamed shrimp, and steamed crabs. it was all fresh off the boat, simply prepared as to not ruin fresh seafood, and incredibly delicious. after our huge meal, we went for a walk along the beach. the sun happened to be on the verge of setting so the sky flushed with hints of pinks:




birds running from the waves




then poking their beaks into the sand as the waves retrieve


someone fishing


he might've caught something!


birds teaming up for their hunt for food in this turbulent setting of crashing waves


more birds


amazing sky at sunset


an unexpectedly romantic setting



our foot prints


imagining if we owned one of these houses and got to see sunsets like this every evening...

when we returned to the parking lot, we spotted these old cars:








i bet these drivers all know each other and decided to get together for some great seafood at jb's and discuss their cars and whatnot.

we left early the next morning, having this incredible day as our freshest memory of the trip. it was a lot of fun, but part of me felt a little guilty for not having spent this holiday with my family. but annual holidays are just like birthdays: they will come along next year. there will be opportunities to spend them differently over and over again. maybe next year, r will get to try my mom's awesome chinese cooking.

new couch, apartment, and job

a lot happened in the past few days that coincided with the changing of the seasons. if we're doing the "things happen in threes," then we should actually go back to two weekends ago.

r and i have been thinking about moving, not necessarily to any specific location but just not staying in bushwick. where we are in bushwick, there's not much around. r likes to have a wide variety of restaurants around, cool bars to stop by, and options on how to spend our leisure time in the neighborhood. that's not bushwick. we take the train out to manhattan for pretty much everything.

so after seeing some rental listings that interested us in the financial district, we decided to explore that area a bit. we liked the architecture and sense of history that the part of town imbued, but we felt that it would feel too desolate at night, as if everything there operates on wall street hours. we were there on a sunday afternoon and there were hardly any people on the streets:


we noticed a lot of sidewalk construction going on in the area.


hidden incline


almost deserted street


a section of pearl street where restaurants set up outdoors seating

but since we were also near the piers, i suggested that we take the ikea ferry into brooklyn. after all, it was free. r was game so off we went:


looking at some buildings in the financial district from the pier


pier 11 - where to catch the ikea ferry


big boats down the pier


birds


a seagull


view of brooklyn from the pier


ikea ferry schedule


ikea ferry - "furniture purchases cannot be used as floatation devices"


the brooklyn and manhattan bridges connecting the two boroughs


cranes on the brooklyn shore


2 other boats


sails


cruise ship - i've never seen one upclose; they are huge!


ikea - ikea had made a park at the pier it took over for its store


park at ikea pier


ikea lounge chairs


crane, no longer seems to be in use, at the ikea pier


part of an old bridge in the state of decomposition near the ikea pier


statue of liberty and a bit of governor's island


one of the four waterfalls by olafur eliasson


another one of the four waterfalls by olafur eliasson


a waterfall by olafur eliasson under brooklyn bridge


approaching manhattan skyline 1


approaching manhattan skyline 2


approaching manhattan skyline 3

we had been couch shopping the previous day and had looked at several stores in manhattan. r had originally snubbed ikea because he wanted a nice couch, one of really good quality and design. he doubted ikea for being known for selling cheap furniture. but we had no luck at those fancier stores and figured we'd check out ikea's selction while we were there. just as you would suspect, it was at ikea that r found one that he really liked. he purchased it on the spot. unfortunately, ikea didn't have any of that model in stock that day. we placed the order anyway and figured we would just wait until they get a new shipment.

in the subway station on our way back to bushwick for the night, we saw this sign:


"danger: 3rd rail alive" - alive like frankenstein?

the following weekend (last weekend), we figured we should start checking out some apartments that had caught our interest on craigslist. there was one in particular that looked like it had the amount of space, light, and configuration that we were looking for. we made an appointment with the broker, and it turned out that listing had false photographs. the broker claimed that the landlord was tricking people into going to the building only to offer another unit, much dingier than the unit in the photos. so he sent us to look at three other places that fit our criteria.

out of the three, we liked the first one we saw the most. in fact, we liked it immediately and only looked at the other two places just in case they could actually get better (they didn't). it felt spacious - 2 levels with the kitchen, full bathroom, and a living area on the first floor, and a bedroom with a wall-to-wall closet, another full bathroom, and a potential work room on the second floor (basement). oh, not to mention access to a private terrace from the first floor and to another terrace shared with a neighbor from the basement. the rent is a little on the pricey side - neither of us could afford it on our own - but with our powers combined, we can make it work. it's actually about the midpoint of our budget range. in fear that we could lose it by delaying a day, we applied for it that afternoon. we've been approved and signed the lease earlier this week. we're just waiting until we can get the keys. the delivery of the ikea couch will now be diverted to the new apartment.

also, i had to shuffle around some stuff in starting work next week. i had originally agreed to work on a tv pilot with someone i have worked with before and whom i really like working with. but then, i was contacted about another job, a feature film, that would start at the same time and one that would last three times as long. being a freelancer, you have to take the long jobs when you can. (r and a friend of mine concurred with this philosophy.) once i was extended an official offer to work on the feature film, i had to pull out of the tv pilot (luckily, that person was extremely understanding about it).

it's just days into autumn, and the chill has already crept into new york. i wonder if i can hold out on unpacking my cold weather clothes...

labor day - parade and coney island

this post is a little late as i have been out of town for a few days, thus, away from my computer:

for labor day, r and i met f to see the caribbean parade with the promise of coney island afterwards. the parade was more f's idea since she's from panama. r and i probably wouldn't have gone to it had it been up to ourselves. we're just not parade people. standing in a large crowds waiting to see "something" is not really our idea of fun. besides, f's mom didn't have a food stand at this event so the main attraction was not there. but i love f so we went:


the parade at washington and eastern parkway, in front of the brooklyn art museum


looked like a peacock


more parade


more parade


girl in costume

and then onto coney island!!! this summer is supposedly the last summer the amusement rides and games would still be there before the developers come in to demolish them. it's been the rumor for the past few years, but those years seem have run their course. we shall see if the rumor this year is true as we head into next year, if the coney island we saw this summer will remain the same or if we had been there at a historic season.


coney island - view from train


we took the q train to the coney island station


nathan's - our first stop, hard to imagine that the plan is to building condos onto of this structure - according to f, nathan's has been named as a historic landmark so it cannot be destroyed


our nathan's feast...or what's left of it


proof that hot dog vending machines do exist - had we not been filled with delicious greasy nathan's, we probably would've tried one


some like to roll in style


boardwalk


shadows of the three of us


boardwalk and park


in the park


music courtesy of the red boom box


we survived the cyclone!


at sunset


cops hanging out by a sign


the beach that none of us were brave enough to venture onto and we admire those who did


boardwalk at sunset


alley


games


beach at sunset


q train crossing the manhattan bridge on our way back to bushwick

i took most of these pictures blind, aiming without looking looking through the viewfinder to be inconspicuous. of course, these are only a selection of all the pictures i took, and some of these are cropped. still, taking pictures this way was easier than i thought it would be. about 80% of all the pictures were fine as they stood, without further manipulations. i owe this to using a digital camera, which i'm discovering affords me a certain liberty that my nikkormat couldn't.