New York is just coming out of a heat wave and boy, has it been hot! It’s definitely an improvement from the harsh winter and epic rain. On the weekends, when I’m catching up on work, I often don’t leave the apartment at.all (I know), but one day last week I was really craving sunshine so I just set up a TV tray on our porch and did some work there.
It was sweltering, but it was still so pleasant! One of my favorite things about our apartment is this porch… and, of course, the cocktail garden. Speaking of drinks, we made the tastiest drink the other day! We took some lavender from the garden and simmered it on the stove with water and a little maple syrup. We poured it into a cocktail shaker, added fresh lemon juice and gin, and shook it all up. Bam! Lavender gin fizz.
While we were wandering around after dinner at Snowdonia on Friday, we happened upon a brand new bookstore called Enigma. It’s a niche shop that mostly stocks mystery, fantasy, horror + sci-fi books, so if you have any in that genre hanging around at home that you’d like to get rid of, they’re looking for donations! The store will also host all kinds of cool community events; we got there just after the rapper Kea Devay finished her spoken word performance.
On Saturday we went on a friend date with Shayne and Danny, and got a private tour of Danny’s super cool shop where he and his partners make sleek, modern furniture.
The view from the roof was incredible! Goal for the rest of the summer: spend time on more roofs. (Shouldn’t that be rooves? Just saying.)
We went for brunch at Blend for Mexican brunch… huevos rancheros for me! 3 poached eggs perched atop a bean + cheese quesadilla, served with guacamole, salsa, and queso. I requested a corn arepa (instead of the flour tortilla quesadilla), and the result was pretty good!
After brunch, we meandered over to LIC Flea, my new favorite weekend spot. We need to stock up on mustard and spicy cucumber pickles from Best Picks! (I can’t seem to find a website or Facebook page, but these are so good that I eat them at 6:30 before I’ve even had my coffee in the morning!)
We also needed dessert: shaved ice with fresh squeezed lemon from Ice Riders for me. So refreshing!
I’ve got two more days of class- and two final papers to hand in on Tuesday night- but after that, I’m free! I’ll still have a few weeks of work left, but I am so looking forward to spending more time with friends, QT with B, reading… life is good.
In the meantime, I’ve been enjoying study breaks in the form of quality television! We don’t have cable, so we rely on Netflix streaming, DVD rentals, and Hulu. We just finished watching a couple of short TV shows (Top of the Lake, The Fall) and just started Orange Is The New Black… and it’s fantastic. Taylor Schilling is fabulous (and, yes, I saw The Lucky One with Zac Efron), and the story is perfect. We just started it and we’re tearing through the episodes…. I’m also watching the end of Friday Night Lights while I exercise in the air conditioned bedroom (our gym only has a weak fan), because somehow I stopped watching halfway through the last season a couple years ago! And I’m catching up on the latest season of Parenthood… I can’t watch that show without bawling. (No spoilers, please!)
What are you watching?
