a weekend in the city

How delightful, how fantastically packed.

Another fantabulous weekend! Saturday I went on maybe my most favorite training walk to date. All of my previous long Saturday walks have been with my AMAZING training walk leader, Burt, and other 3Day walkers, but I got some friends interested in walking, so I wanted to take advantage. I was surprised at how nervous I was. Would they hate it? Would they think it was lame? Would it rain?! I pushed my apprehension aside, mapped out a route, and walked with my friends Lindsay and Tavia (with a guest appearance by Andrew, Jess, and Sarah Grace's little brother) from Grant's Tomb at the 122nd Street and Riverside Drive all the way down the west side of Manhattan, across the Brooklyn Bridge, and through Brooklyn to Prospect Park. Our route looked something like this:

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Crazy! And long! And awesome! It was great to have friends with so they could finally understand what I've been doing. I loved it. And I took pictures!

Ulysses S. Grant's Tomb. Nothing like a little US History at 9am on a Saturday. But actually it was beautiful.

Somewhere on the Upper West Side...

Also somewhere on the Upper West Side...

This! OK this I need to pause and talk about. There's a new summer arty thing happening in NYC called "Key to the City." Basically, in June you can go to a booth in Times Square and pick up a key. But you don't just pick it up. There's a ceremony involved. You go with a buddy and bestow keys upon each other. It's performance art-y and Lindsay and I loved it. Now this key. This key unlocks secret rooms, bridges, cemeteries, and other random places all over the city. That's right. This one little key. It's like MAGIC. Seriously, I think this is the most innovative and brilliant idea I've heard since I read the synopsis of Spiderman: the Musical (too soon? too late? I can't tell anymore.). So on our walk, we hit our first Key to the City location here at the Trinity Church. The key unlocks a special section of the cemetery that includes Alexander Hamilton's tomb. Yup. We went from Grant's Tomb to Alexander Hamilton's Tomb. It was Tomb Day.

Now our pal Al died in 1806, but some of these graves were from the 1760s and before. That is before this country existed. Wrap your mind around THAT for a sec. Crazy.

While we were there, we popped inside Trinity Church, which was beautiful:

It was interesting inside...all three of us commented on the kind of strange juxtaposition between the sacred history and the flat screen TVs to improve viewing. The ancient stories and the microphones so people could hear them. It was weird. And there was a gift shop.

We trudged along across the brilliant Brooklyn Bridge, which I hailed in a previous post. Lindsay and Tavia both hadn't walked over it before, so that was fun and New York-y.

How sweet is WAS! At this point, we had been walking for a while. OH and I didn't even mention the weather! It was in the high 80s and MUGGY. Like. The muggiest. So we were overjoyed to see that we were on the last leg of the trip. Lindsay and Tavia dropped out as we walked down Flatbush, but I sweated it out. And, thanks to getting a liiittle lost in Prospect Park, I stumbled upon this:

In case you can't tell, that is a huge African drum circle/clump/love fest. This was in front of the Brooklyn Library and it was AMAZING. I took a video on my phone that I'll try to upload. There were instruments everywhere, you could join in, drum along, or just stand. Well you couldn't stand because you'd inevitably end up dancing. It was one of those great New York things. Like...of course there are 40 people drumming outside this library. Of course. I loved it.

So that concluded my big walk. I had delusions of walking back to a train stop closer to the bridge but, well, I didn't. And I'm OK with that.

Phew! I'm exhausted just writing about how exhausted I was!

Sunday I brunched with my friend Eugenio before he leaves to do The King and I in Oregon. Then I did some lounging, some gyming, and some observing of brilliance in the form of HBO's Angels in America. I've watched it before. I will watch it again. But it's also just so much more fun now that I live in NY. One of the first scenes was filmed literally probably 5 blocks from where we were sitting.

I'm gonna say it. I'm gonna say it for the first time maybe ever. I like this city. I do. It's good.

LOVE and revelations,

KFine

on my way (again)

Gah it has been too long. Since I've blogged, since I've trained, since I've fundraised...just too long.

Last week was illness-stricken and travel-filled, but it was wonderful. I went back to NU for Starry Starry Night: Saluting Dominic Missimi. I just can't even tell you how amazing this night was. Gregg Edelman, Kate Shindle, Brian D'Arcy James, Heather Headley, plus half of Chicago theatre and most of my good friends all performing for one of my favorite people, ummm, ever: Dom. Heaven.

I've had another flare-up of my every present foot injury. Friends may remember it from its previous appearances in Ragtime, Girls vs. Boys: A Loud New Musical, or its starring role in Waa-Mu 2009: One For the Books. Needless to say, it's a pain in the ass. Well, foot. You know. Especially in NYC, not walking is just not really an option. So it sidetracked my training, and also just my general activity level, which makes me feel like a big pile of poopy. I got it checked it out by a podiatrist on Saturday and he's basically like, "Well, you're walking completely wrong and your alignment is cray cray caboodles and we should prooooobs fix it." Well, yes. That'd be good. He taped my foot up "like a baseball player" (his words, I loved) and sent me on my way to come back next week. As sad as it is, this does explain my yogi struggles in terms of balance and alignment, so maybe it'll get better now...? Or maybe I'll just be told to wear some really attractive orthopedic shoes 24/7. For the record, I'd choose the ivory color.

I figured I should take advantage of my new athlete status and get a walk in while I felt it was OK enough, so I did! I did what I think is my favorite loop...down an avenue to Battery Park, then back up the west side along the river. You guys. This city is awesome. Hands down my favorite discovery of the day was the Irish Hunger Memorial. Look at the pics on the wiki page, cause it's unreal. This is the picture I took:

I don't even know how to describe this place. It's this garden that's on a slanted platform...just, you know, randomly. On the west side. Of course. It's beautiful. I loved.

So I walked a bunch and man did I feel it. So I took a step back training-wise, but I'll get back on it. I'm not too worried. Mostly I'm just happy I didn't break my foot again, so I can basically do whatever I can on it that doesn't make it hurt. So I'm back in action!

Fundraising has taken a backseat, as well. I AMAZINGLY reached my minimum, which could not thrill me more. But now I wanna get to $3,000! Goals of the week include: sending a letter to my gym for a little corporate support, planning a bar night within the next month or so,sending at least 10 emails to my (amazingly phenomenal and fantastic) extended support system, and sending an update/reminder/follow up/remember me email. Holla!

Random side note: I'm sitting in Starbucks writing this and it a) makes me miss college and b) allows me to rediscover my full iTunes library on random. In case anyone was wondering, Jeanine Tesori's Violet is still my favorite cast album of all time.

You guys! It's summer!

LOVE and warmth,

KFine

the ladies who brunch

I. Love. Brunch. Moral of this weekend. You can stop reading. But not really.

So I decided Saturday morning to treat myself to brunch at my new fav place, Elephant and Castle (a-thank you Betsy Hogg). I sat in a little corner with my little book and my little coffee, and it was so delightful. I think I've learned to love doing things like that in NYC. Living on the opposite end of the island from most of my friends has allowed me the opportunity to discover the joy of sitting in a restaurant for an hour and a half, subtly eavesdropping on hilarious conversations around me, and enjoying the morning. I think I'm going to make this a weekly thing. We'll see.

After my brunch, I went on one of the longest walks I've been on thus far...totaling about 6.5 miles! I walked all the way down to Battery Park, the southern tip of Manhattan. It looks something like this:

Yup, that's the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. It was a little cloudy and rainy, which I think weeded out some of the tourists, so it was a delightful time down in the Battery (as opposed to up in the Bronx...).

My walk down there was amazing. I love downtown Manhattan. The juxtaposition between the brand new fancy schmance skyscrapers and the super old historical buildings is just really phenomenal. This idea of past and present living side by side is...there's something magical about it. I think this is best exemplified around Ground Zero. I hadn't been there since I became a New Yorker (am I a New Yorker? I feel like I'd get yelled at for using that phrase, but I live here, right??). I got weirdly emotional walking in those surrounding blocks. Just thinking about that day, walking on the same sidewalks where firefighters had run to the scene and others had fled...I'm getting chills just thinking about it. I finally started to understand how huge these towers were and how much this changed New York. I mean I obviously understood it intellectually, but this was on a completely different visceral level.

Anyway, my whole point...across from Ground Zero is St. Paul's Chapel. It looks like this:

This place opened in 1766. 1766. That is 244 years ago. George Washington prayed there after he was inaugurated president. GEORGE WASHINGTON. (side note: this video is hilarious.) Just seeing this combination of new history at Ground Zero literally across the street from some of the oldest history of the United States...it's really incredible. I tried to get the vibe with this pic...the tombstone closest to the camera is a 32 year old woman who died in 1805...

So that was that. It was cool. Then I walked back up the west side along the river, which I will always love. I learned that down at the bottom tip of the island, there are like a billion parks along the west side which was amazing. I can't wait to make picnic baskets and bring them down there this summer. And dammit I'm gonna do it!!

Last night, my friends and I decided I'm going to become a runner. It's going to be a long process, but I'm going to ease myself into it. So today, I went for about a 3.5 mile walk and ran about .75 miles of it. It's something, right? I dunno.

At the end of that run/walk was another brunch, one that was the exact opposite of yesterday's to celebrate a one Jessica McKenna's birth. Lots of friends, lots of food, lots of laughing. Just as yesterday's brunch was a nice reminder of the joys of solitude, this reminded me that I could not be luckier to have such an awesome group of friends in the city.

Discoveries abound this weekend, and tomorrow...CUBS VS. METS!!!!!! I love baseball.

I'd like to leave you with this photo, and I hope you take its advice to heart:

LOVE and well-fed rodents,

KFine