Bossy List. Is that still a thing?

Way back when in 2008, inspired by Maggie Mason's Mighty Life List, I started the Bossy List, 100 things I wanted to accomplish in the next 10 years. Over time I edited it and tweaked it and slowly (oh so slowly) actually crossed some things off the list. It's long overdue for a another tune-up, but in the meantime let me tell you about an item I crossed off this month.

February 1, fresh off my first Runner's World Run Streak followed immediately by a successful Whole 30, I was as lean and fit as I've ever been and ready to take on a new challenge, so I ran my first half-marathon. At the end of it I felt highly accomplished and simultaneously wanted to die. The next day we flew to Berlin for a week, I did not pass a pastry without cramming it into my mouth, then I was working, then I got SHINGLES (true story), and eventually I fell off the running/health wagon altogether. So what did we do? We signed up for another half marathon. For motivation! In September—so far away! So much time to train!

And we did train. We ran in hot and humid Houston, we ran in chilly and hilly San Francisco, we did another Runner's World Run Streak and even ran every day on a week-long cross-country road trip. And pretty much every long run went horribly for me. Many of them ended in tears (CM is a saint, yes I know). I knew the half marathon would be a disaster. But I kept running. Why, you ask?

Because before and after the race we would be spending the night in a castle. An actual CASTLE.

So we trained. And I ran the race. It wasn't a disaster, exactly, but it was about 6 miles longer than I wanted it to be, and I'm certainly not feeling the urge to run for 2 1/2 hours again anytime soon.

But back to the castle. It was schmancy and lovely and pretty much exactly how you'd hope it would be. But ultimately, maybe not totally our thing, as we're already contemplating a return trip to the area (the Wachau) and will probably stay somewhere more simple and cozy. But first!

88. Spend a night in a castle.

Some pictures from our weekend (some by me, some by CM—you'll be able to tell the difference):

So! Many! Runners!

Atmospheric panoramic from the starting line

BEFORE: smiling, cold

AFTER: smiling, NOT cold

Reward

Our castle room

View from our room

Spa area in the basement of the hotel. Guess who forgot her bathing suit? Sad trombone.
Luckily, there was also a sauna. And we were in Europe. No suit? No problem.

Scenic Dürnstein & the Danube

View from Dürnstein at sunset

The road Google Maps sent us down in our rental car that dead-ended at the bike path, which meant we had to turn around and drive back up through the pedestrians. Haha, Google Maps, you're hilarious.

Instagram Paris

We had 4 days off over Easter weekend, so while all the Europeans in the cast went home to see their families, I took a fast train to Paris to hang out by myself eating croissants and wandering the streets. I used Airbnb for the first time, and it was a huge success! I ended up in this little apartment in the heart of St. Germain-des-Prés—I highly recommend it for 1 person (or 2 who like each other a lot).

I lugged my big camera with me to Geneva and then to Paris, but I haven't found myself reaching for it very often. It's so much easier just to grab my iPhone, and I'm especially loving Instagram (@littlemsbossy, natch). Here are a few shots from my Parisian weekend.

Lucky for me, Maison Kayser was just a few blocks away. Croissants and croissants aux amandes and baguettes for (almost) every meal.

 Of course every vacation needs a little opera thrown in. Or a lot of opera. Siegfried!

The view from the window of my apartment. Because it was a 5th-floor walk-up. Phew.

I've written about it before (here and here), but for me no visit to Paris is complete without time spent in the beautiful Water Lily rooms at  the Musée de l'Orangerie. This is my happy place. They seem to have abolished photography since I was last there. Rules are made for breaking, I say.

I had a lovely Easter morning at the Museum of Everything, which definitely deserves its own post.

French study is trés important, n'est-ce pas?

The gorgeous Seine. I loved staying on the Left Bank and crossing over the river several times a day.

Gare de Lyon as I waited for my train back to Geneva.

I got back to Geneva feeling rejuvenated and ready to get back to work. Sometimes a tiny vacation is all you need—such a gift in the middle of a rehearsal period. Have you taken any little vacations lately?

Solo photo excursions

CM and I both love taking photos, particularly while traveling, so you'd think it would be a great activity for us to do together. In reality, however, it's not my favorite. Chalk it up to my own insecurities, but I get frustrated when we both photograph the same thing and his photos turn out SO MUCH BETTER. And with his amazing eye for composition, he spots photo opportunities that I would pass right by. For whatever reason, when we're together, I tend to leave my camera in its bag.

Which is why we I'm so happy we discovered a new travel activity: solo photo excursions. Some of my favorite pictures of the summer were taken during a timed 30-minute stroll in Montalcino at sunset, when we headed off with our cameras in opposite directions and met up afterwards for Negronis and shared what we'd each seen. It's a tradition I hope we'll keep on subsequent trips—I actually felt closer to CM after spending a (teeny tiny) bit of time apart.

I had plenty of time to wander alone with my camera during our 3 days in Aix-en-Provence. Poor CM was holed up in our (admittedly gorgeous) hotel room working for most of our time (despite the vacation beard, he wasn't truly on vacation). I was going stir-crazy, so I headed out to take pictures of this gorgeous city, all winding streets and outdoor cafés and rosé…so, so much rosé. I've been told that Aix is not even close to being the most scenic spot in Provence, but we sure liked it.

As ever, click on any photo to be taken into a slideshow.

All photos by LMB

Sundays in New York: Smorgasburg

For this week's Sunday adventure I headed down to Brooklyn with The Banker to go to the first day of Smorgasburg in DUMBO (for those of you unfamiliar, that stands for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass, and it's a tiny slice of Brooklyn right across from Manhattan). Smorgasburg is a large market of amazing artisanal food stands. On Saturdays it's at the Brooklyn Flea Market, but starting yesterday and running through November 18, on Sundays it's at the Tobacco Warehouse in DUMBO.

We took the A train to High St in Brooklyn and then meandered through the neighborhood, making a stop at the P.S. Bookshop, a fantastic place to peruse used books. Then we headed over to Smorgasburg. There's a lot of food there, and it all looks incredible. We made a round to decide what we wanted, and then we dove in. It started at 11, and by the time we got there around 1:30 a few things were just starting to sell out. I imagine in subsequent weeks they'll judge better how many people to expect. We ate the following:

Strawberry lemonade and grilled cheese from Milk Truck

Duck spring rolls from Lumpia Shack

Porchetta sandwich from Porchetta

Watermelon shaved ice from People's Pops

Lemon poppyseed doughnut from Dough


Everything was so delicious, and there were about 20 other things we wanted to try. I think a return trip is in order. Next time I'll wear sunscreen.

We found a shady patch of grass to eat our lunch and then wandered down to the water to look at the incredible views from Brooklyn Bridge Park.

The Banker, my date for the day

This gorgeous weather makes for some mighty pleasant adventuring. I'm already plotting how to spend next Sunday. How was your weekend?


All photos by LMB

Museum Brandhorst, Munich

We spent a week in Munich seeing the Ring cycle, and we fell a bit in love with the city, in that kind of "Wow, we could really be happy here" kind of way that demands to be taken seriously. We're planning to stay put for a while, but Munich has definitely moved onto a short list of places we'd like to live.

One of the best things we did while we were there was visit the Museum Brandhorst, a contemporary art museum that opened in 2009. We were lucky enough to be staying with a Munich resident who told us about it; otherwise we probably would have missed it! Munich has several great museums in a big complex, all called Pinakothek this or that, and this lovely museum is tucked away behind them.

The most stunning part of the museum is the exterior.

Can you spot CM in this one?

The interior, in contrast, is very simple, just white walls and light wood. All the art housed here is given plenty of space to breathe. The museum uses all kinds of new "green" technologies to heat and cool it and to filter natural light into the space. It's a peaceful place to be.

It's not a huge collection, but it's deep in certain areas. My favorite was Cy Twombly's Lepanto series, created for the 2001 Venice Biennial. The Brandhorst has the largest collection of Twombly outside of (amazingly enough) The Menil Collection in Houston, and a special room was designed specifically for the Lepanto paintings. It's incredible, the closest thing I've found to the Water Lilies rooms in Paris.

Photo from here

We visit a lot of museums when we travel, and we particularly love museums whose architecture is as much of a draw as the art itself. Which museums do you love to visit?

All photos by LMB except the last one.

Sundays in New York: The Cloisters

In what's turning into a tour of New York's most peaceful spots, I spent the afternoon yesterday at The Cloisters. It's a bit of a trek to get there, about 35–40 minutes on the A train from Columbus Circle, but completely worth it. Instead of getting off the subway at the closest station, 190 St, I went one station further to Dyckman St so that I could walk through more of Fort Tryon Park.

It's an uphill climb to the museum, but as a reward you're afforded some absolutely gorgeous views of the Hudson (and Pacific Palisades Park across the way in New Jersey).

The museum itself is a completely gorgeous building, built in the 1930s partly out of reassembled bits of medieval abbeys.

Because it's part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (or the "other Met," as I like to call it), admission to The Cloisters is included in your Met Museum ticket. If you don't feel like doing both in one day, however (I didn't), the museum admission price of $25 is a recommended donation, so you can pay what you'd like.

If medieval religious art is your bag, this is the museum for you. That's not really my thing, but you know what is? Gardens.

A beautiful, peaceful garden surrounded by cool stone walls might be the absolute perfect place to sit with your Kindle (Shame!) and while away a summer afternoon.

And on your way home, go South through the park for stunning views of the George Washington Bridge (done no justice with this iPhone pic).

I'm loving my Sundays in New York. Although I'm thinking next Sunday, when I'm hanging out in Houston with CM(!), might just be even better.

Dîner en blanc

Last night I walked out of work as usual…except it wasn't usual, because I found myself completely surrounded by a sea of people dressed in white. They were all toting folding tables and chairs, and I knew immediately what it must be: Dîner en blanc! The ultimate, original pop-up dinner party, it started in Paris and is now all over the world.

I, of course, was dressed in turquoise jeans, but that didn't stop me from following to see where they were going.

Turns out, they were going to the Lincoln Center Plaza! None of the guests knew where they were going until right before it started. They met in groups of 250 at various locations around the city and were coordinated by leaders to bring them to the spot. Last year (the first year in NYC) it took place on the World Financial Center Plaza. I'm so happy that this year it was in my 'hood so I could see it!

I watched them setting up for a bit:

Then I went away to run errands and get some dinner. On my way home, I decided to stop by again to see the party in full swing. It was gorgeous.

The Dîner en Blanc prides itself on being somewhat swanky. Guests are encouraged to dress elegantly (and in white, obvs), and no paper plates or plastic cups are allowed. I saw lots of people in hats and fascinators, and so many lovely white dresses it made me want to get married again, just for an excuse to wear one.

My favorite photo of the night:

You better believe I've already added my name to the waiting list for next year's dinner. Care to join me?