Sundays in New York: Governors Island

For my first Sunday adventuring in New York, I spent a couple hours biking on Governors Island with a friend. I had never been before, and I found it to be completely lovely and relaxing. Governors Island is a tiny island just a 7-minute (free!) ferry ride from the Southern tip of Manhattan (or from Brooklyn, if you prefer). The island has served various purposes, most recently as an Army and Coast Guard base, but as of 2003 it's been open to the public and it's constantly being improved. It's open on summer weekends only, and it's the perfect place to go for a break from the hustle and heat of Manhattan.

You can rent bikes for reasonable prices on the island, but my date had an extra so we brought ours. There's a bike path that runs around the circumference of the island, with a conveniently placed iced coffee and lemonade truck right when you need it. Should you need more in the way of sustenance, there are several cute eateries and a place that sells ready-to-go picnics. There are playgrounds, and lots of public sculptures, and even some new art galleries. Best of all, there's a cool breeze that's in short supply in the city at the moment.

Highly recommended. I might be back before the summer's out.

Ferry terminal

View of Manhattan from the ferry

Lady Liberty from the Island

This lovely spot is the Food Court.

More Manhattan views

My date for the day

All photos by LMB. To see more photos, you can follow me on Instagram.

First day of school

Today was my first day back at work after summer vacation. I felt grumpy and tired this morning, wishing I could be out in the gorgeous weather or off on a train with CM visiting friends at Wolf Trap. It can be hard to get back into the swing of things after a long time away. I haven't been here since March, and I even found myself having to think twice about which elevator to take to get where I wanted to go (yes, it's my 5th season and I still sometimes get lost in the maze).

But then…reality check. I am so damn lucky to do what I do, and in this theater of all places. Any day that starts with this walk into work can't be too bad.

I think mostly I was crabby because CM and I spent our first night apart in TWO MONTHS last night. I know, I know, we're apart all the time, but it never gets any easier. Thank goodness he gets back tonight—maybe he'll bring me back a better attitude.

Tomorrow I'll share with you my first Sunday in New York. It's a good one!

Photo by LMB

Happy weekend!

What's going on with you this weekend, friends? Our very brief time at home has sadly come to an end (already?!) and we are headed to New York tomorrow. I'm bummed about leaving home, but very happy that CM gets to come with me for a bit! Let's delay that inevitable goodbye as long as possible, I say.

In the meantime:


I love me some Terry Gross.

Very excited about Gretchen Rubin's new book club. And her new book!

Our friend Ryan is the Sound Bites feature in Opera News this month. Rock. Star.

All of these recipes sound completely amazing.

I just bought this jacket. Polka dots for the win!


Last adorable cat photo for a while (sniff):

Hope your weekend is filled with Pimm's cups, sunshiney days, and backyard barbecues. xoxo LMB

Bossy Budget

Apparently grown-up people make these things called "budgets." They even do something referred to as "saving." I don't know too much about it, but I'm thinking it might be about time to learn. Now that we have furniture and a car and all those essentials taken care of, CM and I have decided it's time to start saving more aggressively (or at all)*. So! We're budgeting! And trying to stay upbeat about it! Yay!

One way we're planning to save money is by getting rid of our cable service. CM read this article in GQ about how there are lots of new ways to watch TV now other than your friendly local cable provider. It started us talking. We watch a good chunk of TV, but is it enough to warrant the enormous amount we spend on cable? We decided it wasn't.

Here's a handy visual aid of our yearly expenses for you:

This, in a nutshell, is our new experimental plan. We already have an Apple TV, which we can link up to our TV and stream both Netflix and Hulu Plus. For the shows we watch that aren't available on Hulu, we'll either watch them on our computers through the network websites, or we'll wait until they're out on DVD and available on Netflix. For a huge savings, it's only slightly less convenient.

How do you watch TV? Are you still paying for cable? That's sooooo first half of 2012.


*CM is being responsible. I, on the other hand, have my eye on this.

New project: Sundays in New York

There's nothing like discovering a new city, finding your favorite places, getting lost on purpose (or not), turning a corner and coming upon something unexpected. Every time I get back from a trip I feel reinvigorated—inspired to travel more, of course, but also re-dedicated to creating those moments in the cities I already know. One of my New Year's resolutions (it's August and I'm still thinking about those—are you impressed?) was to spend my free time in ways that make me happy and invigorated, and so far I've had mixed success with it (awesome European vacation excepted, of course).

On Saturday I leave for two months in New York, where I tend to stay within the few blocks between my sublet and work (one time I went north of 77th St and was amazed at how much was close by to my apartment that I had never seen because it wasn't on the way to the Met). Sundays are my free days every week, so I thought it would be fun to try to explore a new neighborhood or have a new NYC experience every Sunday (you know how much I love a self-improvement project). CM gave me this great book years ago, and I have yet to really delve into it, so I'm taking it with me, but I'd love your suggestions as well! What are your favorite New York places? What are those out-of-the-way spots I've probably never seen? What should I do with my Sundays? I'm starting this weekend, and I'll let you know all about what I find.


Photo by LMB