• City Stories,  Travel Tales

    A Date with NYC: Post-script

    A year after moving away, I got myself back to New York for a weekend and anticipation was high, to say the least. I am happy to report that the trip not only lived up to expectations, it surprised and delighted in ways I never could have guessed, making it all the more memorable. I flew out after work on Wednesday and made my way to my room in Park Slope, a tiny second-floor spot in a brownstone owned by a lovely woman who’d lived there for 35-plus years. She welcomed me warmly at nearly midnight, and I settled in quickly, buzzing with good energy being back in the city…

  • City Stories

    History is Happening

    In 1996, I was a freshman in high school. A freshman in a new high school in a new town in a new house. That year I discovered RENT with the rest of the world and nothing was ever the same again. I’ve loved musicals since I was small, when my mom took me to see CATS when I was seven. Six? Either way, I was tiny and my little brain was impressionable and I fell in love with this art form unlike anything else, the American musical. (Yes, CATS is by a British guy, but it set Broadway records, mmmkay?). While my friends were listening to Green Day and…

  • City Stories

    A Date with NYC

    In just over a week, I head off for a long weekend in NYC. Returning just about a year after I moved away, it’s the first time I’ll be back to the Big Apple since then (with the exception of a whirlwind 24 hour trip for a film event late last summer). I’ve stayed away until now for several reasons, not the least of which was because I really needed to make a clean break from the place in order to fully appreciate my new digs in Chicago. Budget was also a consideration – not much time for weekend getaways when I’m busy furnishing an apartment and what not. And…

  • City Stories,  Travel Tales

    I’ll go to Seattle tomorrow

    It probably started around 10 o’clock last night, when I looked at the clock on my computer screen and realized I was still sitting at my desk, in the long-since-abandoned office, prioritizing the work that would be waiting when I got back to the office next week. I should’ve known then – known that I had too much to do and not enough hours to do them in – that something would have to give. I just didn’t know that that something would be my flight to Seattle. As I sit at a charming corner cafe – the one directly across the street from my apartment, the one I’ve gotten…

  • City Stories

    From Midtown to Williamsburg (in 5 days flat)

    Some women post birth stories – those detailed, moving chronicles of how their child entered this world. This is not that story. Not exactly. This is the story of how a new apartment birthed a whole new version of daily life for a single girl in the big city, and how it all happened astoundingly fast. With a lease expiring at the end of April, I’d started casually looking for May 1 available apartments early in the month. But between how busy I was (see previous post) and how quickly real estate goes in this city, it really didn’t make sense to start looking in earnest until closer to the end…

  • City Stories

    NYC List: FOOD AND DRINK

    This is one of many posts in my NYC List series, in an effort to keep myself exploring the city. See where it started, and keep an eye on this tag for more posts. As with the Entertainment category here where I called out Broadway specifically, I’ll be drafting up a sub-category on food and drink dedicated to Brunch – it’s simply that much of an artform in this city. It’s also worth noting that what’s listed below doesn’t even scratch the culinary surface of a city that’s home to some of the best restaurants in the world. Sadly, I have neither the budget nor the palate to truly explore the sheer depth of world-class options.…