Spring Blooms

The weather was really lovely for walking around this weekend, which was perfect since we had guests visiting from out of town. We took full advantage of Saturday and spent the entire afternoon walking around the city, stopping only to graze on amazing food along the way (pizza, cupcakes, fried chicken… what didn’t we eat?).

We stopped by the Union Square farmers market, which is one of my favorite places to be during the spring and summer. You can easily make an afternoon out of browsing the amazing offerings from the local farms. There were a few stands selling cherry and plum branches that bloom with tiny pink flowers, and the tulips just screamed “spring”!

I’m keeping fresh flowers in our apartment more frequently now — it just makes our space feel a little more fun when there is something nice to look at when we get home at the end of the day! Ranunculus is one of my favorite flowers, and I’ve had the bunch seen here for over a week already. As long as you change out their water and get rid of dead leaves, the buds will continue to bloom! What are your favorite spring blooms?

10 Great (and Cheap!) Things to do in the Fall in NYC

Image via Flickr

Well, it has been a while! Sometimes life just moves too fast, and things like this blog tend to lapse. After what has been a very busy summer, I’m quite glad to wish everyone in this hemisphere a happy first day of Fall! I really love this time of year, and I especially enjoy it when we actually have that nice transitional time in the weather between summer and winter, as we’re having right now. Sometimes it can feel like summer and winter are the only two seasons we get in this part of the country. In honor of the new season upon us, I’ve compiled a list of ten great things to do in New York City in the next few months:

• Grab a hot beverage and walk through Central Park with one of your favorite people to look at the leaves changing.
• Rent a bike and take a ride! There are plenty of places to rent (rates usually start around $8/hour or $45/day) and the West Side Greenway is a protected bike path that runs the length of Manhattan along the Hudson River. Beautiful!
• Miss the back-to-school feeling? Me too. Try signing up for a class through Brooklyn Brainery or Skillshare and get yourself some new knowledge about something cool! Classes are cheap (many under $20) and on cool subjects like screen printing and making your own shoes.
• Camp out in the Union Square Barnes & Noble store and read up on a new subject or an existing passion!
• Take a stroll through the farmers’ markets in the last few weeks before they close for winter and bring home some fresh fall veggies!
• Arm yourself with cash and a few good Yelp recommendations, and hit the streets of Chinatown to sample delicious dishes, dumplings, and pastries.
• Pretend you’re in Munich for the annual Oktoberfest (technically it ends in the first few days of October, but I won’t judge you if you celebrate for longer), and visit a bier garden, like the popular Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden in Astoria or Bier International in Harlem.
• Take a class in lattes — Joe the Art of Coffee offers classes every month on various coffee topics, including Milk Steaming 101.
• Pick up a camera and go for a photo walk. That is, take notice of the cool everyday things you pass on the street and document them! Fall is a great time to do this, because the light at the end of the day is often shimmery and superb for taking photos.
• Chilly weather getting to be too much? Head over the the newly-renovated Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens. Admission is only $12, and they have lots of interactive exhibits to check out!