Two Stanleys in One Day?!?

So.

There was a (shit)(rainstorm) yesterday. And there was Game 5 of the NHL Playoffs. AND THE KINGS WON THE STANLEY CUP!!! 

Thus, this morning was dedicated to slowly sipping coffee and reading funny hockey commentaries. And a bit of catching up on the World Cup, too. 

HELLO, BOYS!
Source.

I like hockey a lot. Not a total diehard fan, but fan enough to enjoy watching a game from time to time. I know, I know, Rangers are an OK team (I guess), they have a mighty fine-looking goalie and they ARE my town's team. But blood is thicker than water and LA Kings have Anže on their roster, so there you have it - me is LA supporter smack in the middle of #rangerstown. 

Anže is a big hero back home and he brought the Stanley Cup to Slovenia in 2012, which was all kinds of awesome. And he's bringing it home again this summer. AND he looks way better when he does not shave.  As do a lot of men.

Anže being adorable again.
Source.

In case you are craving more bearded Kings, Heather of the Fug Girls compiled a lovely gallery. The title of the post says it all: Well Played, Jubilant, Oft-Toothless Men in Beards: The Los Angeles Kngs Win the Stanley Cup. You are welcome. 

Why so sad, "king" Henrik?
Your team lost, but at least you are still very pretty.
Source.

On another note, today is a lovely Saturday. The nasty storm left behind crisp air, no humidity and streets without dust. Which can only mean one thing: take Stanley (not the cup, the bike) out for a spin. After the beard and coffee and that-other-Stanley overdose, of course.

First stop was Central Park (obviously), where I, by some miraculous stroke of good luck, managed to find a not-too-crowded spot in the otherwise-extremely-crowded Park to sit down, crack open my book, and read for a while. I boycotted the iPOD for once and listened to the birds instead. 

Chilling in Central Park with a book.

My next stop was the UWS Whole Foods. I do not shop there often, as I find the whole experience a tad pretentious and many of the things that I ordinarily buy are severely overpriced there compared to my local grocery store. But they do have virgin coconut oil that my local grocery store does not stock AND that does not cost an eye. Also, peonies.

Hipster Stan!!!

I came home late in the afternoon, just in time for some early dinner. Colorful veggie stir fry, roasted on my new coconut oil. Made the whole freaking house smell of coconut instead of onion and broccoli. 1:0 for coconut oil, I guess.

Having a Blair Waldorf  moment. 

Veggie stir fry. Made with coconut oil.
Joyful!

Now it's 9 pm and it's still light outside. Adore!!!

I'll probably go for a quick run now, since I have been a lazy ass for the past few weeks. 

And tomorrow is Sunday brunch-day!

Gotta love weekends. 

Jules

Textless Thursday (38)

He's BAAAAAAAAAACK!!!!!
Source.

How Philly cured the Gotham blues

G'bye, Manhattan.

As mentioned in the previous post, I've been getting a bit tired of New York over the past few weeks. It was a general, no-specific-reason-for-it funk, something that happens from time to time when life sucks you in a vicious cycle of whatevers. 

SOTD: The Wonder Years - Local Man Ruins Everything. 

Enter: weekend trip to Philadelphia to visit some friends. 

Pretty skies in downtown Philly

I made it South on Saturday afternoon and the shenanigans started with a drink at a firehouse-converted-into-bar establishment, followed by a sinfully delicious Greek dinner. 

Said dinner involved setting cheese on fire and binging on vampire vaccine. And baklava. Because: duh!   

My friends took me to a great party afterwards and I got to chat with some great people. I also met a ghost writer. Which was just about the coolest thing ever. Ghost writer, y'all!    

Love Park.
Yes, they are THAT cheesy.
Of course, couples stand under the sculpture and kiss
while someone takes their picture.
Ugh, cheesiness...

Sunday started with brunch, which for me consisted of a delicious french toast drowned in cream cheese sauce with a side of fruit salad. Allow this to sink in properly: buttery rich french toast smothered with a sweet-tart cream cheese (philadelphia, of course) sauce. Yum!

After brunch, my friend had the awesomest idea ever. We went to the Mütter museum. It's tagline is "Disturbingly informed" and it could not be more true. Which is a medical museum full to the brim with freaky sciency medical stuff like a preserved GIGANTIC megacolon, 300 years old obstetric forceps, extremely twisted scoliotic spines and dried up hands. And histologic slides of Albert freaking Einstein's brain. 'Nuff said. 

Needless to say, I loved the place and will definitely go back for more. 

        

After all the weirdo-fest, we rewarded ourselves with a stroll through Rittenhouse square. And since I am a fantastically lucky girl, the Fine Arts Show happened to be happening that weekend, so we go to check out some cool paintings. Seeing some beauty after the freakiness was a welcome cleanse. Also, ice cream! 

Until next time, Pennsylvania.

Jules

p.s. Excuse the non-so-pretty photos. Posting them completely crude without any editing. Not even a smidgen of straightening. Because I am that lazy. 

I have a case of Gotham fatigue. I have a cure for that, too.

Oh hey.

It's been a while. I've had a boring few weeks, but that's changing NOW:

Philly skyline appearing on the horizon. Almost there!

A weekend in Philadelphia is happening as I type. Ouyeah!

The Amazing Sunday

Perfect Sunday alert!

Oh, yes. After a wild, gin-infused Saturday night (ohmyiactuallywentouttoparty), sleeping in until 10-ish felt amazing. So did waking up with a clear head and a calm stomach. And so did having coffee and grilled cheese sandwiches in bed while binge watching three episodes of Scandal.

But enough is enough and three episodes were enough. Time to slap on some sunscreen and leave the house. And leave Manhattan, too. A bumpy ride on the 4 train and another one on the 2 train took me to Brooklyn Botanical Garden where the cherry blossoms are still blooming amazing. 

I headed directly for the cherry esplanade, found a spot under a tree, spread my blanked, took off my shoes and lay down. 

A minute and a half later (yes, those pink-clad branches against the blue sky demanded a bit of attention) I switched temptation of by activating my phone's airplane mode and cracked open a book. 

 

I zoned out for a few hours. Reading and sipping a chilled ginger lemonade. The only thing that disturbed my bubble was a freaking bird that parked its butt on a branch right above my head. 

Yes, it decided to take a #2. Which landed two inches away from my head. Could've been worse, I guess.

Yeah, for a person who zoned out for 3.5 hours, I took an astonishing amount of pictures. But dudes, look at all the pretty pink fluffy blooms!!!

Since I made the trip to Brooklyn and paid for the ticket, it occurred to me that there's more to the Garden than just the cherries. So, after 3.5 hours of pure bliss (minus the freaking pooping bird), I burst my bubble, folded up the blanket, removed some fallen blooms from my shoes (and my hair, and my butt) and left my slice of heaven. The stroll through the park's grounds was delightful, although it was quite crowded. But it was not half bad. Actually, the rest of the garden was just as beautiful as the freaking cherries.  

Next up was a mediocre ice cream (boooooo), redeemed by some very decent iced coffee. 

Brooklyn, I really do like you. 

SOTD: The Avett Brothers - I And Love And You. 

Because it sounds just like Prospect Heights.

Before I knew it, it was 6 pm and time to make it back to Manhattan. Destination: the IMAX theater at Lincoln Center. Movie: The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Snack: salted caramel popcorn. AMAZING indeed. One of the cooler superhero movies around. Of course, nobody puts Iron Man in the corner, but the rebooted Spidey comes a very close second. Woo-hoo!

Happy Monday or whatever.

Jules

Textless Thursday (37)



Gloomy Thursday morning on the UES.

New York, New York

Oh, New York. 

The city of 8000 stereotypes (and all of them true to the dot).  

The New York Times recently published a series of haikus about the city in honour of National Poetry Month. They made me smile and they made me stop for a minute to revisit all the reasons why I chose to move to this city in the first place (Yes, it was for a job, but it was also for a dream I had for a long time). 

Some of the haikus are a bit random, of course - 17 syllables are not easy, but overall, they are a delight. You can read them here. 

Keeping with the theme, here are some more passionate New York tidbits:

NYC Tips and Etiquette by Nathan W. Pyle - made me laugh.

8.4 Million New Yorkers Suddenly Realize NYC is a Horrible Place to Live - dystopian much.

Humans of New York - Brandon is great romantic. See for yourself and become addicted.

A Cup of Jo's Guide to NYC: 10 Ways How to NOT Look Like a Tourist - very similar points to mr. Pyle's, but told by more "ordinary" New Yorkers.

Opening sequence of Manhattan - Oh, Woody.

Now that I managed to sappily fall in love with New York all over again, it's time to leave the laptop and go for a walk in Greenwich Village and continue this love affair. 

Jules

Triathlon. According to Jules

Oh, hello Hudson River.

Full disclosure: I am not even close to a triathlete. So please, do not take the title of this post seriously. 

1. BIKE:

The perfect springy Sunday. So you decide a bike ride is the best possible way to spend it, although the alternative, sitting on your ass and binge watch Criminal Minds, sounds just as appealing. In the end, you go the classy way, put on your neat helmet and shove the bike in the elevator. Pushing pedals under the cherry trees all the way up to George Washington bridge is nice. 

Staaaaaaan!

2. SWIM:

It's Monday and you're STILL totally high on all the goodness Sunday brought. So you make big plans to make it to the pool after work. Only to see your dreams shattered when you find out two of the three experiments you ran on that lovely Monday didn't work and you find yourself stuck in the lab until 10 pm. No pool. And crushed spirits. So you decide that, instead of doing laps, you'll open up a Guinness and order a pizza. Then you decide to open another Guinness and do laundry. Suddenly, it's 2 am and you decide a bikini wax will be an awesome idea. Before you know it, Tuesday rolls around. You feel bloated because of the late night pizza binge. There are very few instances when pizza is NOT a good idea. Midnight being one of those instances. But you manage to escape the lab and get to the pool for a swim. Ole'! 

Hometown glory!

Excited.

Swimming doesn't go according to plan, mostly because instead of keeping track of laps you get continuously distracted by how much you want to bang the cutie from the 12th floor. So, you give up laps and switch to sprints and butterfly instead. Because killing your own arms is a good diversion from thinking about cutie's buff arms. Holy biceps!

Sunset in Central Park.

3. RUN:

Thursday is yet another good day. And again, you make it out of work in the daylight. Time for a quickie run through the park. It is still ridiculously beautiful with trees in bloom everywhere. But since you are a crappy runner, you don't give a damn about miles, speed, breathing, interval training and all that jazz. Your run exactly as fast as you like and stop to smell the flowers (literally!) exactly when you like it. Despite all, you manage to do 5-ish miles (or so Google Maps says). Which makes you a little smug. And very likely means that a month or so will pass until your next run. 

And that, my dears, is how Jules does cycling, swimming and running. 

Now if you'll excuse me while I go stretch my stiffened legs.

Jules

Textless Thursday (36)

It's been years since I've listened to the whole album, end to end. 

Lovely.

The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

Happy day, Earth

It's Earth day, y'all. 

And as much as I am aware that pretty much every day is a "something day" and who can fucking keep up with all of that, I believe Earth day SHOULD be acknowledged. Duh!

This planet is so big and the fact it exists is just such a "yeah, how could it not" concept we all take for granted. 

But, at least this one day, let us all stop for a second and remember that this giant ball of iron, water and rocks, is our home. Even when we're standing completely still, we spin around and run through space at a speed no one of us can even begin to imagine.

Source.

How cool is that?

So, big cheers to mama Earth today. I know that deep down we all love it. 

SOTD: Morphine - You Look Like Rain

So, allow yourself to be a little amazed that Earth exists and maybe show a little more respect than usual.

Jules

Textless Thursday (35)

Nerdy Toronto.
Good memories.

The Toronto Diaries, Part 3

Friday, April 11th 2014

Pretty sunny day, homemade smoothies. 

I could live with that, yes.

A noon choir and organ recital. The best felafel I've ever had, the Aquarium, ethiopian food for dinner, red wine galore, a guitar, and then gin martinis. And Jameson. 

So far, so good. 

Davie's saying hello (Bloor and Bathurst)

Roy Thompson Hall ready for the Orpheus Choir

Aquarium. Done right.

People in front of a giant tank of jellyfish. Obviously.

Leaving the Aquarium was a sad, sad moment.
Luckily, Lake Ontario's shore really tried hard to make it up to me.
Freaking show-off.

Holy mother-of-binge!

                         

Apparently, Toronto knows all and every single one of the ways to my heart, that I can tell. Oh, you sneaky, sneaky charmer, as if I haven't told you that I belong to New York. That smelly, loud big cousin of yours, you met him, I am sure.

SOTD: Everything is Awesome (The LEGO Movie OST). Duh!

That'd be all, folks. Thanks for keeping up.

Toronto was great, but now it's time to swing back to the real world. File taxes, do laundry, split cells, go for a run, paint nails, fall in love with spring in New York. You know the drill.

Jules

p.s. Many, many, MANY thanks to N for making these past few days beyond memorable. I owe you. BIG TIME.

The Toronto Diaries, part Awesome

Thurs-night, April 10th 2014

Getting giddy.

The venue. 

Demons 

Squalor Victoria

I need my girl

Best encore ever:
Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks.

Matt letting the audience sing.
Many, many shivers down many, many spines.

Finally.

SOTD: The National - Start a War.

One of their finest.

Sadly, they didn't play it. But that's what iTunes is for.

The Toronto Diaries, Part 2

Thursday, April 10th 2014

First thing on the agenda for the day was coffee and pecan pie at Kensington Market, a lively and colorful Toronto neighbourhood that, among other things, possesses exceptionally good coffee and pecan pie.

Back on Bloor

As if good coffee and pecan pie were not enough to teleport me to my happy place, the weather was ridiculously springy and the company beyond delightful. And before we knew it, it was time for lunch. We opted for cheapo chinese, dumplings and fried rice. It was great. 

N and I parted ways after lunch, so I explored Downtown on my own, additionally fuelled by Tim Hortons iced coffee. Totally ignoring Google Maps and Lonely Planet was worth it.

Trees growing out of houses. I can deal with that.

This is one fucking ugly chunk of the ROM.

I really enjoyed wandering the streets of Tornto. The city has this energising vibe, but nothing too intense (as Gotham can be). Overall, it very much feels like if Berlin and New York had a lovechild and decided to raise it by a pretty lake. If it were a drink, it would probably be hot whiskey. If it were a song, it would be the opening track of Interpol's Antics.

SOTD: Interpol - Next Exit. Looping it while walking down Yonge. 

Ok, you must think I am turning into an annoying gooey chipper overenthusiast. I feel the same way. But hey, it is really hard to keep it real when everything was so freaking good. And I am writing it while chewing on maple caramels. See, EVERYTHING is so freaking good. Fear not, half an hour of inhaling New York and I'll snap back to my slightly snarky self.

After a nice day, another highlight: concert night. A whole other level of awesome.
Cheers to that!

Jules