road trip day one: baltimore

After one long day of packing we said goodbye to our friends and neighbors in Brooklyn and headed south toward Baltimore. Eva was part of our caravan, too! Our big yellow truck rolled into Balti at 3 am . Thanks so very much to all of our wonderful friends who helped celebrate Isabelle's birthday and make this big move fun.

Today in Baltimore we had the pleasure of watching our favorite musician, Delia, practicing her cello.

my town

my town, originally uploaded by isabelle gr.

Here I am in my town. I am standing outside my favorite bookstore, The Strand. Tomorrow is my 27th birthday.

In the midst of all of our packing and preparing to move, I am thinking about my past eight birthdays here in New York: at John's on 12th Street, Frank on 2nd Avenue, at our house on Bedford, the little french place on 13th, Little Frankie's on 1st Ave, at The Frick, in Central Park; and at my favorite place in the city, the Met. Here I am in my town.

another day, another latte VI

This lovely specimen was obtained at a crucial moment in packing up the apartment yesterday. Crucial!

I know we are moving to the coffee-obsessed culture that gave our nation the Bucks, but I have been cutting way back on the caffeine. Why? I can't even remember anymore.

homemade brooklyn slice

homemade pizza, originally uploaded by isabelle gr.

We've been on a bit of a pizza-making rampage these days. Pizza is so easy to make, incorporating whatever fresh ingredients you haphazardly chose at the farmer's market with some mozzarella and presto! Pizza!

Besides, it is so cheap and quick and less greasy to make it at home. Our secret weapon is Whole Foods' frozen pizza dough, which costs practically nothing and takes all of the work out of the process.

This pizza stars bell peppers and tomatoes (and artichoke hearts? I can't remember).

the best month of the year

pumpkin pile, originally uploaded by isabelle gr.

Happy October everyone! It truly is the best month of all. I know it will be an especially good month because of two auspicious - and hefty - appearances. The first is this mammoth pile of pumpkins that materialized like Cinderella's coach down the block from our house. The pumpkins in the front weigh about 75 pounds, so it's unlikely that they will be stolen.

The second good sign was tromping around Dumbo yesterday (DUMBO is the acronym for a neighborhood in Brooklyn. It stands for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass.). I drove the car all the way down under the Manhattan Bridge O. and there met this unlikely Brooklynite:

He was in the hood to celebrate the Dumbo Arts Festival, but it looked more like he was having a lunch festival.

By the way, did I emphasize the fact that I drove the car? Like, drove? A car? On Flushing Ave! Talk about unlikely! It was my biggest excursion to date; the totally exhausting 9 minute drive even included parallel parking. Thank you Nick!