Revival?

This winter has been particularly tough on me.

While I didn't entirely go into complete shut down mode (I just can't), every outings required a lot of preparation and willpower in order to face sub-zero celsius temperatures, gail force winds and/or mounds of snow for 5 excruciatingly long months.

I still managed to experience new places around the City.

Most notable amongst them were the amazing food at ABC Kitchen. The cozy atmosphere at Smith & Mills in Tribeca - an old coach-house converted into a diminutive bar. The Ace Hotel bar which is great for pre-dinner drinks and impromptu silly picture-taking sessions in their retro photo booths before grabbing dinner at the Breslin. Oh and of course the live jazz brunch at Fig & Olive in the Meat Packing district.

I also went to a lot of Knicks games and wildly cheered for my beloved boys through the course of them securing a spot in the play-offs for the first time in 7 years. My obsession with the game is now at an all time high and shows no sign of abating. I even paid a lot a money to see them play the Lakers at MSG and even though I was supporting my home team, I literally swooned at how amazing and talented Kobe Bryant is.

I even took a trip out of the island (as I lovingly, yet ironically, call Manhattan) that didn't involve flying when ES, CS, SM and I rented a car and drove up to the Hudson valley for a spot of wine tasting at the Brotherhood Winery, which I highly recommend for the rather eccentric but endearing tour guide, rather than the wine as such.

But regardless of the above, it took no less than 4 trips to sunnier climes in as many months to help me stay somewhat sane - a record, even for me!

I first went to Phoenix AZ for work at the end of January where I was stranded for an extra couple of days because of the crazy snow storms in NYC at the time ... days I of course spent by the pool while working on my laptop.

Followed shortly by a weekend in Miami in February for LJ's annual birthday celebrations where I once again reveled yet laughed at the parallel universe that South Beach is - I still maintain that it is like walking into a "Pimps & Hos" party at any time of the day or night.

In March, the girls and I went to Barbados for 5 days to live it up Caribbean style - it made for an unforgettable trip and tales far too outlandish to publicly share.  I have pretty much been planning my permanent move over there since I got back - something to do with compulsory day time Rum Punch consumption and perhaps also because someone made me appreciate jet skiing more than I ever did before :)

Concluding with my latest escape this past weekend to Treasure Island in Florida to stay with my dear friend FM who lives there. I only booked the flight the week before, on a whim, after spending yet another night at home with my portable heater aimed directly at me in order to stay warm (for context - I have to have an additional heating source because the central heating in my apartment is not enough to keep it above 18C in winter!).

I only spent 48 short hours there but it was worth it. Lying on the beach. Listening to the gentle sounds of waves crashing. Alfresco brunches. Alfresco dinners. Catching up with FM and putting the world to right until the early hours of the morning while sipping wine on her outdoor patio and petting her beautiful Dalmatian dog Bridie.

My next trip, in a week and a half, is not an escape to sunnier climes (although the weather will be pretty nice there by then) but more of an emotional recharge - I am going to my parents for a week to catch up with my family and finally get to meet my adorable niece who was born in January but that I have only seen on Skype. My brother, despite being the youngest one, is the most settled and mature and is now the proud father of a gorgeous baby girl. I thought that I would be fairly blase about the whole thing (as did all my friends and family who know I am not a "baby person") but it turns out that when the brother you utterly adore has an offspring, you fall head over heels in love with his baby too! I really can't wait until the moment I hold her into my arms and see my beloved brother in her, although my entire family tells me that she has my eyes which will no doubt freak me out. And then I want to get 8 hours full sleep for a week. I still have my priorities straight!

The quote that "New York is a great city to live in if you can afford to get out of it" has never felt more true to me until this particularly long and dreary winter, which still feels like it will never end. I know full well how incredibly fortunate I am to be able to travel as much as I do - a luxury that is not available to everyone although my inaptitude for financial planning and desire to live in the present are entirely to blame for it!

But upon my return from France, when the weather should have definitely turned to Spring here too, I should be back to my usual self and hopefully have more to share on this great City than my constant need to escape it!

Hibernation

My recent lack of posts is due to the obligatory phenomenon of hibernation that all mammals in New York City experience at this time of the year.

Quite simply, I have felt too cold, too tired and too damn depressed to do anything worth writing about.

Instead I leave you with a couple of pictures from this past weekend when I was in South Beach Miami - the land of sun, sea and sand. An annual and now ritual escape without which I could not even make it through the winter alive.

My next escape from this cold hell is Barbados in less than a month's time. I am counting the days, while struggling to wake up and function as a normal human being every morning.

I don't remember ever being so prone to SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) before - I didn't even know what SAD was before I experienced my first winter in New York! Yet I can't quite decide if it's because London doesn't have such distinctive seasons or if it is due to knowing that, while I am trying to cope with a long period of miserable cold weather, a heavenly beach and warm climates are less 3 hours away from me in Florida - so close, yet so far from every day life.

Regardless of the reason or answer, everyone I know here suffers from this "disorder" to various degrees and I can now understand why Groundhog's day is such a big deal and gets massive TV coverage here. If a cute furry animal is telling us that Spring is coming early this year, we all really want to believe it is true and it gives us hope to function one day at a time until it becomes reality.

Fun Facts

In Treasure Island, FLA

I'm having a crazy busy time at work right now so blogging is taking a backseat. But we have a team building session next week and I've been asked to give some fun facts about myself which I thought were actually quite fun (usually they are not!) and thought I would share them.

Name two things you consider yourself to be very good at:

I am an expert at making the most elaborate, comprehensive lists (anything from routine to-dos, to packing for a trip, New Years resolution, books I want to read, films I want to watch, recipes I want to try, restaurants I've been to and want to go to, lists I have yet to write, etc.) yet I am also a master of procrastination.

Who was your favorite musical performer or group when you were in High School? 

Michael Jackson - I was a huge fan of his between the age of 12 and 16 and credit him for my early grasp of the English language as I learned (and translated) the lyrics of all of his songs.

Which is the best vacation you ever had? 

My last vacation is always the best one.

What crazy activity would you like to try someday? 

A zero gravity simulated space flight. I'm a closeted science geek and have always been fascinated by space travel and astronomy (I'm currently reading 'How I killed Pluto and why it had it coming" by Mike Brown - brilliant!) . As I don't think I will ever be able to afford a space flight (when it becomes available), a ride in an airplane for trainee astronauts/adrenaline junkies simulating zero gravity by dropping abruptly would be the next best thing.

Have you ever met a celebrity?  If so, who and how?

Gordon Ramsay - who winked, smiled and said hello to me in the street in London. I was as shocked as I was charmed.

Name one thing that not many people know about you: 

I want to get a small aircraft pilot license. It's a huge time and money commitment but I wanted to be a pilot when I was a child and love nothing more than being up in the air so it's the one thing I hope to tick off my bucket list one day.

If you could smash one thing and one thing only, what would you smash? 

My TV but only during the last presidential elections political debates. Nothing has ever made me want to be violent more than watching and unfortunately hearing Sarah Palin.

What is the name of the best movie you have ever seen? 

The Dead Poets Society. It affected me so much when I first saw it aged 14 that I then vowed never to watch it again as it will never be as good as the first time or more poignant as it was to me as a young teenager.

Central Park Snow

Winter can be a rather depressing time in New York - while the sun is usually blazing high in the sky, it is also incredibly cold, windy, snowy ... and overwhelmingly slushy.

Streets become impossible to cross as the snow melts and gutter drains block up almost immediately - creating huge, dirty and surprisingly deep puddles.

Navigating your way around the City (even to the next block) involves awkward contortionist moves in order to avoid getting cold and wet feet/calves. Unless you have finally forsaken looking cute to instead be practical, as I have, and got yourself a pair of these amazing lifesavers.

But it is also the time when Central Park is at its most stunning and untouched. When you can walk around it for a couple of hours (as I did today with a friend), clutching a hot Starbucks coffee to keep yourself warm, pausing every so often to admire the dramatically bare trees, the snow covered fields, the iced-over lakes with the ever present backdrop of the City buildings glittering gently in the surreal pink and orange hues of the early sunset light.

It makes the discomforts of winter all worthwhile. A hundred times over.

Farewell 2010!

I always feel a little introspective as one year ends and another begins - as I'm sure we all do.

I can't believe I have been here for nearly 4 years already. It went so quickly yet feels like a lifetime. Not only because I can't imagine living anywhere else but in New York now but also because I have grown up so much in my time here.

It certainly wasn't an easy journey - moving by myself to the most exciting but also intimidating City in the world, falling in love when I least expected it only to have my heart broken almost beyond repair, powering through career and cultural challenges, forging new friendships, becoming fiercely independent, traveling more than ever before. And amidst all of that - countless fun nights out, entertainingly passing flings, girlie get-togethers and sharing my new home with friends and family who visited ... I wouldn't change any of it, not even the really hard parts, but in hindsight 2010 was my best year in New York yet - the one when I finally felt settled, happy, secure and had the energy and the right state of mind to really make the most of this incredible City and enjoy it thoroughly.

So these are some of my favourite memories of 2010 but most importantly - here's to 2011!

Stranded

France and my family home have never felt so far away than this week.

Like thousands of other people, my travel plans were severely hindered this past weekend - and unfortunately still are.

Unusually heavy snow flurries hit most parts of Britain and closed down airports. I always fly via London and therefore my flight on Saturday night was canceled but I managed to rebook for the following night on a 1am red-eye.

I made it to London by Monday lunch time, expecting to grab my connecting flight to Lyon that evening. Except that it was canceled too and no-one could tell us when we could expect to fly to our final destination. In fact now, 3 days later, British Airways still has no information about alternative flights on their site and their phone lines are dead. I luckily have a lot of friends in London and therefore have spent the last few days warmly ensconced with one of them, but thousands were left stranded in the airports for days with nowhere to go.

On Tuesday, I spent hours on the Internet and on the phone trying to find a way, any way, to get to my parents in time for Christmas. The Eurostar was fully booked and barely functioning. I even considered taking a 2 day journey consisting of taking 3 trains and a ferry to get there but even availability for that was scarce. At the height of my despair, I called my parents and burst into tears of frustration and sadness that I may not make it at all. I know I am a grown woman but I have never spent a single Christmas without my family and the prospect of that happening left me devastated.

I guess these kind of things make you realize what's important and when I miraculously found an Easyjet flight leaving Gatwick at 7am on Dec 24th, I booked it straight away, ignoring the cost.

So now, unless the snow situation gets much worse, I should be able to at least spend 3 days with my family before returning to London to spend New Year's Eve with friends as was originally planned. I can't wait.

Let's Go Knicks!

I have written before about my rather surprising love of watching the New York Knicks play at Madison Square Garden. What started as just another item I felt I had to tick off my list of things to do in New York has now evolved into a full blown passion. As my friends and family know, I can be very "all or nothing" and in this instance, I am very much "all' but even they are surprised as I am the most unlikely basketball fan one can imagine.

After taking many different friends to games with me, who all enjoyed it thoroughly but not quite to the feverish extent I do, I'm so happy that the last friend I took with me, LE, has fallen as hard for the game and the atmosphere as I have and we've been to 2 games together already with many more to come I'm sure.

Watching a live game is almost like a workout for me. It's so intense, fast, unpredictable and suspenseful that my heart races throughout and the constant adrenaline rush makes me dizzy and giddy at the same time. I jump, scream, swear, clap, cheer and usually lose my voice by the end of it. The beauty of the whole thing is that I only have a fairly rudimentary understanding of the game but that's enough - unlike other American sports like baseball or football, no advanced knowledge is required to enjoy it.

There is something incredibly exhilarating and intoxicating about chanting along with 10,000 or so other Knicks supporters for a common outcome: victory. I have tried to capture a little of the atmosphere with this video taken on my iPhone but I must admit that it doesn't quite do it - not only does it not show how well you can see game but I also find it very difficult to stand still when cheering which makes recording quite challenging!

I must say that this year is definitely a more fulfilling one to be a Knicks fan because the team is playing very well. Last year, they only won 1 the 7 games I saw. This year, they've won all 5 games I've been to so far. Amare Stoudemire, their new star player and team captain, even broke a historical Knicks record last week by scoring over 30 points at each of the last 8 games the team played and seeing him do amazing dunks (all 6"10 of him seemingly effortlessly hanging from the basket) is an incredible sight.

It is one of things I will miss the most if I ever leave New York for new adventures and the experience I most wholeheartedly recommend to anyone visiting the City between the otherwise dreary months of November and April.