Sometimes a Place, Most times a State of Mind
A few nights after the Rockefeller Christmas Tree was lit, and on one of the coldest nights in my life (heads up: I’m from the tropics so what’s cold for me may just be a normal cold to you), David and I, with his whole family, had a late night road trip to the city to see the most visited and photographed Christmas tree in Manhattan.
Nothing here but a bunch of photos, really.
Merry Christmas!
It’s my third week here in NY. I wish there’s a way I could make time slow down a bit!
David and I have been to just a few places so far. As much as we want to spend more time outdoors during the day, he has to be at work and so do I, so we only get to date out in the evenings and over the weekends. But that’s okay, I’ll have more time to get to know New York next time.
The leaves have started falling off, the temperature has dropped close to 30F these past couple of days, everyone’s been layering up. Thank God for Black Friday, I managed to score some discounted layers at an outlet store over the weekend.
But how can I complain? New York is just as I remember it—mysterious in so many ways, and there’s always ALWAYS something to do. Staten Island, on the other hand, is everything I never expected it to be (in a good way)—a lot more laid back than Manhattan, with a commute system that’s good enough to take you wherever you need to be.
On my second Saturday here, David took me to my first ever Central Park bike ride. As for my most favorite New York moments, this one has definitely climbed the charts (sorry for the tacky Serendipity reference). What a contrast to my “ordinary” Central Park experience in 2008!
If you’re my Facebook friend I’m pretty sure you’ve come across this album already, but blogger duties, here are some of the photos from that Central Park trip. :)
We rented out these bikes at $14 per hour from CP Bike Tours and Rentals, impulsively if I may add, at West 58th street near the corner of 7th avenue.
I wasn’t sure I still knew how to bike, I can’t remember the last time I rode one of those and was a bit apprehensive at first, but I took the challenge and I’m just sooo glad I did! :)
I can’t get over these photographs David took from that day. He was actually taking these shots! With his heavy Nikon D90!! With one hand!!! From his moving bike!!! How awesome is my fiance? <3
We stopped by the Bethesda Fountain to take photos.
..and by this lake, just because I had a photo of that building in the background last time I was here and I thought it was really pretty.
And then we stopped over to take photos by the trees and the leaves.
I could swim in a sea of golden leaves all day!
We took turns taking photos.
My friends think David looks like he’s from some Korean telenovela. I concur! Lol.
We found this bench and I sighed in awe. I don’t think I’ve ever found a more romantic place than New York. <3
I’ve always wanted to do an Elizabeth Gilbert, you know, go some place where I can marvel at something. And well, here I am. I’ve been marveling at everything since I landed, and there’s always something new to look forward to each day. <3
I can never enumerate in my hands all the things God has provided us with that made this trip possible, and everything we’ve gone through to get us to this day. I’m in constant awe at how good God has been to us, a lifetime thanking Him will never be enough.
Reposting from FB, November 16. Date backtracked. Photo Dump!
When I went here in 2008, taking the Staten Island ferry to see the Statue of Liberty was a special event. Now, it’s a way of life. It’s the fastest commute to Manhattan from Staten Island after all. I could really get used to this, you know? :)
It was my first week here, and David took me to Oh! Taisho, a Japanese restaurant in the East Village.
We were playing with David’s 50mm Nikkor lens on his D90. Love it!
What I was wearing that night: Jeans from Folded and Hung; Scarf and Boots from Babo; Ridiculously expensive coat from Zara; and gloves from a sidewalk vendor somewhere along East Village ;)
It was drizzling on the way back home. We were somewhere in the business district downtown, and the wet pavement and the pretty city lights made it a perfect night to take photos. If only we have a real photographer following us around, it would have been another prenup opportunity! :)
(I just had to use that line. Again.)
This is my version of Street View: the 5-minute walk from where I’m staying in Staten Island to the nearby public library, one of my hang out spots here. (You know me, where there’s wifi, that’s where I’ll be.) There’s just so much beauty wherever direction I point the camera to, I had to remind myself to breathe and stop acting like a giddy tourist.
Somewhere in this neighborhood is where I stay.
My current office address, LOL.
People waiting for the library to open. Hello, colleagues.
Waiting by the library steps.
David’s D90 yay! :)
Hello from Staten Island :)
Lovely, isn’t it? :) You wish Google’s Street View stills were taken on a beautiful Autumn day!
OAN, last night I had a date with the boyfie fiance. We took the ferry to the city, had dinner at Oh! Taisho somewhere downtown, took the wrong train and got lost in the subway, and walked around the business district while the rain was pouring out. It’s Day 4 of being surrounded by New Yorkers, seeing dried yellow and orange leaves, keeping a metrocard in my pocket all the time, and having to be under layers of clothing.
Most of all, I still can’t get over the fact that I get to spend real time with my boyfriend during lunch breaks and after work hours in a fabulous city such as this, after months/years of being so far away from each other. <3
Breathe, Riz, you’ll get used to it. I’m giving you another week.
Hello, I made it to New York! My first weekend here has come and gone. An Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship concert at Calvary Baptist Church in Manhattan, home-cooked dinner by David’s mother, and the Pacquiao-Margarito fight welcomed me on my first day, with the rest of the weekend spent with David’s church friends and relatives in Jersey City. It was pretty hectic, but how can I complain?
Besides, no jetlag for me. My body clock loves EST. :)
This is us in front of CBCNYC at West 57th street on my first night.
OTD: Romper – Trunkshow; Cardigan – Landmark; Shoes – Cinderella
Because I was heading straight to Manhattan from the airport, I had to change from my 18-hour-flight-friendly jeans, t-shirt and slip ons, to a more presentable outfit. Isn’t this romper pants the prettiest thing? Thank you, Trunk Show!! I think I’m going to live inside this romper for months. The fabric’s a bit too thin for the chilly autumn air though, but the legwarmers I was wearing underneath did the trick!
Continue reading “Hello from New York”
It’s hard to keep up with my life sometimes. I relocated from one apartment to another in the past 5 years faster than I could empty out boxes from my previous move, I would repack my bags even before I’ve fully adjusted to a new place, and I would say goodbye to neighbors, landlords, and caretakers before I’ve even memorized their names.
Don’t get me wrong. I love the thrill that comes with starting over, checking out real estates, holding a plane ticket in my hand, and being in places outside the comforts of my zone. It’s just that.. I’ve never really been anywhere that far. No matter how much I loved all my solo adventures, I’ve always found comfort in the fact that my mother is just in the next city, or that my travels don’t usually extend longer than just a couple of days.
And can I just say, I hate hate hate packing more than anything in the world?? Also, having to say goodbye to people I love. I wish there’s a way I could skip those parts. I wish I could just magically transport everything in my life and take them with me wherever I go. I wish mothers were like pocket-sized mirrors so I could take mine from out of my pocket whenever I start feeling lost, alone, and in need of directions. I wish there’s a way I could put all my loved ones in one place so I won’t have to pack, say goodbye, adjust and readjust all the time. I wish, I wish, I wish.
In a couple of days, I would start stuffing my suitcases again (when I just settled back home, ahh, the story of my life!). And while this is just a trip and not really a permanent change of address (at least not yet), my mind reels with all the preparations and adjustments and homesickness and emotional attachments that are going to strike me from all directions.
It’s tiring, all this moving around, and I’ve contemplated whether or not this is the kind of life that I wanted one too many times.
On the upside, I’ve somehow acquired skills that let me cope more easily whenever time calls forth big and small changes in my life. I’ve learned to acknowledge that all these years of temporarily changing addresses, and being in situations where I have to figure things out on my own, are God’s way of making me strong and preparing me for more permanent things.
You have no idea how much that excites me and scares me at the same time.