Would You Rather Be Afraid of the Dark or of Zombies?

As I admitted the other day to a bunch of kids, I'm quite scared of the dark. My imagination, as of lately, has gotten a little away from me. I'm always worried about the worst and when something bad happens, it's a pretty permanent part of my brain and worries.

Today. Didn't. Help.

I don't know if I was ever a huge fan of Halloween (ok, maybe when I was a kid with a bag full of candy)... but costumes are too much work and this partying in the costume just never suited me. I'm not a dress up kind of person.

Then, I moved to NYC and happened to be working in a horrible, scary neighborhood (scarier than the dark. And zombies.) My perceptions of Halloween changed. For the worse. I hated it, but more than anything, it scared the living daylights out of me. I would travel hours out of the way to get home because I was so scared. I contemplated calling into work sick, because I was so scared. But last year, it changed. I worked in a neighborhood that wasn't scary. And I don't much remember have my fears of Halloween last year.

Today, though, brought it all back. Within 10 minutes of leaving the building and making the way to the car (because I knew I was leaving with a co-worker who drives as soon as we could possibly leave), there were shots fired across the street. 3 of them. The first one fired, and I actually stood there dumbly. Maybe I was asking myself what I should do in a situation like this. Maybe I was asking myself if this was really truly happening. Maybe I was just trying to figure out if the shot that was fired had harmed anyone. The other two weren't heard because I headed back into work, where they put our building on lock-down and held us until we had the clear from the police (who don't much make a presence in our neighborhood, despite a recent drive-by, murder, and now THIS. Let's just say NYPD isn't on my favorites list lately.)

So. Today it is so. Halloween is not a good holiday. My future children may be punished by the paranoia that NYC is giving me about the holiday as a whole. They'll be lucky if I even let them out of the house. Breathe.

Today was also a day that NYC and I didn't end on good terms. Not only is the holiday messed up, my fears are now skyrocketing into space, the NYPD is surprisingly missing from the scene, BUT my metrocard stopped working (for the 2nd time in 4 months -- FU MTA -- All because of an MTA bus machine f*ing up the magnetic strip on my card). Today was a day that I do NOT love NYC. Today was a day where I wished I were anywhere BUT NYC.

Except for the sign above. It made me smile, because I love ZOMBIES! Maybe that will be the stipulation... my future children can celebrate Halloween ONLY if we get the be a family of ZOMBIES!! :)

Hope your Halloween was sweeter than mine!

city sunset

someday i will miss this.

me & my new scarf

love this new scarf. it's soooooooo warm.

What We've Been Up to Lately...

It's been a while since I have posted... Quite a bit going on here in NYC.

Work and crazy scary stuff happening in my work neighborhood - including a murder/robbery & lots of news crews + a drive by shooting... I love my job, but I'm getting a little unsure about putting my own safety at risk... no more walking by myself, and I'm going to be getting rides as much as I can with co-workers.

An overnight trip upstate at the end of this last week - I'll post a few photos if I get the chance! The trees are beautiful, but it wasn't just fall for us, we actually got about 1 inch of snow while we were up there!

I'm learning to knit. I took a class in midtown. My first scarf has been completed and now I'm working on my first hat! It was supposed to be for Seth, but it's a bit teeny... I think I'm going to take another class with my teacher (she's an amazing knitter) to learn how to knit socks :) I can't wait!

We've been cheering on our college team in an awesome season - 7-0 so far! We were filmed by ESPN last week and even made it on a Game Day clip this morning. Check it out HERE! You'll see me between Seth and his brother, Ian, cheering on the K-State Wildcats at the Australian (love that bar!)

Today, Seth and I are relaxing at home & hoping to catch the K-State game in our neighborhood + IT'S SNOWING!!!

This is a shot from when the snow first started... now we've got a nice blanket of white forming!

Seth - Take Me on a Date to this Place

Tuesday night, at the last minute, I attended a class showing how to do acrylic transfers (can't wait to try these out in some of my art). It was at the Brooklyn Art Library (a part of the Art House Coop). If you don't know about the Art House Coop, you totally have to check them out! 

One of their projects is the Sketchbook Project. Has anyone done it? There are 10,000 sketchbooks along this wall! I am thinking about signing up for the 2012 Sketchbook project. I have to sign up by Oct. 31st! I was talking to someone who works at the library about how intimidated I was, and she was helpful in calming my fears about it! :) 

Now I just have to go back to the library when the sketchbooks are available for checkout so I can get inspired by the creativity!!!

I also love the place for all the vintage things they have there!!

Knitting

A friend from work had been talking about Groupon off and on last year, sharing some of the deals she's found. I didn't actually think it sounded like anything I was interested in... until I checked it out this summer and found CLASSES on there! In September, I took a sewing class (now I just need a sewing machine!) The other day, she came to work and told me that knitting & crocheting classes had been posted! We both bought the Groupon - she's taking a crocheting class & I'm taking the knitting class (just what I was waiting to see posted!) 

The class is 3 sessions. The first one, we started a simple scarf - which I have to complete by this Monday (Eeek! I'm not even through one roll of my yarn & I have to do all 3!!! Weekend Homework!)

***Colors might be off... Photos were taken with my iPhone.

In the next session, we are learning to purl (I think), and in the last session, we'll learn to knit on a round! I can't wait & I'm excited to feel some success with it so far, even though I have a ways to go before I complete the scarf!

I Should Be a Nanny

Monday, on my day off, I spent a few hours practicing my other calling as a Nanny :) Sweet baby C (the one I shared photos of a couple weeks ago) spent his first hours away from his momma... He was pretty chill about it. Momma, on the other hand, text not long after leaving (I can't imagine), but we sent her a photo to show her that her sweet baby was fine! I hung out with him in the middle of his mid-day nap. He woke for a short time to eat, get his diaper changed, and fall back asleep (although, he was trying hard not to). 

dear city sunset,

boating in central park

Books

Lately, I haven't been reading as much as I'd like to be reading... but I have done a bit of reading over the last 2 months...

Most recently, I finished (FINALLY) Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. I think I've been reading this book for over a year, slowly, off and on, a few pages every couple days, until the end, when the romances started - I then dedicated my subway reading to the book :) 

I quite enjoyed the book & want to watch the movies now. I have also ordered Little Men (the sequel) from paperbackswap.com. I would love to name a daughter Josephine and call her Jo, after Jo in the book (if only I could convince Seth, and, well, have a daughter ;) 

The book I finished before that was The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. I cried immediately upon starting the book. It's told from a dogs point-of-view. I enjoyed the book, especially the messages imbedded in the rules of racing parts.

We read this book for our October book club. Most of the girls didn't actually enjoy the book - they happen to claim to NOT love dogs. At all. I agree with some of the arguments... Stuff just keeps happening to Denny. Bad thing after bad thing. But I still enjoyed the book. I'd recommend it to dog lovers for sure. It's a quick and easy read.

For this last book club, we read two books since we would not be meeting for two months (we all know September is guaranteed craziness!) The second book we read was One Day by David Nicholls. 

I wish I'd never read it. It was horrible. A waste of my time. The characters had NO chemistry. I have no idea why they kept going back to each other. And the traumatic ending - well, I had to reread to even catch what happened... As did most of the others in book club. This author should stick to writing something other than chick lit. I was not impressed. (Although, I'll probably still watch the movie when it comes out on DVD ;) 

I'm currently reading two books... My friend gave me The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami. I'm only about 75 pages in and haven't picked it up for a couple weeks... It needs to pick-up soon. I will finish it, eventually. He said it was one of his favorite books.

I also started (as in, I'm on page 2) Gone With the Wind. This will probably be like Little Women. I'll read a few pages a day, and it'll take me AGES to complete it. As long as I'm always reading a classic ;)

And, while I'm talking about books... Our next book club book was announced: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. I haven't picked it up yet, but I will hopefully be getting it this week. Has anyone read this yet?

Sunset

Earlier this week I caught the sun setting as I took the Q across the East River and back into Brooklyn. I realize how much I miss getting a glimpse of the sunset from the Manhattan Bridge. There was a time when I took the train across the bridge every day.

On another note, we are pretty sure we saw the protesters from Wall Street walking across that bridge last weekend. Before they all got fined... Hmmmm... I need to catch up on what is going on down there. (I am the worst at following many current events...)

I Love This Guy!