Back in Action, Back in Nashvegas

Finally, here is my NYC update!!

I have been so busy since I got back, with work, and more importantly, with getting WRVU back up and in shape, music-wise. More about that later though.


So I had been feeling pretty bored and lacksadaisical lately, and I think my trip really helped alleviate some of that. Travelling has always been one of my favorite things to do. I went to visit good friends of our family, Tuija and her husband Jussi, who are Finnish. Tuija stayed with us as an exchange student when she was 16 and I was 6, and has always been the big sister I never had. She had her first child, Alton, 10 months ago, and they moved to Brooklyn a few months ago (they had lived in NYC before, but their VISA expired and so they moved back to Helsinki. Now they have permanent residency). So I was very excited to see them!


Alton is the cutest baby I have ever seen! Adorable, and very well behaved for a 10 month old! Their apartment is in a brownstone in the Carroll Gardens area of Brooklyn, which was very quaint, quiet, yet trendy and inviting. The main drag, Smith St, had some great shops and bars. I was impressed! And their apartment itself was very roomy, with a fantastic view of lower Manhattan.


Tuija has always been notorious with our family for her marathon walking abilities, and on this trip I walked more than I have in literally years. It was exhausting, but felt great to go to bed at night! I've been so listless lately, I kind of forgot what it's like to really be alive. god that's cheesy, but true! when your body aches, it sucks, but it's also incredibly rewarding. So I am determined to slowly grow out of my slothly ways. Granted, it is much easier to do lots of walking in NYC than in Nashvilly, but I am trying to at least be active and go do stuff, even if i can't walk there.

So where did I walk so much? Tuija and I (and Alton, in his stroller) explored I think the whole of the East Village and Lower East Side. It was really cool! We also went around the DUMBO area (forgot what that stands for...), which is in Brooklyn right by all the bridges that connect it to Manhattan. Such a cool area!!! Click on the above picture to see my photos from the trip.

One day I went around by myself in the Lower East Side, which was fun, but kind of lonely after awhile! I checked out some really cool bars and clubs that Melody Nelson recommended to me. I was really impressed with this gorgeous restaurant called Libation. It was crazy: I went in at about 8-8:30 on a Tuesday, and it was deserted! But I had a great glass of Albarino and a lovely Apple Tart and talked with the very nice bartender, Tim. He is a photographer, check out his stuff. It was nice to have my loneliness quelled with some conversation, at least for a little while, and even though he had no choice since I was his only customer!

After that, I went to a show at Rothko. I don't even remember who the bands were, they weren't very memorable. But it was a pretty cool venue.

OF course, I had to do some shopping while there. I had intended to get a bunch of cool stuff from tiny boutiques in the lower east side, but when i actually went in these tiny boutiques, the prices were waaaay outa my range. And the clothes, though handmade, looked so ultra-bohemian, I saw it as a strange contradiction: you have to be rich to look bohemian. Crazy. So I went to one of my fave stores, Urban Outfitters. Still not cheap, but somewhat in my price range. I also got some cute chinese beaded slippers at the Pearl River Mart. As for record shopping, I went to the hallowed Other Music, but aside from a few local CD-Rs, one of which I got for Austin (and it's really good!), most of the things they had I could just get here at Grimey's. Oh well, it was fun browsing and being around all these other music nerds.


All in all, my trip was way too short, and I can't wait to go back. I loved riding the subway with my iPod (certain music just sounds cooler in that setting! ultra urban). I missed out on going to the new MoMa, because the morning I tried to go was the same day I was leaving, and at 10am, there was a line wrapped around the building! There is nothing I hate more than crowded museums. Having to elbow your way in to read the info on a painting . . . screw that. At least I would have had my iPod to drown out the uninformed chatter of the other patrons (how many times have i heard, in response to modern art especially, "I could have done that! it's just a white square!" even though I too think Albers is a fraud :) I'm a hypocrite, yeah!). Soooo I went shopping instead. It was weird because before that day, I was so overwhelmed by both my exhaustion and the immense amount of choices stretching in front of me on Broadway, Houston, Ludlow and etc, that I essentially froze and couldn't buy anything the first two days. But luckily I got over my paralysis on the last day, and got the cute things aforementioned.


Tuija was an amazing host, and she is a great mother! I was so honored to get to spend her first mother's day with her, and can't wait to visit my "big sis" again soon :)


As I mentioned, the trip exhilerated me, and I've been trying to keep with my schedule of getting up earlier and doing more! The music directing has been a huge help. Stay tuned for more on that!


Click the above pic for more pictures!