Brooklyn Botanic Gardens

I went to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens with Mom and Auntie Charlotte earlier this week. This place is amazing! Absolutely beautiful even at this time of year. We only managed to see about 1/2 of the area before mom's knee started complaining. I believe the garden is open year round and admission is a paltry 5 bucks. ($3 with valid student ID) There are various greenhouse rooms with different climates represented, hence the orchid and cactus shots. The Japanese hill and garden section was beautiful and we also went through an herb garden. I saw a plant there that I've never seen before: the Patchouli herb. I rubbed my fingers on the leaves and the scent of the hippie was released!

I've posted a set of photos onto my new flickr account. Check it out!

Brooklyn Botanic Garden Pics at Flickr

Coney Island

The one, the only, The Cyclone!

It's Official

visitors, sightseeing, halloween...

Betsy is here! Verizon forgot to give us the internet! We saw some art! And took a ride on the ferry! And stuff!

From the Metropolitan Museum of Art:
Monet or Manet? I always forget.

Hmm...What's this?

Modern!

Flag

Sexy Renoirs

Sculptures in the hall.

Riff and Andy.


Meanwhile on the other side of the park...

The Dakota:


Betsy at Imagine:


Starbucks great pumpkin caper:

ALL of our stuff

Last weekend we moved ALL of our stuff -and let me tell you, we have way too much stuff- from Melissa's parents house in PA. Uncle David and Marcus finished the bed and it looks great. Uncle Roddy was kind enough to lend us his time and chipper truck to move everything in. The drive got a little hairy in Jersey as we were re-routed to the Lincoln Tunnel, as the Holland Tunnel does not allow large trucks. Then we had to navigate from midtown to the Manhattan Bridge as the Williamsburg Bridge does not allow trucks... Brother Mark and William showed up to help unload and we got it done in no time and sent Roddy on his way back to PA. The pictures here are how the place looks now.. Very cozy!


The Bedroom


Livingroom


Kitchen


and Dining Room


Marta likes it up in the bed

Marta is a doorstop

Painting Part 2: The Living Room

It's a Tree! And a UFO! And a Jet Plane!

superbed part 2

Well its done! I think Tom put it best when he said "If David's built it, it will support a pair of mating rhinos." Now it gets sprayed with a clear coat, disassembled and trucked to Brooklyn. Yea!!!!!!!!

superbed

After acquiring the apartment in Brooklyn, it became increasingly apparent to us we would need to save space. With just about 400 sq. feet, a loft bed seemed the best idea. Looking at Ikea and browsing craigslist we realized that most loft beds were either too high, too rickety or didn't come in a queen size.

Luckily Melissa's Uncle David is a carpenter and offered his help, so for the past week and a half, I've been helping him construct a custom loft bed out of oak, I call it -SUPERBED, and we've got a nice pillow-top queen size mattress to go with it. David and I have almost finished it, unfortunately I haven't taken as many pictures of the process as I wanted to, but I've been working on it too so I have an excuse....

pics from the Manhattan bridge

Painting Part 1: The Bathroom

Our New (Humble) Home

a place to call home??

We have begun the application process for an apartment in brooklyn! Today we filled out the application and put down a deposit on a studio in the Clinton Hill neighborhood. It's not the space we had in Seattle, but it's got a big terrace and all new kitchen appliances. We will probably build a loft bed to add more living space. It also has an elevator (not to be taken for granted in nyc!) a gas stove, laundry in the building, a nice bathroom and two, yes two, big closets. Photos to come if our application is accepted...

Laundry Day

Apparently, laundry day is as much a part of being a new yorker as apartment hunting. Travis took us to real nice place. Be careful using the extractor, though. Your hat might fly off.

public service announcement

just a reminder

Dominoes

It's been hot, hot, hot here in Brooklyn town. After making dinner for friends, Travis & Naomi's place was a heat cave. So in true new york style we took the party to the streets for a game of dominoes.


We played "portrait to the left." Here are the results:











And the whole gang: