Thursday Thirteen #4

13 Things I Love About New York

1) The UWS - Beautiful brownstones, boutiques, brunch places, and easy access to Central Park. I think Raj and I might start looking for places up there in a few weeks. I would love to live there.

2) Central Park - I love how stepping just a few feet into the park brings a refreshing drop in the temperature, a nice breeze, and a sense of serenity. Sheep's Meadow, the lakes, and the winding paths through the trees are all beautiful. Every time I go, I think to myself that I have to go more often.

3) Nolita - A couple weeks ago I had the best day wandering down Prince, Spring, Mott, and Mulberry street, shopping, people watching, sipping coffee, snacking on hazelnut gellato, and appreciating how lucky I am to live in this city.

4) Diversity - Every day I walk among, work with, hear the languages, smell the foods, and see the faces of people of all backgrounds, races, and cultures. Even though some of them, like the hipsters, annoy me at times, I like that we all exist together.

5) The Choice of Anonymity - Living among millions of people, doing the commute each morning packed together like sardines, it's surprisingly easy to become lost in the crowd, easy to be left alone so that you can do your own thing without comment or interference. I think it comes from New Yorkers cultivating the talent to ignore all the craziness around them; part self-defense, part politeness. I know I've developed the same skill.

6) Museums - They make me sleepy but I love that they're at my fingertips for the moments that I'm drawn to explore them. I love the Rubin Art Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and have yet to explore the MOMA and hundreds of smaller museums and galleries.

7) Restaurants, Bars, and Clubs - There is an infinite number of choices with new ones opening each week. Although I'm not a fan of dropping lots of money on food (I prefer spending my money on clothes, tangible things, trips, or investing it), I do appreciate a fine meal on occasion, and find it entertaining to check out the various scenes in the city. Having a glass of wine at a cozy table with Raj, and being still, is one of my favorite things to do. I have to have brunch at Pastis, but it's on my list.

8) Shopping - From Bloomingdales to boutiques, every kind of shopping experience is here for the taking. I like Bloomingdales for make-up and boutiques for jeans shopping. Every time I see a Tibetan shop I can't help myself from walking inside, although I rarely by anything. Every shop has its own smell and vibe, usually due to a particular scented candle. I wish my apartment smelled as nice as some of those stores.

9) Convenience - There is a gym within five streets of almost every location in Manhattan, along with a coffee shop, dry cleaners, and nail salon. The city is made for those that work, and have limited time to get the basic necessities of life (yes, I just called dry cleaning, manicures, and coffee "basic necessities"). But seriously, each minute you don't have to waste on errands frees you up to enjoy and maximize the hours you have free from work. Nothing wrong with that.

10) Walking - I have gotten to know this city by pounding the pavement. I have a pretty good feel for the East side, the UWS, and Chelsea, but I still have the northern part of the Park, the Village, and way downtown to explore. Every 20 blocks = a mile. It's amazing how many miles you can walk without noticing the distance you've covered here.

11) Visitors - People come to New York often, either on business or to visit. When I was in Michigan, my family didn't visit until they had to on the date of my graduation. Since living in New York, even though my family still lives in Texas, I've seen them more frequently than I did before moving here, which makes me very happy.

12) The Energy - I feel as though I'm living at a center of things. Even though I'm completely not at the center of anything - not even my law firm - I like the feeling that things are happening here, all around me. There is an energy and a vitality that pulses through the city. Sometimes I find it exhausting, sometimes exhilarating. It's nice to get away from, but even better to come back home to.

13) The Tiny Apartment I Share - The romantic part of me loves the fact that I'm living with my boyfriend in a tiny little apartment with ancient AC, a leaky bathtub faucet, a bedroom that's only an inch wider than our bed, only one drawer in the kitchen, and a family room too small for a couch larger than a love seat. It's so young love in New York! Even though we both mention often that we would like a bigger place - and trust me, I have some grand plans for our UWS future - I know I'll look back at this time with nostalgia in a few years from now.

Links to other Thursday Thirteens! (leave your link in comments, I'll add you here!)

1. My Two Cents
2. Gypsy
3. Caledonia
4. Amy
5. Minerva Jane
6. Mar
7. Trouble
8. Nyasha
9. Darla
10. Terrilynn
11. Shannon
12. Carmen
13. Friday's Child
14. Zeus
15. Kailani
16. Tink
17. Norma
18. JennyRyan

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