Friday Favorites - New York City Edition

 Happy Friday! I've made it through a fourth week of no place of employment to check in on/with and I could get used to this - ha! This week was a little different since we had a last-minute run out of town but still, I find I'm looking forward to next week just to see what comes along. . .there's a reason God has me in this season and I'm embracing it rather than trying to get out of it as quickly as possible (which is my default). Here we go - it was a GREAT week of new beginnings for our October girl! If you're going to end Year 25 with a new world in front of you, she's done it!!Off to NYC with her dad after church Sunday. They both took turns driving and made it to their destination (her friends Jess & Henry's place) about midnight.

Sunrise from seat 26F on a flight to Newark Monday morning! Yes!! Truly, I love having a place to go :)

These two sweeties picked me up about 9:30 curbside and Jess has already learned the ways of driving in NJ/NY. I went to New Jersey when I was 19 or 20 and decided then and there that I could NEVER drive here. Still true.

The mission, of course, was to move Laura into her new digs. She was able to park this bad boy at Jess & Henry's place overnight - they moved here in July, renting from a church they are working with who allow them to use their parking lot. A crazy good deal for them (and they know it!). 

Side note: while Jess & Laura were picking me up, Tom walked around this area - his dad grew up two streets over! Pretty cool to visit this place Fred talks about so often - Tom's grandparents had moved and settled back to North Carolina by the time Tom was born so he had never been here. I asked if he took a picture - obviously the answer was "no" :/

And here's Laura's new place - street view and looking out from her front porch. She found two roommates online (I KNOW) and the one had moved in the previous week (she's from NC) and the other is moving in next week - she's from NM. They both have the same name, isn't that random? So KA is there and KB is coming. KA seemed really nice - she works in the fitness industry from home. That's about all I got. The girls are all on the top floor - three beds, two baths, a kitchen, living area and, believe it or not, a ton of closets!! Apparently before this space became available to them, someone had lived there for 30 years. The second floor looked to have two apartments (the super is in one - really nice guy, nephew to the owner), one unit on the main floor (???) and Tom thinks someone rents the basement too. It seems like a really nice neighborhood.

This is her street - and we got to experience fall in New York! Both Tom and I were surprised at the amount of green space and trees in the city. I know it's a big deal to the city to make sure they retain all of this and those efforts are appreciated. I can't imagine how difficult it is to do.

Two very narrow flights of stairs to climb (two landings too, I think) - look at the beautiful stained glass!!

And here is most of it. She put it all in the living room since there is a door directly into her bedroom from there - you can see it on the left in the below picture - her bed now blocks the door. I think she'll like having her bed under the window.

I guess I didn't get many pictures of her place - maybe I thought we'd be back, but once we unboxed the majority of her things and made her bed we left for an evening ferry into Manhattan and never came back. She's wondering if her bedroom was once a dining room - there are three doors coming into the room as well as a bathroom door (yes, she has her own bathroom (!!!) - the other girls took the "bigger" rooms in exchange sharing a bathroom) and two closets, that both have doors. Strange set-up but enough space for her.

Between unloading the truck and unpacking her stuff Jess & Henry treated us all to lunch:

You can't go to NYC and not have pizza, right? The tomato-sauce one is what this place is known for - I had TWO pieces of it!! We got to eat outside - just a perfect day.

The Brooklyn College Chi Alpha team

 Walking to the Pier

I finally remembered to ask for a picture of all of us when we were waiting for the ferry.

Not a very full trip

This was my Facebook post of the day - sunrise in the air and sunset on the water :)

Our weekend hosts - the newlyweds!

Nighttime was such a good time to take the ferry to Manhattan. Laura found this place to eat - it was a GREAT choice.

It's a Mediterranean wrap place - they make all of their wraps there. Really, really good.

Laura got to sit in the swinging chair :) She and I shared the The Pack. People watching out the front window was the BEST.

We caught the ferry back, dropped Laura at her place, then headed back to Jess & Henry's - they had a spare bed for us :)

Tuesday morning Jess and Henry had to work - we had decided that Laura would meet us at their place at 8 a.m. - she wanted to get a feel for what the walk would look like for her. Both parties live about a mile from Brooklyn College, just in opposite directions. She said it took about 42 minutes and at that time of the day everyone was going somewhere so it was an easy walk. We headed out, ultimate destination was the 911 Memorial - I was allowed to choose ONE thing to do and this is what I thought I would most like to experience since we (Tom and I) lived through it in Dayton, Ohio, which is an Air Force town. Anyway, we weren't on a time table so we walked back to Brooklyn College together and caught a subway to the Borough Hall stop. They had a great Farmer's Market set up there - if I wanted to cook that is where I would have gone to get my fresh food!

We wanted coffee. . .we went to one place but it was full and I was chilly and would rather sit down somewhere. Laura said, "then we need to find an Arab or Christian place - those prioritize lingering." She found the BEST place. Of course we circled the block we'd already been on but eventually found it - it was Yemen. Everything was SO GOOD. She got a tea, Tom a coffee, and I got a mocha. Laura and I shared a spinach pastry and then one that the guy suggested that he said was traditional and freshly baked.

Laura is now 2 for 2 on her food choices and we are 3 for 3 overall!! I ended up going back up to the counter and ordering a chai tea to go because everything else had been so good and Laura and I both wanted to try that too. 

Laura's "want to do" that day was walk across the Brooklyn Bridge so we did that next. What a beautiful, gorgeous day it was!!!

Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass

I read a book (In Five Years) that referred to this area - now I can picture it better!

We went to the World Trade Center area and walked around the 9/11 Memorial Pools. Wow. What an experience. This has been put together so respectfully.

It is sincerely difficult to grasp the enormity of this tragedy. At night all the names around the pools are lit up - that is something I would like to see someday I think. The entire area has been well-thought-out I think. Before going to the museum we looked for a lunch spot and found this: 

We shared a burger and basket of onion rings - she put this on a growing list of places to take future visitors!

There was a guy outside (this was down the street from the 9/11 memorial) who was a 9/11 survivor that sets up every Tuesday and Saturday to tell his story. I wanted to go back after we finished the museum but Tom had had enough sadness for the day. I get it. I also hope that these people who want to share find people to share with - I understand the importance of wanting people to know what happened and not forget.

Here are some pictures I took at the museum (Tom called it a memorial - probably fitting) - it is worth your time and money if you ever have the chance to visit. Very well-done. 

It's still unimaginable, right? A minute in time right here, its significance not known yet. . .

We watched a couple movies - one from the perspective of all the government officials that day and another called Boatlift, which anyone can watch on YouTube. I never knew about this rescue operation and, again, having now been to this site can understand the desperation, confusion, and am proud of all the civilians that answered the call for help that day.

From here we just needed a walk - Tom wanted to take the ferry again but it was a little early to head back to Brooklyn where we were going to meet her friends for dinner so Laura suggested the Staton Island Ferry. Great idea!

We took the ferry there and back - that was a good experience! The wind was really high on the return trip and I'm the only one who sat outside - the sun was still up so that was great.

We sat by the water for a little bit, got a pretzel at a vendor, and headed back to Brooklyn via the Bowling Green station:

You walk into this tiny structure, go down the stairs, and WHAM - an entire world beneath the streets :)

You can tell the pride that was once put into these stations - here there were murals, in other stops beautiful tile and mosaic work. It's sad that these spaces aren't appreciated as much as they once were.

Walking through an area of Brooklyn that is usually depicted - the brownstones. . .

It was a tad chilly (and we all had over 20K steps for the day) so we ducked into a corner cheese shop for a snack and soda and played some cards while waiting for Jess and Henry to arrive to the area (Wild Park Slope) for dinner.

Had another people-watching seat!!

The restaurant they found was completely gluten-free!! Yay for Tom! Actually, YAY for all of us. . .it was delicious.

It was quaint and delicious. Many times Henry was curious about our thoughts on the city (he was born and bred in the south - as "southern" as they come, with generations living in the same small TN town) and I kept saying that I felt I had been in many different places in these two days - each area is so unique and different. This experience reminded me a lot of Europe - we were greeted at the door, encouraged to linger in this small, beautiful restaurant where everything was obviously hand-made.

We headed back to Jess & Henry's after this, played some cards

(we played 12 rounds of 7's - Henry wasn't going to stop until he won - and I never did :/) and Laura spent the night on the sofa so she could say goodbye to us in the morning. 

Henry generously took us to the airport at 7 a.m. (an Uber would have been over $100 - the traffic there is REAL!) and we had an uneventful flight back to Knoxville, TN. 

Our home, but no longer Laura's.

I finished this book on the plane. . .I can't believe I found a book of his I hadn't read in all this time!

The doggies were happy to see us, we got Radar out to the park, I ate leftovers and then went to play pickleball.

A week to remember - if not a FAVORITE, a really, really good one.

I sent these pictures to Tom and Laura the next morning when I had Radar at the park again - hoping Laura's New York morning was just as beautiful and solidifying that this is for us, right now.

Although it's the end of the day on Friday, I'll still link up with Erika and Andrea for Friday Favorites!

 Please go visit if you'd like to see what others are up to around blogland :)

Love,
Jenni