two small things

two things from last night that i wanted to share.

i was leaving class on my way to meet chris for dinner
and it was drizzling  a bit. i've learned how to walk like a
New Yorker, barreling through people without
stopping to look around, but for some reason as I crossed
 7th avenue, I looked to the left. I was struck by how beautiful
Times Square looked. Usually, Times Square is a gross,
messy zoo, but yesterday, something was so lovely about
the lights, and the traffic, and the colors all diffused by the drizzly sky. 

i was at a duane reade when i saw this shelf of ice cream.
what the hell new york? you don't eat ice cream???

chicago!

Hi my friends, can you tell I am trying to do right by you by posting a bunch? I know I neglected you guys for so long, so I'm trying to make it up to you right now.

During columbus day weekend, chris took me to Chicago as an early birthday surprise. I was definitely surprised when he told me what we were going to do (i may have shed a tear or two ... you know me ....). I couldn't believe it! throughout our entire dating relationship, we have wanted to go to chicago because it is a city that i love so much. i have often told chris stories about the good times i had while attending wheaton, and have always ended those stories with, "can't wait to go there with you someday!"

well it finally happened and even though i was kind of stressed out about how i was going to get away with not doing any reporting for a FULL weekend! eek! I did my best to not think about it and just have a good time. let's jump into the photos, shall we?

when i'm happy, i tend to assume this stance, not sure why.
But I was pretty damn happy! But also really cold.
Here we are in downtown chicago.

Did I mention we were cold? look at how red my nose is!
 I keep wanting to tell new yorkers, I have seen winter,
and it is TERRIBLE!

Chris hates when I insist on photos. Here he is
hating my insistence that I take a photo.

We took the El a lot because it was so much more fun
than plummeting through underground darkness.
but here we are waiting underground for a blue train?
red train? can't remember. the best part, though,
is when you feel the train elevating and suddenly
you burst out into the city, weaving between buildings
that can sometimes come as close as a few
feet from your train window!

we stopped to eat at one of my favorite brunch spots,
ann sather's, where every entree comes with 2 huge cinnamon buns!

look at that gooey melty deliciousness!

no visit to chicago is complete without a
visit to the bean! it was a gorgeous day

there's that stance again. I was happy bc I had an
intelligentsia coffee ... and I was in Chicago!

look who we ran into! hi hannah! (we missed you uno)

 

one of the trip highlights was an architectural
boat tour. Chris and I were totally geeking out!
Aren't the buildings lovely?

that skyline ... it's just not fair.

and here we are at the top of sear's tower.
this is just after i stepped out onto the skydeck,
which chris was not too happy about.

we got to the sear's tower right at sunset and watched the
city lights brighten as the sky went dark. it was perfect.

Thanks so much Christopher for a great birthday!

fun photo time

i'm long overdue for a photo dump -- here are some pics of life in new york!

this popular mexican eatery in our neighborhood, fort greene, BK,
has a big outdoor seating area. on this particular night, they were
showing one of the old superman films (was it 2? 3?) against a building
wall. Chris and I were transfixed.

here is our new "grocery store." gone are the days when we shopped
at giant or whole foods or trader joe's. these days all of our food
comes from this little deli around the corner from chris's place.
it is actually one of the more affordable deli's, but i'm sure
if i told you the prices, you'd be pretty shocked.

chris and me on a walk around our hood.

while reporting near campus, i walked into the church of saint mary the virgin
to see what was up. this fabulous sign greeted me at the door :)

a really beautiful little archway in my neighborhood beat, Crown Heights, Brooklyn

one time chris was talking about something and mentioned "the big inflatable rats."
I stopped him right there ... the inflatable whats??? He was like, "You know? The big rats
that strikers inflate to shame their companies? Don't worry, you'll see them
somewhere." sure enough, a few weeks into my program I was sent to cover a
stagehands union protest and was SO DELIGHTED to see the rats for myself.
quite compelling, aren't they? read more about them here. 

one really bad weekend, I had my work cut out for me.
I had to do some radio reporting and a photo essay
and would have to work all weekend to complete it.
to placate my worries, I decided to get up early on saturday
morning and have myself a really good relaxing
brunch at a somewhat fancy schmancy restaurant in my hood.
it was a GREAT decision. 

so, the unglamourous side of reporting: I had to get up really
early to try and get some photos of a store opening up for the day.
the store owner said she would be there around 9 a.m., so I
arrived at 8:45, so as not to miss anything. Nobody arrived
until about 10:30, and I waited out in the cold the entire time.
i took this self portrait to show chris how sad i was. haha.
don't i look just awful?

But here was my reward: After spending the entire morning
waiting for the shop owner, and then photographing the shop,
I rewarded myself with a HUGE chicken parm sandwich.
well earned, if I say so myself!

long time no see

Hi friends, it's been a while.

School is in full swing and my comfortable, overfed, overly rested, overly consumeristic lifestyle has been replaced with .... no semblance of a life whatsoever. haha. my life is my work at this point and i try to eke out enough time for christopher and that's about it.

it's a shame, right? Because i have finally moved to new york city, the epicenter of culture and life and food and entertainment, etc., and all i can do is sort of watch it go by. no money, no time, and a lot of shit to get done. it's been a little rough.

this month has been the toughest thus far. the deadlines are coming at us fast and furious, and we barely have time to come up for air. not only are we trying to report on a variety of issues in our neighborhoods, but we are also trying to report these stories in multiple mediums. at one moment, it's a radio story, so you're busting your butt trying to get good audio. The next moment it's for TV and you're trying to figure out lighting and footage and angles. and then suddenly, it's a photo essay. we've all lost our minds!

but the other day, a friend posted a nice reminder on facebook: you don't have to, you get to.

WOW. that hit home for me, because for so long I felt like I was looking and looking for a chance to do some real deal reporting, and I never got the opportunity. Now I finally GET to do it! I have to keep reminding myself of this when the going gets tough.

i don't have anything fun and/or frivolous to report on, but here's a tidbit: my style has been reduced to function. i no longer take any pleasure in wearing a nice frock. when i get up in the morning, all i think is, what can i wear that will make me look semi-respectable and make my day as comfortable and easy as possible. this explains why journalists tend to dress rather simply. in my experience, it's good for a journalist to wear: black because you look acceptable in almost every situation and you never know what you will be covering that day (art show, city commission hearing, meeting with clergy, you name it); flat comfortable walking shoes because it is not fun walking the streets with foot pain (i learned this the hard way); and a jacket with pockets to carry your press badge, your notepad, and your cellphone, because you never know when you have to whip that stuff out. honestly, if i could wear a hunter's vest with pockets, i totally would! actually .... (searches them on amazon)

lastly, i thought i'd share a radio story I got to do in my neighborhood. can i tell you how much respect i have for radio reporters? it's not easy getting good, interesting audio that will actually compel someone to stop whatever they're doing around the house and LISTEN to their radios.

this is as close as i got to making something interesting during my first radio class. let me know what you think!

Me 'n E

My first NYC guests were none other than E and his family! It was a short visit, but so nice :)

be brave. fear less.

hello my long lost friends! it has been a while, hasn't it? i haven't forgotten about you, as i will prove later on on this blog, but how cruel of me to drop a huge life-change bomb on you and then leave you hanging for almost an entire month. a thousand apologies.

so i am currently typing on a brand new laptop that i opened today, with a brand new haircut which I got yesterday, in a tiny room in Brooklyn, NY! if i close my eyes, i can mentally transport myself into my little room on 16th St., just two miles from the White House. But when I open my eyes, it's evident that that little room is long gone. how can this be?

at the end of last month, I indeed moved from Washington, DC, my HOME for four years, to Brooklyn, NY. the few days before and after the move were the most difficult of all. not only did moving become a logistical nightmare, but i became completely distraught about leaving our great community of friends and family in the DC, VA, MD area.

two days before the big move, Chris and I invited our friends to celebrate with us over burgers and fries at Shake Shack. why why why did we plan such a torturous farewell? it was tough to see so many of our dearest people, all the while knowing that we would be saying goodbye at the end of the night.

you guys, i took it really hard. it's "get real" time on vintagejeannie. upon arrival in new york, I sort of became a shut in. everything was unfamiliar and ... just ... NOT HOME, you know? the smells and sounds were foreign and i felt like my entire knowledge base of restaurants, routes, metro lines, pretty parks, fun shopping -- all of that carefully curated knowledge was just wiped out. NO RELEVANCE HERE, new york said. ALL YOUR PRECIOUS RESEARCH? ALL YOUR EXPLORATIONS IN DC? worth nothing. but worse was feeling like i had no friends in the city. YOUR PEEPS? THEY'RE NOT HERE. start over. begin again.

I became paralyzed with fear. I didn't leave the apartment almost all day. the only time I ventured out was to meet chris when he finished work. but during the day, i sat on the couch watching old episodes of The Office several hours straight. pathetic!

but finally ... FINALLY, with chris's gentle chiding, I tiptoed out into the city. the first day that I went out on my own, I think I went to the Target about 3 blocks away to pick up some random toiletries and household items. that was about all I did that day. but then each day, I would try something new until I finally ventured on the subway by myself into the city to run some errands for school, but also to explore parts of the city on my own.

guess what? i gave new york a shot, and new york rewarded me in return. i'm really learning to enjoy this city (more on that in subsequent posts to come).

on one of those early days, chris and i went for a bike ride through brooklyn and on the way home i caught glimpses of two phrases that have stuck with me: one cafe that i peeked into had painted "Be Brave" on one of their walls. Hm, i thought. OK. tuck that one away. then, a few minutes later, we passed some graffiti on a wall that said, "Fear Less." I almost had to roll my eyes, it was so obvious! GOT IT. message received. haha.

so that's my motto for the next year and a half, anyway. I'm going to be brave and fear less. there are so many places in my life where this is applicable: in my reporting, in my relationships, in my approach to life. it's time to confront my fears, to be brave, fear less, and try new things.

as an added bonus, hopefully this experiment will yield slightly more interesting posts for you to enjoy :) here's hoping, anyway. stay tuned ...

funemployment

if you can afford to do it, i highly recommend not working for a season of your adult life. i don't speak these words lightly since i know that for many, the razor thin line between "making it" and "not making it" is a really big deal. frankly, i'm not thrilled to be living the next 1.5 years of my life on borrowed money (more on that later in the week), but i have just had to make peace with my decision to go back to school ... in new york, the most expensive city in the country ... in my late 20s, when i should be saving and preparing for a family. i've made peace with it. really, i have. really.

ok, not fully yet, but i'm trying.

that doesn't mean, however, that i am not fully enjoying my time off of work. i ended my job last friday and don't start classes until Aug. 20, so i have a full month to do stuff! yes, i have some plans (moving to new york, visiting my family, prepping for school, building a professional website, etc.), but i'm also going to indulge myself a little with all this free time :) here's what i've been doing this week:

went to my friend's kid's soccer practice

watched "you've got mail" about 3 times

                                      played guitar

packed!

There is still so much left to do before we move on Sunday, but we are getting closer. My room is starting to get that "empty space" look. it's strange to be leaving this place. there were so many good memories here! moving is tough man. so many people and places to say goodbye to.