Life through a lens

My iPhone camera roll  is absolutely huge.  Full of pictures of shoes, outfits, cocktails, selfies and other random moments, I love flicking through it and reminding myself of things I’ve done.

I know it’s been a long time since I last posted, so in lieu of a full update here is a brief run-down of the last 6 or so weeks since I was last here, as seen through the lens of my iPhone.

We created our own private hunting lodge

Home, February 23rd

I mixed two of my favorite things – champagne and fast cars

BA lounge, JFK airport, March 2nd

I went to Berlin not once, but twice

Checkpoint Charlie, March 3rd

Brandenburg Gate, April 5th

I shopped til I dropped (for a change)

Home (after a trip to Woodbury Commons), March 15th

I did a safari in an uncomfortable, smelly but super cool Trabbi

Berlin, April 2nd

And I saw something I never thought I’d see – the Kremlin and Red Square

Kremlin, April 9th

Red Square, April 9th

 

Until next time, folks…

What’s making me happy this week

One of my favorite podcasts is NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour.  I love the hosts, I love the way they have a very real take on the latest movie releases, TV shows and other cultural goings on.  I also love the recurring feature, ‘what’s making us happy this week’.  And because it’s a Friday, because I’ve just done something that’s made me very happy, and because I’ve just listened to the latest PCHH podcast, I thought that was inspiration enough for a new blog post.

So, what’s making me happy this week?

Making good progress on my training plan

The week started in a challenging fashion when I had to work out on the damn trainer for 90 minutes.   I thought I was going to get incredibly bored.  And I kinda did.  But I also kinda didn’t.  And I uncovered a new revelation tonight, trainer karaoke.  This is the thing I just did that’s made me very happy, for those of you that were wondering.  The time goes all kinds of fast when you are singing along to your favorite tunes at the top of your voice.  I pity the neighbors though.  Don’t try that one in a terraced house…

Going to my first book club meeting

Yes, I know used to belong to a book club, so this isn’t my first EVER meeting.  But it is the first meeting of my new US-based book club.   And I really enjoyed it.  We read Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch which was a good (but very long) read.  Her writing has a very dark edge to it and none of the characters were entirely likable, but overall I did find I enjoyed it.  Next on the list is Sycamore Row by John Grisham.  Somehow I have made it through 30+ years of my life without ever having read a John Grisham, so the first order of tonight’s business is watching A Time To Kill in order to familiarize myself with the characters.

Finally getting my personal email inbox under control

This week I finally signed up to Unroll.me, a free inbox management service that takes all your subscriptions and combines them into one rolled-up email that is delivered to your inbox daily.  This has been an absolute revelation for me.  No longer do I have to sift through 9,000 Living Social Deals every day.  I recommend this service to everyone.

A couple of online shopping wins

This morning I had bagged a bargain before 7am, through the medium of Bloomingdale’s one day homeware spectacular.  Now Bloomie’s are one of the worst email offenders because they are ALWAYS having some form of irritating sale.  But every now and again, they have a good sale.  A sale that has things I actually need.  And today was that day.  I have been thinking about buying a food processor over here for a while; I used to have one in the UK and I used it regularly enough that being without one is more than a minor inconvenience.  So I was very pleased with myself today when I bought a KitchenAid food processor for about a third of the original price.  I also bought a waffle iron.  People who know me know just how much I have been wanting one of these.  For years.  So now we will be able to give even better B&B service to our visitors!

Getting an American education

For my Secret Santa present, I was given a huge pile of DVDs that all American teenagers (and quite a lot of English ones too, judging by the reaction on my Facebook post) watched growing up.  To give me the US education I’d missed out on.  I’m gradually working my way through; last week it was The Breakfast Club.  This week, Sixteen Candles.  I loved them both, for different reasons.  And wow, Jake Ryan…  How big a crush would I have had on him if I’d watched Sixteen Candles when I was an impressionable teenager…

Discovering a new place in NYC

Last week I was feeling pretty low.  Definitely a case of the seasonal blues, brought on in part by the hugely depressing polar vortex.  So on Sunday I decided to accompany M into the city and killed some time whilst he was at work.  I wandered around Central Park in the snow.  I had a coffee and read my book at Starbucks in Trump Towers (one of my favorite touristy things to do).  But I also had an NYC first.  I went to The Frick.  It was the best of both worlds for me – a beautiful old house, with beautiful old art in it.  Unfortunately, in a way, I’d just missed the exhibition where The Goldfinch (the painting which inspired Donna Tartt’s book) was shown.  But in a way this was actually fortunate, because it meant the gallery was really quiet.  Sundays between 11am and 1pm you can pay what you want for the entry fee, but I paid the full recommended amount of $20.  I thought it was good value and I’d recommend it to anyone.  An hour well spent.

 

So that’s this week’s round up.  I’ll leave you with a picture of something that made me happy on Saturday: seeing how beautiful the Botanical Gardens were in the snow.  The polar vortex does have some benefits.

Ponderings of a commute

Or, find the silver lining.

In case you missed it, my office moved into New Jersey a couple of weeks ago. I have now gone from a very short couple of miles commute to a rather longer, 52 mile one. And you know what? It hasn’t been all that bad.

Be thankful for the reverse
Ah, the reverse commute. Does this expression exist in the UK? If it does, I hadn’t heard it. It’s not rocket science though. It essentially means that you’re traveling in the opposite direction to everyone else. Which I am luckily doing. I go from NY across to NJ whereas many more people come from NJ to work in NYC.

I admit that the extent of this phenomenon did amaze me. I cross the River Hudson at 6:30am. I use the Tappan Zee Bridge, which is well north of Manhattan. Yet even at that time of day, it’s chockablock with traffic headed into the city. This is why the power of the reverse commute should never be underestimated.

Consider your vehicle
Fuel efficiency was my main concern when getting my new car, and little Rowan has not disappointed. I can get 37mpg which is phenomenal in America, the land of huge gas guzzling vehicles. This, combined with New Jersey’s cheap gas prices, means that I am only paying about $35 a week for my 400-ish miles of driving. And that’s for premium gas, not regular. I dread to think how much this would cost in England.

Become an early bird
I now get up at 5:30am every day. This is, of course, all kinds of wrong. But there are two significant silver linings here: the first, missing the traffic. The second, the blissful hour of productivity I get in the office before anyone else arrives.

Discover new things
I don’t know where I’ve been for the last 10 years but somehow I have only just discovered the world of podcasts. Every day this week, my commute has been filled with BTCC, NASCAR, BBC World News, Radio 4 comedy, TV and music. Living in America it can sometimes be difficult to get a handle on what’s going on around the world. For me, podcasts are filling this gap nicely.

Of course, I’m only two weeks in. And the weather so far has been pretty good. But, all things considered, this experience could have been a whole lot worse. And because it hasn’t been, I am thankful.

Want to read more?
I did a few short posts marking the first week of my life as a commuter. You can read them here:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5

Diary of a commute: day 5

Work from home day.

Productivity.

Lie in (yes, 7am is a lie in if you normally get up at 5:30am).

No driving.

And that’s all I have to say about that.

Diary of a commute: day 4

Miles travelled: 104 (first day driving to and from my own house instead of picking someone else up first)
Minutes of traffic encountered: 0
Weather conditions: still beautiful
Leaves: changing every day
Irresponsible, selfish, tailgating New Jersey drivers: 1 (for some reason even the 87/287 split was relatively calm yesterday)
Geocaches searched for: 0 (M was on caching duty)
Geocaches found: 0
Net calorie gain/loss: loss, as it’s spin day
State of mind: negative, due to a day spent on challenging work tasks
Other comments: I may knock New Jersey but the cheap, full serve gas sure makes up for the other stuff. And, working standing up is a revelation. I love my new fully adjustable desk. Even if it does make me feel like I should be drinking and/or serving beers.

Diary of a commute: day 3

Miles travelled: 10 (by car), 40 (by train)
Minutes of traffic encountered: 0
Weather conditions: vacation weather (sigh)
Leaves: will need clearing from the back garden sooner rather than later
Irresponsible, selfish, tailgating New Jersey drivers: 0. Mainly because I stayed firmly in New York
Geocaches searched for: 1
Geocaches found: 1 (on second attempt)
Net calorie gain/loss: loss, due to yoga and a very healthy dinner
State of mind: pleased to get more than 8 hours sleep
Other comments: today was definitely a day for drinking prosecco in the sunshine. A shame I had to be working.

Diary of a commute: day 2

Miles travelled: 110
Minutes of traffic encountered: 0 (I could get used to this)
Weather conditions: unseasonably warm (80F!)
Leaves: beautiful fall colors
Irresponsible, selfish, tailgating New Jersey drivers: 2
Geocaches searched for: 1
Geocaches found: 1
Net calorie gain/loss: loss, due to 3 mile run after work
State of mind: loving the quiet hour of work from 7:30-8:30am when nobody else is in
Other comments: fuel efficiency on the Mini is superb. Over 250 miles done and not even halfway down the tank.

Diary of a commute: day 1

Today marked day 1 of my new life as a road warrior. Well, as a commuter at least. Here’s how it went.

Miles travelled: 110
Minutes of traffic encountered: 0 (woop woop!)
Weather conditions: fine, sunny, warm.
Leaves: turning.
Irresponsible, selfish, tailgating New Jersey drivers: 3.
Geocaches searched for: 2.
Geocaches found: 1.
Net calorie gain/loss: break even I think, due to a lot of back-and-forth walking in our massive office.
State of mind: better than expected.