Don't you just LOVE New York in the fall?

Every day that I step out onto my sidewalk, I simply cannot help but think of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.

“Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your address.”

 

If you happen to be an avid lover of the works of Nora Ephron, you will recognize these words from the quintessential New York rom-com, You’ve Got Mail. It is an exclamation written in an email by Joe Fox to Kathleen Kelly in the early days of online dating.

Strange as it may sound, this simple line might very well be one of the reasons I ended up in this crazy town. Growing up in Helotes, Texas, I could only imagine what Joe was yammering on about in this autumnal rant of his. Of course, my teachers taught me all about the color-changing leaves of fall, but the lessons were a bit more theoretical than practical. I had never seen a season like the one Tom Hanks was singing praises about.

The very sound of his words seemed to ignite something in me: “Don't you just love New York in the fall?” I wanted to say that exact same phrase with that exact same level of emphasis and authority, and I quietly committed myself to one day being able to do so.

Today, I live in Brooklyn – Ditmas Park, to be specific – and though it is not exactly a stone’s throw from the Upper West Side-topia pictured in You’ve Got Mail, I still believe I know precisely what Joe was talking about.

Because, friends, I just LOVE New York in the fall!

And it’s not the pumpkin-spiced-latte kind of love or the elbow-patched-sweater kind. No, this is the real deal – the sort of feeling that changes the way you exist in the world, the kind that makes you want to open a bookstore or smell a bouquet of freshly-sharpened pencils for no particular reason at all.

Like so many theatrical depictions of New York City, I hoped and prayed that Joe’s emphatic declarations about seasonal beauty weren’t overstated. Now that I’m finally, finally here, I’m happy to report they weren’t.

I just love New York in the fall! Don’t you just LOVE New York in the fall?

By the way, if you enjoyed these pictures, I’ve got a treat for you. Head on over to From Rain to Shine right now to see some of these photos turned into a dreamy fall color story. While you’re there, be sure to tell the incomparably talented Jess that I said hey!

Blooming Things + The Married Writer

There are a lot of things about living in New York City that are a far cry from magical -- the garbage water that sits in still pools on the subway tracks, the cash-only restaurants without conveniently-located ATMs, the guy on the corner who says your butt in those jeans looks like two Christmas hams. It's not exactly a fantasy world, I realize this.

Still, there are a few things in this town that just never cease to dazzle me. One of those is the impressive display of blossoms that show up around this time of year. These flowers are positively everywhere, even in the trees. Flowers in TREES?! I mean, whoever heard of such a thing?! Certainly not this little lady from Texas, that's for sure. When I first saw New York's flowers last spring, I was in absolute awe, and after that horrible winter we just had, I could not be happier to see them again this year. I've been taking pictures like a madwoman, and here are a few of my favorites:

By the way, thanks to Ditmas Park Corner for sharing my picture with the rest of the neighborhood!

Like all good things in this world, these blooms will be gone before you know it, so get out there and experience them for yourself. And if you're from, say, Texas and you don't live around these flowers, go eat a breakfast taco or something BECAUSE YOU CAN!

Today I'm excited to introduce you to Rebecca Chapman who writes over at the blog "The Married Writer"!

Blog//Twitter//Facebook//Bloglovin'

As you can see by her preferred accessory in the above photo, Rebecca is a musician and singer/songwriter, living a fabulous life in Nashville, TN. You can check out some of her tunes over on the music tab of her page or you can even watch her do her thing on her Youtube channel. 

As her blog's title implies, she's newly married and absolutely loving it (girl, get it!). She describes herself as "a rehabilitated break-up song junkie no longer finding writing inspiration from relationship drama". In her recent post titled "32 Things That Make Me Happy", she sights her husband as #1 and at #2 she listed her "furry children" and followed it with this AMAZING picture:

Her dog, Penguin...dressed as a penguin...It's a miracle.

For a quick glimpse into Rebecca's life, check out her post, "13 Numbers That Shaped My 2013". There you can see what our friend was up to in the midst of what seems like a pretty stinking eventful 365 days (a wedding and major surgery within the same year? Yeah, this girl was a bit busy.)

So do yourself a favor and head on over to rebeccachapman.com right now, read all of the funny things her hubs has to say, and say hi now before she gets super famous!

Hercules in Ditmas Park

It's the year 2014, and we may not have hovercrafts yet, but we do have color-changing nail polish!

I peeled most of it off, but you get the point.

I mean, it's a pretty wonderful world we live in, guys. For example, last night's epic snow storm, Hercules, created a three day weekend for my husband and I today. School was canceled (he's a teacher), so we watched two full episodes of My Cat From Hell, ate fantastic leftovers, and I took a brisk walk through the neighborhood. I was not bred for such weather conditions, not one bit, but I cannot deny that this town looks straight-up like a Christmas card right now.

You're about to see some pictures from my walk today. What you're not about to see is the Flatiron Building covered in fresh, white powder or the Statue of Liberty holding up an icicle. Hell no. If you want pictures like that, you may want to read the blog of a richer woman because I don't live near any of that stuff. My Brooklyn neighborhood is still breathtakingly beautiful. Here in Ditmas Park, colorful, victorian houses and pre-war apartments stand together on tree-lined streets. When it snows, good samaritans shovel the sidewalks of their neighbors, and everything kind of feels familiar even if you grew up as far away as San Antonio, Texas. It's a wonderful, often completely overlooked area of New York City. Here she is:

So that's a couple of snowy blocks in my neighborhood. Pretty great, right? For sticking with me through all of those pictures, here's a bonus shot of Frasier enjoying his snow-filled day. 

This picture was taken a few moments after he intimidated an ally cat through the window. He has no idea how good he has it.

How did you enjoy the snow today (or lack of snow, depending on where you live)?

My Love Letter to Ditmas Park

Let me tell you about Ditmas Park.

Ditmas Park is the neighborhood where Daniel and I are blessed to be currently living. Sometimes when I think about all of the different places in Brooklyn where we could have ended up, a rush of thankfulness just washes over me.

Here's why:

I could go on, but you get it. It's beautiful. It's hip. It's got delicious french toast. You're sold.

We were too when we first arrived here. As I mentioned in a previous entry, Daniel and I have been subleasing an apartment in this area. We've got three roommates (and by roommates, I mean cats) that live with us, and they are a blast. It's a really great situation. 

When we walk out of the apartment building, we are steps away from the main road: Cortelyou Road, which looks like this:

It's full of bodegas, coffee shops, amazing restaurants, organic groceries (not to mention a super successful food coop). As I write this, I am currently sitting at my favorite coffee shop, Qathra, sipping on a chai tea latte and feeling pretty self-assured in my perceived hipness. 

The neighborhood is really relaxed, full of really interesting people and families. I would post pictures of the thousands of impressively adorable babies I see every day, but Daniel doesn't allow me to take pictures of other peoples' kids because he claims it's "creepy and off-putting". You can see how his tyrannical reign over this relationship has some consequences. 

Ditmas Park is also central to a ton of incredible places. It's a short train ride to:

PROSPECT PARK

Grand Army Plaza

Relaxing my life away

THE BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDENS

THE BROOKLYN MUSEUM

Believe it or not, this is a coffin.

CONEY ISLAND

not to mention, a little place called MANHATTAN

Ditmas Park also might be the friendliest neighborhood ever. In my mind I frequently compare Cortelyou Road to Sesame Street. I could absolutely imagine a spontaneous musical breaking out. The other day when I went for a run, FOUR different people said things like, "Keep it up!", "Good for you!", "Look at you go!", and I definitely heard one guy say, "Don't stop believing!"

WE LOVE DITMAS PARK...almost as much as these people.

I don't know these people, but I'd like to. 

Not that I am trying to brag (by the way, did I mention that Tina Fey and Paul Rudd were shooting a movie down the street from me the other day?). I am just daily floored that I get to live here. 

This summer, I have started on the path to becoming a New Yorker. I don't know how I officially become one. According to How I Met Your Mother, you're a real New Yorker when you've:

1. Seen Woody Allen (Not yet. Where does he hang out? I have so many things to tell him!)

2. Stolen a cab from someone who needs it more than you do (I have a problem with this one because I ride the subway, and I think most of us do.)

3. Cried on the subway and not given a damn (Check.)

4. Killed a cockroach with your bare hands (How about bare feet?)

So by this list's standards, I am sort of halfway there, which is pretty good for just a few months of actually living here. Something I have heard from a lot of locals is that you can tell you are a New Yorker when you go back and forth between loving the city and hating it. 

Boy, do I get that. There are days when I am walking around Manhattan and I am taking in all of the sights and I just feel like that girl from That Girl.

Then there are days when I get stepped on, or it rains, or I eat something weird, or I get yelled at and I just think to myself, That Girl must have been on crack. 

But whenever I feel like that, which is really very seldom, Ditmas Park is so comforting. When we were planning to move here from Texas, my fear was always that I would have nowhere to escape to when the city became a little too much. Now I can safely say that my neighborhood is my escape. 

We signed a two-year lease the other day. Let's do this, Ditmas Park.