July in New York

Independence Day

July started off with Nathan's Hot Dogs' nationally-televised Competition live on Coney Island. Just thinking about this makes me laugh! It was drizzling outside, but the announcer was hilarious and sticking it out for the duration of the contest seemed like the American thing to do. It was so funny and gross at the same time. Joey Chestnut with 61 hot dogs in 10 minutes. Happy Independence Day, America!

Coney Island is a carnival that nightmares are made of. It's fantastic. I have images of crazed clown faces and an eery carousel burned into my memory. I wish I had taken more pictures. After the contest we rode the new roller coaster, the Thunderbolt. So scary. 

Getting ready for fireworks near the Williamsburg bridge that evening:

My Birthday!

My friend and roommate Trish made sure my birthday on the 5th was really spectacular! 

We had a blast.

 We woke up at 6:30am to stand in line for cronuts at Dominique Ansel Bakery. The cronut (croissant-donut) is the one pictured on the right. I liked it. It was worth it, but only once :)

In the afternoon we took the ferry down to Governor's Island. It was so much fun!

We rented bikes, which I loved. I miss my bike! It's much quieter on the island and it felt good to get away from taxis and traffic for a while. 

You can see the Statue of Liberty behind us!

 And the Freedom Tower is behind us here:

That evening we headed across the Brooklyn Bridge to eat dinner at Grimaldi's Pizzeria. Bars on the windows, cuz Brooklyn goes hard.

Staten Island Ferry

The following evening, we took the ferry to Staten Island:

Brooklyn Bagel & Coffee

A few days later, I had the best bagels I have ever eaten:

I realize I still have many places to try, but I will be surprised if I like any better than these!

Queens

Went to Queens for my first time to volunteer at a tennis camp, and came across this portrait of Run-DMC. Apparently they're from Queens:

Museum of Modern Art

Marni from Issaquah is in NY and came into the city for the weekend. We tried out Lombardi's Pizzeria. Rumor has it the man who opened this pizzeria is the Italian who brought pizza to New York City. We will forever be indebted to him. 

We went to the MOMA that evening and enjoyed artwork from Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Claude Monet, Piet Mondrian, Frida Kahlo, & Diego Rivera.

Yoga in Bryant Park

July 24, 2014 - Today I finished a record five job applications and one internship application. I hit 50 applications for jobs in NYC I've submitted. I walked over to Hudson River Park to write in my study journal and to start reading the book Mom lent me, "Defining Moments." In the evening, Trish and another lady named Becky and I did yoga in Bryant Park together. It was thrilling to be doing yoga with hundreds of people on a beautiful evening in the heart of the city, in between tall skyscrapers with sunlight reflecting off of them. It was so quiet, and I felt united with hundreds of people for one hour. Some people were silently sitting and watching. I loved looking up past my fingertips at the blue sky with white clouds and down at my feet on the mat with green grass sticking out from underneath it. 

Red Velvet Pancakes

At Champs in Brooklyn. Williamsburg is too cool for me. People have tats and don't shower and dress hipster. But their red velvet pancakes with chocolate morsels inside? Yes, please. 

I'm learning to be grateful for each moment. I get to do so many amazing, new, exciting things here and I want to be grateful for each moment, hour, and day for all I get to feel and see and experience here in New York, regardless of how uncertain everything else in my life is. Having studied Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk, "Grateful in Any Circumstances," the importance of seeing life through the lens of gratitude is even more clear. I am so much happier when I am grateful.