[January 5th – 11th]

01.08: I am cold. I thought I was cold several times before this, I was wrong. Now, I’m cold. The temp this morning reads 14F and the convenient ‘Feels Like’ is -2. WHOA. Walking home from the subway last night I discovered that my forehead could hurt from the cold. WHO KNEW!? I held my glove to my face the entire walk home. I’m definitely going to need a new hat. My giant scarves are not cutting it anymore.

The end of the holiday season has always signified the end of winter for me… the beginning of January was always just the weird limbo season where folks kept their christmas lights up, but ‘winter’ had said its’ goodbye while I said hello to the beach. Things have changed. January has officially marked the beginning of winter for me. Snow and temperatures have fallen. The numerous christmas trees hanging out on the edge of the sidewalks is the only sign that the holiday season has come and gone. The poor trees look so sad.

On another note, my new job is amazing. I get to play with a site that has the most epic greeting cards around. What more could I possibly ask for? If you haven’t already checked out the site, do it now: Postable.com. Send me a card, while you’re at it… let me know you care that I’m freezing my ass off.

Today was Jess’s (my roomie) birthday so me and Mary Alice (other roomie) made dinner. A green pasta dish (linguini, avocado sauce, duck/chicken/pork sausage, browned onions, and garlic, garnished with crispy roasted cayenne chick peas) with homemade cheesy garlic bread. Needless to say my belly is FULL. We also had peanut butter brownies with Tahitian vanilla ice cream for desert. I’m ready to pop. I’m also beginning to understand why nobody leaves their house during the winter. BRRRR.

1.10: Jenny is visiting me again! After some coffee this morning we ventured out to Prospect Park with Miss Chelsea to look at all the pretty snow-ey scenery. There wasn’t nearly as much snow as I had hoped would have piled up by now, but it’s getting there. Definitely still a winter wonderland… minus a few inches of snow. The weather temp read 21F (feels like 10F), but at first it didn’t really feel that cold… until about 45 minutes into our walk. By the time we walked through the park my thighs were painfully numb, my nose had long lost feeling, and my forehead hurt again (I keep forgetting to cover the damn thing).

 

I’m super stoked for the day that we get like 3 feet of snow so that I can go sledding!!! I remember getting to sled in Russia (just a very faint memory) and must do it again. There were a few kids with sleds, but without their dad’s pulling them along the 2 inches on the ground, they would get nowhere.

Jess’s birthday celebrations continued tonight at Royal Palms (a shuffle board venue). Saturday night means the shuffle board court was packed so playing giant Jenga had to be the next best thing (we did eventually make it to the shuffle boarding at the end of the night).

A night of red wine and Jenga left us hungry. To the diner we went…

Nothing like some greasy food to finish off the night. Those Mozz sticks went great with the bowl of Ranch I requested… I promise my eating habits are normally exponentially healthier.

---

1.11: Food. SO much food. After a short stroll through the East Village Jenny and I met up with Jess and Jenny’s sister for some lunch. I’ve had this place on my go to list for some time… Oda House (Georgian cuisine). I haven’t really ever had or even thought about having Georgian food until my brother strongly urged me to try some. This placed Oda House on my radar. Anyway, he wasn’t joking… the food was AMAZING. I kind of wish I had taken some photos of the dishes, but if you’re in the NYC area and want to try something unique… this is your spot.

I finished my week off with a Russian flick with a pair of great friends in their East village home. Sometimes I catch myself wondering if I’m dreaming and take extra care not to startle myself just in case.

The temp read 27F today. It was actually pretty nice out after all the layers came on. My forehead was warm too. Happy Sunday, have a great week!