Hello again everybody!  I hope all of you had a lovely weekend!  After a crazy hectic week I decided to take a mini hiatus from blogging this weekend.  It was funny… I was walking to the village with Adam to meet our friends who were in town from Boulder, CO.  We have a running card game competition with them and this time they taught us how to play Spades.  Spades is an awesome game, and they totally kicked our butts… REMATCH!  Anyway, on our walk over, I was anticipating the busy weekend we had ahead of us: our card game Saturday afternoon, then dinner with friends on Saturday night, then a wedding in Connecticut first thing on Sunday morning, which would last most of the day.  I lamented to Adam, “I wish I could blog Monday through Friday and have the weekends free.”

Adam replied, “Um… you can.  It’s your blog.”

Wow, what a revelation.  I decided right there on the spot that I was going to give myself the weekend off from blogging.  Of course, I carried my camera with me everywhere and took my daily photos, but I decided not to post until today.

Well, that was quite liberating at first.  He was right – it is my blog and I can decide the rules as I go!  But I have to admit, I’ve had a little guilty feeling hovering over me since making that decision.  And truthfully, I felt really disconnected by Sunday night… like I had abandoned the blog and my readers!  Crazy?  Maybe.  But it’s kind of cool… I’ve grown quite attached to this little project of mine.

Here is the photo I took Friday night:

Photo 140 out of 365 – “The Sidewalk Has Eyes”

"The Sidewalk Has Eyes" - Settings: ISO 3200, f/2.2, 1/60 sec, 50mm lens

We were walking through the Lower East Side to go meet our friends for drinks and I saw this – what looked to be a folded up, slightly torn, slightly crumpled page from a magazine lying on the ground.  But wow – those eyes were just staring up so perfectly from the sidewalk.  I had to take a picture.

Then, after passing by, we saw the other side:

"The Sidewalk Has a Mouth" - Settings: ISO 3200, f/3.5, 1/25 sec, 50mm lens

Again – so perfect and intriguing.  Only after walking away, we discussed… maybe that was a piece of art that someone had placed on the sidewalk.  It was a bit too perfect to just be a torn-out page from a magazine.  I wish I had touched it to find out. If that was someone’s art, I think that’s awesome!  I wonder how many people walk by without noticing it.  Luckily – I now have my trained eye, scanning the world around me at all times, looking for that compelling moment so I can snap it with my camera and show it to you.

Cut to Saturday.  We went to this great bar/restaurant near Washington Square Park called West 3rd Common.  I found it while perusing Yelp, looking for a comfortable place to chill and play cards with our friends Mari and Ted.  We met at five o’clock in the evening and the place was pretty much empty and totally fantastic!  They have tons of space, great light, awesome 80’s/90’s music and board games – what’s better than that?  They also have some yummy munchies.  Here is photo #141 – the mini sliders Adam and I enjoyed as an appetizer while Mari and Ted destroyed us in Spades.

Photo 141 out of 365 – “Mini Beef & Cheddar Sliders”

"Mini Beef & Cheddar Sliders" - Settings: ISO 200, f/3.5, 1/60 sec, 50mm lens

A few hours later, we met our other friends for dinner at Congee Village.  I had been wanting to visit Congee Village ever since I read that it is one of Ruth Reichl’s favorite party spots.  I love Ruth Reichl and she’s a fellow food worshipper – so I was psyched to try this place out.   The restaurant looks a bit like a carnival as you walk up to it on Allen Street.  The sign is made of bright blinking lights and when you walk in, it sort of looks like it’s going to be a tourist trap.  However, once I took a look around, I noticed that nearly every other diner in the restaurant was Chinese – and I always take that to be a good sign in a Chinese restaurant.

There were five of us, and the menu was so overwhelming, that we deferred to our waiter to help us pick the best dishes.  He did a terrific job, though I’m guessing he played it safe, as there are some crazy dishes on that menu and our selection was on the conservative side.  Our friend Dan is into trying just about anything (check out our Flushing Queens Chinese food excursion here)… so he might have liked to have been more adventurous, but we all enjoyed the meal very much!  Plus, we had a FEAST – along with Tsing Taos (Chinese beer) for each of us and the total cost was eighty-nine dollars! Practically unheard of in NYC.  I will definitely go back.

Finally, on Sunday we spent most of the day at a wedding in New Haven, CT.  This is where I took photo #142.

Photo 142 out of 365- “The Happy Couple…In Plastic”

"The Happy Couple... In Plastic" - Settings: ISO 1600, f/4.0, 1/40 sec, 28-105mm lens (63mm)

The bride had this adorable cake topper, custom-made by an artist on Etsy.  The resemblance was uncanny and I found myself wishing I had a little mini Adam/Nell cake-topper made for our own wedding!  We’d be so cute in mini plastic form.  I suppose I can always do it for another occasion.  Who says it has to be a cake topper?  Maybe it can just be the Adam/Nell dynamic duo action figure set.  Right?

So – that’s surely enough for today.  If you can’t tell – I think I had a little blogging withdrawal.  Sorry for the book – but glad to be back.  See you tomorrow!