bacon doughnuts, 64 oz beers, and corn-on-a-stick (a la 'nacho libre')

enticing title, eh? ;)

i spent a long memorial day weekend (thank you troops!) in new york visiting my sister. now, i've been to ny a lot of times, so i don't need to visit the empire state building or times square anymore. my favorite thing to do is walk around cool neighboorhoods, sit for hours at brunch, shop street vendors, sit in a park and people watch, start dinner early and end the night late.

this time, my trip didn't disappoint!

thursday: a local bushwick place:
- motorino for some fine italian style pizza. my recommendation: stick to the good ol' margherita or marinara.

friday:
- photographer's heaven: b&h photo in midtown. one word: awesome. this is what i got: 85mm. it took all the dreamy crisp pictures of lea's engagement session and a wedding i shot last weekend (stay tuned!)
- lunch at cafe habana for some cuban sandwiches, smushed plantains with garlic sauce, and corn on a stick (you know the kind with the white sauce and spicy red powder)
- quick dinner at santa ana deli in bushwick. authentic mexican food. YUM.

saturday (engagement session day):
- started off with cinnamon coffee at casa lea (if you have tried it, you must now! just put some cinnamon in the grounds before you brew the coffee; it infuses the water and adds a special something)
- lunch at life cafe in brooklyn. a cozy little neighborhood joint with awesome food, brunch, bloody mary's, beer selection. all types of customers welcome; including stuffed giraffes. they have local artists displayed all over the walls.
- ice cold beers on the staten island ferry
- dumont restaurant for dinner. very chill atmosphere and backyard outdoor garden dining. we waltzed in around 11:30 and they didn't kick us out. great chicken, hamburgers, and service. can't ask for more.
- dancing at bembe. basically the tiniest dance club i've seen, reminded me of loca luna in atlanta before it moved locations. the air was THICK. but you basically didn't care because the music was hot and the beers were cold.
- tandem bar for a nightcap. you'd miss it if you didn't know where it was. it looks like a house and it's in the middle of a bunch of other row houses, but it's a bar. complete with loungey and dancey areas. oh, and tons of hipsters. my clothes were ironed, so i didn't fit in ;)

sunday:
- manhattan and the smith for brunch. eggs with hot sauce, country biscuit, gravy, chicken sausage, grits. i guess you can take the girl out of the south, but you can't take the southern out of the girl. mimosa included with brunch, holla!
- browse artists booths at union square. i got a photograph from john and picked up a couple of cool postcards. this is one of my favorite things to do in ny. there are so many creative people packed in this square.
- went down to d.u.m.b.o. at night and brought only my point-n-shoot. photos to come!
- traif in brooklyn for dinner. it's pork & shellfish. it's tuna taretare and bacon wrapped figs. did i mention bacon doughnuts with coffee ice cream?? a.delicious.feast. go there before too many people hear about it.

monday:
- take a really loooong train ride and arrive at coney island! first stop is nathan's famous for hotdogs and literally 64 oz beers. i had to use 2 hands. unfortunately, coney island is probably not what it was in it's heyday during the turn of the century. it was kinda dirty and reeeally crowded. i tried to imagine women in fancy dresses with parasols and men in straw hats with white suits taking a stroll on the boardwalk. it was still fun to be there where so many have been before. stay tuned for photos!

it was a great trip to one of my favorite cities. i hope to go visit again in the fall and do another review! let me know if you have any favorite places!

and so we meet again | chicago

i recently got to test my decision to move back south last fall. for work we went to our home office in chicago for a 3 day conference. weeks building up to the trip, i was thinking about spring in chicago: the lake and boats, the tulips and running in the park, concerts, cookouts, saturday brunch, cubs games.

memories flooded my brain and i started wondering if i moved too soon?

i arranged to get up there a day before the conference and stay the weekend after with some friends. monday was *the perfect day*. blue skies, mild temps, sun shining. i checked into the hotel, snapped a shot from the window,


had dinner with some colleagues, and just wandered around the loop till after dark.


a replica of the winged victory

a passing cta bus

a new group of shops on randolph

it felt so familiar and like i never left when i walked the streets. for a split second, i doubted my decision to move.

then, the temperature dropped. to the 40s. and breezy. in MAY! i had to borrow a coat from a friend, went through multiple packs of kleenex, and ended the weekend with a sore throat. i also had lunch with my old boss and she said i made the right decision, that my new department has a lot of positive energy and support from all levels in the company. and then i missed the fact that i hadn't squeezed my little niece in almost a week.

that inkling of doubt was squashed completely.

chicago is one of my all-time favorite places... to visit. and that's where it will stay.

e + j | engaged

my dear friend erin and joe are tying the knot! they met a long time ago in atlanta, traveled all of the world together, live in and near london, and got engaged recently in paris. the only thing left is finding the ring!

in the meantime, we tried to squeeze a photo shoot into the dwindling london sunset....

first, a little london alleyway




then sunset from the millennium bridge; see if you can spot the tower bridge or the tate modern museum





slide show


on flickr

congratulations you two!

the beach trip | 2009

let's start from the beginning. my sisters and i have been planning the beach trip since april this year. we looked at many houses and our budget and finally secured one in may. then we planned how we would all get down to atlanta and then pile in the van to the florida panhandle. we planned games, food, sunscreen, new bathing suits. i had a flight from chicago. all this planning, and i actually forgot to tell my boss i was going.

so i show up at work on wednesday with my suitcase and told the people on my project i was going to take-off for the airport around 3:30pm. they were cool with it, so i just told my boss for good measure. then she came over to my desk and asked "are you going to be working from home the next few days?" and i say, "why, no, i'm headed to the beach! the trip i've been talking about for months?"

yeah, i flat out forgot to tell her. so i say "well i have my ticket and a beach house for the next 5 days, do you mind if i go?" luckily, all was well.

since i'm more of a story-with-pictures type of person, i'll recap the trip a-like-so.

mornings at the beach


days at the beach


afternoons at the towns of 30-A



evenings at the beach


we also had a photo shoot one evening with all the sisters, husbands, boyfriends, kids, and aunt dorothy; those pictures to come!

AND, a surprise proposal... stay tuned!

da blues

this happens to me ALL the time. always triggered by returning from a fabulous vacation abroad. i should probably stop vacationing and... nah, i could never.

so i just returned from all my amazing travels and am sitting here at my desk eating my soup for lunch. oh how tremendously boring! one week ago, i was visiting the catedral de sal in zipaquirá, colombia before drinking mojitos out of half-coconut shells and partying til 4am at andres carne de res in chia, colombia.

two weeks before, i was spontaneously buying a eurostar ticket to paris for 1 night with my friends from london. in less than 36 hours, i had a beurre-sucre crepe in front of notre dame, watched dusk approach from the steps of sacre-coeur, had an amazing 4-course dinner and red wine at oh! duo in the 15th, saw la tour eiffel, and had the most delicious tea known to man....

two weeks before that, i was laughing the hardest i've laughed in a year with my sister and friends in brooklyn at radegast hall & beer garden over wallet phones and talking in numbers (you really had to be there).

so back in chicago, it's 40+ degrees but feels like 32. i had already packed the snow boots and scarves, but i should probably bring them back out.

march <> spring in chicago (sorry that was a little computer dorkism).

the only thing that keeps me going is: tulip days, cubs baseball, beach trip with family, training for 1/2 marathon, chicago summer festivals and concerts, possible trip to south carolina, new baby in the family and trip to atlanta in july, sister and friends coming to visit this summer, searching for a salsa dance club, and potentially the most amazing christmas & new years plans i'll ever have (i'll keep you posted).

** for photos, check http://www.flickr.com/photos/khakiaraki/

36 hours in paris

i planned my trip to london in november thinking that i wouldn't have an opportunity to see erin for a while if i didn't go over thanksgiving. well, work sent me to london in february, so i was back earlier than i expected. we were at an office for 14-16 hours a day, stepping out for triangle sandwiches at lunch and crawling back to the hotel after dark and after everyone else had left the office.

thankfully, i had gotten a good tour of london in my previous visit, so i had more time to relax with erin while in town. we ate at pasha, drank at lounges in south kensington, and in general hung out in erin's flat.

because the work i was completing required a weekend stay, friday night, erin, her flatmate frances, and i were all talking about what to do for the weekend. we came up with every plan from going to scotland, ireland, bath, or york. while looking at the train schedules, we noticed we could take the morning eurostar to paris for only £139. it had been 6 years since i'd been to paris and i was pratically salivating with excitement! we decided and bought tickets for a departure 7 hours later.

we went to st. pancras station at 6am and were on the road to paris just after 7am. we were so excited but also without a plan. we had no hotel, no map, no idea of what to do other than wander aimlessly around. we arrived at gare du nord in the 10th arr just before 10am. we walk outside and are immediately bombarded by gypsies. the ploy these days it to come up to you with a piece of paper asking if you speak english. i knew it was a diversion, but i had to warn erin and frances.

we head back into the train station to purchase a guide book with map and made our way to the châtelet metro stop. side note: the châtelet stop spans quite a few blocks with stairs, escalators and moving sidewalks transportating hundreds of people around underground. it can be quite confusing. i think we spent 25 minutes trying to navigate the labyrinth.

we exit and make our way to the Île de la cité: an island in the middle of the seine river, housing notre-dame and sainte chappelle. in 50 degree sunny weather, we sit at les deux palais for coffee and a croque-monsieur. it is somewhat of a tourist spot due to its proximaty to notre-dame, but we were starving and needed to sit down to start researching a hotel. at the cafe, we poured over the guidebook and blackberrys, making phone calls and trying to use my elementary french to book a room. we finally find one for €85 a night in the 14th arr near the cité internationale universitaire de paris, just a few stops south of gare du nord on the RER B.

a plan! after dropping off our luggage at the hotel parc montsouris (bare bones, thin walls, but a bed and bathroom and cheap; served its purpose), we head back into the city on the RER B. destination: notre-dame and a beurre-sucre crepe.

a stroll across pont-neuf and the rue de rivoli (and an attempted shopping experience at la samaritaine, but apparently it's closed for "security enhancements"):

and up to montmartre to watch the sun set from the steps of sacré-coeur:

back down to le marais, for tea at mariage freres and sweets:

and ending the evening at oh! duo in the 15th arr for an mouth-watering, plate-licking, four-course french meal and red wine.

the next day, we pay our respects (as all who visit paris should) to la tour eiffel. we wander the neighborhood and stop for a leisurely lunch at la patata, not quite ready to leave as our time was so short.

but our train departs at 5pm, so we head back to gare du nord, first saying goodbye to the louvre...to the Île de la cite and the seine....

au revoir paris... until next time...

for more photos: flickr: paris

walken

"I was walking
Like I said by myself
I was talking
To myself about you
Like I always do"
- wilco, "walken" from sky blue sky

one of my favorite songs. i also like to randomly text my sister with the lyrics. i always think of this song when i'm about to go somewhere.

for example...

i'm really excited because i have 3 weeks and 3 continents of travel ahead of me. first, for work, i'm headed to new york city. i'm going over the weekend to visit with the sis and hopefully get some good photographs.

then i come back and 2 days later head across the pond to london for work. i'll be there for a week and a half, and over the weekend i hope to go with my friend erin somewhere cool. maybe paris ;)

and THEN, i come back and have 1 day till i head south to colombia, south america to help my freshman college roommate celebrate her wedding. i'm making a stop in cartagena for a long weekend and then bogota for the rest of the trip. again, hoping that there will be some splendid opportunities for photos.

stay tuned...

** for photos, check http://www.flickr.com/photos/khakiaraki/

london

a friend, jj, and i went to london this november to visit our friend erin. she left atlanta as well, in search of something new. though she had to work some of the time, we still managed to navigate the city and see a few things.

things i always had on hand:

• tube map
• map of the city
• an idea of 3-5 things i wanted to accomplish that day
• camera

the trip actually started with an escape to cambridge, england. it is about an hour's train ride north of the city; we departed from king's cross station.

we toured the college and a few local pubs:

kings college

kings college

back in london, jj followed me around while i made sure we saw the typical and not to typical sites:

mummified bits

ben

we celebrated thanksgiving with a variety of marks & spencer food stuffs and a theatre showing of avenue q.

london is very gray as you would imagine:

the fair

new old

i left on a saturday so i could have a day to recover before heading back to work. i was so upset when i landed and called my sister to find out that georgia tech had beaten georgia for the first time in 9 years. the first game in 9 years i missed!

for more photos: flickr: london set