brooklyn cyclones.

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If you ever want to see Brooklyn at it's finest, you gotta go to a Cyclones games. The ballpark is right off the Coney Island Boardwalk, and the Cyclones are actually names after the old wooden "Cyclone" roller coaster at the amusement park, built in 1927. It's humid and sticky, and the food is pretty crappy- but you'll find the best people watching, let me tell you.

We got tickets right up front, surrounded by season ticket holders. There was a man in full Cyclones gear with a long beard that rode the subway with us, the woman and her grown son who sat in front of us and wrapped up her hot dogs to save for later, and the man who constantly yelled "Let's go Cyclops!" off key and never at the right time. He shelled peanuts off the ground, and you had to be sure not to accidently look over when he was bending over because the elastic in his sweatpants had seen better days. His friend next to him slept the entire game with his chin on his belly, and only woke up once or twice to join in on the chant. "Let's go Cyclops!"- It really never got old, Sam and I were cracking up.

People were yelling at the players, "Come on, Ponce! Hit it, Ponce!" And, "Peanuts! Cracker Jacks!" All in the very best, most-authentic Brooklyn accents you'll ever hear. And, at the end of the game, they were throwing food and yelling at the emcee (who was wearing a large crown and a fat suit) to get the fireworks going. But, the fireworks show was put on hold until after the emcee raffled off every single players' jersey- right off their back. The cheerleaders (yes, cheerleaders) were holding the sweaty jerseys with the tips of their fingers, and nobody was claiming the raffle tickets. It was just too good. And, the fireworks were actually pretty darn impressive.

I love Brooklyn.

island beach.

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So, we have these really great friends- Maggie and Myron- who are always up for an adventure, and somehow it ends up being slightly nautical. (The deep sea fishing trip was a Myro+Mae creation, to celebrate Myron's birthday.) They live up in Stamford, CT- which we have come to discover is only a 45 minute train ride out of the city. So, last month they invited us to spend the weekend in their beautiful loft apartment, and gave us the grand tour of Connecticut. It was the our first time in the state, and the whole time I had that guy from Holiday Inn in my head saying, "How can I stop him sir if I don't know which was in Conn-ect-i-cut!?" Because for real, it is so geographically embarrassing and Manhattan-y of me not to know where Connecticut actually is.

If you ever find yourself in CT (Greenwich, Stamford area):
1. Stew Leanard's- Yes, it's a grocery store. But, imagine the Disney Land of grocery stores. Every kind of food you can think of- farm fresh, free samples at every corner, animatronics and walking mascots. Ok, it sounds a little creepy when I write it down. But, it was one of the absolute highlights of the trip.

2. Island Beach- We took a little ferry out to this island, and fell in love a bit. It was small enough that you could walk across it in less than 10 minutes, and covered in picnic areas and camp sites. One side of the island was smooth, pebbly beaches, and the the other was surrounded by soft, tall grasses. It was Moonrise Kingdom. Maggie's sister had the great idea to collect mussels right off the beach and we went home and made the biggest pot of seafood linguini. Except, right as we were about to eat it, Sam's got his iPhone out researching the deadly effects of eating fresh shellfish out of the Long Island Sound. After that, everyone was too scared to eat them and we chucked the rest of the mussels. But, I ate the pasta anyway, and it was darn good.

lately.

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Skyscraper Edition:

1. View from the TH office.
2. Brooklyn Bridge on the 4th of July.
3. Penthouse view from the Hotel on Rivington.