Inspiration Fridays: Long Beach Island

New Jersey.  Ah, the different thoughts that come to mind when you hear the name of that state.  New.  Jersey.  Some people think of Snooki.  Others think of pollution.  Some think of the pine barrens, or Jersey City, or Princeton, or Hoboken.  Camden.  Trenton.  Cape May.  To me, Jersey means vacation.  Jersey means Long Beach Island, which is one of the best places in the world.  It also happens to be where I am going tonight.

 

 

 

My grandparents own a house in Beach Haven, on Long Beach Island, or LBI, which is a barrier island right near Atlantic City and Manahawkin.  18 miles long, and just under a mile wide at its widest point, this place is just perfect.  It's so pretty.  Relaxing, nice, fun places to eat, good stuff to do.  For many summers, I had the pleasure of working at a theatre in Beach Haven, Surflight Theatre, and I worked one fall and winter there as well.  Great venue- it's changed hands a few times recently, but I have so many fond memories of the place.  I've lived in Beach Haven, and consider it one of my homes, it is such an integral part of who I am.  Danny and I met there while we were working at Surflight, and fell for one another on the beach under the stars.  Yes, really.  It felt like something out of a romance novel, but here we are, almost three years later!  Beach Haven will always hold an incredibly special place in my heart, for most of the important events of my life occurred there.  

 

 

 

 

This weekend, though, will just be a little vacation.  And boy, is it needed.  I've been busy lately, what with yoga teacher training, work, martial arts, parents visiting, etc.  Once again, it's all been good- but, I've been stretching myself in a few too many directions.  Crazy?  A bit, yes.  But, it's almost done now.  I'm sure that I'll replenish my schedule with some new crazy soon enough, but, at the moment, I have only a few more weeks of insanely booked schedule until things look as if they might clear up a bit, and I  might have time to do things like hang out in the park with a friend.  Or Danny.  You know, that guy.  His dad is visiting all next week, which should be very fun.  He's cool.

I just can't wait to stand on the beach at night.  That's my favourite part of Beach Haven.  Though the town is fairly bustling during the summer, the beach, at night, is very quiet, and you can barely see the lights from town.  It's pitch.  Or, well, way, way, wayyyy more pitch than Brooklyn ever gets.  You can see stars.  It's amazing the effect stars have on me- maybe it's because I've been living in cities for the past five years, but stars are gorgeous.  They are awesome, in every sense of the word.  Awe inspiring.  They are balls of fire in space!  Millions of miles away!  There they are!  Shining on us.  When I see stars, there's an instant decompression in my mind and body.  

 

 

 

 

Plus, this weekend, I get to hang out with my marvelous grandparents, who are like a second set of parents to me, and with my sister. 

So psyched.  This weekend is going to rock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beach Haven and Holgate, New Jersey, USA

The Epic Goose Battle

I am incredibly blessed to live in Brooklyn, not too far away from Prospect Park, which is the best park in the universe.  Okay, I'm sure that there are better parks out there somewhere, but Prospect Park is really, utterly fantastic.  Also, it's almost never crowded.  Central Park can be a total wash on beautiful days due to the sheer number of people, but even on the most gorgeous summer day, you can find seclusion in Prospect Park. The city is almost always somewhere in view in Central Park, but from within Prospect Park, you can barely ever see skyline.  When you can, it's only a few buildings.

Prospect Park also seems to have more wildlife- I see more geese, squirrels, swans and herons in Prospect than Central.  It also used to have the ghost dog, but he was captured about a week ago.  He is this dog who lived in Prospect Park for four years, and no one could seem to catch him!  There were so many sightings of him running around in the forest that he became known as a ghost.  People weren't certain if he was real or a shadow.  Turns out, he is real.

These geese are real too.  And, Ginny and Danny were really ready to battle with them.  Sadly, the crisis was averted, and I say sadly because it would have been freaking hilarious.  But, here are some photographs from our post-brunch adventure through Prospect Park two weeks ago!

Let there be adventures!  Onward!

Note: I tried out some new editing software on these, and I'm not too pleased with the results... not with the software, but with my own choices... but ah, well.  The originals looked cool, but I thought I'd share these to test it out.  Lesson learned...

Thanks for reading!!

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Breakfast, Brunch, and Brinner

Brunch.  It's my favourite part of the day, partially because it can occur at any time on any day.  Breakfast time?  Eat some brunch. Wake up too late for breakfast?  Brunch.  Dinnertime?  Brunch, or, as my sister calls it, brinner.  Brunch for dinner.  Brinner.

These particular photographs are from brunch one of our local haunts, Cafe Madeline, on Sunday.  Danny and I met my friend Ginny, who made that movie I talked about, and who was my roommate my freshman year of college.  Tasty things happened afterwards.  There were steaming mugs full of coffee, croissants, eggs, scallions, cheese, yogurts... it was yummy.

Meeting people for breakfast is the best.

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Subway Moments

A symphony in honor of my commute, starring Danny.

I get the priveledge of seeing this view every morning- it's my subway stop!  The subway in New York has some issues it is true, but the subway is also gorgeous, especially the place we get to board in the morning.  There are so many trees in our neighborhood that the whole place has a feeling of forest to it.  That probably sounds ridiculous, given that we live in New York City, but Flatbush feels far more suburban.  Green.  It just feels green.

It makes waking up in the morning an adventure, instead of a trial.

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA