Getting By, Dreaming Big

This is a blog for me to share my thoughts on my favorite things: books, traveling, food and entertainment!

The U.S. Open! August 30, 2007

Filed under: NYC Experiences, Sports — readerbean @ 10:37 am

Yesterday at about 4pm my DH calls me and asks if I have an interest in going to the U.S. Open! I of course start getting over excited and question, “Are you kidding?” Thus are evening began….

I have wanted to go to the U.S. Open for awhile. When I was at college my dad used to get tickets through work and him and my sister would go. I follow tennis pretty loosely but always catch the finals of the grand slams so I keep a pulse on it. Growing up, my dad watched tennis like he watches golf today, so we spent a lot of weekends following the ATP as young kids!

DH and I meet up outside his office building and hopped the train to Grand Central where we switched over to the 7 train out to Shea Stadium and the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

It felt a little like Disney World when we arrived. You walk for a couple of minutes along this boardwalk and then enter the Tennis Center which feels like a little village. There is the main stadium, Arthur Ashe Stadium front and center and tons of smaller courts all around. People from all different countries, speaking all different languages, are there to support their favorite players, it’s all pretty cool!

We decided to get dinner before we went into the main stadium and I must say that their concessions are above par for a sporting event. I got a ceasar salad over flat bread that was very good and DH had some sort of Mexican dish. We shared a table outside with a Spanish couple because seating was limited and then headed into the main stadium.

First off, our seats were center court, 7 rows back! I couldn’t even believe how close we were to the court, it was amazing! We went to our seats and got there in time for them to introduce the players and watch them come out onto the court and warm up. The first match was Serena Williams (8) vs. Maria Elena Camerin (Italy). DH and I commented about how weird it is that in tennis the two players have to help each other warm up – can anyone think of another sport where opponents warm up together in order to get ready to play the each other???

At first it looked like Serena was going to take the match pretty handily. She was up 4-1 in the first set. Then Maria Elena tied it up 5-5, but Serena ended up winning 7-5. The second set she took pretty handily, 6-2. Maria Elena definitely was a fighter and made her work for a lot of her points, especially in the first set. However, she seemed to lack confidence in her serve and made too many service errors to keep her in the game. All in all it was pretty neat to watch. Williams will take on Vera Zvonareva (27, Russia) in Round 3.

In between matches I want to take a moment to comment on what a civilized sport tennis is. You have to be pretty quiet while they are playing. If you get up to go to the bathroom or get a drink they won’t let you back in until play has stopped and there is a commercial break. And where else would I get to sit and drink a nice glass of Cabernet while I watch sports! It was divine!!!! Such a relaxing sport to watch yet at the same time very exciting.

After the women’s match – it was time for the men. Roger Federer (1, Switzerland) vs. Paul Capdeville (Chile)! I was so excited, I couldn’t believe that we were getting to see the man currently ranked #1 in the world play in the U.S. Open (OK, so it’s only the 2nd round…but still!)

Federer won pretty easily in the 1st set 6-1. Capdeville however made Federer work more for it in the 2nd and 3rd set, although Federer still won both, 6-4 and 6-4. It was pretty exciting because Federer came up and played the net a lot (which you don’t see as much nowadays). Seeing him play you can totally understand why he is the best, he is so quick on his feet and a very smart and powerful player! Federer will take on the young American John Isner in Round 3. I’m looking forward to watching it!

Two things to comment on: 1) Federer served a couple of times in the high 120’s mph. I can’t even imagine seeing Roddick who currently holds the World Record for fastest serve at 155 m.p.h., serve at his world record speed! 2) I can’t even imagine how cool it would be to see Federer vs. Nadal live – that must be amazing!

OK, that’s it – my first U.S. Open experience! It was awesome and I hope that we’re able to go back some time in the future. What a fun sports week it’s been for us!

PS – In all the excitement I forgot to mention the celebs we saw: Gladys Knight, Michael Koors & Ralph Lauren himself!

 

The Constant Princess, by Philippa Gregory (2 1/2 – 3 stars) August 29, 2007

Filed under: Book Reviews — readerbean @ 2:43 pm

After taking 4-5 days off from reading, I told myself I needed to get back out there. I picked up a couple of different books, read a page, but them down, and finally settled on The Constant Princess, by Philippa Gregory.

I have read The Other Boleyn Girl by her and I loved that, and since I love historical fiction and I’m a little obsessed with the Tudors (after reading Margaret George’s, The Autobiography of Henry VIII, with notes by his fool Will Sommers), I thought a sojourn back into the Tudor court would do me some good in overcoming my sadness that Harry Potter was over.

The Constant Princess, is the story of Katherine of Aragon (Catalina, Infanta of Spain), Henry VIII’s first wife. The book covers the first half of her life: her childhood in Spain, her betrothal to Arthur (Henry’s older brother), their marriage, his death, her uncertain future during the 7 years after Arthur’s death but before she married Henry VIII and the beginning of her marriage to Henry.

Unfortunately Gregory IMHO (in my humble opinion) butchered this book. Certain phrases were repeated way to often throughout the book, which got very annoying, and she was too descriptive about parts of Katherine’s life that were more quiet and not as descriptive about parts of Katherine’s life that she could have done a lot more with. Half the book is in italics, which are supposed to be the “thoughts” of Katherine, but it has a weird effect on the book as those italicized passages become longer and longer. She takes 400 pages to get you to Katherine’s 3rd pregnancy, and then abruptly skips 13 years, writes one more page and ends the book. It seemed at the finish, as if she had gotten tired of writing about Katherine. I guess I was looking for her to write a little bit at least about the Anne Boleyn/Henry VIII/Katherine of Aragon marriage triangle but that wasn’t even really addressed.

This being said, The Other Boleyn Girl was so enjoyable that this one flop isn’t enough to make me not read Gregory again, but I didn’t feel she did Katherine justice.

 

Wii = Weeeee! August 28, 2007

Filed under: Family, Sports — readerbean @ 2:09 pm

After all my excitement at Coney Island on Saturday, I spent a fun leisurely afternoon visiting with my brother and his girlfriend on Sunday. They had just purchased the new Wii Nintendo system and just like in the good ol’ days when we were kids my brother invited me over to play!
I had never played Wii before so I was excited and curious to see how it was going to work. They don’t have very many games: tennis, bowling, golf, baseball and boxing are part of a program that comes with Wii when you purchase it. Aside from that they purchased a game called Medal of Honor – it’s a WWII military game.

We started with tennis and while it took me a little while to figure out how to work it (my character was a little spastic!) I did later discover the “super serve!” We played every game except for boxing and it was such a great time! It really is a workout – in the middle of our baseball game I was literally sweating (as embarrassing as that is!) And on Monday my right shoulder was sore – hehehehe! I would definitely recommend checking it out if you know someone that owns the system.

After that we had lunch at this really cute restaurant called Say Cheese! on the corner of 45th and 9th. All their dishes are types of grilled cheese – fun! I had a delicious chicken, sauteed onion, avocado spread and cheese on sourdough bread – yum! It was a great place to grab a quick and yummy lunch – I would recommend it to those in the NYC area.

All in all it was just great to spend some quality time with my brother and his girlfriend!!!

 

catching up on some 4 star reviews August 27, 2007

Filed under: Book Reviews, Movie Reviews — readerbean @ 3:08 pm

As I said in an earlier post I’ve been a little delinquent in my posting, hence the crazy influx of posts within the past two days! So here are some movie & book reviews worthy of 4 stars that I’ve watched/read since mid-August.

Movie Reviews:

The Prestige – The premise is two young magicians, Robert (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred (Christian Bale) are arch rivals. Robert is trying to discover the “secret” to Alfred’s big successful trick that is drawing in the crowds. How far will magicians go to discover each other’s “secret?” This movie is definitely worth the rental – it is fast paced, intriguing, a great cast and a great plot twist at the end that will make you want to watch the movie all over again. This is a movie I enjoyed the first time around and I look forward to renting again!

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – After dating for two years Joel (Jim Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet) have a procedure done that erases each other from their memories. During the process Joel decides he doesn’t want to lose his memories of Clementine and tries to squirrel them away in other parts of his mind to evade the procedure. This movie is a sweet eccentric love story that I found very endearing in a quirky kind of way. It’s not a movie I would recommend for everyone but if you’re looking for a quirky love story this is the movie for you.

Amistad – This movie tells the story of the 1839 mutiny aboard La Amistad a Spanish ship heading the America. The ship lands around New Haven and the US Court system is forced to determine the fate of the African slaves found aboard the ship. A great cast: Djimon Hounsou, Anthony Hopkins, Morgan Freeman and Matthew McConaughey. This is a moving story and a movie that my DH and I really enjoyed. It is a sobering movie as it is based on true events but a story that all should know nonetheless and one I would recommend.

Part of the movie takes place in the library at Peacefield (John Adams and John Quincy Adams, Quincy residence). My DH and I had taken a tour of their residence in Quincy, MA when we lived there and since I had read books about both John Adams and JQA it was pretty fun to recognize the place and feel somewhat knowledgeable about JQA. For those of you that live in Massachusetts it’s a fun way to spend 2 hours in the afternoon. It’s only $5 and it’s very informative!

Book Review

Since I’ve already written about my Harry Potter craziness that went on I only have one book to write about.

Amsterdam, by Ian McEwan – This is our September book group book. I had never read McEwan so I was excited to finally pick up one of his books since I always see his books on the New York Times Bestseller lists (he’s written Atonement & Saturday, among others).

At the funeral of Molly Lane, the reader is introduced to three of her ex-lovers: Clive Linley, a musical composer; Vernon Halliday, editor of a tabloid newspaper; and Julian Garmony, an important political figure in London. Old friends, Clive and Vernon make a pact that they will not let the other suffer as Molly had suffered prior to passing. Throughout the book they both make decisions and act in ways that will have dire impacts on their lives. This book deals with themes of: ambition, betrayal, trust and selfishness.

I didn’t think that the story was all that strong but McEwan’s writing style and description flow so beautifully that if you can read it strictly for the writing you might enjoy it. Overall I’d give it 3 1/2 stars as opposed to 4 but I’d be willing to pick up McEwan again. I think it should make for a good book group discussion!

 

Whale Watching – Pics August 26, 2007

Filed under: Vacation — readerbean @ 5:11 pm

When we were in Cape Cod we went on a whale watching trip from Provincetown, MA. I hadn’t been on a whale watching trip probably in over a decade so I was really excited to go out on a little boat ride and I was hoping that we would see some whales.

We caught the 12:30 boat and it took us about an hour to get out to where the whales were. Humpback whales are the most common whales out in this area – but we did see on Minke too! Overall we saw 25 different whales – I was so excited! They were feeding and we literally got to see them do everything you would hope to see a whale do. They are such graceful creatures.

Now that I have my sister’s old computer (I bought it from her today – woot!) I can download pics from my camera – so I’ve added 3 to this particular post. The first picture is of the whale feeding, they come up like that as they take in all the fish and then empty all the water out! It was pretty cool to watch.
I’ve also added pictures to my Staten Island Ferry blog – so if you want to check them out you can click on that entry! And now that I know how to do this – look for more pics in the future to grace this blog.

 

The AVP on NBC – Beach Volleyball (boo-yahh) August 26, 2007

Filed under: NYC Experiences, Sports — readerbean @ 5:03 pm


Saturday was a big day for me! Something I’ve been looking forward to all summer. The AVP Tour coming to Coney Island, Brooklyn baby! Woot! Now for those of you that don’t know I played volleyball in high school and then after college I played in club leagues in Boston for a couple of years. When I started training for marathons I stopped playing v-ball because I didn’t want to injure myself and not be able to run. I’ve always peripherally followed the AVP because you can catch the men’s and women’s finals on TV but this summer I’ve been watching most finals and for whatever reason I’ve been following the sport much more closely. When I found out they were coming to Brooklyn I was so excited that maybe, just maybe I’d get to see some games live. My DH agreed to come with me (since we only have 1 TV by default he catches a lot of beach volleyball games too:)

Yesterday, after our 6 mile run we headed out to Coney Island! The ride to Coney Island is incredibly long (an hour on the subway feels a lot longer than an hour in a car!) from where we live but hey, at least the subway goes out that far. We got to the beach a little after 10 picked up our tickets from will call and walked in ready to explore how this tourney would be all set up.

Two weeks ago, my friend Michelle saw the AVP when they played at Manhattan Beach in Cali and she wrote on her blog about how amazed she was as to how close you could get or were to the players. And boy was she right! They have the main stadium set up (see the pictures above), where all the “big” games go on. And then the rest of the games take place on courts that you literally stand around as if you were just watching some people playing a pick up game of vball on the beach (ok, there are sponsor banners separating you from the court so you don’t interfere with play and they’re not playing pick up vball) but you’re uber close.

We walked around for a little bit to get a sense of how everything was set up, what games had taken place the day before, what games were going on at the time, and what games were coming up and then decided to catch Elaine Young/Nicole Branagh vs. Angie Akers/Brooke Hanson. For those of you that aren’t familiar with beach vball (which is I’m going to assume most of you) Young/Branagh beat the #1 women’s team (Misty May/Kerri Walsh) last weekend in Boston so I really wanted to see them play live. EY (as Elaine Young is usually referred to) is always very emotional when she plays vball and you can tell that as you watch her play on TV but seeing her live was something else. Right as we got to the court she was called on a lift when setting the ball and she went absolutely balistic at the referee. I wasn’t watching closely enough yet to really tell whether it was a good call or not, but she was not backing down. And you’re that close that it’s like watching two people in the mall get into a huge fight – it was uncomfortable to say the least. EY/Branagh went on to win the match and it was definitely fun to see them play.

After catching them we went into the large stadium to see Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers (the #1 men’s team in the world beat Matt Fuerbringer/Casey Jennings to advance to the semi-finals. Having some time to kill before the two men’s semi-final games began we visited the sponsor booths and got some food. Then we went over and I got to see a legend, a women who I idolized in high school play! I was so excited – especially since I had thought that Holly McPeak had retired. Unfortunately her and her teammate lost but still – woot!

We agreed that we were going to watch one of each of the semi-final games. So we went to Court 1 and caught the first game of John Hyden/Brad Keenan vs. Scott Wong/Aaron Wachtfogel (unfortunately Hyden/Keenan lost and ended up losing the whole match). Then we went into the main stadium to watch Dalhausser/Rogers knock out Mike Lambert/Stein Metzger. Watching that game was so fun though because Lambert/Metzger totally played to the crowd and got really worked up and excited every time they scored a point. Even though Dalhauser/Rogers are the number one team I definitely got the sense during both the semi-final game and the final that the crowd would have liked to see an upset…

At 2:30 it was time for the men’s final: Dalhausser/Rogers vs. Wong/Wachtfogel. We were rooting for Wong/Wachtfogel, as it was Wong’s first final ever, Wachfogel’s parents were sitting literally five people away from us, and hey everyone’s likes an upset right? The AVP has this really funny announcer guy who warms up the crowd, plays a lot of fun music and gets us ready to cheer really loudly and make sure everyone watching the AVP on NBC knows how much fun it is to watch the matches live. Vince Carter was there from the Nets as well as the Nets owner doing lots of promoting since they’re moving the Nets to Brooklyn (maybe I’ll have to add going to a Brooklyn Nets game on my list of things to do in NYC!) And then the game began…and I have to say this really is a fun sport to watch live. They really know how to entertain a crowd and keep the fun and excitement level up! It was such a great match – Scotty Wong had the game of his life – hey played sooo well. As did Wachtfogel…but it just wasn’t enough to take down Dalhausser/Rogers. Although they did keep both games really close.

After the men’s final was over we stuck around to watch May/Walsh take on Annett Davis/Jenny Johnson Jordan in the quarterfinals (I believe) and it was fun to watch the #1 women’s team take on the #4 team. May/Walsh won and then it was time to call it a day. I have to say for $20 a person we got a full day of entertainment. We were out all day on the beach, watching a fun sport and for me really getting to experience something I’ve wanted to do for a long time – getting to watch the AVP Tour live. We already have agreed that if they come back to Coney Island next year for the tour – we’ll be out there for the day to partake in all the fun!!!!

The last time we went out to Coney Island (over Memorial Day Weekend before I began this blog) we rode the Cyclone and got a hot dog at Nathan’s (the true Coney Island experiences) so this time we didn’t get in the long lines for both, it had just been too long of a day already! But I highly recommend both if you ever find yourself in Coney Island.

 

Central Park August 26, 2007

Filed under: NYC Experiences, Running — readerbean @ 4:37 pm

Hey everyone! I’m feeling a little behind on the blogging and I’m going to try to catch up in the next couple of days because I definitely have been up to some fun stuff (or at least I think I have:)

I’ve accomplished part of goal # 4 on my New York List – to explore Central Park (CP), more specifically to run in Central Park. Last Sunday (the 19th of August) after returning from Cape Cod my DH and I decided to go for a 5 mile run. We really wanted to make sure we ran 5 miles (as we’re trying to up our mileage for the Reach the Beach Relay in a couple of weeks) and since we weren’t familiar with Central Park we ran around it. We started on the East Side of Central Park at 60th Street and ran all the way up to 110th and then over to the West Side and down to 72nd Street. It was a great run – some uphill, more downhill, and it was great to get glimpses of the park and not have to stop at lights.

Mid-week we decided it was time to bite the bullet and run in the park and if we got lost, we got lost! We went online read up on all the different routes and mapped out a 3.5 mile route using gmaps (the greatest online tool invented for runners – and I’m sure a ton of other people!) Again we started on the East Side on the corner at 60th and 5th and ran down 60th or maybe it was 59th to the enterance into the park that brings you to the main road. We ran up the West Side of the park to 86th and then took a trail road across and hopped back on the main road back down to the entrance (well, that’s what we were supposed to do, but my sense of direction got all messed up and I didn’t understand where I was and instead of trusting that my DH new where he was I said I thought we should turn down one road and that led us out to 5th Ave and once again we were running outside the big walls of the park – oops!)

Entering CP was like entering a secret world enclosed behind it’s walls – a secret work out world that is! When you’re walking on all the paths you don’t notice it as much as when you enter as a runner and run on the main road that circles throughout the park. My immediate thought was “So this is where all the NYC runners are!” My second thought was, “OMG these runners are serious – people are running so fast!” We were running agains the crowd, which of course made me think we must have been running towards something difficult – the West Side is pretty uphill as I learned that day but I think regardless of which way you run you’re bound to hit some uphills and downhills). It feels as if you’re running on a track almost, except there are also cyclists and cross country roller bladers (poles and all!) While there are a ton of experienced runners there are also beginner and intermediate levels runners so once we got further into our run I started to feel more comfortable with the experience. There are a ton of running clubs as well and at more than one time we were passed by packs of 10-30 people running in one direction as part of a pack, which was pretty interesting. Overall the experience was pretty cool if not somewhat overwhelming – there are just so many paths.

On Saturday we decided to adventure out to CP again! I know we’re getting crazy:) It’s just nice not having to stop every 2 blocks and wait at a light and of course as any other runners can atest to, it’s a lot more fun running when everyone around you is running as well! We wanted to run 6 miles, so we ran from our apartment up to the park, did the same 3.5 mile loop from Wednesday night and then ran most of the way home. I felt more comfortable my second time in the park – and I’m excited to get back and explore all the different paths and areas within the park. It’s a great place for runners (and so many other active people – walking, rock climbing, football, baseball, frisbee, cross country rollerblading, cycling, you can find almost anything going on in the park!)

 

Harry Potter Mania – This post is overdue… August 22, 2007

Filed under: Book Reviews, Movie Reviews, Ruminations — readerbean @ 11:19 am

OK I’ll admit it I’m a HUGE Harry Potter (HP) fan! And I’m proud of it:) I jumped on the bandwagon in 2001 when I was an unemployed college graduate living in Brookline spending my days at the Brookline library looking for jobs. One day I went to the children’s section and took out the first HP book. Two days later I had returned it and was taking out the 2nd and 3rd book. I was officially hooked waiting each year for the next one to come out.

Well, with the 7th and final installment debuting at the end of July I wanted to catch up on HP so that I could be prepared to dive right in. So basically what I’m saying is that the past month of my life has been dedicated to re-experiencing Harry Potter!

I re-watched the first movie, since it was the only one I had seen and I had seen it years ago. Then I proceeded to watch HP 2, 3, and 4 (thank you Netflix!) so that I could go see the 5th HP movie with my friend Shion after work one night. After seeing the 5th movie I decided to re-read the 6th HP book so that it would be fresh in my mind. It was just as good the 2nd time around!

Lastly, during our week on Cape Cod I read the 7th and final installment of the Harry Potter books, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It was a true journey. I wasn’t able to read anything for 4 days (which for me is eternity) because I didn’t want to truly leave that world and head back to the real world. In the end I have to say that this series is totally worth reading & renting if you haven’t already! I can’t wait for the 6th and 7th movies to come out in 2008 and 2010 respectively.

I think it’s amazing what this book has done. Throughout the years as the internet becomes more widely used for everything, people every now and again question whether or not reading books will become obsolete. I think the HP series shows that if you write a good, captivating story, especially one that can be read by children and adults alike, books will never become obsolete. This book in it’s opening weekend back in July sold more copies that the HP5 movie sold tickets. That’s amazing! My question is do we think that J.K. Rowling can do it again? I hope so – because I would certainly love to escape into another world that she’s created.

This is kind of a random post…but the HP books and movies have so consumed me for the past month that I only thought it fair to share…

 

Cape Cod August 21, 2007

Filed under: Vacation — readerbean @ 12:41 pm

I have returned! Last week I was on Cape Cod (CC) for the week with my DH, MIL, BIL and future SIL! We rented a house in Brewster – a part of CC near and dear to my DH’s family as they spent many a summer vacation there.

It was soooo nice to be back in New England surrounded by all those great New Englanders wearing their Boston and Red Sox gear waiting on the long Dunkie lines! There is just a totally different feel to New England then there is to the tri-state area.

When we were leaving to drive up to Boston we literally felt like we were leaving a foreign country and as we drove up the Merritt Parkway it felt like a lush forest it was totally surreal.

We had a really nice week: cheered on the Falmouth Road Race, went to the beach, caught a Cape Cod Baseball League Game, went for a 16 mile bike ride on the Cape Cod Rail Trail (CCRT), spent a day in Provicetown and went whale watching and played mini-golf. All the things you would expect of a CC vacation!

Next we’re looking forward to our big vacation this winter: 10 days in Italy! It will have been a year and a half since DH and I have been on a vacation just the 2 of us and it will have been almost 3 years since we have been to Europe so we are really looking forward to this trip!

 

Things I Love – Foreign Films August 10, 2007

Filed under: Movie Reviews, My Favorite Things — readerbean @ 10:17 am

I’ve been meaning since I started this blog to have a weekly post about things that I love. (kind of like Oprah!) It’ll be interesting to see how these particular posts develop over time.

Foreign films are something that I’ve always loved but up until recently never watched on a regular basis. When I moved to New York this winter one of the things my friend Jen and I did when we got together was go see foreign films and it reminded me of how much I love them! You don’t know the actors in most of them and so it’s easier to believe that they truly are the character they’re playing. For me they evoke more feeling and many times tell a story that an American may not know – since it’s told from a non-American perspective. I love listening to the different languages – it’s like escaping into a foreign country for 2 hours.

Over the past 6 months I’ve been exploring the world of foreign films – in some instance I’m seeing a movie for the first time that many people have already seen and in some instance I’m discovering great movies on my own that others have never heard of.

Here are some of my favorites from the past 6 months:

Amelie – A sweet French movie with a main character that you will love!

Butterfly – This movie takes place right before the Spanish Civil War. It is a powerful story about how people can change when times change.

Elling – A Swedish gem – this movie tells the story of two mentally challenged friends who room together in an apartment in Oslo. They have to prove to the state they are capable of living on their own. You’ll root for them the whole way!

The Dinner Game – A French comedy that will have you in stitches – I haven’t laughed so hard in awhile!

The Lives of Others – The 2007 Foreign Film Oscar Winner – a powerful story about life in East Berlin before & after the fall of the wall.

I have a ton of foreign films in my netflix queue and I plan on making sure that I continue to consistently watch foreign gems. If you don’t watch foreign films go outside your box and try one out – you never know you might like it!