Street Fair, Tim Burton and Naked People

My favorite thing about living in New York is there's always somewhere new to go or something new to see. I was talking with a friend today about how I feel like you could spend your whole life in this city and barely scratch the surface of trying all the restaurants, and visiting all the galleries, museums and landmarks. Having a "9-to-5" job (do those even exist anymore?) makes it even harder to get out and experience all the city has to offer, but since moving here I've tried to squeeze as many fun activities into my little free time as possible. This weekend was the perfect, filled with interesting experiences...

Saturday we went to the Hester Street Fair, which just opened this weekend and is filled with vendors of all kinds - food, coffee, smoothies, art, clothes - you name it, it's there. Apparently this area was once the home of NYC's oldest and largest pushcart market, who knew? Anyway, it was fun to roam and around tasting everything and checking out the art and jewelry... They're open for the next few months so stop by and check it out if you missed the crazy opening weekend!

Unlike Saturday, which was a beautiful spring day in the city, yesterday was completely miserable and rainy. Fortunately a friend and I had already snagged tickets to the Tim Burton exhibit at MoMA, which was in its last weekend after being sold out basically since it opened so we spent the day indoors and quite entertained.

The exhibit was really interesting, and definitely made me want to go watch all of Tim Burton's movies immediately. Must finally get around to signing up for Netflix...

We also wandered through a few other random floors (I've been to MoMA a few times and can never manage to see everything), but the exhibit we still needed to see was "The Artist is Present," by Marina Abramovic. I use the word "by" loosely, since the artist actually is the exhibit. You can read all about the idea behind it in this article from the New York Times, but essentially she's sitting at a table staring at whoever is next in line to sit across from her. Based on the picture on the Times article, she seems to at least wear different clothes day to day... it's a pretty bizarre exhibit, and continues upstairs with people in various positions, some clothed and some not.. I won't go into all the details, but it's definitely worth checking out. If nothing else, it seems like it'll be something everyone in NYC will be talking about soon so it's worth knowing what all the fuss is about. New York just may be one of the only cities in the world people will pay and stand in line to see someone sitting at a table and staring straight ahead..

PS, if you're a Sex and the City fan, you may recognize the picture with the ladder from the episode where Carrie meets the Russian... remember the crazy woman on exhibit not eating, drinking or sleeping? Same as the one we saw today :) Who said Sex and the City isn't cultured?

Checklist, Revised.

Apparently I either have time to update several times per day or not at all for weeks... I really am working on being more consistent, I swear (have I mentioned the whole working three jobs thing?).

So I've decided to expand my checklist. I got a good start to it last weekend, but this past week was a crazy busy blur so I need to get going on it again. I got a letter from my grandfather last week that inspired me to add to the list so I can make sure I see all of the great things this city has to offer. He put it best when he said that many New Yorkers take things for granted here and don't do all of the great things that tourists come here to do. There are so many beautiful parks, amazing museums, and unique experiences to be had in this awesome city and I don't want to ever take it for granted! So here goes, the Revised Master Life Checklist:

1. High Line (check!)
2. Thoroughly explore Central Park (considering saving this for when it's a little cooler out/when the leaves start to change)

3. Get into Gramercy Park (ongoing life goal)

4. Top of the Rock/Empire State Building Observation Deck (per a friend's advice, I think I'll opt for ESB at night)

5. Brooklyn Bridge (check!)

6. Walk along the Hudson (check!)

7. Chelsea Piers (check!)

8. Frying Pan

9. Astoria Beer Garden

10. Ferry ride from Battery Park to Staten Island/Circle Line boat ride around Manhattan

11. Giants game (in order to fill the void of UGA football/Athens, I'm becoming a pro football fan. I have a lot to learn!)

12. MoMA (I've been but need to go back and spend more time there - free on Fridays from 4 - 8 p.m.)

13. Museum of Natural History

14. The Met

15. The Frick (free/donations only entry on Sundays before 1 p.m., only $5 for students otherwise - good thing I still have that student ID!)

16. The Whitney (Fridays, 6 - 9 p.m. - free/donations, also has deals for students on a regular basis)

17. Guggenheim (Saturdays, 5:45 - 7:45 p.m. - pay what you wish)

That's going to have to do for now, I'm already getting exhausted thinking about doing all of this! Any other suggestions would still be welcome though :)