We go hard

 

Monday night was a birthday continuation! We went to the Nets game at the new Barclays Center. And there was good sports and even better food to be had and I did my best to learn players' names. I had a beer! I got a team T-shirt! But then in the morning I read this article which made me feel like a BAD PERSON for having had fun and taken part in Brooklynsploitation.

"A Brand Called Brooklyn" by Norman Oder

But I think we'll go back.

My next book club pick, A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. Trying out some nonfiction. I need to pick this up this week once I finish reading Fingersmith (which I think would have been a great book club pick because in my head when I'm reading, I'm thinking "Holy eff guess what just happened!").


I've been trying to be a good citizen of my neighborhood, supporting the small businesses etc., by buying my books at The Community Bookstore.

i heart brooklyn

Okay, I know I don't live there anymore, but the longer I live on the Upper East Side, the more I am looking forward to moving back to BROOKLYN in a year or so. Last weekend I went to the tantalizing mecca of handmade craftiness that is known as the annual Renegade Craft Fair in Williamsburg (where I got my much-loved scissors necklace two years ago). I bought this uber-Brooklyny print of an illustration by Claudia Pearson, whom you can find on Etsy here. She's British, but she loves Brooklyn, too! (SO MANY THINGS I LIKE.) It's a charming little row of brownstones, aka my dream home, and it's titled "Houses All in a Row." I can't wait to frame it and hang it on my wall...in Brooklyn.

Weekend accomplishments

My feet, thigh muscles, and ankles are sore tonight after I went a little Prospect Park crazy this weekend, doing a full loop of the park yesterday and a loop and a half this morning. This 60+ degree weather is probably due to the horrors of global warming (hey, I'm reading Hot, Flat , and Crowded right now, so it's on my mind) but at least it let me get in some park time before it gets freezing soon. And even though there were seventy year olds out and about on the jogging paths passing me at my mere walking pace, it was really enjoyable to be outside early in the morning and getting the old heart rate up. Also I totally am a poser and got one of those armband holder thingies for my iPod so I can listen to Harry Potter audiobooks the whole time. Question: what do people who run do with their stuff? Where do they keep their keys? Also HOW CAN THEY RUN SO MUCH, FOR REALS.

Confession

Hi. My name is Bethany, and I am a Craiglist addict.

It's gotten really bad. I am hoping to move into a new apartment on January 1, and I feel like I've been spending about a third of my time until then scrolling through those tantalizing and frustrating one-line listing titles.

It's a little too early to start seriously looking at places for January move-ins, so at this point I have not definitely narrowed things down between Brooklyn and Manhattan and one- two- and three-bedrooms, which means there are a lot of variables and price points and neighborhoods and picture options for me to be plugging in and getting glazed-over while clicking through.

Last week I was able to go two full work days without checking my traps once, but my resolve soon evaporated and I since have lost all willpower to stay off the site at work. I just keep scanning the neighborhood names and looking up locations on Google maps and trying to decipher oddly angled photos and drooling over the possibility of having stainless steel appliances and living in Park Slope.

Fall in the park

I'm feeling like a . . . I believe the only correct word is putz for not taking more advantage of Prospect Park being about a fifteen-second walk across the street from the apartment building I've lived in for almost two years. I went for a walk with my parents there yesterday morning while they were visiting and it was so warm out and I just kind of felt like duh, why don't I do this more (or at all)?

I'm going to try to make a conscious effort the next two weekends between now and Thanksgiving to do a little loop there during the day. It's saddening me that any semi-warm weather is probably behind us now, and that I don't have any daylight hours during the week I can do this since the sun isn't even risen yet at 6:30 in the morning and it's totally gone by the time I get off the train at 5:45. If things work out with any luck I won't be living in Brooklyn by the time it's spring again, so I need to get in some quality park time while I'm still here.

On Tap

What's on the schedule for the month of September:

Brooklyn Book Festival, where I want to see the authors of

and

So You Think You Can Dance, brand-new season!


Giving blood


Finally taking a quilting class at Purl Soho


Signing up for New York Cares


and perhaps a wee less freelance, seeing as how it is kind of taking over my life. . .


. . . leaving more time for cooking some real meals, which hasn't so much been happening around here lately.

So remember back when I said I wanted to do Etsy? Yeah, never happened. But even so, I can at least still feel good about supporting handmade crafts at the Renegade Craft Fair in Williamsburg on Saturday. This is not your grandma's church-basement craft fair. Over 300 vendors participateds, and holy lord, everything was so cute and beautifully made that I could have dropped a couple hundred bucks there, easy. Tons of handmade jewelry, cute stuff for babies, art prints, handscreened shirts and bags, letterpress cards . . . it was awesome and a great place to shop for gifts for people. Best purchase of the day: