The Hamptons

My sister is having her last hurrah in NYC this week before she and her boyfriend pack up and move to Pennsylvania to start his medical residency. I feel bad for them since their last months in the city were dashed by Covid quarantines. They’ve been fully cooped up, so I’m sure the trails and forests of PA will be a welcome change. I took a couple trips down to see them and make the most of our rare time together in the same state.

During one of the trips, I decided to take a drive out to the Hamptons, because I’d never been. I knew it would be a long drive, but I don’t have much else going on these days. I started out following this guide to the scenic stops along Montauk Highway, but after about 4 stops, which were certainly beautiful and worth stopping at, I decided I’d better just make my way to Montauk or I’d be on the road all day.

There are so many gorgeous views along the way; it doesn’t hurt to stop at any of them. And it was so nice being outside and on the water after so many cold and rainy days this spring.

I was surprised at how rural and scenic everything is once you get further out onto Long Island. It’s a far cry from the hustle and bustle of Queens and the rest of NYC.

Since it was midweek, the stops weren’t crowded at all. It was even strange to see the touristy beach towns almost deserted. On the other hand, I was glad to have views like these all to myself:

Montauk was the main attraction. I couldn’t believe how many trees and how few cars I saw along the highway. I wouldn’t have believed that I was less than two hours outside of New York City. Once I got into town, I could tell that I was in a beachy vacation neighborhood by the number of cars and people walking around, but it still felt calm in the offseason. Restaurants were open for takeout, so I grabbed a bagel for the road.

Of course the main lighthouse park was closed due to quarantine, but I was still able to walk around the beach and the base of the lighthouse. The restrooms were open, which I thankfully found out before I had to duck behind the nearest tree! I did see more people walking around on the trails down to the beach, so I put my mask on and kept my distance.

I felt peaceful walking along the water by the ocean. It ended up being a long-ish drive from Queens (about 2 hours each way), but I found it to be worth the trip. I’m not sure the next time I’ll be on Long Island after my sister moves, so I’m glad I took the chance to travel out there while it was accessible. However, if anyone has a Hamptons beach house, I will gladly accept any invitations (wink, wink).

Small Adventures

Ok so, I haven’t been 100% sheltering in place. I did my best, really. And it was a lot easier when it was raining. A person can only do so many puzzles.

We’ve sometimes branched out from our walks in the neighborhood to include nearby parks and trails. My dad and I took a nice weekend hike through James Baird State Park. Having to stay close to home has deepened our appreciation for nearby gems.

But this past week was very nice, so I went upstate a bit to visit my friend Annie and to celebrate her daughter’s first birthday (socially distanced, of course)!

On the way home, I stopped to get my daily exercise in by checking out the Hudson River Skywalk over the Rip Van Winkle Bridge. I think I liked it as much as the Walkway Over the Hudson in Poughkeepsie! It was definitely refreshing to be out and about.

What We've Been Doing in Quarantine

Hi friends! Here we are again (still!), and we are holding it together (barely)! It’s been a long string of days, but I’m honestly grateful to be home, to have a family that loves me enough to let me stay with them without paying rent, and to have a wonderful neighborhood to walk where I can still be outside. Although I’m certainly the type to get restless, I’m reminded every day of all the things I have to appreciate.

How have you all been spending your quarantine? Have you been sneaking out of the house? I won’t tell. We’ve been cooking and eating yummy meals every night.

I made tempeh tacos (above) and a veggie chickpea stew (below). My dad started doing this thing at dinner where he asks everyone the best part of our day. It gives us all a chance to reflect, stop talking about the news, and be a little more positive. I highly recommend.

I’ve been doing yoga, as usual, mostly indoors. I’m enjoying taking online classes with my favorite teachers from Austin (BFree Yoga) and LA (Golden State Yoga), and some new teachers (like Erika Gasztonyi) who I’ve followed by never had the chance to practice with before. I’ve also been trying out Alo Moves this month, and I love it. I’ve been trying to spread my love and money around to my small business studios, but it’s hard to resist all of the great teachers on the Alo app. I’m like a sponge soaking it all in.

We got cute masks to protect ourselves from the virus. I’ve gone to Costco (first time ever!), the grocery store, and Target. I actually find myself extremely excited to leave the house for these small adventures. Who would have thought?!

And at night we’ve had lots of time to watch some gorgeous sunsets. That’s one benefit of the colder weather in NY. Soon the leaves will be back on the trees to block our view. I wouldn’t mind wearing shorts though…

<3 Thinking of you and missing giving hugs in person!

Easter Weekend

Hi! How are you holding up? I hope you are hanging in there as much as we are here. We have been in here for a while, but we’re still trying to maintain some aspects of life as usual.

I had a birthday last week! It was weird and different but equally enjoyable to be at home and to have people to celebrate who wanted to celebrate with me. I Zoomed with friends, ate cake, and drank margaritas. I even got new skis which I hope I will someday be able to actually go somewhere and use. I can’t believe I’m old enough to be having my 10 year college reunion this year.

Easter was many celebrations in one for us: Palm Sunday, my birthday (pretty much the equivalent of Easter, wink wink), Good Friday, and the main event. It was nice to have constant fun to look forward to during this quarantine.

I busted out my ornament painting skills and added some flair to the dyed eggs.

I am feeling very grateful for the occasions and celebrations. And also the fact that we can get outside, walk the hills of the neighborhood, or even explore local trails. This one was a recent find that we tested out on Easter Sunday:

It truly is all about the little things these days and there are a lot of feelings going around. I have my ups and downs, but as always I’m thankful for family and nature.

I miss you and I’m thinking of you, too!

---

• adventure
• arizona
• austin
• australia
• bali
• beach
• california
• camping
• central america
• cross country
• el salvador
• europe
• family
• food
• friends
• friendship
• granada
• hiking
• holidays
• home
• lbi
• life
• life abroad
• los angeles
• meditation
• moving
• music
• national parks
• nature
• new jersey
• new york
• nicaragua
• north carolina
• photography
• reflection
• retreat
• road trip
• sisters
• summer
• sunday
• sydney
• texas
• thailand
• travel
• ubud
• video
• work
• working holiday
• yoga
• yoga retreat

New York, New York

I’m in the airport, getting ready to fly to Sydney… but first, let me tell you how I got here! Last week, sadly, it was time to say goodbye to the beach. I had such a fun summer here getting to know the island a little better, from an insider perspective this time. I felt very at home there, in a way I hadn’t felt in while. Everything felt so natural and easy, which I’m sure is common when you’re surrounded by people on vacation with few responsibilities, but it was a nice brief respite from living so far from home for years.

On the other hand, last week felt like the right time to make an exit. The skies turned cloudy and grey for the departure drive. It makes it a little easier to leave your island paradise on a rainy October day.

My mom and I stopped at the best bakery on our way out. We had to bring a little treat to my sister who insisted that we get up to New York as early as possible, just so we could eat again. We took the train from Queens into the city and had brunch at a trendy little bistro called Jack’s Wife Freda.

We did a lot of shopping and bopping to stay out of the rain all day. I learned the many methods that NYC stores have to store your wet umbrellas while you browse. Eventually the rain let up so we could explore outside.

For dinner, we went to the same place I’d gone to on my birthday back in April, The Butcher’s Daughter, except that was the LA version and this was the NY version. Both were excellent!

Then it was finally time for the main event! We had tickets to see Hamilton, so we made our way over the 42nd street for the show. It was amazing and so unreal to be able to see it! I can’t recommend it enough, and it made for the perfect last night out in NY before my early flight to the west coast.

Back in Brooklyn

This past weekend, my sister was kind enough to host me again in NYC. I don’t know if she loves living there, since she’s not much of a city person, but I certainly love her living there for prime visitation privileges, not to mention having a lot of fun stuff to do nearby. Our dad and stepmom came down on Saturday and we headed into Brooklyn to play shuffleboard. Yeah, did you know shuffleboard is trendy again?

It’s so trendy that we showed up and registered, only to find that there would be a four hour wait to play. We couldn’t believe it would take that long, so we grabbed a drink and watched the countdown of numbers slowly pass by. We decided that we would definitely have enough time to venture outside to find dinner.

And we did have time to have the most amazing dinner. I might need to become a vegetarian again when I fully devote myself to yoga in Sydney, but for now, this barbecue will have to do… along with this golfish mac & cheese and this most delicious cornbread of my life:

We ate in the outdoor bbq and beer garden until it was getting dark, and then by some stroke of luck still had room for ice cream afterwards.

And, what do ya know? After a couple rounds of 80’s-90’s trivia at the shuffleboard club, it was finally time for us to play! We shuffled our biscuits until late in the evening, then I tried not to fall asleep during the car ride home. It was a lovely sort-of-last hurrah in the city.

Summer Water

Spending summer on the east coast means I get to take advantage of being much closer to friends and family than I have in the past five years. It means multiple trips to NYC to visit my sister—she lives in Queens! And last week, my cousins were in LBI to add to the fun. Life has been feeling pretty abundant for the past few weeks. There really is something to having a close, familiar community around you, without having everything be so new all the time. I’ll keep that in mind when I’m cuddling koalas and feeling homesick in Sydney this fall (spring?).

During our first visit, we ate ice cream and watched the live-action Lion King. And I was like, “I drove all the way to NYC just to watch The Lion King?” But, you know, sister time is valuable. The second visit was a little more extra special. We went to yoga in Astoria:

And then, to the Rose Mansion.

What in the world is the Rose Mansion? You might be wondering. Well, it’s like a wine tasting mixed with one of those new pop-up Instagrammable art museums. I feared it would be silly and tacky with long lines to take photos, and it had a little of that, but actually it was semi-educational and very fun!

Each room had a different part-of-the-world theme and a presenter to teach us about pink wines from that region. We took a lot of photos, learned a little about rose, drank a little more of the rose, and played dress up. Are there better ways to spend a sisters’ day in NYC? I think not, but feel free to send ‘em to me!

We had postponed our brunch til later in the afternoon, but we got to stop at one of Elayne’s favorites which happens to be Aussie themed (Citizens). We walked along the water until it was time for her to catch a ride out of Manhattan and for me to meet my friend for teeny tiny tacos and happy hour (Taco Dumbo).

My friend Mike—he lives in Sydney—was playing a show on the Lower East Side, and I remembered that Liz lives only minutes from there. So we all met up for the show, but a night in NYC does not end there… It ends, appropriately, at the House of Yes at 4 in the morning. Or maybe at a bodega deli with the best Italian sub. And it leaves you with a pounding head for the drive home the next day.