richmond gale in the city...

this weekend, my dear friend from richmond traveled to see me and to keep me entertained in craig's absence (vegas baby)...below, her JG melon turkey burger luncheon

we went to a bar whose name pretty much sums up both of us!...
grizzly bill! gale, bill and i all lived in the same apartment building in richmond back when.
look who we found! at the auction house, lauren, amanda, jeff, andrew...
andrew and his brother peter...missing eric though (their third bro)...
amanda and jeff...
lauren went for a snack!
jeff and andrew eyeball the new iPhone belonging to jeff...lucky guy.
girls at bar
ok, this is the point where more than likely gale was convincing jeff to vote for obama.
next afternoon...steph made an appearance! here we are at bua on st. mark's place.
this guy took decent care of us at elaine's back in the neighborhood...
no, i'm not tipsy.
cute girls.
gale and kb, reunited after a two year void!!
thanks to all of the wonderful friends, and to gale for traveling here, who helped me have a fun-filled weekend in the city mid-summertime! thanks to the girls for their shoulders and ears. :)

statues on parade in new york city and other things...

yesterday we left the apartment early to spend the day with new york. in preparation of the all star game at yankee stadium this week, MLB statues have been painted and placed around the city. we decided to find a few. below, one of our city's two teams.

we saw this strange (interesting?) art installation piece at rockefeller center...
and palm trees!
i love nyc...
craig loves nyc.
LA Dodgers...this is for our friend Roger.
commemorative shea - last season at shea stadium!

right outside of radio city music hall...
the cardinals were my first favorite baseball team...
washington nationals, also for roger.meet the mets, meet the mets...
the big baseball head i always avoid when at shea...
of course, we're mets fans.
brooklyn dodgers...


bo-sox. see wally in the reflection?
and finally, cubbies for my dad. maybe they will win the world series this year!
stock exchange.
last but not least, the much deserved red speckled hen at Bua, a new favorite Alphabet City spot.
here's to the all star break 2008!

4th of july weekend with the gordons in the city...

brian and julie traveled to see us from cleveland to celebrate our nation's independence.
what more patriotic thing to do than to see the yankee - red sox game in the bronx?
i'm a johnny damon fan.
manny at bat...
yankee rbi's...
americans.
this is the last year for the house that ruth built.
after the game, we headed to spanish harlem for a barbecue.
jeff wonders why i shoot his picture while he polishes off a bojda burger.
cheers. mexican beer (pacifico) in spanish harlem on america's birthday?
lauren sips vino.
we left the barbecue (thanks, amanda!) to travel toward fireworks. this was our pre-show drink. gordo, where are you putting that money?
saturday we woke to a gloomy stormy day but went on the circle line cruise, anyway.
lower manhattan...
lady liberty...
from the east river...
pier 17...
manhattan bridge with water fall art installation. there are a total of 4.
there is another art piece beneath the brooklyn bridge...
the neighborhood craig and i dream one day we'll live...DUMBO.
full frontal...
LL with sailboat...
back on land, we traveled to soho for lunch.
to gear up for the allstar game at yankee stadium (july 15), an artist painted 42 statue of liberties in MLB garb and they are located through the city. this is his statue for himself.
american flags and empire state building.
we took gordo to the white sox MLB statue. here, two sox fans with statue.
craig with statue.
then we took the gordons to alphabet city. gordo ordered "his" beer.
kristin at the grape and grain...
we had an action-packed fun-filled weekend with our friends brian and julie. they are our first repeat visitors since we moved to nyc. thanks for coming, gordons! good times!