NYC | Yankee Doodle Dandy

I feel a little badly for Staten Island. It doesn’t exactly have the best reputation, recently perpetuated further by the world of reality television. As someone who grew up in NJ, I understand how annoying it is to have people think that all of NJ is big hair, muscles, and garbage, (although my muscles these days are looking good) and I would like to redeem Staten Island of all of the above a little bit. One of the most fun summer nights I’ve had this year was indeed in this borough off of the island of Manhattan.

NYC | Wear Two Socks (in case you get a hole in one)

One of the thousands of things I love about NYC is that people have really thought about what city life is missing and they’ve developed places for city dwellers to experience the joys that suburban life holds without having to drive over a bridge or through a tunnel (the horror). For example, the city developers way back when deciding that Central Park needed to be in existence, or the offering of kayaking on the Hudson, or the sports facilities available at Chelsea Piers.

NYC | Just around the Riverbend

My parents came to visit this weekend and I was so excited to spend my Saturday with them. I won’t be able to make it home for the rest of the month because of my charity event and two weddings and I was at my college reunion last weekend. It was so nice of them to drive up so that I didn’t have to travel two weekends in a row because I get overwhelmed with things like that easily. I’m working on it. So we celebrated Father’s Day a weekend early and did the item my dad suggested for my 28 Things list yesterday.

NYC | Run Like the Wind!

Last weekend, I had the honor of watching over 45,000 runners race across the city in pursuit of finishing the NYC Marathon. I was out of town last year for the marathon, and this was my first year watching on the sidelines which happened to be a perfect year for cheering.

NYC | Did I Gutter?!

One of the best decisions I made this summer (although there really were so many) was to join a Zog Sports bowling league with some of my coworkers. Zog Sports is an organization in NYC (and in other cities) that organizes different sports leagues and the winners of the leagues get money donated to a charity of their choice.

NYC | Truth or Urban Dare?

Last fall, as I mentioned here, Emily and I *dominated* the Hoboken Amazing Race. This year, we took it to the big leagues and signed up for a similar scavenger-type race in the Big Apple, Urban Dare. This time, we did *not* dominate, as there were 250 teams and a lot more area to cover. We actually didn’t even get close. We have a feeling that the team that ended up winning either cheated or knew the bus system really well. Unfortunately, the only bus I am good at is the one that stops directly in front of my building, so Emily and I walked/ran a little too far between most of the clues.

NYC | I Want to Ride my Bicycle

On Sunday, while sitting outside having brunch, my friend kept saying that he wanted to ride bikes. It was so beautiful outside. I kept just giggling about the image of us on bicycles after a 14-year hiatus. I was kind of taking his suggestion as a joke, but he kept insisting on it and I realized he was actually serious.

NYC | Get’cha Head in the Game

All this news about Carmelo Anthony coming to the Knicks gives me the opportunity to revisit when Emily and I went to see the Knicks in the fall. One of our prizes for winning first place (and completely dominating every single other team) in the Hoboken Amazing Race was tickets to a Knicks game.

NYC | Blades of Glory

Today I was able to knock yet another item off my 26 list. This item was also actually on my Holiday To-Do List (President’s Day counts as a holiday, right?!) AND my NYC To-Do List – is that cheating? I had a successful ice skating experience at Citi Pond at Bryant Park this morning!

NYC | 99 Problems, But a Snitch Ain’t One

It’s pretty obvious that one of the best things about living in NYC is that there is always something to do. It’s not as obvious that one of these things to do would be to watch the International Quidditch World Cup. If you aren’t familiar with Quidditch, we probably aren’t very good friends. It is the game featured in Harry Potter, and while I don’t have a Gryffindor scarf (Emily), I did spend a good amount of time at my cousin Claire’s wedding right after the last book was released acting out spells with some of my other cousins. Yes, we are really cool and we are fully aware of this. I also have been frantically re-reading all seven books and re-watching all six movies in anticipation of HP and the Deathly Hallows (which Emily and I might go see after our Rockettes experience on Thursday).

NYC | Angel is in the Outfield

I never really followed any sports on television, the main reason being my short attention span, but I really like going to sports games in person. I’m supposed to like Philly sports since I’m from South Jersey, but for reasons I will not disclose here, I personally try to avoid everything about Philadelphia except for Ben Franklin and cheesesteaks. I actually got glared at on the beach this summer at home for wearing my Mets hat…