The Cathedral of St. John the Divine

So, I was on my way home the other day and went one subway stop too far so I had to walk, but I was glad I did, because on the way home I discovered this AWESOME cathedral!

So then I turned the corner to get a better look and discovered that it was only a side building to a much bigger cathedral
It’s called the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. Luckily I had my camera on me, and I was able to join all the Asian tourists in some picture-taking.
Also, I’m pretty sure that’s George Washington in the middle of this door:
In the back they had this really cool sculpture garden, the most awesome of which was this epic sculpture of St. John:
I’m pretty sure St. John is holding a giraffe. Don’t ask me why. Here’s a more epic picture:

Where I Live

I finally have pictures!

It’s Sunday so I’m going to try to catch up on all the things I meant to blog about. Anyway, I’m all settled in now and I snapped a few pictures. This is where I live:

And this is where I work:

This is my room:

The furniture, most of the decorations, and even the bedspread belongs to the girl I’m subletting from. The Beatles poster is -- of course -- mine. It’s the only decoration I brought with me.

Here’s the outside of my building. I’m on the top floor.

Here’s the view! Lovely lovely.

More posts coming; I did some cool stuff this weekend.

NEW YORK!

I'm here! It's very surreal, actually. Every time I get on a subway I feel like I'm secretly in a movie.

I don't have a lot of pictures yet (it turns out I brought the camera without the memory card. Fail.) but needless to say, it's awesome! I walked past the Empire State Building on my way to work this morning and nearly wet my pants. Also, my apartment is across the street from Central Park. Literally across the street.

Work is good so far. Everyone is really friendly, and the projects they're working on sound really exciting! My boss actually gave me and the other intern tickets to the Yankees game today, which was pretty awesome (the Yankees won). Anyway, kind of a short random update.

New hero: http://www.thesartorialist.com/photos/52710Bike06610Web.jpg

I want to make these: http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/06/root-beer-float-cupcakes/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+smittenkitchen+(smitten+kitchen)

this was me in high school: http://xkcd.com/747/

These are tea towels, and they are ADORABLE:

http://www.todryfor.com/towel.asp?id=66

http://www.todryfor.com/towel.asp?id=189

http://www.todryfor.com/towel.asp?id=191

And that is all.

The Gorgeous Gorge

Since I’ll be leaving Oregon soon, Jessica and I took a trip down the Columbia River gorge so I could get my fill of green. It was BEAUTIFUL. We started in Troutdale and got on the Historic Highway and drove past dozens of waterfalls. There are 66 waterfalls in The Gorge – some small, some big (like Multnomah). We mostly stopped for three: Latourell Falls, Shepperd’s Dell Falls, and Multnomah Falls, of course!

The drive itself was stunning, surrounded by forest, catching glimpses of the Columbia River and the occasional flash of a waterfall. To give you a taste of the loveliness, I’ve put together a collage-o’-green:

At Latourell Falls, I decided I’d get as close as possible to the base, which was cool because the wind the waterfall generated was pretty intense. I also got completely soaked by spray, though. :)

Multnomah Falls was beautiful, as always, and Jessie and I took turns taking pictures of each other up on the bridge. Here are my favorites:

(Jessica, lookin' cute)

(Me being a dork)

All in all it was a lovely trip and the perfect way to see some of the gorgeous Oregon landscape before leaving for New York City. The best part was that I got to spend some fun time with Jessica!

The Dead Poets Society

Last night Kelsey, Jessie and I had a double feature that also included us eating soooo much little Caesars. We watched ‘The Dead Poets Society,’ which I had never seen before, and I decided it is one of my new favorite movies. It was pretty emotional, though. Particularly at this part:

Robin Williams was phenomenal, although sometimes he was quite crazy, like in the scene below.

Also, I couldn’t get over how tiny and adorable Robert Sean Leonard was!

Afterward, we watched ‘The Devil Wears Prada,’ which was a night lighthearted follow-up after the heavy experience of ‘Dead Poets.’ Although, it led to us wondering: Anne Hathaway’s mouth is enormous, but it seemed extra enormous in ‘Alice in Wonderland.’ Did they digitally make her mouth larger, like they did with Helena Bonham Carter’s forehead, or is her mouth actually just that big?

Engagement Photos

No, not of me. I actually took some engagement photos on Saturday.
These two seriously deserve to be together. After a rocky relationship, my roommate Maren will {finally} be getting married to her perfect guy. They are so cute together, and Kelsey and I were more than happy to take their engagement photos. Plus, Kelsey and I were co-conspirators in setting things up on the night Blake popped the question,
so we feel an invested interest in their success as a couple :P

Basically, we just took pictures while they were cute all over the place. We just said, "Stand by that tree and look cute" and they did, and we took pictures. Here are a few of my favorites:

Burberry ad, all the way.

We took these pictures up at Sundance, where Maren and Blake first fell in love. The fall colors were beautiful! I was just glad it hadn't snowed up here yet.

It was a struggle and a half getting this picture, haha.




This pictures is true love!

Okay, before you judge me, this next picture was not for serious, haha. Kelsey and I are always making fun of tacky engagement photos, so, of course, given the opportunity, we HAD to take a few. This was my favorite (and, sadly, I have actually seen someone use this exact pose as their engagement photo):"Yep, this is my ring. It's obviously more important than either of our faces."

All in all, it was such a fun experience, and I can't wait for Maren and Blake's wedding in December!

Crème brûlée

Kelsey and I had a cooking adventure. It started like this.

Kelsey: "I want to bake something"
Me: "Yeah, something delicious."
Kelsey: "Like creme brulee, haha, j/k."
Me: "...let's do it."

We looked up the recipe, and discovered that all we were missing was chocolate chips and whipping cream (which we got from Smith's), and some ramekins. Note: We did not in fact know what ramekins were, or how they worked, so we figured mugs would work as effective substitutes.

This is me lining the "ramekins" with chocolate. Also, it meant that I ended up eating a lot of melted chocolate. Mmmm...

Then we made the creamy custard stuff that goes inside:


Kelsey did an A+ job at stirring.

And we looked gross from being at the pool.Finished! It had to bake for quite a while, and then afterward it was supposed to chill for something like FOUR HOURS, so we stuck it in the freezer for a bit and then ate it.
It turned out pretty delicious, actually.