Halloween

Scary Costumes?

Tomorrow is Halloween! In the US, this tradition is honored by young and old: children dress up for trick and treat and grown-ups dress up for a different kind of candy...

One month before Halloween, certain stores in New York start to transform in specialty costume stores. You can find funny costumes (clowns, hilbillies, different food types and animals, cartoon characters), scary costumes (witches, skeletons, vampires, devils, ...), the "what's happening now" costumes (Obama, Lady Gaga, Michael Jackson, the Gosselins, etc) and then for some reasons, there is a big range of slutty costumes for the ladies (Playboy bunnies, French maids, Princess Leia's slave costume, etc). Apparently, certain American women use Halloween as an excuse to dress in very revealing, so-called "sexy" costumes. A strange phenomenon... I thought Halloween was all about dressing up in scary silly costumes... but on the other hand, I guess these "sexy" costumes can be really scary and silly on certain women. Makes you wonder what these women are trick and treating for?

We are dressing up for Halloween too (hey, when in Rome...) but I'm passing on the slutty costume trend. We are going for the funny silly costumes: rich plastic surgeons and their loyal upper class 5th Avenue clientele. We will be showing off our costumes in New York's Village Halloween Parade.

Happy Halloween!

Leaf Peeping

Fall Upstate New York

Every once in a while, we feel the need to escape the city in order to remind us that there is indeed a world outside Manhattan. So, we spent last weekend in upstate New York. The fall colors are legendary, green, yellow, orange, red, even purple and rose: the perfect spot for some "leaf peeping". Of course, also an excellent opportunity to practice my new knowledge on photography.

Our first stop: Sleepy Hollow... If you have heard about the legend of Sleepy Hollow or maybe even seen the movie, you'll know that it's the perfect place to spend the weekend before Halloween. We visited the Rockefeller Estate in Sleepy Hollow: Kykuit - the Dutch word for overlook. The estate is an amazing palace surrounded by even more amazing gardens - unfortunately, we saw the place during a rainy morning. Afterwards, we admired the Rockefellers' contribution to Union Church in Pocantico Hills: glass windows by Mattisse and Chagall ... not bad for a little church.



The next day, we woke up to a beautiful sunny day and drove to Bear Mountain State Park, on the West bank of the Hudson river. The park was crowded with people like us enjoying the fall foliage. It's hard to subscribe how beautiful fall can be in New York state. Lucky for you, the photographer in me - blessed with a wonderful crisp blue sky - couldn't stop taking photos. Our final stop, atop Bear Mountain, gave us a wonderful view of the park, the Hudson highlands, the river, with New York city lurking on the horizon.

Photography 101

No more point and shoot!

This month, I finally managed to cross at least one thing off my "Hobby's I Need To Pursue" list (some of the other ones on there are: making a new CD, writing a science-fiction, updating this blog at least once a week, ...).

I followed a digital photography course at the International Center of Photography: two full time weekends, not cheap but hey, "because I'm worth it!" The course was really interesting and after only two weekends, I'm able to juggle as a pro with fancy photography slang such as aperture, shutter speed, f-stop, ISO, white balance, ... The buttons on my DSLR camera no longer hold any secrets for me!

As part of the photography course, we had to ... can you guess... take photos! Below a few examples of my homework assignment, can you see the difference with my pre-photography course photos?

Need I say more?

Escape to Paradise

Mahalo... and come again!

One of the many perks of living in the US, is that you live nearer to the exotic dream holiday destinations which, as Europeans, you're normally only thinking about when planning your honeymoon. I'm talking about the Bahamas, Bermuda, Virgin Islands, Aruba, ... and of course Hawaii!

In August we spent an almost free holiday in Hawaii, the US Aloha State. Some leftover airmiles thanks to Ward's many business trips paying for the airtickets, renting out our NYC apartment paying for the hotels... et voilà, we're in Hawaii, and it's not even our honeymoon! *insert big smile here*

How to describe Hawaii? Well, picture paradise with coconut trees, beautiful sunsets, big sandy uncrowded beaches, mountains, lava, a turquoise sea, lush green, exotic flowers, waterfalls, turtles, monk seals, rainbow colored fish, rainbows, surf waves, hidden caves, secret pools, green valleys, old volcanos, add some sun and incredible lighting, and multiply everything by two.

Homeruns & Touchdowns

All American Sports

In August, I did some further research into American culture by attending a baseball and football game.

First, the BASEBALL game.

Prior research: Before moving to the US, my knowledge about baseball was based on The Simpsons (remember the one where Homer becomes the mascot?). I heard rumors that the game is boring and takes too long but that the idea of going to a ballgame is relaxing with friends while chewing on hotdogs, cracker jacks and drinking beer.

Experiment: We gathered some friends, skipped lunch and

headed towards the Citifield ballpark near Flushing Meadows, Queens for a game NY Mets vs. Colorado Rockies.

The rules? Basically, the guy with the bat needs to hit the wooden ball hard and the guy with the glove needs to catch it - depending on who succeeds, the other guys can start running or not. Of course, it's much more complicated, but as the stereotype woman I am, this is as far as my attention span goes.

Observations: The rumors are true as far as the food is concerned: hotdogs, corndogs, beer, ice cream, fries, fried dough, popcorn, smoked ribs, pulled pork and even burgers from Shake Shack. Another healthy day in New York! The rumors as far as the game itself concerned, well... The game is not too hard to follow and is actually pretty exciting. The Mets scored two homeruns, including a grand slam, and won the game (which is apparently not normal as the Mets are having a very weak season/decade).

During the innings, they keep you entertained with games, cameras, songs and trivia, time's flying!

What I learned: The words to the following very old song which everyone sings during the

"seventh inning stretch" : "Take me out to the ball game, Take me out with the crowd, Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks, I don't care if I never get back. Let's root root root for the home team, If they don't win it's a shame, For it's one, two three strikes you're out, At the old ballgame!"

The verdict? I actually enjoyed watching it!

Second, the FOOTBALL game and I'm not talking about soccer, the popular game from Europe but its more violent American counterpart.

Prior research: Before moving to the US, my knowledge about football was based on Married With Children (remember the one showing Al Bundy's only glorious moment in life, the touchdown at highschool?). I am sceptical since watching the super bowl wasn't a big success (see my earlier post in February 2009). But I heard rumors that the live game is exciting and much more interesting than baseball, although the types of food available at the stadium are less exciting.

Experiment: We gathered some friends, had a big late lunch and headed towards the Giants stadium in New Jersey for a game New York Jets vs. St-Louis Rams.

The rules? Basically, big guys (and I mean, really really big guys) fighting each other to get a strange looking ball to the other side of the field. Of course, there's much more to it, but as the stereotype woman I am, that's as far as my attention span goes.

Observations: The rumors are true as far as the food is concerned. Hot dogs or philly cheesesteaks, if you don't like either, you're in bad luck. The rumors as far as the game concerned, well... First thing I notice is the huge number of players warming up on the field (in total about 50 per team!). Since football requires different "specialized" players (offense, defense, etc) and the tackles take their toll, about every 2 minutes the players on the field are changed. Of course, next to the players, there are also cheerleaders whose only role is looking good, jumping around and cheering. The actual game is hard to follow: the players only play about 1, maximum 2 minutes and then there's a break. It's hard to see where the ball is as it's mostly covered by a pile of big guys. There was one exciting moment, when one of the big guys was able to run from one end of the field to the other end and score a touchdown (but don't ask me which team).

What I learned? Euhm... a good way to make time pass faster, is trying to count the number of players on the field.

The verdict? Honestly, I tried but this game is just damn right boring! Which means, I'll never become a true American since this is the most popular game out there (even women like it and spend their weekends following the games *gasp*). Oh well, you can't win them all, huh?