Day 3: 5 Boroughs in 3 Days

Julie, Dan and I took the Staten Island Ferry. All the tourists were crowding on one side of the ferry to see the Statue of Liberty so we decided to move to the sunny side.

Once we landed in SI, we sought a vintage clothing store that Julie heard of. I bought a hat, a bandanna, and some super hippie dress that makes me look like a virgin that's standing in a meadow with a horse. It was an impulse buy.

Then we got Indian food for lunch on curry row. I had some super delicious chicken tikka masala, mmm!

Then we took the tram to Roosevelt Island. Dan thinks it's a creepy island in an old prison sort of way. But it's just some industrial turned residential area with weird generic stores.

We headed back for a nap and then decided on dinner and a movie. This time we ate at Flor de Mayo, which serves Peruvian and Chinese cuisine. I had the best pina colada and shrimp ceviche. Dan got this roasted chicken and fried plantains that were quite delicious. Then we headed to the movie theatre to see The Namesake, which made me cry. I'll write a review on it later.

Then we headed back and played a blank map game until it got late. I half snoozed until 5:30 the next morning to catch an early train back home.

The Guide:
Every Thing Goes - Staten Island
Spice Cove - Manhattan
Flor de Mayo - Manhattan
Paris Theatre - Manhattan

Day 2: 5 Boroughs in 3 Days

I read somewhere that this is the last season Coney Island will be open before they close for major renovations. Dan thought it was sad that they would try to change the creepiness factor to something modern and yet still creepy.

So we took the subway all the way to Coney Island and looked for a pizza place called Totonno's on Julie's recommendation. Let me just tell you, it's the best fucking pizza I've had. We hadn't eaten a whole pie since college and we did it again. Pepperoni, sausage and mushrooms. Best fucking pizza, seriously.

Then we walked on the boardwalk and then got a Nathan's hot dog. I felt gluttonous. After we had enough of Coney Island, we hopped the subway to Prospect Park and Park Slope. Then we ended up on the Promenade that faced Manhattan and considered the long walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. I couldn't do it. It was too long and my feet started to hurt.

Before we made our way back to Manhattan, Dan suggested stopping at Jacques Torres' chocolate shop. We ogled the plentiful choices and each picked 4 truffles to try.
If you ever get a chance, you've got to try his chocolates!

We had plenty of time to kill before we met up with more friends for bowling, so we spotted some cute puppies in a window, got massages, and got chocolate chip cookie sandwiches.

The Guide:
Totonno's - Brooklyn
Nathan's - Brooklyn
Jacques Torres - Brooklyn
Bowlmor - Manhattan

Day 1: 5 Boroughs in 3 Days

I met Dan at Penn Station at 3:30 and we headed back to his apartment to drop off my bags. We made a list of places to visit during my stay and then grabbed dinner and a movie. We saw "Avenue Montaigne", a cute little French movie that sort of broke my heart. I'll do a full review later on that. And then we stopped for dinner at Cafetasia, which is some hip Thai restaurant with communal seating.

Dan notes that cafeteria-style seating is becoming the fashion in the newest eateries and I agree that it's definitely cool. They had electric candles hanging from the ceiling that looked like the dining hall in the Harry Potter movies. And we had an oil candle at our table that looked like it could have set my hair on fire. I ordered the pad thai, which I swear was refilling itself from the bottom. After eyeing down the dessert the next table ordered, we ordered our own fried mango ice cream in a flaming sauce. And yes, I'm responsible for giving Dan that taste of alcohol he hasn't had in over a year. Whoops, my bad.

The Guide:
Quad Cinema - Manhattan
Cafetasia - Manhattan

Fitness for Skinny People

Some people would think that skinny people don't have a reason to exercise or watch their diets. This is simply ridiculous. Skinny people huff and puff after climbing 5 flights of stairs. I should know. I guess I'm a typical skinny girl. You know the type- skinny all my life, never had to exercise, ate whatever the hell I wanted. In high school I weighed around 97 lbs. In college, I never got the "freshman 15", pigged out at all hours of the day, and still weighed around 97 lbs.

It wasn't until after I got out of college that I gained some weight. A few winters ago, someone told me that I looked healthier (I got up to about 117 lbs). I guess I looked unhealthily skinny back then (I couldn't donate blood for being underweight). But then I realized something. I might have looked healthier, but the fact was that I didn't feel healthier. In fact, I felt bloated all the time.

So now I'm on this health kick, working out regularly and wrangling in my eating habits (although I refuse to eat anything labeled fat free or go on those restrictive diets). I've even experienced that high I keep hearing about and it makes me want to work out more.

I started looking for articles online about fitness for skinny people like me, but wouldn't you guess...there aren't very many. So I guess I'm going to somehow become some role model for other skinny people who work out/exercise/diet, but can't stand the hissing stares from other women who think I'm being pretentious.

Mongolian Blue Spot

I was reading about some kid in Georgia that wrote a book with his mom about birthmarks. He has a port wine stain on his face.

Minutes later I found myself looking up my own birthmark online. Here's what I found:

- It's called a Mongolian Blue Spot.
- It's very common among East Asians. In fact, around 90% of infants get one.
- They typically disappear by age 13 (although that's not the case for me).
- Normally found on the lower back and bottom.

I kinda think it's cool.