After a very long and extended hiatus, Jo-Anne Doing Things is back.
Since my last entry, there have been a few holidays, a couple trips back to Texas, a hurricane, a lot of eating, and a new year has come around. 2012 for me was about a lot of new beginnings: new job, new relationship, new apartment in a different borough. And I started this blog. While things didn't always go so smoothly, I think for the most part this past year was a very, very good one.
2013 will hopefully be a great year for doing things, I'm very excited about it.
There are a few Eating Astoria posts I never got around to from last year that I'll be putting up in the next couple days, and a few Texas ones as well. For now though, please enjoy this photo of Franklin Barbecue from Austin, Texas. Pork ribs that fell right off the bone, moist brisket, delicious sausage, and potato salad and coleslaw. Food on another level, you guys. On. Another. Level.
Somehow all my posts became about food, but I didn't mean for this to become a food blog. I haven't really written anything about my personal life in a while, so I figured now would be a good time. Although this post does feature food, too. Oh well.
I went back home to Texas two weeks ago and had a really great time seeing family and friends, and of course, stuffing my face. If you follow me on Instagram you have already seen most of these photos, but I don't care what you think deal with it.
I ate a lot. My parents made so much awesome food while I was home in Houston, including this Filipino dish, pancit palabok.
More food at home (clockwise): Vietnamese sandwich, a fresh coconut for drinking, and a lot of Filipino desserts: bibingka (a type of rice cake), puto (the colored rice cakes), kutsinta (orange sticky rice cake), pichi-pichi (sweet gelatinous dessert made from grated cassava), and kamote (a type of sweet potato I think)
I also looked through a bunch of old photo albums one day when I was bored.
Then I drove to Austin with my brother.
Did some cool things with cool people.
And ate a lot of great food. Clockwise: Mexican martini, sno cone from Casey's New Orleans Sno Balls, BBQ from Stiles Switch BBQ, chicken enchiladas from Polvos
I already can't wait to go back again, but it probably won't be until Thanksgiving :(
Other things:
It's starting to get cooler in New York and I'm still not used to real seasons so I find it odd that it's cooling down so early in September. I like it, but then again I don't because I feel like summer wasn't long enough. I need more time to wear cut offs and sundresses, goddammit.
I enjoy my job and the people I work with. I'm starting to work on different projects and clients, so that has been really interesting and cool. Yay for being a functioning adult in the real world.
I went to Meatopia last weekend which is a meat food festival here in New York, and it was AWESOME. Separate entry about that coming very soon.
In an effort to try to become a normal well-functioning adult these past couple of months, I have completely neglected this blog. To my three readers, I apologize, and I want to try to make a conscious effort to update this thing, if not for your sake then at least for mine. I haven't had much of a chance to write too many things that are longer than 140 characters at a time (since I work in social media), and I'm desperately out of practice. I also have done a shit job of recording my time here in New York and I'd like to remedy that. So I guess as a start, I want to list out what the hell's been going on in my life since March.
I got hired full-time at my new jobby job
I started freelancing at a huge ad agency, doing social media and tweeting tweets and Facebooking Facebooks, and I got hired full-time! It's been a new and different experience and I've been learning a lot about the advertising world and expanding my social media skills and know how. While it isn't what I originally set out to do when I moved to New York City, I've come to terms with the fact that goals change and I don't regret this particular career path I've set out on. It's pretty awesome and the company is cool and the people are cool and the accounts I work on are cool and everything's just cool, man.
I moved to a different borough
In May I moved from the East Village in Manhattan to Astoria in Queens. It's definitely been a bit of an adjustment, especially in terms of my commute to work. I used to be able to walk, and now I have about an hour's commute into the city. But the change has been a good one, the apartment I share with my two roommates is really spacious, especially the kitchen, and my bedroom has an actual closet! I've been really slow in decorating and getting everything together because of work and being social and whatnot, but the place is definitely coming together and I love this apartment so far. Plus, it's so cheap compared to what I was paying in the Village, so that's a definite plus. Also we live right by a big, beautiful park and the water, and Astoria is known for its beer gardens and some amazing restaurants which I have yet to try but I'm very excited about exploring this part of New York, especially now that it's finally summer. Here's a few pictures of life in Queens so far:
Clockwise from top L:Hanging out in Astoria Park, drinking homemade iced tea on my fire escape, the sign of Mr. Tasty aka white Drake that I pass by on my way to the subway every day, vanilla sprinkle cone by the water
I got a cat!
I'm actually just fostering one. This little guy is named Louis, and he's cute and cuddly and I keep having to remind myself not to get too attached because he's being adopted in a few more days.
Other small things that don't matter as much
Decided to grow my hair out reeeaaalllly long for the first time in a few years. I haven't gotten a haircut in forever. Trying to see how long I can go before I get annoyed and chop it all off again.
I've been cooking a lot more since my kitchen space in the new apartment probably doubled from the last place. New things I've attempted to make: blueberry waffles, alfredo sauce from scratch, green chicken enchiladas, homemade iced tea. Mostly, it's been a success.
Also I got on Instagram if you couldn't tell by the pictures, so friend me or follow me or whatever it is you do on there if you want. My username is jo__baby, with 2 underscores.
I can't believe I haven't updated this thing in over two months. A plethora of events have occurred in my absence from this blog. Here is the abridged version. I like the word plethora.
1. Summer in NYC = beautiful sunny days, a lot of walking, sitting in parks, getting off work early on Fridays, bottomless brunch, meat festivals, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II, dancing until 4AM, old friends visiting, Brooklyn Bowl, funnel cake & roller coasters at Coney Island, Alexander McQueen exhibit, watching Dan Radcliffe on Broadway, unexpected natural disasters, macarons.
2. Finally got an apartment in the city. I live in the East Village now, and so far it's been great. I like my roommates, I like hanging out with my friends, and I like not having to worry about taking the bus back to New Jersey before 1AM when going out on weekends. The only real problem I have is my lack of a bedroom closet, which combined with owning entirely too much clothing has meant piles of dresses, underwear, leggings and a large collection of purses in different shades of black I didn't realize I have scattered everywhere, but that's nothing a trip or two to IKEA or Target won't solve.
3. Took two trips back to Texas. Once was to visit Austin peeps, and one was for my parents' 25th wedding anniversary. Both times it was ridiculously hot, and I stuffed my face with enchiladas and Vietnamese sandwiches and got to hang out with people I love. My only regret is not packing a suitcase full of bahn mi's and salsa before I left.
4. Other than that it's been a lot of working, and a lot of gallivanting around this city, from Fashion's Night Out (not a fan), to impromptu Childish Gambino shows, to themed dinner and movie nights to long walks through the West Village after eating greasy food. Those fish and chips were worth it, though.
That's about it. It's getting colder now, and I'm kind of hating it but I guess I'm just going to have to deal and live in leggings and over sized sweaters for the rest of the year. Also I'm kind of excited for Halloween, don't really know why, but I've already been seriously thinking about my costume. Although knowing me I won't decide on anything until the weekend and just throw something together and tell everyone I'm a sexy robot or something.
The Huffington Post stole from me. I swear to God they did. The other morning I visited the site like I normally do and in annoyingly huge maroon capital letters were the words, 'THE LOST GENERATION." What followed was a story about a girl who graduated from college the same year I did with a degree in art history, and how she struggled to find a job. She still doesn't have one, and had to move back home with her mom. The story continues about the current crop of graduates and how they can't find work and the recession and how life sucks you should just kill yourself, blah, blah, blah.
Anyway, The Huffington Post totally stole from me, because just 2 days ago I was sitting on the bus thinking about how me and my friends and all the people who've recently graduated from college should be considered the "lost generation." If you didn't know, I recently got hired as a full-time employee at the company I was interning for. I was excited, surprised, relieved, overwhelmed when I got the offer, because it was a long-ass road that got me to where I am right now. Two years of sending in probably about a hundred applications and cover letters, going to interviews, phone interviews, group interviews, accepting unpaid internships post-graduation, finally sucking it up and moving to New Jersey to continue pursuing my dream of working for a magazine, taking yet another unpaid internship. Leaving that internship to take my current one because they were willing to pay me. And finally finally getting hired.
So I was mulling all this over on the bus the other day, and how in those two years I watched as I wasn't the only one having a hard time out of college. Friends and classmates struggled to find work, moved back into their parents' house, took jobs that had nothing to do with what they studied and majored in. Pretty much no one around me had any clue whatsoever as to what to do in their lives, what the next step was. And especially that first year it seemed we were all stuck in this weird limbo, this in-between stage straddling the line between childhood and adulthood. And we did pretty much everything we could to distract ourselves from the fact that we were very, very lost.
And that's when I thought that we were kind of this "lost generation." I coined this term in my head, and then thought it was kind of stupid. And then the goddamn Huffington Post had to go and use it for their front page story.
Reading through the story made me realize how both lucky and unlucky I am. Lucky because at least I'm better off than the girl in the story (but she was kind of asking for it, I mean she majored in art history) and at least I didn't have to settle for a job at Starbucks or some job that didn't even require a college degree. Unlucky, because in a way, I kind of feel like I am settling with this job.
Now don't get me wrong. I enjoy what I do. I do social media for all the company's clients, writing their Twitter and Facebook updates. And social media is definitely a growing, constantly changing, interesting and relevant industry. But it's not what I wanted to pursue initially. I majored in journalism. I want to work for a magazine. If I had my way, I would rather not be limited by 140 characters. But a job is a job is a job. And after two long years of rejection, there was no way in hell I was going to turn down a job. A real job. It is what it is though. And even though I vow and promise myself over and over that I won't give up on my editorial and magazine dreams, I don't know what the future holds for me. I guess we'll see. I may still be a little lost, but at least now I've got a map.
This is my 12358127392367th attempt to revive my blog. I realized why I never updated it, it's because I thought it was really ugly and I never wanted to look at it so I never visited it. So I revamped my layout, and I'm satisfied with it for now. I was never really HTML savvy, and maybe one day I'll have the effort to learn and churn out something fancier, but for now I'm digging this simple and clean look.
Anyway, today was one of those days that made me really happy to be working (and hopefully very soon living) in the city. After a busy day at work I decided to check out The Strand bookstore, because I had never been there before.
The number of books in this store is insane, shelves and shelves go on forever! I didn't end up buying any books because I was so overwhelmed, but I did end up buying a red moleskine. I didn't really need it, but I have a major weakness for pretty notebooks that are waiting to be filled. Plus it was cheaper here than at any other book store I've been to.
I was kind of disappointed that they didn't have a magazine section, but with 18 miles of books, I wouldn't say they are lacking. After leaving The Strand I decided to walk through Union Square Park, and who do I see walking out of the building next door?
Lead singer of The Strokes a.k.a. my future husband Julian fucking Casablancas! It was so surreal because The Strokes have been my favorite band since I was 14, I love them so much. Also, this is the SECOND time I've seen Julian in the city, the first time I passed by him eating dinner with his wife and baby in a restaurant in Chelsea. I freaked out and had to restrain myself from chasing after him across the street.
I know I'm a month late, but I was lucky enough to see The Strokes at Madison Square Garden on April 1 and it was one of the best shows I've ever been to. The video below is one of my favorite moments from the concert. That disco ball in MSG was seriously magical.
After resisting the urge to stalk Julian Casablancas, I walked over to Union Square Park. I found a bench to sit on, smoked a cigarette and enjoyed the last few minutes of sunlight. While sitting there two people asked me for a cigarette. One was a young dude who looked like an Austin drag rat, and was visibly on some type of drug. The other was a bearded guy in a button-up and tie who was really stoned. He sat next to me on the bench and we chatted for a while. He told me about how he was having a bit of a panic attack because he was high and walking around outside and that he had a job interview earlier today. He also told me he got arrested earlier in the week for being provoked into a fight by some homeless guy in Brooklyn. He then said he was an artist, and showed me his sketchbook. His drawings were actually very good, really intricate patterned buildings. Then he said he had to go, he was on his way to Staten Island because a bisexual man owed his friend money and she wanted him to get it from the guy. I'm not sure if any or all of that was made up, but it was definitely amusing and I'm glad I decided not to lie like I usually do about having an extra cigarette.
I hope to spend more days like this, I realize there are so many places I haven't been and things I haven't done in the city and I've been here for seven months. Now I should probably go to bed because I'm getting up early to watch the royal wedding. Stupid England, having the wedding at an inconvenient time for us Americans. Pshhh.
I've been commuting back and forth from Jersey to the city for work for about a month now, and since obviously I take the exact same route twice a day five days a week, I come across pretty much the same kinds of things every day. And so, since lately I can only organize my thoughts in list form, here are some things I can always count on seeing during my morning/evening commute.
Devoted/crazy Christians handing out pamphlets and preaching the Word or whatever. They set up a table right by the 1 train which I take to work every day, and are there without fail morning and afternoon, Bible in hand and voices echoing off the walls as they passionately spout off about how Jesus ate fish and how we're all sinners. As annoying as they are, I've gotten so used to seeing them that if they happened not to be there one day, I probably would be very alarmed.
The Subway entertainment. It's one of my favorite things about riding the subway every day honestly. Whether it's a Beatles cover band, Inca New Age or a little person Michael Jackson impersonator, it definitely makes my commute a lot more interesting. And I always love me some pan flute.
The old Asian lady. Every morning I walk through the long passageway from Port Authority to the 1 train and every day I pass by this old homeless Asian lady sitting in a corner next to a large green plastic bag, filled with her things I assume. She sits in the corner right next to a little convenience store/stand and most of the busy morning commuter crowd are in too much of a rush to even notice her sitting there. I don't think I noticed her until about a week after I started work. But I see her now sitting there every single morning, and there's something so silent and sad about her. She seems almost childlike in the way she sits there quiet, staring straight ahead. Every time I see her I always think to give her some money but I never have cash on me or I'm in a hurry because I'm already late for work and I always promise myself I'll pull out cash to give her the next morning, but I always forget and it never happens. I'd like to think this will change on Monday, but knowing me I'll forget all over again. :/
People asking me where things are and me never knowing. Okay, so this doesn't happen to me very often, but the other day I was walking to work and two girls asked me where the Marc Jacobs store was. Of course I had no clue, but I was kind of flattered that I looked stylish/cool enough to them to know where the Marc Jacobs store is.
I just realized that most of these are things I see on the subway. I don't really see anything on the bus/bus stop other than other commuters and stuff. Whatevs. Look out for more posts on the way, mostly fashion-related ones because I've been reading a ton of fashion blogs lately. Fun stuff.
12.13.2010
I want to try and update this thing regularly, but so far that isn't happening. Hopefully I can make myself write more. This is mostly for my sake. Anyway. The camera I bought on Black Friday finally came in, and I can't wait to start taking pictures again of everything and hopefully posting some on here. Mostly I've been spending my time getting in the holiday spirit. I bought a tiny silver Christmas tree for the basement, have been seriously bundling up against the cold, bought a few presents for people and I'm playing Hanson's Christmas album Snowed In pretty much non-stop. Really, the only Christmas album you need.
I've also spent the past couple of weeks watching various shows and such. I figure I might as well take advantage of the fact that I can still use my student ID and get a discounted price for Broadway shows. So far I've seen Cirque du Soleil's "Wintuk," "Mary Poppins", "Promises, Promises" and "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson." All of the shows were really, really good and I had a lot of fun watching them (well, except for the one moment during "Promises, Promises" when the lady behind me told me to stop moving my head because it was too distracting. If people in front of me move around, I have to move too or else I can't see, you stupid bitch).
Anyway, I highly recommend any of those shows, they were all really really great. It's weird, every time I've gone to the city to meet up with my friend to go see something, we always end up striking up random conversations with people. We chatted with two girls in the lottery line for Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson about NYC apartments, talked to two dudes at a Thai restaurant about how much we loved the show. We ended up sharing a table with a Canadian couple at the overcrowded Shake Shack, talking about what we had all seen in the city and how these burgers were more than worth the wait and crowds. We talked to two students in the Spider-Man line about what other shows we should definitely check out, we made fast friends with the bartenders at Juniors, who not only gave us great recommendations for the best flavor of cheesecake, they also basically drew us up a map of the best food in the city on a napkin.
It's been really interesting meeting all of these random people, and it's weird because usually I never talk to random strangers. I think being in this city basically by myself has forced me out of my little box that I usually create, my comfort zone, and I've met a lot of people that I would never have talked to had it been a few months ago. Even my friend Alicia, who I went to all these shows with, I met randomly at the Harry Potter premiere because we were both fans that had recently moved here and randomly decided to check it out. We started talking, and she became my awesome buddy who I basically explored the city with. I think I'm just becoming a lot more open and aware of the world and the people around me, so that's pretty cool.
Anyway, self-reflection aside, I'm having fun here. Hanging out with cool people, doing some fun stuff, seeing all sorts of things, eating good food. I'd elaborate but this entry already is too long, so I'll just end it here for now.
I thought I’d share what I’m thankful for this year, aside from the blatantly obvious family and friends, etc etc. Of course I’m thankful for my mom, dad and my brother, I try not to think about the fact that I won’t be with them for Thanksgiving and how sad I am about it. And I’m thankful for all my friends, I miss every one of them and I can’t wait to see them all when I’m back in Texas for Christmas and New Year. So of course besides those things, and being alive, having a roof over my head, and all that boring shit, here is what I’m thankful for.
Kanye West. I finally bought his new album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and it’s been on repeat ever since. Everything about this album is brilliant, Yeezy is a musical genius. My absolute favorite track is “All of the Lights,” with its epic horn section, incredibly catchy hook and cameos from Rihanna, Kid Cudi, Elton John(!!), Alicia Keys, John Legend, Elly Jackson from La Roux and like five other artists. He really outdid himself with this one and Fantasy is one of the best albums of the year, and I’m not afraid to say it, probably one of the best albums ever.
Four Loko. This insane drink has been getting a lot of attention lately, and for good reason. One can is the equivalent of four beers and three cups of coffee TOGETHER. So it makes sense that they banned it in a couple of states, including New York, but of course I had to go out and try it before it wasn’t available anywhere anymore. I went to a nearby corner store and got a can of Fruit Punch flavored Four Loko, thinking it would be the best flavor out of the six or so choices I saw. I was so, so wrong. It tasted like a mixture of cough syrup and Raid roach spray.
While I couldn’t make it through the entire can, I did chug enough to feel a little bit of the effects, but not enough to fully evaluate it. So I plan to repeat my experiment with what I’m told are the “better” flavors, Orange and Watermelon. So thank you Four Loko, for giving me yet another alternative to choose from for the reason I wake up feeling ill and full of regret from the night before.
Harry Potter. Seeing The Deathly Hallows: Part I has reignited my unhealthy obsession with Harry Potter. I’ve pretty much grown up alongside Harry, and I’ve been a die-hard fan since I was 12.The Deathly Hallows was an amazing film. It stayed true to the book, had stellar performances, it was dark and scary and epic and sweet and sad and everything I love about Harry Potter. And Rupert Grint’s performance as Ron was hands down the standout part of the movie; he was so freaking good. This movie perfectly set everything up for the last part, and I will be there at midnight. Probably bawling the whole time.
I wrote a much more thorough reaction to the movie on my Livejournal, but it’s basically the ranting of a crazed Potter fan, so I’ll just leave it at that.
Free donut/cupcake Fridays at work. This one is pretty self-explanatory. Every Friday my work provides free Dunkin Donuts and coffee or cupcakes for the entire building. It’s a welcome treat, everyone eagerly awaits an email at around 3 or 4 o’clock saying that our Friday snacks are in the cafeteria, and then immediately I hear a stampede of people rushing past my cubicle. This happens every Friday, and it’s always the best way to end the week. Last week I discovered how yummy coconut cupcakes are, and so I’m thankful for those as well.
A few more things I’m thankful for: patterned tights, Willow Smith’s “I Whip My Hair” music video, animals in people clothing, anything Oreo-flavored, floral print, Florence + The Machine, mac and cheese, Glee, glitter nail polish, Google maps and Chipotle burrito bowls.
So I meant to start this right after I moved, but I kept forgetting about it, and then two months passed by. Oh well, I guess I'll just start it up now.
So after being in New Jersey for two months, I've gotten kind of used to life here and settled into a bit of a routine. I go to my magazine internship three days a week, and I spend the rest of the time applying and interviewing for full-time work, checking out New Jersey/New York and shopping/reading/eating/watching movies on a 1000 channel flat-screen. It's hard to condense two months into a single blog entry, so I'll do it using one of my favorites things: a list.
I love my job. I really really enjoy working at the magazine. I've learned a ton and have gotten so many opportunities that I thought I wouldn't have. I've pitched ideas that will be used in the magazine, written blog entries, interviewed random Disney celebs and met Justin Bieber's girlfriend. I even got a few perks, like random swag and advance tickets to Harry Potter, the latter of which I was super excited about. Anyway, working at the magazine has made me completely sure that this is what I want to do. I seriously love working there and I am trying as hard as I can to continue working in this industry. Magazines are my life.
I'm kind of falling in love with the city. Super cliche, but true. I've been to the city quite a few times now and every time I go I find something new and awesome and unexpected about it. There's kind of a magic quality about this city, no joke. Every time I go I'm in awe and surprised that I'm actually there. There literally is something different going on around every corner. Just the other day I was on my way to a show at Webster Hall and I passed a long line of people waiting for a chance to meet Nicki Minaj. I briefly considered ditching the show and jumping in line, but I had to meet some friends. I made a long long list of things I really want to do soon (like go to a Broadway show, which I might do tomorrow), and hopefully soon I'll be moving there.
There are some things I'll never get used to. The cold. And I know the worst is to come, I'm not looking forward to it. The time difference. Things start an hour later, and I seriously think 8 p.m. is too late for things to start. I don't like it. And I know I live very close to a place where there is a ton of amazing food, but sometimes a girl just wants a taco.
Um, I can't think of too much else. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was AMAZING. I really could watch that movie over and over again. I spent a lot of money I don't have at H&M. I LOVE THAT STORE TOO MUCH. I'm excited about Thanksgiving, but sad I won't be in Texas.
Hopefully I'll be blogging more about stuff. Fun times.
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