Manhattan Musings

It’s Finally Happened…

kristalavrusik — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:07:53 +0000

I got an iPhone!!! 4s w/Siri and all. Not that I didn’t love and appreciate Vadim’s hand-me-down Android…it was just getting sooo slow. It wouldn’t let me do anything without “Force-Closing” almost every time I tried to open my Facebook or Twitter. AND I’m sorry Android, but your battery life SUCKS. And I am so looking forward to not having to charge my phone multiple times a day! Not only did I get an iPhone, but I got a new phone number….a New York phone number, area code 917, what’s up! Now I feel I can call myself a true New Yorker! (lol, don’t know if that will ever really be true)

SO excited about my iPhone!!!

I’m finally a part of the world of Instagram, group texts, my phone doubling as my iPod, Siri answering all my questions, and high speed everything:) I’m also now responsible for my own individual phone plan bill…but that isn’t important right now! Yay for the iPhone!!!

Is it Really the Last Day of 2011?

kristalavrusik — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:08:49 +0000

Figuring out how to do these “year in review” posts is ridiculous. Do you do a picture collage, a list, a mix of both, a really long detailed post? I feel like I’ve tried to do a variety in the past and it stresses me out to figure out which to do every year! (First world problems) ANYWAY…when I think about this year there are a couple things that jumped out to make this year unique.

First, HillsongNYC. Our church, and really a key component of making New York City our home. We started going to Hillsong in February. We got involved in a couples small group in April and I finally got on the boat and started volunteering in July. It has been INCREDIBLE! And we are so blessed to be a part of this church. The pastors, leadership, and volunteers are amazing.

Second, Vadim got a job at Facebook. What a crazy cool opportunity for him, especially because they found and recruited HIM. Saying he loves his job is an understatement. As the Mrs., I LOVE that he loves what he does. Couldn’t be happier.

Third, our friendships. We’ve been living in NY 2.5 years now and it’s been so great to see how our friendships have grown. Some it was just a season, and some we know it’ll be life-long. That is SO cool. Probably more for me than Vadim because I’m a girl and love all that relational stuff:)

This has definitely been the year that New York has sucked us in. Where it’s gone from a temporary place of residence to a “hey, I think we could totally be here a while”.

Click to view slideshow.

Black Friday

kristalavrusik — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 19:53:06 +0000

I am a huge bargain shopper. In fact one of my favorite traditions isn’t even the black friday shopping itself, but looking through all the ads on Thanksgiving day! I don’t even have any intention to get many things, but all the bargains are just so exciting! haha. Last year Vadim had his eye set on a 42 inch Flat Screen on the front page of the Target ad. We got up at 3am, walked to the Target in Harlem to find the LONGEST line we have ever seen in our lives. I don’t know why but we continued to stand in line til the store opened at 4am. EVERY person we saw walking out of Target had our TV in their cart. When we finally got in the store they were all gone. However, there was a 46 inch for not too much more, so we grabbed it and headed straight to the register to get the heck outta there! It was nutso. Really intense. Vadim got his sweet present, but had no interest in ever participating in Black Friday again!

THIS YEAR the madness started at 12am??? How do people truly get to enjoy Thanksgiving when they start standing in line at 10pm or earlier on Thanksgiving DAY! Anyway…After looking through the ads, there wasn’t anything we just HAD to have, which was kind of a relief. There was however one store I had my eye on. H&M. First of all this is my favorite store in general. I LOVE the clothes and everything from this store makes my husband look hot. Just the facts. Well besides the $5 Fashion Finds H&M was having on Black Friday, the first 100 people in line got a scratch-off worth up to $300!!! The city stores opened at 5am. There happens to be an H&M 3 blocks away from our apartment, so I woke up at 4:20am Friday morning and walked over. I tried to count the people in front of me without walking too slow and being creepy, but I failed. However, the girl that came in line after me told me and some other girls that she counted 70 people in front of us. Perfect! Right before the store opened they handed out the scratch-offs! This is what mine said:

Are you kidding me!?!

I was SO excited. On top of the already awesome $5 Fashion Finds I was getting $100 worth of H&M credit! I grabbed a shopping bag and started stuffing sweaters, shirts, and socks into it. I was a kid in a candy store! I got so much Christmas shopping done and has so much fun doing it.

When I got home and snuck back into bed, Vadim rolled over and half asleep asked how it was. I squealed and said, “it was AMAZING”. And it totally was.

I Love Traditions

kristalavrusik — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 18:23:07 +0000

My mom came to visit! Her second time visiting me here in NYC. The first time was last fall, and she came out because the trip to New York was her birthday present from my stepdad. I feel like most mom’s are like mine, where when it comes to presents, they are terrible at accepting them! They say they have everything they need and simply ask to spend time with family. Wellll her first trip to New York was the first birthday present she didn’t return:) So being smart, the family gave her another trip to NY to visit me this year too! We’ve created traditions while she’s here too which is so fun. We always try and go to 2 shows (we are always ~~lucky~~ blessed to get rush tickets), we always eat at Shake Shack before the shows. Don’t hate on having the same thing two nights in a row if you’ve never had Shake Shack… and we always just be-bop around without a plan or care and have the best time.

This year we got tickets to see Memphis on Friday night and Million Dollar Quartet on Saturday night. My old Northwestern College ID came in nice and handy for the student rush for Memphis:) Even though it clearly says expires September 2009…haha. Memphis was a great show, but it was Million Dollar Quartet that stole our hearts. Vadim came with us to that show too and the three of us were LOVING it.It’s based on a true story about a night when four of the greats came together: Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis, all rocked out in a studio. These actors were SO talented, and sounded so much like the real deals it was incredible-especially Johnny Cash.

SUCH a great show!!!

Sunday my mom got to experience church in all it’s crazy goodness and then we took her to one of our favorite brunch places in the city, Pipa. The restaurant has the COOLEST decor, which is why we decided to take the inspiration back to our apartment, and do a little revamp in our living room with hanging mirrors and all. We headed out to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to get some stuff:) On the way we found street merch!!! Just sitting on the curb. Waiting for someone (US) to come snatch it up!

Trash to Treasure!

Needless to say after our trip to Bed, Bath, and Beyond, our cab ride home was plum full of new finds and improvements for our Harlem Home. We were welcomed home by Vadim’s infamous? homemade chili which is always fantastic. Monday was spent doing projects and watching daytime TV, which I never get to do anymore!!! It was a lot a lot of fun. And once again, chalked up fantastic traditions to continue with mom.

Quarter of a Century

kristalavrusik — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 20:22:34 +0000

Well it’s happened. The big 2-5. Why does it sound so old?? The Sunday before my birthday I had someone at church ask how old I was and I proudly said, “24.” There’s only a one year difference but man it seems huge. Twenty five means I’m supposed to be more responsible. I’m suppose to start thinking about kids (I’m not). Well whatever… I had a flipping AWESOME birthday and I can just feel that this year is going to be a great one! The celebration kicked off Wednesday, October 12th when my boss Joanna asked me what I wanted. I told her I didn’t really need anything and she cut in telling me birthdays aren’t about what you need, but about what you want. Soooo on Wednesday there was a break in the day (which never happens for both of us at the same time) and we ran up to Saks Fifth Avenue. And I picked out a pair of Tory Burch flats. Something I have wanted since living here, but would NEVER buy for myself. It was so fun! I was sooo happy about my present. Then Thursday was my day. Lots of texts and facebook posts. And I am SO thankful for each and every person who sent me birthday wishes. I did have to work on my birthday, but there was fun to be had with champagne and cupcakes and presents.

Presents at work:)

Also at work, a box came that said Attn: Krista. It was from Kate Spade. Inside were clothing goodies for the girls here at the salon from one of our amazing clients who works there. I was freaking out and jumping for joy. There were great things for all of us. So after work Vadim was taking me out to dinner. Now I LOVE surprises. And Vadim know I do, so I specifically told him not to tell me where we were going:) As we were headed in the direction, I totally figured it out but was still SO excited. He took me to Celeste which is my favorite restaurant in the city. It’s Italian, cheap, hole-in-the-wall, authentic, and amazing! Quite the combination of all my favorite things. After a delicious meal we headed back home and watch Remember the Titans (my favorite movie of ALL time), and then I finally got to open my present which was this…

It's a KINDLE!!!

I was SOOO excited about this! I have never told Vadim I wanted this, but I totally did. Well done Vadim, well done! I have already bought the Hunger Games Trilogy and am almost done with the first book. If you have any suggestions on must reads let me know! I’m gonna be a reading machine. I totally look forward to my commutes now:)

So Friday night was dinner with our friends. Thursday was more low key which I loved, but we had to have a big get-together! Dinner was at Duke’s, a roadhouse southern comfort style place which was super fun. There were about 15 of us and it was quite the party. After dinner the group split off, and a few of us went out for drinks. Originally thinking we could get into a speak easy, but the group became too big (more people met up w/us after dinner) so we went to the Coffee Shop near Union Square. Cool atmosphere, but overpriced drinks. The coolest part was the huge booth we got to sit in that was surrounded by beads draping all around us. Very exclusive and intimate. Just how I like it. I felt like a queen. Birthday was special this year:)

Jury Duty.

kristalavrusik — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 02:40:49 +0000

I’ve only been here a little over 2 years, and I get called for Jury Duty?! At the criminal court?? C’mon… So originally I got the letter in the mail this past June, but I postponed as you’re allowed to do once. It was one of those things that I wished and hoped would just go away after I postponed it, but unfortunately at the end of August, I got the dang letter again! Today was the day. 9am call time. 100 Centre Street. No idea where that was. That’s why God invented HopStop and smart phones. Once I got to the building and went through security, I had to wait to get into the jury room with the other 80 people serving. At about 9:10am they let us in to start the exciting process…which include the jury clerk letting us know we would be serving at least two consecutive days. Bah!!!

If I could sum up the day it was really…loooong…but surprisingly not that bad. The jury clerk went through a long list of all the rules of the day. People asked their questions and then we waited to be called. And waited. and waited. I got to finish a book I’ve been reading, but was so mad at myself for not bringing my computer! I could have caught up on all the new fall shows! At 12:15pm the clerk dismissed us for lunch and said we had to be back in the room by 2pm. Almost a 2 hour lunch break! And with an 80 degree day here in NYC, I was excited to get outside and just enjoy. Went to a vendor and got a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich. yum. After lunch the waiting continued….I did however meet a great new friend who was sitting next to me all day, who happened to be the Executive Editor of SELF magazine. Only in New York… we ended up talking about just about everything. Shared our love of country music, reality tv, the Upper West Side, and the awe of facebook changes With the fun conversation, the afternoon went by a bit quicker than the morning. Then at about 4pm, the clerk came back to her microphone and said she was just waiting on a call with good news, then she would dismiss us. A little after 4pm she came back to the microphone again and announce that the jury was dismissed. Like dunzo. Like we didn’t have to come back tomorrow. WAHOO!!! And now I don’t have to serve for another 6 years! Made.my.day. Now don’t get me wrong, it would have been super cool to be on the jury for some big criminal case. But I can’t just not be at work for that long. They kinda need me….I was already freaking out about having to miss work tomorrow. So thank the Lord for that blessing. In all seriousness thank you God:) I feel bad for those people that left to reschedule due to conflict, because now they’ll just be getting another letter 3 months down the road…

FNO Year 3. Wow, you blew my mind.

kristalavrusik — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 14:37:54 +0000

Fashion’s Night Out began the first fall I was here in Sept. ’09. I just experienced my 3rd one and OMG it was AMAZING!!! It was one of the best, most memorable nights in NYC to date. Years 1 and 2 were good in their own ways. Well the 1st year I threw up in Bloomingdales, so maybe not that year I went out this year with my friends Maddy and Caylon Hackwith who just got married in August and moved to the city from Minneapolis. I was so pumped to go with them as Caylon had the night planned out. We started out at the ACE hotel where there was a carnival in the street and a long line to get into the hotel. We stood in line but got incredibly antsy and decided to head west: to the Meatpacking District. Best idea ever. I already love this area, but on Fashion’s Night Out, wow, it was unbelievable. Caylon directed us to Stella McCartney first. They were having a private party and we weren’t on the list. I just have to say that Maddy is a woooer among woooers because, well, we got in.

Mojitos at Stella McCartney

Next stop was, well, we were interrupted by a crazy DJ and mob of people near Zac Posen’s new shop Z Spoke. Maddy and I lost the boys at this point but we weren’t upset about that one bit! Surrounded by great music, drinks, and dancing we were having a ball. Oh and the many celebrity sitings we had all at once. Ashley Tisdale, Coco Rocha (model), Shantel VanSanten, Sophia Bush!! And of course Zac Posen. Zac comes to my salon, so it was extra fun being at his party. And it made my night when he recognized me and said hi (even if it was in passing as he was surrounded by models).

Maddy and Coco Rocha!

My bf Sophia Bush!

When we found the boys we wandered into Ports 1961 for another private party. The drinks were fantastic and unique and the rooftop was superb. We definitely had many moments of “How did we get in here?” And there was actually food at this party! Which was sooo delicious since we hadn’t had a real dinner. After the food was gone we were ready for the next adventure which ended up being a Maybelline makeup and photo booth with really loud music set up right outside Ports 1961. It was free, and cool for about a minute. By that time FNO was coming to a close, so everything was shutting down, which we were fine with–though Maddy and Caylon were on a quest to find an after party. As we were about to give up, a guy approached Maddy and I and asks if he could take our picture. Afterward he intoduced himself. It was Patrick McMullen. A very well known photographer in the city. We asked him where to go and he immediately said The Boom Boom Room. He also said to tell them we were with him. Well…it worked! We said we were friends of Patrick McMullen and they let us up! That. was. UNBELIEVABLE. The Boom Boom Room is incredibly hard to get into. It’s a very popular celebrity hot spot and we were loving every moment. Lindsay Lohan seems to follow Maddy and Caylon around on FNO(they ran into her their first year at Bergdorf Goodman) and lo and behold…she was there. She was a treat, and by treat I mean not…wow, what happened to the little girl on Parent Trap?? It was still cool seeing her in person, but sad at the same time. She really does look like she does on TV. I think I was hoping it wasn’t so. Anyway…back to the AMAZING view…

Such an amazing view from the Boom Boom Room

Needless to say. Meatpacking District+celebrities+Boom Boom Room+ great friends+ free drinks+private parties…= Time of my life in NYC.

South America: the Chile & Argentina Edition

kristalavrusik — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 23:12:42 +0000

South America has nothing to do with Manhattan, but Vadim and I semi-recently got back from a 10 day trip down there, so it’s totally worth “musing” over. What a cultural experience! We had so much fun down there even though it was colder than expected… I was totally one of those typical Americans that assumed everywhere you go in South America is warm, gorgeous, and way cheaper than the states. I was quite wrong. Not that it wasn’t gorgeous! Because it was! But it was definitely not warm, and really not any cheaper than New York in all honesty. I’m going to cover the highlights because everyone loves the exciting parts:)

Buenos Aires, Argentina: By far our favorite memory was experiencing the futbol game. The fans are so incredibly passionate it’s insane. The gates stay closed at the end of the game for at least 30 minutes to make sure the visiting fans leave safely… it was sooo cold, but so worth it when we scored and won.

Go Independiente!

Also in Buenos Aires we had the most amazing steak. Like of our lives. Vadim’s was as big as his forearm and mine was sizzling with blue cheese on top. If you are ever in Buenos Aires, you MUST eat at La Cabrera. Another must do/see in Buenos Aires is the La Recoleta Cemetery. It is a ginormous cemetery filled with lots and lots of important Argentinians. We could have wandered around for days in it, but that would have creeped me out a little… To get to the cemetery we took a tour bus which we were SO pumped to do. We see them all the time in NYC, but have never ridden one. It was fun, but being winter we got cold really fast. But at least we can now say we’ve done it!

La Recoleta Cemetery

I loved the cool reflections!

Riding the Tour Bus!

And the last biggest highlight of Argentina was our hotel. The Sofitel Hotel. By FAR the nicest hotel I’ve ever stayed in. Somewhere we LOVED coming “home” to after a long day of being tourists. It was so cozy and just so AWESOME. I am so glad we got to stay there, but unfortunately now every other hotel I’m ever going to stay at is going to fall incredibly short of amazing–in comparison.

Ok, so Santiago, Chile! By far our favorite experience was the day trip we got to take to Valpariso, a port city 2 hours away from Santiago, and Quintay, a small village that literally was heaven on earth! The whole reason we got to take this trip was because our flight got cancelled due to Hurricane Irene. So thank you? Anyway…we went to Quintay first, and got to tour an aquatic research facility and see where they used to potch whales. Quintay was simply breathtaking.

Quintay. Heaven on Earth

I could have stared at the water all day

Eating Empenadas on the water. YUM

Then we head to Valpariso where all of the houses were built into the hills! To get up there you have to take an old school tram and there are little ally size roads that are filled with fantastic graffiti.

Houses in the Hills of Valpariso

Cool Graffiti in the streets of Valpariso

Another highlight in Santiago was the tour we got to have with the owners of the Undurraga Vineyard. Vineyards are just so incredibly. Ok, mainly the wine tasting is incredible. But we had so much fun that day. The wine was all fantastic! And as a gift they sent us home with a bottle of the Founder’s Colletion -Their finest reserve. Since Vadim and I are married, we got 2!

For the wrap up: We were stretched in our Spanish, ate toooons of seafood (I was a trooper and tried everything including raw meat…), fell in love with empanadas, and were overwhelmed by the hospitality of the people. I speak for the both of us when I say our trip was fantastic. We would go back for sure. I’d just make sure it was summer there first

BON IVER

kristalavrusik — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 19:02:21 +0000

Bon Iver (pronounced bone-ee-ver) has been the soundtrack of our summer. Starting with our camping trip over Memorial Day weekend, we’ve fallen under his amazing spell. Vadim got Bon Iver’s latest album a month before it came out, so we’ve been listening to it since the middle of May. If you’ve never heard him, here are a couple of our favorite song:

Well…last Wednesday we got to see Bon Iver LIVE in Prospect Park in Brooklyn! Well not actually SAW him, but heard him. We BBQed right beyond the fenced in stadium in the park with our great friends Hannah, Lance, Karl & Amber.

The first song he did was Perth and it was AMAZING. Sent chills. It was incredible to just hear him. Vadim was beaming all night long. He is just as good live as he is on his albums. It was a fantastic show AND it was free!

2 years.

kristalavrusik — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 04:05:51 +0000

2 years in NYC. wow. I took a look back at my 1 year blog as I was preparing to write this one. It was sweet to reread about how we grew by leaps and bounds in our first year, but there was still a question to me of whether this city was truly enjoyable for us. Well, our 2nd year has brought even more change–which obviously was to be expected. This year we definitely found our sweet spot in this city. Where we could actually keep up with the fast pace life and were riding the wave loving it. I like highlights, so here are a few in year 2 of NYC living:

We got a kitten! Preacher is the name. Spasz cat is the game. Even after we got him neutered, he still hasn’t slowed down. We love him lots and it’s nice with all the travel that we do to have “someone” waiting at home for us.
We go to Hillsong Church NYC now! This has been a huge blessing for us. We absolutely LOVE this church and are so happy to be a part of it. The pastor is amazing. The worship is amazing (duh! Hillsong United anyone?) And the community life is pretty fantastic. It has been so cool to see God work in the lives of New Yorkers. Being a part of this church makes me never want to leave this city…
Our friends here have really become family. The friendships we have developed have been so incredibly awesome. We’ve had Taco Tuesdays, tubing adventures upstate, cookouts, camping, bowling, and lots of birthday parties. We have a real sense of genuine community, which in NYC can be hard to come by.
Obviously one of the most exciting changes this year has been Vadim getting a job at Facebook!!! I already bragged about it once, but, wow, words cannot express how proud I am of him! With that job has brought lots of travel for him, but with the new Facebook video chat ;) at least I still get to “see” him almost every day.

We are still living in Harlem and loving this neighborhood more and more. Something Vadim and I did on the way to the beach yesterday was make a bucket list for NYC. I think this is super important to do as a New Yorker, because when you live here, you tend to let things fall by the wayside until you know you’re moving and then you try to cram everything in last minute. We don’t want to let that happen! But then again, it doesn’t seem we’re moving any time soon:)