$30 Project

Top Row: View from the Staten Island Ferry, pickled veggies, street art on Canal

Bottom Row: trip to the farmers market, my favorite brunch spot Enid’s, flowers in the park

I hit the snooze button so many times this morning that Marty finally freaked out and pounced on my head so I’d get up and feed her. Last night in class, my instructor had us practice several really intense rounds of camel pose. I actually love this one, but, since it’s such a big heart and throat opener, it’s usually accompanied by a huge rush of adrenaline that makes it tough to get to sleep. I’m halfway through my yoga challenge now, about another month to go! 

The summer is trucking right along so I’ve been trying to take full advantage of the season with a trip to the farmers market every week to stock up on seasonal produce. I also head to the one in McCarren Park each Saturday so I can compost! A friend mentioned this so I’ve started stashing all my compostable garbage in the freezer and dropping it off. I realized that between that and what can be recycled/reused, I have lowered the amount of trash that I create by literally 90%. It’s kind of insane. 

I’ve also ended up on a lot of weird adventures lately. Last Saturday night, I found myself on the Staten Island Ferry with some friends just taking in the view. 

I feel like having this time, where I’m in a little bit of a love affair with NYC, is so super important. I know that at some point it is probably going to change again so I’m trying to really enjoy it and be as present as possible; kind of stock-pile it away in my mind for when this place gets tough on me. (Bound to happen!) 

I’ve never been much of a poetry reader, but I kept thinking about a high school English teacher who would read us really long sections of Walt Whitman in a booming voice, all about the city and the Brooklyn Bridge. So I wandered over to Housing Works last week to see if they had a copy of Leaves of Grass. 

The cashier was very excited about my purchase, they have a lot of enthusiastic readers volunteering there and it’s awesome, so I mentioned to him that I just had this overwhelming urge to read some Whitman, that I’d been experiencing the most positive feelings about living in the city, so I was attempting to influence this positivity and help it grow. 

Both he and the girl standing next to me in line said that they completely understood. It was a pretty nice moment. 

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