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In New York City, USA

the Sura family goes to NYC

Author Fanny SuraPosted on Leave a comment

November 24, 2020

I have been asking Jim if we can go to the city for months now. When everything started to shut down in the spring I thought it could be nice to drive there like an early Sunday morning since there would be no people outside but he was never into it. Now I guess he finally caved:)
On Saturday we left Stamford around 8 am or so, took us about 45-50 min. We drove along the west side and parked down in Battery Park. Super easy.
We walked from the parking garage to the dog park across the street where Thor played with his friends (and enemies haha) every day when we lived there. They have built a new bridge over the street there (wasn’t super safe there before) so it looks quite different there, I don’t think T realized where he was because of that. But once we entered the big dog park he seemed to know exactly. Of course he tried to be the alpha over all the big dogs there haha.
We didn’t stay long, just a few minutes. We walked over to our old apartment building. The door was open and our old doorman recognized us so we chatted a little with him before we walked down to Wagner Park. Dogs are normally not allowed in that park but it was so early in the morning plus others took their dogs there so we didn’t really care, if we tell T not to pee on places he listens.
We came to what used to be my favorite area in the whole city (behind our old apartment). The last time I was walking around down there they had torn the whole thing down and I was super sad (check this post from June 2019), but I guess they rebuilt it. I was so happy to see that, I really do love that place!
We continued our walk up along the water. The Rockefeller Park was full of people, lots of groups of kids with a coach: karate, soccer practice, you name it. Very busy. We left the parks and walked in on Chamber Street and soon came to where I spent most of my time the first few years in the city – old DNA/now Gibney. During all the years of living in the city, this building had scaffoldings outside, it is just so weird to see the actual building now haha. Dance studios are closed this year but it was still nice to walk by and feel the dance vibe:)
We walked over to the Brooklyn Bridge. I wanted to walk further up because there weren’t much people and the weather was nice but J wasn’t into it, so we saw it from afar.
Walked passed Broadway and to the WTC area. They have blocked off the entire park, you can only go in the park if you pay (looked like if you paid for the museum you also get access to the park). So dumb! It is a huge and very nice park but now there’s just fences all around it. Oh well.
Walked down to our old neighborhood again and T ran straight up to the entrance of the small-dogs dog park hahah, he for sure remembered that:) But we wanted to continue. I bought us bagels and coffee at the little store across from our old apartment and we sat down on one for the benches in the pathway near the dog park (because there’s basically no people there). Aaaahh, that’s my absolute favorite thing to do in the city; sit in the sun on a bench with a bagel and a coffee, life can not get better any than that:)
It was about noon when we had finished eating, so then we walked across the street, picked up our car and drove on the west side back home, took about 1 hour 10 minutes. Thor was so tired. He’s only 8lbs of fluff but he sure can walk a lot. He did not want “daddy taxi” at all, just wanted to walk on his own the whole time which I saw on my smart watch was 5 miles. He tried to sleep in the car and succeeded a little but the roads here suck so bad that he constantly woke up. So once we were home, both boys fell asleep on the couch.
I seriously had the best day in a very long time! This year really makes you appreciate the good moments a bit extra. I’m so happy we decided to do this little mini trip!

So happy to see my favorite place rebuilt! old Dance New Amsterdam / now: Gibney Dance
he really wanted to go to the dog park:)

In Dance, New York City

Fall for Dance in NYC

Author Fanny SuraPosted on Leave a comment

October 7, 2019

Hope you had an awesome week! We’ve been kinda busy. Around 1pm on Saturday, Jim went to drop Thor off in the lobby. Yup, two of the lobby office people had said yes to watch Thor for the day, so he was an office pup all Saturday haha. One of them lives in the building so when they finished work they had just brought T up to the apartment and then dropped him off around 8 or so. 

Anyway. After dropping T off, we took an uber to train station and then the train to Manhattan. We walked across the city to Hell’s Kitchen and to a place we’ve been a few times before, BarBacon on 54 and 9th. We were both rolling out of there after haha. We walked uptown and I got a cortado at a french cafe along the way. Riverside Park is one of my favorite parks and the Upper West Side is cute neighborhood so I had told J that I wanted to walk around there. The sun is going down quite early nowadays though so we didn’t stay there long. We walked over to Central Park and walked from 81st down to 54th where we ended up in a bar for 45 minutes before we had to walk to New York City Center on 55th. 

A few months ago I saw the date they would release Fall for Dance tickets so I put it in my calendar on my phone. When that day came I happened to sit by the computer the minute they released tickets. I ended up being number like 1562 in line! And it said it was 55 minutes waiting…for dance tickets(!), felt like I was waiting for Michael Jackson tickets hahah (which I did back in the day but they sold out before I had a chance…and then sadly the tour never happened). After “only” 35 minutes I got in and I quickly bought two tickets for Saturday and two tickets for next Sunday. They only cost $15 each so that’s why they are so popular. A German woman who sat next to me this weekend told me that she sits on a foldout chair outside the theater every year to by tickets for all 5 programs. Crazy. 

We saw program 3 on Saturday. To begin it was the (Russian) Mariinsky Ballet,  with 6 dancers and live piano on stage. A cute romantic piece, very ballet. Second piece was a duet with the English National Ballet choreographed by Akram Khan. I have seen his works before and I love to watch that kind of modern dance, a beautiful and quite powerful piece. After intermission it was time for the Swedish company Skånes Dansteater. A duet with a tall male dancer and a woman in a wheelchair. I liked the piece a lot and I felt like I wanted to do all the movements myself, but it felt very very Scandinavian. The whole choreography, the movements, the use of music all felt like what I’m used to back home, no surprises to me at all, and Jim almost fell asleep. The last piece was with Alvin Ailey. I hate to say this but I was very disappointed. I’ve seen them on stage before and I have admired their work and looked up to the talented dancers, but this piece was (in my opinion) not good. This was a piece I almost fell asleep to. It felt like we were watching a ‘house dance’ class, everything was fronted to the audience and it was too intense to watch. But it was a fun piece to end the evening with I guess, the audience liked it. They added the applause and thank you into the piece, so they kept the audience engaged which was clever, but other than that I was so disappointed.
Overall I enjoyed this program. Very different pieces, a good mix. I’m excited for next week as well!

On Sunday we stared with coffee and listening to classical music. Then we drove to costco and of course ended up with a lot of crap. Straight from costco we went to a massage place we’ve been to a few times before for a full body couples massage. We both really needed this, our bodies was like rocks. It seems like the women noticed that on us as well. My masseuse was all over my left side of the neck, the right side between shoulder blades and the left butt cheek…I wonder if I’ve done lots of uneven workouts? And it wasn’t that she just happened to rub more on some spots (like some masseuses that clearly doesn’t pay attention), these were really the places I’ve been feeling extra tight lately. Strange, I have to look into why my body is so uneven. 
Back home, our building had Football Sunday with pizza and bud lights. We stopped by the lobby to grab my keys and to give them a box of chocolate as a thank you. And then we did nothing special for a few hours until we had to go meet with a future dog sitter. That was one of the strangest meetings ever. We passed a man with a dog twice before we realized that was the person we were gonna meet (thought we were gonna meet the wife, plus I had no idea they have a dog so I was so confused). And after we said hi, the two men said absolutely nothing for the longest time, and I ended up just trying to calm Thor down who thought we were leaving him and trying to say hi to the other puppy. It was all just so strange, but whatever, I think J booked them once we came home (going away in November and our regular sitters can’t watch him).

Now I’m ready for a new week. The gray weather makes me sleepy, but once my coffee kicks in I’m ready to go:)
Have an awesome week! 

In New York City

sick week & a roller coaster of feelings

Author Fanny SuraPosted on Leave a comment

June 24, 2019

Jim started last week with pink eyes and ended up working from home until Friday. Since it’s super contagious I made the bed with new sheets for him and then slept on the couch for three nights and then washed towels, sheets and all the surfaces. Along with his pink eyes he had the sniffles so I tried to stay out of the apartment as much as possible so I wouldn’t end up sick too.
Tuesday: Blood test in the morning and then I hung out with Daniela all day and spent some time with two of her friends and their babies.
Wednesday: I was busy cleaning, doing stuff on my computer and dealing with the confusing news from my doctor. Went grocery shopping for the Friday celebration and then just took it easy.
Thursday: Took the train into Manhattan to see my friend Jeanette who was here for a week. We spent a few hours together. I went shopping by myself and then went for a long sweaty walk to Grand Central and took the train back home.
Friday: Woke up feeling like crap. Jim felt ok enough to go to work. I had barely slept all night and I almost felt hungover when I walked over to the hospital next to our apartment for my tests. My new doctor wanted me to try a new place for tests. I gave blood and had to pee in a cup. And then I spent all day on the couch. Not a very fun Midsommar, so we decided to celebrate the next day instead. We ended up having a really nice evening anyway though with grilled pork and rice on the rooftop.

I thought I would wake up feeling like normal today, but I’m much worse. Woke up at 3:30 am coughing, my throat and ears hurt and I feel mushy. Blaaah. Oh well, what’s one more day of rest? At least it’s nice weather:) 

In New York City

Date Day in NYC and Empire of the Sun

Author Fanny SuraPosted on Leave a comment

June 11, 2019

Went for my weekly blood test this morning. So much for finally going in for monthly instead of weekly. But who knows, maybe she calls me tomorrow and tells me that my level gone down again. Lets hope for that!

We had a busy and exciting weekend. I did actually write this post this weekend, but I haven’t had time to edit pictures and post it. So here it is with a few changes:)

On Saturday, hubby and I left Thor with a neighbor two doors down the hall (some woman we’ve met a few times) and then took the train into Manhattan. We were by Times Sq around 12:30pm and walked straight to Wolfgangs over there. We ordered our normal; oysters, bacon and asparagus. And then we walked down to the new Hudson Yards. We didn’t check out the mall or any other things in the area, but we wanted to check out this new complete waste of money called Vessel, a staircase building. We couldn’t go in/up cause the tickets they gave us was for 5pm. Oh well, next time. I didn’t have my camera with me now anyway so want to go back and then also check everything else in the area. 

That silver building is called “The Shed” and it’s a new performance space.
It is the ugliest building I’ve ever seen! Hideous!

We continued down the High Line, but there were just too much people, it wasn’t fun or pretty like it used to be so we got off and walked down to Meatpacking and had a drink at Brass Monkeys rooftop. From there, we walked down, got coffees, walked to Sockerbit and got a little bit of Swedish Candy.

We walked all the way over to East Village, stopped at some bar and then went to what used to be one of our go-to places, Blockheads, but they had changed the menu, the new prices was way too high, you had to pay for chips and salsa (!!), it was so loud there so we couldn’t speak to each other and my gluten free burrito felt like it was old. Sad, but ok, we’re not going there again.

Went to some other bar before we had to go to Webster Hall for the nights concert. Doors opened at 7 and we were there maybe 20 min past that. Thought they would start playing at 8 but a series of videos of 80s and 90s brands and commercials was playing as the “intro band” for 46 minutes. Kinda boring and our bodies got tired plus it was freezing in there.

And then, Empire of the Sun. They gave a real good show, I like it. What I didn’t like was the drunk guy that touched everyone’s boobs and asses and was just in the way for people. And another guy towards the end was super annoying talking and screaming at everyone while he spilled his drinks all over people and tried to light his weed with a giant flame. Idiots, they ruin it for everyone and we all just wanted to punch them in their faces. It didn’t last all night though so that was good, we could still enjoy it.

I have to say that one of the best things at this concert was that the floor was quite bouncy so when the fun parts in the songs came and everyone started to jump and sing, the whole place bounced, it was buzzing so hard under the feet that it felt like we were in a bouncing castle hahah:)

Such a nice and perfect day with my husband. We didn’t have much plans for the day in the city, but one of the best things to do in New York City is to just walk around. 

In New York City, Stamford

a day in NYC and first weekend in June

Author Fanny SuraPosted on Leave a comment

June 3, 2019

Hello! How are you lovelies? I am tip top. Woke up a bit later than I wanted today, but whatever. I have many things I want to do today, very motivated:) Most of it is by the computer which is boring for my little fluffis, but I will take breaks and take him for walks. It is a bit hot for him to go outside in the middle of the day though so I have to keep it short. His fluff is getting long now and our two regular groomers are fully booked so I’m not sure what to do, probably have to find someone new. 

Anyhow… On Friday I had a full day to myself again. Jim took Thor to work at 7:20 am and I enjoyed my breakfast in front of youtube for a bit. I had really planned out my morning well, no stress at all, I felt very calm. Breakfast, cleaning up a bit in the apartment, getting ready and then I went for a walk to the train station. On my way there the maintenance guy called and asked if he could enter our apartment (our bedroom curtain was broke again) and I assured him that Thor would not be there and bother him, hahah. 
I came to Manhattan a bit early so I walked over to Tudor City Parks. I have not been there since I performed with The Equus Projects there 2013. Then I walked to the Swedish Consulate for my 11:30 appointment. I was there for one minute and then I took the subway down to our old neighborhood, Financial District/Battery Park City. Oh my, it looks quite different. I bought coffee and tuna bagel at the market across from our old apartment and I didn’t recognize the place inside, a lot of improvements. With my lunch I walked over to the park where Midsummer celebration is every year. I sat on the grass on a blanket that I had with me for a few hours. Read my book, ate lunch and watched people walking by. I sat in the shade of course since I can’t be in the sun after chemo. It was a pretty hot day and I was wearing long pants, a thinner sweater and eventually a hat along with sunscreen to protect myself.  I was a sweaty betty for sure.
I walked up along the Hudson River and then into Soho and took the subway up to Grand Central and I arrived just in time for the last off-peak train to Stamford (peak trains costs more and are usually packed). My day was perfect. My legs were sore and I felt a bit tired, but I’m glad that I decided to stay in the city instead of going back home after picking up my passport.

My favorite place in the city is gone :'( Right after we moved they started to build a new bridge over the highway. This is outside of the vet and the grocery store next to our apartment.
The whole neighborhood including the dog parks is a shit show right now, I’m glad we moved before
First time that my passport photo didn’t look too terrible 🙂

On Saturday we had plans with D and G but late Friday night they booked a last minute “babymoon” trip to Belize. I needed to rest my legs that was still sore from the shots and from all the walking I did on Manhattan, so I didn’t mind not having plans anymore. We had a relaxed morning and in the afternoon we made burgers on the rooftop and then took Thor for a longer walk to the park close by. At night I was watching something on my tablet while Jim watched Svengoolie on TV – I was not at all interested in the movie they showed, Billy the kid versus Dracula from 1966, even the name sounds terrible.

On Sunday I got up two hours before my boys and did stuff on my computer. We had decided to go see the Avengers at the movie theater in the afternoon since the weather was kinda crappy in the morning, but when it was time to leave it was sunny outside and we decided to skip the 3 hour long movie and go have lunch at a bar instead. And then we had a pretty relaxed afternoon. This weekend we started to watch the new tv-show Chernobyl that everyone is talking about. Not sure if I like it or not. Have you seen it?

Not a too exciting weekend, but that’s ok. I couldn’t enjoy the sun anyway and I felt that I needed to stay calm and relaxed after treatment. Not all weekends need to involve some super extreme stuff, hanging out with hubby and puppy is enough:)