Alexandra Charitan

Jan 12

Jan 12 Happy Friday!

Things that happened this week:

This technically happened last week, but Fred Bass, the owner of the Strand bookstore died at age 89. Lindsey and I share a love of The Strand and its 18 miles of books, so she illustrated its famous building this week, as a tribute to Bass. It's also her birthday tomorrow—Happy Birthday, Lindsey!

The extreme cold finally broke a few days ago, but the temperature is going to drop again this weekend. Here's a fascinating (and upsetting) look at how the subway trains turn into de facto homeless shelters in the winter.

Everyone is talking about Oprah this week after her inspiring Golden Globes speech (and rightfully so), but Meryl will always be my number one.

Things to do in New York this weekend:

It's the last weekend to see Gingerbread Lane—the Guinness World Record holder for "largest gingerbread village" for the past four years—at the New York Hall of Science. I've still never been to the Hall of Science, but it was originally built for the 1964/65 World's Fair and it's been on my to-do list since I moved here. On Sunday, from 2-5pm you can take home a piece of the village for free (BYOB - bring your own box or bag).

There's an Edvard Munch exhibit at the Met Breuer that I need to go see. Munch is one of my favorite artists, and although the Met has decided to start charging admission to tourists, the admission price to the Met Museums (including the Cloisters and the Met Breuer) for New York residents is still just "suggested."

The Post opens in more theaters today, and if you haven't seen it, go! I know I'm biased with my love of all things Meryl, but this movie feels so important right now.

Things I discovered this week:

I'm always a million years late to things that are popular, but I started watching Big Little Lies this week and finished all seven episodes in two days. It was so good and I can't wait for season two, but in the meantime I'll be listening to this playlist on Spotify.

I finished reading The Leavers this week—it was so good—and started The Mysterious Benedict Society. I've already finished three books in 2018 and that puts me two books ahead in my reading challenge for the year.

I've officially become one of those people who complains to brands on Twitter. After being turned away from Sweetgreen at lunch on Monday due to their system being down (and the fact that they no longer accept cash), I tweeted about it and they replied immediately and added a $20 credit to my account! I'm already in the cult of Sweetgreen because of their magically delicious salads, but now I'm equally impressed with their customer service.

David and I celebrated our three-year anniversary this week (with a free Sweetgreen lunch) and we have plans to see a few friends this weekend, but not much else on the agenda for now. We have Monday off for MLK day, and we had planned to take a tour of Eclectic Props in LIC but they had a water main break so the tour was cancelled. I already had a diner picked out (of course), but I'm scrambling to make new plans. It's supposed to get cold again here, so maybe we'll just continue watching The Godfather trilogy (we still have to watch parts 2 and 3) on Neflix. I hope you have a good weekend and enjoy your extra day off, if you have one!