the search for peace and quiet (and more coffee)

Not to complain or anything, but Tuesdays just really suck.  So, of course, we decided that our Tuesday adventure (this would be Tuesday the 10th, we're just a tad behind on this whole blogging thing) would have to take place either before 9 am or after 9 pm.  Not the best time windows. Both of us were planning to attend the Herman Cain speech in Low that evening, and were not sure we'd recover from the amusement sufficiently to get ourselves off campus after. So the natural choice was: go to bed at 2 am, and wake up around 7 for an early morning bagel/coffee/nature excursion.  "Nature" meaning Central Park, of course.

To make such a horrendous waking time slightly less horrendous, we coaxed ourselves out of bed with the promise of Absolute bagels (the best) and Absolute coffee (not the best). Usually full of UWS professionals with small children (possibly the same small children who slide down the little ramp things near the steps on campus), it was remarkably empty and we breezed through the shortest line we've ever seen. With our standard orders of a sesame bagel with cream cheese (Thing 2) and a whole wheat everything with cream cheese (Thing 1, not quite adventurous enough to go for the tofutti) plus coffee, we began to walk toward the site of our next adventure.

No line out the door?!?!?!!?!!!!!

Always in search of a way to make New York feel, well, less like New York, Zoë ordered a book from Amazon a few weeks back detailing "places to find peace and quiet."  One of these, conveniently, is the Conservatory Garden on the east side of Central Park.  (Side note: Rebecca enjoys the chaos).  Located at roughly 105th and 5th, the garden opens at 8 every day and was especially gorgeous on a really nice spring day.  There was certainly quite a bit of peace and quiet, though we're not sure whether that was because its pretty flowers and sculpture fountains (which Zoë once wrote an Art Hum paper about. no joke!) induce that kind of behavior in its patrons or because we got there at the crack of dawn.

Regardless, our memories of this morning are a little less than perfect as a result of the time, so we'll (mostly) let the pictures speak for themselves:

The Harlem Meer? Who knew Harlem had Meers?

(Fun fact: Meer in German means sea)

(In English it is known as the prefix to "kat")

Bleary eyed and bobtailed?

We enjoy both writing and taking pictures slanted.

TULIPS! (the Tulip Fairy has struck New York)

Winter paleness? (overexposure?)

Grandma benches, approximately 3 inches off the ground (Don't worry, we sat in them anyway and were almost horizontal as we did so)

 Belongs in a romantic comedy. Is probably in five of them.

We were here. see?

Survival skills in Manhattan: For those of you unaware of this handy trick, if you ever get lost in Central Park (and we all know you've been lost in Central Park), the light posts are all labeled with plaques with super-secret code on them.  Trick to the code: the first two digits correspond to the nearest cross street.  09=109th street.  Got it? Now go get lost!

By the time we'd finished walking to the park, eating our bagels, taking lovely photos for all of you, and making it back up to campus, it was time for more coffee. We arrived at 114th and Amsterdam, just 2 blocks away from Rebecca's class at the law school, at 8:50--exactly the right time for a quick stop in Artopolis. Properly equipped for the rest of our mornings, we went about the rest of our respective days in the bubble.

Peacefully yours,

caffeine addicts 1 and 2 (these are interchangeable. Thing 1 and Thing 2 are not)

p.s. Question of the day: Do peace and caffeine really go together?

OHM

After a long weekend of strenuous eating, we decided it was time for us to do something both good for us and relaxing. We've been doing (sorry, practicing) yoga for years now, and one of our favorite studios that we rarely make it to is Yoga to the People, at St. Mark's place. The best part of this studio? Aside from the utter lack of pretension, it's donation based (or maybe that's part of its lack of pretension?)! Although we feel a little wave of guilt every time we leave the studio without donating or donating a miniscule amount, we tell ourselves that we more than make up for it with our enthusiastic ravings.  Who doesn't want free advertising?

Although we know we're beautiful on the inside despite our external appearances, we decided to preserve our mystery and not post photos of ourselves doused in sweat. Use your imaginations.

This particular yoga session was surprisingly crowded for a Monday afternoon, meaning that there were approximately 2.15 in. of space between us and our neighbors.  This would have been less of an issue if one girl in front of Zoë hadn't felt the need to wear transparent leggings, and the man in front of Rebecca (shirtless man, in case you were wondering) hadn't been so cat-like that he ended up arching his back all the way onto her mat.  It's ok though--they each contributed some really great energy to the communal feel and enhanced our vinyasa flow. Our instructor was a small, vaguely hipster, NYU-student type who liked to give lots of encouragement, but for some reason decided to speak as quickly, breathily, and softly as possible when giving actual instructions. Good thing we're yoga masters and don't need instructions anyway.

It might seem that we're criticizing the class, but really, it was quite an enjoyable hour that gave us the much desired physical activity (as illustrated by our aching bodies for a couple days afterwards).  The natural follow-up to any session of intense physical activity is food.  Lots and lots of delicious food. To undo all the work you've just done.  (that's the point of exercise, right? exercise just enough to offset your next meal?)  So, in this vein, we headed to Mamoun's, a local favorite falafel joint. After each spending a whopping $3.50 on a fantastic falafel sandwich and cup of spiced tea, Zoë proceeded to douse hers in unexpectedly spicy sauce (and nearly died) while Rebecca flexed her newly toned muscles and somehow managed to squeeze her styrofoam teacup so hard that it began spouting tea all over the place.  Chaos ensued.  Luckily, these dilemmas were easily fixable: as Zoë chugged water, Rebecca poured her remaining tea into a new cup (sorry, environment!!) and they were good to go!

Mmmmmmmmm.

Flexibly yours,
masters of Respiration and Zen

Of chicks, bunnies, and jelly beans

This past weekend was full of parents. As a result, Zoë and Rebecca were forced to do something they rarely ever do: separate. Zoë spent the weekend with her parents, and Rebecca, whose parents were not in town this particular weekend, was adopted by our friend Madeleine's parents (as well as pretty much her entire extended family).

Most of the day on Saturday disappeared into a whirlwind of recital prep, actual recital, post recital dinner with parents and piano teacher, and hanging out with our dear friend Brigid. Searching for something to do that night, we decided that it was time to venture the other direction out of the bubble (East!) and  expand our knowledge of beer at a new Bier Garden in Harlem called Bier International.  This was a bit of an odd choice since Rebecca doesn't like beer and Zoë was basically too exhausted to do much except flip her coaster into the air and attempt to catch it.  Luckily we brought along reinforcements: Jacob and Brigid!  Those two kept things lively and we really can't recommend the place enough despite the fact that neither of us were really all that conscious (not a beer induced unconsciousness, parents and future employers!) We were big fans of the decor: simple, almost picnic-style benches filled the small space, the lighting was made out of mesh, and--our favorite--on the walls were painted various ways of saying "beer" in more languages than we could identify.

øL=beer? Who knew?

It was a good night, but after one round Zoë and Rebecca headed home as Jacob and Brigid continued their adventures (maybe they should have a blog).

The next day was Easter and the true day of separation.  Rebecca jetted off to Long Island to hunt for easter eggs and eat copious amounts of food with Madeleine's family and Zoë (with her parents in tow) made her way to 4 of New York's notable parks looking for bunny rabbits to celebrate Easter with.  She failed to find many bunnies, but succeeded in finding $5 on the ground, lots of tourists, and a cool piece of sidewalk art by a favorite jazz musician:

Esperanza Spalding! A new album! Go listen, friends! 

Rebecca on the other hand, failed to win the Easter egg hunt this year (for those of you who witnessed last year's victory, it was truly one of the most impressive things any of us had ever seen). She nevertheless managed to return to campus with an array of Easter candy, the traditional chocolate Easter bunny (traditional in Madeleine's house, at least), a tulip plant, and exactly $6 to add to the newly created fun fund.

Our Easter weekend loot, which Rebecca felt the (oddly domestic) desire to arrange on the futon.

We know it's disappointing to you that we've lumped an entire weekend into one post, but don't worry, there's plenty more coming your way, so keep reading!

In the spirit of Easter and new life, we'd also like to take this opportunity to share a really delightful video, that we just can't get enough of (and yes, we know we're extremely weird).

Geekity geeks (we love you, Tucker),

Zo+Bëx (hahahahaha.... we figured one of us should have the umlaut thing)

inner peace: food and flowers edition

One of the coolest things about this project has been the random treasures of New York that we've stumbled upon, simply by letting ourselves get lost a little bit in this massive city. Friday's adventure started out as a trip to one of our favorite local eateries, Peacefood Cafe. Guess what kind of food they specialize in?  If you guessed vegan: gold star for you! We had intended to go to Peacefood for brunch, but Zoë stayed up too late celebrating her love of P-Chem and couldn't quite drag herself out of bed in the morning. That and the fact that we always know generally where Peacefood is located--somewhere in the 80s, east of Broadway--but never exactly. After going around in circles (literally), we resorted to the iPhone (shame!) and discovered that we'd gone almost 5 streets and a full avenue block too far. Backtracking, we finally made it to Peacefood just in time for lunch.

Our waiter was a good friend of ours....not! But he'd really like to be. Last time we were at Peacefood, our waiter friend spent a great deal of the time checking to see if we needed anything and almost but not quite invading our personal space. That night also marked the creation of our epic "To-Do in New York" list, and he was "very impressed" with our impeccable handwriting (it is true, we both do have impeccable handwriting.  be jealous) This time, there was all the attentiveness, plus a bonus offering in coffee selections. In addition to the usual offerings of almond milk, soy milk, and rice milk, he also let us know that he could arrange for some Bailey's in our (surely shade grown, fair trade) coffee. As tempting as that was, we went with soy milk. (and for all you haters, IT WAS DELICIOUS)

(self explanatory)

Basking in the glow of roasted vegetables, soy lattes, an apricot almond muffin, and a "magic" cookie (interpret how you will... although it is us, so don't go too crazy)

As per usual, the food was excellent, and Zoë got distracted by some windows of the stores across the street.  One was a good call: who doesn't need an $80 juice cleanse? And the other not so much: vases (pronounced vaaahhzes). We decided to ignore our (Zoë's) domestic yearnings and not go into that particular store, as we most likely cannot be trusted around expensive breakables. Particularly when they are pronounced in such a pretentious manner. Instead, we jammed ourselves into the dressing room of one of those expensive clothing stores that we can't seem to get enough of, and Zoë got stuck multiple times in a dress/creation/thing/monster from the deep that looked TERRIBLE anyways. Rebecca, meanwhile, was getting stuck in a lace corset dress that similarly looked awful. Self esteem was destroyed. We had the brilliant idea to switch dresses; this turned out to not be so brilliant as we still each looked horrendous. (Although Rebecca is proud to note that she was able to don the dress/creation without assistance.) After gazing longingly at the men's shirts (there was a pink gingham one. gay men's shirts? women's shirts? whatever. nice shirts.), we decided not to brave the dressing room again and left.

On our way back uptown, we decided to cross over from Columbus to Amsterdam on 89th Street: best decision ever!  We happened on this amazing little community garden that was bursting with tulips.  For all you Columbia people looking for a happy spring pick-me-up that will leave you refreshed instead of hungover (so a non-Bacchanal pick-me-up), head down that way this weekend for the Tulip Festival!  Here's a sneak peak:

The Secret Garden?

ORANGE

Moral of story: zig-zag your way down the west side of Manhattan and you will find something cool!

Namaste,

Z+R

(ok fine we ran out of nicknames. that we feel like sharing.)

our hearts refuse to go on (we're unique like that)

As you may have guessed from the title, we went to see Titanic in 3D on Thursday. We went to celebrate the birthday of Joanna (we told you she'd be back!). The best part? Joanna is a film major.  It was a monumental moment on so many levels: Joanna turned 22, it was 3D and it was Zoë's first time ever seeing this great film masterpiece.  We had initially set out to turn the Titanic showing into a Rocky Horror-style deal, acting out pivotal scenes ("I'm king of the world!!") and helping Celine Dion out with the soundtrack. Unfortunately, we were upstaged by the people sitting next to us. They took it upon themselves to add insightful commentary throughout the movie, offering such gems as "OH SHIT THERE'S LEO" and "who is Rose?" They declared to the audience halfway through that "This IS NOT a comedy" before proceeding to cackle manically (creepily) through the entire movie.  #winning

There were a few redeeming features, though (besides the really awesome synthesizer soundtrack at the beginning.  how can we learn to sing like that?).  The movie was being screened in the top secret Theater 9 and 3/4.

Back story on this photo: Zoë claims that Rebecca failed to make a funny face, as per their pre-photo agreement. Rebecca promises to punch anyone who insists that this is what her face normally looks like. (Zoë now has two black eyes and a bloody nose) (Ha. Rebecca wishes she had those kind of punching skills).

We also did get our moment of glory singing along with Celine during the credits, and found to our delight that three other girls in the back of the theater had the same idea. New friends were made.

After a night like this, we feel the need to prove that we can be classy sometimes, so here's our token photograph of a famous New York building.  The height discrepancy between Rebecca and the building made it rather difficult to get them both in the same frame, but we were there! We promise!

Although we wish she would guest blog for us, we'll settle for wishing Joanna HAPPY BIRTHDAY for the 102394871384th time! You make us feel so young... (Almost as young as Leo looks in the movie!)

So you can all experience the magic: THE SONG!

Nostalgically yours,
Zoo + Bebop

Death by Bicycle

Things we didn't realize when we decided to do this project: how little money we have, how little time we have, how large this city is, and how ruthless people on bikes can be.  To give our bank accounts a break and to give our bodies some exercise, we decided to make our way to Riverside Park to see spring in all its splendor.  After passing a men's rugby team practicing, then a women's rugby team practicing (not our teams), we thought seriously about starting our own rugby game with a group of small yippy dogs, toddlers on scooters, and a beach ball, since apparently rugby is all the rage these days. Another discovery from this day's adventure: dog parks in New York are segregated by size of dog. We decided the rule must be: "if your dog could eat other dogs, go to the separate enclosure" (otherwise known as the antisocial dog park). Our future rugby team will recruit solely from the social dog category.

Finally, after seeing sports in action (a rare sight at Columbia), we were overwhelmed by the team-i-ness and decided to make our way down to the river. With breathtaking views of the Hudson river and the coast of New Jersey (cue booing), we took a leisurely stroll out of the bubble and down to the boat basin at 79th street. Little did we realize (by which we mean, little did Rebecca realize), the pathway is a favorite among bicyclists who mean business. They should really make a club called that: bicyclists who mean business. Off topic. Sorry.  In an effort to provide you, dear readers, with a photo of both of us, Rebecca was an annoying tourist, failing to look ways before crossing the sidewalk. End result: Rebecca nearly got run over by a furious man going about 70 miles per hour (impressive for a bike, no?) and we have no photograph (but Rebecca does have a creepy old man friend who did not end up taking a photograph). Never fear, dear readers! We did end up with a duck as our new security guard: who knew ducks were so good at warding off creepy old man friends? (Turns out, they're actually not, as we had the pleasure of running into our friend AGAIN as we left--fled--the park).

While we don't have photographs of said creepy man friend, we do of the duck, ourselves, and the boat basin:

 Our trusty avian friend: Quackers.

 Zoë tries to be artsy and fails.

Why, yes, they do have boats at the boat basin!

(We're considering selling this one to a paint by numbers company) 

Street smart. 

Almost roadkill.

So, to summarize. Zoë and Rebecca are pro rugby players and will only associate with small and social dogs. Rebecca risked her life to get one photo containing both Zoë and Rebecca (so much awesome in one small frame), ending up with a creepy man friend instead of said awesome photo. Both are still alive, and will be continuing with off campus adventures tomorrow (though Rebecca might avoid Riverside Park until the end of the year...)!

Athletically yours,
Big Z + Reebok (just for you, Kelly)

Our date with Tom Hanks...

...went as well as Meg Ryan's--he stood us up too!

True love.

(Instead of Pride and Prejudice and a rose, we had Rebecca's reading for feminist texts and Zoe's oboe.)

We also were accompanied by the lovely Joanna, whose presence in our lives this year has been depressingly small. Luckily, she'll appear again for your reading pleasure in a couple posts.  Just for you Joanna: BOOBS.

Moving on. Tuesdays are something of a scheduling nightmare, for one simple reason. EVERYTHING at Columbia is scheduled for Tuesday night. Always. Between Rebecca's classes, Zoe's lab time, and the horde of extracurricular things on Tuesdays, it's quite the challenge to live up to our off campus promise. This particular Tuesday was special because it was the end of the semester orchestra concert (and Zoe's last as an undergrad!).  Making it through an hour long Mahler symphony in one piece always calls for celebration and the late hour called for some quick thinking on what non-creepy locales would be open for some adventuring.

We ended up coming back to an old favorite, Cafe Lalo.  Also known as the cafe in which Tom Hanks stands up Meg Ryan in You've Got Mail, it's a popular tourist destination for all those heartsick fans.  Impressively, it still manages to be a local favorite and serves a mean chocolate cake. We bounced in at around 10:45 to find it the emptiest any of us has ever seen it and quickly scarfed down some delicious sorbet, and coffee with some questionable half-and-half (I wish we had photographic evidence, but you'll just have to take our word for it that Joanna literally had to whisk her coffee to get it to mix in...)

 The entrance to Cafe Lalo, miraculously free of a bunch of people waiting for a table.

New piece for MOMA: Joanna with funky coffee. 

Aren't we beautiful?

We managed to demolish the sorbet within just a few minutes, then piled in a cab (a finely calibrated, quintessential New York experience that happens to cost exactly the same as the subway does when split between three people from the mid-80s and Broadway/Amsterdam).  Return to the bubble meant an epic return to homework, and while we're sure you'd all love the details of Zoe's foray into ordinary differential equations and Rebecca's battles with inorganic chemistry, we'll save those for another time (maybe we'll turn this blog into a blow by blow of our daily lives once April is over...we're far too wordy for twitter. Plus we hate it.)

Lots of love,
Zoboe + Rebz

p.s. (Zoe really likes co-opting these p.s.'s) If any of you are reading this on the Columbia campus and are free Saturday April 7 (tomorrow!) at 3 pm.  Come to Sulzberger parlor for super secret activities that will be loads of fun.  aka. Zoe's Senior Piano Recital!!
p.p.s. There will be snacks. From Trader Joe's.