Saturday was our buddy, Margie's, bday and she invited us to come celebrate in true 20s style. Jelsen stayed home and worked while I dug through my closet to find something that would pass the dress code and ventured to Williamsburg. It was a fun night filled with old friends and great conversations (shout out to Lee!) and one very happy and excited birthday girl.
I've been keeping up with the opening of Trader Joe's new store in Brooklyn and been planning a trip there all weekend. Today I hopped on a bus which takes me literally from outside my house to right outside Joe's new house in a matter of minutes!
The store is set in the old Independence Bank building and looks as beautiful on the inside as on the outside. It's big, open and bright due to the high high ceilings and enormous windows. At first glance it was pretty busy, but at the same time I was left with plenty of personal space around my cart. The deals were great and I picked up a bunch of mouth watering goodness I've always wanted to try out but never bothered to stand in line at the Union Sq. location for.
The infamous "End of Line" barely reached around the corner from the registers! I didn't even stand still with my cart in the line, it was a steady and comfortable pace all the way.
Tony kindly asked me to not take any pictures of the store and I obliged. After all, he agreed to let me snap one of him in his Hawaiian shirt before tucking my camera away.
108,62 dollars spent and about 17 meals planned out in my head already. Thanks, Joe!
-bahareh
The Great Schlep from The Great Schlep on Vimeo.
We'll consider it an honest attempt.
Thanks Jasi B.
- jelsen
"haha. You know how we do. Even lactose intollerants had to dip into the ice cream sammiches. No worries though there is always a next time at 388 Myrtle."
- Allisyn Swift
Last night was the 1st Presidential Debate, finally. Jasaun hosted a screening at her BedStuy brownstone (one must specify certain things).
The audience sure knew how to throw popcorn at the screen.
Who won? Ill let you know on Nov. 4th.
- jelsen
Ok, so i might get my Brooklyn ID Card revoked for this but i really dont think Mr. Black Alfred Hitchcock is big-budget film worthy. Yes, yes - he was DOPE....but, c'mon - there have been better emcees with much longer careers (ok, so he was murdered) that i'd rather spend $11 bucks at the theater to see.
They even cast Angela Bassett?! Oh c'mon now.
I love Biggie, but his life's been already documented best: through his own lyrics. So, why the movie? blah.
...and im not gonna compare him to Tupac, either.
Gabe, thanks for the link.
- jelsen
Since thursday, Bahareh told me to make sure not to make any plans for monday morning. I agreed, secretly wishing the surprise'll be a behind-the-scenes tour of the Big Apple Circus.
WRONG.
Instead, we rode the bus to Brooklyn Heights for Bikram yoga. And it was friggin amazing. My very first time, too. 90 FULL minutes of 'rediscovering' muscles and tendants previously lost.
The back of my knees are feeling it all, right now.
Thanks baby,
- jelsen
In honor of my great grand parents' 65 wedding anniversary ( Anne & Rene Castagne) the family's very first family reunion was thrown on Saturday. Oh yes - they're also turning 95 & 91 this year. I was so excited to see so many cousins i havent seen since i moved back here to new york. A lot of them live SO far away (Queens, NYC). Ha - no, i am not proud of my not keeping in touch. tsk tsk. 
So, we get there late - about 45mins. Luckily - about 4 generations were far later than us. We walk into the ballroom and my mother's in sweats running all over the place (still) setting all the tables. With her are 2 cousins i used to (literally) play cops and robbers with. ha Andrew, Jinsil, Bahareh and i quickly threw all hands on deck.
I spent the first hour explaining to people that "no, I'm not hired help, I'm part of the family too." 90% of the time, the reply was ;"so that's why you're so pretty!". Ah, I love my family.
Jelsen occasionally took breaks from asking people around the room, "So, how are we related?" and sat down next to me to ask the people across the table, "So, how are we related?
These kids are just gorgeous. You know when you see some children and all of a sudden you're overwhelmed with this 'need' to reproduce? AJ and Ashley are stellar examples.
Cheeks. I wanna just pinch all of them. The cheeks that is. Also, the sweetness that is Margo, offered some really valuable marital advise.
Once in a while, we ran into people we actually knew. Like Jelsen's mother here.
And other times, we met with people from Jelsen's past that I had come to believe were fictions of his imagination up until now. Readers,I introduce...Pascalle.
Grandma loved the photos! ha. She just stared at them and laughed & laughed.
I got my high from the grape soda. It did every bit what it claimed it would. It "hit the spot". Mmm, sugarrrr.
And now, it's time for a slideshow:
Which lasted about 1h30mins. The fashion flashback was priceless and while others cheered when they saw someone who looked fly, I cheered every time someone I knew were in a picture. I cheered about 3 times.
Dance-Off:
As proved at the wedding: Our family knows how to throw down.
People finally stopped asking me if I was the help and started embracing me in that "You are married to Andrew - how wonderful"-sort of way.
And Jelsen continued the hunt for relatives he could embrace.
Jelsen got to fill out his pad and pose with his gorgeous cousins. As usual, he forgot to wear his contacts under his glasses and thought the camera was somewhere totally different than everyone else. Andrew's cheeks actually belong in that 9th picture (go on, scroll up and count - you know you want to).
2am - we all start filing out. I was elated that i got to see a lot of family that still recognized me without braces, snot crust, and ashy kneecaps. The night was indeed a success. So many smiles, so many 'oh my god! that's YOU?!', so many great stories. Since, The Innocents came through full-force at the setting up of the night - we all made sure we bolted before an aunt (ANY aunt) could assign dishwashing duties our way. We bummed a ride with my big cousin Anthony and his wife Margo back to Brooklyn.
I'm so proud to be part of this family, and I'm not just saying that because half of the reunion are gonna read this post. I actually cried several times by the love I witnessed and felt. I even overheard the photographer say; "Look, the caterer is crying...creeeepy".
til next
Jelsen & Bahareh
