Happy Oct Fun!

A post just in time for the start of Oct and all things pumpkin!  Here are some some fun events to check out this weekend:

SAT Oct 2

• 12-6p: CHILE PEPPER FIESTA - Music, samples, cooking demos...BK Botanical Gardens, $15 (includes garden admission)
• I'm not a fan of peppers, but I like festivals celebrating one food: ).
• 6-7p: It's IMPROV EVERYWHERE'S MP3 Experiment - Midtown Manhattan!  Go to the website for full instructions. 
• I think I can actually do it this year!
• 7p-12a: BRING TO LIGHT NYC - Greenpoint, BK waterfront (Take G to Greenpoint Ave), FREE: "A Nuit Blanche is an all night arts festival of installations and performances celebrating the magic and luminance of light."
• Sounds so cool, can't wait to see it.

SUN Oct 3

• 1130a-6p: 2010 MEDIEVAL FESTIVAL - Fort Tyron Park (190th and Fort Wash Ave), FREE: music, dance, food...and jousting knights!
• 11a-4p: Queens Country Farm's APPLE FESTIVAL - see and enjoy a variety of apples, ciders, and the "nation's largest apple cobbler", whoa!  FREE.

ALL WEEKEND/ONGOING

• 10a-5p: 2ND ANNUAL KITE FESTIVAL in Coney Island, FREE.
• Until 10/10: ART IN ODD PLACES - It's...art in odd places, yea: ).

DEALS

• TODAY Fri 10/1 Only - Get $25 gift certificates for only $1, on Restaurant.com!  Enter Promo Code: WOW.  Perfect for dinner with you and a friend or as gifts!
• Sign up for FREE tix to tapings of COMEDY CENTRAL PRESENTS shows - only a few shows open still!
• Check out these Oct $31 NYC SPA DEALS from PrettyCity.com, for Nat'l Breast Cancer Awareness month!  Sign up on the link and book your service today (haircut, massage, mani/pedis, facials, and more)!

I won?!

Wow, this means so much!!  My amazing friend Jen K. nominated me for one of the 10 Shecky's Nat'l Girlfriend Awards ("Best Life of the Party Girlfriend" Award, hehe), and what do you know, I got it! 

Read more here: http://www.sheckys.com/2010/08/31/national-girlfriend-award-winners/.  Thanks to Shecky's for the great prizes too!

How can this be? haha...it's having truly good friends like Jen and so many of you in my life that make it easy to have a blast and live it up each day.  Thank you all for sharing in all the adventures in NYC, and many more to come!!

Love! NYChar

End of Summer: Weekend+Onward!

Isn't it crazy that it's almost end of Summer?  Here are a few things from TimeOutNY and my other favorite blogs to check out through the end of the month, in our summer dresses and shorts, before it's time for Fall jackets!  I'm going to try to go to as many as possible: ).

Sign up for the NYColor email subscriptions to find out WHEN!  Goodbye Summer!

THIS WEEKEND:

• Thru Aug - Cranford Rose Garden - smell the roses and other late summer blooms like orchids and sunflowers! [BK Botanical Garden, $8 or FREE Sat 10a-12p and Tues]
• Sat 8/21 - Good Good Trouble on Bad Bad Island - see my friend Josh's play, as a part of the Fringe Festival NYC (see my recent POST, a few more shows left!]
• Don't miss it!
• Sun 8/22
•  10a-4p: Volkswagen Traffic Jam - vintage VW car show (dune buggies and more!) [Governor's Island]
• 11a-6p: Healthy Food and Green Festival - learn the Japanese healthy way! Try snacks (around $5 each) and hear discussions on different food topics [NY Japan Town, Madison Ave bet 43 and 45]
• 2-9p: Blues BBQ Festival - jazz and BBQ, the best combo! I've missed it every year, but I'm determined to make it this year [Blues BBQ, Pier 54 @ W 14th St]
• yes please!

UPCOMING:

• Tues 8/24-Sat 8/28 - Central Park Conservatory Film Festival - see FREE "Iconic NY" movies! [CPC Film Fest, 8p (but get there early!), near Sheep Meadow]
• Tues., Aug. 24: Fame
  Wed., Aug. 25: The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
  Thurs., Aug. 26: Saturday Night Fever
  Fri., Aug. 27: King Kong
  Sat., Aug. 28: Manhattan
• Tues 8/24 - The Story of Sushi - Hear Trevor Corson (Iron Chef America Judge) chat about how sushi got to where it is now.  No promise of a sampling, but you'll be full of new sushi knowledge! [Museum of the City of NY, 630p, $12 adults, $8 students.  Must RSVP]
• Do ASAP - Berry Picking @ Patty's Berries and Bunches - Head out for a mini-day trip to Long Island for raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries!  Season is almost over, so get picking! [Patty's, 631-298-4679, $5/bunch]
• Sat 8/28-Sun 8/29 - Pirates and Knights @ The Ren Faire - enough said? Break out your eye patch and take a walk on the high seas....with your local knights and queens, hehe [The Renaissance Faire, $20]
• Until Sun 8/29
• Shakespeare on the Run - yay! roaming Shakespeare, this year's play being "Much Ado About Nothing", which is great fun [NYClassical, Central Park (103rd + CPW), Thurs-Sun 7p]
• Definitely going: )
• Grand Central Dining Week - try the restaurants in Grand Central Terminal, on the cheap(er)! [GCT Dining Week]
• Mon 8/30-9/12 - US OPEN Tennis!!  The best of tennis, only 30 min away from Manhattan.  Love-love it like it's my job (because it is haha) [US Open, check out website for sched and tix]
• Let me know if you go, I'll meet up with you there!  

"Good Good Trouble On Bad Bad Island" by Josh Mikel!

The NY International Fringe Festival is back! Aug 13-29, 2010.

• What is it? The New York International Fringe Festival (FringeNYC) is the largest multi-arts festival in North America, with more than 200 companies from all over the world performing for 16 days in more than 20 venues. 

I'm especially excited about this year because my awesome pal from GA Josh Mikel (in white, right) wrote a play that's in the festival (info and tix link below!), and I cannot wait to see it.  If it's anything like Josh...it's going to be amazing: ).  Congrats, Josh!!


Find out when we're going - Sign up HERE for the weekly emails so you're always in the know on all the fun happening each week!

Good Good Trouble On Bad Bad Island Endstation Theatre Company Writer: Joshua Mikel Director: Chad Larabee A bad, bad, Idol challenges good, good Rosa with a series of impossible tasks -- but what happens when she starts doing the impossible?! This wildly inventive adventure finds that sometimes family and good goodness can be found in the most unlikely of places. 1h 30m   National   Sweet Briar, VA Comedy   FringeJR   Staycation: Fantasy Island Excursion   Absurdly Surrealist Dream   www.endstationtheatre.org/fringe.html   VENUE #9: The Robert Moss Theater            Mon 16 @ 7  Wed 18 @ 4:30  Sat 21 @ 4:15  Mon 23 @ 1  Sat 28 @ 2

More Fun: A Lil Dancin' and Kissin'

Why not?: )

Fri 8/13 - Central Park Salsa's 10 Year Anniversary Event - 6-8p: Salsa dancing outdoors in Central Park, free!

Sat 8/14

• Times Square Kiss-in - 10a-2p: Celebrate the 65th Anniversary of the most famous sailor kiss on Sat, with Maybelline NY who will be on hand doing makeovers and touch ups!  And see Maxim Chmerkovsky too!
• Lincoln Center Out of Doors - 730p: live salsa band Larry Harlow's La Raza Latina, free!

Save me a dance (and a kiss?) haha!

8/12 - The Most Famous Meteor Shower!

I usually try not to go on the same kinds of adventures...but I love stars and especially meteor showers, and this one seems like a must see!  I know a few of you think it's cool too, hehe (thanks to Chris C. for the heads up!).

This Thurs Aug 12 - it's the PERSEID METEOR SHOWER, which the Inwood Astronomy Project says is "the most famous of all meteor showers".  We can join our IAP friends up in Inwood Hill Park (only 20 min away on the A train!) from 10p-1am for this event.  It really is the best place in Manhattan to do it.

Good thing is that it won't be freezing like when we went to see the Leonid shower back in Nov or so, and I think the sky should be pretty clear (though apparently there is a small 20% chance of rain - but that shouldn't stop us: ).  Who's in?  See you there!

Get more details and up to date information on the viewing HERE.

Haney Pancake Recipe!

Who wants to get together for a PANCAKE PARTY?  How fun does that sound?: )  I randomly wanted pancakes as I was working late tonight, and my good friend Matt Haney sent this delicious recipe to me.  Thanks for sharing!!

Banana Nutella Pancakes 

Ingredients:  

1 ¼ cup all purpose flour

1 tbsp white sugar

2 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

1 egg, beaten

1 cup milk

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 ripe bananas, mashed

2 tbsp Nutella

Instructions:  

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  In a separate bowl, mix together egg, milk, oil, bananas and Nutella.

Stir flour mixture into banana mixture; batter will be slightly lumpy.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle or skillet (use Pam) over medium high heat.  Pour or scoop the batter into the pan using approximately ¼ cup for each pancake. Cook until pancakes are golden brown on both sides; serve hot.