Reason # 129474 why I love Manhattan: Not only can you leave the doorstep of nearly any apartment in town, turn the corner and see at least 10 places you’d love to eat–BUT–you can also grab a table at your favourite neighbourhood sandwich shop and find yourself front row for a film shoot starring Vince Vaughn.

Approaching the scene above, I wasn’t sure what I’d find around the corner. Turns out it was Vince – no big deal. I waited on the corner by strict demand so as not to disturb the filming with a group of  30 grade four school kids. Their teacher wasn’t too pleased about the waiting (imagine trying to contain that many kids). When the ‘Cut’ finally came, seeing their reaction when they realized who was acting was priceless. Excited murmurs and lots of ‘bounce walking’ ensued- you know the kind. Vince  was great with them, smiling and waving at their animation as they passed by.

As no photos were allowed outside, I knew there had to be a way, and that way was in the heart of a great breakfast/lunch spot – Tiny’s Giant Sandwich Shop.

I mean, I had to eat lunch anyway, right?

Tiny’s is great because whether you are vegetarian or carnivorous, there is an option for you aside from bread with veggies (unlike Subway). On that note, I decided to rebel from my usual pescetarian diet and order chicken because that’s how I’ve been rolling lately. I loved its spicy hot sauce and the chicken was great, but I opted for mayo instead of the recommended blue cheese sauce. If I were to do it again I’d take the plunge for the blue cheese, but for this time, I guess you could say I ‘chickened’ out. Ha.

I enjoyed watching the filming process and kept amused by the two extras. Every time a scene was about to begin, they took their jobs more seriously than the main actors by brushing their hair, smoothing their clothes, etc. Kudos to them all for filming in the chilly weather though; they looked freezing and bundled up between shoots.

The movie’s slated to be called ‘Delivery Man’ so I’m wondering if this guy has a co-starring role:

Eventually they huddled around to watch clips with the team and Vince seemed to have everyone in stitches, even off camera. They moved to the side of the sandwich shop for further filming but I concluded my time was done. I felt slightly creepy capturing even this much, but as these things rarely happen where I’m from, I swallowed my dignity and paparazzi’d my little heart out.

Thank you Tiny’s Giant Sandwich Shop for not only a great meal and friendly service, but a front row seat :).

Info
Tiny’s Giant Sandwich Shop
129 Rivington Street  / Lower East Side
New York, NY

I have exciting news: New Jersey hosted my first Dave Matthews Band concert on Friday night!  Minus our upper bowl seats and the 20-year old punk on the shuttle bus’ vehement complaints about it being the worst Dave show ever, I’ve managed to resurface a significantly bigger fan than before (and the fact that 100% of the proceeds were donated to Hurricane Sandy relief certainly helped).

The tickets were gifted from and enjoyed with the 2 lovely guests mentioned above, my good high school friends, Lisa & Justin. We totalled 2 and half hours of transit (that’s two ways of 2 NYC subway trains, a New Jersey Transit train and a concert bus) to witness 2 and a half hours of incredible talent. Was it worth it? Duh. Not even our nose bleed seats could take the candy away from our ears. Highlights for me were Dave’s euphonious voice, drummer Carter Beauford’s contagious smile that I caught on the big screen numerous times and violinist Boy Tinsley’s insane jamming.

They really stuck to the new album, adding in a few classics like Two Step, Dancing Nancies, Don’t Drink the Water and The Space Between. Though I was hoping for more old shizz, I’ve since had the new tracks on repeat and really love them. I can’t help but fall head over heels for many of their themes like peace, appreciating the little moments in love & life and being conscious of what’s happening in the world around us.

It prompted me to spend Saturday morning sifting through their discography for these re-occuring themes; if you’re moved by the same things, you will love this playlist!
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Click to Listen to full playlist on Youtube

1. Mercy:
But you see all the world is just as we’ve made it/And until we got a new world/Got to say that love is not a whisper or a weakness/No love is strong/So we got to get together yeah/Gotta get gotta get gotta get/Til there is no reason/To fight

2. Drunken Solider:
So shine your light/While you got one/Make the most of what you got/Don’t waste time trying to be something you’re not/Fill up your head/Fill up your heart/And take your shot

3. Belly Belly Nice:
Oh the light that shines upon/The gift that everyone has for the taking/And happiness so pure as this/Is surely worth the making

4. Gaucho:
We gotta do much more than believe if we really wanna change things/We gotta do much more than believe if we wanna see the world change

5. Cry Freedom:
How can I turn away/Brother, Sister go dancing/Through my head/Human as to human/The future is no place/To place your better days/Hands and feet are all alike/But gold between divide us/Hands and feet are all alike/But fear between divide us

6. The Last Stop:
War/The only way to Peace/I don’t fall for that/Raining tears/You’re righteous so righteous/You’re always so right/Go ahead and dream/Go ahead believe that you are the chosen one/Raining tears

7. Crush:
It’s crazy I’m thinking/Just knowing that the world is round/Here I’m dancing on the ground/Am I right side up or upside down/Is it real or am I dreaming/Lovely lady/I will treat you sweetly/Adore you I mean you crush me/It’s times like these/When my faith I feel/And I know how I love you

8. Mother, Father:
Mother, father please explain to me/Why a world so full of mystery/A place so bitter and still so sweet/So beautiful and yet so full of sad, sad…/Mother, father please explain to me/Why forests march to desert speed/While snowcapped mountains melt away/What do we tell our babies

9. Two Step: 
Celebrate we will/Because life is short but sweet for certain/We’re climbing two by two/To be sure these days continue/These things we cannot change/Lie in our graves/I can’t believe that we would lie in graves/Wondering if we had spent our living days well

10. Everybody Wake up:
Everybody wake up/If you’re living with your eyes closed/See the man with a bomb in his hand/Everybody wake up/I Remember the words of the misguided fool/Do unto others as you’d have them do/Not an eye for an eye is the golden rule/Just leaves a room full of blind men

11. Funny The Way It Is:
Funny the way it is, if you think about it/Somebody’s going hungry, someone else is eating out/Funny the way it is, not right or wrong/Somebody’s heart is broken, it becomes your favorite song/The way your mouth feels in your lover’s kiss/Like a pretty bird on a breeze, or water to a fish/The bomb blast brings the building crashing to the floor/Hear the laughter while the children play war/Funny the way it is, if you think about it/One kid walks 10 miles to school, another’s dropping out/Funny the way it is, not right or wrong/On a soldier’s last breath, his baby’s being born

12. Squirm:
Please find your place when the room grows scarce/Once we’re all inside the service can begin/For a moment if you please forget what you believe/And naked you will see that we are all the same.

13. Broken Things:
War is the most vulgar madness/And winters can be so cruel/You can’t always change the way things are/Like I can’t change the way I think of you

14. Best of What’s Around:
Turns out not where, but what you think that really matters/We’ll make the best of what’s around

Calling all Dave fans:
Have I missed any meaningful world, love & life affirming songs!?

1. Girlfriends

 Through my days, I’ve connected with some pretty incredible ladies to love the shit out of. Life’s speckled us across all corners of North America at the moment, but a mini university reunion to celebrate the bump in our friend Kel’s belly had some of us in Toronto for one magical weekend this month. I love being with these girls – all it takes is one fragment of an idea to spiral into moments like the above. And that’s mild. Hallelujah for private Facebook albums. My favourite quote of the weekend happened during our dinner date: “Let’s go home so we can be weird.” 

2. New Life

Though a big part of going home for two weeks meant my grandfather’s passing, this little bundle was our blessing. She was born on both my grandmother and Blair’s birthday. This angel’s my new ‘niece’ as I like to say and she’s going to be very, very spoiled by all her aunties XO. I’m so happy I got to meet her last week and look forward to January.

3. NYC
NYC this time around has been very different. I’m high on life, simply because I don’t have the commute to town like before. I can leave my doorstep and be in a community with restaurants & cafes &  laundromats. Yes, even they excite me! Blair took this pic for his brother – they’re Seinfeld maniacs:

Jerry: Well,where are you? 
Cosmo Kramer: I’m at the corner of 1st, and 1st.
Wait a minute. How can the same street intersect with itself? I must be at the nexus of the universe!

4. Pre-Cut Butternut Squash
Trader Joe’s. I’ve mentioned this love affair before way back in Kansas City and again in Towson, Maryland.  Their pre-cut butternut squash inspired me to cook some fun things this week like black bean, butternut squash, feta + arugula tostadas and a roasted veggie + garlic side dish. Yum.

5. Live Music

THE BEST. I could do an entire post about this Of Monsters and Men show, but then it wouldn’t be very interesting since I didn’t even have a camera on-hand to document it! Idiot! My sole proof is this concert tee. A few comments: every song from this Icelandic band was unreal. The drummer was sick and the highlight of my night. The trumpet, phenomenal, and the chick playing it was fierce! NYC’s Terminal 5 venue had no bad spot in the sold-out house of just 4,000 people. Kind of felt exclusive, kind of felt wrong. This band is the real stuff.

So guess what I found? Youtube always pulls through for concert memories!
The best version I could find of their NYC performances:

So tell me, what’s warmed your soul  over these last couple of weeks? I have so much to catch up on! Share in the comments:) And Happy American Thanksgiving! X

Arriving Day 1 at 3:00pm and having only eaten a 6:30AM breakfast, I was ravenous for a late lunch. Blair grabbed my hand and led the way to some spots he knew I’d love, just around the corner from our apartment.

Tiny Giant’s Sandwich Shop and The Falafel Shop stood side by side. In the end, Falafel reigned, but Tiny’s proved a great second choice the next day.

The Falafel Shop was a great intro to the Lower East Side: small, understated quality, diverse and grungy with a hint of trendy on top. Much like my falafel, which was also small but packed with flavorful falafels, pickles – um, pickles!? – that was a first for me, and a glob of fresh hummus at its summit.

While Blair chose two high seats at the window, it didn’t take long for my ears to tune to the softly wailing Bob Dylan’s Times They Are a Changin’.  Behind us, a man, his daughter and her tiny red backpack occupied three chairs for an after-school snack. Dark-haired ladies painted nails through big windows across the street, bikers passed, ATM men delivered money and car horns blew their tune.

Spreading hot sauce along my falafel’s narrow creases and devouring the first few bites, I stopped to give Blair a taste (while sneaking some of his french fry add-on, of course). I could think of only one thought – a quote my good friend Meg and I adopted while in Spain a few years ago:  “Happier than a pig in shit.”

Info
The Falafel Shop
127 Rivington St
(between Norfolk St & Essex St)
New York, NY 10002
http://www.thefalafelshop.com

I haven’t mapped out the entire NYC stay (I’ve been hoping to let many things ‘flow’ in true yoga fashion), but here are some plans I’ve bolted down to hit on a few priorities:

Yoga //  4 studios to try. Today I also splurged on a 1 month unlimited to ViraYoga and it felt so damn good to be back in Elena Brower’s presence. Though before I mostly was there in Reiki context and would be glad to continue, I’m feeling a push toward also focusing on my yoga practice. That space will be my 2nd home (I live much closer this time – 10 minutes vs. the old hour and a half commute). I didn’t even know what to do with myself today. As soon as she got into the chakra talk (today’s class emphasized the 2nd sacral chakra) I felt so much tension melt to amazingness and I know there’s lots more where that came from! Love, love, love. Really love. Also very thrilled to practice with other teachers at Vira and noticed a familiar name from YogaGlo, Harshada Wagner on the schedule. I’m a big fan of his online meditation sessions.

Music // Tickets have been bought for Of Monsters and Men TOMORROW and Dave Matthews Band next Friday. There’s a great, cheap live music joint a few doors down from us that I dream of frequenting. Shall I go alone? Anyone want to come? I eye its posters everyday. Uh Oh!

Explore // Enough said.

Food // I gravitate to healthy, vegan and/or unique spots. I’ve already tried Candle Cafe, Angelica Kitchen, Candle 79, Cinnamon Snail, Jivamuktea Cafe, Wild Ginger and Terri but I’ll be looking to add more spots to my repertoire this time. Think Caravan of Dreams, Pure Food & Wine and ABC Kitchen- Blair – *cough cough hint hint*.

Anyone have other NYC yoga, music or foodie ‘musts’ to recommend?