Big Apples for Mountain Day

I'm trying something new, and I am writing this blog post from work. Then I won't have to do it when I'm all tired from work :D

Happy Mountain Day, my lads! I thought it was kinda weird/silly that Smithies would still celebrate beyond being at school, but I do think it's sweet now to have a little moment and excuse to do something autumnal. Speaking of, I'm really grateful Fall is upon us. The weather feels nice, and I like the feeling in the air.

Last week at my pottery class, I am happy to say that I finally succeeded in bringing something off the wheel! It is a nice bowl :) After the initial throwing and shaping of the clay, you let the piece sit out to dry. It becomes hard from there, and you scrape bits off to further refine. I think after that you are ready to fire it, then you can add glaze, and there is a final fire.

FYI my plan to do this at work did not work because my coworkers started talking to me... but it was a nice conversation! The other Smithie lab tech and I went to Trader Joe's to get apple cider donies because we couldn't think of anywhere else to get them. They were pretttyyy good. A little artificial but overall nice and satisfying to my apple cider donut craving. They also go crazy overboard with the pumpkin stuff at Trader Joe's, and I have to admit I'm very into it. They have so many pumpkin flavored pastries I want to try! I got some pumpkin madeleines and cookies :)

This past weekend I met up with my friend, Emma. We met in the Paris program, and have kept in contact a bit since. She was actually the friend who inspired me to try my hand at crochet. She recently moved to New York, and she was staying with someone in my neighborhood, so it was easy to meet up. We got some really yummy ramen. I've been in more of a ramen mood lately. It's funny because she was actually doing TAPIF too last year and in a city not too far from me, Lille! Despite this, we didn't manage to meet up despite plans to. But it was nice to finally reunite and see what each other has been up to.

Saturday and Sunday, I hung out with Mary, Zach, and Uncle Philip. We had Korean food and watched Encanto, Turning Red, and part of Paddington 2. I didn't see Encanto before, and I really liked it! Very cute :) I also finished an accompanying hoodie scarf to my new cardigan. I slept over there because the next morning Mary and I were trying to leave early to go to Dominique Ansel Bakery first thing. They were having 2 free cronuts that looked really nice. But alas, despite leaving around 8am, by the time we got there, the line was super crazy. It was okay though, we still had fun hanging out and went around to other places in the city. There was this thing on Broadway where they sell old merch and novelties from a bunch of musicals. There was nothing that stood out to me, and it was really crowded, but it was neat. We had brunch with Uncle Philip at this really cool place called Alice's Teacup. It was funny because when I asked him what kind of food it was he said "fantasy". But it was really like British/American I would say.

[basically a thneed]

[the cronuts in question/Mary went to this futuristic starbucks, there was no barista bar or tables, just pick up/Six for Erin/Alice's Teacup]

[More subway art I liked]

I have a few special guests coming to visit me in the coming weeks, so look forward to that!