$2.2 million!

A campaign we've been working on for several months had its New York event today -- which has raised $2.2 million dollars so far this year for rare cancer research. Here's a story about the founders that ran yesterday morning about the event, and a news story on NY1.

Birthday Boy

My dear Aunt Ruth passed away yesterday and it was a very sad day. I stayed home from work and talked to my sister and father, and watched white caps form in the East River from the bitter wind. Though the last thing I felt like was going to a party, I had a surprise 40th birthday party uptown for my friend Paul -- and it's Paul, you go.

Paul's parents (who I hadn't seen since his 30th birthday!) came in for the weekend from Miami and his business partner hosted a cocktail party for all of Paul's many, many friends in her lovely home right off the park.

I've been friends with Paul for several years, and we used to be neighbors in New York, and saw each other all the time. Many of my other friends know Paul as he has that perfect social swizzle stick way about him, and can drop in nearly any setting and make entertaining conversation. When I lived in California I stayed at his apartment a few times, including my last trip in August where I was pretty anxious about the relocation and finding a nice place to live -- Paul took it all in stride and was a great sounding board, and wonderful friend.

Paul also works in public relations though tends to work with primarily luxury brands and society events, which can be a world away from organic food and beverage and the 'green' crowd. When I first moved to California and came back for a visit, I remember meeting Paul for dinner with other friends and was a bit 'tape delay' on the bold face names and happenings reported in Page Six and New York Magazine and he exclaimed, "Oh, you've lost your edge!" A few weekends ago we had brunch in my old neighborhood and I asked him when he was coming to Brooklyn Heights again and he said, without skipping a beat, "As soon as I'm back from Switzerland", where he was attending as he put it "the superbowl of luxury" with his watch client. Last night he referred to me as 'living in the country' (I am two subway stops from Wall Street).

Paul always makes me laugh, and last night that was what I needed the most. Yesterday was a day of extremes in the circle of life, but also a day that poignantly reminded me of the importance of treasuring the people in your life most of all.

How to Live

My friend Dave used to say, in his Dave way, that there should be a Death Channel to prepare you for the inevitable. Dave lost his mother a few years before my mother passed away, so his outrageous statements were also grounded in this perspective.

My cousin Sharon just called from Michigan and my dear Aunt Ruth is likely dying right now, something we were expecting but of course you never really are prepared for.

I talked to my Aunt a couple days ago, the evening after I went to the New York Stock Exchange opening bell ceremony. She didn't have a great day but we had a wonderful conversation and some laughs, as we always do. She said that they turned on CNN to watch me on TV. I said that I wasn't part of the small balcony group -- at least this time!! My Aunt remarked that I sure lead an interesting life and it sounded like a lot of fun "More fun than a hospital bed!" as she put it. My Aunt, like my mother, both had a true joie de vivre, and their approach to life continues to teach me, truly, how to live, and how to love.

Last week I had randomly stumbled upon an article written by Bill Gates Senior called "The Older You Grow, The Taller You Get." I discovered it was an excerpt from a book he had written called "Showing Up for Life: Thoughts on the Gifts of a Lifetime" so downloaded it and read it immediately. In addition to his perspective on leadership - which he ties to family and a life of service and being a good global citizen -- it truly shows a life well lived, and certainly the roots of the values instilled in a very famous son. And in Mr. Gates' 83rd year, he's enjoying an extraordinary third act of his life, as Executive Director with his son and daughter in law of The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which is channeling enormous resources, time and talent toward's some of the world's biggest problems.

I was most drawn to his discussions about his wife, who passed away shortly after Bill (Trey) and Melinda Gates were married. She sounded like an amazing woman - full of life and love and joy - and some of her zest reminded me of my mother and aunt's fun-loving ways, and truly generous hearts.

So I need to borrow the words of others as I can't find my own right now. Here's the chapter I loved the most:

I remember helping Mary prepare a toast to Trey and Melinda that took the form of a letter to Melinda, based on the wedding vows. We cherish a picture of her delivering the toast, looking vibrant and beautiful. Here's Mary's letter.

Dear Melinda:

In just a few hours you will be married and you and I will share the same name! Although Bill and i have been married forty-two years, we continue to learn what it means to be married.

"To love and to cherish"

Celebrate his good points and remember you don't have t love everything about him. If you see some things about him that you simply have to improve upon (things his mother did not get just right) recognize...reforming a husband is a long term project and it doesn't always work out. Sometimes it is better to reform one's own expectations.

"For better or for worse"

Don't expect calm waters. Pray for courage. Keep your sense of humor. No man and woman ever had a perfectly harmonious marriage. A good marriage takes effort, resilience and suppression of personal ego, but the fundamental requirement is living with the fixed vision that your relationship is permanent and forever.

"For richer or for poorer"

There have been but few couples for whom this phrase has had such special meaning. Every day will test the need for a sense of humility about your circumstances. Your lifetime together will, in the end, be a verdict on your recognition of the extraordinary obligations which accompany extraordinary resources.

"In sickness and in health"

As you know in the past few months, we have had a chance to reflect quite directly on promises to stand by one another in sickness and in health. This challenge has brought a new depth to our relationship. Of course the waters have not always been smooth, but I can't imagine not being married to Bill! I hope you will have this same feeling 42 years from now about your Bill Gates.

Love, Mary

In delivering this toast orally Mary shared a quote from the Bible, the Gospel of Luke XII 48: "For unto whom much is given, of him shall be much required." This has become the basis of one of the two main values of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Mary passed away on June 10, 1994.

Photo Ops

You never really know when you get a call out of nowhere and an ordinary day turns out to be something quite extraordinary.

Last night I was getting ready to leave work and go to Stacy and Jason's house because I hadn't seen the kids in a while and we were going to have "International Game Night". Stacy told me that Logan has been asking about me quite a bit, primarily because he's doing well with his potty training and Jason served up a sleep-over at my place as Logan's reward (!)

(Ahem, while I am glad a sleepover at my place is seen as something to strive for...being a potty-training incentive is a new one!)

Right when I was leaving, we got a call from a contact at the New York Stock Exchange saying they had a last minute cancellation and did we want to have our client come down tomorrow morning to ring the opening bell. We had 15 minutes to decide, track down our client and commit.

By the time I left work, it was 100% a go. That evening I told Jason that the NASDAQ opening bell ceremony we participated in a couple weeks ago was a little surprising to me. Of course it was such an honor and exciting to be there, and we were all very grateful to have our important cause being broadcast over Times Square. But it was so surprising to not see people there. I was imaging a big noisy trading floor, and instead it was completely virtual - a sleek street-level studio with a podium and cameras and lots of big screens, but no people.

Jason said, "I think you'll find the New York Stock Exchange a little different..."

This morning felt like a tour of the White House! While we waited in the NYSE board room, an executive told us some facts about the history of the Exchange that began in 1653, including the impressive board room built in 1792, and how the early days of trading involved brokers standing up and discussing each stock one by one. (How civilized!).

We were escorted to the trading floor (cameras, coats and bags all left behind) and the event founders, top donors and some cancer survivors involved with the cause went to the famous balcony for the ceremonial market open. The floor itself felt straight out of a classic movie like "Wall Street" or "Trading Places", with seemingly hundreds of branded financial company zones that reminded me of 10x10 trade show booths at Expo West. And from the floor we watched the opening bell being shown live on CNBC.



After we were escorted back to the board room, they gave us all parting gifts. I was amazed they had the time to inscribe all of them between 6 pm last night and 8:30 a.m. this morning. Then again, its New York. Anything's possible.



I was thinking that the surprising turn of events reminded me of another ordinary Tuesday about three years ago when I got a call from a very frantic woman from the State Department because Sambazon was nominated for the Secretary of State's Award for Corporate Excellence by the U.S. Ambassador to Brazil, and we won (and had no idea).

That's of course another story, and another photo op, but you just never know what adventures the day will hold...

Day Trippin'

The other day I was thinking "Is it really still January?" It sure seems like winter should be over by now. While I wait for spring, went on a day trip with my friend Jen down to visit our college friend Lisa and her family in New Jersey.

We took the Sea Streak Ferry, which is a lovely way to travel. Besides the joys of traveling by water this also means getting to New Jersey without the Holland Tunnel, the New Jersey Turnpike or Penn Station.

The Sea Streak Ferry stops at Pier 11, near Wall Street, and East 34th Street, for midtown travelers. I took the subway to Wall Street (2 stops on the train from my station), and walked a few blocks to the water. I hadn't been in the caverns of Wall Street for a while. While the large buildings do convey a sense of impressive power, I think I would find it completely suffocating to live or work here. You have to tip your head back to see a patch of sky.

Pier 11 is at the southeastern tip of Manhattan, in the financial district, near the South Street Seaport. I also live directly across the river from this part of the island and every weekday morning watch the 'traffic' in the East River and harbor -- barges, cruise ships, sailboats, small motor crafts as well as ferries, water taxis and helicopters bringing Wall Street commuters into the city. And this is a mere fraction of the volume of people that pour in, daily, in cars and trains from all the boroughs, Long Island, Connecticut, New Jersey and Westchester County into a small dense island.

This is the view of Brooklyn Heights from the dock. I was shooting into the sun so its harder to see but I live in the shorter building that's nearest to the large building on the far right (my car is in a garage in that one).

Waiting on the dock for the ferry reminded me a bit of being at the Farmers Market at the Ferry Building in San Francisco. I always thought it would be very civilized to live in Marin and travel across the Bay by ferry when you wanted to get into the city, cup of coffee or glass of Chardonnay in hand.

Welcome to New Jersey.

And hello Atlantic! Smelling the sea air and being near the water just makes my heart soar. Hard to make out but a solo surfer is out there, waiting for some waves, presumably in his winter suit and some booties.

Haven't seen Lisa too much since I've been back as she has very limited time as a mother of three, but the wonderful thing is that when we do, we just pick up where we left off.

Of course have many college and post college memories with Lisa, what I thought of on the way home was that Lisa was the person I was with during September 11th. She was living in Soho, where I was working, and had unexpectedly showed up at my office when she was outside and saw one of the Twin Towers fall and needed to see a familiar face. We were going to walk to my place in the East 50s but ended up going to her apartment to watch television and make calls and just never left. I remember that entire day, and the evening when we were walking around Soho, fire trucks traveling north from the site, and the brilliant red smokey sky.

Sometimes I can't believe I live here again.

Local excitement

There was a bit of excitement here this afternoon after an explosion and gas leak a block away on Joralamen, with streets, homes and the subway stations at Borough Hall and Court Street being evacuated. (Thankfully no one was hurt). Stacy and Jason and kids arrive in Newark in a few hours and may be all bunking up with me tonight if they are still homeless.

As I've been getting breakfast items for the kids, bedding (and bed strategy) together so a one bedroom apartment can host a family of five comfortably, I've been trying to imagine what it must be like to be really displaced from your home.

MLK Day

I didn't watch the Golden Globes last night but met some friends at the Brooklyn Heights Wine bar (which has an inspired menu that includes both mud pie and lobster roll among the more expected wine bar tapas). My friend Dennis from college is in town from...well, I'm not exactly sure where he lives at the moment outside of his car, as he has storage units in Chicago, Maryland and now New York...but is planning to move to New York, unless he goes to Haiti.

Dennis tends to pop into town, unexpectedly, though his randomness has some order to it. My rule is I never 'plan' on him, though tend to throw out an invite or two and every once in a while he shows up. I saw him a lot when I lived in San Francisco and he was working as a consultant in the Silicon Valley. When I lived in Southern California I never saw him there but the time zones did work well for us as he keeps vampire hours and we'd tend to chat when I was getting ready for bed. Most recently he's been working in DC in international development and has shown up in New York every few weeks. Dennis' potential involvement with Haiti would be with organizations involved in long term rebuilding from the ashes vs immediate triage work best handled by relief workers, military and doctors.

The question of how to help Haiti was also discussed yesterday morning at Grace Church, a beautiful church on the corner of my street that I've walked by every day for three months and haven't attended, until now. The focus of the service was a commemoration for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Reverend opened the sermon saying he's been asked several times "How does God let something like this happen to Haiti?" He said (in addition to Pat Robertson's televised statements of cruelty were matched only by his ignorance) that before the earthquake, he's never been asked about Haiti, though of course it's a nation wrought with poverty and very deep social and humanitarian issues. The sermon became a message of how do WE let this happen, and our role in making society better, for all.

Included in the bulletin was an excerpt from Martin Luther King's letter from Birmingham jail. While of course have heard "I have a dream" many times, I've never read this, so have shared in honor of the day today.

"...You speak of your activity in Birmingham as extreme. At first I was rather disappointed that fellow clergymen would see my nonviolent efforts as those of an extremist...But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Was not Amos as extremist for justice: "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: "I bear in my body the marks of Lord Jesus." Was not Martin Luther an extremist: "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God." And John Bunyan: "I will stay in jail to the ends of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience." And Abraham Lincoln: "This nation cannot survive half slave and half free." And Thomas Jefferson: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists will we be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice?"

How to be a cool aunt

My friend Porter from San Francisco is in town and she had organized a fun dinner at Buddakan last night. I was returning home from a very New York City type of evening when I got an email from my cousin Sharon in Michigan about my Aunt Ruth who had just gone into the hospital. My aunt has cancer, and she's been battling it for a while, not that you would know it to speak to her.

Growing up, our two families spent a lot of time together - holidays, weekend get-togethers and visits to my aunt and uncle's beautiful barnwood house on cliff that overlooked Lake Michigan. I can remember the path we all took to travel down to the beach, and the spectacular sunsets viewed from the second floor when the sun would slip past the tree tops to the ocean-like lake, and then past the horizon.

The last decade or so, especially after my uncle and my mother, her younger sister, passed away my aunt and I grew much closer - and became very good friends. She and my cousins Sharon and Kay traveled from Michigan to visit me in New York, San Francisco and Southern California, often joking that I needed to keep moving so they'd have a new place to visit!

My aunt was one of the primary reasons I started this blog - so she could see and hear day to day experience about life in New York. I looked at an email she sent me last July entitled "Wow. Good for You!": "...I am surprised about your returning to New York. I thought about it when you got your new job. I knew how much you loved the California weather and ocean. but......... I THINK THIS FEELS RIGHT for you! You've been thinking about moving away from San Clemente and it just wasn't working for you. THIS IS GOOD...."

I had emailed her an update from Christmas, how Santa brought a new computer to my nieces Katy and Ellie and how they were very excited to email and skype, many times a day-- Ellie's especially being the back and forth of a spirited 7 year old: "Hi Aunt Laura, I love you MORE. xoxoxo Ellie". Aunt Ruth had replied to me: "Just imagine the kids having computers. I was just thinking that I was 75 years old when I got my first computer."

My Aunt Ruth, 80 something years young, has been a very engaged subscriber to "Back to the Future" since I started writing, often sending me notes saying how much she enjoys it. For Christmas she sent me Julie & Julia, the charming movie about the woman who created a blog as she cooked her way thru Julia Child's cookbook.

As I just hung up from speaking with her in the hospital, I am not sure if she will be reading my posts on her own computer but do expect my cousin will likely print them out and read them to her. Even now, as she told me to have fun today, my Aunt Ruth continues to teach me about having light, joyful heart, and especially how to be a cool aunt.

The Peanut Gallery

This is Adam, my Santa Monica colleague, and Back to the Future subscriber. When I lived in San Clemente, Adam and I were the "West Coast Office" - though we both operated out of home offices 75 miles from one another. We would talk daily, bounce things off one another and typically see each other every few weeks or so (99% of the time this involved my traveling up the 405 to LA but did get him to the OC twice).

Adam would frequently get at least one call from me from the road if we were meeting anyplace other than Venice or Santa Monica. This is how our phone conversations would typically go:

Me: "Adam, I don't know where I am. I think I missed my exit."

Adam: "Where are you?"

Me: "Um...I can't tell. I can't see the signs yet."

Adam: "Well, when you do, tell me."

Me: "I hate Mapquest."

Adam: "Don't use Mapquest."

Besides being my personal navigation system, Adam also went with me to check out apartments on the west side when I was up in LA, and also vetted a few without me when I would send him links I'd find online that were a few blocks away from his apartment that I thought looked promising. "Trust me, this one isn't for you," he'd report back, knowing enough about me at this point to know what was and wasn't for me.

Adam was going to be my neighbor...except I moved to New York instead.

So over the past year, Adam and I have gotten to know one another, and have talked about much more than a new business prospect or client strategy. He was one of the persons who knew I started a blog. This is all to say Adam knows a bit more about me than what's in my work bio.

Maybe six weeks or so ago Adam and I were talking on the phone and he brought up my blog: "I need more from you. You moved across the country and you have pictures of dressed up dogs. Isn't there anything else going thru your head?"

Tough crowd. And then I smiled and said sweetly, "I'm not writing it for you."

The truth is, most of the time when I write I operate counter to my profession -- in that, I am not writing for a specific audience other than myself. And most of the time I am not carefully considering or thinking about what I am going to write about. I literally think I have no ideas left and then something pops into my head (most of the time, in the morning), and it inspires a quick post.

In marketing, "know your audience" is rule #1 if you want your audience to be aware of your product/company/service, consider it, buy it, tell someone else about it, invest in it, put it on shelf, license it, write a story about it, or anything else you are trying to do. In public relations, if I believe in the cause/product/person, it's second nature to me to be a partner, intuitively grasp the long term vision and ultimately help make the other person 'look good', and shine. Writing is such a departure for me in that I am primarily unconscious of my audience...if I actually thought about who might be reading this, I'm not sure I'd have the nerve, or honesty.

Every once in a while I get an email from a friend or family member saying they really liked what I wrote that day...and it's such a nice feeling. Most of the time I forget they are actually reading it, so it's surprising too. I went on the subscriber list the other day and was very humbled by everyone on the list -- among those I care about most.

So even though most of the time I'm not aware you're reading, I just wanted to say thank you, and I'm very, very touched.

And comments from the peanut gallery are welcomed!

Calm Amidst Chaos

I began practicing yoga in the cold late fall a few years ago when I was living in San Francisco and it seemed various aspects of my life were shutting down. I wasn't seeing any proverbial 'open doors' at this time, I was sitting in my apartment with a lot of white noise in my head. Among the drums beating were things like "What am I going to do? Where am I going to live? How am I going to pay my bills? Who am I going to love?"

I went to International Orange yoga studio in Pacific Heights with my friends Lauren and Ann, and took my first yoga class. While certainly there are numerous physical, neurological, physiological and spiritual benefits to yoga, what I remember most was laying in a resting pose with salty tears running down my face. I was finally able to release some of the sadness I was feeling inside. Two months of practicing yoga helped me to finally be still, and listen, ultimately tap into the courage within to uproot myself to a small beach town in Southern California where I knew no one, and join a fast moving, though arguable risky, start up company - and trust that I was doing the right thing.

I continued practicing yoga in Southern California, in Venice and Laguna Beach. I especially loved yoga outside the studio, on the beach in a paradise-like setting: a quiet cove in Laguna with a lyrical French teacher, leaping dolphins, feet in the sand and breathing with the waves. Yoga in Southern California helped me to enjoy, to play, to appreciate the beauty all around and the pure pleasure of the practice.

In New York, breathing with the waves has remained actively in my imagination, and I've been on a journey for the past three months in the city and in Brooklyn to find a teacher and practice I click with most. Of course its often right in front of you....a teacher who teaches at studios in the city as well as a Saturday morning and Monday evening practice four block walk from my apartment. Besides her challenging vinyasa practice, and her use of aromatherapy and massage (which I love!), it's her positivity and story-telling that I enjoy most during the class.

Last Saturday morning she told us how she was part of a 'yoga takeover' event at Grand Central Station, the first Monday we were all returning back to work in the new year. Grand Central Station is a glamorous Beaux Arts building that is undergoing a massive multiple-year restoration after falling in disrepair several years ago. The image above showcases the beauty - and the busyness - that flows through this famous station every day. During the yoga takeover event, there was a roped off section of Vanderbilt Hall, and she was on a headset teaching 175 students in a class, showing how to maintain a sense of calm within chaos all around.

She confessed that part of the challenge last Monday was overcoming her own shyness and not wanting to be center of attention; as well as the obvious distractions that are central to life in New York. Tuning out the outside (and inside) noise and hecticness and remaining focused on the freshness of a new year and personal goals and intentions was the living analogy the event was conveying.

Life in New York is often not the balmy blissful journey on the coast highway to a beach in Laguna...it's a daily practice of learning how to live honestly and remain calm, centered, and open-hearted amidst chaos all around.

Liberation!

After watching a movie like Invictus last night, it seems a little trivial to report on my victory, but sometimes it's the small changes that can make a big impact.

One of the best things about a city like New York is that you can walk anywhere. I absolutely love walking and remember having quite a bit of 'car culture' culture shock when I first moved to Southern California.

Walking is amazing; schlepping is not. Since I've moved back the one thing that's been tarnishing my walking is commuting to and from work, often in high heel boots, while lugging my stuff -- my personal laptop computer, and often a yoga mat and clothes, and handbag if I was going out after work. After three months of this, by December I was feeling pain in my shoulders and lower back, which definitely affects a 'spring in your step' attitude.

I had my own New Years revelation returning back to work on Monday when my lower back started hurting again. Monday night I had stopped in a market before going home and between the puffy coat and bags and yoga mat, knocked over some boxes (yes, I was that girl!). I decided that it wasn't a healthy, sustainable situation for me...and that the answer was not a bigger bag!

At work, the entire office uses PC computers, mostly older models with limited hard drive capacity; whereas our creative department and myself are using Macs -- which I've always used, and feel very brand loyal about (if you aren't a "Mac guy or girl" it's a hard thing to explain, but it's very real). With some "I'm settling" reluctance I asked our Chief Operating Officer if I could get one of the PCs to use at work...though hoping for a Mac miracle.

Federico, the head of the creative department, is man of the hour in my eyes as he found an extra Macintosh that one of the designers wasn't using -- which has the 'big screen', symbolic of anyone in the creative/design field. People have walked by my desk this week, glancing admiringly at the monitor, and of course I feel groovier already...as if I'm a designer wearing funky glasses with cool statement hair and clothes.

And yesterday was my first 'freedom commute'...and it felt great!

Headwind

I did something today that I rarely do - cancel on a friend.

My excuse for not meeting him for brunch uptown was pretty lame - I was a bit chilled from being out last night. I had listened to the weather report (bitter temperatures) and then heard the howling wind coming off the river.

Of course if I keep this attitude I might be staying inside until possibly March!

Let's face it, there's always going to be 'wind' of some kind - making it easy to not do something. Hug the shore, stay on the bench, play it safe. My friend Dave used to have plenty of kick in the pants, big brother type of counsel (whether you were ready for it or not). One of the things he used to say was "Are you going to have a revolution or just talk about it" as well as what I heard in my head today: "It's happening with or without you."

I turned on some bossa nova music to drown out the wind and bundled up and met friends at a yoga class in union square later in the afternoon.

So here's my thought for tonight - Don't listen to the wind!

New Years Day, one day later

When I moved to California, my friends Greta and Shelley began affectionately calling me "Tape Delay" when I was a bit behind on some love life nuances among our group back east. Though I'm now living back in "Breaking News" territory, I felt a bit tape delay once again when I decided to execute my New Years day plan one day later than planned.

I've never walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and felt like it would be a good New Years Day activity. Instead I spent most of the day inside (watching Northwestern lose in overtime! arrgh) before dinner at Cafe LuLuc on Smith Street.

Wearing considerably more clothes than I did on beach trail walks and hikes in California (sigh), I began my journey this morning...

Dipping temperatures and forecast for snow didn't deter the Saturday morning soccer match at Camden Park.

This was exciting to see! It reminded me of a certain Artemis...

Gleneagles, Scotland I think circa 2001. I look much braver than I felt!

On to the bridge. For the navigationally challenged like myself, it does help that Brooklyn is relatively short compared to Manhattan. I headed north on Henry Street and could see the Bridge over the buildings. I turned right on Clark, walked thru Camden Park and the Brooklyn War Memorial and then found the steps to the bridge that my neighbor told me to find. A friend of mine and several people from my office regularly bike to work daily so I was happy to finally make this journey, although somewhat wished I picked a warmer day.
For the most part, urban settings don't make my heart soar the way that nature does. However, there's something very magnificent about the Brooklyn Bridge.

Lower Manhattan.

Two shots of the Manhattan Bridge. The first has the east side of Manhattan in the background, and the second has Dumbo, the neighborhood just north of Brooklyn Heights.

Coming off the bridge back in Brooklyn. The small figure in the background is the Statue of Liberty.
Happy 2010 everyone.