weekend.

After all this week's parties, I was pretty wiped out. Thankfully, I had to sit at home for most of the day on Saturday waiting for an Auburn friend to arrive via China. Matt has been living and working in Beijing for the last year and is lucky enough to spend a few days on my couch before heading down to Alabama for Christmas :) My time at home allowed for some intense cleaning, laundry, Christmas card starting (and finishing!), and wrapping Kurt's Christmas presents. So much for resting...

Once Matt arrived, I drug him on a little walking tour of Fort Greene. An architect himself, I knew Matt would love taking a visit to the Brooklyn Flea. In the winter, the flea market is housed in the Williamsburg Bank Tower. I guess the developer calls it Skylight One Hanson now, but it is this amazing old bank on the ground floor of a really iconic Brooklyn building. The space is beautiful and it is always fun to go downstairs to see the former bank vault. The doors will blow your mind.

Eric, Ashley, Aimee, Matt, Maria, Me (Photographer Extraordinaire: Kurt)

We eventually made it into the city for dinner with all the out of towners. It's always a challenge to eat in Manhattan. I'm such a lame-o and hardly ever leave Brooklyn and don't know good, cheap places to go. Plus, an entourage of folks are rarely welcome in tiny New York establishments. I wanted to go have arepas, but they would not seat a party our size. Then I thought German food and beer would be good for a cold evening. Packed too. We finally ended up at Life Cafe near Tompkins Square Park. It was pretty deserted. I had chicken and waffles--apparently a Southern thing that I had never heard of until moving to NYC. After dinner, we stopped in Viselka for coffee, hot chocolate, and dessert. Matt was happy to have anything other than Chinese food, so I think it was a success!

(Nerdy sidenote: while searching for a worthy dinner spot, we passed by an Italian restaurant called Via della Pace. During college, I did a study abroad in Rome with my architecture class. Jen and I were assigned to study a tiny church called Santa Maria della Pace tucked away in the middle of the city. Apart from a traumatic paper writing incident, I have fond memories of that little street. Mrs. Fante, if you ever decide to visit my fine city, we will have to stop by Via della Pace, sip some wine, and reminisce about our days in Rome.)

Now, I will admit I had no hand in this part of the weekend but it is such an amazing transformation, I have to mention it. Kurt recently finished a courtyard renovation at an apartment building here in Brooklyn (Jay-Z used to live there!) and the project had a bunch of leftover bricks. The contractor was nice enough to offer Kurt the leftover supplies AND offer to help him lay them in the tiny 731 backyard. Don't ever let anyone tell you New Yorkers aren't nice.

Before

During

After

Doesn't it look amazing?! They ran out of bricks and weren't able to completely finish but they are well on their way to having a high class patio! I can't wait to have parties out there next summer. Kurt and his brother are even considering asking their landlord for a rent reduction for all the improvements they are making to the place. Nice work, guys!