Underground Thoughts

Darrens co-worker Carol hosted a brunch on her roof deck in Brooklyn. We made some great new friends (a few of wuich happen to be vegetarians!) we then hopped over to the neighborhood flea market. I bought an awesome organic cotton T.

I had planned on bringing my 1970’s English racing bike out to NYC with me but the logistics of traveling with it became to overwhelming. So for the past few weeks I have been browsing craigslist. Today I met a guy from Jersey in the East Village to take a look at a 1980’s Schwinn. It was a little more than I wanted to pay, but well worth the two hundred bucks. Now the plan is to find a bike for Darren so we can go riding in Central Park when the weathers good. I am stoked! It will be so nice to have a bike again. I am a little nervous about riding in the mayhem of NYC traffic, but hopefully I figure out the streets more bike friendly.

–10:43pm Uptown M15 Bus–
I am lucky to have a boyfriend who values quality time. There are a few times when it’s not fun, like when he gets “worked up” (he hates it when I say upset) that I am eating to fast and not paying attention to him during our dinner conversation.  But overall it has been a tremendous bonus. Tired of eating out all the time he has been wanting to make dinner together for a quiet evening in.

So this evening we did. Darren loves it when I plan things ahead so I rushed to the health food store to get Tofuti cream cheese and soy butter, and soy chicken. I wish I had a camera for the happy look on his face when he asked me, “Do you already know what your doing to make?” and I answered, “of course!”

I made a Vegan Alfredo cream sauce (without a recipe! woot woot) and drizzled it over whole wheat pasta with grilled asparagus and red peppers. Darren made aweseom garlic bread and set the table. So before I forget how I made it I thought I should jot it down.

–Nathan’s Vegan Alfredo Sauce–

In a saucepan saute a large scallion and three cloves of minced garlic in 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a few table spoons of vegan butter. The longer the better. Saute till dark brown. Add an 8 oz container of Tofuti cream cheese.  Add 8-12oz. of a spaghetti sauce of your choice.  Add water to get to the right consistency. And add pepper and basil to taste. (I added a little bit of flour because I added to much water and it turned out really well, so I may to that on purpose next time.)

Grill asparagus for about five minutes in olive oil, minced garlic and chopped scallion. After about five minutes add the sliced bell pepper. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Grill two vegan chicken breasts.

Put the whole wheat pasts on the plate then add a layer of the sauted vegetable. Slice the breast into vertical strips and place ontop of the veggies, then cover in the alfredo sauce.

–8:29pm uptown 4 train–
Just had my first meeting with Leigh and Alisa, founders of Fun2Funds. Leigh and I met randomly at a birthday party (for Noah, who neither if us had met before his party). When I heard about her organization’s purpose of connecting nonprofits with young business professionals for the purpose of fund raising through fun events I was extremely intrigued. And when she found out I worked in PR she jotted down my contact info.

From the time they pulled out the printed deck outlining the purpose and strategy I knew that this was a team I wanted to work with. So it looks like I am going to head up the PR team. The event will be the end of June for Housing Works. And will be a date auction. The hope is to connect Housing Works with a demographic they currently want but don’t have connections to, young business professionals. Housing Works hopes to raise awareness of their organization among this group as well build relationships for future volunteers and donors.

The event will be a date auction. We brainstormed names and have tentatively decided on NewYorkDateExchange, NYDE.

Korean bakery where we met up

Thompson Sqaure Park, NYC East Village

–8:37am Downtown 5 Train–
Sunday was amazing. Spring is finally here. Darren and I had brunch in the East Village and then went walking for the remainder of the afternoon. We met up with a good friend and his Italian Grey Hound. Watching dogs at the Dog parks are becoming one of my favorite things to do. It baffles me how well dogs get along in a big city. It’s especially interesting to watch how the owners interact with their dogs and one another. One of things I appreciate most about Darren is how much he values getting out on the weekend just to roam the streets and parks of the city. And being That it was warm we held hands a lot. Something I have missed a lot since we first started dating back in the fall of last year. He hates having cold hands, which means hands deeply tucked in pockets all winter.

With spring finally here there are Tulips, Daffodils and Cherry blossoms everywhere. Now I understand why all the homes and yards featured in BetterHomes&Gardens are on the east coast.

–Cab from Upper E Side to East Village–

On my way to a woman’s self defense class (Stilettos and Self Defense) to hand out product for Tiger Balm. This stuff is amazing! This a prime example of using an online campaign that reached people in thier offline lives.

Things that equal instant friendships: (all things I did Friday Night)
-Dinner at Red Bamboo while discussing social issues.
-Dancing to amazing music.
-Marisa H, yep she’s that amazing

BBQ "Chicken" at Red Bamboo (made from Soy!)

–8:42am Downtown 4 train–
I have my second meeting this afternoon with a few of the NYC Council Community liaisons. We will be discussing ways the city can utilize web 2.0. Being that NYC has more digital savvy citizens than any other US city, there is so much potential for it to help lead the way in demonstrating how governmental entities can utilize social media.

I often think about how outdated and inefficient so many of our government processes and meetings are. Everything from local town hall meetings to the way our US Congress is held. It will be interesting to see how much more participation can be created if more online methods are utilized… We already see social media tools used to communicate between the government and the citizens, but the real question is when will we see the new tools of the web utilized in the government processes themselves? Like, when will city council meetings be available virtually?

–3:52pm Downtown 4 Train–
On my way to the meeting. Excited but slightly anxious. It will be interesting to see what kind of game plan we start to form.

–5:31pm Uptown 4–

Meeting went ok… Overall they are eager to implement more digital. Often the meeting was more of a push back of what won’t work than a collaboration of what could. The hard part is helping everyone see the importance of strategy. This isn’t just about a new blog or Facebook page.

I am going to find a bakery to sit at while I type out some possible next steps. I just need to make sure I don’t let my frustrations get the better of me. In reality things went really well, I simply had to high of expectations, and that’s def nothing new.