Mom visits - Hooray!

I was so lucky to get a visit from mom this weekend. 

I feel so lucky to have gotten her all to myself for two whole days.

Lots of wine, delicious food, shopping and lovely conversation.

Wish you lived around the corner!

_-_-_-_

I'm sure she was happy to leave. The hot water and heat stopped working Saturday and we slept in outfits I've seen people wearing in the North Pole on national geographic.

Five Leaves

Kale salad, the most incredible cheese platter and mussels. 

We love five leaves - don't even have to leave Greenpoint to get there!

- she quite liked New York - not loved.

The Bakeri

We had fun anyways!

The lack of heat and hot water, a mother choking her child on the subway, the crazy people on the subway yelling at everyone who passed, the subway never showing up, the rats in the subway and general cleanliness of it, the lack of polite customer service skills everywhere, the taxi driver telling us off and squealing away because we requested to go to Brooklyn, and the line up at the Whole Foods store in Union Square. 

Not to mention, the endless piles of garbage, mattresses and old christmas trees lining the still snow covered streets and cars buried in snow. 

We had a fabulous time nonetheless
Oh New York, what a time you are!

New Years Brunch

New York brunch hosted by Akiko and David.

Continuously shifting between yummy food, coffee, mimosas and wonderful company.

East Village

It looks like a restaurant but it's actually a fabulous East Village apartment with a lovely lady who cooks like it's her job. 

I love home cooked food get togethers!

Cookie Monster and a Skunk

Sneak Peak at Corduroy's Next Issue

coming soon ^^

Visa Granted

View from work in Soho, Manhattan

Despite the lawyers warnings to me over the holidays that I had  "less than 25% chance" of approval for the TN visa, I decided to try my luck anyways.
Luck turned out to be on my side.

I flew with the amazing Porter Airlines from the tiny Toronto island airport into Newark, New Jersey.

I had been told that this would be a wise route to increase my chances of getting a visa - my sources were other Canadian's successfully on visas in New York.
Since the tiny island airport doesn't have US customs, I entered customs for the first time when I arrived at Newark. 

I was so nervous (because the visa is discretionary), my hands were super sweaty by the time it was my turn to go forward. I was behind a line-up of about a million Indian tourists (give or take) and finally it was my turn. I walked forward confidentially, placed the massive document the lawyer had prepared for me on the counter top and proudly announced it was my first time applying for a TN visa.

The US customs official looked at my documents for a moment, seemed overwhelmed by it's size, then stamped my passport for approval. 

I was so ecstatic about being accepted, I completely forgot I needed to pay $50 and receive an I-94 paper.

It wasn't until later in the evening when some Canadian girlfriends asked me about it over drinks in Brooklyn that I realized, the guy had no idea what he was doing!

I called Newark Airport as soon as their lines opened the next morning and was told I had to come back to the airport so they could 'do it properly.' 

Two hours of traveling and another two hours of waiting and I was all set.
Hooray!

Winter Wonderland

The Wilson's