Now This Life: Brooklyn On My Mind

6.19.2013

Brooklyn On My Mind

Brooklyn. An hour or so train ride from the Upper West Side, just one easy subway transfer thanks to Embark, the best transit app ever. How I wish I had this back when I was modeling and dealing with fold out subway maps and not very clear agency directions for castings, all while listening to my walkman and trying to somehow manage to look cute upon arrival. Now, you just click on your destination and BOOM, step by step instructions, train times and all, like magic. I feel like an old fogey being impressed by this, but, really, it is pretty magical. (I'm not so concerned these days with looking cute, although a simple dress, some lip gloss and a fresh haircut never hurts!)

Back to Brooklyn. Park Slope and Brooklyn Heights on a weekday, overrun with white babies in expensive strollers pushed by bored Caribbean nannies. (Really, there's even a book about it.) Tree lined streets opening up to the promenade with its spectacular views of Manhattan, brownstones with window boxes so perfect I had to sidle up close to see if they were real (they were), little shops to explore, a florist with a hand lettered sign on the gate cautioning you about the puppy inside. Lunch at Brooklyn's first destination restaurant, al di la Trattoria, rapture right there on the white plate in their spring vegetable salad with shaved pecorino cheese. And an adorable pack of city dogs with their walkers, who were kind enough to let me take a picture of them, even though their annoyance with the whole idea was pretty apparent. A book on my Kindle, my tote bag over my shoulder, happiness in a flood of light around my heart.