Best of 2014

Sharon's Novels

(1) Middlemarch by George Eliot (a woman!)

(2) Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

(3) American Dervish by Ayad Akhtar

(4) Midwives by Chris Bohjalian
(5) Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea

David's Books

(1) Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

(2) Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs

(3) Dracula by Bram Stoker

(4) The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

Our Favorite Movie Rentals

(1) Blue is the Warmest Color

(2) Paradise Lost Trilogy

(3) About Time
(4) West Side Story

(5) Wish I Was Here

(6) Apocalypse Now

(7) Brazil

(8) Django/Django Unchained

(9) 12 Years a Slave

(10) 20 Feet from Stardom
(11) Labor Day
(12) Waking Ned Devine

Best NYC Films @ United Palace Theatre in the Heights:

(1) The Muppets Take Manhattan - We took Alexi to see his first ever MOVIE at UPT to see this timeless, super fun kids movie

(2) Ghostbusters - This is such a classic, feel good NYC movie and it felt just as wonderful to see it in a theatre as grownups as children back in the '80's

Best NYC Film Festivals

(1) International Children's Film Festival - Sharon took Alexi to his very first NYC Film Festival to see his first animated movie Ernest and Celestine

(2) KidCinemaFest Film Festival - David took Alexi to see Anina, a beautiful animated Spanish film from Colombia they both enjoyed.  This fabulous film festival takes place in our own neighborhood of Washington Heights and includes a plethora of Spanish language films.

(3) New York Film Festival - Sharon saw the documentary "Tales of the Grim Sleeper" and was again blown away by the many injustices in the United States

Best NYC Children's Museums (we went every month to a different one with Alexi and Mateo):

January - Brooklyn Children's Museum

February - Museum of the Moving Image

March - Manhattan Children's Museum

April - Queens County Farmhouse Museum and Fair

May - Transit Museum

June - Children's Museum of Art

July - Museum of Natural History (Discovery Room!!!)

August - New York Hall of Science

September - MOMATH

October - Metropolitan Museum of Art

November - Staten Island Children's Museum

December - New York Botanical Gardens (for the Annual Train Show)

 Favorite People/Places/Publications to follow on Twitter:

1. Lisa Bonchek Adams - @adamslisa

2. Untapped Cities - @untappedcities

3. Vanessa Protass - @vanessamarie3

4. New York Magazine - @NYMag

5. Brandon Stanton - @humansofny

6. Dominique Ansel - @DominiqueAnsel

Best Art Exhibits/Museum&Gallery Shows/Public Art

(1) Dia:Beacon (particularly the amazing sculpture by Richard Serra)

(2) A Subtlety: The Marvelous Sugar Baby by Kara Walker @Domino Sugar Factory

(3) No Longer Empty-If You Build It @Sugar Hill Housing Project

(4) Jeff Koons @Whitney (final ever show UES)

(5) Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary @MOMA

(6) Robert Gober: The Heart is Not a Metaphor @MOMA

(7) In the Air by TJ Wilcox @Whitney

(8) Phoenix @St. John the Divine

(9) Touching Strangers by Richard Renaldi @Aperture

(10) Repurpose Light Graffiti under West Side Highway @125th Street

Best Broadway Musical: The Lion King

     Alexi took Sharon to see this for her birthday and it was PHENOMENAL!!!  This Broadway Show should be a part of the childhood of every kid growing up in NYC.

Best Broadway Play: A Raisin in the Sun

     Sharon and David went to see this because of Denzel Washington's presence, and we were blown away by the ensemble acting and both emotionally affected by the universal story of struggle and perseverance.

Best Off-Broadway Musical: Fortress of Solitude @Public Theater
     Sharon took David here as a surprise birthday present, since it is one of his favorite novels EVER, and we both were electrified and moved by the performance.


Best Dance Event: Hip Hop Nutcracker and set by MC Kurtis Blow @United Palace Theatre - FABULOUS!

Best Concerts:

Billy Joel LIVE @ Madison Square Garden & Moon Hooch @ Mercury Lounge (Sharon)

Harpsichord all-Rameau concert with Jory Vinikour (David)

Best TV Series: Boardwalk Empire (just finished watching Season Four on dvd)

Best Sporting Events: Yankees Game for Bat Day

Coolest NYC Event - Sleepover at the Museum of Natural History under the Giant Whale

Best Travel Destinations

(1) New Orleans, Louisiana

(2) San Felui de Guixols, Spain

(3) Coppenhagen, Denmark

(4) Ithaca, New York

(5) Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, DC

Best Vegetarian Restaurant: Gobo (this year marked our 20 year anniversary of vegetarianism!) {RIP Gobo; you will be greatly missed}

Best Ice Cream: Fresco Gelateria and Il Laboratorio del Gelato

Best NonVegan Pastry - THE CRONUT!!!

     Sharon was first in line one cold February morning to get the Raspberry Lychee Cronut-DELICIOUS!!!

Best View of NYC: During The Great Saunter Sharon walked the ENTIRE island of Manhattan (33 miles!) in a single day and experienced such a myriad of NYC neighborhoods.  She now considers herself a bonafide New Yorker

Top 5 Reasons to Love New York City:

(1) Manhattan - As a family we went on a New Year's Day Hike sponsored by Shorewalkers in our Upper Manhattan neighborhood: Washington Heights and Inwood.  We were so proud of Alexi for walking all 7 miles(!)  Sharon now teaches in Manhattan, at New Heights Academy, and Alexi continues to attend Castle Bridge School in Washington Heights.  We LOVE our neighborhood of Washington Heights-winter sledding in Fort Tryon Park, Spring Egg Hunt and flower planting in community parks, summer picnics in Bennett and Fort Tryon Parks and autumn volunteering at our CSA and shopping/composting at the Inwood Greenmarket.  Sharon participated in the annual Shorewalkers Great Saunter, in which she walked the entire island of Manhattan, West Side and East Side, in one day for a total of 33 miles!!!  It is just so cool to live on this island.

(2) United Palace of Cultural Arts - We love all the cultural programming happening at United Palace Theatre, and are so thankful to have our own "Symphony Space" in upper, upper Manhattan.  Sharon and David saw 3 movies there (Casablanca, It's a Wonderful Life and Ghostbusters), took Alexi there to see The Muppets Take Manhattan and Sharon went there in December to see the Hip Hop Nutcracker.

(3) Cycling - We biked as a family in the Tour de Bronx, Summer Streets and along the Greenway.  David and Alexi biked 55 miles together (with Alexi in the Wee-hoo) in the NYC Century.  Sharon biked with Mateo in her green bike seat and Alexi riding his own bike to Discovery Playground in the summer.  David bike commuted several days a week to Brooklyn and Sharon bike commuted weekly (including in the winter) to Bronx Prep.

(4) Greenmarkets - As a family we committed to COMPOSTING this year.  We noticed organics made up most of our trash (as vegetarians!), so we now separate the organics and recycle them by taking them to either the Fort Washington or Inwood Greenmarkets.  We started in March recycling ALL our organics at home, and now make weekly trips to bring our organics to these Greenmarkets.

(5) Castle Bridge/El Puento del Castillo Escuela - We love Alexi's school because it truly has a community feel and is committed to progressive education, dual language, diversity, environmentalism and experiential learning.  The week begins with Community Sing with the principal playing guitar and the week ends with the students presenting a song, poem, joke or magic trick to their peers at Recital.  David is a member of the School Leadership Team and Sharon served as a class parent for Alexi's kindergarten class and volunteered in the classroom weekly.