For the first time ever in my five years in New York, I actually saw someone in Spanish Harlem today carrying a bag of potting soil. This woman was apparently going to bring it home to grow plants this spring. If you really love growing fruit, vegetables, or flowers, this city really isn’t going to be the place for you unless you are so lucky to have access to a yard, or a sunny window (also definitely not a guarantee in this city; natural light in an apartment is highly coveted and in low supply), and if you have those things, they probably won’t be in Manhattan.

That statement, along with, “There aren’t many Mexicans in New York,” seem to be things people just enjoy saying about New York.  For those who have actually explored New York outside of Manhattan (because believe it or not, “New York City” actually consists of Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island, in addition to Manhattan), they will know that there are big neighborhoods, primarily Corona in Queens and 5th Avenue in Brooklyn, where you can find huge Mexican populations, and along with them, really authentic Mexican food, like Tortilleria Nixtamal and Tacqueria Coatzingo.

Tonight, we went to see the off-Broadway play called ANN: An Affectionate Portrayal of Ann Richards. While I was not aware that Ann Richards was the second female governor of Texas before reading the synopsis of the play, I really enjoyed it. Crass, potty-mouthed, and completely not politically correct, it was really refreshing to hear someone who was so brutally honest. I know that is hard to down in our society, especially in cities like New York, where you are harpooned if you do not go out of your way to not offend people, but sometimes you really just need to hear life the way it is without the PC bullshit.

A year ago, I lived in a spacious apartment in Queens where hosting guests was a no-brainer: if I had two guests, they could sleep on the fold-out futon in the living room, or if I even had three guests, the third could sleep on the air mattress in the dining room, and I’d still have my bed (and room!) to myself. Now that I live in Manhattan, space-wise I am not so lucky. If guests sleep in our bed, we share our futon in the lounge room, but since the lounge room is basically the only other room in the apartment other than the bedroom, we officially now have no free floor space. Oh, the joys of living the life in Manhattan when hosting.

When most visitors I know have come to New York, one of their top things that they want to do is shop. New York has every major store you could possibly think of, from the affordable H&M and Uniqlo U.S. flagship to the higher-end Bergdorf Goodman and all those designer boutique shops that I can’t afford. I’m a huge sucker for bright colors and fancy packaging, which is synonymous with Kate Spade, where I went to purchase a gift today. I think she is one of the major fashion icons of New York and what I always imagined New York to embody.

You know when spring has arrived in Manhattan when you notice the potted blossoming daffodils and hyacinths in Herald Square, pass women strolling the streets in pastel and floral-printed skirts and flip-flops, and smell the first wafts of heavenly garbage as you exit your apartment to get to work in the morning. You can feel spring during lunch time as you are grabbing lunch with colleagues, and decide that you don’t to go back to eat at your desk. Instead, you will sit and enjoy the newfound warmth and sunlight and eat on a bench in the middle of the crazy traffic around you. Spring fever has certainly arrived.

Today, my friend sent me the article “Is San Francisco the Brooklyn to Silicon Valley’s Unbuilt Manhattan?” It compares San Francisco in terms of general living to Brooklyn – access to green parks, “locavore” restaurants, independently owned businesses, etc. But it reminded me of the neighborhood in which I grew up in San Francisco – the Richmond, and how I used to compare it to Elmhurst, Queens, where I first moved when I came to New York. Elmhurst is like the Richmond in that the rent is relatively low for the city, it’s full of great ethnic food, transportation is simple to downtown, yet… it’s not necessarily “up and coming” to those in their twenties.

Weekdays in Manhattan are hectic. Everyone is in a rush to get somewhere – to work, to an appointment, a lunch… maybe even to get laid. While on my way to the office this morning, I started thinking about why people walk so fast here and why everyone is always so pushy on the subway and on the streets. If I cross this street diagonally instead of waiting to get to the crosswalk, I might save 20 seconds! If I do that, I could save a minute! What are we really gaining in our mad rush to get from place to place?

Even in a city as cultural and diverse as New York, you still hear ignorant conversations walking its streets. The other day as I was on my way somewhere, I overheard a conversation between two friends — one guy, one girl, both white — walking behind me. The guy was telling his female friend about this new Asian girl he just started dating. She asks him completely innocently, “Does she speak Chinese?” He responds, “No… I don’t think so. She is Korean.” Was it because I was in the Upper East Side? I didn’t realize that “Asian” meant “Chinese.”

Tonight, we decided to go out for pizza to satisfy my pizza craving. While enjoying our thin-crust basil mozarella pizza, Chris said that although he’s had lots of pizza that he’s enjoyed, he has yet to try a slice that is “to die for.” It’s a pretty valid point, especially in the city that prides itself on the quality of its pizza. I thought about my slices at the famous spots Grimaldi’s and DiFara, and gourmet spots like L’Asso and Roberta’s, and I realized what he said was true – while they were all amazing, have I ever craved pizza from one of those specific places, or did I just crave that general brick oven thin crust taste and feel?