articles tagged:

Valentine’s Day

Post-Valentines Spotlight: Meet the Real-Life Hitch

February 15, 2011 By Caleb Galaraga Leave a Comment

Photo credit: Leah Nash

Dating is never easy in a city full of busy people. As much as New York is glorified as the mecca of American romance –  in movies, plays, books, music and fictitious word-of-mouth descriptions, the reality is, it can be really tough to find love in the big city. Chris Luna,  an Alex Hitchens-like persona in our midst, shares this nugget of truth about New York romance: “I think New York is easy to find love for the same reason that it’s hard: there are options.”

“A lot of people have a hard time committing because they’re worried something better might come along,” said Chris Luna, founder and owner of Craft of Charisma, a real-life, real-world dating and relationship coaching company in New York.

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Valentine’s Day FAIL!!

February 15, 2011 By Ashley Nuñez 1 Comment

 Valentine’s Day surprises usually result in an unexpected delivery of flowers or a secret stop at your favorite dessert shop on the way home after dinner. Waking up to find out that your boyfriend attempted to surprise you by knocking on your bedroom window, not so romantic. Especially when you live on the third floor.

The boyfriend in this story was a 30-year-old man who slipped off the fire escape outside of his girlfriend’s Manhattan building as he attempted to find his way into her apartment after his front door knocks went unanswered. Police are reporting the man with broken vertebrae is in stable condition. The Village Voice points out this failed attempt at a Valentine’s surprise couldn’t be anymore right.

 Listen up New York! If you miss Valentine’s Day make it up to your Valentine while he/she is awake. Don’t go crawling into a third floor bedroom window just past midnight. The moment’s over, it’s not romantic, and you might as well come in with a ski mask because bedroom window entry reminds every girl of all the Lifetime movies, CSI episodes, and every SVU Law and Order show she has ever seen.

YNY MOS: Who makes the better Valentine?

February 13, 2011 By Ashley Nuñez Leave a Comment

When it comes to New Yorkers and Valentine’s Day, there is a stern focus on one thing…Presents. Restaurants will be handing out special menus, big red teddy bears are waiting to be bought, and love songs seem streaming love into radio (see YNY’s Five Top Picks for Love Songs vlog post for great songs to dedicate to your Valentine) in preparation for February 14th. But in the flood of red and pink xoxo’s, who makes the better Valentine on Valentine’s Day? Who did you think New Yorkers sided with more, the girl being the better Valentine or the guy?

A Floating Heart in Times Square

February 10, 2011 By Caleb Galaraga Leave a Comment

A floating heart is unveiled in the middle of Times Square. The “Light Hearted” is a ten-foot diameter lightweight construction with an open weave fabric, allowing wind to pass through and capture the light. The main structure is radially arranged with rotating connections and is constructed of aluminum elliptical loops. When it’s not held up high with several hands on deck, it lies flat on the ground. It only becomes a full, three-dimensional heart figure when it is lifted up by a group of people, holding a loop each.

The structure will be visible in the middle of Duffy Square in Times Square beginning today from 11:30 AM to 9:30 PM until February 20. It will require six people to hold it up and volunteers have come forward to do it for 15 minutes at a time. Those interested to volunteer can go to http://www.lighthearted.us to sign-up.

Light Hearted was designed by Lauren Crahan and John Hartmann of Brooklyn-based design studio Freecell. It was the winner of the 2011 Times Square Valentine design competition.

Valentine’s Day Food Romance

February 9, 2011 By Michelle Kaplan Leave a Comment
[caption id="attachment_9669" align="alignleft" width="377" caption="Photo courtesy of: digitaltrends.com"][/caption]

Celebrate this Valentine’s Day with your special someone at Culinary Loft. Authors of the soon-to-be-released book “Just Married & Cooking,” Brooke Parkhurst and James Briscione and holding a cooking workshop that is sure to please. They will teach you how to make amazing dishes together, and you will be able to drink wine from Appellation Wine and Spirits. Although the event is a steep $300, you will get to eat and drink amazing food and wine, such as Smoked Salmon Pizza with American Caviar and Pistachio and Mint Crusted Lamb Rack with Parsnip Puree and Roasted Brussels Sprouts. It will be a romantic evening you will never forget—and then you will be able to cook yourselves delicious meals!

Sharing His Heart Through Hearts 4 Hope

February 4, 2011 By Ashley Nuñez Leave a Comment

While many couples will be snuggling up under the covers at home or fork feeding each other over dinner, Danny Pachecho and his group of hearts will be passing out blankets to those living on the street. These emergency blankets are just the start of Hearts 4 Hope. Danny stated simply, “We started with the blanket drive because we want to show people this is such an easy step to take. They just want shelter. We can’t provide that so we decided on doing something that substitute for shelter.”

In 2005, a younger Danny was participating in handing out clothing to the homeless when he was approached by a man who wanted only enough underwear to last him the week. “I’m asking for a pair of sneakers worth $200 and this individual just wanted 7 pairs of underwear for the week. [This experience] put into perspective the forgotten of society for me. I made it a responsibility of my own to combat those gaps in the world.” After searching for ways to participate with organizations that had great ideas but lacked the practice of implementation, Danny created Hearts 4 Hope.

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