ow

holy hell. it's been a rough couple of weeks, but im done complaining and pitying myself over work. although i think the chaos is crazy, deep down i thrive on it.
i met diane for a beer and a burger at Pete's on 18th tonight. i was late, and I hate being late. i'm stuffed as hell though 1/2 a burger some fries and a cold beer, nothing beats it.

nothing else new really, i'm back in the gym, which is awesome. current class of choice is Fluidity, it combines ballet, pilates, yoga & strength training. why not get it all in one shot anyway?

i've been been watching Mad Men, have you seen it? Advertising the way it was before I was born. crazy really. once i watch more i'm sure i'll form a more interesting opinion. now i'm just kind of in the mood to sit on my couch and slobber on myself. im tired.

who are you calling DUMBO?

it's been one of those weeks. drama filled. the kind of week when something so small changes your outlook on everything. not the steam explosion, impact like that is almost commonplace in nyc. needless to say, it's been a rough one.

so i needed a day trip. and why not brooklyn? fitting, really. a chance to get off the island. so i rang up deb and we met manhattan side to traverse the brooklyn bridge, i've always wanted to do that. check out the pics.


brooklyn bridge, another thing crossed off my nyc list. you can't beat the weather today either, absolutely perfect.



after reaching brooklyn we stopped for ice cream, walked around the we walked around the waterfront park, love these little whirlygig RV's, they cracked me up.

we walked around DUMBO (its an area of Brooklyn that stands for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass). cute shops, up an coming neighborhood that it think would be great to live in, in a few years. at night i could see it being a bit scketchy walking around seeing that i'm a single gal.

out in front of this furniture place that i found a great bed that on sale (teak withan espresso stain, platform style beautiful head board) for only $900ish. lucky i did not have my credit card on me. anyway, near the store, was this mini cooper convertible with a gigantic dog in it. cracked me up. frigging hysterical.

well. tonight should be fun, wine tasting event at the pink elephant in chelsea and a black and whtie party on some rooftop.

i'm trying to end this week on a better note.
wish me luck

i'm fine

thank you for your calls and concerns this evening. grand central is 1/2 a block from my office. I was on the phone with my mom when the fire alarms went off, notifying us of a smoke on the 3rd floor ( i work on the 5th ). You could tell by the tone of the man's voice something was wrong. I looked around and took in the situation. who was moving? who was dismissing the alarm and still working? I looked down the row of cubes to take the cue from my boss who is a workaholic like myself. furrowed brow means something was up, and the plume of smoke seen outside our window confirmed it.

our building was evacuated, down the stairs and out to the street where we met thousands of other new yorkers heads tilted toward the sky. we hung around a bit outside the office, calling coworkers who got recently got on the subway, texted family, etc. 9 times out of 10 got a 'network busy.' so. we walked.

and walked.
and walked.

west then south. without cell service, or a newscast, what else is one to think? you see smoke and plume out of one of the largest landmarks and public commuting spaces in NYC at rush hour and your mind jumps. i've overheard '9/11' more times today then then the 10 months i've been here. I was one of them. people were running, screaming, crying.

i walked with coworkers , slowly they'd leave to go home. I ended up at at bar in the 30's on the west side with my boss, when we finally figured out what had happened. a man hole exploded, because a 24" pipe, build in 1924 finally gave way. the sad thing is, most of the country knew before I did what was going on 1/2 a block away from me. bit scary.

luckily. i felt safe. not quite sure why. i was with people i trusted and knew, so I was and am okay.

this city is crazy at times. part of the reason why so man are drawn to it.
i know i was.
i get it from my brother, just can't sit still.

beach trip is coming to a close

i'm in the orlando airport right now waiting to board my most likely delayed flight. It's a decent airport, full of pros and cons. we'll start with the cons.
cons:

• the starbucks barista is inept in making a grande sugar free vanilla skim latte. its gross, but I really wanted a bit of a pick me up
• the cinnamon scone... just as gross. tastes more like cake, but a bad cake. it's supposed to be dry and crumbly, not so moist and sticky. that's 2.49 going right into the trash
• lots of screaming 'i want to go back to see mickey' children.
  
• the woman behind me screaming into her cell phone. (she went on a cruise with her friend met a 'homie' and 'kicked it' the rest of her trip. she did not like scuba diving, but the atv trip was fun.)
  

pros:

• free Internet
• sick view (pro) of a the thunderstorm that will probably delay my flight (con)
  

that makes me sound like a snot, eh?

anyway, beach trip was so much fun. i'm very tan, which always boosts my spirits. one of my favorite things about being tan is the first day back at work. everyone says, 'wow you're tan, you look good' - really, who doesn't love that?

here are a couple of my favorite pictures from the trip:

look at that face. Gerber baby watch out. so friggen cute.

me callie & caren. callie absolutely loved the ocean and had to dragged out of the waves when she got a bit to excited to crawl into the ocean. such a water baby. we spent plenty of hours just sitting by the water sandying up our suit bottoms, haven't done that since I was a kid. it was great.

caren & the kids dockside at a new smyrna restaurant, while we were waiting for our table we actually saw a manatee. bryan, caren's husband, pet him.

me and shortstack. I miss keeping kids occupied.

a golfing family. since the beach is flat we had putting tournaments on the sand. I'm hapy to admit I won the first one. it went downhill from there.

I haven't picked up a driver in just about a year. I'll have you know I nailed this ball about 175 yards. pretty decent for someone hasn't driven a ball in such a long time.

aunt joan t'ing up.

callie & bryan. she's such a daddy's girl.

she's adorable, and almost walking. so sad to think the next time i see her she'll be toddling around on two feet. they really do grow up to quick.

upcoming christmas card, perhaps?

or possibly this one?
i love that outfit.

granted this is a horrendous picture of me, but I had to post it for proof. I caught a shark! new smyrna where we were is actually the shark bite capital of the east. yep. i said bite. look at this little f'er. his tiny teeth are sharp enough to give you stitches. nuts. he put up quite a fight.

the trip was a great relaxing break from the big apple. I'm so happy i and my job were able to find the time for me to go.
oooh! we're boarding. late, but boarding. nothing like flying in a lightening storm.
adios.

ahhh the smell of salt water in the air

the beach is so relaxing. right now i can hear the waves crashing on the shore. the house my aunt & uncle rented is directly on the beach making access to sand sun and surf quit easy. we resorted early to beach activities of laying out, gin rummy tournaments, lots of eating and reading. The kids are having a blast, as you can see below.

Callie has gotten so big since the last time I saw her in March, and a complete water rat/beach baby. crawling in and out of the water with no fear.



as for the card tournaments, I'm happy to say I'm on the winning end of that stick. aside from the bug bites from the sand dunes, i'm happy as a clam.

the fourth

i've seen fireworks displays in many states now, and this year i added NY to that list. Macy's fireworks off 23rd street did not disappoint. it was completely amazing how loud they were. each loud boom just echoed off the tall buildings around.

i watchd them at a friend of a friend's rooftop around the corner from my place. it was sick. it felt like there were overhead and you felt the clap in your chest. amazing.


I took these with my cell phone, so the quality isn't great.
and i can't flip this picture for some reason

anyway. i have to pick up laundry and pack! vacation is among us.
wahoooo

a list

I've again been a bad blogger. so here's a recap of what's been going on.

On the way home from dinner tonight, (I treated myself to Burritoville-- I swear i'm contemplating getting a 2nd job there just to find out how they make their chicken with the green tomatillo sauce soooo good.) I actually ran into someone famous. Now, I'm horrible at star sightings. I guess i don't pay attention quite enough attention to the people walking around me unless they get too close. Perfect example, when Caren was up we were walking up University and she spotted Adrien Greenier. Now there is one guy I'd want to spot on teh street. But here's who I ran into. Rachel Dratch. of Saturday Night Live. Just walking on down the street.




I finally went to McSorely's. It's a New York establishment, been around since 1854. They sell just two kinds of beer light and dark and when your order, you get two mugs. Sawdust covered floors, cheddar, onion and saltine plates and the best mustard ever. A bunch of us from the office went down there on yesterday, and needless to say the mugs piled up. From there it was 2 more east village bars and a quick cab ride home. good times as always .


I cannot wait to be on vacation. I just want to lay out on the beach and take naps in the sand. i'm almost ready to start packing, but that would require doing laundry.

I'm officially addicted to tasti delight, even taking into consideration the valentine's day comment from the counter girl. whatever.

talking about ice cream makes me want some. good thing about new york? bodegas are always open.

tomorrow night I'm going to a rooftop party to see the fireworks. i live so close to where they're shooting them off, should be good.

Happy 4th everyone.