today

Today is my 27th birthday. I'm celebrating here in rainy Minnesota in the middle of a tornado warning on a press check. This week's run has been extremely difficult. The kind that takes your nerves about to their breaking point, holds there for a while and lets go. Paper has it's limitations, you can only push an emboss so far before the paper cracks. Kind of like me today, but I haven't cracked yet.

I thought I'd start the first morning of my 27th year out with big hearty breakfast in bed. well, wasn't in bed, the damn silver tray was too heavy for me to manage at 7 am. but the meal was quite good.

I've tallied up my sleep for the last two nights. It comes in at a whopping 9 hours. not horrible, but considering I had 3.5 the night before I traveled, yesterday was a bit rough. the wine may have egged on the rough feeling but let's not get into that, I'll only live once.

so. i'm in the client waiting room on a couch that is super comfy waiting to see how a 100% flooded screen of a UV varnish sets up on one of my favorite sheets. we shall see.

My vendor is taking me out for birthday dinner at a restaurant on Lake Minnetonka. I'm excited. He's let everyone know it's my birthday, so much so that I got serenaded by the doorman at the hotel yesterday, hysterical. We think since today went to shit that the celebration will continue into tomorrow as well. I mentioned that the last birthday I can remember being this stressed was May 23, 2002, my 22nd birthday and the day I graduated college. That birth year was one of my best, I moved to Atlanta, got a job, rented my first single apartment and started anew. Hopefully this 27th year well turn out to be the same.

Even though i'm now considered to be in the "late twenties..." whatever. only a number.

ramblling, again.

well, the book is done, and i recommend it even more. super witty in a can't put it down, i want to meet this author and befriend her sort of way.

and. i'm hungry.

the type of hungry where i don't know what i want to eat, and if i procrastinate finding dinner any longer i'll end up eating the 1/2 carton of Gorgonzola crumbled cheese and some carrots for a meal instead. i'm in that grazing mood where since i can't pin point exactly what my taste buds yearn for, I'll just eat everything in sight. which would be problem except for my fridge is nearly empty aside from the Gorgonzola, carrots, some half and half and condiments.

Not like me you say? You'd be right. Normally (albeit normally in atlanta) i'd have a stocked fridge ready to mixup some tasty garlic veggie pasta dish. but in nyc, i just dont' have the time, except for weekends when i can do a big "cooking for the week" marathon. but, i'm flying back out to Minneapolis on Tuesday, so I'd rather not have food/money spoil while i'm away.

here are the choices
1. cereal- from the bodega across the street
2. pancakes- order from the diner
3. pizza- hmm. sounds good, could freeze the remainders
4. see. i cant' even think of a fourth, and after looking over numbers 1-3. i just don't want them either.

so, back to my travels. MN this week, home thursday night, Friday morning I hop a Greyhound to Providence, RI, because guess what? I'm going to be a Godmother! Laura, my biggest mentor in the advertising world, fantastic friend and previous boss asked me to be one of the Godmothers of her new bundle of joy, Nell. Upon her mom's approval, I'll post a picture of that adorable baby girl on her big day.

well.

still no idea what i want to eat. stomach is rumbling and the diet coke alone is not cutting it. I'm off to take to the streets in search of dinner.

well thanks

for the ego boost on that last post. now if you can all hang around the mornings i feel 10 lbs heavier with a face full of stress zits i'd most appreciate it.

now to cut to the chase, I have to let you know what I'm reading. this book, though it may not be earth shattering, nor change your views on world peace, poverty, religion or race, it's frigging hysterical.
It's called Stupid and Contagious by Caprice Crane. You can buy it on Amazon, or you can do what I did and check it out of your local library. I'm only 1/2 way through it, and I know it's not wise to recommend a book you have yet to finish, but i found myself on the bus home tonight hysterical laughing so much so that my fellow riders were diverting their attention away from the lady speaking to her imaginary partner toward me, giggling uncontrollably in my seat.

i equate libraries and art supply stores purely on the fact that that i lose all sense of time while browsing the shelves. I'm happy to have landed on this gem.

and

my mom dislikes the picture on my blog profile. in order to change it, i have to post another one so it has a URL.
here it is. hope you like it ma.

idea

i've decided, all the good men out there are married.

watch out ladies, i'm coming after your husbands.




calm down, i'm totally kidding. everyone knows one of my top 7 rules of a prospective relationship is that the male suitor is not married. c'mon now.

so.

I've been a bit slack on the blogging. saw this yesterday and it made me laugh:
sometimes i think it is pointless, incessant barking, but it's an outlet right? so bark, bark away.
This weekend I headed back to NJ for mother's day with a stop in New Brunswick to see the old Rutgers roommates. Missing only Canton, we had the original girls from the house. Over the course of our 2 year stint on Huntington Street, we had around 10 people give or take a boyfriend or two, living under our roof. always made for good times.

I'm at the office so I can't attach the pictures, but I'll try when I get home. I'm not promising anything, it's supposed to be 82 degrees, and a little wine bar called Inoteca on the corner of Ludlow & Rivington is calling my name, loudly.

I heart Minneapolis

When they mention the term Minnesota-nice, they are not kidding. everyone in this state. (with the exception of 2 random people who probably were just having a bad day) is so nice. the weather is perfect, the restaurant and bar scene rival other smaller cities, great suburbs. pretty lakes. I'm all for Minneapolis. too bad they're non on an ocean's coast. flying in was amazing, Sun Country Airlines is by far my new favorite. The flight was empty, they fed you, A cheeseburger!! constantly attentive. And to top if all off, the pilot pointed out historical landmarks and gave us great background on what bodies of water and land we were flying over. amazing. check the pick above. i love the orange against the blue sky.

anyway. i'm about to take begin boarding, but I thought i'd leave you with some pictures of the hotel. (Graves 601) sickeningly posh. the kind of place i'll probably only stay in for 2 reasons. 1. i'm on a press check 2. it's my wedding night and or honeymoon. even then. Sweet Jesus.

the bed was like a giant marshmallow. it's hard to tell in the pic, but the headboard is etched glass, that lights up to this truly amazing geometric pattern. I wish I shot it better.

the flat screen rivals the size of my nyc apartment.


the art on the wall is actually two back lit posters, durotrans I'd say. of course that tickled my fancy.



and the bathroom? sick right? i felt luxurious just getting ready in the morning. the shower was unbelievable, and the Hermes soaps, well... what a touch. the designer of this place should just come on over to nyc and put up another fantastic hotel.


why was the morning so easy? this shower and this screen..



because who doesn't have a 13" flat screen in their bathroom?


and just to remind me where I came from, this large Smirnoff Wallscape that I produced stared back at me when I looked out my window or exited the hotel.
overall, an amazing trip. great press check, freakishly knowledgable pressman, my vendor- a dream that every producer wants on their work. -everything. press room was so clean, you could eat off the floor. I even thought to break my no open toed shoes on press rule, but I had a little voice in my head channeling from Rhode Island the cons of bare toes around heavy machinery. hehe.

I'll be back in Minnesota for a few days next week, exact dates undetermined, but I can't wait. this project is one of a lifetime. I'd show you a couple shots from the press room but I can't kill the surprise of it all. it's mind blowing.

my fault

bit of a lull in the blogging, my apologies. work has been insane as has the amount of time spent out, recuperating from the daily grind I suspect. all in good fun. Let's see if i can do a short recap since the last go around.

first, restaurants and bars visited: Republic, amazing. been there twice since. had the glass noodle dish last time care of Laura's recommendation. lucky me, they deliver to my place.

blue owl? hmmm. tad to posh/trendy for me. I'm a huge fan of your classic dive bar. though it was quite fun to get all dudded up for the evening.

That same night, Deb and I skirted over to Professor Thom's on 14th and 2nd. quickly moving up the rankings of my favorite close-to-the-apartment-bars list. they mixed amazing music. old 80's, to euro trash, to reggae and metal. loved every beat.

went to a hotel bar on monday midtown with work pals, swanky and probably the best branding I've seen in a while. they had amazing letterpress drink coasters. -not your average either, they fused a spongey board to tissue paper branded in a muted mustard and cranberry. looked amazing. and striped matchboxes to boot. in efforts to keep the bar somewhat empty when i need it, I'm not releasing the name. call me selfish, i like my wine in a flash. hehe.

this weekend was good, relaxing. friday I stayed in after a quick jaunt to the apple store to pick up a new laptop case. I ended up going with this one. I'm traveling this week to Minneapolis to print the piece of a lifetime and order to show you fine people what I do, I needed a vessel to lug the ol' top around in. by seeing it online, i wanted the orange one, but live the color wasn't rich enough. the case is perfect, not too big, not to small. just right.
so. saturday was a day of errands. made a few returns, bought an adorable dress at old navy. headed down to canal street to do some research for a work project, failed miserably due to a Chinese/English language barrier and got super pissed at the amount of people in Chinatown. my spirits were lifted when i gave directions to a few tourists, they seemed so thankful. almost wanted to squeeze their cheeks and say "see, new yorkers aren't bad." i was tempted, though I didn't.

realizing it was nearing 5:00 and i hadn't eaten yet, I made my way uptown to madison square park, directly across from where i use to work/intern when in college. i whipped out a book that i had picked up at the library first thing that morning and got in line. 45 minutes later, ordered my food. 3o minutes later commenced eating. Shake shack is an anomaly. it's fast food, but not fast at all. the burgers though, are great. the shakes make it worth the wait. bring a book. and don't go starving. i made that mistake and ate my food in about 3 breaths.

i needed much farther of a walk then I had, so i added a few more blocks in for a pedicure. why not. it's flip flop season.

that night I met up with Maya and Sarah for drinks and a light dinner at Coffee Bar in union square. i don't think i have to go back there. service was rude, wine glasses dirty, food marginal. people watching was the only thing that made it half way decent. (their matches sucked by the way, I've started a collection now) after the bill arrived we paid and headed out to a friend's brother's birthday party and to watch 'the fight.' the loft they have is enormous, even more shocking the size of the television in there. crazy, complete guy's apartment. made me miss sleeping on the couch at the boy's place on Runnymeade Rd for a brief moment.

overall, good night. this morning I woke up and rode the path in NJ to meet Diane at the Hoboken arts & music festival. we had a great time walking around and seeing all the booths. came upon this one screen printing artist, whose painting I now regret not buying. it was strictly black, and white with 1 chosen color. (green, orange, red, etc. she had many options) I would have bought the green in a heartbeat if i could drop 160 on a canvas sans frame. Now i wish i had. i can see it above my couch hanging out on the wall. walking around made us hungry so we ate at one of our staples, charritos. not sure of the spelling, but damn good guacamole. mmm. oh , and to top it off you ask?

fried oreos.

holy hell. never had one before, damn good. probably can only have maybe a batch or two a year, but so worth it. and at 4:30 i was done eating for the day. still so full.

So now, I'm finishing up laundry, I have exactly 17 minutes before i have to run downstairs and grab my stuff out of the dryer and pack for my trip. I can now knock Minnesota off my list of places to see, more fitting, states I haven't been too. Lucky my vendor is frigging amazing, near my age and completely fun, so I'm sure I'll see some good Minneapolis sites.

off to pack. next time i write to you, I'll be in the central time zone. look out midwest.

401k.. I dunno

I've contributed to a 401k since the day I started my official first job out of college-real world-i have to pay bills-job. Something my father instilled in me actually. He's said that if you want continue living the lifestyle (or better) that you currently lead while employed, you'll need money while retired. good advice. and since W isn't showing signs of balling up and fixing our social security woes, a 401k is the way to go.

I got my statement today and it always boggles my mind. I agree with the 'if i don't see it, i don't know its there (and growing)' philosophy of saving. I'm a good saver, when I'm not putting money into vacations abroad or new techie products (when the hell did this start?). But here's my conundrum. Frigging rollover. Rollover to me use to be a part of my day to day when I worked on the cingular account at bbdo.. it meant your unused minutes carried over month to month (but not after a period of 12 months). now i find myself 7 months into a job and still have not rolled over my old 401k. It's not a bad thing really, I'm guessing the old account still is gaining interest, it's just not being added to. and since I'll probably never go back to BBDO, it really should follow me from the Omnicom umbrella to good ol' WPP. ---and for a sick side note, just to make your stomach turn... I read an article this week on just how much our top ad execs make these days. Andrew "I'm sorry i have to leave, I'm going on holiday in the alps' Robertson, head honcho of BBDO, global network, made a whopping 4.6 million .....in 2006... sick right? wonder what his 401k is like. Jesus.

so. back to rollover. i have to figure this out, make a clean break.

on a lighter note. I'm trying 2 new places tonight. Republic - a restaurant my parents ate at when they had their nyc vacation at my apartment when i was in Costa Rica, and Blue Owl for drinks afterward. We shall see what the nigh holds. in the meantime, I really have to get ready.
have a good one.

review

In the past two days, I've spent over 10 hours at 2 separate wine bars. As you know, last night I was at 3 Steps, around the corner from my apartment. This evening, walking home from tonight's wine bar, I saw Duke the 3 Steps bouncer and stopped by to say hello. It's always good to have an in with the bouncers, they are the key to a good evening and can watch out for you if creepy guys stick too close to you.



So, this evening Rachel and capped off a very long and hard week at work at Artisnal for some wine, cheese and dessert. Our selection of cheese consisted of; cow, sheep and goat cheese. I picked the sheep, Rachel picked the cow and we had the bartender decide upon the goat for us. Amazing. It was delightful. a bottle or two later and a delicious apple tart, rounded out the night.

And let me tell you, I love sitting at the bar, you have so much more interaction with those who know the restaurant scene the best, the bartenders. (speaking from 6 years bartending experience...)

Anyway, I highly recommend this place, the cheese and bread was amazing. The staff is highly knowledgeable (without being pretentious) regarding wines and cheeses and if they don't know something, they find someone who does. Thought I'm not sure i could afford the dinner I'd like to have there, they do offer a price fix menu which I'm definitely considering. Anyone who comes into town, we'll go here. My treat.

another reason why I love New York

I just got home. It's 1:45 in the morning. I met Deb, a coworker, out at 3 Steps, a bar literally spitting distance from my apartment and had a fantastic evening. I've had more then a bottle and a half of Pinot Grigio, a good one at that and met a couple of' 'bloakes' from England who i've vowed to play soccer/football with in the future. Much older, but tons of fun.



just another reason why I love New York. The mix of people blows Atlanta out of the water.
ten times over.


Good night, or shall I say good morning.

My favorite things today

a short list.

1. Yelp. By far one of my favorite reference websites for NYC. it beats citysearch any day.

2. My dentist... wha?? Blasphemy. those who know me, know I hate dentists. especially Laura who basically hand-held me through my wisdom tooth extraction. "did you put this hoodie on me? I didn't put this hoodie on..." --anesthesia and I are a funny mix.. anyway. Last week I had a filling fixed and I was in an out in 40 minutes. And, no droopy cheek due to excessive Novocaine. doc used the correct amount. Today, I had a cleaning. --i HATE cleanings. I don't like people poking around in my mouth with foreign pointy metal objects, they look medieval.


My hygienist had me in and out of there within a half hour and praised me for showing up on time and not throwing off the rest of the day's appointments. She was great, not too rough on the gums either. Because of her, I just may start flossing more, and purchase an electric toothbrush with a 2 minute timer.

3. Curly hair. when my "i woke up late, my hair will be curly today" do' works, it makes that extra 1/2 hour of sleep so worth it. Thank you follicles, thank you.


and that's the list so far.

let's go..... mets?

I am not a fan of baseball. sit me in front of a television for any type of football and I'm more then pleased, live at a college game? ---even better. Baseball is not big in my family, whereas football (NY Giants) is, so I don't recall ever going to Yankee or Shea stadium as kid. Rachel, my cube mate, and I were talking about this conundrum this week and decided next time she has an extra Mets ticket, I'd go. Well that time was today's 1:00 game, strangely enough against the Atlanta Braves. Here we are, the rest of the group (Rachel's husband Jeremy & a handful of his friends) were heckling the Braves outfielders at the time. hysterical.


I've seen a handful of Braves game, of which I loved. I don't like baseball but I do like begin outside drinking beer and eating hot dogs, and sports events live I do enjoy. Needless to say NYC weather has been phenomenal, so who could pass up a cold beer, foot long dog and guys running around in tighter then average pants? no brainer. Just look at that sky, clear as day. literally.

One cool thing about Shea stadium is that it's in the flight path of Laguardia Airport. Every 5 minutes or so huge jumbo jets and propeller planes fly overhead.

crazy right?

So that was my day so far. Since I bailed on Deb for brunch due to the free tickets, I think we may go to dinner. I just need to wash off some of the sunscreen. Sunscreen, in April. Global warming is frightening, but I loved this weekend's weather.

oh, and the Mets ended up losing in the last inning 9-6. It was kind of sad. I think one of the reasons why I love going to live games is the feeling of comradery amongst your fellow fans. It's like one big family. it was nice.
anyway. i'm not giving up on the rest of this weekend until the sun officially sets. time to hit the streets again. adios

a great day in nyc

The weather was absolutely beautiful today. I was anxious to get back into flops & a skirt so I opted to head off to the Central Park Zoo. Suzanne, one of my JWT coworkers, volunteers there so I was able to skirt pass the line and enter right away.

So it was me, Diane and the animals.

We saw, polar bears, bats, penguins (by far my favorite) seals, birds and bunch of other animals. Here are a few of my favorite shots of the day:


We left the zoo famished so we headed down to Rodeo Bar for burgers and diet coke-- we were parched as well. Damn good burgers, and I must say the bleu cheese i was dipping my fries in was delicious. After lunch Diane headed back to Hoboken for a nap and I headed back to Central Park to enjoy the sunshine.

I stretched out my sarong and basked in the sun for a good couple of hours. With a borrowed library book and bottle of water in tow, this spot could not be beat. 1/2 way through chapter 7 I had a nice visit with an adorable who jumped on my lab and kept pointing at my reading material saying "book, book!" So cute. I didn't think the summer reading racy chick lit was appropriate for story time so she babbled and I nodded and smiled until her mom came to collect her. little red head, she cracked me up.


It was getting late and I caught the shopping bug so I headed downtown to H&M to see if could broaden my spring wardrobe. Successful, as usual. Now I'd better head off to bed, I'm having brunch with a new coworker tomorrow in her neck of woods- Brooklyn. I'm excited to see more of the boroughs. Can't wait for more warm weather.

working on it

I haven't forgot don't' worry. The vacation post is near and dear to me, I'm taking my time. almost like I'm reliving it again. wish i was there! but it'll be 72 degrees on Saturday here in this big city, and I'll be at the Central Park Zoo to celebrate the end of Earth week. Very excited.
I'll take pics.

connected.

I've returned to the states in one piece and I intend to give a full account of my trip to Costa Rica, but cannot do it justice until I've had some decent sleep.

I've never felt so connected to a vacation as i did with this one. When I carried my overpacked suitcase downstairs to catch the bus to San Jose I looked back to the hotel one last time, and regretted not extending my stay a few more days. I toyed with the idea, but the real world got the best of me.

I'd give anything to be belly up to the bar with a cold Pilsen in hand shooting the shit with the bartender and the girls. Hell, I'd even take belly up to that same bar by myself.

I don't have many regrets in life, if any.
now I have one.

how many hours?

why is it, i ask, that every time you leave to go on vacation, everyone wants to dump a bunch of work on you just as you are trying to record your out of office voice mail greeting for the 16th time without saying "shit" at the end of it. Now what prospective client/vendor wants to hear me cursing.


leaving the city for the airport in less then 12 hours. (3:00 am to be exact)
good times.

fun

haha.
here's a little game I play.
I think it's fun to beat my boss to work in the morning.

dork?

yes.

Good ol' embassy

I just registered my trip to Costa Rica with the US Embassy there. Smart cookie, I am. They are there to help in the event of an emergency while I'm traveling either in CR or back home. It's a smart way to let Uncle Sam know where I am. This is one instance when I'm not unhappy with big brother looking over my shoulder. If he is available to fend off would be local thieves I'm down with that too. maybe sam could poke them in the eye.

In a couple of days now

This is what I'll be doing. Although considering the fact that I haven't surfed since i was, hmm... 14, it won't be boring. Amusing I'm sure for my fellow beach goers.


nataliedee.com

cannot wait. My duane reade shopping list includes the following:

• bug spray
• flashlight (it starts to get dark at 6pm! weird)
• band aids. i'm a clutz regardless of geographic location
• eyeliner. left mine in NJ
• mascara. ditto

i went home this past weekend to stock up on vacation necessities.. sunblock, small shampoos, soap. i love travel sizes. they make me very happy. what doesn't make me happy is that i still cannot find the following:

• black shorts for Puerto Viejo "nightlife"
• cheap tshirts
• cheap tanks
• another 2 skirts

let's hope i have some luck at the cheapie store around the corner at lunch. I'm sure you're all on the edge of your seats with these huge world changing issues. I'll keep you posted on the results.