you'd think it was a monsoon

I woke up this morning around 6am to be at work by 7, to start the day early. - not to the sound of my alarm, nope, but to huge claps of thunder. many of you know, thunderstorms are one of my top 5 favorite things so I happily laid in bed and watched the lightning until around 7 then got up, showered and out the door by 7:45. Since the bus lines have been crazy due to the steam explosion a couple of weeks ago, I opted for a quick subway ride instead. When i got to Union Square station to catch the 4, 5 express uptown, I heard there were no trains running. So, back to the bus stop at 14th and 3rd. i seriously think there were 120 people on that bus. i made it in, and am currently the only one in my dept. everyone's stuck in various boroughs, between boroughs or sick-daying it.
haha

i leave you with a couple of reasons why NYC could never be in Seattle:


Due to severe flooding throughout the subway system, there are extensive delays on all subway lines. Customers are advised when at all possible to use bus service. The detours are as follow

The train is running on the line in both directions between the Canal Street Station and the DeKalb Avenue Station.

There is no train service in both directions between the Van Cortlandt Park-242nd Street Station and the South Ferry Station.

There is no train service in both directions between the Wakefield-241st Street Station and the Brooklyn College-Flatbush Avenue Station.

There is no train service in both directions between the Harlem-148th Street Station and the New Lots Avenue Station.

There is no or train service in both directions between the Euclid Avenue Station and the Jay Street-Boro Hall Station.

There is no train service in both directions between the World Trade Center Station and the Jamaica Center-Parsons-Archer Station.

There is no train service in both directions between the Jamaica-179th Street Station and the Forest Hills-71st Avenue Station.

There is no train service in both directions between the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue Station and the Jay Street-Boro Hall Station.

There is no , or train service in both directions between the 149th Street-Grand Concourse Station and the Borough Hall Station.

There is no train service in both directions between the Canarsie-Rockaway Parkway Station and the 8th Avenue Station.

There is no 42nd Street Shuttle train service in both directions between the Times Square-42nd Street Station and the Grand Central-42nd Street Station.

There is no train service in both directions between the Jamaica Center-Parsons-Archer Station and the Broadway Junction Station.

Astoria-bound trains are running on the or lines from the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue Station to the 36th Street Station.

In addition, due to debris on the track at the Church Avenue Station, the and trains are running on the or line in both directions between the DeKalb Avenue Station and the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue Station.

that's off the MTA website.

Here's some more fun from New York 1.

Due to flooding at the Times Square-42nd Street Station, shuttle service was unavailable between Grand Central-42nd Street Station and the Times Square-42nd Street Station.

Due to a smoke condition at the Borough Hall Station, there was no 2 or 3 train service in both directions between the Wall Street Station and the Borough Hall Station.

Buses in Manhattan were also being rerouted.

In addition, LIRR service on the Port Washington Branch was suspended in both directions due to a flooding condition at Bayside, with alternate bus service being provided.

As of 7:30 a.m., Metro North was also reporting no service into or out of Grand Central Terminal on the Hudson, Harlem or New Haven lines because of flooding between the Mott Haven and Melrose sections of the Bronx.

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.

for the love of Pete make it stop.

and he did.


work has been. well. all encompassing. and because I'm somewhat of a control freak perfectionist i was at the office along with 35 others who can be described in the same fashion. We were all working long and hard through the night. I escaped about 2:00am. Yes people, yesterday was a Sunday. I'm working on around 4.5 hours of sleep, so bear with me.

So how did Pete make it stop? I know, it's just an expression, I really only do know one Pete but that lovely man did not have anything to do with this. I decided to bite the bullet of a big airfare and join my southern family for a long vacation on the beaches of Florida, east coast. I approached my boss, told him even though I know a lot of people are off around the time I'd like to be, I've been working hard and I deserve it.

Who the hell knew that actually works, and why am I not more direct with other parts of my life? note to self, demand more (kindly though).

So, super excited, can't wait. relaxing on the beach, playing with the kids and lots of Honey Baked Ham. sounds heavenly. Add a stop at the NY public library beforehand and I'm in good shape.

Anyway, before the massive work session yesterday I was able to get a good couple of hours of beach time in with Rachel and her husband. See, the thing with advertising is, you can never really get away from it. It's everywhere, and if it's not there yet, I'm looking for a way to put it there.

Anyway, this is what I saw hovering a thousand or so feet above the shoreline. Evidence of my small 3 month stint on Smirnoff. oh glory be, ain't she a beaut?




eh. I've seen better.

well. I'd better go drop my laundry off before I pass out on the couch.
good evening my friends.

mouth watering

it's been a long day. a long, long day. and this is what i have to look forward to in about 30 minutes when i walk out work's door.
I'm thinking Pete's tavern. mmmmmmm.
yum.
can't
wait.

exhausted.

this engergizer bunny is running out of juice. i am exhausted. I have been going non-stop the last couple of weeks, and i think may be starting to pay the price.

do you ever have the feeling that when you have so many scheduled things on your plate, that the brief amounts of time that aren't planned, you need to cram the top 10 things of your to do list in?

I am working crazy hours, that don't stop when I'm out of the office. When i'm home, i'm thinking about it. i'm not opposed to the challenge one bit, in fact i welcome it, i just wish i had some time to go to the gym or food shop.

fresh direct is great, but once the food is here, i have to be home to actually prepare it. and that takes time. so, in nights like these, i resort to good ol' Paquito's. I highly reccommend the enchiladas. I had the spinach and cheese kind this evening.

anyway. this weekend i am going to the beach. and i'm excited. it'll be my first Trip to a nyc beach, well Long island beach. should be a good time.

anyhow. I'm going to bed because i'm not making a great deal of sense and my eyes are half closed.
good night. hopefully there will be more interesting content to come.

i'm a bad blogger

it's just been a busy couple of weeks. and I'm sorry I've been neglecting you. Here's a brief synopsis of my last few weeks.

last time we left off i was in Minneapolis for work. that amazing project i was working on is finally complete, shipped and delivered. it got a bit bumpy along the way, but project of a life time, worth all the heartache. and even though it made my birthday memorable for the wrong reasons, i wouldn't change a thing. Straight from my last check on the book, my vendor rushed me to the airport where I ran to catch my flight. landed in Philadelphia then caught a connection to Providence. I got out of the airport into the warm air and was finally able to exhale.

The weekend was great. It was so good to see Laura and her family again. I was lucky to make it to Z's 4th birthday, complete with a magnolia cake, YUM. The weekend flew by so quickly, but we were able to make it to the beach for a dinner picnic, it was my first beach visit of the summer. Rhode Island is beautiful.

don't you think?

The next morning was Nell's christening. She was such a good baby, barely a peep. Me and Meg, her other godmother rose to the task of accurately saying her name loudly enough for the whole church to hear, passed her back and forth with ease and I even had to walk the aisle to present the newly baptized Nell to the churchgoers. It was great. I'm so happy to be a Godmother, great honor. Here is the beautiful babe.


After another long week of problem solving at work, I opted to use my summer friday to run errands. Even though i put about 3 hours in via cell phone back an forth to the office i was able to pick up my paint and tape the walls for my dad's arrival on saturday to paint my place. I ended up choosing Olive Tree by benjamin moore. my fascination with limey greens will never go away. i also bought the west elm coffee table i have been yearning for too. check it out, you can see both.

I love it. 3 of the 4 walls in my main room are painted in this perfect shade. it looks a bit more yellow in the shot then on the walls. You will all just have to visit and see it in person.

Another work week down, more work on the project, a friday off with more work, but my atlantan family came to visit! caren and aunt joan flew in on friday and my mom took the train in on saturday. my 323 sq ft apartment looked like a very fashionable hostel. it was great. the weekend is a blur now but we had so much fun. we:

• shopped a bit in chelsea & the east village
• ate a good meal on the upper west side with caren's sister-in-law tracey
• saw Rent on broadway- amazing
• drank lots of wine
• ate a La Palapa on st. marks. highly rec commended
• saw all the tourist attractions: Ground Zero, empire state bldg., herald square, times square, rockefellar center, the puerto rican day parade, radio city music hall, rats in the subway and some transvestites.
  

complete new york experience. Caren, obsessed with the italian ice of her youth (rainbow flavored) sought out a 2 scoop paper cup of rainbow at ray's on st mark's and was giddy beyond belief. note the toothy smile. cracks me up.

Here are some of the other shots from this weekend, i love the ones from the top of empire.

the building on the left of the chrysler bldg is where i work. (brown, the windows look like horizontal stripes)

flat iron building, and the building to the right of it is the international toy building where i interned in college for 1.5 years.

my neighborhood. not the tall bldgs. that's Stuyvesant town & peter cooper, but you can see my street.
my mom, me and my aunt. so proud of aunt joan, she's afraid of heights!

last but not least, the women of the family. me, my mom, caren and aunt joan.

overall, such a great weekend. we woke up today at 5:30 am to get showered, dressed and out the door so the atlantans could make it to the airport shuttle. (not without picking up a dozen of nyc bagels first) I spent the morning reading the paper in starbucks, then heading up into work around 7:30. it's been a long day, and i need some sleep.
it's sadly quiet in my apt now. i kind of miss the company.

promise to keep you updated more often.

teee heee

this cracks me up. hahahha. Laura and I use to talk about Frenemies all the time. speaking of Laura, I get to see her tonight if all goes well on the remaining pieces of my check. flying out of Minneapolis into Philadelphia from Philadelphia into Providence. going to me a Godmother shortly.

back to the press room.