why i love new york

because it's random.

it's one of the only cities people i know travel in and out of weekly. they call me, tell me they'll be by and we meet. for drinks, dinner, coffee, what have you. my college friend Kris was in town this evening and called to let me know he'd be by. we met up on my work corner and cabbed it down to a bar in the west village where another college pal, Julian, was performing. he's a comedian. very funny.

such great times. it's mind boggling really. how often i see people from my past now. it could be because i grew up in the tri state area, or because nyc is a more populated and therefore popular city then atlanta. or that its thought of one of the wonders of the world. i think of it, and it makes me smile. i love visiting with old friends, seeing where we are now. Kris and i discussed how julian is really making something of himself. seeing him up there i was really happy for him. kris said i looked like a proud soccer mom.

how good it is to see your friends succeed. i'm very happy for both of them.

another reason why i love nyc?
check it out, view from my fire ecape. i say, that may be some accumulation.

you must know 3 things.

This morning I met a friend for breakfast at one of our neighborhood diners. Her name is Eva and she is 63 years my senior. I must say she is the most interesting and put together 89 year old woman I know. She's lived in our neighbored for over 65 years and is well abreast to all the changes and goings-on. She's stays active in a senior citizen's group, and vows to take me to the theater and lincoln center with the other groupies.

at 8:45 I met her at her apartment. it's been rent controlled for the past 35 years, dwarfs my studio and just may be one of the most beautiful places i've stepped into on the east side. she has the most unbelievable art hanging on her walls with ornate frames that belong in the Met. her furniture, new when purchased but antiqued now, anthroplogie would kill to have in their store. she gave me the grand tour and some OJ, before it was time to go. after walking arm and arm to the diner we chatted over coffee and this woman, so wise beyond her years, gave me bits of knowledge that i hope to hang on to.

She said you must know three things. how to be confident in yourself, to trust others and above all be secure in all that you do.

it's sounds so simply put, but those three are such huge feats to accomplish. Eva said she wouldn't be who she is without that knowledge, and i believe her.

our food came, she talked and i listened. she recounted stories of growing up in the city, the people she met, the death of her husband and neighborhood quarrels. i couldn't have learned more with a nyc east side guide book. she made me laugh until i cried describing the new "sexy book" she'd recently picked up.

as we left the diner she openly stated "we have to go to my dealer."

i was confused.

we stopped a few doors down at a bodega on 1st and as we enter I hear the cashier call out "there she is." Eva's well known in these parts. she buys her 2 scratch offs and chats with the cashier before exiting back to my arm. we've almost reach her building when she starts laughing hysterically. I look down to where she is pointing and see a pigeon had lovingly pooped on her hand. "i AM going to win! this is luck!!!" this lady, i tell you, such a character.

we could have visited all afternoon but a weekend full of my laziness has left a bursting laundry bag that rivals the size of mini cooper, and Eva will work on her bingo scratch off. she said she needs quiet to 'concentrate' on the numbers. i really hope she wins.

wow. so that's cold

So, i woke up this morning completely cozy in my warm bed, and decided to sleep in 30 minutes more or so. Got up, showered dressed and ready while listening to the news & weather, expecting ot be immediately frost bitten upon exiting my apartment. Not so much.

"this isn't bad" i thought to myself while walking down 19th st... rounding the corner onto 2nd, it hit me. holy hell that was some wind. i equate it to when you walk into whole foods on union square where they blast the heat after the first set of doors, but this was just bitter cold air.

my enormous semi-puffy winter coat did the trick, but my cheap $3 street gloves were not holding up quite as well, neither were my boots. i thought heels would be a good idea for foot warmth, to get most of my foot off the ground. sadly, my toes disagreed. they thawed out in 30 minutes though.

even though i usually say that "cold isn't worth it if it's not going to snow," it was a nice brisk winter morning.

now bring on the snow.

paranoid, capital P

it's snowing outside, and the quiet has got me thinking. today was a decent day, but i caught a bit of the paranoid bug.

if you know me at all, one of my biggest fears aside from not being able to bear children is failure, or disappointment. i think i even mentioned it in my 100 things list. so today i had this strange feeling that i was doing wrong by my boss, so it festered inside me for awhile before i could muster up the courage to ask him if everything was alright. i actually would equate it to the point in a relationship when your mind tells you something is not right, but your heart is screaming 'it's all good.'

i was hoping for the good.

i'm also non-confrontational when it comes to certain things in my life. i can tell the studio or the pre-press house i need my shit on time, without mistakes or you 'blow my deadline' or tell the media company if you don't give me that extension i'll 'pull all future media from your God-forsaken anti-feminist-lose-15lbs-and -you'll-be-perfect" magazine- without a problem. but face to face, or things that truly matter to me...i'm a hider.

so. i vowed to change when i got up here, be a stronger person, get out of this ridiculous shadow of a producer that others seemingly created for me (unbeknownst to me) and make something of myself. So. ask him.

i swear the anxiety i felt i can equate to asking a former crush to a 4th grade crush to the sadie hawkins day dance. we all want to be loved or appreciated in whatever we do.

step one: approach the boss
step two: act nonchalant
step three: calmly and collectively address your point that the day's goings on left you feeling a bit worried that you may not have attacked the problem as he (your boss) sees fit.
step four: wait for an answer, after he makes that squinty face that your not sure is bad or good.
step five: continue waiting
step six: exhale


i'm fine.

i just mid judged the situation. which is not bad. i've been on a high horse for a while now, even with the job-honeymoon being over. the experiences i have here far surpass past jobs. (and don't get me wrong, i'm not knocking them...i had to come up through he ranks to be where i am today. i'd be nothing without bbdoatl, and i thank the agency as well as the bosses who actually taught me a thing or two daily, regardless if they know it or not. i hope they do.)

it's healthy i think, that dropped stomach feeling, because it keeps you in check. i'm good at what i do. i'm damn good. i'm even good at what i've learned in the past 5 months at jwt (retouching, prepress, etc.). but it's my past that made me this way. it's that pro-bono brochure that my fav boss sent me out to press check alone for the first time. a good confidence, a shaky confidence. i'm not afraid to admit i need positive affirmation to help me grow. everyone does. i'm lucky the good ones in my past did it, a lot.


so the paranoia is slowly wearing off. but my gut keeps reminding me to stay on my toes. and i will. until this campaign is done, until i feel that i've proved myself, until i'm 100% happy with these ads. hmm...

that may never be. but at least the trying is worth it.

mix it up, 1987 style

this morning started with an hour and a half train trip to jersey to visit my parents for the day. let me tell you, $18.75 seems expensive for a ticket, and it is, but when mom sends me off with a shopping bag full of my favorite foods that just 'happened to be on sale,' it makes it all worth while, that and the company. and i'm not just talking about your run of the mill groceries, these are my favorites, aged parmesano reggiano, home made chili, tuscan white bean soup with escarole and sausage, and a 'doggy bag' of this evening's dinner --home made lasagna oozing with ricotta and fresh mozz. it amazes that this woman, who is 100% Polish, can cook these meals like her mother-in-law, who is 100% Italian.

i finished up my book on the train back to nyc, and switched over to my ipod. i was shuffling for a while then skipped to a playlist. i ended up with a mix that friend made for me before i left
for new york. as each song started and ended, it got me thinking about mixes in general.

we've all made them, mainly to signify parts of our lives, road trips, breakups etc. but when you make a mix for someone else, what are you trying to tell them? why do you really choose the songs you do? i have about 6 friends mixes as playlists on my pod at about the linden stop i started scanning the titles for underlying meanings, came up with a few, then thought better of them.

i'm headed off to organize my fridge with all the new goodies my mom packed me. just a quick note, shout out to mr. frost. check out tonight and tomorrow's forecast for 10003...care of the weather channel.

Tonight

Tomorrow

Light Wintry Mix Low 28° F Precip: 40% A mixture of light winter precipitation. Low 28F. Winds light and variable. Chance of precip 40%.

Snow Shower Low 32° F Precip: 40% Cloudy. Snow flurries or snow showers developing. Low 32F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 40%.

whoo hoooooooooo

guess what I saw yesterday? SNOW! and this time, i didn't miss it falling. undoubtedly, frozen precipitation makes me revert to childish reverie.

a coworker and i were heading out to a vendor party last night and as we turned out of the elevator banks i got a first glimpse of the white stuff, then started jumping and tapping her shoulder screaming 'it's snowing!" ..i'll never lose my childish spirit.

it didn't' accumulate too much, but it's snow. living in atlanta for 4+ years, i could probably count the number of times i saw snow on one hand. so for the past two mornings i've been waking up to dusted cars. not enough for a snowball, or a snow angel, or a snowman. but it's enough to make a small traced masterpiece on the trunk of someones car. i drew a smiley face. i hope they like snow too.

3/10 of an inch. awesome. and 50+ mph winds.. that, not so good.

well. off to the office. early out last night means cleanup work today.

welcome back jack

or shall i call you mr. frost? holy moses it's cold outside. so this is what 22 degrees feels like. i had forgotten.
let me tell you, after the local and national newscasters spent countless hours mocking him with global warming, good ol' jack isn't screwing around.

but then again, this wind, as it may be brisk and cold, just isn't going to cut it. frost, if you're going to throw 20 degree temps at me, at least cap it off with a half a foot of the white stuff. i'm on gore's side until i see some snow and a lot of it.

seriously.
please? with a frozen cherry on top? show us what your made of.

let it out

not only because it came out of JWT, but this is one of my favorite commercials. the premise is true. we all need to let it out.

x marks the spot

they say your strongest sense is smell, and i am firm believer. for me it's colognes. i can pin point a guy walking past me if he is wearing a friend or ex's cologne in 2-3 seconds. sometimes it draws up fine memories, sometimes not.

lately, new york has become a series of remembered places: a seat at he laundromat where i wrote an email on a receipt then ran upstairs to send it during the rinse cycle. a block east of union square when a tipsy phone call made me laugh so hard i nearly peed my pants. (that will teach me to leave a bar without vising the ladies room first.) the garden in tudor city where i called my boss to set up my arrival time on my first day at jwt. the astor place subway station steps where i called my dad screaming that i got my apartment. the cross streets of 2nd and 19th when i pounded the hood of a cab that nearly hit me, then felt stupid afterward for doing so. the first time i saw bobby van's again, realizing the last day i ate there was the day before i left for atlanta.

sense may be a strong memory trigger, but location and landmarks are too. and if you take a look at that list above, apparently cell phone conversations are as well. maybe since i'm walking everywhere or gazing out a bus window i have more time to stop and check out my surroundings, since i'm not on the connector northbound trying to avoid rear ending other vehicles with road rage. who knows

regardless. i guess we can start out every morning by asking ourselves, what memory am i going to make today?

100 things

Things have been slow this week so I'll take a shot at a "100 things" list.

1. i love lists, i have them for most things, so this is by no means a chore

2. i'm horrendous at math and haven't take a class in it since my junior year in high school.

3. i hate mushrooms, with a passion

4. i secretly think i'd be good at jeopardy because of my vast amount of useless information

5. I've had many jobs in my life, but only 2 professionally. they include working in a surf shop, beach club, salad stand, and dive bars


6. when i get off a bus i thank the bus driver, but don't expect people to thank me for seeing my ads in magazines

7. my lowest grade in college was a C+, the only C i ever got. i was super distraught about it.

8. i'm an overachieving perfectionist

9. and a paper nerd. when i was young instead of playing house i played 'cheers to you' -- it was a stationary store in my hometown. i pretended i owned it, and sold stationary.

10. my career found me, i didn't find it. all thanks to a headhunter. paper nerds unite.


11. when i was little these were my dream jobs (aside from owning the stationary store) magazine writer, national geographic photographer, teacher

12. my dream jobs now are: magazine writer, national geographic photographer, tv chef

13. i love to cook

14. i am horrendous at baking. something about measuring and mathematics puts me off

15. i wear my heart on my sleeve, but when it comes to matters of the heart, i wear it on the inside.
16. i think the first guy i ever kissed is gay now.

17. frigging is one of my favorite descriptive words. i use it often.

18. i befriend men easier then women, and have had only a handful of great girlfriends over the years

19. but then again, i believe in quality not quantity

20. i revisited a food from my childhood last year, and now it's a staple. mmmm. sloppy joes.



21. i am a proud supporter of weight watchers, attended meetings, lost weight, etc. i never told my fellow watchers that i lovingly referred to it as fat camp. (except for one fellow camper)

22. this is the day of my birth. May, 23d. the number 523 shows up daily in my life, it use to freak me out a bit, now i look forward to it

23. one of the worst things you can say to me and genuinely mean is this: "i am disappointed in you." -it'll make me cry 9 times out of 10.

24. i'm not a pro or an expert in anything. this use to bother me, now i see it as room for improvement

25. lime green has been and continues to be my favorite color for over 10 years.

26. capellini is my favorite long pasta

27. i keep a note pad next to my bed because i often wake up and think of things

28. i have a small family: parents, one brother, one aunt & uncle, 2 cousins. but if you hear our familiar stories, you'd think we were massive...again, quality not quantity

29. one of my biggest fears is not being able to have children. i guess i'll find out later in life

30. watching medical dramas and comedies on television at times makes me want to be a doctor because it looks like fun. then i remember how media makes advertising agencies seem so glamorous.. they're not.

31. i read 'chick' lit books and enjoy it

32. then wonder why i don't write one myself.

33. i have a strange crush on kid rock, he's sexy in the trashy-sexy sort of way

34. i'm afraid to write things down because they may come true. when an ex cheated on me, i never wrote it because there was a small part of me that believed it couldn't happen to me.

35. my earliest memory is when i was 2. my family was driving up to smugglers notch, vt for a late spring vacation. my brother and i were laying down in the back of the green van eating combos. i was wearing my red hoodie.


36. i use to ride my bike all the time when i was little. back and forth to friends houses, the beach, pizza place, you name. small secret... i am afraid to ride a bike now. turning scares me

37. i am afraid of spiders. but i am not afraid to squish them.

38. i was born with light hair, had blond highlights in high school, but never wanted to be a true blond

39. all of my grandparents passed away by the time i was 16. i'd give anything to have another day with each of them

40. E by Matthew Beaumont by far is one of my top 5 favorite books. it describes working at an advertising agency through a series of emails


41. i have only one moving violation. 85 & north druid hills road, improper right on red. till this day there still is no sign stating "no red on red" it was on 1/18/04

42. i've been a maid of honor twice. both dresses were lavender and pretty

43. i'm not particularly superstitious, but i won't walk on the seams/cracks of the jet way leading out to a plane.

44. if i could change one thing about myself it'd be my nose, but i don't think i'll ever get plastic surgery

45. i was a vegetarian for 8 years, beginning when i was 12. i don't regret it, it opened me eyes up to many new types of food.


46. i credit my junior year english teacher with giving me confidence in my intelligence and writing

47. since i started in advertising i thought it would be great to be a copywriter, but didn't want to go to school for it.

48. september/end of august is one of my favorite times of the year, because that's when all the school supplies come out

49. sometimes when shopping i vow to reinvent myself through clothing, but then come to my senses. it's much easier sticking to what i know. i can't pull 1/2 that crap off anyway

50. i'm a cheap date. i don't like lobster, don't typically drink hard alcohol (but will make an exceptions for the occasional margarita) and my favorite beer is PBR, and i'm not afraid to admit it.


51. i played soccer on a club/traveling team from kindergarten through senior year in high school. I then played on a co-ed intramural team in atlanta for 3 years

52. even though i consider myself athletic, i throw like a girl. yep, can't throw a football, even worse, a baseball

53. i never liked baseball anyway, i go to live games mainly for the hot dogs, beer and pretzels

54. at one point in my life i want to own a one of a kind piece of art that i absolutely love

55. it may sound cliche but matisse, picasso, van gogh and degas are some of my favorite painters



56. i was addicted to the gym over the last 2 years in atlanta, going everyday, sometimes twice a day. i joined a gym in nyc mid december, haven't walked through the door yet

57. Since 2000, i've had seven different addresses

58. i failed parallel parking on my driver's test -i'm awesome at it now

59. i do not normally snore, only when i am sick but both my parents do

60. getting my wisdom teeth out was very scary


61. i've had one dog in my life, her name was Rowdie.

62. I've seen the atlantic ocean, mediterranean sea, pacific ocean and caribbean sea.

63. i have naturally curly hair, it's kind of unruly. i don't wear it that way often

64. my biggest pet peeve is when people miss belt loops. i stopped a world history class in 6th grade because my teacher missed one and i couldn't concentrate

65. i've had 2 cars in my life you know about my focus, but my first was a white 1997 Jetta GE. it had a sunroof, cow seat covers and 3 transmissions

66. i love camping. and spent over 5 summers camping on a island on lake george. no electricity, no running water, and a port a potty

67. i love acoustic music. it's calming especially the songs you'd never think would sound good without a plugged in fender strat

68. i spell definitely wrong all the time. i just had to spell check this thing

69. i love writing letters, and still do to this day. a handwritten thank you note means more then one would think

70. I went skydiving once then dated my instructor. his boss took this picture for me while i was in the air


71. i think sarcasm is an excellent quality when used properly.

72. when he was little, my brother had bunk beds. we use to jump off the top bunk pretending to be superfly jimmy snooka of the wwf

73. sometimes i wear my ring with my grandmother's stones on my left hand if i don't want to be bothered by men, or feel skeeved out.

74. i don't get hit on that often.

75. my first concert was the beach boys at the garden state arts center. i was kind of upset when john stamos wasn't there
76. one of my favorite things about the north is that we have 4 solid seasons.

77. when i was little i wanted to be exactly like my cousin caren. i don't think i've ever told her that.

78. i love when men wink at me in that sweet hello/goodbye way. not the sleezy 'i want to jump your bones' way

79. knock on wood, but i've never broken a bone

80. though i sprained my ankle badly in the last game of my soccer season in 8th grade, a week before i was confirmed. i went down the aisle in my confirmation gown ready to be sworn in to catholic adulthood...on crutches.

81. i was 13 when i had my first alcoholic beverage without my parents knowing

82. i use to skip school and hang out in nyc during the day, then call my parents from manhattan mall in herald square and tell them i was in red bank. they learned of this last year

83. i've only driven in new york city once. i was 16 and didn't have a license yet

84. it bothers me when people over-quote movies

85. i have a black thumb. i kill plants. i'm trying to work on that
86. when i stayed at my aunt and uncle's house before finding my first apartment in atlanta i could hear a train pass by nightly. i miss that.

87. i still think my dad can do anything. it's a thought i hope to never outgrow

88. one of my favorite desserts comes from a college roomie. graham crackers slathered in funfetti icing.

89. i refer to moles as beauty marks. i have 3 near my nose that I love. when i got my senior high school picture back i was sad to see they retouched them out.

90. i have type 0 negative blood, and am a universal donor. i've been doing so since i was 18.
91. i'm a ny giants fan and have been since i can remember. LT #56 was my favorite player growing up

92. i'm decent at flag football. the last game i played i scored 2 touchdowns. one on an interception

93. i had mono when i was in 6th grade and was out of school for three months. it was not as fun as it sounds

94. i like when people compliment my lips or eyes. it's endearing

95. i love peanut butter. this kind is my latest favorite

96. i have one tattoo. a small blue flower on my right toe about the size of a quarter. i don't plan on getting anymore

97. i have a somewhat unhealthy obsession with dayplanners. the more the merrier

98. yet i still think i'm spontaenous.

99. when i hear a ringing sound in my ears i still believe the old wives tale that someone is talking about me and hope they are saying good things.

100. i hope you enjoyed reading this as much as i enjoyed writing it.

strange, strange ny

i have a super long post in the works, that will take me some time. i hope you will all find it interesting, i am definitely learning a lot writing it. but onto the strange occurrences of last night

well, i guess not plural, since there was only one. but needless to say, weird.

a friend from atlanta is intown for a couple days so i met up with him for drinks last night. just as i was finishing up dinner and ready to leave, my door buzzer rings. i hit the talk button and asked who it was. all i heard was "Police Department."

and cue stomach drop. i responded back with "okay. hold on." then "i'll be right down." what else do you say?

those two flights downstairs were very slow. every horrible, God awful thing went through my head beginning with death.

i get to the door, 2 officers in suits stand outside and show their badges. i pause and open the door and they look confused. confused??? and what do they say? "i think we paged the wrong apartment, we needed 2F" i told them quite brazenly to never do that to me again. hehe

building is okay, as are my fellow neighbors. who knew what the issue was. so, i calmed down, walked a couple blocks and met a pal for beers. from extreme nerves then reassurance to a tipsy calm. it was a good night.

bear with me

i've had a few glasses of wine. i got out of work at 5:00 and met my ol' hoboken roomie for wine & aps at houston's on 27th and park. good times.

so my parents came up this weekend, we had a great time. we walked around, attached a shelf to the kitchen wall, saw a broadway play, enjoyed nyc bagels, did it all. we had such a great time. mine is a very small apartment, upwards of 425 square feet, but it felt very homey with my folks visiting. I got the 'mom decorating approval' and all was good.

we saw "Company" - luckily we got tickets from TKTS (which use to be in times square, but is not at the marriot off of times square while the T sq. location is being renovated) so, we got ticktes 5o% off, and booked the 8:00 show. it was good, marginal. not great. but i was glad to see a show on broadway. we don't recommend it though.

okay. i am not feeling extremely sentimental, outgoing or open tonight. woke up in a mood, rain maybe? and don't worry, i didn't smell the nyc gas.
have a good one.

you can make fun of me now.

just a short post to enlighten you on the current state of my slowness. we've decided on costa rica as the destination for sarah's birthday, so i just checked the time difference. so what did i just say aloud?

"ooh costa rica is only an hour behind us. it's like being in alabama"

hmm... no, not really.
point and laugh, go on.

fresh direct is my friend

as of 8:00 am, I have all my groceries. and the "estimated total" was only $3.00 off, which is good. They also took 10% off my first order, because I'm new AND gave me a box of homemade fresh direct candy in an adorably branded orange accented box. I LOVE it, and it tastes good too. (why is it that i went to first taste the chocolate instead of say, the lettuce?)

dumb question. bring on the chocolate.



it's on top of the scale on my kitchen windowsill. They even call me out with a new first customer sticker. i feel so loved. anyway, out the window can see its still a bit gross out this morning, so i tipped the guy a little better.

this is what he had to bring up 2 flights. (and 2 cases of diet coke that immediately went in the fridge to be chilled. priorities, people)



and one more, and a bag of frozen stuff that went into the freezer. I can't tell you how good it feels to have a full fridge again. i slacked and ate out a lot all thorough december, which isn't like me.



there's a shot of my kitchen. for ya. tiny, but bigger for nyc standards. well. time to go prep the place for the parents arrival. after doing some errands and possibly a small scale museum my dad and i are going to make meatballs & sauce. YUM. can't wait, more good for me food to have around the joint for a while.

have a great 65 degree day.

don't get me started on global warming.
all i want it snow.

the streets are lined with evergreens.

or douglas firs.

It's that time of year where Americans nationwide haul the ol' Christmas tree to its final resting place on the curb. new york is no exception. my walk home was piney fresh. i enjoyed it.

back to work to this week, feels good to be back on a schedule that does not include waking up at 11:00 am with a first meal around 4pm. who knows, maybe i was in part reliving my teenage years.

tomorrow morning sometime between 7:30 am and 9 am marks a major milestone in my new york inhabitance. i ordered groceries online from fresh direct, and that's my delivery window. haha. still cracks me up. now, for those of you who know me, know i love to cook and even more so food shop. i swear i could roam the aisles for hours --especially in Publix, such wonderful branding. so, i miss that. but i'm sure as hell not lugging 2 12 packs of diet coke and various other foodstuffs home 5 blocks then up 2 flights of stairs. call me lazy. i'm okay with it.

so i think, once a month i'll partake in the whole online shopping experience. i'll update you as needed.

for the love of God i wish my upstairs neighbor would not repeatedly throw things across her apartment then run to fetch them in her stilettos. if anyone needs to wear heels that often, they have a problem. or more so, will have a foot/arch problem later in life. my downstairs neighbor must love me.. hmm. wonder if he does

well. my night consists of winding down, a glass of wine, some whole foods dinner and cleaning to mark the visit of my parents tomorrow. what a terribly exciting life i lead.
(and i'm okay with that too.)

a new start

Happy New Year! Looking back on 2006, I have to say it was a mighty fine year, that passed by so quickly. My resolution last year was to move, but I guess you can't really resolve to do that, so I planned it instead, an open-ended plan. Probably one of the only resolutions I've kept. So, new years in the big apple. I didn't see the ball drop in times square, they don't let you toast in the new year and to boot, there's no where to pee. 1 million people needing to pee is more like a nightmare for me then a way to ring in the new year. "i resolve to have a smaller bladder next year."

But, as by my last post, I started early on my resolution. I vowed to try to meet more people, and I have. I also need to add "be better at remembering names" to my resolution list. (i suck at this!) Being new in a city you give yourself time to get acclimated, set up house, apartment, find the best deli, closest coffee shop etc. Most of that is done on your own, and before you know it, you've spent most of your new city time exploring solo. Which personally, I don't mind, but it'd be nice to have company once in a while. So my new years eve was spent with a couple of work acquaintances, who I can now call friends. I hopped a bus uptown met them at the bar, and had a great time. Glad I spent it here.

It was a bit strange though, not being in Atlanta. For the past four years I've spent New Years with the same group of people, family & friends. I missed them a lot that night, especially when a couple of southern rock songs came on and blared through the speakers, Skynard, Charlie Daniels, etc. -David Allen Coe didn't make the play list, shame, really.

But, there was a ton of Bon Jovi, and let me tell you, my new pals and I share a similar love for that jersey boy.

So my vacation is coming to an end. I accomplished a couple of things over my 12 day break. I finally bought my wellies! I wore them last night for the first time. I love them. well worth the search. I outfitted my apartment with a new rug, and I slept like a teenager. Up until 2, asleep until 11. Sick, really. I kind of hate that I can sleep this way, but maybe it is my body telling me I need the extra hours? Possibly gearing up for what is to come in the following weeks at work. -Which i sheepishly admit I'm looking forward to. I miss the routine. I know. I'm a nerd.

shall we walk?

I grabbed a bus uptown this afternoon to pick up my new years ticket at 76th and first. It was so nice outside I decided to walk home, well, not actually home, I stopped to get my nails done on 16th. That's a whopping 60 blocks. It really wasn't intentional, I just didn't have anything else to do. I'm not very familiar with the upper east side, so i was a great time for exploration. Walking at near dusk is one of my favorite things to do in this city. It's amazing the way the oranges, pinks and violets of the sunset reflect off the buildings.

I'm not quite sure why tourists take the double decker "see Manhattan" bus tours. I know the guides point out important buildings, etc. but you can see it all on a ny transit bus for $2 and save $38 for a nice dinner. On my walk home I saw a lot of the city, the UN, Tudor City, and a bunch of shops and coffeehouses I never new existed. One section of town that I caught my eye was a tree lined cobble stone walk on 47th between 1st and 2nd. Its a part of an area in midtown east called Turtle Bay. This one section of the walk caught my eye, sadly all I had was my camera phone, so here's the best shot.

the quote reads as follows:

"Never 'for the sake of peace and quiet' deny your own experience or convictions"
-Dag Hammarskjold

Smart man. I love the quote. Here's another one from him that I found online and like.

Pray that your loneliness may spur you into finding something to live for, great enough to die for.
-Dag Hammarskjold

Who knew you can find philosophy on 47th? Anyway, great walk home, skirted past Bellevue quickly but overall great walk. anyway. after the quick manicure I bought a little new years dress. I'm excited. My first new years in the big city, and it's with a bunch of acquaintances, so I'm starting on my resolution early...meet more people.
good times.

hmmm. where to go?

Let's see. Some of you know I've been planning a trip to Barcelona to travel over the Easter holiday with a friend from work (Sarah) to celebrate her 30th birthday. She's traveled the world already, so our destinations are limited. It'll be me, Sarah, and some of her pals from her home country (which is Sweden). Looks like Barcelona is out, so we're up for any suggestions. On the table so far we have:

1. Costa Rica
2. South America
3. ???

Any suggestions are welcome. We'd like a relatively warm destination, and keep in mind some of the girls will be flying out of Sweden to join us. Regardless, I'm leaving the states over Easter break, and could not be more excited.

Toto... don't go back to kansas.

because Rutgers just blew kansas state out of the water, or plains for that matter. 37-10. winning never tasted so sweet. I'm so proud to be a Rutgers Alumni
here's a tid bit of trivia regarding the ol' scarlet knights, care of a fella named Chris Duncan, at the AP.

"Rutgers outscored its opponents 103-28 in the first quarter this season."
here's the full article.

Unfriggen believable. Thank you Texas bowl. Texas now has a special place in this Yankee heart o'mine.
...how many days until next season?

cheater.

as i was poking at my post holiday belly pudge this morning, i thought of a little conversation i overheard at a christmas party a few weeks ago.

I was in line to get a glass of wine with a friend, and overheard a girl tell her friend that she'd be back at the bar later, she had to pick something up. Her friend asked what she was picking up, and since she was pretty drunk at this point she responded pretty damn loudly with 'coke'. (now, if you're like me, you'd think, ooh, i'd love a 20oz diet coke right now) well, not the kind of substance she was talking about.

so this got me thinking. cokeheads are cheaters. the girl was early twenties, very skinny, pretty girl-- the kind you hate. One of the apparent side effects of coke, (think Kate Moss now) when regularly used is weight loss. Listen folks, you cheat. you're cheaters.

Can't you just try to lose weight by diet, exercise, stress and diet coke like the rest of us? For all the money you're wasting up your nose, hell, you can join jenny craig. Now I know that the people who use coke don't rely it on soley as a weight loss drug. but you know its in the back of their burnt out little minds.

alas. time to go back to examining the pudge.