wait. is that music?

i can't sing. really, i can't, wish i could. i am at peace with this portion of my non-talent so i in no way feel compelled to sing in public.

much to my dismay, not all people are this self aware.

exhibit a? the bar across the street from my apartment that now hosts live music. the guy on the mic right now is well into his first set.

hell i tell you. complete hell. I'd close the windows but It's so nice out. maybe it's time to bring out the ear plugs again. here's his set list so far:

1. Me and Julio Down at the School Yard- Paul Simon
2. You've Got to Hide Your love Away- The Beatles
---yep. every time the "Hey" comes up, he sings way to loudly into the microphone. c'mon buddy.
3. I'm not quite sure what this song was, he was mumbling too badly. possibly trying to channel his inner Dylan? - not working.

4. lyrics, indistinguishable. no idea what this one was.
5. ditto #4, but with harmonica.
6. Heart of Gold- Neil Young


okay pals. as much as i'd love to give you an amateur hour play by play, i'm going to hit the hay early. i skipped the gym this morning due to last nights catch upon sleep because of tuesday night's 3:00 am bender. so when you are all tucked in your comfy beds at 6:00 am think of me walking to the gym.

joy. can't wait.

i see famous people.

i never do. i suck at it. so, since my monthly unlimited metro card ran out on thursday, i had to renew it on friday. and since i'm the mta's #1 bus fan, and they don't sell metro cards on the buses, i had to take the subway. luckily it wasn't 900 degrees.

as i was crossing 15th and 3rd, the corner that smells like coffee (i'll get to this in a bit, it's too good to pass up), i see this stunning woman crossing the street. she had to be at least 6 ft tall. she was super casual, dressed down but so put together. i wanted to be her. as i got closer, i realized who it was.

no other then Uma Thurman.


oh wait.it gets better.. Ethan Hawke. i NEVER see famous people. they were with their children, I'm guessing on the way to school. she is really that pretty and yes, he is hotter then ever. sickeningly hot. their kids are probably going to adapt and a start super race with those genes.

so, of course what do i do? cross the street and locate my phone in the depth of my black hole of a bag and call caren. because she saw adrien greenier when she was here visiting day and i didn't. she was excited for me. hehe


so back to the coffee story.
in january my parents were here visiting we were walking toward the union square subway station, and were held at the light crossing 3rd at 15th. my mom stops and said "i smell coffee." my father and i look at each other, then at her and laugh.

we were standing in a front of a starbucks.

so from now on, that's the coffee corner and when i'm there I always think of my mom and laugh. cracks me up every time.
hehe

heaven

i recorded 'sarah's secrets' on the food network today because she has a couple of recipes i've liked on their website. low and behold, best show ever aired today.

those who know me, know how much i love to chop. me and a good kitchen knife make an excellent pair. well. get ready.... today's show is all about chopping. i'm trying to contain myself from taking notes and posting them all over my kitchen. who knew there were easier ways to chop tomatoes? and she made a caponata that looked just delicious, and it's all chopped! i'm making that as soon as the 2nd paycheck kicks in on friday.

now... shes julienning! i'm locking this show so it's not deleted by mistake.

forgive me, but i have to learn how to julienne.

happy chopping.

train wreck.

i'm sorry i just couldn't keep this one to myself. i'm watching the mtv music awards did anyone else catch britney's spears' opening number? it was like a bad accident where you just can't look away. the dancing, the hair weave. the lip syncing? yikes.

if i am ever that loaded i will have people to tell me 'no lauren, you're making a fool out of yourself.' sad, really.

quite frankly, i'm a bit surprised at mtv. they are no better then the tabloids. exploiting people for the sake of some ratings. sad. sad. sad.

i'll give it to her though, for someone who has had 2 kids, her body doesn't look bad. i hope to look like that after popping out 2 lil' ones.

put another notch in the W column

Rutgers did it again. we just beat navy 41-24
There is just something about the first football games of the year that make me so happy. Could be the smell of fall in the air, or gearing up for a great RU season.

needless to say the big east has 4 Heisman trophy contenders, and one being Ray Rice of RU.

unbelievable... a heisman candidate from Rutgers.. I love it

check it out. See Ray run... all the way to the trophy ceremony.

by the way, he just crushed the Rutger's all time rushing record this evening against Navy.
well done Ray, well done.

just remember, RU is the birthplace of college football. you can thank my alma mater for your saturday game watching activities.

if i attracted men like I attract mosquitos, i'd be a floozy.

great labor day weekend, very relaxing. I headed down to beesley's point to join lauren and a couple of college friends to celebrate the end of summer. great time.

I took the bus from port authority directly to atlantic city, and let me tell you, that is one helluv'an experience. the people watching one can do on a greyhound is uncanny. I caught the 10:00 bus and quickly grabbed a window seat and got situated. as i took out the trusty ipod, an elderly lady sat next to me and struck up a quick conversation. She turned toward me and pointy her frail finger my way and said "you, i chose you because you look quiet."
...and then went into a 20 minute diatribe on atlantic city, the taj mahal. that's about the time i told her i'm going to take a nap, then put on my headphones. so much for quiet, eh? she was funny though. at one point during our journey her phone rang, and she had a brief conversation with her friend who was due to meet her. It went a bit like this.

" No. the taj.. no the TAAAAAJJJJJJJJ. oh come on.. you know where i am, slots. on the right, no no near the exit, where i usually go."

cracked me up. after a 2 hour and 10 minute trip (only about 10 of us got off the at the atlantic city bus terminal, others were going to the taj--- and we were early) lauren and brian picked me up and we headed to house. it was a great time, drinks and dinner at the tuckahoe, boating, clamming, crabbing and mussel hunting. it was the seafood bounty of a weekend.

after lots of great food, good drink, warm sun, fantastic company and many, many mosquito bites i got back on the bus last night for the return trip home.

my seat mate had a bag of fried chicken, leftover from the AC buffets i'm guessing. after 30 minutes I didn't smell it too much. the company just as interesting as the ride down.

shore traffic and late bus got me home in under 3 hours and I was happy to be back in my bed .

great way to end the summer. now break on the sweaters boots and spiced pumpkin nonfat lattes.

oh. and i got in a bus accident on the way home today. ridiculous. cabbie cut off the bus. everyone was fine just a bit knocked about.
i swear. only in nyc.

i'm getting bad at remembering

is that even possible?

I forgot a ton of birthdays this month, or remembered them a couple of days too late.
So to the following family and friends, I'm so sorry and I wish I was around to celebrate. In no particular order:

• Aunt Joan
• Jason
• Jeff
• Keith N.
  

And I honestly think there is one more, but for the life of me, can't remember. this is a problem. Normally, i'd have a stack of my own hand made cards to choose from, or draw a few up special for each person. not this year. where does the time go? it's amazing how much i got done in atlanta during free hours. i need to get back to that rhythm. and they say the south is slow. the work-pace may be much quicker up here, but jeez. i don't get 1/2 as much done. maybe we're all too concentrated on having walking races on the street (see below) that we don't have enough energy to do anything anymore.

I barely have the time to pick up the phone to call you fine people. Or if i do have the time, i'm so zonked out from the day i'd be incoherent and suited better for drooling on myself in front of the television then a phone conversation. sad, really.

when you have this undying love for paper and blank books, you feel the need to have on that is only birthdays, or anniversaries, what have you. only problem? I think that book is stashed in the back of my filing cabinet at work. not entered into my moleskine as it should be.

so please everyone, send my your birthdays so I won't endure this horribly embarrassing posting again.


walking races... i think its fun to race people on the way to my destination. it makes for entertainment while in transit. basically, instead of passing people or cutting them off on a major highway, you do it on the sidewalk. hehe. whatever gets you by.

all new yorkers do it though, don't let them tell you different. we all hate slow walkers, and we all like the think we live in fast lane with the biggest strides.

a while

its been.

brief perspective of time? one year ago today i quit my job bbdo and began planning a move to new york. crazy what happens in a year isn't it?

last week i was in florida with rachel visiting my mom. it was a great trip. hot as hell. not so sure global warming is a fluke. we had a great relaxing time.

i went to a show last night on the lower east side. band called red romance. taught me i am not hip enough to be a hipster. nor do i look good in skinny tight black jeans, striped top, fedora and chuck taylors. then again, not sure hipsters are hip enough themselves.

blogging came up a bunch this week. i had a friend say it's more a less a ranting journal. he has point, but with all the time and miles between us all, i try to think of it as more of a long email, updated daily. or not so daily in my case. i've kind of lost the spirit of blogging, i'l try harder.

well. since the weather is due to be beautiful tomorrow, i'm planning on going to governor's island via the ferry to take some time to enjoy the water.

best to everyone.

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