the girls party

Last weekend was W's surprise bachelorette party!  It was an elaborate undertaking with a carefully constructed diversion, but it came off without a hitch!  Good job, B and me.  

The groom's bachelor party was coincidentally planned for the same weekend, and at some point we discussed how girls' parties are different from boys' parties.  The below details are some good examples of what boys would never bother themselves with.  A 24-pack with stripper would do it for them.

Tissue paper pom pom's

I youtube'd how to do this.  Martha Stewart charges $15 for a pack!  If you DIY, it becomes $2 cheap and fun!  I basically kept cutting the sheets in half to make different size pom poms.  Then I folded it up like an accordion, with 1 to 1.5" folds.  Make sure to fold on the short edge because that makes it poof more.  Either round out the corners or cut points.  Then use twisties or staples to secure the middle, and then poof!  I thought I would like the rounded corners more, but after poofing out the pom poms, I actually like the sharp points better. 

Here's what I used.

13 sheets of 16.5 by 12"

11 sheets of 8.25 by 12"

10 sheets of 8.25 by 6"

Goody bags
Ever since I got a heat tool, I've been embossing everything in my path.  To go along with the pom pom theme, I got a magnolia stamp and embossed the goody bags.  YEAH.  We had T-shirts made for all the guests, which I rolled up and put next to the goody bags.  I then sprinkled phallic and x-rated confetti all around the bags to class it up a bit.  Not pictured here because for some reason I decided to keep this a family post.

I loved working on these details, many of which probably went unnoticed, but I believe every detail adds to the feel, whether noticed or not!

SPOTTED: Coco, Mrs. Ice T

coco was on my flight back from Vegas this weekend, in all pink, bright blue, platinum blond, and fake eyelash glory.  She looked exactly like herself.  She did take time to talk and take a picture with a fan though - for someone without any real talents, I guess she's got to milk her fan base.

More from the surprise bachelorette weekend to come!

SPOTTED: LOCKE

imdb.com

Terry O'Quinn (aka John Locke from LOST)

Apparently this guy lives in my neighborhood and goes to my gym (UWS)!  I passed right by him when I entered the gym and did multiple takes because honestly, he looks like a normal old white guy.  (They all look alike!) But I verified that this was him with a couple of people, and was told that he usually goes early afternoon, when I'm never around.  It must be really convenient for him to live in my neighborhood and film his new show 666 Park Avenue (someone told me that it's gonna be cancelled) around the corner.  What they say is the upper east side is actually the upper WEST side!

ROUNDABOUND

While in Amersham, I got reacquainted with all the roundabouts - those Brits don't much like stop signs.  This kept playing in my head.

While awfully European to have ROUNDABOUNDS, they posed quite an obstacle for my running excursions around town.  No matter how much I tried to look the correct (wrong) way for traffic, I felt like I was constantly putting myself in danger when I crossed the street.  They don't have those signs to "look right" like they do in London.  So I tried to remember to look right, then left, then right, but the cars come at you in a very disorientating way since they're on the "wrong" side of the road.  I decided that I could only cross the street if there were absolutely no cars coming from either direction.  This is all fine if I'm just crossing one street, but how are you supposed to cross a roundabound?  Well, I came to the conclusion that you're not.  So my rule became to never cross the street.  If I came to a roundabound, I had to go left.  That actually came in handy for not getting lost, but it also made me go in circles.

THOSE ROUNDABOUNDS.  Correct.  YES, that is what I said!

harry and sandy

warped rooftop

hobbit door, as tall as me

the OFFICE

Harry Potter-ville

I was called to go on a last-minute business trip to the London area with 48 hours notice!  I freaked out because it seems like a big trip, but I had forgotten how easy of a trip it is.  It's just slightly longer than my usual westward trip to California.  It was cold and dreary with yellow and orange leaves falling everywhere.  This is exactly how I picture the English countryside. SO DAMN QUAINT!!

See it?  Way out there - it's the scary, broken crane.

I luckily made it home from London before Hurricane Sandy.  I got to hunker down with my hubs, which is quite frankly, what we'd love to do all the time anyway.  We maintained power, internet, and water through the whole ordeal.  P and I even ventured outside (against all warnings from public officials) to experience the wind and take a peek at the Hudson.  I hadn't experienced a hurricane before, so I just HAD TO SEE!  The wind and the swooshing trees made the short walk over to the river an exciting one to say the least.  You can first HEAR, then SEE, and lastly FEEL the strong gusts of wind coming at you.  The river water wasn't gnarly like you saw at the beach, but it did rise to the level of the pier at the time we saw it.  The water eventually covered the entire pier and went up the embankment behind it.  We watched the river for all of 30 seconds before we were ready to head back to safety.

While we have emerged unscathed from Sandy, I cannot begin to fathom how others have to pick up the pieces of their lives and go on.  Coping with the destruction has only begun, and the amount of work to rebuild is unnerving.  While I have my fair share of complaints about New Yorkers, it is in times like these that their inspiring resilience and bravery shine.

a bunch of firsts

1. Santigold concert at Roseland Ballroom
   
   Got picked up by and then hung out with  2 lesbians.  One lesbian was in the army.  27 years old, 5' and 165 lbs of muscle.  The other lesbian was 23 years old and in school for forensics.  She likes to work with dead bodies and figure out what happened.  She watched a lot of TV shows when she was little.
2. I've been drooling over pictures of sandwiches from Graham Ave Meats and Deli for weeks.  Finally got to try them!



Willy's Special



Philly Pork



Chicken cutlet



The Godfather



3. Bowled my personal best at our company BOWL-a-palooza!  I placed first in the category of female bowler.  My epiphany - a 10-pound ball is better than an 8 pounder.
4. Fall mosquitoes are invading our apartment.  They have sunk to their ultimate low and have bitten me on the BOTTOM of my foot.  Assholes.

apple picking

As you can see, we are clearly partial to golden delicious.

I'm not usually a fan of cake doughnuts, but the wonderful aromas emanating from the kitchen enticed us.  These apple cider doughnuts were so delicious!  Crispy on the outside, and soft in the middle, though not as dense as a normal cake doughnut.  Happy :)

dog-shaming

Sister introduced me to the website dog-shaming.com, and now I read it obsessively everyday.  This is where people can shame their dogs when they do something bad by posting their dog's picture with a description of their deed in first person, or rather, first dog.

This one was too funny not to share.  Just look at that dopey expression!

http://dog-shaming.com/image/32227335585

vitamin goodness of escarole and beans

I needed some new vitamins, and since P is vitamin guru, I decided to do a bit more research on the subject.   P looks at sources and mandates the use of capsules because they allow for better delivery.  As such, he has an array of vitamin bottles on our nightstand so that he can get the vitamins he wants from the sources he wants.  Me too lazy for that.  Me want a multivitamin because frankly, it's hard enough for me to remember to take 1 pill a day.  Me also don't like swallowing so many things at once.

So far, I've learned the differences between vitamin A and calcium sources, etc, which is actually pretty interesting.  This isn't really what I wanted to discuss here though, and I'll praps save it for a later date.

What I want to talk about is escarole and beans.  Am I gonna get in trouble here?  This is one of P's favorite family recipes, and he's on another continent right now and not here to stop me from publishing this.  Although I recently found a version of it online, so I don't think it's a big secret.
http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/recipes/escarole-bean-soup-recipe

We love this delicious dish, and it is SO EASY to make.

------------------------
garlic - 3 cloves or however much you want
2-3 sweet italian sausages
1 head of escarole, coarsely chopped
1 can of white beans

In a pot, cook the garlic and sausage (taken out of casing and broken down out of sausage form) in oil.  When the sausage is about half-way done, put in the escarole and entire can of beans, including the juices.  Boil until escarole is soft.  Done.
------------------------

If you compare with the recipe included in the link, the traditional dish is not done with sausage.  But we love sausage and it really turns it into a heartier soup.

I thought this was a pretty healthy dish (minus the sausage fat, but hey! good source of protein), but I didn't know how good!  White beans are a SUPERFOOD, with lots of potassium and 3.9 mg of iron per half cup.  Escarole is considered a dark leafy green, which I didn't know because it's rather light in color to me.  It is a great source of antioxidants, beta-carotene, vitamins C and K, and folate.  A pretty well-rounded meal that is also delicious!

my liz lemon side

Like Liz Lemon, I don't much stand for unfairness.  Take the pilot episode for example.

Liz:    Hello? excuse me? there's a line, buddy.
Guy:  There's two lines.
Liz:    No, no there's one line. We're in it.
Guy:  I'm just getting a hot dog.
Liz:    We’re all getting hot dogs! What, do you think there's two lines and we're all in this line and you're the only genius that got in the other line? You believe this guy? ... Don't line up behind him, he cheated you.
Guy:  Hey shut up!
Liz:    Now I want all the hot dogs please! yeah, I'm buying all the hot dogs.
Guy:  You don't have to do that. No, no, no, You don't have to do that.
Lady: That is ridiculous.
Liz:    And I’m giving them to the good people.
Lady: I'm starving.


Liz Lemon is supposed to sound ridiculous, but having stood in line for hours at Sundance, Broadway shows, and student tickets, I couldn't agree more with her!

It takes more energy to fight the injustices, but I just have the need to make my voice heard and bring the injustices to the attention of the people responsible.

I'm not sure if it's because we were shopping at Costco, but we recently purchased defective products from Ziploc and Gillette.  Both were a packaging issue, and you can imagine how that just makes a Ziploc bag pointless.  I complained (it's so easy now - you just have to send an email vs calling customer service or writing letters as I have done in the past), and have been sent several free vouchers for said products as compensation.  Victory!

But it really isn't about getting free stuff, although that DOES help.  It's really about letting people know it's not okay in hopes that something will change in the future.  It makes me feel good to not let people get away with things, ie not to be cheated!

born to run?

I have never loved running.  It's an activity I do to stay in shape, but I'd really rather be doing something else.  I have always been an active person.  I grew up playing sports and haven't ever really stopped.  I have fun, feel healthy, meet people, and build friendships.  Along the way, running has interspersed itself in my fitness life, but am I born to run?

After high school, when I would have practice 5 days a week for 3 hours a day, it was clear that I couldn't JUST play sports to stay in shape anymore.  SAD.  I gained my freshman 10-15 in college (really have no idea how many) and decided it was time to start using the gym to supplement my intramural sports games.  This was also the time when I started to run for exercise.  I didn't like it.  I stuck to 1-2 mile runs, and on occasion, when the guy I liked wanted to run, I'd do the 3 miles.  Berkeley is hilly too - torture.

When I went to UMich, it was the same deal.  I got involved in intramural sports (by this time, it was the old student league, couldn't hang with the undergrads) and also had a great group of people who also liked to get together to play basketball, volleyball, or football, and well, an occasional old person's Field Day (water balloon toss, kickball, 3-legged race, etc).  Winter wasn't too conducive to all the outdoor activity though, so again, I had to resort to running... indoors, at the gym, around a track that was something like 1/10 mile, in a circle, over and over again.  I tried to entertain myself with music and by speeding up on the banked corners, which would whip me around.

This is also when I ran my first real race.  The graduate department wanted to encourage fitness, so they paid all grad students' entry fees for the Ann Arbor-Dexter 5K Run.  I almost died.  Kids, middle-aged, and even seniors passed me on the last hill.  It's what kept me going - the humiliation.  However, I did see some of the appeal when I finished - there was a lot of cheering at the end and lots of free food and drinks.  Festivities!

I once had a bad day and ran 5 miles.  That was the farthest I had ever run.  I was pretty proud of myself, but I never did it again.  It was the stars aligning that made me do it.

It was a challenge after first moving to NYC and out of the academic environment.  I joined some adult sports leagues, but I couldn't seem to find a fun group.  I refused to join a gym because gyms are so depressing to me.  I like being outdoors and don't see the point in getting on a machine to get your body to move yet stay in one spot at the same time.  I had also never paid for a gym membership and couldn't fathom adding that to my list of bills.  I fortunately found a fabulous running buddy, who motivated me to run even in the dead of winter and summer.  Sometimes we even ran in the MORNINGS BEFORE WORK.  Wuut?  I became one of those people?  We had fun hanging out and running, but still it wasn't my favorite way to exercise.  I did get somewhat used to it, extending my range from 1-2 miles to more like ~3 miles.

Then she moved away.  :(

Then I joined the gym. :(

It's okay, I think I'm stronger now since I have what P likes to call my "guns class," aka, a weights class.  Good for bone health.  I'm okay with that.  And there's someone there to tell me what to do so I don't have to think about it.

Earlier this month, my friend W proposed that we run a 10K race at the Lobster Festival.  I agreed since it's fun to do these things together and it's a good balance to all the lobster I was expecting to eat.  So P and I got to training.  By this time, post oppressive summer heat, I had fallen off the wagon and had to get my mind prepared. During our short training session leading up to the race, I completed 2 5-mile runs in 2 weeks.  A record frequency for me!  I felt pretty prepared for the 10K, and when the race came around, I was proud that I completed the longest distance I have ever run!

I hadn't been to my guns classes in awhile for various scheduling reasons, but when I went after the race, everything was easier!  My arms were stronger, my core was stronger.  It was surprising and amazing!  All from running?  It was really exciting... but encouraging?  I'm still not sure.  I told my friend all the benefits that I was observing from my running, and when he asked me if I was going to continue, I said probably not.  He pointed out to me that that sounded silly, and well, I agree.

Running is a mental game for me more than a physical one.  It's the boredom, which allows me to focus on the run and how horrible I'm feeling.  I notice that I'm usually very good on the first half.  I'm mentally prepared for the long road ahead.  But then I cross the half-way mark, and I start to falter.  I can feel the end coming, and I just want it to be NOW.  I negotiate with myself, "okay, I can start walking after I get to the bottom of the hill...", "I can just walk a little bit, and then I'll start right up again...."  It's when the negotiations start up that I know I'm hurting.  My question is, why put myself through so much torture?  I believe I can be runner, I believe in the benefits, but it's just not FUN.  You know what's fun?  Finishing the run and getting to walk!  Okay, the satisfying feeling of just having completed the run is also nice.  Is the end result what people like, or do people actually like the activity of running?

I'm on the waitlist for Born to Run from the library.  I'm hoping that that will give me some insight.

subway etiquette

We all have our gripes about our commute, but for New Yorkers, it's a tad different.

My coworkers and I were discussing what annoys us on the subways, so I decided to summarize here a list of subway etiquette rules.  I find that when these things happen, it is because the person is (1) entitled or (2) oblivious.  I am sometimes guilty of breaking these myself, but I try to do my best.

1. First and foremost, able-bodied people should give up their seat to the elderly, disabled, or pregnant.  Open your eyes! (The Oblivious)
2. Wait for people to get off the train before getting on.  Still a difficult concept for everyday subway users to grasp. (The Entitled)
3. When holding the pole, your arm should be extended by at least 120 degrees if there are other people sharing the pole.  For some reason, I run into a lot of women who like to hug the pole while I'm holding onto it, thus obliviously pressing their boobs onto my hand.  I don't want to touch your boobs. (The Entitled and Oblivious)
4. Try not to touch others.  Why do people always want to touch??? (I'm not really sure if it's The Entitled or The Oblivious.  I don't understand why people do this.)
5. If you are standing near the door, stand sideways to let people in or out of the subway car. (The Entitled)
6. In a crowded train, take backpacks and purses off your back/shoulder and hold them in front of you at your feet.  (The Entitled, Oblivious or The Weak - I break this one sometimes because I have to carry heavy things sometimes! And it's too gross to rest anything on the floor.)
7. Move into the center of the car to let more people on.  Honestly, it's the better place to be since people pack in like sardines in front of the car doors anyway.  (The Entitled and Oblivious)

see, he's her lobster!

Main Lobster Festival, Rockland, ME

Saturday
9 lobsters eaten between the 4 of us in 1 day (lobsters for lunch AND dinner OF COURSE)
2 lobster rolls
2 lobster stews
steamed clams
smoked mussels
fried scallops

Sunday
10K run - still came in toward the latter part of the pack even though we were late by 10-15 minutes
Stayed at Inn at Ocean's Edge - stunning, quintessential Maine experience

Mainers, as we refer to them, are SO nice!  We experienced lots of simple acts of kindness, but what really stood out was the staff from the Inn - yes, I know hospitality is their profession, but it was really above and beyond.  Since we had to skip breakfast for our early morning run, the head of the kitchen packed us a hot breakfast, retrieved one of her personal eco-shopping bags from her car, and packed REAL silverware for us to take on the road even though she knew we wouldn't be able to return any of it!!  She also wanted to give us a to-go cup of cream for our coffee but then stopped herself saying, "Is that too aggressive?" LOL

So happy to have shared such a wonderful weekend with such wonderful friends.

Remember this from Friends?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU39sqEQOms

Team MMT-KWJ

Misty May Treanor and Kerry Walsh Jennings are my favorites of the Olympic games.  I've watched them feverishly since Athens, and really, I've watched Kerry since I was in high school.  How?  She went to Mitty, a high school near mine.  Oh yes, she was famous even then!

Last night's win over the Chinese team was epic and was everything I love about this team!  They work so well together and step up when they need to.  They are so good at digging deep and pulling out clutch plays when the game gets close.

Props to the Chinese team who put on an impressive defensive display.

It's USA vs USA in the finals.  I feel bad for the lesser known US team, but I'm still going to be cheering for MMT-KWJ!  I'd hate for them to tarnish their undefeated Olympic record.  Interestingly, they were not favored in this Olympics!

the urban hunt

Summer season is winding down, which means lots of great sales for bargain hunters like me!

I grabbed these deals at Reiss over the weekend!  70% off!

from scratch

Saw these guys on Gilt, and I decided that these are earrings that I can make myself.  I'm in need of a crafts project.  I just need to find the parts, but from experience, that could be the hardest part!

The squash bounty is starting in P's garden.  Here are the pickings from today, in orderly fashion of course, from smallest to largest.  The 2 largest are 10" and a foot long!

I had a dream last night that in addition to our precious Jake, we had a pet baby elephant.  We were preparing his daily helping of ice cream.  What a nice dream.  :)  I was also going to have a platonic lesbian marriage.  Don't know what that's all about.

half-hearted hunt

The Start

Rest of the hunting party

Advancing

advancing...

advancing?

turns out, this one is just going to observe

cubs in training 

the lone hunter

hunt abandoned, wildebeest take a stand

Click here to see more pics!

the lion and cub series

I only dreamed that I would be able to see something like this.  I didn't even count it as a possibility when we started the safari, but as luck would have it, 2 lions with 5 cubs in tow showed up in the Serengeti!