My darling girls...

came to NYC this weekend to visit and supplied me with tons wine and laughter. Xoxo!

Sliding doors

So this past Friday a friend came into my bar with his coworkers for lunch. At the end of their lunch, while making small talk with me, my friend tells me that his coworker also used to live in Thailand. I said, "Oh yeah? For what?" Most people tell me they did a semester there, were backpacking, or were there for work. She replied, "I just lived there," she added, "for 8 years." I said oh me too but they were my earlier years. She told me she used to go to 2 different international schools, one of which I had also attended when I was younger. It's very rare that I meet people here in the states who also went to that school. She looked at me and said, "Come to think of it, you kinda look familiar. Your smile is looking very familiar." I laughed and said that's funny that my smile is still the same from when I was younger. She looked at me and pushed further. "No really," she said, " I was at that school from '85-'92, what is your name? Do you remember which teacher you had?" I couldn't recall but I did attend the school during those years as well. I said well what's your name? She said Tanya G. I still didn't think I knew her, her last name didn't ring a bell, but then I thought, hmm, Tanya is sounding familiar. I said wait, did you use to have curly blonde hair? She said, "yes." I said did your parents have a water bed? I know this sounds like a weird question, the random things you remember, but at the time, as kids, water beds seemed to be the coolest thing ever. She said, "yes." That's when I said oh my god, I used to go over to your house all the time and jump on their bed with you and swim in your pool! Slowly we started recalling random foggy memories and it turns out she was one of my schoolmates, 20 years ago, on the other side of the world.

How crazy is that? All afternoon I couldn't wrap my head around this random coincidence. Had my friend not mentioned she lived in Thailand, we would have spoken briefly and never known that we were two people who played together 20 years ago. (that makes me feel old by the way). I feel like it's a scene out of a movie! Two strangers who could have such a close encounter and had one detail been different they would have completely missed the opportunity to find out their connection.

So today I went digging through my boxes to try to find our old pictures. So far I found one and the memories are totally flooding back. Will post as soon as I scan it!

mmm cookies and milk

A sweet little gift of assorted cookies always brightens the day. Thank you! M and I didn't share with anyone!

we tend to over think... just a tad

I was having dinner with Mary the other night and we were talking about how differently guys and girls think. Girls, when they meet a guy, within the first few minutes that they decide they like the guy, will think about whether or not they could marry this guy. I have no desire to get married anytime soon, but like ALL girls, if I like the guy, I will ask him his last name and see how it sounds with my first name. Every girl does this. Then, I will picture what our kids would look like. If he's too short, he's out. I'm short and I don't want midget kids. On the first date, we will listen intently to the conversation, filing away pieces of information that make us think, "He would totally fit in the picture of the life I want." Does he travel a lot? I want to travel too. He plays soccer? Ooh we could coach our kids together. Reads alot? We could have his and her library in our home.

Mary emailed me this beer ad yesterday that says, "Thank God you're a man," with the following illustration. It's so true!

It's not me, it's you.

My girlfriend and I were talking last night about how we can't understand why it's so hard for guys to be honest about their reasons for ending a relationship; especially when we clearly understand that it's over, have moved on, and kinda just want to know because your (lack of) excuse left us baffled.

I mean honestly, if C called me today and was like, "Really, what happened?" I would have been like you were nice and all but your dinner table nose blowing was a turn off paired with the over pursuing which was a combined deal breaker. Done. The simple truth.

And if X called me today and was like, "I'm happy in a new relationship now but this is still on the back of my mind, I wanna know why you finally broke it off for good?" I would have gladly told him, "You took me for granted, treated me like shit, you were more than likely cheating, I didn't think you'd amount to much, your child ate my bagel, and you didn't know how to spell 'allways' correctly."

In fact, goddammit, I wish that he would call so I could tell him that!

funny people trailer

Speaking of movies...I cannot wait to see this! I love the line from Adam Sandler when he says, "There was always that one that got away. The one that got away; guys have that and serial killers have that." And me.

wanna do movies and elephants?

This is the text I sent my friend Tim earlier in the day. I must admit, I was feeling a bit bummed out from my resurfaced repressed emotions and movies and elephants sure cured the blues.

We saw I Love You, Man and I am going to be unoriginal and also claim I have a mini crush on Paul Rudd. He was just so perfectly awkward, geeky, and adorable in the movie. But of course, if this says anything about my poor taste in men, I was more attracted to the character of Sydney Fife, played by Jason Segel; the carefree, fun-loving guy who says all the wrong things, doesn't give a shit about anything, and screws a lot of girls. Hmm. Now if I could roll Peter Klaven and Sydney Fife into one person that would be my perfect guy. Anyway, movie was HA-larious and so worth Tim's money that he paid for my ticket. teehee.

Afterwards we went to watch the elephants march in on 34th St. It was FA-reezing cold and they went by so fast that if you blinked you actually missed them. But they were still fun to see and I'm hoping next year I'll see unicorns.

a box named B

I had a really vivid dream about my ex from 5 years ago last night. I don't remember the details of it this late in the day but when I woke up the emotions were so fresh that I remembered how I felt when we were in love. Do you know what I mean? Like I'll always remember loving him but after years go by you can forget how it felt to be in love with that person. Well, because of this dream, it all came back to me.

Recently I moved to my new apartment and I had to go back to my mom's to sort through some old stuff to see what I wanted to keep or throw out. When I was dating B, the ex, he used to make fun of me for what he called my "boyfriend boxes." I would keep shoeboxes filled with ex-boyfriend memories; movie tickets, cards, letters, pictures. For some of them it wasn't even that I wanted to hang on to the memory, I just felt kinda bad throwing the stuff out, as if I was throwing the person away.

Well now, B is also in a box, in my mom's garage, and waaaaaay at the back of my heart, at the bottom left, buried under a really heavy tarp also called repression. I looked in the box and found this one gift he made me for our 2 year anniversary, one of my favorites from him. He made me a list of 24 memories for each month we had been dating and put it in a little frame. I remember when I found this gift 3 years ago, when I was dating a different guy D, and reading the list made me realize the following:
1) I couldn't think of one fond memory with D, let alone 24.
2) D would never love me the way B did.
3) It was over.

Is it kinda crazy that 5 years after B, I have yet to love another person the way I loved him? I used to believe that there was one true love for everyone. But what happens when that one true love married someone else? These feelings of confusion have been stirred up all over again, all because of a list in a frame in a box.

What will you do?

I thought this list on Le Love was so adorable it made me miss having someone to make promises to. My friend C is getting married this year and "catch spiders" made me think of her because her fiance is definitely in charge of that. My list would be:

I will:
wake you up with kisses
laugh at your jokes when they're funny, laugh at you when they're not
let you leave the dishes till tomorrow...or whenever really

You will:
sleep in with me
play with my hair
give forehead kisses

A Room of One's Own

I've been a bit stressed out this past month with my move. I spent 2 weeks packing, 2 days moving, 5 days on the floor, and a month with no furniture or bedroom wall. Well, this morning my wall was built courtesy of Living Space. Hooray! No more sleeping in the living room! I love it so much I literally spent half the day laying in my bed staring at it.

(part of the wall)


Yes, that's Hello Kitty chillin' with Buddha. I read an article in Glamour a while back about things to hide before your man comes over and all things Hello Kitty was #10! Perhaps I'm doomed to be a "kitty" lady for the rest of my life.

M slept over last week and she told me I looked adorable hugging the shit out of Kitty while I was sleeping. So that's that. Kitty stays.

sunday dress shopping

I had to get up this morning at 7am (after getting home at 3am) to be showered and on the 9am train back to Jersey to go bridesmaid dress shopping with Carr & Co. (Co. being 3 moms, 2 aunts, 4 sisters, and 4 bridesmaids). I made a serious attempt to look awake, presentable, and, erm, sober since they still won't let me live down how I showed up to Annie's bridal shower still drunk and utterly miserable.

I think I did a good job. Look how happy I look! (My camera broke shortly after this picture was taken. Hmm. Coincidence?)


My darling, Kate, rockin' the mermaid teal.

I heart douchebags...

...apparently.

A while back, maybe a month or so ago, I was at the bar and the only guy who I had any interest in, where I saw him from afar and thought, "Hey, he's kinda cute,"... yeah well, that guy gets thrown out by the bouncers for grabbing girls' asses. Yeah, great taste, Nina.

Last night, again, was at the bar, and there was one guy who caught my eye (tall, seemingly shy, unshaven, dirty black Chucks). I walked past him and his friend and he yells out, "YEAH I'D DO HER!" Wow. I really know how to pick them out.

St. Paddy's 09

This St. Paddy's did not include a bull, gorilla, or leprechaun unlike last year. I wasn't really planning on doing anything but Brit called me at 3 PM from Brother Jimmy's (I know, I can't believe I was there voluntarily) and it's literally right next door to my apartment so I really had no excuse to not go. I would say I had a great time catching up with everyone but I really didn't because I ended up getting so drunk that I couldn't speak and just stood in the corner smiling at people. hmm.

I made an Irish Exit at 9:30 PM. Sent out a million texts that made no sense. Blacked out shortly after.



Woke up next to this guy. WTF?

my weird eating habits

I'm sitting at my desk eating breakfast after an awesome workout and I'm thinking if anyone were to look over my shoulder at my spread they would think it's pretty weird. I get these cravings for certain flavors and sometimes they don't go together but I have to have it anyway. So this morning I'm having an apple, 2 boiled eggs with fish sauce, and lox. Yeah, even I can see it's a little odd. My old roommates used to make fun of my eggs and fish sauce combo but I say don't knock it till you try it. It's perfect hangover food, especially if it's sunnyside up (I was too lazy today and I still don't own a spatula) with a side of rice. Or boiled with a side of sticky rice. Mmm.

(The eggs are all pock marked- I was super hungry and a little hasty with the peeling). This kinda brought back the memory of when I worked in an office and I used to piss people off because they hated the smell of eggs or fish. I'm glad I can eat whatever I want and be weird in the privacy of my own home...well, and the internet of course.

my PIC

at Lakeside Lounge...

Today's Goal

I saw Lucy Liu today while shopping at BCBG on Fifth Ave. She was pint-sized and looked absolutely adorable. *Goal: Look more like Lucy Liu and less like a homely ogre that salesgirls snub.


I found the perfect dress (I want it in hot pink though) for my photo shoot with Kate in two weeks. Sadly, the dress didn't fit. I have to weeks to make it fit. Hence, the little salmon, rice, spinach, and mushroom bento box I made for dinner. (I still don't have plates so I used a takeout container). So yummy it almost canceled out the fact that I burnt my arm while making it.

Look out Domestic & Single! You've got competition in the kitchen! : )

This lovely Sunday...

I decided to look at the world today through heart shaped glasses.

always a bridesmaid...

I took an online dating personality quiz today and while it asked some random questions that I wasn't sure how to answer like, "Who would you rather have catch you masturbating, Mom or Dad," (I said mom), I was surprised to see it was pretty on point. I am, in fact, a perfect catch!



The Maid of Honor
Deliberate Gentle Love Master (DGLM)

Appreciated for your kindness and envied for all your experience, you are The Maid of Honor.

Charismatic, affectionate, and terrific in relationships, you are what many guys would call a “perfect catch”—and you probably have many admirers, each wishing to capture your long-term love. You’re careful, extra careful, because the last thing you want is to hurt anyone. Especially some poor boy whose only crime was liking you.

We’ve deduced you’re fully capable of a dirty fling, but you do feel that post-coital attachment after hooking up. So, conscientious person that you are, you do your best to reserve physical affection for those you respect...so you can respect yourself.

Your biggest negative is the byproduct of your careful nature: indecision. You’re just as slow rejecting someone as you are accepting them. This last line is especially true for me.

Take the quiz and see if you're my perfect match, The Gentleman.

Speaking of failing adulthood...

Oh boy. If you guys could have seen the sad sight I was last night. I got home around 11 PM, drunk as...well, usual, and there was this incessant beeping noise. It took me a while, in my drunken stupor, to figure out it was my smoke detector beeping because the batteries were low. I felt like my head was going to explode from the beeping. I must have texted a friend about it because next thing I know my building phone is ringing. I picked it up, "Yessssshhhh?" It was my doorman. "Your friend is here."

"OK Shhhurrrrr. Shend him up!" I realized I was talking like this but I could do nothing about it. Friend came up to find me on my tippy toes, on my desk chair, reaching for the smoke detector.

"I can't figure it out," I said," I took it off the wall but it won't stop beeping," as I'm holding the still beeping detector in my hand.

"You have to take the battery out," he said.

Today's Horoscope

for Geminis reads:

You aren't liking all of the uncertainty that's in the air right now, but maybe you just need to learn how to get comfortable with the ambiguity of the world. If you don't really know what is going to happen today, stop worrying and wringing your hands. Just sit back and see what happens -- it could be a lot more fun than you think! Probing into unknowable things might feel like a fun challenge, but sometimes it's much better to just let a mystery be a mystery.

So true. I'm such a hand wringer!

A's fb status said she's failing at adulthood. Often, I feel the same way but we just have to think of it as we're really succeeding at maintaining an ambiguous/uncertain status. *Pat on the back.

Sorry Darlings...

...I'm a bit busy conquering the world today. (God, coffee for me is like coke to others).

Sidenote: I shrunk all my clothes today. Woops. I am so not housewife material. Bare midriffs are in, no?

<3s Beards!

Gahhhh!! I'm so bummed that I'm gonna be missing the 2009 NYC Beard and Moustache Championships this Saturday at Public Assembly. No, I'm am not entering the contest myself (thank you Nair!). I just loooooooove guys with beards and would have loved to go check out the eye candy. Yummmm.

Holy Cuuuuuute!!!

I bought this necklace stand from Urban Outfitters the other day. My friend asked me if I really needed a necklace stand. He pointed out that I could barely afford to feed myself.

Well, I don't need it. But isn't it lovely anyway?

it's never too soon!

After reading Domestic and Single's post about wanting to be Sally Jupiter for Halloween, I totally jumped on the Watchmen bandwagon and want to be Laurie Jupiter! Any excuse to wear latex, really.


And to answer your question, A, it's never too soon to start thinking about Halloween costumes!

Movie and a snuggle? Anyone?

OK, so I got a text earlier from TA saying, "Are you around? I wanna see your new place." Ggggggah. A sent me a facebook message earlier telling me her phone wasn't working. Dammit! My sponsor is out of reach! I do want to see TA. I mean, I could just give him a tour of the building right? Who says we have to get naked? Even though I really miss his skin.

I frantically ran around cleaning the place. A little push in the closet here, a little sweep under the bed there.

TA came over. Brought a bottle of wine as a housewarming gift. We sat on my bed (I have no other furniture) and talked. I wanted nothing more than to rip his clothes off. He kissed me on the cheek, told me I was cute, and left after an hour. I guess I'm still keeping lent, even if not by choice.

H is on her way over to watch movies and drink my gift. She's picking up snacks on her way. I sometimes wish that TA wouldn't have to leave. Or that I have someone (of the opposite sex) that I could call for a movie night. I'd love to skip all the first dates, all the presumptions of possibly hooking up if you invite someone over, and go straight to the snuggling with a movie and some chips and salsa. Is that too much to ask?

What's all that ruckus?

I was sitting at my desk today wondering why my neighbors were being so out of the ordinarily loud today. I opened my window and realized there was a free tibet rally going up Third Avenue.


And then I look up and still, my view hasn't gotten old yet. Sigh. I <3 my new apartment.

Too much texting + runny nose = No thanks!

I don't play games. I don't follow rules. If I like someone I call them. Pretty simple.

Lately, due to the Time Out singles story, along with me being drunk and being a little generous with my phone number, my inbox has been cluttered up with messages from guys I don't intend on calling. I'm amazed at the persistence of some of these men, especially since I haven't been returning their calls, but I feel like that's the reason they are so interested. It seems I'm playing hard to get, except I'm not "playing."

As I mentioned before, C, the nose blowing guy, was starting to irritate me with his texting. I had hoped he would get the hint and stop calling. I got a text from him on Saturday saying, "Hey I might be near your bar later, would it be ok if I stop by?" Ehhhh. I was in no mood to see him. Especially on a busy Saturday night. I texted, "Sure, if you want. But it gets super busy on a Saturday and I wouldn't be able to hang out." Doesn't that sound like, "No, don't come," to you? Of course, he showed up. (And btw: He said he was "up by me." He was at a party in Harlem! I work in Midtown East!). I started to not feel well earlier in the night, I was feeling nauseous and dizzy, and did not feel like making conversation over loud music. He asked me how my move was. I said hell. He asked how my classes were going and I said I'm not in school. I walked away to tend to some tables and I received a text from him while he was in the bar! It read:

"Well, i feel purty dumb about thinking you were taking a class. I'd like to chalk it up to the limitations of text messaging, and not my inattentiveness...cause I think I'm a good listener, haha. Anyway I'm sorry u're not feeling well, and hope I haven't contributed to your queasiness, haha : ). I'll stick around for a bit, tho, if I can just say goodbye w/o bugging u, haha"

OMG there is just so much that's wrong with the text. The fact that he texted me in the first place, while we're in the same bar. The overuse of "haha." The fact that he wants to stick around even though he clearly felt he was bugging me. It gets worse.

I changed out of my work clothes, was planning on hiding from him, and hoped he would just leave after not being able to find me. No such luck. He said, "Oh are you leaving? I'll just close up my tab and walk you out." I said, "No, er, actually, I need to wait for my friend, cause, um, she said to wait." He said,"Oh ok then, well is it ok if I stick around and wait with you. I'd just love to catch up." For the love of God. I said,"You know, I'm really not feeling well. I was just gonna wait for her and head out. I'm not really up for conversation." He then said, "Just tell me the truth, do you want me to keep calling you, or should I stop?Be honest with me. I'm in my 30's, I take it."

Talk about awkward! My friend, H, says, "Seriously? If he's in his 30's he should know how to take a hint by now!"

On top of that his nose was glistening as if it was gonna start running again. You've got some issues, buddy. I can't deal.

his & hers

I love this image via LeLove. It reminded me of the time when an ex got up to get dressed, grabbed one of my Chucks and said in total confusion, "Did my shoe shrink?"

I've got a sponsor...

I woke up this morning with the 3 H's; hungry, hungover, and horny. Well, more lonely than horny actually. I miss waking up to someone who puts a smile on my face, finding a comfy spot on his chest, and spending the rest of the day in bed.

I texted A to say I wanted to give up on giving up sex for lent. I wanted to call TA. I realized that I've been developing more feelings for him than I should. A texted me back to tell me not to do it, that he is no good for me, and that I deserve better. Then she wrote, "OMG, I am your lent sponsor!" She set the rules for me:

No sex.
No phone sex.
No facebook chat sex.
Call her the moment I have the urge to text TA.

I accepted the terms and texted her back, "OK. I'm in bed with thin mints and hello kitty."

Don't send this text!

I got my arm twisted last week into going to dinner with this guy C, the one who unfortunately blew his nose at the dinner table. I don't have a lot of free time on my hands, and I wasn't interested in seeing him again so I haven't returned his "Had a great time" text. Last night while I was out with Brit I got another text from him that said:

"Really? I had that much more fun w/u than you had w/ me? J/K. Do hope that I hear from you again, but if not, it was nice to have met u, and good luck w/ the book!"

Um yeeeah. I could just see him editing this text to try to make it sound "breezy." I felt bad...even though his text definitely made me not like him even more... So I just wrote back, "So sorry. Been super busy." I mean, I know that leads him to think that I haven't called only because I'm busy, but you would think, seeing that I didn't leave it open with something like "call you soon" or "lets get together soon," that that was my brush off.

But then I got:

"Oh, no worries, luv! Sorry to hear it's been rough for u of late. But happy to hear from u at all! When things chill 4 u, we'll kick it :)"

I'm sure he's nice. But I don't like nice.

Peruvian and Cuban Tuesday

Went to an impromptu lunch at Pio Pio with TIm and Adalhi. Stuffed ourselves with a half chicken, rice and beans, avocado salad, mini hotdogs, fries, flan, and green sauce. We were still sitting there at 5:30, pants unbuttoned, when I fretted that I would still be too stuffed for my dinner date at 8pm.


Me: Am I going to have to purge before my date?
T & A (not tits and ass): Um, yeah probably. I think we'll have to too.

On the way back to my apartment we stopped by GNC because Tim probably needed to restock to a year's supply of Muscle Milk. Adalhi says, "Oh look, Nina, this is what you need...."


A helped me get dressed for my date:

Do you think it screams, "Hello, I'm looking for Love"? A says it looks like I'm ready for the first day of school.

I liked that this guy took the initiative to pick out the restaurant (Cuban). Wish me luck tonight!

Thanks Adalhi!

I've been sleeping on my hardwood floor for the past two days due to the fact that I haven't been able to pick up my bed from my mom's yet. Obvious downside: My neck, back, and hips hurt like hell. Surprising brightside: I am wide awake at 7am and have no desire to roll over and hit snooze.

But tonight I will be snuggling up on a borrowed air mattress courtesy of Adalhi's mom. My back is so excited!

Snow in NYC

Like most relationships... Lovely in theory, but just a pain in the ass to deal with!