in case you forgot...

print additions

As you all know, whenever I sit down to write I always end up doing everything but. Today I decided to spend countless hours online shopping. I went through my onslaught of emails from various stores and inevitably end up scrolling through hundreds of shops on Etsy.

I gave in and bought these two awesome prints from Nan Lawson's shop and can't wait to add them to my inspiration wall.

so grateful

‎"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy: They are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." -Marcel Proust

This year will be the first year without any of my family members around for Thanksgiving. Without them, I intended to spend Thanksgiving on the couch, in my sweats, eating a rotisserie chicken. (This depressed my friends more than it did me). None of my friends would stand for this (with their crumpled up faces as if they saw a truck run over a litter of kittens) and I am so very touched (as I am every year) by their many invites for dinner. With my family so far away, all of my friends have opened up their homes and been my second family.

So on this day of giving thanks I would like to thank my friends for always being so wonderful. And, of course, most of all I am thankful for my family whom I simply can't live without.

Hope you are all having a wonderful Thanksgiving!

broom burn

This made me laugh today...

I Am Harry Potter from Daniel Radcliffe

winos

I've been tight on funds lately and still pretty tired from my travels. Last night I decided to stay in and make dinner for 2 and catch up on Harry Potter so that I can see the latest one this weekend. My date offered to bring the wine and I could not stop laughing when I saw the bottles. We have this thing where we choose wine solely by the label since we're both a little clueless about wines and it adds a little sense of adventure to the choices (totally winging it!). He chose the Little Penguin wine since I have a thing for penguins (it was actually quite wonderful) and then chose the polar bear label to go with the arctic theme. Doesn't the image of a polar bear drinking wine just seem so absurd that it makes you laugh?

the busy

"There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy, and the tired." -F. Scott Fitzgerald

I was hoping this image of a cute kitty would distract you from my absence...

I'm back!

I just got back from New Orleans this afternoon and I'm way too tired to begin to describe just how amazing that city is. I got off the plane, dragging my feet, and was greeted by these lovely flowers...



They just brightened up this gray, drizzly day (and make my bedroom smell amazing).

I'll be back (hopefully tomorrow) with my photo diary of NOLA!

no sleep till...

I've had so many friends in town lately, it feels like my apartment is just a revolving door of a motel. This weekend I had a friend from high school call me last minute to tell me he was in town for work. I was pretty booked up for the weekend but I managed to squeeze him in between 4 and 6PM on Friday. (I knew how awfully self important this sounded but it really was all I had free!) We went and got hot chocolate from Max Brenner and sat in Union Square and caught up. It felt like a scene from a movie; he in a suit and me in ill fitting urban hunter attire, catching up on our very different lives.

After that I rushed off to midtown west to watch a Thai kickboxing match with a friend from college. How random on both the company and the event. I had pictured the fight being held in a seated arena and was more than thrilled to find out it was in a basement below a church. It just had such an underground, illegal feeling to it and I loved it. It was standing room only and the ventilation wasn't so great so it got pretty hot in there, especially with all we were drinking. My friend and I were betting on the fights, loser buys the next round. I kept winning. It was so funny because my method of choosing fighters was usually based on what the fighter's face looked like or what they were wearing. Hey, whatever gets me free drinks right? I felt so homesick and some points, hearing the traditional Thai music during the fight and watching the fight ceremony. The DJ was playing hip hop in between rounds and it kinda felt surreal, like I was in between my two worlds, NYC and Bangkok.



On Saturday, my friend from Sweden was in town with her family. I was trying to coordinate so many different groups of friends to meet in one place which always results in too many taxis and a night spent text messaging. But somehow we made it work and all met in the East Village for a night of drinks and silly dancing.



I met the Swedes again on Monday for some jazz and drunken ping pong tournaments at Fat Cat. It was such a funny night and somehow I came home with pockets full of ping pong balls.



I haven't had any sleep in days and tonight I'm catching a flight to New Orleans. I'm certain I won't be getting any sleep in the next 5 days.

Be back soon with New Orleans updates!

a kinder place

It's cold, wet, and dreary here in NYC today and I feel like I'm coming down with something from the changing weather and from exhaustion. (Party Penguin really wore me out!)

I was thinking randomly today about just how tired I am (I feel like I've just been nonstop) and it made me think of work last week. I was working with Romy in Jersey for Off BEET Productions and I wasn't going to be done until 12am, and with the trains and subways I wouldn't have gotten home until 4AM, and I had to be up again for work the next day at 9AM. (Woof). I was whining to one of the videographers about my late night commute (just for whining's sake) and he offered to wait for me (and extra hour) and drive me home (since he lived nearby). I protested (I went there knowing I wasn't going to be done until late) but he insisted.

I can't tell you what a huge difference this made in my night and the following day. I was still tired but it could have been much worse. On top of that, he had no ulterior  motives. He simply said, "I just thought, if that was my girlfriend waiting for the train that late and having such a long ride alone, I wouldn't have liked that."

If only everyone in this world imagined it was their girlfriend/mom/grandma/sister/friend (etc) in a situation...I think the world would be a kinder place.

48 hours of Halloween

Last week I was feeling like a big loser because I didn't have any Halloween plans. But then the invites started coming and I felt all was ok in the world again. With each invite I would've needed a different costume, from the Eyes Wide Shut party, Devils & Demons, Masquerade Ball...etc...so I narrowed it down to two.

Saturday I went as Cleopatra to the most amazing house party in midtown. It was the largest apartment I had ever seen in Manhattan, stocked with a full bar, snacks, and DJ. There were people dancing on the bars, windowsills, tabletops...It was like out of a movie...

(this was a photo before the party)



I was pretty hungover on Sunday, but come on, it's Halloween! You HAVE to dress up. This time I wanted to be something more fun and comfy so I went as a Party Penguin. I think I may have developed an alter ego. Not to mention...I LOVE not having to wear pants!



Party Penguin and the Geico Gecko!



Romy came to visit and, of course, we headed back to karaoke.



She didn't have a costume so I told her to put on her boyfriend's clothes, draw a mustache on her face, and be a hipster boy. Done! She looked like a bit of a creeper but is it strange that I was kinda attracted to her?



It was such a wild weekend, I really wish everyday could be Halloween.

rally signs

Did anyone else watch the Rally To Restore Sanity and/or Fear this weekend? I wish I could've been there. I watched it here in NY though and I was clutching my stomach in laughter and slapping my knee the entire time. I loved it when the cameras panned on the funny/absurd signs people made.  Here are some random ones that I liked: