Real Life Cinderella!

Okay, again, this lovely random picture came from Gothamist, but I thought it was worthy of sharing. Some nice guy found a very expensive shoe and is trying to help...

Of course, the questions I have are how did one lose a shoe in NY and not have an issue and if your shoes are Christian Louboutins and cost approximately $700, how do you lose it?!?!



Maybe this should be my new way of finding Prince Charming? Or, maybe not.

Funny Thoughts

Someone was circulating this list around at work today- I'm sure you've seen it in email before. I trimmed it down to a few that really made me laugh or nod in agreement. Happy Monday!

1. I wish Google Maps had an “Avoid Ghetto” routing option.

2. More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can’t wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that’s not only better, but also more directly involves me.

3. Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you’re going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you’re crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

4. Is it just me, or are 80% of the people in the “people you may know” feature on Facebook people that I do know, but I deliberately choose not to be friends with?

5. There is a great need for sarcasm font.

6. I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I’ll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone’s laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I’m still the only one who really, really gets it.

7. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I’m trying to finish a text.

8. Was learning cursive really necessary?

9. Lol has gone from meaning, “laugh out loud” to “I have nothing else to say”.

10. Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.

11. How many times is it appropriate to say “What?” before you just nod and smile because you still didn’t hear what they said?

12. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a dick from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!

13. Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using ‘as in’ examples: I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss’s last name to an attorney and said “Yes that’s G as in…(10 second lapse) ..ummm …Goonies”

14. MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

15. Whenever I’m Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don’t mind if I do!

16. Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I’m from, this shouldn’t be a problem….

17. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don’t want to have to restart my collection.

18. I’m always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

19. I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it’s on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

20. It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.

21. Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn’t know what do to with it.

22. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, hitting the G-spot, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey – but I’d bet my ass everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time…

23. It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.

24. I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.

25. The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, saw they had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words, someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think about it, and then estimated that there must be at least four people eating to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself. There’s nothing like being made to feel like a fat bastard before dinner.

What a Difference

When my parents were here in April, we had tickets to the Mets game. It had been a chilly gray day but shortly after the game started, it was like the heavens opened up with rain. It was rainy so hard I was able to capture it on my little point and shoot camera. We were bundled up and got to move to covered seats but it was a long 5 innings. The game counted as a win for the Mets but we were able to trade the tickets in for another game. So here's a little before and after:

April 25


June 23- 88 degrees at game time, foam fingers were given out to encourage voting for David Wright for the All Stars and I took my girlfriends to the game.


Oh yeah, they were playing the Tigers, a carefully chosen game so I could see my man Johnny Damon play, I've liked him since he was a Red Sox. And he's still wearing #18. :)

Work Fridge

I'm a big lunch packer (Dad, you should be proud! Or maybe it's just that the apple doesn't fall from the tree...) so I'm always checking out what other people are putting in the fridge when I drop my lunch off/grab it to reheat.

The strangest thing I've seen so far- Lean Cuisines in the fridge. The first time I saw it, I thought, oh, someone really has a case of the Mondays and got confused. But it is a consistent thing.

I like Lean Cuisine. I bring them to eat for lunch sometimes. I put them in the freezer because they're frozen meals.

Am I crazy or is this person crazy? I guess if you want it to thaw before heating, it saves on time in the microwave? I don't really know....but it's just one of those little things at work that makes me laugh a little to myself.

Game Night!

I love playing board games and card games. A great perk to having a big family is that we always had enough people to play games growing up and we all had our favorites.

I entered a contest on houseparty.com to host a Hasbro Game Night with a preview of the new Trivial Pursuit "Bet You Know It" game. The party pack came with the new trivia game, Taboo (one of the best group games ever!) Electronic Catchphrase (has been on my list to buy but it's hard to find!) a bunch of boxes of Wheat Thins and Triscuits and coupons for Hasbro games for all the party attendees.

I ended up not having my "official" party this week due to other things going on but I took Trivial Pursuit to a friend's place Saturday and we tried it out. [official party still to happen, probably in July...]

There are two twists which make this a really fun new version: the questions fall into topics and then the traditional categories. So for example, your topic may be shoes and then the questions cover arts & literature, history, science & nature, sports & leisure, geography and entertainment.

The other fun twist is that you bet on if your opponents will get their question right or wrong and you can use your "money" from the bets to buy a wedge if you need it or at the end, if you're going for the winning question, you can buy the right to select your own topic and/or category. Or if you're me and having an off night, you can donate a lot of bets to the bank.

It's super fun and the questions are pretty modern. I highly recommend it and I have coupons if anyone is interested.

PS- houseparty.com is a free website where you fill out surveys to win party packs, which are marketing efforts to introduce new products to people. This was by far the best pack I've ever gotten but some of the other stuff is pretty funny so it's worth always entering.

Always a bookworm

I've been a bookworm for as long as I can remember. I think my real love for reading started when my 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Ross, showed me the chapter books in the school library. I had basically read all of the early reader books so she pointed out the Baby Sitters Club books and some others (probably Judy Blume and Boxcar children but I'm not certain). Since then, I don't think I've ever been without a book to read.

Unfortunately, I haven't been as good about the library. In Bakersfield, I read nearly all of the "good" books the local library had to offer and they never had anything new so when I was devouring BSC, Sweet Valley, Nancy Drews...they couldn't keep up. Thus, my book buying began. I remember getting my allowance on Saturday and spending all of it on Sunday at the book store.

Old habits die hard; I've developed a bad habit of buying all sorts of books. In a random airport and see a historical fiction book I'm curious about? I buy it. My favorite author has a new paperback? I buy it and save it for a rainy day (literally). Need one more paperback to get free shipping on Amazon? No problem, there's always a book I have in mind to buy.

But the time has come where I really need to control this. So I think I'm going to ask for a Kindle for my birthday and/or Christmas (so, late Nov/Dec time). There are three main reasons I'm ready to switch to the Kindle:
1. it's cool, it's not going anywhere, it's improved from the first generation
2. I'm out of space in my apartment for books. And there are some in CA I want to bring back here. Even though I try to donate 2 or 3 a month to my building's library or give away to friends, I've filled all of my bookshelfs, my nightstand book slot and have a pile growing on the floor.
3. I'm tired of paying more for hardcovers; all digital books are about the same price with the Kindle.

Yes, I'm a little sad to not have all those glorious books to look at with the cool covers, to loan people, to flip through when looking for a quote or a story I remember. But I think it'll be okay- a little bit of an adjustment, but at the rate I read, I think the Kindle will be perfect.

So my goal is that from now until this winter, I'm going to try to read most of the books I own but haven't read yet. Sure, I'll save a few so that when I want a good old fashioned paperback or a smart hardcover, I'll have them. I think I have about 38 books to read. To be fair, some are from the building library (where you take a book or donate a book) so they were free, a couple I've borrowed from friends, a few my mom has given me. I just wanted to clarify that I don't have 38 books I've purchased but not read. ;)

It's a big goal but I'm excited! And I'm sure there will be updates here and on the blog on my progress.

Baseball in the Park

It was inter-league play in baseball this weekend so Delta hosted a watching party at Madison Square Park for the Yankees/Mets game. I was excited to see the game on the big screen, sit outside and hang out with some friends. One of our favorite bbq places had a tent with food for sale, we got free Delta fleece blankets, Cracker Jacks and all the airplane peanuts and pretzels we could eat :) Basically a great way to watch baseball for free.

But the best part of all was that there was a free raffle for all sorts of prizes, including airline tickets. When the volunteer flight attendants started the drawing for the tickets, I wasn't even paying attention because I never win anything....

Well, today was my lucky day- I have two round trip (coach) tickets for anywhere in the US, except Hawaii, but Mexico, the Caribbean or Canada are options. The practical side of me says I can use one for Christmas and one for another trip I have tentatively planned (Savannah, New Orleans, Vegas...) but the big winner side of me wants to plan a fun trip and take someone with me! I think I'm going to hold an unofficial contest- whoever brainstorms the best trip gets to go :)

Anyway, it was a bummer the Mets lost but I was a HUGE winner- it was a great day! I am also tempted to buy a lottery ticket because I think I'm on a lucky streak.

The screen didn't feel as far away as it looks...

It was about 90 degrees out, who needs a fleece blanket?

Can't have baseball without cracker jacks.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

So I checked and the last time I blogged was May 24....before Memorial Day. And here we are, at the official start of summer (I mark Memorial Day as the unofficial start) I apologize!

Since then, lots has been going on so I'm going to do a quick (okay it's sort of long) topline of all that I've been up to and vow to be better about updating this ol' blog on a more regular basis. After all, it's summer in the city and there's lot of fun and sun going on.

Memorial Day - went to DC for a mini-vacation. We saw some monuments, went to a museum, checked out a super cool roof top pool party, saw friends and family and tried to beat the heat as much as possible because it was a hot weekend. Here we are on a friend’s roof enjoying a summer bbq.

Book Club- met with one of my two book clubs. We discussed Little Bee (very interesting book and an easy read but I can’t tell you what it’s about or it’ll spoil part of the story) and selected Bel Canto as our next read. It’s about hostages in South America. I’m still in the beginning but it is certainly interesting.

Junior League Party- A couple of my friends are JL members and I always like to support them/check out the parties- they have fun themes and I have met a couple of guys in the past. This year it was a golf theme which was actually great for the guys and tough for the girls so I just went for a preppy seersucker dress. And I did meet a very interesting guy so it was a fun night all around.

Broadway shows- I don’t normally see any shows unless I have family or friends in town, but lately, I’ve seen two. Super last minute (like the day of the show) a friend got tickets to God of Carnage. It is a comedic look at modern challenges with family, kids, work etc. Lucy Liu and Jeff Daniels were in it and it was good- funny but still made you think while keeping your mind off of your own life. Then last week some friends and I saw A Little Night Music with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury. There is a long story about how we ended up at that show but suffice it say, the celebrities were what got us excited to see it and they didn’t disappoint. I’ve loved Angela since the days when our family would watch Murder She Wrote on Sunday nights together and Catherine was phenomenal- so good and she won the Tony for her role just a few days after we saw the show.

Haircut- This has already been a hot summer season and I decided that the long hair I’d been trying to make work since October had to go. For a long time, I had short hair and then decided to mix it up and grow it out. But I never really loved it long and the heat was the last nail in the coffin. So I told my haircut guy to go for it, do whatever he liked that was short and not a traditional bob. Anyone who knows me knows I am super particular about my haircuts but I have absolute faith in this guy and totally trust him. I now have a short, kind of angular, kind of piece-y cut that I’m pretty happy with. Here’s a just-okay iphone pic of the new ‘do.

Tori Spelling Book Signing- This is something I would never do on my own, but my friend Lauren is a great partner in crime for really silly things so we decided to wait in line and get Tori Spelling’s new book autographed. 4 hours later, we were able to snap this quick picture and get our books signed by her and her gay best friend. Was it worth 4 hours? No way…but at what point should we have quit? Regardless, it was super fun and I’m sure the book will be a great summer read.