Harlem Heights and SoHa

Had my first personal organizing/interior design consult this morning in Harlem Heights, right across the street from the former location of Alexander Hamilton's house on Convent Avenue. They recently (in June) rolled the house one block west on Convent Avenue and then one block south on 141st Street to the new St. Nicholas Park location. The six-hour event was a popular neighborhood attraction. It's a great street, really nice neighborhood.

The consult went well and I'm super excited. I know this is going to be a great move for me. When I have "after" shots, I will surely be posting them on my new website (that is yet to be launched - eodesignnyc.com). So check it out there. But again, excited, elated, encouraged, exuberant (can't think of any other "e" words to describe it.



As for SoHa (South Harlem - gotta love New York City realtors that MUST come up with an acronym for neighborhoods to make them gentrified-sounding). My new client took me to brunch at Kitchenette, this fabulous little joint on 123rd and Amsterdam just east of Broadway. It's adorable. Like walking into an old-fashioned diner but with a cute, pink and polka-dot flair. Great food too. French Culinary chefs. Amazing omelettes and mouth-watering cheese grits. Grits always remind me of My Cousin Vinny by the way. So I highly recommend this cute brunch/lunch place. And they have other locations downtown. One on Chambers and one on Amsterdam and 79th. They bake cakes and cupcakes and cookies that are works of art. Really cute stuff and edible.

A Hard Day's Night

Apparently, my new thing is taking photos of people sleeping on the subway. Because I have not graduated to the degree of taking candids of coherent individuals, this is my outlet currently. It's fun. Sometimes I just do it and look like I'm adjusting my camera or looking at my day's shots but other times if I have a book or my HUGE September issue of InStyle magazine with me, I use that to shield the fact that I'm capturing their soul in digital format. This time, the Uma Thurman-adorned pages assisted me in my quest.



I love this shot because at first, I took it horizontally and didn't get his backpack and kicks and it was okay but not good enough. The poor guy ... it looks like he had a really hard day. He hardly woke up when we entered each station to see where we were. I kind of figured he was going to Queens with me even though he was already on the train when I got on at York Street. And of course THIS reminded me of my ex-boyfriend's mother. It's a funny story actually and she'd die if she ever knew I was writing it down here. But whatever, she wasn't all too nice to me when I broke things off with her precious son -- so there.

For a worldly individual who has been to many corners of the world and spent decades living in one of the most culturally diverse cities on the planet, I cannot put her down for what she did, I can only laugh (which is what many of her family members do when this story is told). One day she was on the R train heading downtown when she saw an Asian family trying to decide where they were getting off. They were looking out the window to see where they were now and trying to locate the subway map. My ex-mother-in-law (practically speaking), got up and rushed over, taking it upon herself to let them know that THIS was indeed their stop, Canal Street/Chinatown.

My ex always rolled his eyes in disbelief that she actually said this to them and made that assumption that all Asians must be heading there because that's where they belong. It was an honest assumption, I must admit, considering when I saw that this guy was not getting up when I was getting off in Jackson Heights, I had that same feeling. (We all do, we all just don't admit it or get caught TELLING people to get off here because it's your part of town). I thought, 'he must be getting off here, he's just a SLEEPY Muslim Indian. I don't want him to wake up in Forest Hills.' This must happen all the time in New York since we're all so helpful and love giving directions. I imagine that many a New Yorker on the J/M/Z line has offered assistance to a Hasidic family fumbling for their map as they approach Hewes Street. Everyone knows all the Hasids live in South Williamsburg :-)

And since I'm on the stereotype/generalization kick, I went to Yonkers last night to celebrate the knocked-up-ness of a good friend of mine and cannot get over the influx of Irish there. I know that's not new news but I think I'm gonna round up some single girlfriends and take a gander at some of the pubs there. We may find some good craic there (pronounced CRACK, translation=FUN).

Yes we can! / Si se puede

I've really gotta get better about taking photos on my adventures. Tonight I purposely wore my new pink dress (the one I got in Marblehead for nothing) and I was going to take a photo of me, matthea and cara at our Obama event (new thing, never went to a convention speech watching event at a bar) and then i plum forgot. so instead because I couldn't pass up shooting me in this dress, I held the camera and got a shot of my chest because that's all everyone wants to see anyway, right? but the sticker slipped inside (i left it cause i thought that was cute). The event was sort of lame except for the exceptionally cute boy sitting in the next booth with his stupid girlfriend (boy, if you are reading this (doubt it), please realize that i am the one you want to be with, not her). The older Asian woman who was like the whole room's mother (cleaning up after spills and handing food around) was adorable in addition to Pam from N.C. who spoke in Denver. Well done Pam. You ROCK! And I loved Barney Smith. I guess with Google nowadays, any campaign's speech writer can find the man they need to really get to the issues at hand. Hilarious!



now back to me. mo is my inspiration when it comes to street photography and not being afraid to shoot people no matter where you are. today, when i showed him this photo that I took on the F train on my way to work alongside him, he said, "it's a free world, right?" RIGHT INDEEDy. "So there" to that guy sitting next to me that was scowling as I shot this sleeping dude next to the 99cent stickers stuck to the homeless woman on the ad in a smiley face pattern. Ya can't pass this shit up.



And then on my walk home tonight after taking out Steve and Phuong's garbage, I saw how they make those white lines on the road for pedestrians (new thing). I was gonna whip out the ol' camera but I figured you could all imagine it without visuals. I thought they painted it with a big brush but they don't. They have this machine that looks like the one they bring out on the baseball fields and it's like powder and then they seal it with something so that we can't just blow away the powder the first time we walk on it after they've done all that hard work at midnight all over the city. well, obviously it's not done AT midnight ALL over the city. That would be difficult to achieve. Well, unless there were tons of those workers synchronizing their watches. Okay, goodnight folks. That's enough new things for this evening. Oh wait, it's morning.

Hell's Kitchen is Right

The kitchen part, that is. Before my volleyball game Tuesday night, I took the long way and walked around Hell's Kitchen taking in all the new cuisine this neighborhood has to offer (new thing). I used to frequent this part of town in my Newsweek days since there wasn't much going on at the intersection of Broadway and 57th Street restaurant-wise. We'd go to Uncle Vanya's, Puttanesca, Patsy's and Matt's Grill a lot, Mangia y Bevi on 9th Ave. and sometimes Kennedy's. The crew also went to East but back in those days, I didn't do it raw so there was no sushi for me. But now, there are a ton of places there that I'd like to check out. One in particular is on 50th between 8th and 9th and the chef is in her 80s or maybe even 90. She's adorable and although I only had time to peek inside, it's cute too. Very intimate but says on the window that it has authentic french cuisine so I'll have to check it out. Of course I've forgotten the name but I know precisely where it is, on the north side of 50th closer to 9th.



Another thing I finally captured (new thing) was a photo of this unbelievable sidewalk garden that I've passed for years on my way to the High School for Environmental Studies where Big City Volleyball has many of its games. Whomever tends to this concrete garden has done quite a lot with little space and no earth to speak of, except in the pots of course. A nice man came outside while I was taking a picture and offered to take a photo of me in front of the garden (like it's on the Time Out New York walking tour or something. It's nice, but c'mon sir (sorry, that was mean. I'm in a weird mood tonight).



The other thing I get a kick out of in New York City is the mix of architecture which brought on this next photo. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don't. For instance, this shot is something that I like because it reminds me of that movie in the 80s where that big developer wanted to build somewhere and there was one holdout - this building with a little robot or do-dad that helped put the little white tiles back together in the entrance foyer (can't recall the name) but it often looks like that when you look up on a city block in these neighborhoods. There's old school charm and then high-rise luxury within spitting distance of each other. This is why I love New York. But one thing I don't like so much (and I was recently discussing this with Mo as we waited for a table at this great noodle joint), I'm not fond of mixing architecture in ONE building like the Louvre or the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Or the Hearst Building on 57th and 8th Ave. Why? I don't get it.

Crotchless Undies

Did you know that there are Tupperware-like parties where you can buy crotchless panties AND undies for him that hold his piece but look like Groucho Marx? Yup, you can. E-mail me for details.



So Maura and I went to Marblehead from Boston on Sunday and met up with Mary Elizabeth and Marwan to see the town. It was lots of laughter and lots of shopping. This town is the most adorable place to walk around. So much history and the homes are to die for. We luckily happened up on this little consignment shop called Madam Had'em on Washington Street I think. It had cute stuff and I found this Tara Jarmon dress for $23 but it was 50% off so of course I had to get it. After we got back, we googled Tara Jarmon since Maura knew it was a high-end designer, and her dresses sometimes retail for $500. Cha-ching. I love a bargain. That was a steal! We got to see Mary's cupala (sp?) and convinced her, as her hubby has been doing, to join Facebook. So there. Job well done. Oh and my new thing is that I drove Maura's Prius home. And am the proud owner of a French-made Tara Jarmon floral dress (new thing).

Hay, FREE food

My lovely friend Maura invited me up to Boston because she was staying there for the summer and her most recent flat was on Newbury Street, as she put it, "the Madison Avenue of Boston." So when she heard I left my job, she said, "You'd be an idiot not to take me up on this." So I'm not idiot. I bought my $15 Fung Wah Bus ticket and was on my way. It was a beautiful location and I was just happy to be away. We did a lot of sightseeing and it was great because although I have been to Boston a few times before, I hadn't been to the Haymarket before or Little Italy for that matter (new thing).



Granted, we got there at the end of the day, when many are taking veggies and fruit for FREE, that's right, gratis. So it was an even more interesting site to see. People with their carts, taking whatever was left. On their heads, on their hips, with their kids, etc.



I love shooting these types of things but this one woman at the end, the small Asian woman, was not all that happy that I shot her. Oh well. I love the shot of the woman with the cart AND the crate on her head. It was like we were in Africa or something. Cool beans.



And then this one kid was just getting a kick out of rolling the Sarah Wrap down the road. Wasteful but cute.



In general, I'm not too keen on Boston as a place to live, but it's nice to visit. First of all, the Red Sox fans have got to calm themselves. This rivalry with the Yankees is taken to the extreme there and I know this is not new news but it's so silly. There were guys with "Yankees SUCK" T-shirts and then I will never forget when I went to visit Wayne at MIT, a guy at a club came up to me and said, "Why the long face" as I was waiting for Wayne to come back with drinks and I simply joked and said, "Oh, well, the Yankees lost." He literally turned around and told his friends and I seriously thought they were gonna punch me. WHATEVER. Get over yourselves and get a life! And these same guys need to get a clue when it comes to their wardrobes, and I'm not referring to the stupid T-shirts. They all dress alike. It's like Stepford. Get rid of the Dockers and step away from the weave belts. Ick.

Jaws 3 and Red Snapper

Do you ever take time to actually notice things that you do every day but don't bother to analyze. I did that today on my commute home from DUMBO. In all the four years I worked on the upper Westside on Amsterdam and 84th, I never felt that I was on a daily grind, or "commuting to work." There was enough variety each day in the people but also the way I got there (streets I took, train combinations I took, etc.) that it didn't seem like a static, routine task. But today, as I was leaving Washington Street, I realized how much it does feel that way in just four DAYS. It's not a neighborhood. It's somewhere people go to each day to work in the larger buildings and then all line up on the same street to walk toward the ONE subway train, the F at York. And then you enter this Blade Runner-like hallway to finally get to the stairs that take you to the platform. The only highlight today was that this girl slipped a little on her way up the stairs and her skirt went up and I saw her day-of-the-week panties. That made me giggle. And even though one might think that all these uber-hip trendsetters are so unique that there is VARIETY, I think NOT. They're trying too hard in my estimation.

Well, enough about that. On the train, I realized that I hadn't really done anything new today so I decided to cook something new. I went to the Asian fish market across from my apartment and got some red snapper (new thing). Granted, I've cooked some fish before, but never red snapper. Here's a pic of it. FRESH FISH!



I bought one filet ($1.06) and the guy behind the counter just looked so sad as he tried to fish the largest piece out of his selection. Then he bagged it up and gave me that look where he knows I'm alone. Wah-wah. So I cooked it, just some salt & pepper and viola. It was good. I turned on the boob tube and one of my favorite fish movies was on: Jaws.But Jaws 3, the one that came out in 3-D (this is what the poster looked like in German). The one with Dennis Quaid and Lea Thompson. I had the biggest crush on her when I was a kid. I think I still do. I loved her in Space Camp. That was the bestest movie ever! I was either going to work at Sea World or take off into the cosmos.

Facebook Explosion

I must say, I am always game for signing onto the next internet fad (Friendster, MySpace, Vimeo, etc.) but this Facebook thing has really exploded recently. I went to dinner tonight with Amy and we were talking about how many people have added us as friends that we knew from back in high school. It's insane. It's like a virtual reunion but of all different grades. I have to admit that I like it. I'm such a voyeur that this is fun to see what folks are up to even if I didn't know them very well back then. It's neat to see who's married, who has kids, who does what in their careers. So Panas folk, keep the friend requests coming... I know I'm not as on point as Row with my ol' memory but I never forget a face (unless you've gotten all bald and tan or toothless and hairy). Row, that was not a dig at you.....



My new thing today was answering my cell phone at my freelance job under my desk so no one else would see me talking. i felt like i was one of those hostages in a bank robbery film where they didn't quite see me yet so I was calling for help. anyway, it's so damn quiet in there and no one else seems to have any conversations with anyone that i just couldn't be like, "Hey Amy, so where are we meeting for supper?" I do wish there was water cooler chatter, but nada. All those cute boys and everyone seems to be actually working. What's up with that? Amy suggested that I just start blasting Howard Stern from my desktop and see what the kids' reactions are. I think I may try that. I'll let you know what transpires...

F to DUMBO

worked for mo today. quiet office. no water cooler chatter. cute boys though. the only thing is - none of them talked to me (and i think most of them were single). sheesh. it's like high school all over again. seriously, cool office. great work they are doing. looking forward to being part of it part-time. great to be watching mo's creative juices flowing again right in front of me. that area has changed so much in just a year. i think i was there only a year ago and there are so many cafes, shops, etc. now. wow. hey, that rhymes. ok, gimme a break, i'm trying to catch up on days here. shot a cool construction wall mural.



I did get to see the last of 4 waterfalls by that olaf dude (new thing). big woop though. what's the big deal. it's water falling from a metal thingy. gosh, that took a lot of thought. sorry artsy folks...

Thank goodness for Lemsip (08-17-08)

Got the flu or something last week, but thankfully, I still had my supply of Lemsip from Ireland here in Queens. This stuff would never be sold over the counter here but it does the trick. It has something called psuedopehredine (sp?) in it. Maybe we can get a petition together to get the U.S. to allow this stuff in. It rocks! Granted, you fall down like a druggie after one glass but it allows you to work the next day. Oh wait, why would you want to do that? also went to a noodle place on 4th avenue and 10th street (new thing) and saw ben stiller's latest movie, Tropic Thunder (new thing) - (eh, can't recommend you spending $11.75 on it but I did laugh a lot).

Oh! the Rambles (08-16-08)

Not sure if every New Yorker knows this yet but tourists don't seem to catch on that quick. The Ramble (that portion of the park behind (pardon the pun) the Boathouse, has been and still is a cruising area for homosexuals. It's fun to watch. I hate to make it sound like a zoo exhibit but it kind of is. Men walk up onto rocks, check out the pickins and then come back down, sometimes with a package, sometimes without. I introduced my friend Matthea to this fact and she can no longer see it in any other light. Although I have been to the Ramble before, we ventured to one area that I had never seen before, the gazebo (new thing). It was quite occupied but that didn't stop me. It seems to be inhabited actually. And that it was. About 8 gentlemen seemed to "hang out" there together on a regular basis because they welcome us to their "home." They were quite friendly and asked us where we were from because they probably figured two New Yorkers would not be strolling past them and venture inside to chat. It was cute. I said something along the lines of "hadn't wandered across this before. there are so many turns and hidden spaces" and they were like "uh, yea," probably knowing EXACTLY what I was talkin' about. Nice guys. Next trip there, we'll be taking a hot air balloon ride over Manhattan. Can't wait. And the gondola. Did you know there's a dude that gives gondola rides on the pond? Ask him to tell you his life story. Apparently Matthea has hired him 30 times and is almost to his childhood.

Friday, I'm in Love (08-15-08)

Today, I discovered Carl Shurz Park (new thing) near Gracie Mansion. Really cool spot.



I highly recommend checking it out. You can bring your large or small dog. They have dog runs for both sizes. No mixing please. After my lovely morning appointment, I donated my $1 to the Met (you do know you don't have to pay the suggested $20, right?) to see the Superheroes exhibit and the Koons sculptures on the roof.



But I found this one special place that I have never been to before in the Met and that is the glass cases of old furniture (new thing). How could EO have missed this area? It's in the American wing on the 2nd floor and it got me thinking that I might up my apartment insurance.



I love going to museums by myself because you never have to pretend that you are looking and thinking in front of some work of art. You can breeze through, run away from the boring bits and bypass the porcelain white naked dudes with missing noses. Whatever. Even though their pieces are in clear view, it just doesn't do it for me. I did however like this young chap. If anyone knows the model for this painting, do tell.

In and Out, Up and Down

So after having a lovely lunch at the Comfort Diner with my hot friend Nicole who works at the Flatiron Building (pronounced fla-tier-on), which I've never been inside of (new thing), I hopped on the M23 to peruse the Chelsea Galleries (is that supposed to be capitalized? I don't think so). Anyways, it was fun as always. This semi-annual outing is not new to me, but of course all the new art is (new things). I fortunately made it around 24th and 25th Streets before the heavens opened up and splashed me silly with rain water. I got to see a photo show on white supremists/KKK members and oddly enough, when I was walking to catch the C train uptown, there was this elderly black man with a cane standing outside of the Elliott Chelsea Housing Projects, trying to hail a cab and no one would stop. I asked him if he'd like me to help and he said yes so one stopped for me (new thing). Sad.

I highly suggest everyone go and stroll around the galleries. It's really fun. It gets your creative juices flowing and you meet neat folks. I met Ari from Israel (new thing) who didn't understand fully (and who would) that you just simply enter random buildings and take the elevators up and down to various open (and sometimes closed) doors that say "gallery" or "studio" on them. It's quite fun to be so B&E about it (well, not the B). Then you go in and out of warehouse-type storefronts. His English was cute and he had to be all of 19 years old. He was staying with his sister who is living here. I'm sure you'd love for me to go on and on about Ari but I'll change the subject.



So then, I'm in this one building that has lots of floors and I get off on the 5th Floor and see this sign outside one door that says "imaginary forces" and I'm alllll, "oh my gosh. that's where steve works. how funny." so i knock. never been there before (new thing). this woman answers and i ask if he works there and she doesn't seem to want to confirm or deny that fact so she calls him and says that i'm here for him. he indeed did work there and showed me around - thanks steve. cool stuff btw. i'm slowly realizing how fortunate i am to know so so many creative (and sometimes mildly famous) people. i rock! (oh wait, they rock). aww snap!

oh, and today i wore a backless shirt. it was fun. you get dirty looks from girls and hootin' and hollerin' from construction workers. i know girls say they hate that when sweaty guys with uniforms and hard hats cat call but i think it's fun. i sit and watch cute boys go by when i'm on benches in public and think naughty things but i just don't say it out loud. maybe that will be my new thing for tomorrow (prospective new thing). that's the ticket. what would that be called? dog calling? or just plain harrassment.

So I took tons of photos of the art, I think my favorite was the scary fairy tale dolls.


Or the dangerous women. So now I'm off to din-din with Heidi at La Rural (new thing), an Argentine restaurant on Amsterdam and 97th Street. Can't wait. I've always wanted to try it and her birthday is as good a reason as any. And there will be lots of MEAT. yum-e!

Sushi and Prosecco

So someone with the initials AK was missin' his regular drinking buddy and used me for the evening. Sheesh. Like all it takes is a little sushi and prosecco to satisfy me. Gosh. Had a pleasant evening talking about business ventures and such and feel very invigorated about going out on my own, whether it be organic farming (which I know nothing about), organizing people's lives/apts/homes, or starting my own alternative to incarceration program in NYC. the sky is the limit. (I think someone once told me never to blog when you're tipsy but when they told me that, I wasn't a blogger, so does that advice count?)

It's a Zoo Out There

So get used to it. I think my headlines will always be corny. Today I awoke to some aggravating phone calls that I didn't answer but I wasn't going to let it bring me down. It was Wednesday after all, HUMP DAY. I had to do something fun. So I remembered that Wednesday is FREE DAY at the Bronx Zoo. I will go visit with the animals. And visit I did. After walking my own little borrowed animal, LuLu, I hopped on the 2 train and headed to West Farms to stand on line with all the other thrifty New Yorkers who don't want to pay $15. It was a beautiful day and it's great that so much of the zoo is in the shade because I do love the shade. I saw a lot of the park but enjoyed Tiger Mountain the most because when I first entered the building that looks out onto the "mountain" where the tigers graze, there weren't ANY in sight and everyone was really pissed off because they waited on line to get in. So just as some people were leaving cursing (which is sooooo appropriate to do when you're at a family place), a tiger surfaced. Granted it was merely because he (or she) saw the zookeeper atop the building with raw meat that s/he threw onto a rock for the tiger to devour.

But regardless, they know how to make the visitors happy. I got so many great shots of him with his mouth open, looking straight at me, it was all very exciting. And although I could have let the little ones in front of me to get a better look, I didn't. So when I left, I walked toward Fordham to see if I could catch the tail end of what seems to be a Wednesday/Thursday flea market (new thing) that I read about on my favorite blog, design*sponge, but it ended up being a far walk and just a bunch of crap honestly. But I got to see the university where my cousin Seamus (James) Finlay was the Dean of Students (new thing). Fordham even named a building after him. Finlay Hall. My dad just told me that. Cool beans. So now I'm back home making arrangements to meet up with mothers that are possibly interested in my babysitting services. Oh, but something icky happened too. I was just exiting the express D train after running into a former client of mine which made me so happy to hear that he's doing so well, and some grimy guy grabbed at my privates. Gross and ewwwww. Who does this!?!

Tuesday Galavanting (08-12-08)

So this day started with me posting an ad on Craigslist offering babysitting services (new thing) and to my surprise, it worked. I got two calls within the first day. I love kids and figure that while I am starting my new organizing business, I might as well make some money so I can do those things like eat, drink, transport myself from point A to point B. So after that, I showered and put on my new Burlington Coat Factory Naturalizer $24.99 shiny shoes and headed to lunch with Maryssa at Lacoste, well not AT Lacoste, they sell clothing, not burgers. We went to Burger Heaven and let's just say that classic burger with pickle was indeed like heaven. Hadn't had the red meat in a while. Yum-e! So it was great to catch up with her and since I was already near 5th Avenue, I shimmied over to Henri Bendel's to get gifts for both Heidi (who's birthday is this weekend) and Judith (whose birthday I missed back in July - oops). I've never purchased anything in Henri Bendel's (new thing). It was fun to be all glammed out shopping in these shops. The salespeople were all very nice to me and I got bags and fancy boxes for my gifts and everything. My only suggestion would be to the skin care lady. Don't say "help for your skin?" to people who obviously have a huge zit under their nose. It doesn't make us want to sit down on your black chair and chat about our bad picking habits. So then, I ventured over to Tiffany's. I mean duh. There, I bought cute little candy dishes for my girls, the counselors I worked with at my job who also resigned for bigger and better things. It was so regal how they wrapped them and I was going to present it to both of them at this little shindig I was having at my adopted parents' pad later that evening (new thing, never had a party at someone else's house when they weren't home, they knew though). So after Tiffany's, I pulled the ol' Havianas out of my bag and shoved the glitzy ones away for now. No band-aids on hand. Shame (as Jim Bacher would say). Walked my way to Sherry Lehman to buy my two mainstays and headed thru the park toward the west side. On my way, I saw the Victorian Garden at Wollman Rink (that amusement park they constructed on top of the rink for the summer) - so cute with all the kiddies getting all excited about lame rides. I mean, c'mon. It's not Kingda Ka. Paalleeease. So as I surfaced onto CPW and saw the Trump Hotel, I thought, "I want a drink in a very civilized atmosphere" and strolled over to the entrance, only to learn that they didn't open up again until 5:30. Now, there I was with my shoes back on (had to represent) and my Tiffany's and Bendel bags a-flowin' and they still told me "CLOSED". So I picked up my bags and headed over to the next best thing, the Mandarin Oriental (new thing).

Shot myself up 35 floors and entered the lounge, "one please." The waiter kindly asked what I'd like to drink and I chose the cheapest sake on the menu. $8 to be exact. He brought it to me in this curvaceous glass and I sipped slowly while taking in the AMAZING view of Central Park and Central Park South. It was very "lady of leisure" and I plan to do it again in a variety of fine establishments all over NYC thank you very much. So once the CNN electronic billboard "rang" 4:00, I got the check, had the waiter take my photo with the park background and went back down to the "regular people." Got on the train, back to reality, back to picking up LuLu's poop, and hightailed it to DAG's to get the makings for guacamole and corn salsa. The girls (and Mo) started arriving at 6:00 and it sounded like a hen party. So great to see them all together again and chat up a storm. I will miss them all but hope to keep in close touch. (Tommy, don't worry, the big shindig was over at 10:00 and we did keep the sex, drugs and rock & roll to a minimum).

Monday Showtime (08-11-08: cheating)

My first official unemployed day (I know I'm cheating by naming this Monday and writing it on Wednesday but how else do people do this blogging stuff?).I woke up to torrential rains and sooooo wanted to go out but full seasons of Weeds and The L Word were calling my name. That is, after I wiped up all the water that came in through the windows of the 3-bedroom duplex that I'm house and dogsitting in. So I guess the new thing there was that I've never watched that many episodes of Showtime on Demand series in my entire life. So there. It was very exciting. I heart Mary Louise Parker. She's a hoot. Now, I'm not saying that I love her in the L Word kind of way, just the "you go girl" kind of way. And that's not to say that I advocate selling marijuana and creating grow houses but the writing for the show is amazing. See, that's how I got myself out of that one. Sound intelligent, compliment the intelletual WRITING. Besides watching a massive amount of TV, I simply stopped in to visit my favorite 2-year old for some yummy pasta that her mommy made and called it a night.

Launch of eo Explores

Since leaving my full-time job, I promised myself that I would try to do something new each day and so far, I have been pretty good at keeping my promise. I'd like for all these new things to be wacky and crazy but I'm realistic and know that some will be mundane to readers, but maybe a little nutty to me. So I hope you can stalk me a bit by reading this whenever you get a chance and comment on my escapades, adventures, and explorations.