What should I be?

You tell me: What should I be for Halloween?


This....



Or this....



Hmmm....

Young fall...

Today I had a "fall day" with a friend of mine. We had brunch, went for a long walk through the park, and ended at Filene's Basement buying cheap tights! The trees aren't quite turning yet, but they are on their way and fall is in the air. This is what we saw...







Who wears leather pants, high stilettos, and a fur coat in the middle of the park? Honestly, how was she walking around??

This man was actually singing. He was rowing the boat/gondola singing in a very opera-like voice. I can't say that if I was one of those people I would like that. Romantic in theory....weird in life.


I want to put these all over my apartment. I wonder....can you actually eat them?


Yay pumpkins!!! I want one! Except I'd never be home to see it and I really don't think that you can just set carved pumpkins outside your apartment door. Oh well. I'll just watch them in passing!

Ringworm

Sasha has ringworm. And now so do I. Bedbugs....ringworm....what else you got for me world! Bring it on!

.....It seems like one negative thing after the other this year....

By the way, buying a cream that says "Cures Most Jock Itch" in big bold letters on the front is kind of embarrassing. That's right, I'll be using jock itch cream. On my face.

The girl who goes on bad dates

Last night was a birthday gathering for a good friend of mine. About twenty of her girl friends, and three of her guy friends, gathered together at a martini bar for drinks. There were the general "get to know you" conversations between different groups and everyone seemed to be having a good time. While talking to my friend's sister she suddenly stopped in the middle of the conversation and said to me, "are you the girl who goes on all the bad dates?"

I was a little shocked at this. Do I go on bad dates? I turned to the birthday girl and asked her if I was indeed the friend who she had told her sister went on all the bad dates. Yes, it turns out I was.

The conversation continued:

"I guess I am that girl."

"Give me an example."

"Well, there was the guy that talked about basil for fifteen minutes straight. The "jack-off" guy I went on a date with last year. The guy who cried on the first date."

And as I sat there recounting some of my worst dates to this stranger I realized that, yes, I was he girl who went on bad dates. How did this slip by me? How had I never known this about myself before now. So here, I list for you the basics of the bad dates I've been on:

• The guy who cried on the first date. This was actually a blind date set up through a friend, and he seemed to be the marrying guy. He spent the night asking me all kinds of incredibly intimate questions. You know, the questions you don't ask until that night three months into a new relationship where you stay up talking for hours. "Tell me something real about you. What's your biggest regret? What's one thing you could take back?" Calm down buddy, at least let me finish my cocktail. At dinner he said, "Ok, I'm ready for you to ask me questions now." Alright....what's your biggest regret? I was simply repeating a question he had asked me. I didn't mean for him to sob into his pasta. I mean, we were at a nice place in the West Village, this was unnecessary. Anyway we left the restaurant when all of a sudden he just had to sit on this stoop on Perry Street. So we sat. And he told me about the 5 kids and house in the country he wanted. The moment I expressed my lack of wanting children, the man was off the stoop and in a cab. I was left standing alone on Perry Street, feeling much relieved if truth be told. Did I mention this was at midnight?
  
• Basil. Apparently it grows in all sorts of weathers. Is easy to grow. Can be used in a lot of dishes. And...I pretty much stopped listening three minutes in. I mean how long can two people discuss an herb? Perhaps he was just nervous. Perhaps it was the third date and that's when I really knew...it just wasn't going to work out. No one loves basil that much.
• The racist. He talked about how he used to be a server and he knew that black people gave bad tips. He spoke many times of the "Chinese dude" wearing the weird hat, and he spoke freely about many other races. And I'm pretty sure he was Armenian. God knows what he would have thought of me if I didn't happen to be white. He called me again, but I did not pick up.
• The "I forgot my wallet" guy. No you didn't, you're just cheap. And I only had one glass of wine anyway, it wouldn't have been that expensive. Good luck with that.
• The asshole guy. I was held up for 15 minutes! I couldn't leave work, in this industry you just have to stay late sometimes. Shouldn't you want a girl who cares about her career? How dare you call me unpunctual, I'm always on time. Jerk. Who want's to date a Long Island cop anyway?
• The sleep-over guy. It's the second date. No you can not sleep over. I don't care what time your train leaves. No, I have no couch, and I don't know you. Note to self: Avoid Long Island guys.
• The Jack-off guy. I won't repeat the entire story as I've already detailed it in an earlier posting. But on a first date, you should never, EVER, say anything along the lines of "what am I supposed to just jack off for the next five days?"
• Also never assume that a girl is a lesbian just because she isn't into you.
• Then there's the latest with the Photographer who chose the most inopportune time to tell me he's seeing other people.
  

I think that's enough for now. I'm getting depressed just typing these words out. I am the girl who goes on bad dates. And it's great! Know why? It gives me something to blog about.

Also while I'm in New York going on bad dates one of my best friends from home just got engaged. And I introduced them. Lovely. Happy for her. Really.

New York: Pros and Cons

I've recently begun my second year of living in New York. While it's been an incredible time for personal growth and full of daunting challenges, recently I find myself wondering when I will be making the move back to California. Can you still call yourself a California girl if you haven't lived there for 6 1/2 years? My home is feeling far away and I'm starting to ponder what the future holds. And with that, I give you my pros and cons about living in New York (I realize that a lot of these are personal):

Pros:

• Central Park and Riverside Park
• Fall in New York: Colorful trees and beautiful pathways
  
• Taxis anywhere at anytime; no drinking and driving
• Cobblestone streets
• Incredible summer moments at rooftop parties
• There's always something new and exciting to do
• There's always someone new and exciting to meet
• You can wear anything and get away with it
• Opportunity: one moment you are wondering what you will do that night, the next thing you know you're best friends with someone who can get you into the coolest places
• Food. Bakeries. 24 Hour delivery. Any food you can think of at any time.
• The way the sun hits the buildings at sunset
• That goosebumpy feeling you get when you see the skyline after being away for any period of time
  
• Christmas time in the city. Ice skating and Bryant Park and 5th avenue. The carts that sell roasted nuts on the street corners
• The Hampton Jitney
• Men in suits
• Culture. Film festivals. Farmers' markets. Street music. Street vendors. Street performers.
  
• Community gardens
• Fireflies
• "If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere" is probably true
• Warm summer nights
• Drinking is more accepted than bathing
• The people are (mostly) real and don't carry the "fake LA vibe" with them
  

Cons:

• Being squished in a subway with a million other sweaty people
• Not being able to wear your cute shoes because you have to walk everywhere
• Winter. Specifically January-April
• Rats. Cockroaches. Bed Bugs. Mosquitoes (surprisingly).
• Too-tiny-to-live-in-for-this-price apartments
• Messy room mates in small spaces
• EXPENSE
• No ocean in which to dip your feet, no pool to lay by
  
• A swim suit is not acceptable attire
• No private yards
• Rain. All. The. Time.
• Pushy people. Rude people.
• Men in New York. Dating in New York. It almost always involves alcohol. And then before you know it you've been dating someone for two months and you can't really be sure who they are
  
• Tourists
• Inability to cook for yourself because you are out every night
• Summertime body odor (not mine)
• Cars that drive up beside you and splash mud water on you. Although maybe that can happen other places too
• Your neighbors can hear everything! (What? I sing and play piano here people!)
• Inability to have time to yourself, I mean complete alone time
• Food. Bakeries. 24 Hour delivery. Any food you can think of at any time. Hence I eat too much here.
  
• Drinking is more accepted than bathing; hence I drink too much here
• My friends are mostly in California
• I have no car. I miss driving.

I'm sure I can think of plenty more for both categories, but it's a start!

Kindness in New York

I experienced a funny thing this morning. After I woke up at 6:30, dragged my butt out of bed, ran 3 miles (yee!), took a shower, fed the cat, and left for work I found myself barreling through the Columbus Circle subway traffic as usual.

When you first move to New York, you still act like you would if you were anywhere else; you try not to be rude, move aside for people in a rush, and keep a semi-worried look on your face. That all changes after a couple months in the city. Anyone who has ever spent significant time here knows that the only way to get where you are going is not to lose focus. You have to keep your head up and walk straight, knocking into anyone in your path, keeping the "you-stupid-tourists-better-stay-the-hell-out-of-my-way-if-you-know-what's-good-for-you" face on. Sometimes when someone elbows you extra hard, you get a little irritated. You might throw your arms up or mutter a string of four letter words under your breath. On less proud days, you might actually comment to the person how you think they are incredibly rude. I, myself, would NEVER.....

Well, this morning I was arriving to the subway and, of course, the 1 train was pulling in letting of crowds of busy commuters when some jerk ran into me really hard. I mean I-almost-dropped-my-umbrella hard, if you can imagine that. Well, I after being shoved around already a lot this morning, I just about lost it. I turned around, face red, ready to let the asshole have it, when...

"I'm so so sorry, are you ok?"

My red face soon turned pink with embarrassment at the idea that I might even dream of raising my voice to the very kind gentleman, who clearly didn't mean to run into me like that.

"No, no, sorry!" I screamed, following the river of people towards the D train.

It's funny how quickly your opinion of someone can change with a simple kind word. This is where I should interject and say, "we should all say kind things more," which is true. Also it proves that there are still considerate people in Manhattan. I was beginning to think they were disappearing. Hell, a good friend of mine who is just starting to show her baby bump even said that people have given their seats up for her on two separate occasions! Can you believe it?

On a sidenote, I've recently become completely obsessed with this website. You can track everything you eat, how much you work out, and what your goals are and it tells you where you need to be. It tracks your water intake and tells you what nutrients you need more of, or have enough of. I'm trying to start a revolution at work. So far I have 4 people signed up.

Three states in one day!

One thing that's really different about the east coast from the west is that you can drive through states. In California it would take you all day to drive to a new state, and it's seriously doubtful that you could cross another boarder. On the east coast, driving to a different state is just like driving to a new town: quick and easy. I don't think I cold ever get used to that.

On Saturday I went to stay with a good friend of
mine who lives in New Jersey (it's not as bad as it's reputation would have you believe!) and her good friend from high school. The three of us drove to a really cute town called New Hope which is in Pennsylvania! So that means I went from New York to New Jersey to Pennsylvania all in one day! Crazy.

The town was really cute and we had so much fun poking through the stores and, of course, having cocktails. Fall seems to have arrived there earlier than in the city. Leaves were falling and there were pumpkins and skulls out! I love fall. I look forward to going for walks along the Hudson and the reservoir in another couple of weeks and seeing fall in full bloom.



That evening we went back to New Jersey where D and I gave M a beautiful performance of "Big Girls Don't Cry" complete with dance moves and TV remote microphones. Really we were quite spectacular; M's abs hurt the next day from laughing so hard.

My friends' toes!

It was absolutely the perfect weekend. Three days (three!) of warm 75-80 degree weather. I went for a 6 mile walk/run this morning over to my friend's apartment (I'm cat sitting) and sat with her kitty for a while. The rest of the day? I think I'll go get a coffee and sit in Riverside and read. It's a beautiful day!

Also...

Has anyone else seen this guy walking around?



....That kind of freaks you out in the morning. Or at night. Or any of the times I've seen him. I think he sticks to the Soho/East Village areas. Thoughts?

Prince Butterfly

You know those slow mornings? The ones where it's hard to get out of bed? The ones where you wake up five times in the middle of the night and someone somewhere is watching obnoxious tv and oh my god I really shouldn't have eaten all those nachos I feel like I might throw up maybe I should go try but getting up seems like too difficult a task and please Sasha stop licking my neck?

No?

Well I had one of these mornings. Woke up late. Nothing to wear. Cat nearly knocked the TV off the dresser. Shit I screwed up my eyeliner. Oh well, my hair will just be greasy today.

And I'm a morning person.

The 1 train stopped just as I was trying to go into the subway and I had to wait for all 5,000 people to exit before I could go in. But the D was on time and everything was good except for my heavy eyelids and messed up makeup (maybe I can start a trend? Mismatched eye makeup?). I got off the subway at the Broadway/Lafayette stop and made my way towards the office.

As I turned right onto Prince street there was an orange butterfly fluttering down the middle of the street. I kept worrying that it would get hit by a car, but there didn't seem to be many cars out this morning. I started wondering where is came from. It's October! What is it doing out here? It's not butterfly season, I don't think. Maybe it came from Washington Square Park or Tompkins Square. But if I remember correctly, there aren't many flowers in those areas. Hmm...

Either way it looked really pretty and made me stop to think for a moment. Also I was listening to Moby's "Beautiful" at the time so I'm sure that added a little more emotion to the moment. I mean, how random, and also how beautiful, to see a butterfly sauntering down the street. Maybe it was heading over to Delicatessen for brunch. Who knows?

Get over yourself dude

So last night was the studio session with a guy I met that I'll call "Evil Brows." Evil Brows (I swear, I've never seen anything like them! They go up like a forward and backward slash but never come back down! They scare me...) and I met at the studio around 8:45pm. I really didn't want to go but I know he paid for the time and since I'm such a caring and considerate human being I went anyway.

The studio was cool and everything. We each had a mic and I had a keyboard. I was kind of excited when I saw the room- maybe this would be fun? Evil Brows played a couple of his songs for me and he is undoubtedly talented. I liked his voice and his songs a lot. But then when it was my turn I just told him I had yet to write a song by myself and I thought we were going to collaborate. He then spent the next 3 hours lecturing me about how to write a song. This was ok for the first half hour or so, but by the time the night was over I was so tired and ready to get out of there. I thought we were there to make music! If he wanted to teach he should have found someone who was interested in hearing him drone on for three hours. I'm tired! I want to go home! I didn't even get to play any of the stuff I was working on. At one point he told me "you look grumpy." Listen, buddy, I'm tired. I came here to play, not to talk. Why don't you just shut up. When 11:30 hit I was out of there so fast! I barely participated in the "we should do this again" conversation (even though it was a platonic thing) and I was in a cab before I could do the awkward goodbye hug. Good. I hate hugging strange people.

Anyway, I don't think any more "jam sessions" are in store for Evil Brows and myself. I'd rather not feel so belittled in a place I'm meant to feel creative. Next!

Sleep

What are the chances of someone at the office noticing that I've fallen asleep at my desk, I wonder?

Portishead

I am thus far having a semi-crap filled day (this is in no way due to the giant hangover caused by good decisions) and I don't think that this is going to help the "health kick" I've been on. At least I'm still sore from two days ago when I worked out. Makes me feel like I'm somewhat accomplished, even though my head is pounding.

I met up with the Photographer last night to talk through the incredibly awkward situation we found ourselves in last week. And for him to give me my ring back. So what happened? He forgot the ring and I still feel like I have no idea what's going on between us since he didn't really say....anything. Ah well. I think I'm done with that. But we did end up going to a random Portishead concert which was actually pretty fun.

And speaking of music, I am meeting up with a new friend tonight at a studio to write/record some stuff. We met here and decided to get together. I'm not sure how that's going to go today. Nausea this intense doesn't exactly make one feel very creative. But perhaps it will fade by this evening.

Note to self:

Eating a dozen break and bake chocolate chip cookies pretty much undoes the 4 mile run you took earlier in the day. That is all.

Productivity

Yay for this weekend! On Friday my room mate A and I watched Bridesmaids and ordered Indian. It was nice to stay in and chill out. Saturday morning I ran 6 miles!...well, mostly walked, but I ran so much I was sore this morning. I went to brunch at Peels with a good friend and spent the rest of the afternoon walking around. I walked through the west village, and poked in some of the shops on the upper west side. Betsey Johnson calls to me! Fortunately, I was able to resist buying anything. I also went to Trader Joes...only the second time I've been grocery shopping since I moved into my new place. I should really invest in that more!

Today I ran 4 miles; my shins hurt so bad by the end that I had a hard time walking up the stairs to my apartment! But I made a healthy lunch (first time cooking in my new place!) and vacuumed the apartment. I'm ready to start the new week and I feel like running this weekend will give me the "umf" I need to continue exercising throughout the week. We'll see!

Also, I think Sasha has a problem. She's a little lazy...she likes to take naps in front of the TV.






Poor thing is having a tough time adjusting to her new life.