Year: 2012

  • 2012: Year in Review

    2012: Year in Review

    This massive undertaking was sparked by Brooke at Silver Lining.  Get ready for an intense retrospective of the past year in blogging and twelve giant Instagrams.  And remember – I love you. JANUARY I made grilled cheese, stupid faces, and peace with Brooklyn. FEBRUARY I conquered Owego, the subway system, and one of my biggest…

  • On The Town, a.k.a. The Coolest Thing In My Apartment That Isn’t My Roommate

    On The Town, a.k.a. The Coolest Thing In My Apartment That Isn’t My Roommate

    One of my favourite (because, let’s be real, there are so many) movies about New York City is a sweet little movie musical called On The Town, about three sailors on shore leave visiting New York City.  If you’re snowbound right now, I strongly recommend it.  It’s a sweet, funny adventure and it totally holds…

  • Pickle Me Pete: He Fried for Your Dins

    Pickle Me Pete:  He Fried for Your Dins

    Oh, how I do love pickles.  So imagine my glee when I saw this bright beacon of brine across Bryant Park Shoppes one recent night: I could barely find words to express my joy over Instagram.  I even went out of my way to hunt them down during business hours to actually try them!  My…

  • Christmas Past

    Christmas Past

    Roomie’s giant dog Toby assures me he has been good this year…and then sat on my lap. Christmas has come and gone, even though it really doesn’t feel like it.  I had a strange one this year:  I woke up at 6am, took a bath by candlelight before the dawn hit, and then rode a…

  • Christmas Traditions: With Bells On

    Christmas Traditions:  With Bells On

    This is me, “forcing festive” on my way to work.  Growing up, I would take the big gold bell ornaments and dangle them from my pigtails while I decorated the tree.  Jingling all the way, I’m trying to put a brave face on for this holiday. This year, I’ll be home with bells on….if only…

  • Christmas Traditions: Sing It Loud

    My last Christmas gift this year arrived just in time.  Yesterday was again marred by tragedy, and although we survived the apocalypse, sometimes losing a loved one can set your world on edge.  In the big, swirling wonder of it all, the futility of life can come into question. Music has always been a great…

  • 2 Years

    2 years ago today the world lost a beautiful, pure soul.  Love often. Forgive often. Live each day as your last. Thanks for your legacy, pal. RIP

  • Christmas Tradtitions: Feliz Navidad

    My family can be described unfavourably as just a wee bit competitive. Take Christmas, for example.  Because someone always tries.  With the best gift, the most outrageous cookies, the most festive holiday sweater. And then, there’s the family-wide radio contest that has made me jump inside my skin whenever I hear Jose Feliciano’s “Feliz Navidad.”…

  • Peace

    I don’t want to talk too much about the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy.  It seems everyone else is doing enough of that as it is.  Talking about freedoms and beliefs, and God and Godlessness.  Let’s just remember that it wasn’t IDEAS that ripped through the bodies of over 20 adults and children, rendering them destroyed.…

  • Christmas Traditions: Cards on Yarn

    Christmas Traditions:  Cards on Yarn

    Perhaps one of the strangest decorations I can remember hanging in my childhood home around Christmas time was a thick, twisted rope of red yarn. It hung in the kitchen against the wall like a clothesline, to string up Christmas cards from years and years ago, people whose names I didn’t recognize, but only the…

  • Christmas Traditions: Fakin’ It

    Christmas Traditions:  Fakin’ It

    Christmas is kinda tough for me, y’all.  More lately than ever, I find myself Charlie Brown-ing my way through the season aimlessly.  The one upside of not going home to family for Christmas is knowing that I, unlike all you poor schlubs, don’t actually have to do any present shopping.  Ha ha.  But back to…

  • Christmas Traditions: Pour Some Festive Sugar On Me

    Christmas Traditions:  Pour Some Festive Sugar On Me

    It wouldn’t be Christmas without Christmas cookies, now would it?  This is my second post about Christmas cookies and regardless of the fact that I never find myself actually eating any (why is this?), the baking of Christmas cookies is always such an important part of having a real, family Christmas.  Mom, remember the baklava? …

  • Always Stuff Your Bra

    Always Stuff Your Bra

    Nothing is certain in this world, least of all New York City. The only offense is a good defense. And when you’re desperate for a wee, and stoop to use a public restroom, only to find that your stall is devoid of toilet paper, you’ll be glad you have those extra tissues in your bra.

  • Christmas Traditions: Doin’ It All Wrong Since…Ever

    Christmas Traditions:  Doin’ It All Wrong Since…Ever

    Unless you’re somehow stumbling upon this page just now for the very first time ever, you will not be surprised to hear that I am, and always have been, and oddball.  A rebel.  One who marches to the beat of my her own drum.  And I always have been. Back when I was but a…

  • Community

    “That baby has been crying literally – literally – ALL DAY,”  I complain to my roommate when she comes home.  It’s maybe the fifth straight hour of screams that can’t possibly come from a human being.  Kitty-corner across the hall, she goes on for hours and at all times of the day. “How does everyone…

  • Employee of the Month

    Employee of the Month

    I’ve been busy as a bumblebee around here and yesterday I got a huge surprise. My manager approached me with a camera and a handful of money and said “Congratulations, you’re employee of the month, I have to take your picture.” My immediate response was to blush a fantastic shade of aubergine and sputter thanks: …

  • Extinct

    Extinct

    During the aftermath of Sandy, I took a few long walks to get out of the house and out of my brain.  I walked the Upper West Side and spotted a relic of the past, a dinosaur thought to be long extinct:

  • 30DHN: Three Wonderful Things That Happened This Month

    30DHN:  Three Wonderful Things That Happened This Month

    I made a new friend! I got my tattoos done! And I had a family Thanksgiving!

  • 30DHN: Something I Could Never Tire Of

    30DHN:  Something I Could Never Tire Of

    My windowsill nook The crazy bathroom storage that screams “tiny Manhattan apartment” Gizmo giving me the coy side-eye in the kitchen Waking up to this view …And having a home to come home to.

  • 30DHN: A Skill I’d Like to Learn

    30DHN:  A Skill I’d Like to Learn

    Many people say they wish they had the ability to juggle, metaphorically. I would really just like to juggle. I would love to be able to perform on demand that feat of lightness and whimsy.  I may just be a collector of parlor tricks and jokes, but it seems to have served me well in…