The Catskills

i am going to Denver NY this weekend to my co worker's summer home right outside of the Catskill Park. This should bean interestng weekend: 25 people, 4 co workers, 3 hours of driving each way, 1 itty bitty tent, i blow up mattress that will fill all of itty bitty tent, and 1 broken arm. exactly....

Johnny Blaze

Well, 2 days down and a possible 40 more to go. I’ll find out a better time frame when I go to the ortho on Monday. I already want this thing OFF! I keep going to do things and having to stop and figure out if a) I can do them and if so then b) how to do it one handed. Its taking a lot more energy to get through the day. And the one handed typing isn’t awesome either, my workload now takes 2x longer. Oh well, I am sure eventually I will adjust. All I have to do is remember it won’t be for that long and to ask except help…which is hard for me to do.

Just been having quiet night full of sitting on the couch with my arm incased in frozen pea bags. Last night Kristen came over and Eric made some carrot couscous with veggies for dinner. He is really being so great with all of this, he is helping me so much. I can’t even tie my own hair back so I have to ask him to do it every day. I am sure anyone who could view the new morning routine would get a total kick out of watching me attempt to do something on my own and have to get Eric do it for me. I am lucky to have some one so sweet and willing to help me.

We watched Ghost Rider last night, the one with Nicholas Cage. I really thought it would be hideously bad. It was actually really entertaining. I told Eric that when I get a bike I will go to orange county choppers and have them make the hell rider bike for me just cause it so tuff.

skate or die....or break your arm

Well, I think the posts will be cut a little shorter for about 4-6 weeks. Yup, I broke my arm. And the repeated comment I get is “ what was a 25 year old doing on a skateboard?” I guess my response can be “falling off of it.”

Ben Prichard

I had a wonderful trip to Chicago over the weekend, you can check out the photos here. It just doesn’t seem appropriate to go through the vacation bit by bit, maybe when things have settled I will have the time to do so.

But on my way to the airport to fly back to NYC I got a phone call that my friend Ben whom I had gone to RIT with had passed away. A few years ago he had undergone open heart surgery, because he lived everyday for what it was and never let anything slow him down I think we all began to forget that he had cardiovascular problems. He was in a BMX race on Saturday and suffered from a heart attack. Everyone says this about anyone they lose but he was honestly one of the sweetest kind-hearted people I knew. I think I remembered seeing him around at shows in Rochester when I first started at school; he was straight edge Ben… that would change eventually and Ben Francisco cause he was from Cali. I was never really with the “In crowd” when it came to the Rochester scene but I do remember getting to know him better once my good friend Kate moved into a house with him and one other RIT student. I remember sitting and listening to cursive and just hanging out with Ben and Kate. After college Ben came to visit NYC and he Kate and I met up, I remember going to Brooklyn with him to visit one of his friends and at the time having a tough time with ending spending time with a mutual friend of mine and bens, I was kind of talking to him and he gave me a very different perspective on it and to not let pettiness take charge of trying to keep a relationship with someone I cared about. I remember going and meeting him at some fish place on 2o-something street at this fish place during my lunch break from my internship at spin magazine and agreeing to meet him later to pose for this project he was assisting on. 50 portraits in something like 50 states or cities, I can’t remember exactly. And I remember he was a good person who was an incredible photographer, we were flicker contacts and I would go through the two weddings he had photographed (the both were kind of friends of friends) and I remember knowing that if I ever did get married I wanted Ben to photograph it. I think the hardest thing I have had to do twice now is take someone’s phone number out of my cell phone. We're all going to suffer from heavy hearts for a while.

atleast he left doing what he loved.

We Forget to Remember

Lily allen from Rolling Stone

Eric and I met up at home and went to dinner at Joya before heading out to see lily Allen at the Roseland Ballroom, I think I should probably curb my pots about her for the fact that I am probably doing more harm to any reputation I might have it professing my love for the radio pop. Who am I kidding I have always had borderline hideous taste in the secret guilty pleasure of radio rock. Never the less I really enjoyed the show, it was actually the first big wig concert I have been to in a LONG time that I didn’t feel totally out of place and an old person at 25 while drowning in a sea of teeny boppers rushing ahead of me and blocking my view from my comfortably seated position in the higher balcony because it’s not so loud up there. Yes I have broached that aspect of my life, once the “mom dancing” occurs I think my youth is officially over. It was funny to be at the show and I kept catching girls dressed head to toe in the obligatory cute dress with doorknocker earrings, it was like a smaller version on Madonna madness. Remember in the 80s when hordes of girl would show up to Madonna concerts dressed like the material girl, well this was simialrish... except it was funny that it really came across as a blatant style rip off rather than a nod to the artist herself. Lily was entertaining, forgot some words and I think smoked an entire pack during the 1/2 hour set, fun to watch though and sing along to. Afterwards I decided I needed a little nibble before bed and though to myself, we are in NYC there has to be a pizza place somewhere. Remembering my friend Sam who I came to the city with once (actually my first and last abc no rio show) and he was on a mission that any and every pizza place we passed he had to go in and get a slice, I’m convinced he must have gone through the equivalent of 10 pies on his own that day. Well after walking 20 blocks south we came upon one that satisfied the hunger, but reminded me this morning with a stomachache why I usually avoid the side of the street no name pizza places.

We also decided today during our usually daily bonding with each other over gchat (sometimes I wonder how many hours of the relationship have been logged via this contraption) that we need to get really serious about saving money. So Eric and I are going on a budget. We are going to cook at home a lot more than we have been, we really get into a bad habit of asking where we want to go to dinner rather than what we want to make. And we live 1 block from the Grocery store along with a car to whisk us down to fairway for some good deals, thus no excuse. And since you have to spend a little to save a little I am going to go out tonight and with the usual toilet paper and paper towel purchases I am going to but a coffee maker and a Tupperware drink container so that we will make our own coffee (fair trade from fairway sounds good to me) and avoid the habit we have gotten into of spending $3 on an iced coffee from the bakery downstairs. We really have let convenience over take our money matters. Time to change that, I would love to have a healthier bank account and be able to place more towards my student loans to get them over and done with. I think now with my recent raise I should really make and effort to do this. Plus I would really like to stick to eating healthy and foods that have very little processing done to them so cooking for ourselves would really help that as well (and get back into the habit of bringing my lunch… I think I have figured out a good way to do salads without ending up with a soggy mess). With not going out so much to save money as well I would like to take advantage of the gym membership that I have been going to more often since I have been on my health kick (which is good) but I can always do more, and number 2 there is so much to do in the city for free like the movies in dumbo. I feel like my social scene sometimes takes from the city I live in, we do the same thing over and over again and never really take advantage of what NYC has to offer. I have big plans to get a big potluck picnic for the Philharmonic symphony in Prospect Park in July. Look at me all grown up. So time to buckle down and be smart and save those dollars! Plus vacations to Belize don’t pay for themselves!This weekend is Chicago! I am very excited! I am going to make myself take as many pictures as possible to have some good things to show for the trip. A friend at work suggested we visit Millennium Park and sent me the website to the park. It’s beautiful! Although we will be on Sell Family time and seeing all of Eric’s family members I would love to have a chance to go down and check out the Park. Honestly right now I am psyched to have Friday off of work and just relax for a little bit. The weekend after this I have a hectic weekend planned of NOTHING! I will wake up in Brooklyn I will stay in Brooklyn. I will not leave or travel or do anything. Maybe I’ll use it as a good excuse for late spring-cleaning and some good cooking!

Two last things, I had a realization of how far removed I am from someone’s life today. It was a little sad; I suppose when you grow older you really just grow apart. It sounds like a very awful and hurtful thing, but I have come to terms and I think I am finally to live and let live and leave it alone.

And lastly, kind of excited that people are actually reading and leaving comments. I hope you all don’t mind the mundane day to day riddled with grammar and spelling mistakes and find at least a good excuse to waste 5 minutes of the day.

Busy

Too busy at work and it’s a Monday so I am struggling with paying attention.

The weekend was nice to be away other than the fact it rained all weekend and I was the smartest person alive and left my cell phone on a window sill, when I went back there were still only a few drops of water on it but apparently enough water damage to make the key pad malfunction. A little aggravating, so we’ll take a little trip to verizon this afternoon after work to rectify the situation (and punish my bank account a little more).


Tonight: Alex, Mary, Eric, Corey and I are going to check out the release of Paris Je t’aime. I literally know nothing about the film so I am excited just to go and spend sometime out then hopefully see a good film. I need to make time to see La vie en Rose. It just looks stunning.
Tomorrow is LILY ALLEN! (Revert to 14 year old screaming and rolling around on the floor), Hey I got to look forward to something especially now that I sat on the Bad Brains boat concert too long and it sold out. It would have been so cool to see them on a cruise line going around NYC. I definitely will be kicking myself for a long time for missing this opportunity.

Other than that just trying to digest the season finale of Sopranos last night. I have been reading different theories on various websites; some of them are really interesting. I think because I wasn’t a hard-line viewer for a few years I was not properly introduced to all the characters, let alone be able to remember them all. I defiantly though that someone at 132 had not paid the cable bill when the screen went black and I think my heart stopped. I wonder if there will b e a movie or if those pondering the fact that when the screen went black that you the view was in fact wacked (a throw back the bobby and tonys conversation ion the boat on what they think it must be like to get wacked.) are correct. Then there is the idea that Tony never wok up form this coma and everything we have been watching doesn’t (will tv land speaking) exist. Even though people are upset with the lack of David Chase tying it up all together at the end and handing it to you, you have to understand and realize how much attention and though that the final hour of the Sopranos spun out. It was interesting to say the least

“I always give 100% at work...

...13% Monday
22% Tuesday
26% Wednesday
35% Thursday
4% Friday”

Beach house for the weekend!

Fort Greene Park

Washington Park, renamed Fort Greene Park in 1897, was established as Brooklyn's first park in 1847 on a 30 acre plot around the site of the old Fort. In 1864, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, by now famous for their design of Central Park, were contracted to design the park, and constructed what was described in 1884 as "one of the most central, delightful, and healthful places for recreation that any city can boast." Olmsted and Vaux's elegant design featured flowering chestnut trees along the periphery, open grassy spaces, walking paths, a vine-covered arbor facing a military salute ground, a permanent rostrum for speeches, and two lawns used for croquet and tennis. The park's success prompted the creation of the larger Prospect Park.

Eric and I took a stroll by the park yesterday on our way to his brother's house to have my first BBQ of the summer. As of this moment I am extremely addicted to grilled pineapple.

girl moment

This came for me today!

Gentlemen, I wash my hands of this weirdness.

So we ended up seeing pirates last night instead of Monday, you know I was entertained during the movie but I definitely felt that as it progresses through its sequels and so forth it is losing steam rapidly. The jokes and witty banter can only go for so long before it gets old and the special effects (amazing as they are) I am sure have taken up too much of the attention than needed while some of that creative enegry could have definitely been spared and transfered for a more cohesive story line. I got a little itchy and resembled a 5-year-old sitting down too long by tossing and turning in my chair in the theater for at least the last hour of the flick. I could have done without the marriage scene as well, it was little too sugary for my taste.

Eric and I tried the new Mediterranean Tapas place called Mazzat on Columbia Street, it was very tasty! We stopped by b61 to say hi after seeing a few people through the window on the street. Other than all of that it’s been a quiet start to the week. Not too much planned tonight, I would like to go to the gym and clean the apt a bit. Maybe a trip to fairway to pack some lunches and bring some food to the beach house over the weekend. I am definitely enjoying having a quiet week, especially with my weekends being as crazy and travel heavy as they are and will be for a few more weeks.

'Sounds like someone has a case of the Mondays'?

This morning was absurd, it was the kind of morning where I am convinced I should have stayed in bed and avoided real life. I had planned to get up and go to the gym to take a class; I figured that since I am doing my best to keep running I should try other things to balance it out. The gym has some beginning classes for Palates and I have always been interested in trying them. I am more or less and moron when it comes to working out on my own so I pump up the aerobics music and get involved with a class that has a teacher to tell me what to do which will hopefully be beneficial to me physically in one way or another. Back to the story, I didn’t get up in time for the 6:30 am class starts time (I am not so much a morning person and I am not sure what I was thinking that I would be up and at’em for that class) so I stayed in bed and watched the downpour. Pretty much any day that begins with rain isn’t a good day, it makes it incredibly difficult to roll out of bed and the rest of the day is more of a struggle to get on to the subway with the umbrella and the balancing act of not slipping down the stairs into lakes of dirty subway/rain water. Are we having a good time yet? Well I get all geared up and on the train nice and early to get to work and finish some research projects and the train is hot and stuffy and crowded to the point where it is nice and uncomfortable. I’m hanging half way out the door each time the doors close and holding on for dear life as people enter and exit the car. As the crowds dissipated I made my way quickly into the middle of the car so that I would no fall victim to the rushing in and out at the doors. So here I am in the middle of the car with umbrella in hand, attempting to read with AM newspaper, and trying to remain upright and standing and the train lurches between stops. We stop at Delancy and people just flip. At each side of me there are doors and becasue of the crowd I can't see what is going on but I just hear yelling and the f-word used more than I can imagine it should be at the hour in the morning. I understand you would like to let Joe Schmo know that you don’t appreciate being pushed and that there may not be anymore room for him to squeeze into the door way, but yikes this was brutal… and the fact that there were two separate verbal dealings to either side of me was seriously preposterous. At that junction in my morning I decided I should have turned over, called in sick, and stayed in bed.

Other than this morning it was a great weekend. I headed up Friday night to Albany with Sara on the train. We met up and had some bombers and then went home and crawled into bed in anticipation of the next day’s events. Sara Becky and I all met up and ran the 5k though downtown Albany Saturday morning. There was something like 3,125 women running in the race with us, other than the heat and humidity i had an awesome time doing it. I haven’t run in anything since I was very young and participating in the kid's portion of a roadrace for the Utica Broiler maker that my dad used to run every year. We have already decided to look for more races to run in the fall so that we keep out motivation up to stay in shape and keep running. I find if I have something to work towards I am more likely to stick with it. We did a great job, we all finished in about 1/2 hour, not to shabby for amateur runners! The race was won in 15 minutes and something seconds. Now that I am not sure I am ever going to accomplish. They had 6 Olympians running as well.

Just had a relaxing weekend of shopping and spending time with my mom, saw Tommy for a little bit which is nice since I don’t get to see him very often now that he is an San Franciscan! Saw knocked up which was hilarious and I recommended to my mom to go see Sunday night on a date, I don’t think we share the same sense of humor (she is way more conservative that I would ever like to be) because I got a call asking why I would ever suggest that movie for her to go on for a second date, because they talk about sex and make crude jokes. I just told her its not like neither her or her date didn’t know about those things before hand.

Tonight I am hoping to make up for the lame-out I had when I didn’t get out of bed for the gym, and after a quick jaunt on the treadmill Eric and I are going to a date to Pirates of The Caribbean 3 . Looking forward to a relaxed evening very much so after the lunacy that occurred during my train ride in.

"The University of Rochester began life in an old hotel and The Eastman Kodak Co. had its beginning in a kitchen sink. "

It was so awesome to be away. Apparently my head is still on vacation because I have had the hardest time concentrating on work, its felt like the longest week ever, and I still haven’t gotten in a good update. Well at least today is Friday and I am headed out of town again upstate to run my 5k tomorrow for the Freihofer's Run for Women.

Well the trip out there was pretty smooth; we sneaked past the pushy producers of the PSA and got on our way to the Air Train out to JFK. Got to the airport in good time after leaving a detailed 3 page “Manual” to keeping care of Murphy for my brother (I think I may have gone over board with the details including a diagram of the TV remote and how to turn on the TV and change the input for the DVD. But hey you never know what you might need to know). Off we went, got through security pretty quickly picked up some trashy fashion magazines (Eric preferred to read Wired) and headed on our way. We got into Rochester at 1030 picked up our fine ride that should have been a Honda accord (the car we registered to get because it was the cheapest rental), alas! They didn’t have any in so we were upgraded at no cost to us to a hot rod Mustang. I felt a little white trash but it was a fun car to have.
Saturday morning we got up bright and early after a late night of sitting out on the porch catching up. We headed to RIT for Molly’s Graduation. It was early but it was nice to get back to my old school and walk around my department even though no one was there. I saw a few old friends whom I had forgotten were getting their masters as well. I was very proud of everyone for getting though it and actually caught myself for a minute thinking about going back to RIT for a graduate degree. I don’t have the money or the exact direction but it could be an idea in my later life.

When I lived in Rochester, my last two years of college we lived in the huge duplex with an awkward hole cut in the middle connecting the two sides. For this 8 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 2 kitchen, and full basement with washers and dryer we paid less than what Eric and I pay for our one bedroom apartment without the fancy amenities. Its crazy I know. At various times though out those two years it was 8 ladies, 2 boyfriend, a hamster, 2 cats, and a week of dog sitting a boxer puppy. It was a very dysfunctional pseudo sorority if you will, with that in mind I would without a doubt award it with the best living arrangement I have ever had. We all got along really well and I think learned on a hard and fast curve how to get along with many different living styles. But all of the girls (with a few exceptions) were the best people I know. I am very lucky to be able to maintain relationships with the girls I was close to after college to this day (actually got together with Cailtin and Nicole and had dinner last night, 2 ex south ave girls). Here are two lovely ladies of South Ave:
-Nicole and Molly-


While running around RIT we went to the Café in the library that I worked at for 3 1/2 years of college. I remember when I first moved to Rochester Java’s was the cool kid place to hang out, and as a young impressionable freshman I followed suit and did my best to adorn myself in the artsy garb and act angsty while sipping my vanilla latte. I remember my boyfriend at the time who worked at an IT tech in the library and come across a poster advertising job opportunities at the to-be –opened in Java Wallys. And since I lived on campus I thought it would be perfect to work on campus as well. I went in for my interview spent weeks with kids I was incredibly intimidated by and bit-by-bit made some of the best friends I have ever had. I wouldn’t have exchanged the experience for anything. -Downtown Java's-After we went to RIT Java’s (otherwise referred to as the lesser red headed step child in comparison to the big time cool kid downtown Java’s) we headed downtown to get some sandwiches and see mike (my old boss) and peter (the greatest person ever). Headed to the family BBQ for molly and then met up with Petey and his boyfriend at the old toad on Alexander street.

Sunday- Work up and went to get some good old Western NY diner food at a place called the New Yorker Pancake and Grill. Who knows? Eric and I headed downtown again to check out the farmers market since we had missed it the day before with all the graduation celebrations. Unfortunately it was only flowers and herbs, I have always been on Saturdays when it was chock full of the local farmers produce and you could get a ton of food for a few dollars. I was nice to walk around and we stopped in to say hi to Jeana (also an ex- Java’s employee). Eric and I went by the George Eastman house (founder of Kodak), took the tour, and afterwards met up with Molly and Adam for an early dinner at the Dino BBQ.We took a drive around and stopped by the old South Ave home, it look terrible! The people who have moved in I am convinced have turned it into some weirdo hippy commune and have defaced the house forever. It was a pretty ugly house to begin with (being a lovely shade of mustard and brown trimming) and these people have gone out of their way to make it worse. I’ll just have keep my mental picture of our cute little house with mismatched furniture, dirty dishes, and bikes all around the place.

On the last day there Molly, Adam. Eric, and I enjoyed a leisurely day on the beach at Lake Ontario. It was the perfect end to the perfect weekend. We came back to the storm of 2nd street opening up and again and the potential of Eric becoming a partner in a future project. Its all very exciting but we will all have to take baby steps to see how it pans out.

Wish me luck tomorrow!

*Here are the rest of the photos from the trip*

Just say No!

It is only in New York City ( well, Brooklyn) that you come home to get ready to go to the airport for your memorial day weekend away and have the wedge your way past the filming crew that is creating a very poignant PSA on your front step about doing drugs to get into your apartment. This is the view from our bedroom window; they kept trying to get us to let them into the apartment to put lights in our bedroom windows for the evening shots. We were leaving so no deal!

Right before we left I walked Murphy and ran into one of the neighborhood regulars. She told me she was upset about the PSA because it her words “ now you see over there they only have black kids and Hispanic kids in the thing about drugs...What the fuck is that white kids do drugs too. My kid is half Puerto Rican and if I even found him doing drugs I’d kill him.” Right….she’s a strange one.