Happy Halloween!

I hate when Halloween falls on a Sunday, or even a weekday! Because now that I'm too old to trick-or-treat, I can't really celebrate October 31st, and all the festivities fall on the weekend previous. I still had a pretty fun, last minute, cheap Halloween.

Thanks to my dad, I got an old costume FedEx'd out to me the day before I was to wear it! Ol' faithful Deutscherin fraulein was worn yet again, I have worn it at least 1 night of Halloween festivities for 3 of the past 4 Halloweens. Don't you wish you could know the sort of things you would get such use out of when contemplating buying it? I have more than gotten my money's worth for this thing!

On Friday we had a pretty big Halloween celebration at the school. A lot of the students were so timid to dress up, they said they just didn't understand the whole concept of dressing up and getting into this kinda thing. But we still had a good turnout, and most of the staff all dressed up too. Below are 3 staff members dressed up, along with 2 student workers, too scared to get into costume!! Jenny absolutely stole the whole with her whole Cleopatra getup.



We found a mask that we all tried to put together with the rest of our costumes



Last night, Ronnie and I went to my coworkers house party in Brooklyn. It ended up being off the hook! Great music, loads of people, plenty of supplies, lots of space, and we even had access to the roof which, though incredibly frigid, provided a STUNNING view of the entire Manhattan skyline. I was able to scrounge together a very quick and easy (and cheap!) second costume. Call me crazy, but ever since the chaos of Santa Barbara Halloween's, one costume just doesn't cut it anymore!

Unfortunately I didn't feel like carrying my clutch once we got there so I have no pictures of the Park Slope party, but Ronnie and I had plenty of pre-party shots... like kickin it at my place beforehand...



Can you see my tail??



These are real! ...contacts



I don't think they were so blatantly yellow without the glare of the flash...



Mrow!


Soooo New York City on the weekends is awful when it comes to public transportation!!!! No express trains, always some train having construction and not working, etc. It took us foreverrrrrr to get to Brooklyn, and we had to switch the train an unprecedented THREE times!! It was mildly amusing though, everyone riding the subway in costumes and having fun and playing music and being in good spirits. Here's me waiting at Columbus Circle



And riding on the subway...



My contacts really set me apart from the rest of the cats (how did I forget to put a nose and whiskers on??) but the party was so dark most people couldn't see it! Oh well, all the complements on the subway were worth it I suppose

Ronnie and I left the party separately, and when I left and ducked into the first subway I found, I was lucky enough that somehow it was one that would go straight home for me! (how did I miss that to begin with??) but I promptly stretched out on a row of seats and fell asleep... only to awake almost in the Bronx!! So I got off and switched back to a downtown train, and it happened to be running express (what the heck?) and overshot my stop AGAIN! So I ended up at Columbus Circle again, and waited it out for my actual train. What a mess! I walked in my door at almost 6a, but the whole experience was still fun... I rode home with a sleeping Swiss Army Knife, a drunk Easter bunny, and a very confused looking banana...

Pippin the Great!

I had really wanted to go to this Jon Stewart / Stephen Colbert's Rally to Restore Sanity / March to Keep Fear Alive in DC this weekend, but really needed a weekend to just chill out!! As such, I offered to dog sit Jayna's chihuahua Pippin for her while she was in DC for the festivities.

The cats have actually taken to Pippin! P Diddy came over late last night and his energy really freaked Wolfie and Dip out, but once he was more calm, they really seemed like they wanted to make friends to the latest addition. At night, Pippin laid by my feet and Dip laid by my head.



I set my alarm to be able to walk Pippin in a timely manner. As I was trying to figure out his harness, he got so excited about walking that he ended up peeing all over my sheets. It wasn't so bad since my sheets were due for a wash, and since it would be a longer time out visiting the laundromat, I made coffee, gathered up my sheet and comforter into a trash bag, and headed out of the house with a purse on one arm, a trash bag of sheets in the other, coffee in my left hand, and Pippin's leash in the right.

We went across the street to the laundromat, I made change, we waited for a washer, and got a load going. (Pippin will ONLY walk on the left side so it proved difficult to finagle my way through the Saturday morning laundry crowd, but we survived!) we then walked a block to Central Park to Strangers Gate and did a loop on the Great Hill. It was barely 10 a.m. and the air was sharply crisp and it felt so great. I just love that feeling of being so warm but your face is nipped with cold. We made it back to the laundromat, put the load in a dryer, walked around the nearby stores until it was done, and got back where I made breakfast and more coffee (!) and watched Seinfeld. It was fun to walk a dog since my cats refused to acquiesce! It was cold, so Pippin needed his blingin' hoodie!!



I worked on an art project this afternoon... I'm branching out on my acrylic medium and am working with watercolors and ink. And now I'm getting excited for the Halloween party tonight in Brooklyn. Yesterday at work was fun with lots of Halloween festivities (it's fun to work at a school! You still get that immature side of things!) and tonight will be FUN!

The Rent...

This (real) video has gone viral, and everyone is just loving it and making jokes about it, but it's actually really serious, and I totally support this. Considering I've overdrawn my account, and my entire paycheck tomorrow goes directly to rent, it really is true that the rent is too damn high.



I feel like only in New York City can a budget not cut it...

Vegas Baby!

Back in August, the plan was set in motion by my friends in San Diego to plan a surprise birthday weekend for Pam in Las Vegas. With the help of my dad, I was able to get a plane ticket out there for this past weekend. I was SO EXCITED not only for Vegas, but to see all the SD friends. A little of me thought my Vegas days were over once I moved to New York City, so I was ecstatic a trip came up that I was able to finangle my way into.

It was definitely a strange feeling having to take a 5 hour PLANE ride to Las Vegas, but once there, it felt like I had never left home!! With a suite in the Palazzo (connected to The Venetian), and two birthday girls in Las Vegas, it was a recipe for success!


Pam and Colleen, her friend from law school with the exact same birthday!


Pam and her boyfriend Doug, who more or less organized the weekend


Our group on Friday night before heading out to the Wynn and Encore


Me and Rafael! He wasn't able to come to NYC for Labor Day Weekend, so I was uber excited to see him this weekend


Next morning brunch at the Grand Lux Cafe.


Me and Sri at brunch. His favorite city is Riverside!


After brunch was poolside lounging at the Palazzo pool






Rafael, Sri and myself were the only ones who got in the water






I just love Vegas!! I love seeing all the different hotels all around, it's one of my favorite parts!


Me and bday girl Pammy inside the Palazzo. I specifically remember we were running up to the suite to finish watching the Phillies - Giants game and were a bit stressed about it, but I still made us stop for a picture




Celebrating a Giants win!


And our whole group before heading out for Saturday night on the town


Pam's goal was to hit up the Minus 5 ice bar, which we did and was really fun! We weren't able to take pictures inside but Rafael made best friends with this penguin we got a picture with on the outside



These were the pictures we took on the inside that I cheated and took a picture of. Pam's boss Christine and her coworker Laura ended up being there the same weekend and joined us for the ice bar + gambling afterwards. In Monte Carlo I begrudingly laid down $30 on the $10 minimum blackjack table and ended up playing for about 4 hours!! The table was all us and it was SO. MUCH. FUN! I got up to over $100 at some point but couldn't bring myself to cash out since the table was too fun, the music too good, the dealers awesome, the pit boss having fun with us by taunting us with a Go Rangers sign, etc. Sri spilled many a drinks, Rafael tried to climb on the catwalk, and I sang to every single song that came on, and after 4 hours still left the table up a few bucks. I sat next to Christine at the table and we had the best time joking and betting together. It was fun that it was all just us at the table. All our cheering and jeering at both the table and the Giants clips playing on the TV in front of us made people keep coming over and try to wait us out for a spot, but we were there hours!








And the walk back, I just love the Strip:


And the completed city center:


The next day we checked out and got In-n-Out (I hadn't had that since I left and was craving it!!) and then I got dropped off at the airport. It was really hard for me to say goodbye to my friends, and also to take a PLANE home, and not drive back like old times. Sometimes I forget all the little things I gave up. I love the desert landscape too. One last picture of Las Vegas from my seat on the plane...


I'm sure I'll make it back someday. I LOVE LAS VEGAS! Thank you Dad, for making it happen!!

Cousin Bobby Pictures

Cousin Bobby put up pictures from his time here, so thought I would share them here too.

This is 106 St, which I walk down frequently


Sheep's Meadow, Central Park. Just behind this from the picture are the volleyball courts I played on in the summer


An owl deco in the architecture near Angel of the Waters. Cousin Bobby was as enthralled by it as I was!


Rockefellar Plaza with the rink up already!


Empire State Building at night, I loved this color scheme (changes a lot)


Us in Times Square


Police Horse!


Little Italy, where we had our last dinner


And our gelato / canoli dessert


Happy Friday everyone.

She's So Vain, She Probably Thinks This Post is About Her

I broke my full length mirror a few weeks ago now, and finally couldn't stand getting dressed without it enough to buy a new one from the home furnishings store nearby my place last night. My last mirror hung up on the door, and this one is currently sitting on the floor.

Either Dip has never noticed a mirror before, or else she is extremely conceited!! She is obsessed with the mirror, she loves laying in front of it, going behind it, and then just staring at herself forever! I see her looking at herself, and watching what is going on behind her from it. It's actually kind of endearing though!



On a separate note, currently obsessed with the Lindstrøm & Christabelle song "Lovesick". Thanks Mat for sending that to me (weeks ago now, but still!)

Learning, Earning, Yearning

The street front of my work building includes a pizza place, a gelato store, a Greek cafe, a bar, a FedEx, and a Chinese restaurant. My coworkers and I have found that Ginger House, as the Chinese restaurant is called, is great for a quick lunch, and anytime any of us goes, we bring back handfuls of fortune cookies (at least one for everyone around) to play our favorite game: Make ourselves coherent in Chinese. The back of the fortune always has a Chinese word, along with the character and the phonetic pronunciation. We all take turns trying to make Jenny, the native Chinese speaker, guess which word we're saying. (We can only make ourselves coherent about 20% of the time).




So I have a stockpile of fortunes littering the top drawer of my desk. Recently I got one that said something about the facets of life being learning, earning, and yearning. I think it came at a good time. Lately I've been so frustrated about finances and things I "need" that I can be distracted at work, and even stay up thinking about it. I think that I am good with money, but I've also had to readjust pretty much everything I know since coming to NYC. Everything is just so much more expensive. I've been finding that I can barely put away anything into my savings account (so unlike me!) and though I tell myself "once I buy this, there's nothing else I need right now" something comes up. Something will ALWAYS come up. I feel like money is always something I've whined about so I've really tried to stop it, but it's a new level and really part of the acclimation process here so I wanted to write about it.

I'm a firm believer that you should never have everything you want. I never want to be caught up in the superfluous "things" of life. I just want to get by, and travel, and have something I want every now and then. It helps to always have something you're working towards, and have goals. It's the yearning part. But sometimes it is just so annoying and frustrating to feel so helpless when you feel like you need so much (it's the damn winter clothes that are getting to me!)

I have every faith that God does and will provide, but sometimes I have to remember that sometimes that means necessities. I feel selfish sometimes when I think about all I have and how I still feel the way I do. I guess it's because I compare myself too much to people around me, but I know that no one's got it all.

I Hate Clothes

I HATE CLOTHES!! I hate I hate I hate clothes! They're expensive, they're annoying, and they go in and out of style too fast! I like looking nice, I enjoy dressing up and all, but on a daily basis it's just too much work. If it was up to me, I would just wear jeans and a shirt and a zip up jacket all day, every day, and vary the warmth of them for the seasons.

I LIKE having new (and cute!) clothes, but usually I'd rather just spend my money on things like traveling. The problem comes in when I am confronted with winter, and am starting to get weird looks on the streets with my capri pants and fingerless mittens, and I must go shopping for clothes... and I see all the sorts of things my wardrobe is lacking and go crazy with frustration. I guess it would make more sense to buy a few things here and there rather than need to buy a whole season's worth of clothes at once. (To be fair, I only really packed summer clothes in my suitcases when I came out here in May!)

I thought the pressure to look nice would be worse than it really is in New York City. It's not so bad, but no matter where I live, I'll still just want to wear jeans and a shirt

Oh, Canada!

We could not have picked a more beautiful weekend to visit Canada. I have to say that it was by far my most enjoyable time spent in Canada, what with Vancouver's hostility and Sault St Marie's border problems.

The weather and the scenery was indescribably BEAUTIFUL. It was nice to hit the road and be out of the city for awhile too. Fall colors, brisk air, clean streets, blue skies, ornate architecture and rainbows were just the start of our experience.

The vast majority of the pictures are on Simon's camera, but I couldn't resist sharing what I have now.

Niagara Falls was pretty impressive. After seeing pictures all your life, it's hard to recalibrate your mind to the real deal when you are there. I thought that they would be louder from above, but they weren't really, just a continuous dull roar. Ronnie insisted that Niagara is comparable to turning your bathwater on full force, and I have to say he wasn't far off. Still, with our "most perfect days in the history of the world" as Simon said, I was so happy to have gone. Here are pictures of them from ground level and above:

The top of the falls through the trees...


Tell me this is not breathtakingly gorgeous!!


Me and Simon under the rainbow


The view down



The falls from another park. There is a perpetual mist that rises up from all the crashing waters


We took a ride to the falls on the famed Maid of the Mist boat, and got those fancy schmancy and stylish ponchos


There are two major parts of the falls... one straight fall called "The American Falls" and the super impressive Canadian Horseshoe Falls. Of course they kept the good one for themselves but let them have it! They need the tourism more than we do. This is passing by the American Falls


...and from a passed angle


Coming up to the Horseshoe Falls


Simon has better pictures, but here's the Horseshoe Falls from the bottom


The funniest part was that Canada has really worked to profit off of the Falls, so from the Canadian side there are hotels, casinos, amusement parks, and bars galore. And across the water on the American side is really a ghost town!! We don't have to worry so much, we have more than waterfalls to our name ;)

After Niagara was the trek to Toronto, which is around Lake Ontario. You can actually see Toronto's skyline in the distance from literally hours away! Doesn't translate too well when you're zooming by in the backseat of a car that you're nauseous in. It's that tiny gray area on the horizon that is actually much more visible and distinguishable in person!


We found a hotel in the evening (talk about old school '70s decorating!!) relaxed a bit, and then tried to head out for some nightlife. Niagara Falls was good about taking both Canadian and American currency (which are pretty even now, sad to say), but Toronto wasn't as easy. We tried to take out Canadian money and had the following conversation with MULTIPLE people!!

"Excuse me, do you know if there's an ATM nearby?"
"What's that?"
"Like, a cash machine?"
"I've never heard of that"
"Oh, do you know where we can get any cash?"
"No, I'm not from around here"

WHAT IS THAT?!?! I'm not even exaggerating when I say that we had that exact scenario with the first 4 or 5 people we came into contact with!! We did see an "ABM" (Automated Banking Machine) and then even some ATM's downtown... but how do people not even know what they are?!

Downtown to Yonge Street, wandering down Bloor, we had dinner in a cozy study-turned-restaurant Irish pub in Yorkville and then went through the frigid air to find any bar we could! We found a pretty poppin' place called Hemingway's, but there was no music. We gave up and went to the one place we had really noticed: A swanky nightclub called {V}. After a cover charge, coat check charge, severely underdressed charge to the dignity, and a myriad of drinks, we were on the dance floor and it was when Dynamite came on that I finally just let loose and had a great time!! It was Song of Toronto and the Weekend



Also, they played Katy Perry's California Gurls, which only I could really dance to with any conviction! Toronto is also obsessed with Katy Perry, pictures and billboards everywhere, and subway ads of radio stations declaring THEY played the most Katy.

The next day we visited the CN Tower, the huge pointy structure that is the tallest one in the Western Hemisphere (formally in the world but surpassed by something in Dubai). It was a beautiful view over the Great Lake, which actually looks like an ocean.

Don't worry, I didn't recognize it either


And mixed with the beautiful fall colors... unbeatable


The view from the top along Lake Ontario


We then enjoyed the harbor nearby, passing the Rogers Stadium where most of the sports teams play, and the Toronto Marathon! It was too bad we couldn't get any of the Gatorade being passed out. There was also inexplicably a large number of nuns sunning on the sand behind us... ???


The Canada flag opened just on cue!


After that we visited and dined in the Chinatown district down Spadina St


We had just enough money to cover lunch with our Canadian currency with literally only change to spare... so we left some American money as a tip and got the hell out of there!

A drive down Yonge street followed, and then we made the trek back to NYC. Man was it brutal and long! The border patrol was the easiest it's been with no hassle whatsoever. We passed through beautiful upstate New York with autumn trees that look like postcards or that stock background "Autumn" on Windows PC computers, as well as small town America with clapboard houses, barns, one-church kinda roads. I slept for a lot though since I was so carsick in the backseat. Traffic didn't help either.

Eventually, I made it home and was in bed by about 2:20a! And I made it in early today... Kristin wins!