A roaring good time

Last night we celebrated Kathy's birthday at B Bar and then headed over to the Midtown Pregnancy Support Center benefit where the theme was '20's and you had to dress like the fine flapper or dashing dapper that you are. What fun!

Randomosity

This morning I had to run out and get coffee for one of our guys here. Luckily there is a Starbucks on every corner in Midtown because the head honchos at Starbucks know that it is very wise to place as many as one can in Midtown to fuel up all those weary souls who are slaving away at their desks in chains.

I don't drink coffee. Or rather, I don't drink it on a regular basis. I cannot remember the last time I had coffee aside from the sip of a friend's this past weekend just to confirm that I'm still not a fan. For this very reason I don't usually set foot in Starbucks, so when I do it's all very confusing. People in a huge rush, in & out the door, the line is so long, yelling to the bar, handing over $4, yelling of the pick-up, gah! It's too much! I'm also a fan of small, medium and large measurements. For some reason I always forget the venti, tall, grande scale and that also adds to the confusion. And when I have two orders, forget it. I have to write them down.



What else is new... what else is new...



Oh, as previously blogged- I have since seen the same guy getting dressed on the street. If this continues, we'll have to come up with a name for him, blog world, and we can make up his life story and get to the bottom of why his Mother never taught him how to properly get dressed.

Today is my roommates birthday! Happy 26 years of life, Katharoo!! I asked Kathy what kind of birthday cake she wanted and she said a Texas Sheet Cake. The last time I made a TSC was for Al's bday a few years ago. It is a pretty easy cake... made from scratch with 3 sticks of butter. Yeah, real good for ya.

In other news, we're getting ready for trick-or-treating in our building. Hoorah! Yes, this is pure money for kids. They don't have to run from house to house but can easily go from apt to apt in 1/2 the time. Oh NYC little ones, you have it made. I used to love trick-or-treating growing up - it's so much fun for kids. I remember when N&A would look in amazement that they could dress up, knock on a door and someone would actually give them candy! I think one year we had Halloween candy in the house til February.

Ok, question of the day:
If you were (or are) in NYC and could get tickets to see a show, what show would it be?

Ode to Al

So, T-2 days til Allison comes to visit. Hooray!

We have high and lofty plans for this weekend. She will start it off by riding the good 'ol Chinatown bus- a quality 5.5 hours of togetherness with interesting people and the occasional expired tapioca pudding smell. We will then enjoy the festivities in the City... Halloween on a Friday night in New York City. Oh boy. Not sure if we'll make it down to the parade, but it's sure to be crazy.

Saturday we will be getting up super early. Like 5am, folks. Yes. The dream of SNL tickets always trumps sleep. We're hoping half the people who would be in line anyway are still hungover from the night before. But we'll be there bright & early to get the impossibly hard to come by tix to SNL. Ben Affleck is hosting. Enough said.

If we don't get them, we'll then head over to the Today show and wave to our parents on tv and anyone else who is up that early. Afterwards we'll try and get tickets for Letterman. If that fails, we'll try lottery for a Broadway show and if three strikes we're out happens... there's always TKTS.

I can't wait! What fun it is when your best friend (and Bride-to-be) comes to visit!



I'll leave you with a few of my favorite 'Carrie & Allison in NYC' pictures:

And I think this one pretty much sums it up.

Blogging is the new Facebook

Well hello everyone!

The title is true, at least for me. Ever since Facebook forced everyone to switch over to their "new and improved" layout, I've been on strike (sorta). It's taken me a long while to get used to it... wish I could have a little chat with Mark Zuckerberg. So until I can come to full grips with the new Fbook, I'll post all my pictures on this beautiful and fabulous blog. Lucky you.

The weekend was so much fun and very relaxing. On Saturday we went for a nature walk near Brendan's house and then threw the frisbee around. I can now catch a frisbee using alligator hands but I think it will be a while til I'm ready for Ultimate. Saturday night, we all piled in the car and headed to Boston! We walked down Mulberry Rd. and enjoyed a delicious Mexican dinner on a side street. Afterwards we headed to Mike's Pastries where we tasted some of Boston's finest cannoli's and other such treats. After seeing beautiful foliage, walking around in fresh air, getting lots of sleep, enjoying delicious meals made by Sully's Mom.... I think it's safe to say we returned happy & refreshed New Yorkers.

Ready for the hike.

The leaves were beautiful!

Here we are in Boston for dinner! It was a windy night!

Here we go, here we go

I tend to travel all at once. And for some reason it usually happens three weekends in a row (last winter, this fall). I didn't take any actual vacations this summer... but these past few weekends have been fun to get out and away from NYC. This weekend I'm headed to NH w/ friends.

As I was packing my bags, yet again... I realized that after this weekend I'll be a homebody. The next time I'll leave is for Christmas, which will be here before we know it. But til then, I'm so looking forward to leisurely weekends watching movies, going to museums and hanging out w/ friends.

Last night my roomie Katiebug and I went over to our old roomie, Mirabelle's apt (I clearly enjoy giving my closest friends nicknames) for tacos. Her boyfriend Chris wasn't home but we were greeted with the latest addition to their clan: a cute beagle puppy named Parker. Miriam & Chris are his current foster family as they went through an agency that picks up abandoned dogs in the City, gives them to foster families until they can find a permanent home for them.

Well Parker is the cutest thing ever. The poor thing is traumatized, though. On Sunday they found him tied up to a tree in Harlem and had been there for 24 hours. Aw Aw. Now Mirabelle & Chris have this adorable dog... but from what she tells me: he's a lot of work. They have to take the dog out every now and then to... you know. And then they have to pick it up. Ew. People say you get over that pretty quickly, but I think it would take me a while. Mir was so worried about him being home while she's at work, that she decided to put him into doggie day care. Yes, there is such a thing. So she called around and found a place but poor little Parker cannot be accepted until he is interviewed. Yes folks, an interview for a dog to go to doggie day care. What a yuppy UES puppy! (Mir also got him a dog tshirt that says: Bark for Barack... too cute).

I am so thankful it's the weekend. It's been the craziest week at work which is an entirely crazy & long story that I have no energy to tell. Blah. But Halloween is right around the corner as is the Election. My, my.

Well hope everyone out there has a wonderful weekend. See yall next week.

It's come down to this

Well, folks, as previously mentioned: I hate lotion. With a passion.

Today I noticed that my hands are lookin a little dry. I then looked over at that forgotten bottle of lotion sitting on my desk. Haven't had to use it since last winter. Hmm...

I now have a plan. Since I'm working at my desk all day I have decided to schedule my moisturizing sessions of the day. I will now schedule 'Apply lotion' to my Outlook calender. Once, maybe twice a day I will receive annoying reminders pop up reminding me to put on lotion. A preemptive move, if you will.

Call me crazy? I know! I am! Who schedules lotion applications?!

From the mouths of babes

I've never really liked that saying, but it just fits for what I'm about to tell you.

I was once a nanny, and I'll expound more upon that later... but these two stories came to mind and I just had to share. (Or for my sake, write them down before I forget).

Story 1:
Setting- Long Island, NY at home. Must have been Spring 2006. Nicholas was 2 and Alec was 11 months.

I was cleaning up the kitchen and probably an art project that covered the kitchen in paint and goo, while my little ones sat at their little child sized table in their child sized chairs eating a snack. They each had a small bowl: goldfish for Alec and pretzel fish for Nicholas. Well Nicholas being the older child, finishes his fish and then goes in for the catch: Alec's fish. Alec then screams for the 4329th time that day. I come over to investigate and this is what happens:

C: "Alec, babe, what's wrong?"

A: Still screaming and is now slamming his bowl on the table.

C: "Nicholas, did you take Alec's goldfish?"

N: "Yes! Yes I did. And I meant to. I did it on purpose."


(What shocking but refreshing honesty! Got a good laugh out of that.)


Story 2:
Setting- Long Island, NY at home. Fall 2006: Nicholas is 2, Alec is 15 months (give or take)

I'm making dinner, folding laundry and probably helping Alec color. I used to be a maniac at multi-tasking and could do a million more things in a day than I do now. So while I'm making probably grilled chicken, broccoli and couscous, the only things they would actually eat at the time, Nicholas runs to the front door because he saw the neighbors cat.

We often saw this little kitty roam around our yard and I'm actually so very sad to say that I can't remember his name. Nicholas was still at the sweet age when he was fascinated with animals as he stood there gazing at the really fat cat. I came over and hollered for Alec to join us. We all sat there looking at the cat and I then saw this as an opportunity to teach my little ones about animals, nature... nevermind the couscous that is probably drying out.

As I'm talking I then make mention that the sun has gone down and that it's now dusk outside. Nicholas asks what dusk is and I explain. Moment of silence after I do and then these poetic and profound words come out of Nicholas' mouth:

N: "Cat, you are in dusk."

Oh golly, if only I could now post a voice recording of how he actually said it. I swear it was the most meaningful and thought through declaration. He put two and two together. What a love! Oh how my heart melted. Nicholas was the most teachable child. "Cat, deep breath... you are IN dusk". Gah. So Shakespearean. So sweet.

And there you have it. As I remember such special moments I'll be sure to document them for you, blog world. I mean, who can resist such cuteness.