6.29.2006

Play-time

Thanks to my super-thoughtful new boss (her her generous publicist friend), Leezie and I were able to see Some Girl(s), A Neil Labute off-brodway play at the Lucille Lortel theatre---fah free! This theatre just so happens to be up the street from us, so I pass it every day on my way to work. And ever since the adverts went up for it back in January, I thought it would be a great thing to do with Leezie since she took me to my first Labute play, Fat Pig (also at the Lucille Lortel) last year. (We really went to see our BFFs Keri Russell aka Felicity, and Jeremy Piven, but the play turned out to be really good!)

I never got around to getting the tickets for us, but then suddenly, a pair ended up in my hands at the end of the day yesterday. So Leezie and I met in midtown and rode the train downtown to Christopher Street. We had a GREAT time at the play...it had a very witty plot (33-year-old who is about to get married decides to revisit four women he loved and left. As a teacher turned writer, he has already "used" them for material in his short stories for a magazine, and may or may not be using these visits for his next piece)...and the all-star cast was excellent.

A rundown of who was in the show:

Eric McCormack(Will from Will and Grace)
Maura Tierney (Abby from ER)
Fran Drescher (The Nanny!)
Judy Reyes (Scrubs)
Brooke Smith (You'll know her as Toni Collette's friend from In Her Shoes, or the kidnapping victim from Silence of the Lambs, who was forced to put the lotion in the basket...)

And the best part? I only had to walk two blocks to get home!

6.28.2006

Sign of the Apocalypse?

Can't tell you how bizarre it is to turn on the Today show and see ROCKVILLE, MD flashing across the screen. According to Daddy (and the news), the dam near Lake Needwood is dangerously close to breaking. Residents who live nearby (like Aspen Hill) have been forced to evacuate to, of all places, WHEATON high school. Let's hope this won't turn into another Astrodome debacle!

I can just imagine how amped up Bob Ryan must be right now. The last time our "hometown" and neighboring areas got this much press was during the sniper attacks!

6.27.2006

Gay Pride Parade 2006


just call him "Ms. World Cup"

We departed the PATH train from Hoboken on 9th Street and 7th Avenue, weakened and wearied from the long weekend. The sidewalks and streets were choked with revelers who had splintered from the parade route into the narrow arteries of the West Village. Swathed in spandex in a spectrum of colors, the partiers waved miniature rainbow flags or draped larger versions across their wide backs. The Village--and Christopher Street-- had turned into a circus, complete with corn dog stands, peddlers pushing bottles of water, and cheesy photos ops. And then there were the freaks: A six-foot-five man decked out in nothing but leather chaps and suspenders (I think I'd seen him before). Two boys, walking shoulder to shoulder with chihuahua-size rats pearched on each shoulder, and one in each hand. The boys laughed and I screamed as they walked on by.

As we weaved our way throughout the masses with bags at our hips and a bike by my side, I wished, for a second, we lived somewhere--anywhere--else. But then we got home and closed the windows and turned up the A/C, hushing all of the outside noise. I sunk into our couch, fell asleep, and by the next morning all was quiet once more.

The scene from outside our window: The guy taking the picture was charging "five dollah five dollah" for a polaroid in front of these spectacular backdrops. You could choose from a bottle of Hypnotic, Cristal, or the Rainbow Flag. Ingenious! And aided by a few spotlights, he kept the flashbulb popping all night long...

That's Cowgirl, one of my favorite restaurants in the neighborhood, which turned into a rainbow-themed block party on Sunday! Most of those people are just walking down the middle of the street! Cars were definitely outnumbered by people...

6.26.2006

All-American

Congrats to Bec on her awesome finish at yesterday's U.S. Triathlon Championships in Long Beach, CA! She was the FIFTH American and sixth overall (there was a Canadian in the mix). Think about it--this officially establishes her as one of the best professional triathletes in the country. We all knew she could do it, now the rest of the country does, too!

6.25.2006

Saturday: Wedding Reception

We had a great time at Angela and Matt's wedding! As was expected, it was a lovely affair. Some details:

LOCATION-St. Thomas of Villanova (ceremony); Radisson Warwick Hotel, Rittenhouse Square, Philly (reception)

MENU-Salad: Boston Bibb red oak leaf romaine & radicchio salad with haricot verts, roasted peppers and boursin crustini served with a roasted balsamic vinaigrette

Entree: Petit filet mignon and jumbo lump crab cake over wilted spinach with a roasted corn and tomato relish

Dessert: Butter pound cake served with fresh berry coulis; Warwick wedding shortbread cookies

FLOWERS-Large pink roses with green (peonies?) accents

MUSIC-
DJ; First dance: "Dreaming my Dreams" by the Cranberries, then oldies at first followed by a mix of modern tunes--everything from "Livin' on a Prayer" to "Golddiggah".

FAVORS- A white box filled with a special treat from four countries representing the couple's hertiage. (Columbian bocadillo; German Linzer Bar; Italina Baci; Irish Scone).


One of the best surprises of the evening was seeing my former "Current" (yeah, that's the paper from WM) co-editor, Grace Davy, at the reception! She and her mom sat with us at the reception.

Centerpiece

Cake time

Congrats!

The happy couple gets in their last dance

Me in my party dress!

All cleaned up for the ceremony

The Wedding Party

Grand Exit

Scott and Kathleen (they just got married in the beginning of June) and us outside the church

Adorable flowergirls and Angela's neices

Kathleen and Angela

Angela and Matt D'Angelo (yep, Angela is now Angela D'Angelo!)

Saturday: Wedding Ceremony


After crossing the finish line of the triathlon at around 9:50, we rushed back to our hotel, did some quick spiffing up, and made it to St. Thomas of Villanova chapel for Angela and Matt's wedding at 11:30. I was worried about arriving to the wedding with either my body markings or bike grease visible, but fortunately I was able to wash off all but a tiny patch of black grease by my ankle (which I didn't notice until much later on). The ceremony, like the bride, was absolutely beautiful. And despite all of the forboding warnings about the rain, the sun was peaking out as we walked into the church.

Saturday: Philly Tri



Philadelphia Sprint Triathlon
Swim= .9K (.56 mile) in the 80-degree Schuylkill River
Bike= 24K (14.9 miles) on a rolling, rain-slicked course
Run= 5K (3.1 miles) out and back; fairly flat

Triathlon #2 of the season is in the can! This time, I didn't make any mistakes, except of course now I feel like I could have gone much faster. I ended up as the 10th woman overall--fourth in my age group. I'm frusturated because I got outkicked in the last tenth of a mile by a girl I picked out as a "runner" before the race (she was wearing a Big East XC championships shirt)--so if I would have toughed it out I would have placed third in my age group. I guess it doesn't matter either way--we left literally as soon as I crossed the finish line to make it to the wedding--so it's not like I would have been there to enjoy any podium time had I medaled. Overall, I'm happiest with my swim--my split put me in the top 30 among men and women. Everything else from that point on was pretty average. The bike was tough as the roads were super slick and I bonked on the hills. And I definitely could have run faster, but at the time I felt like I was ready to pass out, so I can't beat myself up over that!

On a side note, at today's Olympic Distance race, the swim was cancelled due to debris in the Schuylkill River caused by overnight rain (not sure if that has anything to do with the high bacterial levels or last week's cyanide spill in a neighboring river. Don't worry---I tried not to swallow any water while I was swimming!). Instead of a swim, they had to do a 5K Run, followed by the standard 40K ride and 10K run. Not fun!

6.23.2006

Looks Like Trouble

Weather this weekend: 80% chance of thunderstorms

Plans for this weekend: Trip to Philly for a triathlon (Saturday morning) and a wedding (Saturday afternoon/night). Two activities you do NOT want to involve rain...especially torrential downpours with lightning and thunder!

But they say if it's good luck to have rain on your wedding day...hopefully the same applies to race day, too!

6.21.2006

Devil Of An Evening I

(A portrait of a recent evening, in parts.)

Imagine a room full of young women, one more beautiful than the next--shiny hair, long legs, clear skin, gleaming teeth, short shorts, flouncy tops. Swirled around rounded cocktail tables, the women alternate between sipping bright red or yellow drinks from tall glasses with long, thin stems, and popping red hots past their glossy, pink lips.


One of the women, with strawberry blonde corkscrew curls grazing her angled shoulders, approaches our table. Clutching a reporter's notebook in one hand and a pen in the other, she clears her throat and speaks. "So, what's the worst thing your boss ever made you do?," she asks. Her words emerge uneasily, as though she's slightly ashamed of her probe. "Any of you experience your own 'Devil'?"

The girls at my table giggle and shake their heads with amusement, sun-kissed freckles dance along their narrow noses as they laugh. "No way!," says one of the girls, brushing a wisp of sandy blonde bangs out of her eyes. "My boss would never make me do anything remotely uncool. There's nothing but respect between us."

I shift my gaze to the bottom of my pineapple strawberry martini as the reporter scribbles on her pad. I feel her eyes on me and I look up. "And what about you," she says to me, her peaches-and-cream skin flushed from either excitement or the escalating temperature in the packed room. "Do you have any stories?"

I look up and speak before I think. "Well, there was this one thing; I had to fill an iPod with custom playlists from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, that I created. Then it became my job to fix any kind of problems with it, so next thing I knew, I was a t the Genius Bar on a Sunday evening with the thing."

Immediately, I wish I hadn't said a word. The reporter's face lit up like she had just swallowed a lightbulb. She wrote fast and furiously. "Wow, that's a good one. Who was your editor, can you say?"

This time, I think before I speak. "Err, no, sorry, I'd rather not. It was in D.C., anyway, and, well, she's a great woman and that was just this one time..." I stammer. Ugh. The girls around me shake their heads, but this time in disbelief--or is that sympathy?

"Woah, that really sucks," says the girl with the bangs. "But don't worry, you won't ever have to deal with that kind of stuff again..."

***to be continued...

6.19.2006

More Tri Pictures


(Thanks Bec and Mr. Flynn!)

My "Vintage" Dress

Today I am wearing a dress purchased from J-Crew in 2001. Considering it cost me about $50 (very pricey for me at the time!), and has made apperances at a few weddings, banquets, long hours at work, and on many other hot summer days (like today), I can probably call it the best purchase of my life. But I'm wondering--can a five-year-old garment be considered "vintage?" It would be sooo much cooler if so.

6.18.2006

Happy Father's Day!


I have the best dad in the world!

Whirlwind Weekend

This was my kind of weekend: Nonstop activity, lots of guests, and lots to do. Because of our extremely loving and generous families (particulary our dads!), we were able to spend Father's Day here in NYC, giving us the opportunity to compete in our FIRST triathlon of the year (Mark's first ever!) in Long Island, and I got to head out to Point Pleasant for a bridal shower for my roomie from the Mount, Shannon. Add to the mix a Father's Day lunch and various NYC walking tours, and it was a very exhausting--but fun--two days for everyone. A glimpse of the weekend in a nutshell:

FRIDAY
The weekend kicked off with a lovely dinner at Chestnut in Brooklyn with Mark's 'rents, who were staying at the Brooklyn Bridge Marriot. The food--and company--was excellent, and well worth the "trek" out to the outer borough (hah hah). Upon our arrival back to the hotel after dinner, a bunch of post-prom revelers were hanging out in the lobby. Suffice to say, prom fashion has changed dramatically since the good ol' days at Watkins Mill (good to know, given my new line of work!). All of the girls were totally glammed up in poofy dresses in colors like turquoise, lime, and magenta (even brighter than sissy's infamous pink dress of '96! Wow, that was ten years ago!)--and almost every one of them had glitzy tiaras on. Since I'm not much of a fan of lime, and definitely not a tiara girl, I'm glad that I'm not in high school any more!

Once we said our goodbyes and made in back to our neighborhood, Mark and I made a quick stop at Tastee D-light, my new home-away-from-home. It's not even that the ice cream (or whatever it is) is that good. I just love the fact that it's warm enough to walk down the street in a summery dress licking ice cream and streaming past all of the cafes bursting with laughter and conversation. As hot as it's sure to become, you really can't beat summer in the city!

SATURDAY
Saturday brought me to Point Pleasant, NJ, home of one of my best friends from college, Shannon Mariani. Shannon is getting married next month, so her many, many, many (about 50 in all!) friends and family members gathered together to surprise her with a bridal shower. Forever a surfer girl, Shannon arrived to the shower fresh from the beach, dressed in a bikini and a terry-cloth shorty jumpsuit (think Crissy from Three's Company) that only she could pull off. She was definitely shocked, overwhelmed, and soooo gracious. Because Shannon and her fiancee, Jeff, have traveled so much together (New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Spain, just to name a few countries), the theme of the shower was "Around the World." One of her four sisters, Kelly, even made a cake shaped like a globe.

After the shower, I jetted back to the city to meet up with the Flynns, who by that time, had already navigated their way from midtown to downtown. While the Mr. and Mrs. went to see Hairspray, Mark, Maureen, Erin, and I met up Leezie and Liz for dinner at the Hudson Cafe, followed by trip #2 to Tastee-D. Then it was off to bed to get ready for the tri!

SUNDAY
At 5 a.m. sharp, my alarm shot us out of bed on Sunday morning. Our triathlon in Port Washington, Long Island, started at 7:30, so we were shooting to leave at 5:15. For the record, the idea of a triathlon (and waking up that ungodly hour) is much more appealing during a long day at work, when you're just dying to get outside. When the day actually arrives, it's easy to question why in the HELL you aren't still sleeping as you're making your way through the midtown tunnel at 6 a.m.!

Despite it all the race was a great experience. I can't express how proud I am of Mark for completing his first triathlon. He did AWESOME--especially given that he completed the swim (in 60 degree water!) without the luxury of a wet suit. Karl also rocked and won her age group by about a mile. I won't go into my race because I wound up doing something really stupid and ruined what could have been a very good performance. But, as with all mistakes, I'll learn from this one and will make sure never to do it again!

The funniest part of the race was the fact that Queer Eye for the Straight Guy was filming an episode around it. It seemed like the Fab 5 was making over one of the athletes, and Thom (the home guy, I think) ran it with him. There was a big to-do surrounding the filming, with Carson doing color-commentary with a bullhorn during the swim, riding around in a 2-man bike (probably purchased just for the episode), and rolling around on roller skates and butt-shorts. Kinda bizarre, but entertaining nonetheless.

After the race and a bit of relaxing, we went over to Bec's for our Father's Day luncheon. What was at first meant to be an outdoor picnic, the 95-degree heat brought us inside to her cool and party-friendly apartment. But we kept the spread picnicky--with chicken salad, cold cuts, pasta salad, and fruit salad. And we got a great Giselle sighting (she was actually sweeping her expansive patio) to boot!

Once the guests departed, I punished myself for my stupid race mistake by running (with Bec) to the gym, biking, and running home before crashing out on the couch. And now, to avoid the Sunday night yuckies, I'm blogging and drinking a beer. Ahhhhhh.

Pictures of the weekend are below!

FRIDAY:The Flynn's Arrive!


The Flynn's at Chestnut on Smith Street in Brooklyn, 6/16.

Tastee D stop 1 (of 2) for the weekend---when it's freezing and snowy next winter, I will look at this picture with envy...

A platter for the future Mrs. Jeffrey Gangemi

SATURDAY: Point Pleasant for Shannon's Shower


Shannon gets a crock pot!

A global cake for Shannon the world-traveler

Is that Little-Bo-Peep or Shannon with me?

Erin, Leezie, and I at dinner on Saturday night.

SATURDAY NIGHT: Dinner and Tastee D (again!)


Leezie and Muthe, Tastee De-lite, 6-17.

Mark in the transition area, minutes before we went down to the water.

SUNDAY: Race Day/Father's Day


He's a triathlete!

Karl and I, post-race

Father's Day spread

Daddy with his son-in-law.

The Flynn's (minus Eileen) in NYC--check out the Empire State Building in the background!

The 'rents on Bec's balcony

Celebrating Father's Day at Bec's

6.11.2006

Sightings...

  • James Gandolfini, rocking out to the Steve Miller Band, nearly bowling us over in his BMW S.U.V. on Greenwich Avenue
  • Wafah Bin Laden (Osama's fledling popstar neice) going incognito with huge aviators on West 11th
  • Helena Christensen (again) hailing a cab for her little rocker son and a guy (her manny?) on Hudson
  • A very corporate Chelsea Clinton enjoying a Friday afternoon with some Tasti Delite on 7th Ave.

He's Got the Look

A little while ago, I wrote about Mark's style makeover, brought on by a few articles of trendy and streamlined clothes. I snapped this picture of him last night en route to Patty's birthday party at Park in Chelsea; proof positive that you can teach an old dog new tricks! Looks good, huh?

Mark's new look

Me with the birthday girl, Patty, @ Park, 6/10/06

6.07.2006

Sightings...

(A few from the past week...)

  • Liv Tyler sweetly shushing a coughing Milo (in his stroller) on Hudsdon
  • Chloe Sevigny looking a little rough around the edges in knee socks, a super-long shirt over an extra -short skirt on 6th Ave.
  • Yamila Diaz-Rahi (swimsuit model extraordinare), in the pool at Chelsea Piers (Mark was happy about that one!)

6.06.2006

Happy Hair

About six weeks ago, Mark and I happened to be walking by the Aveda Institute on Spring Street in Soho and I popped in to check out whether they do hair cuts after hearing Eileen's rave reviews about the A.I. in Kentucky. Sure enough, they do--for the nice price of $18--but getting an appointment ain't easy. I was on hold for about a half-hour before I could set a date, and when I did, it wasn't gonna happen for another month.

So, for the ensuing weeks, with my hair in desperate need of a trim, I avoided all impulses to step into a salon. I was totally holding out for my Aveda cut, and I'm glad I did. I got the most attentive treatment from a student named Vivian, who spent a good hour just cutting my hair (I swear, she was trimming lock by lock). Her instructor kept a watchful eye over the process, but it wasn't at all awkward or intrusive. Then I got a fabulous shampoo and a blow out that left my locks shining and bouncy. Did I mention this only cost me $18 (plus tip)?

I'd post a picture of my new hair, but let's just say that after my workout, the new 'do is now a don't...until I take a shower, that is.

Aveda Institute
233 Spring Street (212-807-1492)

6.02.2006

Day 3

Apologies for the lack of blogging, but the new job has kept me quite busy (and entertained) over the past few days. I'll elaborate more about my gig at a later date, but first, some quick observations:

  • There's leopard-print carpet. Everywhere.
  • Yesterday's topic du jour was Ashlee Simpson's ever-evolving hair color (and facial features).
  • Brooke Hogan (Hulk's daughter) and the VH1 crew are coming in next week to film for her reality show.
  • There's more beauty products, accessories, and chachtkees (drawers full of rings! shelves stocked with handbags!) than on Canal Steet in Chinatown.
  • Everyone is sweet, perky, HAPPY, and--of course--great dressers.
So, to quote little orphan Annie, I think I'm really gonna like it here!