Ashley sent over some pics of little Jack, who is now 7 months old. What a cutie!

Last night I checked out the brand-new musical Legally Blonde. Yup, as in the hilarious story of Elle Woods following her slimy ex-boyfriend to Harvard Law school, where she—and all of her pink and scented accessories—win over the hearts of the stodgy, snooty ivy leaguers. The musical follows a similar storyline to the movie, but it’s snazzed up with breathtaking dance numbers and adorably catchy songs. From the top of the show—which opens with “Omigod You Guys,” a riot of a song performed by a gaggle of Elle’s giddy Delta Nu sorority sisters—to the final court room scene featuring Bruiser (Elle’s faithful chihuahua) decked out in a tie, I was either smiling or laughing the entire time. After all, who wouldn’t love a musical all about following your heart, tackling challenges, having fun, and looking so cute while doing so? And I wasn’t the only one lapping up Legally Blonde like it was brownie sundae a la mode—Paige Davis (from Trading Spaces) was sitting right behind me, laughing just as loud as everyone else!

Thanks to Tracy for taking me along!

And speaking of star sightings, I forgot to mention that I saw my boy Dennis Leary outside of Chelsea Piers the other night. He is much taller than I thought in person and very cute! I'm excited for Rescue Me to start up again. I've missed it!

Look Who's 3!

Little Ella Calder is 3! Can't believe that the tiny baby I held when she was a day old is now such a BIG girl! Looks like she had a great time celebrating in FLA with Mama Jean, Uncle Phil (well, that would be Papa to her), Andy, mom, and baby brudder (who is absolutely gorgeous! Check out that pic I poached from WFA!). She's a natural swimmer--and if we have anything to do with it, she'll be suited up for swim team in no time!

Leezie, Mark, and I had a nice little walk outside today after lunch at Pepe Verde. Another gorgeous, summer-like day--the only clouds around were those on my shirt!

As you can probably tell from these pics, I'm a little (okay, a lot) exhausted from a long, late night, which started with dinner (of sea scallop risotto, salad Nicoise with seared tuna, and warm chocolate cake with homemade white chocolate ice cream) at Balthazar and ended with a dance party in the basement of Loreley. This weather brings out the party girl in me!

Painted Black

Keren and I spent Saturday morning up in Harlem's St. Nicholas Park, painting portions of an old 13-block fence that had completely rusted. It was part of New York Cares' 13th annual Hands on New York Day, and we were two of thousands volunteers working to revitalize public spaces in all five boroughs--and fortunately had a beautiful day to be outside.

Keren, a University of Michigan grad, had signed up for the Big Ten team, so I tagged along with alums from Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan State, and more. (I didn't check, but I doubt that the North East Conference has a volunteer team! And would I have wanted to join it if they did?!) I must say that after spending a solid five hours with this group, midwesterners are seriously the nicest people ever. No pushy or bossy New Yorkers in that group! We met some great people and left the park covered in black paint, but feeling great. We rewarded ourselves for our do-gooding with a treat from Pinkberry, the latest craze in Fro-Yo that just opened up in Chelsea. Yummers.

Hallelujah!

63.

The two numbers make music in my ears. Not 43 and rainy, not 53 and brisk. It is forecasted to be 63 beautiful degrees tomorrow in New York City. 65 on Saturday, and a downright balmy 68 on Sunday. Yes, my friends, I believe spring has finally sprung!

I'm doing a little dance in my chair thinking about sunny skies and warm air on my skin. I'm smiling as I envision open-toed shoes and blooming (not wilting) flowers and an actual need to wear sunglasses. It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Everything will be more bearable, more pleasant once the weather improves. I'll actually have desire to be outside and get out of the office! Hooray for sunshine!

Enough about the weather. I just had to post my elation for a brief moment. Another thing to be happy about: Bubba's visit to my office today for lunch! We dined in Cafe 57 and caught up as she took a break between visiting the PQ set with Speed and checking out the uptown museums. I love visitors to my office--especially when they involve eating in the Cafe!

Time for dinner--Sole over a bed of steamed veggies and rice, prepared by--who else?--Chef Mark!

A lovely day in NYC

Today, the rain may be pouring down in buckets, but yesterday we had a more seasonable, albeit chilly, spring day. Corinne and Adam's visit to the city gave us a great excuse to spend the afternoon in sunny Central Park; we met up with them and Danny and Ang at the Met before finding a choice spot at the Boathouse
where we enjoyed the food, company, and bar! Then the group trekked out to the Galapagos Art Space in Williamsburg to check out a band featuring a fellow WMHS alumni (class of '01; a youngin') before going to the gem of a dive bar, Capone's, where they offer everyone a free pizza(yes, one whole pie!) with any drink order. I assumed the pizza would be ick, but it turned out to be very delicious. We had a great time and I took plenty of pics, as seen below.

Pictures from Leezie's Birthday

 

Fun times.

We had a great time celebrating Leezie's birthday last night at Havana alma de Cuba. Jackie, Tracy, Karl, Mark, Leezie and I had a room practically to ourselves as we enjoyed delicious Cuban food! I went with my standard, Pollo a la Maggie, which is chicken on top of plaintains, with peppers and onions, covered with a wine sauce (Mark says it tastes like chicken marsala). Can't go wrong with that. There was also aros con pollo, empanadas, chicken, lamb, and beef skewers and some other tasty delicacies. Havana has proved yet again why it's one of my favorite neighborhood restaurants!

The rain was starting to fall as we left and hasn't relented. I'm watching it come down in sheets from my perch 20 stories above 8th Avenue. April showers I can take. But a freezing cold monsoon? A move to Hawaii or St Thomas sounds very appetizing right now!

Happy Birthday, Leezie!

Happy birthday to the best oldest sister on the planet! We will be celebrating tonight with dinner in the West Village--more about that tomorrow! Hope you have a wonderful day, Leezie, you deserve it!

Pirate Queen Opening

I didn't have a chance to post these pics the other night after the opening of Pirate Queen. We had a lot of fun at the show, and afterwards as Leezie and I were interviewed by some Dublin-based TV host who was sporting some rocking prom-circa-1997 look including a curly updo complete with mini butterfly clips and a floor length silver and black dress studded with rhinestones! Speed also gave us a backstage tour, giving us an inside glimpse of what he does and how everything operates...very impressive! Now, everyone go see Pirate Queen!

Happy Easter!

Karl and I just returned from another great weekend at home. We took off on Friday night and sailed down the Jersey Turnpike without hitting any traffic. And despite the ridiculously cold weather (and snow!), we had a lovely time--hitting up the mecca of all discount warehouses, C-Mart, where I tried on some hideous but uber-trendy high-waisted jeans that somehow made it to Landover from Intermix (marked down to $200 from $350. Not much of a dil). They scream fashion victim, and Karl had a good laugh at me in the dressing room (I didn't get them to say the least). We then hit up Sh&*!ty Place for a little more ghettofab shopping and then I went out to meet Corinne and Lonnie. We had a great dinner at Thaiphoon in Dupont, then ran across the street to Bistro Du Coin for a bit. It was so nice to see them!

Easter was spent at the Farm where we had a delicious brunch with Uncle Joe, Stella, and the newly-engaged Kasia and Andres! We got to see her gorgeous ring and here all about their new condo. Stella, my mom, and Karl had made some delicious food--ham, turkey, deviled eggs, sweet potatoes, "My Mutha's", scalloped potatoes, etc.-- and Stella had everything prepared perfectly for Easter! I have some video I'll post later featuring that. Sadly, we missed Aleta, Ella, and Philip, who had to stay in York due to a sick Ella. Poor thing! But I was able to talk to her a bit on the phone--she is so grown up!

We made it back up to NYC in about five hours, after hitting some major traffic in the Pennsylvania Dutch Country area. Ugh. That and my worsening cold made the trip a little frustrating, but Karl definitely helped make it more bearable. A very nice weekend in all!