Digging Out

I wish I could say we're digging out from a major snow storm but alas, still no major wintry weather has descended upon NYC. Instead, I'm emerging from a flurry of stomach flu-related woes that hit me rather suddenly on Tuesday night. I went to the Urban Run feeling fine and, four-plus miles of fairly easy running later, I felt like I'd been punched a million times in the gut. Chalking it up to a typical runner's stomach ache, I made my way home and to bed--where I stayed for the next 24 hours (give or take all those trips to the bathroom, but I'll spare you those details).

Fortunately, I had a very adoring caretaker in Mark who got up with me at 12, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 a.m. as I, well, hurled (is that TMI? Sorry!) to rub my back and get me ice cubes. And last night he stocked up our gatorade and ginger ale supply and brought me soup and saltines (could only eat the crackers, unfortunately). I'm very lucky to have him, and all of the other loving people in my life who checked in on me throughout the day!

I'm doing much better today, but still not 100%, though I know these things need to run their course. So I'm letting it do just that and keeping a low-pro for the next day. Let's hope I can rally by the weekend, as there are some birthday (Keren's) and Superbowl (Go Giants!) festitives going on that I don't want to miss!

This morning, I woke up to the news that there was a major fire on 12th and Washington--that's just two blocks away! Apparently, we all slept through what I can only imagine were many sirens and lots of hubbub outside. An entire building went up in flames, destroying eight apartments and displacing 40 families. Scary! Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt.

This comes on the heels of some other fire department activity that occured yesterday morning:I woke up smelling what I thought was kerosene. Mark and Karl, being as stuffed up as they are, didn't really smell a thing. I looked outside and saw a fire truck outside and panicked a bit. We all walked downstairs where our neighbor told us that the boiler was leaking oil...nothing too alarming, but the odor was super storng and terrible! Karl and I spent some time down the street at Dunkin' Donuts while the fire department did their thing. We came back and the smell lingered all day long. I just kept a candle close by as I worked, which really didn't do much to mask the noxious odor.

I guess we're lucky it was nothing more serious!

More Rock

Last night I headed across the street to Maxwell's to see the Super Furry Animals, an eccentric rock band hailing all the way from Wales. Carl (from NYRR) turned me on to them about a month ago when he mentioned they were going to be playing at Maxwell's. Hardly one to resist live music right across the street, I picked up some tickets, and the two of us, plus C's girlfriend and another friend, checked out the show. (First, we hit up yummy Italian spot Margherita's--excellent "mutz" and pasta!--which Mark joined us for). He went home to star in his own rock show (Guitar Hero) and we moved on to Maxwell's for the 10:15 show. The "Animals" played until 12:15, tearing through about 30 songs total. According to Carl, they have about ten times more tunes in their repoitoire--as he said, they're quite prolific.

For the most part, I loved their stuff. The uptempo songs, especially, were great to dance (or just bop your head) to. Plus, their Welsh accents were pretty nice on the ears. And at one point, the lead singer Gruff Rhys (yep, that's his name...the other guys have names like Huw, Guot, Cian, and Dafydd. Crazy Welsh!) put on some huge lizard-like mask and sang out of it. Yeah, a bit bizarre...but you had to be there.

Rock gods!

I forgot to mention one major addition to our apartment...GUITAR HERO! Mark picked it up over the weekend and it's been hard to tear him away from the game. As a matter of fact, he's in the living room right now rocking out to Slow Ride. So much for going to bed early! Granted, I'm a bit hooked myself, but I definitely need a lot more practice. That's when working from home can get very tricky (as if Scrabulous wasn't enough of a distraction!).

Visitors and fools-ball

On Sunday (a very bitter, bitter cold day!), we had the 'rents, Eileen (back from visiting her friends in CT), Leezie, and Sam over for some football watching action. Mark whipped up his almost-famous Irish Stew, I made some soda bread, and the 'rents provided Knishes straight from the Lower East Side. We kept the telly on while we sat down for dinner to make sure we didn't miss one second of the Giants/Packers game. And good thing we didn't--even for me, a quick-to-be-bored, psuedo-football-fan, it was as entertaining as you can get. Go Giants!

It was great to see Eileen and have the rents here, too! They stayed the night and treated me to a delicious "business person's" lunch (that's what it's called) at the Village Den on Monday afternoon before they headed back to MD.

The Sam Show

On Friday night, after briefly visiting with Eileen and checking out the Saints and Spinners event at Grand Central (I covered it for MetroSports), Mark and I went to Arte Pasta for dinner. A favorite place of our "old" neighborhood and always delicious. Afterwards, we couldn't resist the urge to drop in on Leezie and Sam--who put on yet another variety show for his adoring fans (He laughs! He smiles! He makes new gutteral noises!). Some pics from his "act"....

Sam's visit

Last Friday, Leezie brought Sam over for his first-ever trip to Hoboken! After an early afternoon of downpours, the blue sky broke through and we were able to walk around like it was May. We stopped in the Frozen Monkey Cafe for a quick bite, then went back to our place where Sam got used to the new surroundings. Later, Mark and Karl came home, and Mark got ro work cooking us all a delicious meal of pasta and chorizo. Yum!

Who are you and what's that shiny thing you keep pointing in my face?

Busy bee

Haven't had much time to blog as I'm feeling a bit of a crunch with a bunch of looming deadlines. I somehow managed to get five assignments (awesome!) all due within one week (not so great). I've already turned in my piece for NG KIDS (on the new movie Kung Fu Panda), and have stories for Running Times (running after pregnancy), MetroSports (profiles on runners), Runner's World (podcast testing), and SELF (getting into triathlon) remaining. One down, four to go. Whoo!

But I can't complain--each story is very interesting and haven't been/won't be hard to write. I am just the Queen of Procrastination and like to talk a lot about all of the work I need to do before actually sitting down and doing it. Hence, why I'm writing this and not writing an article. I've been spending large chunks of time in the Chelsea Piers cafe area (my version of a library!), which means that I'm getting work done and eventually getting in a work out. Good thing they don't seem to mind you sitting on their couches for up to five hours at a time! (I am paying to belong there, after all).

Back to work!

Belated B-day Greetings to Bubba!

Bubba has a birthday (her 40th, I believe, right everyone? ;-)) on Saturday, and I realize I was remiss in giving her a shout out! From what I hear, she celebrated by seeing Rock and Roll, and then hitting up German joint Lederhosen with Leezie and Speed. Sounds like a good day!

(And by the way, I didn't have a picture to post, hence the random book cover!)

Dinner Party!

Over the weekend, we hosted some friends for our very first dinner party in 1002 Washington Street! Fretting about "where everyone was going to sit," I scoured Craigs List on Friday looking for a potential dining room table--we needed one, anyway. I found one nearby and dragged Mark out early Saturday morning to pick it up. It's not the fanciest thing ever, but looks very nice in the red room, which is now a dining room--not a junk room/hallway!

I picked up some table decor on post-holiday clearance and dressed up the table in golds and blues (courtesy of our big, blue plates). I was more proud of the table than of my meal--the chicken parm was decent, but didn't seem to win the crowd over. But with plenty of wine on the table and a delicious bread, courtesy of a real pastry chef (Sara, Keren's friend), everyone was well satiated!

I'm excited that we can now have people over for meals without using our laps as a table! Does this mean we've officially grown up?

Happy New Year!

We kicked off '08 in prime style last night with a dinner out at Dylan Prime in Tribeca. Patty, her date Rick, her friend Deanna, her bf Mark, and Mark and I all munched on various cuts of steak (a 7 oz filet for me), delectable sides (mashed potatoes, asparagus, mac and cheese, and more), and unreal desserts (peanut butter pie and molten chocolate cake!). Afterwards, we ventured to Soho to ring in the new year at Puck Fare. Luckily,we found ourselves our own private nook, with easy access to the bar and the dance floor. About 5 'til midnight, the bartenders started passing out hats, noisemakers, and filled up flutes full of champagne. Other than the fact my feet were killing me because of my cute but so not comfy black platform pumps (I should have known better), it was a perfect way to celebrate!

Chris and Bryan are in town for NYE (as well as Corinne, visiting Danny and Ange), so I met up with them on Saturday night. First, we hit up burger joint Stand near Union Square for dinner before heading over to Republic, where Chris, Bryan, and Samantha were hanging out. We eventually moved on to a pub in the East Village, where I hung out for a bit. It was so nice to see everyone--especially Chris, who's all the way out in L.A.--that was a rare treat!

Bruno's growing up!

After driving back up from MD, Karl and I got back into the car to venture upstate to New Paltz. There, we had a lovely dinner in town with Bec, John, Leezie, Sam, Mario, Bubba, and the 'rents. Afterwards, we went back to Traphagen for some present opening and playing with Bruno, who is getting bigger and bigger by the day! Then Karl, John, Bec and I played a game of Scrabble, which I won (hee hee) before heading back down the road to the 'boken.

Aleta makes a wish ....
....while Ella tears into her own prezzie.
The birthday girl tries on her new lotion

Happy Birthday, Aleta!

We spent the night of the 27th up at Jeanie's to celebrate Aleta's birthday. After a champagne toast, we tucked into an amazing coco vin dinner by Jeanie, then quenched our sweet tooth with cupcakes. Leezie and I did our best to be crafty and consturcted a pillar of cupcakes in various colors...I made so many, we're still eating the leftovers!

Ella and Philip are as adorable as ever and enjoyed the party as much as their mama did!

Dinner with Corinne and Lonnie, in from San Fran--we hit up old fave Sette for some delicious proscuitto and arugula pizza. Then we went over to 14th and U to new bar Marvin, where we met up with more friends--Mark, Chuck, Mike, Eileen, Ryan, Adam K., etc. A great night!

Christmas night at the Flynn's--we were all gifted with mini marshmallow launchers from the Hornes, which are basically dart guns crafted with PVC piping. Those things have some power to them--and the marshmallows flew clear across the house! It was all fun and games until the marshmallows started getting ground into the rugs and floors...