I had an interview scheduled with a hot youngish director today and just got stood up! Something about a scheduling conflict. I'm not too concerned--we'll hopefully do it on Monday--but there's nothing more I dislike than being cancelled on. Funny thing is, despite my annoyance, the publicist told me she didn't think I could possibly be a New Yorker because I was so chill about the whole thing. True, the freelance life has made me even more laid back than ever. But at the same time, I just didn't see a need to get upset with the middle-man (er, woman). I blame the diva director!

I have to switch gears and write a couple more stories due today and then get ready for the Urban Run Leap Year Mile at Chelsea Piers tonight. This is an event that I'm partially organizing; I say partially because I don't want to take full responsibility if it's a dud. The gym didn't do that great of a job advertising the event, and besides, Friday nights are not the most popular times to have a track race! But we have some people pre-registered and I've roped Karl into running with the promise of new shoes. She better show!

I borrowed these pics from Speed and Leezie as I just couldn't resist sharing how cute Sam is! I hope these bring you a big smile today!

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Name Game

Why hasn't J-Lo released the names of her twins yet? Is she going to wait 8 months to publicize the news, like she did with her pregnancy? I know it's totally her bid'ness, but for some reason, it's bothering me that they're keeping the names under wraps. Guess because I'm extra interested and curious in baby names these days!

Let me know if you hear any news!

Fun goings on

Corinne was here over the weekend and we had a splendid time! She arrived amidst the snow/wintry mix on Friday evening (no problems for her on the road, thank goodness) and we headed straight to Stout, a mid-town bar we've been to before. As it turns out, Stout is also a big hang-out for Knicks fans (those who still exist, that is), and the place was packed before the game. Around 7:30, the crowd petered out, but we stayed for a while with Mark and Danny, who joined us later. Abstaining from alcohol for obvious reasons, I chugged-a-lugged seltzer and sprite, but *managed* to have fun, buzzed or no. :-)

On Saturday, we slept in and enjoyed a leisurely meal at our new favorite brunch place, Turning Point. It's no greasy spoon a la The Sweet Life (our go-to breakfast joint on Christopher Street), but they definitely serve up some sweet pancakes, omelets, and eggs. Mark and I have been there for the last three Saturdays and hope to become regulars soon (though I doubt they'll notice us among the throngs of Hobokenites who frequent TP just as much as we do!).

After a brief shopping excursion and some games of Guitar Hero, we hopped on the bus and made our way to Broadway for another meal: This time, it was dinner at Brazil Brazil with newly-engaged Danny and Ang. I saw Ang's pretty ring and heard about all of their wedding plans. The food at BB is delish and everyone agreed that the sangria is yummy, too, but again, no sips for me.

Following dinner, we dashed over to the Richard Rodgers theatre, currently housing In the Heights, and slid into our nose-bleed seats. It's still in previews, so I bought tix online for $20. We actually had an unobstructed arial view of the stage, so being in the dead-last row worked out. The show was very entertaining: Funny, charming, witty, and, at times, sad. I have no idea how it'll fare with the hard-to-impress theatre folk, but our audience seemed to eat it up. We'll see when it opens up next month.

Later that night, we retired back to 'Boken and watched Eastern Promises with Viggo Mortenson (nominated for an Oscar for his role) and Naomi Watts. A VERY intriguing movie. There's one particularly riveting scene where Viggo's character fights with two scary, knife-wielding Russian mobsters in a steam room. Totally naked. It's completely realistic--down to the blood that seeps from the Russian's eyeballs and organs. I've never seen anything like it and kind of wished he won the Oscar for that part alone.

Finally, on Sunday, Corinne rose early with me and together we headed over to CP for the Urban Run. She held down the fort in the office while I took the (very small) group out for our four-miler. Following that, we hit up Empire Diner in Chelsea for another fun brunch and then mozied around midtown a bit before she got back on her bus. She's such a fun guest to have, and I missed her the second she left!

After seeing her off, I zipped home to start thinking about dinner. I had Nandita and Meaghan over for some Oscar-watching and made a great Martha recipe: Chicken with olives and raisins over spinach rice. It had a mediteranean flare to it, so we served it with Olive bread and fresh veggies and hummus for apps. Meg brought over a selection of sweet treats for dessert, so we gulped those down as we watched the red carpet and ensuing Oscars.

A busy but fun weekend...and while I was so happy to hang out with my friends, I didn't get any work done! I'm backed up this week and trying to bang out five columns and two features by Friday. Speaking of which, I better get back to it...

Bec in action

here's a pretty cool pic of Bec running at the XC nationals last weekend. Does she look like a future Olympian or what?

Add Ian to your list of daily blogs...

Ian now has a blog! Check it out to read up on what this Southern Gentleman's got cookin' in Charleston. :-) (Note that I've also added a couple other family members to my favorites list: Jeanie and Sam!)

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As you can tell, I'm writing about anything and everything. Please keep the ideas coming!

New Gig

Recently, I was brought on as the health and wellness columnist for sheknows.com, a website/portal for women offering details on everything from dating to celebrity dish. I'll be contributing 30(!) columns a month on anything I want to write about that falls under the health/fitness/wellness umbrella, which is pretty cool. Their still working on redesigning the site, so I'm not quite sure how my stories will be featured, but in the meantime, you can find the ones that've been posted via the links below. And if you have any ideas for me, please pass them along! I have to come up with something new every day, so I need any help I can get!

Alternative healing with the Meridian Flexibility technique

Five steps to curb crankiness at work

Clothing to keep you warm while exercising outdoors

Healthy -- last minute -- ways to spend your Valentine's Day

Get fit fast. Train like a triathlete!

Do You Really Need to Drink Your Vitamins?

Congrats to Bec, who finished 29th (top 30!) at the USA Cross Country Champs today in San Diego. Her time, 29:07, equals about 5:51 per mile. That's over hills and bumpy surfaces, so on the roads she'd be even faster! Not too bad for a triathlete...

In other news, I'm still a little shellshocked from seeing The Kite Runner this afternoon. I knew the entire story, but that didn't stop me from booh-hooing pretty much the whole way through. A total tear jerker! Even though it's only nominated for one Oscar (for its score, which honestly didn't stand out to me), this one gets my vote for movie of the year.

Maybe what put me in my extra-relaxed/hyper-emotional mood was the massage I got prior to the movie...a V-Day/B-Day present from Mark. Such a treat. Afterwards, Mark and I hit Katz's Deli, the super-popular lower east side hangout and home to the mile-high pastrami sandwiches (also well known for its role in the infamous When Harry met Sally scene). I opted for chicken salad; Mark got corned beef, and we both got LOTS of pickles (sour and "natural"). We both left stuffed--but satisfied.

Oh Happy Day!

Yesterday was the most memorable Valentine's Day of all--not because of any elaborate romantic notions (though I did receive beautiful flowers from Mark, sent to my "office", and we had a lovely dinner) but because I finally shared the news I'd been dying to tell people for some time: We're having a baby! I think anyone who will read this probably already knows the details, but here they are again. I'm about 14 weeks along, with a due date of August 17. So far, everything has been going smoothly, and I feel great. Let the bump watch begin! Hee hee.

Getting such sweet and supportive reactions from my family and friends made me even more excited for the impending months and, of course, to finally meet the littlest (Wassner) Flynn in August. We got a sneak preview last week of the tiny one, and it was an amazing sight to behold. See for yourself in these sonogram pics (they're pretty grainy, but you can make out the arms, profile, and body. Pretty cool since he or she is only about 8 cm long!)

Last night, I kicked off my birthday celebrations with good friends (and sisters!) at Jane, an adorable restaurant on Houston (near Soho). Keren made the recommendation, as she knows the general manager, but then the poor thing was too sick to even make it to the get together! But we took advantage of her suggestion anyway and enjoyed Jane's yummy food. I had the cookies and milk--an amazing combo of homemade chocolate chip cookies and a glass of cold milk with a scoop of vanilla gelato plopped in it (making for a milkshake effect). There were three HUGE cookies, so I saved one for Mark who was stuck up in Stamford until 9:00 yet again. He made it in just in time to pick Rachel and I up and drive us back to 'Boken. Poor guy, he's been reduced to chaffeur status! (Just kidding!). Anyway, minus Keren and Mark, it was still a great time and just a fun excuse to get together with my nearest and dearest (in NYC, at least).

Throw Down!

I almost forgot to mention that I did take a break from the Grammy action to check out Bec's BIG debut on the Food Network! She was the guest judge in Bobby Flay's Throwdown, which aired tonight at 10 p.m. (I bet it'll air again, I'll dig around for listings). They had some great shots of her on the treadmill, in her cycling gear, and of course at the judge's table. She was super-professional and looked really cute; maybe if the triathlon thing falls through, she can have a career in TV? Just kidding!

(On a sidenote, for those of you who may get a chance to watch it again, you can see yours truly for about a second in the background during they part where they announce the winners. I'm the one holding up the eventual victors' hands).

Grammy Recap

I actually sat through the entire Grammy broadcast tonight. I say actually because normally I don't have the patience--or energy--to watch an entire awards show from start to finish. Or, I'll just DVR and fast-forward my way through the program to the good parts. But tonight I think I saw almost every bit of the 3-hour show (I was focusing more or less on my primary task at hand, writing, so I tuned out the boring stuff). Anyway, I was happy to see more live performances than ever (loved Feist and Rhianna; Carrie Underwood's stiffness and shaky voice left much to be desired--what would Simon say?; Kanye's tribute to his mama made me teary-eyed) and approved of Amy Winehouse's big Record of the Year win. She seemed to have cleaned herself up for her much-anticipated live-via-satelite act (it was around 3 a.m. London time when she went on), but her emaciated legs and somewhat dead eyes scared me. She just scares me in general, though I do like her voice. Same goes for Fergie--can't really bare to look at her, but I've got nothing against hearing her stuff, even though tonight's Mary J-Blige-style belt-out duet with John Legend was kind of pointless. OK, we get it--you can sing, but stick to what you're good at: Shaking your humps and lovely lady lumps!

Giants on Parade

Yesterday, Bec and I ventured downtown to see what we could well, see, of the Giants Parade. I knew the scene would be chaotic when my ride in at 8:30 a.m. was full of red, white, and blue clad fans. But we braved it anyway and managed to catch a glimpse of the various floats full of players from a block away. The ticker tape and toilet paper were flying, as were reams of paper floating out of sky-high office buildings (people were seemingly tossing it out of their windows). There were fans everywhere and it took us about 20 minutes to move one block. But it was worth it to see this historical event!

Later on in the night, I was happy to see the Empire State Building still alit in the Giant's patriotic colors...how long do you think it'll stay that way? If it were up to New Yorkers, I'd say until next year at least!

Millrose Games

Last Friday, Karl and I checked out the Millrose Games. I snapped a couple shots during the women's mile, which got little fanfare but produced big results. American distance darling Kara Goucher tore away on the last lap for a narrow victory over Sara Hall. She's truly amazing and is definitely a medal contender for the Beijing Olympics.

Other highlights included the women's pole vault featuring the great Stacy Dragila (returning from injury, she didn't fare so well) and the Wannamaker Mile with Craig Mottram squaring off against Bernard Lagat. Lagat ran away with his sixth win at the Garden, which ties him with legend Eamonn Coughlin. Pretty cool to see that.

The puppies that almost were...

Some pics of the cockapoos (that's a mix of cocker spaniel and poodle for those of you not in on the designer dog scene) Mark and I checked out a couple weeks back. As cute as they were, they still wreaked havoc on Mark's allergies and we had to leave rather abruptly after his nose started running like Niagara Falls. (He was hoping upon hope for better results, but alas, it was a no go). Still, we got a nice tour of Ridgewood, NJ, and satiated our puppy lust for at least another year!

Eli Manning Drive?

(reprinted from nj.com)

Some people in City Hall are kicking around the idea of renaming the block of Washington Street between 14th and 15th Street after our neighbor who led the Giants to one of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history.

Eli Manning lives in the Hudson Tea Building right at that intersection. Mayor David Roberts says he is still collecting information from "the entire community" as to how Hobokenites can best show their appreciation.

But if the honorary street naming goes forward, it might include a ceremony, ideally attended by Manning, where the Mayor presents him with a key to the city.

It might even include repainting the yellow dividing and curb lines on the street red and blue. There is even talk of repainting the entire street "Giants blue" -- temporarily.

Some have suggested a parade down Washington Street. Mayor Roberts said he was "entertaining everyone's ideas" but since there is already a parade happening tomorrow, he personally wanted the city to do something different.

I'm more in favor of the parade--we'd be right on the route!

Lemon tree, very pretty, and the lemon pie is sweet...

I was privy to a royal treat tonight by way of a lemon meringue pie, homemade by Bec. Not only did she whip up a lovely peaked meringue, but the citrusy flavor of the filling was courtesy of her very own fruit, plucked from her own mini lemon tree. She and John had been cultivating the single lemon for almost a year, and just today they deemed it ripe for the picking. Bec in turn procured the pie (complete with ginger snap crumble crust) and had us all over to dig in. And dig in we did--there wasn't much left of the delicious confection after Karl, Leezie, Speed, John, and I had our share. (Sam was there, too, but was too busy eating his hands to enjoy any pie).

Not to go unmentioned was her amazing garlic chicken dish she served with rice and carrots (chicken recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart). No special occasion...as the Olive Garden commerical goes, "it's just a Monday." (But I guess one could argue we were celebrating the Giants' big win!)

A new month, a new day

After falling asleep last night fearing that I had somehow caught a cold on top of everything else, I woke up this morning feeling FINE. A bit tired, but no stomach ache! As a matter of fact, no aches or pains at all! My mysterious sniffles that arrived last night have seemed to disappate as well, so hopefully all forms of illness have left my body. Whoo hoo. (Now, if only Mark could be so lucky, he rose this morning feeling like there were "knives in his throat"...ouch. But, being the tough guy that he is, he made it all the way to Stamford and is currently slaving away at work).

Speaking of work, tonight I will be doing a bit of intrepid reporting at one of the most exciting track & field events of the year, the Millrose Games at the Garden! Karl, my trusty photog, will join me and hopefully we'll get some good stuff out of it. At the very least, we'll see some awesome races--the track geek in me is jumping for joy as I write this--some of the world's best like Bernard Lagat, Craig Mottram, Kara Goucher, and more will be battling it out on the custom-made 200y banked track tonight. We went last year and were blown away by the competition. Can't imagine that tonight will be any different.

It's a great way to kick off my favorite month--lots of fun stuff is happening over the next 29 days, so I'm glad I got my winter sickness out of the way in time!