Sunday Morning in Pictures

The puppies drink from the puddles in the driveway.

Colleen makes home-made hash browns for breakfast.

Ben caulks the front stoop. He's so handy.

Joe contributes to breakfast by throwing some sausages on the grill.

Todd and Jess come to visit and to meet the new puppies.

Puppies!

Colleen with one of the puppies.

Joe cuddles the new pups.

Joe and I went and spent the weekend at home in the Southern Tier. We stayed with Ben and Colleen, who were perfectly gracious hosts, at their beautiful home in Apalachin. They just adopted two cute-as-a-button golden retriever puppies, Blue and Kismet, who got pleeenty of attention from us while we were there. It was a picture-perfect weekend, and I hated leaving.

Butt . . . Butt . . .

Metroland stickers make hot asses hotter: Joe and I show our support at Lark Fest.

Nate Turns 31 Today!

Sorry to out your age, darling, but you seriously don't look a day over 25. ;-)

Nate will spend his birthday evening entertaining folks as always--everyone go to Justin's to wish him a happy one!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NATE!

P.S. This pic is from Friday night--Nate and I had a fabulous dinner-slash-pow-wow, and then we met up with Robin at Elda's (of all places).

Fall Fashion Shoot

On Monday, Mel and I directed the fall fashion shoot. This is my third shoot, and my second time doing fall. Luckily, this time we were in a studio instead of on location. We had so many vendors and SO much merchandise. To have shot on location would have been a horror and a half. Thank goodness for photography studios.

Here, I'm adjusting the clothes on Shane, one of our models. I drastically cropped this pic--the issue doesn't hit the streets until next Thursday, and we don't want to give anything away before then.

TGIF

This weekend, the plan is to go to see Gram for Rosh Hashanah. (Happy Rosh Hashanah by the way, for all you people who are into that sorta thing.) I'm totally just in it for the brisket and matzoh ball soup. (Just kidding, Gram, don't worry! . . . But there will be rugelach and chopped liver, right? *wink*)

Tonight, a much-needed pow-wow with Nate. Followed by a cocktail or two.

Season Premiere Tonight!

Two words: Grey's Anatomy.

That is all that needs to be said.

I Miss My Girls

Where are you? :-(

Everyone's simply too far away from me.

Lark Fest

Joe and I have a beer on the street at Lark Fest; after Hector on Stilts played, Clay and Jeb signed a bunch of autographs for their excited fans.

My Favorite Face

Kate's New Haircut

This post is mostly for Kristie's sake (there, satisfied? I'm writing about you!) so she can see Kate's new hair. Bobbed with layers and plum lowlights. It looks great.

After Kate's mini photo shoot we went to see the Illusionist with Michael, which was just awesome.

Albany Turns into Wild West

There has been a disturbing spike in gun violence in Albany lately. It's unsettling that it's happening at all, but it mostly bothers me that it's been getting closer and closer to my personal space. For example, last week, I was at work and all of a sudden we hear pop! pop! pop! One of our staff writers, David, looked at me and said, "That doesn't sound good." A few minutes later, our general manager sent out an e-mail confirming that those "pops" were actually gunshots and that police had sealed off the block where it had happened (one block away from our office). This was in the middle of a busy workday in broad daylight. Luckily, the gunman had bad aim (it may have had something to do with the fact that he was on a bicycle), so no one was hit.

Then, on Monday night, as I lay in bed chatting on the phone, I hear pop!--a half-dozen times. It crosses my mind that the noise could have been gunshots, but I tend to rationalize those thoughts away pretty quickly. However, my brother walks in a little bit after that (from walking the dog around the neighborhood) and reports that there were gunshots around the corner from the apartment (about one block south of us) and that this time, someone got hit (actually, we learned later, two 20-something guys got hit, and they were rushed to Albany Med--their injuries were not life-threatening), and police had sealed off that portion of the neighborhood. The gunman (a different guy than the one from before) was also on a bicycle. They haven't caught that guy yet, but they did catch the first guy.

Now, while these shootings are alarming, they are only a drop in the bucket in terms of the amount of shootings that have been happening lately. Most of them seem to be occurring in the South End, West Hill and Arbor Hill (for you out-of-towners, these are some of the really rough neighborhoods in Albany). The police chief is adamant that these shootings are not gang-related, but group-related (whatever the hell that means). What's worse, the incidents have been under-reported--apparently it's not a "shooting" unless someone actually gets hit with a bullet. Read the daily's story about the multiple shootings here.

Oh yeah, by the way, the police chief wants to shut down two of the Albany police stations, including the station in Arbor Hill. This plan was announced one day after four people got shot on the same street that the police station is on. Explain that one to me. When our paper runs our piece on this, and the shootings, I'll be sure to post a link.

Saturday in the City

On Saturday, Joe and I braved the Ernesto leftovers to spend the day in Manhattan. We started our day near Harlem in the morning, and made our way down to Canal Street--a long journey, of which we actually walked about 40 blocks--by the end of the day. It's amazing how that happens. You start window shopping, and all of a sudden you're a couple-dozen blocks north or south of where you started. It's a trick the city likes to play on people.

Joe's friend Kirsten showed us around the campus of Columbia University, where she's earning a PhD in psychology. We then went for a walk to see . . .

the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the largest Gothic cathedral in the world. Then, before saying goodbye to Kirsten, we went to lunch at a cozy Mexican restaurant in the Upper West Side.

During our 40-block hike, we came across Cheap Jack's vintage clothing store on 5th Avenue, where we met Sebastian, a sales-hobbit who whisked us through the entire store for about an hour, chatting with us and handing us overpriced items to inspect or try on. Here, Joe sports the '70s so-you-wanna-be-a-pimp knee-length leather trench.

Finally, after a lot of walking and a lot of getting drenched from the hurricane, we settled in at a sweet little eatery in Chinatown for dinner. Then we went and window-shopped for watches, and then back to Long Island for a night of house parties and fun.

Long Island

Ah yes, Long Island is where I spent my Labor Day weekend. I played beer pong for (what memory serves, anyway) the first time since college. It was a beer pong tournament, actually. Joe and I won our first round, but then got creamed by a duo of cheating overly tanned Long Island girls. We're not judging. Really. A couple pics from Saturday night:

Eric and Kim make the "loser" signal as they try to win a round of pong.

Joe fills cups in preparation for our second round of pong.

Dave, our gracious house-party host.

Temptation

There's one of those huge cookie-cake things in the editorial office in celebration of our new staff writer's birthday. I've been pretty good about eating healthily and avoiding bad things lately. Like huge cookie-cake things. And now one is in the office, calling my name. For the record, it's nearly impossible for me to avoid this giant cookie. I love sweets--my sweet tooth is about the size of the Atlantic. And of course, cookies are my favorite. So far, so good--I haven't given in. I just wanted to share my diet angst.

Quote of the Day

"'Bleh' is the new 'eh'"
--Michael C.

Joe Go Fest

I went home (well, to Binghamton/Vestal) over the weekend to visit the fam and to participate in what was affectionately dubbed the Joe Go Fest. Joe (in the blue T-shirt below) is moving to the City at the end of the week, and to celebrate the move, all his friends got together for some parties to see him off. A very fun time was had by all--for the most part. Thursday was fun and games; Friday night got a liiiiiittle out of control for some (you know who you are).

From the top: Laura is very animated as she explains something to me--of course, I forget what. . . . Next, the stepsisters pose for a pic. . . . Todd and Michelle hanging out at Dillinger's with a NASCAR-themed Miller Lite (yes, I was drinking them too--they were $2!). . . . The man of the hour: Joe with a smoke, looking a bit confused. . . . Joe being trashed with his friend Heather. On Friday we met Canadians, Seattle-ites and hometown peeps. Good times. Many thanks to Laura for prolonged use of her apartment (love you!).

Other notes from the weekend home:

--Dad tried to set me up with a hippie (egads)
--Mom bought me a 4-disc set of hits from 1956-1959 that I LOVE
--Took Dylan to lunch, and then to the bookstore where we bought The Lion King soundtrack
--Had dinner with Holly, Dad, Laura, Dylan, and Holly's dad and stepmom, Jim and Mary
--Got stuck in traffic at the toll on the way home, which means that college kids were comin' back into town

Out of Space??

That's what my blog peeps are saying. . . I'll have to figure this out. Till then, I'll try to do some updating on my MySpace blog.

Thursday (and Friday) in Saratoga

Had dinner at the Hall of Springs last night, then went to see the orchestra at SPAC. It was a spectacular concert, with pieces by Beethoven, Debussy and Saint Saens. Lots of fun.

Tonight I'll head to Saratoga again, this time to spend some time with Kate and have dinner and drinks and hear all about her camping vacation.

Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to bring my camera someplace to have it magically fixed for free. Or at least an inexpensive repair shop. I'm not the same without my camera.

(Post) Weekend Report

Wow, I'm sleepy. I don't get it. I was asleep by 10:30 last night, awake at 6:30 this morning, gym for an hour, one cup of coffee for the day--my usual routine. So why am I so tired?


This weekend was full of lovely things.

Friday night I had dinner with friends and then went to Paranoid Social Club at Revolution Hall in Troy for a night of rock. It was great. Those guys are FABulous every single time I see them.

Saturday I went to River Street in Troy to pretend to browse for antiques for a scene piece I'm writing for this week's paper. Saturday night: dinner at this new place called Avenue A (the name of which can only conjure images of Avenue Q for me), where I had some excellent Korean steak. Then to the Egg for a hip-hop dance revue, which rocked as well.

Yesterday I went to Kristie's old house to see her mom and brother-in-law, Steve, and little niece Maeve (whose hair is getting soooo long!), and to pick up a very nice table that was unwanted by them but desperately needed by me for my dining room. That was followed by regular Sunday activities: grocery shopping, cooking for the week, cleaning. And I had a nice afternoon nap with Asa while watching The Labyrinth.

My brother has reported to me today that our landlord came and fixed our garbage disposal, which has been broken for almost a week--a situation that was really bumming me out. So I'm extremely pleased about that.

Off to find some food. . .

Quote of the Day

"Wow, creativity is such a flighty little bastard."

--courtesy Laura Boggs, via her blog.

NOW Conference in Albany

Albany was the place the National Organization for Women decided to celebrate their 40th anniversary--Ani Difranco spoke, and I went down to cover it. Read my little story here. Thanks to Alicia for taking pics.

Sorry I Haven't Posted in a While . . .

"Busy" doesn't even begin to describe my life.


That, and my camera broke.

Best Of

In the middle of Best Of Hell. See you on the other side. Hopefully.

Together Again

Kristie's in town, so she and Kate and I went out for dinner and drinks last night. We discussed, among many other things, marriage (specifically, Kristie's new one, Kate's potential one, and all our parents' crumbled ones). I love those girls.

Goin' Out in Binghamton

I was home this weekend and hung out with Laura and our friend Joe on Saturday night. I swear Laura has the whitest teeth in history. That day, I took Dylan to out to lunch, and then we went to see Pirates of the Caribbean (and loved it!).

Nate and Frank

These two fed me waaay too much wine last night!

Work Work Work

I hate that I have to work today. Hate it! I want to be home making hazelnut rugalach! (I was planning on making it yesterday--I bought ingredients and everything--but found I was without extra-fine granulated sugar, damnit.) Oh well, there is way too much to do to make sure the paper comes out this week to be home today. We have tomorrow off, and I'll be taking my Little Sister to the Fourth of July festivities at the plaza. See you there?

Bitter Single People

You wouldn't believe it by looking at this pic, but we are three bitter single people. Nah, not really. But here Mel and I are posing with Greg, who writes the syndicated column Bitter Single Guy. He was an exhibitor at the AAN conference, and this pic (taken at the gala at the Arkansas Arts Center) just came through from Kim, our production manager.

Multi-Talented? Why, Yes, I Am!

Look! I got a photo credit in another alt-weekly! Read the column that goes along with it (it's by Steve from Exit Weekly about the AAN conference in Little Rock), it was hysterical! It's probably funnier to me because I was there and witnessed practically everything that he wrote about, but I think people who weren't there will find it funny, too, and very well-written.

Tuesdays With Travis

Had dinner in Washington Park with Trav last night. We tried the new vegetarian place on Lark Street, called Peas & Beans, and it was yummy (for you local folk who haven't been there yet, it's right by where Shades of Green used to be). Trav had the veggie falafel and I had organic rice and beans, of which they gave me enough--for $3.50-- for two meals. So we recommend it, if you were curious. Then we went to the M'Land office so I could be a guinea pig for his presentation for the Princeton Review, for whom he'll be instructing an SAT prep course. Good luck Trav, you'll do great!

Pool at the Palais

Admittedly off my game! But still fun.

I Fear . . .

I may have gotten myself into something of a pickle.

Uhh, Yeah!

I'm debating whether or not to tell you men how on point this article really is.

Once in a while, Maxim manages to impress me.

*Note to all you peeps who thought I was crazy for making a big deal out of the guy calling me an hour later: See No. 88.

FUNNY Rotten Scoundrels!

Oh my god, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels could very likely be the funniest thing I've ever seen. And I've seen some funny things in my time. In addition to making the audience hoot and howl, Jonathan Pryce and Norbert Leo Butz (who just won a Tony for his role) kept cracking each other up, which made watching them even funnier. It was absolutely, perfectly hysterical.

And the Darwin exhibit at the Museum of Natural History was great--if you go, allow yourself a LOT of time to make your way through the exhibit. An hour minimum, I'd say. There's a lot of information to absorb and lots to see. Including some giant turtles and iguananas. Which, I now know, are both pretty yummy as dinner.

I added to my book collection this weekend. *Cringe!* I'm so bad. I keep promising myself the madness will stop! I think I'm really going to have to break down and buy another bookcase. This weekend I acquired two T.C. Boyle books and The Ghost of Hannah Mendes by Naomi Ragen (thanks, Gram!!); while in the city we also bought The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie, Newjack by Ted Conover, and The Jewish Kitchen by Clarissa Hymen (this one in particular is super, because this book will actually teach me how to make hazelnut rugelach! I can't even tell you how exciting this is).

We had a nice, respectable kosher lunch at Fine & Shapiro in the Upper West Side, and dinner at Ollie's. Yum. Till next time. . .

My New Desktop Background

This is the tube stop at Gloucester Road, where I stayed when I was in London a couple months ago. (Well, not in the tube stop, exactly, you know what I mean. . . ) My friend John (who I met in the Millennium Gloucester with his whole Midwest contingent) sent me this pic just the other day, and I love it. I neglected to take a picture of this artwork myself, so I'm glad to have it. Thanks, John!

Cutie

Jonah, my 20-pound monster of a cat, dreaming of pirouhettes.

It's Thursday. . .

. . . and I've been daydreaming . . . all day long . . .

This weekend I'll be in the city to see a matinee of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (starring Jonathan Pryce!) and to visit one of my favorite places on earth, Zabar's. And to see the Darwin exhibit at the Museum of Natural History. (And the butterflies if I have time--I love the butterflies!)

I'd love to stop by the New York Press office to visit my new friends, but I doubt anyone will be there on a Saturday. I'm just going to have to play hooky from work one day and go down during the week.

First Day of Summer

I am celebrating by sitting glued to my seat on this sunny production day. Thursday would be so much more appropriate, in my world, for the first day of summer.

Back From AAN 2006

I'm back from Little Rock and in the process of recovering from the late nights (and early mornings), parties, heavy food and general Little Rockdom. Good lord that was a good time.

Mel and I hang at the hotel bar Saturday night. (This is right before Melli had a big fat cigar hanging out of her mouth.)

Our new friend Steve from Exit Weekly. Such a great pic, I had to post it.

These peeps are Steve, Nick and Terry, the boys from the New York Press. They rocked the house.

Bill Clinton was our keynote speaker. He loved us, and we loved him. He's so amazingly smart. Fab!

Who You Callin' Little?

In two days I leave for Little Rock, Arkansas. That is where this year's AAN conference is being held, hosted by the Arkansas Times. The keynote speaker for the conference is Bill Clinton. That's pretty cool, I hafta admit. We won three awards, though our placement (1st, 2nd etc.) hasn't been determined yet--we'll learn that at the conference. Melli (M'Land marketing coordinator and old friend of mine) and I will be roommates at the Peabody Hotel. This spells t-r-o-u-b-l-e! We are going to have waaaaay too much fun.

Hm, what else is new? Aaron kicked my ass last night at Scrabble. That was embarrassing. But I went about four rounds with no vowels! How fair is that? Not very, methinks. Anyway, I'll have to show him who the Scrabble champ is next go-round.

Taking my Little Sister to see Cars tonight, I can't wait!
Pixar+popcorn+sweet little girl=Happy Kate

Bye Bye Book Shop

So sad.

GRE: Done

Wow, I am not in a hurry to do that again. Four hours of testing, blah.

GRE: The Horror!

After a desperate--and unsuccessful--attempt at rescheduling my GREs, I have now accepted my loathsome fate and have embarked on a three-day cramming session. I am pretty confident in my capability concerning the verbal side of the test (it's how I make my living, after all)--it's the math portion that has me shaking in my black patent-leather heels.

To all of my supportive, truly wonderful friends: Though I love you all dearly, you sadly have absolutely no idea what you're talking about when you say "Oh, you'll do just fine!" Obviously none of you have seen any sort of attempt on my part to calculate. It's embarrassing. It took me (and a colleague of mine, David, who is also pretty math-challenged) at least 10 minutes not too long ago to split a lunch bill. To be fair to us, though, I think there had to have been something in the food that was clouding our heads.

Thank goodness Trav has agreed to work with me tomorrow night on my math skills. I'd have no chance otherwise. However, I must say, Mitch (uh, how come he got the math gene and I didn't? huh? mom? dad?) picked up my prep book today and pointed out an equation and said "Look, you can do this one, easy," and I looked, and I did it. In my head. It was a pretty simple equation though. But it did have an 'x' in it.

Heaven help me.

Fashion and Fun at Noche

Saturday night, and a sweet VIP magazine launch party/fashion show downtown. Lights, drama, clothes, paparazzi, wine. . . . What more could a girl want?

Yet Another Photo Shoot

Mitch was a last-minute fill-in as a model for our '50s-themed Summer Guide. He's posing with Billie Jean, a model who looks amazingly like Betty Boop. Check out our Summer Guide when it hits the streets next week (June 8).