Carolina Christmas

This year, I spent Christmas at home in North Carolina. I loaded up my rental car with my two doggies and off we went. The trip began at 9:30 and ended around 7pm just outside of Raleigh. I started off singing along to the Christmas songs on the way, but by about noon I was desperately searching for channels playing anything BUT Christimas music. By 6pm I was ready to drive into a pole - due to said oversaturation of Christmas tunes and the fact that Gizmo had puked twice on the way.

My first order of business was to meet up with my highschool friend Ali Mae. We left her hubby at home to watch their three kids, their two dogs, and my two dogs and eat pizza while we went to the steakhouse. I know, we are mean. But, TIM (her hubby) is a trooper and we loved him.

The next morning, it was off to Mom's house. I arrived and we immediately packed up and headed over to Asheville. We met up with her boyfriend, grabbed lunch, then went to the Grove Park Inn. Every year, the Grove Park sponsors a Ginger Bread house making contest and people from all over make these amazing houses all out of foods. Plus, they have tons of decorated themed Christmas trees that are really pretty - overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains.

After our stroll, we sat out on the terrace in the rocking chairs and looked at the skyline. The sun was in my face and it was fairly warm. I could have stayed there all day and did nothing but sit in that chair.

Christmas was next... My mom and I headed over to Asheville and went to Mass at my old church that I grew up in. Then we killed some time and saw "PS I Love You", then off to my brothers house where the real Carolina Christmas came into play. As we arrived, my brother is on the phone with the Henderson County police department because some men are huntin in the field right in back of his house. My nephew says that there were some gun shots. The binoculars come out. We all start lining up by the back window and watching the hunters go through the field about 100 yards away while they look for whatever it was they were trying to kill. The drama unfolded after the police arrived. There was some talk in the field between the men and the police. Then the phone rings with something to the effect of this on the other line,(I may be embellishing a little)POLICE: "Them dere men in that there field got themselves huntin licenses y'all. They kin hunt there and its legal and the've done been to the huntin safety classes and kin hunt safely back yonder". My brother thanks the policeman and hangs up, "Bullshit".

Got to also meet up with some other old friends from highschool. I went to see my friend Brandy for a while and we caught up, then I headed over to the Hanger (a bar by the airport) to meet up with another friend. While I was waiting, I ran into Brandy's sister who ironically works there. We caught up and then the singer from the band comes over during a break and I meet him too. So, he asks me where I am from and what I do ... and I tell him that I am from New Jersey/New York City and that I work in investment banking at a Wall Street firm. He asks me if I like Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen (natives to these parts). I say yes, of course. Next thing I know, he is back up on stage singing a song "for the girl from New Jersey". He plays BIG SHOT by BILLY JOEL. Embarrasing, yet funny.

My friend Mike finally showed up to meet me as the bar was closing. We went to another bar that was still open and got a drink and caught up.. It closed on us too. Then, I couldn't leave NC without a proper Waffle House experience. I pigged out on a nice 330am breakfast that included hashbrowns that were their signature "scattered, smothered, covered, chunked, and diced". Please, if you don't know what that is, try it once. They are the BEST.

For the trip home to NJ, I made a pit stop in Charlotte to visit some of my other friends. 4 kids, 2 dogs, then my two dogs. It was fun and I kicked their 7 year old's butt at video games. I know, I'm mean. I have to build up my self confidence somehow!

Hope y'all had a nice Christmas too.
My Nephews...

Woman Superpowers and Johnnie Walker Black

The holidays always bring a nice and exhausting string of holiday parties. This year was no different. There was the work holiday party, then the traders holiday party, the neighborhood party, ugly sweater party, and then there was this one...a random party that Maggie and I got invited to by Holly. She wanted me to meet a guy she works with to try to set us up. 3 things here that night - The Guys and Dolls Guy, The Setup, and Johnnie Walker Black.

The Guys and Dolls Guy
So, there was a very nice person there that I had a lengthy conversation with and basically told my life story to. I have a habit of doing that after a few drinks. But my question is this, its like the song, "Why can't we be friends, why can't we be friends?". It automatically led to, "I'd like to take you out to dinner sometime" at which point I never know what to say. He was nice. I had a nice conversation. But that's it. I ENJOY having conversations with people I don't know. Had a pretty good conversation with a girl I met that night too but she didn't want to take me to dinner! I didn't really think I gave him any kind of vibe that I was interested in him in that way but hence, I am stuck in the uncomfortable situation of trying to say no, nicely. UGH. I call him the guys and dolls guy because he was in the play some time back 'off Broadway' (supposedly, i never know whether to believe these people) and I was in the play in high school. Not sure how we discovered this similarity, but we did and it launched a very long conversation.

The Setup
Holly, you are very cute for trying to set me up. (Not sure if she reads this but going to give some props to her). So, I get there and I have no idea who she is trying to set me up with. But, she has told me his name. I'm changing it for purposes of this blog**. Let's call him Fernando. So, I walk in and Holly immediately introduces me to some guy named Fernando that is probably my father's age and doesn't speak English too well. Missing a lot of hair, but has a nice comb over to cover it up. I just about die. I mean, I know that my girls are trying to set me up with someone closer to my age than the last few but c'mon!!! Needless to say, that wasn't the guy she was trying to set me up with, he just had the same name. She just didn't clarify it so I walked around having discussions with myself in my head about what perceptions my friends must have of me.
Later that evening I met the real Fernando. I forced him to take my phone number (and simultaneously made him swear not to tell Guys and Dolls that I gave him my number because I felt bad for shooting G&D down).

Johnnie Walker Black
There was a raffle drawing at the party with several bottles of liquor as prizes. My friend Holly had tied on a few drinks and was in charge of passing out the raffle tickets. At the end, she had several left over and passed them over to me (hee hee, I think I had 9). BUT I STILL DIDN"T WIN!!! I was slightly distraught over the fact that I had such a good chance of winning but didn't actually win. A few minutes later I was talking to one of the guys who won and telling him my sob story about how I should have won, was only one number off, blah blah blah and he gives me his prize - the bottle of Johnnie Walker Black: which I don't drink, but it makes a nice decoration on my liquor display. The other girls didn't really witness this whole exchange (I dont think) and they all wanted to know how I got the bottle. I bragged about my woman superpowers.

**Side Note: I did tell Fernando that I never write about this stuff on my blog but he said he didn't mind.

Ugly Sweater Party

*Red and Green courdoroy holiday vest that makes you look like Santa's Elf, 7$
*Sexy turtleneck with penguins and christmas trees, 3$
*Size 3X whipstich sweater with gigantic holly leaves and sparkle, 7$
*Rummaging through the racks at the JC Journal Square Goodwill for an Ugly Sweater Party.....Priceless

I don't think I need to write anything else, except this: Mags came up with a really good point about ugly sweater parties..If you want to have a party and don't want guests that show for an hour and leave, then have an ugly sweater party. You really can't go anywhere else like a party or bar hopping looking like that so you are forced to stay where you are accepted for what you are wearing.

Hookah and Polish Rap

So, my roomie for the last few months was going back to college (she was a co-op, which is like an intern) and we thought it only fitting for her to have a going away party. Being the good roomate/boss that I am, I decided to call ahead and make plans. I found a place that I had been to before - Sin Sin. I really only wanted to go there because of the name - it sounds like fun huh?

So, I make the call to get some tables reserved. We have a pretty diverse group of friends and I wanted to make sure that the place had a good mix of people that show up there regularly so that we weren't caught off guard. The guy assured me it was usually a big mixed crowd.

So, we get to the place and to our pleasant surpise, it had turned into a hookah lounge. I don't remember it being a hookah lounge the last time I was there, but thought it was a cool touch. Got a little off track here, the point of the story has nothing to do with it being a hookah lounge, but I hadn't ever smoked hookah before so I thought I would throw that in for good measure.

ANYWAY, back to the story. So, all the guests start arriving and the music starts playing and we mingle. Its getting pretty crowded with our group and a bunch of other people when Maggie all of the sudden looks at me and says, "hey, this is polish rap!" (Maggie is Polish). So, we thought it was interesting that they were playing a Polish rap song, but then all continued to mingle. The next few songs were all in Polish, and some guys also had called us over to the bar because they wanted to buy us a shot of Polish vodka. Maggie starts talking to the guys and we find out that it is Polish Happy Hour. Apparently there is a myspace site that plans these events and we just happened to be there the same night. We enjoyed talking to our new Polish friends. After a while, we got tired of not understanding the music though and left for Manahatta.

Here is a Hookah pic

Home to Utah for Turkey Day

Dad and Me = Utes Tailgate


This year, my friend was kind enough to offer me a ticket to Utah to go home. He was heading home and had a buddy pass. The dates were hard to get right around Thanksgiving, so it ended up being a long stay in Utah and we took the doggies so they wouldn't have to be kenneled. At the airport, the flight was delayed. So, we went to the crown room or presidents club or whatever it's called and drank rum. This was my first time going to the crown room. I had no idea you could get free drinks like this - which was nice because the delay caused some stress and it took the edge off.

The funniest part about the whole crown room experience was the crowd. There were tons of people there because of the delays. I never thought this could happen, but it did: So, I mosey on up to the bar to get a drink and while I am waiting this guy starts talking to me. HE TRIES TO PICK ME UP... AT THE AIRPORT. I'm all ghetto'd out to get on a plane - have been standing in line shuffling dogs around the airport and am annoyed and irriated, just need a friggin drink. By far, it wasn't my best day or best look. It was hilarious.

While in Utah, I did get the pleasure of going to tailgate before a Utes game. Here's the thing... my dad and I went up there to tailgate but he had a party planned that night and we couldn't stay. So, we just tailgated and left when the game started.

Spent Turkey Day with Kenny, Denise and dad. Drank too much wine. It was a good time.

Olympic Deja Vu

Within the span of about a week, two of my old co-worker friends came in to town for work related travel. I worked with both of them in sports broadcasting for the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. I hadn't seen either in about 5 years so it was completely ironic that they were both in town for separate jobs in such a short span of time.

Dan, my friend from Canada, I used to like to call Dan Canadian. It was a play on the word DAMN Canadian. He spends most of his time in Beijing planning olympic broadcasting stuff there. And Mike, well I just called him Mike. He works for the HBO Boxing Circuit. They both travel for work all over the world and I knew that some day one of them had to end up here in NY for something.

My work schedule was pretty busy that week with lots of international IPOs, but I did get to squeeze in a little time. Dan and I went to a diner for breakfast as that was the only time we could both meet up. Dragging my ass out of bed on a Saturday morning at 630am is painful, but I hadn't seen my friend in a long time. Mike's gig was at MSG (Madison Square Gardens for you non-New Yorkers) and my girlfriend Maggie and I stopped by to say hello. There is a funny little side story here.

So, we get there and Mike has press passes lined up for us to get in to see some of the boxing match. We both had passes for guys - Maggie was "BOB" and she insisted that her name should really be Bobbette. I was Majid or something like that. I didn't have any insistance on being called anything else because I don't know how to feminize that name. Thanks Mike for hookin' us up pimp style ringside. It was the coolest thing and my friend Maggie now things I am the *shit*. Also, for all the single ladies out there - I recommend boxing matches. TONS OF MEN and very little competition. I've been searching online to find out all the dates for the next matches - ok, not really, but I cannot say that the thought hasn't crossed my mind.

Here are pics from both visits.

Boston, Mass

Freedom Trail, originally uploaded by quimerizar.

Friday October 18

It was Friday and we were at our last port of the trip - it all seemed to have gone by too fast. Dad and I got off the ship and took a cab into the heart of Boston. I wanted to go to the office for my job there to meet some of the people I had never met before but had worked with on a daily basis. Plus, I got one of my friends to interoffice my laptop charger to me there.

After meeting up with my coworkers, Dad and I met up with the rest of our group at Quincy Market. I had been to Boston several times and really like the Freedom Trail and I wanted the others to see some parts of it. So, I was the tour guide for the day. We headed to Boston Commons (I got us lost along the way - true credit to the numerous times I had been to Boston!). We went to several cool spots on the trail and then got hungry. Denise had mentioned earlier that she wanted to go to Little Italy and have food. So, we headed over there. It began to rain and we chose to eat at a nice restaurant called Fiore. We ate outside, but then the rain became too much (even under the canvas) that we had to go inside. We had a few bottles of wine. Ron and Gloria wanted to check out. But we had another bottle of wine on the way. So, they left. The place was one of those restaurants where the front windows are in panels from the floor to the cieling. They were opened up into the street and there was sidewalk seating available. Ron and Gloria stopped at the rail and looked in...Ron grabbed his camera and pointed at me and said to Gloria "Look Honey, look who it is!" and started taking pictures as if I was someone famous. A bunch of people in the restaurant turned around and were looking at us. I grabbed my shades and threw them on, grabbed my glass of wine and pretended to be famous. It was absolutely fabulous. The older couple across from us kept staring at me for the next 10 minutes. I know they were trying to figure out who I was.

It was here that Deinse imparted her wisdom to us about hand washing in public bathrooms. She stated that when she washes her hands in public places, she sings the Happy Birthday song to herself while washing to make sure she washes long enough. Funny but ever since she told me that, I can't stop doing it myself. "Happy birthday to me, Happy birthday to me, Happy Birthday dear Rebecca, Happy Birthday to me". Grab towel, then dry.

After lunch, we wandered (slightly drunk) around little Italy and ended up getting cookies in an Italian bakery. Then we headed back to the ship to get ready for our formal dinner.

This was the mother of all formal dinners - the lobster dinner. However, most of our group was so turned off by lobster after the Lobster Shack Ron experience that no one really wanted to order it - well, I guess I should say Gloria and Denise didn't want it. I think the rest of us Masochists ordered it. We were all a little sad when Kenny and Denise didn't show up. After all, it was FORMAL night, and Lobster dinner - and Kenny HAD promised to show up wearing his Lobster hat. But, never fear, halfway into the dinner they showed up - hat on head and looking goofy. I guess he just needed a few drinks to get up the gumption to come in. All eyes were on Kenny and Denise when they came in.

I had several drinks and decided it would be a good idea to borrow Kenny's lobster hat and go get formal pictures taken at the photography studio. Very nice.

Later that night, it was pretty foggy and the fog horn kept going off. Ron and Gloria were in their room hanging out when all of the sudden their phone rang. Gloria picks up the phone and it is the ships captain. He asked them to turn off their light - their porthole faced the front of the ship and the captain explained that he couldn't see where he was going because of the glare from their light.

Portland, Maine

Buoys, originally uploaded by quimerizar.

Thursday October 18

Today we docked in Portland, Maine. We really didn't know what was in store for us that day and played it by ear. Kenny had rented a car for us the day before, so we had that one piece of the puzzle put together. I am not sure how we ended up decided to go to Kennebunkport, but everyone seemed to be in agreement. So, off we headed.

Once arriving in Kennebunkport, we proceded to park at an Honor System parking lot next to the democratic headquarters (which I found amusing considering Bush was famous for having a home there). A few of us had to find a bathroom which just happened to be the same place they had maps and tourist info... There was a pretty large and smelly lady sitting behind the desk in the tourist info office where the bathroom was. She talked my ear off while I held my breath - then I finally snaked a free map out of her and promptly left the building. Everyone thought it was the bathrooms that smelled, but I can attest to the fact that it was actually her - so greasy I think she probably hadn't showered in a week. It was pretty nasty but I was still nice to her.

Since I had the map, I took over as tour guide for the day - besides, everyone else had pretty much been tour guide already. I saw an advertisement for the "Worlds Largest Lighthouse" on the free map I had gotten and wanted us to head over there - to Wells, Maine. So, we did. What I didn't realize, is that I didn't read the entire advertisement. It was the Worlds Largest Lighthouse STORE... not lighthouse. One of the pluses was that the place had homemade fudge. I'm not kidding when I say that I think I 'tried' every kind. Marshmallow, pumpkin, peanut butter, walnut, snicker bar, halloween with m&ms, etc etc. So, we got there and shopped. We bought a ridiculous amount of homemade fudge and a REAL lighthouse map of Maine.

I wanted to see some lighthouses so everyone agreed to let me commandier the minivan. We saw Walkers Point, Cape Porpoise, Goat Island, Wood Island and the twin lighhouses at Cape Elizabeth. At Cape Elizabeth we decided to eat lunch at the Lobster Shack. Its a little old place where we can get together - Lobstah Shack, baby, lobster shack. Little play on Love Shack there.

So, Ron proceeds to order a whole lobster - we'll call him Ed. I was ordering my onion rings when I saw the guy at the oounter grab Ed from the water and chuck him in the to boiler. Poor Ed. It was pretty sad. A few minutes later, order 361 was called and Ron went to pick up Ed from the order sideboard. Ed was all in one piece, missing none of his parts (meaning, he still had his head, eyes, and everything else.) He looked at Ron, and looked pissed.

This didn't stop Ron from tearing him apart, limb by limb. Each time he tore, water and other things (I dont know what they were, or I would have identified them properly) oozed out of Ed. Finally, Ron got to the main part of the body where the green stuff (the Tamale as I am told it is called) was covering what I would consider the "good" part of the lobster. I am also so told that this green stuff is the best part of the lobster. Ron ate it and grossed us all out. Denise and Gloria couldn't finish their lunches after that.

After Lobstergate - we headed back into town and Dad, Denise, and Kenny dropped the rest of us off in town for some shopping. Gloria and Ron bought a $160 candy dish (on sale) with a Gecko that stood in the middle of it. She had eyed it early and wanted it badly - the clerk threw in the Gecko for free since it didn't technically come with the disk.

Back to the ship, I went to the place where you can post meetings for people on board the ship. I had been posting for the last two days for someone to meet me if they had a charger I could use for my laptop - but apparently none of the blue hairs on board even knew what a laptop was (ok, im kidding). No one met me again. I really wanted to upload my pictures and keep track of my writing so that I wouldn't have to write everything down after the fact (but alas, I am doing that anyway).

It was then time for dinner again. Every night we seemed to learn interesting things at dinner from our helpful waitstaff (waste disposal, what the hours and schedules are like working on a ship, etc etc). Tonight was no different and we learned about why a little boat follows our big boat into the harbor each time. Apparently, they don't really trust the captains of our ship to steer it properly.

After dinner, we went to the Schooner Piano bar- where our waitress showed us a few tricks. Jocelyn and Maureen came over to join us... the rest of us ditched dad to go to bed and he hung out with them the rest of the night. 330 am and dad finally arrives back at the cabin and SNORES the night away. At this point I am really deciding that I need some of those air traffic control ear plugs because mine aren't cutting it.

Bar Harbor, Maine

Lobster Dinner, originally uploaded by quimerizar.

Wednesday October 17

I think the coolest thing that I like about a cruise is waking up each day in a different spot. I don't have to pack my suitcase, take a plane, train or car, move to a different hotel....all I have to do is go to sleep and like magic I am in a new place. Today I woke up in Bar Harbor, Maine - self declared Drinking Village with a Fishing Problem. I have never been to Maine before - and I pride myself on the fact that I have been to most of the states. Maine was on my "to do" list, so now that one is out of the way. All I have left is Oregon, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Vermont, Hawaii, and Alaska. I think I can get Vermont and New Hampshire EASY (since I live RIGHT THERE!)

Bar Harbor was split up. Kenny, Denise, Ron and Gloria all had made plans to do a bike tour of Acadia National Park. Dad and I had plans to meet up with his friend Sue and do whatever striked our fancy. Sue met us at the Harbor and we wandered around through the stores. It was a pretty nice day - about 60 degrees and sunny and most of the stores in town were giving it thier last hurrah for sales for the season. Everything was on sale at low prices for the end of the season, and we were told that they kept the stores open this last day for the cruise ship. Most of the stores had "older than dirt" hats - which I thought was quite appropriate for our cruise crowd. I am willing to bet they sold out of those. After shopping for ahile, we decided to head to Acadia National Park ourselves. Upon arriving, we saw the bike crew just finishing up. They told us how great it was so we ventured in.

Personally, I really like lighthouses. I don't know why. I think it has something to do with my ex Bobby who always used to talk about the lighthouse at Cape May, NJ. I never have seen it - although it is pretty damn close to where I live so you would think I would just buck up and take the trip one day. Anyway, there were some lighthouses on the map we had and I wanted to go see them. The trip through the park along the way was really beautiful. The leaves had started changing there - not in full force, but enough to be noticable. We got hungry along the way and declared that the next place we came across that had lobster would be where we stopped. So we did.

We stopped at this little mom and pop joint in some small town - the food was good, the service was good, the Lobstah was good. We had a very delicious baked brie and blueberry appetizer. Dad and Sue had whole lobsters and I had a lobster roll. All very yummy. Our bellies were full so it was back to the road. We hit a few highlight spots and then I happened to notice an advertisement on the map for a winery. We decided we had time to add that to our trip, so off we went.

Next thing I knew we were at Sweet Pea's Winery. There was a small sign off the road that was barely noticeable and the place was hidden inside an old barn. The vines were all starting to wither from the fall weather but you could still see them - and you could see all of the Vineyard from the barn - so it was a small family owned winery. The wine they had was made mostly from different berries - blueberries and strawberries. Very fruity and sweet - not normally something I would choose. However, they explained that only certain type of grapes can grow in that area, so they can only make certain types of wine. From what I understand, the area is pretty well known for blueberries (hence the blueberry brie).

We headed back to town and met up with Denise, Kenny, Ron and Gloria at a restaurant in the harbor. Kenny had bought a Lobster Hat and was wearing it proudly - getting a lot of attention. He swore he was going to wear it to our formal dinner - Lobster night on the ship.

St. John, New Brunswick

King of the World - St. John, originally uploaded by quimerizar.

Tuesday October 16

Today we arrived in St. John, New Brunswick. New Brunswick was pretty cool when getting off the ship. At each port, there were always people standing around when you got off the ship to give you directions, set up excursions, and take your picture. But this one was different. All of the women were given roses - they had all kinds of different colors. And, all of the men were given a New Brunswick pin.

After arriving, we headed to the center of town to a shopping area. We really didn't know what we were doing - except that we wanted to get a car. At the shopping center we saw people from the ship - I immediately knew that they were from the cruise because a) I recognized some of them, b) the women had roses, and c) they were older than dirt. I found it amusing that they disembarked the ship, headed to the first shopping center with a food court and a cafe, and proceeded to sit down and have their daily over 70 coffee chat club. Here they are in some different place that they paid a lot of money to go to and they want to go and make conversation over coffee at the first place they come across.

The one rental car agency in town had already rented out all of there cars. So, 411 had one other option - Rent-A-Wreck. We know how it sounded, but it was our only chance at getting a car for the day. Of course, they had cars available and the man was on his way down to meet us with a minivan in no time.

After we met up with him, we had to drive him back to the Rent A Wreck site to fill out paperwork and drop him off. I believe it was on this trip that we started discussing one of our waitresses - Ishy. That was her name - it was short for something else but I can't remember what it was. Ishy had been working on the cruise ship for several years and was telling us about how she was ready to go back to Trinidad and open a restaurant. She had been doing the typical cruise ship work - 6 months on, two months off. And when I say six months on - its SIX MONTHS ON - 7 days a week. She wants to open a cafe or a bistro or something similar. Not sure exactly how we got on the subject, but Kenny, Dad and Ron had been making a play on words on her name ever since we learned it. It was - IS SHE our waitress? IS SHE bringing us more wine? IS SHE a nice girl? So naturally, in the car they were making the play on words again and were trying to help her come up with a name for her restaurant. They came up with "IS SHE the cook" - which we all agreed was pretty good. But then, I was remembering that she wanted to do a cafe. So, I thought a "cook" isnt the right name for the proprietor of a cafe and decided that "IS SHE the Barista" was a better name. We presented our idea later to her at dinner. She said she really liked it (but then again, maybe she just wanted a good tip - but she seemed genuine). Even if she didn't like it, she humored us and was very gracious.

After getting the car in order, we started heading up a road to some remote park that was going to take a long time to get to - we ended up thinking this through and decided that we wouldn't be able to see much of anything else if we made the 45 minute trip. So, we turned the car around and headed back to town Irving National Park was to be our next stop. HOWEVER, it was not our next stop. We stopped several times before finally getting to the park. I think we got lost and turned around about 10 times before finally stopping a local to ask for directions. He was a true Canadian - had the whole lingo down to a T. "Well, youe just goh up this road, 'eh. Then youe make a left, 'eh. Follow that down to the corner, 'eh." I think we were all so amused with his accent that we barely paid attention to what he was really telling us. So, we made a wrong turn two more times but then eventually found it.

Iriving National Park was wonderful. It had this nice little dirt road for the minivan since we didn't really have much time to hike around and see things. We made our first stop and hiked about 20 feet in, arriving at a rocky beach overlooking the harbor. The smell of the pine trees was infiltrating. So much so that Ron insisted on having a picture of himself sniffing one. He then broke off a piece and stole it out of the forest. FELONY. He's definitely going to jail. Dad became interested in all the shells and began picking them up. He stole some of those too. FEOLONY number two. What is with these criminals???

We posed for some nice pictures and then headed on our way. We made a few more stops - slightly disappointed that the leaves really hadn't changed as much as they should have due to the unseasonably warm fall. After the park, we decided to head over to the town's claim to fame - the Reversing Falls. The story goes something like this (and don't fault me if I get it part wrong, I am going only off of memory here and not actually making my lazy ass look it up on the internet so I can get it RIGHT). The tide comes in to the harbor area there through a small channel into the river. The river normally flows out to the ocean, but during the tide, the incoming current is so strong that it actually pushes the river backwards and creates a reversing falls. To be honest with you - you could kind of see it happening but the tide takes a long time to come in and it is pretty subtle - especially when standing from a viewing point a few hundred feet above sea level. About 15 minutes of watching it was really all I could handle - and it only was that long because there was a boat in the river that kept purposefully going into the falls and spinning around (otherwise I think about 2 minutes would have done it for me). Put this on the list of things I have seen in my life.

Later that day, our group learned about the waste on board the ship. Leave it to us to ask the really nitty gritty (shitty) questions at dinner. "So, what happens to all the shit? Does it go into the ocean?" For those of you who really want to know, the answer is no. It's pretty much like this - Brown goes down, yellow is mellow (I got that from Party of Five- the popular TV show in the 90s). Meaning, they kind of filter their septic tanks, then have the tough stuff cleaned out at each port. The rest goes into the water.

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Cruise 032, originally uploaded by quimerizar.

Monday, October 15

I got up early again and headed to the gym just in time to witness the ship pulling into the dock at Halifax, Nova Scotia which was pretty cool for me to see. I was excited because I have never been to this part of Canada - on the east coast. And, actually, I never really thought I would ever go. I mean, with all the hubbub about Europe, Asia and South America, who really wants to go visit the country next door that is so much like the one you currently live in... unless it just falls into your lap, like it did for me. Today was the only day that I attended formal breakfast dining and had it with Gloria, Ron and my dad. It was definitely better than the cafeteria style of the Windjammer Cafe.

Halifax was fun - we wandered around downtown mostly and Gloria served as our Tour Guide. She had read up a little on things before we left. We went to the Public Gardens and the Citadel.

Later we got a recommendation to go to eat at the Five Fisherman - which was a very very good restaurant. I was recently talking to a friend of mine from Canada and as soon as I told him where we ate he got excited and said that it was the place he likes in Halifax too. So, the place definitely has a reputation and we were all pleasantly suprised at how good the food was. We had a nice bottle of wine called Jost made locally and only served at this particular restaurant. I wanted to order Hot Rum and Cider (because it was listed as a favorite drink of the area in one of the tourist things I had read) but no place around there seemed to have heard of it.

On the way back to the ship, the guys shopped for Cuban cigars. We also stopped at a museum along the way. The museum stands out in my mind - not because we actually went in to see what they had, but because of their signs. They had signs that depicted picture by picture how to walk down stairs and also how to open doors. It was probably the strangest thing I have ever seen.

Later that evening, after our usual dinner in the dining room, we spent some time at the champagne bar. Denise and I both showed our coin tricks to the group and entertained ourselves. After the champagne bar, we found ourselves yet again at the Schooner Piano Bar along with our new friends Jocelyn, Maureen and Angela from the UK.

Cruising at Sea

Me, Gloria, Denise and Dad at piano, originally uploaded by quimerizar.

Sunday October 14
Today was sea travel only - no ports. Despite going to bed early, I woke up late at 9:30. I guess 12 hours of sleep was what my body needed. I went to the gym and worked out and the coolest thing happened. Earlier that morning, the captain had made an annoucement that he had spotted whales close to the ship. I was still in bed when this happened, so I didn't get outside fast enought to see it. But, when I was working out in the gym, the big panoramic window faced the front of the ship. Midway through my workout I got to see a whale blow water. It was really neat!! Today I fully took advantage of the steam room and sauna after my work out. I spent a pretty good chunk of the morning at the gym and it was relaxing.

To completely ruin all that hardwork at the gym, my dad and I went to Johnny Rockets for lunch. I really like the burger joints that will substitute a veggie patty for any one of their specialty burgers. I don't eat burgers, but a veggie burger with all the trimmings will do me good any day. I also must have eaten 3/4ths of the basket of fries and onion rings. You would have thought that I hadn't eaten either of them in years.

Later that day, I attended my first ever art auction - partly because I wanted to see what they had on board, and partly because they were handing out free champagne and a free work of art for attending. I had no false ideas in my head that I would be able to afford anything there, and I was correct. There were Dali's, Rembrant, Picasso, Peter Max, Matisse, and Kincaid - along with several others. The highest bid that day was 38k - and many of the pieces went for what I would consider "larger" sums of money (over 5k). The rest of the crew played in a slot tournament while I became artsy fartsy.

After the show, I was a bit tipsy from the Champagne and had decided to look for my dad and Kenny. I had heard that they might be playing golf. Only problem was that I didn't know where the golf simulator was on the ship. I wandered around for a while looking for it, but got lost. I was wearing this cute plaid miniskirt that I had gotten in Atlantic City and wool tights. I was out on the ship deck when I saw one of the crew memebers talking to an older man. I walked up and asked if they knew where the golf course was. Right when I did that, a huge gust of wind came up and blew my skirt up to my chest. I shrieked, and then did my best to hold it down. The guy was midsentence telling me where the golf place was. I started holding my skirt down and walking away - he seemed offended that I wasn't listening to his directions but I had just had my skirt blown off of me and I wasn't sticking around for it to happen again.

Later, we had dinner in the dining room and the boat was really rocking. I felt dizzy and almost like I was drunk half the day. This was the night that we took notice of the Cackler and the Hackler. At the table to our left was a woman who hacked and hacked all through dinner. She continued to do this the rest of the cruise, sounding like she had smoked a pack and a half a day for the last 20 years. To my rear, there was another woman who had this horrendous laugh (and she was ALWAYS laughing) and we named them the cackler and the hackler.

After dinner we went to see the on ship entertainment - purposefully catered to the older crowd on board. "The Happenings" had a a few hit songs - like "See You in September". One of the singers looked like Marlon Brando, the other looked like the Geico Caveman. One looked normal but smiled way too much. The funniest thing was that there were two people to the right of us that were there together to see the show and they were sleeping. The best part of the show was when they played Sweet Caroline. We all chimed in on the chorus - adding our "so good, so good, so good" and I think we seriously annoyed some of the other people next to us.

After the show we headed again to the piano bar. Tonight they were playing a trivia game - our team was one of the winners and dad got a free luggage tag (woo hoo). We met up with Jocelyn and Maureen, two gals from England. We had a lot of fun chatting with them and ended up challenging them to a game of Scrabble after a discussion about which country uses English properly (US or UK).

New London, Connecticut

Steam Train, originally uploaded by quimerizar.

Saturday October 13
After finally falling asleep, I woke up in New London, Connecticut to a brisk morning. Completely motivated to not gain any weight on the trip, I headed to the gym at 730 (plus, it did help that I couldnt sleep due to the snoring). After the gym, we disembarked the ship and hooked up with our rental car and headed to Essex, Connecticut for our shore excursion.

The excursion consisted of taking a steam train through part of Connecticut, then a boat, then back to the train. Kenny and Denise had signed us up for the Parlor seats - advertised as "riding in 1920's spelndor". This was pretty cool - we each had our own comfy recliner type chair, except it doesn't recline. You know, the kind you find in Grandma's livingroom. Another highlight of the trip was that they served wine and beer for our trip. Naturally, we ordered.

After traveling through an unimpressive show of leaves in Connecticut, we got off the train to board a boat - the Becky Thatcher. I personally just liked the boat because of it's name, but who can blame me. Kenny and Ron were being a little crazy on the plank boarding the ship and they got yelled at by a shipmate named Al who told them not to horse around. Al was old and definitiely overly militant, which caused us to make fun of him the rest of the trip - declaring him a fun hater. While on the longer than it should have been boat ride, we got a little bored. We were sitting right next to the mens room and decided to take over granting permissions for entrance to the bathroom. We decided to ask the next person for their "pee pass" (which was a play on words from our SEA PASS cards we were required to carry on and off the ship). So, the next man comes up and I ask him if he has a pee pass card, we started laughing so much that I don't remember what his answer was. Probably had to be there but it was still funny.

After the boatride, we returned to the the train. Prior to leaving the train, the waitress had promised to save our same seats for us. We got back on, but someone had already inhabited the seats (a nice young couple with a baby). The waitress made the young couple move for ME (after I had already sat down in a different seat- telling them it was 'reserved') I felt pretty bad, but she had already made them move, so I went up to sit with them anyway.

We headed back to the ship and got ready for our first formal dinner. We hadn't showed up in the dining room the night before, so we got to meet our waiters this night. Wilma was our head waitress - she introduced herself as Wilma "like Fred Flintstone Yabba Dabba Do". Oliver was our waiter and Ishy was our assistant waitress. This night I had escargot for the first time in my life. It was good - kind of meaty, very garlic-y, and kind of reminded me of portabello mushrooms sauteed in butter and garlic. I liked it. Of course, we enjoyed a nice bottle of wine.

After dinner, I went for my free facial. It was really nice and very relaxing. I went to bed early and got a few hours jump on avoiding the snoring. The rest of the crew spent the night in the casino playing Texas Hold Em. Kenny took money from the table!

New England Cruise

The Ship, originally uploaded by quimerizar.

Day One

Thursday October 11

After an unusually short day at work, (meaning, I worked 10 hours instead of the usual 13 plus), my coworker Jackie and I grabbed a bottle of wine and headed to my house to wait for my father to arrive. He had rented a car with his friend Sue and they got lost on their way to Jersey City....But I DID warn them to get a GPS as Jersey is infamously known for people getting lost. After they arrived, Me, Ryan, Dad, and Sue all headed over to meet up with the other cruise passengers Kenny, Denise, Ron and Gloria. They were having dinner at the Sheraton so we decided to have dinner there too. The dinner was ridiculously long and the service was horrible, BUT the company was good. We enjoyed some wine and food.

Friday, October 12

Being the procrastinator that I am (partly due to real procrastination, and partly due to the fact that I work too many hours), I didn't start packing until the day we were set to leave. I was finally ready later in the day and we headed to the ship to board. For those who have never cruised before, I learned a little something. When you give your bags to the ship people, they don't show up in your state room for several hours. So, make sure to bring what you are going to need for a few hours! We checked out our stateroom, then cheked out Kenny and Denise's state room. Their room was way better - they had a balcony. But hey, any room is good enough for me to enjoy!

True to cruise protocol, our first major event upon arrival was to eat. We headed to the "Windjammer" cafe where a carribean man coaxed me into a pina colada right off the bat. Denise warned me that they would be pushy about this but I was oblivious.

Day one was also the day where they make you do an emergency drill. They force you to put on your life jacket and head to a certain area where you can be briefed about the emergency procedures of the ship. It was all sort of surreal and funny to me, and it kind of reminded me of titanic where everyone was walking around with the life jackets. There were SOOOO many elderly people on this cruise. They kept saying that in the event of a real emergency, the procedure was to gather warm clothes and any medications, then head to your assigned location. All I could think about was how much medication was on board that ship due to the large population of people over the age of 70.

About 30 minutes into the trip, right as we are approaching the Verrazano Bridge, the ship comes to a full stop and started heading back to port. This was the first medical emergency of the trip. I wasn't lying when I said there were a lot of very old people.

Later that night, we all headed to the "Shipshape Spa" for a drawing. They were giving away massages, facials, and other spa type things. My dad's name was called for a free mini facial - which was pretty funny. I thought for sure he would want to use it for his birthday (not), and he ended up giving it to me. I scheduled for the next day to have my facial.

We spent the rest of the evening checking out the ship and then ended up at the "Schooner Bar" for the remainder of the evening. It was a piano bar with a singer who claimed to be the man of 1000 songs. He was a good entertainer and indulged us with many requested songs while we belted them out at a table alongside the piano. A good end to our first day....UNTIL we got to our room. My dad snores and this night was no exception. I was told that it is worse after drinking. I got up halfway throught the night to get my earplugs and put them in. They didn't work, it was too loud. Needless to say, that helped me with my motivation to get up early the next morning.

Rolly Polly Fish Heads

Went deep sea fishing for the first time ever for a work event in Atlantic Highlands NJ. Some of the things I learned today: when you fish, you have to hold your thumb on the reel line or else it gets all tangled up and the fishermen aboard get annoyed with you. I did this about 6 times. After the third or fourth time I stopped telling them that I messed up their pole and just grabbed another one. The next thing I learned is "no poles in the holes". I know how this sounds....but what it really means is that you cant leave your pole in the cup thingy in case you get a bite. I also learned that big fish require big bait. These suckers were getting like half of a little fish. Despite all the things I learned on this trip Shenosky and I were the ONLY two people on the entire boat that didn't catch anything. So, I guess the last thing I learned is that I am not destined to be a fisher-woman (which I already knew anyway).

September 11, 2007

I was laying in bed tonight looking out the window at this (the picture) and thinking about how every year they put on these lights and I look at them from my apartment and never take a picture. I wasn't really feeling well but hopped out of bed anyway and walked the two blocks to the water. I forgot my tripod and was sure the pictures weren't going to turn out. I must have taken a zillion pictures hoping that a few would turn out not blurry. Here's the one I picked to put on my site.

Which brings me to my next random thought... why can't I just take pictures for the rest of my life? I wish sometimes that I could go back and do it all over and be a photographer. I suppose I could do that now, but what a trade of in income it would be... Oh well. I guess I will stick to doing this on the side for fun.

Ocean City - Labor Day

Labor Day was fast approaching and Maggie and I were bound and determined to go to Miami, but then we didn't plan very well. So we decided to just go anywhere that we had never both been - but it got to be last minute and that didn't work out either. SO - we checked with our friend Jess and planned a girls weekend in Ocean City, Maryland.




The most memorable moments for me:

We are playing football on the beach and these guys approach us and ask us if they can play. We look over, they have their own football sitting on their towels about 30 feet away (hmmm). So we say sure, and they play with us. They start asking us what we are doing that night and we say we dont really know and ask them what are the good places to go to. Prior to our trip, I had done some research on the internet for popular places to go out at night. I blurted out, "hey, what about the Bearded Clam". It had been listed as a popular night spot. As soon as I said that, they busted out laughing. I didnt realize why, at first, and then I was completely humiliated. I didn't realize what that sounded like!!! I think Maggie and Jess laughed so hard they almost peed their bathing suits.

#2 - On the second day, we went to Assateague Island but ended up getting there later in the day and the parking lot was full. We had to turn around and go over the bridge. We lugged all of our crap about a mile to get to the beach because we really wanted to see the ponies. By the time our day was done, we really didn't want to lug all of our crap back, so I stuck out my thumb and we hitchiked back to the car in the back of a pickup truck.

#3 - we bought Gummy Teeth and took pictures with them while looking like complete dorks on the boardwalk.

#4 - We went on a sunset cruise with a really southern goofy ass tour guide who seemed like he had just smoked a big joint before taking us on tour. Got to see the dolphins and a great sunset.

#5 - the lifeguard at the beach went into the ocean for 2 minutes and jess and maggie dared me to ask him if he went to pee. he full on admitted to it. jess bet me 100$ to ask him.

More Pics if you are bored... http://www.flickr.com/photos/quimerizar/sets/72157601911088969/

And, Mags says this one is a good one of me in a bikini since I know you all have been anxiously awaiting one of those. http://www.flickr.com/photos/quimerizar/1344074508/in/set-72157601911088969/

A little bit of Country in NYC

So, I'll admit I'm not the the number one country music fan in the world, however, that has never stopped me from going to a concert and having a good time. I do like to listen to it from time to time and plus, Kenny Chesney is such a little hottie and very fun to watch. We stole these cowboy hats off the heads of some guys and forced them to take our picture so we could live in the moment. Two NY city wall street girls donning cowboy hats at Madison Square Gardens. We did it up right with beer and hot dogs to boot. Yowsa.

Yet even more funny, I always seem to not realize that my camera is switched to video instead of "picture" mode and end up with these stupid videos where we are posing for pictures. They never fail to crack me up every time I watch them though. I probably have about 30 of them. (not all from this night of course!!)

The Old Gang

The old crowd was back together again - and some things never change. It was nice to be back in the comfort zone with old friends, having dinner at favorite old restaurants and drinks at favorite old bars. It reminds me of when I first moved to New York and Vinny and Christine were always showing me around - to this place or that. So here we are again, reminiscing the good old days when life was a little less complicated and we all shared together in our little part of the city. Such a big city can seem so small when you have good friends to pass the time.

My Sappy Post

As I sit back and reflect on the last 10 years of my life today, I realize how much I have changed. I know that I am not yet the person I want to be (we all have our flaws). But I am slowly getting there.

Years ago I would sit back and take things as they came. People would tell me what to do, and I would do it. I would let people take advantage of me, say things to disturb me emotionally and not show anger, avoid confrontation, and didn't ask for what I wanted.

I was thinking about the last few years and how moving to New York has helped me change. They say that New York people are hard.. and maybe they are. But, I am thankful that I have had my time here. Living here has given me confidence and strength.

I remember when I moved here alone in April 2004, only knowing my good friend Christine. I was scared and excited all at the same time. That was where I had my first change. I remember going to my interview for my job and thinking that I was just going to go in there and be a new person. I wasn't going to be demure and submissive. I was going to go in there and be the stronger person that I wanted to be. And, I did. I went in there and said things I would never say. I took the reigns.

From that point on, I began to start doing things for myself more and started to expect more things from others. Some didn't like this because my expectations for them had changed and they had to give more to me to be in my life - and when I say give more, I mean time and emotion not money. This created significant life changes for me but I am thankful now to be where I am and who I am.

I know that it will continue to be a journey for me to keep changing into who I want to be and learning about life along the way. But, there is something to be said about living in the moment and being satisfied.

Habitat for Humanity

This year for my corporate sponsored community service day I decided to sign up for Habitat for Humanity...partially because I waited so long to sign up and it was pretty much the only thing left, and partially because each year I consider it and then usually change to something else due to location and ease of getting there by train.

The house we worked on was in Patterson NJ. I have never really been to a city like Patterson - where the whole thing just seems like the town is dying and run down. I'm not going to lie, I was a little scared driving through there. I borrowed my friend's car and ended up getting lost because apparently the thing to do in Patterson is to steal the street signs. I'm not joking when I say that about 60% of the street signs were missing. I had no idea where I was going and the neighborhood was pretty shady.

After finding the place, we got right to work putting in subflooring which was kind of exciting for me. I hadn't done any real home improvement-type stuff since I left my house in Salt Lake (minus putting in a linoleum tile floor in my apartment).

There was a typical 'girly girl' that had signed up for the event. She stood around for a few hours and did NOTHING - which was very annoying. She did spend a lot of time texting though... I finally looked at her while the rest of us were working and asked her if she wanted me to show her how to hammer in nails. She reluctantly agreed and I got to watch her fumble with the hammer one nail at a time. It was actually kind of funny considering she was wearing her Juicy Coture and seemed worried about breaking a nail. She disappeared a few more times, then disappeared for good. Why on earth would she sign up for an event like this? Maybe she was in the same boat as me, ran out of choices. But I am guessing that it was more that she ran out of choices but still wanted a free day off of work. She is not in the pic since she disappeared or I would have pointed her out to you.

Happy Bday to Toddsky

21st birthdays only come along once in a lifetime and it's always fun when you get to be a part of one. My friend Todd turned 21 while on a business trip to NYC. We went to 230 5th Avenue which boasts that it is the largest rooftop bar in Manhattan (which I totally believe!). Its an upscale swanky type of lounge that was a lot of fun.

My favorite parts of the night.. watching the bday boy imbibe and totally enjoy himself and Maggie and I lying to men who were trying to pick us up. Here's the story behind that...

We have these two guys that work with us that lie like hell to girls all the time when they go out. They make up stories and tell them that they are traders to get them to like them and the girls always believe it. They put on sports coats and go out to make the story more believable. So... these guys were hitting on Maggie and I at the bar and they were slightly annoying - you know, trying to build themselves up and bragging about what they do. Come to find out they work at a competitor. We wanted to shut them down.. so we lied and told them we were international equity traders. It took about a full two minutes before they turned around and left. Hilarious. Success in life is measured by career, sucess in picking up men is measured by how much less intelligent you seem to them.

Brunch Crew

I've probably written about this before but here goes.

Jersey City finally felt like home to me last year after I met my neighborhood friends. It all started with my dogs and the dog park, and then branched out from there.

I am not sure how the weekend brunch thing actually started. It was almost a year ago and a group of us started going to brunch regularly on Saturday or Sunday depending on schedules. Whoever can make it shows up. Sometimes people bring new friends to introduce to the group.

We sit around and shoot the shit - catch up on each other's lives and things going on in our little corner of the world. I think I lost this kind of community for a long time and I am glad to have it back. In Salt Lake City, it was easier to do this... I had next door neighbors in a small enclosed community where you saw each other every day. Here, where everything is so fast paced and less social, most people I know don't even know their neighbors - even if they see them every day. It was a nice change to be able to find these kind of friends here and to really feel like you belong to a neighborhood.

This picture is the majority of the brunch crew - eating at Beechwood Cafe on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

Stone Street after Work NYC

Stone Street after Work NYC, originally uploaded by quimerizar.

So this is our regular hang out for after work in the summers in NYC. The street is lined with bars and each bar sets tables out onto the cobblestone for their patrons. The entire block is always packed with people... Lots of men in suits, working women, and then the gold diggers that come to find a husband. It is a popular Wall Street hangout since it is conveniently located about a block away from 'the street'. A typical afterwork scenario goes like this.....

A group from work strolls over to Stone Street and into the first bar on the street that looks enticing. We all order a few drinks. The boys - pictured here - have a few drinks then start to meet some of the lovely ladies that have come out for the evening. They lie to them and tell them they are international equities traders and all kinds of other lines and the girls believe them. The rest of us sit back and watch it all happen and enjoy the show.

Maggie and I decided to try this once just to see how it works. We were at 230 5th Avenue (a nice bar) after work one night a few weeks ago. We ran into some guys at the bar who wanted to talk to us. We figured that telling them we were traders would probably have a reverse effect for us ... so we tested it out. About 45 seconds after we lied and told them we were traders, they left. Poor guys and their egos - fun to watch.

Water Main Burst

Today was a typical Saturday... cleaning the house and toolin around. I had all the windows open in the house. I love to do that, especially when I clean. I have these big windows with long white curtains and I love to watch them blow in the wind. It reminds me of one of those advertisments for a hotel with a balcony in a tropical destination - some woman in a flowy skirt standing in the entry way looking at palm trees and the ocean. ANYWAY (wow, talk about digression).

So I was cleaning and I heard the police come by outside on the street in their car and they had their speaker on. They made multiple announcements to "The residents of Jersey City" about how it is unsafe to drink the water and to stop drinking it immediately. No teeth brushing, nada! Thank god I had a giant thing of spring water in my fridge.

Not thinking too logically, my friends and I decided to go out to dinner in Hoboken. Why we thought that the water would only affect the residences and not the restaurants is beyond me. We finally found a restaurant that was serving - they had cleaned their veggies earlier in the day and hadn't run out yet. It was a good dinner and the funniest part was that we could not order water to drink...so we were all FORCED to drink some liquor :)

Squire Open 2007

Every year a friend of mine from work organizes a golf tournament to benefit St. Rose's hospice in New York City. It is mostly people from work who play. This is the third year that I have participated. This year was a little different because I didn't have to bum a ride. Ryan and I were playing so we took his car. Jenn came along for the ride and took pictures again this year. She took this picture posted here - which turned out to be my favorite from the entire trip.

The country club that we play at each year is very nice - well kept greens, beautiful views. Its so nice to get out of the city and into some greenery and sun for a day here and there. I can really think of nothing better than a nice sunny day, a round of golf, and a few cocktails with good company.

You are probably wondering why it is called the Squire Open (and spelled differently!). The guy that organizes the event has a nickname, "Squire". It's his tournament, so rightfully named after him.

There is something special to me about a round of golf. I am not sure how I began to love the sport - I never really had any interest in it until about 1998. I do remember my dad taking me on some of his golf trips when I was younger. I remember he had a hand cart that he would bring along on his trips. He gave me a ride on the cart along with the golf clubs (of course, I was much smaller then!).

I remember my first time that I actually golfed a real game. It was about 10 years ago. I had randomly decided to go with some friends from work. I specifically remember going to the driving range, and my friends were teaching me how to hit the ball. "Keep your head down (still a problem at times!), "Dont try to hit it so hard", "Use the club like a pendulum", "Plant your left foot", and all kinds of other stuff. I am grateful to those friends back then - Specifically Kim and Gregg, who taught me these first things and to love the game.

I had played a few sports prior to that like soccer or baseball, but really the extent of most of my physical activity growing up was in dance. So, golf was very out of my element but grew on me immediately. I never thought I would like it until I tried it.

I think the thing I like about it most is the pace. It is not too fast, but not too slow. I like the fact that it is semi social - you can really get to know your co-players over 4 (or in my case 5) hours and 18 holes.

My most memorable game was a tournament I played in Utah. It was at Homestead and I played a decent round... for me. The most exciting part about it was that I had won the closest to the pin contest on the par three. I really enjoyed it because there was a ceremony afterwards and I received my prize in front of all of my coworkers. I know it sounds a little cocky, but it really made my day. There weren't a lot of women, and I beat out a few of the better male players so it really boosted my golf confidence!!

Well, enough babbling... May there always be a green to play on and friends to share the tee box.

Cousins Come to Town

So this week was a pretty busy week for me. My Cousin Debbie, who I haven't seen in years, came to town with her friend Beth. I worked during the week but took off on Thursday to hang out with them. During the week we did have dinner and spend some time together too.

Its nice to have visitors come from other places. I enjoy the fact that I can have people come and stay with me and see a place that they have always wanted to travel to.

Although I am not "in" Manhattan anymore, the two blocks to the skyline is really spectacular. It is a beautiful view.

There are many times that I struggle with the city vs. suburb decision. I really love New York City for its eccentricity like China Town, Little Italy, the museums, and all the great food and shopping. But, there are other times when I go away and visit my former homes where I really realize that I work too much and don't really have some of the same qualities of life that others have. I guess it is a trade off. Many times, I feel like I am at the right place to advance my career but maybe am not in the right place to really enjoy my life. The balance between work and home does not exist here to the same extent as other places.

When I went home to Utah for two months earlier this year I felt like I was in another world. I got to spend time with my family and friends but not the same way I do when I am here. The community is different. It's hard to explain. I have things I love about both places.

US Open

The last few weeks of my life have been so much more fun than than I can remember. I have had a roommate that just moved to New York and he is staying with me temporarily until he closes on his own place.

I love people who can be completely spontaneous. There is something to be said for being able to just jump at an opportunity and do something. You just can't find a lot of people like that. So, I was randomly searching the message board at work on a Friday (totally uncharacteristic of me...I hardly find time to even get up and grab something to eat for lunch) when I came across tickets for the US Open for Golf. I shortly thereafter got the tickets and that evening was headed to Pennsylvania. Long trips never seem quite so long with good company.

The next day, we planted ourselves at the first par three in the course to watch the golfers.. then realized we had passes to the American Express VIP tent. This entitled us to free food and drinks, so we naturally hung out close to there the rest of the day. After a few hours, we got a little tired of watching golf and did some shopping. He got a few shirts for friends and family, I did the same. I also got my long wanted golf skirt (soon to post pic of that!).

We stayed at a ski resort that night and had a nice dinner at the hotel. Sunday we headed back to NYC.

You know how there are certain things you will always remember in your life... this is one of them. Great weekend. And the best part is that there was not any particular fancy thing that made it spectacular. I have always wanted to go see a golf open and it was fabulous. Couldn't have asked for anything more.

Goodbye Paris !

Spoon Restaurant, originally uploaded by quimerizar.

Day three started with having to get up at a reasonable hour to check out. We went downstairs to check out of the hotel and Sophie handed the man the certificate to let him know that she was a secret shopper. He said in a very thick French accent, “you are in-spec-tor?” It was pretty funny. It reminded me of Steve Martin playing a French man in one of his silly spy roles. They gave us cookies and tea bags for our home bath tubs (too bad mine doesn’t work!!).
We then headed out to the Four Seasons. Upon arrival, they greeted us and knew our names as they were helping us out of the car. I was completely amazed. How the hell did they know who we were? I mean, I am sure we weren’t the only guests scheduled to arrive that day? We walked into a marble floor lobby filled with stunning lavender roses and Purple orchids. The place was covered with them. I was in awe and couldn’t stop looking at all the flowers. The pictures I have don’t even do it justice.

The staff was very friendly – it was Madmoiselle this and Madmoiselle that. We were told that our room would be ready at 4, but that they would keep our luggage for us and we could use the spa until then if we wanted to. We had already planned to go to the Louvre. It was raining and cold.
The Louvre was a whole other adventure in itself. I had a few choice things that I really wanted to see – the Mona Lisa and Aphrodite. Sophie, Ed and I made a plan that if we got lost, we would meet at the information center. Literally, 2 minutes into being at the museum we got separated. I didn’t know it at the time, but they got stopped at the ticket entrance because of a bag Ed was carrying. I waited at the top of the stairs for a while but never saw them. I knew they were headed to the Mona Lisa, so I went there to find them. Along the way, I quickly passed by some Raphael, David, and DaVinci works. And then, I came to the room with the Mona Lisa. I walked in and was immediately filled with emotion. I don’t know if it was just because I had PMS and my hormones were out of whack (I mean, I can cry at a stupid commercial in that state), but I got teary eyed when I saw the painting and then turned around to see the depiction of the Wedding at Cana. It took me several minutes to become normal again.
Still no Sophie and Ed. So, I went to our rendezvous spot at the information desk. I waited for about 20 minutes and there was no sign of them, so I figured they had just planned on meeting at our leaving time. I went to go back in and couldn’t find my stupid ticket. They wouldn’t let me back into the exhibits. I even tried showing them my credit card receipt. I was soooo annoyed!!!! I knew we would be leaving in about 45 minutes, and I didn’t want to pay again just to spend that short amount of time there. Then, I got tired of standing and decided to sit up against a wall. I sat there for a few minutes until one of the security guards came and made me move. Then I was really annoyed. It was right then that I took a picture of my irritated self.
Soph and Ed were there after a little while and I lost all of my irritated-ness as minutes after reuniting with them. We headed back to the hotel to get into our room, change to nicer clothes, and experience the European tradition of High Tea, a first for me.
High tea was expensive, but definitely worth the experience. I ordered the Complete Francais high tea – it came with Champagne, my choice of tea, Lobster, Caviar, Crab, Éclair with Gold, Rasperries in Grapefruit Mousse, Lemon Tart, a Madeline, something similar to a blueberry muffin, and an apricot pastry type thing. We sat on velvet furniture in front of a very expensive lookin tapestry while listening to live piano. The funniest part was when the piano player did his own rendition of Pink Floyd – “The Wall”. He also did the Beetles. The whole experience took about two hours. And, for the first time in France, I tried out some French that was more than a Bon Jour, Bon Soir, or Par le vous Anglais. After being coached by Sofie and Ed, I asked for the bill. It was very exciting for me.
Ed and I hung out down in the lobby for a while longer while Sophie went to the room. We went to the bar and each had a Dirty Martini and chatted with some of the other hotel guests. One man in particular, we had a conversation about liquors with Birds in them – Fowl Liquors. Famous Grouse (which we were unable to determine how it was famous and we never heard of it), Grey Goose, Wild Turkey, and Cold Duck. All of this conversation was much to the dismay of his stuck up girlfriend who was annoyed that I was talking to him. Ed and I thought it was funny though.
We headed back up to the room at 9 and decided to all hit the spa. Bathing suits in tow, we went straight to the Jacuzzi. Not sure if there is a temperature issue in France, but the Jacuzzi was a little on the cold side. After we all turned into prunes from the Jacuzzi and Steam Room, we raided the juice bar of “spa juice” – a concoction that was a murky green but tasted pretty good, and apples.
Back in the room it was a sad evening. My last night in Paris. I packed up a few things and then hit the sack. Time to say Bon Soir Paris. Until next time….

Paris Day Two

Me Eiffel, originally uploaded by quimerizar.

Day two started with breakfast on the Champs de Elysee. We stopped at “Paul”, a bakery that had all kinds of pasteries and sat outside on the sidewalk tables enjoying our breakfast. The day was cloudy, but at least it wasn’t raining anymore. We decided at breakfast that we would do the total tourist thing and get a double decker bus pass.
After breakfast we wandered around and stumbled upon the Eiffel Tower. All of the sudden, we went past a building and there it was. It sounds corny, but it gave me goose bumps. We walked over to the Siene and took a few pictures, and then we saw the bus. We figured we could probably catch the bus somewhere around there. So, we tried to find the bus stop without any luck. We even tried to follow one of the busses to see where it stopped with no luck (the bus was too fast!). Eventually we got frustrated and decided to go back to the hotel to figure it out.
After getting directions to a bus stop at the hotel, we hopped on the bus but there were no seats. We got tired of standing up and decided to get off and wait for the next bus. That bus was full too. So, we got on anyway. The tour was really cool… I swear I will never make fun of the NY tourists again for taking those busses. Because of the short amount of time I have here, it was ideal because I got to see a lot of things that I wouldn’t have been able to see, even if it was from a distance. We decided to get off at Notre Dame. The cathedral was immense and ornate. I am learning that everything in Paris is ornate. They really care about making things look nice here – and CLEAN. For such a big city, I was surprised at the cleanliness. I guess I am so used to dirty New York .
The cathedral had a mass going on and obviously it was all in French and I couldn’t understand a word they were saying. I liked it when they got to the parts where they would sing (music has always been my favorite part of the mass).
After Notre Dame, we went to a sidewalk café again. I had a really yummy French bread, brie, tomato and cucumber sandwich. It was here that I was introduced to my favorite French food – Croque Monsior. Sophie ordered it and I got to try a bite. I put this on my mental list of things to order for myself before I leave. It’s basically a ham and cheese sandwich and they toast it and melt a few different cheeses on the top. Not fattening at all. Croissants and cheese, how do these people stay thin? It was at this restaurant that I also noticed a uniquely Parisian thing… Dijon. I had noticed it at the other restaurants but thought it was a fluke. But now I know, that no table in Paris is complete without a little jar of REALLY HOT Dijon mustard. I began to put Dijon on everything. It was sooo good. French fries with Dijon, French bread with Dijon, Croque Monsior with Dijon. Ummmmm.
We headed back toward the hotel and after getting off the bus we ran into a parade. I am not sure what it was for but they marched with a band and flags up the Champs de Elysee to the Arc de Triumph. I kind of got stuck in the middle of the street so I got a good view of all of it. What a nice surprise. I know it is totally nerdy but I like that kind of stuff. Did a little shopping, where I saw a man who was taped to a tree. I don’t know why but it was probably one of the strangest things I have ever seen. Then I was approached by a man wearing a blue baby outfit and a woman (who I think was his wife) wearing a pink baby outfit. For some reason they wanted me to “kiss the baby”. They were talking up a storm to me in French but again, I had no clue what they were saying. I said “anglais” and they. Back to the hotel for a while to rest. I took a bubble bath – something I can’t do in my apartment in NY since the shower thing-a-ma-jiggy that converts to the bottom spout doesn’t work. It was very relaxing after touring around all day. And then it was time to eat…. Again! We headed out to a place called Citron but it was closed (on a Saturday night?). Went to plan B – Femmete Marbeuf, but it was stuffy and we encountered a rude woman who shushed Ed when he asked for a table for three (in French!), then spouted off something that I am sure wasn’t nice but couldn’t understand. And then the last word “reservacion”. Ok, I get it now. She didn’t have to be a bitch about it!!
So, we ended up eating at another choice down the street. The place was not as stuffy and it ended up being a much better choice. They had Sangria after all.. who could go wrong with that. It made me want to whip up a batch of my own sangria when I get home. I ordered a prawn and Andalusian rice dish. It was the first time I have had prawns served to me with the head on it – little black eyes looking right at me. I peeled off the heads and ate the shrimp the way I am used to. This was after having half a basket of bread with Dijon spread all over it. The waiter gave me a free glass of sangria – said it was the last glass in the pitcher. I didn’t complain.
And then it was time for dessert! I had a Grand Marnier Flambeed Crepe. Soph had Crème Brulee and Ed had some mix of chocolate gelato stuff that was really good. It was quite a nice evening and I felt like Violet in Willy Wonka (the one who turns into a giant blueberry and rolls away). Food coma overtook my body and I went to the hotel and went to bed after doing a little midnight shopping – which I found to be really fun and slightly crazy that the stores were open.