Maps

Fernando and I had to drive up to Massachusettes a few weeks ago for a family event. Along the way we ran into some traffic and decided to try to find a way around it with the trusty GPS. Apparently, the GPS I have was not really designed for re-reouting. For miles it kept bitching at us... Make uturn, recalculating, make uturn, recalculating. When we finally got sick of the woman telling us to uturn around, we turned her off and pulled out the trusty old map.

But here is my question- what kind of idiot at Rand McNally decided that it was a good idea to make a map that folds out to more than the size of the interior of your car. It literally took up the whole front seat. I'm convinced that Rand McNally and MAACO (the auto body chain) must be in business together. It goes something like this in my mind:

RM executive: ok, we will make the maps large, confusing and distracting in order to cause spousal and-or partner arguments and-or more accidents.

MAACO executive: ok, and in return I shall offer you 30 percent on any map related accidents that come to us for auto body repairs.

See example illustrating ridiculous map size below.

Fashionista

Living in New York has introduced me to a whole other realm of fashion. Before I moved here I definitely didn't have much of a clue about what was "in" or "cool". I mean, I had an idea about certain things, but that was only from visiting the Mall and reading celeb trash magazines. I shall relay a case in point.

After moving to New York, one of the women in the department I was working in kept gushing over some shoes she had bought over the weekend. Several other women joined in the conversation and started talking about shoes and bags. There I was, sitting at my desk, peeking under it at my one of three pairs of shoes that I owned. (Sneakers, a black pair and a brown pair). That day I had on my black dressy Timberlands (no heel of course) that I had owned for about two years. I liked them because my orthopaedic inserts fit right in very nicely. (Yes, I am a nerd)So, I'm looking at my shoes and wondering what was so spectacular about the shoes this girl had bought and why she felt the urge to google them so she could show all the other girls in the department. The conversation between these girls went something like this... "Oh, LV and DG has come out with the CUTEST shoes for summer. I got this adorable strappy sandal in fuchsia". Other girl, "I know what you mean, I just love LV. And have you seen their new bags?". Girl 1 "here, let me log on to the LV collection at Saks and show you what my new shoes look like". At this point, curiosity had not only killed my inner cat but had stuffed it at the taxidermist. Its killing me to know what these shoes look like that are causing such a commotion (because? I had never been this exuberant about a pair of shoes myself - my conversation would have been more like "let's log onto the payless shoesource website so I can show you some pumps"). Also, I had never heard of this LV and just had to know what it was. So, I got schooled.

I walk over to the computer and see this crazy pair of shoes that I can't even picture an outfit I could ever wear with it. The top of the website says "Louis Vuitton" (ah ha, LV, I'm learnin the lingo) and the bottom showed the price... 1200. OK, SERIOUSLY. I think I choked. She saw the look on my face and must have instantly known that the price shocked me, so she felt the need to tell me she got it on sale for half off. 600. And then she looks down at my shoes.

While I do admit that my fashion IQ has changed over the years, I can never pretend to be an expert. I swore to never become a shoe whore, but I do own many more pairs than I once had and do indulge (but never over 100 bucks!) from time to time on a cute pair. And I know I do much better now in the apparel department. So my next conquest shall be finding a nice bag -reasonably priced.

I got my introduction to the world of bags this weekend. Fernando's sister in law designs bags! She and her friend came to New York and stayed with us a few days - they were in town to attend an expo to sell wholesale to potential buyers. I thought it sounded pretty cool so I volunteered to help.

Fernando and I helped to set up the booth. The bags are special because they are unique. They were originally created as a shoe bag but then they were so handy that they started being used for all kinds of things. On day two I helped the gals in the booth show the bags to buyers. The first client I talked to I sounded like a complete idiot. Oh well, live and learn. Still, it was fun and I am very grateful to Mrs Brooke for giving me the opportunity to enhance my repertoire and help me build some more character. I always like adding to that library.

And, for any of you who can never find a unique gift for Christmas - here is her website.

Baby Showers and Family Picnics

Have to give a little shout out to my girlfriend Sophie. She always reads the blog and this weekend was her baby shower. What made her shower unique? Tea and scones. I'm guessing (and she can confirm) is that the tea at a baby shower is a British tradition that got left over in India where Sophie was born and raised. So we had tea, and it was cool. Congrats to Sophie and Ed on their baby boy.


Monday I took off work to go to Fernando's family picnic. It was quite the sports filled day. We got up early for a 6am tee time in the Bronx, played 18 holes with his brothers. After golf, we headed to Lido beach which I think is in Long Island. We ate... And these people know how to picnic. It wasn't just your hot dogs and hamburgers - I mean, they had that too (because what picnic would be complete without it) but there was also a flank like steak which may have been London Broil, sausage and peppers, chicken cutlets, etc. So much to eat, so little time. I'm thinking of converting to Italian-ism. Do I need a sponsor for that?

Utah Visitors!

Woo hoo for four day weekends. It wasn't a holiday..just took off Friday and Monday! My friends Cindy and Ashley came in to visit from Utah so we hung out in the city. Its always funny to me when visitors come and ask questions about things in the city... For example, Cindy asked me why the bus had a sign on it that said "next bus please". Most of the time I cannot answer my visitors questions. But then, after two glasses of wine at dinner, I decided that it would be much more fun if I made up answers. On the way home that night, we came across a really nice synagogue and I made up an elaborate story about the struggles of a Jewish community that had escaped persecution in Europe and went to Africa. Then they had to escape persecution in Africa so they came and settled in NYC. They built the synagogue in commemoration of their journey and as a monument to their perseverance. People on the sidewalk next to us were listening in. I think they believed it until I said that the two big ball like objects on the top of the synagogue were a representation of fishing bobbers to remind them of their two trips on boats over water - once to Africa then once to the US. I have a pretty good imagination after some wine. Unfortunately...no pic. You will just have to settle with reading.