Phew

Boy, this moving business is hard work. Even though we had the easiest move in the history of moves, unpacking and throwing away all this junk is tough. Especially when you're husband wants to keep everything 'for now'. I need to just take a day off of work and secretly throw all this stuff away (books, magazines) that I know he won't miss.

Haven't slept well in the new place either. Between David being up most of the night sneezing and blowing his nose, the street noise, and the air conditioner being either too hot or too cold, I'm exhausted. So we repositioned the bed away from the A/C tonight and hopefully that will help. It better. Because I'm one cranky miserable bitch lately!

I wonder when I'm going to feel really at home here. I still feel like I'm staying over someone's house.


bye bye old place

Guess who moved in yesterday!

Wow what a weekend. This was a nonstop packing-cleaning-moving-unpacking-very little sleeping weekend. But it was one of the best ever.

The guys across the hall were completely moved out by Sunday morning 8am. Luckily we were up (couldn't sleep, too excited) and I overheard the old tenant waking up my next door neighbor as he thought she was the one moving in. I opened my door and said "No, we are!" so he handed me the keys and the place was ours.

The place was in excellent shape and didn't even need repainting. Not yet anyway. We'll have to decide on colors at a later date. But the place is AWESOME! So much light. So much space. I don't know what to do with myself. The cats took the whole day to get used to the place and continually followed us around crying and hiding. I tried to put them in the window to see all the goings on on the street below but I think they are getting overloaded with all the things to see that they freak out and run away. They are used to just seeing a brick wall and maybe a pigeon or two. Big changes for my girls.

The only sucky thing is our couch will not fit through the doorway. So once again we need to get rid of a perfectly good couch. Anyone need a couch?

We were happy to discover that this place actually has FOUR closets!! Unbelievable. The living room is so beautiful with an exposed brick wall and two windows letting in a flood of light. It's just such a new experience for me. Our last place was my first apartment ever and our first together. We were engaged and married while living there and there are so many memories it was a little sad to see it go. But this new place is full of new beginnings and I can't wait to get settled in.


P.S.-Big thanks to Matthew for all his help yesterday

The move

For some reason I'm getting really anxious about the move next week. I know it's just across the hall. I know it'll be easier than most. But still, I'm really nervous that we're not going to get everything done. We've designated this weekend as MOVE WEEKEND and luckily I have a half day Friday this week as well.

I just want it all over with already and to be moved in and happy in my new space.

"Get well, get well soon, we hope that you get well!"

Most people will get this quote. Some (Henry) will not. Anyhoo...

My brother is home with food poisoning. If I were living in Miami I'd stop by with some get well soon necessities. But since I'm up here in the Big Apple I'm sending you some things to help you get back on your feet Ben.

Now get back in the bathroom and get better!

Batman Begins

Friday night I saw Batman Begins w/ Dave, Hen and Matt. While walking there I passed 2 goth girls with capes in the subway. It took me a minute to realize why. I started thinking to myself, it's been a long time since I've seen a really good movie. A movie that pulls me into the world. A movie that moves me. Well my wait is over. Batman Begins is that movie. It is everything the others wish they could be.

I never knew how Batman began. Never read any comic books. Never questioned it really. I enjoyed the first movie. Hated the rest. I just figured he was a rich man that was bored and hated criminals because of the death of his parents. But there is so much more. SO much more. And watched it all unravel was an incredible experience. Especially when it is at the hands of Chris Nolan. What a genius.

This movie is perfect. I could find nothing wrong with it. I just felt overjoyed at the end. Everyone in the theatre felt the same. We all couldn't wait to applaud and show our appreciation for such a masterpiece.

Celvyn-IMAX-this week. Let's do it.

sleeping kitties

What a peaceful scene.

Sneaks

Last night I had a crappy run. I was bored. Tired. Uncomfortable. Everything just seemed impossible. Negative thoughts kept entering my mind. I did finish the run but by the time I got home I was completely worn out, couldn't move and had chills. Worse even I had terrible blisters and realized that I finally have to accept defeat and get some new running shoes. This will be my 4th pair. The New Balance 766NC to be exact.

Any runner I know swears by New Balance. But for some reason I've tried every other brand but. But not anymore!

I'm am praying to the running shoe god's that these finally be the ones. I've spent way too much money. Way too many days popping blisters. And way too many nights running in pain.

Please please PLEASE let these work.

Happy 13th Birthday Brandon "DJ Mashed Potato" Launerts!

Brandon last Summer @ Great Adventure eating Dippin' Dots-The Icecream of the Future


Happy birthday to my nephew Brandon. Brandon loves mashed potatoes. He also loves his free time and spends it swimming, renting movies, sleeping and eating.

Have a happy day cutie! Can't wait to see you in July :)

Wknd

Had a great weekend. Our office is finally doing Summer hours and boy what a difference it makes, even if it is only every other Friday. I feel so much more relaxed and revived.

Went to my friend Celvyn's birthday dinner on Friday at a sushi place. Food was so-so but the real fun was watching Celvyn in all his drunk glory after doing about 8 shots of Johnny Walker within a 30 minute period. Then some genius gave him a tequila shot! Come on! That seemed to do the trick and eventually he made his way up the stairs to toss his cookies. Nice Cel. Real nice. Nice way to ring in the old age buddy!

Saturday was the Belmont Stakes. Big dissapointment as none of us won except Henry (who ending up coming behind in the end). I just wasn't too into it this year. I think Smarty Jones' depressing run last year just ruined it for me. Afterward we headed to Corner Bistro for the best hamburger, fries and Coke ever. That place is awesome. Nice heavy and meaty burgers cooked to absolute perfection. Crispy McDonald's style fries. Big mug o' Coke. Life couldn't be better. We topped it off with some desserts at Mary off Jane's around the corner. I highly recommend the Lime-A-Go-Go cake. But just don't get the iced coffee. It'll end up all over your white linen skirt like it did mine.

Sunday was a relaxing hot-as-hell day. Ran in the park. Saw the hundreds of cops preparing for war, I mean the Puerto Rican Day parade. So ridiculous how many cops, horses and padiwagons they had on hand.

Got some cheeses, french bread and grapes at Zabar's and had a little lunch at Riverside Park in the afternoon watching the boats glide by. A nice way to end a Summer weekend.

INNOCENT!! OOWWWW!!!

Yeah baby, MJ is innocent. It was the verdict I was hoping for. Even if I'm the only one in my office who feels this way. Sure, he's a freak of nature. But this family had way too many bogus claims in the past to be considered seriously.

Maybe now he'll listen to the man in the mirror and 'make that change'. Enough with the sleepovers Michael.

Music Baton

Juvenile? Yes. But fun nonetheless...

1. The person who passed the baton to you:
The one and only Rachelpink

2. Total volume of music files on your computer:
A little less than a gig. I dont' like to bog the machine down w/ music. I just keep it all on my iPod (37 gigs).

3. The title and artist of the last CD you bought:
Hm, haven't bought anything in a long time. Get all my music for free, hee hee. I guess The Cure's last album was the last thing I paid for (last Summer).

4. Song playing at the moment of writing:
Nothing

5. Five songs you have been listening to of late or all-time favorites, or particularly personally meaningful songs
Songs that I've been listening to recently:

All from my running playlist...
"PDA" Interpol
"Play for Today" The Cure
"American Idiot" Green Day
"By The Way" Red Hot Chili Peppers
"The Cedar Room" Doves

6. The five people to whom you will 'pass the musical baton.':
Celvyn
Brandon
Henry (not that he updates his sucky blog)
Hillary
Irene

Summer!

First off-Block Island week.

I finally got pictures of the house we rented in Block Island for July 4th week. It's looks awesome-like 3 houses in one. Completely renovated.










Now it seems like July can't get here soon enough. We are moving June 30th (or earlier, depending on the guys moving out) and then my Brother and nephews are coming July 21-25. David's aunts and cousins are coming end of July, beginning of August for some family fun time. This Summer is chock full of activity and everything's just turning out perfectly.

Happy D-Day Birthday Celvyn!

You can no longer call me old! WOOohoooOOOO!!!

GO CELVYN, IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY, GO GO GO GO...

Panasonic Plasma Perfection

This will be my TV. Eventually.

We went to look at plasma TV's for our new apartment yesterday at P.C. Richards and Circuit City. This is the one we decided on. One thing we realized-P.C. Richards had it priced a whopping $1,500 higher than Circuit City. And Circuit City is priced $600 more than an online retailer I found. Unbelievable.

But unfortunately I don't have the funds yet for this beauty. But in a few months (if I don't eat lunch or buy anything) I hope to.

Happy Birthday Eugyloo!

Pat on the back

I'd like to pat myself on the back for just completing running the Central Park outer loop this morning (6 miles). I set out to do my normal three loops around the reservoir (about 5 miles) when I saw all the runners going by on the loop. I can do this I said. And I did. I really got a feeling for how far it is. Normally I just think 'ok, 3 times around the reservoir'. But today as I passed all the beauty that is Central Park in it's full Summer glory I realized 'HOT DAMN-THIS IS FAR'!

I don't think I could ever live far away from the park. It's so magnificent. Every season has it's own special beauty. But nothing's like the Summer green.

Punta Cana

So we're back from our 4 day/3 night trip to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. We stayed at the Iberostar Punta Cana.

Our trip started with a 4am alarm to get ready and get to Newark Airport in time for our 6:40am departure. Damn that sucked. Poor David didn't sleep at ALL that night. So as you'd guess he was a joy! Luckily he slept a little on each of the 2 legs of the flight. I became oddly obsessed with Interpol's first album and listened to it repeatedly on the flights. Damn that's a good album. And I didn't go to see those tasty little morsels at Hammerstein WHY???? But I digress...

We arrived at noon and BAM! the heat hit us over the head like a baseball bat. I knew it was going to be hot but come on! The temp was in the mid 80's but with the intense humidity the heat index made it feel like 115 degrees. Sweaty wet heat. I love it!

We arrived at the resort and were greeted with tons of "HOLA's". We quickly learned that this was commonplace and welcomed throughout our stay. Anyhoo, we checked in, got a really nice room, and waited for them to bring up our bags so I could get my swimsuit on and hit the beach.

The beach was beautiful. Picture perfect. Water warm, clean and crystal clear turquoise. So relaxing. But then OUCH, I stepped on some large piece of metal or something on the ground. I mean large, like several feet long. Luckily that was the only large piece of who-knows-what I encountered. But still-shouldn't that like, not be there?

The food. Well the food-sucked. I mean really. The first meal we had was a hamburger. But it more resembled the 'mystery meat' burgers they served in Junior High. But with enough ketchup, mustard, mayo and cornichons (little pickles, for some reason they were EVERYWHERE) it was the next best thing to a Johnny Rockets. Kind of.

For the next 2 nights we ate crappy meals. Breakfast was good. Lunch ok. Dinner bad. First night was the Carribean restaurant. Appetizers included smoked salmon wrapped pineapple (WTF???) and cornichons. I ordered the snapper on a mustard sauce (which I quickly learned was served with EVERYTHING) and David had the Grouper. We both were served and we looked at each others plates and said "this is the same exact fish!" Fish was fried in some greasy, butter like, lard mixture (again, something we quickly learned EVERYTHING was cooked in). Very strange. Had a bite or two. Done. Dessert was served. Gross. Done. Bedtime.

We had an equal experience with the seafood restaurant the next night. Appetizer was smoked salmon (WTF???) with a mustard sauce (read:squeezable yellow mustard), followed by a asparagus soup reduction with foie gras aroma. Aroma? WTF?? If I want foie gras I want foie gras, not some aroma. The lobster was nasty and again cooked in the buttery lard mixture. Dessert. Gross. Bedtime.

Luckily the last night we found the steakhouse which was great. If we had stuck with that place for the whole time it would've been great.

I did get sick. The big D, chills, body aches, lethargy. But luckily my Dr gave me antibiotics so by morningtime I was fine.

The coolest part of the trip was a snorkeling trip we did. 45 minutes of snorkeling followed by 30 minutes of swimming with sharks (blue sharks, docile) and stingrays. It was awesome. The sharks were 7 feet long and would swim right under you. I followed them around everywhere. So beautiful and scary. Same for the stingrays. Amazing experience.

In all we had a wonderful relaxing vacation. There's nothing like waking up in the morning and your biggest decision is Beach or Pool? Pina Colada or Coco Loco?


Parrots used for photos-the guys would walk around and say "COME ON-DON'T BE SCHICKEN! TODAY WITH DE PARROT, TOMORROW WITH DE SHARK." We heard this joke everday.


The resort


Our room


Beach 'Palapas'





Beautiful turquoise water


Me with my Fanta


The pen where they kept the sharks/stingrays/non-tipping tourists


Can you feel the love?


Stopping for a dip before heading back on the boat, notice the floating drinks being passed around.


Our pool




Me, sunburned and sad waiting for the bus back to the airport

We're back

And no rain! What gives? It was hot as hell and bright and sunny every day. We had a wonderful time and felt like we were away for a week. I'll write more later and post some sunny, beachy pics too.