i want to make a pun on "gala"

but i can't i am too tired.

the venue: the mandarin oriental hotel, 36th floor, looking out over the tree tops of central park and the building beyond, lit up like a string of christmas lights after the sky darkened.

the performers: the adorable children of the special music school and philip glass. philip glass, playing his own composition, captivating the audience for a few moments. it was so beautiful, listening to philip glass, looking out the windows at blue blue sky.

the food and drink: begged for (maybe even flirted for?) but worth it.

the celebrities: usher passing through the lobby (short, cute, unobtrusive), bob kerrey (who said to me at check in "bob kerrey", tiny and dapper in his tuxedo, and i said "kerrey?" like i didn't know who he was), philip. glass.

the train ride home: never have i been so glad to see an f train.

this is one of those "only in new york" nights, when you feel so privileged to be a part of this city and its communities of artists, intellectuals and philanthropists. but next time, i want to be seated at the table.

OH, and it's not too late! i am still begging for my charity bowling team to help raise money for HIV/AIDS research through broadway cares. you don't have to sponsor my every pin bowled; if you go to the link below, you can donate online. (you can also mail cash and checks to me in brooklyn. email me for my real live mailing address.) every $5 helps (although every $25 helps even more!) if you donate, i promise i will bowl my best in your name, and in the name of raising money for a very important cause. you can click here to donate $5, $10, $25 and $100,000,000 to the cause. i know it can feel like a lot, $5, but it would make a real difference to those working to find a cure. if you have ever read something i wrote and liked it, or laughed at it, or thought about it again, please consider donating. i promise even a little bit makes a big difference. the bowl-a-thon is next monday, june 2, so please donate soon!

downunder

i know we put it to a vote, but we didn't get to go into the city this weekend for fun galore, because we are now important grown-ups who have to do things like shop for housewares and pack and watch episodes of "the wire." but we did have a lovely weekend.

we spent saturday afternoon walking around dumbo, exploring the many new and beautiful furniture shops and clothing boutiques that have taken over the former industrial neighborhood. while i had heard all sorts of things about dumbo, i had never actually been, and i totally fell in love. it is like a pretend new york, all old buildings turned into beautiful lofts, with cobbled streets and beautiful people, full of resturants and chic stores, with a view of the manhattan skyline to boot. we saw multiple weddings and a fashion photo shoot, so you know i'm sold. (another neighborhood to add to our "when we make it big, we'll live there" list--here's looking at you, west village.) we started with shopping along front street (pictured above), including a stop at the dreamy design store prague kolektiv and then wandered through brooklyn bridge park. the park was holding 125th birthday celebrations for the beloved bridge (you don't look a day over 124!) and while we were late for the music and too early for the movie, we did enjoy a stroll through the park. lovely, right?

sunday s had to work so i packed and did crosswords (a real lady of leisure, no?) today we had brunch with our couple friends, my owf and her boy (this is a goal of mine, couple friends. we sort-of had them in college, but i love couple friends and we've never gotten any great ones off the ground, but aa and p seem to make a great match) at cafe luluc, a super cute spot in carroll gardens. (can we just talk about how much i love the french tradition of eggs served with fries? it surprised me the first time, but then i was like "hello, genius." there are few things i like more than french fries. those french, they really get me, you know?) aa and p have lived in boerum hill for five years now, so they are like our sage old friends, full of "have you seen this?" and "oh, you have to go there!" i feel like a little kid when they get started, but it really is wonderful to have friends who are so happy to play tour guide.

the rest of the afternoon pre-s-on-a-train-to-work was spent packing (dear goodness, how did we fit so much into so little space?) and then napping. for me, that is. it is very suddenly summer here in our fair city, and my best defense, beyond ac (which we will not install until we move into the new apartment), is a nap. seriously, i am a southern belle, aren't i, napping away the afternoon. now i am sitting here, sweating in front of the fan, getting ready to do a crossword or two. it's back to work tomorrow, and then a busy week (we are having our gala on wednesday, which should make for exciting posting) capped off by our big move. i promise words and pictures later.

more scot-cops (like "hot cops" but sadly without the GOB)

so, remember my post about the scopsman? (ha! it still makes me laugh.) i have seen him a few other times in the neighborhood, but tonight i saw another scottish cop in vest and kilt, only this one was standing on my corner playing bagpipes. bagpipes. on my corner. for no reason. (can anyone think of a reason? is there a holiday i am missing?)

also, no one but s voted on the weekend's activities, which means he wins.

us weekend

this weekend was nice and relaxing. friday's weather was discouraging, so i spent the day doing laundry and lazing, and then we ordered in indian food and caught up on our season finales. (oh my gosh, lost.) saturday was gorgeous, so we spent the day on foot, walking park slope with a stop for tasti delite and a ramble through the park. everyone was out on saturday, soaking in the sunshine and blue skies. prospect park hosted baseball games for the small and tall, a wedding or two, a number of picnics, many happy dogs, and us, holding hands and making plans (for the new apartment.) saturday night i went to an 80s-themed birthday party tragically cut short by the fact that i had to work at 8 am on sunday.

it was a brooklyn weekend--i didn't get on the train once, and i definitely didn't go into manhattan. it was a nice weekend, but we've been so consumed with apartments and travel that i feel like we haven't been exploring as much as i like to. for valentines day, i made s an "us map" to new york city, a sort of resident's tourist guide of the places i want us to visit. and so i propose a poll (you can vote in the comments. and s, you can vote too): which of the following should we do next?

1. a trip to the south street seaport to see bodies the exhibition, which results in a post full of "eww! ... but also ... cool!"

2. a day at the museum of natural history. more eww/cool, but artsier. (this post may require references to noah baumbach.)

3. a morning walking the lower east side on the orchard street walking tour. it'll be more blogging about bagels, and other important jewish-new york landmarks.

vote or die.

fun and money

last night was the much anticipated work happy hour. i left work early on wednesday feeling ill, but i managed to rally to see my coworkers thursday evening. i have never been a happy hour person, i don't actively seek out those kinds of deals, but when i can get a bombay sapphire and tonic in nyc for $3, i think it may be time to change. anyways, we started at a fratty bar on the UWS (beer pong, anyone?) and hung out with everyone we work with under the age of 40 (minus my neighbor, who had to work.) then aa, mk and i came home to brooklyn for some delicious greek food and wine at olive vine, which is a neighborhood favorite of mine. (their hummus is great, their grape leaves are excellent. and so cheap!) we got drunk and gossiped about work. and then we decided we weren't going to talk about the office, and instead talked about "the office" (s and i haven't seen the season finale, so don't tell!) and then talked about work some more, because really, it is inevitable. we also have a love of theater, food and brooklyn in common, but it was thursday and we just got a new coworker, so office it was. i walked aa to the train and myself home (i feel pretty safe in my neighborhood, although the apartment we are moving to feels even safer, so i am very excited for that!)

this is not necessarily a post about new york, but i will be doing it in new york, and you'll get to read about it later (and if you donate i'll give you a major shout-out on here) so here goes:

i know that everyone i know is broke and trying to make it here, and usually i am not one for begging for cash, but i am willing to ask when it is for a good cause. my work friends and i have formed a charity bowling team to help raise money for HIV/AIDS research through broadway cares. it's sort of like an old-fashioned jog-a-thon, but you don't have to sponsor my every pin bowled; if you go to the link i have so helpfully included, you can donate online. (you can also mail cash and checks to me in brooklyn. email me for my real live mailing address.) every $5 helps (although every $25 helps even more!) if you donate, i promise i will bowl my best in your name, and in the name of raising money for a very important cause. you can click on this link to donate $5, $10, $25 and $100,000,000 to the cause. i know it can feel like a lot, $5, but it would make a real difference to those working to find a cure. if you have ever read something i wrote and liked it, or laughed at it, or thought about it again, please consider donating. i promise even a little bit makes a big difference.

also, if you know of anyone looking for a way to donate to a great cause, please pass this link along. thanks! m

old new york, young new york

one of the things i like about my job is the variety of people i get to work with. i especially like the elderly people, because they are so comfortable with themselves. like marthann, who wears the most amazing outfits i have ever seen. like an all-denim outfit that included denim wings on her pants legs, and a necklace and earring set she had hand-made out of house keys. or joyce, who has worn heidi braids every day of her life, and probably cat's-eye liner for the last fifty years. or evelyn who gave us all copies of a cd she had made of herself singing french opera songs. she is my favorite, evelyn, in part because she always seems completely surprised that i recognize her, pleasantly surprised, and calls me things like "lovely" and "sweet". today she looked at my name plate and said "oh, lastname? is that how you say it?" i have one of those impossible-to-pronounce-unless-you've-heard-it-before surnames, and when she pronounced it perfectly, i was surprised and said that yes, that was it. then she asked if it was czech (and it is slovak), so i was even further surprised. she went on to tell me that she was israeli, and was shipped to prague when she was a young woman to work for a diplomat there. a real idiot, she said. she was pregnant and had to hide her pregnancy (or she would have lost her job), and he used to call her into his office every five minutes for various reasons. there was a safe in her office that she had to lock every time she stepped away, and every five minutes her little tiny pregnant self had to lock and unlock and open the door of this giant safe. "i had an easy delivery," she confided, "after getting up and lifting the safe so many times." she still remembers driving through czechoslovakia in the middle of a rainy night (which i told her was still more than i had seen of it.) now she lives in new york, with the daughter she put through college ("she has more education than i ever had" she told me) who chairs the german department at nyu. she almost stopped her story half way in, claiming i wouldn't want to hear her old story. i told her to remember more for the next time she came in.

tonight i met up with a good friend of mine from college, in town for a few days for an interview, at pianos on the lower east side. (it's been a real reunion week for me.) we talked the usual, discussing current relationships, jobs and living situations (that adult stuff), and he made me laugh like he always has. he is not seriously considering a move to new york, but it was good to see him and catch up, to pretend this is what it could be like if he moved here. (i think my goal is to eventually get everyone i care about to move out here so that i have my circle around me again.) i stayed out later than i usually do when i am alone (i'm a real wimp about that train ride home late), in part because i was sad to say goodbye to him. i miss people, ya know? but it is good to feel young and free in new york.

guest post: magical-detroit

not really. detroit was a little gross. a little too deserted for my tastes. (as my dear zp said, he lives in bushwick, and there were parts of detroit that made him nervous.) but we were there for a wedding of two of my dearest friends, not to take in the sights of the motor city.

i always wanted an older brother, but i wanted him to be funny and smart and really nice to me and sort-of goofy and date someone really cool that i could look up to. that's how i feel about alex and katy, like they are my friends, but also like they are a part of my family. (i cried when he told me they got engaged. from happiness. that is how much i like them. and weddings.) so for them, i would go to detroit. zp, s and i flew out friday afternoon, escaping nyc's sudden torrential rainstorm on friday, and were picked up by alex and joe ro. we ate lasagna at alex's parents' house in grosse point and played pool and darts in the basement (i felt about as far from new york as possible) and then went to our hotel. the renaissance center (or "ren cen" as the locals call it) is three towers of hotel, gm office buildings (which explained the cars parked in the motor lobby), and restaurants, shops, bars and weird mall-like space where a country festival took place our first night. we caught up over drinks in the bar and then spent the rest of the evening filming lip dubs on the various hotel floors. (never done a lip dub? they're too much fun, especially with the boys you did improv comedy with for three years in college.)

saturday was the wedding, and we got up and ready and headed to the whitney, a well-restored old mansion. alex and katy got married on a landing in front of a gorgeous stained glass window with traditional vows and then some words they had written themselves. i cried, of course, as s squeezed my hand. then we had brunch in a warm, sun-filled former parlor, and laughed as their parents and friends toasted them in the main room. (and ok, i got a little teary again.) they cut the cake (seriously, so delicious) and took pictures, and we hung out with alex's little brother, a detroit artist. then it was back to the hotel for naps before we went to the russell industrial center, a space that has been converted into beautiful, light, enormous artist studios. (i said to zp, "this is what new york used to be like," except the stairwells smelled better.) there were some great things and some ok things, but i love wandering through studios or gallery spaces looking at new work. it was a great way to spend some time before we headed to the majestic for the afterparty, with bowling and karaoke and pizza and beer. i am not the best bowler, nor am i a stellar karaoke-r, but i have a lot of fun doing both, especially after pizza and beer, and double-especially with those boys i love so much. we hung out until late, and headed home to the ren cen for more drinks, food and goofiness before everyone passed out at four am. i was nervous about missing the flight, so i stayed up to pack and check their breathing, and slept very little.

sunday was quiet, and we napped in the cab to the airport. zp, s and i boarded our tiny plane in the rain back to nyc, and joe ro headed home to la. we spent the afternoon lazing, tired from the trip. it was one of the best trips i have taken in a long time. i am pretty good at fooling myself, distracting me with new places or people or shiny things, but then it hits so hard: i miss my friends a lot. zp, joe ro, alex and i saw each other at least three times a week for three years in college (we were in an improv troup together), more than i saw my family. they were my family, and i miss them so much. it was so great to see them again, to laugh at the stupid things we've always laughed at, but also to revel in grown-up life together, to celebrate each others' successes, and to celebrate alex's marriage. i write about what makes me feel like an adult, but nothing has made me feel more grown-up than flying in to see one of my dear friends get married, to have a reunion with people i love and haven't seen in almost a year. it was a great weekend, and while i was glad to come home to new york, i was sad to leave their company. (though it should be noted: zp lives here in bk as well, and it is shameful that i see him as rarely as i do. we made a promise to see each other more often, and i plan to try to follow through.)

now i am back, and with good news to boot! we got the apartment we thought we didn't get! we sign our lease wednesday, and i am already majorly nesting, daydreaming about sleeper sofas and wall colors. seriously, i am overjoyed.

oh, and also: i added a new blog to the list: cellphone pix, zp's photoblog. (it is as it sounds.) i like it a lot, not the least because you can see a picture of me trying to quick-dry my feet at laguardia on friday after the rain.

park lunch

ok, so work happy hour got canceled (which i am not too broken up about.) and we didn't get the apartment, which i am a bit broken up about. (though i am trying to look at it as the opportunity to find something even more perfect.) but i did have a lovely lunch with s, who worked in the morning and then in the evening, leaving him free to meet me for a delightful picnic in central park. we went to balduccis for provisions and then walked to a shady bench and enjoyed our food while listening to an angry park security guard complaining about some girl who liked to gossip (um, pot calling the kettle something?) and wanted her to bake something with sugar in it ("bitch knows my kids is diabetic!" was one choice line) to her silently put-upon friend. it was a beautiful day, sunny and warm but not at all humid, slight breeze, squirrels gamboling, birds chirping (and eating the noodles someone had dumped on the path), ladies complaining.

i wanted s to write a subway stories guest post, but he is blog shy, so i will share: today he sat on the train with a man with deli bags full of live fish (in water), taking them home to his four aquariums. "i just like fish!" the man kept explaining, also careful to clarify "i don't sell them, i only buy them. i just like fish!" apparently he was a large man with waist-length dredlocks, with bags upon bags of colorful fish. i wish i had seen him.

eight belles

hi there, sweet blog o' mine. sorry i've been absent, it's just that i am still trying to find an apartment. anyways.

s and i had a mostly relaxing weekend, sleeping in, cooking good food, looking at apartments. friday we went into the city and bought him new work clothes and shoes (i got him to buy those docksiders, which really feeds into the crush i have on the preppie 80s look.) we also saw "21" which i enjoyed, though i am aware it was not the most important movie to come out this weekend. (we had not bought our tickets in advance.) we also had the distinct pleasure of going to a derby party. (in a not-so-derby-party neighborhood, but oh well.) i wore a big hat and a dress and pearls, s wore a tie and seersucker pants. i quipped that we looked like we were going to church, and instead we were going to drink mint juleps and bet on horses. it was a lot of fun, and i got to share the one horse racing story i have, about visiting the horse plantation that spawned seabiscuit, war general, secretariat, funnycide and barbaro. we didn't stay out late (s had to work from home, like a good little freelancer), but we did enjoy the party.

this week is all about getting ready for the wedding we are going to in detroit this weekend (aa, my owf gets to go to france this summer for a wedding, and i get to go to detroit) and finding a place to live. i am becoming somewhat ambivalent about our impending homelessness; it will work itself out, won't it? tomorrow night is a work happy hour, sure to be entertaining as i work with some people i love and some people i think are really weird, so hold me to it blog, and i will post again tomorrow.