2012, a Video.

Below is a little something I threw together to represent 2012.  Unfortunately, I did not video tape enough AT ALL last year, so while I wish I had more, it will have to do.  2012 was a hard year for personal reasons that I'll be sure to divulge at some point, but it was also an amazingly fantastic year in it's own way.  When I watch this, I try not to focus on my shoddy editing job and instead see how blessed and lucky we are.  And I also see how important it is to make memories like this one.  I've always felt pressure to be a historian of my life because you never know when you'll need to look back and "remember when"...

Click here for our Youtube yearly recap:  2012.

Unfortunately, I haven't figured out how to see the video on mobile devices yet.  I swear, I am such a NOVICE....at EVERYTHING having to do with keeping a blog! Ahh.

Okay, enjoy!

Dive bar dilemma - Kate's Joint

It's a sad, sad world.  When I moved to NYC in 2005 it took me a loooong time to find my "going out" niche.  You see...I love dive bars, but not their food.  I love the feeling that I don't have to dress a certain way when I go out, but I also don't like feeling that I have to eat french fries and nachos if I choose not to starve.  See? Dilemma.

That is...until I found Kate's Joint.  This place, on the corner of Avenue B and 4th street, is the very first bar that I went to and immediately knew, "I will be back. Every week. For years."  Kate's is divey with unmatched everything, yet so comfy and cozy.  It's less gritty and gross and much more low-pro and awesome.  Also, they serve a completely vegetarian menu (and vegan, if that's your thing).  Sure, they have nachos and fries if you still want that stuff, but they also have awesome alternative options (I will have some vegan cheese pizza please!).  FINALLY, I had found a place that would allow me to drop my bags and stay a while.

Kate's Joint with the hubs - 2007

Well, I've been going for the past 6 years now and loving it.  Never has the idea that they may need to close at some point down the road crossed my mind.  NEVER.  Because if that was a possibility, I would cry.  This week I've learned that my little nightmare is coming true.  They owe a whole lotta money in rent and things are looking bleak.  But, Kate's is not going without a fight.

This Friday, they are having THIS fundraising event:

http://www.facebook.com/events/326729597388092/

And on Saturday, the hubs and I are having our very own "sit in" ALL day long (just like the good old days) starting at noon.  I'm so sad to see a true staple of my new york life bid the east village adieu and will definitely need this one last hurrah to fill the memory book!  And heck, maybe if enough people drop by and order enough drinks and hummus wraps, they can stay open forever!!!!  (I've always been a dreamer)  A girl can hope!

You can and should donate here:
www.indiegogo.com/savekatesjoint

With so many needy causes, I'm certain this will tug at your heart strings most (I'm only half-joking).  SAVE  INDEPENDENTLY OWNED EAST VILLAGE DIVE BARS!  


Thanks! 
xoxo

NYC Love

I've been living in the city this week with my hubby (sans our super pup Remy) due to an unpredictable work schedule of mine.  I was set to have night edits starting at 6pm and ending...whenever they ended which left me a tad worried.  The last train to Maplewood leaves NYC around 1am and I was scared that I may not make it in time.  Missing the train would be horrifying; inevitably leaving me abandoned, homeless, with nowhere to lay my little head but Penn Station's urine soaked linoleum.  HOWEVER, as bleak as that sounds, I was even more scared TO make the train home and endure the 8 minute walk to my front door (train station parking is impossible) all by my lonesome to possibly endure a mugging or worse...a deer mauling.   Needless to say, (my imagination needs saving) staying in NYC was my only real choice.

With two of my best friends off for a whirlwind vaca/business trip to Belgium and Paris leaving their Hells Kitchen apartment wide open AND my parents willing to adopt Remy for the week, The hubs and I were sold.  It was back to the place we met.  Our old stomping grounds. NYC, baby!

We've been here for 3 days now and let me tell you...in the 1.5 years that I have not lived here, nothing has changed.

Immediately after setting my stuff down, I scoured my new territory for a cafe from which to work and landed on Cafe Europa across from the Letterman building. Inside, I grabbed my Hazelnut coffee and went-a-lookin for a seat.  What do you know? None of their 65 tables were free.  Of course not!  It WAS 3:15 on a Wednesday, after all!  Prime lunch/dinner/whothehellknows time for everyone.  I resigned to taking my coffee outside and people-watching from a little cement planter.  Work shmerk.

Next up, I met with my friend to grab a second lunch.  Do I normally eat two lunches, you may ask.  The answer is, "only in New York."  The second lunch was an old reminder that "if a friend is in your neighborhood, do ANYTHING to keep them there."  They're hungry, but you already ate?  Who cares!  Once they leave the confines of your 'hood, they're gone.  And let's be honest, you don't feel like riding out to Brooklyn to visit them, either.  In the city with the best mass transportation system, a subway ride can be as daunting as a plane ride.

After the second lunch on Wednesday, everything fell into place.  The 5 story walk up.  The crowds at 10pm on a Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  The take out menus.  The happy hour specials that end at 11pm.  The huge dogs peeing all over the defenseless plastic newspaper holders.  The entire block that smells like throw up.  The feeling that you can't get where you're going fast enough.  And just everything.  New York was the first place that I ever really fell in love with because it evokes an actual feeling from me.  I may not miss living there every day...but I couldn't live without it.

Skiing

Last weekend, the hubs and I finally went skiing/snowboarding for the first time together.  I hadn't been in almost 7 years and can't believe how easy it was to get back on the mountain!  Unfortunately, this winter has been thoroughly mild and snow hasn't exactly been plentiful, but we found a mountain with some trails open and had a blast!

The quality isn't great (taken with Jeff's iPhone) and the sound in the background is the snow machine working overtime.  Also, don't be fooled...I did not go down the expert slope behind me. 

Ski lodges rule!!!!

Go skiing, all.  I highly reccommend it.  But, if you go to Mountain Creek...do NOT rent your equipment from them.  Their system is absolutely bonkers and takes at least an hour if the mountains busy.

Things that make me go hmmm...

Staying positive on this whole book-writing journey has been tough to say the least.  Writing Diary Girl was the easy part compared to what comes after.  Researching agents, drafting query letters, receiving rejection notices...the list of annoyances goes on and on.  So that's why I love a good uplifting article to give me the boost I need to forge ahead and write, write, write.

Here are two of my faves:

http://www.npr.org/2012/01/08/144804084/a-self-published-authors-2-million-cinderella-story

(this one is my favorite...)

http://www.more.com/kathryn-stockett-help-best-seller

can't.give.up.
will.not.give.up.
no.matter.what.

Things that make me go hmmm...

Being a diary-keeping-kinda girl, it may come as no surprise that I gravitate towards true stories - old and new. Articles, books, short stories or photographs - I love it all.  I love to learn from other people's journey's, no matter where they've been or what they've experienced.  Some part of me wants grow from it, or at the very least, lend an ear.

So while story-listening is somewhat of an obsession of mine, I can't help but have favorites.  And it isn't glamorous.  I'm not in love with stories about puppies (even though I do) or courageous acts selflessness (also cool).  Nope.  Those are not my fave. I love... <drumroll please>....LOVE learning from people who have experienced any sort of mental disorder.  I guess I just want to know what's out there.  What our minds are capable of.

So...without further ado, here is an article on something I have never heard of before:

Orthorexia -  It's an obsession with only allowing the healthiest of foods to enter your system.  Like most disorders, it only gets bad when taken to the extreme.

Have a read:

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/05/health/eating-healthy-obsessive/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

My commute...

Most days my commute into Times Square is a a mish mash of crowds, clutter, congestion, and noise. And yet somehow, it is almost always amusing.  Today, I had the pleasure of witnessing:

-A business woman bustling beside me cloaked in a fleece Superbowl Snuggie.
-A cabbie honking and screaming to two pedestrians only to ask a question about the Packers.
-A lone pineapple atop a public trash can cover.
-And one high-stepping fellow who managed to keep perfect pace with me all the way to my office...no matter how many cars I jumped in front of and bicycles I dodged.

Things that make me laugh...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-yLGIH7W9Y

Aaah, the things we say...

My personal favorite is, "Are you near a computer?!" 

I've been guilty of that one since weather.com came onto the scene.  First step, leave the house.  Second step, look up down and around in complete bewilderment.  Third step, remove phone from purse and call husband.  Fourth step, hang up and dial Mom when husband's voicemail sounds.  Fifth step, "Mom!  Are you near a computer?  You are?!  Thanks! I need to know if it's going to rain today."

I've never gone back for an umbrella, but I think just knowing helps.

And this...

is what the end of the day looks like!

The middle of the week has come and gone!  Happy hump day!

Things that make me laugh...

Who wore it best?

http://www.buzzfeed.com/peggy/who-wore-it-best-the-bread-necklace

My first book.

I wrote a book.  And it was hard.  It sucked me dry and it took a long time.  Like, a really really annoyingly long time.  Nobody tells you about that part of writing a book, how long it will take.  All anyone says is that it's "hard" or "worth it" or "such a great creative release," but they don't say, "Oh you're writing a book?  That takes a long ass time," because like all things in life - things in the past are but a distant memory.  Once you get past it, you forget the pain. You forget the struggle.  You lie to yourself and think it was great and totally worth it.

Clearly, I'm not there yet.

Although my book hasn't been published yet, I still have to believe it will be.  I mean, it took so long to write, it has to be.  There really is no other option. Not for me, anyway. 

My book is a compilation of my very own high school diary entries as I navigate my way through the 4 most confusing years of my life.  Diary Girl is a tale of self-exploration, insecurity, and learning.  It is my life, but in a way it could be anybody's.  So, I guess that's why I did it.  And I guess that's why I'm starting this blog, too.  Because no matter how old I get, I'll always be a diary girl, through and through.

I am a diary girl.  This is my life.