I started this blog as a way to keep my friends and family up to date while I was hibernating in grad school at Syracuse University in 2006-2007. I've recently restarted it with the same purpose in mind. I live in New York City now, which gives me even more fun stuff to see, do, and write about.
Oh boy. What in the world have I gotten myself into? Two Saturday practices in, and I am feeling seriously discouraged already. I have grossly underestimated how much of my time this training stuff would take, along with just how badly out of shape I am these days. This ought to be a lot of fun for you guys to read out there over the next few months...
My friend Jena started training about six weeks before I did. She did four weeks of pre-season training with the mentors and coaches before her proper training even started. She also got herself in gear by doing several workouts with the Couch to 5K app. She's in rare form now. She ran six miles with her team this morning!
My TNT running group
I'm not going to hash out the details of my training experiences just yet. Let me just say that I went out with the walkers last week, felt that wasn't enough of a challenge, so I tried my luck with the run/walk group this week. Those guys blew me away with their speed and endurance! I ended up walking the 4 miles we were supposed to cover on Saturday, and then I went home and vowed to start using C25K myself this week.
I posted a bit more about the group above at my fundraising page. Please take a moment to donate if you haven't yet. Every little bit helps!
Charleston buds at dinner in Park Slope
In other news, I've been keeping super busy lately between visitors and work. Work has been fantastic. I really like my new managers and responsibilities. I'm getting managerial experience that I've not had before, and I'm being treated with respect. It's really more than I'd hoped would happen.
Crystal and Brooke
Amanda and Nick and Nick's spiffy chapeau
Me and Crystal
My lovely friends from Charleston were in town last weekend, and Stephen was here as well. I saw a really strange but wonderful avant garde musical with him called Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812. It was a bizarrely upbeat retelling of War and Peace, complete with musical numbers and borscht. If you're a theater buff out there, I recommend it. Not because of the book itself, but because of how it's executed. It's really an immersive experience, and unlike anything I've done before. (I did experience Sleep No More a few years ago, so I think I can speak with some authority here.)
Stephen and me at the Russian extravaganza
Bayley reluctantly poses on the SNL stage
Stephen and Bayley were both here at the beginning of the month, and we had a fun time walking around 30 Rock when no one was really around. We took pics on the SNL stage. (Oddly enough, all three of us are still big fans.) I met them for a lovely dinner one night too. They went to see a whole bunch of theater, as they always do, but I was delighted they also made some time to come see my new digs at work.
My cousin Ani was also in town at the beginning of June. I am so proud of that kid. He just finished his MBA at Kellogg, and that's his SECOND masters degree. His first one was from Johns Hopkins. So yeah, the kid's a dope, really. He's going to be starting a job at BD later this summer, and he'll be living in Hoboken. So he was in town apartment hunting, and I am super excited that he'll be living near me soon.
Ani's birthday dinner last year
This past weekend was full of my favorite musicians. Falu played in Central Park on Friday afternoon, and I walked over there after work to catch the show. It was a lovely afternoon to be outdoors.
Falu and her band entertain us in Central Park
And then Saturday night, the show I'd been looking forward to for months. Shovels and Rope followed by Dawes. I knew from my Charleston days that Cary Ann & Michael from Shovels and Rope would deliver an energetic and engaging performance, so it was no surprise that they rocked Terminal 5 hard warming up the crowd for headliner Dawes.
Shovels and Rope rocking Terminal 5
The two bands met on Cayamo, the music cruise I went on earlier this year. I fell in love with Dawes and their Jackson Browne-ness when I saw them on the boat. I even downloaded their album in the Fort Lauderdale airport while waiting for my flight back to New York. The show ended with both acts together on stage performing a Traveling Wilburys song, and I couldn't have possibly been a happier girl after a concert.
Next week, my friend Amanda is coming up from Athens, my nieces are coming right after that, and then my brother and sister-in-law will be here the week after! July is going to be as much fun as June!
Lots of big news to report in this installment! Life took a surprising turn when I returned from Austin in March. I was offered a staff position at one of the places I'd freelanced, and it was a pleasant enough change from my former employer that I decided to take it. So far, so good. I've enjoyed working there a great deal. My co-workers are really nice. There's a fantastic work-life balance. Rudeness and disrespect are not tolerated, and I'm treated as someone with a lot of valuable experience instead of as the new guy.
Pretty flower on Sullivan's Island
I've already gotten some good career opportunities that I would never have had at the old place, so I feel pretty good about this new gig. Honestly, I feel like I've fallen through the rabbit hole most days. I am so stunned at the civility with which I am treated. It's new world order all of a sudden, but admittedly I still have PSTD from the ex. I'm constantly surprised when people are respectful and kind to me.
Best shrimp 'n' grits in town
Before I started the job officially, I took a quick trip down to Charleston to visit my pals Nick and Brooke. I hadn't been back since their wedding in 2010, so it was an overdue trip. Brooke and I had a fantastic time hitting up places like Hominy Grill and Taco Boy among lots of delicious others. We had some great cocktails as well, but I think the highlight of our day together was a long walk on Sullivan's Island followed by a frothy pina colada and lots of people-watching at Red's at Shem Creek.
People watching at Shem Creek
Back from Charleston, I started my new job. I've already launched a new show, and I love my show team. I work weekends now, but I actually like it. I have pretty good hours, so I'm not missing out on much socially. It's much more relaxed at work on the weekends, and it's nice to have weekdays off. I can go to the museum or the movies or get errands done with a lot less hassle.
Happiest stingray ever
I also spent an afternoon lunching and shopping with my friend Doretha, who is an inspiration to me in many ways. And I got to see Adrian and Kim and their lovely new house! I didn't get to spend a whole lot of time with Nick, unfortunately, because he had to work long hours the days I was in town. But hopefully I'll see a lot of him this year in NYC when he visits for Comic Con and other fun events!
Brooke and Paige at a fancy cocktail place on King St.
Brooke, Adrian, Kim and myself after a dessert spree
I've also had the pleasure of showing lots of visitors around my new workplace, and it's always fun to see remnants of SNL and other NBC properties in the building. My dear friend Jacque was in town for Memorial Day, and we had a wonderful time running in Central Park, visiting the Met, and catching up with our friend Carl and his girlfriend, Hope at Tamarind.
Carl checking out SNL backstage
In other news, my big sis (close family friend) Aparna was honored as a Champion of Change by the White House in DC last month, and my parents flew in for the occasion. I took a train down there to meet them all, and I got to see my pal Anar as well. It was a whirlwind trip, but it was delightful to catch up with my family.
My parents and Aparna in DC
Lots of new shows to report as well.
Lucky Guy: Nora Ephron's last play starring Tom Hanks, Courtney B. Vance, Maura Tierney and lots of others- really enjoyed this one
Pippin: cheesy '70s revival with a circus theme - blah
Orphans: Alec Baldwin and his co-stars are all incredible actors, but the play itself is kind of unremarkable
The Last Five Years: off-Broadway revival about a relationship gone awry - I wasn't sure about this at the beginning, but was totally sold by the end - great staging, and good music, too
Punk to Chaos: the Met's new fashion exhibit - kind of cool, but don't go during a holiday weekend
Impressionism, Fashion, & Modernity: another Met exhibit that has impressionist paintings coupled with actual dresses and suits modeled in the painting (also don't try this one during a holiday weekend) definitely worth seeing if you're into fashion and impressionism at all
Falu's Foras Road CD release concert: fantastic new tunes that capture the musicality of her live shows - wonderful show with lots of world musicians, Falu is always a good idea.
Anar and I celebrate at Delmonico's with Baked Alaska
Anar makes the best Pimm's emergency drinks ever.
And last, but not least, I've signed up to run a half marathon with my friend Jena. We're doing it through the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training program. We are fundraising to support cancer research, families of cancer patients, and cancer treatment for people who can't afford it. It's a really good cause, and we are thrilled to be a part of it.
Me & Jena last summer in LA
I've wanted to do this program since I moved to New York, but I finally felt like the time was right. Things are not so crazy at work anymore, and I can devote some time to training. I'm excited and a little apprehensive about the process, but I think this is only going to lead to good things. Hopefully I'll get in shape and meet some cool new people at the same time.
Here's my donation link if you'd like to contribute. (Thanks so much to those of you who have donated already!) I'd really appreciate the support. I'll be blogging over there about the training process, and I'll write more here about the event itself in a future post. The hardest thing is going to be getting off the couch with regularity... stay tuned.
My theme for 2013 is that every day has been kind of unbelievable. And for the first time in many years, I mean that in a really positive way. I had booked a trip out to Austin in March to visit my freshly transplanted parents, my brother and SIL, and my nieces, who were on spring break. I started telling people that I was going to be out there during South by Southwest, and before I knew it, an SVP friend over at Sundance/IFC comped me a wristband for the event. Who's going to scoff at that? I was completely elated.
Getting ready for some music
Sidenote: I'd attended this event about 8 years ago, and I remember pitching it to my former employer as something I'd love to cover for them. They told me "Nobody cares about that event. It's not mainstream enough." And I specifically remember telling them, "It won't be off-the-radar in a few years. It's going to be a big deal." Um yeah, so this year, I spotted about 10 satellite trucks and countless media set-ups as I was walking around downtown Austin. Ahem.
Josh Rouse at the Paste stage
This event was completely overwhelming to me this time around. Fortunately, I had a friend in town who had credentials and was tipping me off to the things I simply had to see, which was helpful. Otherwise, I was really out of sorts. I didn't have a game plan of any kind, and really, I had simply planned to spend some time with my family on this trip when good fortune came my way. I saw some good music - most of it bands I already knew about (Dawes, Josh Rouse, The Zombies, and I can't even remember what else. It was sensory overload out there.) Chvrches from Scotland was a really cool surprise at the SPIN stage. I overheard Zak Waters while walking by a venue and went in and enjoyed their set.
Robyn Hitchcock show w/ special guests
My big miss from this year's SxSW was the Green Day show. It was the first public performance since Billy Joe got out of rehab, and I naturally assumed it would be a mob scene (like most of the other venues had been up to that point.) So I opted out of waiting in a long line and not getting in, and I heard later that it would've been easy to get into with my wristband. Oh well... next time.
Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose.
I also bumped into the film crew that had worked on Friday Night Lightsas I was walking back to my car one day. I recognized the sign in the truck as one that hangs in the Dillon Panthers' locker room, and I couldn't help myself but to stop and chat with the people in the truck. Turns out they were setting up a filming for a new ABC pilot, and they couldn't have been nicer people. They told me how nice the whole cast and creative team were. Working on that show was clearly a highlight for them also.
Dawes (in shadow) at Waterloo's outdoor stage
My niece Annika is in high school now, and she and her friends had a blast going to all the free shows that SxSW offers during the day. I took her and her friends to one club the first day, and then they were on their own from there. It was exciting to see her so enthusiastic about seeing new music and finding creative ways to express herself. (It also explains why I don't have any pics of her from this trip. I wasn't exactly Johnny-on-the-spot with the camera either.)
Anirban & his awesome creme brulee
My cousin Anirban and his wife Ekta graciously invited my whole family over for dinner one night. They made delicious veggie lasagna, salad, and creme brulee! Plus they had lots of wine. It was a good thing. My other cousin, Sumi, made yummy garlic bread, and we basically had fun feasting and hanging out at their cozy place. Austin is so much fun whenever I visit because all these cool people live there!
My grandmother passed away in February this year, and my parents had been in India for a few weeks taking care of the funeral services and whatnot. They returned to Austin in the middle of my visit, so I got to spend a little time with them also. We had a nice outing at IKEA one day while the kids were at school and my brother/SIL were at work. My brother & SIL took me out to lunch at this fabulous sushi place another day while the kids were at school. Ekta, Anirban and I shared some pints on St. Pat's Day, and Sumi got dragged all over downtown with me on the last day of SxSW. So I managed to get in some quality time with everyone, which was fantastic.
While Annika was out with her friends and the other adults were working, I was able to spend a lot of time with her sister, Saira. We did a little shopping, talked viola (hooray!!!), made jewelry, drank tea, and got pedis together.
Morning tea time
One night, the girls and I watched Pretty In Pink together in my brother's fabulous media room. It was really quite fun seeing that particular movie with them. Surprising to me - THEY LIKED IT! I mean, I like it, but it reminds me of a fun time in my life. I honestly expected them to think it was super lame, and by the end of the movie, we were all swooning over Blaine, hating Steph, and loving Duckie. And we all three unanimously loathed the dress that Andie makes for the prom. That is universal, I think.
I came back from Cayamo, rested for a couple of days, and then headed out to Park City, UT for the Sundance Film Festival. It was, as expected, an amazing experience. I met my friends Eric and Clayton out there, and because things had been so hectic at the end of last year, I'd allowed them to pick the films we were going to see. In retrospect, I should've looked at the catalog myself because there were a few more I wished I'd managed. But I also realized that I'm not the type of person that can see 3-4 art movies in a day without my head exploding. So the average of 1-2 per day was fine with me. Highlights for me were: Gideon's Army, The Look of Love, & Jiseul.
Awards night party!
Park City is a beautiful ski town, and we enjoyed walking around it. There are quaint shops and restaurants. We found a couple of great coffee shops and bonded over them. It was surprising to me that all the theaters are spread out the way they are. Some venues are in downtown Salt Lake City while others are about an hour's drive away in the mountain towns. They had a great, FREE public transport system set up to shuffle visitors from one place to another, but it was easier many times to get in Eric's car and drive to the next place.
Yep, the biggest one is the one I ordered.
My favorite venue was the Sundance resort itself. It was so funny just to walk in there for a film while people were actually skiing. It was the first place we went for a viewing after I arrived, so I was pretty mesmerized going in. It wasn't too cold, but there was a lot of snow. It is really beautiful out in Utah in general, and I'd love to go back sometime to just enjoy the resort areas. One nice lady from Atlanta who was in line with us mentioned that the summers are quite fun there. The resorts bring in live bands to drum up business, so it's quite relaxing and happening at the same time. Hopefully my overwhelming sensory overload will be less next time, so I can actually enjoy more of what's happening around me.
My friends Eric & Clayton enjoying a pre-film caffeine fix
The Norwegian Pearl was our home on the seas last week. I finally went on the Cayamo music cruise with my girlfriends who've been insisting I join them for the past five years. I've never been so ill-prepared for a trip in my life, but things were so hectic leading up to my departure that I literally threw some clothes into a suitcase and joined them in Miami.
I knew almost nothing about the ports we were scheduled to visit or the bands we were meant to see, and in a way, that was a good thing. Everything felt fresh and amazing, and it was fun to talk to people and learn about their music and the sights we were seeing. I'm still recovering from all the sensory overload and the boat moving feeling hasn't quite dissipated yet, but each swoosh is a reminder of how fabulous my trip was!
This little guy greeted us the second night in our cabin. My roommate Alana & I are still debating the type of animal - my vote is that it's an elephant. (As it should be.)
I didn't take a whole lot of pics on the boat. I was too busy taking it all in. To quote my friend Patty, it was a marathon, not a sprint. There was so much music, and so little time, and I was so very tired going into this adventure. But I am glad to say that I am catching up on sleep this week, and I powered through every night on the boat last week!
Highlights for me were: Lyle Lovett (*swoon*, 'nuff said), Dawes (my mind is officially blown by these Jackson Brown-esque rockers), Shovels & Rope (Cary Ann was channelling Dolly Parton and she and Mike rocked the house down, y'all), Liz Longley (adorable singer-songwriter from Nashville), Teddy Thompson (hilarious Brit singer-songwriter and son of legend Richard Thompson who we also saw), Brandi Carlile (holy rock 'n' roll!), and Joan Osborne (she kicks a$& live - so glad I finally got to see her perform on stage.)
First stop in San Juan. We are SUCH Americans. (But the coffee on the boat was pretty wretched.)
Here are some other pics from the trip - my friends took more photos, and when I get some pics from them, I'll post. I didn't have a waterproof camera, and I figured they would get better shots than I could. I also didn't carry my iPhone around too much this week. It was glorious being completely unplugged for an entire week. I should get a waterproof watch for next time, though. It was kind of stressful not knowing what time it was b/c there was almost always another concert to attend. This vacation was a lot of work, y'all!
This is the view from one of the forts in San Juan.
Tuesday - We walked off the boat in San Juan and wandered into town (after our coffee fix, of course.) We visited two beautiful forts that were used to protect the island and got a very nice view of the town and its shores from the top of both. We also did a little shopping before heading back to the ship. It was a really nice, relaxing day.
Another view from the fort in San Juan.
Wednesday - Antigua was kind of a weird place to hang out. The port area itself is not in the best part of town, so we wandered around in a sketchy 'hood a bit before discovering the duty-free shopping center nearby. We had some fruity drinks, did some shopping, and then decided we should try to do some actual sightseeing before heading back to the Pearl. We walked up to an old Catholic church in town that was unfortunately closed and kind of a wreck. Then we went back on the boat for more music... after indulging in another round of fruity drinks, of course.
Antigua - we were looking for a place to have fruity drinks. No fruity drinks here - just pizza. And an anatomically correct banana.
Coasters in Antigua - If I tell you what it means, will you buy me a drink?
Thursday - in Tortola, our group split up. Patty and her bf went on a catamaran excursion with the Sixthman crew and some of the artists. They got to hang out at a bar called Soggy Dollar, and everyone seemed to have had a really good time. Alana and I decided to take a tour of Virgin Gorda, which was a cool trek through some beautiful rock formations that finally ended in a beautiful lagoon called Devil's Bay. We had a wonderful time taking in the sun and swimming in the turquoise water. (She has all the pics from that day b/c she was smart and brought a waterproof camera bag.)
Everglades National Park
On Sunday I had some time to kill in Miami before heading back to NYC, so I did an excursion of the Everglades. Everyone on my tour was recovering from Cayamo, and it was kind of hilarious how tired everyone was. The puzzled tour guide even commented that he usually has more enthusiastic post-cruise crowds. But we rallied and saw the crocs, rode the airboat, and walked around the native hut before being deposited at our respective airports.
More Everglades
The folks that live in the Everglades are my kind of people. They like to sleep in the sun, eat, and do little else.
That's all I've got for now. I'm heading off to Park City, UT tomorrow for Sundance. Guys, I can't even believe my life right now. I really can't. I think reality is going to be tough when I have to start working for a living again in Feb... but in the words of Scarlett O'Hara, I'll worry about that tomorrow.
(Photo courtesy of Prospect Park. I spent NYE in Brooklyn, inside a warm apartment, not outside in the park, though.)
Happy New Year! It's been a whirlwind these past few months, and I have no photos to accompany this post. Big news to share: I quit my job at the end of last year, and I couldn't be happier right now. I was very lucky and picked up a few freelance gigs right away, and I've been doing a seasonal job at a cooking store on top of my early-morning shifts. Oddly enough, I like the retail job so much that it was one of the reasons I decided to quit my full-time gig.
There were several reasons actually. It started with a TV writing course I took in mid-October. I felt so inspired and enthusiastic just sitting in that classroom talking about all things TV with the instructor that I started actively thinking about ways I could get away from my "day job." Then Hurricane Sandy happened, and it was horribly mismanaged by my bosses, which I was tangibly able to compare to the superior tactics of the cooking store managers. And then the hospital visit happened.
In the hospital, my roommate was a feisty, elderly woman who had stage four cancer. She'd lived in New York her whole life and was a maven in the fashion industry back in the '80s. She had been a model, and then she managed to shift into the business side when her looks "faded." She was still a beautiful woman, who was clearly in a lot of chronic pain when I met her. In between complaining about the nurses, she would throw me a morsel of serious wisdom every couple of hours. One of those nuggets was to make sure I didn't throw away my 30s chasing my career. *gulp* How did she know?!
Basically my takeaway from that experience was that I really wasn't doing anything to build up my own life at that moment. I was slaving away at a job that I absolutely loathed. And I'd been doing that for four years fooling myself into believing it would get better if I worked harder. Truth is, it never did. It just kept getting worse. I'd tried to like it for four long years, and while I liked living in New York City, it wasn't enough to spend most of my time at a job that literally made me dread going to bed at night b/c waking up meant I had to go to work. At some point, a person has to call the game and move on. And the universe was clearly sending me some strong signals to get out fast.
So I set a deadline. I was going to resign on Dec. 3 no matter what. I wanted to have the holidays to relax a bit and then start 2013 fresh. I had been interviewing for other jobs off and on over the past couple of years, but things never seemed to work out quite right. At the advice of a career counselor, I started asking around about freelance projects, and the Tuesday before my deadline, two projects landed in my lap. I felt freedom was near, and I suddenly had the confidence to hand in my resignation on my scheduled date!
Things never work out exactly as planned, and my bosses convinced me to stay on through the holidays (which resulted in one freelance gig completely disappearing, much to my horror.) But working the holidays at my old gig is usually low-key and not entirely unpleasant, so I stuck it out till the end of 2012. As one freelance gig disappeared, another one materialized just before Christmas (let's call it a Saturnalia miracle!), and I am happy to say that I start training over there on Monday.
Unfortunately, I didn't have very many days off to relax as this week was full of running to different offices all over Manhattan to fill out paperwork, etc, but I did manage to do a lot of organizing. I bought and sold some furniture, I cleaned out my closets and drawers, and I gave a crap ton of stuff away to Goodwill. I even spent some quality time with my mother who's been visiting for the holidays. I celebrated both the start of 2013 and leaving my job with some close friends from grad school. I spend New Years Day night at a Joseph Arthur concert without the worry that I would have to wake up the next morning at 4am to go to work!
As 2013 begins, I feel hopeful and happy for the first time in many years. I am training at a new place this week, and then I head off on a seven-day cruise to Tortola, Antigua, and San Juan with two of my favorite girlfriends. I come back to NYC for a few days, and then I am heading out to Park City, Utah for Sundance (and I am also doing some consulting work while I am out there.) So it's going to be a busy month, and I pray that some work for Feb lines up while all this is going on. I can't imagine it won't. I've not felt this secure in a very long time. Wish me luck guys! And may 2013 be amazing for all of us!
