A touch of happiness = Free ice cream day!

My goodness, it has been a long time since I've posted. I've miss it (and you guys and gals)!

I've been a busy bee at work, school, and especially with wedding planning, etc. I never doubted that planning one's wedding was a stressful time, but the reality is even more ridiculous than even my vivid imagination could have dreamed up. Relative drama, in-law drama, friend one-upsmanship drama, florist drama, 'oh, you're not having a church ceremony' drama...the list grows everyday. I feel like Nell Carter - geez, just Gimme a Break already :)

There was a highlight at work today though. Free ice cream from Mr. Softee!!! I did actually want to scream when it was time to get some, but the HR Rep was down there and who needs that kind of attention.

Of course, everyone who wanted ice cream had to RSVP and pick up their numbered ticket first, but it was so worth it. It's about 2 million degrees (ok, ok 97 - but it feels like 106!) outside and taking a sweet treat break sounded just dandy to me. If only they had a free frozen margarita day (virgin's okay) tomorrow. It's supposed to feel even hotter then :( Is there an 'I hate summer weather, and feel all icky because I'm sweating too much' emoticon?

Now, back to work. Hope you're all keeping cool somehow.

The hundred-and-forty-sixth day...

It was just too hot today. I stepped out only to go to the bank and then practically ran back to my office. On my way back, I did see that J Crew updated their window display again. Books for back to school? It's kind of cute.


I also had a popped collar sighting as the owner of said collar almost pushed me into oncoming traffic. Apparently her quest to get to Sephora/Coach/insert-store-name-here was simply more important than my life. I managed to educate her on the meaning of common courtesy (abridged version :) and explained exactly where she could stick that snide look she gave me as we crossed the street. What happened to manners and courtesy? I mean, I know it's NYC, but come on!

Well, I'm off to try and find some Benadryl cream for my mosquito bites - yet another reason why summer is my absolute least favorite season. Only a little over a month left until fall though, right?

Have a great night everyone!

The hundred-and-forty-second day...(a little belated)

Today was absolutely beautiful. Hazy, hot and way too humid - but absolutely beautiful! My family and I ran a few errands, so most of my day was spent in Kohl's and JcPenney, but it was pretty great. I bought a few shirts, had an amazing mango smoothie, and took some pictures of people enjoying a wonderful day.

My man and I saw G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra last night. I didn't remember much of the Joe back story, but my man filled me in a bit along the way, and I have to say, I really enjoyed the movie. I think all of the actors did a good job, and the action was great. Oh and Ray Park, you are awesome! If only we got to see your face a bit more in your movies :)

I love laid back weekends.

Have a great night everyone!

The hundred-and-thirty-ninth day...It's hot outside, but it's lovely in here - oh, and questions are getting answered too :)

The questions have been asked :) So what did inquiring minds want to know?

From Fidgeting Gidget…

1. Since your blog is all about pictures, what is your favorite picture that you've ever taken?
My favorite pictures tend to change with my mood, but there are two that I'm very partial to.

First, a view of the city streets that was taken from the Empire State Building Observation Deck. I just love how the streets look like a maze. This is pretty much how I think of NYC - a maze of streets, people, buildings, and yellow cabs.


Second, is a picture that I took of Jeff Goldblum the first time I was lucky enough to meet him. My legs were shaking so bad that I'm surprised the picture came out so clear :)



Both of the above pictures were taken on the day when my man took me to see Mr. Goldblum in The Pillowman. The play and city exploration day were my graduation gifts from him, and I loved 'em!

2. Are you or have you ever posted a pic of yourself on here? If so, I think I missed it.
To date, I’ve never posted a picture of myself – at least not one where my face is seen. I may post one in the future, but that time has not yet come :)

3. Tell us more about your man. How'd you meet? What's he like?

Well...My man and I met in high school :) We actually said hi to each other a couple of times during our freshman year, but didn’t really talk to each other until sophomore year – he was the cute, sweet guy who always took the time to talk to the girl with her head in a book. We lost touch junior year, and met up again at the senior year Halloween dance he came as Puff Daddy (which meant that he was dressed to kill in an amazing suit), and I was dressed completely out of character as a black widow queen (fishnets, high heels, dramatic makeup, and a slinky black dress, etc). I saw his from across the room, he singled me out and asked me if I’d like something to drink…it was all very cute and I loved it! Through the long distance thing during college and law school, we’ve been in love and together ever since.

What’s he like? Well, he’s a cute, funny, sexy, video game fanatic who gets my jokes (he even waits patiently for me to finish laughing at my own hilarity – as I often do). He gets my friends (we are a crazy bunch) and my movie addiction (seriously, he counted it out and, all told, we saw like 120 movies last year – or something). He is fiercely loving, loyal, respectful and protective, and he always makes me feel sexy, loved, safe, and happy. He’s a family man, and I know that he’ll be a wonderful hubby and father some day. He’s my soul mate – nothing plain and simple about it, but lots of things that are awesome and wonderful about it. I knew it back in our senior year of high school. I knew it when my family drove over to his house at like 3 in the morning on the day when I had to move to Boston for college and our moms watched and gushed about how cute we were as we just stood there hugging and saying how much we were going to miss each other in the month before I’d be home again; and I feel it and know it more each and every day. Well, that was a bit mushy gushy :)

From Lee…

1. Do you have a Mac?

No, I use a PC. My poor Toshiba is a little sick, so I’ve been mainly using the family HP.

2. How many songs are on your mp3 player? If you have one.

I have about 200 songs. I don't really download much music, and am currently too lazy to transfer the rest of my cd's to my computer.

3. What kind of camera do you use?

I mainly use a Fujifilm FinePix J10; but I also have a Fujifilm Finepix S1000fd that I use every so often. On the odd days that I forget my camera at home (gasp!), or the battery dies, etc. I usually use the camera on my phone (a Samsung Gravity).

4. What do you do for a living?

I work for an entertainment union. I work with producers, etc to obtain and review all of their paperwork and chain-of-title to make sure that everything is in order, and get them to the point where they are able to use performers from our membership in their films.

From Badass…

I feel like I've seen this done somewhere before... =)

I don’t know what you mean :)

1. Are you left or right-handed?

I am a righty, though I used to (still do actually) wish that I was ambidextrous.

From Moonjava…

1. I've always been a little curious about the dayjobs of my blogger buddies. What do you do currently (career, etc)? And do you love what you do?
Well, as I said above I work for an entertainment union. It can be challenging, and it often is, and while I don’t love what I do right now - due to a mix of work stress and job environment stress – I do really like it. I’ve been working there for a little over two years now, and hope to be there for many more.

Now, what would I really love to do as a career? I would want to be a psychologist (specializing in international psychology). I’m actually going back to school, p/t, to get my M.A. degree in this so we’ll see :)

From Optimistic Pessimist...

1. Wine or beer? Why?
Beer. I've never been a fan of wine - maybe I just haven't found the one for me - but I do enjoy a nice cold one every now and then.

2. What's one of your favorite things about NYC? Least favorite?

One of my favorite things has to be the diversity. The city houses so many different kinds of people, food, cultures, clothes, etc.; it's great. It's exciting to know that I have a seemingly unlimited set of possibilities and experiences so close by.

One of my least favorite is the grime. The city can be a dirty, smelly, disgusting place - especially on hot and humid summer days.

3. Are you going to come watch me run the NYC marathon?

I would love to see some of the marathon live. I've only ever caught it in bits and pieces on TV. I just may come and join the ranks of people cheering you on :)

4. You are in NYC right, if not...why do i think you are?

I live in Queens, but I do work in NYC :)

Thus ends today's question and answer period. That was fun - feel free to ask me more questions anytime :)

In other news...

The wonderful ____j over @ this is me, consequently just awarded me with this lovely award. ____j's blog is lovely, and she just reached her 100th post so congrats to her :) Thanks for the award ____j!

Rules:

1. Add the logo to your blog; 2. Link to the person from whom you received this award; 3. Nominate 7 or more blogs; and 4. Leave a message on their blog, letting them know they are One Lovely Blog!

I’ve seen this award floating around quite a bit so I’m not going to tag anyone, but everyone should feel free to take it and post it on their blog - I mean seriously, all of your blogs are too lovely and cool for you not to!

I'm off to sit in front of an air conditioner - it's HOT! Enjoy the rest of the night everyone!

The hundred-and-thirty-second day...

Today was a lovely day - lovely looking anyway. It was actually steamy, humid and horrible feeling - but it looked lovely.

Beautiful skies and no traffic. What fun :)

The sun was shining, the sky was clear and I enjoyed most of the day from the comfort of my office. I had to run out to the post office, but I literally ran there and back. It took all of 10 minutes, but it was more than enough time to be outside. I was lucky on the commute home as well and my train and bus both had air conditioning (yesterday's trek home was another story). Oh man, I seriously believe that air-conditioning is one of man's greatest inventions :)

In other news:

1) The toxicology report results on the mother from the Taconic Crash came in today and showed that not only was her blood alcohol level twice the legal limit, but she also had traces of marijuana in her system. This horrible tragedy just keeps getting worse. We can only wait and see where the law takes this case from here;

2) Bill Clinton's still got it :) After stories like the one above, it's nice to hear good news every now and then;

3) One of my oldest and dearest friends (Kendra :) is now blogging for Stratejoy; which is cool website for women who feel themselves experiencing a bit of a Quarterlife Crisis. All of the bloggers are interesting, and the posts are fun to read. Kendra is the wonderful writer and storyteller who blogs on Tuesdays. Her latest post can be found here; and

4) How is it that I am just becoming aware of the sarcastic news-spinning genius that is Philip DeFranco? My sisters and I started watching his YouTube show (The Philip DeFranco Show) a couple of weeks ago and were instantly hooked. It's a seriously funny, weird, clever, sometimes cringe worthy vlog :) You definitely need to have an open mind and a sense of humor to get the full enjoyment. It doesn't hurt that PhillyD is easy on the eyes - yeah, I like the sexy geeks :)

Stay cool and have a great night everyone!

The hundred-and-twenty-ninth and hundred-and-thirtieth days combined...

I can't believe that the weekend is almost over again. How is it that the work week can move so slowly, but the weekend (or any personal or fun time) flies by in the blink on an eye? Someone should research that. It's probably some trick of time and space - or not :)

Oh man, it's (once again) hot today. I feel like I'm sitting in a giant sauna. It's too hot to anything of significance so, I've decided to just sit on the couch, hang out with Sis 1 and watch Man vs. Food on the Travel Channel. I love that show. For anyone who has never seen the show, it follows Adam Richman as he travels to all over the place sample all kinds of delicious foods, and competing in challenges.

I have an ever-growing list of restaurants that I have to visit just from seeing them on this show. I mean how can anyone say no to restaurants that serve 5 pound deep dish pizzas, 13 inch pancakes (in buttermilk, pumpkin, or wheat), over 70 varieties of doughnuts (including a peanut butter and bacon variety and a maple and bacon bar - yea, you read that right), or an unlimited sausage buffet. I'm getting hungry just thinking about all that :) Anyway, point is, it's a great show - especially if you're a foodie. Adam's a funny host too, so that just makes it more interesting.

On the way back from errand running yesterday, I passed this house for sale.

I don't know what it looks like inside, but I like the curb appeal. I think part of why it appeals to me so much is because it's a one family house. The one-family house is becoming such a rarity in my area - it's a shame. On every little plot of land - poof! Like evil magic, up pops a new 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or more family home. It's kind of sad. I'm sick of being a renter, and I feel that by the time I really want to buy a house I won't even be able to find a one family house :( That time is a while off though, so we'll see.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone! True, Monday is on the horizon, but on the bright side, True Blood's on at 9 :)

The hundred-and-twenty-seventh day...

I was so busy at work today. The good side to that is that I closed a lot of projects, but the bad is that I had a raging headache for awhile and I am exhausted. It's a good thing that I have tomorrow off - even though I can't sleep late due to an early morning doctor appointment. Hopefully I'll be done there by Noon so I can enjoy the rest of the day. Who am I kidding? I just want to come home and sleep :) Sleep like it's my job.

Today was hot and humid (again) but it wasn't raining! It was great. The sun was out and the sky was nice and blue-ish :) If it had been a little cooler, it would have been an almost perfect day.

The lunchtime crowd took full advantage of the nice weather.

My last lunchtime people-watching picture for the day was of these 4 tourists.


I just got a kick out of the rainbow of I Love NY shirts. I used to have one of those shirts. I wore it until it practically fell apart. I should get another one one day. Anyway, it was nice to see people who were so obviously having fun exploring the city :)

Have a great night everyone!

The hundred-and-twenty-fifth day...

It was so hazy, hot and humid in the city today...


It smelled like a toilet :( There are many smells that make up the city, and on many days the smells can be wonderful - kind of like an aromatic symphony. Today was not one of those days. The city was especially ripe today - especially the subway. I'm just glad to be home. It's sleeping time.

How did the weather treat all of you today?

Enjoy the rest of the night everyone!

The eighty-second day...

Due to signal issues and a stalled train in the tunnel, I had to do a bit of walking before I could catch a train home tonight. Thank goodness the rain had already stopped, but I was still soaked by the time I got on the train. Humidity, I loathe thee.

A few pics from my walk:

Yet another spectacular fountain :)

Well, I'm off to sleep. Have a great night everyone!

The seventy-fifth day...It's getting hot in here

It's here. Summery weather filled with horribly oppressive heat and humidity. I hate this weather - and the humidity is only going to get worse over the next few days. Peachy!

How's the day going for everyone else?

Mr. Sun, you are really starting to tick me off :(

Enjoy the rest of the day everyone! I'm off to sit as close to the air conditioner as humanly possible.