the new jacks 

  

shore weekend

 
spent the weekend at LaraBel's shore house in Point Pleasant with these lovely ladies... 

 
my favorite jersey girls 

 
 

  

  

wtc five years later

I worked a half day today, met up with V and headed down to WTC to grab lunch in the courtyard at the World Financial Center (gorgeous day) and then catch Oliver Stone's movie. It was my idea to watch the movie down there - thought it would be fitting, however, I had no idea how I'd react. Some New Yorkers have complained that with WTC and United 93, that it's too soon. I totally understand why.

I knew that I would cry watching the movie, but what I didn't know was that I would start to cry a few minutes into it. 9/11 was an absolutely gorgeous morning with the skies amazing clear and bright, I was in the midst of gearing up for our trip to Ireland and Spain, and then IT happened. Watching this movie brought back a lot of memories - vivid images and emotions from that day, the couple of times that me and my friends spent volunteering at the Ground Zero respite centers, and lastly, the day that SG took me out to lunch to break the news that he's enlisted in the Army.

The NY Times captures the jist of the movie fittingly:

“World Trade Center” is, from the first frame to last, almost unbearably moving. It could hardly be otherwise, given the facts of the story and the memories it will stir up.

It is this combination of frantic action with stunned, shocked impotence that “World Trade Center” most effectively reproduces.

Mr. Stone has taken a public tragedy and turned it into something at once genuinely stirring and terribly sad. His film offers both a harrowing return to a singular, disastrous episode in the recent past and a refuge from the ugly, depressing realities of its aftermath.

Don't get me wrong. I'm happy to have seen the movie, but now I have to figure out how to dig myself out of this melancholy funk. Not even a shoe and purse shopping trip to Century 21 helped. Maybe the thing to do is just let it take its natural course... Luckily, I'm headed out of town first thing in the AM with Chett... Maybe the weekend at the Shore will be a bit uplifting.

tact

Being in PR, I love this quote:

"Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy." --Howard W. Newton

silly

"Silly is you in a natural state, and serious is something you have to do until you can get silly again." --Mike Myers, actor

hmmmm....

"How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives."

--Annie Dillard, American author and Nobel Prize recipient

arrrrrepas!

 

Alphabet City: drinks with ben, scott and lucy before we hit Caracas 

some random pics from my DC trip in june

 
waiting in line at Olsson's 

 
celebrity booksigning 

  

 
that's Ralph Nader behind me! 

 
next up to meet the man of the hour 

 
I thought I had seen everything in DC, but this new World War II memorial was a treat -- especially on a gorgeous, sun-filled day. 

 
flips get some acknowledgement for their support during the war  

 
women, too!  

 
 
the perfect way to spend my last morning in the MD/DC area... at the golf course!

 
an Ethiopian family style meal in DC 

 
chicagobob swings 

 
k and m 

 
bob with a rollingstone friend of his and k's 

cate. liz. yours truly.

  

cate. me.

  

beautifully stated

V sent this my way... Thanks, chica!

Every good thought you're thinking is contributing to the rest of your life.

As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let you down probably will. You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it's harder every time. You'll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You'll fight with your best friend. You'll blame a new love for things an old one did. You'll cry because time is passing too fast, and you'll eventually lose someone you love. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back.

Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin.

~ Eddie Wilson ~

everyone's a star

For sh*ts and giggles, I've been playing with the face recognition software here. Upload a pic and see which celebrity you look like!

a couple of desperate housewives?

young ingenues... friggin' hilarious!

love like we do

Edie Brickell reunited with the New Bohemians last week at Central Park SummerStage. Wonders upon wonders, she's still around. In turn, this reminds me of EyeballKid and SGHS... Good times, good yet angst-filled times [sigh].

Two of my favorite song lyrics below... one is downright depressing and the other is a happy, happy tune!
-------------------------
Edie Brickell & New Bohemians
Circle

Me, I'm a part of your circle of friends
and we notice you don't come around
Me, I think it all depends
on you touching ground with us.
But, I quit. I give up.
Nothing's good enough for anybody else
it seems.
And I quit. I give up.
Nothing's good enough for anybody else
it seems.

And being alone
is the best way to be.
When I'm by myself it's
the best way to be.
When I'm all alone it's
the best way to be.
When I'm by myself
nobody else can say goodbye.

Everything is temporary anyway.
When the streets are wet --
the color slip into the sky.
But I don't know why that means you and I are
- that means you and....
I quit -- I give up.
Nothin's good enough for anybody else it seems.
But I quit. I give up.
Nothing's good enough for anybody else it seems.

And being alone
is the best way to be.
When I'm by myself it's
the best way to be.
When I'm all alone it's
the best way to be.
When I'm by myself
nobody else can say...

Me, I'm a part of your circle of friends
and we notice you don't come around.

Halalalalalala
-----------------------------
Edie Brickell & New Bohemians
Love Like We Do

Life is better than the days behind. What's mine is yours and what's yours is mine. No aggravation that we can't get through. A situation for the lucky few. And every day is just a little more of time together to be happy for. I'm happy even when the times are rough. Cause any time with you is good enough when we love like we do. I don't believe in hatred anymore. I hate to think of how it felt before when anger overwhelms your very soul. It's hard to realize you'll ever know love like we do.

----------------------------
Man, we were such saps way back when! (Okay, who am I kidding? I'm still a sap.)

joy

"Joy is a more powerful motivator than fear."
--Dr. Dean Ornish, founder, Preventative Medicine Research Institute

rare

"Opportunity is rare, and a wise man will never let it go by him."
--Bayard Taylor

it's in the blood...

Okay, to divert from the horoscopes, here's another "telling" feature... blood type. This is courtesy of a good friend who happens to also be my holistic health counselor... I happen to be blood type B positive (cute, no?).

Type B - Balanced
nomad, flexible, creative

Strength: strong immune system, versatile adaptation to changes in diet and environment, strong nervous system, tolerates chaos

Weakness: no natural weaknesses, tendency toward auto-immune breakdowns and rare viruses

Finding out more in tonight's session!

man, i do a lot of posts that involve horoscopes

... and for someone that claims that it's something that my mom got me into and it's an effect of growing up in Southern California (as is tarot card and tea leaf reading - which I haven't been into since the 90's), it's a strange habit that I check the L.A. Times site every day.

Anyhow, lately, I've been really putting a lot of pressure on myself, and in turn, I've been freaking out a bit. Yes, it could be due to new job jitters and an extensive case of PMS, but I've been a bit more neurotic lately. You see, I've been doing pretty well so far in the month or so of starting the new gig, and seemingly out of nowhere, I've been getting some exposure that I wasn't expecting to get so quickly. My friends seem to say that it's a fantastic opportunity, that this is a good thing. But part of me is petrified.

So going back to why I started this post about horoscopes, there was an item in today's L.A. Times, and it offered this advice to a Capricorn that went through a similar path:

"While I believe I have developed a higher level of maturity this past year, my 20s have seemed like a roller-coaster ride. I often have trouble maintaining commitments (friendships, occupations, education, intimate relationships, etc.) because I get bored easily and want to try new things. I'm truly having fun with life, but I'm missing a sense of security in it."

This is the response, which seems to make sense:

What you're up against now, dear Cappy, is called "Dilettantism." Definition: One who pursues things superficially or for amusement only. Dabbler. Amateur. It's a symptom Capricorns often have, quite frankly, because they can. They're so capable in so many areas that it's easy to claim boredom -- everyone will believe them. To get out of this vicious state (it robs you of any real satisfaction), the remedy is to commit yourself to one goal and don't stop until you have it. For any reason. At all. Recognize that boredom is really your fear of failing, succeeding or changing -- and your unwillingness to try.

I'm really trying to create a healthy balance, meaningful, successful and steady without compromising a sense of personal growth, adventure and fun. I joke around that I'm having a sense of deja vu - flashbacks of how I felt when I first moved to the City over 13 years ago - a lot of excitement, anticipation and the overwhelming sense of purpose and opportunity abound. I've actually been waking up from dreams involving folks whom I was involved with in my 20s, which more than likely has nothing to do with how I felt/feel about the individuals themselves, but it's been a common occurrence this summer [the dreams]. And they are dreams, not nightmares. I'm just hoping that now that I'm a little older and seasoned, that I don't end up making the same mistakes because if I did, the consequences would seem to be much more severe.

the san fernando valley? hip? like, totally!

From the Sunday NY Times...

NEW YORK TIMES
July 16, 2006
By MARC WEINGARTEN

Surfacing
The San Fernando Valley? Hip? Like, Totally!

THE San Fernando Valley has always gotten a bad rap. For years, it has been associated with two dubious cultural phenomena: Valley Girls and pornography. But just as the city of Los Angeles has undergone a process of rediscovery in long-neglected regions like the downtown area, so this suburban outpost across the Santa Monica mountains has also experienced an image makeover.

“A lot of people move from West Hollywood to the Valley when they have kids,” said Mark Frauenfelder, a Valley resident who co-founded the Web site www.boingboing.net. “They still want to go out at night, but they want to stay closer to home, instead of driving over the hill and wasting a half hour of precious babysitter time.”

The velvet rope has come to the Valley in a big way, especially on Ventura Boulevard, around the Studio City-Sherman Oaks corridor, where bar-hopping on foot is possible.

With its Plexiglas barstools and padded white leather walls, Clear (11916 Ventura Boulevard, 818-980-4811) is the Valley’s take on sleek Euro-chic. A rotating cast of D.J.’s spin dance music Tuesday through Sunday, but Saturday is when you might see some single men ogling micro-skirted passers-by, their sunglasses hiding their furtive glances.

A few feet away from Clear is Sapphire (11938 Ventura Boulevard, 818-506-0777), a bar with a clubby, English drawing-room atmosphere — brown leather banquettes, tan wood paneling, low light from table lamps. Sapphire, whose owners also run Daddy’s, an equally dim establishment in Hollywood, was once a well-kept secret. But it’s now a wildly popular after-dinner destination, with the line snaking down Ventura Boulevard on Saturday nights. Best to get there when the bar opens at 7 every night and stake your claim to a seat early.

A short walk east on Ventura Boulevard from Sapphire on a weekend night will land you at an unmarked building with a bouncer in front. This would be Firefly (11720 Ventura Boulevard, 818-762-1833), a restaurant that shares Sapphire’s fusty Anglo décor but also serves entrees like foil-wrapped monkfish ($24) and roasted Muscovy duck breast ($26) in an airy outdoor seating area. The objective for many here is to hang out at the bar first and then pick someone up before dessert arrives.

Several other fine restaurants have opened in recent years. La Loggia, the Studio City Italian restaurant, has opened Next Door Tapas Bar (11814 Ventura Boulevard, 818-985-9222), an intimate space with an extensive Spanish wine list and tantalizing items like lamb stew with couscous ($8) and steak fries with aioli dipping sauce ($4). For heartier fare, there’s the Boneyard Bistro (13539 Ventura Boulevard, 818-906-7427), a barbecue joint that doesn’t scrimp on big slabs of red meat, but also throws in a few curve balls, such as deep-fried macaroni and cheese ($6 for a large portion) and smoked-duck spring rolls ($11).

The Valley is getting downright cosmopolitan, but it’s unlikely the region will ever completely morph into a hip haven. You can still hit the great Dupars coffee shop (12036 Ventura Boulevard, 818-766-4437) for the best pancakes in town, while old-school waitresses feed your caffeine fix and call you “darlin” as they slip you the check. It seems as if urbanity will always rub up against the quaint here.

Link: http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/07/16/travel/16surface.html?8td&emc=td

the coolest kid i know

more on this later...

"Happiness is not perfected until it is shared."
-Jane Porter

tapestry

"We don't accomplish anything in this world alone ... and whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one's life and all the weavings of individual threads from one to another that creates something."

--Sandra Day O'Connor, former U.S. Supreme Court Justice