lindsy in the city

2011-07-01T12:42:00.000-07:00

Fourth of July Weekend!!! And Friday Dance break!! This one has got to be good:

That's right...this chick cannot be tamed!!!!

Center Stage forever!!

2011-06-21T16:38:00.000-07:00

Jennifer Crusie is a goddess.

Really.

I've read almost everything she's written and loved them all. And I know that I have a long history of loving romances, but I think anyone would like her books. So you should try! And read Welcome to Temptation first. I got that book as a birthday present from someone (who?!?! I can't remember but I owe you a big kiss!) and never stopped reading.

I want to celebrate Ms. Crusie by reading all of her books in order this summer...starting with her first book, Manhunting. Thats right! Its going to be a fun summer!

What are you reading?

2011-06-17T11:35:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday!

Here's your Friday dance break:

I like that Robyn and I have similar dancing styles and I bet when she is at the club she is a "solo artist" like myself!

Thanks Ryan for the link!

2011-06-16T13:51:00.000-07:00

Oh Man! ~~Felicity~~ Keri Russell's house is ah-Mah-zing. Russell and her super-dreamy carpender husband
rehabed a brownstone in Ft. Greene. Jealous!!! Why couldn't I have stared in a CW soap (and if it were me...I would have chosen Noel! As you already know)!?!?!

I've heard that Keri Russell is sometimes spotted at the Ft. Greene farmer's market, we are so close to becoming best friends!

Photos by : William Waldron for Elle Decor
Found on Black*Eiffel

2011-06-15T12:33:00.000-07:00

I couldn't sleep last night (maybe having something to do with the sheer shock of Blake Sheldon saving Xenia on The Voice...yikes!) and this song became my lullaby:

Oh Cher.

Tonight is the last game of the Stanley Cup finals. I thought I'd try to convince my roomies to watch it even though the Sabres aren't playing.

2011-06-14T16:17:00.000-07:00

Hello! So its almost officially summer and I've been inspired by some of the blogs that I read to make a list of ten things that I'd like to accomplish this season. I've never been one to turn down a list making opportunity so here it goes:

Explore the Library (there are so many exciting things happening at NYPL, and I'm going to try to squeeze myself in the middle of it...if they'll have me)
Ride my bike. I bought a bike a few years ago and riding has been pretty touch and go...mainly because I'm afraid of riding with cars in NYC. But I'm getting a little braver and also finding cool bike rides in the city that hopefully I can be a part of.
Spend more time in the studio. I've started to hit my stride in ceramics, mainly because I've been very inspired after seeing pieces by Gertrud Vasegaard.
Step my game up. Nice clothes, red lipstick, shiny hair. I'm a grown up now, summer is no excuse!
Read a scandalous biography. Any suggestions?
Go to an outdoor concert. I always think I don't like these things...but I should actually go to one before I make such a decision.
Karaoke! I'm feeling these songs right now :)
Make my own stationary. And start letter writing again...remember that?
Take a hike.
Go back to the beach. Far Rockaway is where its at

Do you guys have any goal this summer? Please don't tell me I'm the only list making weirdo out there!

2011-05-25T12:25:00.000-07:00

When I got back from California, I couldn't speak. At first I thought it was allergies, then strep throat..then..I don't know...just tired?

For the first time in a long long time, I couldn't talk and when you are not talking...you are doing other things, like listening and keeping your answers short and to the point. This is a big switch for me and I kind of liked it.

Could be that I'm suffering from post vacation blues (which Mary describes very well on her blog) but I'm feeling like I want to be quiet for awhile. And spend more time listening.

2011-05-23T13:16:00.000-07:00

Hey there!

Just got back from Palm Springs. And feeling relaxed and tan...very tan. Here are some pics:

More pictures are on Facebook!
The best thing about vacation (or one of the best things) is the "i can do anything" feeling you get after it. Even my surprise case of Laryngitis won't slow me down. Today laundry...tomorrow...the world!!

morning commute: part one

2011-05-09T10:59:00.000-07:00

M Train platfrom this morning. I have to say, I'm digging my new commute because its just one train and you get to spend some time outside.

Started my week off right. I reading the Fleetwood Mac book but then stopped because I realized that I liked the band as a mystery, I was learning too much. And I can't say that I was really into Carrie Ann Harris' writing style. But that's just me!

Now I'm looking for a new YA book to read but in the meantime I'm trying out The Magicians by Lev Grossman:

Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. A senior in high school, he's still secretly preoccupied with a series of fantasy novels he read as a child, set in a magical land called Fillory. Imagine his surprise when he finds himself unexpectedly admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college of magic in upstate New York, where he receives a thorough and rigorous education in the craft of modern sorcery.

Harry Potter: the College years? We'll see.

Like the picture? I got a new phone this weekend, its the same as my old one excpet for without a cracked screen and its not super duper slow. I was so excited because I could finally download all of these apps that I've wanted for ever. So Instagram fame, here I come!

2011-05-05T12:55:00.000-07:00

this week I visited my friend Sarah at her new apartment in Hell's Kitchen. 10th avenue can be delightful, I tell you. We had pizza, put together her Ikea bed and then made some really cute stuffed owls. The owls liked hanging out too. Mine is on the right!

Fleetwood Mac Week!!!!

2011-05-02T12:07:00.000-07:00

When I asked where my name came from my mom told me that she named me after Lindsey Buckingham, the guitarist from the band Fleetwood Mac. Their album, Rumours, was on constant rotation in our house (along with Paul Simon's Graceland) and their 1997 reunion tour was my first concert. So, yeah, I'm really into Fleetwood Mac. Someday I want to meet my namesake and tell him how awesome Tusk is.

This week, Glee is dedicating the whole epsode to songs from the Rumours album. I am pretty excited about this but also super jealous that Lea Michelle gets to sing Go Your Own Way to an ex-boyfriend, which has always been something I've wanted to do.

Also, I found a book at the library last week called Storms: My Life with Lindsey Buckingham and Fleetwood Mac, written by Buckingham's girlfriend during the recording and tour of Rumours. Drama!!!! Its pretty good.

So I hope you take some time this week to appriciate one of the coolest bands ever. Do you have a favorite band from the 70's?

2011-04-29T10:23:00.000-07:00

Friday Dance Break!

Beyonce's Move your Body!

I think I could do this dance.

2011-04-26T12:29:00.000-07:00

Hey! I don't know if you knew this or not...but I have a video up on the library's website! Its a How To demo on Terrariums featuring Kimberly Sevilla from Rose Red and Lavender. So you should watch it! And help make me famous so that I can be on the cover of Library Journal :)

Or you could just watch it if you want to learn how to make a terrarium!

2011-04-25T09:56:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Hope you had a great weekend.

I spent the weekend trying to stay dry with friends and reading a great romance novel, Simply Perfect by Mary Balough. I think I'm almost done with my romance novel kick. Anyone have any suggestions on what to read next?

photo from the trash bar website

Today I'm going to see Caitlin's stand up at Trash Bar after work. I've walked by this place many times and have been too scared to actually go in! I really don't think I'm cool enough, but that's friendship for you!

2011-04-22T09:59:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday!

Its TGIF for real people. My library just merged with another local branch (a much larger and more popular one) and I'm feeling the squeeze. MAN there are a lot of people putting books on hold right now. I came into work to see over 100 bins to be processed...we usually get 12!

Aaaannnyyway.

This weekend is all about chilling out. Checking out Brooklyn Flea, finally seeing Source Code, and starting up another ceramics session. I'm really looking forward to it.

Here's your Friday dance break, from the movie Heartbreaker starting Johnny Depp's baby mama:

watch it! Its on netflix!

2011-04-21T12:53:00.000-07:00

Very excited to celebrate with friends tonight at Life: Curated's spring party!

A few weeks ago, I was hanging out with Sarah and helped with her website photoshoot. I was steamed the clothes while she took pictures, very LC from the Hills if you ask me.

Speaking of clothes and shopping, I'm looking for some spring jackets. Something long and trenchcoat like to look cute in the rain and then something shorter for layering...any suggestions?

soup night

2011-04-20T10:29:00.000-07:00

This soup cost less than three dollars and took less than five minutes to make.

Ramen Soup packet + frozen snap peas+ a hard boiled egg = an amazing dinner, perfect for when you work till 8.

And did you know that you can buy hard cooked, peeled eggs at Trader Joe's? Weird, I know, but I have to say I love having them on hand for a super fast breakfast...or ramen soup.

Reading...

2011-04-19T14:30:00.000-07:00

My mom just put this picture of me up on facebook and my Nana said, " I think she was born with a book in her hand" (I'm paraphrasing...but you get the idea). Obviously, that is an exaggeration but she's not far off. I feel naked without a book on me and usually have two piles of books, one on my desk at work (usually craft books or YA titles) and one on my bedside table (romances, house design, and...well...romances) and of course, there is the ever present New Yorker magazine that I just started to subscribe to after making a donation to WNYC. I keep it in my purse as a back up in case I finish whatever I'm reading and I never thought I'd keep up with it but when you decide to only read a couple of the articles instead of committing to the whole thing, its pretty manageable. And you can say things at parties like, "I read in the New Yorker that Barry Bonds has shrunken testicles..." things like that. I mean, that hasn't happened yet but if someone brings up Barry Bonds, or steirods, or baseball in general, I'll have that ready.

This week I finished Nora Roberts' latest, Chasing Fire (which came very quickly from the library...and I was number 140 on the list!) about smoke jumpers in Montana that fall in love. And now I'm reading Drought by Pam Bachorz which is a good read for anyone that liked the Hunger Games but wished there were weird references to Jesus in it. Its about a girl who if forced into backbreaking work and knows nothing about the modern world around her. She dreams of running away and finding freedom but knows that if she leaves her family, they are as good as dead. Its pretty good, but I'm waiting for someone to kick some butt, so far its pretty depressing.

You know what I would love to read right now? More Chip N' Dale comic books.

2011-04-18T11:09:00.000-07:00

image from the blog thoughtful day art by Megan Whitmarsh

Happy Monday!!!

Hope you had a good weekend. The pouring rain on Saturday didn't stop some friend from coming over to make some friendship bracelets and necklaces! On Sunday I met up with a friend at Lucky Lotus Yoga in Fort Greene for to stretch and marvel at how glowy and perfect our instructor's skin was. Seriously, it was like JLo skin.

Tonight I'm going back to the studio for a meditation class. You heard that right. Its on my list of 100 things to do in 2011 so I thought, why not? I'm imagining it will me just like Eat, Pray Love. Then I will reward myself with amazing roasted chicken at Luz!

2011-04-01T09:53:00.001-07:00

Happy Friday everyone!

Here's your Friday dance break:

JLo is back!

2011-03-23T08:50:00.000-07:00

picture from Angela Hardison's very inspirational blog. she documents her attempt to eat 50% raw foods and makes it look fun and beautiful!

Hi!

I was shelving some books and found a copy for Mark Bittman's latest cookbook, The Food Matters Cookbook. I decided to take it home because I've been really interested in changing my diet but not making it into a "diet." I'm horrible at counting calories, I can't stick to the same foods all of the time and the idea of a "cleanse" gives me nightmares even if some of my friends swear by it. So I thought, maybe a "more plants, less meat" approach would be more reasonable. My friend Kathleen came to visit last weekend and told me about how she and her husband have "Vegan Mondays" and while I can't imagine even one day without dairy in my life, I think she's on the right track. So maybe I'll be changing up my whole pantry. We'll see...

Today I'm celebrating the one and only Lauren Kratz who had a birthday this week. We'll be celebrating by grabbing some dinner in Williamsburg and then playing Skee Ball at Full Circle Bar. Fun!

2011-03-21T13:36:00.000-07:00

Reading anything good lately?

Right now I'm reading The Turning: What Curiostiy Kills by Helen Ellis. I was able to meet Ms. Ellis at NYPL's Teen Author Panel at MU and she was just so charming and wonderful. She gave me copies of her book which was great because the library didn't have any copies yet (they do now though! I asked them to rush order) and I saved a copy for myself to read. Its about a teenage girl who turns into a cat. The idea is terrible for me to think about since I am so allergic to cats :).

After that I'm reading Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. I've been meaning to read it for a long time and seeing three people reading it on a train in the last few weeks was a sign. I grabbed it as soon as I saw it on the circ desk.

2011-03-18T09:40:00.000-07:00

Hi!

This week's Friday dance break has a special and fun purpose:

First, who doesn't love some N*Sync of a Friday afternoon? Second the one and only Chris Kirkpatrick will be in a show at UCB tonight that I hope I can stay up to midnight for. I mean, look at the poster:

Hope you have a nice weekend!

2011-03-15T12:39:00.000-07:00

After a 10 (or 12?) day lapse, I'm finally starting the third and final month of P90X! Yes! I need to finish this so I can buy my P90X gift: a real Kate Spade bag! I'm not sure which one I want...

What do I like more?

Mod:

or glittery?

Or both? hahaha they are on sale after all :)

2011-03-14T11:00:00.000-07:00

What are you reading this week?

I just started Anna Godberson's Bright Young Things, the first in a new YA series about three girls in NYC during the roaring twenties. I put it on hold after reading Emma's great review of a similar title called Vixen, which is on my holds list. The 1920's is quickly becoming my favorite decade, right after the 1970s.

I'm also flipping through a TON of books about houseplants and terrariums for my video project, including one called 37 houseplants even YOU can kill. We'll see about that.

2011-03-09T10:01:00.000-08:00

photo from Miss Moss

Lent starts today.

For all you non-Catholic readers, that means for the forty days before Easter, you give up something that you really love and think about how Jesus gave up, like, everything. It was never my favorite part of of the year, although I did like Ash Wednesday (today), especially living in Indiana. That's the day we all get ash crosses on our foreheads and I would be able to figure out if there were any Catholics in Crawfordsville. It was always a thrill when I spotted someone else with the ash cross.

Anyway, I thought about giving up something for Lent and decided to choose mindless Internet surfing. And I thought of a project too. For the next forty days, I'm going to draw a picture, maybe even use some of my watercolors. So...less TV and Internet stuff and more artsy crafty stuff.

2011-03-08T13:00:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my good friend Kelly and my video session at Red Rose and Lavender, my apartment is filled with flowers and plants.

Kelly had a bunch of flowers at work and sent me a box at the library. Let me tell you, people were jealous! So now they are beautiful, and sitting on my windowsill. They are just starting to open now and its a sight to see.

Then at the flower shop, Kimberly, the owner gave me some mini orchids as a gift:

Gotta love your neighborhood florist!

Alright, I've got to get back to work, and by work, I mean watch kids talk smack while playing Super Smash Brothers. Then I've got to start working on my video!

2011-03-07T12:53:00.000-08:00

image from the optimistic muse

Hello March.

You are proving to be much more difficult than I had expected.

Things are a little busy and chaotic right now but I thought if I can keep this blog going through tough times, I'll feel a little normal. And my Nana loves this blog, I can't let her down!

Today I finished my second and final presentation for the library or as I'd like to call it, my mini "lecture series" about YA reader's advisory. Well, I was one of many amazing speakers, so its not like I was a headliner or anything, but still it was really fun. It helped me realize that, yes, I am making a real difference here at the library and that I have something to contribute. That's something I've forgotten when I'm telling people where the bathroom is and helping teens print out Eminem lyrics.

Tonight I'll be at Red Rose and Lavender, filming my first ever "how to" video about terrariums. Excited!

2011-02-28T11:50:00.000-08:00

Old Timey picture of the Williamsburg Bridge (1937) found on NYPL's Digital gallery

I know the February is the shortest month but it seemed to fly by faster than usual. And all I can say is "good riddance!" I can't say that I had a great time in February, what with my hand burning incident, mean people at work, me missing Simon who has been playing Timon this month, and the cold. Oh the cold.

But March is tomorrow! I have a feeling that March is going to be way better than February. I got some fun news this morning too, the library posted a blog post I wrote about teen dating violence awareness month (which was February) on their main twitter page! They like me, they really like me!

So March is going to be pretty awesome, I can tell. And warmer too? A girl can hope.

2011-02-25T09:57:00.000-08:00

I haven't been on this blog for a couple of days because, well, my right hand was out of commission for awhile. Now before you can say, "that's what she said!," let me explain.

Wednesday night I was cooking at home. I knew it would be trouble when the recepie told me to first bake chicken in a skillet in the oven and then move the skillet to the stovetop for part two. I, forgot that the pan was just in a 400 degree oven and grabbed the handle. Then I saw stars...well actually I saw stars melt in front of me. After a few minutes of self-care (water, frozen peas, warmer water after I read WebMD) I started calling family members for advice. After my hand started to bubble up with blisters I started calling friends with cars for a trip to the emergency room. But alas, most of my friends were away on a ski trip or away from their phones so then i called a car. But the needed to know where I wanted to go. I didn't know where a hospital was or a 24 hour urgent care clinic so....

I called 911.

This is where it gets crazy. I'm my delirious burning man state, I figured they would tell me where a hospital was. But no, they sent an ambulance and A PATROL CAR to my house! What?!? Looking back, I must have been a sight with my pjs and sneakers and my hand in a bucket of lukewarm water. But what could I do? The cops try to make me feel better by telling me about all the gross stuff they saw that week and how it was way worse. Then the ambulance get to my house. I'm asking them for just some gauze and some painkillers or something. But the burns have crossed over my joints, and apparently that could be bad so I have to go to a burn unit on the upper east side. What?!?

In the end I was sent home with a few painkillers (that made me sleep for a day and a half) some cream from my burns and a ton of gauze. And now things are back to normal. But woah, that was scary!

So I learned some things:

1- the obvious...use oven mitts all the time
2- cops see some really gross stuff...all the time. and noodle factories are very dangerous
3-you should know in advance were your closest emergency room is
4-My health insurance is pretty great. This whole ordeal will only cost me something like, 50 bucks!

2011-02-23T09:15:00.000-08:00

Man. I'd like to send a thank you letter to whoever broke up with Adele...or whoever Adele broke up with. The result is a crazy good album called 21 which you should all buy instead of checking out at the library and burning on your computer. I'm looking at you, "guy who checks out 30 CDs at a time and then returns them the next day." You know who I'm talking to.

Adele is so cool. So cool that she has become my first official "Lindsy in the City Girl Crush" or LCGC. Adele is crushable because:

1- Her songs rule and include some of my favorite things like hand clapping and cool backup singer parts

2- She is built and stacked and wears cool clothes

3- She can wear a perfect updo

4- I first heard of her when she was a special guest on Ugly Betty! (look around the 6:30 mark) A TV home to other crushworthy women like Patti LuPone, Bernadette Peters, Judith Light and Ms. Vanessa Williams!!!

5- The voice! I wish I could steal it for one night and take it Second and Second karaoke!

Today is my day off so I'm going to work on my chapter...I swear! And Simon and I are going to FINALLY spend the afternoon in the Whitney Museum! Me, Simon, Edward Hopper...can you think of a better afternoon?

2011-02-22T06:05:00.000-08:00

Hello!

I hope you had a really nice Presidents Day weekend. I had yesterday off and spent it cleaning and food shopping and doing other grown up things. Now I'm ready to hit the ground running at work.

I was able to see Timon of Athens this weekend at the Public Theater. Simon is the musical director for the show and sits in the audience. My seat was actually three away from him, which was funny and totally unplanned! I tried to not look at him too much because I didn't want him to get self conscious. And after awhile I forgot he was sitting near be because I was so absorbed in what's going on in the play! Its a Shakespeare play about money and friendship and (haha) how awful people can be! It was very very good and you should really see it if you are in town. Its only 15 bucks too! Here is a video about the play:

Have a great day everyone! Today I have a meeting about my first NYPL video, then I'll play some video games, shelve a ton of books (I'm sure they are piling up!) and then I'll hopefully have some energy to work on an art project tonight.

2011-02-16T05:25:00.000-08:00

Hope you had a nice Valentine's Day. I had a really horrible day at work on Monday but then Simon surprised me with little yellow roses that I got to put in one of the vases that I made at ceramics.

Then we ordered Thai food and watched The Iron Giant on Netflix. So sweet!

I've been really tired and stressed for the last couple of weeks. I think its a combination of getting up really early for P90X and work being super difficult and, you know, the fact that its the middle of February. But I heard rumors that its going to be in the 60s this weekend. WHAT?! I don't know if I should rejoice or call Al Gore.

I'm off to work in a little bit, its my only day without a class visit so I'm cramming as much work as I can, then I'm going to come home, make some soup, and play in the studio. Have a great day!

2011-02-14T05:30:00.000-08:00

from Sarah's blog SAH -RAH

Happy Valentine's Day!

Growing up, this was one of my mom's (and therefore, my) favorite holidays. A lot of people don't like it, say that its a made up holiday so that companies can get more money and so on. And you can look at it that way, sure. But I have a lot of great Valentine's Day memories...

-my mom giving me a mini Grover holding a bouquet of flowers
-giving out Garfield valentines in school and making the one to my third grade crush extra special
-hanging out with my best friend in high school and watching movies. I'm not sure which one, but I remember that Can't Hardly Wait was in heavy rotation
-Getting my first bouquet of flowers
-Simon taking me on a fancy date to Marlow and Sons on our first Valentine's day, complete with cab rides which I thought was super romantic

I. Love. Valentine's Day!!

I hope you have a great one. Tonight Simon and I are just excited to be seeing each other, we have been like ships passing in the night since he started rehearsals for a new play and this is his first day off in a while. So we'll make some dinner and maybe watch one of the movies that we've been meaning to watch.

2011-02-09T10:57:00.001-08:00

I must be a Glee fan. I thought I wasn't but I've seen every episode on hulu and was excited that I got two episodes in one week. Oh Glee, you are addictive.

And who is this Blaine guy and WHY DOES HE GET TO SING ALL OF THE SONGS THAT I WOULD SING?!?!?!

First Bills Bills Bills and then this?! When I get you alone has to be one of my favorite songs, no lie.

2011-02-08T12:39:00.000-08:00

Today I went to the main library to learn more about the future of map making. The library is doing great things with maps, overlapping a current city street with maps from a hundred years ago. Amazing!

There was a lot of talk about Google Earth and how you can make your own maps and street scenes. I love Google Earth/Maps. You can find anything...even your childhood home!

View Larger Map
Memories! And it looks like someone fixed up the porch!

Work is going well. I'm working on a couple of big projects that I'm really excited about...more on that later.

Sigh...so tired but I just need to power through until next weekend, which will be a blissful three day one. Until then, I'll just watch this beautiful video and smile. Have a good day!

2011-02-07T12:05:00.000-08:00

Hope you had a great weekend! After a pretty trying week, the weekend was a welcome break for me. First I saw Caitlin's hilarious show Waiting for Obama: a night at the hall of presidents. This show is so great, in fact, I think I've seen it a half dozen times. If you can't go and see it, don't worry...its online!

Saturday I went to a crafternoon at the main library (which was just featured in Martha Stewart Living) I was so excited to go and play with Martha Stewart craft supplies. And some friends came with me!

Lindsay and Sarah with their valentines

I fell in love with the glitter pens and used the doilies as stencils for a pretty cool card:

Glitter pens! I need to get some. Take a look at Sarah's recap of our afternoon on her blog SAH-RAH!!

Last night Simon and I stayed in and watched Burn After Reading. I did not like that movie. But it was fun hanging out at home anyway. Hope you are having a great day and have fun Monday plans. I'm going to have an early dinner with my friend and colleague Jessica and hopefully get to see her little boy before he goes to bed. See you tomorrow!

2011-02-04T11:36:00.000-08:00

Did you know that every Friday I magically turn from a super librarian to a genius tax accountant. Because Friday is the library's free tax help day. AARP volunteers are amazing, they come every Friday and prepare patron's taxes for FREE. But before they get to the volunteers, I get a ton of tax questions and have to know what forms someone needs and so on. Wow! They did not prepare me for this in library school, and now I know a ton about taxes...but not enough to get a decent refund unfortunately.

Well 1040s are not really getting me into a weekend mood. But a dance break will!

In honor of the Super Bowl, I give you my favorite half time show. N*Sync, Britney and NELLY with Aerosmith. Oh! And Mary J!?!?! How many stars could be in one song?! How goofy! I miss pre-babies Britney Spears!

2011-02-03T15:01:00.000-08:00

Did I happen to tell you guys that I'M FAMOUS?!?!?!?!

A long long time ago, my friend Chris invented the Wrap-a-Nap, a pillow that you can wear around your head to block out light and sound. He asked Simon and I (along with a few other friends) to be his first models and for T-Dizz to take the pictures. Now, over a year later I find myself on Gizmoto modeling the Wrap-a-Nap and getting emails from people in totally different friend groups about it. So yes, I'm famous and Simon is too and you should buy a Wrap-a-Nap. We got some as thank you presents and took them on a flight to California. Simon fell asleep on the plane and we were literally surrounded by crying babies. He was sleeping for TWO HOURS!

Don't feel intimidated next time you see me guys. Just because I'm a model now, doesn't mean I've changed. Just have your people call my people.

Have a great night everyone. I'm grabbing some dinner at Hecho in Dumbo before going to see Ozomatli tonight! Dance Dance Dance!

2011-02-02T10:29:00.000-08:00

I got up early this morning to go to the doctor and was convinced to get a flu shot. They told me I might feel a little sickly after the shot and the power of suggestion must work really well because I'm sitting at lunch feeling like I need a nap. But I must get it together because Simon and I are going to Big Terrific tonight! And then maybe a hot apple cider at The Drink. I'm really hoping Jenny Slate will be there.

!!!!!!! [BESTIE x BESTIE 1] !!!!!!! from Dean Fleischer-Camp on Vimeo.

love it.

okay, I'm going to take a nap at my desk for a minute.

2011-02-01T12:54:00.000-08:00

wild child dance party

February!

This morning I was dragging and I knew I had to clean the house a little bit because I get home so late. And who wants to come home late to a messy house?

Anyway, I needed a pick-me-up and thought...dance party! It was so fun and even Simon picked some songs. Here's our list:

Heads will Roll-Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Sea of Love-Tom Waits (obviously Simon)
Fancy Footwork-Chromeo (obviously mine)
PYT-Michael Jackson
Computer Love-Zapp (this song is CRAZY)

Hope you have a dance party of your own today. I'll be doing my final house purge and then getting to bed early.

2011-01-29T09:52:00.000-08:00

I had a really bad day yesterday. So bad that this post was actually a list of all of the things that I hate about New York City in the winter. Then I woke up. And today is a new day. I should have felt even worse because I had to get up at six in the morning for yoga. And then I get to work and we are severely understaffed. But I didn't feel bad at all. Then I was looking at my blogs and saw this:

from Black Eiffel

So true.

2011-01-28T17:47:00.000-08:00

why haven't I watched Gentlemen prefer Blondes before?!?!??!

Just saw this scene:

so many things to talk about

1-why are they wearing nude tiny pants?
2-and what sport are they practicing?!?!? Turns out its supposed to be the ENTIRE OLYMPIC TEAM!!!
3-Jane Russell has the most fabulously broad shoulders
4-Lady gets knocked into a pool..is pulled out and then grabs a drink while she is dripping wet. amazing.

have a great weekend!!!!!!!

2011-01-25T13:00:00.000-08:00

To the left is my current favorite breakfast. Hot cereal, peanut butter, a banana and some honey and cinnamon. I'll call it the Elvis!

Last night Simon and I went to a new restaurant (opening today) called Mable's Smokehouse for some late night BBQ. Williamsburg is no stranger to grilled meats and mac and cheese but Mable's should defenitely be in your rotation. Tons of options (including vegetarian ones) very creamy mac and cheese, perfect pulled pork and really really great BBQ sauce. I'll be going back when I'm not bringing the X so that I can really fill my plate.

Tonight Simon is working late and I'll be doing two of my favorite things. Making soup and watching Hawaii Five-0.

2011-01-24T09:54:00.000-08:00

One of my big resolutions this year is to purge and organize my home before I start buying new stuff. So I did some of that this weekend (with a little shopping added in).

I've been rewarding myself for sticking with P90X. I got some hair stuff the first week and last weekend I bought new makeup and skin care products. I LOVE shopping for makeup and reading the packaging to see what miracle the products will do for me. This also gave me a chance to organize my vanity:

Once beautiful and organized, my vanity turned into a huge mess, mainly because I could never throw anything out. As a result, the makeup that I actually used was somewhere else, like my kitchen sink and I never wore any jewelry.

After a half hour of trying things on, looking for expiration dates and throwing away a whole grocery bag of old make-up I had this:

Wonderful! Now, getting ready in the morning is fun and and couldn't believe how much fun jewelry I already had! Its a great new home for my shiny new makeup:

Foundation, concealer, eyeliner, eyeshadow, mascara two lipsticks, a blush and two fun nail polish colors, that's all you really need. Oh and primer...but you really don't need that I just like it.

Next up? The deadly trifecta of undies, bras and socks...I can never keep them organized. I don't know if I'll be sharing a lot of pictures of that though.

Have a great Monday! Simon and I are going to a restaurant opening tonight (there's always room for one more BBQ joint in Williamsburg) and we'll celebrate the fact that he is now a musical director for a play at the Public Theatre! Yay Simon!

2011-01-21T11:49:00.000-08:00

TGIF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I have tomorrow off so its a weekend for real! I'm kicking the weekend off right at Sephora to buy my prizes for finishing weeks two and three of P90X yay!

Here's your friday dance break:

Yes! I remember seeing this in the theater with my cousin Anthony. It was the first movie I could ever go to by myself. Is it weird that my first "date" was with my cousin? That's not weird, right?

2011-01-20T12:49:00.000-08:00

This is weird...

I got up this morning to do some P90X...like I do...you know...

So anyway, I was doing some yoga and then all of a sudden my hands got itchy and then they started to swell up. Like big allergy crazy hands. Like man hands!

I got through most of the yoga but certainly didn't "Bring it" like you are supposed to do.

So whats the deal? Does this happen to anyone else or am I just allergic to yoga?

2011-01-19T12:29:00.000-08:00

Megan, who has known me longer than almost anyone, reminded me that perhaps the reason I like this season of Grey's is because Scott Foley aka NOEL CRANE FROM FELICITY is on the show as some super sick guy that marries one of the doctors for her health insurance. I swear if they kill him off like they did to Denny in season two (and the last time I watched the show) I'll quit Grey's forever. I mean how can you kill this man:

awwww...why anyone would choose Ben over Noel is beyond me. Megan, we will argue about this till we are old ladies.

ps..are you aware that http://www.noelcrane.com/ still exists? Okay...I need to stop talking about Felicity now.

Today was a day of hystrical old ladies at the library. I managed to calm most of them down with a mix of apologies, guilt and flattery. I will reward myself by hanging out in Kt's cozy apartment with friends that I haven't seen in so so long.

Have a good night!

2011-01-18T15:24:00.000-08:00

cool picture from Oh Joy

I did a lot in the last two days such as...

Saw the King's Speech and didn't cry like I wanted to. What kind of person am I if I cry during Maid in Manhattan but not during a movie that you are so obviously supposed to cry during?

Went to a show called The Man with Feeet. Which is about a man with crime fighting shoes. The coolest part was that instead of having actors on stage, you used viewfinders with crazy pictures. I got to keep mine too!

Had a quarter of a beer (P90X style) while chair dancing to Drake and talking to Chad about carbs.

Ate dessert at Phaedon's place and talked about the intro to the cookbook that he needs to someday write.

Went to ceramics and made a couple of vases (so big deal...I'm a potter now)

Went to yoga class with Mary where we had to move our mats into a circle and I kept on making eye contact with someone I didn't know which was mildly uncomfortable and ate some hummus (after...not during yoga)

Met up with Simon and Lindsay for an amazing dinner at Diner

Went to a party at Laura's and bonded with a new friend about how Grey's Anatomy is so much better this season.

Worked on my chapter about outreach in juvenile detention and convinced John on gchat to someday write a book about fun library patrons

Read Caitlin's hilarious blog posts about movies that I love

Watched Return to Me on Netflix instant

Met up with Kelly at The Drink for spiked apple cider and presents! for me! Kelly is the worlds most generous person.

Whew!! All I can say is that I'm a very very lucky girl and I can't wait till next weekend to do it all over again. Tonight I'm taking it easy. Watching From Russia with Love (again, since I fell asleep the first time) and making some chicken stew. Have a good night!

2011-01-15T07:54:00.000-08:00

Just heard Adele's new single, Rolling in the Deep, and OMG its the best thing I ever heard!

Can't wait for her album "21" to come out next month!

2011-01-14T10:18:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday!

I have to work tomorrow again so no TGIF for me! But that won't stop be from squeezing in a Friday Dance Break!

This one goes out to the beautiful Mrs. Helling. In college, this was our jam:

Remember when I said that I've always wanted to have a marching band as my backup dancers? I also want to some day have a dance break in a very shallow pool of water (also found in the masterpiece Step Up 3D)

Hope you have a great weekend. Not sure whats going on for me since Simon has super long gigs in New Jersey and I'm working...I'll try to fit some fun in though.

2011-01-13T16:45:00.000-08:00

Hi there,

Hope you enjoyed the snowy (well, slushy) weather that we've had for the past few days. It is cold outside. Like, so cold you can feel it in your bones cold. That cold. So I've been inside mostly. Getting up early to work on my P90X. Going to bed at 10 because I woke up so early and its already pitch black outside. Watching James Bond movies with Simon and noticing how the ladies in those movies got such a raw deal. Except for Dr. Christmas Jones, obviously.

What was her PhD in I wonder?

Last night I met up with Lauren, the former "good cop" to my "bad cop" in the Bronx. She told me about how much she loves the Wii game "Just Dance" and I'm thinking about getting it. There's no way I can get Simon to play it with my but I bet its a good excuse for a party, yes?

Also, I spent a good 10 minutes looking at Wii Just Dance clips on YouTube and was mesmerized by this one:

I can't stop laughing when the dancer on the video rocks out to the chorus of Fame. That's it...I'm buying it...

2011-01-10T12:03:00.000-08:00

I learned something new this weekend, I'm pretty great at Skeeball! Simon and I went on Saturday during our fun four part date (part one: dinner at Lodge, part two: skeeball, part three: listen to some jazz at Smalls in the village, part four: meet up with friends at Phaedon's for a late dinner) and I scored a 300! Where was this skill when I was a kid and trying to get tickets at Putt Putt Golf and Games?!?!? I have to say, if I had a night to spare I would try to put together a team for the bar's skeeball league.

I'm very glad that my friends are safely back in the city and really looking forward to seeing everyone as soon as possible. Holiday season is over and I feel like people are out of their sugar comas and ready to see people. And hooray to that!

Also, now that I finished the first week of it I can officially say that I'm in love with P90x, my current New Year's resolution. Virginia inspired me to give it a try it wasn't too hard to do so since her results were so amazing. So I started the 3 month program and I love it. The biggest difference I've noticed so far is how much energy I have during the day now that I"m working out for an hour a day. Simon took some before shots which will never ever ever ever be shown on this blog, but let me tell you they are really keeping me motivated. I'm also staying motivated by giving myself little gifts every week. For my first week I got my bangs a much needed trim and then treated myelf to some fancy hair cream that they always use on me and I always wanted to get some for home. Now I have swingy shiny hair!

things on the internet

2011-01-08T10:52:00.000-08:00

Since yesterday, a couple of very interesting things popped up online that I thought I'd share.

First, Simon's website went live online:

The photography is by Tanveer Badal and the website was designed by Andrew Bowles two of our very talented friends. I love it!

Also, I made a little video with the kids at work to promote homeworknyc.org, the library's homework help website. Its part of a library-wide contest and the video with the most views wins a pizza party! A pizza party! Do you remember how awesome it was to win a pizza party when you were 13? If you do, click on the video and watch it so that we can get lots of views and win!

Okay, have a great weekend!

2011-01-07T08:10:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday!

TGIF for all you lucky people that don't have to work tomorrow (sadly that does not include me). I'm sitting at my desk looking out the window and it looks like a snowglobe. That is, if my snowglobe only had a brick building with tiny windows in it instead of a fairy castle. Its very pretty and I'm looking forward to my lunchtime meeting and then Mexican food with friends later tonight! I really want to margarita it up tonight but I have to work tomorrow and I don't think one of my 100 resolutions (which I will tell you about later) would allow me to do so. So maybe I'll half-a-margarita it up tonight?

Here is a little Friday Dance break to get you ready for the weekend (oh yes, they're back!!):

Have I ever told you that its always been a fantasy of mine to sing in front of a marching band and dancers? Its often my inspiration image when I have to work out.

Also, everyone should see Easy A because it was really really funny and Emma Stone is great.

Thats all, have a great weekend!

2011-01-06T15:46:00.000-08:00

Last night I met up with S to see Big Teriffic. This might end up being a weekly thing and I'm willing to risk listening to the host's same material over and over because it show is really funny and its free! When they talk about having a special guest, usually its someone that I've never heard of (but is very funny, don't get me wrong) but last night it was totally someone I knew!

Aziz Ansari! AKA T.Dizz's twin brother!

That was a fun surprise and reminded me that I'm very excited that Parks and Recreation will be back on the air soon. That was too long of a wait NBC, way too long!

So then S and I went home and thought about dinner but I was so sure that we had enough leftovers. We got home and all I had was a little bit of rice and leftover chicken. Mix that together with some chicken broth (two kinds because I had two half empty boxes of chicken broth in the fridge) throw in a bay leaf and BAM!!! Chicken and rice soup. Just remember that you can always throw leftovers together in a pot and add chicken broth (or tomato sauce come to think of it) and get a whole new dinner.

Tonight I'm going to make some sandwiches (yeah, we're getting classy for dinner lately) and hopefully meeting up with Kelly and TDizz to hear about their travel adventures (and give them back their house key). Later!

2011-01-05T13:01:00.000-08:00

I've said it before and I'll say it again, you can't work in a library without ending up with piles of books in your office and bedside table.

At the end of the year I brought everything that I had checked out back and paid my fines and said, "thats it! just one book at a time!" Right now I have four with two more books coming in soon.

Here's what I'm reading/flipping through right now:

The Dud Avocacdo by Elaine Dundy
The story of a young girl who moves to Paris in the late 1950s. So far she is in love with someone she knew from college and trying to get out of an affair with a crazy Italian. And I've only read the first 50 pages!

The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone and Benjamin Zander.
I checked it out thinking it would be like What Color is your Parachute for creative people but I haven't read enough yet to know if that's true.

Andromeda Klein by Frank Portman
My current YA book. I loved Portman's earlier book, King of Dorks which is why I picked it up.

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
A (non-fiction) book about a woman made a lot of resolutions and took them very seriously.

What are you reading right now?

2011-01-04T07:07:00.000-08:00

After yoga class on Sunday, my friend Mary and I were eating some hummus and talking about New Year's resolutions. Mary had a couple and asked if I had any. Did I...I had 100!

Okay, more like 100 ideas for the new year, nothing crazy. If you know me, and I'm pretty sure everyone who reads this blog does, you know how much I love New Year resolutions primarily because of my love of list-making. So a couple of weeks ago I started writing down little lists of things I want to do in 2011 and it turned into a collection of little slips of paper that I couldn't keep track of. So yesterday I got a little crafty (and crazy? you be the judge) and made a ten page book with all of my ideas for the new year:

Really, it was just a chance to work on some of my favorite hobbies, bookmaking, calligraphy and watercolors. So that is the cover, and here is an example of the inside:

Making the book is easy. I had five pieces of watercolor paper, folded in half. I stacked them on top of each other and glued the pages together and then used a piece of colored tape for the binding. Its pretty cute and I like having a little book of my ideas that I can check off throughout the year.

What are you up to today? I'm going back to work after a blissful four-day weekend and looking forward to playing Mario/Sonic Olympics on the Wii with the kids at work. Then I'm going to make some pasta and start my annual winter purge. Have a great day!

2011-01-03T10:07:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a wonderful New Years Eve. S and I decided to have a little upstate adventure and stayed at a Bed and Breakfast in Cold Springs. Its amazing that just an hour on the Metro North will take you to such a peaceful and quiet place. It was really nice and had a great time even though we were the youngest couple there by a few decades.

On New Year's Day we went on a little hike through the snow and found some waterfalls and an old storage building used in the Civil War. Well, its not like we found it or anything, our waiter at the B&B told us about it. He also said that the hills were filled with old explosives from the Civil War and a few months ago there was a fire in the hills which set off a ton of explosions! What?!?! Then he told us that some guy found one and took it to a antiques fair thinking he could get some cash from it and they had to call the bomb squad! This, of course, was what I was thinking about when wandering through the woods. It was weird, I know the Civil War happened, obviously, but its funny to think that it was so real that you can find a live bomb from it today in your backyard.

Anyway, here are some pictures from the hike:

I'd like to take some more hikes this year, anyone else want to grab some snowshoes?

2010-12-30T06:21:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to become a morning person. I want to wake up really early, workout, hangout in the studio, enjoy some peace and quiet (well, as much quiet as you can get living on a busy street) and stroll though the front doors of the library with extra time to settle in. Monday I was up at quarter to seven, same for Tuesday but I've been drifting back to waking up at 8 am which is weird because I go to sleep at the same time...hmmm...I'll work on it.

Last night I met up with S. at Cameo (word up!) to see Big Terrific , a free comedy show put together by the minds that brought us Marcel the Shell and Besties x Besties. The comics were great, I especially liked Pete Holmes, who I remember seeing at UCB a year or so ago and loving it. I still try to tell people his jokes, which you should never do, standup is never funny when you are trying to tell people about it later, at least in my experience. But now I know his name so I can give you the clip that I love so much, its way funnier when he says it:

Jokes.com

Pete Holmes - Things Adults Can Do

comedians.comedycentral.com

Funny Jokes

Funny Videos

Daniel Tosh Stand-Up

Have a great day today! I'm working late but I have the day off tomorrow and S and I are going upstate to celebrate New Years! Just the two of us in a bed and breakfast, I'm sure we'll be the youngest ones there. I'm very excited and am already putting together my magazines for the trip.

2010-12-28T05:58:00.000-08:00

image from LA Yoga Magazine

I used to go to my friend Emily's office after work for a friendly yoga practice. We'd put in a podcast and I'd make sure I was in the back so I could follow the people who knew more about yoga than I did. Emily moved to LA, and I finally came to terms with the fact that I'm too allergic to cats to make it through a yoga practice in the office, but I missed being able to practice at home, especially now when its snowy, cold, and windy outside.

I remembered one of Emily's friends mentioning yogaglo.com. Its a website with hundreds of yoga videos grouped by duration, skill level and the focus of the practice. I tried it out, and then decided to sign up. Its 18 dollars a month, which is pretty good for a month long unlimited pass. I would say its worth the free trial, but if you try it and its not for you, make sure you go to the website and cancel your membership, because you won't get a prompt at the end of your free trial.

What happens now is that I'll practice every morning for a half hour, but midweek I'll get stressed about something and stop. But I'm going to try to stick with it this week, because honestly work is a lot easier when I take care of myself in the morning.

Next week I'm trying something new and challenging to work on my fitness (I'll save that for a later time) so I might not have time for yogaglo for awhile, but I'm going to keep my membership because they also have videos on meditation. Right now I can only really sit through the 5 minute meditations but you can build your way up to over an hour.

Well I'm off to work. This morning I walked around the apartment, gathering library books that I have around the house, it turns out that I have a bunch! So I'll bring those back so I can have a clear account for the new year (librarians get fines too you know) and then try to convince the kids at work to let me play video games with them. Have a good day!

2010-12-27T13:24:00.000-08:00

I woke up early today, prepared to brave the elements, and found that the libraries are closed due to NYC's blizzard. Sweet! It really feels like the bonus day that I needed to be able to join the living after the holidays. I was sick for the last few days thanks to a sinus infection (they are the worst and totally gross!) But was able to pull myself together on Christmas day to hear Simon play in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. I was very lucky and was able to buy orchestra seats for a fraction of the price Patti LuPone could of sat in my lap if she wanted to, I was that close.

Patti in Women of the Verge...diva!

I can now scratch one of my old school divas that I want to see off my list:

Lindsy's Old School Divas to see list (in no particular order):

1. Bette Midler

2. Cher

3. Bernadette Peters

~~4. Patti LuPone~~

5. Rita Moreno

The day after Christmas, S and I went to see True Grit, which I really liked. I only closed my eyes a couple of times. Only in NYC would a 6pm movie during a blizzard be sold out. But there it was. We killed time at a ramen place that also had a huge line, really people, stay inside!

me in the snow...props to my block for shoveling some sidewalk

So that brings us to today. Thanks to my extra day off, I'm back to my sub-optimal health and my house is clean. S. and I tried to go our traveling friends' house to water their plants but the snow dunes and freezing cold winds stopped us. I was able to pick up some supplies for grilled cheese sandwiches. I'm also starting a big project, I was asked to write a chapter for a book on library outreach about working with juvenile detention centers. Go me! I'm very excited about this and also a little nervous since I found out that 9,000 words is something like, 15-20 pages. Eek!

I'm hearing S. play MarioKart in the background...I think I'll go join him before I start my chapter outline. Poor guy has to go play a show tonight. Stay warm everyone!

2010-12-22T05:20:00.000-08:00

Ugh, I totally bombed during the class about databases yesterday. Remember in school when your teacher would try to use AV equipment for the class (even if it was just a dvd player) and it always went wrong? They couldn't turn anything on, or the movie wouldn't play or you couldn't get a signal. It never failed. So when I saw the set up of a laptop and a projector and laptops for each student I thought, okay this is going to be trouble. And it was! The website wouldn't load and some of the databases were blocked by the school and the kids got bored and so then I thought it would be a good time to start my standup routine. No. No it wasn't.

Well, you can't win them all. The kids were pretty nice though, except for one who asked me if the library could just send her the stuff that she wants to her house because she couldn't be bothered to walk to the library. Diva!

Today I'm going to do a LOT of shelving at work and then start planning some arts and crafts programs so that I can remember why I like working in the library. Then I'm going to get my Om on at Namaste.

Hope you have a good day, and I'll leave you with something I learned on A Cup of Jo:

image from A Cup of Jo

Did you know that if you put a piece of bread in your mouth while you cut onions you won't tear up? Its totally true!!!!!!

2010-12-21T04:57:00.000-08:00

I have not been updating as much as I want to, and it isn't because of a lack of adventures. In fact, December has been filled with a lot of fun stuff. My problem is that I never take any pictures. Since I last posted, John and Lyndsey came to visit from Indiana, I went to some great holiday/birthday parties and saw Burlesque, which was amazing (as if you had any doubt!). So much fun, I'm a very lucky gal!

This week I thought, since most of my shows are on a hiatus, I would take a break from tv watching. Its a good week for me to cut back, since there is nothing really to watch and I'll be busy with holiday things. I'll need to find a new book since I'm finishing up a great one. Have you ever read a book that you loved so much and didn't really want it to end? That's how I feel about Lauren Belfer's latest book A Fierce Radiance.

Oh man, this book has it all. Sweeping Romance, World War II drama (and enough history to make me want to become one of those baby boomer WWII buffs) and insight into the birth of mass produced penicillin. Who knew that penicillin production would be interesting. Maybe my scientist friend Keira would. She always tells me science-y things that usually went over my humanities brain.

Lauren Belfer also wrote a great book called City of Light which is set in Buffalo (hey!) in the early 1900s. So you should read that too and remember the days when people were jealous when they found out that you are from Buffalo and didn't just say, "oh, its really cold there"

Hope you have a great day today. I had they day off yesterday so today feels like my Monday. Its going to be a long day for me since I have to go to a school before work for a class visit and then work till 8. I'm nervous about this visit because the teacher wants me to talk about databases. Databases are tough to make interesting to high school students early in the morning but I'll do my best.

2010-12-15T14:26:00.000-08:00

S had breakfast the other day using pieces that I made in ceramics class. Before he ate, he took a picture and sent it to me. So there it is! I'm working on some more bowls too, I want to paint flowers on them and make my own granola and eat some with yogurt by my sunny window at my red table. Maybe while reading magazines.

2010-12-07T15:57:00.000-08:00

hey there!

S and I are thinking about getting a little Christmas tree for the house and I was against it at first because sometimes trees make my nose itch and also I hate cleaning up the pine needles. Then I was feeling a little like Mr. Scrooge and changed my mind. I mean, I'll only be a Scrooge if its Vanessa Williams style:

Tis the season to be Nasty indeed!!!!

So, yes, I think we are getting a tree and I really want to have a semi-crafty afternoon where I'll make this very cool garland that I saw on many of my favorite blogs:

image from Black Eiffel

Rainbow colored balls of felt! So cute and it looks like the easiest craft ever! You can find the directions on Oh Happy Day.

So tonight I'm going to meet up with S to see a show at Rockwood. Then I'll try to use all of my persuasive power to convince him to go to Meatball...the restaurant that specializes in meatball sandwiches! For real!

2010-12-06T11:56:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday!

For the first time in a while, I don't have a case of the Mondays...maybe that has something to do with my superfun, party filled weekend. I just love Holiday season!

So I'm reading some new stuff this week. As usual I picked up an adult book to read with my weekly young adult book.

Mindful Eating by Jan Chozen Bays
Ok, ok...its a little self-help-y but I thought it could be helpful. If anything to train myself to stop eating while I'm staring at a TV. Its pretty good so far but I might get bored with it after awhile. I just thought that if I wanted to work on my fitness for real this time, I should start by trying to stop mindlessly snacking. Which I do...a whole lot!

Carrie Pilby by Caren Lissner

I don't know anything about this book yet. But I love the cover! Its about a teen genius who is forced to socially interact with kids her own age.

Hope you are having a great start to your week. Tonight I'm meeting up with a friend to talk about what its like to work in a library. Good think he caught me on a happy day!

2010-12-02T15:53:00.000-08:00

I love stationary, and I would really love to buy something personalized for myself as a little Christmas present. I think I found my dream stationary at Rifle Paper Company.

Your very own personalized stationary and calling cards for under 100 dollars! I just need to figure out which head to use:

So which one do you think? I'm leaning towards #21, or #11.

2010-11-29T07:57:00.000-08:00

Hope you had a really great Thanksgiving weekend. I had a lot of fun but was so busy! To busy to take any pictures I guess, I really need to work on that! In lieu of a picture from my Thanksgiving I'm putting up a really funny picture I found on Passive Aggressive Notes (one of my favorite blogs):

Hilarious.

Last night I was watching Tyler Perry's "I can do bad all by myself" when S called and told me I should meet up with him at a bar on 19th and 1st ave. Turns out it was a bar for fans of the San Diego Chargers. So we watched the Chargers/Colts game. And yes, I was sad when the Chargers kept on scoring on the Colts, but the upside is that the Chargers have the most amazing theme song that the bar would play whenever they scored...which was often.

Check it out

Honestly, this is the song kicks butt.

2010-11-22T14:20:00.000-08:00

This weekend I:

-read books
-went out for Mexican food twice
-went to ceramics and made two new bowls
-got some Ramen with friends
-read magazines with S after we cleaned up the house
-bought a bunch of apples at the farmer's market for thanksgiving pies
-slept in

It was really great and I'm geared up for this week. I get to see friends all week! I'm so excited!

I'm also reading some new books:

My grown up book is How did you get this number? by Slone Crosley. I read her last collection of short stories, I was told there'd be cake, and loved it so when I saw her followup on the shelf I grabbed it. When i read her stories, its as if we are friends at happy hour and she's telling me about something crazy that just happened to her. I love it.

For my YA book, I'm keeping with the short story theme and reading Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link. To give you an idea of what the stories are like I'll just tell you about the first story I read. Its about a teenage boy who leaves a collection of his poetry in the coffin of his dead girlfriend. After a few months, he decides that he wants his poetry back and has to dig it up. The story is called "The wrong grave" so you can only imagine what happens next.

2010-11-19T08:52:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday! TGIF!!!!
This weekend I actually have Saturday off so it is a legit TGIF. What are you guys doing this weekend? I'm kicking it of with a Margarita and Morning Glory with Mary. I figure everyone will be watching Harry Potter 7 and we'll get great seats.

So happy its Friday. I have Teen Advisory Group today and we are rehearsing for a video we are making for the library's homework help website. I wrote a script where everyone has a speaking part because I couldn't bear to have any of them face rejection. It gives me flashbacks of my horrible audition for my high school's production of Anne Frank. Want to know what part I got for that one? Stage manager. That's right.

Here's your Friday Dance break. In honor of the new fierce diva movie Burlesque starring CHER and Xtina.

I want to be a diva that is so big that I don't have move on stage. Girls dance around me! I don't have to move!

2010-11-18T14:22:00.000-08:00

hey there...

Its almost friday...its almost friday this is what I keep on telling myself!

As you know, I did a huge closet purge. More than half of my clothes are gone which I thought I'd be sad about but its way easier to get dressed when you have less crap to go through. I want to buy some more stuff though, obviously. But I need to work on my fitness first. That doesn't mean I'm not pre-shopping though:

Is it just me or is Anthropologie dress selection amazing and ruffle free this season. I love it!

2010-11-16T09:00:00.000-08:00

image from Free Williamsburg

Good Morning!

I don't have to go to work till noon today so I had some time to go to the pool. I'm trying to make swimming my thing but its really tough. I get tired after 10 minutes (but make myself stay for 30) and the swimmers in the fast lane just love doing the butterfly stroke and it makes the rest of the pool feel like those wave machine pools you would go to in water parks. My friend Liz is a swimmer and told me to just use the kick board for a while until my legs get stronger so that's what I'm doing. Its actually very calming. That is, until you get a face full of water courtesy of the fast lane.

Last night S and I went to dinner at DuMont on a double date with some friends. My favorite part of a double date is finding out how the couple met. I just love "how we met" stories, it must be the romance novel fan in me. Jess and Danny's story was pretty great, rock star level really since one of them was on tour and the other had made it to the Hollywood level of American Idol. No really.

Tonight should be pretty quiet, I'm going to make some Chicken Curry a la Martha, do some work and maybe play some scrabble? Hope you have a good day.

what I'm reading now

2010-11-15T06:13:00.000-08:00

When I visit high schools, students always ask me how many books I read in a week. I used to read a ton, sometimes three or four YA books a week, but then I started to miss grown up books. So now I'm trying to read one adult and one YA book a week. Its been working pretty well so far. Here is what I'm reading now:

East of Eden by John Steinbeck.

Three years ago S and I promised to read each other's favorite book. He read House of the Spirits right away (how could you not? Its the best book on the planet) and I'm still reading East of Eden. Don't get me wrong, the book is amazing. I've always been a fan of sweeping, epic stories. I just haven't been able to focus. But now, three years later, I'm finally finishing the book and its worth it.

This book is a masterpiece, chronicling the lives of the Hamilton and Trask families. All of their loves, deaths and betrayals in Big Sur during the turn of the century. If you haven't read it, please do and we can talk about how Cathy is the most monstrous character ever.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

The perfect book for teens who loved the Hunger Games and want more. Its Hunger Games meets Lord of the Flies.

Thomas doesn't know anything about himself except for his first name when he wakes up in a giant, slow moving elevator. When the doors open he sees 50 teenage boys waiting for his arrival. They've been living on their own with no memory of their past in a large piece of land called the Glade. On the other side of the giant walls that surround the Glade is an always changing maze. The Gladers believe that if they can get to the end of the maze they'll be free. The day after Thomas arrives the first girl is sent to the Glade with a message that will change everything.

I've just started this book and I already know of four or five teens that would love it. This is great for the boys that come to my library and complain that all we have on the shelves is Twilight and books by Lauren Conrad.

So that it for this week! The best part of being a librarian is that you are never out of reading material, so I already have a pile for next week. Hope you have a great Monday. I'm kicking off the week with a fun double date with S's friends Jess and Danny. Haven't picked out a restaurant yet, but it should be on the healthy side since I'm working on my fitness.

2010-11-12T05:21:00.000-08:00

TGIF!!! I hope you have a great Friday and an even better weekend. I'm excited, even though I have to work on Saturday. Thats not going to stop me from having a Margarita with some girlfriends after work tonight.

Speaking of Margaritas, this week's Friday Dance Break features the woman the Margarita is rumored to be named after:

Rita Hayworth singing Amado Mio in Gilda

2010-11-11T09:11:00.000-08:00

Closet cleaning...done! It took a really long time, mainly because I didn't want to let go of some things that have seen better days. But now I have a lot of room for some new stuff! And you know I've already made some lists about that. Sliver linings...

Here's the look I love the most:

from Lucky magazine

Not anytime soon though, I need to save up some money before I can go on a legit shopping spree. And I have big plans today (second day off in a row!) I'm meeting up with Soo at Henry's Public in Cobble Hill for an old-timey lunch, then hanging out with Emily, in from LA and then S's East West show at Rockwood! Gotta love days off.

2010-11-10T08:52:00.000-08:00

Getting a late start today, its my day off so I could sleep in a little bit. Good thing because I was out past my bedtime at Brooklyn Bowl. Interesting night. S and I were there to cheer for a friend who was in an actual Battle of the Bands. I've never actually been to one, I thought they only excited in the movies. The winner gets 10,000 dollars to spend on making two music videos and guess what? Our friend won! Jess is one half of the singing group Lucius and they were just great. I'm so glad they won. Here is a video that they already have up on vimeo:

Lucius Shenandoah from Jessica wolfe on Vimeo.

Then we all went bowling and I was THIS CLOSE to finally getting a score over 100, something I can only do on the Wii. I ended up with a 98. A 98!?!?!? That's almost comical.

Today I am very serious about cleaning out my closet. I have a plan that involves grilled cheese sandwiches and listening to my new favorite Pandora station, the Bill Withers station. My reward will be a fun dinner later tonight with friends. Have a great day!

2010-11-09T07:35:00.000-08:00

I'm very proud of myself because I actually followed through on my crafty plans yesterday. After dinner (and watching back episodes of Modern Family) I finally opened up my calligraphy box set and started to practice. I didn't realize that that it came with paper, instructions AND a bunch of pens and ink. Thanks Ruth!

Here is proof of me practicing:

The alphabet in San Serif!

Today is going to be a long long day at work. I'm working on a new blog post for the library, a booklist of family drama stories (for teens). Any suggestions?

Tonight I'm going to Brooklyn Bowl with S. to see his friend play a show, and then maybe bowling? Maybe I'll make the kids play Wii Bowling during Game day so I can practice!

2010-11-08T05:58:00.000-08:00

I Hope you had a nice weekend.

I only had Sunday off but packed it with weekend-y activities including ceramics class (where I'm am totally improving! I'll probably have about 20 misshaped bowls by time the class is over) and fizzy drinks with Kelly and Lindsay. S finally came home from a weekend tour. It felt like his trip was much longer, but its good practice since he is leaving again soon for a much longer west cost tour.

I'm very proud of a blog post that I wrote for the New York Public Library about calligraphy. NYPL just opened a new exhibition on religion and features a Scriptorium. They have tons of old pieces of scripture and will teach you the basics of calligraphy. If you have some time, the videos are worth a look as well:

We had a similar program at my library for teens and it reminded me that S's grandmother sent me a Calligraphy set last year for a Hanukkah present. I should break it out and practice so that my snail mail can be even fancier. I think I'll practice tonight after I make some soup.

2010-11-05T05:05:00.000-07:00

Good Morning!

I had a great surprise yesterday. My package from Amazon was delivered two days early and I got to take home Nora Robert's Happy Ever After two days early!!!!!!! Sweet!!!! Its a romance novel about a Type A wedding planner who falls for a bad boy mechanic. Oh Nora...

I hope you have a good weekend. I have to work on Saturday so no big weekend for me but that won't stop me from a Friday Dance Break.

Step up 3D! A classic. And Fancy Footwork is the only song that will get me out the door this morning. Here is the whole song:

Chromeo - Fancy Footwork / MUSIC from AVIVA on Vimeo.

Today is going to be a long day at work. I have a feeling I'll be the only librarian in the building for a big chunk of the day. My light at the end of the tunnel is margaritas (well, margarita since its a "school night") with my friend Lauren. I'm going to try to get her to come to Mesa Coyoacan because I love love love their tacos.

2010-11-04T06:51:00.000-07:00

movie stills from Design*Sponge

Last night S and I made some risotto and watched Harold and Maude, which I had never seen before. I'm sorry to say that I fell asleep before I could finish the movie (as I often do when we watch movies at home) but I really liked the style of the parts I did see. Turns out, other people do too.

Maybe I'll finish the movie after work tonight. I'm excited about a program we are doing at the library today. I'm going to try to get the kids to work "Exquisite Corpses" just like the Surrealists did in the early 1900s. Then I have to box up a bunch of old books for the library to sell. Did you know a lot of the used books on Amazon and ebay come from libraries?!?! I had no idea. That's probably why we can't stamp them anymore.

Have a great day everyone, and safe trip to all of my loved ones leaving town today.

2010-11-03T13:39:00.000-07:00

my kitchen table

Still dragging today. But at least I have the day off to sniffle around and rest, I want to be up and energetic this weekend.

My afternoon of laying around was interrupted by a broker we are working with. S and I have been toying with the idea to move lately but after looking around for the last few days (him more than me) we are starting to get discouraged. And maybe appreciating the our home a little more? I saw three places today and, I don't know, they were okay, but its going to take a lot more than a tiny backyard underneath the highway to move all of S's music equipment. So we'll keep looking. And I have the luxury of living in a big sunny apartment until I find the perfect place.

Hope your "humpday" is going well. I'm going to tackle a project I've been meaning to work on for months...my closet. dum dum DUM!!!!

2010-11-02T08:59:00.000-07:00

This morning I got up early to walk to the polls and vote. I really had to drag myself out of bed but the thought of Alice Paul on a hunger strike in a jail cell and being force fed for women's suffrage (or really, Hillary Swank as Alice Paul in the HBO movie "Iron Jawed Angels") guilted me out of bed and over to Greenpoint where I'm still registered. I'm glad I went though, although I do miss the big lever that you pull when you are done voting. I remember going with my mom to watch her vote when I was a kid and loving the sound of the big lever.

So that's that. I wish Buffalo had someone cooler to vote for than crazy Carl Paladino. That's right.

In other news. I am super tired. When the heat start in by building its like a heavy blanket that makes you want to sleep for days. Tonight I might make spicy meatballs and watch Iron Jawed Angels.

2010-11-01T05:55:00.000-07:00

Hope you had a fun Halloween! I like Halloween well enough but my days of walking to parties in a tiny, cute Halloween costume are behind me. Lets just say, I kept it small this year. Yesterday S and I met up with Chad and Mary in Fort Greene to drink Hot Toddys and watch Clinton Ave's annual Vampire Opera. I couldn't believe people put this together. The stage was amazing, here's our best shot of it:

from S's iphone

Pretty cool! The actual opera was pretty much the music to Phantom of the Opera which new lyrics about candy and dentistry but I loved it. Then we went to Chris and Justina's house in Carrol Gardens to watch Rocky Horror (and football if you went into the other room) and eat pizza. I spent most of my time drooling over their handmade bookshelves that were the perfect size for paperback books.

I'll admit that I have a serious case of the Mondays today but I do have some after work plans to look forward to. I'm meeting up with my librarian friend Anne at Madame X for their monthly romance novel salon! Hot!

2010-10-31T06:41:00.000-07:00

happy halloween!

Today I have ceramics class, yoga and then a pizza party. In between I'm going to hand out some candy to the kids in Fort Greene on Mary's porch. Busy day!

I made a big change yesterday...with my hair!

My hair has been more or less like this for the past 15 years:

Long, wavy with a tall and regal forehead. But that has all changed.

Bangs! And shorter hair. I'm liking it so far. I haven't had bangs since I was this little:

Bangs are back!

2010-10-27T06:07:00.000-07:00

Morning!

I was going to try to get a shot of the soup dumplings at dinner last night but we ate them so fast I didn't get a chance to! Just know, they are delicious and I thought about them all day during a miserable day at work, they were like the light at the end of a dark dark tunnel. People were in a mood yesterday, and they wanted to take it out on their local librarian. I was so grumpy by lunch time only Jenny Slate could get me out of my funk:

MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON from Dean Fleischer-Camp on Vimeo.

"I...I can't lift anything at all...."

One fun part of work was the grudge match I set up for two teenage boys who were arguing for a full hour over who was better at Super Smash Brothers Brawl. I've never seen a group of kids so excited! I thought I might have to stop them from betting money.

Today should be way better. I have some time to work on the Halloween Party (I need to dig up my old Twilight Zone DVDs) and get ready for NYPL's blogger's conference! Fun!

Maybe tonight I'll see if S wants to break out the Wii and play some Brawl too. But first I might need to call my brother Alex for some pointers...

2010-10-26T07:42:00.000-07:00

I thought making soup on Monday would be a nice way to start the week. Nothing fancy, just some vegetables that looked good that day mixed with some diced tomatoes. Here's this Monday's soup:

I heated up a small diced onion with one peeled russet potato. Added some chick peas, diced tomatoes and a couple cans of water. Waited awhile and then added a bunch of shredded kale. The whole thing took a half hour tops and I have a ton of leftovers. Soup Mondays! I hope this becomes a regular thing.

It has already been a busy morning. I renewed my membership to the pool and went swimming. On the way home I saw this AWESOME window painting in the storefront of Crest Hardware (love that place).

I'm going to try to find out who the artist is does anyone know?

What?!?! Ghostbusters!?!?! How could a hardware store be so cool? What am I saying? Hardware stores are always cool, they are like libraries for your house.

Off to work in a little bit, getting ready for a staff meeting and then challenging some 13 year old boys to MarioKart, I have to say, I'm getting pretty good. I should buy the game so I can play at home. Then S and I are meeting up for some soup dumplings in Chelsea. Fun! Have a great Tuesday!

elizabeth! (some music for Monday)

2010-10-25T13:57:00.000-07:00

Totally forgot about the crazyfun thing I did on Saturday night! S. and I went to Rockwood to see our friends Elizabeth and Danny (also known as Elizabeth and the Catapult) play. Great show, the best part was the woman standing in front of me interprative dancing to Elizabeth's songs! S is going to play with them in a west coast tour next month...San Diego, LA, Portland, San Francisco and Seattle. So jealous!

Race You from Katrina Nelken on Vimeo.

maps

2010-10-25T05:53:00.000-07:00

the map that I made...backwards as brooklyn in not west of manhattan!

I had a really great weekend.

I got to spend a lot of time with S. which can be rare when he has a lot of shows.
I went to NYPL's monthly crafternoon program and learned how to make my own maps. (Who knew that Maps could be so crafty?)
I learned how to trim a pot and put my first bowl on the "to be fired in the kiln" shelf.
I called my Nana and found out that my pre-school aged cousin gets pedicures.
I did some tough yoga and ate hummus with Mary.
I (finally) saw the season finale of Mad Men at Katie Yo's.
I fell asleep as soon as I hit the pillow Sunday night and didn't get up all night (which is rare).

What a great weekend!

Today I'm going to kick butt at work, planning the Halloween party and trying to figure out how running the Nintendo program can be fun for me. Then I'm going to go home and make some minestrone soup and write letters.

Have a great Monday!

Weekend Dance Break

2010-09-24T07:48:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you have a good weekend. I will be at work tomorrow (drag) but I have a fun BBQ to look forward to. Here is your friday dance break, sent to me by Emily:

I'm loving all the Step Up love, all they need is some Center Stage and it would be perfect.

Thank You!

2010-09-23T14:49:00.000-07:00

I had a really wonderful birthday yesterday and my family and friends were a big part of it. So thank you everyone for the birthday wishes, the fun (and free!) meals and even for the quiet time that I had. I'm a very lucky person and my birthday wish for myself is that I will always remember that.

My other birthday wish is that I continue to "step up my game" in my wardrobe, personal style, and home. I'm starting to re-organize my kitchen this week, in anticipation of more cozy homecooked (and healthy) meals. I was inspired by this photo from Destined to Design.

Beautiful, no? And I already have the jars thanks to Emily!

new class

2010-09-21T14:45:00.001-07:00

I got my first birthday present last night from S. An 8 week pottery class at Choplet studio in Williamsburg! I'm so excited and nervous!! So starting in October I'll be at the studio every Sunday (and maybe other days since I am now a member!) doing my best Demi Moore impression.

I want to make all kinds of things, including this cool buddha bowl. A bowl that you can hold in your hand while you are watching tv! Love it!

S. had to give me the present early because classes were filling up and would have already been filled by my birthday so I got an early present! Yay!

Birthday Week!

2010-09-20T13:29:00.001-07:00

You might know this already (you probably do, since you are probably my mom, or nana)...my birthday is this week! On Wednesday, I'll be turning 27 and I'm pretty excited about it. I'm going to be very happy in my (gasp!) late 20s.

I kicked off birthday week with my friend Caitlin (who also had a birthday on the
17th). We fulfilled a five-year old dream to go out to Harold from Top Chef's fancy pants restaurant Perilla.

(image from Shane Life)
If you ever go, do yourself a favor at get the risotto. I could have just had that and left happy. It was amazing. But I didn't stop there, I had some grilled swordfish and split a bread pudding sundae (with two candles!) and rolled myself home.

Happy Birthday Caitlin! Thanks for splurging with me!

Anthology Part 2

2010-09-16T14:27:00.000-07:00

Remember that magazine I was telling you about? They have the CUTEST stop motion promo. Is it weird that I want to live the Anthology model's life? Right down to the red hair.

crafternoon!

2010-09-15T11:07:00.000-07:00

I'm taking part in NYPL's monthly crafternoon at the main branch on 42nd street. It looks really fun! Here's some info from Jessica Pigza's (the organizer)NYPL blog:

Do you want to play a game called Exquisite Corpse? Don’t worry, there’s nothing ghoulish about it; it’s a collaborative art game that was invented by the surrealists. And it was this game that inspired illustrator and pattern designer Julia Rothman and her colleagues Jenny Volvovski and Matt Lamothe to collaborate with one hundred artists on The Exquisite Book.

On Saturday, September 18th, Julia will tell us about the ambitious and beautiful collaborative art project that resulted in this book, and we’ll all have the chance to create some exquisite corpse-inspired books and art of our own.

Fun!

New Magazine!

2010-09-14T15:49:00.000-07:00

I'm interested in a new magazine called Anthology that just started up. Could it fill the void that domino left? I read this great quote on Oh Happy Day:
After Domino folded I made a decision to subscribe to every magazine I am interested in. I love online content and am inspired by it but there is something about turning pages in your hands. If we don't want to lose that then we need to support magazines we love.

So true!

perfect lunch

2010-09-13T12:47:00.000-07:00

(image from new york magazine)

I found my new favorite lunch spot, The Adore on East 13th and University. S. and I went there a few days ago and what can I say? Perfect crusty sandwiches, big leafy salads, a cozy, quiet dining area with a big sunny window. I was in love. It didn't hurt that my lunch was only 10 dollars. Next time I'm going to try out their delicious looking desserts!

Back to school shopping

2010-09-08T10:42:00.000-07:00

Looking for a change, using the blogs for inspiration

bangs? I love this style but haven't had bangs since I was 6. With a hair dryer and some patience, I think I could handle it.

Cute clothes! I love these looks from Lauren Moffatt's line (can I afford it though? maybe not)

images from camp comfort and destined to design

NYPL bloggin'

2010-09-06T09:15:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys!

I'm starting a new series for The New York Public Library called Adventures in Non-Fiction. Hopefully it will become its own "blog channel." The first post is HERE. If you have some time, definitely check out some of the posts on NYPL. There's some great stuff there!

2010-09-03T10:24:00.000-07:00

Life:Curated is a the creative baby of my friends Ryan and Sarah. I went to their opening last night and was knocked out by how beautiful and creative the space is. If you are in the Williamsburg area, you should definitely go check the space out. And if you are in the market for super fancy leather jacket try this one:

BAM! (Thanks for modeling Andrew!)