BRILLIANT.

OVERHEARD.

"Don't you ever get tired of learning? Like, sometimes don't you just say 'I've had enough.' Like, you're just tired of learning things?"

- 30 something woman at the table next to me at a restaurant in Midtown

GETTIN ANTSY.

I am now finally putting my nose to the grindstone and the ground and the pavement and am starting to look for a job. I am ending the party known as my arrival and am actually going to try and make some money. This notion is both exciting and traumatizing.That is more traumatizing than my job search.

I digress.

I am also going into operation "Reign It In" which is where I will 1. start paying attention to how much money I am spending and 2. stop spending so much money. Should be pretty simple and work out well.

My mums was in town for the weekend and had a lovely time gallivanting with her and the sister around the 'hattans. I bought a sweater, a bra, and a bagel with smoked salmon at Zabar's and celebrated my 1 month until my birthday day. Also, my sister scored free tickets for the two of us to see "Legally Blonde" because her friend plays in the pit.


And I must say that Bailey Hanks who won the role on MTV's reality show was actually adorable and did a great job. Yey for her.

The show had some moments of hilarity, but it was a bit like watching a badly planned sputtery crackhead fireworks display on the 4th of July, except with a lot of pink instead of red, white and blue.


What? I know.

Shitty thing of the week: I forgot to TiVo the New Kids on the Block VH1 Behind the Music.

Tragic. They HAVE to re-run it.

ONE MORE THING.

I forgot to mention that her holiness made a guest appearance on Grey's last night.

Yes I did scream out loud when she got out of the limo, yes her face did look pulled tighter than a drum, but you have to love her. The woman is a theatre legend and there is nobody like her. I'm just so, so sorry that my girl B got stuck with such a stupid, crappy episode. Why couldn't they have done a 2 hour musicalized premiere? THAT would have been amazing. Can't you just see Callie singing some love song to Dr. Han and a really intense song of banishment sung by my McDreamy to Rose? And then Bernadette could have had an entire number to herself where she contemplated life with a man who can't speak anymore who has also slept with her best friend. And Lexie could have sung, "On My Own" while roaming the halls thinking of George. It has the potential to be so incredible. I should contact Shondra.

DOUBLE WTF???

NEXT WEEK ISN'T EVEN NEW??? I AM FLIPPIN' WITH RAGE.

WTF???????

OK. Am totally pissed about the premiere of Grey's. I have to admit it was total and complete poop. I am really upset.

Like, really upset.

The only good part was when the creepy man army doctor man sucked face with Christina. And it wasn't even that good. There was no funny and everyone was grumpy and that is not the way I want to see my homies at Seattle Grace after such a long separation. And, McDreamy barely had any face time.

Shondra needs a talking to.

VOTE AWAY FROM HOME.

These kids couldn't have made this process any easier. Seriously. If you aren't going to be home on election day, sign up for absentee using this super painless, ridiculously easy website:




http://www.govoteabsentee.org/

COUNTDOWN BEGINS.

This building that you see before you is what is commonly called: "Madison Square Garden."

In reality it is called: "The-Building-Where-I-Will-Be-Screaming-My-Face-Off-On-My-Birthday-
While-Singing-Along-To-Such-Hits-As-'Popsicle'-At-
The-New-Kids-On-The-Block-Concert."

Yes, it is true. I found out the glorious news days ago that Larkita has purchased the tickets and I will be dancing and singing like a maniac alongside my sister and roommate, Miz Millah, on my Birthday at the New Kids concert. I am going to be posting some of their material here on the blog in preparation for the big day. I am obviously going to wear my NKOTB t-shirt that I have, but am considering trying to re-create my outfit I wore to the original concert. I have leggings, but I would have to find a skin tight black cotton skirt with gold metallic polka dots all over it. That could be challenging...

From the NKOTB Website Blog, written by the most dreamy dreamerson of the group. Just don't pay attention to the wife and son part...Or just pretend that YOU are the wife. That works, too.

September 14th, 2008

JOE CHECKS IN FROM TORONTO

10:15 pm Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008
I’m sitting in section 120 row 14 seat 10 at the arena in Toronto. I’m the only one in the stands as I watch the stage being put together for a New Kids on the Block concert. Wow. I see it slowly coming together. Light rigs being strung up. They just rolled out the floor for the stage. Just now, the first flash as they test the massive light rig. One of the toughest things of being a part of amazing productions and shows and performances is that sometimes you feel like it went too fast, like you didn’t quite enjoy it as much as you could have. So help me God, I will drink this up. A wonderful life, a beautiful wife, a son. And a world tour with 4 guys that go beyond any description that could explain the connection I have with them. And the people that have made this new journey possible… You. So help me God, I’m gon’ drink this up.
-jm

I WILL DATE ALL OF THEM.

Last Tuesday I had the distinct pleasure of going to see one of my favorite bands play at Union Pool in Brooklyn. Noah and the Whale rocked the little, wonderful house on the day their album was released in the U.S. The venue was perfect, the stage was classic and small, and they had 2 horn players with them. It was one of the best, most non-pretentious concerts I'd been to in quite some time. And the fiddle player couldn't stop smiling the entire time because he was so happy. They were all so appreciative of the audience and these guys are t-a-l-e-n-t-e-d.


And a-d-o-r-a-b-l-e.


We even got to chat with them afterwards.


Tres cool.

AND! I actually enjoyed the opening act. Usually they really bother me (like the idiots who opened for Feist), but this girl was very sweet and had a wonderful voice. Her tunes were surprisingly catchy...but her make-up was a little scary and she looked like she needed to eat a hamburger but whatever. Lindi Ortega. She sang some song about dying of a broken heart and I liked it...You can hear it on her myspace.

HALLELUJAH.

My computer is fixed and I am going to pick it up today after my lunch date. I couldn't be happier. I have so many photos and things to share with you after I pick up my little child. Thank you all for your patience and support during this difficult time.

COUCH TATER TOT.

I am currently on the couch with my roommate and the dog, zonked from another amazing weekend full of plays, reunions with old A++ friends, and too much fun. We are eating ice cream and judging everyone on the red carpet at the Emmys.




So far, my favorite dress was America Ferrera's. Love it. Kind of want it in white for my wedding dress.


Tina Fey: The greatest of all time. Want to be her. Did you hear her say that she hopes Sarah Palin is free at the end of November? Hilare.


Ok, I need to go put a face mask on, have a bathroom break, and eat some more ice cream.


P.S.Sorry for the lack of photos on the blog, been hard because my computer is still in the hospital (but is coming back soon and it will be A-O-K!) and I haven't been able to upload stuff from my camera.

P.P.S. Totally think Eva Longoria is preggers. Just FYI.

P.P.P.S.This blog is really going to kick back into high gear when my pooter comes back. I have some great photos and things to blog about that I've been saving...

HARRY'S HOGWAND.

I saw it. I saw Harry Potter's Sword of Gryffindor.

That's all I have to say for now.

WISHLIST.

My absolutely wonderful friend Meg-Star came in from NJ today to visit me. We used to work together in SF and she move east with her also wonderful husband and child about a year ago. She came sans her freakishly cute little boy, so it was just us two ladies out on the town. We wandered into a Scandinavian furniture store and it was like someone put everything I'd want in my apartment into one room.

Particularly this little number:

It is a 1940's piece by Josef Frank and it looks not quite phenom in this photo, but it is bangin' in person. The fabric is vintage linen with prints of various places in Manhattan. This is it:

It is so ME. IT IS. And it is only $9,200!!!! Ha! RIGHT! But of course I took the design cut sheet and talked to the sales woman about it for like, 10 minutes. And I took a photo of it w/ my camera for my own personal records. Because some day I WILL own it. I swears. And maybe because I used to work for Knoll design firm I can find some way to get myself a discount.

If any of you would like to purchase this for me, please feel free. Feel really free.

GIRL DATES.

I have already noticed a few key changes in my social patterns here in NY, and the first major one is this:

Girl Dates.

In San Francisco, I had an established group of comrades. The main way that I met people was through doing shows and bonding with folks during the rehearsal process...Plus, I had grown up in the area and knew lots of people in general, and SF is a smaller city so you run into people all the time.

I have already met a couple of fabulous girls at parties and various events and have been asked out on, well, girl dates. I must say the process is kind of like regular date-dating. You make plans to go get coffee or dinner, you have to figure out what you're going to wear, you hope you have things to talk about...all those shenanigans. It is rather exciting and totally different from my past life as a West Coaster. And, it makes me feel very Sex & The City again to have so many super females around.

So, I am totally uniting with the ladies of New York and loving it.

DON'T BE SUCH A DRIP/NATE ARCHIBALD IS A GIGOLO.

Living the life of the unemployed has been rather action packed for me. I have been doing a lot, just not getting paid for it. So if anyone wants to be my sponsor, just let me know, because I am checking off things from my list like wild fire and am being very productive.

I digress.

Yesterday, I met my swell sister for a jaunt around town to look for some bedding for my room. I needed something with some kick since my walls are all white and we found some tres adorable ones on sale at Pottery Barn (who knew they had pizzaz?) and I am thrilled with my selection. I got these ones in black:


Then we hit up this new organic (or as my grandpa used to say, "Orgaaaaaahnic) hummus place called Nanoosh for lunch. It was delish! What a find! And they deliver. They're located at 2012 Broadway between W68th & W69th. And apparently they are opening 2 new locations in Manhattan soon. Yum.

I then had to run downtown to SoHo to the Mac store. Diagnosis: not so great. I have to ship it away to get fixed, I might lose everything from my hard drive, but at least it hasn't totally gone to heaven. I am still feeling a little sad about it, but life could be worse.

Last night I was invited by a lyricist to see some of her new works performed at Lincoln Center. Her name is Kirsten Guenther and she was one of the Dramatist Guild Fellows. The room was filled with lots of Broadway folks and we were in the room in Lincoln Center where the Broadway production of South Pacific rehearses. Their rehearsal props were right next to my body. It was kind of amazing and Stephen Flaherty (composer of Ragtime and Once On This Island to name a few) was sitting right in front of me. WHOA.

After the fabulous show, I went back to my sister's to watch Gossip Girl. During the viewing of the worst episode yet (Nate Archibald is whoring himself out for money to save his Pops?? What??) I noticed water dripping from my sister's ceiling fan. And then we noticed it coming from the window. And some other spots on the ceiling. Not good. And some of it was brown. Yuckers.

Turns out the girl 2 floors above her left her faucet running, there was gunk in the sink, and so the whole apartment was overflowing and it had traveled down 2 floors to my sister's place. Thank GOD it was faucet water, not poop water.

Bottom line: Gossip Girl saved the day. If we had not been watching the show, we may never have noticed the water until it was too late. Too late, I tell you.

This was WAY too long. Sorry. I will keep it short next time.

FIRST WEEKEND.

This was really my first full weekend here in the city and, needless to say, I had a blast. Friday night I hung out with my fabulous roommate Miz Millah, ate dinner, and laughed a lot. Saturday morning I woke up feeling really ambitious and hauled off to Chelsea to hit up the flea market with all the gays. They had some really amazing stuff and I highly recommend going to the garage instead of the outdoor market. They have 2 floors of vintage clothes, furniture, and random things. You really do have to pick around, but I managed to find a great mirror, some vintage cups and bowls, an adorable vintage bag, and some other random things. The garage is on West 25th between 5th and 6th.

I also managed to see two of my best friends from London Saturday afternoon. I just love them. And then it was off to a dance party at Larkita's where there was lots of shimmying, eating, drinking, and rooftop chatting.

Today I am totally wiped and it is totally hot out. I have been lying around on the couch all day with the dog, air conditioning at full, watching Sex and the City on DVD. I managed to fall asleep for awhile and only woke up because my phone rang. Larkita will be joining me shortly for dinner and more DVD viewing. She is also going to help me figure out how to decorate my room. Any ideas?

I must say I am feeling rather Carrie Bradshawy because I am sitting in my apartment blogging. Except I am not wearing anything fabulous and she actually got paid to write whatever she wrote and I don't. Whateva.

Tomorrow my real life starts. Tomorrow I hit the pavement and hopefully my face doesn't get damaged.

OHNO.

So my computer turns on but will not go past the lovely sky blue color. It just stays blue. I just stare at the screen and freak out. I am taking it to the Mac Genius Bar tomorrow and hopefully those peeps will be able to wave their technical wand and fix it. For free. Otherwise I am going to be skah-rude.

The good thing is that the sad face hasn't appeared so that means my hard drive is still alive, right?

GET YOUR KICKS.

I had a list of errands to run yesterday and one of them was to go to Lady Footlocker to pick up my new running shoes. I wrote down the address and saw that it was on Broadway, didn't think it would be too far. Well...

I WAS WRONG.

I managed to walk all the way from my neighborhood through SoHo and then some. I was ready to keel over and die by the time I got to the store so I just wanted to grab my shoes and go. I've been wearing Asics GT's forever and just wanted the updated model of the GT-2130. I found a sales guy (Daniel), they had what I wanted, and he went back to get 2 pairs for me to try on: the ones I wanted and one other pair that cost twice as much as the ones I was going to buy but they were reallllly snazzy.

Needless to say, I told Daniel I was going to get the Asics.

He asked if I wanted some insoles to add to the shoes. I said, "No."

Then he asked me if I wanted any apparel. I said, "No."

Then he asked me if I wanted a sports bra for 50% off. I asked if they were on sale. He said, "No." I said, "Daniel, are you telling me you are going to give me any full priced sports bra I want for half off?"

And Daniel said, "Yes."

So, I said, "yes" too. Daniel is my new best friend and he told me to come back whenever I need any shoes or sportswear because he will hook me up.

For all I know he is probably running some illegal something but I don't care. I have one of my favorite types of running sports bras in my drawer for half of what it would have normally cost me. And this is yet another reason why I love New York.

FIRST CELEB SITING.

Just saw Clinton Kelly at the Whole Foods in my hood. We browsed the hummus and soups together. He was dressed in nice slacks and a snazzy button down shirt. His face, however, needed to be blotted with one of those oil sucker pads. Otherwise, he looked great. Love him. I was also not looking like a total schlub, so that was a bonus for me...

REMEMBERING.

I can't really let the day pass without acknowledging what happened 7 years ago today. I live within blocks of where the towers once stood and it was quite emotional waking up this morning and seeing all of those people gathered. I feel very lucky for each day, for my friends and family and for all of the opportunities I have here in New York.

I hope you feel thankful for everything you have, too.

BACK FROM THE SEND OFF.

I have returned from my wee east coast road trip where my sister and I dropped off our cousin for his freshman year at Dartmouth. After lots of shopping, packing, and unpacking we got into car to head back to the city.

I made it very clear that on the drive home we were going to have to stop for something extremely important. Something I had been missing since leaving the east coast when I graduated from college. Something that is just so wonderful and non-existent in the west and I've thought about it a lot over these past few years. And that something is the wonder known as...

Friendly's.

For those of you west coasters who do not know this wonder, it is a chain of restauranty/dinery places that are kind of like a Denny's, but nicer. As Friendly's puts it, "Delicious food, premium ice cream, and magical moments." Their ice cream is scrumptious. Sooooo good and my favorite is the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Sundae.

Huzzah!

I couldn't finish it. But my lack of finishing did not diminish its deliciousness.

I think I am still digesting it a day later but I am really looking forward to visiting Dartmouth and other places that require leaving the city so I can go back to Friendly's. I can't decide if that is sad or great.

I hope you get to have a magical moment today.

CRY BABY.

I went running on Saturday morning along the water and all of the sudden, what was right next to me but the Statue of Liberty. During all of my visits to New York I never managed to see it. And, within hours of living here, BAM. It was gorgeous and, I must admit, I got a little teary. There is something magnificent about it and I totally had a women together moment.

Speaking of teary, saw the Lion King last night with my sister and cousin and the opening number of that show is a weep fest. For real serious.

The Circle of Life, baby. It moves us all.

That business is MOVING and EMOTIONAL. The rest of the show is aight aight, but that opening number is something splendid. The costumes, puppets, sounds of the voices just rock you. I had warned my sister that I would probably cry, she made fun of me, and who did I have to pass the kleenex to as soon as the elephants started coming down the aisle?


Next I have go to see Daniel Radcliffe in Equus because he gets naked. My sister and I will be getting tickets. There are too many funny jokes to make about this one and I believe the one that took the cake last night was, as I called it, Daniel's "hogwand." Came up with that one pre-Lion K performance. Please pass along any good ones you may have for Harry's Sword of Gryffindor/his chamber of secrets/his phoenix feather.


Off to Dartmouth today to drop off my cousin at college for the first time. I remember when he was just a wee babe...Now he is going off to school. Sigh.

SITTIN ON TOP OF THE WORLD.

I have arrived.

Our cab ride was a bit insane. Perfect for New York. LOVE crazy cabbies.

View from my balcony.

Jealous yet?

I know.

Right?

I am one lucky duck.

Upon my arrival, I was welcomed with the news that my dear friend Larkita, one of my loves for life, will be taking me to see New Kids on the Block live at Madison Square Garden for my birthday this year. If you even know what the name of my blog is you should probably be able to figure out how much I love and respect them. And how much I bugged out upon receipt of the news.

Some day I'll tell y'all about when I hugged Joey McIntyre. And he smelled good, even though he had just finished an entire performance of Wicked (which, might I add, I love that the show he was in was called Wicked because Wicked is a very Boston thing to say and Joey is a Bostonian and so he says it with that great little Boston accent and it is just TOO CUTE).

I even got to stop at Whole Foods down the block and stock up on some of my eats.

And they had local ostrich eggs. Everybody loves Ostrich Eggs. Only in New York.

Even though today is supposed to be a tropical rain explosion, we're still going to have a great time. There are talks of hitting up the planetarium at the Natural History Museum and I, for one, absolutely LOVE planetariums. A lot.

I once led a star show in a portable planetarium the Exploratorium lent my school when I was in 7th grade. It was totally stellar. Hahhaaaa, get it? Get it?

Lastly, my apartment has Guitar Hero. This has the potential to single handedly derail me from my journey to fame and fortune. Or maybe it is what will lead me there...

OVER AND OUT.

Well folks, this is my last posting from sunny California. My going away soiree last night was a blast, packing with a hangover is not a blast, but getting to have brunch with your favorite aunt in the morning at your favorite brunch spot in SF in the sunshine and drinking a coke at 10:00am makes it all better.

Why is it that the weather has to be so perfect right when I'm leaving?

I will miss my superb yay area friends, but I know I will see y'all again soon. Thanks for such a smashing send off and I will talk to you from the right coast.

Love to love you.

I'M RUNNING.

I leave on Friday...time is going by so quickly, but so far the move/packing is going well.

I am already receiving invitations for various social events in New York; I feel so welcomed and I haven't even arrived yet!!

Please excuse the sparse and totally rando blogging during these next few days...And I will close with some more words of wisdom from everybody's hero: Diddy.

ALASKA.