Category Archives: Entertainment

Holiday Season is Here

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First, I am very thankful that I was able to sleep in until 8:30 this morning, despite Brett and I both forgetting to turn of our alarms. At this time of year, sleep is so essential.

So we got up, bundled ourselves and headed to our usual diner around the corner for breakfast. In conversation during breakfast I mentioned to Brett that we should walk over to Dunkin on Lex to pick up the correct K-cups and possibly from there we would be able to see the Macy’s parade balloons. Neither Brett or I are parade people but this was the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and it’s the kick-off to holiday season!  So Brett made a face and said he would go, but only as far as Lex.

Well, we left the diner, picked up the coffee, stepped back out onto the street and looked across the avenues … and we couldn’t see anything. It was pretty chilly and I contemplated going home, but instead I told him to go home and I’d just walk over to catch the end of the parade. I had to!

I hung a right and headed toward Rockefeller. I’d say my timing was pretty smack on – I got to see some of the enormous balloons as I approached 6th Avenue, just on the other side of Rockefeller. Many people, young and old – toques, puffy scarves, mitts and parkas on, to experience this iconic NYC event. It was energizing absorbing everyone’s holiday spirit! Although the end of the parade is not as cool as the beginning – all the new balloons are at the front – it’s still pretty cool to watch numbers and numbers of people controlling these huge inflatable characters and shapes. They look so small in comparison.

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I’d say my hour this morning walking through Rockefeller, watching families all bundled – some making special trips into the city just for the parade and to experience the festivities, and observing that 15 minutes of parade pushed me into the Festivus season! For these moments and opportunities I am forever grateful.

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Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Chanukah, and Happy Holidays everyone! Take one of the most stressful times of year and turn it into a relaxing season of sharing, giving and cheer!

Mr. Kellerman Was Right

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Those of us who have watched Dirty Dancing upteen times know Kellerman’s Anthem. The iconic song that winds down the summer at the upitty resort. The lyrical phrase of importance here being: “old friends are the best”. Don’t get me wrong, I love the friends I’ve had the pleasure of gaining in recent years, but there really is something something special about old friends.

chellebelle416.wordpress.com

chellebelle416.wordpress.com

I spent the last few days catching up with one of my two long-time BFFs. I put work and running to the side to catch up and have some fun with Jill – the “trouble girls” were back together! We acquired this nickname in our early 20’s… How did we get this name? Pure, innocent trouble we called having fun!

Circa 2001

Circa 2001

So Jill came to this glorious place I now call home last Wednesday eve. This was not her first visit so it was nice that we didn’t have to do all the touristy stuff. We spent our time doing the usual things women do; and also laughing at our young stupidity, drinking some wine, some coffee, some beer, taking a road trip and exploring our now mature friendship in a way we hadn’t been able to for a few years. Although our lives are very different now, we are still the same when we are together.

Eve 1: A little wine at home and a night of chit chat.

Day 2: Brunch at Ze Cafe, a nice little French bistro. Shopping. Manis and pedis. Cheese tasting with Monica at the 92nd Street Y. That’s right, a cheese talk and tasting with the Cowboy Creamery ladies of Petaluma California. Wowza, loved this! (Next step in this cheese process – cheese making class!) Finished off the night with appys and sangria (best sangria ever) at Vero Wine Bar, and of course eavesdropping on a young dating couple. Oooops, did I say that out loud?

Day 3: I had to work so Jill did her own exploring and shopping. After work though we went to Bryant Park to visit the Winter Village holiday shoppes and have some appys at Celsius Lounge. Next made our way to Brooklyn for the Brooklyn Night Bazaar (bizarre hahaha!). Jill was a little “uneasy” about this event since the neighborhood was graffiti-ridden, warehouse-y and baron. Once inside – hello hipster Brooklyn! Enjoyed the mini ice cream cones, chatting with locals about their products, and laughed at our glowing teeth in the mini golf area, where of course I had my picture taken with a cardboard Fabio and Jill became a cardboard hot dog! Tina and her friend joined us then we all made our way to a lovely biergarten in the neighborhood for a bier (more plaid everywhere!).

Bryant Park

Bryant Park

Day 4: Up and out the door to Penn Station to catch the LIRR to Ronkonkama. From there, car rental and road trip to the Hamptons! Beautiful fall foliage, deer prancing around, gorgeous summer homes on the beach. First stop in Westhampton for lunch. Second stop in Southhampton at the beach, deer again prancing between massive homes, deciding whose place housed the best foliage I suppose. Third stop in Montauk for the night. Stayed at the Montauk Marina & Yacht Club. Gorgeous sunset. Wanted to crash the wedding but it would have been too noticeable so we went for dinner and ended the night early with the TV… dang just couldn’t stay up to make it to the newlywed’s bonfire hahaha!

Southhampton Beach

Southhampton Beach

Montauk Marina and Yacht Club sunset

Montauk Marina and Yacht Club sunset

Day 5: Up early for room service and a beautiful sunrise! Checked out and off to the Montauk Lighthouse we went! Boulder walking, shell picking and carcass inspection… still not sure what that creature was… Next headed into East Hampton for a coffee and a stop at BookHampton, couldn’t resist our love for book shopping. Back on the road – lots of roadkill! Poor Bambi and family! Finally, off to Riverhead Tanger outlets to meet Lana for shopping and lunch. After all that, headed back to the city on the LIRR where we hung out for the eve before Jill had to retire early for her very early airport pick-up.

Montauk Lighthouse

Montauk Lighthouse

Public Beach at Montauk

Public Beach at Montauk

I wrapped up our days in a whirlwind, yes. Unfortuntely the short amount of detail in my paragraphs doesn’t give our time together justice at all but the point is, it was a great time of reconnection and new memory-making for us. Memories that we both will look back on very fondly, like many from the past.

P.S. Some of these memories will end up cycling back as jibberyjab posts too 🙂

P.S.S. And bucket list checking too.

Hiking vs. Running – Events From the Last Two Weekends

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I cannot say I like one more than the other because each activity is glorious in itself. The rewards different, the experiences unique. Of course logistically, running is very convenient and accessible for me, whereas hiking requires more planning and more complicated transportation plans.

Hiking overview: Lisa and I had a great time hiking at Bear Mountain last Saturday. Not only did we hike part of the Appalachian Trail (towards Georgia hahaha!), we stopped at the area’s Ocktoberfest and wandered through the Bear Mountain “zoo” with beer in hand. The weather was gorgeous considering it was the last weekend of October. Usually our weather at this time of year is quite nice, minus the last two years (Sandy last year and blizzard the previous year). This was a most enjoyable day.

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The lake at Bear Mountain

Beautiful leaves!

Beautiful leaves!

"Bears and beers"

“Bears and beers”

Today’s race: Dash to the Finish Line, a warm-up to the ING NYC marathon. A little jaunt that started three blocks from my apartment (awesome), ran west on 42nd Street (awesome), up 6th Avenue to Central Park and ended at the marathon finish line of tomorrow’s marathon (fabulous). I’m pretty sure next year I will be crossing that line after venturing the 26 miles through all five boroughs. I’m driven to do it and I think I can. I have a year to prep myself mind. Oh and my body.

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The Start

Running toward the finish

Running toward the finish

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Walking home through the Literary Walk afterward

So what do I choose? Well you know I love running. But if I had more opportunity and willingness to seek out nearby hikes, I would probably hike more. I’ve just gotten so used to how races work, knowing what I need, etc, I’m not sure I will put in the same effort to find hikes. Unless of course they are arranged by someone else or LivingSocial again!

My Love for Halloween

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My favorite Halloween candy! happyhomefairy.com

My favorite Halloween candy!
happyhomefairy.com

My love for Halloween has changed over the years, but October 31st is still my favorite day of the year.

When I was young I loved it for the reasons all kids do – dressing up like someone you’re not and candy.

As I got older Halloween became about dressing up as someone you’re not and heading out to a party or bar for the night.

When I first moved to NYC, Halloween became about dressing up as someone you’re not and going to the Greenwich Village Halloween parade.

The last five or so years, my love for Halloween has evolved into something else I guess. I still love the dressing up part of Halloween – even though I haven’t dressed up for a few years. I do miss that.

Now I just love watching people love Halloween too. I love adult’s creative costumes, kids in their cute little costumes, decorated houses, scary music, treats, and the fun and festive feeling. I guess I’m okay with being an observer rather than a participant, for now. I anticipate change in the future, since I am somewhat of a chameleon.

So I hope everyone had a great night last night and your belly’s weren’t too achy from all the candy today!

Brooklyn, near Prospect Park

Brooklyn, near Prospect Park

Now What Do I Do?

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Six weekend races in a row and now this weekend I don’t have one… feels really weird… those races kept me on a schedule and in competition with myself. But now… what am I supposed to do? Sign up for more races? I guess! It’s getting cooler and I can turn into a bit of a wimp and become a fair-weather runner. But, I need to wake up early and go to some location and get lined up with other runners and run and then get my medal and snacks after! That’s what my routine has become!

Not this weekend though.

Although I will not be participating in a race this weekend, I will be going on a new adventure with my friend Lisa. On Saturday we will be hiking, zooing and Ocktoberfesting (thanks LivingSocial) somewhere up the Hudson with some other people who enjoy these little outings like we do.

So never fear, I will still have something to write about after this weekends’ outing.

bucks.happeningmag.com

bucks.happeningmag.com

Two Words

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Subway mariachi.

childrensillustrationartist.com

childrensillustrationartist.com

I love the mariachi on the subway. But today the mariachi band was not a band, it was just one old guy. And he was awesome. That’s all.

Summer Streets Etiquette

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For the past 6 Augusts, Mayor Bloomberg has dedicated 7 miles of Park Avenue – from 72nd Street all the way down to Brooklyn Bridge for Summer Streets, on three consecutive Saturdays.

Fab idea! I love it! Runners, walkers, bikers, and bladers can enjoy the car-free zone from 7am-1pm on those Saturdays.

This year, with the new CitiBike system (kudos to the DOT/citibank for that), getting a bike was far easier so hubs and I decided to bike down from our ‘hood to Brooklyn Bridge. Last Saturday was really pleasant because it was a little rainy so the street was pretty open.

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Biking downtown

Yesterday was a different story. Because of the perfect weather provided by Mother Nature, the streets were far busier. And of course they should have been, people are out enjoying this glorious event!

Along the route there are signs to alert you to rest stops, activity stops and this year a voice activated pop-up art installation in the tunnel just south of Grand Central.

There are also many signs to show that pedestrians should walk or run on the right and bikers should bike on the left. Makes sense right? Well, not to everyone…. so here is some etiquette for Summer Streets. Again, common sense – not so common…

To enjoy Summer Streets, or any public event like festivals, parades, etc, please follow this simple etiquette (although I know this really doesn’t apply to you – it’s more of a vent with a positive tone haha!):

  • follow the rules of the road! You are not the only person there.
  • pay attention to your surroundings, you are not the only person there
  • watch out for others, you are not the only person there
  • if you are biking and need to pass, look behind you before darting out, you are not the only person there
  • clean up after yourself, there are garbage cans everywhere
  • use your bell, you are not the only person there
  • teach your kids the rules of the road before you head out to the streets, your family is not the only one there
  • give people their personal space whether running or biking, you are not the only person there
  • have fun 🙂

I know I live in a place where there are tons and tons of people, but just think a little. That’s all I ask 🙂

Minus the few people who did annoy me, we still had a good ride! If you haven’t been out to enjoy it yet, you should!

Saw and heard this fancy music wagon both times!

Saw and heard this fancy music wagon both times!

Mostly :)y Weekend

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My weekend was really quite satisfyingly relaxing and moderately productive which made me pretty happy. But of course amidst the happiness, there were a couple of thumbs down moments which is bound to happen with so many people living in the same space as I do. And I have to say, my thumbs down moments are pretty lame. That’s why I can’t and won’t really even file them as complaints because no one was injured, thankfully, only minimally traumatized.

Weekend smile 🙂 moments: 

– good run Saturday morning

– started watching New Girl from the beginning which made both my husband and I laugh

– finished reading my book

– nice weather on Saturday

– made a decision about the appropriate curtain rods we needed for the windows (which I had been putting off for months), bought them AND put them up

– cleaning nooks and crannies

– cooked a yumm-alicious dinner for hubby

– got a call from a special friend

Weekend thumbs-down moments:

– scarred by the ridiculously expensive and mediocre breakfast at Ben Ash after my great run (booooo!)

– near collision on the CitiBike by a delivery guy speeding around a corner into the bike lane and another dude going the wrong way in the bike lane (I hate – and rarely do I use that word – but I hate bikers who break the rules of the road!!!)

– lots of dog poop on the sidewalk (grrrrr!)

Words of advice to myself and others who get annoyed by these little moments:

– take a breath

– think of something to smile about 🙂

– be thankful for those who make you happy

 If you haven’t smiled about something today, there’s something wrong with you. Turn that frown upside down.

Go out and get a cupcake. Come on, who doesn’t love cupcakes 😉

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Hipster Austin

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This weekend I met my girlfriend Monica (famous for classtechtips.com – educators and parents please check it out) in Austin, Texas after her week with a successful group of Apple Distinguished Educators.

Never did I think that I would be in Texas and it actually wouldn’t feel like Texas.

I arrive Thursday evening, drop off my stuff at the hotel and head to the (in)famous 6th Street where live music resounds from the venues.  As soon as I turn the corner onto 6th, what else – but an Irish pub.  I sit at the bar, order a Harp and some chicken tenders (as recommended on Four Square) and wait for the music to start.  Before it does, two older gentlemen sit beside me. One from the Pacific Northwest, the other clearly from Texas. Waco, specifically.

At first I am somewhat dumbfounded by this man’s accent.  I thought if I had to listen to this accent all weekend I might need ear plugs – no offense, but it’s tough to bear when you are used to fast talkers without twang or whatever it was. After a drink they and some small talk, they were on their way and I was on mine.

Friday morning: Monica and I met in the lobby of our hotel and before long we were headed out for our Austin adventure.

Concierge(s) suggest some ideas for us – almost no accents.

Is it hot? Yes, we’re in Texas but not as hot as the heat wave I left behind in New York. Now we should be on our way to hearing some drawling and some Wranglers.

First stop: State Capitol building. Quite impressive.  It’s 14 feet taller than the Capitol in DC. The star in the center of the dome is 8 feet, cool.  Tour guide: Not a Texan. She says y’all only because it’s in her script, plus she says it like I try to. Definitely not a Texan.

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Next stop: Back to the hotel pool for some sun, swim and Pina Coladas (those were for me).  Any Texans with drawls and twang?  Not the servers, nor anyone I heard talking.

Night stops: Iron Cactus – no accents. The Blind Pig – awesome hillbilly bartender with an accent.

Saturday morning stops: We head out to the SoCo district (South Congress) for some market and boutique shopping.  Cool hipster-nearly Brooklyn vibe? Definitely. Do I feel like I’m in Texas, no! Where are the fried chicken and BBQ joints? Where are the cowboy hats and trucks? But there are a lot of what I like to call “toaster campers” which house the food trucks that do serve tacos, tacos, tacos!

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Saturday afternoon stops: As recommended by the virtually unaccented concierge, Monica and I head down to the west side of East 6th Street where the “grown-ups” hang out. We make our way along and stop at 2 great tap houses – again, no accents were had by the staff. What is up?

So what is my point? Well I have many but the main point is – turns out Austin is pretty hipster a little too “progressive” to the conservative state of Texas.  They are practically what Canadians think of Quebec. So in my opinion, very few stereotypical Texans live in Austin, in my weekend experience anyway hahaha!

Where are all the people with the drawls, the y’alls and golly gee’s?  I have no idea, I just know they are not in Austin!