I got to hang with the cool kids

Yes, I am a week late in posting this. To recap: last Friday, after trekking around NYC for two days for work-related meetings/site visits (10 event sites in 2 days -– it can be done, if you have the right footwear, and plan a path that bypasses the NY Fashion Week venues), I met up with some fabulous bloggers:

(l. to r.) Naomi of Design Manifest; moi; Leigh of Marvelous Kiddo with cutie-pie W; get-together instigator Raina of If The Lampshade Fits; and Alicia of Alicia B. Designs. Also in our party but traveling incognito was Alexis of The Studioist. This photo and numerous others patiently taken by the dapper and gracious Nick of Cupboards).

Now I’m the last person who will intentionally meet up with complete strangers for the night, but herein lies the difference: I felt like I already knew these ladies. I’ve been reading Raina and Alicia’s blogs for 3 and 2 years, respectively, and when the meet-up lineup was announced, I happily perused the archives of the other blogs so I could get a sense of the assembled company.

It was a great meet-up! I asked my contact at the Hudson Hotel to assist with making us a reservation in their Library Bar and we enjoyed prime seating in front of the fireplace on a cushy leather sofa and less-cushy ghost chairs.The music was a little too loud but we all managed to chat for a few hours about blogging, design, crazy commenters, our respective hometowns, Alicia’s recent move and engagement, Naomi’s new apartment in Philly, what makes a good dinner party menu, etc. etc. like a bunch of old pals.

 
Raina and I at the end of the night – a little giddy, a little exhausted (according to my camera this was taken at 2:38 am!), and apparently both fans of large necklaces. Another photo by Nick.

I have on past occasions waxed poetic about the value of all you readers, lurkers, commenters, followers and the online community we have built for ourselves, but there is something satisfying about actually meeting people you’ve “known” online and having it really click. When I tried to explain the nature of this meet-up to some friends and co-workers, their non-bloggy brains could not process it. “Wait, you’re meeting people you haven’t met yet? But you know them? But you haven’t met them?” I finally had to describe it as akin to meeting a bunch of pen pals.

Thanks again ladies (and Nick) for a great night and I hope we can do it again!

Me, Me, Meme

I love me a good meme and Sherri at The Claw was kind enough to include me with some pretty fab bloggers in her tag list, so here goes with her Eight Questions:

1. best news you've heard in a while? Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth was finally made into a movie. Well, a miniseries. A great book, I hope they don’t screw it up.

2. first concert you ever saw? Toto, 1982, at a theater (vs. an arena). At the time I knew only one of their songs but the French exchange student who was living with us that summer was mad for them, and she was cool, so they must be cool, so I happily tagged along. We sat right in front of the speakers and I was deaf for at least a day afterward.

3. who was your teenybopper crush? Young Patrick Dempsey was a fave. Current Patrick Dempsey also, but wasn't he so cute in Can't Buy Me Love? Also, the whole cast of The Outsiders. Except maybe Ralph Macchio. Not my type. Also: too Karate Kid.



4. favorite new blogs you'd recommend? These aren’t new per se, but they are new to me: La Maison Boheme, Small Place Style, From Me To You (really gorgeous photography and food styling and I love the Diary of a Brocavore series of recipes and photos).

5. would you be interested in a bloggy pal meetup, and if so where do you suggest? New York! Or Chicago. I'll go anywhere.

6. total eclipse of the heart - crank up or change the station? Crank it up once for old times sake and a loud sing-a-long. Definitely not on repeat though.

7. currently reading? Catching up on stacks of magazines before diving into a new book.

8. karaoke - yes or no? I love the idea of karaoke, but the few times I have gone it seems to be very cliquey and elitist, and that is no fun. So ‘no’ on principle. Maybe we could have a private Total Eclipse of The Heart karaoke party at the blogger meet-up?

Want to play along (and I hope you do)? Answer my Eight Questions in the Comments or on your blog (and put a link in the Comments):

1. Favorite non-John Hughes ‘80s movie?

2. Cake or pie? Discuss.

3. Here is $100 cash, what would you splurge on?

4. Here is another $100 cash, but you have to donate it. To whom and why?

5. First job you ever had.

6. Something that you collected and have since stopped but people keep giving you (and what do you do with it now?).

7. Describe your perfect Sunday.

8. Look! Time travel is now possible! Where would you go?

Three birds, one post

I have long wanted to join this blogger in the Random Tuesday Thoughts posts that this blogger put together. And this blogger has started a fun Fill In The Blanks series. And I have a half-dozen half-started blog posts (including one that somehow includes both Michael Crichton’s art collection and the Times Square bomber. I know, right?). So in the interest of posting something new, here are my Random Tuesday Thoughts via Fill In The Blank:

1. My guiltiest pleasure is really trashy chick-lit novels. Also gossip mags at the hairdresser (where I’m headed tomorrow night to get the roots done).
2. I can't wait to watch both Glee and Lost tonight (nerd alert)
3. The last song I listened to was something by Mountain that my boss was playing a little too loudly in his office. I curse the day I introduced him to Pandora. Not because of Mountain, but because of the constant onslaught of music I didn’t pick. I don’t know how he gets anything done.
4. You really can't beat a good book. No relation to #1 above.
5. My least favorite sound is the cats trying to break into the bedroom (plaintive meowing and standing on hind legs to rattle the doorknob. Obnoxious) at 5 am looking for their breakfast when it is clearly not breakfast time. Also see #3 above. I love the sound of the Italian language. Too bad I don’t understand a word of it (except the ones related to food and wine).

Ciao, bellas. More Random Tuesday fun at the UnMom.

March: in like a lion, out like a cheetah

Hey puppy, objects in mirror are closer than they appear…

So, not posting for a whole month was not my plan. I could pretend it was an intentional hiatus but the truth is, it was just March 1st a minute ago, I swear. Busy-busy-busy for work and planning the auction for a local charity that I am on the board of. And then, whammo! just like that it’s the end of March. Hoping to feel more inspired this month. I miss you people and your lovely comments.

photo via Telegraph.co.uk

Merry Merry and Happy New Year!

‘Tis the Seventh Day of Christmas, and my true love gave to me 12.1 megapixels and 4x optical zoom, which is not as melodic as seven swans a’swimming, but will mean much better pictures on this ol’ blog o’ mine. So everybody wins!

Wishing a healthy, happy 2010 to all my dear bloggy friends, and you lurkers, and you Google Readers, and people who find me by googling “Sara Richardson’s baby Robin” and “Rockin’ Robin” and “handsex game” (and no I don’t know nor do I want to know what that is. Or how it relates to my blog). Also, given my web stats, a LOT (and I mean a LOT, like in the hundreds) of people got White Trash Ghetto Toffee for Christmas this year, so Happy New Year to them, as well. Thank you all for stopping by my little corner of the interwebz and being a part of my life.

I sign off for the year with this serendipitous photo smackdown:

My 2009 Christmas card* vs Yours Truly, circa 1968:

No wonder I was so attracted to the card in the store!

*That is NOT me, that is a photo from 1935. My parents weren’t even born yet!

Now my feet won't touch the ground

I know, I know, no new posts for a month. What a lame blogger. Even my mom has been giving me a hard time about it. Nothing has inspired me lately, and in fact the month has flown right past me in a blur. I had a big conference in Chicago at the end of April, followed by a long weekend in Phoenix to visit a dear friend and recuperate from the week in Chicago (and while in Phoenix, A. and I did our fair share of economy-boosting for the shoe industry, specifically Donald J. Pliner, but I digress).

Perhaps I was on blog overload. Coming home to a Google Reader with close to 1000 unread posts was a bit overwhelming, I must say. "Mark all as read" seemed a bit like abandoning someone else's children, but I had to do it.

So maybe this bit of silliness will put me back to rights. A little Life in Technicolor, a la Punch & Judy, via Coldplay, in honor of the absolutely fantastic concert of theirs I attended last night here in Hartford. The tix were a birthday gift from The BF, who gave me a small case of Option Anxiety earlier in the day by offering me a choice of birthday activities, each of which involved some sort of live performance. After an afternoon of deliberating the merits of each, I went with the one that seemed the most celebratory, and a good time was had by all.



More Coldplay/puppet action here, if you are so inclined.

Very superstitious

I scheduled a maintenance appointment for the server at work today and everyone was freaking out because it is Friday The Thirteenth. My normally sensible co-workers appear to throw logic out the window when it comes to old wives' tales. I was temped to bring in a ladder, a broken mirror and The Lounging Party just to freak them out some more (because why have one black cat when you can have two?). At least with The Lounging Party there would be entertainment while the entire computer system is down.

{The Lounging Party, doing what they do best}

Very superstitious
Writing's on the wall
Very superstitious
Ladders bout' to fall
Thirteen month old baby
Broke the lookin' glass
Seven years of bad luck
The good things in your past


When you believe in things
That you don't understand
Then you suffer
Superstition ain't the way


PS - is Spring here yet?


Sorry for the long absence, I was caught up in the whirlwind of preparation for the Two Ladies' wedding, and then in the aftermath of having neglected the rest of my life. Things are almost back to normal and I will be visiting you all and commenting soon.

Robin, the Red-Eyed Reindeer

Rudolph, with your nose so bright, won't you be my eye tonight?

Actually, I don't need Rudy, as I've been sporting a nice red eyeball since Friday, along with what I thought was a Christmas Day Cold but the nice doctor tells me was a sinus infection with a side of pink eye. I'm sure I picked up these germs while Christmas shopping at the fifth gate of hell mall on Christmas Eve eve. I've never been sick over the holidays before, and it bites. I had big plans -- Big Plans, I tell you -- for these two weeks. Visiting with faraway friends in town for the holidays, visiting with local friends that I haven't seen in weeks, closet cleaning, magazine purging, dinner party-throwing. Not to mention the BF is a teacher and this is one of the few times during the year that he has time off and I my work schedule allows me to take time off to match.

But enough whining. In between coughing fits, cabin fever (from which Meg & Mo have been so good about trying to rescue me), daily chats with Mumsie, and The Lounging Party's favorite activity (cat-naps), I've had lots of time to catch up on reading. Two books, a dozen magazines, the daily paper from cover to cover, and blogland. My Google Reader was overflowing with long-unread posts -- some of you are prolific and I've been really bad about keeping up.

Thanks to the miracle of modern medicine I am feeling better and am hoping to make a brief cough-free, red-eye-free appearance at a New Year's Eve party and then cram some fun times (and perhaps some of that closet-cleaning) into what's left of my vacation. Wishing you all a fabulous New Year's!

(photo from ABC)