Aussie Brunch Plus TV in Bed Equals a Great Weekend

Painted garland. Should have done this with all of my leftover paint chips from foundations.
from You Are My Fave

It's late so I'm not going to say much, just a quick, "Hello, I'm alive!"

The past week has been a little nuts. I had a bad few days at work last week as did my roommates so we spent a lot of time having wine and watching movies. Best rough day cure as far as I'm concerned! This weekend the L (aka the train that stops a block and a half from my apartment) was closed for construction so I decided it was a perfect excuse to do absolutely nothing all weekend. Essentially I slept, ate, and watched Grey's Anatomy and Mad Men. Food-wise, we went the Sunburnt Cow for Aussie-style brunch on Saturday. By Aussie-style I mean that all of the dishes came with French Fries and the staff had (probably) authentic accents. In other words it was awesome. That night Kendra and I met Erin and some of her friends for Indian at Milon, a crazy place full of chili pepper shape lights and decorations for miscellaneous holiday. About every fifteen minutes the lights would start flashing and an India version of happy birthday would come on while the staff brought a table free birthday ice cream. We thought people were lying about their birthdays to get the ice cream but just before we got are check, we were given our own set of mini-desserts in honor of a birthday no one had claimed to have. Apparently at Milon it is always everyone's birthday. I can get behind that!

Nothing else notable has happened of late except that I am officially a New Yorker. I know this because I went to yoga tonight and the instructor said that "we New Yorkers" are used to small spaces. Since she was including the whole class in the statement and is an enlightened person it must be true. I should eating more bagels or something. Sounds terrific!

That's all for this evening. I know it's bedtime because I tried to write another paragraph and it was completely incoherent. Goodnight and please send good thoughts to the victims of the Chardon High School shooting and their families.

A Family Affair

I've been missing the glory that is Greece!

I know, I know, it's been a while. I'm a terrible blogger and am going straight to blogger hell. Anyway, here is what happened in the last week or so:

1. Two weekends ago, my parents came to visit and my sister and I had a lovely weekend with them. We went to the Natural History Museum to see the dinosaurs which I was disproportionately excited about since I am not an archeologist or something. We also went to Chelsea Market for food and checked out some Chelsea galleries. The highlight of weekend would have to be seeing The Lion King on Broadway. It was amazing to see the creative staging and the beautiful costumes. The Lion King was one of my favorite movies growing up (my mom made me an awesome Nala costume for Halloween when I was 4 but I got the chicken pox and only got to wear it around the house) so it was really cool to see it come life. Thanks mom and dad for a wonderful time!

With my dad and sister in Chelsea Market

Some typographic art in a gallery in Chelsea. This should probably be sited
 but I have no idea who the artist is. So instead I'm going to give a
shout-out to Heinz, my awesome professor who taught me all about letterforms
and allowed me to sound smart in front of m family.

My dad's favorite piece of "art" in Chelsea.

The family with some dino bones.

According to the wall plaque this is not a Velociraptor but I have
decided it is because it is my blog and I make the rules.

Simba, you are my son and the one true king...

My geologist parents claim that the dark layer killed the dinosaurs. I think that they
are confusing killer-rocks with the crushed up Oreo layer of an ice cream cake.

2. I've starting going to yoga at a studio near my apartment. It's called Yoga to the People and the classes are on a donation basis which is great since yoga classes in the city cost about $20 per class. Since its so cheap tons of people always show up and they let as may in as possible. Instead of the standard 6-12 inches of space between mats there is about 1-2 inches. Definitely takes some getting used to but its also kind of cool to be with so many people and it forces you to stay really focused. Not usually much for Zen sayings but at the first class I went to, the instructor talked about staying tied to discomfort instead of running away from it which I think is really interesting.

You can't tell, but this guy was literally painting a UFO.
He is awesome. And possibly schizophrenic. 

3. This weekend was a long one (I had Monday off) and Erin and I went to the Catskills with Ansell, Matthew, and our grandmother who is in town for the week. We had a relaxing time sitting by the fire, reading, eating homemade pasta and frittata, and watching My Family and Other Animals (which I definitely recommend because it is British and hilarious). Monday we went to Woodstock to take in the smell of patchouli and the sight of overpriced hippie souvenirs and then Erin and I took the bus back to the city. The others stayed in the mountains for more skiing and lazing. Unfortunately, it seems that their vacation was cut short today when Ansell took a nasty fall on his skis. He is ok and has feeling in his fingers and toes but they think he fractured a vertebra. Please keep him in your thoughts.

Matt and Topper being completely adorable. 

Woodstock. So much tie dye, so little time.

4. As usual I have been trying a lot of great food including cheese and appetizers at the new beer garden in Eataly, Greek food at Kefi, to die for perogies at Veselka, and a great sandwich at 'wichcraft. My only big disappointment so far (knock on wood) has been Spice Cove, an Indian place I ordered in from that was, for lack of a better word, weird. Other than that I am eating like a champion and enjoying every bite!

5. I have started listening to my iPod on the subway. This is significant because if you listen to an iPod on the street/public transportation in Cincinnati you will be marked as an easy target and mugged. For this reason I held out on becoming an iPod listening commuter like everyone else in NYC but I have given in. This is clearly a sign that I should be shipped back to Ohio and exorcised.

6. Another request for good thoughts: my roommate Allie went back to Cincinnati this week to be with her grandmother who is sick. I'm sure her faily would appreciate some positive energy!

Thats all for now. Can't make any promises  but I will try to post more frequently in the future! 

High Rollin'

This is what my life will be soon. And yes, I am obsessed with Mad Men.

Greetings! Hope Kristen Bell and her sloth love held you over while you pined for more blog posts.

I've been trying to figure out the best way to write about everything that has happened in the last week or so and have even started writing this post a couple of times. Emily is sitting next to me doing a post in list form so I am stealing her idea. Thanks Emily!

1. First and most importantly, I spent Saturday night being actually living up to my Glamour and Glory name for once! My cousin Sasha called me in the afternoon to invite me to a Human Rights Campaign benefit dinner with her husband and some friends. They had an extra ticket and when they called Erin to invite her she told them I was in the city and that they should take me instead. She did this because she is an amazing sister and wanted me to have a cool experience while in the city! Anyway, thanks to my fantastic cousin and sister I ended up all dressed up, my hair actually done for once (thanks to Kendra and her curling skills), drinking champagne ten feet from Michael Kors and Anna Wintour (aka. the woman who Meryl Streep's character was based on in The Devil Wears Prada). It was a great event that celebrated the people and events that have helped advance gay rights in the past year. Anna Wintour received an award for using her position in the fashion world to support equal rights and she gave a wonderful speech. I feel like I should be quoting people but honestly I was so overwhelmed by everything that I can't pinpoint one thing specifically. All I can say is that along with all the delicious food and fancy clothes, there were many moments that made me remember what the event was for and feel proud of how far we've come and hopeful for the future.

Ok sappy moment over. We ended up at an impromptu after-party at a bar in the Meatpacking District. The appetizers and drinks were compliments of Vogue and I have literally never felt so much like I had been thrown into someone else's life. The people we were with all seemed to have fancy titles (eg. Head of PR at Vogue) but were so nice! Post-after-party we went to the Boom Boom Room at the top of the Standard. Not being a New Yorker or a fancy person I had never heard of it but apparently it is so nice that the Standard doesn't even list it on their website. The bathroom literally had floor to ceiling windows looking at the Empire State Building. I don't even know what to say about the whole, there are no words. I had such an amazing time and have to extra thank Erin and Sasha for my Cinderella moment (you don't have to meet a prince to be Cinderella anymore because of feminism), it was incredible!

Wish I had picture to post but my bag was too small for a camera. I wore this dress but its a much brighter red in person!

That was a long list point. A few more quick things I did/learned.

2. In spite having a bajillion sizes, lengths, cuts, and "curve identities" Levi's do not actually make any clothes that fit my body. I spent nearly an hour digging through heaps of jeans looking for some magic pair and got nada.

3. Found some more awesome restaurants including Num Pang (Vietnamese sandwiches), Two Boots (pizza), and Hi Thai. The food here is killing me. I need to start doing yoga or something.

4. Sunday we had a Super Bowl party. You can read all about it on Kendra's blog but basically it was fun, there was delicious food, and, being interim New Yorkers, we all cheered for the winning team!

5. I forgot how much I love The Bachelor. This season has the worst people. I love it. The best part is Allie who sits in the corner and goes "He's not that great" every time the girls gush about how great the bachelor is. This is why Allie and I are friends. My other favorite part is the insane things these people say. To finish up the post, my favorite line from this season of The Bachelor:

"On a scale of one to ten, I feel like I'm going to throw up."


Amazing.

Veronica Mars plus Sloths Equals So Much Greatness

This is the best video of all time. Seriously. No one has ever had a better reaction to anything ever. Just watch it. Now.