Trivia Tuesday

~ Drinking a margarita before eating dinner is a sure fire way to make your head spin.  Also, attending Trivia after only 2 hours of sleep makes me fairly chatty.

~ Attending Trivia is good for something - in this case, it's good for getting you into the Semi-Finals for the playoffs for the second time.  Who said you have to do good every week?  Apparently attendance is important too!  Woohoo!

~ The addition of extra people who really want to contribute even though you're team is at its maximum of 8 people is really, really annoying.  Some are better than others at hiding this annoyance.  (For once I was one of the better ones : )

~ 5 of the 8 people on our team went to Catholic school and yet somehow we knew the Hebrew word for a good deed was Mitzvah.

~ Verboten means forbidden in German which is apparently mostly associated with the law.  Who knew?  I just know it's something you hear a lot of Germans say in WWII movies.

~ When basing an entire category on movie couples, the quiz master apparently couldn't pass up the chance to use Jack and Rose from Titanic.  I know some questions are easier than others but really?  Did you have to give one that was that easy?  I've never even seen the movie and I knew that.

~ Viktor and Ilsa are from Casablanca, not Frozen as someone on our team suggested.

~ The Aerosmith song "Walk this Way" was based on the scene using that phrase in Young Frankenstein.  All I could see when they asked the question was John Travolta bopping to the BeeGees in Saturday Night Fever - a movie none of us had ever seen.  For the record most of us had seen Young Frankenstein. Sometimes we just stink!

~ 400 women broke a record for longest rug weaved.  They did not however weave a rug that was 10 miles long as was strongly suggested by a teammate.  

~ Jimmy Stewart retired at the rank of Brigadier General after fighting in WWII and Vietnam.  While I was the one who suggested this answer, I had no idea he was that high ranking nor did I think he ever fought in Vietnam.  I now like him even more than I originally did, which was a lot.

May Reads in Review

May was a bit busy or not busy depending on how you look at it.  There was obviously no rhyme or reason to what I chose to read and no rhyme or reason to why I had my nose stuck in a book the entire month.  Just one of those things I suppose...

"Peter and the Starcatcher": I'm positive this would have been much better if I was seeing it live.  As it was, it was just a little hard to follow.

"Better Nate than Ever": I read this one because it was in an article about "Jack & Louisa" which I loved.  This book was nothing like that one.  It was much harsher than I expected and much harsher than a kid's book should be.  I definitely don't plan on reading the next.

"Amanda's Wedding": Oh how I love Jenny Colgan books!  They're fantastic and fun and the perfect distraction.  If I could find the rest of her collection here in the states, I'd be a very happy girl.

"Radio Shangri-La": Loved, Loved, Loved!  I'm still stuck on the idea of Bhutan.  

"Fully Committed": I read in preparation for seeing the show and it was almost as fantastic as it was seeing it live.  The funny part is that even though it's a one man show, the play reads like a play with 40 different characters.  That makes picturing them all quite fun and useless once you see the show since they're all played by the same person.

"Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike": I have no idea what this play even was.  I'm not sure it had a storyline or a plot.

"Falsettos": After tearing up just reading it, I'm now very worried about seeing it live.  Also, because of the insane amount of music in the round, and characters speaking over other characters, it was quite hard to follow.  I have no idea how the actors are able to memorize the songs - so very intimidating!

"No Baggage": It was all about 2 people who had basically just met online and their 3 week adventure to multiple countries, with only the clothes on their back.  An insane idea, one that I would never even think about attempting but such a great read.  I won't be darting off without luggage any time soon, but it definitely made me re-think the way I pack.

"So Many Books, So Little Time": A writer vowed to read a book a week and write about the experience.  So interesting to hear why others choose to read certain books.  Also, I feel a little like a terrible reader because she read some hard-core literature and I'm over here reading kids books sometimes...

"The Nest": I had heard this was the book of the summer. What I heard was wrong.  It was good, and I was determined to finish it - stealing away every minute I could - but it wasn't fabulous.  It was supposed to be sarcastic and funny.  What it was, was a lot of rich people complaining about not having enough money.

"As Time Goes By": Not the best book she's ever written, but good enough that I finished it in about 12 hours, so I suppose it was pretty great.

Craft Magic

I've always been a bit intimidated by rubber stamping. There's a lot than can go wrong.  Also, I can't seem to stamp, cut, draw, or even see straight half the time, so things tend to get just a bit crooked.  Then there's the whole thing with ink possibly not being dry yet, or smudging or a million other things that could go wrong. In recent years, I discovered StazOn ink which has made my life much happier.  

But even with the new lease on my stamping life, I've never had the guts to try out embossing.  There's just way too many tools that required.  But today I went to Paper Source and they were having a sale, and long story short, I've spent the last hour embossing all sorts of things and getting way more pleasure out of it than I should.  I mean, it's like magic! Sparkly, 3D, crafty magic.  I foresee loads of new card designs this summer!

Bhutan Love

A few years ago, I watched a story on 60 Minutes (or one of those other news shows) about Bhutan.  In this story Michael J. Fox traveled there to learn about the concept of Gross National Happiness.  You see, in the Bhutan, instead of measuring the Gross National Product like every other country in the world, they measure their happiness.  He was interested in seeing what made this tiny little country the "happiest place in the world." While there he noted, among other things I'm sure, that his Parkinson's Symptoms became almost non-existent.

Now whether that was due to the altitude or to the happiness around him or something else entirely, he never really discovered.  But ever since then, I've been intrigued by Bhutan, a country I'd never heard of until that day, watching that story.  It's a bit of a trek and I'm really not an adventure traveler, so I've obviously never been.  However, it's always been in the back of mind that maybe one day I'd go.  

That's pretty much the entire reason I picked up the book "Radio Shangri-La," which is all about a woman in her 40s that's looking for something more in her life, so she jumps at a chance to volunteer at the first radio station in Bhutan.  I'm about half way through and I'm even more in love with the idea of travelling to Bhutan than I ever have been.  The gross national happiness thing seems very true.  While they struggle and have hardships like anyone, they seem to be quite happy with their lives as they are.  I'm sure their Buddhist beliefs - which are also quite intriguing on their own - also help them weather the storms.  

The book was written about 7 years ago, and at the time things were starting to look up for the Bhutanese.  There was a period of development and change.  TV and Radio had just entered the kingdom, and buildings were going up all over the major city.  While great for the people who live there, I'm sure that growth will change how the country is viewed and run.  Hopefully it will continue to stay happy and set in some of the ways that makes it so charming in the first place.  But with all that happiness and harmony, I'm sure the residents will work hard to keep most things as they always have been. One can only hope because I'm sure I have a few more years before I get there, and I'd really like to see all the intriguing things that Michael J. Fox saw during his visit that made me fall in love with the tiny Asian kingdom in the first place.

Friday Five

1. In my humble opinion that best news all week broke today and that is that Irving Berlin's Holiday Inn is coming to Broadway this fall.  If you've never seen the Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby classic, you should definitely amend that soon.  It's such a sweet classic!  I can't wait to see it brought to life this year!  The leads will never be as good as Danny and Bing, but one can hope they'll come in a close second.

2. Be still my book-loving heart!  I'm pretty shocked that I've only read 2 of the books on this list.  That will definitely need to be fixed in the near future.  At least 10 of these are already on my To-Read list and now I have 88 more to add : )

3. I have no idea why this dog is the cutest thing ever, but he definitely is!  I'm pretty sure I look like this every Monday morning...


4. I CAN'T WAIT!! 



5. Really, how can you not love an article that's all about 2 of my favorite things - eating and NYC? I have a slight suspicion that this one is going to come in handy in the near future.

Broadway Blues

In the last 48 hours, 2 BIG Broadway musicals have received their notice for closing - Tuck, Everlasting and American Psycho.  Now, I understand that Broadway is a business just like television and movies are.  In television and movies, they live and die by ratings.  If the TV show you're watching isn't being watched by millions of other people or if the critics aren't talking about it, chances are it's getting cancelled.  

But I don't understand cancelling musicals in this context.  It just doesn't make sense to me. First of all, both of these shows just opened in the last month.  That's a grand total of about 35 performances. On top of those 35 performances, the work and practice that's gone into making these musicals into something big had to have taken months if not years of planning.  All that time, and the powers that be only give them 35 performances to get their footing?  How is that possible?

Neither of these shows were on my must see list.  The story of Tuck Everlasting would surely elicit tears, so that put it on the avoid list.  But American Psycho was on the to see side for a bit until I saw some clips that made it seem all too odd for me.  But lots of reviewers have loved it so what do I know? I suppose what I really want to know is what makes shows like Phantom of the Opera or The Lion King last for years - Phantom's hitting 20 years - while others get only a month or two?  Surely, The Lion King isn't selling out every day and rolling in the dough, right?

And as another point of contention, who are these masterful powers that be that decide to cancel the shows in the first place?  Television networks are in charge of programming, but who's in charge of Broadway? Surely it can't be the creative team that have put so much time and energy into the product that their cancelling.  It's just so mysterious!

While it's always terrible and oh so confusing to see something close so quickly , I'm sure that the actors and creators will move on to bigger and even better things. And I suppose the upside to the closing is that there are now 2 giant theatres just waiting for something new to come in and blow their roofs off.  Let's hope those shows get a little more than 35 performances to strut their stuff!  

52 Lists: Week 18

As you may be able to see from this photo, I'm by no means a "powerful" person.  If you know anything about the Ravens, this was my "Ray Lewis, I will Protect this House!" stance.  Somehow, it's just a bit more intimidating when he does it.  And after today, a day where nothing terribly bad happened, but a day where I felt powerless nonetheless, I started to think of what does make me powerful.  Or in the very least, what makes me feel powerful.  Not in an intense, violent sort of way.  But in a "I'm in charge of my surroundings and I've got everything I need to make it through" sort of way.  

~ Being nice to people in a world where not many people are nice.  - It may sometimes seem to be a weakness, but I've always thought that being nice was a strength.  Real power is being able to influence someone's day by a kind a word or smile.

~ Knowledge - It's a bit cliche to say that knowledge is power, but learning something new that others may not know or figuring out something complex on your own, is a sure fire way to feel in control and powerful.  Needless to say, I've never felt powerful in a math classroom, but in others I certainly have.

~ Trying very hard and succeeding in being me, not someone that others are telling me to be.  I spend a lot of time listening to what others say and trying to decide if I should be more unwielding, or more direct like they are.  At the end of the day, I don't want to be them. Things may be a bit easier for them, but that's not how I was raised, so I try very hard to stray away from qualities that aren't inherently me.

~ Creativity - There's nothing better than the feeling of creating something entirely new that no one else has made before. It's a rush.  

~ Being quiet - It's a hard conversation starter, and it definitely doesn't help with meeting Prince Charming, but I find power in the quiet.  Sometimes in listening you learn more than in talking and chatting incessantly.  Also, sometimes I just need a re-charge to feel my best. Quiet is the best way to do this.

~ And because of my need for quiet, I find a lot of power in writing.  - The quiet makes me not share a lot of what's going on in my head (Newsflash, there's actually a whole little city happening up there), but I am able to get it down on paper.  Just the act of writing it down, helps me to work through things and see things more clearly.  

Trivia Tuesday

~ For some unknown to me reason, I know what the capital of North Dakota is.  (Bismarck)  I'm not sure what the capitals of Ohio or even West Virginia are, but I know North Dakota.  Weird!

~ There are 3 presidents named George - that is until I get George Clooney elected of course : )

~ Answering the same number every single time you're asked a number question, so much so that the team stops listening to you, sometimes results in a right answer which ends much the same was as the Boy who Cried Wolf ends.

~ When you've ordered a strawberry drink, and when it comes it neither looks like strawberry nor tastes like strawberry - the waitress may not be evil, you may have actually stolen someone else's drink by accident.

~ Added to the list of things our team knows nothing about - along with African geography and Hockey - slogans.   3 whole questions and not a darn one right.

~ Assuming that a mountain is in Peru because it sort of sounds like Machu Picchu is not an accurate way to answer a question.

~ The Faberge that created the beautiful eggs is from Russia not France as I suspected.  Come on!  Doesn't the name Faberge sound more French than Russian?

~ Sandy Koufax is a pitcher who threw 3 immaculate innings.  Seeing as our team couldn't even name the current pitcher of the Orioles, it's no wonder we got this one wrong.

~ The guy that writes the questions REALLY, REALLY, REALLY likes hockey.  This week the halftime question was all about Wayne Gretsky.  Sadly they didn't ask who his daughter was married to, or we would have been golden!

The Shakespeare Show

I'm a big fan of Shakespeare, especially when it's performed by amazing Shakespearean talent - actors like Ian McKellen, David Tennant, Catherine Tate or Judi Dench to name a few.  The words just come alive.  Reading Shakespeare is sometimes very difficult to understand, but seeing it performed gives the text new meaning and makes the whole performance just thrilling to say the least.  

So when the BBC announced they'd be partnering with the RSC to present a celebration of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, I was all in.  They then announced that it would be hosted by David Tennant and Catherine Tate and would be shown in the US, so by that time it was just a foregone conclusion that I'd be attending.  In England, this celebration took place one month ago on the actual anniversary of the man's death, but we Americans had to wait until this evening to see it.  

And I'd like to say it was fabulous from start to finish, but I just can't.

Don't get me wrong, it had some lovely parts.  There was a whole sketch on the famous To be or Not to be speech performed by quite famous Hamlets from the last few years. There were 4 "films" hosted by Joseph Fiennes that walked the audience through Shakespeare's Stratford and introduced music that was written for his plays.  There were scenes performed by Rory Kinnear, Ian McKellen, Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, David Tennant, and more that just showed how beautiful the words can be when spoken in front of a live audience.  But there was also tons of extra stuff that made the show seem to drag on - performances from Operas that were written with "Shakespeare in mind", performances from Kiss Me Kate and West Side Story because they were based on the works of Shakespeare, and ballets inspired by Shakespeare.

The problem was that Shakespeare was all about the words.  His words were more beautiful and more engaging than any in history.  So when you're forced to watch a ballet or hear an opera that aren't using his words, it's not really celebrating the playwright so much.  The other issue is that they had very senior actors - actors that are known for their work in Shakespeare's plays - and yet they let some stand on the sidelines and only participate for a few minutes here and there.  (I wasn't the biggest fan of Benedict Cumberbatch's Hamlet, but even I know it was dumb to only give him a minute's worth of work in the middle of a Hamlet sketch with 7 other actors.)  So while I still love Shakespeare (and David and Catherine and the RSC), I'll stick to productions from now on and maybe stay away from any and all celebrations that may drone on for just a little longer than they should.

Rainy, Lazy Sunday

Some weekends you need lots of fun plans with friends and family to take up the time.  And other weekends you need a quiet Sunday at home to refresh for the week ahead.  That's what today was and it was lovely.  I slept in until 9:30 - something I hardly ever do.  But it was pouring down rain and my bed was so warm and cozy that I just couldn't coax my way out of it.  After I finished a book, and made some breakfast I lazed around on the sofa re-binging Life. (If you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor and get to Netflix immediately.  Damian Lewis and Sarah Shahi are fantastic!)  

After all that, I braved the elements to go to store to pick up some food for the week and get gas so I wouldn't have to do either tomorrow.  Then it was back home for dinner and brownies on the sofa in front of even more Life.  It's a total waste of the day, but sometimes it's just what you need.  Now it's off to bed where I hope to get at least a chapter into my new book before falling blissfully asleep, sorta ready for the week ahead.  

Happy Sunday!  Happy week ahead!

52 Lists: Week 17

It may have something to do with the fact that I've been in spring cleaning mode all day.  And spent a great deal of time reorganizing the craft room.  Or maybe it's just because I spend a great deal of time thinking about craft ideas.  But for whatever reason, I've been thinking a lot about craft supplies and what I use lately.  While I have a ton, there are definitely a few I gravitate to for all my projects.  These are those supplies:

~ Journal cards by In a Creative Bubble: I'm hooked on her style.  They're so simple and clean, and she makes tons for travel which is what I tend to scrapbook.  She also tends to focus on specific places as well - so much so that I really want to go to Portland, Seattle, LA and Hawaii just so I can use those journal cards she's designed : )
~ Watercolor paper: It just looks so much nicer than regular paper.
~ Embellishments: These are my favorite.  I usually tend to go with the wooden looking shapes or the paper clips in different shapes.
~ Stick-on Letters: I use these for everything even when they're not called for. I think I may have the alphabet 100 times over.  The letter sticker aisle is my favorite aisle in the craft store.
~ Stamps: This is more a need to buy than use.  I have TONS and they're all so cute.  But I'm no good at the fancy-schmancy stamping, so I tend to just hoard them instead of using them.
~ 6"x8" Album inserts by SN@P: So much better quality than Project Life.
~ Sizzix paper trimmer: For someone who cannot cut a straight line if her life depended on it, the paper trimmer was a revelation for me.
~ And lastly, in the technology category, the Cuttlebug, the Cricut, the Purple Cow laminator and the Canon Selphy printer - I cannot live without them! 

Friday Five

1. This was my Friday night.  I'd say we had a good time : )

2. Yet another reason to love the idea of working in NYC.  Some of them have Post-it Note Wars.  What a cute idea!  The best thing we ever did at our office is sing along to the radio...

3. While I wouldn't choose any of these locations, I love the idea of this story on fictional restaurants.  How could they not have included the Central Perk or even just the bar in the Shire?  What are these people on?  Though I'd totally like to drink some tea at Luke's place. 

4. I've been waiting for this to be confirmed ever since they announced James Corden would be in NYC for the Tony's.  I'm so hoping it's 100% true because as much as I love George Clooney, this Carpool Karaoke will be the best!

5. Dinozzo's last episode on NCIS.  It could have been terribly sad, but it wasn't.  I was not happy to see that Ziva had died, but it's still technically up in the air.  And oh my goodness, the little girl they cast as Tony and Ziva's daughter was the absolute cutest.  I will miss Dinozzo terribly, but I'm glad it's still open to have him come back.  And his goodbye to everyone was everything I could have hoped.  A perfect last episode with no tears!

Jinxed

So just the other day I thought, "wow, it's been awhile since everything computer related in my house crapped out because of the terrible cable company." Then of course, it happened today. I've been told the techs are working to fix it and will continue to do until "it's fixed." I'm not holding much stock in their ability to get it done before my bedtime so this will need to count as my blog post this evening. Because typing these few lines on my phone has been a bear - champion texter I'm not : )

Two Show Day

When it came to picking shows, we obviously couldn't have picked 2 more different shows if we'd tried. The plan was to specifically go up to see one, but after months of hearing about the second, we just had to add it to the itinerary.  While I know that a 2 show day from a performer's standpoint is quite difficult, a 2 show day as an audience member is fantastic! After you've seen the first, you're pretty excited about what you've just seen and obviously ready to do it all again.  Good news is, you can in a matter of hours.  It's the perfect scenario.

Fully Committed at the Lyceum Theatre

First up was "Fully Committed" with Jesse Tyler Ferguson.  Now you may think I'm mentioning only him because he's the major name and I'm being a bit dismissive of the rest of the no names in the cast.  But I'm not, because there is no one else in the cast.  "Fully Committed" is a one man, 90 minute tour de force of talent.  Jesse Tyler Ferguson plays Sam, a trendy restaurant reservationist who's spending the entire day answering phones. 

The kicker is, not only is he playing Sam, but he's also playing the 39 people that call over the 90 minutes.  I can't even memorize telephone numbers, and he's able to memorize the pages upon pages of dialogue while giving each character a different personality and voice. I literally have NO idea how he managed it. I'm in awe of his talent.  While I wasn't sitting gaping at his awesomeness, I was ogling the stage setup which was gorgeous.  There's a short video of it floating around somewhere online if the picture (I probably wasn't supposed to snap) isn't enough. But suffice it to say, everyone from the director, to the set designer to Jesse Tyler Ferguson himself brought their A game.

The show was brilliantly funny and fast paced, and I couldn't believe it was over after the 90 minutes.  It felt like it had just started.  He was so brilliant in fact, when a phone went off in the audience (So RUDE!), he was able to make snide comment ("I've been answering these phones so long, I'm hearing them in my head..." : ) while staying in character. Before seeing it, I was annoyed he wasn't nominated for a Tony for his performance.  After seeing it, I'm downright enraged.  He's a spectacular talent!  

Oh and then this happened which made me very happy: 

The Robber Bridegroom at the Laura Pels Theatre

"The Robber Bridegroom" was on the other end of the spectrum entirely.  This show was a true ensemble musical, off-Broadway and very old-school.  Also, I couldn't help loving every minute of it!  It's billed as a Southern-fried fairy tale and that's pretty much what it was.  There was lots of dirt, twang, banjos, and mason jars.  The score was very bluegrass, and was played beautifully.  Instead of having an orchestra which wouldn't have worked for the music, their band played on stage with the actors the entire show, sometimes sharing jokes and dancing with the cast. 

The storyline itself is just as ridiculous as it sounds: Jaime Lockhart is a gentleman by day and a bandit by night.  The only thing that separates these 2 traits is the 2 stripes of berry stain on the bandit's face.  He falls in love with the rich girl of the town after he steals her clothes.  It sort of moves along from there, without spoiling too much. Again, the cast is what made it.  Steven Pasquale as Jaime Lockhart was unbelievably funny and dreamy at the same time.  

He played the country boy perfectly, and nailed all the funny bits, even when things went a bit awry.  At one point after a bit of knife play, the knife sailed into the audience.  He was able to get off the stage, grab the knife and play the bandit to the poor audience member that had caught the knife ("Give me all your money!) all while staying in character.  The cast just gelled perfectly together, and since they're on stage for the entire show - playing things like trees, or doors - you could tell they really enjoyed working with each other.  So much so, that after a not particularly funny line, by the ever enjoyable Greg Hildreth (a standout as the dumb guy), Steven Pasquale broke for a good 45 seconds and literally could not retain his composure, which made the rest of the cast as well as the entire audience laugh uncontrollably.  Covering up Greg Hildreth's mouth so he didn't say anything else funny - by Steven Pasquale no less - was the only way to eventually get back on track.  

You don't usually see so many little things go awry like that, which made it even funnier and a wilder ride.  Once again, the set decorator and costume designers were on point as well. Every part of the show screamed the South.  It was so very different from anything I've ever seen, and I just loved it.  I only wish it wasn't closing next week, so I could go see it again.  I suppose I'll have to make do with the soundtrack they're recording next month - woohoo!

Trivia Tuesday

~ When discussing my friend Jen the English teacher's October celebration of Chaucer, you're supposed to use a soft C as opposed to a hard C - Chauc-tober.  And if you use the hard C, it's much more fun than it should be, because she's so not a fan of saying it that way.

~ It turns out that the question I was convinced we'd get last week on Nora Ephron, we actually got this week instead.  It wasn't about who she was married to, but I'm still going with the quiz-writer knowing I knew stuff about her.... : )

~ Theatre questions are always easy.  When you're a theatre nerd, you want hard questions, not something as easy as what show was just nominated for a record breaking 16 Tony's?  (Hamilton in case you were wondering.)

~ Edison invented the light bulb in a lab in Menlo Park NJ. According to the rest of the people our team, he also had labs in Florida and California that they've visited.  That seems like way too many labs for one person to have.

~ One member of our team was told by another member of our team that she knows nothing about vegetables.  However the person that supposedly knew nothing about vegetables was closest to the right answer.  Funny how that works out.

~ After many years of Spanish, I was prepared for a difficult translation question when the category was Spanish.  So being asked what is the name of the animal that means "little armored one" was a bit of a let down.  (Armadillo obviously)

~ The Molotov Cocktail was not created by the nation of Moltovia as I assumed but in  Finland. : )  I still have no idea why someone on our team knew that.

~ When asking a question about the song "Don't Stop Believin' ", it's only right that you should play said song during the next category.  I feel they missed a prime opportunity to see us rock out to some Journey. 

May NYC Trip

Here's the thing about New York.  There's always something new to discover - whether it's a restaurant, a show, or just an area of town you've never been before.  That's what I love about it.  I like going to some of my regular haunts, but the increasing number of trips I've gotten to take this year has allowed me to wander and discover even more haunts to add to the list of regulars. On this trip, we discovered 3 fab restaurants, 2 awesome shows, 2 new beautiful theatres, and one street market.  And it was lovely!

Since we were spending the night, we - ok, I - decided we were going to see 2 shows, because honestly, it's what I do.  First up was Fully Committed and next was The Robber Bridegroom.  Each were so amazing they require a separate post, but know this - the theatre is an excellent way to spend an afternoon and evening in NYC! Before the shows though, we walked up to 5th Avenue and discovered the Henri Bendel store which made someone in our party very happy : )  Then we grabbed lunch at a little place we just discovered while wandering - Pazza Notte. It was a beautiful day so we were able to snag a table right near the wide open windows.  Al Fresco dining - another thing to love about NY.

From lunch, we headed to the first show and then to dinner afterwards.  There are a grand total of about 6 places we always go to for dinner.  This time around, we went with new and tried Patsy's which is an Italian restaurant that was a favorite of Frank Sinatra's.  And it didn't disappoint.  The salad and pastas were delicious!  And the chocolate mousse cake was to die for!  Then it was onto the second show, which was followed by a drink - hot tea - in the rotating bar at the top of the Marriott Marquis.  As long as you don't focus on the fact you're rotating you're good.  Once you focus on it, you - well, mostly I - get just a bit tipsy.

On Sunday, we discovered the BEST place ever for breakfast.  Sullivan Street Bakery has 2 locations - Hell's Kitchen and Chelsea.  We decided to take a death-defying cab ride and try the Chelsea location.  We were somehow lucky enough to snag one of the 5 tables they had. And then we devoured the best egg sandwiches I've ever had.  The eggs were "soft-cooked scrambled" whatever the heck that means, with prosciutto, basil and sun-dried tomatoes on some homemade bread.  I'm still dreaming about them!  For dessert, because you totally need dessert with breakfast, we had chocolate and vanilla Bomboloni's, which are Italian donuts. Heaven on a plate.  I'm already planning my next trip there.

From there it was a chilly walk to Chelsea Market, then a cab ride to Hell's Kitchen for a street fair, where I was lucky enough to have some more dessert: a Greek pastry made of honey, filo and custard. Divine!  Then it was a last stop to the Drama Bookshop and then home - to count down the days to the next trip.  Some trips are better than others, and this one was by far one of the best!

Still Loving the CIty

Back from another lovely weekend in NYC. Like I say, a lot lately, it's always fantastic to be in the city, but this weekend was even more wonderful for a lot of reasons.  And most of those reasons are why I'm too pooped to write all about it this evening. However, here's the long and short of it with a promise to be back tomorrow with loads of pics and major theatre recommendations.


Here's what was Awesome about the weekend:

~ 2 Show Saturday
~ 2 new absolutely delicious restaurants to add to the list
~ Jesse Tyler Ferguson
~ Steven Pasquale & Greg Hildreth
~ Fab Fam time
~ No raindrops falling from the sky and Loads of sunshine on Saturday
~ Pod elevators
~ A Greek bakery


Here's what wasn't Awesome about the weekend:

~ Seriously crazy swirling winds coming out of nowhere on Saturday evening - Brr!
~ Chilly weather on Sunday but at least it was sunny
~ Times Square insanity - why, why, why are there so many people?
~ Coming home to a rifled through car but at least nothing was stolen

Friday Five

1. As a long time fan of NCIS - we're talking the very first episode here - I'm less than thrilled to see Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo leave this week. He's part of what makes the show wonderful.  However I am very happy to see how lovely the cast is about his leaving and how much they seem to love each other.  Also, super intrigued by his "nothing really ends" statement at the end.  Maybe he'll be back again soon for some guest-starring bits.

2. In theatre news, there were a few fabulous stories this week.  Matthew Perry (aka everyone's favorite friend) is bringing his play from London to NY next year.  Hamilton will be making a stop at the Kennedy Center in 2017.  And Christian Borle signed up to play Willy Wonka - a move that I saw a mile away.  I really should be his agent because I also predicted the Falsetto's casting too. : )

3. I'm fairly perturbed by the ridiculousness of international shipping, especially from a company as reputable as Amazon.  Even shipping just a few books from the UK, basically costs an arm and a leg.  My measly $45 order was increased to $75 just with shipping added alone.  Unbelievable!  However, now that I've realized I have 2 more un-read Jenny Colgan Books on top of the one I finished today, I can at least be just a bit happier.  I just love her reading!  Too bad she has about 12 more I'd like to read.  I think it might be cheaper to just fly to England, and purchase the books there - which is a fairly intriguing prospect...

4.  It's been pretty rainy here in Maryland.  It's pretty much been raining for the proverbial 40 days and nights - so much so that I was seriously contemplating building an ark.  Anyway, today the sun came out!  It was lovely!  After chilly 50 degree days for the last 236 days, the temp rose to about 77 and it was sunny!  It only lasted a few hours, but those hours were so very needed.  Hopefully it was the start of a trend...

5. This video makes me smile.  Both of these actors will be in the second show I'm seeing this weekend - The Robber Bridegroom.  The first is Fully Committed with Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Another full NY weekend has me very, very happy!  I'll be back on Sunday with details and hopefully some pictures - if the darn camera cooperates.  Happy weekend!

Phone vs. Camera Showdown

DSLR Version

Lately, I've been cheating on my DSLR camera with my iPhone.  I can't really decide how I feel about it.  Don't get me wrong, I adore my camera.  It takes great photos - as long as I let it do its own thing.  When I try to get involved - in other words, use it on manual - that's when things go a little haywire.  Just when I think I have things figured out, the weather changes and I'm up a creek again.  I actually like the way the photos look more when they're taken in auto than I do when they're taken in manual. Sacreligious, I know!

That's when I turn to my phone.  Say what you want about Apple, but you have to admit, their products take great photos.  It's so easy to just snap a shot when we all have our photos in our hands all day everyday already.  Also, thanks to my Canon Selphy printer, the pictures on my phone are just so much easier to print than the ones on my camera.  Just a few taps and I'm rolling right along, and scrapping away. It's sort of my new addiction.  I love that little printer - I have no idea why I waited so long!

iPhone version

But that's not actually why I've been using the phone so much.  It's definitely a factor, but not the whole story.  The big reason is photo editing.  Thanks to Pic Tap Go I've become a master photo editor. All of the photos on my phone are so much better thanks to this app.  Everything's clear and the colors are sharp. It's the perfect way to become a master phone photographer.  On the other hand, when I take photos with my camera, I can't use the app.  I have to go through Pic Monkey since I don't have a license for Photoshop.  And Pic Monkey while a great deal, isn't exactly the best way to edit photos especially in bulk. The system is clunky and it just takes too darn long. Today, I almost sent photos to my email so I could open them in my phone and then edit them with Pic Tap Go.  Thank goodness the camera photos are so darn large and thank goodness I have so little space left on my phone, or I would have found myself in a never-ending photo-editing loop!

So what can be done about this?  I have no real answers.  Other than, begging Pic Tap Go to create a desktop app to help me with my photo conundrum. And somehow I don't see that coming.  Luckily, Summer is coming and I always get much better photos in the summer, thanks to blue skies, sunshine and fabulous destinations.  Hopefully that will help me out of my scandalous cheating scandal....Seeing as my camera is worth much more than my phone is, one could only hope.

52 Lists: Week 16

Ali Edwards does this amazing project each year called "Week in the Life".  She basically documents everything that happens - some small and some big - in one week of her choosing.  And she gets tons of scrapbookers to do the same. I'm in awe because she seems to put so much work into it, and it always comes out looking so beautiful.  I've never tried though, because I'm not that interesting and I forget to document things almost immediately after I start a project like that.  

So in honor of this being the week for that amazing project, I thought I'd list the things I always do each day.  And you should start to see why a week in the life from me would not be a real page-turner like Ali's is.

~ Hit the snooze button on my alarm for 30 minutes before getting up.
~ Wash my hair in the morning, dry it and then straighten it.
~ Drive to work with no music on which allows me to daydream.
~ Check Facebook, Twitter, Feedly and my email - about a dozen times over the course of the day.
~ Play 7 Little Words and Red Herring on my phone
~ Call my mom and dad
~ Check Huffington Post or CNN for any breaking news I should know about.
~ Have a cup of tea at some point in the day - usually at the time I can't stand being cold anymore.
~ Mentally dream up the next big adventure I have planned
~ Blog
~ Read in bed before going to sleep.

See?  I told you. Riveting stuff... : )

Trivia Tuesday

~ No matter how sure we are with the spelling choice we choose, it will always be wrong.  There are 2 spellers on our team - me and another girl.  We each spell a word differently - usually only one letter is different - and we always choose to go with the incorrect version. Every single time!  In this case, idiosyncrasy may look weird when spelled with "sy" at the end, but apparently it's correct and isn't spelled with the more normal looking "cy."

~ My friend tried to "liven up" her Professional Development day at work by having an apple tasting.  Clearly my friend misunderstood the definition of "liven up."

~ There's a Guiness world record of 140 hula hoops that one person has hooped with.  How does that even work?  Is there someone who's job it is to play horseshoes wherein you're the spike and the hula hoop is the horseshoe?

~ When it comes to Entertainment and current events, I'm good to go.  I had a great night this evening knowing the answer to at least 9 questions.  But throw in questions about Basketball or Presidents and I'm terribly out of my depth.

~ The girls at the table are HUGE readers.  So imagine just how excited a table full of readers can get when the half time question is all about chapter titles in novels.  We get even more excited when there's a character question as well as a grammar question.  It was a good night for word nerds.

~ Spending the longest 2 minutes of my life watching the Derby paid off since a question on the winner was asked.  Yay Nyquist!

~ After reading an amazing book in the last 24 hours, wherein I learned that Carl Bernstein (of Woodward and Bernstein) was married to Nora Ephron, I was convinced Karma was going to give us a question on that very topic this evening.  Alas, my fun fact to know and tell went to waste.

~ Seeing a question on musicals made the musical theatre nerds at the table very happy.  We were less than thrilled when it turned out to be such a soft ball question.  Is there anyone that doesn't know that 76 TROMBONES led the big parade?  Even non-musical people know that song.

~ Even though I've been to the Grand Canyon, I had zero idea how large it was at it's furthest poles - 18 miles.  This is a fact that I feel someone in my family will harass me for not knowing : )

Finales are Terrible

Here's the deal, I hate series finales. I wrote all about it a few months ago.  I like to avoid them at all costs, mostly because they tend to make me cry.  I'm not even the biggest fan of season finales, because that's the time they choose to leave everyone on a cliff by killing well-loved characters.  It's a total racket.  And being the smart and well-adjusted human that I am, I stick my head in the sand and pretend that no deaths, injuries or retirements happen. It makes things a lot easier, even if it's not completely sane.

However, there are some shows I just need to see the end of.  Shows that I've loved and respected.  Shows that have never let me down.  Shows that I know are much too civilized to actually kill someone in a dramatic fashion in the final episode.  Shows like Friends, though I'm still sad that's not still on the air or ER where death was a common occurrence so eventually it was just par for the course. Or shows like The Good Wife which has been phenomenal for 7 years.  I've enjoyed pretty much everything about the series: the writing, the characters, even the cases that they managed to make interesting and not completely off-the-wall like some other legal programs. 

After 7 amazing years, I owed it to myself to watch the final episode. Not only watch it, but watch it live so I didn't spoil anything for myself today by reading reviews.  That's a big commitment from me.  I was risking the possibility of crying over something terrible happening.  Not good.  But, I had faith that it would be just as compelling and well-written as every other episode had been over the course of the years.  Yeah.  Not so much. It wasn't just bad.  It was terrible!  

Spoiler Alert...

The only thing I liked was getting to see Will Gardner again. As a Marylander I'm a huge Josh Charles fan since he's a MD boy.  And when his character Will died, I was heart-broken. But in the final episode we got to see his smiling face again, which was a big shock but a fantastic one to say the least.  But that's about the end of things I loved. No big questions were answered.  Characters were completely changed from how they acted over the 7 years to fit in with the story line. Alicia didn't even get to ride off into the sunset with the all too dreamy Jason.  Who, granted, I only wanted her to ride off with, because Jeffrey Dean Morgan is all too adorable and honestly who wouldn't want to jump his bones? But I digress...

It was just such a shock to see something I loved so much, end so abruptly.  I'll miss this show every week, because there will never be better writing or acting on television.  But I will try desperately to go back into my hole and pretend this whole finale thing never happened.  Now, I have a brand new reason for my hatred of finales - bad ones!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to this very important lady right here.  She's funny, kind, always loving, and quite possibly the best mom a girl could ever ask for.  I hope she enjoyed her day because she deserves the very best.  Love her to pieces!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms!

Derby Day

I don't really get horse racing.  Honestly, I'm not even sure I agree with it.  A bunch of dudes hitting horses to make them go faster? I'm not a fan of people hurting any animals. Even if those animals scare me to death. But I'm from Maryland, and horse racing is big so I suppose I sort of just go along with it. That doesn't mean I understand it - like at all. 

The whole darn race happens in, like, 30 seconds.  People spend all day partying for a race that's going to last less than a minute. That just doesn't seem like a logical way to spend a day.  Then there's the odds.  I know I'm not fabulous with math, but I do understand odds and statistics in practice.  But how in the world do the betmakers decide that one horse is a 50-1 odd and another is a 100-1?  It just doesn't make sense.  Then there's the people that place ungodly high bets based on these odds.  What?!

I'm not even willing to pay the $1 for a lottery ticket because the odds are too low, but these guys plop down hundreds and thousands of dollars on someone randomly placing odds on whether one horse may out-run another.  Is this sounding more and more like a racket to anyone else, but me?  

But then again, you do get to dress up in pretty dresses and lovely large-brimmed hats, drink mint juleps and basically hob-knob with the upper crust, so I suppose that's fun too.  That part of the day actually sounds fantastic, without getting all the horses, jockies, and manure smell involved.

Maybe I can just find me a great hat-dress combo, and go watch the O's instead...That sounds much better!  But until then, Congrats to Nyquist!

Friday Five

1. This.  This may be my most favorite thing ever!  I love me some George Clooney!


2. And while we're on the topic of James Corden, this is also awesome.  The West Wing has always had a special place in my heart, and between Alison Janney appearing in the real White House briefing room as CJ Cregg and this, I'm dreaming of a WW reunion coming very, very soon - fingers crossed!


3. Tony Award nominations came out this week and as assumed Hamilton trumped everyone.  They broke the record with 16 nominations.  And of course, they deserved them all.  But there were other great nominations too.  Jennifer Simard was the only nominated player in Disaster! which she totally deserved.  She was the absolute funniest part of that show. It was also lovely to see Zac Levi, Jane Krakowski & Laura Benanti, as well as the show She Loves Me get nominated.  She Loves Me was just a very sweet musical and everyone in that cast was perfect for their roles.  (Although, I wish Gavin Creel would have also gotten a nod).  While no one really stands a chance this year against Hamilton, it's fun to see so many of the shows I've seen get some recognition.

4. This "feud" between England, the US and Canada is the cutest story this week!  

Unfortunately for you @FLOTUS and @POTUS I wasn't alone when you sent me that video 😉 - H.https://t.co/sjfSQvkzb6

— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) April 29, 2016

Dear @POTUS, @FLOTUS and @KensingtonRoyal - did someone say "bring it?" Canada's ready for @InvictusOrlando.https://t.co/TxBAMPvTYs

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) May 2, 2016

5. This guy's work is my new inspiration.  I now have 3 of his gorgeous prints.  I just love his stuff.  I wish I had a beach house so I could decorate every wall with some of the beachy prints.  For now I'm happy with my Tybee Island Lighthouse, Big Ben and Loving NY.  So great!