The sisterhood of the traveling plants

As you may or may not recall I have a special affinity for spider plants.  I got my sister one several years ago when she first moved in to her house as a housewarming present.  When I moved back to NYC she gave me a little baby to take with me that I nurtured in to a my own giant beast of a plant.  Over the course of my time in NYC I gave babies to several different people, explaining to them the history behind them.  When I left to move back down to Florida I gave my spider plant to Dan and started over with a new baby from my sister.  As of maybe 6 months ago it's finally grown big enough to have babies of its own so I took my first cutting and started this little darling.

I brought it to work with me on Friday to give to my favorite customer as a housewarming present.  When I told her the story behind it she said, "It's like the sisterhood of the traveling plants!"

the best starbucks

I notices smalls first and thought it was odd that it was pluralized.  I looked to see if it was also larges when I got the joke.  I asked who was responsible for it and the two girls pointed to the guy making the drinks with an eye roll.  I like his style, totally the kind of interactions I would have with my coworkers.

In fact, I told him the story about the time I was working at the shop in the west village and my boss got the exterior whitewashed during the middle of the day.  I put up a sign that said, "Wet Paint, check yourself before you wreck yourself".  At some point a girl came in and brushed against the door, getting white paint all over her Louis bag.  The rage on her face when she said, "I can't believe there's wet paint and no sign!" was no match for the rage on her face after I said, "oh, actually, there is a sign".  I don't think she appreciated my humor.  As I recall my boss ended up giving her a gift card to the store as compensation because she was so angry so she ended up having to come back in to use it.  The first time she came back I had no idea who she was so I just talked to her as I would any random customer.  I feel bad in hindsight because if I were her that would have pissed me off all over again.

Ahh, good times working in retail.

of course, Meghan's response

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Jon sent me that article and as soon as I saw Anna and Andre I had to forward it to Meghan.  I said I couldn't believe she was missing this.

The email response I woke up to from her:

"Omg me neither!!!!! It's killing me. Though I am sitting in a piazza in the middle of ischia, so life ain't bad. (Internet service is super spotty though - will write more when we are off this island!) xoxoxoxo"

Makes sense.  

haha yes, Dan and me

GOING OUT from SRSLY. on Vimeo.

The only difference is that Beyonce plays a role in our evenings.  The closest they got was the clapping and shuffling part, which did remind me of trying to do the Single Ladies dance with Dan one Halloween.  We definitely enthusiastically talked about taking the classes in town that taught you the choreography.

And for a moment I miss NYC, but then I remember that I had my windows down on my drive home and there is some sort of flight delaying ice rain going on up there right now.

So Dan, thank you for sending me that video, and I think you need to plan a vacation to Miami.  I can take you to all the coolest places, and by that I of course mean watching music videos on youtube all night long.

I heard it's snowing in NYC

It actually got cold here last night too so I had to take advantage of my day off/the weather while I could.  So don't be too jealous, I'm going to be spending the next several days inside working hard for the money.  But just know that my sunroof will be open on the way there and back.

so wrong but it feels so right

Between Gala and my sister I'm sure somebody is going to throw paint on me but I can't help it.  I've decided this is what I am going to get myself for christmas.

Let me know when NYC is up and running so I can come visit.  I need a legit excuse to actually wear this, otherwise I am going to be pairing it with a t-shirt and jeans all winter so I don't overheat.  Because you know I'll be wearing it on the daily.

Jon said it looks like the lower half of my face is horribly disfigured and I have to cover it when I go in public.  ADDED BONUS.

we're still cleaning up

Not that I'm looking for sympathy, I just think it's interesting that sections of A1A are still shut down from Sandy.

I'm not really clear about where that sand is from.  It's been piled at the side of the road for days now, I think maybe it's just from the neighborhood along the beach and they are trying to return it.  There were bulldozers just pushing it back on to the beach from here but otherwise it seemed like everybody was on break when I went past.

I would say the clean up is a lot more enjoyable here than it is in NYC.

But still there's definitely a lot to be done.  The piles of sand are up to the lifeguard stands!

That's a lot of sand!

good luck NYC

That bitch Sandy is not messing around.

Am I the only person who sees things like this and immediately thinks of this.  Also, hats of to Mr. Van Leer for his use of the word "fools" when describing the people of Florida.  I can speak for myself and say it's the most appropriate word to describe me.

But for my new york friends, if you too are worried about your island sinking in to the sea tonight I can say that Sandy was a lot of hot air but it wasn't really such a big deal.  I mean, they didn't even close the mall.

And in her wake she left us with fantastic weather!

one of each

Jeanne sent me this picture that she snapped in the drive-through of an In-N-Out in California.  It wasn't that long ago that I received a message from Chana saying that she spotted a Blount plate in NYC too.

I'm actually relieved when I see a non Blount plate as it proves there are other places you can live in Tennessee:

I know it's too blurry to tell because my phone auto focused on my dashboard instead of the car in front of me but that was a plate from somewhere other than Blount in Tennessee.

A part of me wanted to pull up next to them and congratulate them on not being from Blount.

these guys

I managed to survive 8 years living in manhattan and it's only taken a year for Miami to kick me in the balls and leave me for dead.

And yet I still love it down here.  I mean, I was not expecting iguanas on my walk to get coffee this morning.  Don't get me wrong, I love pigeons, but there is something thrilling and exotic about iguanas.

Although I didn't really need to take the zoom in pic:

Not the most flattering.  But I was excited!

Jed told me that there was a frost a few years ago and it killed most of the iguanas, as they are cold blooded.  He said that it was quite a problem as the larger ones would freeze solid in a tree and then fall down, often damaging cars underneath.  Would that be covered under insurance?  I doubt it.

Anyways, I'm glad to see that they are back to running amuck down here.  It reminds me of why I came down here and why I still love it.  And I do, I do still love it, although nyc is looking more and more appealing these days.

Life is just so much simpler there.

more comfortable than the 6

When I left NYC on Friday morning Meghan rode the 6 train with me to 51st instead of the usual express to 86th.  Somewhere between Union Square and Grand Central she said, "I wish you could ride the subway with me every morning".

My gut reaction was to reply with, "me too" but I stopped myself.  It only took a quick glance around our train car to remember all the reasons I was glad I didn't have to take the 6 train every day for my commute anymore.

I was going to title this post "better than the 6" but I realized I would get arguments from the subway fanatics (I'm looking at you Dan and Will) who will forever stand behind public transportation.  And it is a marvel, really, especially when everything goes according to plan.

But visiting new york during a heat wave was such a good compromise between "oh I miss this magical fairytale city" and literally walking through piles of steaming hot garbage spread across the sidewalks.  Yes, I wish I could commute with Meghan every day, but do I wish I could go back to riding the 6 every day?

Nah, I'm happy with the benz.  And I don't think anyone will argue that the scenery is definitely better.

home sweet home

I got in yesterday afternoon and immediately went on a run even though all I really wanted to do was go to sleep.  I felt like 6:30 was probably too early for sleep though, so I forced myself out.  As usual I was glad I did once it was over.

Especially because I was still in a new york state of mind so it was fun to run along the beach and remember why I love it down here too.

And there's this guy:

He was obviously happy to see me.

"Please, please let me out of here, why am I kept prisoner?"

We cuddled all night.

another nyc day

I was left to my own devices for the day yesterday as Meghan and Sam both had to return to work.  I decided to take myself out to lunch at barnyard where I got a really amazing brussel sprout salad among other things.  I holed myself away for the better part of the day since the heat is really intense in the city right now.

But come the afternoon I did venture out to meet up with Kelly.  We decided to meet at 59th and 5th and then walk through the park.  When I got there I texted her saying I was underneath the spinning airplane.  She was confused at first but then quickly understood.

Kelly and I retreated to the shade of the park and found a nice bench to sit and catch up.  Make new friend but keep the old and all that.  It was really really nice.

As it got closer to 5 Kelly walked me up the park to the Met where she had to leave to go do homework but I was adopted by Esha.  Another person I was glad to get to see.

And a great person to walk me through Schiaparelli and Prada exhibit in Meghan's absence.  My only regret is that I didn't know that one of the dresses was made from monkey fur.

After uptown Meghan and I left Esha and headed down to meet up with Kim, Ariel, and JD for dinner.  We ended up sitting at thai son for several hours catching up.

All in all it was a whirlwind day in new york that made me miss living here a lot.  I was sad this morning to say goodbye to Meghan at the 51st St. stop.

I will be back soon though.

NYC for the 4th

There was a part of me that was excited to spend the 4th of July in Miami and see what it was all about but when my work schedule lends itself to travel I have to take advantage.  And when Meghan said she and Sam both had the 4th off it was too good to be true.

I did everything I could have wanted to do yesterday too.  I got coffee from 9th St., followed by sitting in the park with Meghan and chatting/dog watching.

Once Sam woke up we wandered around the city looking for food.  After being turned away from our original destination we ended up at Bread which I had forgotten all about.  I used to eat at Bread almost every day when I worked at Simple around the corner, but I haven't been back since.  The food is just as good as I remember.

After lunch we stopped at whole foods to pick up another of my favorite nyc things;

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and headed back to one of my favorite places:

for one of my favorite activities:

As the sun started to fade we made our way to the party for the evening.  Suzannah's instructions were, "the doors are open, just come on in" so that's what we did.  But the apt we entered didn't seem to have much of a party going on.

Apparently because it wasn't the apt throwing the party.  That's right, this is just somebody random's apt in NYC that they leave completely open.  We literally walked in off the street without buzzing anybody, got in the elevator, pressed "P" for the penthouse, and walked right in.  Once we realized we were in a strangers apartment Meghan made us leave quickly, but I had to snap a picture before we did.

Having seen the penthouse I was disappointed to not be able to party there.  I figured the apt hosting the party would probably be more modest in comparison.

I couldn't have been more wrong.  It was seriously one of the largest and most unexpectedly luxurious apartments I have ever been in.  We weren't really sure who at the party actually lived in the apt so I was hesitant to take too many pictures, but here are the two most important ones.  This was in the corner of one of the GIANT bedrooms:

Why?!  I want this!  It's so Mariah!!  Ugh, my envy knows no bounds.

And then if that wasn't crazy enough, when I asked where I could go to the bathroom I was directed to their powder room in the front entryway.  I figured it was going to be a modest closet sized bathroom. I was, again, incorrect.  It was really hard to take a picture that really shows how crazy the bathroom is but I did the best I could.

It was floor to ceiling mirrors on all four sides with all black furnishings.  Even the door to the bathroom was mirrored so once you closed it you were in the epicenter of your own infinite army stretching out in every direction.  And when I peed?  Oh it was glorious.  I could watch myself from literally every angle.  And who doesn't want to do that?!

The only downside to the apt was that we didn't have any kind of view of the fireworks.  At first I thought this was our only outside view:

Until Meghan finally invited me up to the roof which had a pretty incredible view of Union Square.

We could hear the fireworks, and even sometimes see them in the reflections of the windows, but it was mostly just a tease.

At least the skyline provides enough twinkling lights to satisfy.  And we even left with enough time to catch a few of the fireworks from the view down 15th St.

Along with all the other stragglers who couldn't find their way to a better view.  We got home and I didn't even realize but Sam ordered a pizza from what I would say is the ideal place to order a pizza from, Lombardi's.  Not only is Lombardi's great because it's delicious and steeped in history, it's also another place that I used to eat at all the time when I worked at Simple.  And there's nothing better after a good buzz than some nostalgic pizza.  Isn't that how the saying goes?

I'm not even sure when we all went to sleep last night but it happened at some point.  And now I must prepare myself for another fun nyc day before I head back south tomorrow morning.  I'm going to go put my walking shoes on now!

So many crime scenes

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Thank you Craig for sending me this article, you're right as usual, I like it very much. 

I like how the dots seem to correlate to areas where nobody would mind you filming in nyc.  

"Olivia, we found another strangled model at the chelsea piers.  They should really put some patrol down here" 

And is that a red dot I see on 100th st?  There certainly should be one, we reported enough violent sex crimes during the years we lived there. 

I want this right now

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Meghan's FIANCE Sam was at the Today show this morning assisting one of his chefs from Il Buco Alimentari e Vineria.

That looks really amazing and I love how interested the ladies are when they come on at the end, they can't take their eyes off of him.

I can't take my eyes off that pasta.  Me want now please, thank you.

San Fran: the final day

UNfortunately Will had an unexpected doctors appointment during the day on Friday so I was left to fend for myself on the mean streets of San Francisco.  He was nice enough to drop me off in front of these houses which he was under the impression was the best he could do for the full house house.  While they looked familiar I just couldn't believe that one of them was really the house.  I ended up looking it up on my phone and discovered that these are the houses in the background when they are having their picnic but the actual full house house is on a different street that was way too far out of my way.

So I'm sorry Sergio, I never got to take the picture I had promised you, but at least I still have something to do on my next visit to san fran.

I walked from the painted ladies downtown on my way to meet Meredith for lunch.  It was really fun to just wander through the city.  I saw several houses that looked like they just had to be haunted, like this one:

But then I'd turn another corner and come upon something like this dazzling spectacle:

I commented to will that their town hall was certainly gold encrusted and he responded with, "well we are a city founded on gold".

Touche.

Besides the beautiful architecture and landscaping, I also noticed a trend going on with the sidewalks in San Francisco.  In nyc I got in to the habit of reading all the writing in the sidewalk because every once in a while you'd find a gem.  In San Francisco it was like every time I noticed writing in the sidewalk it would be something bizarre and amazing like this:

When I showed that picture to Will he said, "well it clearly looks like it was written by a child" as if that explained everything.  If anything it just raises more questions for me.

And when I have questions there's only one sure answer that I know to turn to:

I got to Paragon before Meredith and noticed all the makings for a find bloody mary behind the bar.  I was please with my order when this arrived.  I sent that picture to Meghan and she replied, "you can tell it's going to be so good from all those bits floating around in it"

I couldn't agree more, the bits are the hallmark of a well crafted bloody mary.  And that was one fantastic bloody.  Made even better by the swift arrival of Meredith in all her beautiful glory.  It did make me a little sad that I can't swing by Mere's work every day for a casual boozy lunch, but I'm still thankful for the time that I did get.

After lunch Meredith pointed me in the direction of the sea lions.  She said it was a bit of a walk but it was along the water so it would be nice, and it was!  Having no way to look up where the sea lions were on google maps I had to rely on faith that I would eventually get to them.  As I got further and further along I would think the bark of every passing dog was surely the sea lions heralding my arrival, but no, it would just be a St. Bernard.  Just as I was beginning to think that maybe I was destined to never see the sea lions, just like the full house house, I stumbled upon this fantastic sign:

Just when you're starting to lose faith, good old Salty shows up to help you out.  And sure enough, a few turns of the boardwalk and I found myself face to face with some VERY nice guys:

Meredith kept commenting, "I don't understand why you would want to see those smelly obnoxious loud things".  Ummm how about because they are handsome and nice and make funny barking noises and just snooze in the sun?  What's not to love about that?  The tourists on the other hand were less than enjoyable, so I only stayed for a little bit with them before I continued on my wandering through the city.

Having to come all the way downtown for the sea lions did yield an unexpected benefit, a closer view of Alctatraz:

I do want to go there, another reason for me to come back and visit.

I spent the rest of the day just wandering through the city, stumbling upon things like this:

I really like that crazy triangle building on the corner too.  It looks like another haunted one, just like this:

I want to live there!

I also found more weird poetic cement writing:

I think San Francisco must be where hipsters are grown.

After a long day of walking all over the city I was exhausted and ready for my red-eye back home.  Will took me out for a farewell dinner at Social before taking me to the airport.  With my belly full of delicious kale salad and brussel sprout chips I was one contended happy camper when I got on the plane.  I slept like a baby all the way which was good as I had to go to work all day today.  The only reason I have the energy to do this post right now is that I'm still on California time, but this sleepy time tea I'm having is making my bed look better and better.  After last night's sleep on the tray table of my aisle seat I am looking forward to stretching out with the detective at my side.

Thank you San Francisco for showing me an amazing time, I look forward to visiting again soon!

thanks meghan

source

That article was surprisingly amazing.  I had no idea where it was going but I found myself laughing out loud several times.

I guess that must just be what it's like to do anything with Joan Rivers.  I can't imagine that she ever stops.


"A Jewish voodoo priestess"

best song title ever

Once upon a time I opened a juice bar on the lower east side with a friend and almost from day one our most regular and best customer was the lead singer of the Crash Test Dummies.

When asked if he was working on anything new he would always respond with, "I'm really in to Gregorian chanting right now"

But are you working on anything new?

I heard it was raining in nyc

So I just had to go to the beach!

Actually it's been terrible weather down here for the past few days as well so when I woke up yesterday to a day off and not a cloud in the sky I knew what I had to do.

This was the first time going to the beach here by myself too.  It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, even without a book to read.  Not that Meghan didn't suggest some good ones, but I am just too broke to be investing in books right now.  And yes, I am aware of the library, I just choose not to patronize it.

I'm hopefully going out of town to a couple different places in the coming weeks so it's important that I get as tan and blond as possible before that happens.  I love being in the city and having people ask, "why are you so tan?!"

Because I escaped the terrible city of no sun.  It's quite nice really.