Monday, December 31st, 2011

Good morning, friends!  This is one of my favorite times of the year!!!  This was what we looked like last year at this time.  No little Bear yet-just the 3 of us. Ever since I've been small I've loved making New Year's resolutions.  I'm a goal person.  I like to set goals and then reach them.  I dig it.  I don't understand how people don't make New Year's resolutions!  It's a time of the year to look back and appreciate the good things about your life and what you did, and also a time to say "this is what I'd like to do better to live the life I want."

These are the things I'm proud of about the past year:

1.  I worked harder than I ever have before to finish my first year of grad school.  One of my favorite achievements occurred last March when I got the results of my first Cell Bio exam.  After studying for weeks, neglecting the rest of my life, and giving it all I thought I had,  I'd low passed.  LOW PASSED! (If you low pass 2 out of the 3 exams you fail the course). It was a terrible feeling.  Not because I'd low passed, but because I worked so hard and STILL low passed.  Everything inside me told me I wasn't good enough - wasn't smart enough - that they'd made a mistake letting me in.  I burned the exam in the toilet and sobbed to my Dad that I would honor the next one (I can be a little dramatic at times).  I didn't honor the next one, but I high passed it and then, finally, I honored the last one.  I was so proud of that.  It took absolutely everything I had.  I learned about myself that I can do it.  

2.  I had my first fully vegetarian year.  My body feels better than ever and I feel better than ever about my food choices.  I could expound about the philosophy of how we treat animals and food choices and yahta yahta yahta, but the bottom line is that I think it's wrong and I know it's unsustainable, bad for the environment, and promotes high cholesterol, heart disease, and a host of other health maladies.  I joined a CSA, which meant I paid a little more to support a small family-run farm and eat organic produce, but it forced me to learn how to cook for myself and broadened what I eat on a daily basis.  It was one of the best 500 bucks I've ever spent.

3.  I had my best, most committed running year ever.  I remember going for runs with my Dad when I was about 12 or 13.  I've always run, but mostly it was to stay in shape for basketball.  In the past 7 years I've really gotten in to it.  Last year my goal was to run 1000 miles.  I didn't.  I ran 856.  I didn't reach it - but I bested my best year by more than 100 miles.

4.  I took my dogs almost every day to the Park.  It's tough to get up at 6am every day in wind, rain, heat, snow, sleet.  But I did it - and I did it because I love them.


My New Year's Resolutions for 2013:

1.  Stop eating crap when you get home from work.  This is the worst.  When I get home from work I'm like a starving snow yeti.  I will eat anything that's around.  Slices of bread with big hunks of cold butter spread on them, ice cream, nuts, tortillas, cheese off the block, chocolate, peanut butter out of the jar, salad croutons out of the bag... My goal this year is to plan better.  If I have things around that I can easily eat that are healthy - I'll stop eating crap when I get home.  Every Sunday I'm going to make something that I can easily heat up or eat right away that is good for me and that I can eat after work.

2.  Run 1000 miles.  Yep, this is the year.

3.  Learn to cook at least 15 NEW vegetarian meals.  (I'll write them down as I go so I know where I'm at).  I'll also be joining my CSA again, so this should be an even better year.

4.  This is the biggest one - Work on eliminating negative thoughts from my mind.  If you know me, you probably know that I love yoga.  I have done it pretty regularly for several years now and the more I do it, the more I realize how many wonderful things it offers you.  One of the major aspects of yoga is eliminating negativity and being mindful of the energy you put out into the world.  This might seem a little vague, but my goals are concrete.  When I have a negative thought (about someone, something, my body, my abilities, NYC, traffic, you name it...), I'll replace it with another thought.  I won't share negativity with others.  To do this, I'll avoid gossip and I will avoid negative conversation topics with others.

Happy New Year's, folks!

Carpe diem!

J

 

Friday, December 28th, 2012

Good morning!  Back to our usual routine today.  Well...sort of.  Remember how I told you getting up early was the toughest thing to get back?  Well we did go to the Park this morning but I was up at 7:15 instead of 6.  I think it's making it tougher that I know next week I'll be gone again - so it doesn't really feel like I'm "back." I'm on vacation mode.  Not even vacation mode - I still don't mind working - I like work.  I just want to sleep in.  In case you were wondering that little one up there is Bear with his Christmas collar on the way home from Chatham on Christmas Day.  He does not like to put his head down in his bag.  He likes to be aware of what's happening at all times.  

I'm SOOOO excited to go home to Oregon next week!!  

Here's a little video of Bear playing his favorite game:

http://youtu.be/3NtSlGFDr0Q

Carpe diem,

J 

Thursday, December 27th, 2012
Lots of places & lots of times

Good morning!  Welcome back to Little Dogs, Big Park.  We're getting back into the swing of things here in the big apple.  I tend to let myself get a little lazy around the holidays so it's always an adjustment to get back into it.  In particular I allow myself to sleep in during the holidays, and that's the toughest thing to get back.  It's tough to wake up at 6.  This morning it was unfortunately raining pretty hard at 6am.  You know I usually deal with rain but this was hard, cold rain.

We had some snow here over the holidays - which was beautiful!  I LOVE snow!!  Wish it had been snow this morning instead of rain! 

Happy Holidays, friends. 

Carpe diem,

J

Friday, December 21st 2012

Good morning!   Sorry AGAIN no picture!  It is a nasty, nasty morning here in NYC.  Heavy rain all morning and really high winds.  When I got up at 6, it was too nasty even for us die-hard Park-goers.  The pups got only a little walk around the block :(  (and they were happy about it - they didn't want to be outside).  They're dirty little dogs and need a bath this evening before we head to Chatham for the holidays.  I've also gotten them some little holiday bandanas so that they'll be festive. 

My birthday was wonderful!  Chris Botti did not disappoint last night - he was just as incredible as last year.  Lisa Fisher was his main singer and she toured with the Rolling Stones for 19 YEARS before joining Chris.  She's absolutely freaking incredible and an amazing stage presence.  She really gets the audience going.  We were going to eat at the Blue Note, but the prices were ridiculous.  30 dollars and up per plate.  I don't THINK so.  So we wandered a bit and were about to settle for pizza when we found an awesome little hole in the wall called Dos Toros.  6 dollars per quesadilla.  Fresh black beans, peppers and onions fried up on the grill while you waited, rice, and their homemade salsa and hot sauce.  Brian got the pork and I had vegan.  They were so GOOD!  We scarfed them and then headed over to the Blue Note where I got an embarassingly blue martini and enjoyed just absolutely incredible music. 

Happy Holidays from 2 little dogs!

Carpe diem,

J

Thursday, December 20th, 2012

Good morning!  There is a lot to be happy about today at Little Dogs, Big Park! 

Sorry I don't have a picture today.  I slept in today because I forgot to set my alarm last night because I fell asleep on the couch after mowing through an enormous quantity of Chinese broccoli with peanuts and brown rice. I just didn't have it together.  But I had a beautiful morning walk in the Park and upon returning found to my HAPPY surprise that Brian had not left for work!  He stayed this morning so that we could have breakfast together!  (Something that never happens during the week).  So we went for egg sandwiches and coffees and remarked how nice it was and that we wish we could do that every day. 

Then he went to work and I, unshowered, unchanged from walking the dogs in dirty, ripped jeans with crushed dog treats in the pocket, went to work.  My boss skyped me to wish me a happy birthday and I am now sitting, chatting with you at my desk computer.

This evening we are going to the Blue Note to see Chris Botti again (YAYYY!).  This is what we did last year on my birthday and it was INCREDIBLE.  I'm very excited.  We're going to have dinner in the West Village to celebrate all we have to celebrate.  In addition to my 26th year of life, Brian passed his big test yesterday!  He had a 6 hour exam for the Series 7 - which he needed for work.  Now I think he's licensed to buy and sell almost any type of security there is. It was a big accomplishment and something that he worked very, very hard for during the past month. 

I'm super proud of him. 

That is all. 

Carpe diem,

J

Wednesday, December 19th, 2012

Treated to an incredible sunrise in the Park today.  I wish you could have seen what happened next.  I really couldn't capture it with a photograph.  Peeks of fluorescent orange and pink clouds, radiant orange and red light.  A photo would simply not have done it justice.  The clouds were an absolutely incredible color - true bright pink - like someone had dashed paint into the sky.  A treat after dark and rainy mornings the past week. 

A non-incredible surprise was remembering this morning that I'm out of coffee.  That is non-incredible and necessitates an immediate trip to the store. 

Good luck to Brian taking his Series 7 today!!!

Carpe diem!

J

Tuesday, December 18th, 2012
Central Park East - 7:00am

Good morning!  This is a picture of my little Glowdoggies at the Park on another dark, wet morning. 

Have a wonderful day, my friends!

J

Monday, December 17th, 2012

Good morning!  Another dark and rainy morning here in NYC.  So dark that I had to put the Glowdoggie dollars on the pups so that I could see them.  We had a snuggly weekend here in the city.  Brian was busy holed up studying for his exam and it was a bit dark and rainy.  Yesterday I made this delicious thing posted above.  It's an individual pot pie (vegetarian).  Let me tell you what it was freaking good, too. 

Inside it's got curly kale, white beans, carrots, celery, onion, and garlic.  I simmered that down in olive oil with some salt, pepper, thyme, sage, and red pepper flakes.  Then I made a thick gravy with butter, flour, and vegetable broth.  Beforehand I had made the crust out of flour, butter, sour cream, white wine vinegar, and water.  I mixed the gravy + vegetables then topped the container with the pastry crust and baked it for about 30 minutes.  They were phenomenal.  We have 2 more that we'll have for dinner tonight.  It is so the best when you know you've got leftovers ready to make during the week. 

I'm SO looking forward to heading out to Chatham this weekend for some relaxation other fun stuff.  The doggies love to have nice long walks out there (and so do I). 

Have a wonderful day!

J

FRIDAY, December 14th, 2012

Good morning!  I forgot to take a picture in the Park this morning because I was busy chit-chatting with Susan - lady of Logan, the black flat-coated retriever.  He kind of looks like a more athletic & bigger black Golden retriever.  Logan is a sweet heart, but has an aggression problem with puppies.  He barks super loud and scares them and usually tries to dominate them.  Funny enough, he has no problem with Bear and never has.  I think this has to do with the fact that he doesn't view Bear as an actual dog - more like a small, soft, non-threatening, rabbit-like thing.  Bear jumps ALL over Logan's face and Logan just lets him do it.  I think my dogs are so submissive (read: wussy) that with other dogs that are normally aggressive, they just don't provoke it (like Griffin - the enormous Shepherd, and Lola the pit-mix).

In other news, in addition to yesterday being Dad's birthday, it was also Brian and my anniversary of 4 years together :)  He set everything up like our first date.  Including the same song that was playing when I came home, he made baked macaroni and cheese, got us the above cake (which I couldn't eat because I was so stuffed from the mac & chee), and gave me my birthday present early (tickets to the Blue Note in the West Village to go see Chris Botti again like last year).  That guy is a good one. 

I put some Christmas presents under the tree the other day that I got for Brian, and he just informed me last night that he thought they were for the dogs since they've been out. Seriously?  What in the world could be in them that would be for a dog?  He was pretty psyched to find out they were ALL for him.

Tonight we have a dinner with some of Brian's family at the Cornell club downtown - which I am very excited for and looking forward to getting dressed up :)  The common theme for December is dinner - dinners all the time.  Oh, and also I have a 15K to run tomorrow morning.  Yes, you heard right - a 15k that I am most certainly not trained for.  This could get ugly.

Have a great one,

J   

Thursday, December 13th, 2012
Central Park East (below): ~7:00am

Good morning! 

Happy Birthday to my DAD! 

I'm happy to report that my little peanut is better today after his trash-induced gastrointestinal distress.  He didn't wake us up last night.  yaay! 

Have a wonderful day - especially you, Dad!

J

Good morning, folks.  We don't have a picture today because we did not frequent the Park this morning.  Bear had a bit of a shitting catastrophe last night (yea, yea I know, TMI).  Result of said catastrophe was me sleeping on the couch in my clothes (so I would be prepared for outdoors), with both doggies on top of me.

I slept in a bit (7:30?), at which point, Brian waking up converted the doggies into howling hounds of fury at the potential intruder.  Bear seems to be much better this morning.  I feel fairly certain that the cause was some horrible thing from the garbage that has now been digested.  Dogs.  They're just so disgusting sometimes.  One of my friends posted this morning about his dog having a catastrophe last night, too.  He has an absolutely enormous Mastiff-Boxer cross that ate a box of powdered laundry detergent resulting in my friend having to induce vomiting.  I think it involved using a plastic syringe from his lab to spray hydrogen peroxide down the dog's mouth, which I'm sure was great with a 100+ lb beast of an animal (I'm not kidding, he's probably one of the biggest dogs I've ever seen). 

Anyway,

Have a great one!  This mediocre night's sleep isn't getting in my way today!

J

Tuesday, December 11th, 2012
Central Park East entrance - 7:00am

Good morning!  It started out pretty nasty and quickly perked up into a pretty morning.  It was raining an awkward amount.  When I walked out the door, I contemplated cutting it short the entire way to the Park.  It was raining hard enough to be obnoxious and cold, but still not that hard.  Since I think both my doggies and I need the morning walk, I just kept moving forward.  I was rewarded by the end of the walk by some very pretty clouds and sky peeking out.  I also now have 2 very wet and very dirty dogs. 

I was thinking about my dogs this morning on our walk.  I was thinking about how my dogs make me a better, more accountable person.  Here are the reasons why.

I believe that to give your dog a good life they need these things:

1.  Leadership, boundaries, and expectations
2.  Discipline
3.  Routine
4.  Affection
5.  Time
6.  Exercise
7.  Love*

In order for me to live a good life I need some things, too:

1.  Leadership, boundaries, and expectations
2.  Discipline
3.  Routine
4.  Affection
5.  Time
6.  Exercise
7.  Love*

*Love...that's a special one.  We should talk about it more.  I don't think love needs to be unconditional.  There are lots of conditions on my love.  It's hard to get.  I wouldn't love my dogs if they attacked me.  In that same vein, why does everyone say a dog has unconditional love for you?  That's not entirely true.   Dogs have unconditional dependence on you - there is a big difference.  They probably love you if you're kind to them, but who knows, really.  Love and dependence can often be confusing.  This is partly because our culture hangs up the words need and love on the same coat-rack.  Your needs belong to you alone.  Love is something that is shared with another individual being upon careful consideration and trust.  That individual being (dog, cat, horse, human, guinea pig, rabbit) is just another being and is not responsible for fulfilling your needs - only you can do that. 

For example,  I love Brian, but I don't need Brian (sorry Brian, but you already knew that).  My life would be just as satisfying and happy if I had never met him.  Expecting Brian to fulfill my needs is as silly as expecting my dog to fulfill my needs.  It is dependence, not love. 

One thing that's great about a dog is that if you look again at the lists, you quickly realize that by working to fulfill an animal's needs, you fulfill your own. They force you to take better care of yourself and your needs.  It's a great, healthy relationship - probably the healthiest one you could hope to get from anyone or anything :) 

Carpe diem,

J

Monday, December 10th, 2012
Central Park East - 6:25am

Good morning!  I'll keep it short and sweet today.  All I want to do is play hooky and stare at my Christmas tree all day.  I want to get back in my bed and sleep until approximately noon, followed by a long prolonged breakfast of pancakes and syrup.  I want to watch Christmas movies and have no responsibilities.  Instead, I have to go in to work and do unfortunate things to mice followed by more unfortunate things to mice at 9pm tonight. 

Carpe diem,

J

 Bear biting Sofie's ear as per usual. 

Sofie looking annoyed.  

Friday, December 7th, 2012

Good morning!  Sorry I missed you all yesterday.  My Mom alerted me to my lack of post when she called inquiring as to whether I'd been kidnapped.  The truth is, I was sitting at my computer yesterday morning, ya know, drinking my coffee - eating my oatmeal, and just plum forgot to post.  Not today, friends!  Not today.

You want to know what those are above?  Those are dog treats.  I made home-made dog treats yesterday night.  They are actually insanely easy but a bit calorie-dense so you have to dole them out sparingly.  Want to know how, other dog owners?

2 cups flour (they say rye, but honestly who has that lying around - I used all purpose)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 cup of shredded parmesan cheese (or 1/4 cup of Nutritional Yeast but only Vegans have that laying around).
1 teaspoon garlic powder (apparently a natural flea repellent - I don't know about that but it probably tastes good)
(mix it up)

2 strips of bacon fried really crispy
2/3 cup beef or chicken broth
2 tablespoons leftover bacon grease (basically all that's left from frying the bacon)

Mix broth + bacon fat and then make a dough with the wet + dry.  Crumble in the bacon.

Roll it out really flat using flour to make it less sticky, and make cookies!  Two 1-inch x 1-inch cookies is the max number per day for a dog (calorie-wise). Bake treats at 350 for 10-20 mins depending on how hot your oven is. (Ours is from about 1950 and is an inferno). 

Adapted from: "Feed Your Best Friend Better" (yes, I have a dog food cookbook). 

The dogs really like them :)

And Brian even thought they looked good.

Carpe diem!


J

Wednesday, December 5th, 2012
Central Park East - top: 6:45am, bottom: 7:13am

Good morning!  The sky was doing interesting things today (as you can see).  The sky was intensely blue, and it kept trying to peek out from heavy clouds.

Man, today was one of those mornings!  My alarm went off and I just lay there 10 more minutes bargaining with myself. 

"Just be late to work! Sleep in!  You definitely need it."
"No, you have work to do - you're most productive in the morning."
"PLEASE I need this!"
"You'll just regret this later."
"How can I magically make time stop while I get approximately 9 more hours of sleep?"
"Just get your lazy butt up.  The sooner you're done the walk, the sooner you will be drinking your 10 cups of coffee." (Not actually 10 cups)

Bear starts whining after my alarm goes off, anyway.  Kind of ruins things.  I can also begin to hear trucks & honking, making me feel like it's actually not that early. 

Now I'm done my walk, drinking my 3rd mug of coffee and eating toast slathered with salty butter (I don't CARE - i LOVE butter!).  I love coffee so much.  I love the smell.  I love the beans.  I love the act of making coffee.  I love hot coffee - coffee was not meant to be cold.  I love mugs and travel mugs.  I love expensive, sugary drinks of the pumpkin spice and peppermint mocha variation.  I love coffee with whiskey in it (whoops...did I type that out loud?)  I love coffee with ice cream in it.  I love coffee with whipped cream on top.  I love espresso, lattes, mochas, americanos, you name it. 

Ok this is getting weird.   

Have a great day!

J

Tuesday, December 4th, 2012

Good morning, folks!  Twas a dark and rainy morning.  So dark and rainy in fact, that I did not take a picture.  There was nothing to take a picture of.  There was nobody out in the Park but this dog walker that I see just about every day.  He walks a 100 lb German Shepherd named Griffin.  Griffin doesn't play nicely with other dogs except for mine.  He is a lamb with Sofie and Bear and a lion with the others.  It's the funniest thing.  I think it's because Bear and Sofie always run up to Griffin to greet him with tails wagging very low (like puppies) and immediately flip on their backs when they get near him so that he can smell them.  From then on, it's all cool.  They get along like peas & carrots. That's one thing I've always really appreciated about my dogs.  There's never any dominance games.  They don't get into fights.  They're not aggressive with anything or anyone. Griffin's a nice entourage to have - nobody messes with you. 

So anyway, this dog walker was telling me all about how he doesn't have a dog right now and he doesn't think he wants one, despite his girlfriend wanting one.  He gets enough of them all day. Instead, he wants to get a rabbit.  There's something about this I find funny - dog walker doesn't have a dog - wants a rabbit instead.  He wants to litterbox train it, give it a tiny dog bed to sleep in, and not have to walk it, etc...  There's one thing I like about this guy - we never talk about work or other boring stuff.  We always talk about fun stuff, like skiing, or Vermont, or rabbits.  Never the obligatory "so what do you do..."

In other news, I do have a picture for you!  (Just not a Park picture).  In case I hadn't had enough reindeer cookies on Sunday, Brian brought something home for me yesterday :)

I didn't actually eat it yesterday.  It's just sitting on my desk because it's so cute.

Have a great one,

J

Monday, December 3rd, 2012

Good morning!  I was a sourpuss this morning.  Didn't want to get up - tired - hanging on to a great weekend that went too fast.  Even out on the walk I couldn't seem to lighten up.  Even now - I just want to go back to sleep.  Just want to get back into my warm/snuggly bead.  As you can see, this weekend we got our Christmas tree! NYC trees are ridiculously pricey, but are you going to turn down a tree for the holidays?  (No).  Especially not in light of the fact that Brian and I didn't get to spend Christmas together last year.   

So Friday night Brian had a work happy hour and didn't get home until 10:30 or so.  I stayed in, bathed my dogs, had an elevator adventure with Sofie that I won't get into now, and watched The Dark Knight - which I haven't watched since my birthday 3 years ago.  Saturday I went into work for a bit, then headed down to Brooklyn with Brian to meet up with our friends Paul and Allison to discuss Oktoberfest.  The 4 of us have a European tour planned for next September - beginning in Munich for Oktoberfest and ending in Prague.  Fittingly, we met up at Radegast Bier Hall where we enthusiastically proclaimed we were practicing for next year and discussed our plans.  We also managed to secure 4 full pairs of lederhosen - because what's a trip to drink your face off in Germany without lederhosen?  We plan to spend 2-3 days in Munich, 2-3 days in Vienna, 1 day driving the autobahn from Munich to Vienna (possibly stopping in Salzburg or another part of Bavaria), and 3-4 days in Prague before our return.  We also ate a lot of pretzels, cheese, and drank several liters of beer.  From there we frequented various other locale before ending at the sweaty, dancey establishment K&M.  Had a blast -  ran into our friend's girlfriend, Paige. 

Sunday we slept in and then staved off the lingering beer with tater tots and cheesy eggs.  Typing the word tater tots makes me laugh out loud.  LOL.  Sunday I worked again, but it will only make today easier.  Then we got our tree & made reindeer sugar cookies.  Our friends Geoff & Paige stopped by and together we ate 20 of the 24 cookies while watching The Walking Dead - which is an incredible show.  Yes, you heard right, 20.  Can you see why I didn't want this weekend to end? 

 

 Carpe diem,

J

Friday, November 30th, 2012

Good morning!  Sofie really pissed me off this morning in the Park.  She's a little devil-dog sometimes.  It was a nice walk until we came to the end.  They have drained Conservatory Pond to clean it before winter, and so the bottom of it is all full of dried up algae and other crap.  Because there's so much crap down in the bottom of the pond there's lots of birds down there eating it.  Before I knew it, Sofie had leaped down in to the pond and was chasing the birds around.  You're not supposed to let your dogs down there (I don't really know why).  Bear quickly followed and after gallivanting around for a few minutes, they settled down to sniffing things and eating old, dry pond scum.  I tried calling them a few times with no avail.  They just completely ignored me.  I've seen other people go down into the pond and chase their dog around until they catch it, but I was not planning on being that as*hole today. 

So I just turned and walked away from the pond as fast as I could. Bear immediately panicked and ran out after me.  Sofie paid no attention and looked unconcerned with her prospects of finding a new home.  She did this another morning when a little kid spilled a box of Fruit Loops and she would NOT come to me.  Finally when I was completely up the hill and out of sight and she still hadn't come I began to worry that she wouldn't know where I was and run off in the wrong direction.  Just when I was about to go down the hill for her, she came sprinting up.  But when she saw me she stopped about 15 feet away and looked at me warily.  She knew she was in trouble.  She crouched and cowered as I approached her (making me look like I abuse her).  I snapped her leash on like everything was cool and walked away.

These dogs are good for practice in keeping your cool when you're angry.  They have the ability to make you so mad sometimes and while I've never been that person totally flipping out on my dog, I've definitely embarrassed myself.  I think people get so mad because they think their dog is a reflection of them and their ability to train them - which is, to some extent true. The thing is, they're not little robots. You can't just program them to do exactly what you want when you want.  You can work on it (which I do - every. single. morning), but in the end, they're a little living thing that wants to eat duck shit sometimes. Sometimes there's a noise in the bushes and I can't hear it - how can I expect them to resist the promise of possible squirrel to chase or a box of half-eaten Fruit Loops guarded by a wimpy toddler?  They're just being dogs.  So I try not to flip out now when they don't do exactly what I tell them to.  It's not a reflection of my time spent training them - it's just the fact that their living beings.  They've made me a lot of more patient in that sense.  They're also the best, most loyal little friends I have.

Carpe diem,

J

Thursday, November 29th, 2012
Central Park East - 7:05am

Good morning!  It was cold this morning.  My weather widget told me it was 32.  It was pretty chilly, but I've still got a looong way to go until it's in the teens.  I better toughen up.  In other news, last night I went down town to meet Brian after work and go to the tree lighting.  You had to be checked and frisked just to get in near the tree.  There were masses of people.  I kind of couldn't imagine standing in a packed crowd for 2 hours just to see the tree light, so we wandered around and then went home - to hell with it - we'll just watch it on tv.   I'm pretty happy we did, because as soon as the tree was lit - well it was pretty and all - but then came the Saturday Night Live Christmas highlights of the last 20 years.  Oh my GOD SNL used to be so funny in the 90's.  I remember going over to friend's houses for sleepovers and staying up late enough to watch them.  They were a little riské (I don't know if that's how you spell that) back in the day when I was a kid, so sometimes we had to sneak to watch them - unless you were at Kate Matthews house - where you could just watch them with her parents.  The great thing about SNL is that it's just SILLY, so it's funny at any age.  And is there anything more funny than when the actors can't stop laughing during a skit? No.  No, there is not.   

Brian and I were crying we were laughing so hard.  Watching the skit of Alec Baldwin and his "schuety balls" brought back a memory of watching that skit with my Dad a long time ago and seeing him doubled over laughing.  Saw some great old Chevy Chase skits, too, and, course, Justin Timberlake with his d*ck in a box song.

Everyone have a wonderful day!

 and if you need a little help...

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/nprs-delicious-dish---schweddy-balls/999481/

J

Wednesday, November 28th, 2012
Central Park East - 6:50am

Good morning!  I really don't know what to talk about this morning!  One exciting thing that's happening is tonight.  I'm going to the tree lighting in Rockefeller center.  I've never seen it before but I'm sure it will be really fun + there's music, ice skating, etc...

Everybody have a great day!

J

Tuesday, November 27th, 2012
Central Park East - 7:00am

Good morning!  Okay, you caught me - this picture isn't from today.  This morning, while beautiful in it's own way, was not very photogenic. 

It was a snow sky today if I've ever seen one.  Heavy and close to the ground.  Grey-white.  No sunlight making it through.  The only thing is, it really didn't feel quite cold enough to snow.  Sure enough, when Brian left he was back in a minute telling me it was raining.  And I was so excited for snow!  So, in lieu of the gray, soggy, damp sky of today, I've given you a photo I didn't use yesterday. 

Enjoy and have a wonderful day!

J

Monday, November 26th, 2012
Central Park East - 7:15am

Good morning!  Have to be at work a bit early today to plan my week so I'll keep it short. 

Happy belated Thanksgiving! 

These are some of the things I am thankful for this year:

-Having a great man who loves, supports, and encourages me
-2 fantastic dogs who remind to live my life full of joy
-A family that always makes me laugh and reminds me what's important
-A sister who is moving to NYC for nursing school and will be in my town for the first time since high school
-A job I absolutely love
-A cozy little roof (ceiling) over my head
-The freedom to pursue my dreams and aspirations without hindrance
-Loyal friendships

Carpe diem

J

Wednesday, November 21st, 2012
Central Park East - 7:25am

A good morning it is indeed!  This morning we extended our walk by about a half a mile - making our round trip about 4 miles each morning.  This is a big deal - I've been thinking about how I could extend this walk while avoiding having to put them back on leash or be too near cars/streets/cyclists.  It was great :)  I'm leaving work after lunch today so I can come home and make my vegetarian Thanksgiving main dish to bring along to Brian's Mom's house.  We are leaving to go home to Chatham tonight after Brian gets home from work.  I was dreading going to Penn Station to get NJ Transit tonight.  It will be an absolute madhouse - not to mention we'll have bags, 2 dogs, food, a whiskey cake, and whatever else.  Our friend Brendan actually volunteered to drive into the city from Chatham, pick us up, and drive us back.  Seriously.  Such a nice thing to do.  We are actually running a 5k Turkey Trot with him tomorrow morning. 

I'm pretty proud of this fellow - when he got out of his last relationship, he was a bit of a mess.  However - in the wake of that emotional disaster - he chose to change his life.  He stopped smoking cold turkey, stopped drinking completely, and started running.  It's now been over 2 months since he had a cigarette (after having been a smoker a long time), or a drink, and he's now running 5k's and about 10 miles per week. 

Aside from that, I know what I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving!  I'm thankful that my little sister chose to work so hard for the past 2 years!  Her good choices, smarts, discipline, and perseverance have now opened the door to NYU school of nursing.  She found out yesterday that she was accepted into her #1 choice and the #21 best nursing school in the country (by US News & World Report).  I could not be more happy that she's coming to this city and that she's a model for the idea that if you work hard and keep your eye on the prize, you can get exactly what you want.  Congratulations to Sarah!! 

Happy Thanksgiving to all of the family I won't be seeing for these holidays - Mom & Dad, Sarah, Nan, Aunt Lisa & Uncle Jim, Chris & Dan, Grandma Clark, Uncle Keith & Aunt Jeanne, Christopher, Ruth & Randy, Britt, Carly, Tyler, Roberta, Helen, and Andrew. 

I wish I could be with all of you! 

Carpe diem

J

Tuesday, November 20th, 2012
Central Park East - 7:15am

Good morning!  Doesn't that top picture just scream the "northeast"?  First hard frost that I've noticed yet this year.  Last night was a wonderful night that has left my belly upset this morning.

We had a lab party last night at my bosses house.  They have a great apartment on the upper west side - seriously - great.  I didn't know they made apartments that big - I've never seen one in person.  I think it's because in my age bracket you live in a small somewhat crappy apartment because you have to.  So in my mind, I've always thought apartment = what you live in when you can't afford a house.  I also don't know anyone in NYC that lives in a nice apartment.

Now my boss is French and his wife is Turkish.  They had a big wooden table out and LOTS of cheese, baguette, white truffles spread on baguette, boiled potatoes with some kind of melted cheese on them (real potatoes au gratin), red wine, and salad.  I'd never had truffles before last night - holy God they are good - seriously - holy. God.  We finished the night off with Gingerbread and Turkish coffee.  Seriously that is one good way to eat.  Cheese - just so much cheese ...and wine.  We ate, drank, and were merry until the boss told us that he had to put his kids to sleep so basically go home (otherwise we would have crashed his house for awhile longer :)).  Good times.

Carpe cheese

J

Monday, November 19th, 2012

Good morning!  Sorry I missed my post last Friday.  It was our first morning dogsitting so it was a bit nuts to say the least. As I mentioned last week, we took our friends Kerry & Eric's dogs while they were away in Taiwan.  Actually they're still there - it's just that someone has come to stay at their house now to watch the dogs (they split it up into 3 people - thank goodness).  While their dogs are very nice - the brown one is Ollie and the black one is Brandy - 4 dogs is just insane.  I woke up Saturday morning just dreading getting out of bed.  4 dogs lay in their kennels on the floor.  4 dogs needed to be walked & picked up after.  4 dogs needed to be fed.  1 dog needed an antibiotic pill shoved in butter.  *Please just let me go back to sleep!*  This morning felt so much more free & easy without 4 dogs depending on you. 

It actually went by pretty fast and the doggies played together quite a bit.  I captured this little gem yesterday while we were hanging out on the bed. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_7nQtB0qJGg#!

*Bear was fine - don't worry :) 

Have a great day!

Top: Yesterday morning
Bottom:  Thursday, November 15th, 2012
Central Park East - 6:45am

Good morning!  I forgot to post the top photo yesterday.  It's a bit grainy - not so good but that shows how early I was up yesterday!  *More proof this is the city that never sleeps.  Entirely lit up at 6am.  This was a beautiful morning.  Cold but that crisp blue winter sky.  Invigorating.  The leaves still on the trees are vibrant reds, oranges, yellows, and browns.  They were gorgeous against the bright blue sky backdrop.

I am currently enjoying a delicious slice of homemade lemon almond poppyseed bread from my friend Kerry.  It goes wonderfully with coffee.  It will take all I have to not eat more :)  It just so happens that Kerry and her fiancé Eric, will be traveling off to Taiwan for Thanksgiving to celebrate their engagement with family.  To help them out, we will be watching their 2 mini poodles, Ollie and Brandy, for a few days while they are away :)  Ollie is brown and Brandy is black - they are adorable.  So - starting this evening, we will have not 2 but 4 dogs in our 1 bedroom apartment.  I think I forgot to mention that our dogs love each other, too.  They play NONSTOP.  To thank us, Kerry & Eric stopped by yesterday with a 6 pack of Yuengling, a loaf of homemade lemon almond poppyseed bread, and homemade blackberry pie - which I've been told has no butter but I can't believe that (it's SO GOOD!  I had it for dessert last night and contemplated having some for breakfast ;)).  The moral of this story is - Kerry - I'll watch your dogs anytime if I'm getting more baked goods!





Have a great day!

J

 

Wednesday, November 14th, 2012

 Location: My couch - 6:12pm

You might wonder why I'm posting at 6pm.  I certainly have other things that I should probably be filling my time with.  In fact - I have so much to do that it is simply impossible to finish it all given the time remaining in the day. The truth is, I'm posting because I feel like I have something to say. You also might wonder why I've posted this picture above.   

You know where it is?...

....

....

Mt. Hood!  You guessed it!  

I took that photo last year when I was up on the mountain one day.  That picture represents why I love the mountains so much.  I love them because of their austerity, their harshness, their ruggedness, and their stark quiet.  It makes me giddy when I'm on the mountain.  

Well - every day I'm in NYC I realize I hate it more. It's interesting what's happened here.  I've converged with a place I LOVE to work - MSKCC & Cornell & Rockfeller trifecta.  I LOVE my boss & my coworkers.  I'm fascinated by what I work on.  I like my friends.  I like my dogs.  and I like Brian (duh ;)).  

Yet amidst all of this - I cannot stand this city.  You just can't get  MINUTE.  Not a MINUTE of quiet.  Not a MINUTE away from people, and their conversations, and the smells of what they're having for dinner. The non-stop honking, sirens, construction, yelling, whistling, talking....I could go on and on.  It fills me up with so much irritation that at any moment I feel like I could just SNAP.  The only moments of peace I get are early early early in the morning in the Park.  You can't see the stars - ever.  

New York City is a huge gimick.  A huge myth of greatness.  Probably even more so than Vegas - at least in Vegas they're pretty upfront about their gimicks.  

Really all it is is garbage bags stacked higher than me blocking my view of the lovely intersections, mixed with annoyance, sounds, lights, concrete, hassle, money pits, and GIMICKS.   

This place sucks.  Once I leave here - I ain't NEVA coming back.  

Peace,

J 

Wednesday, November 14th, 2012

I think I may have shown you this picture before, but I thought I'd show it again.  I got up at dark-o-thirty this morning because I have to be at work early and I don't like to sacrifice my breakfast/coffee-drinking time.  I think it was officially the earliest I've ever been to the Park.  I know my Mom will be all worked up about this, but she's in Oregon and I'm here so I don't care ;)  My Mom is the one who used to think I'd been mugged when my phone would cut out on my commte home from Philly at the end of the day (everyday the train would go through a tunnel & lose reception).

I was there by 5:40am.  Here's the creepy part, they hadn't turned on the lights in the Park yet.  I stood there at the entrance of the hill with my Glowdoggies and surveyed the darkness.  I was creeped out - for sure.  I tried to spy any sleeping people or - even more creepy but yet I have observed before - people sitting on benches just staring into nothingness (*who wouldn't LOVE NYC??!!).  My pups needed their walk (and so did I), so I clutched my pepper spray in one hand and my fishing knife in the other. (Ready to gouge some bitches burning eyes out.  I'm on the edge!  Don't even ask me for change motherf*cker!)  Ok - that swearing was inappropriate - sorry.

Once my eyes adjusted, it was less creepy, and kind of exciting.  The Glowdoggies really proved their worth today, too.  I would have been completely unable to see the pups had it not been for them.  They blend in with the darkness 100%.

The magic timepoint seemed to be 6:15am.  When it hit 6:15, everything became markedly less creepy.  By 6:30, the sun had completely risen.

Carpe diem

J

Tuesday, September 13th, 2012
Central Park East on a Rainy Day - 7:00am

Good morning!  I'm now going to go snuggle with my runkies while I finish my coffee.

Carpe diem

J

Monday, October 12th, 2012
Central Park East - 6:25am

Good morning!  Another new week with the pups in the Park.  It seems we're finally back to normal after a few weeks of weirdness (at least where I am, we're back to normal). 

So so so so so so so

grateful

for this Park. 

Have a great day!

FRIDAYYY, November 9th, 2012
Central Park East - 7:00am

Good morning!  We're back!  We're back in black - in the Park!  We took an extra-long walk this morning because it was so lovely to be in the Park.  As I expected, the snow made the doggies extra rambunctious.

Since starting this blog up over a year ago, I've experienced all sorts of hots and warms and cools and crisps and colds and bitter colds and f*ck that's colds.

This morning was a "rosy cheeks" cold.  A "merry" cold.  A "I-could-picture-this-scene-on-the-front-of-a-christmas-card cold."  It was sunny, crisp, and the cold left a nice feeling in your lungs.  It was picturing myself out on the range - living in some little house made out of logs (oh, right, a log cabin), crunching around in the snow in my boots as I went to feed the horses when it was still dark out - accompanied by my faithful ranch dogs (no, no...not a big lab or Pointer, Cavalier King Charles Spaniels).   Brian would go drive out to the woods in his gator to chop fire wood and then we would go tend to more ranch things.  Maybe training our ranch hounds to chase away bears & other predators.  I would cross country ski in to town for the rations.  I don't know - I have weird fantasy alter lives. 

Anyway - that's a little snapshot of what I was picturing myself doing while I was in fact passing LaDuree Macarons, Ralph Lauren Purple Label, and Bergdorf Goodman's. 

Carpe diem,

J