This Week's Delights

Guess what, y'all? I've got my jeans on! Know what that means? It's Friiiii-dayyyyy!!!!! I make a point to pronounce the word Friday with the "Oprah inflection". You know--the crazy tone she takes when introducing John Travolta or announcing she's giving each studio audience member a front-loading washer and dryer and a basket of kittens. That's how I feel about Fridays. I feel so very Oprah-inflection about them.

Before I get my Sat-urrrr-dayyyyy!!! on, I like to reflect on the things that made my week shine like a new penny.

* The way I set the table for Sunday dinner. I don't really see a reason why dining by candlelight should be reserved for special occasions.

* This week I got Invisalign braces to close some gaps in my teeth and silicone plugs injected in my tear ducts to cure my dry eye problem. I could totally keep up with the Kardashians with this much plastic in my face.

* My new leopard cardigan, mostly because it is the complete antithesis of what I usually buy. Rawr!!

* This jar full of owl cookies. Hootie-patooties. (Somewhere in Texas my brother just called me a loser.)

* My heart literally bursting into flames on Wednesday night watching dreamy Darren Criss singing acapella on Glee. I've never seen this kid before, but I think I lurrrrrrve him. Everyone should be attracted to him--women, men, dogs, cats--everyone. I haven't felt this way since I was a kid watching Sixteen Candles for the first time at a slumber party.

Jake Ryyyyyy-annnnnnn!!

This Week's Delights

Happy Friday!

We did it, y'all! We taxed, we toiled, we put our noses to the grindstone. We traveled by car, by train, by bus, and by foot. We chatted over watercoolers and cigarette breaks. We wore blazers and heels and constrictive waistbands with tucked-in shirts. We went to staff meetings and rushed to finish those QED reports. And now the work week is over (for some, anyway) and we can retrieve our handsome reward--two blissful days of rest, relaxation and little to no makeup.

Before I kick off my shoes and throw my hair in a ponytail, here's a recap of my highlights for this past week.

 

Stumbling across a gorgeous public park covered in chrysanthemums while driving around upstate NY. 

 

The bright colors were so whimsical and charming. We felt like we were in Alice in Wonderland! 

There were even little pageant girls getting their pictures taken in poufy pastel dresses, which made it seem even more like a fairy-tale.

* The ridiculous awesomeness of this dressed-up baby boy on the hilarious blog, Shannanigans. Please check it out. You'll love it, I promise.

*A 9-year-old kid approached me in the subway, introduced himself as an "entrepreneur" and tried to sell me a stuffed cat. 

* Antique shopping in upstate New York with girlfiriends

*A dream I had last night in which I won a contest to attend a slumber party at the White House. It sure beat last week's dream when my boyfriend left me for Lady Gaga, and then I got attacked and killed by a rabid raccoon while hostessing her backyard bbq wedding shower. 

*This week's pizza challenge on Foodbuzz.com. If you haven't been following, it's like Top Chef over the internet. My three favorite entries were CRAZY creative: Lauren's hot reuben pizza, Emily's Indian naan pizza with homemade paneer cheese, and We Are Not Martha's Thanksgiving dinner pizza complete with an apple pie in the center!

*Hope this doesn't offend anyone, but I'm still reeling from this unfathomably large butternut squash spotted at a farmstand. There are dirty jokes and there are obvious jokes, and then a farmer dug this out of the ground and my whole head exploded.

Have a great weekend, guys. Enjoy your NetFlix and takeout!

Weekend Review: The Anti-Carrie

Television and movies glamorize the New York City lifestyle to the point where it looks foreign and exciting to me, and I'm a resident. According to pop culture, every woman under 40 spends her salary on handbags and  cocktails, and stumbles down cobblestone streets in $500 heels everyday. Friday and Saturday nights offer hot dates over tiny dinners while Sundays are reserved for brunching and Barney's. New York is a town for pretty people who never stay in to catch up on their TiVo or leave the house wearing drawstring cotton pants and flip-flops. 

And then I had a thought, "Does everyone outside of the tri-state area think all women in New York live like Carrie Bradshaw?"

Watch how I dispel the myths in 4, 3, 2, 1...

Friday night: 

I jumpstarted my weekend with a trip to the laundromat. That's right. And it wasn't even in a trendy neighborhood like the Meatpacking District or Williamsburg. I spent my night in Queens matching socks and poorly folding fitted sheets next to little old Greek ladies hunched over their stacked metal pushcarts. 

What six weeks' worth of laundry looks like. There was so much my boyfriend had to haul it in a hockey bag.

Saturday: 

Vin and I needed some new fall duds, so we headed over to 5th Avenue the Queens Center Mall with the rest of the madding crowd. The stores were filled with Ed Hardy t-shirts and linen napkins pretending to be skirts and I began feeling old and crotchety. 

We had sushi for dinner. This would actually be considered pretty trendy of me, if it were still 1999.

After dinner, we met up with some friends at the Bohemian Beer Garden in Astoria. The closest thing I got to a Cosmopolitan was a $2 shot called a Purple Hooter.

We had midnight desserts and coffee at our favorite corner Greek cafe. 

They bumped house music while we ate pastries served by tanned Greek boys wearing tight designer shirts and threaded eyebrows. For a while, a Family Guy episode played softly on the TV by our table. Then, at the stroke of midnight, the "Haute European Nights" channel began showing a behind-the-scenes look at a photo shoot where topless models posed on top of cows while giggling playfully and sticking inanimate objects in their mouth.  

I guess I'm more Sex and the City than I thought. 

New York Nights: Weekend in Reverse

Sunsets in the city are about more than just aesthetics. Sure, watching sun puncture clouds and reflect off chrome and steel is a pretty sight to see. There is something very romantic about pink and orange slicing through the sky as it shifts from blue to gray to black, like abstract watercolors on the world's largest canvas.

Yup. Sunsets are pretty. It's why people ask for seats by the window and couples get married at dusk. But when the sun disappears in the city, there's more than just a change from light to dark. There's a shift in energy that is pervasive and palpable.

In some towns, nightfall equals goodnight kisses and bedtime stories. In New York City, it means the party's just getting started. Where else can you find people playing chess, reading tarot cards, and throwing beachballs in a public park at midnight?

Saturday Night: Dinner and drinks on the Bowery

It's Fashion Week in New York, and tons of stylists, shoppers, editors and bloggers cruised into town to attend conferences, network, and of course, scoop up a new pair of shoes. This Saturday, I found myself invited to a networking dinner and outing with a passionate and extremely well-dressed group of fashion bloggers.

They wore pretty dresses and shiny shirts.  There were hats and bows and layered bracelets that went clink-clink when cell phones and cameras were put to use. There were designer handbags and vintage belts. There was leather and silk and sequins. There were heels. Lots and lots of heels.

And then there was me.

At a bar called Von with Karlis from Spicy Candy DC and Lynzy who writes From Skirts to Skillets. I'm the gal in the middle, wearing something any fashion blogger would be happy to sport on a weeknight trip to Target. I had a really great time, and it was fun to step out of my comfort zone and go out with a group of ten total strangers.

Flashback to Friday Night:  
When Andi of Tights and Bites asked if I'd attended any of the Fashion's Night Out events the night prior, I had to giggle when I told her how I'd spent my Friday.

When you're with a man whose culinary ambition is to try and find the best burger in the city, your Friday night can be considerably less glamorous than an evening out with the girls. For round one, we hit up Five Guys in Queens, where they use enormous bags of potatoes as decor.

We left when the indigestion kicked in, then took a quick lap around the Home Depot across the street. The things I do for love.

This weekend was the perfect blend of grease and glitz. Wonder where the night will take me next weekend...

Animal House

My friend Aubrey is a huge animal lover. People casually throw around cliches like, "Awww, MaryJo? She's so sweet she wouldn't hurt a fly!" Well, Aubrey literally would not hurt a fly. Or an ant, or a mouse, or anything that lives and breathes like you and me. She is one of the kindest, most warm-hearted mammals I know. When members of our group were researching activities to do this past weekend, Aubrey suggested we visit the Catskill Animal Sanctuary in Saugerties, NY. We were so glad that she did, because it was a beautiful place doing wonderful work. 

CAS provides refuge for mistreated, neglected and abandoned animals. Many of the animals suffered blindness, illness, and  post-traumatic stress symptoms after years of abuse. Here, on this beautiful 100-acre farm, they are treated with respect and kindness, as all living creatures should be. 

Our tour guide, who is the owner and director of the place, was an extremely enthusiastic hostess. She gave Aubrey a run for the money in the #1 Animal Lover contest when she stood on the fence, cupped her hands on her mouth like a megaphone and shouted, "I LOVE YOU, PIG!" into the fields. I now yell this to my boyfriend every night before drifting off to sleep.

This is Franklin. He was rescued from a pig farm after he was left to die because he was the runt of his litter. He now weighs several hundred pounds and don't take bull from anybody.

One of this guy's fine-feathered friends tried to eat the bracelet straight off my friend Kerri's arm. She handled the situation much better than I would have.

If I remember correctly, this sweet horse was completely blind and very old. 

Is there any animal more beautiful than a horse? Seriously, I think they are just the most magnificent creatures.

This is Zen. A worker at the farm called him by name, and he turned right around and came running down the hill. He was rescued as a sickly infant wandering around NYC's Meatpacking District, of all places.

If you're ever in the Catskill region of New York, I highly recommend a trip to this very special place.

Labor Day Weekend: Country Time

I journeyed out to the Catskills this weekend. Never heard of it? To sum up, it's the area in upstate New York where hills roll, cell phone service takes a nosedive and Baby spent the summer carrying watermelons and breaking daddy's heart by dancing provocatively with Johnny Castle. 

We stayed in Palenville, a town so small the houses got official addresses only a few years ago.

It's the kind of place where farmers sell fruit and vegetables a few feet away from where they're grown.

And charge you a third of what city folks would. 

We stayed here, at our friend Bridget's country house. One of the greatest perks of partnering up with my boyfriend are the incredible friends he has brought into my life. Our group consists of his best friends from high school and their wives, husbands, boyfriends and girlfriends. Everyone is smart and hilarious and we love each other like family. We're lucky enough to retreat to this great house several times a year, and every time we stay here it reminds me of an 8th grade slumber party, only better, because we don't have to sneak out to score beer or see cute boys playing guitar.

Recognizing the irony in a bunch of 30-something yuppies singing the blues in a country house, Mitch's riff included a line about how difficult it's been choosing countertop materials for his new kitchen. 

This is my boyfriend Vin I've been telling you so much about. 

He's so adorable he can sing about whatever he wants.

Saturday morning, I got up early and took a quiet walk by myself. No Ipod, no cell phone, no distractions. It's amazing what you can hear when you allow yourself to really listen. This little squirrel looks like it's had its fair share of alone time.

So does this Chevy.

I stumbled on a great yard sale. Actually, I stumbled on about 15 yard sales. Seriously, if people aren't shopping at a yard sale in this town, they're having one. 

Ol' Smokey. Man, I haven't seen him in a while!

On Saturday afternoon, a group of us toured an animal sanctuary on a 100-acre farm. 

They housed the largest pigs known to man. 

It was a special place, and I'll be posting some gratuitously adorable animal pictures tomorrow.

Saturday nights in Palenville are "family dinner" nights. We plan a special meal and gather around a big table, like Jersey Shore without the fake tans and Ed Hardy t-shirts. Last Labor Day weekend we did a clam bake and lobster boil. This year we made three different kinds of grilled pizzas, a big salad, and tons of grilled vegetables. I'm the gal in the red shirt; it's best you not see me from the front while I'm eating. Trust.

Pizza Party!

*Tomato-basil-mozzarella

*Fig-blue cheese-arugula

*Pineapple-ham-red onion

Activities for the weekend included golf, poker, football and karaoke. True to my gender role, I also begged Bridget to take me into Saugerties to go antiquing on Sunday. 

Rachel picked up this hot little number for nights at da club.

A parade of carousel horses lined the streets of Saugerties. They were so whimsical and cute.

If everyone smiled as much as I did this weekend, the world would be a very peaceful place. 

How did you spend your Labor Day weekend?