Friday July 9, 2010

The Bikram instructor this morning at 6am was getting on my last nerve with his voice: half auctioneer/half horse race announcer. I love going at that hour when it’s only 80 degrees outside instead of 90 though. I want to try the 30 day challenge, but it’s hard when you are traveling. Day 1. Let’s see if I can do this.

I forgot to share these pics with you earlier in the week! My sister Denise took Sylvia to camp and scared the shit out of her campers! She had a birthday party for her yesterday with cupcakes and balloons. You think I am nuts? Well now you know where I get it. A few of the girls kept fighting over who got to hold Sylvia lol. I had to ship Sylvia to San Diego today and you can imagine the look on the guy’s face at the UPS store when I walked in with her under my arm. I really wanted to bring her back on the airplane as my carry-on, but her bottom lip is fragile and I didn’t want her to get hurt. Plus I might have issues at the airport… ya never know. Those TSA agents are weird sometimes.

I met my friend Kristen (the one whose Dad died a few weeks ago) for lunch at Grant’s in West Hartford. We have been trying to catch up the whole time I was here, but timing was always off for whatever reason. I ordered the ravioli with Maine crab… deliciously awesome.

She ordered the lobstah roll…I am glad that I chose my ravioli because that looks like it has too much mayonaise on there. But then again, I am spoiled as all hell these days when it comes to lobster.

Their homemade potato chips were fantastic.

It was great to see her and finally get a chance to catch up. Of course we talked at length about her situation and the ups and downs of grieving a loved one/losing a parent. She was pretty open about discussing the details of his suicide and how she and her family are processing it. Kristen has had a pretty tragic life in that 15 years ago (almost to the day of her Dad’s death) she was the driver of a car that ended in a fatal accident. She was driving on a bumpy country road and lost control of her Jeep and flipped the vehicle. There were 5 girls in the car…three (inc. herself) were fine, one sustained a severe head injury and one died. Kristen was desperately trying to lift the vehicle that had pinned her friend down and when it caught on fire she had to make a choice to walk away or die with Tara. She pled guilty to vehicular manslaughter and is now a convicted felon. She has to live with her decision of drinking and driving for the rest of her life and will always remember the smells, sounds and sight of watching Tara die before her eyes. She had to forfeit her teaching career and worked in restaurants to pay all of the legal bills. She never spent any time in jail, but was sentenced to a bazillion hours of community service. She ended up speaking at high schools all over New England  telling her story to students and explaining the dangers of drunk driving. The ironic thing is that she was voted most likely to succeed in high school and I told her today that for 15 years I have always thought she was truly the most successful if she had changed the minds of even a small percentage of those kids about drinking and driving. We spoke at length about tragedy and how your life can go either way afterwards. You can shrivel up and close people out, or you can take what happened and learn and help others. Kristen has a new appreciation for family, friends, life and love. She never in a million years thought that that day would be the last time she ever spoke to Tara. She never had a chance to say goodbye to her Dad. Kristen reminded me (again) that life is very short. Make the best of it because you never know how long you will be here or how long anything will ever last.

I took the train to Penn Station and saw the Lady Gaga fans all over the place all dressed up like freaks for her show tonight at Madison Square Garden. I didn’t even snap pix, I suck. I got settled into my hotel and walked over to Bamboo 52 to grab a bit to eat with Liz, Steven, Jamie Lynn and Eva Angelina was in town! The waitress was pushing this roll on me with black rice and I was hesitant (because of my experience with the brown rice from the other day) and when the roll suddenly appeared in 60 seconds, I realized it was already made and they were trying to pawn it off on me. Whatevs, it was actually really tasty.

I sat with Steven for a good 1/2 hour  before realizing what his shirt said! HA!

Liz apparently likes to bite her own arm when she is getting fucked from behind.

I had sent 631 a provocative text earlier and wouldn’t you know it? I ate at McDonalds again tonight! I actually would like to revise my statement…it’s not like eating at McDonalds. It’s like eating at your very favorite restaurant where you have tried most things on the menu and you know whatever you order it will be great. You know what to expect in the quality of the food and the service, but sometimes you get a little crazy and order something new.

Sunday July 4, 2010

On the way to Erin’s party I stopped at Rein’s Deli in Vernon for some more Jewish deli goodness. The pickles are fab as was the beef tongue sandwich. No one ever knows what Vernon is until you say “Ya know that amazing deli at the halfway point between NYC and Boston?”

Erin’s parents have one of those old school above ground pools… I don’t think I have been in one of these since the 70′s. Literally. They are great for short people like me though because there is no deep end and I can stand up in it everywhere.

Anyone know what this plant is? Gorgeous! I forgot to ask her Mom.

I am always fascinated by the under side of a butterfly’s wings. Intricate patterns, muted colors…(It’s the little things, people)

Teddy is a 4 year old Yorkshire Terrier and is a little timid. If you weighed 4 pounds you would be afraid of all kinds of shit, too.

Charlie is a miniature poodle who is about a year old.

Nikki and her bf Rob who we all love love love. The only bad part about Rob being around is that she doesn’t act like Glenda or Amtrak anymore. She has mellowed out quite a bit. It’s ok though, “mature Nikki” is probably a better thing all around.

Have you ever played the WT game called Corn Hole? Super fun, even though I totally sucked at it. And no it’s not a Beavis and Butthead reference. (to my knowledge)

Teddy was just minding his own fucking business over here in the shade….

When Shyla decided to start up swimming lessons for him.

He’s not too happy about this…

Charlie, abruptly awoken from a nap, also not very excited about being in the pool.

 Erin didn’t exactly ask her parents if she could have a party, she just kind of did it. This consisted of a bunch of 25 year olds (and me) playing drinking games. This one was by far the most retarded. The AC/DC song Thunderstruck plays and the first person drinks at the first “thunder” and continues drinking until the word is said again, then it passes to the next person. Its a little over 3 minutes and drones on and on if you are annoyed by this kind of thing but it’s funny to watch Kyle nearly vomit like 4 times!

The kid in the green was cute and flirty and made me feel pretty cougarish but towards the end of the night began to get under my skin a little. Nice enough kid, just needs to be smacked around a bit by an older woman. But not me.

Who shows up to a BBQ at 4 pm blacked out drunk? This kid!

Erin and her awesome bf Adam both live in Manhattan and pssst: we shot some porn in his apartment last fall.

so cute!

Erin and I giving Sherrie advice on men. I know you are thinking why in the hell would anyone listen to me when I can’t keep a guy around for more than 3 months? I don’t always practice what I preach that’s for sure.

Only about half of these kids were invited…what do you expect for a small town with one bar?

Have you seen these bracelets yet? Maybe I just have never noticed them in San Diego before…rubbery, colored, some are scented, different shapes… they are the latest fad in schools.

LOOK AT HOW CLOSE I AM!

Things I don’t miss about the East Coast: BUGS.

Nikki and Erin have been great friends for years and went to Europe after college together. I like Erin a lot and hope to see her in the city next weekend. I snuck away from the fire early and went off to sleep on an air mattress in the basement where it was quiet and nice and cool and got a solid 9 hours of sleep. ahhhhh. I love this life.

Thursday June 24, 2010

For lunch my brother-in-law and my nephew and I trekked over to Meridan to Ted’s Steamed Cheeseburgers (totally defeating the purpose of yoga this morning but whatever.) I saw a special on tv about this place last year so I was excited that I had finally had the time to check it out. They’ve been around since 1959 and have been named best burger by a dozen or more food programs/blogs….including the Food Network and Travel Channel. It is a tiny little shack with a small menu but the burgers are pretty amazing.

The little metal cabinet is where all the magic happens.

The ground beef is placed in trays and steamed to sear the flavors and juices inside. They are healthy burgers!

Once the steaming is finished (only a matter of a minute or two) the burgers come out and the icky bad stuff is drained off and voila! Even though it looks like dog food, it is juicy and flavorful and doesn’t taste greasy at all.

The cheese is a secret blend of cheddars and the owner will not disclose anymore than that….They also go through the steaming process.

I chose to not order the bacon cheeseburger despite having worn my “If God didn’t want us to eat pigs … He wouldn’t have made them out of BACON” t-shirt today.

I dont even really like potatoes but the home fries were out of this world … they were sprinkled with paprika and a tub of oily buttery goodness.

…you can order them with or without cheese.

Louis was chillin’ outside the restaurant but was not very camera friendly.

For dinner we met up with my sister-in-law Ann Marie (from the AU/NZ trip) and my nephew Danny (Vegas)

We went to a place called Sofia’s in East Windsor… unbeknownst to us it was All-You-Can-Eat pasta night and it smelled like a fucking nursing home in there. My ex Tony always used to call places like this “God’s Waiting Room” lol

Despite the geriatic crowd who probably don’t know the difference between good food and hospital fare… the pizza was awesome! Classic East Coast pizza with the perfect crust…not too thin and not too thick… we ordered sausage, hamburger and bacon (yeah I cheated a little today)

Danny and I also shared a hot ham grinder: the name for a submarine sandwich in New England. Now… this took me some getting used to when I moved west. Before Quizno’s started serving hot subs people would look at me like I had three heads if I ordered a sub sandwich and asked for it to be heated up. It was like they thought I would die if I had wilted lettuce or warm mayonaise. I wasn’t asking for the thing to be baked for 20 minutes, just slightly toasty. I haven’t traveled around the midwest much at all so I can’t say for sure that they are unique to New England,  but I can tell you that they do have some of the best hot subs I have ever had. Not to be missed…something I crave and must eat when I come here.

When we got back to the house my nephew and I decided to attempt to catch and photograph fireflies. You can see where this got me.

You can see a few here in this clip. Riveting, yes, I know. We were getting eaten alive by mosquitos so it didn’t last very long.

And then I heard a scuffle in the bushes and nearly shit myself when this stray cat ran over to me and rubbed himself all over my ankles.

He followed me back to the house and I set up the kitty-cam to see what I could catch him doing.

Anyone in the central Connecticut area want a cute grey kitten?

My brother-in-law FED THE DAMN THING! I thought my sister was going to freak out when she got home, but surprisingly she was like “Whatever, what’s another animal in the house?” So I am curious to see if he returns tomorrow. An hour after this incident I could still hear him meowing outside my window. Good Lord I am glad this is not at my house because I would have a cat in my bed right now. I am such a sucker.

I have a very exciting day tomorrow so I must get some rest!

Wednesday June 23, 2010

My nephew and I went to my sister’s school to check out the baby ducks that the janitor had to relocate yesterday. (I’m sorry…I mean the Director of Custodial Affairs) Apparently he had to stop the traffic of students and guide the mother duck and her ducklings from one area of the school grounds to a safer area with a pond and places to take cover from the hawks that lurk above. The day before yesterday there were 10 ducklings, but today there are only 9. I could have sat here for hours watching the mama lead the babies around from the pond to the grass and back and forth. They really are so cute.

 

I mean seriously… they are so adorable. And one day they will be big and delicious.

It’s almost like a water park for these little fellas!

And the mother duck waits around for the last straggler each time. He’s a little nervous but finally gets the courage to join them.

 Then we hit Friendly’s for lunch. Look…I know, it’s not much better than Denny’s but I, too, have guilty pleasures that I  indulge on occasion. I ordered the lobster roll because I thought they couldn’t really fuck up boiled lobster, but I was wrong. I mean I ate it, but it was not the best lobster I have had.

The highlight of my afternoon including listening to the neighbor’s kids (boy and a girl) play in the inflatable pool (it was 90 degrees with what seemed to be 99.9% humidity) When the mom made them strip down out of their bathing suits after a few hours (no idea why) the little boy just started screaming “VAGINA” at the top of his lungs. I died.

 I dragged my ass to Bikram yoga down the street at 4:30 pm (because I got lost this morning and missed the 9:30 class) and was pleasantly surprised to find out that they are NOT MEAN there! In fact, during one of the postures the instructor actually went over to the door and opened and closed it several times to let cool air in the studio! WHAAAAAT? I was sweating my balls off in this class almost instantly simply because it was so humid outside already. Plus it was late afternoon. I paid $30 for 30 days so you bet I am going to get my money’s worth while I am in CT.

Another highlight of my day was sniffing the can of wet dog food and my nephew trying to be funny while shoving my face in it. Little does he know that I actually love the smell of canned cat and dog food and was elated when I had the aroma on my upper lip for the rest of the night.

After dinner we met a nice Irish/Welsh Terrier named Yogi.

I watched Tosh.O tonight and was so excited to be able to live tweet him during the episode on EST. He of course ignored all of my tweets, but I will keep trying for the next several Wednesdays. He has no idea that he will be falling madly in love with me in the very near future. **sigh** He’s so dreamy.

Tuesday June 22, 2010

The services for my friend’s Dad were this morning at the funeral parlor. They didn’t have a big long ceremony at a church, but 2 of the 3 children stood up and spoke. My friend is an amazing writer and I expected nothing less than the eloquent speech she gave about her father. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the place and you will understand why when she sends me the transcript. Her message was loud and clear….Tell your loved ones that you love them while they can still hear you. Through her tears she moved the entire place with what a Dad meant to her. She was strong and stoic and spoke so bravely in front of the crowd. With her sense of humor, fantastic analogies and heartfelt requests to be better people, she begged us all to forgive and love…and remember that nothing lasts forever.

After the funeral parlor we went to the cemetery (same one as my parents) and then off to their family’s house for food and drinks and whatnot. On the way over there I stopped off at my old high school and snuck in to take some photos of the place and ya know after 20 years, it’s much smaller than I remembered! It still smelled the same though. The lockers were painted the same colors and I presume the jocks were still in orange hall, the rats (burnout kids) were still in the blue hall and the seniors still dominated the red hall. Every other color was just a free-for-all.

It was a ghost town since today was the last day of finals, but I was hoping to catch my old photography teacher to say hi. There were not very many teachers left when I arrived so I was very pleasantly surprised to see him turning off the light and locking the door. He had no idea who I was until I spoke and told him my name and then he gave me a big hug! I came to find him and thank him personally for his encouragement and guidance and inspiration over the years and to tell him that I had in fact stuck with it. I was honest about what I have been doing for the last 10 years knowing that he wouldn’t judge me for it. I think he might have been a little taken aback so I quickly volunteered how I had gotten back into shooting weddings and had visited all 7 continents to distract him. He passionately teaches photography as an art form: film, developing, darkroom, printing, etc… His true love is photography as I had learned it from him. We both agreed that digital was like cheating and that is not the way to learn anything.  After a bit we said our goodbyes and I told him I would come check on him in another 20 years. He has no intention of retiring anytime soon because he is having way too much fun.

The revolving door to the darkroom.

We went to my nephew’s baseball game in the rain and then went to a place called Tapas for Greek food. Their gyros were listed as being “chicken” or “beef” and when I asked if I could possibly get the lamb from the kebab platter in a gyro she told me that their “beef” was actually a mixture of beef and lamb. Umm, wouldn’t you just tell the truth on the menu in the first place? That whole interaction rubbed me the wrong way. I got the gyro (“beef”  because I know what the beef and lamb mixture is and I knew exactly what I was getting. Besides the fact that I eat anything so it really didn’t matter if it was also mixed with cat) but was highly irritated that they do not disclose all the ingredients in the dish on the menu. That’s like serving a chicken ceasar salad with a meat that you call “chicken” but that really has duck in it as well. Not cool. Just be honest folks. A person ordering a gyro would rather read that they are getting “gyro meat” than “beef.” Ya know what I am saying? Very misleading.

The ending of my night was with red velvet cake (homemade by sis) and creme brulee ice cream. The rain wouldn’t stop and I drifted off to sleep after making sweet sweet love to my cake with the sexy sounds of thunder and lightning as our background music.

I will continue preaching to you about being nice to your parents. Call them and tell them you love them. Do it right now.