Sweet Blog O'Mine

Category: Life

  • In Your Dreams

    It's kind of amazing to me how the mind works.  For me, at least, there can be something on my mind, even tucked way in the back somewhere and not all that important, that WHAM, shows up in a dream.  I am horrible at remembering dreams, by the way — I keep a pen/paper near my bed to jot down a sentence or two right when I wake up in order to try to remember, but even that only goes so far. This morning I awoke to a dream where, at one point, I put on some pants and a sweater, and the Lovely (and stylish) Miss Katie, when I asked her how it looked, helpfully told me that the pants were totally out of style and really not that flattering.  This, I'm guessing, stemmed from a conversation I had yesterday about how much I don't like shopping and the fact that I'd love to overhaul my wardrobe (there was much more to the dream than that, but this is the part of it that 1) I'm willing to share and 2) I'm using for illustration).

    Interesting . . .

    Strangely, the rest of my weekend didn't make the dream cut — Gourmet Latino Festival Friday night, early morning bike ride on Saturday, Bluegrass Brunch, relaxation and Mexican food in Wading River (thanks, Lindsey!), Tamara & Oli's wedding, and Selena's punch party.  All great times!

  • Your Money or Your Life

    It was suggested to me the other day that one of the reasons I'm currently single is that I'm too financially successful and independent, which is apparently intimidating to men.  I wish I had snapped back in the moment with something appropriately witty that reflected how truly idiotic that statement was, but I think I was so shocked and flabbergasted that all I could muster at the time was something like, "really? And what am I supposed to do about that?"  He then suggested I should lie about owning my apartment, and say it belongs to my parents.

    Yes, ladies and gentlemen.  Someone actually said this to me.

    SCREW THAT.  I have worked hard to become financially successful and independent and I am DAMN PROUD of what I have accomplished so far.  Any man who is that threatened by it and is stuck in his antiquated notion that he must be the provider is not someone I'd want to date anyway, so if that's the reason I'm single, so be it.  But I still believe there are great guys out there who don't get hung up on that sort of thing and actually enjoy being taken out to dinner from time to time (not that I plan on being anyone's sugar mama or anything).  Ultimately, when I'm dating someone, and especially in a more serious relationship, in my mind, it's a team effort.  And when I do end up getting married, what's mine is yours and what's yours is mine, be it money or debt.

    Lie about owning my apartment?!?  Seriously?!? It's more appealing to you to date a woman in her 30's who has nothing to show for herself and is being taken care of by her parents than to date someone who can take care of herself thanks to a career she has built over time?  Eesh.  Good luck with that.

  • San Francisco, Day 2

    IMAG0091.jpg

    In a sad attempt to undo some of the caloric damage from the prior day, I started my day with a run in Golden Gate Park, which was lovely.  Although Wednesday had been sort of cold and drizzly, Thursday was absolutely sunny and gorgeous.  Through the magic of Facebook and Twitter, I learned that two New York friends were actually in San Francisco, so we met up for dim sum at Yank Sing for lunch (not only was it great company, but dim sum is hard to eat alone!). 

    After lunch, Doug and I wandered to the Ferry Building (again) for a shot of Blue Bottle Coffee (my macchiato is shown here sideways for some reason, but it's still pretty) and then wandered around a bit.  Doug and I know each other from college a cappella — the Amalgamates — and the other two friends I had arranged to meet later in the day were also from the Mates.  We totally took advantage of this.  When I met up with Jonathan at about 4, we didn't tell him that Doug was with him and took him by surprise.  We then went to Smuggler's Cove to meet up with Spike at 5:15, and didn't tell him that Jonathan or Doug were with me.  It was a great surprise to all and a truly fun mini-reunion over a drink at the diviest bar ever (the 21 Club — Jonathan's favorite) and excellent tiki drinks.

    After cocktail hour, I went to meet @M_Quinn and @CatinCal for dinner at Tropisueno where I recapped my highlights from the MCC, and they scared me to death about Tales, and we generally caught up and had a lovely time.  Finally, I touched base with Lynnette (the other aforementioned NYC friend), and met up with her and Ty and their friends for a drink at Nopa.  All in all a wonderful day, then off for a good night's sleep before meeting my dad to head out to Napa/Sonoma.

  • Weekend Wrapup

    Drinks and dinner with the beach house ladies, including several out-of-towners, breakfast with Lisa, farmers market, long and windy run, dinner w/Mom & Stephen at the bar at 11 Madison Park, cocktails with Jenn & Emilia at Louis 649, brunch with Sara and Arlan at Sweet Afton, lazy Sunday with laundry, catching up on the DVR, mail sorting, and the Sunday times.

    And overall, feeling constantly amazed and blessed about the friends I have in my life.  A good weekend, indeed.

  • Age Before Beauty?

    There are plenty of things about getting older that I am learning to live with gracefully — grey hair, the emergence of wrinkles (I think of them as advanced laugh lines), and the ungodly amount of thought I put into my daily fiber intake.  But shouldn't there be some sort of cosmic balance that ensures that, because of those things, I now no longer have to deal with zits?!?  Who do I talk to about getting this fixed?

  • Life Lessons

    To add to the list of Things I Will Apparently Never Learn: If you are sick, it is best to take it easy and get plenty of rest, otherwise you will be sick three times longer than you would have if you just took it easy and got plenty of rest.  Sigh.

  • Rant of the Day

    Please stop sending me emails with that damn red exclamation point !.  If it's that important, CALL ME — I get hundreds of email per day and no stupid red exclamation point is going to make me read your email first or drop what I'm in the middle of doing to handle whatever it is you're asking me to do.

    Thanks for listening.  Carry on.

  • I am SUCH a Girl

    Actually, I'm generally not one of those girly-girls.  I do like to keep my toenails painted, but I'm not so great about manicures.  I am by no means a shop-a-holic or a clothes horse and I can't handle spending a lot of money on purses.  I don't tend to wear a lot of makeup, but do like the pop of bright red lipstick every so often.  It's true that I like cute shoes, as long as they're comfy, and I think I look better in skirts and dresses than in pants, but I am not really all that girly.

    Except that even though I've lived in New York since 1994 and I shouldn't be at all surprised after 15+ years, I still let out the most ridiculous girly gasp every time I see a rat.  I suppose it's hardwired or something.

  • Weekend Wrapup

    Evoe "Cocktails de Paris" event with @Daisy17 & @Cocktailspirit followed by red sauce dinner at Bread Tribeca; First Skype to Skype call (free! yay!), workout, "The Foodie's Dilemma" Times Talks panel with Mom, featuring Bobby Flay, Daniel Humm, Alex Guarnaschelli and moderated by Frank Bruni, the 11th Annual Epicurian Dive Bar Crawl; a run in Astoria with Sara, tasting cocktails at Blue Hill, a quick nap, dinner at Choptank with @Cocktailspirit, and much-needed laundry.

    To start your Monday off right, a cocktail recipe from Friday's event: the Twentieth Century Cocktail.

    1 1/2 ounces Beefeater gin

    3/4 ounce Lillet Blanc

    1/4 ounce creme de cacao

    3/4 ounce lemon juice

    Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Serve with a lemon twist.

  • Ten Before the Tri

    #drop10beforetri I've told some of my friends and family in person, but I have another goal to hit before the triathlon.  I'd like to drop 10 pounds.  These 10 pounds have crept on over the past 10 years, an average of one pound per year, which isn't bad, but I figure if I have the discipline to do a triathlon for the fourth year in a row, I can probably get rid of ten measly pounds.

    But most of you know me, and know my love for food and drink.  And not just food and drink — tasty, high-quality, non-processed, but often high-caloric food and drink.  And I'm not one to eat light or "lite" anything (the one exception is that I gravitate to skim milk and fat-free yogurt, and I can tolerate part-skim cheeses in certain contexts); I go for the foie gras, the butter, the bacon, the cheese.  I don't plan to give these things up completely, but indulge in them less frequently and in limited quantities. 

    I'm following Weight Watchers Online, where every food/drink item gets a limited number of points.  You are allotted a certain number of points per day based on your height — being a small person, I get 18 points.  When I did my cocktail column last week, I meticulously looked up the calorie count for every ingredient and was horrified to learn that it had a value of 5 points — almost a third of my calories for the day!!  The good news is that I exercise a lot, which gives me more wiggle room, as you earn points for exercise. 

    This week was hard. VERY HARD.  Brunch with the beach house girls at Bar Artisanal was like a mini exercise in torture (no cheese? no fondue? I settled on the pork belly hash w/poached eggs and hollandaise ON THE DAMN SIDE and a green salad with dressing ON THE DAMN SIDE, nursing my prosecco to make it last longer), and I struggle every day to get the recommended servings of calcium and fruit/veggies.  At Roman's on Sunday I split some dishes with my brother and had a delicious, but small meal.  I went out for a great meal Tuesday night at Marlow & Sons and luckily, the brick chicken sounded more appealing to me and my dining companion than the rib eye, but there was still chicken liver and sopressata involved.  I balanced it out with some kale, and likely ate less of everything than I normally would.  Each day I dutifully tracked in the points values, even when I realized I'd be over my limit for the week.

    But, I weighed myself this morning and  . . . drumroll please . . . I'm down 3.8 pounds.  No joke.  And that's really only a week and a half of being more mindful about what and how much I eat and drink.

    Lessons learned:  1) pack in the fruits, veggies and water.  They're filling and they help keep the system running smoothly.  2) you can eat the indulgent stuff, just less of it.  A LOT less.  Some of you have heard me say that I am a little person and I need to learn to eat like a little person — this is in full effect at the moment, but feeling deprived isn't going to work, at least not for me. 3) This is not easy for me, but every single meal means choices, and if I know I big meal is coming later in the day, my breakfast and lunch need to be adjusted accordingly.

    Why am I telling you all this?  Because I need your support.  Don't look at me funny when I behave strangely in a restaurant — for me this means that I don't order the foie gras or the bacon.  I may even order a dish and ask them to wrap half of it before they serve it (and this hasn't happened yet, but it might; I'd rather just convince you to share an entree with me).  Say yes when I ask you to meet up for a run, bike, or walk before our meal.  You've all supported me so much in my life, I know that I don't really have to ask, but I'm just letting you know what's going on.

    This could be harder than the triathlon, at least for me.  Seriously.