My Favorite Things

I was heading uptown today on the green train and while I was waiting, there was a man across the tracks playing his saxophone (badly). After a few minutes, he started playing "My Favorite Things" (badly) from my favorite movie. (If you don't know the movie, stop reading my blog. Now.) It sounded so pathetic but I appreciated his effort. So I walked back up the stairs, across the bridge, and down the stairs to the downtown platform. I dropped a dollar in his bucket (a trash bin lined with a floral table cloth) and walked back upstairs, across the bridge and down the stairs to the uptown platform. I was wearing a bright blue jacket, so I guess I was kind of noticeable because when I returned to my bench to wait for the train, Sax Man looked up at me and nodded. And then he started playing "Close to You" (badly). I think that he was just touched that someone would travel across the tracks to drop a dollar in his bucket. And then my train came and I got on. I was sitting in a window seat and as my train rolled out of the station, he looked up at me, tipped his hat and resumed playing (badly, I assume, but I couldn't hear the music anymore). These "New York Experiences" truly are My Favorite Things.

No words necessary

Yesterday:


Today:

As seen at LAX

Please don't let him be my seatmate.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I saw a star, I opened up my eyes, I saw a star!

He might not be George Clooney. Or Matt Damon. But he's a star. He's Javier! From Felicity! The flamboyantly gay barista from Dean and Deluca? You know the one...also known as Ian Gomez? (No, I didn't know his name either, I had to use IMDB - and yes, there's an App for that!)


A quick on-site Google search at the playground turned up a marriage to My Big Fat Greek Wedding star, Nia Vardalos, and a nameless four year old adopted daughter. Mystery solved: her name is Ilaria. I'm calling Perez Hilton now. But the real question is, will Perez agree with Mom Levine that Ian Gomez doesn't count as a celebrity?

Disclaimer: this photo was taken with my camera phone very discreetly. No one was embarrassed in the process.

Bonus Question: Where's the song reference in this post and what's the song?

What SEL Saw Today

And this, people, is why I blog. Today I saw a star. In fact, I saw hundreds of stars. All on Hollywood Boulevard. So they weren't live and in the flesh. But they WERE willing to pose with me for pictures. And here they are.



And saving the best for last...


There was so much more but it's late now (it's already tomorrow!) so it will have to wait for another post. Until then...

What we DIDN'T see today

We set out this morning determined to see stars. As in celebrities, not the balls of light in the sky (it turns out Alexis was confused about this). We thoroughly researched all the possible locations. Dana suggested sitting outside of Whole Foods until someone came to grocery shop. Then we thought it might be a good idea to just park ourselves at Starbucks on Rodeo Drive all day. But since it was beautiful out, we decided a hike through Runyon Canyon and then a stop at the Coldwater Canyon Park would surely provide at least one or two sightings. Because as any loyal Us Weekly or People Magazine reader would know, stars regularly exercise by running Runyon with their personal trainers and bring their kids to Coldwater Canyon Park to play. Evidence is provided here and here. Unfortunately all we saw on our hike was dogs. Although one of them did look remarkably like the dog from Frasier. And at the playground? We met a bitter nanny of a Brazilian supermodel. So, today, we DIDN'T see any stars. But we did have fun!


Here we are just beneath the Hollywood sign. See it back there? Just above Alexis' head?

And by the way, for anyone who visits LA and is thinking about hiking Runyon Canyon- it's not a nature walk. It's not a leisurely hike. It's a climb. You'll use muscles in your body that you never knew existed. Dana and I took turns pushing the stroller which must have been 50+ pounds including the baby. Finally, we did this:


And then spent the rest of the hike like this:

And this:


I think it's safe to say that a good time was had by all. And that everyone will sleep well tonight. And with that, it's off to eat some cheesecake and hit the hay.

Riding the horsie, not the chariot

I'm in LA, y'all! And the sun was shining as the girls and I hit the Santa Monica Pier today!

It's a good thing I've been exercising and eating well lately.

Because a chariot wouldn't have been nearly as fun as this:

Going into the Santa Monica Pier, Miss Alexis was totally psyched about going on the "horsies." She talked about them all the way through our almond taste testing session (random focus group we were recruited for as we walked in!), and then waited anxiously in line for our turn to ride. But when I put her up there, she did the same thing she did last summer in Central Park. "NO!" So, once again, I hefted myself up there with her and held her the whole ride. And listened to her scream, "I DONE! I DONE!" Once the ride started to slow down, we progressed to this:

I'm hopeful that she wasn't permanently traumatized by the ride. She regained composure after we went outside and hit the beach to play in the sand. Then we played a few carnival games, had some lunch, visited the 24 Seven LA office and crashed.

And I'm about to do the same thing. We better see a celebrity tomorrow or I'm going home.

File this under the things I just don't get

What's the point of selling luggage at the airport? I understand that some people are "last minute packers," but taking your stuff to the 'port without a suitcase would seem to be taking it too far...

That said, I'm up up and away. Details soon!

You know you love me.
Xoxo,
Fly Girl

As Seen at Bed Bath and Freaking Beyond

When I first saw the Snuggie, I didn't think that there could ever be anything better. Well, I stand (sit) corrected. The Snuggie Beach Towel. How awesome! Hands free but still warm at the beach? Oh. Heaven.

The great egg-stravaganza at the Westchester Mall

Remember last month, when I saw this? Well, the time has officially come. Look who I saw at the mall today?

Never have I ever...

...seen a grown man wearing toe socks.

...seen such a large foot (on such a chatty man)


...had my arch analyzed on a heat sensing surface before (top=erinn's (yes, she has toes), bottom=sel's)

*Photos courtesy of too much waiting time at Gotham Bikes in TriBeCa where Eric, Joe, Adam, Brian, Felix (from the CA office) and Aaron *hate* us. Never have I (we) ever had such bad customer service. But don't worry, never will I (we) ever visit there again.

Team in Tanning!

What a beautiful day! It started with a 3 mile run in Central Park with the Team in Training peeps. After that we did some core (read abs!) exercises in the park and then went back to today's homebase (a middle school) for an injury prevention clinic and a presentation by one of the "honored teammates." I couldn't hear a word of the injury prevention clinic; maybe I was too far away from the speaker or perhaps I was distracted by the bagel I was devouring as if I hadn't eaten in weeks. But I moved closer for our honored teammate's speech. An honored teammate is a cancer survivor who is training for the race alongside us. Today's was Beth Mowry. Beth is a single mom and high school teacher. Two years ago she went into the ER with some check paid and she was diagnosed with Non-Hodkin's Lymphoma. As she described it, it's the "best cancer you can get." Beth went through months of chemo, lost her hair, hiked death valley, raised her 5-year-old and went into remission. That's the short of it. And oh yeah, her medications cost a little over $350,000. And those medications? They were developed by researchers whose work was funded by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Talk about seeing the first hand fruits of our efforts.

After that, my small team and I went to Battery Park to enjoy some fun in the sun.


The Team in Training became the Team in Tanning and it was awesome! We snoozed, had a picnic, played a game and enjoyed some snacks. At one point, we watched a man pick up his dog's poop and toss it over the railing into the Hudson River. And then we remembered that's the same body of water in which we'll be swimming in four months. Maybe they'll add some chlorine before then? Or at least fish out (no pun intended) the dog poop and dead bodies.

It's a Pigeon Party

Look closely at this picture. Do you see the pigeons on the window ledge?


Good. OK. What you can't see is the woman inside leaning out. And feeding the pigeons. And inviting them inside. YUCK-O!!!

Flashback

I walked out of my apartment this morning and there were crowds of people pointing and looking up. I followed their gaze and saw this*:


And immediately flashed back to Tuesday, September 11th, 2001. I was walking out of my dorm, heading to class, when I looked up and saw a smoking hole in Tower #1 of the World Trade Center. The balmy weather, the crystal clear sky, it was all just a bit too familiar this morning.

Today's fire certainly didn't make tonight's news, and was barely a blip on the world wide web, yet it left me remembering one of the most somber days in NY history and feeling thankful that I live in this amazing city.

*No, it's not my building but the building across the street.

Training Update, Week 3-18

I'm starting a new blogging trend. Weekly Update Wednesdays. Going forward, I'll do my Training Updates on Wednesdays.

Today was my day off of training this week. My body is tiiiiired. Monday was a one hour swim. Tuesday was a 45 minute run/squat routine. Today is a rest. Tomorrow is a recreational bike ride and a training run. Friday is a solo run, Saturday is a group run and Sunday is a fundraising day and solo bike ride (unless Paige actually gets her bike put together by watching her DVD).

We're three weeks into training and 18 weeks away from the Tri.

I will make it. Won't I?

Whoops!

Dear Faithful Blog Readers,

Yes, I am alive. No, nothing's wrong. I just plain forgot to blog yesterday. I had a topic and everything but I just didn't get there. I'll be back later today with a real post!

RIP Pasticcio

The spring of my senior year of high school, my parents sent me to NYC with a friend. We thought we were such adults: staying at a hotel, shopping during the day, eating where and when we wanted. We walked from our hotel on Park Avenue over to Third Avenue. We ended up at this little Italian place, Pasticcio. Fast forward ten years (gasp!) and I live down the block from Pasticcio. I walk by there daily on my way to work, the grocery store and my favorite neighborhood hangouts. But I haven't been there since that night Sara J. and I ate there in 2000. Walking home this afternoon, this is what I passed.

I guess I'm not the only one who hasn't been there in 10 years.

Bucket o' Fun for Everyone (over 21!)

1) Buy bucket @ Target

2) Buy rum/make friends with liquor distributor who gives you free rum

3) Dump rum in bucket and add sugar syrup

4) Freeze overnight

5) Enjoy!

The beach blanket pigsty

Looking at this scene, you'd think we'd been living at the beach for a week. But as you faithful blog readers know, the weather has been heinous and today was the first time we even ventured outside. And because Grandma wasn't there to tidy up behind us, our beach blanket(s) quickly turned into miniature versions of our teenage bedrooms. Fortunately we were cleaned up by 2 and snoozing by the pool by 3. And that, my friends, is a successful spring break day.

Spring break injuries

When I think about possible break injuries, I conjure up ideas of surfing incidents, shark bites, alcohol poisoning and other various and sundry maladies caused by excess fun in the sun.

Here on Spring Break 2010, the only incident has been a bruised knee. From ice skating. Yes. That's right. I said ice skating. Why are we ice skating? Because we'd already slept in, lazed around the house and gone bowling. Now that the flood warning and tornado watches are over, we're hoping to rest our tired bodies at the beach tomorrow.

And oh yeah, we had a visit from AAA today. What will tomorrow bring?

A housecall from the Sheriff

We came home tonight before Grandma and Grandpa and didn't realize that they had set the house alarm. Being the smart kids we are, we figured out the code and entered it in. But not before the alarm started bleeting and ADT dispatched the sheriff and his trusty sidekick. We tried to tell them that the problem was LAST NIGHT when we had an awful intruder in the form of a two inch Hispanic reptile called Gustavo, but they weren't biting. Grandpa showed up and saved the day. All's quiet on the Florida front now. Except the thunder an lightening...

Gustavo

I'm pleased to introduce you to our new pet lizard. Gustavo.




He's in the glass. Don't ask.

Euphemisms rock!

What a great way to say BEWARE OF THE SLOW ELEVATOR.

What's your number?

Without trying, a gal can say a lot about herself with her manicure. Here's my interpretation, from left to right (pinky to thumb):


1) I'm on spring break
2) I'm ready for Easter
3) I like to have a good time
4) I'm responsible and get manicures just to keep my hands looking neat
5) I'm confident.

I left with #4 today even though I am #1 and I'm always #3 but I should be #5. And since I need a chocolate fix, I'm totally #2!