Friday, June 3, 2011

FRIDAY WARM FUZZY

I am such a sucker for coming home videos and proposals. UGH!! And this has both! (stole this from Aly's facebook page!)



"In August 2010, I met my girlfriend (of about 2 months at the time) at the Paris Airport and knew the moment she got off the plane, I wanted to marry her. Over the next 9 months, I filmed us, a bit at a time, and made it into a little movie. In May 2011, I played it for her on the terrace of the Bowery Hotel in New York City, with the Empire State Building as our backdrop...and asked her to marry me..."

Music: Florence and The Machine - Dog Days Are Over

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Lions, and Puppies, And Movie Stars..oh my..



There are those friends who make you laugh, those friends who help you cry, those who hold your hair back, and those who can stand you snoring. Luckily I have Linds.

She can take on those challenges and she can tolerate traveling with me...because it is always an adventure! (That's the euphemism for disaster.) Plus it helps that we are equally obsessed with completing the 1,000 things to do before you die list!

This weekend adventure took us to Toronto for Memorial Day, but not before a quick little stop to Niagara Falls. Friday we snuck out of town and caught a flight to Buffalo, while the rest of the world headed south for some sun.

Like a machine we picked up our luggage and our rental, plugged in our hotel coordinates and we were off. Well, sort of…we reserved an economy, but since our flightmates all had the same idea, all they had left were land whales. So Chez copa and our Land Whale took off for the Canadian border – in search of free health care…I mean culture. After a few very personal questions from a hot Montee…we were cleared to cross. For the record…Linds is a lawyer and our trip is not for work.

I should have known right off the bat what kind of trip this was going to be…as we were parking our land whale in the Best Western (we keep it classy) guest parking lot for the night, sitting at the foot of our spot was a lion winking at linds from his cage. No joke. We got a picture of the trailer he was coming out of, but we both sat there laughing too long to get the actual cat on film. Your guess is as good as ours as to what he was doing there.

Like true Americans, we embraced all the cheesiness that Niagara had to offer… the country’s largest glow in the dark mini golf, Rainforest café, and of course….the Maiden of the Mist. Too bad we didn’t film that because it was a train wreck of awesome…linds spent the horseshoe falls tour inhaling her plastic poncho, and I couldn’t keep my hood on to save my life.

As a memento of our survival we stole our ponchos…and then bought an overpriced snowglobe. Damn. We showed them.

Then it was a pitstop at Starbucks and on the road for some Toronto action. On the way up we passed at least 15 vineyards. (seriously.) Fighting the urge to right angle it for a tasting, we pulled into the Le Meridien King Edward, Toronto. One word BOOOOGIE! This was one classy joint, and the two of us looked like drowned puppies checking in.

After the color returned to my face, and we showered off, it was time to hit the pavement. We had two more spots to hit on our list – the Art Gallery of Ontario and the flagship Four Seasons. It was also Open Doors Toronto where they open 150 architectural, historic, cultural and/or social significance buildings to the public. So we had plenty of exploring to do. But on the way, we kept bumping into a filming crew.


I didn’t think much of it so we grabbed a few shots and some video and kept bouncing on our way. One gallery a drink and four miles later, we rested our feet at the four seasons for a glass of local Niagara Chardonnay (finally), making friends with our bartender, and annoying the hell out of our barmates. Then we headed up the hill, through the most adorable neighborhood (Rosedale.) to dinner at CAVA.

Tucked inside an office building courtyard, this tapas restaurant is no joke. We were told to order 3-4 dishes each, but after splitting oysters, wine (Niagara Pinot Nior this time), asparagus, edamame bruschetta,
eggplant with queso fresco, cauliflower with Spanish saffron, and a fresh tamal, there was no hope for us. We collapsed on the subway and waddled back to the hotel, too tired to crash the wedding that was happening in the ballroom down the hall. (But don’t think for a second, we didn’t consider it.)

Waking up on our second day, we headed down to the main dining room for some egg white omelets and coffee, and personal sized jar of honey slipped into my purse.

Then we started our walking tour again only this time headed south to the CN tower. But right outside our hotel, the camera crew had set up again. This time we needed answers. It turns out they were filming a movie set in New York called Cosmopolis. Sitting across from us that morning was Robert Pattinson and Paul Giamatti.

On the way we joined a march for awareness for something or other on one block, danced in a parade celebrating Israel’s independence on the next, cheered on bicycle racers around the corner, and coached some puppies being trained on another. I’ll say this…not a dull day in this city. We decided to take refuge in a little community park, but even that turned out to be a coordinated effort…the pigeons had choreographed quite a bathing routine for us.

I think all in all, Toronto is one of my new favorite cities. This was my first trip to Canada, but I couldn’t help thinking that if Chicago and London had a baby …it would be Toronto. The city had American high-rises literally wedged in with gothic cathedrals. The people were friendly in that Midwestern sort of way, but still with an urban sensibility. The streets were clean and there was so much going on, who wouldn’t get hooked. Linds and I sure did.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

A Few Of My New Favorites

Last month, the spring clean bug bit, and for a solid week poor Linds had to put up with me pulling everything, and I mean EVERYTHING out of the closets so resort, reorganize, and PURGE. Our apartment looked like the centerfold for Real Simple magazine. But after I tossed, ebay-ed or donated all the crap, I realized I made space for new treasures! Here are some of my new favorites that have filled the void. Luckily for both of us - they wont be going away anytime soon.


The first thing to go was the old make-up. As bad as Mom wanted it to, blue eyeshadow is not making a comeback. But I did make room for some Dior Eye Shadow Palette in Rosy Nude. It's a splurge I know, but really it's like getting 3 separate pallettes in one. With five different shades I can do natural to smokey to daywear with one set. Not to mention this guy looks small but even using it everyday - it will last me all summer. 

It was also time for me to toss my powder. I've been trying to go without foundation just to keep the pours clear, but I've tried the bare minerals and it never sits well. I end up looking really greasy rather than glowing. So I tried the Diorskin Forever Invisible Retouch Powder over my Clinique tinted moisturizer. What a difference! I usually have to reapply my powder during the day - I don't because I'm busy (or lazy) but I should. This lasted all day. And it  goes on so smoothly I didn't end up looking cake faced. 

My last little reward was a new cookbook. I pitched four, so I figured I deserved one. But I'm prejudiced - the recipes have to be easy, the ingredients have to be few and inexpensive, and the result has to look AND taste impressive. Enter 100 Recipes Every Woman Should Know.  The only beef I had with it was that the title limits it to women - these turned out so good - I wish men would sneak a peek too. I was so impressed with the date night favorites like Engagement chicken as well as the easy I-don't-feel-like-cooking-for-this-dinner-party recipes like Impress His Family Chardonnay Cake. Done and Done. 

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Elmore Leonard, Still Delighting Readers – and Interviewers

My good friend and 630 WMAL's morning anchor, Bill Thompson, has been interviewing authors in his spare time for over twenty six years. Teaching himself how to code websites, along the way he created EYEONBOOKS, a resource dedicated to housing this vast pool of these one-on-ones.

Well for the first time ever, he let me take the reins and posted an interview I did with Elmore Leonard. So making me EYEONBOOKS debut:

Elmore Leonard, Still Delighting Readers – and Interviewers

By The Numbers

Crystal City Summer Screen on The Green films are out! Mark your calendars - and your wine bottles! Action happens at the courtyard of 1800 South Bell Street, Arlington, VA 22202 (near Crystal City Metro)
June 6, 2011 Air Force One
June 13, 2011 Four Weddings and a Funeral
June 20, 2011 The Sixth Sense
June 27, 2011 District 9
July 11, 2011 10 Things I Hate About You
July 18, 2011 Oceans 11
July 25, 2011 Apollo 13
August 1, 2011 16 Candles
August 8, 2011 The 40-Year-Old Virgin
August 15, 2011 50 First Dates
August 22, 2011 (500) Days of Summer
August 29, 2011 2001: A Space Odyssey

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

For All Us Crystal City Peeps - Spread The Word

Looking to ditch that old tv or last decades' lap top? I know we've got a tv that will be headed towards the great bulb in the sky.
Crystal City (Arlington, VA) – Old electronics can be diverted from landfills and sensitive paperwork kept out of the hands of identity thieves when brought to the Crystal City Business Improvement District’s (BID) Power Purge & Shred on Wednesday, April 27th from 7 AM to 7 PM. The annual event has safely recycled almost 90 tons of electronics over the course of the past three years including monitors, printers, CPUs, servers, cables, batteries, and more. Added for the first time last year, the Shred securely recycled more than four tons of paper.

The event is conveniently located in the surface parking lot located at the intersection of 20th Street and S. Bell Street, directly adjacent to 220 Twentieth Street. Owned by Vornado/Charles E. Smith, use of the parking lot is donated to the Crystal City BID to help promote this key green initiative. For more information on Crystal Green and other Crystal City events, visit www.crystalcity.org.

Friday, April 1, 2011

The April Fool Elves Have Hit Us At Work

Programming Directors Office!
One of the perks of working in news is getting to work before most are even out of bed. But these elves beat us all to the office to play a little April Fools mischief.  Luckily they did the dirty work because I don't have the guts to do any of this....

Need a few more ideas? Here are a few to make you giggle from the WASHINGTON POST:

Geektastic April Fools’ Day pranks By Hayley Tsukayama

April Fools’ Day is all about harmless fun, so if you have access to a victim ... er ... friend’s computer, here are some light-hearted prank ideas with a techy twist that we’ve found floating around the Internet:
1. Push some buttons: It’s pretty easy to switch the primary and secondary buttons on a friend’s mouse. Head into Windows’ System Preferences mouse control pad and — bam! — one-click prank accomplished. Just be sure to tell your victim how to switch it back before he or she goes insane.

2. Feeling blue: The Blue Screen of Death is one of the most-feared sites in all of techdom. Strike some good-natured fear into the hearts of those you love with the BSoD screensaver. Microsoft is willing to help you out on this one; you can download the screensaver from the Microsoft site.

3. Screenshot wallpaper: Set someone’s wallpaper to a screenshot of their normal desktop and then use the “Arrange Icons By” menu to hide all the desktop icons. After that, just sit back and enjoy the frantic clicking.
The old bathroom sign switcheroo!

4. Tricky linguistics: Google offers several interface languages to make search easy for everyone — including Klingons, Elmer Fudd and the Swedish Chef Muppet. Head up to the search settings menu on any Google search. Other options include 1337 and Esperanto.

5. Too many mice: If your victim uses a wireless mouse, switch out his receiver and watch him like a hawk. When he’s moving his mouse, send the one on-screen in an entirely different direction. Those particularly good at stifling their giggles can probably keep the prank going for quite a while.
These are all pretty low-tech pranks that require almost no technological prowess.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

For The Late Ones In The Peanut Gallery

You all may have seen this yesterday, but for those of us behind the viral curve I'm throwing it out there again. Make sure you have the cc selected when you watch this, it's hilarious.

Wednesday Brain Tease

Look at these signs very carefully. Now if it is 7pm on Sunday evening....which side of the post can you park on?

****SPOILER ALERT****

Look at Sign #2. Linds and I nearly left the car to the right of this post, but luckily a good Samaritan tapped on the window and pointed it out to us. He nearly did the same thing, and sure enough, the cars behind us all had tickets. We payed it forward just in time to warn a fellow parker before he made the same mistake.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Classy Is As Classy Does

Mixing the New York and DC crew can be a challenge, especially if you're lazy like me and strong arm the New York crew into regular visits in exchange for 2-buck-chuck (there may have been a coupon involved as well.), but after some intense negotiation the NYC ...ok just Adam...managed to talk us into meeting him halfway. Literally. Atlantic City.

It's the perfect overpriced getaway to enjoy all the fruits of life...the beach (with a hazmat suit), gambling (only when lubricated with plenty of free booze), and shopping (of the pretend discounted aka "outlet"). So of course I mobilized the team for a little weekend getaway!

Being the stellar cruise director, I immediately delegated the heavy lifting to Adam - booking the hotel room. Which, like a good bureaucrat, sat on for three weeks, before sending it right back. Then proceeded to keep his travel plans nice and loose, as I assured him that if we left DC at 11, we would promptly arrive at 1pm - just in time for lunch. Only on a good day, yes even with an easy pass, takes the average lead foot 3 hours.

Now throw in a little gas stop, breakfast, and said cruise directors inability to pack until after the departure time so she was appropriately briefed on the latest Real Housewives of OC episode, and you have a recipe for a wee bit tardy for the party - I mean fashionably punctual.

Fear not, Adam booked the later bus. Relieved we stopped for breakfast. Now there is no road trip to long or short for a little Cracker Jack (Barrel) stop. In an attempt to exit though somehow we missed the turn. Luckily for us Stephanie saved the day with a little introduction to the Waffle House! HOLY HASHBROWN - where has this dive chain been all my life! Roach coach doesn't begin to describe the level of awesome happening under this roof. On Steph's endorsement, we had, yes, waffles, and customized hash browns - chopped, covered, and smothered. Then it was back on the road.

We had four objectives in AC, and 24 hours to complete the mission: gambling, shopping, eating, and dancing. Within 20 minutes of checking in at the Marriott - (no need to Sh** where you eat), we zoned in on some blackjack at Trump. Within 10 minutes I had downed both my gin and tonic, and my $45 daily gambling limit. So while Katie and Adam raked in $250 together, we took a tour of the stellar shopping scene. That killed 30 minutes, 20 of which were spent trying on some elegant stripper shoes, which double as casual heels to wear with your weekend jeans the sales woman assured me.

Then we glammed up for dinner at Buddakan in Ceasers. After all the overwhelming decadence of the day, I was surprised by how genuinely fabulous this restaurant was. From the Saki and cleverly named cocktails to the over-the-moon edemame ravioli, wasabi mashed potatoes and perfectly cooked scallops. They offer a tasting menu at $60 per head, but we opted to go family style and order a la carte. Well worth it.

Then we finished the night learning craps and paying too much for their night club, dusk, which seemed appropriate for bachelorette parties and underage drinkers. I learned a valuable lesson - I am too old to put up with overpriced cover, lycra uniforms, and underwhelming cocktails. I am kicking myself for not suggesting Ri Ra at the Tropicana.

After sleeping off my poor life choices (and a bottle of pinot) we detoxed at 6ix in Bally's. Not the greatest turkey burger, but the back waiter made up for it with a repertoire of jokes you'd find inside bubble gum, spiced with expletives for good measure. While we had a few hours to burn we thought we do a little outlet shopping, not to be confused with discount shopping.

Steph got some baller high tops, circa 1987, and I fell in love with a pair of tennis shoes shaped like penny loafers. CLASSY. We thought we'd finish the tour with a little trip through Coach., which should have been like a spa for spending therapy, but it was more like a blue special at k-mart on Christmas Eve. Every second person with mammary glands in the greater Trashville area turned up to slip a monogrammed wristlet home to their hive. We barely made it out alive (and I got a clutch thank you very much!).

To complete the glam trifecta, on our drive home, I awoke to a motorcyclist outside my window waving. Then his pleasant waving turned to a pat on his seat inviting a little ride along. When our car full of chicks giggled like kindergartners, he popped a wheelie...at 80 miles per hour. Then the Suburban behind us, pulled ahead to sweeten the offering with donut holes. Ah armatures. Too obvious.

Janet ...Miss Jackson If You're Nasty

Miss Jackson hit DC last night on her Number Ones Tour and rocked DAR Hall last night. Thanks to a last minute ticket swoop by Stephanie, as of 3pm I had it locked into my calender.

Having the concert in a smaller venue like DAR Constitution Hall put us close enough to see her dripping sweat off her silver plastic suit. (She was quite zipped in) But her Louboutin boots had nothing on Steph's neon high tops she picked up in Atlantic city, or my super stylish Havaianas and yoga pants.

The 45-year-old Jackson rocked it like she was 19 again and the house followed suit. I thought I was a fan, having the lyrics memorized from the womb, but the guys one row ahead of us, had every song choreographed, compete with turns and fist pumps, damn near knocking their neighbors off the terrace. Both the show, and the subsequent fan-induced sideshows were a perfect end to a long day.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

The Ideal Husband @ Shakespeare Theater

No, not my ideal husband - they're still manufacturing him on the island of perfect men, should be delivered at a quarter to never, this is the latest Shakespeare Theater Company production. Linds and I went to see the show last Sunday night at the new Sidney Harmon Hall.


The story is as snarky as the costumes are breathtaking. Written by Oscar Wilde 100 years ago, the satire's cynicism still bites today, and what a better spot for a political satire than DC . The story circles around a prominent London politician, known for his upstanding morals, matched only by his wife. But his success is overshadowed by his dark secret that created to his wealth.  (Sound familiar?) He must choose between letting his wife down, or lose public face and power.

As tense as that story line is, there is plenty of comedic relief. A friend of the politician, with his razor sharp tongue tries to help the situation, but his price is nearly stealing the show with his bumper-sticker zingers and witty repartee.

Yes, it was that good. Go see it now through April 16th.