that's a wrap

2007 year in review...

Favorite day: May 5th
Worst day: July 18th
Favorite flicks: waitress, volver, once
Favorite books: hp and the deathly hallows, eat love pray (in progress)
Days I remembered to take multivitamin: 3
Weddings attended: 4
Weddings in which I was the bride: 1
Times seen or mentioned in a magazine (excluding masthead): 3
Lbs lost: 30
Lbs gained after said lbs were lost: 15
Margaritas to thank: 42
Hair colors: 3
Times evacuated office building by the steps: 4
Steam pipe explosions from which I had to run: 1
Vacations: 2
Interviews: 5
Job offers accepted: 1

...And that brings us to the year's end. I start my new job later this week as photo editor extraordinaire.

Here's wishing you warmth, passion, inspiration, strength, laughter, and much to celebrate in 2008!
Cheers!!!

it's a good excuse, i swear...

Things have been pretty hectic in my world lately, and it hasn't been anything I could blog about... hence the lack of blogging. The biggest news though I can finally share... I gave my notice at work! I'm going to be heading to another magazine starting in the new year to be the Photo Editor there. Should be an exciting new endeavor, with lots more responsibilities and creative potential. I can't wait! It'll be sad though leaving my current mag. I've only been there for two years (my anniversary was last Thursday), but I'm really feeling sentimental.

The day after I gave my notice we had our magazine holiday party. It was at Tortilla Flats this year, a fun tex/mex place in Greenwich Village. I had yummy sangria and margaritas, but was forced to wear neon necklace things, which made it feel more like a kid's bar mitzvah than an adult work party. At least the drinks and delish mexican food made up for it. Best part was watching my coworkers try to hula hoop after several hours of drinking. Hilarious. I'll truly miss this crew. Especially a few of my coworkers with whom I've become really close, but hopefully we'll keep up our girls nights out!

my brother's band

Check out the Pimps on NPR radio...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16170431

He's Brian... the one in the middle, in case you couldn't guess.

halloween nyc-style

This Halloween I had my first experience with the spectacular NYC Village Halloween Parade. For those who have never been or don't know, it is total craziness. 6th Avenue becomes a mass of drunk, high, costumed, sometimes naked, freaks... And this year, I was one such freak.

Unfortunately, I wasn't drunk or costumed (or high or naked). I was the paparazzi. I think I mentioned that I have been taking a location and event photography class, well, the final session was last Wednesday, and it took place at the parade. Before I left work, I bundled up, not knowing that it would turn out to be a perfectly crisp but not cold autumn evening. I switched to a small purse for necessities and my smallest camera bag, containing nothing more than a camera, one lens, and a flash, and I was off. My class met up near 6th and 17th, where we were supposed to be capturing the parade. The only problem was that there were four rows of people in front of us, and with me being a shorty and all, I couldn't see a thing. By 15 minutes in I was totally frustrated, as were two other shorty girls, so we left in search of the perfect shot (photo shot, not drink shot, although that would have been nice).


We wandered down 7th towards the heart of it all, Christopher Street. By the time we got there, the parade had well passed, and chaos ensued, which was fabulous for photos, but not-so-great for someone who hates smooshy crowds and being pushed, or the pregnant girl I was with. I have no idea how there were people there with little children and babies. What were they thinking? One girl I was with actually had a guy grab her hand and put it on his package, and the other (the pregnant one) got egged. Seriously. Thankfully it was just the back of her shoe that got splattered, but she was pissed nonetheless because they were brand new black Uggs. Bummer.


I'm glad I experienced it though. There were really fun and exciting moments, and I ended up with some fab photos, especially of fabulous drag queens, masked adventurers, and gory accident victims.




Next year, however, I'll be glad to be back home comfy and cozy handing out candy to local treaters to the sound of the Great Pumpkin.

it's my party...

So... It's my birthday. I have to admit though, I have not been into the whole birthday thing this year, especially since I've been feeling in a bit of a funk lately. In fact, the whole thing has been giving me agita. There are always high expectations that go along with events such as birthdays, which inevitably leads to disappointment.

Thinking back to past birthdays, I seem to recall a lot of tears thanks to big plans and the high expectations. Pretty much every year I would have a big shindig, and every year something or other would go wrong. One time, my parents planned for a bunch of my classmates and I to go to a show at Lincoln Center. They even rented a bus to get everyone into Manhattan. I was so excited, especially when the day finally arrived and my friends started to arrive in their costumes for the halloween themed day. Unfortunately, the bus never showed up, so we ended up being stranded at my house with no way of getting to the party. Sad. Many of the other situations involved disappointment with friends. Those always seemed to happen around my birthday. I'll never get it.

Over time, I have learned that I should just not plan too much, but I also learned that I should not sit home and do nothing, because that's just sad in itself. So this year I'm just going to do what I want to do, which happens to be getting pom margaritas and mexican food (guac made at the table... yum) with the hub, and possibly a few friends, and then going for drinks. Nothing extraordinary, but it should be nice. I already got a beautiful Movado watch from the hub yesterday, a b-day/wedding present, and a circle necklace from my mom that I had been eyeing since last year, so at least it's off to a nice start. Hopefully, despite the funk, I can slide through this one without needing waterproof mascara.

la vida loca

I've been told that after people get married, they often go m.i.a. for a while. My experience, however, has been quite the opposite. I was so caught up in the wedding hoopla for over a year, that I wasn't going out very much... Now, I have been making up for it... I've been going out all the time after work, boozing it up, catching up with old friends, and even taking a class. It's been a lot of fun, but has definitely made keeping up with the blog a bit of a challenge. Will try to catch you up though, at least with some glimpses from the past few weeks:

~Went to the Feast of San Gennaro in Little Italy. Talk about deliciousness. For ten days, the streets are all blocked off around that area, and are lined with carny games, knickknack stands, and most of all food vendors, lots and lots of food vendors, selling every sort of sugary, greasy, so bad for you but oh so good food, from zeppoles and cannolis to sausage with peppers to fried oreos (seriously), and we wanted to try it all. Thankfully, I went with friends who were up for going splitsies, so we could try more, and not go totally crazy.

~Painted the town (well, more like the east side) with my coworkers. For the past few months, the magazine workmates and I have been regularly going out for drinks after work. Generally, we start at this one bbq-type place for margaritas, and then go on from there... Sometimes we end up playing pool, or crashing other coworkers' rooftop parties, trying girly shots along the way, or hitting up the local karaoke bar for saki bombs and a nice dose of embarrassment. Good times.

~Started a photo class. It is a six week location and event photography class. Each session in a different place. Our first class entailed shooting a dress rehearsal for a play. I was very tired going into a three hour class after a full day of work, but I really enjoyed the challenge, and feeling like I was creating again, and not just coordinating. I'm already looking ahead to more classes. Not just in photography (although I'd like to take more of those too), but I'd really love to take a writing class again, and maybe experiment with mixed media. One thing at a time though.

~Did some Yom Kippuring. Spent the break-the-fast meal with my mom et all (her hub, his 4 grown kids, their spouses, and combined 7 kids between 2 and 7 years old, mostly boys), and my hub's fam. Was quite the zoo, but nice to catch up, and time to enjoy more deliciousness. Ate bagels, kugel, (and some of the mac 'n cheese and cookies intended for the kids). I almost let a four year old take my plastic glass of white wine, but thankfully caught it in time. To his defense, it did look a lot like apple juice.

In short, my diet has totally gone to hell, but at least I'm enjoying myself (and haven't gained too much back). This week, I have a last day celebration for a workmate who is leaving, several close friends' birthdays, class, and a bachelorette party to look forward to... Thank goodness for DVR.

spank me

I'm a bad blog mom. NYTJG turned two years old over a month ago, and I missed it. No song, no cupcakes, no nada... The horror.

She has gone through a lot of phases and changes in her two years (a mishmash of madness, from panty confessions to insomnia photos to wedding schtuff), leading to a recent blogdentity crisis and now a url move, but she's a little trooper, and will keep on keeping on.

So, if you are willing to stay for the ride, I'm not jumping ship, so please update your blogrolls or bookmarks, and I promise to try and be a better blogger and blog mommy.

I'm thinking I could use a fun new alias though, to go with the new digs... For me, not the blog... Any suggestions?