Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Is that your mic stand, or are you just happy to see me?

Last night, met Shani for wine & a cheese plate at the always-lovely Jadis. Then went with Gail to see The Picture play a special acoustic show at Rockwood Music Hall. This venue gives new meaning to the phrase "intimate setting." There are only about 4 tables in the place, and the guys on stage were less than 3 feet away from me. They opened the set with my favorite song, "Patterns." Also stayed to see the next band, Chris Cubeta and the Liars Club.

Doing what I can


Buy cool T-shirts like this one at Metro Three!

Had lunch with Adam at Delta Grill, as part of Restaurants for Relief efforts. I'm always up for eating red beans and rice with andouille sausage, but was especially happy to do so today because it helped the Gulf Coast recovery.
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Monday, August 28, 2006

Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans?



It’s been one year since Katrina hit and New Orleans subsequently flooded. It’s been one year since America watched CNN and saw the horrifying footage of entire city neighborhoods completely underwater, people being plucked from rooftops by the Coast Guard and the situation at the SuperDome and Convention Center spiralling out of control. We all acknowledged this city needed help back then, and a lot of it. That’s why it’s incredibly embarrassing that a year after this disaster, so much of the funds and resources that were promised to New Orleans are still tangled up in bureaucratic red tape.

One bright spot in this mess is the people of New Orleans… they are a resilient bunch. Like many Southerners, they’re bound to the land where they grew up, and can’t really fathom living anywhere else. My friend Eric returned to his house Uptown one month after the storm, and lived there without hot water for months – but at least he & Brenda were home. And fellow blogger Tim is now living in a FEMA trailer with his wife, daughter and their cats while they build a new house on the lot where their old house used to stand. Again, not ideal, but it’s progress. Fortunately, there are lots of Erics and Tims in New Orleans… people who feel strongly about rebuilding and are just trying to do what they can get their lives and their city back on track.

Katrina coverage is saturating the media this week, but what happens next week? Next month? It’s wrong to wait til Aug. 29, 2007 to think about New Orleans again. Please pray for the leaders – Nagin, Blanco, Bush, Congress and the heads of the government agencies – may they swiftly make intelligent decisions that will enable New Orleans to get the help it needs and deserves in order to rebuild. You can also visit New Orleans. I went in July. The city is totally ready for visitors and definitely needs tourism dollars. Posted by Picasa

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Bloggers in the park

The Metropolitan Opera performed Verdi's Rigoletto Wed. night in Central Park. This opera involves a hunchback jester, his daughter and a duke. I've told people before that this type of event is why I live in NYC. Listening to a concert on the Great Lawn with the city skyline peeking over the trees is truly special.

Grace, Sara, Mel, Ally, Mario, Eriq, Lisa and I had a picnic with wine and snacks. Sarah was noticeably absent from our blankets, but she's having fun experiences of her own in Singapore.

Yo Adrian!


Last Monday night, I went to see Rocky in Bryant Park with Amy. There's something unique about watching a movie outside amid the skyscrapers of midtown Manhattan with a few thousand fellow NYers, listening to everyone cheer Stallone as he runs up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Look out for a new Rocky movie this Christmas. Posted by Picasa

Are you always this much of an asshole, or am I getting special treatment?

Got a cold call from a recruiter named Steve last Friday. He said I was referred to him by my former supervisor. Fine. The position he called me about was interactive marketing director for a bank. Anyone who knows anything about me at all knows I do not belong in a bank. I tell him I'm not interested, but say if I think of someone who's appropriate I will tell them to call him. He becomes incredulous and defensive: How could I possibly not be interested in this job? I tell him I'm happy work-wise, and he goes off... traditional advertising is dead, blah blah blah. When I say I'm currently handling TV and Print for a brand launch, he changes tact and gets personal, telling me I'm getting too old to be in advertising and should plan for another future career. Excuse me? Trying to maintain some semblance of grace, I tell him I'm not accustomed to being spoken to in this manner, and he says it doesn't matter. Unbelievable. To Steve, whereever you are: you are one of the reasons recruiters have such a poor reputation. You would probably be more successful if you actually cared about your potential clients - who they are, what they're interested in and what positions they're best suited for.

Catching up

Don't want to seem crass by seguewaying from talking about the tragic loss of a colleague into trite descriptions of entrees and cocktails. We all wanted Mach with us for a longer time, but those who knew Mach acknowledge that his life was an incredibly rich one, chock full of amazing experiences. When I check out, hopefully people can and will say the same of me. Admittedly though, my over-indexed NYC social life is not exactly on par with global humanitarian relief efforts. However, I've had a brilliant summer, and it is my pleasure to blog about it.

For the past 2 weeks, I've essentially tried to eat and drink outside at every opportunity.

Going back to Tuesday, Aug. 15... Had dinner with Duck at Barbone. I've said before how much I love their garden, but it's awesome to have a neighborhood place where there is fresh, seasonal food. To start, I had the watermelon salad (it's cubed watermelon topped with toasted ricotta cheese and spices - sounds kinda weird but is quite good). For main course, had tagliatelle with rock shrimp, corn and a light cherry tomato sauce. We had cheesecake topped with pistachios for dessert. The staff sent over complimentary biscotti and dessert wines.

Wednesday had dinner and sake at Kasadela with Gail and friends. Basically this is Japanese bar food; we couldn't get enough of the Tebasaki (spicy Japanese-style wings). Thursday had sangria and tapas at 1492 with TP.

Stayed in Friday and Saturday nights, but went out Sunday with Rick to neighborhood stand-by Esperanto. Their oil for dipping bread is so good, we're obsessed with it. We asked for 3 bowls. Ab met us for drinks later at a new bar on St. Mark's called 10 Degrees. Walking home, I passed Petticoat Government, a new clothing store on Avenue B I've been wanting to check out. The owner Ken was actually still there and let me come in and try on clothes at 11 pm. Yes, I'm out of control.

Tuesday did a sake tasting at Satsko with Robyn and TP. Thursday, met Robyn and her ad school friends for happy hour at B Side. $1.50 bottled Bud Lights - quite possibly the cheapest drink I've had a decade. We went to Max for dinner. Homey Italian. I had the lobster ravioli with a very spicy tomato sauce. The guy who recommended this place ordered the meatloaf, which is served as a big ball with a hard-boiled egg wrapped in ham and cheese in the center. I didn't say this was healthy Italian.

Back to Barbone Friday with Charles & Howard. Had the pappardelle with braised short ribs this time. Night cap at Rue B next door.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Upsetting news



Mach died. He was 38. He was the 1st creative director I worked with at my current agency. We're shocked and devastated here.

Blogging about losing 2 creatives in 3 months sucks. Posted by Picasa

Monday, August 14, 2006

Red Light Children

The world premiere of Guy J.'s film Holly is Wed. at the Edinburgh film festival in Scotland. This film, as well as 2 documentaries, are tools to promote Red Light Children, a global human rights campaign to stop the sexploitation of children. I have been working on this as a pro-bono account for the past few months. You can sign-up on the website for updates (soon there will be emails you can send to your congressman and petitions to sign online).

Singapore Frog

Sarah left NYC Saturday, headed for her 1st semester at the prestigious INSEAD business school in Singapore. Good luck Sarah, we'll miss you!

Living large in the new crib

Took Amtrak to Washington Friday, then rode the MARC (Maryland commuter) train to Point of Rocks, MD. I fell asleep on the MARC train, and when I woke up I was surprised to see red barns, cows and cornfields out the window. Tina & Ed are now living in Leesburg,VA and this was my 1st trip down since they moved. Leesburg is a charming little town surrounded by farms; it actually reminds me of Brooklet, GA. In any case, it's not obviously suburban DC. Their new house is huge: 4 bedrooms upstairs, 2 offices, 2 TV rooms, living room, dining room, etc. There were 13 house guests this weekend, and no one was tripping over anyone else. It's kinda wild to think of my friends having this much living space. Their kitchen is the practically the size of my entire apt. Tina and Ed's baby shower was Sat afternoon. Good crowd of their friends, most of whom I haven't seen in 3 years since their wedding. After the party, we went to the neighborhood pool, and later just hung out and played Taboo. Took the train back to NYC late Sunday afternoon.

Fleeting days of summer

And just like that, it's 70 when I walk to work now instead of 90. Sadly, summer seems to be winding down. But here's what I did last week to make the most of what's left:

Pub grub and blueberries - Monday night, I met Shani in the West Village for an alfresco dinner at Ab's kitchen, I mean White Horse Tavern. Sam, the cameraperson for Ab's documentary (who's originally from Savannah) stopped by with some boxes of big blueberries freshly picked in Vermont.

Another quiet night out - Tuesday was Howard's birthday, and his friend Ally threw him a party in her loft. Met Charles for dinner later at Yuca Bar to hear about his recent trip to Sweden.

Return of the DOG - After a brief hiatus, Dining Out Group returned Wed night. We went to Peasant in NoLita. Peasant is a cozy Italian restaurant... would be great in colder weather. Lots of exposed brick, and you look into the kitchen and see the wood-burning ovens. To start, we had a duck foie gras on top of a roasted peach and some cheese melted inside proscuitto wraps (at least I think that's what we had; the menu was totally in Italian!). I had a rabbit lasagne with a cheese sauce for the main course. Everything was great, but we were too stuffed for dessert. Leaving the restaurant, we realized 3 of the 4 DOG restaurants to date are basically on the same block. Lots of great dining in Nolita!

Had 2 good celeb-sightings on Prince St. as I walked to dinner. Moby and Emmett from Season 2 of Project Runway. They were not together.

Later, I met Grace for a drink at Luna Park in Union Square Park. Major pick-up scene! Any girl who says it's hard to meet a guy in NYC should stop by here on a Wed. night in the summer. I'm not saying you will meet the best guy ever, but someone will definitely chat you up. However, I was feeling tired and fairly claustrophobic, so I actually went home before finishing my frozen margarita (the horror).

All Leos, all the time - Tara had her birthday party Thurs. night at Waikiki Wally's. Pretty good mai tais. Later Jen and I went around the corner to One and One for dinner.


Summer babies: Me, Danielle & Tara Posted by Picasa

Pass the chips and salsa

Stopped by Reshma & Vishal's house last Sunday. Jay impressed us with his new vocabulary, including "quesadilla" and "dolphin." While I was definitely a very very smart child, I'm pretty sure I didn't reference Mexican cuisine when I was 18 months old.

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Tuesday, August 08, 2006

My canoe is way cooler than yours

Flew down to Atlanta Friday. My 9 am flight out of La Guardia took off at 1 pm due to a problem with the plane's navigational system. Once we landed at Hartsfield, it took about an hour for my checked suitcase to come out. So instead of being at Nora's house at 1 pm, I arrived at 5 pm - just in time for rush hour. Thanks, Delta!! However, Jan and Nora arrived at the MARTA station with a margarita for me, so I soon stopped complaining. We had dinner and then drove up to Joseph and Robert's cabin at Big Canoe.

All day Saturday we sat on a beachy area by the lake. This allowed for easy access to the pool and a rock water slide built into a mountain waterfall. The slide was fun, especially after a few beers!

This was our 2nd trip to Big Canoe. We went in February (very chilly). It was fun to sit by the fire, and we actually did some hiking then. However, this trip was much better... We are warm-weather girls: Lying in the sun, swimming and hanging out on the porch is much more our speed. I like Big Canoe; it is a very relaxing place. Living in NYC, I sometimes forget that so much nature exists. So thanks to Joseph for letting us use the cabin twice in a year.

Sunday we drove up to Dahlonega, the site of the U.S.'s 1st major gold rush. Despite growing up in GA, I'd never been here before. It is a cute little town. We pigged out at The Smith House for lunch and then did some shopping.

A prior engagement

Our group threw Margot an engagement party Thurs. night in the garden of I Coppi. Totally in my 'hood, but I wasn't aware of this restaurant. Met Margot's fiancee Mark, who's from Atlanta and actually went to high school with MM. Small world.

Stopped by Satsko with Sarah For 1 Drink. She is fond of the "crazy cow" sake. Three glasses of wine later, I ran into Warren when I was walking home on Avenue B. All roads lead to Satsko.

The happy couple. Posted by Picasa



Late night at Satsko, things get silly. Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Wish for peace in the Middle East

This blog is not meant to be political or religious. However, my social circle in NY is diverse... some folks have relatives in Israel, even in Haifa (close to the border with Lebanon). The current situation in the Middle East is very complicated, but I simply want my friends' families to be safe.

Gonna make you sweat

Temps in NYC have been 90s with high humidity for the past week. Excellent. Here's how I've been "beating the heat":

Drinking margaritas at lunch. Shaan's goodbye lunch was last Wed. at Mi Nidito.

Agency BBQ. In an effort to woo a potential client, we threw a BBQ in their honor in the courtyard next to our office building Wed. afternoon. I suppose the best way to convince someone we should handle all their advertising is to show them just how comfortable we are drinking beer outside in the middle of the workday. Goodbye drinks for Shaan continued afterwards at Social.

Nice Shoes rooftop party. Met Robyn for this after work Thursday. Good people-watching and business mingling. Not complaining... but it was super humid, which made for interesting networking. It's challenging to chat someone up when you're both dripping with sweat from simply standing outside.

Repeat performance at Barbone. Joined Sarah and Grace for dinner Thursday night. Had the ricotta gnocci, which was very light and had an interesting, refreshing mint sauce. The staff remembered me from the previous Sunday night. We met the owner Alberto. He sent over a complimentary appetizer, biscotti, and dessert wine. Barbone may become my new favorite neighborhood Italian, given the gracious staff and its close proximity to my apt.

Refreshing salads. Had lunch with Robyn and Kanad at Eatery Friday.

Vindaloo curry. Friday dinner with Gail at a place on East 6th St., aka "Little India." Rocked out with the tabla and sitar players.

Ice cream, chocolate-covered strawberries, and "Happy Birthday" from the Satsko gang. My glass of sake runneth over.

Sat. afternoon at PS1 "Warm Up." Checked out some pretty disturbing art in the gallery, then listened to the bands & DJs outside for the rest of the day. Dinner later at Blockheads.

Drinks with Wolfie. She and her husband are visiting from Zurich, so met them at The Whiskey in the W Times Square Mon. night.



When Irish eyes are smiling... The PS1 courtyard.

Photo courtesy of Niall

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