Cupcakes in the City

How have i not written about this yet? What is with me, it' s like the one thing in NYC that i'm really passionate about and have put a lot of effort into...
Finding the best cupcake in the city

New York City may be renamed to the big cupcake and not the big apple. NYC and cupcakes are up there with one of the biggest controversies. Friends who make cupcakes open a business, to become enemies, to steal/take their portion of the recipe, to open new stores, people who work with the enemies who break off open their own business, to create this mecca of cupcake heaven right here in the city. This is the basic story of Magnolia and thus the rest of all the cupcake shops in the city.

My search for the perfect cupcake started back in Halifax with my friend R. Our obsession was quite normal at that point, just enjoying cupcakes whenever we could, but then i started questioning moving to New York and she said, "i'm visiting if you do, i've heard a lot about x y and z cupcake shop and we need to try them". Walk and walk all over the city we did, trying cupcakes. I have settled on my favorite cupcake...which i will reveal in a few sentences.

SO my mom is visiting right now, post birthday visit and girl weekend we are having a great time thus i felt it was important to introduce her to the love of my life, my favorite cupcake shop. Dragging her across the city and claiming i knew exactly where it was. The light shone brightly on the faded pink awning of it. Of course since i was there i bought two cupcakes (bite your tongue, i'm a piggy and i don't care, it's the most delicious thing and you'd do it too!!). She bit into the cupcake (ooey gooey) and ahhhhhhh heavenly angels sung out. (notice the chocolate deliciousness on her lip, le sigh...i want one now!)



Anyways the store i won't shut up about is called Sugar Sweet Sunshine on Rivington St (bw Essex and Norfolk)
My favorite cupcakes are pumpkin spice and lemon yummy. Their originals are fab, but i'm partial to something a bit different, especially when it involves cream cheese icing.




Number 2 is Billy's Bakery followed by Crumbs (but Crumbs may be off the list if something better appears). If anyone has any recommendations of places to try let me know because there are obviously MANY MANY places in the city and i can't try them all...just almost all of them.

SUBSCRIBE or don't

For those who don't get my random reminder emails to read this blog and you check on your own, congrats i'm about to take a step out of your monthly routine.

If you look to your right you will see a very ugly and plain SUBSCRIBE dodad. Try it out. If i get an overwhelming response of "this blows chunks" it's gone! I've read the "stuff" and they "claim" there is no spam associated and they don't "keep my email address" so you should be safe. i have a few blog buddies who have this subscribe thing and so far I've only reaped the benefit of having an email sent to me when they post.

For those who decide it's not worth the risk i get it, no worries, I'm pretty paranoid about spam

ps: i started receiving emails-they are total spam to me- from 365 baby or something like it. Some girl name Shanna (odd as my email address doesn't have my first name) has a very similar email address and just had a baby 5 weeks ago. They keep congratulating Shanna on her/my new arrival and asking if i want photos sent to all my friends. yeah, the closest thing to a new arrival in my house is my new Patagonia Performance Baselayer.

So to all my friends who want to congratulate me on my new arrival, here she be, weighing in at 4.5 oz...my new arrival. Oh but my baby is baby blue

Star sighting

I have this vivid memory of my first experience watching The Labyrinth. The most ridiculous things seem scary to me and that movie really freaked me out. Something about David Bowie's hair, how skinny he was, the singing and his outfit, was it the tights? i have no idea, uh still gives me shivers. anyways, i'm not sure i've watched the entire movie because it freaked me out so much, although i do remember an m.c. escher type of scene with stairs, so maybe i have. meh i don't know. Here is what i do know...or think i know. I saw David Bowie the other day.

When was the last time he made a public appearance? Seems like a while. Anyways, last Saturday night J and I are pretty sure we saw him. Well actually i said oh look it's David Bowie, being the bitch that i am (it was the tight pants) and he said, wait no i think you're right. So we stood down the street and stared and well now if we were really good stalkers and not hungry we would have followed to confirm this finding. But let's just say i did see him and be happy about it. He looks good. Has put on some weight, shaggy, but nice hair...still has those Euro pants going. Where was Iman when we needed her!

Falling behind

The past few weeks have been NUTSO amazing fun! here is a basic overview

1)went home for a few days ie: update my health insurance to ensure if i do get sick i'm covered here ps: each week i start to become sick with something new, but combat it with major doses of Airborn. I've been told this is residual mono effects that last up til a year, yum i can't wait! great seeing friends in a whirl wind visit. oh and my mom made my fav. carrot cake, such a wonderful treat i wished i could bring it back. OH OH and i travel avec Porter Air....the best new thing in air travel my friends, serioiusly great!

2) J and I went to upstate New York and stayed at a friend's farm. Was a wonderful brief getaway to see the fall leaves (which had yet to arrive), hike, tandum bike ride, apple pick, make cider and just relax, laugh and eat.

3)My fab friend J from Toronto came in exclusively to make my dreams come true upon the viewing of the one and only Madonna at Madison Square Gardens!! Madonna is a true rock star and i would pay much much more to see her again.

4) Just got back from Cincinnati where their motto is "Nothing to do and all day to do it", couldn't agree more. I'm sure it's a fabulous city with plenty to do, i just seemed to experience the root of this motto. While attending a clinical hypnosis certification conference we had limited time to get food and darn it there was nothing open just about every time we went out. Anyhoo, i'm home now for a while and am in the peak of paper writing (can't you tell this is why i'm writing a post!).

Just wanted you all to know that while it's becoming much much cooler...nothing like Toronto i hear, the leaves have just started changing , when they are in full gear i'll post pictures!

Almost a year

Who else is surprised...this blog has been in existence for almost a year and i feel like an update about school is necessary. This is why i'm here in the biiiiig apple anyways!

1) still in school, didn't drop out and join the big apple circus...although how fun would it be! After a one month break during the summer we are all back at it.

2)Am still loving NYC, but the realities of living in this city are setting in and the reality of the ending of my time in NYC is creeping in. Let's not think of it yet!!! I'm not, that's forshizzle!

3)Am FINALLY in a hospital interning in Child Life. I'm at Morgan Stanley-Columbia Presbyterian Children's Hospital of New York, it's a mouthful, but up there as one of the best pediatric hospitals! I'm in GREAT hands for learning. Currently i'm there one day a week and in January i'll be there five days a week.

4)Was rereading one of my posts from the very beginning, said something like, this year is not hard yet, but i'm told it's just a break before year two. Um yeah, sooooooo true! Here is how i spend my days, reading, writing, reading, researching and ummmm READING! Good news is the stuff is brilliant and will be sooooo useful. Without trying to be too detailed, I'm taking a play therapy class and an art therapy class. Lots of art practicing and pretty soon we'll be playing with kiddos!

5)I am still a nanny to E and N (who just turned 1 ie: i've been with them for over a year!!!). I only see them once a week because school is just too nutso, but i care so much for those little monky's it's hard to not see them every day. E is as silly and fun as always and N is a big walker and dancer. Oh man can those kids dance, my type of people!!

anyhoo big couple of weeks coming up and i'm waaaay late on writing about some of my summer adventures such as Coxton lake for labor day. Maybe i'll get to them, kinda like i get to old photos who need to get into albums ie: never!

Happy fall
ps: no fall leaves yet, still too freakin' warm. Promise to keep you updated though!

advertisements gone nuts

This is a terrible picture, but i can't seem to find this anywhere clearer unless i take it myself and i'm not brave enough to ask someone on the subway to move so i can take the picture.

Story:
Riding on the subway the other day i see this poster. I read it casually and then all of a sudden i'm like, wtf? what is this an ad. for?

Update:

So i wrote this post ages ago not sure if i'd post it, but i soon found out what it's for...although this is still debatable. Kanye has a vodka i guess...if you drink his vodka you become him. Oh woop dee doo let's all be crazy, high strung Kanye.
check out the commercial. I'm not sure if this is good advertising or terrible advertising. how the heck do you know it's for vodka unless you actually bother to look it all up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndDdNkonRc8
or this one from absolute
http://www.absolut.com/iaaw/?intro=1

Beware of what you ask for

So my old roommate and friend Jack came for a visit last week for approx. 32 hours on his way to Halifax. I'm not sure what it is about a blog, but he was begging me to have a post about him. I told him i only write about things that could be interesting or in times that i had a lot of fun...he had to really impress me. Anyways, the boy sure did try hard.

Begins with a fab morning walking down 5th and Mad. ave, birthday lunch at the Gordon Ramsey Restaurant (including his mild peanut reaction and fight with the manager), delicious dinner/wine and conversation, wrapping it up with rooftop drinks at the Empire Hotel and finally to secure his post on my blog, pizza at my fav. pizza spot Koronet.

Now why does pizza at Koronet secure his spot? because in classic Jack style after warning him the pizza is hot, having him balance a piece much longer than a dinner plate, and greasier and wetter than ummmm, well really greasy, he takes one bit and promptly drops it on the cement right outside the door. Realizing it is very delicious and he will miss out, he turns right around and buys another one. I laughed so hard i almost peed my pants (no joke!)

ohhhh jack, be careful what you ask for...you may not get your expected posting.


pizza on the ground


ohhhh delicious pizza!

how much time have i spent on this?!

I'm messing around on my blog behind the scenes page and it tells me i've posted 61 blogs (this will be 62) WHAAAAAAT?! there has got to be a mistake this means i have spent on average 61 hours of the past 10 months, probably more, writing on this thing. CRAZY!

Question is...who has actually read all 61 posts?!

Fabulous cupcake or gold star will be provided to that person

a cultural day

The other day was"Harlem Week"...or i guess it was week, but we went for a day of it. Same old street fair stuff except it was like the mecca of fried food and vats of lemonade and iced tea. One booth i walked by, Brooklyn Soul, claimed "Best soul food south of the Canadian border". No we didn't try any (snap), but i did/J needed an awkward picture of me standing in front of the sign drinking my togo container of lemonade (seriously, so big i could hardly get my hand around it).

Ps: don't you think that's a big claim to stake and dude a shout out to the Canadian's!!!

this is how lessons are learned

E is currently being potty trained. 97% of the time we make it to the potty, the 3% failure...our fault we don't get her there in time or we don't believe her when she has to pee for the 5th time in 30 minutes. For a 2 year old underpants are the ultimate reward for going pee pee in the potty. Hello Kitty, princesses and the plain colours all get the "aren't my underpants so pretty" and "don't i look so beautiful in my underpants".

Yesterday while getting ready to go out I ask E to put on her underpants and she kept refusing.
E. please put your underpants on
(screaming at me) My bum hurts. I'm NOT putting them on.
Come here and let me check.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...MY BUM HUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRTTTSSSSS
If you don't let me check, i can't fix it

While screaming NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO she proceeds to ball up her underpants, stick them between her checks, and put them in her face in which we got the
EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW scream and they were thrown on the ground. YUCKY

How could i not crack up sooooooooo hard and say between fits of laughter, that's where poo poo comes out what do you expect it to smell like? giggle giggle.

really good ad campaign or reality?

I am royally confused and am wishing i had taken a picture to try and better explain what i saw. Walking down Cannal street there was a poster on a telephone booth (yes they still exist) advertising a new beverage called "Tru Blood". The caption said, "All Flavor, No Bite".

I guess this can be explained in two ways.

1) there is a new HBO show about Vampires called "Trueblood" which starts in September...or at least this is what the internet is telling me.

2) there is a new drink on the market called "Tru Blood" it's for the humans who like to drink blood and be like vampires. After some research i learned it's synthetic, but seriously, GROSS!!!

I'm 98% sure it's all connected, but it's such good advertising for this blood drink, which is meant to be had with alcohol, AND has a website and commercials with no links to the HBO show. Check it out and let me know what you guys think. Has anyone else seen this? Kinda makes my skin crawl.

this guy makes me want to hurl!
http://io9.com/5024456/our-tru-blood-taste-test

The Tru Blood Beverage
http://www.trubeverage.com/

The only time i've cheated on a man

I've mentioned this previously, but i am not known to be any good at spotting famous people (anyone other than actors or musicians have zero chance of being noticed). An actor could pretty much walk up to me and introduce themselves as Angelina Jolie before i'd recognize them as famous. This is not to say though that i'm not totally aware of many actors/musicians past and current life works, 'cause i am.

Story:
The other day i'm walking to Whole Foods on a work "mission" and i'm waiting to cross the street.

Aimlessly looking around i make eye contact with a man in a van taxi right in front of me attempting to turn. Nice fedora, i think and i glance at the walk sign. I look back because now not only am i being watched, but ummmm, HOLY CRAP that' s not just a nice fedora, that's BRUCE WILLIS!!!

Side note: Bruce Willis is a pretty sweet thing to spot, i mean, he's no Sean Connery or Harrison Ford of the older gents, but still i'd pick him over....Sylvester Stallone or Chuck Norris....wait no i'd love to see Walker Texas Ranger in person (ohhhhh baby). ANYWAYS!

So Brucey and i were making eyes, he's oogling me, i'm oogling him....we totally eye f*cked and it was faaaaaabulous. Until his taxi driver decided to turn the corner and my quickie ended. Oh and his gf Emma Heming, i believe, was in the car. Nothing like her being involved in my afternoon delight.

Brucey baby, if you're reading this call me, it was great. We can do the taxi street thing again any time, or you can just introduce me to Demi. I'd eye f*ck her too.

nanny stealing

So i was almost stolen the other day...well, approached to be stolen, or so my boss J. thinks so.

Nanny stealing is very common and very very sneaky. You are at the playground or a class, you become friends with the mom, one day the dad is there and you becomef riends too and the next thing you know they are putting down comments like....do you like your job with family X.
My offer was must less obvious, so unobvious that i probably came off so naive they would have loved me.

Story:

N, E, J and I are all at the indoor play gym. N. and J are in a baby music class and E. and I are playing. E has a major melt down and J (the mom) and I switch kids for a few minutes. Now i'm in a baby music class with N. and he is just a crawling machine so i'm just casually following him around.

Mom and dad of child G. ask me as i pass the first time "He's adorable, is he your son?". This question happens all the time when i'm with the kids, my response is,

"oh my no, i'm their nanny. But thanks for thinking i look mature enough to have a child, let alone two. The other woman was his mother" (ps: who looks much more like her children than i do....go figure, she being their mother!)

Pass number two, the father instead of letting N. pass by, picks him up and they are now talking to me at warp speed and looking me firmly in the eyes (because class is currently happening and we are all singing and banging drums and who knows when jen will be back),

"We are looking for a live in nanny. Do you know anyone who may be available...we live in Staten Island", taking N. back and kinda scoffing, "ohhhh no i don't, i'm a full time graduate student and all the people i know have jobs and live in the city...sorry and good luck".

When J and i leave the play gym i mention the conversation to her...her response,
"the nerve, right under my nose they are trying to steal you"
"huh?"
"Before you came in we went around the circle and said a bit about our selves. My comment was i have two children N and E. They knew you weren't his mom, it was a line to bring you in. Shannon, watch out because parents are very sneaky."

Yes i can be naive, but did she really think i'd just sign up to live in Staten Island....dear god no...i'm too much of a snob for them

music in the park

So far summer in NYC has been amazing...nothing really sticks out specifically, but none the less over all i've been doing things i love. This past week though was especially summerific (ya'll like that word?).

A few months ago my friend L and I saw spice girls, then we saw Sarah Bareilles and now we are adding FEIST to this list of fun performances. It's been so ridiculously hot that more often than not there is an evening rainshower, hardcore, drenches everything and usually while it's soaking you through you can see the bright blue sky inching towards you. This is what happened to us on Wednesday night while we were waiting for Feist to perform. First i must tell you that while we were going through the gates to the outdoor venue at Prospect Park security was taking umbrellas and making a huge HUGE pile of them. My bag was so packed with stuff(was coming from work with many changes of clothes) that he looked at the top of my bag and said...is there an umbrella in there....Nope (yes there is)....you sure there is no umbrella in there...no umbrella (yes there is, it's bright green hard to miss)....okay, but i better not see an umbrella from you later....don't worry you won't (yes you will if it pours on us). I walk through the gates still with my umbrella and thank goodness we had it. The skies open up and about 30 people of 3000 pull out their umbrellas and we all crowd under them to protect us from the down pour, my umbrella included. Anyways, she put on a rockin' concert...no rain during her set and of course as it always happens i fall more in love with certain songs. Here is my always favorite, which is now higher up on the list.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWrNCCx2p5U


Two days later i was back at the same venue with J. to see Brazilian Girls. I didn't think i knew who they were initially until they started playing their euro/south american techno beats and i knew i had heard them before. It's hard not to dance, and like really really start dancing because it's just so much fun! Some of their more familiar songs are "pussy" and " le territiore", so go check them out....super fun!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m5ci_Xceo0


I've been told it's because of the baseball All Star game taking place here, but if it was baaaaaaaad job of advertising that. Here are the details-Bon Jovi comes to NYC's Central Park to play a free concert. Free tickets given out during the day, space for 50,000 people, major security throughout the park. I am not a Bon Jovi fan, but i am a fan of free music, chilling with friends and enjoying what could have been a crazy scene. Well it was such a crazy scene that the closest we got to Bon Jovi was across a street in the park with him behind those trees.



Here is what the New Yorks Times have as what it looked like....not sure i wanted to be with 50,000 of my closest friends



You gotta love New York summer music scene!

the 4th

It's tough being a nanny sometimes. I have managed to find a really amazing family to work for who take great care of me...now i don't luck into free dinners to their restaurants, or trips to the Hampton's or Europe, but i'm really happy. Now it is always great to be friends with the gals who do get these things, because i generally get brought along. Such as a time like the fourth of July.

We were in a bit of school break, many of the CLC gals are away working, at home, or just busy with outside NYC life. So 4 of us were around to celebrate the 4th in NYC. The original plan was to go to S and K's apartment for drinks, appi's and george forman bbq grilling and walking over to the east side to watch the Macy's/NBC 4th of July Firework show. What ended up happening was getting invited by one of E's amazing families to the NBC executed 4th of July party in Brooklyn. Here is what an NBC party looks like...free carnival, free booze, free food, free gift bags, crazy stilt performers, bleacher seating in possibly the best seats in ALL OF NYC (they do all the filming for the show here) and all the entertainment that you would have seen on tv.

After booting it to Williamsburg in Brooklyn in record time we were able to experience this amazing NY moment. Well it only got better! Perfect seating was upgraded to the "mosh pit" of the stage to see my fav. TV hottie, Tiki Barber and the gorgosity Natalie Morales....i'm melting she is so amazing (please see picture above). Anyways some other great people we saw in these spots were Gavin Degraw and Katherine McPhee...yeah pretty famous these days, but meh....NATALIE MORALES (i have a girl crush).

The main event was the fireworks, which are set off by 4 barges in the East River timed to music over the ages....that was NBC/Macy phrasing. Pretty amazing stuff and i feel very fortunate...what can top this next year? Anyways, we were rock stars and yeah so great! Thanks E for having such a great hookup!

Here is something random i experienced on the 4th. As a Canadian i often feel very patriotic for days like Canada day and in effect the 4th. Now for this event i wore blue and white (Because i own zero red....doesn't suit me) and when i left that house i looked around for people sporting their red white and blue...NO ONE! No small children in festive outfits....WTF?! I can't be the most patriot and i'm not even that patriotic. Anyways, needless to say when we got to the NBC party there was more red, white and blue but i'm kinda convinced that our wee bits of patriotism is why we were moved to the mosh pit, i'll take that any day!

Getting sick in the USofA

I'm not sure how to write this without it coming off making me either look very much like i've been living in the clouds (which is usually true) and without making me look like i'm not being cared for, which i very much am. I walk a fine line, but i felt this was a brief taste of how different the health care system is here.

Almost every girl in my program is health insurance free, which pretty much means if we get sick it's a big hefty bill to pay or hopefully it can be fixed by the walk in clinic at Duane Reade ie: Dr. Duane as i call them for a mere $95 or $85 if you tell them you're a nanny (way to go childcare!). Dr. Duane can do a lot, but what it can't really do is provide a consistent dr. or at least create that ever so important bond that a patient and dr. can create.

I must preface this story with...i do have health insurance (kinda), it's Canadian emergency travel health insurance which is reactivated every 102 days (or something of the sort). Pretty much the day i leave canada my days count down and then i have to step foot on Canadian soil and it's reactivated. Well i haven't been home since xmas so you can imagine my health insurance is nil as of now and isn't that always when our bodies decide to become ill.

Here's the story:
Went to San Diego for a conference last week of may, came back with a monster gland/tonsil and woke up in NYC rockin' a huge fever. M&D were in town and sent me to Dr. Duane to get checked out.

Tues:Dr. Duane 1 and I talked, discussed symptoms, he looked in my mouth, ears, eyes, poked stomach, did an instant strep test (seriously cool...10 min. results) and moved to "the gland" in which he declared, well other than the fever and the monster gland you are strep free and look perfectly healthy, you must be fighting an infection (enlarged tonsil and huge glad=cell fighting war). Do you have insurance? Nope, okay then, in two days you'll be fine, but if not take this prescription, and if you have any concerns or symptoms change please call me for a consult...here's my number.

Wed.wake up worse...it's just a cold i'll start getting better...i'm sure of it, the doctor says so!

Thurs. wake up worse...call the doc...he's not coming in today, but the med. assistant will call all day and he will get the doc to call back...I decide it's time for the prescription, my body can't fight this alone any more. Pharm say it can't be filled until tomorrow (friday)...no call from the doc.

Fri. still feel like crap, go pick up meds and begin treatment. still no doc call

Sat. crappy crap crap

Sun. what the hell is going on? I'm on drugs now it shouldn't be getting worse but better

Mon. I call Dr. Duane's office. Begging, pleading with the med assistant, i'm in so much pain and the white spots in my throat have me concerned.
Med. assistant calls and says come in and Dr. Duane 2 will check me out again for free
Dr. Duane 2 is a very nice, thorough doc, goes through all the motions and goes to "the gland". Declares a very serious case of tonsillitis and he is very concerned about the infection. Do you have insurance? Nope, okay...one free steroid butt shot and a free prescription of an antibiotic later i'm told i'll start feeling better by tomorrow. phew!

Tues: steroid shot makes my gland/tonsil feel like a million bucks...but still feel like crap

wed: steroid not working anymore...antibiotic not working...call the doc., he's not concerned yet, but says call him friday when he's back in the office to check in.

Thurs: noooo really what the heck is happening

Fri: call number= too many to count, visit 3
He looks in and in great concern says i need to see a specialist. Do you have insurance? Nope, okay, then you need to fly home sooner than thursday and see an ear nose throat specialist.
I freak out, call home and discuss options.
A specialist visit=a weeks worth of a nanny salary even with her "special discount". I need to interject, my parents of course offer to take care of me in these situations, but it reaches a point where flying home for $400 is cheaper than a doctors visit in NYC. The vote is i stay and see a specialist because flying won't be safe until swelling is down...so says my Toronto doc.
Specialist=very expensive 10 minutes, but piece of mind is reached and am now on a boat load of steroids

Sat-Wed=steroids are working, antibiotics are still not...what is going on? I'm like a petri dish of disease

Thurs: home to see my doc and started a new prescription by Dr. Duane 2...maybe it was all in my head but the second those antibiotics hit my tongue i started feeling better....obviously all in my head.

So here is what i've learned 3 weeks later and currently disease and pain free
1. keep health insurance up to date because it changes the way you are treated

2. dr.'s are very conscious about the lack of insurance and will help you as much as they can to a certain point where your health just becomes more important (this is a good thing)

3. treatment in Canada is great it just takes longer and is "free". Toronto doc. response to how i'd be treated differently...i'd have sent you to emerg. they get everything done faster...emergency surgery, drain fluid and IV antibiotics/steroids, done and done, but first an 8 hour wait in emerg. hmmmm i'm not sure which i pick.

Here is what i do know. coming home is always nice whether it's for a doctors appt. or not. i love seeing my family and friends.

whoot whoot jodi (here's your shout out...now leave me alone).

Sweating it out in the big city

I'm sure it's been happening everywhere, but here in the big apple we've all been sweating it out with record highs in the 100's (F) aka 40's (C) ...bruuuuutaaaalll!

Ways you know it's too freakin' hot
1) tar is remelting on the street
2) your rubber flipflops get stuck to the sidewalk if you stand for too long
3) stagnant puddles are electric green with growth
4) cockroaches go swimming at night in any water they find
5) many rolling black/brown outs
6) it's better to be in a way stinky subway tunnel than above ground
7) you can drink 3 litres of water and not need to go to a restroom ever because you sweat it all out before it reaches your bladder (true story)
8) violent heat lightening storms every night
9) sleeping sans pj's just doesn't keep you cool
10) 87F or 33C feels cool

SATC New York style

I keep having people ask me about whether i saw the Sex and the City movie since i'm a big fan of the show (always have been) AND i live in the city where it all takes place. Here is my quick thoughts on it...

capital "A" MAZING.

Not going to lie, saw it twice and loved it both times.

The first time (Thurs night at 12:01 am or does that make it Friday?) was just a beautiful experience for my eyes. The colours, the clothes, the shoes....le sigh....i'm melting just thinking about it (oh wait, maybe because it's a thousand degrees outside, but that's another blog post).

The second viewing was to truly capture the story (ps: obviously not much to it) and because my fab friend R. came to visit and rearranged her plans purely to see the movie with me.

I loved it, but I keep having to defend the movie and it's becoming ridiculous. Yes there were high expectations, but any true fan would agree that there should never have been a movie (and goddess please let there NOT be a sequel). The show was wrapped up in such a pretty bow and having the movie was just a little extra somethin' somethin'.

Anyways i had a fabulous time with six of my lady friends. We had drinks at the Empire Hotel (Ushers back up dancers were rockin' out in the booth next to us....saweet!) and played the SATC trivia game while we waited in our seats...we know our sh^t! Oh and i was asked to be part of New York Magazine or was it TONY magazine's poll on the movie ("how big a fan are you"..."i am here at 12:01 and i ampretty sick with tonsillitis. I'd say i'm a true fan!)

Go see it!

NYC weddings and a trip to NJ

I am currently grieving. In my Child Life class "Loss in children's lives" there is a class on the types of loss people experience and the ways people grieve and they are all valid. Well i just spent the past three days with E and N (the kids i previously worked for) at their new house in New Jersey and once again i have no idea when i'll see them again...oh wait you guys don't know the recent news. They moved to New Jersey a few weeks ago, kinda suddenly because their apartment was too small. Right, so now that you're caught up i'll continue. It's been two and half weeks since i last saw them and when they are that little a lot can change. E is 2.5 and N is about 8 months, lots of growing and lots of forgetting. Anyways, i'm grieving, the three of us hung out so much this weekend because their aunt was getting married and their parents were super busy with wedding prep, and now i'm back to nada, just a bunch of stories and memories. There are lots of stories and i'm not even sure where to begin. Here's an attempt and a bit of story separation.

For those who'd rather read about a classic NY wedding:
This to me was quite the wedding. Bridal party and photos taken at the Palace hotel (ie: where Serena lives on G.G. for those in the know, xoxo) and the service, cocktail hour and reception at the Harmonie Club (they consumed 3 floors of a 7 story building)...all black tie. Oh and did i mention it was three days, yeah big rehearsal dinner, and post wedding brunch. All was fabulous though, beautifully decorated, beautiful flowers, beautiful chuppa, supposedly good food...there was no skimping. Oh and of course the wedding was written up in the New York Times which while i'm told is not AS exclusive i'm told is still exclusive enough i've heard of others being denied.My role as the nanny was to the wrangle the two kids. E. being the flower girl and N being nothing but a cute baby dressed in a suit...seriously cute!! lots of awwwwwing when they came down the aisle. Moral of the story, if this wedding was under 100,000 i would be shocked!

For those who'd rather read about the kids and NJ
I need to first explain that E. and N. are rarely affectionate. No snuggling, cuddling, kisses, hugs nothing (this is the opposite of their parents). It took me months before either of them decided i was special enough to get anything remotely affectionate ie: a head resting on the shoulder during a story, or allowing you to hold/rock them to sleep. I have decided that it's an age thing, but also that they only share when they really really mean it. I'm down with that, it means more and usually makes me cry when it occurs because it is rare and genuine. The other day, we are mid conversation about things we like and it goes like this, E says,"I like my bed, i like my toys, i like to play, i like shannon, i like milk, i like baby beluga"...um reverse she likes me and i'm up there with playing, milk and baby beluga...this is a big freakin' deal!! Also, I'm changing E's diaper and she's having an exhausted meltdown when she says, "Shannon....I love you". I had tears in my eyes as i respond with, I love you too E. K, enough of that because when N. decided to rest his head on me while i was holding him the other day and not pinch or try to back flip out of my arms i was in heaven...i was going to be so sad to not see them again.

And finally for those who'd like to read about both
E. was the flower girl and N. was the cute boy who got a ride down the aisle with their mom and dad. Well E. loved being the flower girl, she talked about it for hours before and after the wedding, i'm sure she is still going on about it. Her role was to put handfuls of flower petals all the way down. Well a two year old could care less, two handfuls later she's at the end of the aisle and dumps the whole basket on the floor. No biggie, but when she was supposed to stand at the front she decided to announce loudly, "E. still wants to be a flowergirl. E is not done being a flowergirl", until i dragged her out of the ceremony before the bride had a meltdown over a two year old wrecking her wedding. After we left she wouldn't stop talking about how pretty she looked and how she did such a good job with the flowers (true she was so pretty and she did do a good job...it's just kills me to hear a two year old brag about it).

Right so that's it...NJ although very close to the city is so very far. It's a bit of a fantasy land, right out of a magazine...or at least where these guys live. They have a lawn, and animals running around (ie: rabbits, chipmunks, and foxes). It's a different world where darkness and silence exist, where stars are visible in the sky, birds chirp when the sunrises and kids play on the street together. It also has E and N and no matter how exhausted they make me, i love seeing them.

Bowling...yes a NYC experience

Bowling is a very normal thing for pretty much every city in North America, but here in NYC finding the space to put a bowling alley is pretty rare. Two places in NY that i'm aware of have bowling, Chelsea piers (child friendly) and Bowlmor (pretty sure children would be scared of the escort looking waitresses). So as a celebration of C's birthday and being done classes we went to the infamous Bowlmor. It's a double decker bowling alley, full bar, restaurant, dance club, yadda yadda yadda. Monday nights are black light bowling or was it just dark and strobing lights, i forget already, they have a wicked WICKED DJ and all you can bowl from 10-2am. ps: 4 hours goes by fast!

Turns out i'm a TERRIBLE bowler, or at least a terrible sober bowler. If i thought you would all be interested in hearing how many times i threw gutter balls in the first two frames i'd share that, but the best part was when i repeatedly bowled leaving one pin standing, seriously like 5 times in a row. This became really annoying, thus making Shannon really annoying. New tricks as to how I could get that last pin, no avail, but i did get a sweet bruise on my knee. anyhoo, i did get a strike, please refer to the non- posed picture...i am obviously very animated during excited moments. And we had a great great time, we will go bowling again.
Next adventure is possibly the Child Life conference in San Diego next week...this weekend is a trip to NJ...whoop whoop!

free time = no time management

It's funny what happens to a person when they go from being so insanely busy to having time for themselves. Nothing gets done. example a. the blog.

I went to paris a few weeks ago (yeah weeks now, crazy!!) and had written two posts about it, both i'm not satisfied with, so opted to not post at all. The thing is is that Paris was amazing, the reason i went was amazing and i really do need to write because well it's paris!!
So here goes, a combo of two posts and hopefully you guys will be happy to see i've resurfaced to have NY fun! ps: ignore how it appears this was recent, it's from a few weeks ago.

I took a vacation last weekend, waaaay to short, but I am still in deep with school work so I couldn’t exactly add more time away. My fabulous cousin L. got married in Paris (where she lives with her husband...ahhhh HUSBAND!!) and I was fortunate enough to be invited and then taken (THANKS M&D!!). Of course there has to be a bit of drama before i take off, what's the point of writing if there wasn't.

Riding to JFK in the Stupid Shuttle (aka supershuttle, which i will never ride again, I will take recommendations seriously about taking the train). Shuttle arrives, I ride with 5 other people getting to listen to “air radio” and their very serious discussion about UFO’s. This was painful, especially because I think I was the only person whose primary language was English (all French) who didn’t seem to care or understand. BUT the clincher (please don’t shoot me) we drove the entire way there in 25C heat, on the highway windows down…all stop and go traffic, painful, brutal, slow, stinky…no air movement all of us sweating except for the driver, I guess. I never complain about being hot as I’m a cold cold person (in more than one way) and usually regret requesting cold air, but I was about to walk to the airport because outside would be cooler (and faster?). Yes new york has started the sweltering heat and it’s only the end of april…ah I’m so excited! (side note and update...it is now very chilly in NYC...averaging 12C a day)

K, but seriously I would never miss talking about Paris especially because it was such a fabulous occasion. Living in Paris would be incredibly romantic, and a marriage is equally so.

Setting: wedding in a small chapel off of the Sacré-Coeur Basilica, views of Paris, hoards of tourists watching, ahhhmazing. Reception on a boat anchored in the Sienne (sorry D. i don't know my boats) at the base of the Eiffel Tower. Lots of eating, dancing and drinking.

Day two required recoup, but also the cheesiest touristy activity...a trip down the Sienne on the Bateau mouche. As cheesy and touristy (the tour is given in 5-8 languages the entire route) as it is, it is the best way to see parts of Paris. Paris is gorgeous!!

I could gush and gush about Paris, but i'll stop, everyone needs to make a trip there and i have every EVERY intention of going back again. Not enough time to wander and explore, not enough time to get my french working again, just not enough time.

I am just very happy I was able to see my family (including my grandad who had never visited paris) as we appear to be geographically drifting further and further away. But don't worry, for now i'll be in NYC for a while...this place is fabulous, even if i have to listen to radio shows about UFO's.

I don’t care for your fairytales

Although I’m in the depths of school work and it is a constant comparison of who has more books piled and papers being printed, a few of my friends and I found time to relax the other day with a concert. For those of you in Tdot, Irving Plaza is very similar to the Phoenix Concert Theater. Open venue, all standing, drinks, intimate, all though you are packed like sardines. The concert we saw was Sara Bareilles, most well known for her music video “Love Song”, but now one of my fav’s for her songs "fairytale" (where the blog title comes from), "gravity", "many the miles"…I really could go on and on basically listing the entire cd. Sadly, she is still on cd one, putting cd two out soon soon, so she says!!
There is something about seeing a musician perform their songs in person that you fall more in love with their music and I have fallen way deeper for her music. Not to mention that she brought some wicked openers, David Ford (from the UK) and Rachel Yamagata (seriously amazing!!). Two new cds I will be getting. I just wanted you guys to know that yes I am really lame with my busy school life (count down to May 6…for a two week break), but I am still getting out (a bit).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJYUgz5xUco

Must be Spring!

Saturday I was on my way to school when i turned on to Broadway and saw a street fair...the first street fair of the season!! This means spring has arrived and the season of street fairs is amongst us again. This means weekends of bbq'd corn, crepes, cheap cheap thai food, 3 for $10 pashmina's and of course my fav. the ability to buy socks and underwear for uber cheap out of bins (if only the gross factor didn't overwhelm me i'd be go shopping for undies!).

Although the street fair is an official city thing that has happened for spring, a few weeks ago i started noticing all the flowers coming up, the trees in bloom and most if not all of the apartment buildings shed the old wintering flower boxes for more updated and pretty spring flowers. My building has yet to remove the pine boughs and plant flowers, i'm hoping this week we get our flowers, but next door they are sporting some goooooorgeous hydrangeas.

I will take pictures soon...i wish i could capture the smell (of the flowers and trees, not the city)...the trees are changing the whole smell of the parks, loove it!

Star Struck

I'm terrible at spotting "famous" people. I'm sure i've said it before, but unless they are dressed like they are attending some awards ceremony or being hounded by the media i will walk right past them...which i know happens all the time...except for the past few days!

Part One:

It was last friday i'm pushing N. around in his stroller through the west village trying to get him to sleep because construction is driving us all insane....another story for another day. Rightio so it has been raining all week and friday was no different, overcast, wet, cold, BUT there was a woman wearing sunglasses walking towards me...clue one....who is wearing sunglasses on this gray day. So i looked a little harder and realized...JODI FOSTER!!!!! Now only because i'm so cool i was pulling out my cell phone to text my brother something completely unrelated, well of course it also looked like could have been about to take her picture...i got nervous and quickly put my phone away. That was my experience with her, but i was soooo happy!


Part Two:

Yesterday i'm pushing E. home in her stroller and coming towards me was one of my all time favorites PARKER POSEY. Now it's only natural to stare just a bit more than you want because you're not sure if it's them or not, but i def. looked too long...i met her eyes. ahhhhh soooo excited i was glared at by PARKER POSEY (ps: i learned that her real name is actually parker posey AND her middle initial is C...nice initial huh, haha). Anyways, she was chewing gum, talking on her cell, holding roller blades and her mannerisms are EXACTLY the same as how she acts....i got shivers and tried my hardest not to hit her with the stroller.

I will obviously keep you all posted on any further exciting sightings

A night on Broadway

My fabulous friend M came for a visit this week and part of a newbie coming to NYC is a trip to see a Broadway production, so we saw "THE BEST MUSICAL.EVER." aka A Chorus Line (this is what the program stated). A Chorus Line is a must see partly because it's been on stage for a while...ummm well since 2006, but this is the 1975 revival, but hey 1975...it's a classic in my mind. Anyhoo we went to TKTS at South Street Sea Port and there it was for a discounted price of $61 we were set for the night (ps: original ticket price i believe was $120 plus...YEAH sweet discount!). Our seats were rockin' at the 26th row and slightly to the right, here's the problem...of course why would i bother with a story if there wasn't a problem. This show doesn't contain sexuality or inappropriate child language...not really at least, it's like a pg 13 Disney movie (unlike many plays out there now, *cough* Spring Awakening ps: AMAZING!) so there were many kids, in my opinion too many kids.

It starts with the kid in front of me who would alternate between sitting on his dads lap to his chair in front of me. anytime there was anything slightly riskay the parents would shoot looks over at him, that stuff is obvious if you're looking forward. I guess i'm just happy there was no whispering.

Next was the heavy breather next to M. He was probably 14 and didn't know the concept of silent breathing. Since i am about to work with kids with many different needs i always like to give the benefit of the doubt for things like that, maybe it's a condition he can't control...well here is something he could control, rolling up his program a million times and unrolling, yeah distracting.

AND the final interesting event of the show was the sneezing child. I know i exaggerate, it makes a story so much better (please refer to the previous sentence...a million times, how long was this freakin' play...only 2 hours i'm pretty sure a million is completely impossible). But here is a truth, a kid a few rows behind us had a major allergy or something but he kept sneezing, honestly every 2.5 minutes. It was crazy loud, big whined up, no attempt at muffling the sneezing and then a loud finish (vocal and a type of sigh). It reached a point that near the end of the show audience members couldn't contain giggles and AND after the final curtain call a cast member came on stage and told the person gazoontite...seriously crazy loud.

Moral of the story...great play, fun dancing and songs, humourous characters! If you get frustrated with children move onto something else...i'm a very tolerant and patient person when it comes to children (borderline saint) and i was getting annoyed. Your call, but given the chance to see if for free i'd go again...even if i had to sit next to sneezy, sleepy and sniffles.

Almost spring here...pictures of the park soon to come!!

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Some of the joys about living in NYC is the amount of shows that get taped in this city, and the amount of free tickets given out.

For Xmas this year my dad gave me a wonderful present...4 tickets to see The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. The joke about his present to me was that he was reserving them at the beginning of December and he wasn't sure if the writers strike would be over. He did well choosing a date and also since it was so far in advance we were hoping i'd be able to get out of work, not have a conflict with school and that waiting in line wouldn't mean i froze my buns off. Well 2 of the 3 worked out...i did freeze my buns off!


I'm not sure if any of you have ever been to a taping of a show such as this, but it is a very interesting experience. It all starts by waiting outside on the street--arrived at 3:30 (even with reserved tickets) out in a line for 2 hours, you get the reminders, no garbage, go to the bathroom you can't once you're in, no cell phones, no cameras etc etc etc. Then you are let in 5:30-6ish (i follow rules so i had my phone off and had no clue what time it was), next you sit some more in the freezing cold studio, BUT you listen to rockin' tunes...now i understand why everyone at Ellen is dancing before she does her show, finally they bring out the "pre-show". This comic, already forgot his name, was pretty funny, but he's everything about a comic i hate...demeans people, but he got the crowd worked up....THEN the main event. Jonny S comes on does his own chatting with the audience thing (SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO FUNNY!!!!!!) and the show begins.
Basically we sat for 30 minutes, cheering and laughing as they filmed, waiting for commercials, special guest and guest correspondent. ps: Elliot Spitzer being the butt of all jokes was GRRRRRRRREAT!! Way to go prostitute ring scandals (ps:pretty sure the election is on the back burner for now). And that was it....we left at 7pm....what an afternoon!

You know those types of funny where you smile so hard your cheeks hurt, or your front teeth dry out....maybe it's just me, but i was loooosing it. I had such a great time and now i'm trying to plot a trip to chicago to see oprah or any other live show in the city here....great fun!

Updated: Adventures at W110th St.

The construction has begun and pretty soon will be done. They built a crane on top of the scaffolding that protects the pedestrians and sidewalk ....seriously!!??
They built it up and it's attached to the side of the building (does that seem safe after the roof fell off due to wind, i think not)
I missed the removal of the roof molding as i was at work, i couldn't exactly skip work for days on end hoping something would happen, but it happened successfully.

Now i want you all to know that although this is a very big crane i do not live too close to it. I'm sure many of you have heard about the tragic crane collapse on the upper east side...really sad and scary since this city is full of huge cranes. I feel safe with this crane, and don't worry, since the instillation of the crane on the roof of the scaffolding i have def. not walked underneath and now i have zero intention of walking anywhere near that crane....super creepy that it's attached to the side of the building!!

ps: the size of the crane is hard to see...it's probably 40 feet long, the metal structure it stands on is at least 10-12 stories tall, the metal cubes that are stacked are 3 feet by 3 feet. I don't get the physics of this thing. Those window cleaning platforms seem safer than this!



orange=crane platform

Adventures at W110th!

I may not be leaving my apartment doing cool New York things, but not leaving my apartment yesterday had me seeing an architectural miracle/nightmare. While all you Torontonian's were drowning in snow we were drowning in rain and CRAZY winds....well if you ask my friends on the east side it was only windy on the west side so i'll rephrase that, the west side of New York had CRAZY winds. I'm not good at giving measurements to things like wind so i'll just show you in pictures.

This was taken last night (Saturday) at 8:15... notice anything different? look at the top of the building...no it's not a jumper...although it kind of is.



A daytime picture may help

What you see here is the top of the buildings fancy roof molding which has blown off, or is hanging on by a thread....and thread is not an exaggeration...this thing was flaaaaaping in the wind....creepy stuff!

My friends were waiting for me to meet them at a bar at 9 and at one point i called and said i may not come because there was potentially a really crazy thing to see happen...how would they pull up 20 feet of roof molding? But then i thought about how i had been home writing for most of the day and i was a real dork if i spent the rest of my night not writing, and not out with my friends, but standing at my window watching cops, firemen and a few other of NYC's finest do their handy work. Well after talking to my doorman on the way out he promised to give me the low down when i returned. His comment "You're leaving? But look at this...your friends should be coming here and they'd better appreciate what you're leaving for them". I told him they would appreciate it, but i also knew they were probably placing bets on whether i would show after calling so excited that a huge chunk of my sidewalk may be demolished by a falling piece of roof molding.

When i returned home nothing had changed, a few less cops, it seemed like they had some how tied down the roof to the side of the building. I asked L. my doorman what happened and he said, because you know how doormen know all, they were going to bring in a crane to fix it. Who knew when that would happen, but how else would it get done. I went to bed knowing that by not holding a window side vigil i may miss something, but i also had faith in the fire department that they knew how to tie a piece of roof to the side a building well enough that i wouldn't miss a thing. I was right.



This was taken at 12:30 pm Sunday...it's hard to see the scaffolding on the sidewalk, but that's what's happening so far.


They aren't any closer to removing the piece of roof, but now it's so much clearer as to how scary this really is!! Thank goddess they put up the scaffolding to protect the pedestrians below...ps: i have no intention of ever walking underneath that scaffolding, i saw how it was built...pieces of metal siding and plywood....oh yeah that's safe and will protect me from the gravity force of a huge piece of roof.


I'm assuming more work will come to remove this slab of roof/molding whatever you call it so this blog will be updated when the whip out the big guns. Tomorrow could be interesting...should i skip work for this?

answer: what is a lot . Thanks for reminding me!

Question: How pathetic am I?

So I was reading through my favorite blogs and was thinking about how much work it is to post everyday. How do those bloggers do it?! Keep us entertained and make us keep on clickin' back to them. Anyways this led me to see when i last posted, Feb 22....holy crap what the hey have i been doing that i haven't posted since Feb 22?!!! Do i not do anything fun any more? Do i sit at home in my apartment silently clicking away at my computer not exploring the great city of new york? The answer would be yes alec that would be right. What am i doing? The answer would be the reason i'm living in NYC....flippin' school!!

Here is my day

8am(i will not tolerate ANY comments on how i get to sleep in, i'm a princess!)-wake up to a really lame radio station which on multiple occasions makes me laugh because it is soooo lame and therefore so am I

8:30- get out of bed, watch today show, check email (do not respond because i'm a terrible person), make a breakfast i don't find filling (can anyone recommend a good breakie that doesn't involve nut products and has enough protein to last the morning? please no meat and eggs are tiring)

9:30-get ready for work. really this isn't too hard but i have to decide which outfit or pair of jeans i don't mind getting completely yucky. The right shoulder of all my shirts is always spit stained and most of my jeans have food stuck to them...goooo dark pants!
The other part of getting ready is estimating how much school work i'll get done at nap time. If i'm lucky it's 30 minutes of me time, time to make lunch and time to get some reading in. So do i lug the 10lb text to work assuming i may not get lucky that day and i'm just carrying around weight, or should i be optimistic and bring it...who knows, maybe the kids will sleep at the same time (fat chance) and they will both sleep for 2 hours and not just 30 minutes (fatter chance). I always vote lug the text because i am an optimist and i'm the queen at convincing E. we should sit and read our own books together and N. gets a bottle feeding on one leg and "Meeting Children's Psychosocial Needs" gets the other. I swear i'm a good nanny, but some days i'm a bit selfish....really they don't care and E. will always tell me if she isn't having fun "E. no like this, let's play".

10:30-board train to work trying not to touch any dirty poles (ie: all surfaces in the train are dirty) and also trying not to be touched inappropriately by someone taking advantage of the over crowdedness which is NYC's trains.

11-arrive at work. Along with removing my shoes i remove my normal tone of voice because it appears babies are like dogs, they respond to high pitched sounds. They laugh and smile and make the funniest noises which my voice just doesn't do unless annoyingly squeaky.

3:30 or 6-leave work, exhausted, dirty, smelling of a combo of poop and formula oh and all to frequent aquafore in my hair (the kids have killer excema, that stuff works miracles so i deal). Also if you're thinking, how does it get in your hair? You've clearly never been with a 2 year old or baby. No body control and they touch EVERYTHING!!!
Riding the train to school I escaping into my Ipod listening to Ira Glass' "This American Life"...often i end up laughing out loud making me look like the crazy one to avoid on the train...i play that well

4:45 or 7- start class. Either start time i'm in class until 9 pm. Thankfully i'm in class with my fabulous friends so it's like social hour x2 or x4. My saving graces of the day!

9:15-head home, eat dinner, read emails, attempt at responding, do dishes (realistically i look at them hoping they will get done on their own), do homework ...time really flies by before bed

12:30-1am- go to sleep knowing i get to do it all over again tomorrow!

That my friends is what i do, day in and out. You are right technically i shouldn't be sleep deprived, but i loooove my bed and i love my sleep so i'm usually completely exhausted at the end of the day. I also don't want you to think i'm actually in my apartment all the time, but who wants to hear about a movie I saw, or going out for drinks at the dive down the street. We can take a vote i'll write about it, but it won't be pretty.

I promise i'll do something fun soon so you can hear about my adventures, but for now it's just paper writing and reading. Here is hoping "reading week" as we canadian's call it will be a blast...read: not having to go to school in the afternoon, hangin' with friends and catching up on my DVR'ed shows!

RENT

This week has been a week of the old/younger me meets the new/older me and it's all been very cultural...new york style. Spice Girls on Monday, and RENT on Wednesday.

For those who are unaware RENT is going dark, i believe, in June. They leave here and are traveling around to ensure everyone gets a chance to hear an amazing soundtrack and see some great acting. Toronto is on that list of places visited.

When RENT first came out in Toronto it was crazy popular for high schoolers to go, get the cheap tickets and watch over and over again...that was not I as i was in boarding school, but I have seen it twice prior to my last Wednesday show and i just love it as much each and every time! The passion of friendship, family and the love between the couples, i could cry for Angel and Collins every time.

For those not able to see the play in the final days, the movie has all but two of the original RENT actors and while it's not the same i still liked it, heck i listen to the theatre soundtrack regularly to feel like i'm there!

Next on the cultural agenda...American Cup for gymnastics

I have been officially Spiced!

Some of you could care less about this so just skip this blog because i'm about to become that screaming teenager i once was (and clearly still am!).

I SAW THE SPICE GIRLS!!!!



It was an amazing moment, i was jumping up and down with my friend Lauren, screaming and my heart rate was through the roof. The costumes (by Galliano), the routines, the choreography, the back-up dancers, the set and of course THE SONGS!!! ahhhh i nearly lost my voice from singing along with a few thousand of my closest friends.


One of my favorite parts was when Cruz Beckham was breakdancing during Mama...he's THREE!!!! AND i guess they have never pulled ALL the Spice kids up on stage. UBER CUTE and he's such a brave rock star of a kid!!!

I was telling my parents about the concert and they made the comment that it was only an hour and a half...my response was, it's entertainment, there is no variation, no originality or anything during the show...BUT it works and it's amazing!! Part of the reason why they are soooo great is that it's full of cheese (phony hugs and hand holding), amazing choreography they know to the T and the costumes which link them all together as a girl power group and make them look Amazing with a capital A!

This group was me in '96, full of energy, feeling the girl power and loving life (oh wait it still is!)....i'm so happy to have seen them especially since they are wrapping it up for good this time (i'm thinking a Grammy performance 30 years in the future, you know the academy loves that stuff).

Mission Accomplished

Next on my list is Madonna!

MPD + 2 party girls +drag queens =good times

So i have a visitor this weekend and it's great because it forces me out of the house for longer walks all over the place it also means i'm guaranteed a good time.
Place: Meat Packing District-->aka area for clubs and dancing
Time: much too late
Setting: a 3 story dance club playing bumping beats, sweaty and over crowded
I bet you're wondering why we would ever want to go to this place, it seems really bad...well it was until we hit the lowest floor and found where all the queens and gay boys were chillin'. This by the way makes for the best parties...they love good tunes, dancing and they always look great. In the presence of the queens we saw a walk off (think Zoolander), pose offs and of course dance routines. And the gay boys wanted to make sure we were having a fun time and that we come and chill with them. ahhh yes good times!

OH and get excited Spice Girls is tomorrow and a post will follow soon after that! ahhhhh i'm about to Spice up my life...again!!

translation from Canadian to American

So i've spent a lot of time in the US prior to my adventure to New York, but i've never come across so many differences and NY isn't that far from Toronto...here are some of the words that have come up in conversation.

litre- clearly there is a difference for canadian's and american's but i never realized people would get so confused when i said i was going to buy a 2 litre container of milk...ounces and quarts...what the hell join the rest of the world please (yes i'm being culturally insensitive, i just slapped myself on the back of my hand)!!Oh and litre is written on the milk containers, but it's written litER and not litRE...why even bother

lanyard=gimp- so there are some words that translate and others that people are mystified. Lanyard/gimp is that plastic string stuff that kids use to make bracelets, key chains (Napoleon Dynamites little girl friend made gimp key chains for those familiar with the movie and not gimp). So gimp just might be a "slang" word because i heard someone call it, boondoggle...yeah really boondoggle...but hey, gimp...that's pretty dumb too

plasticine=playdough (expect Waaaay better!it's firmer, dyed great colours with acrylic paint). So this one came up in my block building class, the teacher was discussing how kids use plasticine to make realistic objects when he stops mid sentence to explain to a bunch of teachers/child lifers what plasticine was. I leaned over to my friend and jokingly said, "so what you guys have never played with plasticine before and need a break down". She looked at me and said, "Um yeah, pretty much". Ahhh, oops. okay. Oh and did you know you can be allergic to plasticine...no idea what is in it to make someone allergic, but yeah you can be.

Pancake Tuesday=Day before Ash Wednesday or Mardi Gras (but really means nada here). So of course since i'm soooooo religious (read: not religious at all, but takes advantage of certain things) i need to celebrate one of my favorite Catholic days, Pancake Tuesday(Which i learned is just Canadian, Australian and British...huh, surprising). Basically i eat pancakes for dinner (this may have just been me and my family doing the dinner thing, but i looooove breakfast for dinner). So when i went to wish my friends happy pancake tuesday(i do these type of things) i got a few blank stares and a response of, don't you mean happy mardi gras? Ummm noooooo comeon of all the days the US should have taken from the Brits this wasn't one!! Oh and for your information IHOP referred to it as "National Pancake Day"...nice try IHOP

Franglais=French and English at the same time. So i've got this bad habit of talking and every so often throwing in a french word. IE: "Shannon you there?" "Oui Oui" or "call before you come up SVP"...of course it has no meaning here, but i never realized it until once again i got blank stares. Also how can people use RSVP and not know what it means...IT'S FRENCH!! But don't worry a little drinking=shannon whips out the spanglish, oh and that makes sense here...but just barely.

GIANTS WIN...New York erupts!

I'm not even sure where to begin when talking about the Super Bowl...is it with the new love of my life (no not football, but Eli Manning...without his sweaty teen stache), the hilarious advertisements or the rockin' Tom Petty and his weave. Ahhh Super Bowl an event which i have always enjoyed, but now i can say that i actually understand and thoroughly enjoyed it! A tradition we Child Lifers will continue. Since no one wants to hear about the play by plays...because really i've already forgotten most of the technical stuff...i've compiled a list of my favorites things about yesterdays game


10) Even before the game started people were yelling and honking and my grocery store was sold out of all the Bud beers...wait is that a regular new york day though?

9) The red carpet...So my friend Kegan laughed at me when i asked about a red carpet for a major event such as this, he scoffed "it's football". Then when i arrived at the party he said, so did you see Ryan Seacrest's red carpet....WHAAAATT...yeah well i guess John Travolta and a few others walked the carpet before taking their seats at the game, and i missed it!

8)I'm not poking fun at Bill Belichick because he's the coach for the rival team, but i have a few questions regarding his sports wear. This being the cut off sweatshirt. My friend Erin had a lot of issues because of all people who could wear anything, he chooses the cut off sweat shirt and not a nice vest with a monogrammed Pat's logo...hehe, yeah right

7) Paula Abdul and the entertainment- So Paula did a rather "interesting" performance...a flashback to her opposites attract era, but she is now 20 years older, but paula still has an amazing body and she really does try work that stage. BUT Alicia Keys, ahhmazing...ah i can't wait for when she does a half time show! Oh and Tom Petty warmed my heart. I love to see he and the heart breakers still getting their groove on...but his weave was a little bit bizarre who told him it was okay to wear his hair like that.

6)HD football watching...It's like being at Imax. The colours are so vibrant, it moves so fast, it's like being at the game...it's the ONLY way to watch sports i've decided.

5) food...ahhh food-Super Bowl=lots of food and boy can a bunch of girls bring it. polenta chili, choco filed pretzels, real onion dip, mini pizza's, ginger bread...and beer ahhh beer.

4) Advertisements- my theory was due to the writers strike the ads would be amazing...not amazing, but still here are some of my favs...Doritos and the catching of the rat, the talking etrade baby...the Sobe thriller lizards...and the 2 Jackie Moon (will ferrell) budlight ads (ps: budlight, go suck one, hehe)...well you check them out and decide...sooo many that i was laughing over
http://www.spike.com/
ps: for those who know me, the Fedex carrier pigeon commercial haunted my dreams last night, chills...what sick ad exec. okay'd that ad?!

3) How the MVP gets a car...WHAT...isn't there no I in team? ps: isn't a Caddy Escalade gone hybrid a bit backwards...does that not equal a regular cars gas consumption? just checkin'

2) The NY Giants won...of course it makes the list of favorite things about the game

1) "House" after the game- let's be realistic here "House" is always number one for me even if the Giants did win

Blue 42, Blue 42, hut hut huuuut---what does that mean anyways?!

Here is what i know about football and the super bowl (i must defend myself first because basketball is my sport and not football....nothing like beefy guys bashing into each other! Yeah that's hot! )
Back to the list

1) there is amazing entertainment, halftime show (ps: Tom Petty this year...is Paula Abdul still performing? that would be great!), fireworks and pre-game entertainment. Great stuff, but i still think Prince is numero uno!

2) Advertisers spend MILLIONS on these crazy advertisements (beer and cars) which i've never been fortunate enough to see during the actual super bowl, only afterwards on the internet....gooooo Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

3) Getting to host the super bowl is like getting to host the Olympics...a pretty big deal figured out years in advance...yeah Arizona, woop woop!

4) pre-show does not equal the red carpet like my favorites the grammy's, oscars, SAG...you know...i still don't know what it means, but i've been told if i think red carpet i'll be disappointed. I'm gearing up for lots of old video footage, yeah( can you hear my excitement!)

AND FINALLY!!!
5) I will be watching my very first super bowl in the USA this year(i've watched many in Canada)...and i'm sooooo excited!!


So if any of you are like myself...not in the football know and i'm telling you now...the New England Patriots and the New York Giants are playing against each other this Sunday Sunday Sunday (do you hear the echo?). There will be a post game wrap up report...oh don't you worry! I would never disappoint!

Walking in the shoes of others...something i must practice more

I consider myself a taller than the average woman at the height of 5'8", but today walking down the street i managed to get into a mass of about 8 models and felt pretty darn short. How did i know they were models, well other than the fact that they were 6' +, sticks, wearing cropped jackets, black leggings, tights or nothing and enormous heels you start to assume.

This is when i started wishing i paid more attention to the models on Project Runway, or America's Next Top Model (although i'm pretty sure that's finished) because these are probably the only models who are a)poor enough that they are forced to walk amongst us "short" people b)not being harassed by the paparazzi and c)hanging out around Pratt/union square area.

Anyways, i felt kinda (but only a little bit) bad for them...soooo many people were gawking at the dolled up, skinny sticks as they paraded down the street...oh and it was freezing....why aren't they in more clothes they'll freeze to death, but i guess freezing to death is better than starving to death. I wonder which will happen first to these ladies? Not a life i envy.

ps: did i mention i'm a bad person...you'd never guess from this sweet face

Let us compare

So back in the fall (November to be specific) i posted a picture of New York's Central Park and the changing of the leaves. I thought you'd all be curious to see what it looks like now...kinda depressing, but still oh so beauteous.
Oh and this is the EXACT same location for both pictures

Block Building 101

Soooo what did you do this week... WELL i went to a week long block building class and i'm a convert(be thankful i didn't say a convert to Scientology)! I don't even really know how to start explaining the amazing things about blocks, but if you're interested to hear me go off on it give me a shout. All i can say is that it brings out the most amazing things in children!

Anyways, there were 4 Child Life students in this class of 15 and of course since we looooove each other we did our final-grade determining (just kidding) block building project together. We were told we could build ANYTHING within 30 minutes (do you know how hard that is!...such pressure). We chose to create a fantasy hotel resort. Our resort had a grand entrance with elaborate driveway, a semi circle hotel with a view onto the pool which has a water slide and swim up "snack bar"(read pool bar). There are colourful towels and floating raft to relax on, oh and of course the cabana with cabana boys to wait on us...this is a resort aimed at da ladies...but we do need some handsome single boy guests to keep us company too ;) ahhh girls can dream. During these chilly winter days enjoy and drift into our fantasy resort... the more the merrier.