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.

CAN I REALLY!? hehe

"you could WIN A TRIP TO NEW YORK CITY"
Always nice receiving mail directed at those NOT living in the city...and yes if i ever won i would use it on those who are DYING to come to the city again!! (cough Jodi)

3 more down!

I started up calling the title of this blog 12 down with 6 to go, but i found it kinda depressing because i still have soooooo many left!!

BUT because i'm always an optimist i called it 3 more down...yes i'm referring to the turkey legs STILL!

Just call me Martha because this took me FOREVER to do, but isn't the crust so goldeny!!!

Next on the list of things to make...turkey soup, for now i'm loving the turkey pot pie, so far it's been 3 solid meals and i'm not bored yet! Anyone wanna come for dinner?!

Home is where you lay your head...the debate

During my visit in Toronto i had a friend kinda get upset after i made the comment, i can't wait to go home to new york. She asked how could i call NYC home when i had only been there for 4 months. It made me think, at what point do we start calling another place our home? Is it as basic as the place we rest our head, a place to call our own for a certain period of time, or is there a bond that forms between city and person.

I'm still thinking, but i'd love to hear thoughts

nothin' like a little texas fun!

Some of you may know that just about my entire family lives in various parts of the great (vast) state of Texas. We rarely get to see everyone and this year we made a quick and dirty visit. We hit up 3 cities (actually it was 4 when the weather in Amarillo proved too difficult for the plane to land and we landed in a city 2 hours away, to then drive to Amarillo).

Right, so in Austin we celebrated an early Barnett Christmas with 20 of our family members...actually that would be a small part of our rather large family. I think we average around 40 or 50 people when we are all in full force, who knows when this will actually happen (possibly never). Many of my cousins and I haven't seen each other in over 10 years and now they have babies. We Barnett's have growed up good!

Next off to Dallas where one of my mom's brother lives, as well as my grandmother. My memaw (my (me) grandma (ma)...get it?) was taking a wee vacay to Canada and sadly we missed her, but we took advantage of all her pre-made food and cozy house. Since my memaw was out of town and we were in Dallas for Christmas day my mom (update: dad thinks/claims it was his idea) thought it would be funny if we stayed at this over the top hotel called "Gaylord Texan". The Gaylord family is responsible for the Grand ole Oprey and a few other "classy" joints. Well, at the Gaylord Texan they are BIG into decorations! Huge trees, big "interesting" displays of longhorn cows in outfits, and a miniature train village all decked out as a snowy winter in Dallas (although there is generally no snow in Dallas, it was pretty chilly!) Well mom did a great job because evan and i started referring to it as Texas Disney world, or a long lost Vegas hotel because it was quite the site with daytime tourists. We wouldn't be surprised if a ride is put into this hotel in the near future because it's just so ridiculous. Oh and if staying at the Gaylord Texan wasn't enough Christmas dinner was had at the hotel sports bar. A 54 foot flat screen tv, lots oh margaritas (oh wait this was every night here in Texas) and my favorite was mom having a chilly cheese dog. Meeeerrrry Christmas!

As i said already we initially planned to arrive in Amarillo by plane, but in classic Amarillo form wind, ice fog and general nasty weather forced our plane to land in Lubbock. Lubbock is clearly an important airport and I know why. Any plane trying to get to Amarillo lands there as it is only a short Texas drive away. Although is has a measly 4 gates and one baggage claim it does have a well stocked Starbucks (NO dunkin donuts), which means it gets enough customers willing to pay inflated coffee prices in that airport they want to keep happy (Amarillo has one Starbucks for the entire city). I was only too happy to get off that plane and drive to Amarillo to get our luggage at 11:30pm that night via greyhound bus, don't ask, it's just too ridiculous.

Amarillo has raised many Barnett's and a few Chisholm's (my mom's side). Therefore there are lots of memories and stories from locations all over this city.
See that house, that's where i grew up, oh and that house is where my friend ___ grew up. Oh and there's my high school, Oh and there's the place where Mimi ran over the cat, and there's where Jim had his store and granddad's practice.......
It goes on and on and on and for the amount of times I've driven around this town/city it is still a mess of roads and memories, much too confusing to follow. It is guaranteed that while in Amarillo there will always be lots of laughing. It never disappoints!

As my Texas tornado of a visit wraps up i think about the the slogan for Texas, "Everything is bigger in Texas" and it couldn't be more true. Bigger to go cups, bigger servings, bigger hair, bigger cars (SVU's!) and sadly bigger people. I'm going to add a few more to this...bigger smiles (straighter thanks to my granddad and uncle), bigger hugs, and bigger love. The people I've met in Texas and the family i have here has shown me what passion and love really is. If only there was a way to spread this type of love...we will call it Barnett love.
Well during the holiday season and the approach of the new year i send you all lots of Barnett love because we Barnett's love bigger since we are from Texas.

xo

Hula Queen

There is a book that I read to E. called Ella sets the Stage (my birthday prezzie to her and now the most over read book in her bookshelf, this is beside the point). The premise of the story is a talent show. Ella doesn't think she has a talent like all her friends who can sing, dance, perform great puppet shows etc. What ends up happening is that her talent turns out to be helping people with a bunch of random things. I have to admit I identify with Ella with her lack of talent...until Friday night... i may have found my only talent.
HULA HOOPING!!
Yes i found my talent AND also managed to help out some of my friends. At this restaurant we went to the other night (Tortilla Flats) they have a hula hooping contest. Anyone who can hoop for 2 minutes straight (on the restaurants doubled up hoop) gets a round of tequila shots for all their friends. While watching all these girls (one boy) try and fail i was feeling like i'd be another fool to attempt, but with a few drinks under my belt i was fearless (that is what tequila likes to do). I started gyrating my hips, bumped a table while starting, recovered and i was on a roll...all i have to say is 8 people were mighty happy with my talent. A few people at the bar were so proud they bought a few more rounds.

My friend recorded the whole thing and if i'm talented enough i'll try to post the video...but I think we know my talent doesn't lie in computers, but in colourful plastic hoops.

tongue twisters

So i realized that some of you may actually be entertained by my adventures with E. and N. (the kids i nanny for) and i thought i'd give you a funny/ bizarre E. story. It's been a while and they are pretty much the other half of my life these days.

So E. hasn't been sleeping much. She's supposed to be a light sleeper and the baby will still wake up in the night crying ie: no sleep for the whole family. Today during one of her many melt downs when she was trying to tell me something and i couldn't understand through tears, she starts with her jibberish which sometimes combines a hebrew song (I've since learnt this from her mom) and today it was
"MAH MAH MAH Peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers MAH MAH MAH"...riiiight, okay. So my response was,
"HEY ELLIE....mellow out....She sells seashells by the seashore"...she stares at me, laughs and tries to copy it, but opts for peter again.
I'd like to remind you all that she turned 2 a week and half ago.

The End

Is this really necessary!

So this is the building i live across from...it's gorgeous but someone thought it would be great to mess up my view by postering their window in not white or black bristol board, but FLORESCENT GREEN!!
I have had guesses that maybe the person has a festive picture on the other side you know a Christmas tree their little kids have made, but how do you explain the duct tape then? Bright blue zig zagging across where their pretty tree would be...i don't know, but the amount of rules that exist at the apartment at home in Toronto would mean this would be vetoed so fast their head would spin..
Oh and at night while thankfully the florescent window is muted there is a Christmas tree recently erected which has coloured lights (not my choice) and then has flashing green lights...that's great, good for you your tree is bright and colourful, but it's so bright and colourful i can see it out of the corner of my eye when i'm sitting on my couch.
Wow...rereading this i realize i sound a bit cynical (bah humbug?)
On a lighter note my white lights are up as is my Christmas wreath..oh and the Christmas carols are aplayin'

SEX and the CITY

Sunday morning i did what all smart new york women do...got on a tour bus with her girlfriends and got driven around our own city seeing the spots where one of my favorite shows was filmed, Sex and the City.
For 3.5 hours i heard a great comedy routine by our guide Lisa, saw the sites filmed in the lower east and west side of town, had a cupcake and drank a cosmo at "Scout" aka o'neils.
It was absof@ckinlutely the best 3.5 hours spent with da ladies and the 5th lady of the show...New Y0rk.
A photo of us on Carrie's stoop is to come...just wanted you all to see what i've been wasting my precious essay writing time on and it's worth it!

Cannot contain myself any longer!

So i did something that some of you may find surprising...i bought concert tickets to...
The Spice Girls!

They were big when i was in early high school and I had a closeted love for them, but now that i am grown up (debatable) i can admit my obsession. Anyhoo today i made a major indulgence, or at least a major indulgence for someone who is working off a small budget, i bought tickets to the Madison Square Gardens concert. Side note: yes, a month ago i bought the same tickets at a venue outside of the city(which are now for sale), but comeon it's Mad.2 gardens <--am i cool or what ?! haha
I'm over the moon because my friend Lauren and i will be Spicing up our life on Feb.18...be prepared to get a post concert write up...i've only hearing AMAZING reviews, could they actually be back?!

Spice Foreva
xo
Shannie Spice

http://www.thespicegirls.com/

Elf Yourself!

This is soooo not New York, probably tacky NY, but this is me and you're all here to read about me these days, so feel free to bypass this posting, or check out what i've been wasting my time on!

It all began as a gift from my fabulous friend Kimmy...the following people are elfed...Shannon, Carmen, Linz and Kim
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9595729881

Evan elfed courtesy of ME
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1162073835

Some of my Child Life ladies...i'm so sad we couldn't all elf together
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1162773558

Guess who's in the holiday spirit!

23 days until xmas

Do you ever wonder where new yorkers get their Christmas trees...well i just learned. Straight off their street corners. exhibit A. make shift shed, sidewalk lined with trees, machine to wrap them up with plastic mesh.


The next question i had was how do they get them home. Well today i saw a few people strapping them to their cars, but I have seen people push/pull them home in those fold up carts. Cabs don't generally let people put anything that large or sap covered on or inside. I'll be sure to let you know if i see any especially creative ie: top of baby stroller with baby inside, or pulled by a dog...who knows this is new york nothing surprises me any more!

Early happy holidays to all, i'm feeling festive

So it's been a very busy week playing host, site seeing and eating eating eating. Oh and if you all didn't remember, i'm now down to 9 turkey legs, yeah for brothers who eat lots oh meat!

Anyhoo, i'm not about to attempt at informing you of the past few days and the great times i've had with my visitors, but here are a few thoughts.

1) Who remembers "Parenthood" with Steve Martin, 1989 movie, yes you all remember it...you're sliding into first when you feel a sudden burst, ____. This is probably one of my favorite movies, so funny, so real, sooooo bad and not to mention some classic actors. Now who remembers Martha Plimpton...yes who is she...she played the daughter who dates Keanu Reeves, shaves her head in the classic undercut, oh and her mom is the one with the vibe. Well i've had my most recent celebrity sighting, if you can call her a celebrity. It was one of these i looked at her, looked away because man, she isn't aging well and then was like, saweet, just saw Julie Buckman. Sorry, so not exciting, but still what do you think it means, i'm a huge celebrislut and this is who i see...yeah, i hope it's not a reflection of me.


2)Northface-the city is finally getting cold and now people are pulling out their heavy duty jackets. I'm the type of person who really doesn't like joining trends, but every so often it makes sense (ie: northface long down jackets which will undoubtedly keep my constant freezing a$$ warm all the time). I may be retiring my northface jacket it's too much to bare. Evan pointed it out to me the other night...did i notice how much northface gear was worn in the city? Maybe it's one of these things that since it was pointed out and it's one of these things that really bug me i've now started to notice it everywhere. Ie: you buy a new car, dog, pair of shoes and then bam, you realize so many people have the EXACT same item as you. Anyways, New York is a HUGE advertisement for Northface winter gear of all kinds, hats, vests, jackets, fleece...the items are everywhere!!! I may need to buy Patagonia. Ps: has anyone (minus those from Denison or C.L.C) ever heard of Patagucci?

3) The day after Thanksgiving is the biggest shopping day of the year. It is also the first day people start playing christmas carols and also pull out their xmas trees. I have to admit i love the holidays (please refer to my halloween posting asking what point is too early to decorate, oh and once for halloween i dressed up as xmas...i looove the holidays). Righteo, i have yet to hang lights or put up a tree, but my wreath will be hung December 1st and i will be playing Mariah Carey's holiday album while i do it. Back to the point while surrounding myself this weekend with the shopping mayhem and waiting patiently for subway cars i let my mind relax, in the background of all the chaos and over heated stores i heard Christmas carols and inside i had a little smile. Maybe i'm being sentimental, nostalgic or overly in the spirit, but i feel like spreading the holiday cheer a bit early.

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

So many of you may have heard of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. It's a big freakin' deal here as it has HUGE balloons, floats, broadway show performances, marching bands (name it, it's probably there). If you've watched the movie Miracle on 34th St. you know of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Right, so it takes place on Thanksgiving and wraps up just in time for a big family feast.
The night before the parade all the balloons are blown up and put on display for people to see. As we weren't about to go and watch the parade (it's a bit insane) we went to see the balloons. It may have been comparably crazy because after walking one direction due to crowds, and then the cops say go another direction(due to crowds), and treking through the park (due to crowds)and then crossing the street with cops saying don't do it (due to traffic/crowds) we finally cut a line and saw the balloons with hundreds and hundreds of people. Not really sure how else to describe it other than, HUGE...absolutely massive, the balloons and crowds. I wouldn't be surprised if the people who walk with the balloons have to be a certain weight to ensure they don't blow away...big A$$ balloons! Oh and did i mention the crowds!
Here are some of the 20 balloons we saw

Shrek (first appearance)...he weighs 600 lbs!


Ronald McDonald (Creepy huh!)

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Ah Thanksgiving the holiday to gorge yourself on delicious things like mashed potatoes, pie and turkey legs...yup 3 are cooked and enjoyed. There were no surprises like Evan saying he's a vegetarian this month, more like he's a carnivore and wants me to send him home with more cooked turkey (we are researching the possibility of taking meat on the plane...i just may be down a few more legs after his departure!). I hope you all enjoyed your turkey day, or veggie day as my friend Erin likes to call it.
I just wanted to let you know how thankful i am having you as family, friends and readers. Take care and i look forward to seeing you all soon. XO

Fall

So my friend E and I were walking yesterday in the park when we came to a pond that had at least 10 people standing on the other side taking pictures. We assumed there was something/someone doing something amazing. Movie stars and strange animals/animal behaviors have this effect on people, turns out nature does it to (i'm glad). Isn't fall beautiful!

6 down 12 to go

So last night was the Child Life thanksgiving dinner. It was amazing! Everyone brought delicious food, we had some beverages (some of us a bit too much...seriously i wasn't that funny E.) and we had a grand time laughing and chatting.


As you know i made some turkey, 6 of the 18 i purchased the other day(you may have noticed the total number decreased...i finally got up the guts to count my total, still a lot, but that's one less week of turkey to eat! I'm an optimist, can't you tell) . Right. So I had no idea how much would feed us so i figured make 6 (since it would go bad in my fridge anyways, remember no room in the freezer these days) and i'd have leftovers. Well it turns out that 7 meat eaters only managed to consume 3.5 of the turkey legs cooked, YEAH! What the heck is wrong with my friends, damn women!

Anyhoo now i've got 12 frozen drumsticks in the freezer and 2.5 shredded turkey legs in my fridge. I will of course document everything i do with these 12 remaining legs, how else do you think i spend my time...not writing papers, that's for sure!

I'm either a turkey, or will become a turkey after this

I don't even know where to begin because i'm clearly a huge idiot, and i'm sharing this because i'm either a bigger idiot for opening myself up like this or i think everyone could get a good laugh and learn a lesson read read READ!

Part One:
I guess i should start at the beginning. Child Life "club" has Thursday night dinners each week and we decided that since we all go our separate ways for Thanksgiving we should have our "family" dinner a week early. I volunteered my apartment and therefore took the main course (turkey). I had decided to make everyone two turkey drumsticks each (9x2=18) because i'm at work all day and drumsticks don't take too long to cook=good plan.

I get most of my groceries at the store down the street, but there are some things i just can't swallow when it comes to shopping there, one being the price (Store a) and the lack of option/variety (Store b). Freshdirect is the best thing for those of us who live next to a bad grocery store and a very expensive grocery store, have no muscles to carry mass amounts of food home and are attracted to the idea of online shopping for food and having it delivered by sometimes cute boys (seriously not the biggest selling point for me because i do love going to the store, but it's all for fun right!).

Part Two:
So this morning at 7:30am my freshdirect order arrived (i planned for this early arrival...perfect for work). The guy came out of the elevator with 5 boxes (huh, didn't think i ordered that much, oh well they are safe packers and i have veggies and eggs, maybe? (sound of apprehension))
He gives me a look, i think it's "WOW this girl looks really tired or she's pretty cute in her pj's or wish i was still sleeping too (probably this one)"

He leaves, i crack into box one and right away i realize i have screwed up big time. I step away and realize he was NOT thinking i was cute he was thinking "WOW, what is this girl going to do with all of this meat". Some of you may have seen this coming once i said 19 TURKEY drumsticks, but here i am thinking while placing the order 19 a bit bigger than chicken, turkey drumsticks. Pictures are the only way to describe the situation i'm in....













YEAH i know, what the hell am i going to do (ps: there are 6 more drumsticks defrosting in the fridge...because i ran out of room!)



Sooooo as i'm cursing myself while i unpack my food, thinking where am i going to store all this meat, i start thinking who can i pawn all this meat onto. Thinking it could be thanksgiving leftovers, that they cook themselves!? Thinking what food banks would take frozen meat like this and then i think, HOW AM I GOING TO COOK THIS!!! MY OVEN IS TINY!!

After rearranging the freezer and fridge i go back to bed to laugh and cry at myself, what am i going to do...start thinking of recipes because i'll be eating turkey for the rest of my life, or at least on average the next 15 weeks (1 drumstick per week, yeah that's about right!)

After mellowing out i started to think, how did i not realize i was getting 32.42 lb of meat! How did i miss this? The cost was only $30 so that wasn't a give away and really this comes down to reading or my lack there of...right on my order form it did say 32.42 lb. I will blame this on how busy i am, too busy to read the small print, but realistically i deserve to turn into a turkey for this.


Things i've learned:
Who knew $30 worth of turkey drumsticks was so much food
How many poor turkeys sacrificed their lives for my stupidity (9)
Some local farmer/freshdirect is benefiting from my stupidity
WOW New York has big turkeys


All i can say is thank goddess all this meat came with my bag of clementines, they fix everything!

Playing with Kids in the Big Apple

So there is always this buzz about the pros and cons about raising a kid in NYC. The biggest problem is where do they play as houses/apartment are very small and where do they play when it's cold, wet or too hot outside for the playgrounds. Which leads me to Appleseeds, an indoor play area for kids. The theory is amazing, places to play, classes and they really do their best to keep it clean. Really they do because i do work for a very germaphobic person (there isn't anything wrong with this within reason) and she wouldn't be okay with her E and N playing in germies.
So today E and i went to appleseeds as it's getting chilly and dark at 4:30 and the scene was insane. They claim there is 2500 square feet of playground space, but i doubt that...feels like 1000 at most and today 600 (really i don't even know square footage, but i try)! Anyhoo today in this 600 square footage there were probably 50 +kids and their caregivers...very tight. I constantly felt like i was about to walk on a child or bumping into a person. Lots of slobber, stinky diapers and screaming. Someone remind me why i've decided to devote my future to working with kids. yeah
check it out for some pictures of this place...oh and did i mention it's not free (of course not!)
http://www.appleseedsnyc.com/gallery.html

clementines!

I'm betraying my new york fruit, but certain things really make me feel in the spirit and that would be clementines. After a major melt down from E. the other day i thought i deserved a treat, clementines. They are perfect! If a time machine exists, it's in a delicious piece of fruit. In one segment I was instantly teleported to xmas. mmmm. Happiness in a tiny bite

art in the city

Not really sure what to say about this, but it's in the middle of a busy part of the city. People just building an ice block structure a reinvention of someone else's ice sculpture (Allan Kaprow). Interesting stuff...especially because the real art is in it melting "fluids"...i don't think I'm artsy enough to understand this, although i wish i was

My radiator and how it functions

So i constantly have mice/rat on the brain. When you see them enough you start to worry if they are in your apartment and in your stuff.

Story:
The heat is on in my apartment building, although i'm not sure we really need it yet. I have one radiator in my living room and a VERY hot pipe in my bathroom (gives off enough heat it's a sauna in my bathroom) Anyhoo, all rads make their own noises, mine sounds like someone is bang with a hammer and messing around with a wrench in the metal mechanics of the thing. Thankfully it's not happening all the time because i'd probably rip out my hair (it's really loud!), but it's still scary enough that when it came on for the first time i thought there was a mouse/rat trapped in the inside of it trying to get out. You know, the heat turns on the thing starts cooking, it tries to get out.

Envision this, i'm standing on a chair the farthest point of my living room throwing water bottles, text books and thing with girth and killing power, trying to scare out this mouse/rat. Nothing happens, no silencing of it by me scaring it, so with all the experience i have with small rodents (sadly i have had enough to last a lifetime) i creep over to the rad (climb onto another chair) and bang back. At this point i realize that there is probably nothing trapped in there and this is what my rad will sound like. Ah yes...isn't this going to be a long and pleasant winter.

Now while lying in bed instead of thinking i have a mouse/rat in my apartment i'm thinking of other options
a) my neighbour busting through the wall and is hammering on the rad
b) someone (spiderman is the most plausible) has shimmied up the brick exterior of my building to my tenth floor apartment window and is banging on my rad
c)a clan of rodents has found rodent sized hammers and wrenches and are banging on my rad.
My vote is c because really my neighbour has better things to do than bang on my rad and Spidey is off protecting the city, or at least i hope so.

Daylight savings New York style and random thoughts

So i'm aware New York is no different than anywhere else in the world that participates in daylight savings, but i'm so thrilled that it happened later than it normally does. I hate it being dark so early, so push it back as long as possible. Not only does it now start getting dark around here at 4 and not 5, it's so freakin' dark when i get up in the morning! The past couple of days i've gotten up at 8 (work, marathon, warehouse sale...yes it requires you to get up early, haven't you heard the early bird gets the best choice of discount jeans!). Now i'm not saying 8 is early, but it is still kinda dark out...makes me feel like it's going to rain or snow soon. Oh, on that note i heard Wisconsin is getting snow today...brrrrrr.
So walking E. home from the indoor playground/play area (yeah, welcome to new york) in the dark i started thinking about how xmas is so soon...7 weeks?! When is it appropriate to put up my xmas lights and decorations? Is November 5 too soon? There's no doubt i could find a place that sells that stuff now, i could just go to the pharmacy we all know how soon they started decorating. I'll keep you posted as to when Christmas hits my house.