Quick shots

Kind of hard to read, but the sign says "Nails & Pleasure". Nail salon on the Upper East Side where I was pet-sitting over the holidays.



The sky over my neighborhood yesterday morning. We had a high of 48 degrees. Tomorrow the high will be 27 degrees. Eight days ago we had a blizzard and heaps of snow. Now it's all gone! The weather has been incredibly changeable lately. The day before I took this picture it rained all day and all night.



My friend Jamie from Australia was in town visiting and just flew out (to Sao Paulo) this morning. He stayed with another friend in NJ for a few days and then he stayed at our place in Brooklyn. We did a lot of touristy stuff together. He didn't have a working cell phone so we met up at Times Square where I took this picture (around 6pm). I love when friends and family from out of town visit because it forces me to get out of my routine and see all the gorgeous sights of my amazing city!

Happy, happy

I'm going to try a new thing: writing a happy, inspirational, hilarious, or otherwise mood-lifting post for each Friday.

I remember watching Bob Ross's TV show "The Joy of Painting" when I was little. I loved that show, even though I didn't (and still don't) have an interest in painting. But of course that's why his show was so popular: because he spoke to everyone, not just painters.

I came across a wonderful quote from him today...

"We don't make mistakes here, we just have happy accidents. We want happy, happy paintings. If you want sad things, watch the news. Everything is possible here. This is your little universe."

Happy Friday!

P.S. Can't wait till next Friday? Check out the Joy Frequencies blog and Twitter feed!

Wait, what kind of finger?

"As seen at the North Avenue Cold Stone Creamery in Chicago..."


This amazing photo comes to us courtesy of A, my friend in Chicago. She is a member of SHAPERS, and I wrote about their album "Little, Big" before. It's coming out this winter btw! You can listen to three tracks on the SHAPERS website and stay posted on their happenings!

Thank you, my friend, for the best laugh I've had all week!

The Nabe at Night

In honor of the rapidly-approaching darkest day of the year, I'd like to share three pictures of my neighborhood taken in the waning or absence of daylight.

I had just gotten out of the subway (coming home after work) when I took this one. Lovely day/night transition moment.

Christmas in Brooklyn: trees and wreaths for sale on the sidewalk outside a church.

This art installation just went up in the park. Not sure if there will be more or if this is it. Very cool-looking from far away too.

One Week Later

It's been one week since I had all my hair cut off! I'm loving it now, but I won't lie: there was no small amount of shock and a moderate adjustment period. I've had it short before, but not this short (please excuse my haggard face as I took this just now when I got home from work, while waiting for the rice to cook):

And yes, that is Elle magazine over there. Love it.

...and here's the view from the top. What Dumpling sees! (He's quite tall.) It's fun because my hair is really thick so I can make it spike up into a kind of faux-hawk down the middle, or smooth it all down, or ruffle it all up. Good times.

You can see a before picture in my Halloween post, though I'm wearing a headband you get the idea.

Last Thursday I had it cut in the morning before I walked dogs, which was convenient for me but kind of annoying because I had lots of tiny little hairs all over my face and neck for the rest of the day.

Right after I left the salon I found a reflective window outside and put my earrings back in and really had a look at my head. My first thought was that my head is not as big as I thought it was (my thick hair created the illusion of a larger head)!

Then I started to feel really ugly, unfeminine, and repentant. I knew it'd pass and that I'd get used to it, but I made a beeline for the Sephora over on Broadway and put on some powder, eyeshadow, a little blush. I don't normally wear any makeup on a day to day basis, so it helped me feel less butch. Seems silly now that I've been walking around barefaced ever since, but it was a quick pick-me-up during the "oh my god what did I just do to myself" phase :)

Another thing that helped me get used to it was the fact that the dogs did not give a shit what my hair looked like, and were just as enthusiastic and lovely as ever. Animals are great. And believe it or not, Dumpling has spontaneously professed his liking for my new 'do on several occasions (or maybe he just likes the fact that I've stopped complaining about how sick I am of my hair and how badly I want to cut it off!)

Since I made the chop it's made me think, and I realized that subconsciously I may have done it as a way of facing fears. You know, usually very short hair (or baldness/shaved head) on women makes us think of certain things: chemo, concentration camps, or losing your shit à la Britney Spears. Not very pleasant associations. But now I feel sort of 'immune' to the fear of losing my hair for any reason. Or to put it another way, if I ever have a traumatic/stressful situation that results in me losing my hair, I won't have the shock of seeing myself without long hair for the first time added on top of that experience.

Plus my curiosity of what I would look like is finally satisfied, and that is priceless!

I'm not trying to convince anyone to go super short if you don't want to--but if you've been toying with the idea and keep coming back to it, just give it a shot! You have nothing to lose but your fear--and some weight off your scalp! Seriously, it feels great!

Lower East Side Pictures

The more I walk around this neighborhood, the more I like it. Here are a few recent photos, with captions:

This is a playground I have always admired for its bright rainbow coloring! Finally today it was cold enough that nobody was using it and I could take a picture. I feel like parents would look at me accusingly if I took a picture of the playground while their children were on it, and I really can't blame them for being protective.

This is a view of the East River from Corlears Hook Park. I walk this dog there every day and today we saw this massive ship being helped downriver by a tugboat. There is part of the stage blocking it but you can still tell how big it is. I probably could have gotten a better shot but I was holding a golden lab's leash in my other hand and she really wanted to go sniff something.

I don't know what this means but I love this graffiti.

P.S. I Love You

This is a very touching and well-done romantic comedy from 2007 starring Hillary Swank and Gerard Butler.

Attention ladies: this is worth watching for the Irish beefcakes alone. homina homina homina...

For me, the best part (aside from the aforementioned gorgeousness of the two Irish fellows Ms. Swank gets to roll in the hay with) was the dialogue, which was very honest, unexpected, and often hilarious.

Just one gripe: the main character is unemployed for most of the film, and lives in a hu-u-uge apartment in Manhattan which she continually complains is way too small. Pfffff.

Be forewarned: if you watch this you will laugh and cry and laugh and cry, so you may as well just remove your mascara before you even press 'play.'

Check it out on Netflix, IMDb, Amazon

Moment of Zen

There is this park down in the Lower East Side near Chinatown and I like to stop by there for a quick rest between or before dog walks.

Often I see people doing Tai Chi and I like to watch--it's very peaceful. Also there's this older guy who walks with a cane and sometimes circles the playground singing slow songs in Chinese. All he needs is a someone following him with a gong.

The other day I saw these two men practicing ballroom dancing so I took a video (it's just 43 seconds). Later the shorter guy took off but the other guy stayed and kept on dancing by himself for a long time.

To quote Jon Stewart, "Here it is: your moment of Zen."

Isn't it Ironic?

On the same day that I cut all my hair off (today), I won a sweepstakes sponsored by a hair product company (Nexxus).

Well I had been wanting to get a super short haircut for a while, and there is this quote by William Blake that I really try to live by:

"Sooner strangle an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desire."

So the other day I was walking one of my dogs in the LES (Lower East Side, for non-New Yorkers) and I walked by this place called Crops for Girls. And then I found out that if you let the guy who owns and operates it (Michael) do whatever short haircut he wants, it's free! Since I was broke and wanting a haircut, this seemed like a pretty good idea and so I did it! And it really was totally free though I did tip him of course, being a 'service industry' person myself.

And then later at home I got a phone call from an unknown 212 number. I answered and this girl named Paige from Harper's Bazaar was on the line. My heart just about stopped because I applied for a job there, and at every other magazine I subscribe to, (which is about 8 or 9 now I think) but it wasn't a call for an interview it was to let me know that I won the Nexxus Sweepstakes which you can read about here:

Harper's Bazaar Nexxus Sweepstakes

Well, all those free hair products I'm getting are sure going to go a long ways since I have about a half inch of hair on my head!!! hahaha I love it. The rest of the prize package is kind of vague--I'm not sure if I get any other free stuff or just a "shopping tour" with their 2 stylists but I'm sure it'll be a really fun experience no matter what.

So yeah, kind of a big day! And it was like 65 degrees out--one of those days when you're thrilled to be a dog walker :)

Experience It!

These words of wisdom come to you from a Jackie Chan calendar produced by the Hong Kong Tourism Board in 2004. One of my former coworkers was cleaning off his desk and found it--he knew I was a big Jackie Chan fan and gave it to me!

It's my third week of dog walking and I've finally figured out how to deal with my new schedule. I've discovered that it's mandatory to lie down and take a one-hour nap as soon as I get home. Even if I sleep enough at night and eat enough during the day, I am just so wiped from 5+ hours of walking that I need to get some serious physical rest before I do other stuff.

At first I tried to run errands, do yoga, cook, write, etc immediately after finishing work. But I learned (a few times) that I would run out of steam pretty quick and wind up with a glass of red wine watching old movies and not getting anything done. Like blogging!

But I think I've got it figured out now, and also I just got back from a 5-day trip to Wisconsin to be with my family for Thanksgiving. I have a lot of material :) I only wish I had taken more pictures! Like this one:

This gas station/general store is owned & operated by a grandfather, father, and son. This is where my parents buy 50-pound bags of thistle and bird seeds for their two dozen bird feeders. Also they buy truly cage-free eggs here. That is one huge plus about living in the Midwest (especially out in the sticks where my parents are) is that you can get fresh eggs from happy chickens just about everywhere because everyone knows someone who has chickens.

And of course the eggs are awesome-tasting and come in all different shapes and sizes and colors, which is just so damn natural-looking and reassuring!

That is one of my parents' cockatiels, Jill. The other one is Jack. They got him first and named him Jack after Captain Jack Sparrow (they are both in the bird family I guess). Jill is younger and kind of bratty sometimes (she will pull the cribbage pegs out while you are trying to play) but when I opened the egg carton to take a picture she hopped on and nuzzled all the eggs. It was very cute.