Chelsea Market and Billy's

Went to the Chelsea Market. It was not what I was expecting at all but still a good place to spend 45 minutes of an afternoon.

Then I went a little further up the block to Billy's Bakery.
The banana cupcake was banana bread. Good, but not a cupcake consistency. Nothing to convert me to the dark side of cupcakes yet.

Two blocks down again on 20th and 9th, is a cute little corner store called Three Tarts. They had some yummy, but expensive peppermint hot chocolate and also this really funny cell phone accessory. I can't find any information on it but I found something similar here. It's a plug in receiever. Totally pointless but I think its a funny idea.

Adventure Day

Spotted at Mama Mexico, Upper West Side: The Hasselbeck's eating dinner next to us with both kids and #3 on the way. The other time I met her was when I was working at Rosa and they had her baby shower there. Weird little mexican baby connection me and her got goin on. Lizzy was wearing the fugliest orthepedic shoes I have ever seen. Normally im not a hater on these things but they were bad! Her daughter had guac all over her face and Tim just put his hands on his head and shook it. It was pretty cute. Then Jan from the Office walked by the restaurant and even the Hasselbeck's were excited to see her.

Jen, Sills and I went on an adventure. We traveled up north to 190th street to Fort Tryon (I like to pronounce it Tyron though) and The Cloisters. It was a very beautiful walk and we didnt pay to get into the cloisters because it will probably be much more worth it when actual things are in bloom. So we just walked around and then headed back down south to 110th and Broadway. Grabbed a late lunch, a.k.a. Linner at Mama Mexico. Sills and I had seen this place before and it looked cute. We got seated at the money table right in the glassed in corner area. Noticed a lot of Mexicans eating there which is always a good sign. But that's about where the good experience ended. Feel free to read my Yelp review for the rest but long story short, I don't recommend this place.

Overheard on 14th and 8th

Pam, Jen and I were walking down 14th and right before 8th Avenue, these two guys whizzed by us. Then we heard screaming and look up at a stoop and there is this woman crying and screaming in Spanish. We were laughing and kept walking and then realized she was following us. We turned around to see her walking with this guy, in a suit, probably her pimp. She was still screaming in Spanish but then, as we were crossing the street, and we were watching everyone watch her as she passed by us, she starts screaming "I'm gunna take them to court! I'm gunna take those mother fuckers to court! I'm calling 1-800-LAWYERS!" Just to add fuel to the fire, I also saw a man without a shirt on later in the day, just staring up at the buildings in Curry Hill. Awesome.

Giggle of the Day

Celebs on invisible bikes via Holy Taco.

Infectious Trend

San Fran's was a success. So was Molly's bday one. Find your Snuggie pic du jour HERE

Sessed with No Reservations

Highlight from Anthony Bourdain No Reservations, my new obsession. He goes to Korea and it gets really good in the middle. The entire episode is in 5 parts on youtube. Part 4 from around the middle to the end of that clip is the best (yes it involves Karaoke).

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

And just a clip that started the obsession which starts at point 4:37 - 6:00ish and more: Uruguay and his thoughts on his brother.

Watch Video from 5:25 -6:16

Overheard in Wal Mart Long Island

Customer asking employee about a new cart she was grabbing because the one she originally took was broken: "Does it roll well?"

Employee: "Like a Cadillac."

SPOTTED

Blonde girl in the Gossip Girl entourage buying a buttload of stuff at Charlotte Russe in the Manhattan Mall.

White Castle Wedding

OK I joke around about how I want Taco Bell to cater my wedding, but really, well, NO!
Just check this out...
http://www.the-feedbag.com/videodrome/white-castle-wedding-is-unutterably-depressing

Another Amazing Video

Sheep LED art. I dunno about this, but real or not, its neat.

Ironic TV

"I am a very private person." - Kelly from Real Housewives of NY. A REALITY show.

Forgive me if I am confused but isn't signing up to be on a reality show he complete opposite of being a private person? Hmmm

Moving to Hawaii

How long will it be before I can't afford to live in Manhattan/NY? The MTA is hiking fairs again.

Groceries, movies, drinks at a bar, flowers...We all know what a huge NYC fan I am, but when is it gunna boil over and people are forced to move? Where can they go? I keep reading articles about how people are staying no matter what, but it has to reach a tipping point for some eventually. Cardboard condominiums just won't cut it for many.

My vote is for Hawaii.

Note to self: I'll probably start doing more thrify/cheaper/budget type posts.

Talent

This is the coooooolest thing I have seen in a very long time. I can't stop watching his vids.

His name is Dan Dunn. His site is here.

Elephants In Manhattan!

Ringling Brothers Circus had their annual Elephant Walk on 34th and wouldn't ya know, that's where I live!

Business Investment

I get a lot of business ideas. Off the top of my head I can only think of 3 that I have been so serious about. Snuggies, which I clearly missed the boat on. I always said I wish it was socially acceptable to wear blankets in public, and go figure, I wasn't the only one who wished this. Then the whole hookah bar thing with SRF, which I still intend to do later on. Then there is Schnitzis.

When I was in Israel, I went to a place called Schnitzis and fell in love. The concept is simple. You pick a flavored schnitzel and its breaded and fried in front of you, put on bread for a sandwich, or served as a platter, you pick your toppings, and enjoy! The sandwich I had in Jtown was incredible! So much so, I had the brilliant idea of bringing this concept back to the states.

I found a VERY similar place in Brooklyn...They are missing the Mexican, which involves Dorito crumbs. I have already emailed them asking businessy questions and will update with answers, if they ever come to me.

Anyone interested in being my investor?

Sucks

Newlyweds get arrested: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=7142621

The Dirty

I LOVE this site. I don't know what happened to the Long Island section, that had a friend featured on it but oh well!

http://thedirty.com/

Stuffed Avocado

3 weeks ago Lucy moved from Chicago to Standford because Eric got a job there. Her nursing friends from Children's, where she used to work, came to visit this weekend. They came into Manhattan and we went out to dinner. Tried 123 Burger Shot Beer, but there were no tables to eat at so we found ourselves at Ariba Ariba. I'm pretty sure it was gay night there (George Michael playing and lots of male dates around) and we were waiting for a while so Lucy and I found this other place up the street called Ta Cocina. I'll save my review (which is not good) for Yelp because I'm really writing about the stuffed avocado I saw on the menu. I researched a couple recipes I may try eventually. YUM!

Live Blogging

Ellen is gunna be on the cover of O Magazine!

Swagger

How's this for swagger?

Pierre Hardy

Speaking of Mini Me

One of my Top 5 Reality Scenes EVER!

Mini Me Gets Drunk - The Surreal Life

Mole!

I bought this movie simply for this stick scene...

Iceware

I recently went to an event expo with Pam and saw these which I thought were really neat.

I found a way to make them yourself...DIY Ice Glasses

So Cool Shoe

SHOE: shoe - by Les ! on Polyvore.com
Designed out of brooches!

My Future

Me in 50 years...http://www.usanetwork.com/characterproject/#/gallery/photo/MaryEllenMark/015_MaryEllenMark/

Names

Celeb baby names are generally weird these days. Naming children after inanimate objects like Blanket and Apple. Then there are the funny names, like Rita Book. One time a man called the office and his name was Nimrod. For reals.

My Favorite Color Day

Being unemployed gives you opportunities to enjoy the city and all it has to offer at any time. That said, I am really not a fan of Saint Patrick's Day but why not check out the hooplah? I'm not Irish, not many of my friends are, there really is no reason for me to go balls to the walls. In the past couple of years, maybe it's just because I am in the city and of age, but it seems like the holiday has blown the heck up! That said, since Kira and I had nothing on the agenda for the day, we checked out the parade and madness that goes on during this day. The parade kinda sucked, but the people watching was phenomenal. So was the breakfast at P.J. Clarkes and the lunch at another location later. Award for: Best eggs benedict!

Who Is Twitter Screwing?!

Deja Vu!

Last week The View ladies. Last night I was watching Leno and his opening monologue was about Twitter. The whole "old people confused conversation" occured with his band guy and then a couple of bad play on word jokes. It didn't end there though. Ellen came on, and they talked about it for a while. How many followers she has and how great it is. How she just tweeted going on stage.

Next on was Jimmy Fallon and he not only was talking about this stupid thing, but doing a social experiement as well.

Now I wake up and Martha Stewart has been on for 4 minutes. I was intrigued because Jim Cramer was on her show and I think its hysterical that hes going on every NBC show to talk smack about John Stewart. (They have had a feud going for a couple of days.) But her opening monologue, about freakin twitter! Again too with the convo with her stage guy about how he doesn't understand it, and another corny joke about the word. She just said she has 90,000 followers. She also said just in this year alone (3 months) there has been a 900% increase in membership. It's now the 3rd largest social networking program. Jim Cramer gets on and its all they talked about. How he just tweeted going on her stage, etc.

Who the hell did twitter sleep with that EVERYONE is talking about this thing?

This is Buster.

He's not mine but yes that is an I Phone he is next to. That's how small he is.

Thrift Stores

Not really being a thrift store fan (nothing against em tho)I noticed a store a while ago I wanted to check out and today on my adventure, I did. But first...

The Guggenheim sucked today. Apparently "Kandinsky Exhibit" means "We only have 3 small paintings and a large one that really isn't that special".

Then I just wandered and came across the Sloan Kettering Thrift Shop. Smelled like old people but they had a decent designer room. Next to that is the Cancer Care Thrift. Then I bumped into a Housing Works not once, but twice in two different locations (which was cool because it was the store I mentioned earlier that I wanted to check out). For some reason, I really dig these shops. Quality furniture finds, well priced, and then you have their cause. In short, their mission is to end AIDS and homelessness. You can read all about it on their site and in their stores.

I guess I never really thought about the fact that the Salvation Army thrift actually has a purpose as well, which is not just to sell cheap silly clothes to college kids for themed parties. In fact, after doing a bit of research, I come to realize that many of these thrifts have another, philanthropic purpose, which I think is neat.

Here is a pretty elaborate list I found with a bunch of shops in NYC.

First Cranes, Now Planes!

Last summer New Yorker's thought it was a freak accident when the first crane collapsed. Then it happened again. I never would even notice those cranes around and now, I notice them alright.

Then, this weekend, I noticed I had quite a bit of anxiety when I was getting on the plane to Florida. I am usually a good, carefree traveler so this struck me as odd. Maybe I was getting sick? But after reading ANOTHER story about a "freak" accident dealing with a plane again, not to mention it being in NY again, I realized I had developed a slight fear of flying. Crash once, it's scary, but you don't really translate it to something that could be your plane. But four times in a few weeks, I guess I'm starting to get nervous! Private planes, The Hudson Crash, The Buffalo one, The Amsterdam one, and the most recent one at JFK. Shit airport people, fix this!

Come to think of it, sometimes those miracles and coincidences I am always talking about now, are easier to see in hindsight. Right before I left for Florida, I was watching Chelsea Lately and her guest was Kelly Carlson (from Nip/Tuck) and she was talking about her fear of flying and what she does to cope.

You are really trusting so many people and scenarios out of your control. You have to either trust it, or dont. And lately, I have not been given reasons to trust the system. A bit off kilter, but David sent this to me as a joke but Louis CK makes a good point that has crossed my mind a couple times. People are so ungrateful sometimes but when you sit back and think about it, YOU'RE FLYING! "You are in a seat, in the sky!" Just watch it, it's funny cuz it's true! Click HERE to watch.

Hate the word/phrase "touche", but it fits well here.

Daily Show's Kristen Schaal made a line of clothing for Michelle Obama based on the issues she may be focusing on. For the Prop 8 explanation, "The OctoBabyBijorn, accented in gay pride rainbows,a reminder that in California you're an unfit parent if you're gay but not if you're straight, unemployed, live with your parents and have an Angelina Jolie fetish. Then you can have a whole litter!"

Economic Choices

One thing that struck me as interesting in the economic news that I rarely understand and will quickly admit so no one thinks I know what they are talking about and that I can actually contribute to a conversation involving the state of the situation, today was something I found on Gawker/A commenter also mentioned it was from WJS so whoever did it, I'm repeating it below.

When the product costs more then the stock:
General Electric: $8.86
GE 45 watt fluorescent light bulb: $14.97

Altria Group (maker of Marlboro): $16.60
Two packs of Marlboro cigarettes: $20

Anheuser-Busch: $20.16
Case of Bud Light bottles: $24.99

Office Depot: $.92
Bag of rubber bands: $4.59

Wendy's/Arby's Group: $4.03
"Baconator" combo meal: $8.24

Borders: $.51
Mr. Wiggle Bookmark: $3.99

The Gap: $10.61
Pair of Gap dotted boxer shorts: $12.50

Whole Foods: $12.71
One pound of sea scallops: $18.99

Would You Rather...
Have four shares of American Express (AXP) or an AmEx Starwood Preferred Guest credit card for a year?
One share of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) or 3,100 copies of “The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life”?
One share of Starbucks (SBUX) or a bag of decaf espresso roast?
30 shares of Crocs (CROX) or a pair of Crocs Caymans?

When Movies Become Real Life

The Derelicte line from Zoolander has finally arrived for real.

http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2009/03/derelicte_is_upon_us_courtesy.html

Solange + Face Paint = My Blog

Miss Solange was off my radar for a bit but she is back full force now with FACE PAINT! Oh and passing out on the floor at LAX from the 'Quil. Hilarity ensues below:

O-H-I-O

Ohio State has the most school spirit of any school. One thing we do is spell out O-H-I-O and they have a commercial with the photos that plays on TV during football games and there is a website that has the pictures people send in, like this one! (That's me and my OSU boys in Eilat, Israel.) Here are some other ones I like:

Adventures

I am trying to go on mini adventures at least 3 times a week while I have this time off. Last week a day after a big snow storm, I walked through Central Park. Apparently others had this idea too because there were a surprising amount of loners out there just taking it all in and snapping photos.

Today I went down to the lower east side. Russ & Daughters was my inspiration. I was craving some good lox. But first I walked around a bit. Essex Marketplace was a huge disappointment. So was Orchard Street in the winter. So many stores are closed for good too. It's sad to see.

I roamed some more streets and ended up on Allen and Stanton in front of this great bookstore. Bluestockings has an awesome selection or obscure books dealing with cool topics like media, Israel/Palestine, religion, sex, travel, history and more. This sounds weird but if I had to give it a personality, it would be my college roommate Carla. Everything just reminded me of her, and I could totally see her either owning, working, or spending a ton of time in there. The employees were very nice and they had coffee and stuff too. I was starving so I didnt spend as much time as I would have liked, but if this whole unemployment thing keeps up, I am sure I will make my way back there soon.

Shark or Dolphin

Would you rather get attacked by a shark or have sex with a dolphin? Chelsea Handler would rather have sex with a dolphin.

Facelift

Notice the new Red Bull tab?

Food Porn

There is this incredible phenomenon sweeping the internet. It's called food porn. WARNING: DO NOT LOOK AT THESE LINKS IF YOU ARE HUNGRY.

http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/
http://foodporndaily.com/
http://www.tastespotting.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09Fd64V3U10
http://internetfoodassociation.com/category/food-porn/

You get the point.

Party Theme: Lost

How cool is this? A Lost themed retirement party with homemade Lost themed presents for the person.

Emergency!

When I feel bad about my life, I read the news and see stories like this that immediately lift my spirits.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0303091mcnugget1.html

I am a sucker for fast food cravings myself, so Latreasa, I know how you feel. When you are craving something so bad, and then after all the trouble you go through to get there only to find out that they don't have it?! Horrible feeling. And those chicken mcnuggets, are definitely emergency worthy I'd say. One time I wanted crunchy tacos from Chipotle and they didn't have the shells. They did end up giving me a free burrito though before I could even think about calling 911.

Stoners Will Be Stoners

Who is actually surprised to hear this news? Can you even call drugs found at a Phish Reunion concert NEWS?!

http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2009-03-09-phish_N.htm

Blink 182 Reunion

A little delayed but deserved nonetheless, I had to make a note about the reunion of Blink 182. I joke around that my first concert ever was Raffi, but really, my first REAL concert experience was Blink 182 in 7th grade with my best friend Kamryn. She got box seats at Jones Beach Amphitheater and it was an incredible experience. The band was reunited to present at the Grammy's this year and made the announcement. Woohoo!

Monster Truck Tally: 8

Relaxed in Jacksonville, Florida this past weekend courtesy of the best boyfriend ever, mine. :) It was a short weekend but a perfect one, minus the sunburn. I really had to try to not think about all the stress in my life at the moment and just relax. Once I did, it was awesome.

The beach was nice, they let dogs and bikes on it, unlike the uptight beaches here. Old school bikes are apparently the way a lot of people get around there and there are cute little beach side (well, close enough) restaurants to get out of the sun for a while. I had just watched a food network marathon about bar b q so I had a sick craving for ribs. Luckily Sticky Fingers was around and side note: they had the best wings I have ever had. One trimester in Columbus, I ordered wings from every place possible to see who made them the best. Papa Johns happened to take a surprising win but these are SO much better then those.

We also ate at this place called Sneakers. Like usual, I asked our waiter what his favorite was, and he got me this pretty delicious quesadilla that was not on the menu. Literally that is how he described it when I asked him what was in it. He just said "It's got likeee, deliciousness.". Matt the waiter was definitely a highlight of the trip and if you are ever in Sneakers, you should ask for his section.

Also, more miracles! I finished my book on the plane, Spontaneous Fulfillment Of Desire, by Deepak Chopra. It didn't answer all my life's burning questions but it absolutely was a great read. It certainly got me thinking in new directions. I'd like to read some more stuff by him now. Without getting too much more into it now, I just wanted to note a miracle that sticks out that occurred on the trip. If you know me, you know I am a huge fan of the band, Umphrey's McGee. David and I were randomly walking down a road just doing some exploring and I look up and there is a random venue and guess who was playing that very night in little ol Jacksonville? Yup. Miracle, coincidence, luck, random, whatever you want to call it. I wasn't about to drag David to a jam band I had seen so many times, so we didn't go to the show but just the mere fact that they were there blew my mind.

Did I mention I had an amazing weekend yet?

Below is a picture of one of the monster trucks we witnessed and then, the hotel we stayed in.


Just kidding!

MEMO TO EX BOSS

TO: Ex Boss
FM: Me
CC: Kira
RE: Recalling Emails
___________________________________________________________________________________


I TRIED to tell you this and you thought I was making it up...
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2009/03/question_of_the_day_what_do_pe.html

Jobs

Would you rather not have a job, or be this guy?
It could always be worse...

I love their caption! "Nutcase terrorizes Grand Central"

Bossy Dearest

Dear Ex Boss,
You are a psycho bitch fire breathing dragon and need to seek professional help.
Good luck with that and I am suing you for money because you have driven me to be an alchy and I now need rehab and psychiatric help and because I didnt get paid for all my hours, I have no money to pay for this.
Thanks for everything!
Kira

Internet Buried Treasure

Here I am, doing my daily routine of surfing the internet on my usual sites, when I came across this little story. It's not so much about the story though but more the photo. I went to high school with these girls. NYMag would like people to know there are money hungry Long Island bitches that can't seem to lock down a hubby with money? NO WAY! In my opinion this is old news. It's just with the whole self promoting phenomenon we have seen explode in the past couple of years, combined with the internet, and people getting clever about events and such, these methods for these girls are now just more public. I just think its humorous for my own personal reasons that they chose the photo of the Plainview chicks and wanted to save it for my memories and when I feel bad I can look here and remember my face isn't posted and labeled as desperate.

Then I clicked on the photo credit to see where it would lead, and I got to this. I don't know how I missed it this summer. Or the original peice. If I had to guess, the quote from the girl would be the one with the brown curly hair in front (Radar says differently though. I don't believe it).

Ew

I really don't have words for this invention, except EW.

Green

It's my favorite color. I was thrilled to see it as Angelina's accent color at the Oscars. (Sorry I know my Oscar posts are delayed but i've been really busy!)
Apparently they made a huge hit. People are going bonkers trying to find similar styles. I'll let them do the work for me.

Trolls

Remember Trolls?! Some people really had some insane collections of these things. I get how young girls can fall for this toy thing, that is what they do. But when grown women freak out about trends like this, I don't get it. Trolls, Beanie Babies, etc. But then there are these other trolls that most people are not familiar with. My mom works for a Norwegian Bank and goes to Norway at least twice a year. She's over the whole bringing us home gifts at this point but when we were younger, we got the Norwegian trolls and I swear to you, they were alive! My brother and I would experiment sometimes and put them in random places and they WOULD MOVE! They would be standing in the opposite direction, or in a completely different place altogether. They were alive dammit!

Winner

My favorite from the Oscars:

Natalie Portman in Rodarte. I wonder if she still has my cell phone that fell out in her car when I was her valet once...

Twitter

It's probably mentioned in my life on average, 5 times a day. The whole thing is beyond me and I really don't need another thing to start. But with the emerging of Rutherford Hay, I just may have to join and support. But I just can't do it yet. I really don't see the point. I have this to update on. But its just so dam popular I don't know how long I can stay away...

Keeping an eye out

I can't wait til this happens!

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things - Israeli Version

Feel free to send me some:


Dalton wine - muscat


Elite Chocolate from Israel. There are Pop Rocks inside the chocolate!!!

People

People are just freaking crazy sometimes. I quit my job today. More to come.