A little Happy for your Sunday

Well we all survived Irene here in New York. While it did end up being less severe as was expected, I still believe all of the precautions were necessary, and there are still people dealing with flooding, outages, and just plain inconveniences. We were all blessed that it wasn't worse but I am sure a lot of people are down right now so I figured it was a good time to share my little instant pick me up.


Puppies make me smile. I know, I am a cliche girl that cute animals boost my mood but I dare you to go to IHasAHotDog.com http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif and not feel your blues melt away, at least momentarily.


here are some examples:

HURRICANE IRENE: The making of a star

Not since the snow apocalypse of nearly nine months ago has weather caused the news teams around New York to turn to the emergency WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE mode. Yesterday was the beginning of hyping Irene more than the latest Lady Ga Ga album and by this morning, all of the broadcast networks have turned to 24 hour coverage of hurricanegate.

Now I understand that this is a hurricane, and furthermore the first to come this way in umpteen million years but it is not even coming until tonight! The officials responsible for public safety are making every possible precaution, even Mayor Bloomburg if you can believe it. It is not going to end up being the next Katrina. Anderson Cooper won't make a political cry while standing in the knee deep water waters of Central Park West while smartly dressed Frenchies and Puggles float by helplessly.

This is New York, we survived an Earthquake this week and some of us didn't notice. We have Happy Hours that last from 10 am until last call. There will be damage, there will be wind and water, and it won't be pleasant but it will all blow over.

Well if it isn't my second favorite Austrailian...

And for that matter second favorite American Idol contestant from season 7, MICHAEL JOHNS!!! (For the record, the first favorite contestant from the 2008 season was David Cook you fell stupid for not knowing that and the first favorite Aussie is OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE Heath Ledger, who just happened to die the same month AI started that year- insert twilight zone music here)


Anyway so, after a long absence or at least a long time since I saw or heard anything from Johns, someone on Twitter led me to this video.





Call me old school, or weird, but I really love this song. Hope you do too.

Happy Birthday: GiGi is 2!!!!!

On GiGi’s first birthday I described her as follows:

When I met G she was mere week old but already she had signs of greatness; though she couldn't move much she was very alert and beautiful. The job officially started in November and it wasn't long before the little lovely had permanently implanted herself in my heart. Every smile made me smile and every giggle reminded me how lucky I was to be doing this for a living.

Since those early days GiGi has learned a lot, as anyone who knows me is well aware because I tend to gush about her. It quickly became habit for my mother to ask me on the phone, "So what new things has GiGi done today?” It sounds odd but watching her do the simplest things is amazing. She can now recognize her body parts on command (nose, head, belly, mouth) can clap, communicate through sign language and an assortment of words, she can crawl like a maniac (and walk but she likes to pretend she can't) dances, and best of all gives hugs and kisses all day long.

It is hard to imagine that in just 365 days, GiGi has become a tiny woman. She continues to amaze me with how smart she is, it seems every day she has even more wisdom to share and everyday she gets more beautiful. But above all of her attributes, the thing that is most wonderful about GiGi is her kindness. She is constantly sharing with random other children, even when they are trying to take and grab and loves to tell us how she enjoys playing and helping out with her younger cousins who are only 10 and 4 or 5 months each. Sometimes she will just walk over to me and say, “Yissa, love you,” and hug and kiss me; she is such a loving person with such a beautiful soul.

There is certainly a lesson to be learned from this little girl. I have never seen GiGi hold a grudge or express misplace anger, something I am quite guilty of from time to time, as I am sure a lot of adults are. When G is mad, you know exactly why she is and who her anger is addressed to. If Lauren tells her she can’t do something she wants to do, she will ignore Lauren or hit Lauren, the same if I was the offender. If she does something to get time out, the whole incident is forgiven after “sorry,” and she doesn’t go off and take it out on Elmo.

It’s taking time, but I think, thanks to G, I am improving in this area. So thank you Gigi for spending another year making me smile, laugh, and play and for teaching me there is a lot to learn from someone who only comes up to my knee. Thank you also, to Gigi’s parents, I know how lucky and blessed that out of all the people in this world, you chose Lauren and I to take care of your most precious possession.

I love happy endings...

You may remember, last July, when I shared with you the story of baby Cohen, the little boy who was born with a rare heart condition and who, sadly, left this world on Fathers Day. As I mentioned then, I didn't actually knew this family, and just happened to find his mother's blog when she was blogging about her pregnancy and was hooked on the story.

Well guess what I just found out when coming across the link to her blog, they had twin babies on August 19th!!!

They're Here!!!

Sloane arrived first at 12:34pm weighing 6 lbs 2 oz and 19 1/4 inches long!

Knox arrived at 12:35pm weighing 5 lbs 10 oz and 18 1/2 inches long!

Congrats Meghan and Brent, not that you will probably ever see this. I understand that nothing will ever replace their little Cohen but I am very glad for them to have a second chance at raising a family.

Carvel buy one get one free Dashers

I am not going to lie, I love ice cream. If I could fit it into my Weight Watchers points, I would probably eat it everyday. Because of this, I was quite excited when my family received an ad that said for the month of August Carvel would be doing buy one get one free Sundae Dashers on Monday. Ice cream tends to be a bit undoable on work days do to late dinner, early breakfast, and a need for snacks. However, and rather serendipitiously, I happened to have two Mondays off this month.

Today was the first and after a nice afternoon swimming at a local pool, I went to pick up dessert at Carvel. The register person replied that see knew nothing about the offer, valid arguement, and asked her coworker. He then told me that he did know the offer but that it was one particular date and not today. I said it was all Mondays so he showed me a poster that explained it. It had no date on it and it was advertising milkshakes.

This infuriating incompetence led me to drive home, get the ad, and drive back. If they were not participating, I would have still bought the treats but I was not crazy and as the Joker taught us all in THE DARK KNIGHT, "it's not about money, it is about sending a message." When I got back the owner was at the counter and said that, yes, they were participating.

I win!!!

SIDENOTE: If you have a local Carvel, check if they have the discount and get yourself a treat next week. If you live around me, you really should ;)

I LOVE ANDERSON COOPER

Last night Anderson Cooper lost it on live TV!!!

Here is the best part


you should really watch the whole thing though, here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt7Gs4_6MH0&feature=related

CALLING ALL Rhode Island Terry Gilliam fans

This

Th

This is last minute but if you are in the area, stop by. I wish I could I am dying to see this film.

Flickers fest opens with must-see Terry Gilliam short

01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, August 9, 2011

By Michael Janusonis

Journal Arts Writer

In “The Wholly Family,” young Jake has a fantastic journey while on vacation in Naples with his family.

Terry Gilliam headlines the opening night of Flickers: The Rhode Island International Film Festival when his short film, “The Wholly Family” goes on screen at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 9, at Veterans Memorial Auditorum. Once of the Monty Python troupe, Gilliam has created bizarre worlds in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” and “Brazil.” And “The Wholly Family,” at just under 21 minutes long, is as off the wall as some of his earlier feature films.

Set in Naples (the one in Italy, not the one Rhode Islanders retire to in Florida), it follows the nightmare adventures of Jake, a nasty, demanding boy who is on vacation with his parents. Jake has taken a liking to a figurine of a Neapolitan baker on sale from a slightly creepy street vendor. When his parents don’t give in, Jake steals the figurine.

That night, in Jake’s nightmare, the figurine grows to man size. He forces Jake into his belly where there are lots of Neapolitan bakers who force food on Jake. This is followed by a very strange sequence in which the bakers take Jake to a hospital on an island where babies are delivered from huge eggs, including Jake.

The film has an oddball twist involving baby Jake. And there’s an amusing twist at the end, too, that mimics the familiar tableau figurines of the Holy Family — Jesus, Mary and Joseph. I’m not sure what will happen theatrically with “The Wholly Family,” although it might be given Academy Award consideration. For Gilliam fans, it’s one not to be missed.

mjanuson@projo.com

source: http://www.projo.com/movies/content/CONNECT_wholly_family_RIIFF_08-09-11_REPDQFE_v8.417e8.html

Music Monday: Dallin Brings me back to black

Last night I was finally able to attend yet another Dallin Applebaum show at Rockwood Music Hall, and though it was my umpteenth show, it was great catching up with my NYC music friends and once again the performance amazing as she just gets better and better.

One of my favorite songs of the night was BLUE DRESS,





However the highlight of the night had to be her tribute to the late, Amy Winehouse.

video credit LAUREN

After the show I even managed to get a quick treat at The Meatball Shop, all and all a good night.

THE TRENTA IS HERE

I had heard that Starbucks was creating a new size for its chain while watching ANDERSON COOPER 360 in January. Here is Anderson Cooper explaining it


31 ounces of coffee!! Now don't get me wrong, I like a good cup of coffee. When I say like I mean love, my two cups a day are literally like fuel for me. I am probably very close to addicted and Starbucks is my favorite dealer. I have recently acquired a list of all of their brews and plan to try and rate all of them, I know such interesting facts like how to create French Vanilla flavoring, and have memorized all of the sizes (TALLS are always 12 oz, GRANDE is 16 oz, and VENTI is 20 oz hot and 24 oz cold.) So if I think that 31 oz is ridiculous, something is clearly wrong.


When I saw the cup today I was excited but also nauseous.