fishwithoutbicycle

Rejoining the ranks of the employed

2012-02-13T22:22:00.004-05:00

Well, it's been a crazy couple of weeks, but I'm happy to be able to say that today I formally accepted a job offer!!

Yay!!

For a job that I don't have to start for another few weeks, meaning some lovely time off to enjoy my separation pay!!

Double yay!!!

It's also a job I wanted, which is great. I was interviewing left, right and center, but really I was between two roles, however one company got their act together faster and made a good offer. I ended up having a frank conversation with HR at the other company and explained that I really wasn't in a position to turn down the opportunity and she told me that although they really liked me things had changed recently and they weren't in a position to hire for the position as quickly as they had hoped anyway, so obviously that made the decision very easy.

It's such a relief and I'm really looking forward to working somewhere new. It was weird, but I really thought I would feel a pang of emotion when I left my previous place of employment for the final time last week. I mean it's been almost 11years, but instead I felt free!!

I'll try and be better about updating now that I have some free time, but the whole process of looking for a job has left me quite drained and I was so glad to be able to cancel the 3 interviews I had scheduled for this week and enjoy a few weeks of sleeping in and hitting the gym during the day when it's quieter. I'm trying to get in some semblance of shape for a trip I have booked in mid-April. Surf camp here I come ;-)

Will Kurtz @ The Mike Weiss Gallery

2012-01-28T21:40:00.004-05:00

I was early for week 3 of my surfSET surf camp at Chelsea Piers this afternoon so I popped into a few galleries on 24th street to kill some time. It's been ages since I've done a gallery tour and I miss them, but every time a tour came up I was either surfing or away somewhere, so I haven't been able to make one yet. One additional perk of the position I talked to the folks at Company2 about is that the office is in Chelsea, close enough for some lunchtime art without the weekend crowds. It was really busy down there today, although I'm guessing the Damien Hirst exhbit, The Complete Spot Paintings, is a significant draw at the moment. I couldn't even be bothered to go into that gallery, it looked to be bursting at the seams, but I was very glad I stopped by the Mike Weiss Gallery and saw Will Kurtz's exhibit, Extra F***ing Ordinary, of life sized sculptures of New Yorkers, largely using newspaper, whom the artist photographs stealthily via his iPhone. This newspaper dog was my favorite, I love the texture of his fur.

The exhibit runs through February 18th. Catch it if you can.

Splinters Surf Documentary

2012-01-28T10:30:00.004-05:00

I'm going to see this documentary in New York when it opens on Friday February 3rd at Cinema Village. It looks amazing!!! Here's the synopsis from the film's website.

"Splinters is the first feature-length documentary film about the evolution of indigenous surfing in the developing nation of Papua New Guinea. In the 1980s an intrepid Australian pilot left behind a surfboard in the seaside village of Vanimo. Twenty years on, surfing is not only a pillar of village life but also a means to prestige. With no access to economic or educational advancement, let alone running water and power, village life is hermetic. A spot on the Papua New Guinea national surfing team is the way to see the wider world; the only way."

Here's the trailer

SPLINTERS Teaser from splinters on Vimeo.

It's been a whirlwind!!

2012-01-28T10:00:00.001-05:00

Ugh, it's a beautiful day in New York today, the conditions in Rockaway are supposed to be great for surfing, the school is going out for a lesson and I am too hungover to join them. Damn damn damn damn damn damn. It's probably for the best anyway given my job situation not to be shelling out $75, but it would have been nice, especially as the instructor I find to be particularly attractive is the one taking them out. I think Megan may be going, I know she was considering it. So jealous!!!!

So the reason for the hangover is that I was out with my team for drinks last night - or should I say my former team since they are no longer reporting to me, but to my friend Deb (who is not best pleased to have been put in this situation). It was a fun night, although I was surprised they stayed out so late. I honestly thought we'd be out for an hour or two and then they'd head home to their significant others, but one to two hours rapidly turned into four to five.

It was the first time we've had an opportunity to talk openly and honestly about the whole situation and how they are feeling about what's going on at the agency. Like many others I've spoken to in the department, they are frustrated with how disorganized things are at the moment and unimpressed with how I've been treated, especially as the head of department hasn't been very forthcoming about what's happened with me. People have noticed I'm missing from the new org chart, but when they ask he just waves his hand and says something about me exploring other opportunities.

"We're not stupid, we all know what's going on, he should just be straightforward with us!!"

It's not like I've been shy about telling people if I'm asked, but apparently at an off site on Thursday a couple of people didn't know what had happened and asked why I wasn't there. The department head also asked why I wasn't there and expressed surprise that I didn't show, saying he thought I'd have had some good feedback.

Is he for real? They've laid me off from my position, albeit it with a significant amount of notice, but he thinks I am going to show up to an off-site meeting to provide feedback? Does he REALLY want my feedback?? I'll give it to him if he really wants it, but I didn't attend the off site, because a) I didn't think there was much point and b) my time was much better spent having a full on day interviewing with 4 different companies.

Yup 4 in one day. The job hunt has moved so fast that I feel I need to take on an intern to keep all my meetings and phone calls straight. I've talked with 8 companies so far, interviewed twice at two firms and am waiting for meetings to be scheduled with 2 more.

Last Thursday I interviewed with HR at Company1, a well respected mid-sized digital agency, and was pretty excited about that position, at that point that role was definitely my first choice. The next day I interviewed with the head of the team at a smaller agency and on Monday my recruiter emailed to ask how my interview went at Company2:

"It went well, they are a nice group of people and I appreciated their candor about the role, but to be honest I am not entirely sure the position is for me. While there are opportunities to help grow the team I wouldn't have a team working for me and I am not sure how I feel about that since coaching staff is something I excel at and enjoy. The heavy exposure to a single client is also something that gives me cause for concern."

A few hours later I received the following note from him:

"I get it and I've expressed your concerns to them. Having said that, they "love" you with a capital "L" and want you to come back and meet with senior leadership. They are willing to restructure the role to give you immediate direct reports. Would that make this worth continuing discussions?"

Ugh, I knew this would happen and I wish I loved them 'with a capital "L"', but to be honest I just wasn't feeling it in my gut, however a job is a job and should other opportunities fall through then...maybe!! Would it be wrong of me to go in and meet with senior leadership knowing that I am unlikely to take the position?

Seriously, can you tell I am Catholic? I feel guilty about frigging everything!!!

That was the week of January 13th...this past week has been a whirlwind.

On Monday I met a recruiter for coffee at Soho House in the Meatpacking District. I've never been to Soho House before, not the NY outpost nor the original in London, but I'm really not down with it to be honest and I so wanted to hate the place as I think the whole private club thing is pretentious and assumed it would be packed to the rafters with hideously pompous British ex-pats and those who fawn all over them - but I have to admit the 6th floor lounge is lovely. Anyway the recruiter seemed a bit disinterested - I noticed her zoning out a couple of times, although to give her her due she could have been looking for the coffee I'd asked for as she did seem to listen to me. There are a couple of positions she is going to put me forward for; one would be at a small, award winning creative agency with just 50 employees that's looking to build its capabilities in my area of expertise, so it would be just me, team of one working with the head of strategy. To be honest this scares the crap out of me in some ways as I think of how hard it would be to replicate the team I'm in now, but then again it could be really cool and I like the idea of the agency being led by creatives since so many advertising agencies seem to run by people with MBAs who have no clue about the end product we're selling. I'd have to interview with them and see what my gut tells me. The second position is at mid-sized agency in Brooklyn and the vacancy is actually for a lower level than me, but she said they are always on the lookout and may consider creating a position for the right person.

I also spoke to another recruiter who is putting me forward for another position at a small marketing consultancy near Union Square. I looked them up and someone I know from my days on an agency account works there. She's also checking with some other contacts. Then the HR department at a large agency emailed me to set up a screening interview. They are hiring at all levels - cause for concern, did they decimate the team or are they growing? Apparently someone Megan worked with in San Francisco saw my resume and called her about me, so she gave him glowing feedback. The job there sounds a bit scary to be honest. It's a big agency and the role seems much more senior than the one I have even though it's the same title, but I have a phone interview with someone there this coming Monday.

On Wednesday I had a phone interview with a company I wasn't interested in, very much a management consultancy type organization - I thought I may as well for the practice - and ugh, it was awful. Well, I suppose it wasn't THAT bad, but the guy asked me how I would re-evaluate a client's marketing program? Talk about a broad question. I told him what I would do from the perspective of my area of expertise, but I really didn't like the sound of the role and at the end of the interview I told the guy that I was looking for a role in a more creative environment and that I didn't think I was right for them and they weren't right for me. A bit direct perhaps, but the guy kept telling me how they had 150 specialists who do what I do as though it was something to boast about and I just thought "ugh, how dull to be working among 150 others like me." Anyway even though I didn't want the job the experience freaked me out a bit and I was dreading my interview with the head guy at Company1 at 8am on Thursday morning, but he turned out to be really great and told me that they have a 'no assholes policy' ha ha!! Can't hate an organization that has that policy. Anyway he wanted me to come back in and meet with a few more members of the team.

After that interview I headed downtown for a 10am meeting with senior leadership of Company2, who I had admittedly put in the 'back-up job' spot after Company1, but...well I REALLY liked them too. They were very straightforward with me - one guy, who would potentially be my boss, was a fellow northerner who had no qualms about admitting to a hangover in our meeting - and basically told me that the department is in a bit of a mess and he thinks I would make a good partner for the current departmental lead, and mentioned something about making me a co-head of the department. Erm...not the job I interviewed for, which was frankly too junior despite the title, so...well see. I emailed him a thank you note on Thursday evening and I got an email back that night saying they would be putting an offer together for me, so I'm just waiting to see what that is, but I'm kind of excited by this role. The current team they have in place is pretty junior and one of the account directors who I interviewed with had worked with me before - told me that I could really make a difference to the team, so after initially not being too enthused about this role my gut is now telling me to go for it and that going in and turning around a small department could be great for my resume, that is if that's the role that's on the table, because as I said that's not the role I initially interviewed for, but....we'll see!! I'm really excited about it to be honest, but we'll see if they are able to come back to me with an offer for a more senior level position!!

Google thinks I am a 25-34 year old man!!!

2012-01-28T08:30:00.003-05:00

Ha ha I read this article on Gawker this morning and clicked on this link to see what Google inferred about my demographics based on my browsing history and Google says the following:

Your demographics

We infer your age and gender based on the websites you've visited. You can remove or edit these at any time.

Age: 25-34

Gender: Male

Um....so very wrong Google, I am a 40 year old female. Apparently this is because the sites I visit tend to be about movies - gotta love rottentomatoes and imdb - technology news - how sexist of Google - and travel - I have researched a lot of surf related travel lately. The swimwear one is confusing, but I have been researching wetsuits and most sites tend to default to displaying male suits, so perhaps that's it. Very entertaining anyway. At least Google thinks I am significantly younger than I really am.

Hmmm, does Google think I'm immature?

Night Of A 1000 Mikes*

2012-01-22T15:57:00.009-05:00

So no dates this weekend, which is a good thing because it is FREEZING outside. I've just been out to do laundry and brrrrrrrrrrr!!!! Actually I potentially could have had a date today as I got chatting to a bloke at the NY surf meet up happy hour that Megan, Layla and I went to on Friday night - a fantastic bunch of people - and we exchanged numbers. Not wasting any time he sent me a text message on Saturday morning.

"Hey it's Mike from last night, it was nice meeting you. We should get together sometime and go for a surf. Waves might be good tomorrow."

Mike from last night? Well I met a bunch of Mikes last night, in fact it was like every other man I spoke to was named Mike, so the name didn't narrow it down much and more importantly....SURFING??????

Today!!!! It's 18 friggin' degrees outside (-7.7C)!!

While it's always nice to be asked I politely declined the invitation to succumb to hypothermia, although truth be told if I had the gear and more surfing experience I would have seriously considered it. The waves are better on the East Coast in winter and it's exhilarating to be out there in the cool water when you're toasty warm in your wetsuit. Quiksilver even makes a battery powered heated vest that you wear under your suit. I have to say I find the combination of a battery powered suit and the ocean somewhat alarming, but it's been on the market for a couple of years and I've read reviews of it, so it must be safe. Mustn't it???

Anyway no dates this week, but next Saturday I am grabbing a coffee with Chris from OkCupid. Chris is one of those overly keen OkCupider men who emails very regularly without necessarily waiting for a response from me. He'll email to see how my weekend was, or ask if I had a good day at work. We haven't met yet and I already feel overcrowded by the guy, but we'll see. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt, but I'm not overly optimistic.

*Well, okay, I exaggerate, there were just 4 Mikes, but still it was quite a lot. I also had to laugh when I arrived at Chelsea Piers for my SurfSET fitness class on Saturday afternoon and realized my instructor there is also a Mike, it's like some surfing prerequisite.

The Continuing Shit Show That Is My Redundancy

2012-01-19T20:43:00.003-05:00

So it's come to my attention this week that there is a clause in my separation agreement that basically says they'll pay me the 10 weeks I'm entitled to, BUT...

...I'll receive a check every two weeks AND if I start a new job within the 10 weeks then all payments end!!

The payments end!!!

What the ^%$# is that about???? It's a total kick in the teeth given I've been there almost 11-years. That is sooooo not what the employee handbook implies. It's pretty much squashed any loyalty I had to the company. Ahhh marketing agencies, why do they never $#@&ing follow their own advice to the clients when it comes to their employees, such as the old marketing adage about it costing up to 5 times more to acquire a new customer than it does to retain an old one. Our goal for our clients is often retention and advocacy, but clearly that doesn't carry weight when it comes to employees. Seriously I could scream, although I'm actually going to do something much more productive than that. I'm going to solicit some legal advice via the NYC Bar Association that holds a weekly Pro Bono legal clinic* next week to get some advice, but if there's no way out of it then what's the point in finding a job? I may as well take some time off to enjoy myself, to enhance my skills, to write, to eff off to surf camp in Nicaragua, although the only way I could relax if I did that is if I have a signed commitment to a job waiting for me on my return.

May I ask Americans, is this common treatment when it comes to employees and if so why the hell do you stand for it?

So my job search is moving fast, which is good news, although in some ways it's all moving forward a little faster than I would like given I only sent my resume out into the universe last Thursday afternoon, I've been bombarded with calls from HR people and recruiters. Now obviously that's not a bad problem to have in a country that's experiencing an unemployment rate of close to 9%; there seems to be a lot out there for someone with my skills and experience. It's nice to be niche. Well I'm actually not niche in terms of my qualifications - mathematics degree - but most people who studied with me effed off to finance or accounting. The ones who went into marketing are few and far between. I interviewed with the HR department of a well known agency this morning and by the end of the day they'd contacted me about meeting with the department head at 8am on Tuesday next week, conflicting with my only standing meeting. A good thing to be honest, because I'm interviewing with another agency tomorrow afternoon - one of my interviewers used to work at the agency I am at now, so I know her and...well to say she's moody is putting it mildly, so I'm not exactly enthused at the prospect of working with her, but we'll see, perhaps she's changed!!!** Knowing my luck I'll ace the interview - I'm incredibly charming when I'm not interested and a nervous wreck when it's something I want, but it's all practice.

I'm meeting another recruiter for coffee on Monday, have a call with another on Tuesday and a meeting with the HR department of another agency on Wednesday. I'm trying to schedule the meeting with the department head for Thursday or Friday, but I'm waiting to confirm the availability of an Executive Vice President of another agency who wants to talk to me for 2 hours (2 hours???).

It all sounds incredibly positive doesn't it? People should have my problems, I really am incredibly lucky. Colleagues keep telling me that I should have no trouble at all finding something, nevertheless the prospect of being out of work fills me with dread.

As if I haven't been keeping busy enough with my job search I've also been dating. I didn't resolve to date in 2012, but I did in 2011 and quite honestly totting up my year's accomplishments and realizing I'd only gone on 6 dates made me realize I just wasn't making an effort. I decided that I'd respond to everyone that emailed me*** and see how that went. So far I've been on 2 dates, so already my average dates/month is up fourfold so I'm killing it compared to 2011 ;-)

*Pro Bono!!! How cool is that? It's restored my faith in some lawyers, but clearly not the slimeball that came up with my company's separation agreement. Hanging, drawing and quartering is too good for him/her.

**When hell freezes over ;-)

***Within reason. The 25 year old that sent me a note saying "You look amazing for your age. I just have to say ( gut feeling ) that we should definitely sit down, eat, and talk" will not be receiving a response, because a) he's too young and b) any man that thinks it's a good idea to use the qualifier 'for your age' doesn't deserve a response. What about a simple "You look amazing" the "for your age" part just negates the compliment. Men are idiots!! Why am I trying to date them again.

I'm Glad I'd Already Taken Most Of My Shoes Home

2012-01-16T19:13:00.007-05:00

I was jolted out of bed at 6.30am last Tuesday morning and, feeling exhausted, pondered going back to bed for an hour or so. I checked my work email to see if I had any morning meetings scheduled, but an email from my manager, sent at 10.20pm last night, inviting me to a meeting with him at 3pm did more than enough to wake me up. I knew the meeting could not be good news given I already had a catch up meeting scheduled with him at 9am on Thursday and he was supposed to be heading to Chicago on business on Wednesday. I was also well aware that the layoffs I'd heard about before Christmas were expected to happen that day!!

Crap!!

It was definitely looking like I was for the chopping block!!

This was a real test of my 2012 'f**k it' mantra, but it is what it is and I'm in a much better place than I was 11 years ago when I was let go from my first job in New York after 6 months in the country. When you're on a visa you typically get 2 weeks after the end of your notice period to find another job or leave the country. It's pretty stressful, although I got lucky. I interviewed at two places and both of them wanted to offer me the position. It just so happens that my current company was quicker off the mark with sending out the offer and putting the visa wheels in motion. I've been there ever since and 5years ago they sponsored me for my Green Card, so I had the legal flexibility to look for something new, plus I've been busy building a savings cushion, so outside of the 10 weeks severance I'd be entitled to I had enough saved to last me 6months while living in the manner to which I'd become accustomed, 8 months if I tightened my belt.

I threw a couple of those reusable Envirosax shopping bags in my handbag just in case and when I arrived at the office I packed up the last 3 pairs of shoes I had in my drawer and a few other personal bits and waited for the axe to fall.

When I got into the office I saw an invite to meet with not only my boss, but also my boss's boss - who I've worked with for about a decade.

Uh-oh!!

Anyway it's taking me FOREVER to write this post, so long story short, I was laid off....

...well kind of

What's actually happened is that one of my clients asked someone else to run his business because I am 'not strategic enough.' This is the same person that was my account director for 3 and a bit years up until July 2011 and only became my client in October 2011. The same client I have met exactly TWICE since he started the role just over 3-months ago. The same client that has never had anything but good feedback about my work when we worked together at the agency.

What the &*%$ is THAT about?

Seriously!! Wouldn't you think that you would give someone feedback and allow them to change if you had an issue with their performance? He's not stupid, he knew what asking me off the business would do.

Anyway my boss's boss then proceeded to tell me that they didn't want to lose me, but my client asking me off the business has essentially put my billability in the crapper and so they've given me 4 weeks to find something else, which is 4 weeks longer than they gave the 42 other people they laid off.

I updated my resume and sent it out into the world on Thursday afternoon and since then...well I've been inundated. Obviously this is not a bad problem to have. There seems to be a lot out there in my field, so I am keen to take the time to find the right opportunity, but I have two interviews scheduled for this week.

In addition to the contact from external recruiters an opportunity came up to work on a 3 month project with the team from Chicago. This position would see me based in NY and would give me additional time to find a new position, although if I wanted to keep my separation pay I'm entitled to, then I'll have to see the project through for the full 3 months and the money is enough for me to not want to lose it. It may actually turn into a long term position, but to be honest I'm over it. It's just a case of whether I'll take the money and run now or in 3 months.

Soooooo, I'll try and keep you posted, but job hunting is sucking up all my time at the moment.

Onwards and upwards. To be honest I am feeling really good and I'm looking forward to doing something new. Perhaps this was the kick up the arse I needed to make a change. Besides, there's no eye candy since the Creative Cutie was laid off in December*

*Another thing I've been meaning to post about, but when I found out he'd left the agency I realized I had nothing to lose and asked him out....via Facebook. I'm not THAT brave that I could do it face to face, besides I don't really know.

"I'll never see him again" I said to Deesha

"I'm so proud of you for doing this," she said

Of course this was before I realized that I'd be traipsing around the ad agencies with my resume under my arm within a few short months. He never responded, but at the end of the day I had the balls to ask, which is more than I can say for him. In the words of my mantra...f*** it!!!

Atlantic Ocean 5, Fish Nil Points

2012-01-07T14:48:00.005-05:00

I got my arse handed to me surfing this morning, the conditions were challenging to say the least, all choppy and it was tough to even paddle to the outside. "This is the worst it gets," said Frank who runs the surf school.

Good to know!!

"Just walk out as far as you can and take a beating in the impact zone and then when you see a break in the waves just jump on and paddle like crazy," said Richie one of the instructors. "If you try to paddle through the white water you'll never make it."

Good advice, the only problem is that when you're 5ft 1 you really can't walk out that far. I made it to the safe area outside of the impact zone, where the waves were breaking, maybe 3 or 4 times, but it was exhausting and I really didn't catch any waves. Last week was a walk in the park by comparison; I'm 3 hours out of the water and I ache everywhere from wrestling my board through the choppy water. It was worth it though and I was glad to note that the two big guys who are pretty decent surfers also had trouble. If 6ft plus blokes struggled then I don't feel so badly about struggling too. However days like today always make me feel so girly, especially when the surf instructors just walk out there without any problems. With all the weight training I do I am lulled into a false impression of being strong, especially relative to the other women I take classes with who more often than not stick to 8lb weights as their maximum while I use 15lb weights for chest presses, flies, rows and for extra weight during lunges and 8lbs as my lightest weight. See!!!! I'm no wuss, but today the ocean made me feel like a delicate wee flower.

I had a great time though, I'm exhausted but happy!!

Resolutions

2012-01-06T21:47:00.006-05:00

So let's review 2011...225 exercise classes (given how permanently exhausted I feel I really thought it would have been more often than 4 times a week. According to Debs and Megan it's scary that I counted my classes!!); 13 surf lessons (amazing), 1 broken friendship (over it; it is what it is), one great saunter - 32 miles around Manhattan, never again, I'm still growing out the resulting bruised toe nail- 6 dates (is that all? 1 with a guy who's name I cannot recall, 1 with Al, 1 with John, 1 with David & 2 with Clinton...hmm yup 6, that's really quite pitiful, perhaps I gave up too easily; 6 haircuts and one lost lust object (I plan to post separately on this). All in all not too bad, score for the year 7 out of 10, a definite improvement on 2010, but room for improvement.

So here are my resolutions for 2012...

1) F**k it

It's not pretty, but it rolls off the tongue. This is my mantra for 2012. Generally speaking I worry too much about what people think. I really need to stop, because let's face it, no-one is really paying attention to what I'm doing/wearing/how much I weigh etc so why do *I* care?.

2) Surf

Basically do more of it. 'Nuff said. I'm already on track to beat 2011's paltry 13 sessions having gone out on New Years Day already and I'm out on the water again tomorrow. Yay!! I'm excited to become more adept at paddling into my own waves and generally becoming a more accomplished surfer. I'm also thrilled to have made a couple of acquaintances who texted me to let me know they were going out tomorrow and asked me to join them, so here's to making new friends too. Hopefully this will be an easy resolution to keep assuming I have the money to pay for lessons*

3) Work out

Keep up the good work from 2011. I've been to the gym 5 times already this week and was pleasantly surprised to find my classes weren't crammed to the rafters with too many new years resolution types. Sure, there were a few newbies, but no more than half a dozen per class so far. After exercising regularly and eating normal sized meals over the last few days I already feel a lot less Bratwurst like in my jeans than I did this time last week. Phew!!

4) Write

I want to develop the discipline to write more often in 2012 whether it's updating my blog, emailing my friends or writing a novel. I really have no purpose, but I love it, it makes me feel good, it gives me a new perspective on life, it's a good thing, but after a long day at the office it's hard to sit down and write. Despite 225 exercises classes implying the contrary, I am, at the heart of my being, a lazy person who will laze on my futon watching any old shite on TV if the opportunity prevents itself, so I've set myself a challenge of writing for at least 30minutes a day.

5) Don't buy any new clothes in the first 3 months of the year

Now let me ask you something...does it technically count as breaking the resolution if you buy something new to replace several somethings you've returned, afterall you've spent the money already, so.....it's like free clothes right? Technically I didn't spend any money. What's that you say? It counts? Dammit!!! Okay, well it looks like I've failed with this resolution 5 days into the new year then having just ordered a pair of patent low wedge Cole Haan shoes to go with the 'Ruched Glyph dress' I bought online in early December from Anthropologie, but I am waiting on being credited for returning 4 pairs of knee high boots and 2 pairs of shoes.

I do love my ruched glyph dress, although I admit it lacks hanger appeal, but I have to concur with the reviews on Anthropologie and say that good lord it is flattering on. It's a bum hugger though and about 4 inches shorter than I'd typically wear, hitting me at mid thigh, so it's taking some getting used to, but I plan to keep it as I feel I need to mix it up a bit in the old wardrobe department since I do have a tendency to be one of those women who finds a style and sticks with it and before you know it the years have gone by, you're still wearing the same styles and you're friends have banded together and collectively written off to "What Not To Wear" to see if they can get you the sartorial help you so desperately need.

God forbid that should happen, so a new frock it is.

I tried the dress on with thick black tights and heels as soon as I got home and ooopsie, strumpet central. Heels were definitely not the way to go, not unless I was after a job as a night club hostess. I decided that flat-ish boots were the way to de-sluttify it, so ever since I bought the dress I've been on the hunt for the perfect pair of boots to wear with. It's harder than you might imagine, especially if you have very specific ideas of what you are looking for as I did. I wanted leather boots that came to about an inch below my knee, didn't gape at the top of the shaft. I hate it when they gape and give the boots a welly-like (rainboot) appearance. I was also looking for a pair with a wedge heel, although as it turned out I had to compromise on that since all the wedge heeled boots were clearly meant for the more statuesque female since the ones I tried all had a very tall shaft and looked like over the knee boots on me, despite the fact that Zappos lets you select based on material, heel type, heel height, shaft height and shaft circumference they were all too long and it's not a great look when you are petite, but not whippet thin. "That's how they wear them these days," said my mother, clearly tiring that I'd tried on umpteen boots in Century 21 and not been happy with a single pair. Thank you for your input mother, but I beg to bloody differ.

I finally found the perfect pair from.....well come closer so I can whisper the name of the store I'm a bit embarrassed about it. Closer!! So don't tell anyone, but I bought them from...Easy Spirit. Yup, the store that sells comfortable, and often ugly, shoes for women of a certain age. I spotted them when I was in the store with my mother and pondered them for a few days, before taking the plunge and ordering them online. God forbid I should inconvenience myself by walking to the store approximately 4 blocks from my apartment. Anyway I say perfect, but they are not really, but they're probably the best pair I've tried so far and get rave reviews on the site from women with an average age of 65!! So here I am, aged 40 and already reduced to buying comfortable shoes from Easy Spirit...sob!! This feels like a low point in my life!!

I tried the dress on again with the boots this morning. I still love the dress, but have decided there is no way in hell I am wearing it to work without a substantial sized cardigan over it, since as I said total bum hugger and there may well be talk, plus once you get to my age you do sometimes worry that maybe you are coming across as if you are trying too hard. Mutton dressed as lamb and all that. My f**k it mantra will only carry me so far if I am not comfortable in my clothing. Anyway I'm not *totally* sure on the boots. They are probably the best ones I have tried on and they fit well and are as comfy as you'd expect boots made for retirees to be, but.......hmmmm. I think I might just have to get used to them, being a virgin to all this boot wearing business and all. I've never owned a pair of knee high boots before so this is all new to me and maybe I just need to get used to it, but I kind of miss not showing off my skinny ankles. If there's one thing to be said for having muscular calves - 11 years of ballet dancing plus genetics et voila - it's that your ankles look teensy by comparison and I don't like them being covered up, which is where the Cole Haan low wedges come into the story. Perhaps the low wedges will work better. I'm probably going to keep the boots too though since they were on sale.

*Rumor has it that 65 people will be laid off on Monday. Crap!!

For Anyone Who Didn't Realize You Could Surf In NYC...

2012-01-06T20:32:00.005-05:00

Here's a 7 minute film about NYC surfers by Chris Shashaty. Surfing in New York is so amazing, I'm smitten!! The lesson is a go for tomorrow so I'm looking forward to being out on the water. Megan is about 90% certain she'll come along, however two other people I know plan to be there so even if she doesn't make it I'm happy to know I'll have company.

http://vimeo.com/23304848

Subway Surfers (Full Length) from Chris Shashaty on Vimeo.

I Know I Shouldn't Say This....

2012-01-04T22:12:00.007-05:00

....Given the evils of global warming and all, but I am thrilled by the forecast for Saturday. It's looking like a surfing day. Whoo hoo!!!!

Today was FREEZING and the thought of being in the water....brrrrrr. You can't tell from the above image, but this morning the temperature was 12F, but with the wind chill it felt like 5F (-15C). After experiencing that it's hard to believe that it's going to warm up sufficiently, but the surf school posted on Facebook today that they plan to run a 90minute class on Saturday, so fingers crossed the weather holds. If it does I shall be popping out to Queens first thing to enjoy some time in the water. The following weekend I start my 8 week 'surf camp' with SurfSET fitness at Chelsea Piers. I really didn't expect to be out in the ocean at all during the first 3 months of the year so I booked myself some indoor surf training on the Rip Surfer X machine to build my paddle endurance, plus it seems like something different - although I've seen it maligned by a few surfers on their blogs, all male and none of whom seem to have actually tried it - but getting more water time on top of that is a bonus. My resolution to surf more in 2012 is going well so far.

First Day Back At Work

2012-01-03T22:22:00.002-05:00

Ugh!!

Ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh!!

Lovely as it was to see everyone at work today it was not easy being back after more than 2 weeks off.

Poor me ;-)

This IM from Debs' just about summed it up

Debs: Seriously... what do I do? when can I go home?

Ha ha!!

I also made the mistake of braving the scale this morning after a solid two weeks of my mothers cooking plus Christmas indulgence and I've put on about 2lbs. Not bad really, I think I typically put on more, but it didn't help that I accidentally pulled out the most snug pair of jeans I own this morning while rushing to get ready for work. When I'm at my normal weight they are my favourite pair since the waistband and bum doesn't grow after a few hours wear and I don't have to worry about a belt, unfortunately for me today the waistband and bum didn't grow so I was squeezed into the damn things the whole day. I felt like a big denim sausage.

I took things fairly easy today, but tomorrow work starts again for real!! I think I got a little *too* used to be a lady of leisure!!

Things I Learned In 2011

2012-01-01T21:48:00.002-05:00

After posting about a particularly annoying experience I had wearing a short summer wetsuit while surfing in Rockaway in September I received a decent amount of search traffic on one particular topic...who knew that wedgies were a THING???? People are so weird ;-)

The Best Way To Bring In 2012

2012-01-01T16:48:00.003-05:00

I still need to put my arms out for balance though, I don't know why I hold them in like that, although if it works...!!

Today was a great day, I caught two waves all by myself whoo hoo, this is quite an achievement - pats self on back - as previously I've always needed an instructor to give me a 'push-in' to gain the necessary speed to catch the wave. Of course even though I caught them I immediately fell off them when I tried to pop up and ride them, but still...progress!!

Megan also had a great day despite serious trepidations about surfing in cold weather - she's only ever surfed in Hawaii, Bali, Costa Rica and New York in the summer, so this was her first time wearing a wetsuit, booties and gloves and while she did find all the gear heavy - one of the instructors mentioned that the gear typically adds a good 30lbs once the suit is filled with the necessary layer of water. Maybe for a 200lb man, but 30lbs is a quarter of my body weight so I think I would have noticed if I was hefting that much of an extra load - she had a great time.

Here's to a LOT more surfing in 2012!!

Happy New Year!!!

2011-12-31T20:06:00.008-05:00

I'm having a very mellow New Year's Eve. I've dropped off my laundry, done my ironing, eaten some soup and I'm now plopped in front of the TV with a glass of Mencia. Do I know how to party it up in NYC or what ;-) I'll probably be in bed before the clock strikes midnight, I usually am, although that's typically because I'm dealing with jet lag after spending Christmas in the UK. I have no such excuse this time, but I'm just not one of life's night people. I'm much better at mornings, which is why I shall be up with the larks - and the walk of shamers* - to take the subway out to Far Rockaway for a New Years Day surf lesson. I KNOW....surfing in January, but it's forecast to be 50F tomorrow, it should be a beautiful day to be out on the water. I've finally coerced fair weather surfer, Megan, to come with me. She's always been bothered by the idea of wearing so much as a spring wetsuit having only ever surfed wearing a rash guard and board shorts, so she'll be having quite the initiation tomorrow in her 4/3 suit, hood, gloves and booties. After surfing in all that get up wearing a spring suit in a few months will be no probs.

To be honest you couldn't pay me to go and watch the ball drop in Times Square**. They were speculating on NY1 the other day that it's 90% tourists who go, but in almost 12years in New York I've yet to meet someone who's been. Native New Yorker Melissa was postulating that if you count anyone who lives outside of the 5 NY boroughs*** as tourists then the percentage probably shoots up to 98%. They were interviewing people on the news this morning who'd got to Times Square at 6am and were planning to wait it out for 18hours to keep their spot, because once the crowds arrive there's no moving, once you're there, you stay there. How does one go to the bathroom you might wonder? Well I've heard, although I've no idea if this is true, that people just...how can I put this delicately...go where they are standing.

Hmmmm!!

Spending New Year's Eve watching the ball drop in Times Square doesn't quite sound like the most appealing proposition when you hear that does it?

I wonder if there's a whole adult diaper situation going on? Ugh ugh ugh, WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY BRAIN, why on earth did I think that? Just forget I said anything okay, it really does not bear thinking about.

Have a happy and safe new year's eve and all the best for 2012!!

*I did enjoy this Harvey Nics ad featuring the walk of shame and the fact that it doesn't deride the women who participate, but just encourages them to dress better when they do it. Ha ha!! Enjoy it ladies.

**I could take or leave going out on NYE in general to be honest. Melissa's father refers to it as 'Amateur Night' because everyone who doesn't typically go out at other times during the year hits the town on New Years Eve and it just turns into a bit of a mess. Not to be all bah humbug about it, but I'm inclined to agree with his philosophy. People seem to put themselves under too much pressure to have a good time on NYE and it usually falls a bit flat in my experience. In fact the only memorable NYE I've spent was when I was in my mid-twenties and rented a cottage in St Ives. St Ives is a small town on the Cornish coast and the whole town dresses in costume up for NYE and none of the pubs and bars charged a cover so we were free to roam from pub to pub, it doesn't cost a fortune and you have a built in opportunity to chat to people by asking them about their costume. Even the police who were on duty the year we were there cheerfully posed for photos with revelers. Happy days!!

***Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx and Staten Island

A Final Day Of Sloth

2011-12-29T08:19:00.003-05:00

So it's back to the gym for me tomorrow - 10am Pilates class with Kristen yay - but since I could not be arsed to get up for the 8.15am class with Nina this morning I decided I deserved one last day of being lazy slumped on the sofa, catching up on my DVR with the box of leftover handcrafted Bon Bons chocolates within reach.

Well kind of...

...in reality I've eaten two of the Bon Bons for breakfast and now I'm feeling a bit sickly they are so rich and truth be told I'll probably be a bit more active as the state of my apartment is driving me crazy enough to sort it out. For some reason my parents - who flew back to England last night - feel that it's entirely appropriate, as temporary guests in my home, to rearrange my kitchen cupboards so that after they've left I can NEVER FIND ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!! Not that it aggravates me in the least. Oh no, not in the slightest, grrrrrrr ;-)

Anyway including today I have 5 days left before I am back to work, so I need to use the time wisely. Here's my to do list for the remainder of 2011/early 2012.

* Re-order apartment
* Catch up on DVR
* Take 2 Pilates and 2 Total Body Conditioning classes
* Have brunch with Melissa and Lauren
* See 'Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones' at the Bard Graduate Center Gallery
* See Mission Impossible 4 - if you'd have told me a month ago that this would be on the list I would have laughed you out of the room, but it's getting AMAZING reviews. I need to see it in a theater.
* See "Crafting Modernism: Midcentury American Art & Design" at the Museum of Art & Design before it closes on January 15th.

Can you tell I am one of life's list makers? I can't help myself, I'm an ISTJ.

Enjoy the rest of 2011!!

A Very Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T15:38:00.004-05:00

A nice mellow Christmas in New York, we chatted with my sister, brother-in-law and nephew over Skype last night, unwrapped our gifts with sticky buns and coffee this morning and then took off to the cinema to see that festive classic, Girl With A Dragon Tattoo, plus only one minor family skirmish over some eggs*, so not bad going at all really!!

I had Fresh Direct deliver a, more or less, traditional Christmas dinner of turkey and all the trimmings which we are having this evening, so all I have to do is pop the turkey in and microwave some veggies, microwave the Betty's Christmas pudding my mother brought over - served with butter pecan Haagen Dazs instead of brandy whipped cream - and lapse into a food coma in front of the TV.

Merry Christmas!!

*Despite the fact that my parents have been hinting at me to make a round of Pisco Sours, which I said I would make today with my new ice crushing KitchenAid blender - thank you Santa - my mother decided that she really wanted scrambled eggs for lunch and got into a bit of a huff when I said I needed enough egg whites to make the cocktails they wanted. Fortunately when given the choice of using the eggs for cocktail hour or for a light protein rich lunch, she made the sensible decision to have a ham salad sandwich. Parents eh!!

Santa Surfs Rockaway

2011-12-23T11:56:00.003-05:00

Very cute Facebook post today from New York Surf School. They are running a 10am lesson tomorrow and it's so nice and mild in New York - what a fantastic autumn we've had in 2011 - I can't say I'm not tempted, although I should probably be a dutiful daughter and spend quality time with my parents on Christmas Eve.

Wow, how did almost 3 weeks go by?

2011-12-19T21:52:00.004-05:00

I've been meaning to post for a couple of weeks now, but there's been so much going on I haven't had a chance and now my parents are visiting for the festive season there is even less time. It's quite weird, although not in a bad way, but this will be the first Christmas that I haven't spent in England. It feels like a turning point. The reason they are here is that my sister, brother-in-law and nephew are in Australia reactivating their visas.

Beyond seeing my parents one of the things I am happiest about is that I get to more or less maintain my gym regime and that the season doesn't feel as gluttonous as it would normally be. Usually when I am in England I'm all "Ooooh I haven't eaten one of these since the last time I was here, I should eat 10 of them right now," and I come back to New York feeling like a total lard-arse, but there's none of that going on if I stay here and keep up with the gym and that's great, because Megan and I are researching trips to surf camp - we're thinking either Nicaragua (my first choice) or Costa Rica - in March so it will be good not to have extra weight to work off.

Anyway in lieu of an update - which I hope to get around to in a few days - here's are the amazing Black Keys for your enjoyment!!

I am such a cool aunt

2011-12-03T22:53:00.004-05:00

So as an elderly 40 year old I was completely thrilled to receive this email from my way too cool 15 year old nephew today.

"How's the surfing going? I saw a picture the other day of you in your wet suit looking like you know what you're doing. But the water looked cold"

I looked like I know what I am doing?????? I so don't, but I am glad I fake it well ;-)

Sadly despite 60F+ temperatures being forecast for Sunday I am not able to make it out to Rockaway for a surf lesson this weekend. Let me just say the words "woman's week" and leave it at that. Harumph!!

Instead of getting out there in the surf I took a Surf Set Fitness class at Chelsea studios with Megan this afternoon and I have to say it exceeded all expectations, it was amazing and much more cardio intensive than I expected, I loved it and I'm definitely planning to check out classes when they return to New York in January. I noted I had issues with my left arm when it came to the exercises that mimic paddling. I'm not sure if it's as a result of overly tight muscles or something more serious, but I plan to see a medical professional. Now that I have discovered surfing I don't want to have to give it up due to injury.

In NYC $78 worth of groceries...

2011-12-03T22:47:00.003-05:00

...comes in one tiny box

I was quite flabbergasted to receive this after spending so much. Admittedly it supplements two weeks worth of food, but still..one box????

Perhaps I Need My Head Seeing To

2011-11-20T18:33:00.005-05:00

Because I went surfing in Far Rockaway this morning. These are the kind of idiotic decisions you risk making when coming off the high of a great surf lesson like the one I took in Santa Monica on Monday with GoSurfLa. Megan is out in California this week for Thanksgiving with her family and had contacted Pete Pirus, the instructor I thought was so great, so hopefully she'll have as good a time as I had.

Today's lesson was also great, albeit in very different conditions to the lesson I had on Monday. It was such a lovely day in New York today - although I still feel totally hardcore for going surfing in NY in late November ha ha, I'm so bad-ass. Not!! - and, while it was a bit windy by the beach, I was very toasty out there in all the kit I had on. Only two of us showed up to the lesson, but I had a great time surfing with fellow novice Sharon under the careful guidance of our very nice - and very easy on the eyes - instructor, Joel, who really helped me out a lot today when I was struggling to paddle against a current that kept sending us back towards a rocky jetty. Joel made it look easy, but the current was strong enough that you really had to paddle just to stay in place and despite all the weight training I do my shoulders were feeling the burn, however every once in a while Joel - realizing I was tiring - would help me out by giving my board a push.

I look like the creature from the deep in my 4/3 full suit. Wet suit thickness is measured in millimeters, the first number represents the thickness in the torso, and the second is the thickness in the extremities which are always slightly thinner because of the need for mobility. We also had hoods, plus thick gloves and booties on - size 5 booties for my own reference - but the extra kit wasn't the hindrance to surfing that I thought they would be.

Admittedly the photo could be of anyone, so you'll have to take my word for it, but it's definitely me.

My stance is so weird in this photo, I never knew that I held my arms that way when I surfed and I'm leaning further forward than I should, I am so not making surfing look cool and good God woman, BEND YOUR KNEES!!!! Although I'm thinking that the photo may have been taken on one occasion where I had a great ride in, but initially struggled to stay balanced on the surf board as I look like I'm further back that I need to be, so I think I may have been adjusting my position when the photo was taken. Fortunately I held on and surfed all the way into the beach. Yay!!

If Disney Did Surf Lessons...

2011-11-15T08:23:00.009-05:00

...they would probably be a lot like the one I squeezed in at the last minute on Monday morning. Ah, it was the BEST!!!

I have to say that after Friday's lesson - brought to me Jaws* - in challenging conditions it was with a significant level of trepidation that I walked up to lifeguard tower 20 for my 8am surf lesson with Pete Pirus of GoSurfLa, but I'm so so so glad I scheduled the session, I had the most amazing time and could have stayed out for hours. The conditions were great for a beginner and Pete was a fantastic instructor, who disconcertingly bore more than a mere passing resemblance to my former love interest, 'Catweazle'. You could just tell he enjoyed teaching, my only regret was not scheduling lessons with him sooner. We - another beginner, Cathy, was my companion for the lesson - even had a baby seal join us for the last 30minutes. Too too cute!! My only concern was that a shark might come and eat him as a tasty hors d'oeuvre and then consider me as a main course.**

I've already recommended Peter to Megan for when she is out in LA for Thanksgiving next week.

I also loved the O'Neill Epic 3/2 wetsuit I wore (size 4 for my own future reference). It fit me like a glove and kept me nice and toasty. Definitely a brand to keep in mind for when I'm ready to buy my own, although I'm not sure it had a key pocket.

*Although my experience in no way reflects my instructor Aidan, more the conditions that were too challenging for a novice, however I don't regret going out in those conditions in the least, because it helped me not to take the ocean for granted.

**Always the pessimist ;-)

Not much of an achievement I know...

2011-11-13T11:36:00.007-05:00

...but today marks 7 days of not imbibing alcoholic drinks.

Yay!!

I'm hoping to make it through 26 days of not drinking - an idea that came to me after a particularly boozy day supporting the marathon last weekend with Megan, Debs and Layla in a 'i'll do my own marathon sort of thing - but we'll see how that goes when I'm back to work on Wednesday and of course there is the added obstacle of a former colleague, who went to work for a wine distributor, coming in on Friday at 4pm to give the department a tasting.

Must. Be. Strong!!!

Actually I think the office wine tasting will be really tough because work is definitely my trigger for craving a glass of wine - or three - at the end of a tough day, but the two weeks before the marathon last Sunday were particularly bad for both being stressful and having a lot of social events on the calendar, so I'm trying to take a break before all the Christmas/Holiday parties kick into high gear, although I almost succumbed to temptation at lunch today when I thought about how nice a glass of organic Chardonnay would be to accompany my fish tacos at True Food Kitchen* but my Catholic guilt kicked in and I ordered the Medicine Man fruit punch instead with Olivello juice** (um...what), pomegranate juice, cranberry juice, black tea, soda water and pomegranate seeds. Apparently it's an antioxidant blast!!

So it's bye bye beach and back to NYC for me tomorrow on a 2pm flight from LAX. I was pondering what I was going to do tomorrow morning and decided I would walk the 2 miles up to the Huckleberry Cafe and sample one of their maple bacon biscuit and coffee for breakfast, but today was such a beautiful day, that walking back to the hotel after lunch, along the beach, I felt a pang of regret that I'd only managed to squeeze in one surf lesson, so when I got back I Googled a few surf schools and quickly managed to set myself up with an 8am lesson with Go Surf LA.

Yay!!!

Despite the battering I took on Friday I'm keen to get out there for another go. Wish me luck!!

*Love love love this place, wish they would open one in New York

**Apparently it's an extract of sea buckthorn berries. But of course, why didn't you say so!!! Smacks head!! Actually I am still completely clueless, but according to Dr. Andrew Weill, it's v v healthy. It was delicious I can tell you that much.

Looks like another rain shower is on the way

2011-11-12T21:25:00.006-05:00

So it looks like squeezing in another surf lesson before I head back to New York is a bust judging by the dark clouds gathering over Santa Monica beach as I walked back to the hotel around 5pm this evening. Actually this photo makes the sky look much brighter than it really is. Those clouds could only be described as 'foreboding' and there were very few surfers out today on the numerous occasions I walked alongside the beach. I just can't get enough of that salty air regardless of how overcast it is.

Despite yesterday's battering I was really hoping to get out again and get some more practice in before I can pick up my lessons again in New York in the spring, but it looks like it's not meant to be. Ironically I saw on Facebook that Rockaway Surf School in New York has a group lesson scheduled for tomorrow as the temperature is supposed to reach a high of 62F...in NY, in mid November!!! Who'd have thought it? I can't imagine there'll be many more lessons on the calendar in New York in 2011, but Megan did email me about an offer she received through Gilt Group to try a new surf inspired workout through SurfSet Fitness using their Ripsurfer X machine. This short video gives you a taste of the workout.

SurfSET Fitness: RipSurferX from SurfSET Fitness on Vimeo.

Very intriguing albeit a bit gimmicky!!! I'm not sure how much it will help my surfing ability given the biggest obstacle to my surf career is gaining a better understanding of the ocean, but it looks like fun, so Megan and I have signed up for one of the discounted workouts they are offering in New York in November and December.

So much for the storm being a non-event

2011-11-12T10:12:00.003-05:00

I was woken up by the wind howling on the roof of the motel last night - although the guy in the next room snoring like a freight train didn't help - and rain lashing the windows, so it seemed the storm finally arrived.

Today is supposed to be a bit of a wash out so a good day to head up the Huckleberry Cafe on Wilshire, per a recommendation from Megan who is from LA, for a hearty breakfast followed by a few hours in the movies. Unfortunately there isn't much out there that appeals to me, but I'm considering seeing the Ides of March. It's either the movies or shopping and my credit card has taken a battering of late, so I'm trying to steer well clear other than for Christmas gifts. The upside to only having one surf lesson while I'm here is that I've saved myself $250.

Walking alongside Santa Monica beach at 7.30am on Saturday 12th November. I was surprisingly far from alone, lots of joggers and walkers out and about already.

Surfing In Santa Monica

2011-11-11T11:32:00.008-05:00

So here I am, back in California. I took a private surf lesson through Santa Monica Surf School this morning - the same school I used when I had my lessons with Aussie Dane here back in July, although today I had a different instructor, Aidan, since Dane returned to Australia, ostensibly to renew his visa, and was never to be heard from again. Aidan's assumption is that Dane had trouble getting back into the US. I'm not sure what the deal is, but he was on some sort of visa that he had to renew every 3-months, so it does sound like the situation was a bit suspect. Anyway Aidan was a very nice guy - I've yet to meet a surf instructor in California who hasn't been nice - and gave me some good feedback, so it was all good, although I did end up having to cut my 2-hour lesson short by 30-minutes owing to challenging conditions and being so cold that I lost all feeling in my feet and was unable to tell whether I was in the right spot on the board. I had slightly more feeling in my fingers, but only just, they were cold enough that after a 90minutes I couldn't hold my fingers together to paddle effectively.

"That happens," said Aidan "it used to happen to me all the time, but I think I've got used to the cold now."

Hmmm, I'm much too vain to be in the water so often that I'll get used to the cold. Much as I find surfer guys attractive they frequently have a weathered look that makes them look a lot older than they really are, but men wear weathered much better than women - a double standard I know - and at 40 - even though I'm already apparently "sexually invisible" to men my own age* - even if most people do assume I'm in my early to mid-30s owing to years of steering clear of the sun - I don't intend to start adding lines quite yet.

I think if I'd been taking a lesson with Megan I'd have made it through the whole 2-hours as we would have laughed about how tough it was out there for a beginner, but on my own it was too easy just to feel exhausted and frustrated. The surf was really challenging today, breaking steeply close to the shore and it was really tough for me to even get out beyond where the waves broke as there would be a series of really large waves and then it would be flat for a while - which is when I would paddle my hardest to get out - and then the pattern would repeat. Aidan had to help me get out there initially by giving me a good push over the waves. I don't know what it is, whether it's technique or upper body strength I lack, but I just couldn't get out under my own steam. I'm thinking technique must be partially to blame, because I work out 3 times a week and do chest flies and presses with 15lb weights - almost double the weight used by most of the women in my body conditioning classes - and have a good amount of visible muscle tone in my arms, so I'm no weed, but sometimes surfing makes me feel horribly fragile and girly.

Today was definitely one of those occasions where I felt like a delicate little flower. I really got battered by the ocean. I didn't eat or drink before my lesson - owing to my psychological aversion to peeing in the ocean, but also hating to feel the discomfort of a full bladder - but I felt as if I had a belly full of sea water I swallowed so much of it and several times the leash caught around both my legs immobilizing me and I freaked slightly and had to force myself to remain calm and use my upper body to swim for my board so that I could hold on and untangle myself. It was a good lesson to learn while in the company of an instructor who could help me out if I got into real trouble, but despite being a fairly strong swimmer I realized today how vulnerable I am in the ocean, especially if I were to panic. Had today been my first lesson I may have been put off by the conditions and I realized I have a LOT to learn. I'm thinking that it might be a good idea to consider getting a jump on that learning by booking myself into surf camp for a week in the spring, somewhere warmer like Costa Rica or Nicaragua, so that I can focus more on perfecting my technique and less on my own discomfort.

Oh and another thing I learned today...Aidan told me I am 'goofy' ha ha!! Make up your friggin' mind surf instructors. Back in July Dane initially told me I was goofy - which means I surf with my left foot at the back of the board - then in San Diego Eli doubted Dane's assessment and had me switch to regular which turned out to be much better, however today Aidan gave me a test where he had me stand on the beach with my feet together and then he unexpectedly pushed me between my shoulder blades and I automatically put my right food forward.

"You naturally put your right foot forward, you're goofy," he claimed.

"But I've tried surfing goofy and I was crap, I was much more successful surfing regular, I prefer to stick with that."

So I surfed regularly with the leash on my right foot, although halfway through the lesson Aidan asked if I wanted to switch. I don't think it would have helped. Seriously I was terrible today, you'd never know that just 6 weeks ago I was surfing all the way into Rockaway Beach on 80-90% of the waves I took. It was immensely frustrating!!

On an enjoyable note I was the only woman out there among about 20 hot surfer bod men. Not to blatantly objectify them, but...well okay I will, because seriously their arses look amazing in wetsuits when they are all laying down on their boards. It's quite a pleasurable sight given how awful mens' arses usually look in their jeans - why do they insist on buying styles that make their bums look saggy? - so that helped a lot in making the tough conditions bearable ;-)

When I booked this trip I originally planned to take lessons Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but today may end up being my only lesson. A storm was forecast for later today and the surf was expected to be really strong tomorrow. Aidan mentioned that after a storm the the flood systems fail and...well 'things' get overflowed into the ocean and there's likely to too much bacteria for it to be safe to surf for a few days. I asked him to give me a call if it's ends up being okay to go out, but he looked doubtful this morning, however the storm seems to have been a bit of a non-event. We experienced heavy rain for about 15minutes this afternoon, but nothing like the 3-5inches of rain the forecasters anticipated, so you never know. Fingers crossed. Tough as it was out there today I wouldn't mind squeezing in one more lesson, although the surf was crashing very loudly on the beach when I walked back to the hotel this evening, so perhaps tomorrow is out for me, but maybe conditions will be more favourable for beginners on Sunday.

*There was a very interesting post on Jezebel this week that talked about why older men chase younger women. Apparently it's all to do with them being so insecure about their looks in their old age that they need validation from younger women to make them feel attractive, which explains why so many 60-plus men - older than my FATHER for God's sake - message me online despite the fact that I clearly indicate an upper age limit of 50. Combining the nuggets from the Jezebel article with The Atlantic's 'All The Single Ladies' cover story this month and well...much as I would like to meet a nice bloke, I wonder if there's really any point in even bothering to try anymore?

It's Snowing!!

2011-10-29T13:10:00.003-04:00

I thought the weather people were mental when I saw snow in the forecast, but it looks like they were right for once!!

Chores be damned, it feels like a good day to whip up some soup, toast some granola and catch up with what's cluttering up my DVR before an early dinner with Melissa at St Anselm in Williamsburg this evening.

One Of My Recent Matches. Hmmm!!!

2011-10-29T11:06:00.004-04:00

Seriously Match.com????

To be honest as someone with a stats background I am more offended by the poor quality of their matching algorithm than anything else. Sigh!!

Perhaps the universe is telling me I should just give up on dating. I think the last prospect I mentioned was Will of the West Village. We exchanged a few emails, discussed meeting up and then....never heard from him again. The men of New York who date online seem to be a thoroughly flaky bunch.

It's a miserable Saturday morning in New York anyway - absolutely pouring with rain, with predictions for a snow storm. It's hard to believe that in the first week of October we were enjoying temperatures in the 70s. The month started off unseasonably warm and is ending unseasonably cold. I hope this is not the last of the beautiful autumn weather we've enjoyed for the two weeks in between.

Between the rain and a poor night's sleep - I was awake between 2am-5am, my mind whirling about all sorts of crap - I've decided to skip the gym for once, maybe I'll do a double class tomorrow, in favour of laundry and other chores. I feel I deserve it after my second Project Fit check in last week went better than expected. I didn't lose any weight to speak of - just 0.2lbs - which is probably a daily fluctuation, but I did lose 1.3lbs of fat. Yay!!

Ok so Megan is Alive

2011-10-14T09:46:00.002-04:00

Call off the sniffer dogs, just received an email from the dirty stop out Megan with just 3 words...

"OH HOLY GOD..."

I'm guessing it was a large night at the karaoke bar and that someone is going to need a lot of Gatorade today ;-)

I'm just happy she's not dead in a ditch somewhere.

All The Fun Of A Blocked Toilet!!

2011-10-14T02:21:00.009-04:00

1am on a Friday morning and I get up to use the loo and what do I see...water pouring out of the toilet and across the bathroom floor!!

Daaaaaaaaddddddddddd!!!!

Ugh, clearly my father's help was not an option what with him being 3000 miles away and all and Megan wasn't around to advise being out at a karaoke* with some colleagues so I set to work with my trusty funnel cup plunger. I suspect I only have myself to blame for the incident as earlier I'd snuffed out a large spider with the aid of two large pieces of kitchen roll and flushed the lot away and well...isn't kitchen roll bad for the loo being highly absorbent and all? I wasn't taken any chances with the spider though, I didn't want to put it in the rubbish bin and have it creep back out to seek revenge Death Wish style - shudder!! - so I like to make doubly sure they are dead by sending them to a watery grave and the system just couldn't cope with my super absorbent high quality Brawny kitchen paper!!

Anyway after about 50 plunges and...nope, still not clearing and oh great....the bowl is still filling the water.

I consulted a bunch of videos online - YouTube is the best eh, you can find out how to practically anything!!! - I set about attacking the loo with an unfurled wire coat hanger.

No joy!!

Sob!!

Since the bowl kept filling at a fairly rapid rate and I couldn't locate the 'flapper' to close it and stop it I had visions of having to stay up all night and periodically remove water from the bowl until such time it was appropriate to call the landlord and request the presence of a plumber.

More online research later and I discovered a handy tip from The Art Of Manliness - the art of modern womanliness more like - which is to pour a few cups of hot water in the bowl along with a squirt of dish soap and let it sit for a few minutes and then use a funnel cup plunger - apparently when I purchased a plunger from the hardware store this is the very variety I bought and supposedly it's a good one. A complete fluke!! - and...

...plunge away

What do you know, it did the trick. Success!! And this with the added hindrance of a massive zit on my face**.

Who knew dish soap would be so effective????

Phew!!!

The thrill of successfully averting disaster is flowing through my veins, although would I have preferred to have a boyfriend help me out on this occasion? You bet your arse I would. I'm old fashioned that way.

Anyway after all that excitement I'm off back to bed.

*Karaoke!!! What's that about? I just don't get the appeal.

**Seriously it's like a boil or something, it's hideous. I attacked it with a coating of Borghese mud mask which usually does the trick, but it's stubbornly resisting. For once I am hoping like hell not to run into either the contractor or creative hottie while going about my daily business at the office.

Update: Woke up this morning and no sign of Megan. Uh-oh!! Do I need to be worried that she didn't come home last night. Fingers crossed she'll show up at the office, if not I'll freak and I really don't need any more excitement after last night.

I just love love love this band

2011-10-13T09:04:00.002-04:00

Another great tune from the Bombay Bicycle Club, along with a sweet video of people salsa dancing. The woman in the floral dress has some moves. I take no responsibility for the god awful advertising that proceeds it.

I am surrounded by love and everything is fine!!

2011-10-12T18:38:00.012-04:00

Actually that's a lie, everything is not fine, but I need to practice my affirmations, although I don't think they are working so well!!

Not much doing here, same old, same old mostly work and working out, although I did buy a beautiful - and somewhat expensive at $298 - silk lace dress online, the 'Veiled Alder Dress' in Black from Anthropologie last week which arrived yesterday and is absolutely gorgeous.

Admittedly I did feel quite guilty about the splurge which occurred during a bout of self pity regarding my terminal single status last week and about 10 seconds after hitting the 'place order' button I'd already resolved to return it. That is until I tried it on, and oh good Lord, it's like it was made for me and the neckline isn't as high as it appears online, so it has more sex appeal than the photo above would suggest. I love it and cannot wait to wear it. Naturally all guilt about spending a chunk of change on a frock I shall probably wear only a handful of times has dissolved in light of how flattering it is ha ha!! Actually it's not going to break the bank since I've fully paid off all my credit cards but I have a saving goal for the end of the year so I've been Mrs Frugal of late, although my parents did give me $600 to buy myself something for my 40th, so I've decided that the dress is my birthday gift from them.

Megan had her own spendy day on Monday buying not one, but TWO dresses from Diane Von Furstenberg. Seriously it's very uncharacteristic behavior for her, she is shocked at how much I'll spend on my AG jeans - $160ish. Um, hello, no judgements, I wear each pair two-three times a week to work so on a cost per wear basis they are a bargain - as she never spends more than $50 on jeans from American Eagle, but since she moved in with me - she's between apartments having moved out of the place she was still sharing with her ex-fiance - she's been shopping at DVF and, after dropping close to $700 on two dresses, went and tried on a ton of pairs of jeans in AG, so I think I'm having an influence, albeit a bad one.

As for her influence on me...well after a rocky Friday - I had a wonderful start to my day when I spotted the hottie contractor who is overseeing the refurbishment of the conference room on our floor. Phew, he's VERY attractive and in fact looks a LOT like my crush, Mr. Art Director Creative Cutie who works on the floor above, so similar in fact that they could be brothers. Never let it be said I don't have a type. They both have high cheekbones, are of medium height - like 5' 8" to 5' 10"ish, I'm not a fan of overly tall men being only 5ft 1 myself - with lean toned bodies...could someone fan me please, I'm suddenly feeling quite warm. It was a good start to the day anyway and I was in an energetic mood as a result, but then mere hours later I was upstairs visiting one of my account teams and encountered the real deal, Creative Cutie himself, and well my mood just plummeted. I think I'm just reminded of a missed opportunity when I see him and I can't help but wonder what all the staring was all about last year*. I mean why stare if you have no interest in doing anything about it?

"Perhaps he stared because you remind him of his dead ex-girlfriend," mused Deesha.

Um, thanks for that cheery thought Deesha. Do you think maybe you've read one too many Gothic romance novels?

Anyway after my sighting a black cloud settled over me for the afternoon and I couldn't seem to shake it with happy tunes, not even Swedish House Mafia could lift me from the doldrums, and throwing myself into work wasn't sufficiently distracting, so as a consequence I went home and Googled 'affirmations' in an effort to think more positively.

Affirmations!!! Me, reading affirmations!!! Seriously that hippie clap trap is sooooo not me.

"That's like something I'd do" said Megan when she got home.

I KNOW!!!!!!

Admittedly the affirmations helped, but honestly it's like there's some Freaky Friday shenanigans is going down in my apartment right now with the usually mellow Southern Californian Megan displaying all the traits of a retail obsessed Brit whereas I'm turning into a bloody hippie. If I ever buy a Caftan and prayer beads please shoot me!!

So it was a 3 day weekend for some of us in the US this weekend, being Columbus day and all, so on Sunday Megan and I rented a car and drove up to Beacon, NY - we considered taking some surf lessons in Montauk, but the surf forecast was 0 feet, so not very good and Megan wasn't overly thrilled at the idea of getting up at 6am to drive out there, nor at the idea of surfing in cooler - 60-something degrees - waters since the poor lamb has only ever really surfed in the more tropical climes of Bali, Costa Rica and Hawaii. How awful for her ;-) It was a nice drive upstate anyway, we enjoyed the foliage and visited the Dia: Beacon - although I was less impressed by the art than I was by the building - and enjoyed some scoff at Homespun...

...and some ice cream at the creamery a little later. It was nice to get out, although I was extremely tired having woken up at 4am and was unable to get back to sleep. I dozed in the car on the way back to Manhattan and as the radio was playing songs that are familiar to me from my gym classes I dreamed I was doing star jumps and woke up with a start when my arms and legs flinched to the side as if I was going to do a star jump in my sleep. Do I work out too much do you think? It was very bizarre anyway as I'm rarely asked to do star jumps in class. On Monday I just got out and about and enjoyed the amazing weather - as well as a killer Pilates class taught by a substitute instructor called Iona at the NYSC on Varick Street and then met Megan for an early dinner at Buvette on Grove St in the village, which was excellent, a new favourite.

Yesterday I got a message from an OKCer who wants to "get to know me better." I clicked through to look at his profile and he's 23!! 23!! Also he dresses a bit like Dappy from N-Dubz if his photo is anything to go by, so um, no!!

Dappy himself!! Actually I have a hat like that, but I don't wear mine in public. Mine was handmade by my Quechuan Mommy during my Peruvian home stay.

I don't know, perhaps it's overly judgmental of me, but I don't see myself throwing on my fancy Anthropologie frock to go for dinner at Buvette with Dappy's 23 year old doppelganger. To be honest it's been a bit tumbleweeds of late although I also got an email on Sunday from Will of the West Village - another medical professional like my dog walking date of a couple of Saturdays ago - who sounds altogether more promising, although good on paper tends to be rubbish in real life, but hey ho!!

*He used to come down to the floor I work on to play ping pong with his buddy and when I would pass to run to the loo - I drink a ton of water, so I'm in the ladies every 30-45 minutes - he would stop playing and just stare which made me completely paranoid. I'm not one of those women that thinks 'that guy is staring at me he clearly thinks I'm hot" no siree I'm more the "that guy is staring at me, what's wrong, is my blouse undone am I exposing myself, do I have something on my face, did a bird do a turd on me" and so on. It's paranoia run wild. It wouldn't have been so bad had he smiled, but no, he just stared and said nothing, but goddamn it he is soooooo cute.

Taxidermy Labrador??

2011-10-04T18:15:00.005-04:00

So I had a Match date on Saturday, the first one in a while. In fact I can't remember the last one, I think it may have been with the bloke who made my stomach churn by dipping the fork he was eating from into the wide neck of the ketchup bottle repeatedly!! Ugh!! Yup I think he was the last one. I did get a few winks and a couple of messages, but I was in San Diego for a week and then my parents were in town and I was just too busy to pay too much attention to it. I find I have fits and starts where the online dating thing is concerned, although I'm trying to be more consistent with it.

Anyway Saturday's date sounded a bit more promising based on the emails we'd exchanged. He's a doctor - the girls were all "ooooh a doctor," but I don't think dating doctors is all it's cracked up to be since they are usually up to their eyeballs in debt and if I am going to date a poor man I tend to favour the artistic type - who used to lead tours to remote bits of Acacia National Park. He sounded promisingly outdoorsy on paper and I was quite looking forward to meeting him.

I'd suggested grabbing a coffee and taking a walk in the park, casual-like for a first meeting, and he responded that that would be nice and asked if I was interested in taking his dog for a walk. Now I love a dog, and this one was particularly nice; a very well behaved Border Collie mix, I was more than happy to take him for a walk, but it turned out to be a bad move on my part because my date was very distracted as a result, continually throwing his dog - which he had off the leash in Central Park at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon - a Frisbee and talking back to the people maintaining the park, when a couple of them told him his dog should be on a leash. If I am honest I found him to be a bit on the disrespectful side to the park workers - "It's not like they can do anything about it," he complained, "they just like to throw their weight around, but they have no power to give me a ticket." - and wondered about being on the receiving end of his attitude.

Hmmmm!!

I'm also a law abiding sort and could completely see the park workers' point about the dog being on the leash, even though the dog was incredibly sweet and very obedient. We cut the date short anyway as it started to pour with rain almost as soon as we met and after 45 minutes my jeans were drenched to my knees. "I'm going to literally have to take a rain-check," I told him.

"Yeah, it's not great, sorry about that."

"Oh no problem, it's not your fault, you don't control the weather. Anyway it was nice to meet you," I told him shaking his hand.

That was Saturday and it's now Thursday and I haven't sent him an email and he hasn't reached out to me and so I don't think a longer date is in our future, which I'm more than okay about. Not to jump to a quick judgment, but my gut just says we're not compatible and I'm pretty sure he was about as interested in me as I was in him. I also felt as if I got a glimpse into an aspect of his personality in his defiant response to the park workers regarding his unleashed dog that did not sit so well with me. He also had a fairly disinterested vibe. I'd made an effort to ask him about his work and interests outside of his job, I always do, which is probably why I often get asked out on second dates when I had an awful time, but the effort wasn't really reciprocated. "I really enjoyed our date" they often say, "shall we go out again?" and I always think "Of course you enjoyed the date, you spent two hours talking about YOURSELF." Give me strength, a bit of give and take please!! Of course if a guy was hot I'd totally go on a second date, self absorbed or not, I'm shallow that way.

Anyway I'm trying to hang on in there with the online dating/dating in general, but it's by the skin of my teeth at the moment. It's a good thing I re-subscribed to Match in September and still have 5-months to go otherwise I would be cancelling. I'm really questioning whether I am bothered about being in a relationship at all? Yesterday on OKCupid I was listed as a favorite of a man in South Dakota with a No Country For Old Men haircut who looks like he is sat holding a taxidermy Labrador. "That dog's legs are awfully straight," said Megan when I showed her the photo. I was too perturbed by it to click through to the site see the larger image and check whether the Labrador was indeed stuffed and also...South Dakota....1500 MILES AWAY!!! 1500 MILES!!! This is only the latest in a relatively long list of men from far and away who have approached me online. Off the top of my head I can remember hearing from a man in Idaho, two men from North Carolina, two from Canada and one from Switzerland who, despite my lack of response, sent me a note trying to meet up with me - and no doubt many other women - when he was in New York for a week long vacation.

Um...no!!

Seriously???

Isn't it still September???

2011-09-25T12:59:00.002-04:00

Just had my weekly call with my mother and halfway through, very matter of factly as though it was the most normal thing in the world, she asked...

"So what do you want for Christmas?"

I kid you not, she asked me what I want for CHRISTMAS!!!! That's December 25th the last time I looked.

"What? It's only September, I haven't given it any thought."

"Well you MUST have some idea."

"Um, no, not really, it's 3-months away."

"Well it will soon be upon us so have a think and let me know next week."

Good Lord!!

Admittedly I'm just showing off...

2011-09-23T16:26:00.010-04:00

In the week since my parents returned home to England I've been making a big effort to get back into being healthy. Not that I was THAT unhealthy while they were here, I did go to the gym a few times and took a few surfing lessons, but I've been feeling like all the eating out and drinking - so much drinking - had taken it's toll and I was feeling a bit disgusted by myself. Long story short I was ripe for being coerced into participating in Project Fit, a corporate team weight loss challenge, as motivation to stick with healthier habits for a few months in the run up to the festive season and this week we had to go our initial weigh in.

I stopped by the gym this morning to have my measurements taken by some fancy pants machine, the 'InBody 230', a 'body composition analyzer' that spits out a bunch of measurements like Total Body Water - 66.5lbs in my case. Apparently this is good relative to my total weight of 121lbs and not a sign that I am retaining water or anything. "It's good to be hydrated," said my cute toned hottie of a 20-something trainer - your skeletal muscle mass - 49.6lbs in my case of which 24.3lbs is dry lean mass, whatever that means. I'm guessing it's my poundage excluding all the bones and organs and other icky stuff, but I could well be wrong - and finally your Body Fat Mass - 30.2lbs in my case, well within the normal weight range.

"These are the best results I've seen all day," said my trainer. I beamed until I realized that they hadn't even been open an hour and so he couldn't have seen that many people.

"And well...considering THIS," he exclaimed pointing to my age at the top of the page.

It's okay, you can say it, I'm 40, it's not catching if you say it out loud. I'm by no means embarrassed about it - even if it does make me a pariah in the online dating world, but I refuse to lie - in fact people are always so surprised by my age that I'm considering having "I'm 40 you know" t-shirts made so that I can reap the benefits of astounding strangers too, because everyone assumes I'm 35 tops!! Moisturize and stay out of the sun people!!

"Well....wow," said Trainer Bloke "you're doing really well!! I see people in their 20s who are not as fit as you."

Check me and my body of a twenty-something, ha ha!! I was thrilled, although admittedly I am not the best participant for my team given the goal is to lose body fat and I don't have much wiggle room to decrease by much*. According to my print out I could stand to lose 2.9lbs, but "why bother," said Trainer Bloke, "everything is normal, just keep it up!!"

Being a big data nerd the results were all very interesting to me, especially being so positive. I felt fabulous after learning I was fit and healthy and exactly where I should be and bounced down to Starbucks after my appointment and indulged in a turkey bacon breakfast sandwich - apparently I need 1,261 calories just to stay ALIVE!! Lucky 5ft 7 Megan gets a good 300 calories more than me. The healthy eating starts tomorrow ;-)

*Surely these challenges should also reward people who start out healthy and stay healthy. It always feels like they are promoting weight loss a bit more strongly than they are promoting health.

Surf Lesson #9: swimsuit wedgies and a shell encrusted bum

2011-09-17T18:31:00.009-04:00

So despite my concerns about being too exhausted for a 2-hour surfing lesson on Friday I managed to do pretty well and picked up where my last 2 lessons left off in San Diego. I'm pretty much at the point where I can balance well on the board with the smaller waves and usually manage to ride all the way into the beach, collisions with other beginners permitting; learning how to identify the right waves to go for, paddling into my own waves and collision avoidance are next on my list of priorities as far as lessons are concerned and I am hoping to take a few more private lessons with an instructor when I am back in Santa Monica in November, but until then I need to practice, practice, practice. Megan and I are planning to go out on the weekends - along with new found surf buddy Felicia who was also at Friday's lesson and is looking for people to surf with - over the next couple of months, weather and waves permitting.

I'm also learning a lot more about my preferences in terms of the equipment I am using, or should that be wearing!! Megan is quite gung-ho to buy herself a surf board just now, but to be honest I'm happy to rent boards for the time being until I get more experience, however I'm seriously considering investing in a decent wetsuit, because the thing I wore on Friday was just awful.

Now admittedly I'm quite particular about what I like to wear when surfing and my rule of thumb is generally the more coverage the better. I am not one of those women that you will EVER see surfing in just a bikini, because quite honestly parts of my anatomy have a tendency to make a bid for escape when I'm in the ocean and I have enough things to worry about when I'm surfing without the added anxiety that one, or both, of my boobs has popped out. Things just don't stay where they are supposed to, so at the very least I prefer a one piece swimsuit under a rash guard and board shorts, or better still, a full wetsuit.

Anyway the suits the women were given to wear on Friday were not my favourite. They were super short in the leg, exactly the same style as this Roxy suit designed by Cynthia Rowley which some of the women were wearing, although I'm not certain if the one I had on was the same brand...

...and, to add insult to injury, the suit had a tendency to ride up. I think the bottom of the suit I was wearing had ambitions to be a Brazilian style knicker, so I'd be lying on the board worrying about my bum cheeks hanging out, because it would ride up every single time I wiped out and more often than not it would take my swimsuit with it, so there I'd be smiling and waving back at whichever instructor was calling my to paddle back whilst trying my best to hold my board still with one hand, lift it over any waves that came my way and nonchalantly attempt to un-wedgie my swimsuit without anyone noticing what I was up to. Ugh, it was incredibly annoying. Who knew surfing would be so fraught with sartorial difficulties??

Anyway as a result of the challenges of the aforementioned wetsuit I now have some lovely cuts on my left bum cheek from coming off my board at the edge of the beach which was littered with thousands of broken pieces of shell. I'd successfully rode a wave all the way to the beach - yay me - when I spotted the shells and knew I was going to have to either step off the board onto the broken shells and risk cuts to my feet or fall into the water and land on my butt. In the seconds I had to make a decision I chose the latter - more padding, although in general I am not a woman with ample proportions in that area and frequent falls off my board onto my behind in shallower waters makes me hanker for padding of Kardasian extremes - however after I'd fallen my board carried on going - obviously, I am such an eejit for not thinking of that, lesson learned - and my, now exposed, butt cheek, thank you wetsuit, got dragged through broken shell pieces. I can tell you first hand that those little buggers are sharp!! I was still picking pieces of shell out of my left arse cheek 2 hours later when I popped into the loo after stopping at Blue Bottle Coffee on the boardwalk at Beach 106th St for a skim latte to warm me through. It's full suits only for me from now on!!

Just hanging on my board. My father took this photo about 10minutes before the end of my 2 hour lesson and I was completely exhausted and freezing cold in the short, thin 2mm summer suit after the weather in New York had taken an autumnal turn.

Ah Management!!

2011-09-15T18:10:00.000-04:00

So all good with the parents now after the breadroll debacle. We made up the British way the next evening by not acknowledging anything had happened and making a cup of tea, however my friend Deesha had the following take on the situation...

"About the parents thing, I've started thinking about them a bit like they are kids. Makes it easier to deal. I totally get the freezer thing, but its also galling for them to be criticized on their own mistakes by someone who's bottom they wiped.

Its like a junior member of your team calling you out on some minor (according to you) error at work. The first instinct might be to deflect and offend instead of being defensive and apologetic. Hows my armchair psychology! :)"

I think her armchair psychology is pretty spot on, although this 40 year old thinks it would be nice if my parents could recognise I am no longer a child. I suppose in an ideal world we would all meet in the middle, which I suppose we are by ignoring the situation and moving on.

I am soooooo very sore today after getting back into my usual routine at the gym over the last 5days. I really wasn't expecting it to hurt this much as it's not as if I was totally inactive while in San Diego, I had 4x 90minute surfing lessons for goodness sake and surfing is quite a workout and uses similar muscle groups to the classes I take - chest and biceps for lifting the board over waves, core and legs for stabilization - but after 3 days at the gym I am seriously sore and if I forget and accidentally take a deep breath or sneeze....ouch!!!

I'm taking a day off from exercise today, but given how tired and achy I feel I am having second thoughts about the surfing lesson I have booked for Friday morning. Two days ago two hours of surfing seemed like a great idea, but this morning I was up at 5.15am to be in the office for a 7am call with a high level client from China, a meeting I was quite relaxed about since my team member had done all the heavy lifting on the analysis and would be walking through the presentation along with our media agency partners; I was just there to participate and hear the client feedback, no big deal, or so I thought.

Unusually for an agency call everyone was gathered on the conference call by 7.03am and making noises about getting the meeting started and...

..um, where is the guy from my team?

I wasn't too worried at that point, since as I mentioned it's rare for a meeting to begin on time but nevertheless I sent him an "are you on the call?" email as the media agency kicked off the introductions.

5 minutes passed, the presentation was underway and no response from my guy....

At this point we're 3 slides away from having to make a contribution. I mute the call and phoned him from my Blackberry and....

....GOT HIM OUT OF BED!!!!!!

"Oh...shit," was how he answered the phone

"Damn right oh shit. Dial in to the meeting!!"

Jesus Christ, if I can get my arse out of bed at 5.15am, get showered, do my hair and take a 20minute cab ride to the office then surely he should be able to manage to fall out of bed at 6.45am and dial in from home.
I was soooooo not happy to find myself having to jump in and present something I oversaw, but did not work on directly, to a senior level client in China who had a lot of detailed questions, in fact I think it would be fair to say I was fuming!!

He was very apologetic when he arrived at the office around 9.30am and I imagine waking up to a phone call from your manager is not the preferred way to start the day, so I'm letting it slide this one time, but he did receive a stern "don't let it happen again." Given I'm a usually quite a relaxed manager and not prone to having to be stern I think he got the message that I was not in the least bit happy.

Ah Parents!!

2011-09-12T18:13:00.002-04:00

So I've already had a big fight with my parents two days into the NY portion of their visit, lots of raised voices and doors being slammed. The neighbors must wonder what on earth is afoot*.

So what caused such a ruckus you may wonder...

...bread rolls!! Seriously people, bread rolls!!

Namely the fact that after I got home from a pleasant day of brunch at the unbelievably popular Penelope's Cafe on Lexington and 30th people - I was astonished to find there was a 40minute wait for brunch at 9.30am!! 9.30am!! - and then a stroll around South Street Seaport, which was freakishly devoid of tourists, although a few of the bars were pretty populated with firemen who'd clearly been observing the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks at Ground Zero - such an odd day, I couldn't watch the coverage because it made me feel as if I was reliving what it was like to be in New York in what was such a heartbreaking time. It really doesn't feel like it was 10years ago - and a walk through Central Park, I found the freezer door had been open about an inch and all the food inside had defrosted.

A bit annoying, but these things happen, no biggie and I told myself I wouldn't get irritated by it as I threw out a bunch of frozen fruit, fish, edamame, then whipped up some soup with a defrosted bag of frozen mixed vegetables and baked the 24 par-baked bread rolls from Fresh Direct that I'd just had delivered in an attempt to salvage a few things. All good, no big deal. They got back a few hours later and I mentioned what had happened and that I'd frozen half of the now baked bread rolls, but there were another 12 available for use - they like to make sandwiches for themselves if they go off for the day - in 2 sealed zip loc bags.

They cooked up steak sandwiches for dinner and used a bunch of the ciabatta rolls and I was making some tea an hour or so later and noticed the zip loc bags were not sealed. "Can you make sure these bags are closed so that the bread doesn't go stale and we have to waste it" I said and that was it, all hell broke loose. Apparently my comment was disrespectful and how did I not know the freezer was working properly before? "I put this fish in the freezer over an hour ago and it's not freezing, maybe your freezer is broken," shouted my father huffily, "look, this ice cream is still soft!!!!!"

"I'm not saying it isn't broken, I'm saying that when I got home the freezer door was open," I responded and that was it, they got a huff on about respect, refused to listen to all reason and went to bed.

Anyway when I got up this morning I checked the freezer and guess what, everything was frozen, so I'm thinking that after defrosting for 7+hours it just needed some time to do it's thing, but apparently mentioning the whole defrosting thing is taboo!! Seriously they are completely irrational.

On a positive note there has been a VERY cute guy about the office these last few business days supervising a redesign of one of the large conference rooms. Looks wise he really reminds me a LOT of the Creative Cutie - who I haven't seen hide nor hair of in MONTHS. Never let it be said I don't have a type!!!

*Not that they don't give me a run for my money. I once woke up and looked through the peep hole to see two police officers at my neighbor's door, with their guns drawn!! Um..what!! Nothing came of it of course, I'm not sure what was going on, but on occasion they can get pretty shouty!!

What Are The Chances...

2011-09-10T09:30:00.004-04:00

...of my parents being involved in not one, but TWO major US blackouts? They were visiting me in 2003 and got stuck out on Long Beach during the 2003 blackout in New York, and where were they when parts of Southern California, Arizona and Mexico were plunged into darkness on Thursday?? Why San Diego of course!! I'm starting to get suspicious that they've been walking around unplugging things they shouldn't have ;-)

Thankfully they were able to catch their early morning flight to New York on Friday without any problems, so now they're here. Somewhere anyway. I just got back from an 8am gym class and they are nowhere to be seen. I'm guessing they are doing laundry as there were mutterings about some such activity this morning, but who knows, they could be out causing mischief somewhere. I'm sure they'll show up soon.

Sadly as a result of the San Diego blackout something like 1.9million gallons of sewage was spilled and a number of beaches have been closed due to the risk of contamination, which means the 6th annual Surf Dog surf-a-thon has had to be rescheduled to the 25th September. How cute is that, I wish I could go!!!

Best Surf Lessons So Far & San Diego Zoo

2011-09-06T10:45:00.000-04:00

Fantastic surf lessons with Ryder yesterday and today, I managed to get my footing correct and stand up on the board for like 10 to 20 whole seconds on multiple occasions and one time even managed to surf the wave right to the shore and then just stepped off the board all casual like into 6inches of water. Whoo hoo!! Admittedly the waves were more manageable these last two days, but hopefully it wasn't just that the surf was on my side, but that some of what I've been taught over the last 8 lessons has started to take hold. Whatever the reason anyway it was amazing, the only bit I didn't like occurred about two thirds of the way through yesterday's lesson when a kid, who looked to be about 12, paddled back down to Ryder and the other instructor who was teaching two guys near me and said "is that a shark?"

Um, say what???

Ryder asked to borrow my board and hopped on it and stood to get a better vantage while I, my brain not really connecting with the fact that I was still tethered to the board by my ankle leash, started to slowly edge backward toward the beach until the leash pulled me up short. Ryder and the other instructor looked at each other and shrugged. "I'm sure it was just a dolphin," said Ryder.

I bloody hope so. Having come across a headline only yesterday where some poor bloke in Western Australia had been bitten in half by a great white I was in no mood to take even the smallest of risks and it was with some initial trepidation that I continued surfing, although I was comforted by the fact that there were a ton of people out surfing that morning and they all seemed completely unfazed.

Anyway it's been a great couple of days and I am hoping I can continue this streak. I'm quite gung-ho to sign up for a few more practice sessions when I get back to New York.

The weather turned cold and rainy pretty a couple of hours after yesterday's lesson, so instead of blobbing on the beach for a few hours we took off to San Diego Zoo for the afternoon.

The littlest giraffe that can be seem galloping around between the larger two was born just 6 days ago. He's already 6ft 2 and 160lbs. His father is an impressive 18feet tall.

These guys are meant to be a whizz at mountains and can leap 6feet, nevertheless they seemed amusingly confused by the steps in their enclosure.

Does this look like a comfortable sleeping position to you? I've encountered some people on planes who seem to be able to sleep just about anywhere like this panda!! Lucky bastards!!

A Day Off From Surf School

2011-09-04T22:29:00.012-04:00

I took a break from my surf lessons today and after a hearty breakfast at Isabel's Cantina - the place was packed come 9.30am. They are such early risers these San Diegans; in New York we are more of an 11am brunch crowd - we took a bus to Old Town and then a cab to the Marriot on North Harbor Drive to pick up a hire car and then drove up the coast to visit La Jolla, Torrey Pines - where we stopped to relax for a few hours on the beach close to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography - up through fancy Del Mar, onto Solana Beach, through tiny Cardiff-By-The-Sea and finally stopping for a coffee and a snack at the Whole Foods in Encinitas before heading back to Pacific Beach for dinner at World Famous, which despite the popularity of the place - 45minute wait for a table - I thought was just okay. I much preferred the meals we've had at Cafe Chloe and Proper Gastropub in the East Village.

Anyway it was nice to take a break from surfing for one day as my whole body ached after two lessons, although the last lesson I had was fantastic, I really learned a lot. The school had assigned me to a different instructor on Saturday as I guess Ryder wasn't available, so I got Eli the lifeguard instead, who asked me what I needed to work on. After Friday's frustrating session where I could barely stand I was all about pop ups pop ups and pop ups.

Eli had a great eye for detail and gave me some good tips which improved things a lot, most significantly the fact that he didn't think I was 'goofy' footed, which is term used for surfers who ride with their right foot forward, apparently a less typical stance if you are right dominant, which I am.

"Who told you you were goofy?" he asked.

"Um, no-one, it's just the stance I defaulted to when I've popped up."

"Yeah, I don't think you're goofy, I think you're regular. This might be your problem. Let's try the leash on the other foot and pop up with your left foot forward."

I tried it and while it was weird after 5 lessons defaulting to having my right foot forward, it wasn't so weird that it necessarily felt wrong. He also taught me a different way of popping up which helped hugely. He said it's not about jumping up because that makes the board more unstable, instead I should "Push, twist, slide." So push up cobra-like on the board, twist my torso to the side I'm going to face while standing, but leave my hands on the board as I am twisted, it's kind of side plank-like, and then drag my front foot - my left foot in my case - forward into position between my hands and stand. Of course all that happens in about 2 seconds flat, but it really helped me to have it broken down like that when I tried to shift to surfing regular footed. I think the years of doing warrior ones in yoga make me want to default to having my right foot forward. The hardest thing for me is that you drag the whole side of your foot forward, whereas I want to lead with the ball of my foot. Eli's response to my doing that was, "were you ever a dancer?"

Apparently eleven years of ballet means that I lead with the ball of my foot, because my natural instinct is to be on my toes!! Hmmm!!

It was a very interesting lesson anyway largely because he had such a good eye for detail and was able to correct me more on what I'm doing wrong - surfing on the wrong foot, looking down at my feet too much to check positioning instead of forward towards the beach and not learning forward enough to weight down the front of the board, so many things - and I regained some of the enthusiasm I'd lost from Friday's lesson where I really struggled to stand, although Friday's instructor, Ryder, said that the conditions were really challenging even for more experienced surfers as there were 7-foot waves at Pacific Beach, much further out from where I've been learning the basics, but it's rougher water than I'm used to with strong rip currents and lots and lots of dislodged seaweed which gets tangled around my leash. Anyway I'm back with Ryder for my lessons on Monday and Tuesday, who is great, an incredibly sweet guy, although I did momentarily think about seeing if Eli was available again, but I don't think it would make much difference since I now know more about what I need to do, it's just practicing doing it.

My father on the other hand did not fare as well on his first foray into surfing. Despite being a strong swimmer and used to rough British seas he's pretty overweight and I think he underestimated how fit you need to be to surf, so he gave up on his lesson after about 30minutes vowing to get himself into better shape.

Exploring the USS Midway Museum.

A statue of Alfred Eisenstaedt's famous WWII victory kiss photo. I love that people's reaction to this statue is to re-enact the pose. You can see the couple of the left side trying it out

Watching the surfers and body boarders on the beach at Torrey Pines.

That's quite a large looking wave in the background. More advanced surfers were out there, but I could never manage to catch one of them in a photo before they wiped out.

Driving back down the coast along Highway 101

Helloooooo San Diego

2011-09-02T06:06:00.002-04:00

So despite seeing not one, but THREE reports of large shark sightings I decided to go ahead with at least the first of the four surf lessons I had booked after popping into the surf school and chatting with the woman working at the office.

"If it wasn't safe we wouldn't go out." she said "We also teach children from ages 4 to 17 and we wouldn't put anyone at risk, but it's your decision so if you're not comfortable then that's fine."

True, I didn't think they'd be tossing 4-year old kids into the ocean as hors d'oeuvres, but still I couldn't help feeling more than a bit nervous.

Anyway at her suggestion I decided to at least take the first of the lessons and see how I felt. "You can always call me and cancel after that if you don't like it," she said.

It was fine, but I have to say I was tempted to cancel the next three lessons if only because it was completely exhausting. Southern California is experiencing large waves along with strong rip currents at the moment, so San Diego is under a high surf advisory until Sunday night and paddling out to a LOT more effort than usual just to keep the board heading straight into the waves.

And of course my instructor kept me safe and we only practiced in the shallower waters where the surf was strong, but probably no more than 2.5feet high, however I struggled to get to a good standing position and the whole experience was a bit disheartening to be honest, but I got some good tips from my instructor, Ryder, who gave me a lot more feedback than I've received from other instructors and also told me that the surf was challenging even for non-beginners. I'm not sure whether he was just saying that to make me feel better, but it worked, so I'm sticking it out and hopefully things will get easier for my 3rd and 4th lessons on Monday and Tuesday when the surf is potentially a bit calmer.

My 60year old Dad is joining me for today's lesson. This should be interesting!!

Kite surfers enjoying the wind and high surf off Pacific Beach

The Biggest Post Hurricane/Storm Gripe I've Heard From Most New Yorkers

2011-08-28T12:04:00.002-04:00

Having to make our own coffee, because everywhere is closed this morning!!

I suppose if that's all most of us have to worry about life is pretty good :-)

Well it's raining...

2011-08-28T09:09:00.005-04:00

....a lot!! But other than hearing it lash against the window it's been a pretty mild hurricane/tropical storm/tropical depression experience for me personally. I'm slightly disappointed not to have heard more howling winds outside.

I looked out of my window at 7.15am this morning and do you see that orange thing between the cars? The restaurant down the street had 4 of them weighting down the door to their cellar, so it must have been blown down the street during the night, but that seems to be the extent of the damage on my street, so all in all pretty tame thank goodness.

All I'm seeing from friends' postings on Facebook so far are reports of leaks and sleepless nights, but nothing more.

The eye of the storm is supposed to be passing over us right now so I'm sure as the morning progresses I'll hear reports of downed trees and power lines, but fingers crossed no casualties.

Not So Much As a Sniff Of Hunkering In Virginia Beach

2011-08-27T15:12:00.002-04:00

Battened Down!!

2011-08-27T11:20:00.013-04:00

So I'm not sure about the rest of the city, but there's a palpable air of excitement about the approach of Hurricane Irene (follow Irene on twitter here, she was in 'spin' class the last time I checked. Ho ho!!) on the Upper East Side. Some people are almost giddy in fact. It is quite thrilling I admit, as long as no-one gets hurt of course and I suppose fears are assuaged somewhat when you live in one of the gray areas on the evacuation map that isn't expected to be in any danger of floods as a result of storm surges and you get to ride out the storm within the comfort of your own apartment.

It was almost business as usual for me this morning; my 8.15am Total Body Conditioning class was still on at NYSC and there were tons of people using the treadmills on the main floor of the gym. Supposedly the location nearest me is operating as usual with the exception of the classes which are cancelled after 11am. I'm surprised they're not closing earlier. They normally stay open until 9pm on Saturdays and Debs told me yesterday that even though the worst of Irene was expected between 2am and 4pm on Sunday the city was recommending people not be outside between 9pm Saturday and 9pm Sunday, so how are the staff expected to get home, especially with the MTA stopping all services at noon today?? Hmmmm!!! Hopefully they will all be safe. Even the Fairway Market that had tweeted they likely wouldn't be open today ended up opening from 6am - 10am, although Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds were all closed.* I popped into Fairway and got a few bits - cut fruit, milk, tofu, the usual hurricane essentials ha ha - it was busy but not insane and the shelves looked to be as full as they usually are. I was reading yesterday that there were bread shortages, but Fairway had a decent amount this morning and there hadn't been a run on the beer aisle. Perhaps wine and cocktails are the drinks of choice for a hurricane. I've definitely seen a lot of Facebook postings from people planning to hit up the liquor store and stock up - personally I'm going to have a teetotal hurricane experience - and according to one friend there were about a 100 people in line at the Trader Joe's wine store near Union Square last night. The line to pay at Fairway was pretty long too, but most people were pretty mellow about the situation and I got to check out some of the Upper East Side hotties while I queued. Silver linings ;-)

Anyway I'm pretty much all set for Irene. I've got 3 flashlights, lots of spare batteries, something like 5 gallons of bottled water plus a couple of large containers of tap water in the freezer should I need to use them for cooling other foods if the power goes out. I heard on the news that Coned is considering preemptively cutting the power in downtown Manhattan below Canal St, which is the area they are expecting to be most at risk for flooding. I also have:

- Season 5 of Dexter on DVD
- Two fully charged laptops, two fully charged cell phones and a fully powered Kindle
- 4 Cadbury's Curly Wurlies
- Cans of tuna
- A loaf of wholewheat bread

I also have a bunch of fresh food that I've cooked up and just need to reheat, power permitting. I also plan to fill the bathtub with water later tonight, just in case I should need it for flushing the loo. Just have to pack my 'go bag' and I'm ready.

According to the latest weather report Irene has apparently been downgraded to a category 1 hurricane, but we can still expect 40-50mph sustained winds, with the potential for 80mph gusts. Later in the day on Sunday we're expecting sunshine and a high of 81F, which just seems bizarre. The city is taking it extremely seriously anyway, too seriously some say, speculating that Mayor Bloomberg is very keen to avoid another f*** up on the scale of the mismanagement of last year's post Christmas blizzard. Better safe than sorry in my view. The fact that some residents of low lying areas that are under mandatory evacuation order are deciding to stay put just beggars belief.

"I built my castle, I gotta protect my stuff," said one buffoon who plans to ride out the storm in Far Rockaway.

How exactly is he expecting to protect his possessions from a hurricane? Is he under the impression that if he lays on the top of his stuff he can stop it from blowing away? Board up the windows and get yourself to a safe(r) area you big numpty; your stuff isn't worth having if you're dead!!!

Other than watching back to back episodes of Dexter I plan to get my domestic on this weekend and have a whole pile of clothing that's either missing buttons or has come undone at the seams, so it's on with the TV and out with the sewing kit and then cleaning, so that the place gets a good scrubbing before my parents arrive in a couple of weeks. Bring it on Irene, hopefully it will be a storm in a teacup, but stay safe kids!!

*Make my OWN coffee??? Seriously ;-)

3pm. It's excruciatingly humid but very quiet out there right now.

P.S. In other nature related news there have now been TWO large sharks spotted off Mission Beach in San Diego. Two!!! There go next week's surfing lessons for sure :-(

Irene Schmirene

2011-08-26T14:18:00.007-04:00

The media is quite excited by the impending arrival of Hurricane Irene, but I've not seen any of my colleagues muster anything more than a shrug, although the city does seem to be taking it incredibly seriously. All subway, rail and bus services are being suspended at noon tomorrow, which is having a knock on effect on local businesses and services having to close since their employees won't be able to get home and Fairway grocery store just tweeted that they are likely to be closed tomorrow and encouraged people to shop today. Hmmmm!!

The more I read online the more nervous I get about the windows being blown in and I must have checked the evacuation zone map 5 times already despite the fact that it doesn't change and my apartment is multiple blocks away from even a green evacuation zone and is highly unlikely to experience any flooding as a result of storm surges, but still...

Okay enough anxiety...I'm disconnecting myself from Google, Facebook and Twitter.

Oh great, now I'm reading that a San Diego beach was evacuated after a possible large shark sighting. There go the surf lessons!! "Oh shit," was Megan's response, "but if it's your time, it's your time. At least it would be cool to be eaten by a shark."

Um...I bloody beg to differ, it would NOT be in the least bit cool to be eaten by a shark!!

Megan: if it's our time to be eaten by shark or blown away by hurricane, it's our time to go.

Me: Yeah I suppose, but I think it's been close to 2years since I've gotten any, I can't die re-virginized. Let's go see who's left on the creative floor. The gorgeous grey haired bloke you like was here earlier, you could try him ;)

Megan: haha!!

P.S. Just heard of a tweet that the CVS pharmacy on 42nd and 10th Avenue is out of paper products. Loo roll hoarders abound!!!

Tune!!!!

2011-08-23T22:38:00.001-04:00

I love Bombay Bicycle Club!!

Video: bombay bicycle club - shuffle hq Etiketler: bombay_bicycle_club, shuffle, music, video, watch

Okay so I know it's a long range forecast...

2011-08-23T22:13:00.004-04:00

...and that it's about as accurate as the weather forecast, but still I was pretty impressed when I saw the estimated swell height for Rockaway Beach on Sunday at noon per the chart below.

19 feet!!!

19 feet!!! Can you imagine? That's Hurricane Irene for you. Seriously if we expect to even come close to waves that large I'm expecting some poor bugger from the news to be dispatched out to the beach to report from the scene. I think it was barely 1.5feet when I was there last Saturday. I keep checking the forecast as I had been hoping to take another lesson this weekend to get in a bit more practice before my lessons in San Diego* next week, but even on Saturday they are forecasting 7 footers, too much for this novice, but I'm tempted to take the train out there to watch other people try.

*My father, who has the physique of a heavier George Costanza, plans to join me for a surf lesson or two in San Diego. I was kind of joking when I suggested it, so I am a bit surprised he's actually up for it, but good for him. I just hope he has medical insurance.

Ooooh

2011-08-23T14:12:00.004-04:00

Earthquake in NYC, just a small one, but still, an earthquake!!! The office was all a flutter for a good 15 minutes. I was walking purposefully back to my desk at the time and one of my colleagues said that the water in her glass moved and for a moment she thought it was ME!!! Cheeky be-atch!! What am l, the T-Rex off Jurassic Park!!!!

Story Of My Life

2011-08-22T13:14:00.008-04:00

I was perusing a few surfing forums yesterday for some information and came across this post on Smash Surf about a couple of surf related films that are showing at Anthology Archives next week. I sent the info to Megan as I know she's really into all things surf related* at the moment.

"Let's go," said Megan about 10 seconds after I'd pressed send on the email. "Are you in? I'll buy the tickets now!!"

Seriously she is REALLY into surfing just now.

The cost of the ticket includes complementary beverages provided by Barefoot wines as well as nibbles by Kind Healthy Snacks and VitaCoco (whatever VitaCoco is when it's at home. Are they the people that make those frozen muffin tops?)

Hmmmm, let me think, free wine plus a high potential for cute surfer boy eye candy...count me IN!!!

Here's a 2 minute trailer for one of the films. It appears to feature men from 70s/80s video dating sites spliced with surfing (!!!). The dating aspect hits very close to home at the moment given my current experiences with OkCupid and Match.com. To be honest it almost feels a little *too* relevant right now, although I especially like the man dressed as a Viking!!

Thanks For The Dinner & The Sex from Waves Magazine on Vimeo.

*I enjoy all things surf related too, especially the ultra cute surf clothing that makes me look sporty and athletic and like I know what I am doing. Seriously we went to Boarders Surf Shop in Rockaway the other day and even though Megan asked all the questions, the young lad behind the counter addressed most of his responses to me.

"You looked the part, you were wearing Rip Curl board shorts," said Megan

Oh well, if that's all it takes to be a surfer... ;-)

P.S. A normal seeming man from Brooklyn emailed me via OkCupid today. Fingers crossed!!

Far Rockaway Outing

2011-08-21T14:59:00.016-04:00

So no not much news to speak of re: online dating. I did get a few winks as a result of updating my photos and tweaking my profile last week, but they were primarily from out of shape men in their fifties who look older than my 60 year old father. Nooooooo!!! Am I expecting too much do you think to meet a man around my own age who is similarly interested in being healthy?

Truth be told I think I am expecting too much, at least where online dating is concerned, since I strongly suspect that men within 5 years - give or take - of my own age are not entering search criteria to look for 40 year old women - and OkCupid's research blog sort of backs me up on this one - so it's tumbleweeds out there quite frankly, and while I personally would not feel comfortable being one of those women who lies about her age I can completely understand why some women do it. It happens quite often as far as I can tell, well okay it happens to Nigel a lot (Nigel: about to turn 50 in 2months; dating search criteria women age 36-42!!!). He's always telling me about dates he's been on where within 15minutes of them sitting down to have a drink or some food the women will say, "um...I have a confession to make..." and it's always that she's shaved a few years off her actual age.

To give him his due Nigel doesn't seem to mind it too much - I think he's used to it now - but I personally hate the idea of starting out with a lie.

So this weekend I made up the surf lesson I'd missed due to illness last Friday and despite being one of those awful morning people - although you'll be pleased to know I'm not horribly perky about it - getting up at 6am on a Saturday to take the A subway train out to Far Rockaway for a 9-11am surfing lesson was definitely no picnic. It was so worth it though, I had the best day yesterday.

Happily Megan decided to join me for my lesson at the last minute so I didn't have to make the early morning trek out to Beach 67th street on my lonesome. The lesson was great fun. There were roughly 16 people who rocked up for the 9am class and for the most part we were all complete beginners. Megan probably had the most experience having taken 5 days of lessons in Costa Rica in May and then a week long surf camp in Bali in July, but otherwise the rest of us had either never taken a lesson or had taken just one or two. Well three in my case, but I didn't fess up to the instructors that I'd taken any, preferring to keep their expectations on the low side.

It was a different set up to my lessons last month in Santa Monica where I'd worked one on one with Dane, my instructor, and where I'd had a lot more help getting out to the right spot - okay I'll admit, he pretty much did all the work, there was no paddling out for me - and then he'd given my board a hefty push to help me catch the wave. This time we had to paddle out ourselves, although the waves were pretty small, so it wasn't anywhere near as strenuous as it could be, but I did learn how to turn myself around by making circles with my hand - "egg beaters egg beaters," our instructors would shout at us. Apparently you're supposed to paddle out sit and watch the horizon for a good wave and then when you spot the one you want to catch you're supposed to egg beater your board around speedily to face the beach and then start paddling hard to catch your wave. As far as this novice understands this is all supposed to happen in minutes, nay seconds, but it takes me a good 3 minutes to get myself facing the right way ha ha!! Oh well, I'm only 4 lessons in, I am sure it takes a good while to get used to it.

Once you'd paddled out and turned around, you then had to paddle over to an available instructor, or one would call you over - there were always a good 4 or 5 of them in the water helping the group out and one of the instructors told me after the lesson ended that they always try to have one instructor to every 2 to 4 people - who would look for good waves for us to catch, then it's paddle, paddle, paddle, UP....and wobble and fall into the ocean :-)

I also learned, and experienced, all the joy that is known in surf terms as 'pearling' - although given this is also slang for certain sexual activities Megan and I were a bit 'ewww' regarding the use of this particular terminology - but in surfing terms it's when the nose of your board dives below the water, usually because your weight is too far forward on the board and you get thrown. To avoid it you can scoot back and arch your back so that your weight is to the back of the board, but it's all easier said than done when you are actually in the water, although I did manage it once with an instructor's coaching and he said I did a good job, so there's hope for me yet. I think all the back strengthening exercises I do in Pilates helped a lot.

Anyway after 2 hours of falling off my board I was famished having had not so much as a sniff of coffee before my lesson, because I don't want to find myself in dire need of a bathroom mid-lesson. I know, I know, I could just tinkle in the ocean - Megan admitted that's what she does. I know, ewww, but I am sure she is not alone, but what can I tell you I just can't physically bring myself to do it. I tried when I was in Santa Monica, but I just couldn't even though I was desperate to go having had a large latte a couple of hours before, however I realized if it was to happen I'd have to really concentrate and force myself and then the expression on my face would totally give away what I was up to, so I personally find it's best to avoid eating and drinking anything for a few hours ahead of time, because I'll tell you this for nothing, laying on a surf board with a full bladder is not in the least bit fun.

We headed up to Beach 106th Street - about a 30minute walk - for a well deserved latte from Blue Bottle Coffee and I split a cheese, plantain and avocado arepa with Megan from Caracas Arepas. So delicious!!

Whiskey the rescue dog, a lovely sweet Beagle mix, waiting online for her cup of Joe.

Whiskey sported a Yankees cap to shield her eyes from the sun. Apparently the sun is very tough on dogs' eyes and can cause cataracts. Who knew? Not me obviously.

Hammocks are available for a post lunch snooze after you've enjoyed your Arepas and coffee.

Hibiscus soda. Mmmmmmmmmm

Lining up to order at the Rockaway Taco shack at Beach 96th St and Rockaway Beach Boulevard.

Cute bearded hipster blokes man the shack kitchen.

Fish tacos are the classic choice, and very tasty they are too, but they are deep fried and I was in the mood for something a little healthier so I plumped for the deluxe* tofu taco (left) while vegetarian Megan had the quesadilla with cheese and plantains (right).

*deluxe tacos are $4 and include guacamole. I could eat one right now!!

We ended our beach day with a beer at the Bungalow Bar & Restaurant before catching the subway back to Manhattan.

Putting a bit more effort in

2011-08-14T10:48:00.007-04:00

So yesterday I decided that I needed to make some changes to my online dating profile to see if that would I had better luck in attracting normal blokes, so I spent some time tweaking my profile on Match and OkCupid.

I have to say Match has not been great for me at all so far and I ended up cancelling my membership after the only men that contacted me were all really far away: Idaho, North Carolina, Ontario, Toronto, Switzerland. Yup, Switzerland...not even on the same CONTINENT!! What is wrong with these men? The Swiss guy even went so far as to email me twice to try and set up a meeting when he visited NY for a week. Um....!!! I never responded. Before you ask I did double check my profile to make sure there was no weird zip code setting throwing everything off and no, it's all fine, there just seems to be an inordinate amount of men interested in the idea of a long distance relationship I suppose. Anyway I've cancelled my membership with Match for now, but I still have a few weeks to go so I thought I'd make an effort.

Oh and btw Match, don't think it's gone unnoticed that the matches I am receiving after cancelling my subscription and saying no thank you to renewing at 50% off have exponentially increased in their attractiveness!!! Either Match was holding out on me before OR - as Orla suspects - these are fake profiles and these attractive men that are supposedly a good match for me don't actually exist!!

Gasp!!

Between you and me I wouldn't put it past them.

Megan had decided to invite a few of the girls over for dinner at her place last night - amazing ricotta crostini with honey and toasted hazlenuts. Mmmm - so I got ready a bit earlier than I needed to and before I left I fiddled about with the auto-timer on my camera and took some snaps of myself in my strappy sundress - slightly more flesh on show than my other photos, but nooooo nothing slutty. For goodness sake, what kind of woman do you take me for!!! - while my hair and make up had yet to be messed up by the elements and uploaded the best of those photos along with another one of me on the Inca Trail - looking active, but not too smelly I hope - to both Match and OkCupid and then left for dinner where I had a fabulous time talking crap for hours on end with the girls and selflessly helping Megan rid herself of some of the many bottles of wine she's accumulated over the years before she moves out of the apartment she's currently still sharing with her ex-fiance, because she doesn't want to have to pack tons of wine up and pay to move it.

By the way can you IMAGINE that particular living situation, sharing a one bedroom apartment with your ex-fiance? They rarely see each other because their schedules are opposite, but still, it can't be a barrel of laughs eh?

Anyway when I checked this morning I was pleased to see that I'd received two messages from prospects via OkCupid **AND** had been made a FAVOURITE by another OKC member plus an actual real live New York residing member of Match.com - a very very cute one too - had also sent me a message.

Yay!! My plan was working!!

I mean, so what that one of the OKCupid messages was from a 23 year old - seriously 23!! I'd exchanged a couple of emails with him too before I realized too. He wasn't the most verbose individual so I'd decided to read his profile for some background information and well I was a bit shocked to say the least when I saw his age. In my defense he doesn't look that young in his photo; or that the man who favourited me had the profile name 'Nudesunlover'** - no prizes for guessing what he likes to do on weekends, although I can't help but wince at the thought of him getting sunburn on his sensitive bits. Yikes!! Although nice for him that he doesn't have a farmer's tan I suppose if you're into that type of thing; or that the cute man from Match ended up asking me - after 2 somewhat saucy emails I'll admit, although he started it - if I'd meet him for sex. I mean it's a start right? A step in the right direction? Ha ha, ohhh you have to laugh!!

**Not his actual profile name of course, but close enough for you to get an accurate picture of his interests.

Hee hee!!

2011-08-13T11:34:00.004-04:00

Bit late to this particular party not having any of those fancy cable channels on which to enjoy Flight Of The Conchords, but Scott Mills brought it to my attention this week. LOVE IT!!

It's an excellent piss take of this ball of cheese!!

What's that weirdo smiling at?

2011-08-13T09:34:00.012-04:00

So I ended up missing yesterday morning's surfing lesson due to illness. I'm not sure what was going on, but I woke up to my alarm at 6am feeling queasy, had some tea and dry toast in the hope of calming things down and about 15minutes later I ran, nay sprinted, to the bathroom and - sorry TMI I know - threw it all back up. Ugh!! My balance was also seriously off kilter too so popping up on a surf board was out of the question - I tried a few test pop ups on my bed* and uh-oh, so not good. On the positive side I did feel very very thin as I laid on my futon watching Live Free Die Hard - gotta love free movies on demand - so perhaps it's not entirely impossible that I might lose 5lbs and slip into that bikini in San Diego in a few weeks. Silver linings!!

The surf school were kind enough to let me reschedule my lesson for next weekend without forfeiting any deposit, which was very nice of them and I am hoping my friend Deesha will be able to make that lesson too. She's expressed a keen interest in giving it a try and said she's free next weekend and the following one, but unlike me she's not one of life's morning people, so I think having to get up early on a weekend to take the subway out to Far Rockaway will be a deal breaker, but I'm hopeful I can lure her there with the promise of Caracas Arepas and Blue Bottle coffee - the best!! - as a post surfing treat.

I'm not entirely sure what was going on stomach wise, I don't suspect anything that I ate, I think I was probably just run down, nevertheless I am taking things easy and swearing off the drink and foods that could potentially unsettle my stomach, like the bag of wasabi peas I just threw out because they were batting their eyelashes at me and giving me that come hither look, wasabi+iffy tummy=not a good combo and I knew I would give in to temptation if I did not take drastic action.

By 3pm yesterday I was about 90% back to normal - managed to keep down a potato - so I kept my dinner plans at Madera in Long Island City with Melissa and Orla and decided that I may as well keep the brunch date I had scheduled for today at 1pm with Brooklyn Mike at Max Brenners** - I'd been tempted to cancel given the state I was in - however Brooklyn Mike had other ideas as when I got home from dinner with the girls I had an email from him saying "I'm sorry, but I have to cancel our date tomorrow as I have started seeing someone, Mike."

Now I know this is entirely the wrong attitude, but I couldn't help but think "Yayyyyyyyyy!!" when I saw his note. Nothing against Brooklyn Mike who seemed like a nice guy based on the emails we exchanged, but I'm feeling a bit worn down by the whole online dating thing at the moment, although I'm trying to stick with it since you've got to be in it to win it right and you never know when the right person will come along, but between ketchup boy last week; Pedicab Owning bloke who left me perverted emails and texts - I blocked him sharpish; older surfer bloke who turned up 30-minutes late and barely shrugged an apology; Joe who turned up to our date wearing a t-shirt that looked like it had been lining the dog basket only hours before; the background actor who talked incessantly about himself as if the whole date was a dry run for an upcoming interview on Inside The Actors Studio and....well you get the picture and it's exhausting!! I was flipping through Time Out New York when I got home last night for weekend inspiration and had to laugh when I came across a listing for a free discussion at the New York Public Library next Wednesday: "The Evil Men Do: Inside the Mind of the Sexual Predator," where a panel of crime writers speak with a psychologist about what it means to dive into the mind of the deranged. I think attending that would be all I'd need to push me over the edge of never dating again. Ha ha!!

Speaking of men I bumped into my ex, Tel Aviv, last week as I walked home through the park after a Total Body Conditioning class. I'd walked into the park from West 68th street, right by where Tavern On The Green used to be and I noticed this guy about 20 feet in front of me staring intently and smiling in my direction.

"What's that weirdo smiling at?" I thought and then immediately dismissed the fact that he was looking at me and decided he must be smiling at someone behind me, but as I drew closer it became apparent that he was staring at me and as we drew level he turned said to me "really, really, it's been so long that you don't recognize me?" which is when I clicked it was Tel Aviv ha ha!! Clearly a boost to his ego, not. Well to be fair it has been almost 4-years since we dated.

We caught up as we walked across the park to East 72nd street. He's doing well, he seemed much the same except he's now married with a 7-month old daughter and living on the Upper West Side. I think that's why I didn't connect the weirdo smiling at me with it being him since I never expected to run into him uptown. He lived in the Financial District when we dated, so seeing him above 14th street was out of context for me. I had to laugh when he gave me shit for working too hard and not having enough fun in my life. This from a man whose idea of a fun weekend was to go to the Borders across the street and sit in the cafe reading IT books!! Please!! As we closed in on 72nd and 5th he turned to me and said that he really wanted to apologize for the way he ended things.

Sigh, eyeroll.

"It's fine, it was 4-years ago, it's water under the bridge," I responded
"But I want to apologize," he said
"Seriously, there's no need."
"Well, okay, I admit, I need to apologize to make myself feel better."

Yeah, whatever, go ahead apologize to absolve your own conscience then. Seriously why do men feel the need to do that so long after the fact? It's not in the least bit meaningful to me 4 years down the road, it's better to just shut up and leave it be to my mind because quite frankly I'm only going to think less of you for indulging your own need to clear your conscience and not being man enough to say something at the time of the break up, but hey, you go ahead.

*Fellow pop-up practitioners I came across this handy tip for practicing pop ups on your bed via the ehow surf tips video and here - the embed code seems to be a bit iffy - below as a good way of simulating the instability of the ocean and I've found it to be an effective way to practice.

**His suggestion not mine. I did balk at his choice of restaurant since it comes across a bit theme-y for my tastes and I'm not a massive lover of sweet dishes which I am assuming are their specialty since the restaurant's tag line is 'Chocolate by the bald man', but admittedly I am a bit of a restaurant snob and he did win brownie points for actually suggesting a place since I find that most men ask me out and then ask me to do the work of coming up with a place to meet at.

Some people have real problems...

2011-08-11T16:58:00.004-04:00

...but I'm going to complain anyway.

Ugh I felt like a total disaster this morning. I had to head directly to a client meeting downtown for a 2 hour discussion of marketing mix modeling - joy of my existence - and it did not help that I spent a good 10 minutes scrambling around trying to find my glasses - unsuccessfully!! I was so frustrated I almost cried, not that impending woman's week is making me overly emotional or anything. Fortunately the presentation was projected on a massive screen and I got myself a plum spot right at the front, so I didn't have to squint too much. I was hoping to find my glasses on my desk when I got to the office, but it was not to be!! Harumph!! Maybe I'll find them under a cushion when I get home tonight.

The day has improved a bit anyway and I was feeling good about managing to graduate to using the 15lb weights on the chest flies at total body conditioning last night. Yay!! I'm trying to up the fat burning quotient a bit further over the next few weeks as I am still somewhat hopeful of feeling good about wearing a bikini when I am in San Diego in a few short weeks, especially as I just ordered a new retro polka dot one from Jcrew.com that was on sale. I was 112lbs the last time I confidently bikini'd; I'm 117lbs now with a bit more of a belly pooch than I would like, but you never know, maybe I'll manage to lose 5lbs in the next 3 weeks. #Fatchance.

Cute eh*!!

*Although admittedly I am somewhat concerned about the size of those pants since they look rather large don't they, although I admit I sometimes hanker for the days when swimwear like this was de rigeur!!

P.S. A guy who was recommended to me as an OKCupid match by their algorithm has the handle "Meat[NAME]4Fun." I am not sure what to make of that, did he intend to write "meet", in which case he is a terrible speller or did he actually mean to write "meat"?? In which case...ooer, is that some modern sexual practice I am not versed in that the kids are all doing these days?

Megan thinks I should message him to find out more. Not bloody likely!! Anyway time for Pilates!!

Blimey!! UK Riots and OKCupid Date!!

2011-08-09T17:31:00.006-04:00

I am just listening to/half watching the live BBC coverage of the riots in the UK. Mental!! I can't quite get my head around it, especially when they break from the doom and gloom of the day and a cheery Scotsman comes on and chats about the weather. Surreal, although the cockles of my heart were warmed when I saw people naming and shaming the culprits on Twitter (#nameandshame) and organising clean ups (#riotcleanup)!!

Ugh, what a day!!

On a personal positive at least I have vacation to look forward to as I am heading out west again in a mere 3 weeks - San Diego this time. I'm meeting my parents there for a week at the beach and more surfing lessons!! I am trying to eat v v healthy so that I feel good in my swimsuit, but I feel as if I am fighting a losing battle at the moment as woman's week is due on Friday - nice timing for my next surf lesson this weekend in the Far Rockaways #not!!!! - and I have the appetite of a hippopotamus!! I woke up in the middle of the night last night with my heart pounding only to be scared to death by a dark shape at the foot of my bed. I think I may have been having traumatic dreams having read about an instance during the Ealing riots - an area of London where I lived for 5 or 6 years - of a woman who woke up to find two men in her bedroom. Yikes!! Fortunately the dark shape looming over the foot of my bed turned out to be my vacuum cleaner. Phew!! Thank heavens it was nothing, but it still took a glass of milk - skim of course - and the last 5 of the Trader Joe's dark chocolate peanut butter cups (333.33 calories) to calm me down. Ooops!!

So I had my second OK Cupid date with C____ on Saturday night. I really didn't want to go, but then I am never inclined to go on any internet dates, so I forced myself to meet him, because you never know right?

Hmmmmm!!!

This time was perhaps one of those occasions when I really should have listened to that little voice in my head that said 'call it off, stay home, watch a movie, get some ice cream,' but instead I listened to the other voice that said "Oh for God's sake just go, it would be rude to call it off now and you never know, it might be fun, you might really like him!!"

I took a chance anyway and we met at Veselka's in the East Village, where we split a plate of pierogis and he ordered a burger and I had mushroom barley soup - I really wasn't so hungry. It was fine anyway, but I was pretty tired after the fairy elephant upstairs woke me up by stomping around between the hours of 2am and 5am - what was she DOING that involved her walking back and forth so frequently at such an hour? - but I made an effort to engage in conversation and ask him about himself, but he just didn't have a lot to say that held my interest and I just knew a 3rd date wasn't on the cards, especially when I asked him if he'd travelled much.

C___: Not really
Fish: Do you like to travel?
C___: Um, yes, I guess so
Fish: Where would you like to visit that you haven't been yet?

Wait for it....

…I am amazed I kept a straight face at his response. I mean seriously if you were someone who hadn’t travelled much in your life and a romantic prospect asked you where you would most like to go, essentially giving you the world to choose from, what are the chances you would respond as my date did and say.......

C___: Detroit
Fish: Ohhhh...um...interesting!!

Detroit!!

Really???

Now nothing against Detroit, I am sure it has some lovely bits, but that’s his first choice, out of everywhere in the entire WORLD???? The world!!!

I’ll tell you this for nothing, he won’t be getting any mini-break action with me if that’s his idea of an ideal destination.

I also did not appreciate the way he repeatedly dipped the fork he'd eaten from directly into the wide necked ketchup bottle to ladle ketchup onto his burger and then used the very same fork to cut the pierogis we were sharing - we ordered one of each flavour and were halving them - leaving the edges coated. Ugh!! Stomach churning!!

I am never ever eating ketchup in a restaurant again. EVER!!

Southern California Interlude

2011-08-06T21:00:00.005-04:00

So a few days ago I returned from my very first trip away on my lonesome and, to coin a popular American adjective, it was AWESOME. I was in Santa Monica for three days and then headed to Vegas for a 3 day stay at the Venetian where I Pilate'd and pampered at the Canyon Ranch health club and swam laps in the early mornings before the pool got crazy and then replenished the calories I'd burnt at Bouchon!!! It was sooooooo good!!

The original impetus for the trip was to attend my friend Megan's wedding, which was to take place in LA on July 29th, and I had made plans with our friend Emma to attend the wedding and then drive to Vegas for a couple of days after wards, however about 3-months before the big day - and about 3 weeks after Emma and I had booked my flights into LAX and out of McCarren - Megan called off the wedding after realising that she and her fiance weren't even close to being on the same page when it came to marriage and children. I think enough was enough when he told her he'd always put his career first*. I dithered for a couple of weeks about what to do, but since I would struggle to use the vacation time I'd already accounted for I decided that as long as Megan was okay with it I would go to LA and Vegas anyway. I relayed my intentions to Emma who ummed and ahhed a bit about whether she wanted to go forward with the trip and to be honest I could tell she wasn't totally into it, having just met a new guy after the break up of her 5 year relationship with John and if I'm completely honest Emma wasn't my favourite person of late being somewhat self absorbed, although I'd been trying to give her a break owing to the demise of her long term relationship, but when she insensitively asked Megan if she'd been influenced to call off her wedding because of Emma's recent break up with John I realised there was a good chance I'd struggle to spend 6 days in her company and gave us both an out by telling her I was more than happy to go alone.

Anyway I have to say I had a lovely ol' time in Santa Monica on my lonesome, it all went much better than I expected, although I think having a surf lesson booked every morning was a good move on my part as it took up a solid 3 hours of my day. I loved the lessons, although to be honest...Pacific Ocean 3, Fish 0!! Seriously I got my arse kicked, although apparently the waves were much rougher than they normally would be at which is very much a beginners beach - unless that's just something my instructor said to make me feel better - and I got tossed from the board a lot, although the positive to that was that I felt very light and skinny ha ha. It helped a lot that my surf instructor, Dane, was a strong 22year old, long haired, classic rock loving Australian who'd worked as a life guard at Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast and started surfing when he was 4. I had no doubt that if I were to get into difficulties he'd pluck me off the ocean floor by the scruff of my wetsuit no problem. Fortunately no such occasion arose and I got hooked. I've already booked myself a few more lessons when I am in San Diego in September and a lesson in the Far Rockaways next week. Eeek!!

*What a big eejit!!

Pacific North West Trip: on to Seattle

2011-07-23T11:50:00.015-04:00

We arrived in Seattle on the train from Portland at noon on Monday 6th June, absolutely famished. Seattle, like Portland, isn't exactly known for its weather, but it was a beautiful sunny day with clear blue skies. I felt like I was living a charmed life, since the last time I'd been in Seattle, some 9 or so years ago, it had been cold and drizzly. After settling ourselves in at the Alexis Hotel we walked up to Pike Place Market. It was teeming with tourists, way too many to get any good photos, so after 30minutes of so we gave up and headed to Matt's In The Market for some lunch. Unfortunately since we didn't arrive until 1.30pm they were already out of the special I liked the sound of, halibut fillet served with salad on a brioche bun, so instead I decided to go for the pork belly confit "banh mi" served on a baguette, which was delicious, but way heavier and greasier than my health food accustomed stomach could deal with so sadly I could only manage half of it.

We walked off our lunch with a trip down to the Olympic Sculpture Park, passing this sculpture of 'Angie's Umbrella' by Jim Pridgeon and Benson Shaw.

The Olympic Sculpture Park spans 9 acres of what was previously a contaminated brownfield until the Seattle Art Museum proposed transforming the area into green space and includes sculpture by the likes of Richard Serra, Tony Smith,...

...Alexander Calder

...and my personal favourite, Roxy Paine.

Afterwards we walked the few blocks up hill to the space needle where $18 got us a ticket to the observation deck.

And then took the monorail back to downtown to check out the Rem Koolhaas and Joshua Ramus designed Seattle Central Library. The library is breathtaking, I think if I lived in Seattle I'd spend a good deal of my time there.

Although leaning over the balcony of the top floor to take this photo made me feel very peculiar. Heights are not my thing.

We got back to the hotel just in time for the complimentary happy hour and enjoyed a glass of wine while flipping through our guidebooks for dinner recommendations, finally deciding on Quinn's Gastropub on Capitol Hill. Unfortunately we never made it there as en route I came over all queasy and had to make an emergency dash into the bathrooms of the Hilton Hotel and the wine made a repeat appearance, although I'm not sure why, since I had by no means over indulged. Feeling sorry for myself I shuffled slowly back to the hotel where I had some tea and pita breads in the library bar instead. Pah!!

Fun Friday Tune

2011-07-22T06:49:00.002-04:00

Well I'm feeling better than I've any right to feel after a large night out at the farewell party for one of my account leaders who has quit to take a job as my client. Yup, there was no getting out of this party, I had to go since he'll be the one signing off scopes for my team going forward, but thankfully it was a party I was happy to be at despite being at a terrace bar in the sweltering heat. We have a heat advisory across much of the US at the moment and it's 86F outside right now and not even 7am!!! Ugh!!

Anyway I plan to hunker down for the day with some programming and a few chair dancing tunes and chat on Radio1!!

The Morgan, Online Dates & Maverick Sabre

2011-07-19T22:15:00.009-04:00

Ohhhh I am so very lazy when it comes to posting about my recent vacation - recent my arse. I'm just so busy and tired from work and working out all the time. I did have a nice weekend though, I met my friend Melissa for brunch at Riverpark on Saturday - deeee-licious smoked trout cake - and then after wards we headed to the Morgan Library to check out the Xu Bing exhibit, the living world, which the artist is currently installing.

Here's a photo from the Morgan Library website of how the piece will look once the installation is complete.

We also came across a gem of an exhibit on lists, which is much more interesting than it probably sounds. It's basically a collection of different lists: to do lists, shopping lists, lists of people, wish lists, any kind of list you can imagine, created by a whole bunch of different artists including a list of artists recommended by Picasso for inclusion in the 1913 Armory art show. My favourite though was the illustrated list by Adolf Konrad of the clothing he packed for his trips.

I am a woman after Adolph's heart in that I write lists of the clothing I plan to pack. I probably shouldn't admit to this, but before I pack I write lists of outfits I think are good to take and then I find I can switch out clothing items so as to maximize total outfits while minimizing the amount of clothing I need to take with me. Essentially I create a vacation capsule wardrobe for each trip, but I mine aren't represented as beautifully as Mr. Konrad's, since I tend to write descriptions like "lilac Anthropologie top, AG Jeans, Blue J Crew cardi."

Anywayyyyy on Sunday I had a date. How was it you say? Why thank you for asking, it was memorable for all the wrong reasons to be honest. We'd planned to meet at 6pm for a coffee at Once Upon A Tart on Sullivan St in SoHo, a cafe I've been to many many times - fantastic buttermilk scones - and so since we both knew the place we hadn't discussed the address in any of our email exchanges, however it occurred to me on Sunday to look it up, just in case, to make sure there weren't 2 branches. As I thought there was only one branch, but I happened to check the opening hours and noted that the place closed at 6pm on Sundays. Okay, no big deal, but I sent my date a text message to give him a heads up and said lets just meet outside the place anyway and we can go on somewhere else. After checking the MTA website to see how the subway trains were running I found out the 6 trains were running express between 14th street and Brooklyn Bridge, so at 5.10pm I summoned up the requisite enthusiasm to leave my apartment - I rarely look forward to dates, which I suppose is a good thing as that way I tend not to be too disappointed if they don't go well, but on Sunday I was feeling less thrilled than usual having only managed 4 hours of sleep the night before - my brain wouldn't switch off - and also being in the throes of the first day of woman's week which had left me with an aching lower back and a sore stomach - with the intention of taking the 6 to 14th street and then taking a slow walk - too too hot to walk fast this Sunday - down to Sullivan St instead of taking the express train to Brooklyn Bridge and then a local train back up town for a few stops.

Anyway transportationally speaking all went as planned and by 5.55pm I was on the corner of Mercer and Houston in good time to be outside the coffee shop as arranged when my phone rang.

"Hi, it's D__, I just saw your text, that's a shame the coffee shop is closed, I'm actually just about to get on a C-train at 96th...."

Um....what!!!!!!!

Seriously he's supposed to be meeting me in SoHo in 5-minutes and he calls to tell me he's still at 96th street - 5miles away for the uninitiated - not really offering an apology or a valid reason for being late.

"Okayyyyyy," I responded

"I don't supposed there's any chance you live on the upper west side?" he asked.

"No, I don't and I'm already downtown," I responded in a somewhat cool tone.

"Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can"

I was too shocked to tell him to stuff his date - which is pretty much what I thought when I hung up the call - and instead told him to call me when he arrived and I would meet him somewhere and headed off to see my one true love, Anthropologie, which thankfully doesn't close until 8pm on Sundays. I never knew that. Anyway I killed a good 20minutes in there and tried on a few bits, although amazingly I didn't buy so much as a sausage, so I patted myself on the back for that, but the whole time I was consumed with thoughts about how I just didn't want to bother with the date after all and was tempted to leave him a voicemail letting him know that I'd headed home. I didn't, but I was very tempted.

At 6.30pm he called and we met on the corner of Sullivan and Prince and ended up going for a drink at Red Bench where we were the only customers and our very pleasant bartender was celebrating her birthday. Anyway he did apologise for being late and for suggesting a place that happened to be closed, but he didn't really offer me a valid explanation for being late beyond admitting to being a bit crap generally at being on time for social appointments and then added that he needed to head back to the UWS to meet friends for dinner at 8pm.

Right!!

Anyway had he won me over with his sparkling repartee I may have given him a second chance, but he didn't really, so it's a definitive no from me I'm afraid.

Between this and the pervy middle of the night texts and emails I was getting from a pedicab fleet owning bloke - seriously I was getting "I want to $%&# you" texts at 3am before we'd even met!!! - I'm wondering how much longer I'll stick out online dating.

I love this song, although there's something about his singing style that really reminds me of Finlay Quaye

And now take it away Finlay...

Pacific North West Trip June 2011 - Portland and...

2011-07-07T21:10:00.015-04:00

Ugh, it's weeks like this one that make me think that 3 day weekends are really not worth it. So much for achieving my ambition of being one of those 9.30am - or gasp, maybe even 10am - arrival people, it's been a full week of arriving at 7.30am and leaving at 7pm/8pm and being thankful if I get so much as a sniff of a lunch hour in between. At least my new team member started this week and although I am spending a lot of time training her my gut tells me that she will be a good fit. Fingers crossed my gut is not confused by all that fiber I've been eating.

One positive aspect of this week was, not one, but two spots of the Creative Cutie!!! Yay!! Our paths rarely cross so if I see him more than once a month it's a bonus, so twice in a week, on consecutive days at that, the sighting totally brightens my day even though I've long since given up on him as a romantic prospect - I have a couple of people I'm emailing with via OKCupid, although prospect#1 (26 - that's quite young isn't it, I feel a bit weird about someone that young approaching me, but I'm trying to keep an open mind) is bogged down with law school - school? Ugh, just call me Mrs. Robinson - at the moment and prospect#2 (51 - much more respectable age, a surfing real estate agent) is on an extended visit to see family in San Diego and has expressed interest in meeting, but won't be back NYC way until late July, just in time to coincide with my departure to LA/Vegas, so it will be August before we have an opportunity to meet - since while Creative Cutie used to stare at me a lot - initially making me completely paranoid about having missed a button, or having a big bogie on the end of my nose or something - he never DID anything, not so much as a smile, so I finally came to the conclusion that even if he was interested he wasn't interested enough to do anything about it. Anyway he looked good as always, but was dressed very casually in shorts and a t-shirt - it's amazing the outfits people get away with in the ad agency during summer - when I ran into him the first time outside the cafeteria after lunch with my new team member on Thursday, and whereas I was looking pretty good - not to sound conceited, but I got a LOT of compliments on my outfit that day including a "wow, you look CUTE" from Megan who didn't even like the dress I was wearing when I initially showed it to her online. For the record it was the blue sheath dress in the photo below - Anthropologie of course - I replaced the ribbon with a thick black leather belt - $9.99 from Daffy's natch - a black lightweight cotton cardigan and low peep toe wedge pumps - it was a very 1950s inspired look, which I wore with lightly padded underpinnings which put the girls very front and center a la Joan Holloway. Shove it Creative Cutie, see what you are missing!! I noted I didn't feel the usual lurch in my stomach that often accompanies seeing him, "maybe my crush is on the wane," I thought.

Unfortunately today my crush on him ramped right back up when I bumped into him in the lift and he looked unbelievably HOT in a pale pink shirt - yes, pink, who'd have thought? - and pale gray cotton pants. Damn him!!

Anyway I digress, on with the trip....

So we continued our 2 days in Portland the way we had begun, with amazing food. I have to confess I am something of an avid viewer of the Top Chef series on Bravo and so when self taught Portland chef Naomi Pomeroy started kicking arse on Top Chef Masters I fired up Google and started to do some research into her restaurant, Beast.

Now Beast differs from your standard restaurant experience in that they only offer a six course fixed price dinner 4 nights a week for $68 + $35 for a wine pairing - bargain - and a 4 course $35 fixed priced brunch - +$20 for the wine pairing - on Sundays with communal seating across 2 large tables. I love love love the idea of a multi-course communal dinner, but in reality 6 courses is just too much food for me as I am typically a little and often eater - seriously this is why I need a boyfriend with a larger appetite who is more than happy to scoop up my leftovers - but I thought I'd be able to force down a 4 course brunch, so I took the liberty of assuming Megan would be okay with it and booked us a brunch reservation through Open Table - thankfully Megan was more than up for it.

Anyway, should you be in Portland I more than recommend Beast, even if you are dining alone since the communal table and open kitchen leads to a very social experience and our fellow diners were very chatty without the benefit of the social grease of alcohol. Business cards were exchanged, friends were made and I imagine that dinner is even more social than brunch since I assume more people would order the wine pairing.

Watching the chef's prepare for service...

One wall at Beast is full of food related quotes...this was a favourite of mine. Creative Cutie can quiche me ANYTIME ;-)

Our 4 course brunch menu on Sunday June 5th began with...

...Rhubarb Clafoutis, served with soft whipped cream and maple glazed bacon. Mmmm mmm mmm mmm mmmm and I don't even like rhubarb. Plus let's just say it out loud...DESSERT FIRST!!!! Breaking all the rules ;-)

I'll admit to pilfering this photo from this blog which also has a great review of Beast, because I was initially a little shy of whipping out my camera and acting like a foodiot!! The maple bacon tasted like candy!!

Our second course was Beast Hash, butter braised lamb, market potatoes, Maitake mushrooms, rapini, walla walla onions (never heard of those before, or maitake mushrooms for that matter) & English peas, a poached duck egg and Hollandaise, a sauce I am not the biggest fan of as I am over faced by it's richness, but the second dish was amazing and probably my favourite.

Next up was a cheese course which I didn't take a photo of because we all know what cheese looks like right, but the selection included a goat cheese, I didn't note where from but it had a bitter taste that I didn't particularly enjoy, a raw sheep's milk cheese from Idaho which was delicious and a raw cow's milk cheese from Switzerland. Anyway in lieu of a photo of cheese here's a bonus photo of my fellow diners enjoying their brunch.

The final course was a muscovado and goat's milk panna cotta with macerated strawberries. Heavenly!!

We left Beast feeling full, but not disgustingly so after our 4 courses, and took a bus followed by the MAX to Washington Park to see the International Rose Test Garden. Unfortunately there was a barely a rose in bloom when we visited, but it was still very pretty.

We walked back to downtown Portland after checking out the rose garden, passing this creepy sculpture outside of Jeld Wen Field along the way!!

We spent a few hours wandering around town working off our brunch and taking in some J Crew sale shopping and the riverside.

The oddly beautiful Steel bridge. It's lower deck transports rail and pedestrian/cyclist traffic while the upper deck ferries vehicular traffic and the MAX light rail. Apparently it's the only double deck bridge in the world with independent lifts. I'm not entirely sure what that means, but I'm impressed.

Cyclists on the Steel bridge walkway waiting for the midsection to lower after being raised for river traffic

Having worked up an appetite we ended up at Brix Tavern in the Pearl District for dinner where we both plumped for the rotisserie chicken salad – hold the dressing – hoping to counteract the impact of our 4 course brunch, although perhaps the 2 glasses of Sokol Blossom Pinot Gris we washed it down with negated any positive benefits of the vegetables.

After dinner we stopped off at the Heathman Hotel Bar for a cocktail, as recommended by our Fodor’s guide, but meh the place was lacking in atmosphere, so we didn't stay too long before heading back to the Modera Hotel to pack for our early morning train journey to Seattle. We were tucked up in bed snoozing by 9.30pm!! Party on!!

Musical Interlude - Foster The People

2011-06-29T20:54:00.002-04:00

Unfortunately owing to a horrendous bout of insomnia I've had to disrupt my plan to complete blog postings re: my Pacific North West trip as I am all tapped out this week. It's been over a week now since I have had more than 5 hours of sleep and to be honest I am a complete basket case, so despite the best of intentions to eat extremely healthily for the next 4-5 weeks - seriously I've been so healthy this past week you'd vomit if I told you exactly how healthy I've been - I've found myself resorting to my old friend Chardonnay to knock me out tonight.

It's ironic really as I feel pretty amazing other than the sleep thing and have enormous amounts of energy - I'm like my sister's Border Collie, Skye, who is impossible to wear out, it must be all the fiber - so the last thing I wanted was alcohol, but the insomnia is taking an emotional toll and small things are taking on a bigger significance than they have any right to. To be honest I have to wonder if that excess of energy I'm experiencing is contributing to my restlessness at night since it's not as if I have a lot on my mind, but I just can't seem to sleep, it's like I am on the wrong time zone.

Anyway we have a 3 day weekend coming up in the US for the 4th July holiday, so hopefully I will find time to rest and recharge and post about my trip, but in the meantime please enjoy Foster The People.

Pacific North West Trip June 2011: Portland Day 1

2011-06-26T21:22:00.012-04:00

So I dropped the high fiber diet on Friday for the sake of my colleagues, but risked a high fiber Gnu bar this weekend as recommended by Melissa and thankfully those don't seem to have the same troublesome side effects and I've already noticed a distinct flattening of the tummy. Yay!!! Happy happy happy. If things carry on in this way then in 4 weeks I may well squeeze into that bikini after all on my LA/Vegas trip. I've also noticed a definite improvement in my skin from all the fruit and veggies no doubt, so definitely worth persevering with the healthy habits. I'm actually pondering taking a few surfing lessons when I am in LA. Megan took lessons when she went to a yoga retreat in Costa Rica and absolutely loved it and she thinks it will be right up my street. I must admit I like the idea of it, although I am leery of committing to lessons alone - I know, I'm a total coward, but I would feel less self conscious about it if I had a buddy taking lessons too, but hopefully I will summon up the courage to give it a whirl. No guts no glory right??

The trip - dim and distant though it is - was great anyway. Melissa and I flew into Portland, arriving late to our hotel on Friday 3rd June night and spent a couple of full days there before taking the train up to Seattle on the Monday morning. We were fortunate enough to have unbelievably beautiful weather, which was apparently atypical for Portland, mid-80s with low humidity and clear blue skies and surprisingly good hair days which I was not expecting given the soggy reputation of the Pacific North West. New York on the other hand was experiencing a heat wave and was unbearably close to 100F!! Ugh!! I was so so so happy not to be there.

We woke up fairly early on Saturday morning - still being on east coast time - although we bumped into a good number of hotel guests returning from their morning runs. No such exertions for us and instead we took a leisurly walk along the riverside to the Saturday Market and stopped at Bijou Café for breakfast where I had the most delicious meal of scrambled tofu with olive oil, garlic and parsley and the best home fries I have ever tasted.

We walked off some of our hearty breakfast by heading up to the Pearl District, a former warehouse district which is now home to boutiques, fancypants apartment buildings and restaurants galore. On the way we stopped for a browse in the fabulous Powell’s Books where I couldn't resist making a stationery purchase - I'm a stationery fiend, it's my drug of choice - and also a bathroom stop. I also couldn’t resist popping into Anthropologie as we passed by - a store I am obsessed with, although I swear to you that I hadn't looked up the location prior to my arrival and happened upon the store purely by coincidence. People who work with me will not believe that for a second, but it is true – and was thrilled to find a silk camisole top that I'd had my eye on for months on sale in my size, reduced from $78 to $39. Yay!!

Afterwards we sauntered around the Pearl District, taking a photo of the doors to the office of advertising agency Wieden & Kennedy for Kanayo who is obsessed with the idea of working there even though she has never so much as set foot in Oregon.

The Pearl District often feels very similar to TriBeCa in Manhattan

Tanner Springs Park, designed by German firm Atelier Dreiseitl and Portland's Greenworks P.C., with participation from local residents through a series of community workshops. The 'wall' you can see in the photo below is made from railway tracks set on end.

After exploring we decided to head back downtown towards our hotel for a break via Pioneer Square

Although we didn't break for long before the clock struck beer o'clock and we headed out to taste the offerings of the Full Sail Microbrewery whose tasting room is located inside McCormick and Schmick's at riverplace marina, passing the Ira Keller fountain - designed by Angela Danadjieva apparently inspired by the waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge, east of Portland - along the way, which was teeming with kids playing in the water despite the 'caution...this fountain is not meant for wading' signs dotted about the place.

We had plans to meet Melissa's friend Julie for dinner at Park Kitchen in North Park area near the Pearl District so after sampling the Full Sail beers we headed back to the Pearl District to sample the beers at the Bridgeport Brew Pub along with some pretzels to line our stomachs. On the walk over we noticed many many folding chairs lined up for a front row seat to that evening's rose parade.

The restaurant was amazing, I am still craving their chick pea fries, salt cod fritters and chocolate tart. Afterwards we headed over to the Teardrop Lounge for cocktails, which was recommended by a BBC article on the best US cocktail bars and then Melissa and I toddled back to our hotel through the remnants of the parade for a final drink at the hotel bar fire pits. Obviously it was a boozy kind of kick off to our Pacific North West adventure.

Check me with my artsy photography ;-)

It's Just Not Worth It!!

2011-06-24T01:29:00.004-04:00

Good Lord, how on earth is it the 23rd June already? I can't believe I have been back to work a week already after my Pacific North West trip. I just bumped into one of my account teams in the caff this afternoon, the first time I've seen them since I got back - well except for Brian, who I undoubtedly made an impression on in a meeting last Friday when I accidentally flashed him during a client call.

Nooooo, not on purpose. I couldn't help it, I reached over the table to get closer to the speaker and then realized that I had a loose scoop necked top on and that in leaning forward I'd probably given him an eye-full. What can I say I am a consummate professional who knows how to get ahead ha ha!! Anyway I bumped into the other 8 of them today and they were all "how was your trip?" and I was all "what trip?" It's already like a dim and distant memory. Thankfully I have a trip to LA and Vegas coming up in 5 weeks which is the trip I've been planning to squeeze into the bikini for, although after spending 10 days eating and drinking my way around the Pacific NW I've also invested in a couple of one piece swim suits as back up. Actually if the scales are to be believed I didn't put on so much as a lb, but things are definitely jiggling about much more than I like, so now I am back on a healthy eating kick and my return was perfectly timed so as to be vulnerable enough about my weight to be coerced into joining the office "Wellness Challenge" by 4 colleagues, a 10week health and nutrition event where 25 or so teams of 5 employees compete for...well I'm not sure what, there may be prizes, but it could well be just bragging rights. Anyway the upshot of this is that we have to log our health and exercise habits on a weekly basis, did we eat 3 servings of vegetables per day, did we eat 3 servings of fruit, did we take the stairs instead of the lift, did we use sunscreen every day, how much cardio, weight training, walking did we do etc. Anyway it's all pretty standard stuff and nothing I don't do on a regular basis with a couple of exceptions, the first being not drinking more than 1 alcoholic drink per night for the entire week.

The entire week!!!

Meaning you are not supposed to be teetotal during the week and then drink your entire booze allowance on a Friday and Saturday night, so that you average out at 1 drink/night, it's one drink per night or nothing, so all of us - except Kanayo who only has the tolerance for half a beer a week - are failing that one.

The second criteria that I am personally failing on, although I think a lot of my competition will not track this properly and just assume they did it, is to eat 25g of fiber per day - 38g for a guy, poor Tom - which I decided to try with the whole bikini thing in mind, because fiber helps you lose weight apparently plus I eat so much fruit and veg that I thought I'd achieve this without too many problems, but when I started tracking my meals on livestrong.com a few days ago I discovered on the first day that I only ate a paltry 6g of fiber - admittedly not the best day for me, well it was the first day of woman's week and I was craving carbs. After that I started to look at fiber rich foods - like raspberries which have 8g in a cup - to try and boost my consumption, but even then I've only been able to increase that to around 14g per day over the last 3 days so still a long way off the 25g goal, but I don't mind telling you I am not in the least bit thrilled about the side effects that began today. Talk about loud involuntary farts.

Good Lord, I do beg your pardon!!

Fortunately the first - and only - one of these occurred when I was in the ladies bathroom - two other cubicles were occupied and I was so mortified to have company that I waited for both occupants to leave and lifted my feet should I later be recognized as the culprit by my cute summer sandals. I've received a LOT of compliments on them so I know they are distinctive enough to identify the wearer - so at least I was in the right place, but my stomach rumbled alarmingly for the rest of the day and I noticed it was disturbingly bloated when I caught myself sideways on in my Pilates class, so much for flattening my transverse abdominus. Ugh, so not good, especially as I am actively trying to date at the moment too - bizarrely after having turned 40 on my vacation I returned to be bombarded with requests for dates by men in their late 20s. Who knew? - not unless I meet someone with a fetish for flatulence anyway!!

I'm starting my low fiber diet tomorrow!! ;-)

P.S. Vacation posts still to come, it's been a hectic week of insomnia and client deadlines...oh and fiber of course.

Vancouver: Public comes out to in droves to clean up.

2011-06-16T20:27:00.004-04:00

Saddened though I was to hear the news of the riots in Vancouver following the Canucks 4-0 defeat by the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup Final, this story in toady's Vancouver Sun of city residents proudly coming out to help clean up the aftermath warmed my heart.

"Citizens armed with plastic bags and brooms swept up broken glass, litter and trash downtown this morning after last night's Stanley Cup riot. They worked alongside Vancouver City crews, who worked through the night and reported 90 per cent of the mess had been cleared by noon."

Bless!! I love Canadians!!

Video: Stanley Cup Riot: Public comes out to in droves to clean up.

....And another one

2011-06-15T18:04:00.003-04:00

So I’m back to work today and thoroughly exhausted having only just acclimatized to west coast time in the last few days, so I didn't fall asleep until close to 3am last night. Typical. The good news is that the time difference is helping me in my pursuit to become "a 9.30am arrival person" a la the majority of the agency as I didn't get up until 7.30am today - whoo hoo - and then various factors conspired against me to delay me getting ready - well not really I was just arsing about trying to shake myself awake. Anyway I had a lovely time touring the Pacific North West - adored Vancouver, so much so I will be rooting for them against Boston in the Stanley Cup final tonight. The Canadians we met were sooooo nice and Vancouver smells amazing what with the ocean and all the tree-life - although I don't feel as well rested as I would like what with only 4 and a bit hours sleep and also feel like a total lard arse having eaten and drunk my way across the area - amazing wines from the Okanagan Valley in Canada, although they have such a small production that you can't buy them outside of the country unfortunately

I got back into work to the news that one of my account directors is leaving to take a senior position with…drumroll please…our client, so now he’s going to be the one signing off on our scopes and calling us up at all hours with his demands!!! Weird eh!! I was kind of annoyed at him actually because he emailed me on Monday while I was still in Vancouver and which said "Any chance you can dial in @ 11am? It’s about me and my plans."

Oh well, if it's about YOU and YOUR plans then of course I will drop everything and dial in while I am supposed to be relaxing and forgetting about work so that I can return feeling refreshed, recharged and super motivated. Um, what part of the concept of VACATION are you failing to grasp??? Pht my calling in was so not happening, so I responded and said “no I am on vacation”, but then spent the morning feeling guilty about it which irritated me even more. Seriously, I was hopping mad that he'd even think to ask me such a thing especially since he isn’t leaving for another 6 weeks or so and hasn’t officially resigned yet. It didn't help that none of my team emailed to let me know the scoop - although they assumed the account director had emailed me himself - but there was no way I was asking and I'd forgotten about it by the afternoon. Anyway I found out from my team when I got back into the office today. It was quite hard not to tell the account director off this morning, but I squelched my irritation and gave him a congratulatory hug on his new role. Gotta keep my clients happy!! I'm such a suck up!!

It will be interesting to see how he deals with working client-side since he’s been an agency person for over a decade and works agency hours. He’s usually in close to 7am – a fellow non-9.30am person - and works through to 7pm – so I am curious to see how he copes with having a team of people who can’t get out the door fast enough come 5pm, I’m sure that’s when his former colleagues at the agency will feel his presence the most as he’ll know full well that we’ll still be slaving away.

Anyway I shall post about my trip soon, but in the meantime…go Canucks!!!

Another one bites the dust

2011-05-31T22:43:00.002-04:00

On Friday the department received an email from our fearless leader regarding our need to attend the monthly team meeting because the head of division would be in attendance.

Uh-oh, not that I am overly suspicious or anything, but an unexpected appearance by our divisional head who never shows up to these things? That could only spell trouble right?

Speculation was rife among the few of us that were in the office for the half day Friday prior to the Holiday weekend, but once I was out of the office I didn't give it a moment's thought, however...

...I was right to be suspicious, our head of department - my immediate manager - resigned to take a position at another advertising agency. This is the 13th resignation the division has seen since February and the 6th from our department alone.

"I wasn't looking for something new, but I got an offer I couldn't refuse," claimed the department head beaming - no doubt at the thought at all the extra cash he'll be earning. I couldn't tell you how often I've heard the "I wasn't looking, but..." comment this year. Actually I take that back, I can tell you exactly how many people went looking for a new job and how many had an opportunity fall in there lap. It seems the job market for advertising and marketing personnel is really picking up.

Oh well, it is what it is and to be honest he was a very hands off manager, so I don't see much of a change in the day to day running of my immediate team, however myself and the other direct reports will have to step it up until a replacement can be found. Ahhh management, isn't it FUN!!

I'm going on vacation on Friday, it can't come soon enough!!

Just when you feel you've got a handle on things....

2011-05-17T21:30:00.003-04:00

...life bops you one in the nose.

Ohhhh 2011, how unimpressed I am by you so far!!

So far this year has been full of management shite, rejection, broken relationships - including one canceled wedding - and office resignations, the latest being my junior team member from my small team of 4 who handed in her notice yesterday having been wooed by a cool sounding job with stock options at a startup. To be honest I can't say I blame her, it sounds like she has been handed an amazing opportunity, but I shall miss her immensely it's a huge loss for the team, the department and the company, but hey ho, so goes life, so I've quickly put the wheels in motion to drum up candidates for her replacement although that's meant a lot of annoying wrangling with the finance department who need to provide me with approval to hire.

Ugh, more management shite I don't need!!

Seriously how is it that I can be in possession of signed scopes across our clients proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that they have committed to funding 75% of my junior team member's time for the year and finance will still argue that only 10% of her time is covered.

Hmmmm!! How on Earth could that be????

It's a mystery eh!!

Do you think Mr. Finance Director that it could possibly be that your spreadsheets are out of date??

Y'know it's a good job that all the back and forth ogling I enjoyed with geeky hot finance guy Greg - he's kind of Clark Kent-ish - last year never amounted to anything, because if we were a couple I could see that this would drive a significant wedge between us.

Phew dodged a bullet not pursuing that relationship.

On the bright side...today I discovered the joys of Sprinkles cupcakes. Now I'm not normally a cupcake person, I really don't get the fascination with Magnolia Bakery, their cupcakes taste stale to me, but today a colleague brought a batch of Sprinkles in for the monthly team meeting and oh good Lord, the peanut butter chocolate cupcake!!! Divine!!! These babies wipe the floor with the competition. Seriously I think I'm in love and sadly for my waistline their store is on my walk home from the gym!!

P.S. Uh-oh I found the recipe, there's no help now. Bring on the elasticated trousers!!!

Ohhhh Great....

2011-04-25T22:07:00.003-04:00

Can you believe that now I have toothache? I am more or less over my fortnight of flu symptoms, I was finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel when bam...toothache, my last remaining wisdom tooth at that. I blame all the Halls cough sweets I've been chomping to ease my sore throat. If I go to the dentist he'll just try and coerce me to have it taken out. He's extraction happy that one, but his recommendation is counter to the advice given to me by the oral surgeon who so capably removed my other 3 wisdom teeth.

"There's a 20% chance of permanent nerve damage," he told me "I wouldn't risk it if it's not causing you too much trouble."

Well it wasn't causing me too much trouble, but...sigh!!

I couldn't wait to get home from my weights class tonight - I found it extremely tough today despite the routine being no real change from the usual, something is off - and attack my gums with dental floss.

Anyway I'm going to give my usual remedy of Advil and rinsing with good old solution of TCP (or trichlorophenylmethyliodosalicyl to give it its proper name - just rolls off the tongue doesn't it?) solution a whirl for a few days before I do anything rash. It's worked in the past - TCP is da bomb - so fingers crossed.

Here's a cheery tune for your enjoyment. I love this song by 15 year old - fifteen!!! - Dionne Bromfield, but don't be put off by her age it's a fabulous song. I would have bet money it was Paloma Faith when I first heard it.

Folk Remedies

2011-04-19T07:31:00.004-04:00

Yesterday morning I had the following IM exchange with my manager after sending him some results he was after for a new business pitch...

9:26:15 AM: Boss: exactly what I need - thank you
9:26:24 AM: Fish: No probs
9:26:26 AM: Boss: BTW you feeling better or still sick?
9:26:29 AM: Fish: Still sick
9:26:38 AM: Boss: Vodka with black pepper
9:26:38 AM: Fish: It's changed now though it's a chesty cough
9:26:42 AM: Fish: ha ha
9:26:52 AM: Fish: I'm going with Mucinex
9:27:00 AM: Boss: we give it to the baby and it works
9:27:15 AM: Fish: whwhwhat, I'm calling social services :-)
9:27:30 AM: Boss: we will give the same to them
9:27:36 AM: Boss: ha ha

Can you tell my boss is of Russian persuasion? What a total cliche he is recommending vodka as a cure. Mind you after going to bed last night suffering as usual with a coughing fit that stopped me from dozing off until after 1am and then waking up at 5.30am this morning I'm almost at a point where I'm willing to try anything. Almost.

I Got Chills, They're Multiplying...

2011-04-18T22:03:00.003-04:00

Ugh, I'm sick. It's been a week now and no sign of a reprieve, this lurgy is lingering!! Last week's head cold has morphed into a nagging chesty cough that stops me from falling asleep and wakes me up early despite my being dosed up on about 3 different medications. I get the worst coughing fits where my stomach crunches into a fist threatening to expel anything recently consumed - seriously the only positive to this illness is the lack of an appetite since I plan to squeeze into a bikini about 3months from now* - and any minute now I expect to cough up a lung. Joy!! Seriously I'm a big mess if I were a dog I would have been put out of my misery. Really really really wishing I'd had that flu jab now, although it probably wouldn't have done much good as I was Googling my symptoms and uh-oh I'm thinking tuberculosis!!

Oh dear!!

Poor me!!

Seriously though I'm thinking a day off work might be in order tomorrow, or at the very least a late arrival. I was off last Tuesday too when my symptoms first hit, hoping that a day of rest would head it off at the pass, but sadly that scenario didn't exactly go to plan. At least I look ill this week with my blood shot eyes and pallid complexion, last week I was all flushed and walking around looking like the picture of health, it was only when I spoke that you could tell I wasn't all together compos mentis since I was only capable of emitting a high pitched squeak. Sadly no benefit of the sexy Demi Moore style rasp that often accompanies a sore throat.

I know how this dog feels!!

*I've literally been working my arse off, alternately taking Pilates and total body conditioning classes 5 or 6 times a week consistently since way back in January and I am finally starting to like what I see. I even tried my bikini on yesterday and while I'm not quite ready to stromp along the beach in it everything is heading in the right direction. Inwards!! Yay!!!

Ugh, I'm a basket case!!

2011-04-05T21:41:00.003-04:00

Ahhh, what a fun bout of insomnia I am having. Actually that's so not true!! After weeks - well, okay I admit it's really just days, but almost a fortnight so almost weeks, plural - of sobriety I have resorted to quaffing a couple of glasses of Malbec tonight in an effort to sozzle my brain into submission, because it's trying to kill me via sleep deprivation. I don't know what the hell is so important that my brain feels the need to obsess over minor details in the middle of the night, but obsess it does. Last week I had fitful dreams about packing an enormous suitcase - seriously it was the size of my Queen bed, I could have easily laid inside it sardine like, the thing was 6-feet high - for my trip to the Pacific North West in June and I was fretting about getting it onto the train I shall be taking from Portland to Seattle*, never mind the fact that at 5ft there is no way I would even be able to wheel a suitcase of that size.

Today was worse than yesterday after 2 consecutive sleepless nights and less sleep on the weekend than I would like thanks to my inconsiderate neighbor waking me up at 6am. Grrrrr!! I could barely walk in a straight line and was wobbling all over the place in Pilates trying to do the 'banana split' move, an exercise that has me rolling around like a weeble at the best of times. At least I went though, which is more than I can say for Megan who ditched me for the Yankees, so a pat on the back for me. Yay me, I deserve my Malbec.

Give the banana split a try for yourself, it's not easy!!

*Apparently dreams of packing suitcases signify a need to prepare carefully for the next stage of our lives. Oooooooh!!!

Gallery Tour March 2010: Lower East Side

2011-03-27T19:42:00.015-04:00

It's hard to believe that just 5-years ago there were only 10 art galleries on the Lower East Side; since they seem to be dotted all over the neighborhood now. Apparently there are somewhere in the region of 100 galleries now and the Lower East Side tour has rapidly become the second most popular tour offered by NYgallerytours, although to be honest I would prefer it if they were a little less popular - I overheard someone say there were 73 people on Saturday's tour - since some of the LES galleries are absolutely tiny and it was impossible to see the art with everyone crammed into the the gallery space, it was challenging even in the 4 larger spaces that were first on the list and, after the first 2 stops, I left for the next gallery 5-minutes or so ahead of the pack in an effort to get unobstructed views of the work.

First up was the Barnaby Hosking exhibit at the Charles Bank Gallery at 196 Bowery, the British artist's first solo show in New York, whose work plays with the idea of thought and perception.

There was a lot to love in this exhibit, but my absolutely favourite pieces were these bronze half butterflies that were embedded in the wall which reflected the light to form the whole insect.

From the gallery press release, 'the butterflies serve as an analogy of our thoughts which hold both the positive and the negative - a duality, which is highlighted by the both luminous and dark sides of the individual butterflies."

To be honest I just thought they were pretty, but then I'm a bit of a neophyte with all this art gubbins.

Next up was Laurie Simmons at the satellite location of fancy pants Upper East Side gallery Salon 94 at 243 Bowery. I wasn't familiar with her work, although I am familiar with the work of her husband, the painter Carroll Dunham, but much of her work apparently involves staging dolls in scenes which she then photographs. In her current exhibit, 'The Love Doll: Days 1-30' she purchased a high end sex doll - there is a fascinating BBC America documentary about the men that purchase these dolls, which often cost tens of thousands of dollars. It's eye opening, it really is - and posed her around her own home in everyday scenes.

From this New York Magazine article quoted the artist: "that she was a sex doll was secondary to the fact that I had finally found a Tales of Hoffmann, life-size doll that I could work with, I don’t want to deny that it is used as a masturbation tool. I just chose not to address it. I am amazed that a doll made for this purpose could be rendered so exquisitely. The lines of the body are so refined; it’s a beautiful sculpture.”

Okay, brace yourself for the next photo of Evan Penny's exhibit at Sperone Westwater. My Penny is a 57year old South African artist who creates statuesque, and extremely realistic, human figures of cast silicone which have some sort of proportional skew, like this sculpture of Jim that leans slightly to the right and is obviously much larger than the real Jim, friend of the artist apparently, who modeled for this piece.

Evan Penny's pieces are disturbingly realistic, right down to moles and freckles and even the hair in the crack of Jim's arse. I've seen more of Jim than I need to see quite frankly, but there's no denying Mr. Penny's talent.

Fourth on the tour was Angel Otero, a 27 year old Puerto Rican artist who has his first solo show at Lehmann Maupin on Chrystie St. For me the most fascinating this about the work was not the subject matter, but the technique employed. The artist paints an image onto glass which he later gently peels off and drapes it over a frame/canvas (?) to create the final piece.

Standing in front of the image I didn't realize until it was pointed out to me that the image was of a couch. Duh!! It's so obvious from the photo eh, although to be fair I was peering quite closely at the pieces and didn't take the time to stand back and fully appreciate what I was looking at. Lesson learned.

The object in this piece is less obvious, but it's a vase, the purple shape at the bottom.

Next up Elena Herzog's 'Into the fray' showing at the petite husband and wife run gallery, LMAK projects on Eldridge St. Having been to this gallery before I hustled over to get a look at the work ahead of the 72 other people on the tour. It was a crush in the gallery.

The artist is 57 years old and usually known for stapling fabric to a wall which she then rips away and the result is the piece, this time she took a slightly different approach using scaffolding.

The co-owner of the gallery said something about the scaffold statement about architecture and a play on positive and negative, so if you look behind the space a 2-dimensional piece becomes 3-dimensional or something. I don't know to be honest, I was focusing more on not being stood on by the big bloke in front of me to take in all the details.

"Magical" said Rafael "although I know some of you will hate it and can't wait to get out."

I didn't disagree with him there.

Next up was the paintings of Kristine Moran showing at the Nicelle Beauchene Gallery at 21 Orchard St. I loved this work and if I had the money to squander on art I would definitely be opening my wallet.

At first glance the work looks to be abstract, but they are actually figurative, representing women, although I wouldn't have realized had I not been told, but in the piece below you can see what is very clearly a leg on the bottom right.

Last up was the very charming Margot Lovejoy, who was present to discuss her work, Confess, currently showing at the Stephan Stoyanov gallery.

From the artist's website on the work "CONFESS is a web artwork which is a point of collective exchange, a "hot-line" to express publicly but anonymously faults of your own, something you did that you are not proud of --a kind of secular "blind confession". It becomes a form of on-line group therapy as well as an archive of personal narratives. Although one's confession submission is made anonymously, there is also awareness that it will eventually be heard in play-back by a mass audience as a voice in the public domain"

In the gallery the confessions were divided into 7 themes - addiction, violence, secrets, failures, extremes, hate, betrayal - each represented by 2 audio shapes that the artist designed herself. It's a tactile exhibit, with the 14 shapes hanging from the ceiling acting as handsets. You can pick each of them up and listen to someone's confession. It's not a great photo, but you can see a couple of the audio shapes in white and red below. The lady to the right in the blue sweater is the artist.

Apparently she received about a 1,000 submissions in 2 year period. "Are any of the confessions yours?" someone asked Ms. Lovejoy.

"Mine? Ohhhh sure," she said with a smile and a twinkle in her eye.

"Did anyone confess to a crime?"

"There was one, but it wasn't true."

The audio shapes were designed by the artist in an effort to represent the emotional quality of the confession and were designed with people holding them in mind.

I feel I shouldn't like this, but I LOVE it...

2011-03-22T08:45:00.003-04:00

Frisky and Mannish's cover of Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights - see the original here, the dancing is something to behold - sung in the style of Kate Nash's Foundations!!

Fantastico!!

Ahh Team Bonding!!

2011-03-17T22:16:00.003-04:00

I've been fielding compliments about my hair all day today, "look at how full it is, how bouncy," people said and random strangers looked at it admiringly in the cafeteria.

...And do you know WHY my hair looked so good today?

Because I was hungover that's why. Seriously my hair never looks better than it does the morning after a night on the tiles, my usually fine and somewhat limp-challenged tresses just love it when I am dehydrated and feeling a bit rough, it thrives on the abuse. My fine lines may have appeared to be a little more deeply etched on my face today, but I'm telling you I'm just moments away from a call to star in a Harmony hairspray commercial.

So my gosh, large large large night out last night for one of my client teams to celebrate the campaign launch. Team's from account, strategy and creative were invited, but true to form only account and strategy represented - where's the love creatives? Seriously only one lonely art director showed and he left at 8.30pm and headed back to work, but boy did the rest of us represent. 10 of us had dinner at a small French restaurant in midtown where our account director, J, is friendly with the owner and well...it was all fairly restrained until the massive bowl of complimentary sangria and 3 bottles of Mumm sparkling wine hit the table after the plates were cleared from the meal and ohhhh....not 30minutes later we were dancin' up a STORM and the next thing I know is the account manager - a mid 30s married mother of two who really makes the most of her occasional nights out - had coerced the remaining 4 of us diehards - all the ones over 30 funnily enough; the 20-somethings had long since retired for the night. Kids eh, what is wrong with the youth of today? - into going dancing at The Ritz, a gay bar on 46th St where we shimmied up against cute young men for a few hours. It was the best night and while I'm close to checking myself into The Priory for two weeks of rehab I've spent most of the day erupting into giggles as I recall moments from the night. We also received this cute note from the account manager - who we popped in a car service back to the suburbs of New Jersey at 2am - later this afternoon....

Sent: 03/17/2011 04:22 PM EDT

Subject: How did you guys do it?

I didn't make it in today. And can barely function now. How in the world did you make it into the office?

Whatever, you only live once! I had so much fun! You guys were a blast and probably the best dancers I've ever met! Thank you seriously for a fabulous evening!

Ahhh team bonding!! Okay, time for some serious beauty sleep.