Learning about Rosh Hashanah

Today and tomorrow the kids are home from school because of the Jewish Holiday Rosh Hashanah. Before I moved to NYC, I wasn't aware of this holiday. Actually, I hadn't taken the time to learn about it until I opened Gwyneth Paltrow's online newsletter Goop. It's embarrassing that I'm learning religious doctrine from a celebrity, but that's besides the point. I was happy to learn that there are blessing for everyone this time of year! Hooray! I'm all for more blessings!

Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year. Michael Berg, a Kabbalah scholar and author, wrote this in the Goop newsletter:

There are many tools that we can use during the two days of Rosh Hashanah but there are two important connections that we can all make. The first is to take time during these two days and think about our past year, the good, the better, and the not so good. Then ask yourself, “What do I want to change from last year?”, “what do I want to make better?” Also, “what blessings do we want to draw for ourselves and our family in the next year?” The supernal gates open up during these two days and by opening ourselves up to the flow of light and energy from above we can receive endless blessings.

I love NYC for teaching me about Jewish Holidays! I'm off to go teach my kids what I learned. And get some bagels for breakfast. I'm going to spend the next two days thinking about those questions and hopefully make some changes.

As for Ella, here's her answers:
What do I want to change from last year? I don't want to cry as much.
What do I want to make better? I want to get to higher levels of reading.


What do you want to change from last year? What do you want to make better?

Happy Birthday!

I decided to keep the boys birthday party really small this year. I just invited our cousins in Harlem. The last thing I remember saying to Rob before I went to bed on Friday night was, "Shouldn't we plan something for tomorrow. For the boys party?" He replied, "Naw. It will work itself out." Here's the only thing I planned going into the party.

1. Starts at 4pm.
2. Eat pizza at Patsy's.
3. Ice cream at Serendipity 3
4. Call it a "Transportation Party" and get everywhere by using different modes of transportation.
5. Give the boys MTA trains  or something similar.

That's it! I never imagined it would go so well. With surprises along the way!

First Surprise: On our way to Patsy's, we happened to catch the vintage 1920's subway car sponsored this month by Boardwalk Empire. The sound of riding a subway with the windows down, the way it felt to sit in the wicker seats, the hooks, the ceiling fans, the light bulbs. We were in awe.

The pizza at Patsy's was great! No surprises there. It's been around since the 1930's so they know exactly how to make a pie. We ordered two! When we got out, we tried desperately to find a minivan taxi cab to get to our next destination: Serendipity 3. No such luck. Enter the next surprise: An impromptu party game. Boys against girls: Who can get to Serendipity 3 first? The boys caught the first cab, but the girls were able somehow crush them in the end!

Serendipity 3 had a whopping 1.5 hour wait, so the kids went to a nearby playground. While there, they discovered the Roosevelt Island Tram. Surprise #3! The whole ride took a standard subway fare and round trip was around 10 minutes. Best part: Sweeping views of the city. I felt like I was in the Peter Pan ride at Disney World. It goes so high up and has surround views. I really felt like I was flying! Incredible. Go now go!

We finally got our name called from the wait list at Serendipity 3 and got to eat gigantic sundaes! So good. Tip: Get a sundae, not their famous frozen hot chocolate.

For the record: Forms of transportation used at my very thought out party: our feet, a vintage subway, taxi, tram, bus.  Pretty good!

Happy Birthday boys! I hope you had fun!

Perks of an Intern: Me and my kids get on Invite Lists

So I don't have a paid internship. But that doesn't mean I don't get a few perks! My boss Rebecca takes good care of me by getting me into the coolest events. On Tuesday we all went an event where Elmo preformed with Randy Jackson. I have to say, I was really impressed with the live performance. Kevin Clash, the voice of Elmo, is so funny! He kept Randy Jackson on his toes. I was really laughing!

After the show was over, Kevin Clash popped out from behind the curtain and walked out to the crowd holding Elmo. Owen was super excited to get a real Elmo kiss. MMwaahhh!

As always, they gave a gift bag for all the people who attended the event. I'm getting quite the collection! In the bag was a bunch of Sesame Street toys. My favorite was the classic Ernie doll.  I loved watching Owen turn the doll into a puppet. Forcing it to open and shut it's mouth. Making it say funny things. Perhaps he'll follow in Kevin Clash's footsteps and be the next great puppeteer! Or he could just be a kid playing with a doll.  We'll see.

And guess what else? Rebecca gave me orchestra level tickets to see Phantom of Opera! I've never been. I can't wait to see it!

Lombardi's

Here's a bunch of pictures starring Owen and a Lombardi's pizza. Lombardi's is known as the birth place of NY Style Pizza. Ah, yes, another assortment of pictures I post on my blog to give the illusion of bliss and beauty. Enjoy!

Congratulations for strolling this far down!  Now for your reward, a dose of reality: After we ate our pizza, we took the kids to a nearby playground, and Oscar crapped his pants. Rob cleaned it up in a Port-a-Potty. Luckily, Oscar's jeans were sparred. We carried on. 15 minutes later, while waiting in the subway station, Oscar started to complain about a stomachache. And that was that. The $30 dollar cab ride home was totally worth it. Stinky, but worth it. We couldn't stop laughing! The poor kid.

Pennwick Custom Golf Carts

Really wished we could have met up with you yesterday John! As a consolation for you driving around for 1.5 hrs with no luck finding a parking spot, I will ask each of my readers to purchase at least one of your amazing custom golf carts. What'll it be--The '56, The Smoothster, or the BROOKLYN?

Hope you get home safely! Thanks for being such a good friend to Rob.

On a related note--I cleaned my house for John's visit because I thought he was staying overnight. You should see my bath tub! I have blue water in my toilet bowl! Quick--someone stop by without warning so I can fool you into thinking this is how my house always looks. And smells!

The '56

How a Fat Rat changed my weekend plans

So much I want to show and tell! This post could take all week.

I was taking pictures of my kids on the lawn at Lincoln Center on Friday. I decide to tweet Natalie from Nat the Fat Rat my location, she tweets me back that she's on her way, and minutes later I see her walking around the fountain towards me. She's with her baby Huck and bloggers Susan and Ez. Why hello! Hp flew Susan and Ez out to see the Project Runway show. So awesome. We were chatting and suddenly they get the idea to add me to the guest list to the Project Runway Reunion Party. Really? Me? I'm in? Not out? Hooray!

Later that night we ditch the kids and we all meet up again.  This time blogger Megan from Not Martha joined us too. These women are incredible.  We head to Times Square to shop at Forever 21. I found the perfect dress for the party for a whopping $26 bucks! I added a metallic vintage belt from Susan's closet and I felt up to par for the party.  I was so so excited for Saturday night.

So finally, the party! It had a guest list and my name was on it! Can you imagine? There was a red carpet with bright lights and cameramen. Of course the photographers didn't want to have anything to do with me, but I didn't mind.  By the end of the night one of the photographers took a pity shot of me and Natalie.  Ok, you got your shot, time to move it along, girls. UPDATE: here's Hp's flickr stream :)

What else can I say about the party? The designers were really nice and approachable. I would compare them to successful/talented bloggers.  Totally nice people that are flattered when someone is a fan of their work.

Here's some of my favorite parts of the night:
*The party was held on the roof at the Empire Hotel. Stunning views of Lincoln Center!
*I ate almost every hors d'oeuvre that was offered to me. Tacky? Are there rules on this?
*All I had was my camera phone with about 20% of it's battery. Whoops. It died of course.
*I was shocked that hardly anyone was smoking outside. I smelled pot for a second. But that was it.
*It was sweet that Chris March wrote a quick note to my niece.  She's in the second grade, just got her first sewing machine and adores him.  

Perhaps for some people, nights like this are common place. But for me? I'll be bringing it up for years! Thanks Natalie for checking your tweets and Susan and Ez for putting my name on the guest list. It was one of the best nights of my life. Oh! I forgot to tell! I met my fashion icon: Betsy Johnson!!! I adore her. I hope to grow old just like her.

It was fun to meet and see all the people from the Project Runway, but  my favorite people I met were the bloggers. See us all in the picture to the left. When I started my whole blogging shenanigan, I wanted it to be a place to work on my writing skills and eventually use it as a portfolio to get a writing job.  Over the last few months, surprisingly, I've met friends from it. I feel so lucky to have stumbled into this NYC blogging world!

Shouting Farewell to Summer on Top of the Empire State Building

The finally moments of Summer Break 2011 was spent on top of the Empire State Building. Yesterday was the cloudiest night and the world was white from the top. But the kids didn't mind. I love that it was empty. We screamed our goodbyes for all to hear. On the way out bought the only appropriate thing: Empire State Building school supplies. May their King Kong pencils bring them straight A's for life. Good luck kids!

Thank you New York City Vacation Packages for sending me a ticket to see the Empire State Building. :)

How did you wrap up your summer? Let the next stage of life begin! Yay!

Weekend Approved Project: Ride a NYC Carousel!

Labor Day Weekend: What are you going to do? I say ride a carousel! Here's a list of carousels in all the boroughs. But I think you should ride this solar powered Carousolar in South Seaport. It's FREE and only running until September 6th. We went yesterday and rode it 4 times. No line! Although one time we had to wait 10 minutes for it to charge. Hurry up Sun!

I was curious about the carousel and why they white washed it. Turns out it's a vintage 1920's carousel that was destined for the dump. GE saved it, white-washed it, and made it solar. In three weeks. What do you think of the white paint? Did they cheap out by not truly restoring it? Perhaps they should have used hot pink? Neon Green? Regardless, I think it was a clever marketing idea. The video below explains more.

 Enjoy these last few days of summer. Eat an ice cream cone. Ride a carousel. Say Farewell to Summer!

ps The car is fixed! Strollers are getting delivered tomorrow!  

Museum of Natural History Highlight: The Time Capsule

Time Capsules are so fascinating to me. Have you seen this one outside of Museum of Natural History? It's not going to be opened until January 1, 3000! Mind boggling. I found the list of things they put into it here. My favorites were: a wedding cake ornament, Weight Watchers Magazine, 51 photographs from the address 3 Times Square, and wild apple seeds from Kazakhstan. I was surprised they didn't put any clothes, shoes, or hats inside. Perhaps those items wouldn't last? Anyone know? I thought that was strange.

What would you put in your time capsule that wouldn't be opened for 5 years? 10 years? 20 years? Off the top of my head: My kids used crayons. My old shoes. A dress I used to wear everyday. My set of keys. A piece of my favorite wallpaper. Writing stories to each of the items would be my favorite part of the process.  Alone the set of keys would be boring but writing the keys into a scene from my life would be fun. I'll add more to my list in the comments section. Don't be surprised if I steal some of your ideas. And don't be surprised if I make a time capsule for a future Weekend Approved Project.

While taking these pictures, I kept having morbid thoughts of a huge earthquake sinking the time capsule and all of NYC into the depths of the earth. Or a huge bomb destroying it and everything surrounding it. Zombies. I needed to get my mind off of such stupid thoughts. Good thing I have Owen around to lighten the mood and shout, "Hey Mom, it looks like a girls wiener!".  Bravo Owen.

Job Update: Your Suggestions

Thank you so much for the huge response over the weekend about my job hunt. I compiled all your suggestions into one post for easy reference.  Mostly for me, but hopefully it can help others as well.

Here are your most popular suggestions:

Good News: I've already set up a few interviews thanks to my wanted ad! I'll keep you posted.

Until then, I'm also researching the websites you suggested:
1. mediabistro.com (jobs/internships in Media)
2. ed2010.com (jobs/internships in Publishing and Creative Services)
3. nyfa.org (jobs/internships in the Arts)
4. NYC’s Young to Publishing Group (network)
5. 826nyc.org (writing volunteer opportunities)

I'm also in love with the idea of taking publishing classes. Here's the ones you suggested:
1. Publishing Certificate at NYU
2. Publishing Certificate at Columbia
*Am I missing any?

For even more options, here's the temp/recruiting agencies you suggested:
1. Career Blazers
2. Lynne Palmer
3. FSS
4. Office Team
5. The Bachrach Group
6. Soloman Page
7. Michael Page

I'll end with a list of encouraging/useful comments you wrote me. Thank you!!
*Look beyond traditional trade book publishing. Consider scientific and academic publishing too.
*It’s easiest to get around “non credit internships” at smaller places like literary agencies or websites.
*Be open to jobs that can lead into publishing. One reader suggested paralegal work.
*LINKED IN
*Stay Positive/Pray
*And, finally, my favorite surefire ways to break into the NYC Publishing Industry:

Haha thanks Kathryn! Your advice was one of my favorites. :)

Keep the suggestions coming!! I'll update this page as I get more info. In case you missed it, here's the first post in my Get Hired series. And a second one that you might hate me for.

Oh and the strollers! They are here and will be delivered this week!

High Line Picnic Lunch

Ever see this video on Symmetry? It shows things that go together like peanut butter and jelly, a cat and a mouse, etc. But it's missing one match: The High Line and Chelsea Market. These two attractions are a must do together when visiting the city. Buy a boxed meal at one of the many Chelsea Market restaurants and eat it anywhere on The High Line. And look at the sweet lunch baskets you can buy on your way out. Only $3!

Follow Up: My Job Hunt

Thanks so much for the advice yesterday. I spent a lot of time checking out the links you suggested and sending out resumes. You know what I learned? I have the best readers. Period.

I was also stoked when Liz Jacob over at Course Horse contacted me. She thought it might be helpful if I took one of the classes offered through Course Horse. And she even gave me a coupon for $100 off! So nice, right?

As I checked out the site, I was looking classes that could teach me skills that prospective employers want to see. Out of the many I found, the one that stood out was the Intro to Excel class. Perfect. Almost every position I've seen is looking for Excel skills, a program I haven't used in years. But then...

But then! I stumbled on a Friday night Couples Cupcake Decorating class! And it's within my $100 budget! I couldn't resist. Please don't be too mad at me for signing up for it. I'm absolutely hopeless.

Ella's Fourth Birthday. Cupcakes! 

At least I know that after taking the cupcake class, Rob and I will always have jobs waiting for us at Magnolias. There's something comforting in that. Sort of.