Weekend

Two weekends ago, two of my favourite people of all-time, Gwyn and Yuka, made an East Coast appearance. They arrived on what I like to call "The Worst Day of Weather ... EVER" and battled slush, sleet and ice for several hours before their hotel allowed them to check in. During this time, I was enduring a very long and arduous drive down to New Jersey for a client meeting (client: "I can't believe you guys even came, the weather's so bad!") and an even longer, more arduous return trip to New York, then slipping back to my office in heels. I was not in a very good mood. But that changed when I arrived at the doorway to L'il Frankies in the East Village, where Gwyn, Yuka and their friend Doanie were waiting for me at the bar. We had a lovely meal with lots of wine, then headed to a dive-y bar a few blocks away for some beers, which soon escalated into beers + shots + drinks = good times for all. Sadly, I didn't have my camera out with me that night, but I hope to get some shots from the others. After we all headed to 205 where the fun continued til 5 am, at which point I had to convince Gwyn and Yuka that the bar had really closed for good and that they should get into a taxi and go back to their hotel.

Saturday I met Gwyn and Yuka at their hotel and Chelsea, and we set off for my favourite brunch place in all of Manhattan, Elmo.


They have really good mimosas, and probably the yummiest eggs nova on the planet. Not to mention Yuka's yummy Monte Cristo served with a side of bacon and maple syrup. Mmmmmmm ...

Anyhoo, after brunch finished several hours and calories later, we set off for Soho, where I went crazy at H&M, suddenly inspired by all the flourescent street clothes the young kids are donning these days. I was mesmerised by a sea of polka dots and neon pink and have the receipts to prove my results of my shopping whim.

Later that night we met up at Mario Batali's Po in the West Village where I had one of the finest meals to date in New York. So scrumptious I wisely photographed the dish before digging in.


Short ribs with rosemary polenta. Actually, the rosemary polenta was kind of blah, but the short ribs more than made up for it.


Karen and Yuka.


Gwyn is happy with her food selections.


Doanie and Gwyn.


Doanie, Gwyn, me, Karen, and Yuka.


Then it was time for dessert, and this caramel-topped hunk of chocolate heaven arrived at our table.


After dinner, Doanie tried to convince everyone to go to Williamsburg to go to some hip party full of beautiful fashion people, but I was being a boring, tired moron who wanted to stay in Manhattan. Which was pretty stupid of me, in retrospect. Anyway, we drank at Vol de Nuit for a few more hours.


Polka dots, neon and wine! Oh my.


Yuka's '80s headband made of ... her own hair.


Billy and Gwyn.


Me, Yuka, Billy's girlfriend, Billy.


Billy and Gwyn.


Aw, so cute.


Yuka practises her next school photo.




"Are you sure you don't want another beer JenRaub?"

The next day we all set off for dim sum in Chinatown. I hadn't had dim sum in probably twenty years, so I had really no idea what I was doing, except that I'm pretty sure I ate one of everything. Also there was a couple sharing our table, and the girl was wearing one of those funny "Kern" sweatshirts so loved by witty designers everywhere, but my compliment to her was met by utter disdain and a look of contempt. Yay, New York and its pretentious people.

After dim sum, we walked around for hours in the sunshiney, slush-covered world.


Requisite Washington Square Park photo.


Gwyn and Doanie, all bundled up.


Yuka, Gwyn and Doanie.









At this point it was 4 pm and I knew I had to head over to Brooklyn to meet someone from work for a little Sunday afternoon brainstorming, so I said adieu to my favouritest people ever. They better come back soon!! *Le Tear*

Adventures in Advertising

Since I work in the esteemed and revered profession of advertising, I pay a lot of attention to ads that I see around town. Once you've spent a little time coming up with ideas for painkillers and pantiliners and pest control services, you tend to hone a little bit of sympathy for anyone slaving away for annoying clients in the business, but simultaneously match it with severe criticism when things just don't plain make sense.

Today on my walk to work, I was waiting for the light to change during my morning walk to work, when I saw the following copy for Silverjet, the business-class-only that flies between New York and London: "Arrive unfashionably late." Huh? I spent the next thirty seconds trying to wrap my brain around what that was supposed to mean. Silverjet's planes arrive ... late? Not a strong selling point. Silverjet is ... unfashionable? Not a strong selling point, either. Why didn't the copy read, "Arrive fashionably early" or "Arrive fashionably ahead-of-schedule" or even my least favourite "Arrive unfashionably early"? Or am I missing some major joke that's drifted over my head?

I've been under a deluge of work and visits lately and haven't had much time to post. Hopefully I'll get some photos from the past weekend up tonight or tomorrow.

UPDATE I took a closer look today, and the information about 30 minutes before check-in is hidden by the top of a newspaper stand pushed against the side of the phone booth where the ad's displayed. So, the ad makes sense, just not when a chunk of critical information is being masked.

Photo Recap

So it's been a busy past few weeks for me here in New York, from many a weekend spent working to a lot of friends passing through town. Last weekend I even managed to leave the city for a whole day and night, and set off for Middletown, New Jersey with Catherine.


I loved this street sign.


We went to the beach, which still has evidence of wintery weather.


Actually, in New Jersey, it's referred to as "the shore."


Here it is, the shore!











After "the shore," we went to the Twin Lights lighthouse, which is up on the eastern seaboard's highest point above sea water (meaning it's at like 20 feet elevation)


It had some importance during the Revolutionary War, blah blah blah.














It used one of the first prism-refracting lenses, blah blah blah (actually this was pretty interesting, I shouldn't disparage it.)




There was this example of a poster for an engine, and it made me think, "Gee, wouldn't it be cool if making ads these days consisting of nothing more than drawing curliques and fancy schmancy letters?"

After all the "shore" excitement (and it SHORE was exciting, ha ha), we went to a nearby restaurant and feasted on these delicious crab melts.

Then we set off for some strip mall shopping, which is a tried-and-true past time in Jersey. Here's a pile of snow in the corner of a parking lot.


Where's my sled??

Jersey was actually really fun, and quite a nice getaway from Manhattan -- plus, I got to see Bon Jovi's house, Geraldo's old house, and the British Retreate Route (from the Revolutionary War), and one or two genuine "jug handles." I also got to eat a scrumptious breakfast at David Burke's Frommagerie, which was a treat.

Then this past weekend I had two visitors come to town, starting with Chisco's arrival last week. On Wednesday, I met him and Sarah for dinner in Grammercy, then we enjoyed some wine at the bar 3 Steps around the corner from my house. It was super fun to reconnect with him and have a laugh over many hilarious (inside) jokes, including, but not limited to, "bread napkins," "Mr/Señor Wanker," and "muff arms." By Friday, Natalie had arrived at Daniela's, and I met the girls at Vol de Nuit in the West Village, where we were later joined by Sarah and Chisco.


Natalie & Daniela.


Natalie & Daniela, again.


Natalie, posing.


Me & Natalie.


Me, posing.


Chisco & Sarah.


Chisco & Sarah, again.

Then Saturday I had a very whirlwind day as I managed to run several errands, then dash over to H&M to meet Daniela & Natalie, have a cup of coffee at City Bakery, go to a shoe store, head over to Catherine's for a second, then meet Ellie on the corner of West 25th and 7th so we could walk over to an art gallery opening, then dash back to my house so I could meet Sarah, Chisco, and Cristina at a restaurant in the Lower East Side.

We ended up walking around for a bit looking for a place to eat, before having some very delicious pizza at a Roman place called Pala, then going to a bar called Verlaine that looked as though it were lifted from the script of an episode of "Sex and the City" -- I could hear the voiceover as I entered the throngs of well-clad ladies cocktailing it at the bar: "It was a Saturday night and me and the girls decided to swing by Verlaine for cosmopolitan. The vibe was swank, the music was sultry, and the girls were definitely sultrier."

Ha, ha.

Anyway, last night I met Kyle & Kyla, my favourite Canadian couple, and went for Zen Palate in Union Square; in a few days Catrina arrives from Texas on her way back to Madrid; then in two weeks, Gwyn and Yuka arrive for a weekend of fun. Yay!