Oh Those Summer Nights

New York is hopping all summer long. There are all the regular things you can do all year round (like the theatre, concerts etc), but summer brings with it a whole layer of free (and usually outdoor) cultural events that are just there for the taking... and enjoying.

There are concerts on various stages in Central Park, free movies in Bryant Park and at a couple of piers along the Hudson, the Good Morning America concert series, the Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival... the list goes on and on.

Nick, Reny, Cassandra and I planned to meet up last Wednesday night in Central Park at the Naumburg Bandshell. This is the 102nd anniversary season of free Naumburg Orchestral Concerts and on Wednesday night, they were featuring the Brooklyn Philharmonic.

Unfortunately, we misjudged our timing and by the time we all converged on the Bandshell and found each other, the concert was practically over. It's a beautiful venue for an outdoor concert, however, and we're definitely planning on returning (earlier next time!).

To make the most of the evening that was left, we wandered over to the Sheep Meadow Cafe and wiled away a couple of hours with to-die-for desserts, great conversation and laughs, and a satisfying sense of having successfully stolen some precious peaceful moments in the park on a perfectly still summer night, with the city's constant buzz seeming miles and miles away.

Good for the Soul, Hard on the Soles

No doubt about it, New York is hard on shoes.

I walk back and forth to work most days and I also put on a bunch of miles on the weekends, cruising around the city by foot.

The results (so far):

-- three pairs of worn out soles (including the cute little ballet flats I just bought at the beginning of summer)

-- two broken heels (and counting, I'm sure)

-- a few blisters on various toes

-- scuffed toes and heels from broken concrete and pavement on the sidewalks and streets

-- salt stains from slogging through snow drifts in the winter

I can't believe I'm about to say this, but it hardly seems worth it to invest in shoes in this city because they get trashed so easily.

(Don't worry -- I'm sure I will have recovered to my full shoe-shopping self by the time the weekend rolls around.)

A Yankee Virgin No More

Yesterday, I completed an important rite of passage as a new New Yorker -- I made the pilgrimage on the D train out to the Bronx for my very first live Yankees game (the Tampa Bay Devil Rays were in town). Heidi, Mike and I met at Columbus Circle, hopped on the train and met up with Jake and Ron in front of Stan's, right across from Yankee Stadium. After loading up with hotdogs, pretzels, beer and sodas, we climbed up to our seats (top tier, along the first base line) and settled in for what turned out to be a pretty good game. The Yankees redeemed themselves from a 14 - 4 loss the night before and pulled out a 7 -3 win, including a pretty exciting home run from Shelley Duncan, a rookie in his second ever major league game.

Even though we didn't get there early enough to visit Monument Park, we could see it from our seats -- it's located behind the outfield fence and contains monuments of former Yankee greats (think Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio) and dedications to all the Yankee retired uniform numbers. Now that I know you can visit right before a game, I'll go earlier next time, armed with my trusty camera.

After the game, we decided to wait out the subway rush and we popped into the Ball Park Sports Bar & Grill -- it's a bar, souvenir shop and a bowling alley all wrapped into one. Yes, a bowling alley. For a fleeting moment, we considered going bowling, but with a scrunched nose, I declined since I didn't have any socks and there was NO way I was about to jam my bare feet into random bowling shoes with goodness knows WHAT having been in them previously. Ever the gentleman, Jake offered to loan me his socks, but for obvious reasons, that wasn't a much more appealing option.

We made lots of new friends in the Ball Park bar -- Yankee fans are a back-slapping, boisterous, friendly bunch (especially after a decisive win). With a good beer buzz going, Ron assigned us all alter egos, and before we knew it, people thought I was a Canadian TV news anchor, Mike was a professional fly fisherman, Heidi was retired gymnast and Jake was a professional surfer (and Ron, of course, was Jake's agent). We delicately extricated ourselves from the onslaught of questions we had no hope of answering (Mike has NEVER fly fished and was accosted by an avid fishing enthusiast from Wisconsin) when Ron announced to Jake that we were going to be late for his Quiksilver appearance and it was time to head back to the city. Whew.

Back in the city, we went to Stout's for some grub and darts -- and even after a couple of drinks, I managed to hit a bulls' eye! (Or maybe, more appropriately, it was BECAUSE of the drinks.)

Fantasy Hair? No Thanks!!

Guess WHAT. The Dove viral video that I shot in LA is finally LIVE! I saw it for the first time tonight at a meeting related to this project and so I immediately came home to see if it was actually posted on the Dove Love Your Hair web site... and lo and behold, there it was! And there I was... with Damian and Joseph.... and with fun, funky music, and with a pretty fried 'do by the end of it all! Check it out for yourself. Proof that the shoot really did happen!!

A Drowsy Afternoon

Here's what I love about New York -- you can literally walk out of your apartment on a weekend, not having any specific plans, and yet you can find enough to keep you busy all day.

Today, I thought I was headed over towards Bryant Park and Grand Central, and if my feet agreed, I was going to continuing walking way over to the east side to the United Nations building. On the way, I figured I would walk down 46th and see what exactly was in the block called "Little Brazil".

Well, now that the TKTS booth is actually part of the Marriott Marquis, I had to walk right by it since it faces 46th. It was just about 2:00 pm and so, of course, I had to stop and check out the board and see what tickets were still left. I ended up grabbing a ticket to see The Drowsy Chaperone and just like that, Bryant Park and the UN were completely forgotten and set aside for another day.

The Drowsy Chaperone is pretty good. The premise is clever -- it's a 1920's style musical, narrated by a current day musical-loving man who lives his lonely life in a drab NY studio apartment. He invites the audience to enjoy one of his favourite shows when he brings out the original recording LP of something called The Drowsy Chaperone, dusts it off for the turn table and begins to pull us into the world of fictional broadway stars and their histories . There are many LOL moments and our narrator (simply called "Man in Chair") is the glue that holds it all together -- he is insightful, funny, ingratiating and throughout the show, he reveals many layers of what turns out to be a pretty robust personality.

A perfect way to wile away a couple of hours on a drowsy Sunday afternoon.

May We Never Forget

Yesterday, I jumped on the 1 Train and headed downtown, all the way to Ground Zero, the site of the World Trade Center. Even six years later, it is still a shock to see the twin towers missing, massive and impressive structures that distinctly punctuated the Manhattan skyline for so long. The last time I visited Ground Zero was probably 3 years ago and at that time, I remember it being a very eerie experience. There was a grim and somber air about the area that commanded silence, even from the most fidgety, unruly and noisy of children. Even without specific knowledge about what had happened here, they still could sense the heaviness of the meaning of this now empty space.

Now, it stills brings tears to your eyes just to stand there and be reminded of the world-altering tragedy that occurred on that site, but there is more of a sense of renewal and rebuilding than there was before. It looks very much like a typical construction zone, preparing for the development of the new Freedom Tower.

Right across the street is the FDNY's Ten House, the home of both FDNY Ladder Company 10 and FDNY Engine Company 10. This firehouse was only mere blocks away from the WTC and was not only heavily damaged during the September 11 attacks, but the company also lost six firefighters.

Now Ten House is back to a functioning facility, but it's also been opened up to the public and firefighters are on hand to answer questions, talk about the memorial wall that's built inside, take pictures, and of course, sell FDNY calendars. In a glass case on the wall, there is a green and white "Liberty St" street sign, its metal twisted and mangled from the impact of the events of September 11, 2001.

Around the corner, the FDNY Memorial Wall reminds us of all 343 firefighters who died trying to save and protect New Yorkers on September 11. A huge bronze bas relief, it is inscribed with the words "Dedicated to those who fell and to those who carry on. May we never forget." At the bottom of the wall, there were flowers and momentos strewn across the sidewalk, in memory of those who made the supreme sacrifice.

I overheard a mother reading some of the incription to her young son, explaining what it all meant and it made me sad to think that such young, innocent and smiling children even need to know what evil exists in the world. Thank goodness for sunglasses -- my tears remained my own.

Dove Girl -- It's Official!

So, my random series of photo and video shoots over the past few weeks are starting to emerge as final products... I think I might officially be a Dove Girl now! Just this week, Dove released their new hair care web site which features a short video intro featuring yours truly with two other women (yes, we are a strategically constructed trio including a brunette, a blond and a redhead). There's a lot of laughing, smiling and hair-flipping going on. Hey, it's a hair ad -- whaddaya want?

I didn't even know this was live online yet until Jesse, Maia and Kristy ambushed me when I returned back to our office from a meeting late one afternoon this past week. "Hey, that video is live! We watched it! You're, like, RIGHT THERE!"

I have to admit, it's pretty weird to see this live... it kind of feels like the shoots never even happened. But they did... here's the evidence.... more evidence coming soon!