Goodbye My Lover, Goodbye My Friend

As I sit here, surrounded by boxes, less than 48 hours before the movers come, I'm reflecting on the last couple of years and feeling so content in knowing that not only did I actually have a great opportunity to live and work in New York, but that I also made the most of it -- exploring the city, learning this "new" culture, and building wonderful friendships. But as the last few things lie scattered around my apartment, waiting to be tucked away for the voyage westward, I know that it's time for the next chapter. After all, it's written right in the lyrics of Baz Luhrmann's "Sunscreen":

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard.
Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. *

So, off I go to Northern California!

It's kind of like an athlete retiring at the top of his/her game -- leave while you still love it, aren't jaded and have sweet memories. (Um, Brett Favre? What the heck??)

Also, they are building another huge apartment complex behind my building and within a few months, it will be tall enough to completely block my currently unfettered view of the Hudson River. And a rather noisy Beagle moved in down the hall a couple of months ago and yodels at the most inopportune times.

And to top it all off, I just ran out of return address labels. If that's not a sign, I don't know what is.

* PS (I also lived in Los Angeles once and left before it made me superficial. Oh wait, that's not actually in the song.)

The NYC Farewell Tour

As my last week as an official NYC resident marches on, I'm trying to see as many friends as possible before the movers descend on my apartment on Friday, ready to whisk my worldly belongings westward. (At least, I hope they "whisk" my belongings... but it sounds more like a painful, labored trudge across the continent -- it could be up to three weeks before I am reunited with my many boxes of random things.)

Yesterday, I had a great lunch with Esther and then rallied a bunch of folks for drinks and appetizers after work for my "see ya' later" get-together. We all convened at Amalia, one of our local haunts, just down the street and around the corner from the office. I did take a bunch of photos and once I find the box where I stashed my camera/computer cables, I'll be able to upload them. (Don't hold your breath -- we are at least three weeks away from opening ANY boxes.)

It was great to see everyone and catch up a bit, but a special thanks to Kim, Cortney and Oda -- you guys know why. :-)

Tourists Keep Right

Hanging out on a lovely August evening with the gang Saturday night, sipping on Proseco and Cassis, the conversation bounced around a number of topics... in the space of a few hours, we managed to cover the Russians' invasion of Georgia, the Olympic games opening ceremony, the price of real estate in Manhattan (and the absolutely painful process of furnishing all necessary documentation for a loan), the impending birth of wee twins, and the history of the fake boob. (Yes, you read that right. We are a well-rounded group and can converse on many, many topics. We even had a doctor in our midst who interned with the son of the fake boob inventor.... pre-Dow Corning lawsuits.... at least I think that was the connection... the Proseco made my brain a tiny bit fuzzy by this point in the conversation.)

At one point, Nick and Gemma were comparing notes on where their new offices were located and it turned out that both of them were right in the thick of Times Square (about 10 short north-south blocks from where my office is/was).

They were lamenting (and everyone else was completely sympathetic) about how difficult it is to have an office in or quite near to Times Square because of the volume of tourist foot traffic. If you have been in Times Square, you know what I mean. It is wall-to-wall people there most of the time and if you have an actual destination that you are trying to get to, it is almost impossible to pop yourself out of the slow-moving crowds so you can walk briskly (like a good New Yorker) to your next meeting.

Our solution was that the sidewalks in the Times Square area should really be divided with a dotted white line (like a regular freeway) and every so often, there should be signs saying "Slower traffic keep right".

Tourists to the right, New Yorkers in the fast lane...

Things That Are Driving Me Nuts At This Moment

-- The fact that Twitter is not updating on my blog. (And the fact that Twitter has updating issues on a regular basis.)

-- The fact that no matter what I do, I can't get rid of the double header on the the left side of my blog... and what's more, I have no idea what happened to even create it in the first place.

-- The fact that when my laptop falls asleep, it is harder to wake up than the big guy sitting in the aisle seat on the plane when you REALLY have to go to the bathroom.

-- The fact that there appears to be no rhyme nor reason why certain emails land in my Junk Mail folder.

"Yes, I love technology, but not as much as you, you see..."

Almost Famous

I am huge at SNA and SJC.

No, unfortunately, those are not the must-be-in-the-know names of new, so-hip-it-hurts nightclubs. Those are the codes for the Orange County and San Jose airports respectively. I have now officially been traveling too much.

This week, I arrived at the Orange County airport for my flight where the American Airlines gate agent recognized me immediately and chatted hockey with me for a few minutes. (We had commiserated when the Pens lost the Stanley Cup this past season.)

When I arrived in San Jose, I went to pick up my rental car and even though I had to queue in the lane next to his, my buddy Ranjit spotted me and gave a big enthusiastic wave. Before I knew it, he had bounded over to my car (abandoning his own line of cars waiting to exit the lot) and was rapping on the passenger side window. As I rolled down the window, he stuck out his hand for a hearty handshake and exclaimed, "Sheddy!! How have you BEEN?? Haven't seen you in WEEKS!!"

And finally, when I arrived at my hotel that evening after a day at the office, the front desk clerk looked up and said "Hi, Ms. Gunn, we've been wondering where you were."

Seriously, I'm going to have to start wearing giant sunglasses and a baseball cap before the paparazzi start hanging out in the office parking lot at lunch.

A Big Birthday Thank You

I recently (as in, two days ago) celebrated a birthday and I have to admit that this one completely snuck up on me because my schedule has continued to be rather random and bi-coastal.

But I do want to extend a grateful thank you to family and friends who managed to track me down where ever I was via phone, email, Kaboodle, Facebook AND surprise me in a variety of ways:

- Big kiss to Special K who sang to me on Friday night (along with PJ), surprised me with an ice cream birthday cake (which PJ picked up), and sent me a beautiful bouquet of a dozen red roses.

- The whole Kaboodle gang who rallied for a huge company lunch at the local pasta joint. (Hit or miss on the food, but the company was great!)

- Special thanks to Cristina, Kristi and Brenda who treated me to tapas and caipirinas at Cascal where we always enjoy ourselves.

- Shout out to my grandparents who sang "Happy Birthday" to me in stereo on the phone and to my parents and the gang in Vancouver for all their warm wishes.

- And a HUGE hug to Brenda who has told me at least twice that I look like I'm 24. (I haven't the heart to tell her that she needs new glasses.)

Shop Til You Drop

Somehow, I ended up on the VIP invitation list (as did hundreds of others, I suspect -- so I'm not really that special) for Gen Art's Shop NYC event which was held on 18th Street in the Metropolitan Pavilion last Wednesday night. I cajoled Oda into going with me -- ok, we're both shopping fans at heart, so I didn't have to expend very much effort "cajoling" her.

Gen Art is an organization devoted to showcasing emerging talent in the fashion, entertainment, music and arts arenas and produces over 100 shows each year catering to these areas. The Shop NYC event highlighted fashion works from 50 - 60 emerging design talents in everything from apparel to shoes to handbags to jewelry. The venue was packed with women looking for unique items (at a discount) and a few misplaced men who stood to the side looking appropriately bored as wives and girlfriends rifled through racks of tops and dresses and fingered handbags and jewelry on the display tables.

We did a hot lap to see what was there, glasses of Bailey's and crushed ice in hand. Once we had downed our glass of liquid courage, we through ourselves fully into the fray as well and emerged victoriously with a necklace each from Odette New York and tops from Yumi Kim.

By this time, we'd worked up a significant appetite and at Oda's suggestion, we popped in on Markt in Chelsea and enjoyed a late dinner of french onion soup (best I've had in ages) and salad. (Kathy, if you're reading this, I FINALLY made it Markt after almost two years! And you're right, it was fantastic!)

As all true Kaboodlers know, shopping (and dining!) IS more fun with friends!