You are never too old to dress up

Happy Halloween! After having pretty crappy halloweens for the last few years, I was pretty skeptical when Nada invited me to dress up and go out on Saturday night. I don't know if it was my holiday spirit, my general happiness these days, or all the mimosas our waitor was sneaking us at brunch, but eventually I agreed to go out. We promptly went to Ricky's - if you don't live in NY, Ricky's is the biggest chain of halloween stores. The store was pretty crowded (although it was nothing compared to the line at the store on the upper east side - it wrapped around the whole store!), but it was kind of nice to be around so many people who were so excited about dressing up. I found a flapper costume, and tried it on in the store right over my clothes. Nada laughed at me, but then a few minutes later did the same thing. There were no dressing rooms, and I would have been pretty angry if I paid $40 for something that didn't even fit. Anyway, Nada decied on a Cleopatra costume, and tried her dress on over her clothes too. She wasn't convinced it looked good, even though the weird store clerk near us and I told her it looked awesome, so I told her I would take a few pics with my camera. After all, the camera never lies...

Doesn't she look cute? When she saw the pics she was convinced, so then it was over to the wigs. She got an awesome black wig with these snake thingies on it (it was the exact wig that was pictured on the package of her costume, so that was lucky). Nada was the queen of good finds at Ricky's. She found her wig - stuck all the way in the back of a row of different wigs. She also found me a blonde bob to go with my flapper costume. We decided that what would really completel my costume was one of those long cigarette holders. We looked all over the store and couldn't find it, and then right as we were about to give up and check out she saw one! Champagne must really make her focused. So we headed back uptown to my apt to get ready, and I think that was actually one of the most fun parts of the night. I've been living alone for a long time, and usually don't have anyone hanging around when I'm getting ready to go out.

This hair is really not my color...maybe if I was more tan...

The gloves I am wearing I bought 10 years ago - for my senior prom! I don't even remember if I ended up wearing them, but at least I put them to good use now!

Nada looks so great - I was telling her all night long to cut bangs like this...

Once we were all ready, we headed downtown to Nada's boyfriend's apt. We were being silly and taking pics of each other in the taxi, and at one point the cab driver says: "What's going on? Are you taking pictures of me?? I keep seeing a flash!", and we said that no, we were taking pics of each other and not him. I'm not sure why he thought we would be taking his picture, but whatever.

Nada worked wonders with her lip liner that night...I was totally jealous all night long...

Nada's bf was dressed up as a soldier - "Sgt Robzilla", and some people throughout the night thought he was a real soldier. We went along with it, just for fun. Once we picked him up, we all went to his brother's apt. His brother and his brother's gf were dressed as pirates and their costumes were awesome. They have an apartment with one of the most amazing views of NY I have ever seen! They also have a dog named Jizzy who is adorable, but who tried to hump my glove a couple times. Oh well.

Here are Cleopatra and her soldier...so cute :)

Who would have thought a soldier would be hanging with a couple of pirates?

We first went to a club called Myst - the boys worked some magic at the door so we didn't have to wait in line, which was awesome. It was so crowded inside we could barely move. Everyone was dressed up, and the costumes were so great! Some people really go all out on Halloween. We somehow managed to make it to the bar and get a couple drinks and try to dance a bit (the dancing was more like bouncing in place because of the crowd, but still fun). After a while we decided to get the heck out of there. We wandered around for a little bit, and eventually went to some other random bar. We could actually breathe here so it was a drastic improvement. 2 notable funny things happened at this bar:

(1) There was a bar back dressed as some kind of Roman soldier, and Nada's bf's brother kept calling him "Sparticus", and kept telling Nada to order our drinks from Sparticus. A little later Nada and I were in line waiting for the bathroom, and who walks by but Sparticus. He stops next to me, and sort of leans in and says "Hey". I said "Hey back" and he goes "Do you know how to swing dance?". Kind of a random question, but maybe it was because of the flapper costume? Who knows. It just so happens that I do know how to swing dance, and when I told him that, he got all excited and said "Great! You have to promise that we can do a move later. You're the first girl I have met in NY who actually knows how to swing dance!". I thought "do a move later" was kind of an odd way to put it, but I said sure and he happily walked away.

(2) Nada and I went to the bathroom together (typical girls I guess), and the bathroom door had a large mirror running the length of the door. No big deal, but when we went into the bathroom and shut the door, we turned around and saw that we could still see all the people who were outside the bathroom waiting in line! It was one of those 2-way mirrors, like in police stations (I am basing this on my experiences watching Law & Order, so I don't know if real police stations actually have these mirrors). So basically, we could see everyone outside the bathroom but they couldn't see us. It was very unsettling. And to make it worse, the people outside were checking themselves out in the mirror, so it really looked like they were looking right at us! Weird. After this bar, I hopped in a cab and headed back uptown. It was kind of a random day altogether, but so much fun!! I am once again a fan of Halloween. It was also so much fun to finally hang out with Nada and her bf together (they are so cute you almost want to vomit!), and to finally meet her bf's brother and his gf. I hear so much about them all the time, and it's always nice to have a face to go with the names. They were a great group - even though I was totally the 5th wheel, and didn't know them, I never felt uncomfortable or left out or whatever. It was great, and I can't wait to dress up again on wed! Nada and I decided that since we spent money on costumes, we have to dress up on actual Halloween and go to the parade in the village. Hopefully later this week I will have some really interesting pics from the parade...

I would like to take a minute to send out my deep condolences for all those who lost their homes, possessions, and possibly even loved ones in the fires in California. I was pretty much glued to the New York times online all week - they actually had really good fire blog that was updated frequently. I was checking with everyone I know in Cali to make sure they were ok and their homes were ok too. Thankfully, everyone I know were spared from the fire. Nada's family and my friend Melissa both live in/near Rancho Bernardo, which all of you who followed the news will know was the area that was hit the hardest. They all had to evacuate - Melissa had no idea for a few days if her house was still going to be standing when she went back home, or when she would even be let back home. Nada told me a crazy story about her family going from one friend's house to another, only to have to leave each one and go somewhere else as the fires spread and the evacuations continued. Even though I don't live there anymore, I still feel a strong connection to San Diego - I did spend 4 of the best years of my life there, after all. My heart goes out to everyone, because the clean-up effort and rebuilding is going to be a long process. I'm hoping to get out that way soon and try to help out somewhere, but for now, you are all in my thoughts and prayers :)

I'm a bad sister

My mother brought it to my attention that in the post about the party in CT, I failed to include any pictures of my own brother! I included my mother and her "second son", but left out the real one! Ooops. My apologies to my brother. To make up for it, I included here all the pics I have with my brother in them from that night...

Rosa is all the way on the left (isn't she beautiful?), and Russ is all the way on the right...
Here is Russ again with my mom and BIll & Gail (old fmaily friends)...
And here he is again, with my mom behind the bar...
Mom, this was for you - now you can show your co-workers :)

Pics around the neighborhood & more...

I decided a while back that I wanted to get back into doing photography. I love it, and I think I'm pretty good at it too. My mom and I are researching cameras right now, and we are both going to invest in one of those really cool, professional digital cameras. I can't wait to bring my new baby home! And on my travels - I'm planning on taking tons of pics while I'm traveling and who knows, maybe I'll even put them together in a book if they are actually good enough. To get myself back into the swing of things, I have been trying to bring my camera with me everywhere, and to just take more pics in general. I thought I would share some of them here...

The first set of pics are along the East River Esplanade. It's basically a walk-way along the river where I walk Bella every day. It's my daily dose of nature, New York style...











Can't forget my favorite subject. She's so photogenic...

And my favorite little family. I managed to caoture a really sweet moment when I was staying with them a few months ago. Love them :)

Connecticut vacation (10/05/07)...there's no place like home

Even though I spent the weekend in CT, I was so busy getting everything ready for the party, and then partying, so I didn't even get to relax. Because of this, I decided to go back to CT the next weekend for a little R&R. Donna and Michele have a cottage on Lake Hayward, and they were kind enough to let me stay there for a few days while they were on vacation. But more on that later. I spent the first couple days in CT staying with my grandparents in good old g-bury. My cousin Donna plays guitar and sings, and I was lucky enough to come home just in time for her show at Gaetano's (in Wallingford, CT). Cindy and Scott came and picked me up, and away we went. She was great as usual and it was a really fun night overall. They sang one of my favorite songs (anyone who was around when "Say Anything" came out will know what I mean), and I took a short video (Donna is on the left), and some pics...

The night was so much fun, and I was able to spend some quality time with Cindy and Scott, which was really nice. While we were listening to Donna sing, we also watched the Yankees getting swarmed by bugs during the game. Yuck - there is no way I could function with millions of bugs hovering around my head and landing all over my face. I'm shuddering just thinking about it.

The next day was sunny and beautiful, and I decided to take Bella out and get a little exercise. I took her on her very first trip to Cotton Hollow. For those of you who are not familiar with Cotton Hollow, I found this description of it online..."The Cotton Hollow Preserve consists of 80 acres of pristine woodlands traversed by the Roaring Brook. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the area was home to several grist mills, saw mills, iron foundries and a cotton mill. The imposing ruins of the cotton mill built in 1814 are still visible today". The cotton mill burned down when my great-grandfather was young - he said that he could see the flames and smoke all the way at his house. Cotton Hollow has always been a special place for me and my family. My mom spent a lot of time there when she was growing up, and she brought my brother and I there a lot when we were younger. We even brought our friends with us. Only once did we hike all the way to the old mill, but it was an amazing sight, buried in the woods. Portions of the walls are still there, and you can see where the windows were. We usually never made it that far because there are a few spots that were our favorites. The first spot, right at the beginning is where there was basically a waterslide (made of rock of course). This is also the spot where some girls saw a bunch of eels in the water and were so scared that they couldn't get out, so my brother had to walk over and "resuce" them and help them our of the water. Such a hero, even as a youngster. The second spot is the lagoon, where there is a little beach, a lagoon to swim in that leads to a small waterfall. Right next to that is another lagoon area that was really deep, and this is where we would go cliff jumping. I say cliff jumping, but it really wasn't that high (it felt like a long way down, even though it was maybe 10 feet). A short hike from that is another spot, a bit taller, where you can also go cliff jumping, but we mostly stayed at our very favorite spots. We would bring our dog, Blacky, to Cotton Hollow with us, and she loved it. She loved it so much that after she passed away, my mom had her cremated and spread her ashes in the woods there. So I decided it was time to introduce Bella to our famliy custom, get a little exercise, and get in a bit of photography. Needless to say, Bella was in HEAVEN. And surprisingly, she made a good hiking partner. There were places where we had to climb over rocks and trees, and I would go first and tell her to wait, and then she would come after me. Although there were a few hills where I let her go first and she sort of pulled me up behind her. We make a good team. I even took her swimming for the very first time! She was a little freaked out, but she was quite the little swimmer.





On our way out, Bella got the scent of something, and went crazy digging a hole trying to get whatever it was. It was hilarious, and I got a pretty good video of it.

The day ended up being really hot, and when we got back in the car, Bella positioned herself so she made the msot of the air conditioner. She's too cute.
Sunday morning I packed up once again (complete with plenty of food from my grandmother), threw Bella in the car, and we were off to the lake house! The cottage is on Lake Hayward in Colchester CT (who would've thought I would be excited to go to C-town!). Check it out on the map...

View Larger Map

Here is the cottage...it's SOOO CUUUTE!

This is where Bella spent most of her time at the cottage. What was she looking at?
She was watching the trees in the back yard, looking at the birds and squirrels. I became convinced that the squirrels were teasing Bella. They would stop half way up the tree, and just sit there, flicking their tails while she barked at them.
This is the view from the side porch...
This is "the cafe"...
This is bedroom #1...I love the paint colors...
Here is the second bedroom...
This is the front porch, where I was supposed to sit and get work done (that didn't happen too often)...
This is the view from the front porch, looking at the kitchen...
And of course, the bathroom...
And here's the side porch - this is where Bella and I spent most of our time...
Here is Lake Hayward...you can just start to see the trees turning...I love the fall...

Sunday afternoon after we got all settled Michelle came over with Ry. We hung out for a while, and then met up with some of her friends at the John Edwards winery. I can't believe I spent my whole life in CT and never even knew there were wineries!! This one was somewhere near Stonington, and neither one of us realized how far away that was. We had been driving for about 30min when I said "Where the heck are we going? Rhode Island?" Eventually we got there, and followed the signs to a parking lot at some fair grounds. We were wondering why there were no people around anywhere, but then realized that you had to take a shuttle bus up to the winery. It was so cute! With your entrance fee, you got a wine glass with the name of the winery on it, and 5 free wine tastings of the wine of your choosing. We decided to start with the whites and move on to the reds, so when we saw "zinfandel", we figured we should start with that because it would be the sweetest. Of course, we confused "zinfandel" for "white zinfandel", and were totally confused when we asked for zinfandel and got a glass full of red wine. After that little mix-up, we sampled some of the other wines. They were good! I think my favorite was the Syrah, so I stuck with that for the rest of the afternoon. The afternoon was so much fun - even Ry had a good time...
And thankfully Michelle didn't spill any wine on the babe...lol. Later in the afternoon the Sugar Band played (Michelle and her friends are kind of goupies haha), and they were great! Michelle and one of her friends went up to the front row to dance, and I hung out with my god-baby, who fairly quickly passed out on my shoulder. On the way home we stopped by Carol's to check on her - she had just had surgery. That was a blast from the past - I hadn't been to their house since I was about 13! I didn't really do very much for the rest of the time I was at the lake. Monday I had a visit from a very old and dear friend - we went out and watched the yankee game (at a bar in c-town! haha) and talked and had a really good time. The comfort you feel around people you've known for 20 years is just so...well, comforting. And thanks to Michelle for not only giving us the name of a bar to go to (the only one in colchester), but also for giving us some stellar directions! Hopefully next time she can join us for a few drinks :)

I got a little work done while I was there, but mostly just relaxed and read a few books. Harry Potter, which was so much better than I was expecting! Then I started reading "Eat Pray Love" which was just an amazing book that made me want to pack up and immediately start traveling around the world. There was no internet, only very basica cable, and no people around. After so many months of stress and sitting at my computer non-stop, it was really nice to un-plug for a while.

This is me and Bella relaxing...
See how happy I am to be on vacation??
Sadly, I had to go back to the city to finish up lab stuff and write my paper and all that. I did stop at my grandmother's first for breakfast and to say thank you and goodbye, and then it was off to Stamford to drop off the rental car, and hop on metro north and head back to NY. All in all it was exactly the vacation Bella and I needed. The best part of the trip was all the time I got to spend with Michelle and Ry - those 2 alone are reason enough for me to want to move back to CT. We'll see...