29 is a magic number

Subtitle: better report on my birthday before Christmas

About three weeks ago, I said to myself "My birthday is coming up. What shall I do to celebrate?" Then I decided I would do ANYTHING that I wanted to do. If I wanted to to to Spain, I would go to Spain. If I wanted to eat steak all day, I would. After removing all restrictions and thinking about it very hard, I decided I wanted to spend the day painting my apartment. This, I figured, would not only get something I've been excited about done, but also goes with my "new apartment, new life" theory, I figured I would start 29 out strong.

For some reason, I decided I needed a birthday self-potrait. That was silly enough, and I have no idea why the ham sandwich I"m posting it here, but I can't stop myself.
Don't judge the photo too harshly--it was 4:30 AM and I'd only had three hours of sleep because while I was laying in bed at 11:30 I'd decided I wanted to make peanut butter chocolate chip muffins for my temple shift. I'm not sure how a lack of sleep can change the shape of one's face, but I'm hoping very much that I don't usually look like that.

I worked my shift at the temple and went to work. We celebrated all the December birthdays on my birthday. Yum!

I left early and went home to paint. That day I got the taping out the edges, priming, and half of the living room done.

Richard and Becca came over for dinner and to keep me company while painting. Richard brought very tasty Indian food and Becca brought a very yummy homemade vegan birthday cake. Becca, Richard, and I met our freshmen year at college. So the celebration that evening was a combined birthday and ten year anniversary party. It was really nice.

My two very favorite presents:

My dear friend from high school Jamie sent me a Republican themed birthday package, the highlight of which is the above-pictured Ronald Reagan pen. I love it!

My parents sent me money with which I bought two glass pie pans (are you as shocked as I was to discover that I didn't already have some?) and this totally awesome welcome mat which rocks my world It makes me so happy! For example, yesterday when I was leaving to do my laundry I thought "Yay! When I get back, I'll get to see my door mat!" That, my friend, is joy.

So, all in all, it was a great day. As I spend several hours alone painting and thinking, I had an unbelievable amount of insights and discoveries about myself that were really soul-shaking. I know this is going to be the best year yet!

New Neice!

The adoption was finalized this morning so I'm an aunt again! Introducing to the world: Ashley Ann Herron

Here is an up-closer picture so you can truly appreciate her cuteness.


Ann and Josh never expected to adopt a non-infant, but this gift from God practically fell in their lap. The adjustment for all is going well and I know things are going to be great. The hearts of our family are very very thankful to Heavenly Father's loving kindness to us and to this precious little girl.

My first vlog

A vlog is a video blog. I was in one back in October 2006. For some reason, I just remembered it today and, since I just recently learned how to post videos on my blog, I've decided I"m going to post it. It is only mildly amusing, and it is super duper long, so I"m warning you, there's a good chance that you're not going to want to watch the whole thing. Or even part of it. I just want to post it and so I will because it's my blog and I can do that. Please keep in mind that this was more than two years ago.


My ex-roommate Megan (who has been married more than a year and now lives in Vegas) put it together. She is pretty much a computer movie editing superstar.

Christmas Vacation

Although I am scheduled to work on December 24th and 26th, today marked the first day of my own special Christmas Vacation.

Because even for someone as lucky as me to have such thoroughly delightful roommates, there is something completely magical about having the apartment all to myself for three weeks. Yippee!!!

I know things will be right where I left them. I don't have to worry about what time to get in the shower or if someone is going to drink all of my juice. No dirty dishes left in the sink!!! (I know, I know, that puts the "petty" in pet peeves, but it bugs me.) I can walk around in my underwear all day (my roommates are good sports about my compulsive underwear wanderings, but I do feel the need to exercise restraint when they might be around). There will be no mysteriously opened cabinets and closets. The shower thingie will always be down. I will play the piano whenever I want. I can use the blender (very important for vegan cooking) whenever I want. (Also, just FYI, I"m not really vegan anymore. I'm not a flexi-vegan who likes to avoid cheese but does eat it on occasion. I still like to vegan bake though.) I will still clean the apartment every night before going to bed, but it will only be my stuff I clean (to be honest, it was mostly my stuff even when the roomies were around). I will play music whenever I want. I can exercise in the living room morning, evening, night, whenever! Ah the joy and delight!!

Tomorrow I start the big paint project!! Hopefully I'll be able to get it all done in one day, but perhaps I"m being overly optimistic. Then I'm refinishing (this is perhaps not the right verb) a few spots on my bedroom floor and moving the bed to be in a better feng shui position. And I'm probably going to get a Christmas tree.

Ryan Simmons is my hero

If you only do one thing today, please watch the video below. It stars Ryan, a fellow in my congregation who is a comedic genius. It was put together by Collin Mapp, a fellow in my ward who, as far as I can tell from my limited exposure to his work, is a cinematic genius.

So watch. Enjoy. And share with your friends.
And to anyone within four hours of Manhattan--you do not want to miss Ryan's one-man Christmas show on the 17th.

Another One Bites the Dust

When Ashley moved into my apartment last June, she brought with her four basil plants. I was a bit skeptical because many plants had met their untimely death in my apartment. (Several, but not all of those stories have been recorded here on my blog.) But then I remembered that she's a farm girl and probably knows things I don't. It was true enough. For example: my previous plants had not gotten enough sunlight. My previous herbs had not gotten enough water. These seem like things I should have learned on Seasame Street, but somehow they had eluded me.

In September when Ashley decided flee the big city and return to her rural roots, she left the basil plants in my care. I figured all would be well--I would just keep up the same routine she had in place. For a while, I was doing pretty good. But now.... Well..... This is the end product: (please note, when I tried to save this photo on my computer so I could post it, I was told "The picture 'dead basil' already exists. Would you like to replace it?" How many different dead basil plants does one girl need save on her hard drive?)

In hindsight, I realize that I had been losing Ashley's basil plant at a steady rate of one per month. But the last remaining one had been doing so well! (Perhaps because Amelia had been in charge of his care for several days while I was out of town. He did look even perkier when I returned home.) He had gotten so big that by the time he died the whole thing could not be captured in my camera phone with enough details to also show that it had shriveled up and died.

The thing that surprises me is how quickly death came. One day it was fine, the next day it looked a little sick and the next day, it was gone. What did I do wrong? How did I fail my poor little basil? I even wrote and sang a song to Basil once I realized he was sick. Perhaps I didn't sing to him often enough. Or perhaps it was already too late. But even I was surprised at the emotion that sprang up as I sang: "You're going to live! Basil, you're going to live!! It's too soon, too soon to say goodbye." And then I would imagine Basil singing back to me: "Yes Holly, forbid me now to die! I'll obey! I will try..." But at the end, Basil, like Jean Valjean from whom I stole the song, died all the same.

So now I'm left trying to decide what to do. I NEED fresh basil for pasta sauces and my super yummy homemade salad dressing. But based on my past experience, if I bought fresh basil at the store and kept it in the fridge, it would last longer. I wonder if a chia pet herb garden would last longer. Maybe I should just plan on buying basil when I need it. That's what I do with cilantro, after all. But oh how I love the feeling of using an herb I grew myself! If my dreams of having a tomato plant cannot come to fruition, at least I should be able to cultivate an herb, right? What is up with my thumb of death? If I can't keep an herb alive how am I going to be able to take care of a husband? Or babies? I'm hoping these things do not require a similar skill set.

The rest of the story

Some of my regular readers might remember my post several weeks ago reporting on how I saved the world by reporting a suspicious smell coming out of a manhole.
I hadn't really thought anything about it until Saturday night when I ran into my associate Jon S., director of the LDS Institute of Education for the New York City region. I will report on the conversation:

Jon: Did you ever hear what happened when you phoned in that gas leak?
Holly: I don't think anything--a ConEd truck came and was there the rest of the night.
Jon: Well, a few days later they tore up the whole street and replaced lots of pipe.
[at this point I remember that Jon's office is in the church building where I reported the smell so he would be intimately familiar with repercussions caused by my call]
Jon: It must have been a million dollar construction project. Good thing you called. Your civic duty has been done.

So I guess the title I unofficially gave myself several years ago holds true--
Holly Bluemlein: Hero to Millions

I will consider that all my personal taxes for the rest of my life will be going towards that project.
(pic photo shopped by my talented sister Heather)

Something Christmas is not good for

Just so you know--

now is not the best time to be doing a decorating project because all things that could possibly be considered of use to human kind (book shelves, welcome mats, paper lanterns, shelf liner, even yoga mats) have been cleared out of all the stores (Kmart, Crate and Barrel, Pier 1, Home Depot, The Container Store, etc) to make room for cheesy Christmas decorations.

Holly the Happy Home FIXER

While I have long considered myself a Happy Homemaker, I am only today beginning to consider myself a fix-it person.

Behold-- the hole in my apartment wall: (please note how big and deep the hole is)

I mixed the compound and the plaster dust MYSELF:

The finished project:

I am SOO proud of myself!!! I'd like to especially thank Gustavo for showing me how to do it when he was here last week fixing various things and for leaving the compound and plaster with me, even though I told him I didn't need it. Also, a shout-out to whoever refinished my apartment before I moved in for leaving his tools.

And the whole thing took less than two minutes INCLUDING photo taking. This is the greatest thing ever!!! I want to learn how to fix everything!!!! And decorate everything!!! Once again I have to ask myself--who is this person I've become? But I love it!!

Now I've got to do my yoga and get ready for my date tonight. (new apartment, new life)

PS This is 30 minutes later. I had published the post and was going on with my life when I was lucky enough to notice another hole in the wall--this one was even more tricky--it was on a corner!! But, trusting in my new-found skills, I fixed it right up!!! (Luckily I also saw Gustavo turn seemingly dried plaster into a useable form again, so i was able to do the same!) yay for me!!! yay for empowerment!!

Bluemlein Family Thanksmas Report

Subtitle: it's a Thanksgiving miracle.

About three weeks ago we Bluemleins had our annual Thankmas gathering. This is a holiday we invented three years ago so we can all get together to celebrate Thaksgiving and Christmas in one fell swoop during a nonholiday weekend so we don't have to compete with in-laws and don't have to travel when the rest of the country is traveling. And why am I just reporting on this now, you may ask? Because i super want to share a video clip my technologically-savvy brother John made and although I have a copy of said video, for some drunken reason my blog would not import it. But last night, upon returning from my Thanksgiving merry-making on Long Island it occurred to me: my blog is so messed up right now, maybe it will import the video now. And lo and behold! it did!! Said video clip is directly below. I super love it because I think it captures the energy of my family well. This is a song Heather arranged years ago to help rally the troops and get everyone out the door.


Here is a picture of my super good-looking family taken during Thanksmas


Most of the vacation was spent on video games and playing with the nieces



A highlight for me was discovering that both my nieces loves dancing. An impromptu dance party was held. Unshown here in Ellie running around and dancing circles around me and Emma


The other highlight the super awesome balloon hat my super awesome brother David got for me. We were at a pizza parlor and a guy was going around making balloon animal I saw a five-year old wearing this hat and I really wanted one. I figured I would just go without, but David got me one! Specially made!!
My only regret is that I couldn't take it home with me on the plane =(.

Favorite quote for the reunion: "Heather, are you wearing my contacts? I ask because i went to put mine in and the case was empty." (she was)






















(and once again, for some reason the photos are messed up. This time is probably my fault, but I'm not going to bother importing all of them again. Hopefully those

of you interested in doing so will be able to figure out the captions easily enough)

One day, two new celebrity look-a-likes

Last Saturday, I had two people introduce two more celebrities that I look like.

An old lady I didn't know stopped me on the street to tell me I look like Blythe Danner's daughter. Turns out she means Gwyneth Paltrow. Her old lady friend agreed.

Then that evening someone from my ward said I always reminded them of Amy Pohler of Saturday Night Live fame. She's the lady who plays Hillary Clinton. She was also the pregnant lady in "Baby Mama".

PS I have no idea what is wrong with my blog. Why are all the pictures so huge? What happened to my friends' links on the side? I will hopefully get this figured out eventually. For now, please bear with me.

I am a woman obsessed.

Let me tell you a true story from my own life. You have doubtlessly already heard this story if you have been within a 15 foot radius of me in the last two weeks because, as suggested by the title of this post, I have become a WOMAN OBSESSED.

So the story: about two weeks ago I was on the subway on the way to work. I was thinking about my life, my aspirations, my dreams, my energy, etc when all the sudden I had an epiphany. Lightening struck my brain. All of the sudden it all became so so clear: my living room was ruining my life. It's obvious really, in hindsight. My living room was a cluttered, uninviting, energy-sucking hole. (I've posted this picture of a black hole to demonstrate what was happening to all the life energy (hereafter "chi") that passed through my living room.)

As soon as was humanly possible, without even wasting the time to take a "before" picture, I removed the daybed from the living room. We had been using it in place of a sofa since moving in back in July 2007. And although it often caused guests to ask the question "Who lives in this room?" somehow it had never occurred to me that it was the cause of every imperfection in my life.
I'm going to post some old pictures of the living room here, just to keep your attention. They're off facebook and are pictures of a party, so it's hard to see the room, but maybe you'll sort of get the idea:
(don't get confused like I always do when looking at these pictures--the girl wearing my apron is NOT me)

My roomie Valerie and I dismantled the wretched daybed and put it out on the street where, in less than 30 minutes, it was removed up by someone who was probably very thankful for it.

For the sake of brevity, I will skip the step-by-step guide to all the changes I've been making to my abode. Except, I want to give a shout-out to the brilliant and inspired book Apartment Therapy and my friend Jenn A. who was genius enough to realize I would love the book and lean me a copy. Also, a special thanks to Jenn's super terrific husband Gustavo who came over and helped me fix up some things at the apartment, including (but not limited to) hanging my bike on the ceiling. Yipee!!

I think this post is dragging, so I"m going to conclude now quickly by employing the good old bullet point:

* I never ever cared a tiny bit about home decorating and now it is literally the only think I can think of.

*I'm on an eight-week home therapy plan and it's taking all my free time. And i love it. Who is this person I've become?

*I would say I'm re-decorating my apartment, but that term implies that it was decorated before, which is wasn't. So I just saying I'm decorating my apartment.

*The chi is flowing in my bedroom like I would not have though possible. I've always talking about it and believed in it, but I've never experienced it like I am now. I can practically feel it pulsating around all over the place bringing joy and happiness and most excitingly the energy of all sorts of new and exciting possibilities!

*I'm suppose to figure out what my decorating style is. This is hard for me because it turns out I have a very limited visual vocabulary. I've been taking on-line quizzes all morning and have yet to get the same result. In the next few days I'll probably make a post with pictures of rooms I like and ask for your help naming my style.

As always, thank you for your support in this matter.

Holly the Happy Homemaker

An unassumingly emotional post

I think Ben Franklin said it best: "If we don't all hang together, we will mostly certainly all hang separately." (or something like that).

This is what is on my mind and heart right now.

An important message to the movie "Australia"

Please, please, PLEASE don't stink!

I so rarely get excited about a movie. But just the idea of a combination of Hugh Jackman and Baz Luhrman sends me in a tizzy. Two of my very favorite things combined! Be still my heart.

And yet.... I find myself being skeptical. A cheesy historical romance? True, it fits in fairly well with some of the entirely-beneath-him roles that Mr. Jackman has performed in order to support his picture-perfect family, but Baz, this seems out of character for you. Where's the showy singing, dancing, or the Shakespearean language? Baz, I'm trusting you to pull this off. Hugh--although I know you did your best to save the movie Scoop, I think we both know how that turned out-- even your superior skill, charm and looks couldn't save something that bad to begin with. I understand that. Hopefully the two of you together can bring us something the likes of which we have not seen since "Strictly Ballroom."

Make me proud!

Halloween

I was super excited to report about how awesome my Halloween celebration was, but it was so long ago now that I can't remember what made it so great. But here's me in my costume.

Blue v. Red

Today I wanted to wear red to work to show my support for the red states.

Turns out I have one (1) red shirt and it was in the wash.

I found a rose colored shirt shirt that I decided would work.

It turns out I only have blue pants. Yes, 100% blue. No pants whatsoever of any other color. (I know-- I was shocked too.) I didn't want to wear a skirt, so I made due with the blue.

I got all cute and even fixed my hair. Put on foundation and everything. I wanted to represent McCain well at the poll.

As I was leaving I realized that all of my jackets are blue.

So I pretty much ended up dressed as a democrat.

I felt slightly better when I saw that both Pallin and Cindy McCain were dressed in non-red for the concession speech.

Random things

I don't like that it's now dark when i get home from work in the evening. But I LOVE LOVE LOVE watching the colors of the sunset reflect off the buildings. The colors are just amazing. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE watching the sun go down over the water. I recently put into words something that I've felt a long time: "Everything in nature is prettier when a body of water is involved." (of course this picture doesn't do it justice but you get the idea. It's even better looking at the buildings from among the buildings. so awesome)
Also if I stay at work late enough, then I get a good view of the city at night, which is SPECTACULAR. (this isn't the best picture but I chose it because it is the actual financial district)

Also, I got to go apple picking last weekend and the drive was GORGEOUS. And the company was wonderful. I don't have a picture of the lovely landscapes I saw or the people I was with, but here a picture of me at the orchard. Because I haven't published a picture of myself in a while (but just be aware that I"m normally cuter than this).

Also, I got to go to Ikea a few weeks ago. I am a firm believer that Ikea can hold it's own against Disneyland for the "Happiest Place on Earth" title. It was my first time going without having the meatballs, but it was still pretty awesome.

And to report on my goals, on Saturday, I played the piano AND jogged. It was my first time jogging since I gave it up last December, but I put pieced together a fairly cute jogging outfit (if you just ignore the large stain on the hoodie), put on my better running shoes that I brought from Michigan this summer and I was off. One of the secondary gains I've notice joggers enjoy is getting to know their neighborhoods. And I discovered an awesome park close to my house. There a overlook to see the East River (prettier in real life, of course) which, need I bother to mention, was incredible with the leaves. And it was really neat to be able to see about 13 different streams of traffic (counting lanes going both ways and exit ramps). And the paths were beautiful and there's even a swimming pool there. I was surprised. Also, I didn't not run faster than I had strength and I felt fine (more or less) the whole time, which was pleasant.

A System That Just Might Work

It occurs to me that I failed to mention why it is that I was so exhausted last Thursday. It was, in fact, a more than unusually busy week. In four days I hosted three major social events--one for more than 150 people, one with less than two hour notice, and a dance party in my living room. Three days previously, I had hosted a party in my home for about 50 people. I made 10 pies from scratch, although I did use my beloved food processor (or as the French say "Robot Culinaire") to help with the crust. I really WISH I had taken the time to blog about my mass pie making--sufficient to say it involved a pie literally EXPLODING in my oven. I still need to clean that up.

Pertaining to the above, in September my three very closest friends all left the city. This is very sad. But I am choosing to be optimistic and trust that more good things will flow into my life. In preparation to spend more time alone, I have prepared a "Winter To Do" list, which I hung on my wall beside my "Shows to See" list (down to three--can you believe it?!!) and "To Read". Among the "Winter To Do" list are "take up jogging" and "learn to play the piano better." All day long I was looking forward to jogging after work, but as so often happens, the excitement left once I got home. After a while of laying in my bed, gchatting and sincerely wanting to work on my various self-improvement and fun goals, the system that might actually work occurred to me--every day I can choose to EITHER jog OR play the piano for thirty minutes. My suspicion is that I'm going to get very good at piano. It's a good thing I had the foresight to buy my keyboard from a guy in my ward for the reasonable price of 50 cupcakes. Of course, I still owe 48 cupcakes on it, but, like everyone else, my creditor has moved out of the city. Hehehe.

[no pictures. sorry.]

A nice lazy evening at home

Subtitle: these are a few of my favorite things.

This may not be accurate, but I feel like i have not had an unscheduled evening for more than a month. And while I do love having a life so full of so many fun and exciting activities, I also love me some downtime. Since I was feeling fairly exhausted, I decided to skip my Hebrew class and have a nice, relaxing, lazy evening at home.

The first order of business upon arriving home, obviously, was to put on appropriate lounging clothes. Right now is the splendid season in New York when it starting to get a little chilly, but the supers have not yet turned on the heat. Once that happens, adios to wearing nice snuggly clothes because individual apartments can't control the heat and it gets HOT. Which is nice for getting to sleep with windows open and fans on in the middle of winter, but not nice for getting to wear comfy sweatshirts and turtlenecks at home. I put on my bright red SVSU Football hoodie which is great for such an evenings (but not, by the way, good for night games of capture the flag in Harlem if you're trying to blend in, as I learned from personal experience).

Then I decided to make a half batch of vegan chocolate pudding to test and see if it would be good enough for the Pudding Party on Sunday. (It was, especially with peanut butter! Yum!)

Then I decided to make peanut butter cookies.

Then I decided to eat some leftover curried potato carrot soup. I was standing in the kitchen, minding my own business, adding salt to my soup when all of the sudden the handle of the mug broke off and the mug fell to the floor sending soup everywhere--my face, the floor, the rug, the stove, the wall, the ceiling, and even the wall in the next room. And just so that the picture in your mind is accurate, please be aware that the carrots and potatoes involved in this soup were not cubed, they were shredded, which makes for a more interesting clean up process--too liquid-y to sweep, too solid-ish to mop. Since it was my designated lazy evening, I cleaned it up from the floor and rug, but left it on the walls and ceiling. Although as I sit here typing this I'm reminded of curry's staining ability (largely because I just spilled some of the same soup of my white blouse) I'm wondering if that delay was a good idea. Time will tell.

While cleaning the mess, I realized that with socks on the kitchen floor is perfect for sliding/dancing. So I did that for a bit, rejoicing in my lovely lazy evening.

Then I watched the end of the movie Scoop which turned out to be just as (pardon my French) stupid as it appeared it was going to be from the first 20 minutes I watched a week ago. But I had to finish it because I am in love with Hugh Jackman.

Then I watched part of the vice-presidential debate.

Then I watched the season premiere of Pushing Daisies. I love that show!!

Then I went to sleep.

I love my life.

The church building did not blow up. You're welcome.

Subtitle: If you smell something, say something.

So I decided to make the call to 311 who transferred me to 911 who transfered me to the fire department. Each time, clearly stating that I wasn't sure if this was a big deal or not, but just in case....

Next thing I know four (4) fire trucks (enough to fill a full avenue block), lights a-flashing, show up in front of the Union Square building with approximately 30-40 firemen (who are, interestingly enough, every bit as attractive as you'd expect them to be based on TV and the movies).

I was only able to flirt mildly because I was too busy being distressed by the fact FORTY firemen had showed up and, quite frankly, I was not sure the situation warranted such. I guess I had forgotten just how seriously NYC takes the threat of a possible gas leak (especially one coming from under the street I suppose).

After an extensive investigation into the situation, they gave me a figurative pat on the head, said "You did the right thing" and left one fire truck until the ConEd Emergency truck came, which was there for at least three hours.

So I pretty much feel like a hero. I'm trying not to let it get to my head.

Who knew Flickr had such gorgeous stuff?

A fun game, beautiful things, and free time at work.

Here's how it works:
1. Set up a matrix at Flickr
2. Go to Flickr Search and answer the questions at the bottom.
3. Chose an image from the first page of results and add it to your matrix.
4. Have fun!!!



(sorry it's so small--I don't really know how these things work)
Questions:
What's your first name? Holly
What's your favorite food? Vegan
What high school did you go to? Lincoln
What's your favorite color? Violet
Who is your celebrity crush? Hugh Jackman
Favorite drink? Water
Dream vacation? This one is too hard!
Favorite dessert? Pie?
What do you want to be when you grow up? Kept woman
What do you love most in life? Moments of sensing the divine.
One word to describe you: Sunshine
Flickr name: Huh?

If you have some free time, I definitely think you'll enjoy doing this.

To give credit where credit is due: 1. Holly in winter., 2. Vegan Stromboli, 3. Lincoln View HDR, 4. Orange as any orange on a tree, 5. Hugh Jackman, 6. water droplets in the shower - o.k. bokeh, 7. reaching out ........., 8. Intruso - Intrusi ? - Intruder - Intruders ?, 9. Storm is Over, 10. Aliens learn thanks to HIM, all may arise; turn you on any?_0472, 11. Day 241 | Walkin' on sunshine, whoa ohhhh, 12. Hidden Hug

And a big thanks to Hillary for discovering it! Thanks!

Holly's Wall Street Report

Although I am lucky enough to work in a beautiful history building (real Tiffany glass in the windows behind my desk!)located at the intersection of Broadway and the now-infamous Wall Street, I don't really wander over to Wall Street very often. But I do love walking on it and looking around when occasion permits, so I was pleased when my after-work plans yesterday led me there, especially in light of all the attention this seemingly ordinary street has been eliciting lately.

As I so often do while off on my various adventures, I wrote a blog entry in my head while experiencing it. I decided I would start with a description for my non-NYC readers; "Like most of the Financial District, Wall Street is a very narrow street surrounded by very beautiful, very tall buildings. It is a singular feeling to be so closely surrounded by such great buildings (using "great" to mean both "large" and "wonderful")." I planned to let you know that the section of Wall Street where the famous buildings are is closed off to traffic. Then I was going to talk about how things pretty much seemed just the same (but that could be because it was 7:30 and the stock exchanges all close at like 5 and the Financial District becomes a ghost town by about 6:00). I figured I would end the blog with some sort of wit-ism about how Wall STREET was doing fine.

Then, I noticed that the important buildings (which are always barricaded) were double barricaded. Next, I saw this left-behind protest sign which made me mad because this whole mess is NOT FREE MARKET. It was caused by government regulation impeding the free market from protecting and balancing itself.

On the next block I saw definite signs that protesters had been there earlier. Apparently the anti-capitalists are a messy group because there was paper everywhere. In hindsight, a picture would have been appropriate. But my attention was quickly diverted as I realized that further up ahead there was, in fact, a HUGE HOLE (almost a block long) running down the middle of Wall Street. Some construction project. Not doubt a coincidence. But still I thought it was... what is the opposite of ironic?

So I guess my conclusion must be--Wall Street is, in fact, broken. (but I still think it's the government's fault. both literally and figuratively)

I was thinking of going back today to see what people were up to on Wall Street during the day so I could report on that. But I couldn't stomach the idea of walking around on Wall Street during the day taking pictures and looking like a tourist. My pride just wouldn't let me. Plus, it's sort of raining today so the protesters probably aren't out anyway.

waxing political

My go-to guy for financial things explained to me all about the cause of the current financial mess. And I'm sure you will NOT be surprised to hear that it is a direct result of government regulations. Laissez faire, people, LAISSEZ FAIRE!! Goodness gracious. I'm having shortness of breathe just thinking about it.

Also, my friend Amy found this completely awesome website about potential ways to brand Obama. Funny.

The Nation's Capital

Last last weekend I went to Washington DC for one friend's wedding and another friend's triathlon.
It was an interesting experience because it was the first time I really realized just how much my rhythm is set to New York. Well, let me just say DC is NOT New York. I almost got myself killed several times (apparently cars yielding to pedestrians in all situations is not a cultural universal). Also, I realized that it is not appropriate to get frustrated at the tourists and walk around them mumbling about out-of-towners when you are, in all actuality, a tourist yourself and there's a good chance the person walking at a mind-numblingly slow pace right in front of you is a native.

It was also a reminder of just how hellish it is to get into and out of the city:
From Washington DC to Newark NJ (where we rented the car):
Distance: 220 miles
Travel time: 3.5 hours

From Newark NJ to my apartment:
Distance: 20 miles
Travel time: 2.5 hours

But it's all worth it. And there's not a city I'd rather be in rhythm with. P.S. It's also much harder to find soy milk in DC

Best Gift Ever

My seester Heather made this for me. Aren' I a lucky girl?

An Important Announcement

As any of you that have had more than a four minute conversation with me in the last several months will know, I have been very very keen on the idea of obtaining for myself a food processor. I only learned what a food processor was about three months ago, and I've been amazed by them ever since. I did the research and found exactly the one I want. It is very very highly reviewed on all the websites I checked and is only $50. Definitely a good investment. But, alas, I am painfully thrifty and somehow just could not convince myself to do it. Instead, I would torment my friends and associates with constant cost analysis of everything ("Well, I would go to the puppet show with you, but that $20 could buy half of my food processor" etc.) Finally, for no particular reason at all (unless being bored at work is a reason), I did it! I bought the food processor.

I anticipate that said food processor will go very well with the joy of my life Kitchen Aid which I recently procured
but for reasons of pure giddiness have not blogged about previously. It makes me so so so happy to own a KitchenAid. (Now I won't have to have a reception or shower when I get married.)

I think I have probably been nesting lately. In the last two weeks I have also purchased the long-lusted after bundt cake pan (like the one above, only red); an extraordinarily nifty cake carrier (for all the bundt cakes I have been and will be making), and a sleeping bag!! It is purple and yellow like Wolverine and served me very well on my camping trip last weekend that I forgot to tell you about.

Another blog entry that does not actually say what I've been up to lately (which is really too bad because I've been having lots of fun adventures)

This morning on the subway I was delighted to be in the same car with my very favorite subway preacher. It was not this guy My subway preacher is a very large, very buff black man. I see him in the subway about once a month. He has a duffle bag full of food for anyone who needs he. He offers food, asks for money to continue his mission and then preaches about being saved. He walks back and forth shouting the good word yelling an occasional hallelujah. I usually give him some money and then put away my reading and listen to him. I really like what he has to say and I love the passion he has about it.

I realize that if I were not a Christian who had personally experience what he preaches about I would probably think he was crazy. I always think about this when I see a street preacher: if an Islamic person were to act that way they would almost certainly be locked up--either at a jail or a hospital. Can you imagine a very large black man jumping around the subway saying "Accept Allah or go to hell!"? or even "Allah doesn't want you to go to hell, he wants to save you from it"? Oh man, it would be a bad situation for that unfortunate preacher. I wonder if that is caused by our prejudice against the Islam or by society's dedication to the Christian faith of our fathers (because non-religious people would be just as upset about it I think).

But listening to my favorite Christian preacher makes me happy. And then when I got off the train the calypso drum player in the subway station was playing "Israel Israel God is Calling." We must have stolen the tune from some famous source because I hear it once in awhile and it seems the Caribbeans have made it their own. It made me super happy.

In other news, the attorneys today are in an uproar because it has been discovered that the building does not actually recycle the paper we separate. Apparently there was a recycling email sent around about 2 years ago establishing the guidelines for recycling and that email, if found by the attorneys, would establish a reasonable expectation that a recycling program was in place and the lack of it therefore constitutes fraud. (I just remembered that I never actually typed the blog I wrote in my head about going green, which is too bad because I even had photos. This would make a lot more sense if I had. Oh well.)

I love New York.

Officially Old

I thought it would happen when I got my own couch. It didn't.
I thought it would happen when I got my first unexplained body ache. It didn't.
I thought it would happen when I started paying for my own insurance and utilities. It didn't.
I thought it would happen when I decided that one of my favorite activities is an evening at home alone. It didn't.
I thought it had happened when I did an entire blog post about how old I'm getting, but apparently it did not.

This is the moment I passed the proverbial threshold into old age: one of the attorneys brought his son to work today. We were chatting and I told him I used to like to hang out at my dad's office when I was younger because I could play in the computer labs and (quote) "When i was your age, people didn't have computers."

Just hand me over a rocking chair, and start calling me granny.

If someone tells you you're one in a million, that means there's a thousand of you in China

It turns out I have another celebrity look-a-like.

Of course most of you know that I'm a dead ringer for Mary Lynn Rajskub (Chloe on 24)
The above picture I think captures the likeness the best, but I like the one below better



Although I look the most like Mary Lynn and have been mistaken for her a few times (most recently by a nice orthodox man in the elevator at work), I have been told recently that I look like Emily Watson (not the girl from Harry Potter, the lady from Miss Potter. Which now that I think about it is kind of a fun similar movie name coincidence):

Not to be cocky or anything, but I do tend to think I'm a better-looking version of either of these two. But perhaps I am getting too big of a head--just last month someone in my ward was so excited because I looked just like Princess Nuala from Hellboy II. At first I was excited because "Princess" anybody sounds like a compliment, but then I looked her up:


I am not currently claiming her as a celebrity look-a-like.