Phone Photo Ops - Cocktail View

In New York, you're more likely to look up and glimpse the top of
the Empire State Building while having drinks with coworkers.


This afternoon my boss authorized a mandatory 4 p.m. evacuation of our office to the outdoor bar in Bryant Park. Who were we to object?

Phone Photo Op - Morning View

August morning moon above the Hudson River
from my Harlem apartment

Phone Photo Op - City Parking

Monthly parking rates in New York are equivalent
to an additional car payment

... and this is a good rate for the city

Quote of Whenever - Side Order of Life

"You know my advice to you has never been terribly maternal so I'm not going to start now. But I just want to say, make opportunity for yourself. Don't jump on someone else's and go along for the ride because then you'll always be in the passenger's seat. And you, my dear, need to drive."

- Jenny's Mom in "Side Order of Life," the First Loves episode (aired Sun, 9/26).

Her mother's advice is exactly what Terrence and I chose for ourselves and for each other a little over a year ago. Funny how you can realize your own moments through someone else's ... even if it's just primetime TV. That generally explains the success of shows like "Sex and the City," "Friends," and most of the programming on Lifetime.

Terrence and I are not first loves, but in our current lives, I think T and I have found a way to have our cake and eat it, too.

Not a quote of the day, week or month. Just of whenever. Until the next quote that moves me.

City Walk #13 - Carnegie Hill & Beyond

Card no. 39 - photos
The museum-rich slice of the Upper East Side takes its name from the 64-room brick mansion built by industrialist Andrew Carnegie in 1902 at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 91st.

Begin at 86th Street and Fifth Avenue (4, 5, or 6 train to 86th Street).
For the best view of the classic buildings lining upper Fifth Avenue, most of which date from the 1920s, head uptown on the park side of the avenue before crossing at East 88th Street to the Guggenhein Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and completed in 1959. (The museum's cafe makes an excellent lunch stop and can be entered directly near 88th Street.) On leaving, turn right up Fifth to the old Carnegie mansion, which fills the block between East 90th and 91st. Now housing the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, it is well worth an extended visit. Directly across East 91st Street are the handsome twin mansions of the Convent of the Sacred Heart; down the block on the south side is the Spence School, one of the city 's half-dozen elite schools for girls (it's Gwyneth Paltrow's alma mater). Turn left on Madison and left again on East 92nd Street to the Jewish Museum, a singular resource for Jewish art and Judaica, with a first-rate bookstore. Head uptown another ten blocks to two more museum treasures, the Museum of the City of New York and El Museo del Barrio, which share a view of Central Park's most elegant and secluded six acres, the Conservatory Garden. Pass through the handsome iron gates - which once guarded the Vanderbilt mansion at Fifth and East 58th (it was torn down in the 1920s to make way for Bergdorf Goodman) - and find a quiet spot to sit awhile in the 19th century.

From City Walks: New York: 50 Adventures on Foot by Martha Fay

Phone Photo Ops - City Walk #13

Today's route: Carnegie Hill & Beyond


Heading north on Fifth Avenue


Guggenheim under construction


Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum
in the old Carnegie mansion


Convent of the Sacred Heart


Spence School (Gwyneth Paltrow's alma mater)


Homes along East 92nd Street


Jewish Museum


Part of Mt. Sinai Hospital


Peering into Central Park from Fifth Avenue


Museum of the City of New York


105th Street at the entrance of the Conservatory Garden


Entering the garden


I spent more time in this garden than walking up Fifth ...


... It was so beautiful




Looking east toward Fifth Avenue


To be dubbed my favorite sculpture in the city


Central Park North looking toward Harlem

Phone Photo Ops - Around the Reservoir

Before I departed alone on my 13th Sunday City Walk, I took an after-Upper-East-Side-brunch walk around the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir with an old college classmate/new post-college friend Katie (visiting from Washington, D.C.) and another new friend Carrie (moved to New York two weeks ago to start a graduate program at NYU).

It wasn't this dark; no way to adjust over-exposure on my camera phone


Couldn't help but remember the scene from The Devil's Advocate


Looking toward the Upper West Side from the south of the reservoir


A bridge on the west side of the reservoir

Insightful Taboo

During a round of Taboo at a friend's birthday BBQ in Morningside Park this afternoon, Bettina was attempting to describe a word without saying any of the listed taboo words on the card:

"Sometimes when I don't want to have sex, I say that I have a ..."

"Headache!" all of the girls on her team shouted in unison. An awkward silence and confused wait-a-minute looks circulated among the guys of the opposing team.


The answer was, indeed, headache.

Faux Walk of Shame

Why did I wake up this morning in a random hotel room in Midtown to the sound of a secret service agent locking and loading his weapons in preparation to go on security detail?

It would be fun to write about a lurid night of guns and sex, but my lock-and-load awakening was merely the result of a night involving many Manhattan bars, my JFK girl Cassie, a former Real World cast member, his childhood friend (the secret service agent) and me, having had more drinks than was prudent of one who had a 3am, 30-minute, no. 1 train return to Harlem ahead.

It was against my better judgement to crash at the hotel room of a guy I had known for less than eight hours ... and ... it was against my better judgement to ride the train home in the middle of the night while mildly impaired. But since he was a close friend of the Real World celeb, and the Real World celeb was a close friend of my JFK girl, I voted against the latter and was relieved to save the $30 in cabfare. And as my JFK girl pointed out, a young secret service agent doesn't want any federal morning-after scandals, and an upscale Midtown hotel is generally safer than the subway in the wee hours of morning. It wasn't like he was some knuckle-head we had met in a pub; he and I had actually spent sporadic moments of our bar-hopping debating various political issues. And with the dawn of morning light, he proved to be a gracious host, lending a pair of shorts and a T-shirt to sleep in ... and a perfect gentlemen, respecting my personal space and allowing me to sleep in while he went on duty at 8am.

It wasn't until I was leaving the hotel solo later that morning when I began to feel sufficiently awkward. I changed back into my halter top, mini skirt and black, strappy shoes with a zipper up the heel; neatly folded the clothes he had lent me; brushed my teeth with the hotel's complimentary tooth brush, and wrote a quick thank-you note. As the elevator began its descent, it seemed to stop on every other floor, picking up other [legitimate] guests (mostly young families), and I was suddenly acutely aware of how I looked .... in night club attire, day-old makeup and frizzy hair.

And as the doors opened into a packed, Saturday-morning-in-the-city hotel lobby, I knew that I was beginning [what would appear to the rest of the world to be] an early morning walk of shame. The other guests streamed out in front of me, eager to begin a day of sightseeing, but I hesitated briefly in the doorway. I noticed one of the girls behind the front desk give me a second look as I fished in my purse and dreadfully realized what I must look like with so many Congressman staying in the hotel over the weekend. I swallowed the self-conscious lump in my throat, slipped on my sunglasses, tossed my hair over my shoulder, and tried to manage my baddest bitch face while I strolled out of the lobby like I meant to be there. Never mind the short skirt and black high heels before noon on a Saturday morning.

I avoided the gazes of construction workers and cabdrivers, caught a glimpse of myself in a window and was reminded briefly of Pretty Woman minus the amazing red curls and black knee-high boots ... and, oh yea, the $3000. I do have some long legs though, I thought to myself; however, the self-approval didn't last long as I turned a corner onto Seventh Avenue. I was sure I was among thousands of New Yorkers making similar pilgrimages home, but to my dismay, I only passed children, grandmothers and people with huge cameras dangling around their necks.

At a corner, I bought a hotdog and entered the subway to catch an uptown 1 train. Just when I thought I was home free, a man in a "Jesus Saves" T-shirt stood to exit the train at 86th Street. Before he disembarked, he methodically placed a brochure next to me on the seat. As he turned to step off the train, I looked down and saw this:

Phone Photo Ops - Last Days of Summer

Summer Fridays are coming to an end. Labor Day Weekend marks the last Friday that I can leave the office at 2 p.m. and still receive pay for a full workday. I hung out in Bryant Park for an hour this afternoon, and below is a photo essay of my observations.

Phone Photo Ops - Eve Live in the AM

How cool is my boss (the VP one)? I arrived at work early this morning to try to finish up some of this week's work and take advantage of the 2 p.m. Summer Friday, and she said to me: "Eve is performing downstairs. I left you a voicemail about it. Go down to the concert!"

So I turned around, walked out of the office and crossed the street to Bryant Park, where Eve was performing live on Good Morning America's Live Summer Concert Series.






Eve with the GMA crew


Behind the scenes

Phone Photo Ops - Urban Hazzards

As seen this morning outside of the Starbucks at 42nd and Sixth


One should watch out for spit, excess dust and falling tools, but should you become a victim of a construction accident, call the New York Construction Accidents Law Firm.

Phone Photo Ops - Psycho End to Summer Movies

Last night, Jamario and his girlfriend Stephanie joined me on the lawn for the original Psycho starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins, the last show of the 2007 HBO Bryant Park Summer Film Festival.


Not as crowded as last week, probably due to the overcast skies


The infamous shower scene


Almost similar to my profile photo ...


... Yet slightly different from my uncropped original


It was a pretty psycho scene on the lawn ...


... But it was even crazier how clean the public restrooms
are in Bryant Park

Phone Photo Ops - Signing on the 1

I am always fascinated by people using sign language - especially in large groups, like these guys on an uptown 1 train during yesterday evening's return from the beach house via the LIRR and the 7th Avenue Line.


They were so animated and lively throughout their conversation that I could not help but wonder what they were discussing. Yet it was so quiet.