A boy's life...

Boys & Their Toys

So I finally broke down on Friday and bought myself an iPhone.

We will not speak about how Apple announced a new 16GB iPhone yesterday morning. No...zzzzip! Nope! No talking! I'm fine with my 8GB. Just fine, thank you.

Anyway, my new iPhone is, hands down, the best toy I have ever owned. It's kind of amazing. As with everything Apple, it's sleek, it's streamlined, and it's highly functional in every way I need it to be. I love products that seem like they were designed from the bottom up, not from the top down. It was clearly designed as a device who's sole purpose is to deliver you information, be that voice, data, web, media, date planning, etc. And it's all integrated. Genius. Pure genius.

Secretly, I think my iPod classic is getting a little jealous that I haven't been playing with it as much, but so it goes. She'll get a workout when I'm working out. I don't really want to use the iPod features of my iPhone at the gym. Having my phone with me there will just be a massive distraction.

On other fronts, Rex and I are going on the Atlantis Mexico Cruise from October 18th to the 26th. I am so psyched to be going. Particularly as this time, I'll be going with my man. I have been wanting to share this experience with him since we started dating. I've been on two of these gay cruises, and they are amazing vacations. Beautiful boats, waking up in a new place every morning (uh, that's a new PORT every morning, not a new bed, btw...ahem), and some of the most killer music you'll ever hear. There's simply no comparison to dancing your a$$ in the middle of the ocean under the stars.

If anyone out there wants to join us, we're happy to have you join us. Both Rex and I are fine with going by ourselves (as we clearly have no problem making new friends), but having friends around is a good thing on these vacations. As I've been on two Atlantis cruises before and am considered an "alumnus", I was able to pre-book for this cruise. To my knowledge, the cruise will go on sale to the general public in a week or so. Let me know if you want more info...

Happy Birthday x 2!!!

Today is my blog's birthday. Today is also my dog's birthday.

Today, my blog is two years old. Today, Eloise is six years old.

My blog was born on a rainy afternoon two years ago today on the 34th floor of 1585 Broadway. Eloise was born on an unseasonably warm and balmy day six years ago today in Belpre, OH.

I can hardly believe it's been two years since I started writing this blog. My disbelief comes not from any quantifiable metric about the blog itself, but more about the way it has helped me mark the passage of time. So much has happened to me in the past two years. I look back at the first several entries and remember how I felt at that time. I was pretty lost in the world, finding a new home and ending a relationship. It wasn't the funnest time in my life, I'll tell you that. But over the course of two years, a new home, many new friends (some through this blog), and the best boyfriend a boy could hope for, I find myself...well...a much happier blogger than when I started.

And my Smoo. My little Eloise. My, how the time has flown by, eh? I still remember the first day you came home to me. I believe my exact words to your Mommy were, "Let me see it." You crawled towards me, took one look at my face, crawled into my lap, and promptly fell asleep. It was love at first sight for both of us. While you no longer live with me, I don't see you as much as I would like, and your sixth year has found a little more grey on your chin, I still love you dearly. Oh, and I don't have a present for you this year. Umm, hopefully your really cool new Christmas bowls make up for that. Don't be angry with Daddy, Eloise. He's poor. ;-)

Here's to another wonderful year for the blog and Eloise! Many happy returns to you both!

West Coast Travels

I am, once again, tagging along with Rex to San Francisco when he goes for Wonder Con. I'll be there from the morning of Wednesday, February 20th to the early afternoon of Monday, February 25th.

And I am so totally excited. :-)

I have loved San Francisco ever since I was a wee tyke. I would go out and visit my uncles out there on Buena Vista Terrace and just have the greatest times. Even though they've moved, I am thankful that Rex provides me a way to still get out there. It's just such a wonderful city. So much to see and do. And this is coming from a New Yorker.

Honestly, I really just love the air out there. It feels like pure energy when I breathe it. And the weather was literally designed for my body. Cool in the morning, cool in the evening. And nice and warm in the middle of the day. Easy for layering, outfit changes, and general fabulousness. ;-)

So all my Cali friends go on notice. Mark your calendars, yo!

What else? Well, our Christmas tree is still up. Is that wrong? Are we lazy? Well, yes. But secretly, I feel like I should be taking it down by now. Christmas is officially over, New Years has come and gone, and now we're heading into spring, judging by our current weather the depths of real winter. Maybe this weekend...

For anyone who's up for a Breuklyne adventure, my friend Ilona has a photograph (or several? not sure) displayed in an exhibit at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Rex and I will be there around 2:00pm this Saturday. See here for details.

On a sad note, Roger & Dave's is closing. Yeah, both of 'em. They're having a 50% off everything sale, so go, pillage, and purchase all of the pithy t-shirts, mini-lunchboxes, and sassy irreverent bunny magnets that your heart desires. See here for details.

Painful Reemergence

So after 11 wonderful days of vacation, I returned to the American Workforce yesterday morning. And let me tell you, getting out of bed at 6:30am was extremely painful.

Today was even worse. 12 degrees is just plain inhuman.

Anyway, the time off from work was awesome. I stepped out of work on the 21st, shut off my Blackberry, and didn't turn it back on again until yesterday morning. I only received one work-related phone call halfway through the Christmas week, and it was resolved within minutes. Not too shabby, I must say.

In the 11 days off, I managed to accomplish my one actual goal, which was to see most of my friends. I also got to walk around my city a lot, which I feel like I haven't done in a loooong time. Granted, it was a little nutty around here just pre-Christmas, but as previously discussed, Christmas Day and subsequent days were nice and quiet.

Other than that, I managed to get in a lot of serious nap time, some q.t. with the Xbox, a beautiful Christmas morning with Eloise, a fabulous Christmas night with the bf, and one killer New Years party at Oliver Kamm's house. One dandy holiday vacation, if I do say so myself.

I'm actually over the initial shock of being back at work. In fact, it's kind of nice. I did really enjoy my time off. I haven't been able to relax like that since...well...last January in P.V. But I truly do enjoy my job, so being here is, while not "fun", per se, at the very least, purposeful.

To all of you whom I did not get to talk to over the holiday, I hope it was a happy and a healthy one for you. And a happy 2008!

Holiday, Holiday...

So it's the holiday season. Officially. Like Rockefeller Center tree viewing, Park Avenue Christmas lighting, Gap stores jingling, Macy's window watching, doubly annoying tourist tripping holiday season.

I do so love Christmas in NYC. It can be a little frenetic, but it can also be really joyous and peaceful at the same time. For instance, on Christmas Day, this city is so quiet, you could hear a pin drop. It's pretty cool.

Given the current state of my Christmas plans, I may very well be witnessing that quiet city day in first person. My parents requested that I go down to Savannah to see them for Christmas. First off, I really don't want to do that. My idea of a good Christmas is not going to Georgia. No offense to Georgia-types, but I'm a Connecticut kid. I need cold. I need pine trees. I need snow (or at least the threat of it). I need Bailey's. I need to have my nose freeze off when I run outside to go grab more firewood. That's Christmas to me. Not Paula Dean and "Hot-lanta". *blech*

Also, given the state of my wallet these days, I was not about to front the $300+ dollars so I could show face with my parents. I have better things to spend that money on this season. Like my boyfriend. Oh, and food. Yeah. That. They were also unwilling to pay for it themselves, so, apparently, we've reached an impasse.

Honestly, I don't mind spending Christmas Eve by myself. Rex will be home on Christmas Day, which is all that really matters to me. As long as I get to spend Christmas with the man I love, all is well with the world.

The prospect of enjoying some downtime in my peaceful city is also eminently appealing to me right now. I have off work from December 21st until January 2nd. So I will have lots of time to chill. *contented sigh*

Oh, and in the long and ongoing blog series of "why my boyfriend is better than yours", I would like you all to take  a view at the photo on your right. As has been well documented on this blog, I am a big fan of the Christmas Tree. I love them, and having one in my home during the holiday season is a big deal to me. I had to forego getting one last year, and things were shaping up to be the same this year (money reasons and travel plans). However, this past Sunday morning, Rex went out and brought me home a tree as a surprise. A big, beautiful, pine-smelling tree. Best...boyfriend...ever.

Adventures in Cooking

I have been quite adventurous in the kitchen as of late.

I believe it to be a direct correlation to having my man living with me now. I want to cook for him and make him happy. And, apparently, fat. But hey, I figure, the bigger he is, the less anybody else will want him but me.

Strangely enough, that's actually the exact opposite of what's been happening lately. But that's a story for another blog day.

I think one of my crowning achievements in the past months has been the crepe. With a few false starts, I have managed to master the elusive and delicate crepe recipe. Rex's favorite is the Nutella & Banana crepe. I'm looking to expand my crepe repertoire perhaps into dinner crepes as well. Anyone want to be my guinea pig?

The other night, I branched into the soup category, and broke in my brand spanking new Waring Pro Stainless Steel blender at the same time to create what was, I dare say, killer homemade tomato soup. I quickly followed it up last night with butternut squash soup. I'm like a madman with that blender. It rules.

My next challenge is dough. I know. Sounds innocuous, doesn't it? Trust me. It is not. Last night, I attempted to make an apple-cranberry pie. I had never made pie dough before, and it turned out to be much more challenging than I had anticipated. I muddled through, and the pie was tasty, but it was not as successful as I would have wanted. Try, try again, I suppose.

I've wanted to go to cooking school for a long time. I even looked into classes a few years back at The New School here in the city. I come from a family of good cooks, so I have some basic skills, but I'd be curious to see what I could accomplish with some real training. We shall see...perhaps after I get a raise as a result of this promotion. *ahem*

Fall Forward

I have been a busy little beaver this past few weeks.

Oh, yes. I got a promotion. Yes, yes. *applause* All I have to say is, "ABOUT F#CKING TIME!" I have worked my a$$ off for this company, and it feels good to get a little recognition. I am now supervising the entire web and interactive team at in our marketing department. My official title is "Web/Interactive Supervisor". I can even hire/fire! Maybe I'll fire someone today. Hmm...

I have to bust my a$$ until March, since reviews/raises happen then. So the "busy beaver" effect will continue for a while, I think. It's ok. I like the busy-ness. Especially in the winter. To be slow during the winter is just deadly.

Rex's and my home is officially reached a state of kick-a$$-ness. The office/guestroom conversion is complete, curtains et al. It is sooooo nice to have a spot for all of our books, nick-nacks, office furniture, computers, etc. So now our bedroom is blissfully open and airy. I loves it. We still have some more tweaking to do, and there's always artwork to be purchased, but the place is really coming together. Expect news about a housewarming sometime soon. Do I smell a Holiday Party? Mmmm?

Thanksgiving is rapidly approaching, and we're having some people over, which I'm very excited about. Particularly my Sammy Jo. :-) Even if I have to cook things that "never had a face" for her. D#mn vegetarian hippies. However, I love cooking for people, and Thanksgiving is just the ultimate challenge in that department. A finely orchestrated concerto of skill, timing, and presentation. Or a disaster, depending on how much wine I end up drinking while cooking. So it goes.

So I've sort of become addicted to Facebook. My profile is here. I know, I need another social networking site like I need a hole in my head. But, honestly? It's sort of amazing. It's everything that Friendster should have been, but didn't have the smarts to become. Wait...is my blog going to get shut down for saying that? Ah, well. But I've strongly considered moving my blog over there. We shall see. Friendster, MySpace, Connexion, and Facebook is a bit much. I think I'm too accessible these days.

Is that possible?

Furniture & Leather

I've been out of blog commission for a while. I guess life has just been moving along at a quicker pace lately.

My home has been a non-stop revolving door of guests lately. It's been both good and bad. Between visiting guests and Scott using our home for his launching pad into NYC, I haven't really had any time just to relax at home. But ya know, having a place that's flexible enough to help out friends in such a way is a benefit unto itself. I just miss walking around in the buff and having lazy evenings with just Rex. *sigh*

Bryan moved out yesterday, speaking of big home changes. Rex and I bought new dishes and a new set of bathroom stuff for the other bathroom on Wednesday. I felt all gay and excited to pick out dishes with him. :-)

This weekend will hopefully be an Ikea and West Elm run to get all the new furniture for the office/guest room. Again, all gay and excited.

I am also looking at a completely Eagle weekend. Saturday night, the Mr. Leather Contest will be featuring one Mr. Don Turner. As I said to him, Rex and I are planning on wearing cheerleading outfits that say "Don's #1 Fans". We've been practicing our moves all week. You should all come and check out the contest. Should be awesome.

And on Sunday, one Mr. Garett Gentry will be throwing an informal get-together at The Eagle. Judging by the size and quality of the guest list, I'm going to get about three seconds to say hello to the boy, but so it goes. When you're popular, you're popular.

And on the random front, for those of you thinking of kayaking or wading through the Gowanus Canal, think again.

While this has not yet happened to me, I do sometimes worry about the amount of technology I put in my pants pockets.

And that's all for now. Happy Friday, all!

Procrastination Reigns Supreme

In a brilliant effort to avoid any and all work this Friday afternoon, I am writing about absolutely nothing. Brace yourselves.

Hmm...so Rex and I have been plotting how to lay out the home once Bryan moves out (No rush, Bryan! I swear, love! ;-). We've decided to turn the extra bedroom into an office/guestroom. And after some serious deliberation about building homemade shelves, we've given into the "Ikea nesting instinct" and are possibly going down the Billy bookshelf route. They have both bookshelf options and display case options. And they have uplighting options built in. And corner units. I mean...how perfect is that?

Ilona, you're driving us to Ikea. Rev 'er up. >=)

What else? Oh, ok. So I'm rather addicted to Pink's new song, "Who Knew?" I suggest downloading it. It's classic Pink and kind of amazing.

John introduced me to "Dinosaur Comics" yesterday. I'm now addicted. Check 'em out. Genius.

Tonight is all about Duane's birthday. If you have no plans, come join us at Snaxx and rock out in celebration. Should be good times, as he's invited the free known world.

Tomorrow, Rex and I are going up to Nick and John's for dinner and a sleepover, which should be awesome. I haven't been up to their place in Westchester since their Christmas party of 2004. That's a mighty long time. Nick is a killer cook, so I am ridiculously excited to mangia whatever he's making. I picked up the perfect gift for them today. Not to toot my own horn, but that's particularly difficult, since they're kind of those boys that have everything.

And Sunday, God willing, will be relaxing. It's supposed to be beautiful, so I'm aiming to get the last of the summer rays/first of the autumn rays on the Christopher St. pier. Other than that, maybe a movie? Dragon Wars? Glenn? We shall see...

So this has been sufficiently random. I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Down with Crocs

In the spirit of throwing something lighthearted out there into the blogosphere today, I'm going on a rant.

People who wear Crocs should be publicly ridiculed. Moreover, people who put them on their children should be publicly flogged. I will stand by those statements until the day I die. And anyone who argues against me is clearly mentally impaired. So there.

(I know, Tuesday was the day for grand, sweeping, and unsubstantiated statements of faith and vitriol. I feel like going for the gusto today, though.)

Honestly, people, they're GARDEN SHOES. They were specifically designed for people who didn't want to get their other socially acceptable shoes dirty when they gardened. They're made of plastic. You can put them in the dishwasher. Do you really think you should be wearing shoes out in public that you can put in the dishwasher? We're all grown-ups here. Take the extra energy it takes to buy some nice shoes for yourself. Come on.

Now, regarding children. I could possibly understand the argument that Crocs are cheap, easy to slip on the kids, and easy to wash. I get that. But you don't dress them in garbage bags because clothes are hard to clean, do you? You don't allow them to run amuck without diapers and poop everywhere because diapers are expensive, do you?

Good fashion sense starts at home, parents. Think about it. The choices you make today will drive the fashion faux pas of the future.

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one out there with a vendetta against the plastic shoe-wearing folk (and no, I'm not talking about Jellies, all of you 9-year-old girls...those are cool). This guy has a whole blog and apparel store devoted to hating Crocs. That's pretty fly.

Oh, and Bush wears them. That's reason enough to avoid Crocs at all costs.