I realize it's been a while, I just haven't been around. I know lame excuse. Things no one tells you before you get married. How much time it sucks out of your own time.  Lucky for me I'm married to a good man so it's not all bad. I can't really blame him or marriage, my apartment is up on the market, I've had 99 million family commitments and we are transitioning over to SAP at work so lots and lots of work hours.

Anyway I had to share. Dhruvi (my sweet kid from PA who's all growed up now) had a very special birthday recently. Her mom (one of my oldest and dearest friends Charchita) brought her and some of her friends into the city for a "Fun NYC day". They got treated to a royal birthday party and lunch at the American Girl Place and then spent most of the day walking around. And it turned out that they were 4 girls out and about the city. Considering my last post about 4 girls this one you'll find cute. Keeping in theme hehehe.

Oh yeah and we checked out Chris Burden as well @ Rockefeller Center.

So after the rest of the world saw it on the first day and I wasn't able to score tickets and sulked and bitched about it for days on end I finally saw Sex & the City and I have 2 words...predictable and disappointing!

SPOILER ALERT...If you are living under a rock, or have some other valid excuse to have not caught it yet don't read on!

My apartment is up for SALE. Details here.

New York Times Listing here.

$229K 1 bed/1bath - Luxkry High Rise (Birchwood Towers - Belair) Forest Hills Queens

23^rd Floor / Large terrace / Un-obstructed gorgeous views

20 minutes to MidtownHardwood Floors / Large Closets

24 Hour Doorman

Central Air / HeatSwimming Pool / Private Benches - Playground

5 minute walk from subway / Austin Street shopping/restaurants

Folks, it started 2 days ago and today in Manhattan it will reach it's peak...Manhattanhenge....the effect dubbed after Stonehenge. Sunsets will align perfectly with the streets in Manhattan from 14th street and above. It's an amazing phenomenon and I've only seen it once but today I'm equipped with camera. If you are in the city around sunset which is 8:20 pm tonite (yup days are getting longer) definitely catch this rather sweet view.

22 million Americans suffer from Asthma. I’m one of them. Every year, asthma causes 14 million missed school days and more than 5,000 deaths in the U.S. It is the leading chronic illness among U.S. children.

Like in previous years I have joined forces with the American Lung Association to help raise money to fight this deadly disease. I will be doing the Asthma Walk on May 31^st 2008 in Battery Park. In previous years I’ve been tremendously successful and all because of you.

Will you help me again? This means so much to me. Any support you give will help a child with asthma breathe easier.

Click on this link to donate!!

OK OK I know I've been MIA. I catch up on other people's blogs from time to time and came to the realization that my blog has turned to shit lately. I haven't had time to post anything but there have been so many interesting posts that have materialized in my head. So I'm making a list that I promise to follow thru on and post about...

1. Reviews for Rafta Rafta & Sita Sings the Blues...I promise I'll do it shortly.

2. Reviews on some fabulous restaurants and some crappy ones I've been to in the past few months.

3. New just in time for the warm weather skin care and make up reviews and updates.

If I can accomplish this in the next week I'll call myself luck.

Oh I've been MIA because we are selling the apartment and moving across 2 rivers. Yes I'm moving to New Jersey. Wow I know. Huge deal but it's such a fantastic opportunity for Himanshu and he's going to be so much happier and richer...oops did I say that?? Hehehehe. Anyway so I've been insanely swamped between work and juggling moving and cleaning up and a bunch of other things.

Anyway so while I'm working on delivering on the promises above here are some fun things to get your summer started with. It's officially summer in New York when the schedules for summer concerts come out.

Like every year I look forward to Central Park Summer Stage. My recommendations for this year and concerts I'd like to check out are:

Mosh Ben Ari and Rupa & the April Fishes - A Jewish Reggae singer and a sultry mix of Hindi Spanish and French oh la la.

Afrika Bambaataa - Afro Hip Hop and oh such a flashback to the 80s for me.

Los Lonely Boys & Los Lobos - Texican rock and roll fun and a legendary band.

Of course it can’t be a New York summer without taking in some of the concerts on the Great Lawn. This is one of the highlights of my summer every year.

New York Philharmonic performs on Central Park’s Great Lawn

Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 8 PM
Bramwell Tovey, Conductor
Shostakovich: Festive Overture
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4, Italian
Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture
Sousa: Selected Marches

Tuesday, July 15, 2008 at 8 PM
Alan Gilbert, Conductor | Lang Lang, Piano
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1
Beethoven: Symphony No. 4
Sibelius: Finlandia

For Philharmonic performances in outer boroughs and in Jersey see the full list HERE.

Another set of fantastic happenings on the Great Lawn in the New York Metropolitan Opera in the Park. However this year they only have one published and listed concert in Prospect Park Brooklyn. Their website contains old unupdated information from last year for Central Park concerts. I'm annoyed. But I cannot find any Central Park concerts for the Opera this year. Oh well.

The rules for park concerts are simple:

Blanket, Candles and take my word on it make sure they are Citronella, Food, Drinks (no glass or alcohol at Summerstage but it’s “ignored and tolerated” on the Great Lawn)

I woke up today mindlessly, nothing was different

I lay awake and stared at the lone plane in the distance

Got ready and put on my favorite red dress

As I looked in the mirror I saw you mama

I saw your lips and your eyes, the same 2 fine wrinkles between your brows
You were putting on your lipstick, the curve of the edge tilting just so

I was 6 and you were a glorious 28 years old

The pleats of your sari were perfect, 6 of them folded against the soft of your belly

A little boy was making his home there, a little boy lost

I saw your hopes and dreams and your infinite heart

I saw you in the mirror today mama

I wish you and yours a very Happy Mother's day coming up. A lame Hallmark holiday I made fun of over the years ... as if you need a actual day to be thankful of your mother ... this is my first mother's day without my mother.

Ladies (or the few men who might read my blog) out there...I need your help....

I'm hoping someone out there can offer me some advise. The wedding was of course 6 months ago and considering I pulled it together in less than 6 weeks it turned out pretty nice. My photographs however came out rather awful and it was devastating.

To top it all my mom passing away and all the travel to India has been tough. Photographs were the last thing on my mind.

I purchased a basic video and photography package from a Photographer in Long Island but they misplaced/lost my video so I didn't get that till about 2 weeks ago. The video wasn't all that great either but now that I had the whole package I ordered in my hand and have had some time to eschew the pictures I wrote them the following letter about our pictures.
April 11th 2008

Dear Elizabeth,

My name is Rupa Gawle-Kale and I got married on October 21st 2007 at the Huntington Hilton in Long Island. I chose Duval for my wedding photography and videography based on a positive personal recommendation. My photographer was Loraine and my videographer was Joe.

I’m writing after spending a long time thinking about this to let you know that I am very unhappy with the photographs. Loraine was very professional and hard working, but she lacked in creative vision and skill. The pictures of the ceremony, family, guests, and venue are acceptable at best. However, the posed pictures of my husband and me are dissatisfactory.

My concerns are the following:

1. The solo pictures of my husband and I are only in my hotel room. This should have never have happened; you see an unmade bed and clutter in the background. After we left, we never got solo pictures again. My husband’s only solo shots are leaning against the table in the hotel room with no natural light.

2. The photographs are not flattering. We are not smiling in most of them because she kept asking us to make different faces and expressions. We aren’t actors - we are real people who were confused and it’s visible in the pictures.

3. I would expect a photographer to understand the body type of her subjects and find the best angles and shots for the pictures. Some of the poses she asked us to do resulted in embarrassing photographs. If the pose had the potential to be flattering, it was taken from the wrong angle. Perhaps this is due to her inexperience with an Indian wedding though I was assured otherwise. I had to request she take certain poses, which she should have known on her own.

4. She unfortunately missed some very key shots. There were only 2 pictures of my henna hands and none of them were in full view, 2 pictures of the wedding cake without flash and most of the first part of our ceremony where we put garlands on each other were taken from behind people in the frame and with no flash so that we are barely visible in the picture. We got married on a huge open stage and she had the options of a lot of angles.

5. The flash and lighting was inconsistent throughout the event. For example, during the outdoor baarat in the morning, the photographs were dark and over exposed. Though it was a bright, beautiful day, most of the pictures are dark.

Fortunately, I am grateful to a friend who happened to take some excellent photographs of the wedding. We’ve taken beautiful pictures in the past thru a lot of different events including our engagement ceremony and it was very disappointing to see us not in the best light on our most important day.

While I have already purchased the photographs, I am not requesting a refund. However, I would like Duval to arrange a session for my husband and I to have our wedding portrait done. At this point I do not have any pictures of us in our wedding clothes that I would like to get framed. I may be reached at 917-123-4567 anytime. I sincerely hope that Duval will do the right thing for us because this has been very very difficult for me.

Sincerely,
Rupa Gawle-Kale

----------------------------------------------------
I received the following letter below from them today: (written exactly including the bold font)
Dear Rupa:

In regards to your letter dated 4/11/08.

I’ll try to answer some of your concerns.

After viewing your photos and video, without going into a lot of detail – we thought the overall photography job was quite nice – and captured your entire day, even with the prevailing conditions of the day.

It is very difficult and extremely challenging to work with a bride that passed out. When this happens and it doesn’t happen often and never twice, the photographer eases off with a lot of posed photographs and constant flashing.

You also appeared very tense and appeared distracted on more than several occasions. This was quite evident and it showed in both your photographs and video. Truthfully, I’m amazed Lorraine was able to photograph as much as she did.

In short, we are not going to go into each and every detail. If you want to blame us 100% for not giving you a perfect job, that is certainly your right. I’m surprised you forgot to mention the other issues in your letter, along with leaving the affair 1 ½ hours prior to the wedding ending.

We are sorry you feel this way about Duval. Since 1966, we have worked with our clients, however most do not wait approx. 6 months to write a letter.

To put this matter behind and go forward. Kindly call us at your earliest convenience to arrange an appointment in our studio. We will be more than happy to give you an in studio portrait session at no cost. You will be supplied with all images on a CD. If you wish to bring a change of clothing, please do so.

Again, call us at your earliest convenience to arrange for your in studio sitting.

Any questions, kindly call, it will be our pleasure to serve you.

Any defamation of character, implied or outright, written or spoken will certain be answered through the proper legal channels.

Best Regards

Phyllis Fein 

--------------------------------------------

I'm so shocked I'm beside myself. They just full on lied! My letter was respectful and now all they’ve done is cause ill will.

Apparently I passed out, oh not once but twice! Right it’s funny I wonder if they can prove it to me on video since they also took my video!! This the most insane lie I have ever heard. You'd think they'd lie about something they can prove and at an event witnessed by 235 people and probably with a million other pictures taken by others as well!!

Not only did I not pass out, no one in my wedding did, no one was sick, ill nothing. Nevermind that I have about 235 people and probably a million pictures others have taken that would have caught me passing out! It was a gorgeous sunny bright day, I looked fantastic and I was happy. Hell like most Indian brides I didn't even cry!! Not once.

According to them I also left the wedding 1 ½ hours early!! I don't even know what to say that. Since we were staying at the same hotel my husband and I were literally the last ones in the venue writing checks out to our vendors after the wedding when they were cleaning the place up (about 2 hours after we sent the photographer/videographer home)

Before I go off into a bytchfest I need some opinions out there from brides who've gone thru this. How would you handle this? I need some calm and collected advise.

You know I would have appreciated a simple “I’m sorry you were unhappy we’ll be happy to do a portrait shoot for you” not made up lies to prove that my accusations were unfounded. I’m baffled at their audacity!

So you can see pictures of us at other events including our engagement party and traditional religious ceremony on our wedding website. 

Here is also a blog post I did about our wedding that has pictures. 39 of the 44 pictures were taken by my friend and saving grace Manish and NOT the photographer. All the pictures of us during the wedding ceremony and the details of the wedding and the dancing pictures from before the ceremony were also taken by Manish.

In the above link, pictures the photographer took the wedding cake picture, the invitation picture and the 3 family pictures outdoors and my henna pictures.

My issue was never that the pictures she took were all bad but I was just so unhappy with posed portrait pictures of my husband and I and those are the ones I really just wanted reshot.

Someone else was able to capture my day in all it's glory and brightness and the happiness on my face. Why couldn't she? Tense I was not as you can see from my pictures taken by someone else! I mean even during the most "serious" parts of our wedding vows I couldn't wipe the grin off my face!!

I'm so deeply disappointed and hurt today and mostly just angry. You don't fuck with me that way. I would have been fine with agreeing to disagree but blatant lies don't make for good conversation with Janie. I will fuck you back I promise!

Much discussion was made the last time I brought the topic of kids up and bitched about it. So be warned. This one is going to be uglier.

Every year Take Your Daughters and Sons to Work Day is an event that has a special place in my heart. I've gotten commendations from pervious employers in the past for my work during this day. So rest assured I love this event and look forward to it every year.

What started out as Take Your Daughters to Work Day (to empower them by showing them what you do to contribute to the world) has evolved into including boys. Fine whatever. We'll include the boys because you know they've lacked the same opportunities women have! **insert eyeroll here** The event is meant for children 7 - 17 to understand and learn about a parent's work place.

This year my workplace because of construction and obstruction outside and inside the building complex chose not to have an organized event. A notice was sent to all employees letting them know of this change. Older children were OK to bring to work but they would be the employeer's responsibility is what they were told.

So much to my chagrin I came into work this morning only to discover that the place was rampant with children of ages that were not to be brought even if there was a scheduled program for a day. OK perhaps too many parents thought it was Show off your Kid at Work Day (You gotta see the baby) and I figure since I don't have children I'll forgive them. Once they are done showing off their kids the kids would go home.

OK the afternoon rolls around and they haven't gotten home. Nevermind that it's boring as hot hell to be on a finance floor for an adult much less a child. But children under 3 and 4 have no business being in a work place in the first place!! Who brings toddlers who run around screaming and yelling at work? And who keeps them there ALL fucking day?

What's wrong with people? Who thunk of this dumbass idea? I swear to god I'm complaining to HR so this shit doesn't happen next year. If there is no Romper room and there are no activities for kids people CANNOT use their coworkers or their office space as a playground for the day. This is ridiculous. It's month end chaos in the department, we are transitioning to SAP and working intense projects and hours and it's now 7 hours later. What the fuck. Somebody gonna getta hurt real bad!

I went to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens with my mother in law this past weekend and it was really nice to see flowers after what seems like an eternal winter. It hasn't been particularly freezing nor have we had too much snow but the winter has just dragged on. It's still quite chilly in the mornings and I haven't been able to entirely pack away all my winter jackets.

The Magnolias are completely open and at their peek. Though outside of the garden in my neighborhood they are just starting to open. Apple blossoms and Cherry Blossoms are starting to bud. There were a few random Blossoms at full bloom but otherwise the gardens are just sprouting life.

It was however a beautiful Saturday morning and it was nice to have a garden to ourselves for a few hours. I recommend you go in another week to two weeks to catch the full effects of the blossoms.

I recently saw this amazing newspiece about the concept of paying it forward. It’s a program called NEAD or Never Ending Altruistic Donor. The way it works is that a total stranger donates a Kidney to a person in need. In turn a family member or a friend of the recepient promises to donate their kidney to someone else in need and the chain carries forward.

As I sat listening to stories of people who have benefitted by this amazing program I cried because I wish my mother had the opportunity of that second chance. She secumbed to her failed kidneys because she couldn’t find a donor. I’d like to do this, in my heart I really do but I also know realistically this isn’t something I’d like to consider till after I’ve had children.

Anyway please check it out and spread the word. If you or someone you know is affected by kidney disease there is a lot of hope there. Also other resources here and here.

This past weekend I caught Into the Wild directed by Sean Penn with Emile Hirsch as the amazing Christopher McCandless and I was so incredibly touched by it. Christopher McCandless was a man who was seeking solitude partly to discover himself and party while to run away from his problems. He wanted to be one with nature and blazed his own path, living on his own terms, as a free spirit and finally dying in the wilderness leaving behind a written journal of his journey.

I think the thing that touched me the most was how much of myself and my life I found in that movie. I was mesmerized by his purity and spirit and drive and innocence as he went about discovering life and relationships with people and nature. I remember being that way, young and pure at heart, no footprints on my mind to follow, experiencing the world for the first time, on my own terms. It was just such an amazing experience. And I survived to lead a rather mundane life. Not too many people can relate to it. This movie is so heartwarming and pure, I highly recommend it.

Every now and then someone will leave a comment or write me privately off the blog asking of advice or simply needing some comfort. I had two such comments recently and I thought I should address them in a post because after I wrote out the responding comment it was so long it deserved a post.

Recently someone posted asking the below question:

Rupa, please, tell me what else your shrink told you regarding attracting true love into your life. I am at a crossroads, not knowing whether or not I want to be single or want to be in a relationship. I've been happy, single and independent for a loooooong time. Then for a short time I lived with a man whom I recently lost. I am still recovering from that - trying to forgive and forget. We both did some pretty crazy things to each other, but I got more affected by it all than him because this was my first real, live in relationship. Now, I'm not sure if I want to be happy and single again or happy and coupled. Sometimes I even consider trying to get him back, even though at our cores, we were not compatible. Still, I miss the "togetherness". How to know if one is meant to be in a relationship or not? How to attract the perfect mate? Agggggggghhhhhhh! The agony of it all!!!

My answer:

My gosh slow down my friend. I’m a strong believer that if you walk away from a toxic lover there is zero reason to go back. He isn’t the only man in the world. There are other men. The biggest advice my shrink gave me and many a sensible girlfriend is that ‘you have to believe in your heart you deserve a good man, who treats you with respect and kindness and love, and you have to hold out for that man’. And no he won’t be an otherwise perfect mate in all respects but just perfect for you.

My husband is a good man, loving, caring, a well provider. He’s however a procrastinator and I need to fill in for that void. He’d much rather be a bum, scratch his butt, not shave and sit on the couch and watch whatever sport is on even though when pushed and inspired he absolutely has the best time doing other things. I need to provide that push and inspiration. I’m hot and short tempered and not the best person to do the talking in a heated situation. He needs to fill in that void. I’m good with finances, bad with laundry. He takes care of that. I’m fairly Republican, he’s quite Liberal. And we argue about it all the time. Neither of us is perfect and with the wrong partner we’d be unbearable, but we are perfect for eachother.

So throw out the notion of finding the “perfect mate”, there is no such thing. The perfect mate may not like the same things you do, and may not always see eye to eye with you but he will always treat you with respect, consideration and like a gentleman.

Secondly there is no rule or law of the land anywhere that telsl you you need to choose between being in a relationship or not. The right way to do it is to cross the bridge when you get to it. That's not just the right way but the healthy way. If you are single now, heal yourself from your hurt and enjoy being single. Just because one relationship was wrong doesn't mean the one that comes around next would be as well. If you approach life with that negativity you won't find love. Your heart has to be open for it. I loved being single and enjoyed every minute of it. As has my husband. I'm glad for it. When the right man comes along you'll be open to love and a relationship with him. Why do you need to choose at all?

Remember life is very very long (some people like to believe it’s short), if you are a young person with your whole life ahead of you you are doing disservice to yourself by wondering if it’s better off being single. Even being single looses it’s charm when everyone around you starts getting coupled and having babies and moving on with life. Not that that should be the end all of anyone’s existence but there is progression in life, don’t fight it. We as humans need, crave and deserve love. Don’t shut yourself from it.

Another post by Anisha from a little while ago deserved a response:

rupa thank you for this post. it really helped me to put in perspective some of the things my mil has done to me like ranting for two consecutive days about the fact that her son emptied the dishwasher and started the washing machine plus nit picking on every little thing that i do. it was all so traumatic for me because this is the first time in my life i've encountered something like this. i told my husband she needed to see a shrink but i had no idea that this sort of behavior is so common in india (i've never visited india).

it's just so sad that generations of men and women propagate this negativity however, as you said hopefully attitudes will change in the future.

I’m sorry it took me this long to respond. At first I thought about whether I should respond with something and then it slipped me but I think you deserve a response. I could recant for you mother in law tales that would make you think your mother in law is an angel sent from heaven. I have girlfriends who are absoultely wonderful wives, mothers, homemakers, daughter in laws and overall good Indian girls and let me tell you their mother in laws are total bitches.

I have often wondered how sad it is that these mother in laws don’t realize how lucky they are and what if they’d gotten a sharp tongued, quick witted, curt and to the point daughter in law like me. I’d probably drive them to jump out the window. But that’s life. With all my fiestiness and might I ended up getting a sweet mother in law. She’s overbearingly sweet but wicked, cunning and a bitch she is absolutely not. And when I was in India everyone kept telling me “my god you are so lucky” and I though it was so sad that by default our culture expects mother in laws to be jerks.

I can tell you this, from all my observations I have realized that something happens to mothers when their sons get married. There obviously is something emotional mental happening that is hard for you and I to explain because we aren’t in their shoes but the behavior is consistent with so many examples I’ve known. I’m sure it’s difficult for them to see another woman in their son’s life or perhaps it’s hard to watch what she did for him be replaced by someone else.

Yes a mother and wife aren’t equal for all intents and purposes but in a lot of ways the roles are very similar and when a man gets married he lets go of so much of that relationship with his mother and starts it with his wife. I’ll give you an example. Himanshu used to discuss a lot of things about his career and finances with his mother before I came along. But now he simply doesn’t. Is he being cruel? Not at all, it’s just life’s transition. But does she feel the effects of it? Absolutely. And I can imagine she has her moments where she feels she has no value for him because she is neither providing him with sustenence (food/caring) nor providing him with support (mental/emotional) that she did in the past and it I’m sure leaves a definite void in her life.

Be patient with your mother in law. She’s probably going thru her own emotional upheaval about the new relationship in his life where she isn’t needed in the same capacity as before. It’s highly possible she will adjust and eventually accept the change and also quite possible that she will continue to be angry about it and it will manifest itself in bad ways towards you.

The key is to realize you can only control your actions and not her. However I strongly suggest that you do keep an open line of communication with your husband about what is happening. Don’t hide from the feelings, don’t not speak up but also don’t tell him his mom needs to see a shrink. What she may be feeling is perfectly normal though how she is reacting to it may not be. If he becomes more aware of her actions he might be able to control the situation better. When she whines about you making him work in the house he should speak up and say “it’s his house too and that he doesn’t need his wife’s permission to work in it” or something to that effect. Humor and to the point but make a point.

Another example I’ll give you. Being newly married we constantly struggle for space from my husband’s family. They would rather us live with them, and sleep in our bed I feel sometimes to “comfort us” and “take care of us”. It can be stifeling despite the attention coming from the right place in the heart. He and I work extremely long hours so quality time with each other is scarce and when families impose on you continually with no break it can cause a lot of disconnection between two spouces.

When he recently admitted that he felt stifled himself and it would perhaps help to talk to his parents I told him he was crazy. That would just be cruel. They don’t deserve that. It would be jerky to say “Mom dad I know you really miss us and want to see us but we don’t really care to see you all the time.” The sensitive and sensible way to go about it is to point by example. Make a point when a action takes place, not after the moment has passed. That means when they complain they haven’t seen us forever and try to emotionally guilt us when they’ve just seen us 2 days before it’s a good example to point out their folly to them. I know his parents are very sensible, especially my very practical mother in law and she’ll understand.

5 months into the marriage I still get my husbands favorite food sent over all the time. It used to drive me crazy initially. His take was that she was making it easier for me since I work long hours. I just wish I had more control over our food choices and my kitchen but you have to pick some battles and others aren’t worth it. This one I decided wasn’t worth it. Her heart is in the right place and I should never ever have a problem with my husband’s mother loving him. There are other bigger battles to wage I’m sure in the future. I’ll save the angst for it. You should do the same.

I have to be honest once upon a time I used to love this particular parade. I'm not sure why but I'm a huge fan of bagpipes and the sound of them ringing in the background would make me immensely happy. However over the years it has sort of lost it's charm for me and it's possible this would be the last year I'd care to take pictures. Maybe it's the loud and obnoxious crowd on a Monday in the middle of Fifth Avenue or the green puke on the sidewalk or the drunken brawls and possibly this is the case with all parades but I don't attend too many parades and this one takes place during the week so I've become annoyed with it. Anyway here are pictures...and yes I wore green that day because we had a brand kick off meeting and in keeping with the color of my brand I tend to wear green on those days. It was just coincidence that it was St. Pats day.

I got tagged by Zen. 5 posts 5 categories. So here goes:

Family:

Lately I feel like almost all my posts are about family. I felt like they were for a while. When my mom was sick and after she passed I felt so much need to emote about family. Readers were so warm and supportive it was very comforting. But I’m again out of the family mode. I think my favorite 5 posts about family have been:

My experience with family culture in India

Reminiscing over Diwali

I got engaged and my mom was so severely ill all at once. I was going thru such a hard time emotionally. That was the last time I saw my mother alive.

My mom and her utter fabulousity

Family filling in during the wedding. My wedding kept a lot of close family out and I never felt their loss because of how much everyone did for us.

Friends

Friends mean the world to everyone I'm sure but in the absence of my family my friends have really held a special place in my heart.

I think my most recent show of love from my friends was at my Bridal Shower

Celebrating friendships and attending Fashion events with them

Ringing in the new year with friends. My last new year as a single women. I had such a great time and I had no idea that literally a year later I’d be with someone. 

Celebrating Hanukah with my girlfriend Jessica and an ode to the Hinjew

Traveling with friends and having friends come help me in my new place.

Yourself

This whole blog is all about me! Hello Jane of all trades!!?? How much more narcissistic can one get?

Woe is me.

Truly all about me….

Errr more about me

Booo hooo I can’t find a boyfriend

Oh those terrible freeloaders

Your Love

I feel like I have two loves. One is my husband and the other is travel. So I can’t really address one and not the other.

An ode to my love

Our wedding

India 

New Mexico

Bermuda & Bahamas

Anything you like

Two words: Makeup and Bytching!!

Me bytching about a government office

Me bytching about dolls

Errrr nail polish

Skin Care

Make up

I’m really excited about John Adams starting this weekend on HBO. A 7 part series there are several exciting factors for me. Hello my favorite time period in history, Jefferson and Washington, Tom Hanks is the executive producer, Paul Giamatti playing John Adams and they couldn’t have found someone better suited in terms of talent of looks, based on one of my favorite books of all time John Adams, written by one of my favorite authors of all time David McCullough. You know where I’ll be this Sunday.

It’s that time of the year again when I’m sure I’ll be treated to the sight of green puke early in the AM walking to work! St Patricks Day Parade is on Monday. It’s always “interesting” to say the least and having an office facing 5^th Avenue is definitely a treat, from the inside! If you haven’t ever seen it it’s definitely worth checking out. It’s the first parade of the year every year and kicks off the warm season.

I’m bummed. Was supposed to go see Van Halen on Monday. Concerts been canceled. Eddie’s Cancer has made a comeback.

I can't begin to tell you how deeply hurt and disappointed I am regarding the latest bomb about Elliot Spitzer. I'm hurt because I personally believed in him. He has had an illustrious career and I really admired him. I admired his stand against corruption and I saw hope in him and I'm just disgusted. He's a complete hypocrite. This man abused power becuase he could. $5K hookers??? Come on. He had 3 daughters. I'm so appalled.

I read some survey this morning regarding what his wife Silda Wall Spitzer should do and I just felt so sad. When I watched her tired but very calm face during the annoucement he made my heart just sank. She is the one that has to feel the shame and this man blatantly didn't just indulge in illegalities but in immoralities and now she's the one that is being watched. The same happened when McGreevy went down and his wife had to endure the embarrassment and shame while he was out attending coming out parties.

Please leave this woman alone. She has a long marriage and a relationship with a man who has done some serious wrong and caused her hurt and shame. She has grown daughters she has to worry about and she has to deal with this alone. Please give her the space and privacy she so desperately deserves. It's not fair to go after her, put the spotlight on her and scrutanize her. And it's certainly digusting to say things like "She probably knew anyway." Leave her alone.