Tuesday, August 26, 2008

3G

It's a madhouse at the 5th avenue Apple store. I'm here geting my new iPhone!!! My 2G sold yesterday on eBay for $350 (complete with a big scratch from when I dropped it at newark airport) so I am psyched to get it hands on a slick new one. I'm going for the white 16gig.

Friday, August 22, 2008

chinatown

I was scheduled to get an ultrasound of my kidney today. The oxford
website setme up with a radiology center that was literally across the
street from my office. Unforjnqtely when I got there the doorman told
me they had moved from 59th to canal street. So I trekked down here to
get this done, was approached by five different people on the street
to buy everything from a fake diamond ring to a coach bag. I waded
throw the produce stands and past the shops with cooked ducks in the
window. Then I get here and realize I am the only non-Asian here!!
Everything is in Chinese! I love it. Hopefully I will still have a
kidney when I get out.

Check out the cosmo-girl:

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

commuter karma

it seems that i have really bad commuter karma, which is a bad thing for someone that travels as much as i do. over the past few months i have been back and forth to sf for work. i have sat for hours in airports, on the plane, in the train station or even on a train -- waiting, just waiting like i always do.

i hate hate hate it so much i just want to give up. i mean every once in a while is ok but when it happens like every time you have to go somewhere??!?!? -- i get pretty pissed. my last trip from newark to chicago was delayed over five hours! then the trip back from sf to newark was delayed four hours!! because of that i had three hours of sleep before my double header yoga classes that i teach every saturday.

so when you hear that someone gets to travel for work, just remember that it's not as glamorous as it sounds.

to top of my streak of bad commuter karma, i have been having a little run in with the nj transit just about every time i step on a train. this week, the train had its usual delays on monday and then last night, when i just wanted to get home and sort through my 3 suitcases and 2 piles of previous suitcases, i got the nj transit screw again. this time i didn't get home until almost 8pm. i left the office at 5:30! grrr.

i did spot my favorite greasy train conductor, aka brock. he's totally jersey and probably drives an iroc. he's been spotted flirting with the ladies and lingering just a little too long. my train buddies and i like to talk smack and make up stores about him -- like he's some sort of train celebrity. i am sure his name isn't brock, but he just looks like he needs a name like that and, well, we were really bored one day waitng again for the train so we made it up. he used to work our beat everyday...the 7:47 train from walnut to penn. then he disappeared. he resurfaces now and again. at least it made my elongated trip home a little more bearable. there's a pic of the elusive nj transit playboy to the right! you can always spot him by his signature pony tail and exposed arms. ;)

Saturday, August 16, 2008

So cute

I found this pic at my uncles house. Me a my sis were stylin!!

Friday, August 15, 2008

nixatar

it's 2am west coast time and i am restless. so restless that i created an avatar from this site. it's a pathetic reiteration of myself. i have tried to do this a few different times and they always seem to fall short. i think the whole avatar creation should maybe be done by someone other than yourself. one time my friend, tom eaton, drew a cartoon of me and it totally was like -- me! ho hum, i am getting delirious.

i need to rest. i have an 8am conference call and then my flight out of here back to the east coast. i think this is my last time out here in sf for work and i am kind of bummed. i wanted to go out and play today but it was another 12 hour day. this was the worst of them all bc it was a day of waiting. we played cards, i painted my nails, we packed a few boxes and then just waited. i hate fedex ground.

i was planning on going to the frida exhibit at the moma but didn't make it -- meh. i just checked and they open tomorrow at 10am, i have just enough time for a one hour run through!! off to bed with dreams of frida-esque unibrows.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Dig it...

I got done with the worst yoga class I've ever taken and then wandered
around SF near market and 4th looking for some eats after 10pm. I
ended up at this Thai dive bar eating noodles, drinking tanq & tonic
and watching the olympics. There's nothing more American than that.

To top of off each time the door opens there's a cool breeze and the
smell of cloves wafting in. Seriously who actually smokes cloves outside of that one time you were trying to be edgy in HS?

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Bling Bling!

Check out the gorgeous earrings that jared got me! I'm a lucky girl.

Thursday, August 07, 2008

a rose by any other name

what's in a name?

i commonly get called michelle instead of nicole. it's so common that i actually answer to the name michelle. i usually attribute it to the fact that my last name, michaelson, could really throw people off. but even people that don't know my last name have called me michelle. who knows, maybe it was supposed to be my name.

it's funny that we get our names sometimes even before we are born. my mom wanted to call me valerie or lauren and then at the last minute my grandfather chimed in with 'nicole marie' and it stuck. but before we get a chance to actually show our true colors, we are given a name that in turn shapes us as much as we shape it.

my friends, lizzie and rob, adopted a baby from ethiopia this month and i got to be a part of the naming process. yes, she had a name when they got her but it was a difficult name. we all know how kids like to make fun of names and this one was begging for some ridicule. she will be keeping her birth name, dogmawit, but also gaining a new name.

when i got to their house, there was a list of possible names to be voted on by the family. everyone contributed to the list -- lizzie, rob and diego. they read it outloud and though having just met the little one, there just didn't seem to be one that 'fit' her personality. doggie, as the people at the orphanage called her -- you can now understand why she needed a different name -- is a sweet mushy little african girl with big round brown eyes and face with a sunny disposition. she has a big belly, a big smile and a strong presence in the room. you could tell that the time she spent in the orphanage taught her to be a bright shining star. she just has this way about her that is almost queen-like; nothing on that list seemed to embody any of that.

i pulled out my phone and did a search for some names and read them aloud. doggie's big bro, diego, curled up under my arm on the couch to help. some of the names were hysterical while others were just too bland. i put in for alpha but then we dropped that after we realized she could be referred to as 'alpha dog'. we narrowed it down to two. first was amara. it means unfading beauty. and then the other was cleopatra. i know what you are thinking, cleopatra is begging for some ridicule, too. but cleopatra could translate to cleo. lizzie kept calling out the names to see if doggie would respond. the names were aded to the list and the voting commenced. it was unanimous -- cleopatra.

cleo was the name that she really responded to -- it totally fits her whole way of being. she sat in the living room like a little queen with all her attendants around her. she sweetly comes up to you and pats your arm or back when you are holding her. it makes me wonder why we name our kids before we actually get to see who they really are. this seemed like a totally natural progression. it was cleo's first birthday and to me, it seemed like a really auspicious time to be named.

family and friends arrived to the house for a feast of ethiopian food from mesob ethiopian restaurant in montclair. we ate as much injera as we could, sang happy birthday over a dessert of fresh blueberries a whipped cream and when were done marveling in the lightness of doggie's demeanor and the fullness of our bellies, it was time for the naming ceremony. since diego was also adopted, lizzie and rob decided that it could be a naming ceremony and blessing for the both of them. i was asked to officiate.

we used water placed in a birdbath that diego had made and all contemplated the blessings that we wanted to bestow to the kids as we blessed the water. i used a flower dipped it into the water, wiping it on deigo's head to bless him. then, diego did the same for his new sister, cleo. she giggled at the coolness of the water rolling down her face.

it was an honor to be a part of the event. it's always an honor to see how people are with their kids. it really is sort of magical the way that you can choose to make things so special just by loving them. life is really like that -- when you choose to engage in it, it meets you back with an armful of blessings.

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

it sorta worked

there was a whole story that i had typed in to explain why i was posting a pic of some melons....
i will have to work out the bugs. in the meantime here's the lost backstory:

I didn't actually have lunch today so I forgot totry this out. Instead I got the super-deal of a mani/pedi/10 min massage for $27!! Not the best mani/pedi but it works on a lunch hour. So here's a pic of some amazingly yellow mellons from the farmers market last week on SF.

testing...1....2...3

This is a test from my iPhone

iblogger



i'm going to try this when i am at lunch.

Monday, August 04, 2008

on my honor

remember the good old girl scout/boy scout days?? i was a girl scout basically up until 8th grade. i probably would have continued on and gotten my gold award (that is the girl equivalent of the eagle scout award -- i had the silver award) but my mom sorta got sick.

anyway nowadays, i like to consider myself a modern day girl scout. i found this blogging badge pic (right) from some blog i came across today, it's obviously a spoof but it really got me thinking about how many things ther are out there to foster kids creativity. i guess there are a lot of things that foster as well as hinder their creativity, like how i just want to play on the internet or watch E! and waste my time instead of crafting or cooking. blogging should totally be an actual badge that you can get. so far as i peruse girlscouts.com, i don't see one, i did see some badges worth mentioning....

for some reason i can't seem to find the requirements for these badges but one can only imagine the fun stuff that you have to do to adorn your vest with these bad boys. these ones i should have earned already for just being me.


1. Food Fibers and Farming Badge

this badge immediately make me think of going to the fiber farm with brian and sage. i mean, wow, you get to learn how to farm or at least make your own garden, deal with livestock and maybe even shear the suckers for some fiber. this would tie in to a yarn-making badge for those inclined to the fiber arts.



2. Outdoors in the City Badge

is this is the badge you get for eating your lunch in central park or going to a park for summerstage? it would be interesting to see
what the requirements are
for this one. hypodermic needle scavenger hunt?? what it congers up for me is a memory of walking to the waterfront on north 7th street in brooklyn with hatchy. we climbed through a hole in the fence, walked through an overgrown lot and came across a guy in his underwear bathing in a bathtub not very hidden from the weeds. he asked us for some soap but we were out. i guess that makes me an unprepared girl scout. but seriously, i thought hipsters didn't shower. we did get to enjoy the evening and see the city light up as we braved the brooklyn wilderness.


3. Traveler Badge

my crazy schedule these days totally earns me this one. attaining this badge should also include some sort of relay to see who can get through airline security the most efficiently with no checked luggage. this could also include having not only the math skills but also the ability to track and keep all your receipts in order to complete your expense report on time, get the check and still earn all your american express points! last but not least this is the badge you get for taking the red-eye, getting woken up by a medical emergency and then having to work the next day.




4. Making Hobbies Badge

here we go... i think i actually had this one. i know i had this one. currently there is the sock project going on. but i am also working on a whole lot of christmas presents for the family and freinds. oh, and soon jenn and i are going to take a sewing class so i can finally use my freaking sewing machines!!


...

there are some other real doozies of funny badges. but that's it for now. time for me to get things together and do some yoga!

....and i'm back!

ok so jared started up this couple-blog for us and then i realized i had this old one out in the blogosphere. after having to remember my email and password that i used for this when i started it, i now have it back up and running. i wanted to move away from myspace blogging, so i'm back!

note, there is some funny/pathetic shit in the earlier posts. The last post on here was from 2005....so please note, going forward they will be more current.