Spring Cleaning

Hey everyone, I don't know if it's the season or what but things are shaping up around here. This week Thomas and I finally got started on having our kitchen remodeled. The first thing to go were the countertops - the bar gets done this Thursday, and then new cabinets the weekafter. The countertops look and feel wonderful! For pictures, check the latest entry in Thomas's blog.

This weekend we also decided to tackle our outdoor storage unit. With a little help from Organized Living, we finally know what all's out there and can actually easily get to it - no more frantic searching for Christmas ornaments next year!

All for now. I'll be back early next week with an update on some good movies (finally!) and my total body makeover.

-sunday

The Conclusion of my 2005 GWTW Tour

Hey everyone, Wow - this has turned into the longest recap ever. I'm glad i was only there for 3 days or this would be never-ending. The length of time it's taking me to recap isn't all my fault tho - i've been having trouble with blogger. Anyway, I left off on museum day. After the nirvana that was the museum of tv and radio, i went to MOMA. it was around 4:30 and the line was huge, but i was told it moved fast. they didn't lie and i waited no more than 10 minutes and it was free! the first thing i did was rent one of those headsets. it proved to be quite useful and informative. as i was walking to the first exhibit, i passed a familiar looking face. after doingt he classic double-take, i realized it was indeed al sharpton! he was walking with a lady and i turned around to follow him. she gave him directions and he took off on his own, which i found surprising. I expected him to have lots of handlers. He was in a very sharp suit and had quite the swagger. I tried to capture him with my camera phone and am not sure if i succeeded (can't get the pics off the thing at the moment - tech difficulties due to cingular's purchase of at&t i think). Anyway, i didn't chase him down and tell him how much i enjoyed his work on Boston Legal because we left the museum and i wasn't going to stand in line again. it was fun seeing him tho and every new yorker i told about this found it funny that he visited moma on Free Friday.

As for the museum itself, it's been redesigned by Japanese architect Yoshio Taniguchi. since i hadn't been there in years, i honestly didn't notice a difference. from what i understand he basically doubled the viewing space. since i only had a few hours, i found the museum quite overwhelming and towards the end i gave up on seeing everything and instead focused on the Architecture and Design section (showed really cool posters, chairs, etc., that have been created anywhere from the early 1900s to today, i.e., Frank Lloyd Wright windows), the Photography section - they have everything from Man Ray to Weegee, and the special exhibit by a German artist I'd never heard of called Thomas Demand (and no, that's not a pseudonym for myhusband, tho it could be;). He takes actual pictures that look pretty mundane but actually have a backstory, makes models of them made entirely of colored paper and cardboard and then photographs them again. For example, the picture in this link: http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/2005/demand.html
(no, it's not the inside of cyd's apartment) looks like a messy hotel room, right? It is, but it's also based on a photo taken from some book on L. Ron Hubbard - he pretty much lived in this hotel room while writing his first scientology book (hello, Tom Cruise and John Travolta - have you SEEN this picture?? this is where your guru created his religion). Demand found it interesting because it was so messy and it was obvious he practically never left the room. Thank goodness i rented the headphones or i so would not have got Demand's work at all. Because on top of it he names his photos generic things like Room. anyway, once you hear the backstory and his crazy paper mache process, it was pretty interesting.

After the museum, i was to meet cyd for dinner at this sardinian restaurant, Assenzio, downtown. i majorly miscalculated here as it took me almost an HOUR to catch a cab. v frustrating. but i finally arrived and loved this place - wonderful food, great wine and banana flambe and a myrtle favored liqueur for desert. i'm still not sure what myrtle really is or tastes like but it is v yummy. After dinner we decided to go to an off-off-off-etc. broadway play called Reflections of the Breakfast Club. It played below a place called the KGB Bar that reminded us both of our visit to Prague - it was oddly oppressive and of course red. Surprisingly, they did not infuse their own vodkas. We grabbed a glass of wine which was a great idea as it put us in the perfect mood for our farce of a play. It was basically a re-telling of the movie, The Breakfast Club, with everyone acting WAY over the top. We particularly loved the guy playing Judd Nelson. He nailed the snarl and the bangs toss. To top it all off there was a surprise visit from Tootie from Facts of Life at the end (fans of the show will remember Molly Ringwald played Molly Parker during the show's first season).

The next day we went shopping. it was raining cats and dogs and i've never seen so many broken umbrellas b/c it was crazy windy as well (cyd added hers to the broken collection). we had success at old navy, banana republic and sephora, aka Makeup Heaven. Girls, even if you don't like makeup you will love this place. they have every kind you can imagine from Chanel on down and you get to try EVERYTHING on with a bazillion disposable applicators. It rocked! We stayed pretty much downtown and a word here about what the girl on the street is wearing. It's somewhat different than I expected. Maybe it was the weather, the season or the area, but i saw v few manolo blahnik stilettos. In general the girls wore jeans with small, very fitted blazers, intricately tied scarves, and funky colored tennis shoes or galoshes. So maybe this is what we'll all be wearing next fall - if we're not already, of course. We wrapped up the day by meeting Cyd's old friend Michael and his new girlfriend Stacy for dinner at this little creperia next door to her. Happily, more good food and a good time was had by all. I took some pics here that I'll try to post soon.

On my last afternoon, I caught one final off broadway show - Moonlight and Magnolias by Ron Hutchinson. It was set in 1939 and told about the somewhat true story of the five frantic days David O. Selznick (producer), Victor Fleming (director...after Cukor was fired) and Ben Hecht (script doctor and winner of the first screenplay writing oscar ever) spent rewriting the script of - what else - Gone With the Wind. This is probably the official conclusion of my 2005 GWTW tour. At this point, I could write a master's thesis. Anyway, the play was a farce and very enjoyable. I loved hearing all sorts of behind the scenes tidbits on the writing, the actors and Mitchell and it was really funny to hear how they all thought it would be a flop - particularly Hecht who did not even ask for the writer's credit - he was afraid he'd never work again! However, my fav play of the trip remains Orson's Shadow.

Finally (and yes, this is the end of the recap) I have to mention that the entire time I was in New York, I was only asked for money once (try having that happen as you stroll down pearl st in boulder), i saw no people sleeping on the streets and i road the subway several times without incident. some of guiliani's reforms must still be in place. the other great thing was there was NO smoking in restaurants and bars! all in all, weather aside (i am now hopelessly addicted to colorado's blue skies), the city was a fabulous place to visit. I look forward to my next trip and on that occasion, those Wicked tickets will be mine then - they were $300 this trip!! Crazy.

-sunday

TV Heaven

Hey everyone, So after the play i met up with cyd and we went back to her
apartment.  She lives in a great part of the city - smack in the heart of
soho.  Everything you could possibly want seems to be no more than 3 blocks
away.  And the best part is she lives right across the street from Cafe
Noir.  It's a great little latin bar/restaurant that we discovered on our
first trip to NYC almost ten years ago and has remained a favorite ever
since.  It's the first place I tried both cosmopolitans and sangria.  the
latter remains a favorite!  Naturally cafe noir was a sure stop for us
Thursday nite and their sangria is as delicious as i remembered.

The next day was museum day.  My original plan was to see one museum - i was
torn between the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) and the Museum of Television
and Radio.  I've been to MOMA before, but a Japanese architect has redone it
and i'd heard wonderful things about it.  The bad thing about it tho is the
price is now $20!  I took the subway to midtown and ran into a street vendor
who told me that Fridays were free after 4 pm (sponsored by Target).  I
confirmed with MOMA that this was true and sure enough it is - a great tip
for anyone who visits!  It was around 1:30 so i decided to hit the TV
museum, which was only a few blocks away.  I have found my own version of
Mecca!  Everyday they have exhibits running in this really nice theatre
there - this time it was a tribute to steven sondheim.  i sat there around
15 minutes, long enough to hear the original cast members of West Side Story
talk about gangs.  That was pretty funny.  I then went to the main
attraction - the library.  Once there, you can go to a computer and search
their inventory and pick four shows you want to watch.  Unfortunately you
can't browse thru all the shows they have on disk - you have to come
prepared with the shows you want to see.  This i did not do. I thought of
two things i really wanted to see - an old diet coke commercial and a
variety show that my mother in law, Marlene sang on.  i struck out on both
fronts.  The commercial was not in their inventory and i could not get hold
of Marlene to confirm the name of the tv show (she later called me back to
say it was the Milton Berle Hollywood Palace Show of Shows - next time!).

So i thought long and hard for a few minutes about the shows that would
interest me that aren't currently on dvd.  I came up with a few winners.
The first was easy - Fury.  My all time fav show as a child of around 4.
it's black and white and made in the 50s about this orphan, Joey, who comes
to live on a ranch and befriends a wild black horse named Fury.
Unfortunately around this time we moved to the country and no longer got the
station Fury was on so my love affair with Fury was cut short.  I've
obviously not yet gotten over it;).  Anyway, sure enough they had the
premiere episode of Fury.  I watched the whole thing and learned how Joey
came to stay at the ranch.  It's still a great show and Fury is still the
most beautiful horse in all the land.  A pony for Christmas remains the
ideal present for me, should anyone be reading this.

The next show I tried was Square Pegs.  Another short lived favorite.  This
is probably on dvd or will be eventually given that it starred Sarah Jessica
Parker of Sex and the City fame.  My favorite character tho was Jennifer
DeNuccio played by Tracy Nelson as the ultimate valley girl.  I picked up
all my gag me with a spoonesque lingo from her.  Once again I struck gold as
they had the episode "No Substitutions" guest starring none other than Bill
Murray as a substitute teacher.  He is soooooooo funny - he comes into class
with a pajama shirt and a really short poorly tied tie.  My evolution of
jazz teacher at SMU used to come to class dressed in a sweat suit and tie.
I hated him tho, so it wasn't nearly as funny.  This episode rocked tho.
SJP gets a crush on Murray that results in much teen angst.  The details of
the show impressed me.  At the beginning of the episode Murray asks the
class what they were studying and a student says the last thing their
teacher taught them was how to pick up straight men.   It's a throwaway
line, but at the end of the episode I noted on the chalkboard a list of ten
items:  "10. Hardware stores  9.  Football games.........1.  Bars!!!".  This
is definitely a box set i want to someday own.

You only get the computer for 2 hours so i wanted my third pick to be short
and sweet.  i decided on a cartoon.  i really screwed up here as my fav
cartoon of all time is the looney tunes with michigan j. frog singing hello
my baby.  This escaped me at the time and i instead chose a smurfs episode -
dreamy's nightmare in which dreamy decides to leave smurfville and travel
the world.  Shockingly chaos ensues and gargamel almost gets to eat all the
smurfs for dinner.  it all works out in the end tho, in case you were
worried.  i must admit i was a little bored with the smurfs.

Finally, i hit upon another brilliant idea - the Iran Contra trials.  I was
enthralled when they came on back in the 80s, even to the degree that i
didn't mind missing All My Children for it.  Oliver North, John Poindexter
and Brendan Sullivan (Olly's lawyer) were all my heroes that summer.  i even
watched them when we went to Creede.  Such was my obsession.  Luckily they
did have one tape of the trials.  i played it and was surprised to find that
I was spellbound once again.  If there exists a dvd of the entire trial, i
must have it.  i was disappointed that i didn't get to hear Sullivan deliver
his famous line, "I am not a potted plant!", when the special prosecutor
told him to quit interrupting,  but he and Ollie both delivered some good
ones.  The other thing that struck me while watching this was how things
have changed.  You could see cigarette smoke floating in the foreground and
there weren't a million graphics running all over the screen.  It was an
entirely pleasant viewing experience and the hour i spent watching it flew
by.  To sum it all up, i love this museum.   You can join it for $50/yr and
get to see all this stuff whenever you want.  you can bet if i lived in nyc
or los angeles (they have another one there) that i would be a premiere
member!

This is definitely a great comment topic - anyone else wanna select the four
shows you'd watch if given the choice?  

For tomorrow:  A review of the new MOMA, my brush with a famous face, the
kgb bar and reflections on the breakfast club.

-sunday 

Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder

Hey everyone! i'm only my first month into this thing and i've already turned into the worst blogger ever. but it's really not my fault! a couple of weeks ago i started feeling poorly. i thought i was coming down with a cold. this led to 2 days of missed workouts which aggravated me beyond belief (now i don't know what i had because i really do have a bad cold as i type). on top of that things at work decided to go absolutely crazy so i had no time to even think about anything else. during these two weeks though, some good things have happened. first as my previous entry shows, i had a visit from my old friend chris sestser of fort smith, ar. we, along with the rest of the pricing crew and our legal representative shaun, all had many crazy adventures back in the day in the fort. i haven't seen chris in a few years and he is now married with the most adorable 3 year old ever, named Allie. having a daughter hasn't aged chris a bit though. he still looks, sounds and pretty much acts the same. it always amazes me how with some people you can pick right back up from when you left off - whether it was a week ago or three years ago. most of my friends live far away, but luckily we have this type of connection. anyway, chris, thomas and i went to rhumba in boulder to trade stories, hear about all my other old friends in the fort and enjoy some cuban food. it was all good.

the other good thing that happened was my whirlwind trip to new york city! i managed to catch a really cheap last minute flite on jetblue airlines. it's one of the newer ones that miraculously flies out of denver (we don't get southwest here). on the flite everyone has their own leather seat, plenty of legroom and best of all satellite tv! i planned on spending the 3.5 hours reading or knitting but instead i watched an old ep of battlestar gallactica (the new one is soooooo much better) and then the made for tv movie of mia farrow's story. boy did she have a life! i was enthralled and we touched down before i knew it. the thing about new york is, your first glimpse of the skyline can't help but take your breath away. it worked its wonders on me once again.

i arrived this past thursday and met cyd at whole foods. it's a new store that opened up in union square. ok, if you think boulder's whole foods is busy - think again. this place was absolutely nuts - plus it's THREE stories! i could not believe it. it's a great looking store and i don't know where all these people shopped before it arrived. cyd had to work late so i dropped off my bag and walked to the theatre to see my first play. along my walk, i realized i was on 14th street between 6th and 7th avenues. this is meaningful because my dad had told me a few days before that that was the location of my grandfather's shop. i picked up my trusty cell phone, called my dad and sure enough, he said the address was 116 e 14th street and i was standing right in front of the doorway. using trusty cellphone, i snapped a pic for posterity. the shop is long gone, but the address is still there and i'm sure sam kurtz was happy for the visit. i felt like this had to be a great omen for the rest of my trip.

the first play i saw was called "orson's shadow", as in orson welles. it's a hypothetical take on what could have happened when welles, laurence olivier, olivier's fiancee joan plowright, and the critic kenneth tynan all got together to put on a play in london. the play was amazing - i adored the subject matter, it felt like you were eavesdropping on all of these legends at work. and best of all there was a visit from olivier's estranged wife, vivien leigh. due to my obsession with gwtw (see first blog entry), i was familiar with the history here so it made all the interaction especially interesting for me. leigh was a major manic/depressive and practically drove olivier nuts with her. though he finally divorced her, she remained the central figure in his life until she died of tb. anyway, the major theme of the play was how all these hugely talented egos had past their primes. leigh would always be remembered as scarlett, welles for citizen kane, etc. the performances were wonderful, funny, at times heartbreaking and spot on. i sat next to this old couple during the play. at intermission, the man told me first that i reminded him of a vegas show girl he knew in the 60s (given that i'd left my boa at home, i wasn't sure how to respond to this) and then that as a student at columbia in the 50s he saw a play a week and one of those was antony and cleopatra starring none other than leigh and olivier. he said they were brilliant. i've never been so jealous!

ok, i'm being pretty long winded here, so all for now. i'll continue with stories from my trip tomorrow. i don't think i'll ever top meeting matthew mcconaughey a couple of weeks ago, but as you'll see in my next entry i did see one famous face in nyc.

-sunday