Every year around Oscar time I make a rally to see the Oscar nods. Partly it’s my way of feeling involved on Oscar night until I get my invitation to go to the live event. Partly it’s because I want to see the “best” movies. Of the nominated bests, so far I’ve managed to see – in this order: Wall-EDark Knight Tropic ThunderRachel Getting MarriedSlumdog … Continue reading My Oscar Picks
A new year, a new President, a new job – and yet I call this the year of the circle. I’m working for the same company I worked for 8 years ago, walking home to an apartment back on the same block I lived at then. Only this time, it’s my boyfriend’s apartment and not the one my husband and I shared. 8 years ago … Continue reading Simplify: Find the Light
I used to think I was special because I made waffles rather than defrost them. Then my boyfriend got me a waffle maker that even made my waffles feel special (see proof below). This morning, I made waffle batter from scratch. Presto deliciousness. The waffles were so pretty, they served as perfect models for an impromptu photo shoot. Then the Lego crew decided that they … Continue reading Monday Like a Sunday … A Day in Photos
On the PS of Valentine’s Day, read about 5 Geeky Marriage Proposals That Worked from Wired. Love geeks. Love love. Love creative proposals. Here’s an ode to Geek Love. You must read this brilliant article from last March – a eulogy of sorts to Gary Gygax, co-creator of the game Dungeons & Dragons. The article speaks how Gygax, on the foundation of role-playing and polyhedral … Continue reading Ode to Geek Love
Last night I saw Revolutionary Road. It has been almost 24 hours and I can’t shake the movie from my system. Sam Mendes was brilliant. Kate Winslet was phenomenal. Even Leo was amazing. The poingnancy of the film, the rawness, the honesty. The realistic portrayal that played into so many fears. I’m still formulating my thoughts – but it has buried itself into an abyss … Continue reading Revolutionary Road and Love
I’ve had scaffolding on my apartment building for the better part of 6 months. Most of that time I was working from home, while the Dudes (Tony, Jimmy and Vinny) power washed the brick of my 97th Street building. Day in and day out, they would start up the battery that sounded like an airplane motor at 9am; take their lunch at Yabba-Dabba-Do noon and … Continue reading The Dudes See Me Naked
I get my daily Kabbalah Tune-ups each morning. Some days they’re insightful, some days they’re inspirational, some days they make me want to say ‘Shove it up your ass with your wisdom! Take the red bracelet and tie it around your neck with a little bow.” Last night I went to bed after 3am – up at 6:45am. No one to blame but myself. This … Continue reading Some Days I Just Don’t Want a Tune Up
My gracious co-worker Lorna is really the one responsible for my Donuts on Friday debacle. Yes, she may be the silent heroine in the story, but is she not also the instigator? For had there been no fried treats, there would have been no Reply All shit story. Read how Lorna defends the Donut incident. PS: That awesome photo was taken by Lorna.PPS: Lorna – … Continue reading The Donut Bringer
I started my blog in between jobs. This meant I was able to write about past jobs without worrying about repercussion. But a month ago I got a new job and well – that’s all I want to write about. However, on week one of my new job I told everyone about my wonderful blog. Well – so … um … now I really don’t … Continue reading Friday Donuts in the Kitchen
I love a good story and I love a good character. This man delivered all that. He was unforgettable – a businessman, a charmer, an enigma yet an urban legend. His life told a fairytale and at its core was a potato peeler. “Never underestimate a small amount of money gathered by hand for 60 years,” Potato Peeler Salesman Joe Ades used to say. Mr. … Continue reading The Potato Peeler from Union Square: A True Salesman
On occassion I write without objective; just observations that spill out and occupy themselves in my mind’s scrapbook. Sometimes I stumble across these words and they are like a warm sweater on a cold day. The grass is at its prime in Central Park – just having drunk three days worth of spring showers. Like a fresh haircut, the blades dance in the wind, glints … Continue reading A Spring Day in Central Park
Sitting in an office all day often leaves my feet tapping and my mind antsy to wander. Recently I made the decision to take a daily lunchtime walk and take photos. This morning I decided to take a 15-minute walk through Central Park to my west side train. It was cold but bearable with melting ice on the concrete, but frozen ice over the grass. … Continue reading Office Alarm
Warning: This may be rated PG-13. I’m not a big football fan – or sports fan for that matter, but yesterday was my favorite Superbowl ever. Here are the highlights: I DVR-ed the game in hopes of fast-forwarding through the football and instead watching the commercials (hey – I’m in advertising). Here is my favorite commercial from the night: Somewhere between the coin toss and … Continue reading Super Bowl Photo shoot
I never called myself a writer. I never thought I was good enough – clearly limiting myself only by my own battle with perfectionism. I pursued 12-year career in advertising where writing was the PS – rather not the body – of my life. Finally, they fired me and I found myself in a moment of mental liberation. I was forced into a crossroads of … Continue reading I Am A Writer.
The 81st Academy Awards nominations were announced today at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theatre, and boy is this year going to be exciting! Hugh Jackman will be hosting the show, which will honor outstanding film achievements from 2008. The Academy is keeping its presenters a secret until the day of the show, which will take place on Sunday, February 22 on ABC. But in the … Continue reading Oscar Nominations 2009
What a day to start my Photojournalistic Lunchtime Sprawls! Here are some images from history in the making – once again – in New York’s Times Square. A flag, the world, Taxis, OBAMA. YES WE CAN! Heading Downtown. We have a new President! Signs of the Times Square. ABC News and Obama. A Cardboard Obama on Broadway. Obama Inspires Love. Obama and Sirens. Pride in … Continue reading Inauguration from Times Square
Creative minds often struggle in a corporate 9-5 set up. Unless these folks [READ: ME] have a creative outlet, insanity, resentment, frustration and all that other good stuff may set in. In my new job I am trying to proactively avoid any sort of such breakdown. So I had an idea: I always take my lunchtime walks – get air, stretch the legs, purge myself … Continue reading Photojournalistic Lunchtime Sprawls: The Idea
I use my headphones every day. Walking around the city, on the subway, and now that I’m back to cubicle living – I use them during work. Given their omnipresent role in my life – I decided that the white default ear plugs that never really fit inside my ears needed to go. My only research was trying them once before … and I loved … Continue reading A Gift From Me to My Ears
This morning this song came on my iPod. Then on my way to work I stopped at the deli to get coffee and heard this song again. Finally, I got to work and started listening to music through Jango and the song came on again. Three times in one day makes it BLOGERIFIC. No One by Alicia Keys: http://media.imeem.com/m/Zr6fctsahp/aus=false/ Continue reading No One
This morning walking to the subway I felt like I was walking through a shaken snow globe. Powdery flakes were blanketing and softening Manhattan’s Upper East Side. It looked like a black and white photograph speckled with yellow taxis. I took a mental snapshot and decided to take my time getting to work, not letting myself get worked up in the rush hour madness. The … Continue reading Dear Mr. Very Fat Man on the E Train
My six-year-old and I get in our daily morning debates before school. This rainy Monday in late Fall was no exception. I tell him to wear the raincoat. “Zipper it,” I say. “I don’t want your t-shirt to get wet.” “I can’t,” he whines and I get on my knees to attempt the zipper. The silver zipper puller thingy falls off. “Ooh – can I … Continue reading Mommy Versus Nanny
A medicine cabinet is our open book. Accessible to any bathroom visitor, we present a historical medical scrapbook of our lives behind a hinged mirror door. It’s a treasure chest screaming to be explored; secret revelations waiting to be discovered. I recently opened my medicine cabinet to realize it was over flooding. It came as a shock to me since I’m not a big pill … Continue reading 2008 in the Medicine Cabinet
Blogging is like the modern day lemonade stand. Low cost start up, lots of competition, location and marketing is everything. I started my blog because I wanted to write. Correction. I couldn’t not write anymore — and I needed a place to throw it all up. So 12 years after college I started over. But I’ve learned that while I originally wanted my blog to … Continue reading Floating Through the Blogosphere
I met a boy, a man, a friend; I knew his face but not his name.I recognized his eyes;the man behind the clown. The clown gave me a heart balloon.The man gave me his name. He gave me his love. His life. His happy. I gave him my heart, my soul, my days. He didn’t guarantee the balloon wouldn’t popor that it wouldn’t deflate.But it … Continue reading Love Fragile. Love Floating.
Writer.The more you say it,the more you do it.The more you become it,the more it becomes you. Continue reading On Writing
9/11 as a number, when spoken out loud, has become redefined. For most Americans, visually 9-1-1 has always symbolized emergency. After September 11th, 2001, 9/11 represented a day that surpassed emergency. It became a day I wouldn’t forget as it happened in real time. Soon it evolved into my generation’s JFK question: “Where were you on 9/11?” I remember the day in bits of pieces, … Continue reading 2,659 Days Ago Our Lives Changed Forever
In 2006, I started seeing hearts everywhere. Not just on the necklace I wore with three little silver hearts and not just dangling from my keychain. Hearts exploded around the world: glass hearts in Venice; hearts on telephone poles in Amsterdam; chocolate hearts in Brussels. Little girls had hearts on their shirts and on the barrettes in their hair; their grandmothers had antique heart brooches … Continue reading So – What’s With the Hearts?
Dear Galina, Here is your horoscope for Friday, December 12: If you can make it to a party today, you should be in your element. Throw one if you have to, because you need that social stimulation to really feel as if things are on the right track for you. Not that I need justification from the stars – but hey, who doesn’t want to … Continue reading The Stars Point to Party
We had our first parent-teacher conference of the first grade today. Jake got raving reviews! The Grade One Report summary starts with: “Jacob is a happy go lucky little boy who loves school. His transition to the academic expectations of the first grade has been a smooth one. He is a bright child who approaches his assignments with confidence.” It goes on to give details … Continue reading Grade One, Trimester One: Emergent Writer
I was walking near Lincoln Center about a week after I got fired. The weather was glorious and I felt like every breath I took brought me higher and higher. I wanted to hug everyone harder and harder. I had a glow. I was in love with every morsel of life and I finally had time to taste every bite. My six-year-old son and I … Continue reading Reflections on Being Fired
Kabbalah is a discipline and school of thought discussing the mystical aspect of Judaism. It is a set of esoteric teachings meant to define the inner meaning of both the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) and traditional Rabbinic literature, as well as to explain the significance of Jewish religious observances. While I am not a devoted follower, I do subscribe to certain elements of kabbalism. I also … Continue reading Hold Onto Your Dreams
I put off writing the ABOUT ME section of my blog for a long time. Partly because the Me changes so often. Partly because I don’t know how to stop once I start writing (especially about Moi). I tried to write a bio-type blurb and 5 pages of narcissistic crap came out. So I started a memoir. In the meantime I feel like I owe … Continue reading ABOUT ME
Life, by definition, comes with struggle. How we embrace this struggle defines us; it is forms our character. Brian Boyle is an example for all of us. He is testament to the cliché, “ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE.” Last October, Brian fulfilled his dream of competing in a triathlon (a 2.4 mile ocean swim, followed by a 112 mile bicycle ride, ending with a 26.2 mile marathon). … Continue reading Hope, Endurance, Inspiration
Recently my boyfriend turned me onto the genius of Charles Bukowski. Bukowski was a drunk, a womanizer, and ugly as hell. But he knew it. And he was true to himself and his voice. I’ve just finished reading Post Office and Women. Like booze, sex and chocolate for the reader’s soul – it’s addictive and inspiring. This poem, however, is like all square meals in … Continue reading Bukowski Genius:So You Want To Be a Writer
Dear Galina, Here is your horoscope for Tuesday, November 18: It’s the best possible day for you to try to attract attention — it should come to you with very little effort on your part, actually! You might get as much buzz as a major celebrity at some point. Well that’s good news. I guess that means I have to leave my house. While my … Continue reading The Stars Say I May Get Buzz
Happy Birthday! Happy New Year! Happy first something, happy last something, happy anniversary of your first or your last something! Humans love to wish each other happiness. And why not? Our country bestows us with, upon other rights, the pursuit of HAPPINESS. We are entitled and we want to claim it! There is a new breed among us – the self-realized happy seekers. With the … Continue reading Oh Happiness, Where Art Thou?
SpaceBook is my pet name for the collective breed of social networking sites. Sort of a MySpace marries Facebook and it’s all the same thing, different color. As a genre, SpaceBook is taking a deep stab at the integrity of our human social interactions, redefining the way we communicate and consequentially forcing us to create and abide by new standards in social etiquette. We interact … Continue reading SpaceBook
When I travel, I am often fulfilling both a lifetime wanderlust and an attempt to understand human interactions. I wander around a new locale, often without a specific destination in mind – driven by merely an inclination, a small or a scenic vista. When you walk/explore the streets of a city or the back roads of a small town, you can truly experience life there. … Continue reading When I Travel
So we never forget what it means to be an American. Proof that we finally practice what we preach. America, I salute you. Continue reading PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN
I was a Russian girl and an American teenager. I had no choice about the first but I tried very hard to be the second. Now as a grown woman, I mostly deem myself a New Yorker. While I never truly considered myself an American, being a New Yorker encompasses more. New York has a special tolerance for Russians. My immigrant story begins when I … Continue reading My Russian American Dichotomy
I had many expectations and fears before I had a child. I was afraid of health issues. I was afraid that he wouldn’t be cute. I was afraid I wouldn’t love him enough. None of those fears came to fruition. Instead my body and mind became overwrought with how to feed and put this baby to sleep. Babies are about feeding and sleeping and somehow … Continue reading Mothering
Anthony Robbins speaks about staying positive in tough times this morning on the Today Show. I think this is a really good way of looking at life right now. Sending positive energy out into the world. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/27159902#27159902 Continue reading Master Your Fear
Starring Reena in a self-induced flavor exploration experiment. If it’s good enough for the squirrels, it’s good enough for the Russians. Supporting characters include my father, my son and my half brother. Continue reading My sister tastes a raw acorn in Central Park
Today is Friday and your period was due on Monday. Here you are again – a pregnancy scare, guaranteed to be a sobering moment for any couple in love. Dating sure is hard in the grown up world. Too early to confirm or deny the suspicion, you wait a few more days before you fork over the ten bucks and pee on the stick. You … Continue reading Pregnancy Scare
I exist crippled in a state of fear, awaiting the outcome of the November election. Our nation is sitting on a weakened foundation where its people are hurt and broken. In a time when we need to come together to heal and strengthen, we seem to have divided. We co-exist as patriots of this vast magnificent country and yet we have never been a country … Continue reading Awaiting November Promises
He’s my legacy, my heart and the truest love I will ever know. Yesterday I went to First Grade Faculty Night at my son’s school. They told us about the curriculum, showed us some of their work so far, and had a slideshow of the first three weeks of school. Jake has the quintessential first grade teacher; as wonderful as I could have imagined. Here … Continue reading With His Own Two Hands
“SURGERY,” I had written in bold red letters on the calendar square for January 30, 2008. I scheduled my thyroid surgery for early in the year thinking I would supply the remaining 11 months with healing ammunition. Eight is my favorite number and this was going to be MY YEAR. At that point, I couldn’t see the flaws in my logic anymore than I could … Continue reading Speaking My Unspoken Thank Yous
Gallery Bar, New York City. The photo quality from this photobooth was top notch; you get a 4×6 with 6 different poses. Continue reading I heart a photobooth in NYC.
I’ve been a self-proclaimed sleep Nazi from the time my son was a month old. I am very attached to our traditional bedtime routine – a bath, a book, and THE goodnight song. http://www.gmodules.com/ig/ifr?url=http://mike.s.duffy.googlepages.com/mp3player.xml&up_songURL=http%3A%2F%2Fboxstr.com%2Ffiles%2F3567832_pavzc%2FBeautiful%2520Boy.mp3&synd=open&w=300&h=57&title=MP3+Player&border=%23ffffff%7C3px%2C1px+solid+%23999999&output=js I never thought he’d want to change the song that has been his lullaby for the last six years. But alas, after six years, my son asked for a new song. … Continue reading Oh how quickly the days go by …
Last month I turned 34 and vowed to be a little kinder to my body. I want to give it more respect, to stop judging it so harshly, to discontinue defining it by society’s standards. I resolve to love my body for what it is, rather than continue to hate it for what it will never be. I’ve got a mane of thick curly hair, … Continue reading My Body Through My Eyes
HeartsEverywhere 