AWESOME

ALSO

A new "cycle" of ANTM starts tonight. My friends have a pool going on who will win which I think is a pretty fantastic idea. The prize money is up to $160! With my luck, I'm sure my pick will be booted the first week...

By far, my favorite Oscar moment:

I'm lovin' it!

A list of things I'm SO diggin right now (cause I know you really care...)

1) Cherry Coke Zero
Thank GOD. I've been getting so annoyed that there are approximately 170 variations on Diet Coke these days and yet I can never find Diet Cherry Coke. No longer will I have to go get fountain Diet Coke and make the dude behind the counter put a squirt of regular Cherry on top...

2) Lucinda Williams' new album "West"
I'm a long-time Lucinda fan, but I am totally hooked on this new album. At first listen I was kinda like "meh" during the first two songs, but then it just started hitting me and by the end I was like "woo hoo!" Except it was more like "Wah" cause her songs are pretty dark and depressing...Incidentally, the album cover shot was part of Annie Liebowitz' fantastic "American Music" travelling exhibit.

3) Sesame Pretzel Rings
Katie and I discovered these at a bodega a while ago, but I'm still addicted to them. The sesame seeds make them almost taste peanut butter-y and they're really great to dip in hummous. Keep an eye out.

Praise Jesus, those Girl Scouts finally got smart!!!

They now have a myspace page and a website so you can hunt down your local cookie seller. Welcome to the 21st Century, Girl Scouts, Juliette Gordon Low would be so proud.

And now, in honor of this thrilling occasion, my favorite Girl Scout song:

I've got something in my pocket
It belongs across my face
I keep it very close to me in a most convenient place
I bet you couldn't guess it
If you guessed a long long while
So I'll take it out and put it on
It's a great big Brownie smile!

Oy. What a gluttenous weekend...

Katie's Birthday was last week, so we celebrated with a little Columbia reunion.

It started with the Columbia women's basketball game Friday night...



...and was all downhill from there. Emily, Debbie and Laura were ALL in town and we hit up the Columbia staple Am Caf-- which is now "Amsterdam Cafe and Tapas Lounge." Bizarre. We brought the dance party.









Katie was really excited about all her visitors...



I knew Emily was coming because creative breaking was playing on ESPN...it was like they KNEW. Only Emily likes creative breaking as much as I do.



DAY TWO started out at George Keeley's on the Upper West Side. We were hoping to watch the Arizona vs. UCLA game for Steph but it was blacked out, SO we drank bloody marys and played darts instead. Ah well. FYI, George Keeley's has some bloody good bloody marys.



Then it was off to dinner in Little Italy followed by Katie's official Birthday party at Biddy Early's...which was crashed by approximately 75 juniors in high school. I pulled the whole "I'm taking this picture of my friend but I'm really taking a picture of the teen boys in the background" trick a few times...



On this one I think the actual subject is a girl's thong hanging out at the bar...



And this one is meant to point out the 17-year-old couple hooking up on the pool table AND the skanky girl in the wide belt...It's ten o'clock do you know where your children are???



We all had such a great time, though. I took about 179 pictures, so I had to edit them down a bit to the more internet friendly ones...



Steph and Em kicked high schooler butt at beer pong. Ah, the things Ivy League schools teach us. These boys were the self-proclared beer pong champs of Long Island.



So sassy...



...and the weekend-long dance party continued. I put 50 songs on the juke box. I kid you not. It took like 25 minutes to put them all in.



Notice how I'm not putting any pictures up of me below the upper torso...That's because my belly was distended like an Ethiopian child from eating so much food all day...



And then things got a little wild...



Can we just take a second and observe how much shorter than my friends I am?







This was a sock-off. I totally won with my striped knee socks.



It was a long ride home...



But we found a BMX motor bike parked outside- which Emily and I obviously had to ride.





At that point my camera battery ran out due to the fact that I hadn't been home all weekend...BUT

Sunday we went to Dave & Busters in Times Square and it was surprisingly tons of fun. We each put in 7 bucks to get a game card and played games all afternoon. Skee ball is my personal fave. We used the tickets we won to buy candy and I felt like I was 9 again. Dinner was at Saigon Grill- mmmmm pho ga- followed by dessert at Cafe Lalo (are you beginning to understand why my stomach is angry at me today?).

After an actual GOOD night's sleep in my own bed (as opposed to the couch I've been sleeping on all weekend) I woke up this morning to meet up with my sister, her husband, Lisa and Shmu for brunch at Cafe Con Leche (this weekend was all about the Upper West Side) followed by a Jackass 2 viewing party and "dinner" at Dive Bar. Hence the "Oy" at the beginning of this post.

I've dedicated the rest of this week to eating salads- except for beer and brats tomorrow night that is... My bad.

Have I mentioned how much I love my sister? She was lucky enough to get two tickets to Arcade Fire tonight and since I am way more into them than her husband, I got to steal her for Valentine's Day.

Great show.

Wowza. Beer, brats and Big Ten basketball? I might have to go to this.

It's our 2nd birthday and we're throwing ourselves a party with some help from the fine folks at the Kettle of Fish! From 7-10pm, the proprietor and our good friend, Patrick, will be firing up the Wisconsin brats. Grab yourself a pint of Sixpoint and a brat for the nice price of $7.00.

The Kettle's usual trifecta of Sixpoint brews will be on tap -- the Sweet Action Cream Ale, the "Ryeteous" (sic) Rye Ale, and Brownstone Ale. They'll be joined in the starting line-up by Poppa's Pilz. It's the first lager ever brewed at Sixpoint in honor of our second anniversary.

Finally, what's a party without cake? One of our very special Sixpoint freaks will be making some German Chocolate beer cake just for the occasion.

And yes, it wouldn't be an event at the Kettle without a Badger game. Wisconsin tips off against Michigan State starting @ 7pm.

The Kettle of Fish is easily accessible by mass transit. Take the 1 train to Christopher Street. The Kettle is just east of 7th Avenue. Or take the A, C, E, B, D, V or F train to West Fourth Street station, walk west on Waverly Place and bear right on to Christopher Street.

Back in black...

After the longest stint rocking my natural hair color since I was in 8th Grade, I've gone back to the Snow White look:

I realize I never mentioned that we managed to pull off our own poutine at home the Thursday before the Super Bowl.

We brought some cheese curds and a can of poutine gravy back from Montreal and put them together with fries from Chip Shop.

I invited some Canadian friends over to taste the fruits of their homeland (okay, and I made Stefan put the stuff together...)



Stefan even brought beer from Quebec.



Not too shabby.

I recently realized that almost all of my friends are couples these days...so yesterday I went with my two single friends on a Six Points Brewery Tour. Six Points is brewed out of the back of Liberty Heights Tap Room in Red Hook. They have a staff of only five people and all the beer is made by hand. Over the past year I've definitely noticed it on tap at more and more bars in NYC and that's pretty cool, cause it's great stuff and it's nice to know you're supporting people that really have a passion for the product they put out. Good times. The tour is free, given by the dude that started the brewery (and his well-trained dog Bandit) AND we got a free pint of beer afterward.

Later, I met up with my sister and her husband for cheese and cocktails at Sample on Smith Street. I highly recommend the Hot Whiskey. As Keil said, it was "morish"- as in it's so tasty you want more. Then it was off to Webster Hall for the Lily Allen show which was very fun. She's so cheeky. I feel like she's the British Gwen Stefani- like back in the No Doubt days... Heather and I also appreciated that she had chubby legs and told the audience she had gas from shepherd's pie. After some more sister bonding time at Boat, it was off to bed...and thus far I've accomplished nothing today. Oh wait, I cleaned out my shoe collection. Awesome. Today is a day for sitting on the couch on catching up on the TV...and maybe getting some BBQ later...

What a week of great concerts at neat venues...

Calexico at The Allen Room last night was a really outstanding show. The Allen Room is just gorgeous - behind the stage is a wall of glass looking directly out onto Columbus Circle and Central Park South. Members of Beirut joined Calexico for part of the show, as did a singer from Barcelona whose name I unfortunately cannot remember, but she was great.

I'm seeing Neko Case in a few weeks as a part of the same series and CANNOT wait. It's gonna be fantastic.

Saturday night brings me to Lily Allen at Webster Hall...and the beat goes on...

Please do me a favor and see Patty Griffin if she comes your way... Me oh my, I just love her voice. I saw her tonight thanks to the Artists Den at the Angel Orensanz Foundation- which, incidentally, I've decided I'd like to get married in...you know, if I ever find a man to marry, that is. I thought I was being all brilliant thinking of that, but I just came home to find out that's where SJP and Matthew Broderick got hitched...ah well. It's a beautiful place. ALSO, if you can get in on any of these Artists Den concerts you should definitely go. The concerts are free, in a beautiful venue, FULL-length AND you get free drinks from sponsors. Not a bad deal. I wish I could afford the $250 bucks it costs to become a member...Anywho, go check out Patty's new CD and/or pick up my favorite old one, 1,000 Kisses. You won't regret it.

I'm suffering from two addictions right now:
1) Buying vintage boots on Ebay.
2) Buying concert tickets.

This week is chock full of concerts...Plus I'm going to at least one a week for the next three weeks - Yikes! But, a good yikes (not for my wallet, perhaps).

Last night I went to Cat Power at Hiro (yeah, I kinda forgot about the Super Bowl when I bought the tix). She's pretty much a lunatic.

Tomorrow I'm going to a special free Patty Griffin show I won tickets to. I've seen her about 10 times at this point. I know it's super girly music, but I think she sings like an angel. And, well, I am a girl.

Thursday I'm going to see Calexico at Lincoln Center. I dig that they do a cover of a Love song because my dad's cousin "Snoopy" was in Love (on their debut album).

AND finally, Saturday's a show I'm super excited to see: Lily Allen. She's such a cheeky monkey.

It's been a week of BBQ for me.

Thursday night we hit up Pioneer Bar-B-Q in Red Hook & Saturday marked a trip to The Smoke Joint in Fort Greene.



Both places had Pork Slap beer, which, if you can see, has two pigs belly bumping on the can. Best. Can. Ever. Plus it just sounds dirty to say,"Gimme a Pork Slap."

In terms of the actual food I ordered, I'm gonna have to give Pioneer the win this time. Their pulled pork was amazing- so juicy! I didn't really dig the pork "tips and bits" from the Smoke Joint, but their BBQ beans were pretty awesome- with chunks of bacon, beef and pork in 'em. Yum!

I think I'm actually headed up to the always-tasty Dino BBQ later in the week, so it'll be a BBQ trifecta.

I know what I'm doing this weekend to stay in from the cold!!!

In the papers...

From The LA Times:
A Spanking Ban: Are we gonna get it?
This article is hilarious.

"The day that the [government] gives birth to my children, then they have a right to raise them," wrote Esther. "Till then they are mine to do with as I please. I will raise them the way I see fit. If I think that those little butts need a swat … I will be the one to give it to them."

Sweet Jesus, I love karaoke.

Lisa had an impromptu Birthday party Saturday night at Biny and it was insanely fun. I've never done karaoke in a private room and, I must say, it's pretty awesome. I've never been shy about singing in front of strangers, but in a private room, all your shy friends really let themselves go and it's hilarious to watch. Watching my sister's husband shake what his mama gave him while singing along to eighties metal...priceless. We were there from 9pm until 3:30 in the morning. Needless to say: I'm a little hoarse.





I think this was Katie's Cher impression for "If I Could Turn Back Time."



Keil sings like an angry German.





I believe this was me singing Celine Dion's "It's All Coming Back"- pretty much my favorite karaoke song ever.



Our song selections ranged from "Must Have Been Love" to "Funky Cold Medina."



My favorite part of this picture is the sign on the side that says "No Standing on the Furniture." As you might notice in future pictures, we didn't so much follow the rules...










Nothing like a little booty dancing in the privacy of your own room...



I introduced the gang to a little gem by Destiny's Child entitled "Nasty Girl." If you haven't heard it, I highly suggest you download it immediately. It was such a crowd favorite that we did it twice.



Ah, nothing more touching than a couple of sisters singing "You Shook Me All Night Long"

Have y'all seen Jessica Simpson's new video? My God, it's like a train wreck.

Sure, the video starts out down a normal path but somewhere around minute 3 Jessica takes a wrong turn and ends up in Looneyville smearing makeup all over her face and chopping off her precious blonde locks with a pair of toe nail scissors...Yowza.

Tiffany posted pictures from my visit to Providence on her blog, including this one from our trip to Olneyville New York System- home of coffee milk and hot dogs that give you serious indigestion.

After a drive straight North armed with Stewart's Soda Pops, milkshakes, and copious amounts of beef jerky...



You're ready for:

44 Hours in Montreal

(Times estimated. Inaccuracies are guaranteed.)

SATURDAY

2:00 PM- Arrive in Montreal and check in at Square Phillip’s Hotel. The people there are really friendly and your room is the biggest hotel room you have ever seen.

2:30 PM- Drag yourself away from watching some cheesy show on CTV about a drug addict musician and the love triangle she’s caused and head up to the rooftop indoor pool.





4:00 PM- Wander aimlessly down Rue St. Catherine. Get followed by a weird drifter dude who only speaks French and insists on continuing to speak to you in French even though you don’t understand a word. Make a left on Rue St. Denis to get rid of him- Oh look, Rue St. Denis is a nice street with lots of shops to look at. Whew! Continue to wander aimlessly.

5:00 PM- You are freezing your buns off. Head down to Saint-Laurent Boulevard and hit up Schwartz’s Deli for a smoked meat sandwich. “Smoked Meat” is French-Canadian for “Pastrami.” Order a side of pickles and pommes frites. Burn the crap out of the roof of your mouth by biting into your sandwich before it’s cooled (You will suffer from this for the rest of the weekend). Marvel at the piles of brisket behind the counter.







5:20 PM- Realize that your meal didn’t take nearly as much time as you thought it would. Head on down Saint-Laurent and do some more window shopping (at this point all of the shops are either closed or closing). Alternate: Check yourself into a hospital for the heart attack you’ve just suffered. Have a triple bypass. (Note: this option will use up the rest of your 44 hours)



6:00 PM- You’ve successfully avoided a heart attack, but now you just might freeze to death. Fight the bitter cold by stopping in at Cafe Pi for a cup of coffee and a game of chess. Find further amusement by reading an issue of the Canadian Vice, ogling the cute Montreal hip artsy boys, and watching the NFL playoffs.







8:20 PM- Continue down Saint-Laurent, turn right at Avenue du Mont-Royal Est and stop in at Bily Kun for a beer or two. Try not to be freaked out by the stuffed ostrich heads on the wall as the atmosphere is otherwise very enjoyable. They have a great selection of interesting beer and wine.

9:30 PM- Wander aimlessly yet again hoping to find some cool bars. End up back on Saint-Laurent in the loudest rock “club” you have ever been in. Pay a $5 cover only to use the restroom and immediately leave because your ears are bleeding.

10:00 PM- Grab a table at Blizzarts down the road. There’s a DJ spinning in the back and a dance floor, but the uber hip crowd hasn’t decided to dance yet. You realize that you started your night far too early, but you enjoy the scene anyhow.





MIDNIGHT: Stop in to grab some poutine at Frites Alors! on your way back to the hotel. Poutine is french fries and cheese curds topped with gravy. Another healthy snack. When you finally get your frozen butt back to the room, gobble them down immediately. Realize that no one makes french fries better than people in Montreal. Fall asleep to the sounds of your tummy gurgling and your trip buddies groaning.





SUNDAY

10:02 AM: Wake up and realize that the continental breakfast ended at 10. Run down in your pajama pants and discover that, thank goodness, breakfast is still out. Square Phillip’s has the yummiest pink grapefruit juice I’ve ever had. I don’t even normally like grapefruit juice. Try a Montreal bagel only to discover that they are inedible. Montreal is famous for their bagels but they make them differently than in the U.S.A. and I definitely prefer the U.S.A. version.





12:00 PM: Hop on the subway (So new! So clean!) and go to Old Montreal (the oldest part of the city).









1:00 PM: Visit the Basilica of Notre Dame. Your admission fee includes a guided tour in English of the beautiful church, inspired by Sainte-Chapelle in Paris (my favorite!). Impressive facts: The organ has over 11,000 pipes. Celine Dion got married here.

















2:00 PM: Take a stroll around Old Montreal and feel like you’ve stepped into Europe. Some of the shops sell bizarre things like wooden penises and monkeys smoking pot.









3:00 PM: Time to eat again! Take the subway back to Rue St. Denis and stop in at a diner for some lunch (make sure to get a side of frites!). Hit up the four thousand record shops and vintage clothing stores. Explore some of the side streets and discover lots of cute houses, restaurants and tiny shops.



5:00 PM: Stop at a grocery store for All Dressed Ruffles (salt, vinegar, onion, and red bell pepper?) and a bottle of dry Canadian red wine. Head back to the hotel to rest, shower and change for going out. Take a cab this time. You’ve had enough walking in the freezing cold for one weekend.



9:00 PM: Go to a delicious French dinner at L’Express. It’s so authentically French that the waiters will be really mean to you. If you’re lucky, they’ll snap at you to “Pay attention!” in French like they did to me and squish your group of three into a table for two. Fortunately, you will be too busy devouring your delicious duck special to give a damn. Finish off your meal (and the rest of that bottle of red wine) with some amazing Roquefort cheese. Chat and let the meal digest until you are the only patrons left in the restaurant.








Midnight: Take a cab to Chez Paree– the “classiest” strip club in Montreal. If this is the classiest strip club, I’d hate to see the others. However, there is no cover, the girls are very pretty, and if you are traveling with a boy, he won’t let you NOT go to a strip club whilst in Montreal. You will see a girl with the biggest, most muscular ass (and thighs) strip to “I Like Big Butts”. She will show you the pole dancing skills she learned as a gymnast in The Ukraine. If you are a lady and have to pee, you will have to get the key from the creepy bouncer because that’s how they prevent girls from getting attacked by the skeezy male clientele. The bouncer will try to fondle you and make jokes about vibrators.



1:30 AM: Walk the half mile home to your hotel. Notice that you are being followed by a shady dude and practically run the last few blocks so as not to get mugged.

MONDAY

9:30 AM: Wake up to find it has snowed four inches. Eat breakfast and head out immediately on the treacherous, unplowed roads.