Cooper the Scarecrow

I used to joke around that Cooper was the stupidest dog on Earth, but now I’m beginning to worry that maybe it’s not a joke. Maybe it’s really true. First there was the doggie door incident, when he just plain couldn’t grasp the fact that the door moved 3 feet over. The dog would stand and push his head against the drywall, then proceed to do his business in the garage because he couldn’t comprehend that the door could have moved. Thank goodness our once dunce, now brilliant little Peanut showed him the way. As Cooper was (literally) banging his head against the wall Peanut happened to come by and slip out the doggie door. A dim lightbulb went off in Cooper’s head and he somehow realized that he should follow her outside.

Ok, so maybe there’s hope for him after all. Or, then again, maybe he really is among the dumbest dogs in the world. For some strange reason Cooper LOVES the wood stove. He practically spoons the thing for as long as we let him before we literally take his hind legs and drag him across the floor to cool him down. He lays there panting up a storm, over heating, and practically melting his ears. I always fear the dog is going to spontaneously combust one of these days. So every day, we drag him away from the stove, but he always finds his way back.

The other night as Karlo and I were watching TV, we heard some frantic toenails on the wood floor and never seen any greyhound get up so quickly. We wondered what on Earth happened. Did Cooper have a bad dream that made him jump? But he didn’t get back down where he was laying (by the stove). Instead he came over and laid by the couch. It wasn’t until he came up to give me a kiss that I realized his nose was practically hanging off. OK, that may have been a slight exaggeration, but it was all white and crusty and I wondered if it was his new rawhide all over his face. Nope, I couldn’t rub it off. It was layers of nose skin that apparently got singed by the stove. So that explained the sudden jumping action.

Well, Karlo and I decided it was the best thing that could have happened to him. Maybe now he learned his lesson and will stay away from the stove.

Or not. Where do you think he parked himself the very next night? Learning a lesson would imply some sort of brain power and, well . . . we are hoping that Santa will bring him a brain.

Paula’s Favorite Things 2010

It’s that time of year again. I really enjoy this exercise of looking back at my purchases of the year and compiling a list of my favorite things. I saw Oprah’s list this year and, as usual, it was heavily stocked with outrageously over-priced things. If you’re looking for $2,000 earrings, check out her list, but if you want the low down on some super practical, fun, and affordable things, than move over Oprah’s list and hello Paula’s list. So without any further ado, and in no particular order (well except for #1) here’s my list:

Droid X
There just aren’t the words to describe how much I love my new phone. I know I already blogged about it so I won’t repeat myself, but this phone is life changing. LOVE it, love it, love it, and just for the record I wouldn’t trade it for an iPhone ever!







Musliex
Some of you might be saying, “What the heck is musliex and how the heck do you pronounce it?” Musliex is a glorious mix of oats, raisins, and other mysterious things. It’s like granola only healthier. I use it as a mix in my yogurt and it’s become my favorite daily snack. Plain flavored yogurt = good. Musliex + flavored yogurt = great.







Skinny Cow Ice Cream
Holy Lord this is Heaven on Earth. Can somebody please tell me how they got low fat ice cream to taste so good? I first discovered the Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches, but this past summer I found little individual serving cups that were pure bliss.

Chai Latte K-Cups

We got this fancy Keurig coffee making thing last year, but I couldn’t care less. In fact, it bugged me that it had to sit on the counter where I could see it. But this past year I made a splendid discovery. You can buy Chai Latte cups for it and that changed EVERYTHING. Oh my goodness I LOVE these things. It’s as good as going to Dunkin Donuts for a treat, only these don’t make me sick like the DD ones do. What a guiltless little pleasure these are. It’s my weekend treat.




Gorilla Pod Tripod
I bought this little gadget for vacation and if I had a dollar for every time I said “God I love this thing.” it would have paid for itself. As a matter of fact I made such a big deal over how much I loved this little tripod that I hurt Karlo’s feelings because he had already secretly bought me a beautiful carbon fiber, professional, expensive, real tripod and he was convinced that I would no longer want it after gushing over this little gorilla pod. There is a time and a place for both, but if you’re traveling light nothing beats this little gadget.




Nutellla

This magic spread became one of my favorite things on Earth during our last trip to Europe. It’s not always easy to find or get here in the States, but it should be. Imagine peanut butter, only instead of peanuts, it’s chocolate. You can spread it on anything and everything. Greatest invention in the world.






Keen Travel Bag
Remember my post way back when about brand loyalty? Well, Keen is one of those brands that I am very loyal too. They deserve my loyalty because they are truly awesome. All of these products are outstanding and this bag is just perfect. I’ve taken it on several trips so far and I love everything about it. It's comfy and functions like a dream. Everything I could want in a travel bag and it’s built to last.

Eddie Bauer Day Pack
This is a brilliant little invention. We’ve all seen little tote bags that pack into a small little pouch, but this bag is actually a backpack that packs into itself. This thing has come in so ridiculously handy on every trip we’ve ever taken with it. I was just in Eddie Bauer and they no longer carry these. I’m wishing I bought more than one.



Silk Moose Pants
I’m just now realizing that most of my favorite things have come as a result of vacations. I guess vacations in general will always make my list of favorite things. I picked up these silk moose lounge pants in Bar Harbor and I love every possible thing about them. The comfort, the feel, the seriously cuteness. Love them.







Hat Scarf
Why bother buying a hat and a scarf separately when you can have one that serves as both? Once again, I was on a trip (training in Maine) and a couple of snowboarding chicks where always wearing the coolest headware. I was determined to find something funky fresh for myself and I did. I love this thing. It’s the softest wool and super warm. I am so ready to try it out in the real cold. I haven’t yet made it out of the house with it, but as soon as I took it out of the package I knew it was making my list this year. I want one in every color.

Core Fusion Yoga - Energy Flow

I review a lot of different work-out videos and this was truly one of my favorites. I usually find more that I don’t like than ones that I really do like. This one is a keeper. It’s broken down into five 10 minute sessions and although you may think you can’t get much out of a 10 minute yoga workout, you really can. These guys are serious and they waste no time in kicking your butt. I take this video to work and on the road with me. Not having time to work-out is no longer a valid excuse.




Cambelbak Runners Pack
And speaking of working out, as you already know Karlo and I have been doing some running this year and this little gadget is awesome. The first few times I ran with my phone I had a terrible time. The phone was too heavy and pulled my tights down as I ran, and the clip rubbed a dozen layers of skin off my hip. This pack solves that problem. I can now hook my phone onto the belt during runs and hikes. Plus I can carry a bottle of water and it even has a little pouch for snacks, keys, or in my case, Kleenex. Super handy and it’s reflective neon which is also a plus for running on the road.

Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite
I discovered this band while listening to Pandora one day. The second I heard the first few measures of music I felt compelled to click over and see who it was. I never heard of them, but instantly decided to buy the CD. I was that sure I would love it and I was right. I love every single song on the CD. It’s not every day I find a band I like this much. You can check them out here.






Understanding Exposure
I just got this book so it's barely squeaked into my list, but it was an easy add. It's often that I get suckered into buying a book online that I later regret. This book came highly recommended to me by a professional photographer and it's like my new bible. Granted only photographers would be interested in this, but it just so happens I know a few . . . Anyway, it's my favorite book of the year!






Groupon
This last one isn’t really a product, but rather a means of buying many products on a steal. Groupon is a web site that you join and every day they email you a different deal. When you sign up you get deals local to your city. So far I scored $50 worth of photo books for $15 and dance lessons for 70% off. I’m impressed with the quality of the deals that come through and think it’s a worth while thing to join. No commitment to ever buy a thing, but some of them are pretty hard to pass up. Give it a look www.groupon.com.

My Favorite Holiday

I just realized that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I never really thought twice about Thanksgiving. I always thought of it as a ho hum day. I haven’t watched the big parade since I was a kid. I never cooked a turkey in my life. The feast never really excited me. I don’t have a big family that reunites for the day. There really wasn’t ever anything all that special about it. But this weekend I realized that this holiday really does rock compared to most others. I used to think that the 4th of July was the best holiday ever. But, for some strange reason, I no longer get as excited to see that day as I used to. So now Thanksgiving has officially taken over as my favorite holiday.


Every year starts with a half day of work on Wednesday. The work day ends with a big party and feast at the office. Such a nice way to kick off a 4.5 day weekend. Our new Thanksgiving tradition will be running in the Manchester Road Race. Karlo and I ran several years ago, but it resulted in my knee killing me and I certainly didn’t get the warm fuzzy sensation that I ever wanted to run it again. But this year was different. This year was perfect. The entire race experience was perfect. We had the smoothest time getting and and out of Manchester. Found perfect parking. Killed time waiting for the start in a cozy restaurant, sipping hot tea. Ran into all the friends we had hoped to see–quite by accident. The actual race was an easy breezy enjoyment with miraculously no knee pain. The runner’s high lasted all day. Dinner with my family was a ball. The food was superb and the company long over due.


And the positive flow didn’t end there. After torturing myself with the decision of going out into the Black Friday Hell or not, I finally decided to do it. I left the house at 7 am and headed to the Evergreen Walk. I parked right in front of the door at Eddie Bauer (the only store that I really wanted to shop in). I walked into a mostly empty store and scored myself the deal that I drove out there for. With a savings of $85 in one store I figured the trip was worth it and I was ready to go home. But then I figured I drove all that way so I may as well get something else. No problem there. The MINI was maxed out with a million little things we needed for entertaining (including a new tree for the foyer) and a giant dog bed. OK, that wasn’t really for entertaining, but took up lots of space in the car. Even that experience was smooth and easy. I hit zero traffic and sailed home by 10 am. It was all too pleasant and too easy to be Black Friday.

I listened to some Christmas music on the way home and actually started to look forward to decorating the house. To my surprise I arrived home to Karlo nose deep in xmas boxes and the tree already up. It was like a Christmas miracle! We had fun decorating and cleaning the house all day. It was much more pleasant to do these chores 1) together with Karlo and 2) knowing somebody will actually SEE it this year. Makes it much more worth while.

All of this and we still had a entire weekend to go. God I love Thanksgiving. We packed the rest of the two days full of things - as usual. A little bit more shopping, a little bit of playing, a lot of cleaning, and a ton of YogaDudes work, but still . . . we were home together for 4 days and that was the best. I am very thankful to have had such a awesome holiday.

Should I Be Mad or Insulted?

As a consumer I really don't like being sold to. I can't stand it the second a salesperson starts to sound like a salesperson. It really insults my intelligence. I recently inquired about refinancing our mortgage and after I got attacked by hungry mortgage brokers all trying to 'sell' me their service in their condescending little tones, I completely shut down and aborted my mission. I don't care how much I can save per month, it's not worth dealing with these people. If sales people only knew that the less they talked, the better chances they have of selling me anything.

Another thing that annoys me as a consumer is being deceived. I mean what is worse than deceit? You see this silly little bottle of whatever the heck it is.

You would think I would know what it is considering I pay over $100 per bottle for it, but sadly I'm not quite sure what it is. Yes, I was sold. I guess the sales lady said very little. Anyway, back to my rant. I'm not quite sure what is worse, the pain of the price tag of this mystery solution or the fact that this is how they package it.

Is that not RIDICULOUS? Is the size of the box supposed to make you feel better for paying some insane amount of money for what's inside? And if it does happen to trick you into thinking you're getting some kind of deal [which actually did work on me . . . I got this bottle "free" (ha) with a skin treatment that I recently got and my thought was "wow, that's a much bigger bottle than what I have at home. What a great deal I'm getting.] So how do you think I felt when I got home only to find out that the bottle inside that big box was indeed the same tiny size as what I had? The only thing that kept me from flipping out what the fact that it was (cough cough) so-called 'free.' But still, the deception just irritates me to no end. If you're gonna rip me off, at least do it without deception.

Darn It

I promised myself that I would NOT venture out into the chaos that is Black Friday shopping this week. But now I just found this in my mailbox.

And that might change everything! Hmmm, this is interesting isn't it? I wouldn't dream of going out that day to buy others some gifts, but somehow it doesn't seem so bad when the gifts are for me. Yup, that's what the Christmas spirit is all about. Just shoot me now.

Oh well, knowing me and the state of my brain these days, I would likely leave the house and head toward Manchester, but then get there, do a million other things, and completely forget about the sale. I got my money on that scenario!

Multitasking Kills the Brain

And I'm sure that it's true. What I'm not sure of is if this is funny, sad, or scary . . . On Friday I got an email advertising a wine tasting in Sturbridge that would be taking place on Sunday. I thought it sounded like fun and I forwarded the message to Karlo who responded by saying, "Let's go." To my delight I planned our entire day around being at Yankee Spirits between noon and 3pm for this wine tasting. I picked out some cute clothes to wear and I planned an entire shopping route that included trips to every store in Southbridge and Sturbridge that I knew of. When we leave the house for shopping, we do it like we mean it. By the second store I was already regretting driving the MINI as the car was nearly full.

Store after store our wallets were getting lighter and lighter and after nearly an hour in Pier One (I had to drag Karlo out!), a wish list a mile long, and two big pieces of decor that I had no idea where to put in the house, we decided to go home as quick as possible before we spent another dime. Besides the car was jam packed. We got home and I checked my email only to find the original message from Yankee Spirits about the wine tasting. We COMPLETELY forgot to go. All of our plans that day revolved around this event and we FORGOT TO GO. I'm just stunned and I still can't believe we did that.

So I'm going to apologize now in case the day comes that we have plans with you and just completely space out and not show up. I didn't think it was possible that I could ever do such a thing, but now I'm not so sure.

Searching For a Title

Not only am I struggling to find a title to this blog post, but I'm also struggling to make a story out of this picture. You would think a picture like this would come with some sort of explanation of what the heck we were doing . . . and why. But it doesn't. For whatever reason we just decided that it was necessary to head out to the cold deck in our socks (no wait, I had slippers on) and take this picture of ourselves. I suppose I should have made this posting much more interesting and come up with some elaborate story. Sorry to disappoint.

I think I'm just not thinking clearly these days. The reality of the holidays is starting to bear down on me and my nerve is starting to pinch again. I'm trying everything to keep it under control, but I fear it's not going to work. By the time Christmas gets here my back will likely be in a painful knot and every finger on my hands will be barely usable. Gee, that's positive thinking isn't it? I must try to stay positive and tell myself that I WILL be able to pull this off. I will be able to survive my busy yoga retail season, buy and wrap all my xmas gifts, get the house ready to entertain and feed 12 people on Christmas day . . . all with only one free weekend between now and the big day. Oh God help me.

Luckily I got a jump on it today. Karlo and I went shopping for most of the day. I'm not quite sure how we did it, or what we even bought, but we managed to spend a ridiculous amount of money, didn't buy a single gift, and came home with an entertaining 'things to buy' list much longer than the one we set out with. Oh boy, I better go do something productive and quick.

Shopping Purgatory

I devised a brilliant shopping strategy. I wish it was for my holiday shopping, but I'm still brainstorming ways to streamline that ordeal. This is what I'm calling my "shopping purgatory." It's my genius idea for saving money by not buying unnecessary items and it goes something like this . . .

I'm sure everyone knows about Amazon wish lists. Or maybe you don't. Let me explain. Amazon not only allows you to place items that they sell into a Wish List for later purchase, but they also offer this handy dandy little button that you can add to your bookmarks menu bar. Here's a snapshot of a corner of my screen. See the little "Add to Wish List" selection in my bar?

So no matter where I am online, I just click on an item to view it in any shop and then I can simply hit that magic button on my top menu bar to add it to my list. It automatically pops up a new little window and fills in the pertinent info to be stored in my Amazon Wish List. It's literally one simple click. The image below is purely for demonstration purposes (really).


Whenever I find myself hemming or hawing over a purchase, or maybe I found something really cool by accident and I want to remember it and where it is, I just add it to my wish list. For me this list has become a gathering of ideas that maybe I want to buy for myself (or for others). But it wasn't until earlier this week when I was shopping for a single book on Amazon, and because I never like to pay shipping, I decided to throw something else in my cart to qualify for free shipping. Surely there was something inexpensive in my Wish List. So I headed on over to the list and that's when it hit me. I had so many items in there that I swear I wanted at some point. I found dancing shoes, CDs, books I'll never read, some tool that Karlo insisted that he needed. All sitting there completely forgotten. I started to delete things out of the list and thought EVERYTHING I ever buy should first have to live on this list for a week or so. If after 10 days I still feel so compelled to buy it than it was meant to be. But, dollars to donuts, most of the silly things I add to the list will likely just be deleted two weeks later. I'm tellin' ya this is brilliant. I probably should have put the Porsche on the Wish List . . .

If you want to get the magic button for your browser, just follow this link.

Did You Hear About the Morgans?

Karlo and I watched this movie over the weekend and I just loved it. Of course, I love just about every movie starring Hugh Grant. I find him irresistible. Maybe it's the accent. Or maybe I just love the funny characters he always plays.

It's not often that movies make me really laugh out loud and I love it when that happens. Nothing is better than a sincere laugh-out-loud moment and there were several of those episodes during this movie. Two of them stuck in my mind and I can't seem to forget them so I'll share.

I call both of these scenes "Karlo moments." They couldn't be more fitting for Karlo. The first scene went something like this . . . the couple is engaged in passionate kissing and Hugh sweeps his wife off her feet and carries her into the bedroom. On the way through the doorway he whacks her limbs on the door frame. Then the camera stays at the doorway while the couple moves out of the scene. All you hear is a crash bang, the wife saying, "OUCH" and Hugh saying, "What do you mean ouch? That was foreplay." Welcome to my world! Enough said.

The second scene that nearly made us choke we laughed so hard was Hugh and his wife (who are from NYC) saying goodbye to a couple that they lived with temporarily in Wyoming . . . Hugh says, "If you're ever in New York . . " and the woman from Wyoming cuts him off and says, "Then something has gone terribly wrong." I don't think Karlo ever loved a line from a movie more than that. Too cute.

Anyway, "Did You Hear About the Morgans" is on Netflix instant watch and I highly recommend it. Pop yourself some popcorn and enjoy some good laughs.

Still Can't Believe This Happened

Something happened today that I never dreamed was possible. It was about 2 PM and Karlo and I sat down to have some coffee and tea. I needed to warm up after our motorcycle ride. By this point in the day we accomplished a ridiculous amount of tasks. I mean we were ticking things off our To Do list at a record rate. But in addition to the home and business To Do lists I also made Belgian waffles, colored my hair, photographed a bunch of my latest creations, went for a road bike ride, went for a motorcycle ride . . . and you can't even imagine the house chores. So when we sat down to enjoy our little snack and break and looked at the clock on the wall that said it was about 2:15 we were convinced that the batteries in the clock died. "There is no way it's only 2:15," we thought. I literally had to get up and walk over to the digital clock display on the stove to confirm the time. It was the greatest feeling to have it be earlier in the day than we thought possible. I swear this has never happened before and it was awesome!

It sure was a jam packed weekend. On Saturday we spent half the day at a line dancing workshop. It was a hoot and we both had a good time. We were supposed to be there all day, but we made the terrible mistake of going outside after lunch. When we realized how incredible the weather was we simply couldn't stand the jitters of being indoors any longer. We snuck out and enjoyed an awesome topless drive home from Webster, MA. The back roads were a driver's dream and we were out numbered on the road 3 to 1, motorcycles to cars. It was splendid.

In addition to all the work we accomplished there was a little bit of lounging (for some of us) . . .



And a whole lot of gaming (for one of us) . . .

It is official. Karlo is completely addicted to Angry Birds. Holy man, I can't tear him away from the iPad. With any luck that battery will drain already. But on a side note I have to say, so far the iPad battery appears to be amazing. A big improvement over the iTouch for sure.

One Lone Photo

Ok so maybe I did get one picture from Karlo's trip to Tokyo. He didn't take it, of course, but instead . . . he's in it! That's my baby in the spotlight, somehow pulling off a demo in Japanese.

Mark Your Calendars

I've got nothing to say today. It was a rough work day. Let's just leave it at that. I'm going to be laptopless for another day or two and I swear I'm just lost without it. I can't think without my laptop in my possession. So in lieu of an entertaining story I just wanted to ask you to save the date. My final gallery opening of the year will be taking place December 4th & 5th. This time we're moving shop from my little "love shack" to a nice big hall in Eastford. Here's the details . . . Hope some of my pals can make it.

Photos from Japan

I thought it would be nice to share with you the lovely pictures that Karlo took in Japan . . .






Wasn't that great? Oh wait a minute, did I forget to upload the photos? No, actually I didn't. My wonderful husband (who should know a thing or two about taking pictures by this point) traveled halfway around the world and came home with three pictures . . . all of which we deleted.

I was so disappointed in both the pictures and in him. I said, "I think I'm embarrassed to call you my husband. How can you be related to me? THIS is your best photographic effort???" Pitiful. Shame on Karlo. He went on to explain that I make him not want to take a picture. What on Earth? How can this be possible? Shouldn't I be inspiring him to take pictures? I just don't understand. And this must be changed. I don't want to set the bar too high that he feels his pictures don't compare. The fact is that Karlo does indeed have a good eye behind the camera. He's a bit shaky at times, but I taught him enough tricks and he could do a great job if he tried. So I'm going to work on turning things around and encouraging him more. Come on Karlo, you can do it.

What Happened?

Where did the time go? I just realized that I haven't blogged since last Tuesday. When I discovered this fact my first thought was, "Poor Tina, she's waiting for stories." So what happened to my last several days? Well, Karlo is back. Need I say more?

It took us days to catch up with each other. And I'm very disappointed to report that I don't have any funny stories from his trip to Japan. I mean I got nuttin'. I'm still not quite sure how this is possible, but it sounded like a pretty boring trip. Oh well. Sorry to disappoint.

Since getting back home Karlo has created some work for me. Not that I wasn't working in his absence, but now I had even more to deal with. Piles of laundry, a temporary lost dog, a lost cell phone, expense reports, etc. Then there was the yard work and the never ending leaves. If I could just devise a plan to make money off of fallen leaves. Where on earth do all those leaves go? I would think that our woods would be piled 3 feet high with leaves permanently. But I guess mother nature has it all worked out. All we need to do is get them into the woods. As if that was an easy task. I spent all Sunday morning with a gasoline engine strapped on my back blowing leaves around the yard while Karlo drove the lawn tractor around at record speeds. After hours of painstaking work, I watched leaves falling from the sky for the rest of the day and now the lawn is covered again. uuugh. Between seeing the leaves and the snow on the lawn this morning I just wanted to crawl back into bed.

I'm still in denial that it's November. Maybe if I just don't accept that it's almost Thanksgiving I won't have to deal with the upcoming stress of the season. Dear Santa I would like you to bring me a half a dozen elves. Maybe then I could get my life in order. Until then I will continue to live in the chaos that is Paula's world.

I Miss My Babies

I so miss my Bentley. This has been the first time in a very long time that I've been home alone. I really can't remember if Karlo has left town without me since we lost Bentley. This may be the first time. I never really felt lonely in the house with Bentley around. He was such a good companion. I could talk to him and he would gaze deep into my eyes, listening to (and understanding just about) everything I would say to him. Should I ever mention the word "Daddy" his ears would perk right up and he would get so excited that he would cry. I just loved being able to communicate with him.

But now I'm stuck with Cooper and Peanut and although they are mostly good dogs - when they are not throwing up or completely ignoring me - they just don't compare to Bentley. I tried to have a heart to heart with them tonight. I went over and hugged them, petted their ears, and asked them if they missed "Daddy." Nothing. There is just not one brain wave moving in their heads. I got up, paced around the house and said out loud, "Boy do I miss Bentley. I'm so lonely." Within 2 minutes the phone rang and it was Bentley! OK, don't be ridiculous. It was Karlo calling from Tokyo. What a surprise that was. I guess he felt me being lonely.

Well, I'll never get my baby Bentley back, but I sure am looking forward to my other baby coming home on Thursday. I miss you too Karlo! These dogs just aren't cutting it. I need you home with me.

Because Karlo is Away

Wow, it's been a long time since I posted a blog with that title. I have been very lucky in that ever since Karlo got his new job title he hasn't really traveled much. All the recent trips he's taken have been with me which has been great. But this time he left me alone and you know what that means. Things have to go wrong.

I made it through the first half of his trip with flying colors. Of course I wasn't home myself so it was pretty easy. But I did host a house guest all alone and I kept her warm with the best fire I ever built and maintained in my life. I was so proud of myself and doing so good.

But then last night was my first night at home alone. I was really looking forward to a peaceful night of catching up on my digital life and some house chores. What I really didn't want was more house cleaning chores added to the list. So when I got back from my run and found a pile of doggie vomit on the floor (and no paper towels anywhere in sight) it was not good. But I was a trooper and cleaned it up.

Next chore was laundry. That's not so bad. I usually don't mind doing laundry. The dogs came into the laundry room to help, as they normally do, but this time they weren't much help. Cooper proceeded to throw up again, this time in the laundry basket and on MY FOOT. There goes those slippers! Dear Santa . . . I could use some nice Japanese slippers this year.

So much for my peaceful night at home. Why is it that things never go smoothly when Karlo is away?

I'm Kinda Famous

Well, that didn't take long. I go out on the streets with Sandy Foster and the next thing you know, I'm famous. Check out the link below. Alright, it has nothing to do with my actual photography skills, but it sure was nice to get a plug from a photography tips blog.

http://weeklyphototips.blogspot.com/2010/11/more-proof-im-idiot.html

More Strolling on the Streets of NYC

The actual conference sucked up my entire days. The classes started at 8:45 AM and ended just before 6PM. It was nice to walk back to the hotel at twilight. I snapped the picture above of the "umpire state building," as Jamie liked to call it, with my phone. But the real fun came after dark when Jamie and I tried to learn some tricks from Sandy, who is a "street photographer." A street photographer basically means that you set out to try to capture the essence of the city. In order to do this you must be willing to point your camera at strangers–something that has always terrified me. But I gave it a try . . . Here's me taking pictures of strangers.

OK, so maybe two of them were mannequins. That counts, right? Hey, I was trying. I finally did get brave enough to get some actual humans from the side. Baby steps. I'm getting closer.

And then I got real brave and snapped these:

There's no stopping me now! Look out city streets, here I come . . .

Friday night was quite fun despite the temps dipping down and the wind picking up. Sandy and I had a great dinner with a couple from the "Photoshop gang." The guy was a Photoshop instructor and the girl was a Mini Cooper freak. Needless to say we never ran out of things to talk about. We ate in a very funky Thai place and the spicy food got me ready for our walk out in the cold.

We strolled more and took more photos. My favorite thing to see this night was the walk sign. Which in our case was the 'Quick - RUN - I'm freezing' sign.

I thought my brain would explode by the end of the day on Saturday. I had photo and video overload. Not to mention PEOPLE and CITY overload and I was so ready to go home. We planned on taking a taxi to the train station, which was a relief given the fact that I practically ran a mile to get from the convention center to the hotel. But the bellhop told us it would be faster to walk the mile to GCS than taxi so that is exactly what we did. No, wait a minute, we more ran than walked . . . pulling our suitcases, in insane Saturday night crowds, in my dress boots. Holy smokes that was not fun.

And let me tell you . . . if you think there are lots of freaks in the city on a normal Saturday night, you should try visiting on the night before Halloween. After seeing several strange characters walking by, one of them a werewolf in a power blue tux, Sandy wanted to stay another night! Imagine the interesting street photography we could have gotten that night.

To see more pics from this exciting trip, please click here.

Big City Adventures

What a whirlwind past few days I've had. It will be a true miracle if I can document this one, as I've had virtually no free time what-so-ever for the past 5 days. It has been jam packed with socializing and entertaining an out-of-town guest and jet-setting in the Big City. But I will do my best to recap (at least some of it).

The journey began early Thursday morning. My new friend and "photo mentor" (gosh I feel so important to have a photo mentor) arrived to CT on Wednesday afternoon. Luckily we controlled ourselves and went to bed at a reasonable time rather than staying up all night talking, like we really wanted to do. After a painful tour of New Haven (two GPSs in the car and we still got lost) we managed to find not only the train station, but also my cousin Jamie. We were finally making our way to NYC.

Me and Sandy pushing our bags at Union Station.

The train ride was fun and uneventful. The biggest event that occurred was getting a call from Karlo in Tokyo and not being able to actually talk to him. He called from a computer with no mic so it was a one-way conversation of "Karlo? Is that you????" followed by dead silence. What a bummer.

We found our way out of Grand Central to stand aimlessly on the corner for 5 minutes pondering which direction to walk in. Once again, two high tech GPS phones and still clueless. Luckily Sandy still believes in good old fashion maps and she navigated us to the New Yorker Hotel a mile from the train station. One mile of walking is certainly not a big deal, but it sure was no fun pulling a suitcase along. Once we dumped our bags at the hotel it got much better.

First stop, B&H Photo. My dream come true. I have always wanted to visit this camera mega store. The mecca for all photographers. It was about a city block long and more amazing than I even imagined it would be. Wow, compete sensory overload. Good thing for our wallets we planned this trip 1.) before lunch when we were already hungry, and 2.) before our first workshop that was starting in less than an hour. Needless to say it was a short trip and only cost me $5. Didn't know it was possible to walk out of B&H Photo and only spend $5!

The actual conference was amazing, but I won't bore you with those details. In a nutshell, I was in heaven!


The first night was the only night Jamie would be with us so we went out to dinner. As always it was nothing but laughs. Here's the table after sitting for 5 minutes. And this was just for Jamie.



Next it was time to stroll the streets to test our hand at "street photography." It just so happens that Sandy is one of the best street photographers out there. She holds prestigious awards to prove it. Anyway, Jamie and I hoped that just being near her would rub off. Not sure that it did for me. I am still uninspired in the city, but there is no shortage of interesting material in Times Square.

pics to come . . .

We got silly and visited the M&M store where you can take a profile to see what color M&M you are. As you can see I was not at all happy to be Blue. boo.

When we were all Times Squared, chocolated, and photographed out we began our walk back to the hotel. That is when Bono stopped in a car right in front of us. Jamie snapped a picture.

By this time we needed some drinks. Jamie stopped off at a pub for more beer, while Sandy and I (being the rocking party animals that we are) went to Walgreens for water. Do we know how to party or what? While in line Sandy notices the woman next to her is a movie star. After craning her neck to see that the woman's license was from CA she's convinced it's really her. So after leaving the pharmacy Sandy tries to snap a picture, but Hollywood stars have a keen sense for cameras and she looked away. Now Sandy felt bad so she went back to the store to apologize for the camera incident and she strikes up a conversation. We ended up walking all the way back to our hotel chatting with Jennifer Coolidge. Very cool, but of course I was still searching for Sting . . .

All photos courtesy of Jamie. I've yet to do anything with mine. More NYC stories and pictures to come.