Brooklyn Botanical Garden - Cherry Blossom Festival

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I know it has been way too long since I've posted an update. Between travel and a crashing Internet it's been a busy few weeks.

But it did give the Tim Gunn post time to bask in the limelight of a BPR link (nicely done Melissa).

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We spent most of Saturday (April 29th) in Brooklyn with Gordy and Linda. The outing started with the Brooklyn Botanical Garden's Cherry Blossom Festival.
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Most of the trees were just starting to bloom -with a few in full bloom. The vibrant shades of pinks were so beautiful. The Japanese style garden was well suited for the cherry trees.

Linda under the canopy of cherry tree blossoms.

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Gordy, excited about the photo op.

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The conservatory held an impressive display of Bonsai trees. Some of them were over 100 years old!

Michael in front of an 85 year old tree.

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The garden also had tulips blooming in every color of the rainbow.

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We spent some time at a local bar catching up with the NFL draft. We had our own little t.v., lots of fried food, and plenty of football commentary provided by the team of McGuire and Waldron.

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The day ended with movies at the Tribeca Film Festival - but you'll have to wait for the details on a future blog update.

I Touched Tim Gunn!!

What would motivate me to get off my couch and fight traffic for over an hour to drive down to Hillcrest on a Saturday evening? The answer would be, not too many things, but the chance to meet Tim Gunn, Project Runway mentor extraordinaire, is definitely one of them! Tim and his co-author, Kate Moloney were signing copies of his new book, "Tim Gunn: A Guide to Quality, Taste and Style." After about a 40 minute wait, I was at the table where Tim and Kate were signing books and posing for pictures with their numerous fans. (Hence my giddy call to Kristin as soon as I left the store [and the inspiration for the title of this post], "I touched Tim Gunn!!")

Tim is much like he seems on television: charming, collected and very put-together. I was, of course, a little tongue-tied in his presence (hello, it's Tim), but I did thank him for not giving in to the publisher's demands to "dumb down" the language in the book. Tim said it was, "their line in the sand." Your challenge for the day, straight from page 158, "Chacun à son goût."


The book is very enjoyable, like having a conversation with Tim about how to be the best you that you can be. It is written with wit and humor and you can almost hear Tim's voice in your head as you read it. Thanks to Kristin for alerting me to this opportunity, and now, in the immortal words of Tim Gunn, "Carry on."

A Night on Broadway

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Thursday night we put on our finest and headed to the lights of Broadway. The entertainment for the evening - Spamalot, " a new musical lovingly ripped off from the motion picture Month Python and the Holy Grail".

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Michael and I have been wanting to see Spamalot, so we were thrilled to join Gordy and Linda for the evening. We were even more thrilled when we sat down in our front row mezzanine seats that Linda secured.

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Gordy and Linda in front of the theatre.

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Kristin and Michael in front of the theatre (our Spamalot photo spot).

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The show was funny and irreverent starting with the playbill all the way through until the final bow. In true Monty Python fashion the show was loaded with silly gags and songs. And even though it was not a Disney production, it boasted 3 tap numbers and several big show numbers with synchronized choreography and glittery costumes.

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Post theatre we quickly strolled through the lights and crowds of Times Sq. and headed uptown to Cafe Lalo. Cafe Lalo is a fabulous cafe that has amazing desserts and a nice selection of coffees and cocktails.

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You might know Cafe Lalo from the movie You've Got Mail, it is featured in the scene where Meg Ryan is waiting to meet her e-mail admirer.

(She is reading a book and has a red rose on the table.)

No matter your mood, Lalo has a dessert to suit your tastes. I had a fruity mousse concoction with plenty of fresh whipped cream and strawberries, while Linda has the most decadent chocolate caramel tart and Gordy finished off a blueberry crumb tart and small (really mini) cannoli.

Michael had to work late and didn't get dinner, so he had an egg dish that looked fantastic - poached eggs with a Mediterranean style salsa.

I'm so focused on dessert when I go to Lalo that I didn't even realize they served regular food.

Unfortunately, the evening had to end when the clock turned to midnight - Michael and I both had to get up for work on Friday - wuh wuhhhh.

IOM Manhattan Celebrates Administrative Professionals Day

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Iomega Manhattan Office Staff Celebrates Administrative Professionals Day!

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Trixie the Office Manager enjoying a well deserved day of rest

Her paw is curled over her face

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Even though IT support and Facilities are not administrative professionals, they still decided to take the day off and catch up on some much needed sleep.

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Roxy (Facilities) and Beckham (IT) on the couch

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Roxy and Beckham in the bedroom

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Roxy (with her front feet curled up like a sea otter)

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Other items of note from Wednesday:

-Gordy and Linda arrived in NYC Tuesday late afternoon. Tuesday night we met them for dinner at Artie's Deli and toured the Upper West Side (the area by their hotel). Wednesday we were all set to enjoy a night at Yankee Stadium, but a rain storm cancelled the game. We ended up at Brother Jimmy's and feasted on tasty BBQ and cold beer (caramel apple martini for Linda). Gordy and Linda seem to be having a good time in the city - or at least they are pretending around me. When they get back to SD, all of the NYC visitors can compare notes and get Mel to publish the real story!

-'Shear Genius' has made it on to my DVR record list. I was skeptical after the debacle of 'Top Design' but stop you had me at hedge clippers. Lat night I caught up from last weeks episode which featured the bozofication of one poor client and moved right in to the new Wednesday episode with the hedge clipper haircut. There's no turning back now, I'm hooked. And unlike 'Top Design' the action is fast paced with judging that is logical and seems fairly objective. I love looking at Jaclyn Smith, she is beautiful and she rocks her wardrobe - did you see those crystal studded jeans last night (in the short cut challenge). Judge Sally Hershberger fascinates me, I keep asking myself if I would pay $650 to have her cut my hair (no, would be the answer to that question). Sally is responsible for the famous Meg Ryan shag hair cut. She really does get paid $650 for a cut and style!

Webkinz Update

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On my way back from the post office I stopped by the local Hallmark - just to see if they had any new Webkinz. And they did! They received 3 new animals in a shipment this morning. The owner was telling me I was very lucky - as they only received 6 of the poodle and 6 of the hippo. Here are the latest Webkinz T&M will be able to add to their collection:

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For Thomas the leopard and hippo

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For Maddie the poodle

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Rebecca Relaxes in Manhattan (Friday)

I bet you were expecting 'Bex in the City', right? That would be just too easy.

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There have been problems with the photos loading, so I've split the post and hopefully that will fix the problem.

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Rebecca came out for the weekend to take a well deserved break and keep me company while Michael was in Las Vegas. She was nice enough to bring the California sunshine. We had warm weather and lots of sun - it was a fabulous weekend.

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Rebecca arrived late Thursday night. While she slept in Friday morning I finished up my work for the week. Luckily it was really quiet at work (at least Friday was really quiet - quarter end close kept me up late earlier in the week) and I was able to take off early. We had lunch at a local pub - the food is pretty good but the beer is better.

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It was such a nice afternoon, we decided to walk through Central Park. The park was packed, everyone was enjoying the great weather. We walked from the Reservoir all the way to the Plaza Hotel. (That is from the middle of the park to the southern end - about 30 blocks.)

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We took a picture of The Plaza for Maddie - Eloise had to move out while it's under renovation. It's scheduled to open October 2007 in time for it's 100th anniversary. Right now most of the front is hidden under scaffolding and construction equipment.

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After a quick look at The Plaza we headed to FAO Schwartz. The park made us a little peckish, so we settled in for a HUGE ice cream sundae at the FAO dessert counter. Luckily we decided to share - six scoops of ice cream, caramel sauce, M&Ms, whip cream and a cherry later we were refreshed enough to head back out in to the streets of mid-town. It's pretty hard to see in the picture below, but the counter was all glass with marbles underneath - it looked so cool! It is much easier to see the remains of our sundae.
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After FAO Schwartz we headed East. I was distracted by the shiny things in the Swarovski crystal store window and almost managed to get us killed. Retail therapy was in order after avoiding oncoming traffic on Madison Ave. A quick stop at H&M proved unfruitful, so it was on to Bloomingdale's. We did some valuable research in the purse department in preparation for our trip to Canal St. Saturday morning. Since our pocketbooks could not afford the pocketbooks at Bloomie's we headed to one of my favorite stores in NYC: Dylan's Candy Bar.
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Dylan's is bright, fun, plays great music and has every candy your heart desires.
Did you know 'stressed' spell backwards is 'desserts'?
Amazing the things you learn from a t-shirt.
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Speaking of desserts Dylan's also boasts an ice cream parlor. Look at all of the amazing sundaes they offer - next trip we'll have to hold out and see if their ice cream is better than FAO Schwartz.
(And even though this sundae was amazing, the Disney Soda Fountain in Hollywood serves the best pink peppermint ice cream - an absolute 'must' if you are in the area.)
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Rebecca found some treats for the kids and we decided it was getting to be time to head home. While we were in Dylan's we found out Rebecca's niece was going to be in town on Saturday. She was on a school trip and was going to have free time from noon until 7pm. She was excited to join us on a Canal St. adventure - little did she know it really would be an adventure she'll remember for many years to come.

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We enjoyed Nick's pizza for dinner - delicious thin crust wood fired New York pizza. I also introduced Rebecca to my favorite new drink the Coke Blak Mountain (what is that you ask? double espresso vodka and Coke Zero)- an instant classic. We also mixed pomegranate vodka with diet gingerale for a nice Shirley Temple with a kick. To go with our cocktails we watched 'The Departed'. Rebecca easily pointed out all of the fake Boston accents - some of them were really bad, those actors (you know who you are) should be embarrassed. And she was not surprised when the bad boys hailed from Brockton MA!

Rebecca Relaxes in Manhattan (Saturday)

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Saturday morning came very early for the New Yorker - but the San Diegan was ready for some shopping. First stop: Canal St. Our first 'tour guide' to the underground brought us to a bus station. The front area seemed to be a working bus station, but through a maze of hallways we were led to a bonanza of bags.

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We both picked up this fabulous reversible tote, the perfect size for an airplane carry-on.
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This is one side:
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And the reverse:
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We also found some cute little wristlettes.

(Maybe I'll finally replace my 'pouch' - OK who am I kidding, the pouch can only be replaced by another pouch. For the benefit of anyone who doesn't know - I have problems with wallets, they are too confining, so I carry all of my wallet essentials in a Kipling 3 zipper pouch. Organization is at a minimum, but it does offer maximum convenience. I know the pouch is looking a bit worn, but I just haven't found a suitable replacement.)
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Later in the day I found this perfect for spring bag

(it will make it's CA debut for Thomas' First Communion).

I'm looking at the picture - it looks better in person, really!
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With our first round of shopping done we headed to the West Village to meet Rebecca's college friend Charlie. He took us to a great little restaurant simply called 'Good'. With a name like that, you better serve tasty food. It lived up to it's name. We started with a custom bread basket that included savory cheddar corn bread, moist pumpkin bread, and hand rolled orange doughnuts with sugar coating. The doughnuts were amazing, warm with a hint of orange and a thick sugar crust. Rebecca had the lemon ricotta pancakes (she said they were delicious) and Charlie and I had the chicken green goddess salad. The chicken was tender and juicy, it was sitting on a bed of greens, roasted red peppers, ricotta salata cheese all topped with green goddess dressing with a few croutons thrown in for some crunch.
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Post lunch break, we headed back down to Canal St. and met the girls from Syracuse for round two of shopping. We stopped in a few of the usual places, and then just when it seemed like it would be a pretty quiet shopping trip Rebecca decided we needed an adventure. We followed our guide a few blocks off of Canal St., up 5 flights of stairs and through a sweat shop (yes really a sweat shop with lots of women working at sewing machines) before we hit the pocketbook jackpot. We made a few carefully negotiated purchases and called it a day.

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While Rebecca and I were ready to take a break for a few hours, the girls wanted to see Central Park and window shop down 5th Ave. We put them in a cab, gave them a few directions and then headed back to the apartment for some cool drinks and a quick snack.

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We had just enough time to clean up for the theatre - Mary Poppins was our entertainment for the evening. The story was combination of the book and the Disney movie. The set was incredible - I've never seen a set that moved and changed the way this one did. I cannot come up with any kind of description that would do the set justice, it was Disney magic at its finest. The best number of the show was a tap dance extravaganza - lots of great choreography and glittery costumes. On the way home we stopped at Uptown, a local bar, where we grabbed a nightcap and an array of appetizers to finish out the evening.

Rebecca Relaxes in Manhattan (Sunday)

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Sunday morning was another early morning and a another beautiful day (three cheers for spring). We started with a 9am Mass at the local Catholic church conveniently located two doors down from our apartment. Next, breakfast at The Vinegar Factory - a strange name, but the building used to be a vinegar factory. Now it houses a high end grocery store (2 navel oranges ((that's 2 individual oranges, not 2 lbs. of oranges)) for $4.99 that particular Sunday) and restaurant. The food was well prepared and tasty and with no wait it was a perfect place to fill up in the morning. The breakfast prices were in line with any of the local cafes or diner. After breakfast Rebecca packed up her bags and with the few hours we had left for her visit, we headed down to:
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Grand Central Terminal
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Rockefeller Center (the ice skating rink is finally closed for the season)
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NBC Studio
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And for our last stop we could not resist all of the sparkles in the Swarovski store. Rebecca is standing by the most incredible dress. It was just radiant from all of the crystals - the picture doesn't do the dress justice. I now understand when they say the dress looked better in person that it did on tv, some things you can't capture on film
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Looking for a Swarovski crystal couch? I know just where to find one.

It was kind of scratchy, I think the cats would hate it.
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It was a great weekend, we had a blast shopping, eating, and touring. And it was especially nice that Rebecca brought the only thing I wanted from San Diego - the sunshine!

Webkinz (for Bex)

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Here's what I bought for T&M today. The stores just received shipments this morning and they were almost sold out by the afternoon. I should have just bought one of every animal at Hallmark when they were unpacking the boxes this morning!

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For Thomas

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Koala Bear

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Polar Bear

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Tree Frog

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Googles (either a goose or a duck billed platypus)

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For Maddie

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Chihuahua

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White cat

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Golden Retriever

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Black Lab

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Give My Regards to Broadway

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Tuesday (4/17) night Michael and I went to a preview of a new Broadway musical. The event was sponsored by the UCSD Alumni Association.

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Before the show we were treated to a discussion with the shows costume designer - Judith Dolan, Ph.D. Not only is Judith a Tony winning costumer designer, she is an Associate Dean of Arts and Humanities at UCSD.

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We learned the process of how she develops the ideas for the costumes, the cost of the costumes, and how she balances her ideas with those of the director. Did you know the average Broadway costume costs about $3,000? And that doesn't include wigs or shoes. She had a budget of $100,000 for 100 costumes - that is $1,000 a costume. She managed to get very creative with her costumes, sourcing items from costume shops to eBay to thrift stores (and apparently they even took a few old costumes out of the theatre basement). Finally the director gave her an extra $100,000 - but it wasn't all put towards the clothes, the total budget of $200,000 included the wigs, shoes, and accessories.

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It was fun to watch for certain costumes during the show. She explained some tricky timing to certain costume changes and how she would use simple things like coats or glasses to change a costume subtly from one scene to another. She spent two years creating the costumes for the show - from when she first received the script to the Broadway debut. Because the show was still in previews, they were making changes to the story. Even that day they made a big story change during the rehearsal. Apparently they will make changes until about 4 days before the official Broadway opening, at that point they lock the story down and let the actors and stage crew get comfortable before opening night. We also were able to see her design sketches and fabric swatches from the actual costumes.

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The USCD Alumni Association put out a great spread of appetizers and there was a large group from San Diego. They couldn't have been friendlier - it was fun to hear their impressions of NYC.

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The musical itself was interesting. I would not have seen the show if it the Alumni Association did put on this special event. It was long and the characters had German accents that made it hard to follow the dialogue. The story is based on the lives of a famous composer (Kurt Weill) and his muse who was also an actress (Lotte Lenya). If I had been more familiar with their work I think I would have found the story more interesting. I'm glad I went, but I wouldn't recommend seeing the show, unless you are familiar with the work of Weill and Lenya already.

Times Sq. M&M Store

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Alternate Title: What Not to Do on a Sunday

Visit the M&M Store in Times Sq.

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What should we do, now that the Easter parade is over?

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We kind of wandered to Times Sq. and I think, hey I should check out the M&M store. It's relatively new, I haven't been there yet and I want to know what they have - just in case I need M&Ms in every color of the rainbow someday.

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What a mistake!

The store is 3 levels and every level was packed with people, kids, and strollers.

It's hard to see - but I tried to get a shot of the first escalator, going both directions it's packed with people.

It was impossible to move around without stepping on an M&M product or small child.

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The store does have nice theming and more M&M products than you can imagine.

Including the World's Largest selection of M&M colors.

The two photos below show the wall of M&Ms in every color of the rainbow and some that aren't in any rainbow.

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The M&M store opened up right across the street from the Hershey store - talk about a big name rivalry!

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Anthropologie Spring Window Display

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Anthropologie, aside from having a fabulous name and great clothes and accessories, also has really cool store windows.

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At Christmastime, they made holiday displays out of office products and other very common items. Hills of snow were made out of layers of bubble wrap, my explanation doesn't do the display justice. I tried to get some photos of the spring windows.

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For spring they have a garden theme, complete with lots of dirt.

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What little kid wouldn't love pulling up a chair to the table below? Dirt, garden tools, and dishes - it has it all!

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The chandelier is made from seed packets hung on wires and the table is covered in mounds of dirt, dirty, muddy, dirt.

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It's hard to see the display really well, daylight is creating glare - but I think you get a pretty good idea of how cool these windows look

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Another window featured a spring dress in a sea of plants hanging from the ceiling in plastic storage bags.

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Who thinks of this? And what a great job - but so much pressure!

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I'm sure you're wondering, this store with the always fantastic windows is located in Rockefeller Center.