My Blog

quasi-weekend.

stephanerd — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 23:14:25 GMT

i'm at the sun right now, freezing my ass off. as i drink bad coffee & surf the internet, it occurs to me that, since leaving my full time job, i now work six days a week. incredible. only i could leave my job and end up working more. so i managed to fit in a mini-weekend, sort of. after arriving home from nerve on friday evening (p.s. they have green olive bread down the street at dean & deluca's and it's fabulous, though still somehow inferior to the bread charlotte got me in astoria), i bullied michael into not-napping, and dragged him out for a round of mini golf & a light bite to eat at the fine grind. this was mainly to fulfill our weekly date night quota. i am determined to do something cute and out-of-the-condo at least once every week, so as not to go completely stir crazy with how boring i have become outside of work. on saturday, i woke up all rarin' to be productive, and started out taking photos of my grandfather's house, which my parents are fixing up to put on the market. then, after running some additional errands, i lost steam. my greatest mistake was sitting down in front of the tv whilst stopping for a snack. this was when i came upon, for the very first time ever in my life, so you think you can dance. i started out skeptical but soon realized that this show was like every dance movie i had ever become obsessed with all in one convenient program. i watched it for hours. hours. at one point, michael called my mother and asked her to tell me to stop. but there was no stopping me. ohgod i love how all these reality show seasons are played in ther entirety over the course of a day or two. at the same time, jesus christ, that's just evil. how the fuck am i supposed to get anything done. ever. i had to tear myself away, finally, to head over to nicole's house for a couple-night of sangria&bhorror. michael (her michael) actually hand rolled sushi, and nicole made sangria and brownies (plus i totally pigged out on the entire basket of cool ranch doritos). we watched army of darkness and troll 2 and i tripped out on my jealousy over the awesomeness of their place, and nicole's amazing decorating skills. it occurs to me now that i should have gone through the house, room by room, and taken pictures of all my favorite things (which is everything) to give myself some ideas for the condo. (obviously, i will now have to make a trip over there as soon as possible to complete this very task.) it's not just the prettinesses. it's the way it's all pulled together so nicely. it's amazing. really. and we suck. things are very quiet here at the sun. i have a quasi-interview tomorrow morning with michael's boss and i'm scared. plus i wish it was wednesday again so i could go back to nerve. i wish every day was nerve day.

i need to start posting again...

stephanerd — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 01:58:15 GMT

i'm waiting for the last story of the evening to come in as i roast in my little corner over here. it's labor day, and it appears the building's air conditioning is still out for the long weekend. i have one of my pearl river fans with me, but i'm still ruing my penchant for jeans on hot days lately. aside from that, i've gone through my usual slew of sports pieces. i'm hoping that, one of these days, i'll absorb enough yankees-talk to surprise my family with a legitimate baseball-based conversation. but it all reads like another language to me. so it seems the weekend is finally at its end. a damn shame. this past thursday, michael and i went out for our first date night (which was a suggestion of nicole's after i complained to her that i never saw my husband anymore). we went to cafe eclectic for delicious pie (apple-caramel & oreo mousse), saw 2 days in paris, and had a light dinner at raymond's on church street, which has outdoor seating and, goddammit, i wanted to sit outdoors on such a beautiful evening. i was all sorts of thrilled to see 2 days in paris, because it was a julie delpy film and i had long ago fallen in love with before sunrise and before sunset and it looked like it could be pretty funny. turns out that the couple delpy & goldberg portrayed was a carbon copy of me & michael, with me as the cat-loving, commitment-phobic, sexually open (intellectually, anyway) neurotic, and michael as the competitive, whiny paranoid. i enjoyed it. on friday, after frittering my freelance time away at the mall, all for the sake of two headbands and a glittery, purple business card case, michael and i headed into the city to meet up with phil & dawn for an extended happy hour. it was an early start for a happy hour, so we were able to fit in a good amount of drinkage: whilst drunk off our asses, we got ourselves the fabulous idea to throw a bbq the next day, which mike & i ended up throwing together in about an hour's time, after meeting up with some people for lunch at mr.sushi. a good amount of people actually showed (and one cute leetle doggie) and i got presents! including a sleeping bag! to replace the one keebler destroyed! and there was swimming even! (b/c we had the bbq at michael's parents' house while they were out of town, simply because they have a pool): i am cranky now that the festivities are over

lame-o.

stephanerd — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 20:10:40 GMT

i am officially lame. friday, after work, i went to happy hour at ginger man with a good number of co-workers and drank myself silly until about 8 p.m. by the time i got home, neither michael nor i could bring ourselves to drive out to hoboken (a mere 15-20 minutes away) for the tris mccall show at maxwell's, which i had totally been looking forward to all week! instead, we found ourselves stuck in the middle of a csi marathon before finally passing out in bed. on saturday, we saw running with scissors, which was pretty good once it got into the swing of things, and then i got all excited going through my whole foods cookbook and then going food shopping. i was supposed to head into the city in the evening for the [sic] launch party (lit mag put together by a co-worker & friends), but i just couldn't stand the thought of commuting into the city on such a cold night, all by my lonesome. instead, i opted for hours of cooking (during which my beautiful new cuisinart food processor failed to work) and csi dvds (this is starting to sound like an unhealthy obsession). sunday morning was church, and then i had to catch a 1:15 bus into the city for my 3 p.m. meeting at $pread (i'm now officially doing volunteer publicity work for them). i was unable to get on the 6 p.m. bus back home because of the damn marathon crowd, and so had to stand around an extra hour waiting for the next bus. and then michael and i watched this awful movie from the 80s--mazes and monsters--that one of his co-workers had told us about. it's a spoof on dungeons & dragons, which my nerd-tastic fiance used to play back in high school. i need to start forcing myself to follow through on things like launch parties and rock shows. i've become boring. tonight, i'm going to two sue shapiro classes in a row (6-8 and 8-10) because she's having guest speakers in (frank flaherty from the ny times city section and mackenzie dawson from the ny post career section). i'm going to be so pooped.

friday.

stephanerd — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 12:31:51 GMT

friday took so long to get here. and now it's 7:38 and i'm the only one here in the office, and i love that. i'll get stuff done (aside from this, obviously) before the e-mails and phone calls start rolling in, and then i'll be able to skip on out of here at 3:30. i'll want to head to bluestockings at some point, to pick up a copy of $pread. i'm going to interview for a publicist/event planner intern-type thing there next week, and i want to be prepared. no word from blackbook and i'm not surprised. i gave bad interview. i'll do better next time. i've been reading what color is your parachute? spent an evening with my mother and her friends just this past tuesday. met up with them at the stardust diner, which is where flailing broadway wannabes go to die. it was a struggle not to be a snob about it. about spending a night on the town in times square and doing something so obviously tourist-centric. back in high school, i would've loved this place. i would've wanted to work there myself. we saw phantom of the opera after dinner, and it was okay, but not the best i've seen. just one of those classics you feel obligated to see. i'm actually rarin' to check out the putnam county spelling bee and dead alive: the musical and maybe even mary poppins. i mostly want, very badly, to see chorus line. --------------------------------------------------- having absolutely nothing to do with anything, have any of you been seeing the shitstorm on alyssa shelasky's glamour dating blog? amazing how catty commenters can get. i've been reading the blog since gawker first "publicized" it, wondering how in hell one stumbles upon such a cool gig. it's amazing how things have spiraled out of control among the blog's readers. --------------------------------------------------- so what color is your parachute? has advised that i join networking sites such as linkedin and tribe. i was already a member of both, but had let my profiles languish. anyone else here a member and want to get connected?

erk.

stephanerd — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 17:21:41 GMT

eating lasagna as i recover from a telephone beat-down by one of my authors. wishing for a new job. no more academic books. no more marketing. i'm overwhelmed and disinterested. i want magazine work. or housewifery. or both. meltdown is ensuing. i took a sick day yesterday, and spent a relaxing morning reading ellis's lunar park and doing mag research, and then spent the afternoon food shopping and cooking. ambrosia salad & panini sandwiches & baked eggplant. i may not enjoy cohabitation, but i'm getting into this whole domesticity thing. i've been keeping busy outside of work as well. last thursday, michael and i muddled our way to a church in jersey city to hear tris mccall do a solo gig on a grand piano in the sanctuary. i loved watching his arms and shoulders vibrate with the pressures of the restraint he was showing...keeping himself from headbanging the ivories and losing his glasses. friday i headed down to the union square farmer's market and picked me up some maple candy and then walked down to bluestockings with roslyn, for the bitchfest reading. quite the turnout. then, headed home to sneak the cats into the condo and lost sleep because of gizmo's incessant crying throughout the night. which meant that we were too tired the next evening to go to that outer space-themed costume party in the city. even though i already bought silvery clothing and green makeup and stuff. and i had a whole vision. last night, my mother told me my tummy was looking pudgy, and then we drove to callanetics in leonia and class was canceled. i had a melona bar instead. i was going to go to the gym after work today, but now i'm just feeling depressed. dena and i are taking line dancing lessons on saturday. and michael shrunk two of my shirts and lost the button off another one. how cliche is that? and all my bloodwork came back normal. and a. wants to buy us a new refrigerator. and...hmmm...i can't remember.

back in the fray.

stephanerd — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 13:10:46 GMT

the highlights: - work makes me feel as if i'm drowning. fielding marcus-stuff and overwhelmed by publicity-stuff (and several crazy authors) in addition to my usual marketing-stuff. and drawing up the 2007 budget last week nearly killed me. - my condo looks like a home now. what with the sofa + chair finally arriving. coziness abounds, yet i am floored by the sudden realization that, when you live in a one-bedroom condo with another person, you're never alone. - i am hanging all my hopes on my sue shapiro class. - i have become boring. too pooped to go to the in the flesh reading series at happy endings last night, and no time to go to belly dancing class fot at least the past month. i am determined, however, to go to the bitchfest reading at bluestockings on friday and, tonight, i'm seeing tris mccall play at grace church van vorst in jersey city. but, as you can see, nothing earth-shatteringly exciting.

after long silence.

stephanerd — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 20:28:21 GMT

things are all sorts of busy again. things are picking up at work, what with textletters & catalogs & conferences to put together, and marcus resigned! which leaves me as the sole marketing contact for my department for the moment. and i met up with a mag editor to talk ideas over lunch, and we came up with two ideas i'm going to flesh out a bit and run with. and michael and i have been meeting with wedding d.j.s and finally found one we want to sign on with, mostly because i think he's hot. (okay, his wedding-ideals also match up with ours quite nicely.) and i start classes at the new school tonight, and church choir is also starting up again. aside from that, i spent the weekend playing house (or at least that's what i pretended i was doing so that the weirdness of moving in with my fiance wouldn't overwhelm me). friday evening - my last evening on my own - i whipped up some organic mac n' cheese and watched lord of the flies circa 1990, then finished up my quiet evening reading in bed. michael moved in the next day, and we ran some errands and registered at macy's before finally going out to dinner at frank's with his parents, where i proceeded to get drunk and then exhausted before going out to pub46 with dena. i was in bed by 12:30 'cause i'm lame. the next day, we registered at bed, bath, and beyond, which was quite the daunting task as the place is so damn large, and then we went to this cute sushi place in bloomfield and then food shopping, after which i spent hours whipping up sweet potato casserole & chicken cutlets & chocolate stuff for dessert (thanks you spqs) whilst wearing one of my grandmother's old aprons. just for effect. and then the oven didn't work. bygones. we got ready for work today, with me drying my hair as he shaved, us reaching over each other and passing things off, and it was surreal but not awful. oh! i finished reading jancee dunn's but enough about me... about a jersey girl's life as a rolling stone writer and i loved it bunches.

when our families met.

stephanerd — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 16:16:39 GMT

the only picture in which i do not look completely trashed. i was exhausted that evening and was drinking wine out of pure and simple nerves.

monday monday.

stephanerd — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 16:15:45 GMT

saturday: bridals by roma. the people there were inattentive and sorta snooty, giving me a general bad vibe, though there were a few dresses there that were quite lovely. maryann & dena came along with my mom and i, making things interesting. the whole lot of us have completely different taste in everything, though it's more extreme in dena's case. she's all about the big pouffy princess dresses. when the lady put this big pouffy veil on my head, maryann started cracking up. priceless. later that evening, michael and i attended the pink party. i was all cleavagey and had these cute hot pink knee-highs on and mike got a pale pink button-down for 99 cents at salvation army. the dj was pretty damn good, and they had those candy conversation hearts that i love so much all over the place, and there were plastic cups of boxed wine for $4 (how klassy). i sorta regret not paying the extra dough for the hot pink party, because there were masseuses in there, and smooshy nooks and crannies all over the room. but my energy started flagging a couple hours in anyways. which left us just enough time to make friends with the gay guy in the pink rockstar t-shirt who tried to cup michael's balls when he wasn't looking. sanford called me on sunday evening. he never seems to call at a normal hour. anyways, he was thrown for a loop upon discovering that i had signed up to be a book reviewer for sexherald. my old editor at eroticblvd, he had called me two years ago begging me to sign on for this new project of his. now that i'm in, he wants me to be the book editor. so. quite the weekend. 9:46 a.m. now and i'm just getting started (though i've been up since 5). the behavioral sciences team decided on a whim to have a breakfast party. so i brought in bagels and spreads and mariana brought in fruit and dana got us all starbucks and charlotte brought in nutella and at least five different teas and hard boiled eggs and kevin brought in coffee cake and marcus brought in two boxes of pastries from au bon pain and some juice. we could've fed the whole entire office. okay. buckle down.

huge backlog of entries.

stephanerd — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 21:08:00 GMT

2/2/06: mariana pulled me into an office the other day and told me she was leaving. she's moving back to pa and working at a university press. there were tears, and a pall left over the rest of the day. she was my first and closest routledge work-friend. i feel i'll shrink back into obscurity once she's gone. become again the recluse i always knew i was. no more posse. 'cause i just won't feel like it. and it was a long day. i rushed down to jenny's after work for a couple of hours with the writer's group. she made pasta with pesto sauce and amy & deb presented the b-day cupcakes as i was running out the door. juggling my monster-umbrella, book o'maps, bag, & cupcake, i powerwalked along, eating like a pig at a trough, sticking my entire face into the cupcake and letting the crumbs fall where they may, praying that no one attractive would walk by and see me acting so inappropriate. made it to soho right on time for my first day of class with susan shapiro. listened to her toot her own horn for the entire first hour. then it was our turn, and there was an assistant editor from marie claire and a beauty intern from glamour, and the girl who had written the most recent modern love for the nyt and i felt incredibly small. but i love how this class focuses on the personal essay, because i had lost hope for the form, but apparently i'm looking in all the wrong places. and susan has an excellent track record for getting her students published. this week's assignment is a humiliation essay. i have a couple of pieces i'm actually working on right now that would fit the bill. i caught the 11:10 bus home. looong day. yesterday i was fidgety, because i just wanted to be writing. my own stuff. not back cover copy stuff. i visited dr. jill after work, for the first time in about a month. i think i'm growing out of my need for her, but what do i know? then i went to a book event with tim & roslyn at b&n, for that self-made man book, and it was incredibly interesting. it's the first book thing i've been to in awhile. i need to get out more. Mon, Jan. 30th, 2006, 08:59 am moved to my new cubicle last week. it's quieter than my last one, and less private, and i can no longer talk over the walls to mariana & dana. sad. but my moving spaces marked the official beginning of my new marketing position (despite the fact that i still don't know much about what in heck i'm doing, aside from fulfilling review copy requests and completing marketing/sales worksheets and every once in awhile adding titles to exhibit spreadsheets). next month (which pretty much starts this week), i'm flying over to the uk for a few days, for training. what else? i'm now an official book reviewer for SexHerald.com (publisher: my old boss from EroticBlvd). i sent in the paperwork last week. and i signed up for an advanced writing class through MB. writing for nyc magazines & newspapers, with sue shapiro. amy's taking the same class through the new school, and she says it kicks ass. but it's on mondays at the new school, when i have choir rehearsal, so boo. i start class tomorrow. and we've started up the habit of having our writer's group meetings at jenny's kick-ass apartment in the west village. she used to be a chef (now foodie writer), and she cooks dinner for us, and dessert (as a result of her dessert recipe development column), and we talk pitches and story ideas and all that. plus, we had a going-away happy hour at under the volcano for brook, who's leaving Routledge (and all of publishing) to move back home to san francisco and become a yoga instructor. i got totally drunk off of two glasses of pinot grigio, and was tres chatty with brendan all evening long. and before the weekend came, i took the remedy my homeopathist sent over for me. i'm still trying to figure out if i can feel any results. i tried on bridal gowns on saturday. two hours of frou-frou, and i was totally hooked after seeing myself in the very first dress. but maggie sottero is still my front runner. and i did hoboken with maryann again that evening. mcswiggans. we made lots of friends, mostly of the male persuasion, as per usual (i swear, i think my ring is invisible to drunk men). and sunday was my lazy day. chinese food & naps & arrested development with michael (plus much rummaging through the household candy supply of pez, saltwater taffy, leftover peanut butter truffles, etc. it's no wonder i haven't lost a pound). tonight, i meet with father david after choir rehearsal. Sun, Jan. 29th, 2006, 11:43 am because i'm warring b/w crawling back into bed & getting my ass in gear. #1 - the fours meme FOUR MOVIES YOU COULD WATCH OVER AND OVER: 1. Sideways 2. Shaun of the Dead 3. Clue 4. Center Stage FOUR CITIES YOU'VE LIVED IN: 1. Boston 2. Well, Clifton's not really a city 3. and I only lived right outside of Trenton (in Ewing) 4. FOUR JOBS YOU'VE HAD IN YOUR LIFE: 1. marketing assistant for academic counseling books 2. editor (and helpless slave) for environmental engineering firm 3. food sample giver-outer 4. salesperson for kaleidoscopes, witch balls, faeries, and other useless & beautiful items FOUR TV SHOWS YOU LOVE TO WATCH: 1. Gilmore Girls 2. Monk 3. CSI 4. Sex and the City FOUR PLACES YOU'VE BEEN ON VACATION: 1. Austria 2. Arizona 3. Alabama 4. San Francisco FOUR WEBSITES YOU VISIT DAILY: 1. LJ 2. MediaBistro 3. Nerve 4. Google FOUR OF YOUR ALL-TIME FAVORITE RESTAURANTS: 1. Circa 1923 (NC) 2. Osaka II (new & fabulous sushi joint in my hometown) 3. Evergreens (where I get my egg drop soup on my lunch hours) 4. Bombay Garden (I can never remember the damn cross street) FOUR OF YOUR FAVORITE FOODS: 1. clams oregenata 2. cold pizza 3. shrimp tempura rolls 4. egg drop soup FOUR SCHOOLS YOU'VE ATTENDED: (from most recent) 1. New School 2. Does MediaBistro count? 3. Emerson College 4. The College of NJ FOUR PLACES I'D RATHER BE RIGHT NOW: 1. trolling for turquoise & dichroic glass in the Red Rock Mountain area 2. taking a weekend in upstate NY, for jacuzzi-ing & wine country 3. Bryant Park. It's really charmed me in all sorts of ways. 4. in my sleeping bag Mon, Jan. 23rd, 2006, 01:45 pm back in the office. i was working a conference at the waldorf-astoria the majority of last week (all those crazy psychoanalysts) and, as such, was computer-less. doing these conferences is going to be a big part of my new marketing position, and i enjoy it (especially the traveling), but sometimes, working these things reminds me of the days when i used to work retail. anyway. weird week outside of the office, followed by exhausting weekend. friday, came home to The Dinner. the one where my family & michael's family meets for the first time. my mom went all out, spending a trillion dollars on filet mignon, and making some of my favorite side dishes, and even putting out hors d'ouevres (which has not occurred since I was eensy weensy) and opening the china cabinet to its full bar capabilities (which, let me tell you, has never ever been done before). this dinner went on for five hours and i thought i was going to pass out right into my rather large slice of ice cream cake. so yeah. no one killed anyone. which is good. i'll post a picture from that night where it looks like i have cleavage. it's an aerial shot, which i've determined is the best way to photograph me. i ended up sleeping till 11:30 on saturday, at which point i had to hurry my little butt up and get ready for an appointment at the westmount country club, where we put down a hefty deposit (well, my dad did) and picked a date! yay! which called for a celebration, so mike & i went to kohl's and i bought superman pajama pants that i can wear whenever my cookie monster pants are, sadly, in the wash. then, in the evening, maryann & i drove out to hoboken for our first Night Out in ages, and we drank copious amounts of alcohol, most of which we didn't actually pay for, and i got home at 4 a.m., at which point i thought it was a super-cool idea to watch more 21 jumpstreet dvds until 5:20. when i realized i had to wake up for church in two hours. so i slept for two hours and woke up still drunk and dozed my way through church and then met up with alicia for lunch, and a leisurely stroll through macy's home goods department, where we daydreamed about wedding registries (denby plates & calvin klein bedding) and then i barely made it home and passed out as soon as possible. god, it's exhausting just writing this. Sun, Jan. 8th, 2006, 05:37 pm phil made me play the tambourine today. talk about demeaning. the week has been good. on wednesday, i had an appointment with george to talk about the marketing position i had applied for within the company. he offered me the position, though not with as much of a pay hike as i had hoped for. still, i'm thinking i should take pride in the fact that i was promoted and went up 3K in under 10 months. my company is good like that. so i'm associate marketing manager, still working on counseling books, but no longer working on educational policy books. which suits me just fine. we had a meeting on friday to talk about which conferences everyone would be traveling to over the next year, and they're sending me to five! ny, philly, dc, austin, & montreal! plus, there's a good chance i'll be going to the uk for a few days as well, for some training. chris was a genius to buy me luggage for xmas! and i'm so excited to be traveling so much. i really enjoyed going off to toronto for that other conference, getting out of the cube for a few days, interacting with academics, and hanging out in swanky hotel quarters. we also went out for our behavioral sciences holiday lunch on friday (there's five of us). we had escargot and mussels and red wine and whatnot, and were gone from the office for about two hours. i love me those business lunches. i was also supposed to go to a book party this evening for one of my authors, but the author got sick and it was canceled. sad. i also went into the city on saturday for a quick, informal interview for a freelance gig writing book reviews for sexherald.com. it doesn't pay anything, but i get all those free books! and the book editor is looking to expand from just straight erotica and how-tos into other things, like gender/cultural studies books. he asked me if i'd be interested in reviewing a book like maureen dowd's are men necessary? "heck yeah!" i told him. i'm keeping my fingers crossed. i also did a minimal amount of wedding stuff this weekend. (note. from here on out, whenever an entry contains wedding planning riffraff, i'll lj-cut it. if you're lucky.) on saturday evening, i begged my mom to go around with me to try on bridal gowns for fun. unfortunately, we hadn't thought to make any reservations, and both david's bridal and macy's wouldn't really let us near the dresses (damn them!). then i gave my mom major amounts of agita telling her that i'd like to try some unconventional dresses, like dresses at bcbg, or short bridesmaids dresses, and the like. my mom was about to have a coronary. then i told her i wanted a jeweled headband instead of a veil, and after that my mom couldn't get out of the mall fast enough. then, today, we visited wedding venue #1 - the westmount country club. it was gorgeous, and the food was delicious. plus they had these absolutely delectable drinks--california sours--that they serve at the pre-reception, but i think they should serve them to the bride before the ceremony, because that would be more helpful. next stop is the skylands manor at the botanical gardens in ringwood this thursday evening. i need to do bills and thank you cards and other un-fun things this evening, so it's on with the cookie monster pants. Wed, Jan. 4th, 2006, 08:51 am reactivated chronic fatigue syndrome. that's apparently what i have. so it's hard to make myself do stuff, because i keep having erotic daydreams about my sleeping bag. but monday, roslyn & i did evergreens (egg drop soup) & starbucks & smut at galapagos art space. it was a good time. i suggested to roslyn that we do our own smut write-ups and get up there and read, 'cause it seemed pretty amateur and low key. what are the chances of that happening? i mean, i balked at sunday night karaoke. and tuesday i dragged myself into brooklyn again for veggie burgers & tea at amy's apartment, and we hashed out our writing/pitching plans and talked about fasting and my disappointment in the renegade writer. today is supposed to be the day. when we talk about my maybe promotion. Wed, Dec. 28th, 2005, 09:31 am back. in the office again, voiceless & sniffly & eating lots of snackish things from the vending machine. xmas was xmas. i already posted on xmas eve. got me a digital camera & the latest & greatest mix cd from mike. dena gave me a snazzy sweater & a purse and the bride's book of lists, which already has me freaking out. i never wanted anything more than a small, simple wedding, and people are making that impossible. together, my mom & i came up with a list of 90, with 20 that we could possibly cut if we had to. we're being stingy so as not to send me into a bridezilla frenzy. if michael does not do the same, i will kill him. besides my innate desire for a small wedding, we cannot afford a really large one. i envy pattie who was strict about cutting the entire guest list off at 50. i wish. we're drawing up lists so i can shop around at different venues. apparently, you need to book these things eons in advance. xmas morning, woke up at 5:30. when i wandered downstairs, the snack tray for santa & the reindeer was sitting there with an apple core, empty sippy cup, and a bottle of nexium. santa apparently suffers from reflux caused by stress. sang for six hours. suffered greatly. collapsed at home and opened gifts. some highlights: three pairs of cat socks. mitchell is moving. the renegade writer. a four-piece luggage set. an argyle sweater. lots & lots of pixie sticks. intimate dinner with mom, dad, chris, papa, and uncle ricky. filet mignon & potato casserole & stuffed artichokes. yum. dozed for a little bit in the living room chair before heading over to the absolute mayhem that is michael's house, especially when filled with extended family members. ate a smidgen of dessert and opened my "stocking" from the fam. came back home to a small gathering of chris's friends, which i was too exhausted to handle, but i stayed around long enough for wine & hors d'ouevres. monday, couples dinner in new brunswick with the tcnj posse. miraculously, we're all paired up now. tuesday, christine & mike took me out to friday's for an engagement burger, & dumped a load of bridal books & magazines on me. and i went to coldstone creamery with dena, which is ridiculous because it's winter and because i'm sick, but i don't give a damn. and mom bought me & mike a wedding scrapbook. and i flipped out over guest lists and such. i absolutely cannot wait till the holidays are over. dinner at alyson's on thursday. movies with christina on friday, and a full family holiday dinner later that evening. down to philly on saturday, for a new year's eve celebration. i'm not really up for any of this. ::sniff sniff::

morning.

stephanerd — Sun, 25 Dec 2005 11:53:01 GMT

6:30 a.m. drinking tea with honey. yesterday. kicked off xmas eve early. woke up at 9:30 and showered and put on my party skirt. it's the skirt that everyone loves, without knowing that i got in on the cheap at kohl's. it sparkles. i also wore the necklace that i think looks like a snowflake, but mike thinks looks like a molecule. oddly enough, i looked it up online, at the swarovski site, and it's called the harley necklace (see: my former obsession with harley davidsons). so, all partied up. i started off the day at mrs. r's house, bearing gold-plated gifts, and stayed for awhile, drinking spiked eggnog with the parents of one of my my ex-boyfriends. life is funny that way. then, some last minute gift-wrapping and cookie-plattering and killing time. mike came over around 5 for gift-swapping. i got me a digital camera! and a new cd mix! i love xmas. then we went over to dena's house, where i ate all of the black olives. and we fielded a flurry of "did you set the date?" questions. no. we did not set the date. we're working on it. and trying to save up for a condo. after a couple of hours, and more gift-swapping, i had to head over to church to rehearse for the 10 p.m. mass. my throat hurts. i got four hours of (fitful) sleep, and dreamed about singing the xmas day masses the whole time. when my alarm went off this morning at 5:15 a.m., i was incredibly confused. i thought to myself, what day is it? do i go into the city today for work?. plus, with all the dreaming, i sorta thought that i had already sung all of the xmas masses. no such luck. i start off today at 7:30, singing the first concert/mass of the day with four other choir members. the rest of the choir will join us for the 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. masses. i worry about whether or not i'll have the voice for my solo by the third mass. hell, i worry if i'll have it for the first one. Thu, Dec. 22nd, 2005, 08:55 am free munchies and such at the concert for the king of the nj nightlife scene, who is able to whip bar patrons into a frenzy with a single chord. i'm so ashamed. after a mere 15 minutes, i was transformed into just another jersey girl, ecstatically singing along to "livin' on a prayer." Wed, Dec. 21st, 2005, 04:20 pm i always find out the good stuff during the business lunches. catherine took the education team out for a holiday lunch at a cute little korean place on park & 35th. the mood soon turned dark with talk of office scandal. a long-standing higher-up fired with 1.5 days notice the other month wrote a piece for the chronicle with his side of the story. another employee was fired and had a breakdown in his office, ingesting a large amount of alcohol and pills and eventually losing consciousness. both the paramedics & the police showed up to take him away, and the vp still thought she could keep things hush-hush as he was being wheeled out past occupied cubicles. bomb scares. our author (peter braunstein) on the run. who knew academic publishing could be so exciting? after the holiday lunch, we had a holiday treat break in the lunchroom at 3, with cupcakes and reese's peanut butter cups (wrapped in holiday colors). it's so difficult to concentrate with the upcoming holidays on the brain and half the office out because of the transit strike. but i finished the xmas shopping! mike & i went into the city on our day off monday for a rather expensive lunch at salute, pinot grigio & smooshy couches at ginger man, and some last-minute gift-purchasing at the fetes de noel in bryant park. i also got myself a $10 turtleneck poncho from a street vendor. score! last night, after working late, presents were wrapped. just the odd gift bag and hershey's kisses to pick up. tonight, i'm going to see bon jovi, of all things. dena's dad got two free tickets. $300 box seats. and then i need to pamper my throat and my vocal chord for four xmas masses. phil asked me to sing with the quartet at the 8 a.m. mass xmas day. can't wait.

santa's on the move!

stephanerd — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 18:00:03 GMT

the weekend was super-fun and holiday-oriented. after work on friday, we headed down to the taj lounge for our company's holiday party. mariana was totally convinced she wasn't going to have any fun, but i knew otherwise, as i had managed to find love in my heart for my wall street co-workers after the holiday party with my first post-college employer. i didn't win any of the raffles this time around, but i boogied down with mariana & roslyn, and we even got george & michael on the dance floor for all of five seconds. i had a minor hangover after only three glasses of pinot grigio, because i can't hold my liquor anymore. swankiness despite feeling cruddy (and worrying about the possibility of projectile vomiting on our bus ride into the city), mike & i made it down to brooklyn by 9:30 a.m. on saturday for santacon. we joined up with hundreds of other santas (pictures tk, as i'm getting mine developed later this week) and walked over the brooklyn bridge, to south street seaport, and to our first pub of the day (my first beer by 11 a.m.). after that, we hit up another pub in the financial district, created mass hysteria at the nyse, and squeezed onto the subway to head to times square. after about six hours, we decided to part ways with our fellow santas and met up with some of michael's relatives, where they toasted us because... michael asked me to be his mrs. claus! santa's an alcoholic! i swear i didn't look this cracked out when i said yes. the next day, i wore my santa rules! socks in celebration. and the ring of course.

long weekend.

stephanerd — Mon, 28 Nov 2005 16:00:26 GMT

last week was a short one. tuesday. the longest day ever. busy-ness at work and then class and then joe jr's. jenny brought us samples of one of the desserts she developed for her pastry column. it was similar to creme brulee and tasted fantastic. then i rushed uptown to catch the midnight showing of rent with mariana and co. all these gaggles of girls in the theater taking pictures and being generally ridiculous. i enjoyed the movie, despite a side trip to santa fe that looked like a bon jovi video from the 80s. slept over at mariana's apartment and was completely cracked out the next day. office closed at 3. i left at 1. despite extreme exhaustion, went out with dena that night. to doc's. i haven't been there in at least five years, so that was weird. it makes me think of todd. but instead of techno-college night, the flying mueller brothers were playing. and they play fun summerish songs like the cent-five cent-ten cent-dollar song. so there were two glasses of pinot grigio and stage dancing. i was going to leave by 12, but i lasted till 2. thanksgiving was quiet (and three pies! pumpkin, pudding, and peanut butter!) and friday was boring. i couldn't avoid the call of consumerism, so i bought myself some winter boots at kohls. i want to head down to union square today for holiday shopping. and i need to find myself an appropriate outfit for santacon. i have a santa hat and a red sweater, but i'm thinking i need me some candy cane-striped stockings (so i can avoid spending money on a new skirt. well. we'll see).