Still trying to figure out how to get the blog to coincide with a Facebook fan page. Want to get it so comments are redirected to the blog, and not to Facebook. Have any ideas?
Author Archives: simply three cents
Testing Testing – Roger One
I am trying to set up a Facebook page for my blog. It’s quite interesting and confusing and frustrating!
My issue is that I want comments to come to the blog, not on the FB page and since it’s a fan page you don’t have access to the same settings as a regular profile.
This is actually a test post to see if it works. Bear with me. There may be a few coming…
WHY leave?
This week’s WHY Wednesday questions why some travelers leave their comfort zone, only to eat foods that they are familiar with and know.
This was in the NYT and is crazy! The best part of traveling is eating like the locals…I don’t travel to faraway lands so I can eat cheese fries.
I have so many fond food memories from my travels but some of my favorites are getting freshly sliced cheese from a Swiss cheesemonger, spicy sausage on a roll with the local sauce in Bosnia and some unidentified tapas plate in Spain that the bartender sent over.
Personally, I’m not traveling just so I can eat something that I would eat after a night out at the bars when I was 22.
Eating while traveling is about finding a local market, tasting things on the menu you can’t get at home and being offered foods that you wouldn’t otherwise try. I ate fruits I never heard of in Costa Rica, I ordered fondue in Brussels only to find out that was actually mozzarella sticks and drank locally sourced milk at a market in Denmark!
Yes, sometimes there can be a negative experience. Like the time the boyfriend ordered the daily special in a small town in Tuscany and wound up getting a plate of fresh meat. So fresh, and chewy, in fact that he, a meat lover, had to follow each bite with a glass of water and a sip of wine. The place was small, and the staff attentive. Not wanting to insult, he finished most of the plate. I went with the pasta special of the day. Even now, years later, I remember how good my gnocchi and wine tasted. But he tried his, didn’t like it and didn’t insult anyone either and now we have a great story.
If something is on the table that you’ve never seen or tried, at the very least, take a bite! You’ll find yourself eating foods you wouldn’t have otherwise found!
Now the exception to this french fry story is ordering pommes frites in Belgium…you’ll need to get them topped with a few squirts of mayo, just like the locals!
Do you have any fond food memories? Feel free to post in the comments section.
Finding Home Sweet Home
I was recently reminded of the search for an NYC apartment. If you have never done it before, be thankful. If you have, you know it’s not for the faint of heart.
Now, I have never looked for an apartment in a ‘normal’ place so I don’t know if it differs much, but I have to think so because it’s just so insane looking for an apartment in the Big Apple.
Thanks to the time I have spent apartment hunting I have seen my fair share of apartments. What about the one where I’d have to climb up a ten foot ladder to get into my bed, another I’d have to live Real World style with eight roommates, a few with no natural light (thanks to the fake walls blocking the only window in the apartment) and a couple with windows that faced a brick wall, or looked directly into someone else’s apartment.
Thanks to my leases I have actually lived in apartments with sloping floors (where a coffee table on wheels actually rolled), a bathroom so small that while sitting on the toilet you could wash your hands and shave your legs while they are perched on the tub (couldn’t really do this because I am a klutz). I’ve lived in places where the ceiling crumbled every time it rained and the stairs were removed for the better part of the weekend. I have had my underwear and bras stolen right from my dresser, lived in a building that was wrapped in scaffolding for the better part of my time there and lived with roommates found on Craigslist.
And when I wasn’t so NYC apartment hunting savvy, I took up residence in a friends spare room and lived out of boxes because a friend and I couldn’t find a place to live that met our few requirements.
I have lived on the first floor, the top floor and floors in between. I have lived above a mexican restaurant, a laundromat and a sandwich shop. My neighbors have been college students, families, crack addicts, hoarders, sex fiends and an old lady who had lived in the building for 50 years, and died there too.
I have lived on main streets, side streets and street corners (watch it if you live on a corner where a bus stops .. that beep and psssh sound every time the bus lets someone on or off is really annoying but you deal with it.)
While I had to deal with some interesting conditions, I have also had the priviledge of living with my friends and living with people who became my friends. I have lived on streets where major parades happened (getting front row seating) and I have lived where movies were filmed outside. I have lived in the delivery zone for MaxDelivery.com which can bring you wine, toilet paper and laundry detergent (among other things) in less than 30 minutes. I have lived around the corner from some of my favorite restaurants and I have lived a block from the subway getting me anywhere I wanted to go.
At one point three of my friends and I were all in Manhattan. They all lived within 5 blocks of each other, a mere 5 minute walk. I was the one who was far away. A 10 minute cab ride. How many people can say they live that close to three of their friends?
Even now, I have a three block walk to one friend. Another, 10 blocks. Not too shabby, huh?
You didn’t ask for it but here are some tips for apartment searching in the Big Apple. Obviously I am not covering everything but renter beware!
1 – Postings don’t go up until mid-month, the month before you want to move. So you want to be out of your apartment April 30? Wait til March 15th or so to find out what’s free. I think in most other parts of the country, and possibly the world, you have a little more notice on what’s going to be available. Needless to say it’s a mad dash at the beginning of the month.
2 – Postings are not always accurate. Cozy = small. Historic = falling apart and management company won’t fix it. Great view = small window overlooking the street. Full size kitchen = one person can be in there at once. Steps away = 3, or 10, blocks. True two bedroom = could be, if you put in a fake wall making it two bedrooms.
3 – Postings are not always still available. Bait and switch? Have been there more times than I want to remember. “Oh, that apartment was JUST taken. Check this one out…” Either it’s way above your price range, or you would never ever live there.
4 – Appointments are not personal. Get there early because it’s usually an open call and first come, first one to put a deposit down.
5 – Don’t forget your documentation! You must tote around everything – passport, social security card, pay stubs, references, deposit, license and your first born child – just IN CASE you find an apartment that might be the one.
There’s tons more to share but this is just what’s top of mind. I haven’t had to look for an apartment in over two years but I did the apartment search seven times in the past ten years. I’d say I am a seasoned looker.
If you have any other apartment hunting tips to share, feel free to leave them in the comments section.
Pedicure on the Brain
The pedicure I had this past Friday, the color of the rented Nissan Cube that I want on my toes, and my scalding shower injury brought to mind pedicures and injury. Again, not so common. But for me, and my luck, it happened.
I have a long, injury filled history with pedicures, and I can’t find the write up for “The Pedicure that Required a Tetanus Shot.” Instead I found this…a saved email exchange between myself, my sister and a friend while I was getting a pedicure. This happened a few years after “The Pedicure that Required a Tetanus Shot.” When I find that story, I will post it (yes I do save these things). In the meantime, happy reading.
me: Am getting a pedi and the woman is pulling the gross dirt out of my toenail and it looks like where she pulled started to bleed under my nail in that crevice with the skin. She doesn’t speak English well but she thinks its the old color. But she already cleaned thre old color off. What do I do? This place is right by work and work peeps go here. Ughhhhhhhhh is my tetanus shot still valid from a few yrs ago?? My foot is soaking in the water so I can’t see if its blood or not.
friend: Tell her its bleeding get some peroxide. I think you need to start getting the expensive pedis. The cheap places aren’t doing well for you — ouch!
sister: Why do you continue to go to those places? I’ve never had anything but problems when I get a pedi from someone I can’t communicate with. It may be pricier to go elsewhere but it’s well worth it in the long run. Also, why do you have so much dirt under your nail?
me: Dirt=Flip flops in the city! And it wasn’t dirt for that incident I think it was skin she pulled from under my toenail. It was long and skin like. It didn’t look like dirt when she pulled but there is dirt elsewhere. I just inspected and I think she pulled some skin off leaving me with a small hole. Nothing drastic. And some of it may have been color.
me: Ok I peeked at my toe. But can’t tell. She’s telling me polish on the skin. Why doesn’t she clean it off then???? I can’t tell and the color I picked is dark so I’m not going to be able to tell once she paints. But when I leaned she was spraying that stuff on my legs and I think it got in my face. I should be banned from pedicures.
sister: I only get dirt on the bottom of my feet from wearing flip flops… Anywho… try to enjoy the rest of the pedi but if you go back to those kinds of places again I love you but I don’t want to hear about it. You need to go to the type of pedi place where they give out sedatives like candy and wake you when they’re done!
Idiotic Injuries
Yep. I’m so good at it.
Most people when taking a shower, get the water temperature just right before hopping in. Especially when you are in a hotel and not as familiar with the faucet. Oh not me. I jumped in when I thought it was good.
First, it was a little too cold. So I leaned toward the faucet making it hotter. Too hot. So leaned again. INTO the stream of now scalding hot water. My poor left side of my head got the brunt of the stream.
I’m writing this a day later and scheduling it for yesterday but my head still feels hot. And achy.
Googling any combination of “scalding hot water hits head” directs you to faucet buying websites and blogs about people who got burned while COOKING. Clearly showering and getting scalded is not an event that many people ask questions about. Probably because it doesn’t happen to many people.
Just me.
Wedding Season
Tonight kicks off three weddings in the month of April, and one in May.
April has five Saturdays and we will be attending weddings on three of those! Another wedding in May brings the total to four weddings in eight weeks. Now that I have loads of dresses to choose from, I’m all set!
It’s a Box, it’s a Square, no it’s a Cube
When you rent a car you never know what you’re going to get. This weekend we got a Nissan Cube. It is literally…a Cube.
The car is horribly ugly but drives nicely and it worked well for us, since any car is better than no car.
When we returned, the guy asked if we saw any other Cubes. Of course. We saw two. He said, you never notice them until you are in a Cube. He also said every time he asks that question of Cube renters, people have noticed other Cubes on the road. Thought it was funny because without being in one, you probably wouldn’t notice them otherwise. Guess that could be true for any ‘interestingly’ shaped car.
Our Cube was a dark nude/light brown color, that I think I would love on my toe nails, during my next pedicure!
The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray
In other words, expect the unexpected.
Knowing full well that I have a wedding this weekend I was planning on borrowing a dress from a girlfriend. I was also going to pack earlier this week so I didn’t have to jam it all in on Thursday night. But alas, plans change.
All week I came home from work, put on pajamas and settled in front of the television. (Hey, it’s been a long week with the unexplained stomach pains and not feeling my regular, perky self.) So of course, plans to borrow a dress from said friend kept getting pushed and pushed.
Because last night was the last possible night before leaving for the weekend, I had to revisit the plan and instead borrow from other friends who live closer…and now in merely one night of popping around town picking up dresses, I now have a whopping five dresses to choose from. I eliminated one already (too summery for this weekend’s winter weather) but I have no issues with packing four dresses. I mean, it’s not like I need to bring four pairs of shoes…two will suit me fine. The boyfriend seemed to have a slight issue with bringing four dresses. It’s not like we are bringing extra luggage…we’ve got the room, and I am a light packer so it’s really not an issue.
This is not a matter of procrastination. Like the title of this post, it’s just plans gone astray. I should have had the dress in my closet a week ago. I also should have started packing before last night. It’s just a weekend but still packing the night before, even for the most organized of packers (yes, me!) is just my thing. I like to pack a little and start getting through my list, throughout the week. At least I had the list written.
And finally, I would just like to clarify that packing of four dresses is not indecision. I have so many options now that it’s going to be a game time decision.
simply three cents 