Category Archives: in and around NYC

April 4, 2011

Pedicure on the Brain

By simply three cents

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!

1 Comment | posted in doctor, in and around NYC, observations, why

March 18, 2011

Completely surrounded by creativity, I’m at a loss for a creative title

By simply three cents

Last night I went to the opening reception of the latest exhibition at Sloan Fine Art on the Lower East Side.

Some background: There was an open call for artwork. Artists had been asked to submit artwork on a used NYC MetroCard and my cousin Kristy had submitted four pieces.

Already knowing her work rocks, I was all set to meet her at the gallery. Left work and took the F train to Delancey, walked half a block, turned a corner and there’s a mattress on the sidewalk right.in.front of me. UGHHH.

I am already neurotic about bed bugs which makes me a little crazy so I instantly (and most likely, correctly) assume that it’s infested. So I veer as far away from it as I can, which is a little difficult as it’s a high-traffic sidewalk, without looking like a total freak. Oh, gross. My head is itching as I write this.

The gallery is packed so I wait on the sidewalk for her which is an extension of the gallery because there are so many people. Which is totally fine, because this is a great neighborhood for people watching.

Looking around I realize…OMG. I am the dorkiest person there! Well, there’s only a few of us that can be clumped into that category, but it’s  the category I still belong in. Very few people looked like they came from an office in midtown – and I’m no ‘suit.’ There are such fun outfits, colors and accessories. I look SO lame but yet earlier in the day, at work, I looked hip compared to some people.

Once Kristy and her friends arrived, we headed inside. Super cool exhibition with hundreds of metro cards, including hers.

The exhibition at Sloan is open until March 26.

You should totally check out more of Kristy’s work

sidenote: Can you tell I just learned how to put links to websites in my posts?!

2 Comments | posted in in and around NYC, observations

March 17, 2011

Sláinte!

By simply three cents

Happy St. Patty’s Day! Today is when the world wants to be Irish, and I am no exception.

Listening to all the crowds outside my office window earlier today made me reminisce for more carefree days. Back then some may have called me lucky, no pun intended, that my geographic location enabled me to partake in one of the world’s biggest St. Patty’s Day celebrations. Some may not.

Besides the green shirts, the drinking and the good times, I am also reminded of various injuries sustained on St. Pat’s. Not just mine, mind you.

Like the scar on my left knee that’s still there all these years later. That was a result of trying to catch my pizza slice when the box went flying. Or what about my dear friend’s chin and her scar after she fell in a gutter?

Some of you reading may be horrified, and others might be laughing. Just make sure you are laughing with me.

Another year, the parade in NYC – it fell on a Saturday, and at some point late in the day, I had to use the bathroom. I had the bright idea to not go into McDonald’s to use it but instead visit the nearby off-track betting shop, as I figured they must have bathrooms, with no line. And alas, I was right. Always thinking outside the box.

Now that I’m older and wiser, but certainly still fun, I’m planning on a low-key pint of Guinness with some friends later today. And as I am older and wiser, I am not anticipating any injuries.

1 Comment | posted in holidays, in and around NYC, just silly

March 16, 2011

A Pleasant Surprise

By simply three cents

Getting to walk to a doctors appointment is one of the perks with city living.

Waiting 30 minutes to be seen is royally annoying, no matter where you live.

I totally understand doctors falling behind a few minutes throughout the day to put them that far behind for say a 4p appointment. But my appointment this morning was at 9am. I was one of the first appointments of the day!

The plus side of my visit was finding out that since my last appointment in August until today I lost a whopping 6 pounds.

I know this doesn’t sound like a lot given the time lapse and considering Lent (and my forced diet plan) started a week ago, but still, I’m pretty happy.

Maybe it was the healthy eating in Croatia, the hiking in Argentina or even getting sick in January, or maybe I am paying more attention to what I’m eating. Who cares. 6 pounds down is better than half a pound up!

1 Comment | posted in in and around NYC, just silly, peeves

March 12, 2011

Target Differences

By simply three cents

Target in the Burbs is different than Target in Jersey City. Some of the differences are more obvious than others but we really noticed them while visiting a Target in the Burbs this weekend.

  • Parking lot full: Both were packed so it’s a wash
  • Working carts:  Target in the Burbs wins easily here; there were hundreds available and neatly organized at the entrance where JC has none or limited, and most are broken — Burbs +1
  • Prices: Probably a wash but I am just going to give it to the Burbs — Burbs +1
  • Cleanliness: Burbs wins hands down — Burbs +1
  • Crowds: While the parking lot was full, you’d never know it from walking around the store — Burbs +1
  • Customer service: For a return, helpful and efficient staff, I think the opposite in JC — Burbs +1
  • Staff: People in red shirts walking around asking if you need help (I didn’t but thanks for asking) — Burbs +1
  • Can cab it, or walk, to Target: JC wins — JC +1
  • Register lines: This could easily take 30 minutes in JC with half the registers actually open at a given time. Burbs opened another register when they saw that lines were more than 3 people deep — Burbs +1

Final Score
Target in the Burbs: With 6 points the clear WINNER

Leave a comment   |  tags: | posted in in and around NYC, in and around the USA, observations, shopping

March 10, 2011

Rain Reaction

By simply three cents

In some cities when it rains, there are car accidents because people aren’t used to it.

In NYC, for some reason, people regress to a barbaric state.

Where is the common sense? Where is the personal space- throngs of people push like wild animals down the street-and in this proximity people resort to acting like caged animals let loose.

Case in point:

Example #1 – Woman pointing her umbrella out towards people walking at her and pops it open as they get close.

Example #2 – Dude you have a golf umbrella…on city streets? try not to aim the point if you are using it as a walking stick. Its not a spear.

Example #3 – The “lady” that uses the umbrella as a hat so its at eye level – just at the point where if I didn’t duck I’d have lost an eye.

Mind you- it wasn’t even raining that hard. I didn’t even open my umbrella so I decided to do what any short, savvy city girl would do.

I swung my (closed) umbrella. Sometimes in front of me, sometimes to my side – it was like having instant numchucks (not that I’ve ever even held a pair) and it instantly gave me a few more inches of personal space.

This was working fine until the last straw came…I was about to cross 42nd street and at the last second I decided to wait since a bus was rolling at me – and here is a douchey guy who shoved me towards the bus because he, his mom and his girlfriend (just guessing on the relationships) decide to follow me and not pay attention and oh, you know, stop. He caused a chain reaction pushing me inches from the bus when he couldn’t stop either.

In a huff I went and crossed 7th Ave (with the light) instead. I was in a bit of shock so it took all I had not to go back and give him a what for.

What gives?

1 Comment | posted in in and around NYC, observations, peeves

March 6, 2011

Old New York

By simply three cents

After a bridal shower, two of my girlfriends and I went to the Algonquin Hotel for a cocktail, which turned into two cocktails and a glass of champagne on the house.

When we walked into the hotel, it just had that Old New York feel to it. The cocktail list, the people hanging out and the decor. I found out later that’s the hotel my grandparents went to for their honeymoon!

My girlfriends and I had come in off the street from the bridal shower that was on the same block. We really wanted to know what was everyone else doing in there? Business people (on a Sunday afternoon?), prostitutes (on a Sunday afternoon?)…something to ponder, over a cocktail in a martini glass I suppose…

Leave a comment | posted in in and around NYC, observations

March 5, 2011

Battle of the Sexes

By simply three cents

Last night. Game night. Board games. Battle of the Sexes.

Four boys against four girls.

The girls definitely need to study up on ridiculous trivia and current event knowledge though the wild cards definitely helped us out.

The boys were just lucky, this time.

Leave a comment | posted in in and around NYC, just silly

March 4, 2011

Only in New York

By simply three cents

Was walking to a friend’s apartment and on the corner of 42nd Street were two guys trying to sell a rack of coats. Yes, like the kind of rack you would see in a department store. It’s a street corner in the city about 7p not to mention 30 degrees and people were trying on coats as if they were in the middle of Bloomingdales.

While stopped at the light, laughing that this is so typically New York, I look to my right and see a man crossing the street, totally disregarding the light, with his pants unzipped with his genitalia hanging out, and then you realize…only in New York.

2 Comments | posted in in and around NYC, observations

March 2, 2011

Late Night, Early Morning

By simply three cents

A friend of mine performed last night at the Bitter End, a small but classic venue, in NYC. He didn’t disappoint.

However, it was kind of a late night for a school night. I had to be at work about an hour earlier than normal for a meeting. I cannot remember the last time I saw the same doorman when I came home and again in the morning. Usually there is a shift change while I am asleep. Not today.

Needless to say, I am in dire need of caffeine today.

Leave a comment | posted in in and around NYC