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Monday, September 28, 2009 ( 11:15 PM ) teahouse Day of A-tone-ment The Husband and I spent last night playing chamber music at the home of a friend of a friend. On our way, we had to brave heavy rains, bad traffic and a sidewalk full of baby strollers, shopping teenagers, shuffling old people, teenagers on skateboards and harried families rushing to Yom Kippur services. I had looked forward to this salon for the entire week. And it was every bit as fun as I thought it would be. We gathered with friends, we listened to them playing music. We drank wine, we ate cheese and fruit. We had brilliant and stimulating conversations. The hostess was a lovely and gracious middle-aged lady, with impeccable nails, a beautifully coiffed hairdo and regal bearing. She not only hosted the event, but she teaches music to several of the participants. So everyone there looked up to her as a teacher and mentor of sorts. An hour into the event, after we'd all finished playing and were still enjoying our wine and cheese, the phone rang. Our gracious hostess glided across the room, answered the phone, spoke discreetly into it, and hung up. Then she looked at everyone and announced, "Well, I hate to kick you all out, but I need to go somewhere soon. I need to catch a train to New Jersey to meet my boyfriend." And she unceremoniously kicked us all out. As we all trudged home through the rain, we realized something. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we were kicked out of a party because our impeccably coiffed hostess had to leave. To answer a booty call! # 0 comments Tuesday, September 22, 2009 ( 10:58 PM ) teahouse Stop..In the Name of Love I'm addicted to this new show on the A&E channel - Hoarders. I can't stop watching it. And the reason is not because I like watching other people's misery - but because, well..I am kind of a packrat myself. I'm not as bad as people who hoard animals or the Collyer brothers, but watching this show has been a wakeup call. It's a slippery slope from "I am kind of a packrat" to "The condition of my house is so horrifying, I'm now being humiliated on national tv." My problem is that I'm so unorganized, I lose things and then buy new ones. So I have to stay ever-vigilant! Last night the Husband and I went through my piles of crap and unloaded a lot of stuff out of our apartment. It made us both feel better. Here are some of the things we found and got rid of: 1. 6 half-full bottles of insect repellent (consolidated into 2) 2. 28 books (boxed up and donated to charity) 3. 77 cds (boxed up to be sold to a used cd outlet) 4. 16 bottles of sunscreen (half thrown out as expired, the other half consolidated into 6 bottles) 5. 11 rolls of dental floss (6 put into the bathroom cabinet, 5 to be taken to work and left in my desk, to encourage me to floss regularly) 6. 19 pairs of old socks (finally thrown away) 7. 13 nail files (all but 2 thrown out, as old and gnarly and worn down) 8. 39 ball point pens (all given to a friend who's an elementary school teacher and desperately needs supplies) 9. 22 tubes of lipstick (which I kept, since they were my favorite Chanel brand that was discontinued last year and I MUST have them) 10. 8 hair scrunchies circa 1988 (7 donated to charity, 1 thrown away as having bubble gum stuck in it) And finally.... 11. 9 bottles of lotion (1 discarded as expired and strange-smelling, 7 stored in the hall closet for later use, and the remaining 1 used to give the Husband a foot rub to thank him for going through my crap) I feel much better now! # 0 comments Thursday, September 17, 2009 ( 12:14 AM ) teahouse Cheeky When I'm walking around the City, it usually really annoys me to see advertisements marked up with graffiti. But I giggled when I saw this underwear ad last weekend:  0 comments Friday, September 11, 2009 ( 8:19 AM ) teahouse  The End of the InnocenceToday is the 8th anniversary of the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks. It's also my 30-something-th birthday. In many ways, it's hard to believe it's been nearly a decade since that day. But in many other ways, it seems like my life has been divided into before that day, and after that day. When everything happened, I had just moved to New York, I was a bright-eyed and fresh faced law firm junior associate, I shared a hip Murray Hill apartment with two other young ladies. My life was completely focused on doing well at work, going out with friends, the occasional date, and generally enjoying the frivolities of adulthood in a big city. My roommates were just as innocent as I was. We were like the Sex and the City girls - we thought of cosmopolitans, new clothes and not much else. After the events of September 11, we all realized how unsafe we really were, and how quickly the world could change. We became more wary, more scared. More anxious. More like adults who worry about everything and fret when their children leave the house. One of my roommates had worked in the World Trade Center, escaped the building on that day and lost many coworkers. She completely fell apart. She had what started off slowly, but eventually snowballed into a nervous breakdown. She left New York. Now, eight years later, I'm a little more experienced and a little more senior in a law firm. I live with my husband. We both complain that we don't move around as quickly as we once did. We go to bed earlier. We make sure our doors are locked at night. We have an emergency meet-up plan, in case of another terror attack. We keep a stash of cash in the house, in case there's an emergency and ATMs are inaccessible. I've gotten used to watching memorial services and getting teared up on my birthday. I'm not complaining. I never forget how lucky I am, that nobody close to me was killed that day. And my heart will always break for the people who lost loved ones. But having a notorious tragedy occur on my birthday has reminded me every year of how precious my life is, and everyone's life. Every anniversary of this day I celebrate with birthday cake and loved ones is a little triumph over the people who tried to kill me and the other inhabitants of New York City. Hope your day is positive, precious and surrounded by love! # 0 comments Tuesday, September 08, 2009 ( 11:11 PM ) teahouse Long Weekend This weekend the Husband and I swam against the tide. Instead of going away for Labor Day Weekend, we stayed in New York City and became tourists in our own town. On Sunday we started off by meeting some friends in downtown Manhattan, to watch the change ringing at Trinity Church. A completely overwhelming and unique event. Then we wandered into the churchyard, a really lovely oasis in the midst of Wall Street.  We saw Alexander Hamilton's grave. He's buried there:  We all learned in history class all about how he was killed in a duel by Aaron Burr. Hamilton may have gotten the better end of the deal, as he's now lying in this beautiful churchyard, and after killing Hamilton, Aaron Burr ended up dying penniless and friendless on Staten Island. A sad end indeed! Then we wandered south and saw the Sphere, which was partially smashed in on 9/11 and is now a memorial of sorts to that tragic day:  Then we stumbled into a little festival celebrating the Netherlands! The first thing we saw was a huge windmill:  There was a little street with the cutest booths and shops:  Including this one that sold the most delicious food ever - fried dough with powdered sugar, yum!  I loved this display of happy Dutch children:  Then we wandered further downtown and found the Battery Park Labyrinth, another 9/11 memorial space:  We wandered through it and ended the afternoon with some contemplation and reflection. It was a good long weekend!
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0 comments Thursday, September 03, 2009 ( 12:31 AM ) teahouse Reporting So my birthday is coming up soon. To me, that means one thing: It's almost time to report my CLE credits! For those of you who don't know, CLE stands for Continuing Legal Education. It's the many hours of classes we lawyers are required to take regularly, to show that we are staying on top of recent developments in our practice. In New York, those of us more than a couple of years out of law school (not "newly admitted") have to do 24 hours every 2 years, of which at least 4 must be in ethics/professionalism. The credits must be reported every other year, by the attorney's birthday. Of course, many attorneys procrastinate, and those of us who do often find ourselves taking nonstop CLE classes in the days leading up to our birthdays, leading to constant eye glaze, fatigue and lack of motivation to do any work. Not fun. Ethics credits are the most prized and the hardest to find. They're like the green M&Ms. They're like the middle, crustless brownie in the pan. They're like truffles. They don't come along so often. We hoard and covet our ethics credits. I was adding up my credits last week, and for some reason I have 8 Ethics credits. Huh? I must have planned poorly. Or else I'm now the most ethical attorney out there. Another random CLE story - most attorneys I know pronounce all three letters - as in, "I need to go take my C-L-E." But I once met someone who pronounced it as a word, like "cluh." Seriously. It came up in conversation and scared the crap out of me. She said, "I'll meet you at noon. I have to go to a cluh." I actually said, "What?" She replied, "A cluh!" I thought she was clearing her throat. I actually said, "Bless you." # 0 comments |
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