Friday, August 20, 2010

Formal Movie Night: The Expendables


What can I say? I love movies, and I love dressing up. Formal movie night began as a reason to wear all those fancy clothes that just sit in my closet waiting for a special occasion. Well, gosh darn it, I've found one! Formal Movie Night! Brett requested The Expendables. He's not usually a movie-going fan, but I'll go to just about anything if "Formal" is in the title.

Final verdict: I think the lack of Jean-Clause Van Damme and Steven Seagal made it hard to believe the throwback B-movie hero storyline.

The Office

So, this is how my Thursday went:

I came into the office focused on texting Brett when I looked over to see two of my co-workers staring at me. After asking "What?" a couple times, I sat down and began my day. Until out of no where, I faced my desk and saw my cubicle all decorated!!!


I wore the crown all day, including at meetings and enjoyed the compliments about my aging gracefully, and the new-found ability to drink *wink*wink*.

I seem to miss all the obvious "we're celebrating your birthday signs" because when I finished a meeting in my boss' office, I completely missed that everyone was gone from the area. I thought I was going to another impromptu meeting, when goodness me! Everyone was in the conference room with brownies!!! It was really wonderful to feel incredibly special, especially with the people I spend most of my weekdays with. I jumped up and down and squealed with delight!



I brought the balloons home to enjoy for the rest of birthday month, and Ody discovered the joy of them as well.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Tandem Bike Riding


On my birthday, Brett and I went to Governor's Island to enjoy a tandem bike ride. It was perfect! After a wonderful brunch, we biked over to the Brooklyn terminal and hop aboard a ferry to Governor's Island. Brunch, Bikes, Boats, and Brett... the four Bs! We rented a tandem bike and rode around the island for an hour. I'll admit, I'm not entirely cruiser ready, and my butt hurt after the ride, but what fun! Besides the yelling of "Tandem Bike Riding" every five seconds, and the occasional flash from my dress riding too high from the wind, I think Brett enjoyed it too! It was strange to have to pedal in conjunction with someone else. I did enjoy just being along for the ride. Brett rode in the front (both due to size, and lack of fear), and my one moment in the front terrified me. The whole leaning and directing a bike built for two was not in my bag of tricks. I'm glad to say, that I'm committed. I've even got Brett to promise that when we're old, we can have a tandem bike.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Lovely Ladies


Certainly, one of the best things in life is good friendships. On the last day of my 27th year, my friends Kelly and Suzie met me for dinner. Many laughs, serious nods, veggie burgers and a bottle of champagne later, I came to enjoy all the great choices and awkward decisions that brought me to this moment with two lovely ladies celebrating life. After dinner I asked them to join me on a quest to find flowers, champagne, strawberries, and balloons. The things I believe every woman needs to properly celebrate a birthday. We succeeded on the first two, and failed on the last two. This is a moment from our scavenger hunt:


It's always amazing to close out another year on planet earth. It was a struggle, and a success. I'm really looking forward to 28.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Frederick Law Olmsted


Last week, Robert and I saw the premiere of a documentary on Frederick Law Olmsted. He and his partner designed Central Park and Prospect Park. This premiere was in Prospect Park, which is one of my favorite places in all of New York City. Olmsted considered Prospect Park to be his masterpiece, and I have to say I agree completely! It is a perfect calm in the midst of the insanity of the city. I didn't know that Olmsted was really an original mitigation planner, as he incorporated the needs of the environment into his designs. He would often take into account the rising water during tides or heavy rains, and the need for land mitigation. He designed over a 100 parks around the world, and that means that many of the great cities on this planet have a park that helps negate some of the natural disasters. Thanks Mr. Olmsted!

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Workin' Day & Night


The last few weeks I have been traveling for work. It was nice to get away from the city, and have some time on my own (well, and working 12-16 hour days). It did mean that I was away from Ody, Brett, and the extreme heat of July in New York City. It wasn't all bad. Charell and I did manage to find a moment here and there to sit down.