Do You...Mukti?

It has been a few day since my last entry into my little blog. Since then, I went to Jersey to visit a clinic I'm considering working at. I liked what I saw, so let's see. Otherwise, I've been trying to work out as much as possible, since I have the time. I've been back to my spinning class, which is great because it kicks my ass. A couple of days ago I met up with an old friend of mine, Karen. It was so wonderful to see her! She was actually around (she was a co worker back in the day) when me and Marcus got together! We reminisced and grabbed some food. Yesterday I met up with my friend Christina, a fellow veterinarian. She's about to start acting classes in her free time, and I'm happy for her that she can take that on. We went back to a restaurant around the neighborhood and had some good old brunch. Recently I took on the task of wardrobe for a photo shoot. Let me explain...Marcus and his friends Steven (Terry-a's husband), Magnus, and Rasmus started a company. They are going to be launching the sales of the Mukti Mat. What the @#$% is that, you ask? Well think bed of nails, pressure points, stress relief, and relaxation. It's a mat you can just lie on at the end your day, or even do yoga on if you wanna get hardcore. It's for everyone! There is a Mukti Mat website, still under construction. Today they had a photo shoot for the product. Stephen, a great friend and incredibly talented photographer was in charge, and the Mukti crew was there, as well (Rasmus was there in spirit, as he is in Sweden). It was good to finally see all their hard work coming together, and that launching the product was in the soon future! Click on the video below to see a few moments from the shoot...

All Nighter!

Yesterday I took a spinning class with my favorite instructor and I figured out why I like spinning so much. It's because it's a mind f$ck! I don't like riding bikes, but what I love is that you're on this stationary bike and this instructor is helping you to envision mountains, climbs, and jumps. And based on that, you have to push yourself. And it's so hard! And you want to stop ,but then you don't want to stop, even though it hurts. And it's almost like a dance club in there...tons of people in very close quarters, sweating, with some bumping music (and I'm no longer ashamed to admit that I'm rockin' with myself when Britney or some cheesy pop club-esque music is blasting during class). In the afternoon I went to the cooking wonderland we call William Sonoma. I was in search of the perfect lemon press! I have lusted after a free standing one for a year, but we just don't have counter space. And I'm a lemonade snob and I love to make homemade lemonade, the real way. So I read some reviews online and there were many people raving about the stainless steel lemon press from William Sonoma. So that's how I ended up there. I also got a beautiful stainless steel cupcake pan (I prefer to bake with glass-but I don't know if there's such a thing as glass cupcake baking pans) and cake racks for cooking baked goods! I've wanted those forever! I am so excited. Anyway later in the day Gina, my fellow internmate and vet school friend, came over and we had a sleepover! It was a lot of fun. We ate dinner, then went out in the East Village for a little while. We came back to the apartment and watched what other than..."Forgetting Sarah Marshall". At that point when that was done, it was 4AM. We then proceeded to watched crappy middle of the night shows like "Cheaters". Finally at 6AM I called it quits (even though Gina wanted me to stay up). Later that morning when we woke up I made us pancakes and we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. It was a pretty busy day on the bridge! Marcus also came home from Bermuda so we got to hear about his trip. Then Gina headed back home...and I hit the grocery store to buy some baking supplies. I love baking, and I'm pretty good at it, but because I'm always afraid I'm going to eat what I bake, I never bake. Well, I thought to myself: baking makes me happy. So I will have to somehow deal with the baking and not shoving my face too much. Tomorrow I'm making vanilla cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting, from scratch of course! Oh and I just tried the lemon press I bought and it's amazing! It juiced the hell outta those lemons!

The Vampiric Germ?

If you watch "The Office" then you may remember that episode when Dwight refers to the "vampiric germ" after a bat flies into the office. So the other day I woke up and when I finally looked in the mirror, I discovered two small wounds on my neck! It's pretty freaky because sh$t like this always happens to me. I wake up and find scratches on my face or what not. So the question is what happened...well, Gustaf sleeps cheek-to-cheek with me sometimes, and he tends to touch my face with his little claws...so I don't know if he gripped a little too hard, or if he bit me at night?? Well, maybe in some freaky-deaky type scenario Marcus decided to bite me vampire style...or a spider (but it would have had to be have been a BIG one) bit me, or maybe a friendly vampire flew in through the window and bit me! Hoo-hoo-hoo-ha-ha!!!

Brunch, More Brunch, The Strawberry Beret, Movies, and Tea

So let me summarize my last week...I've been back on working out, which is wonderful because my arthritic knee decided to throw a tantrum, and I've been sans cardio for a month. Yikes. Well, the day before Mother's Day, my family took my mom to Bedford Post, owned by Richard Gere. Haha. It was good, but not something I'd go out of my way to get to. In true Southern Westchester style, it was Anglo-Waspy-mania up in there! But that's okay. The following day, I met up with Terry-a, Steven, and Seren. When I went to Seattle, I found this super cute kid's hat that looks like a strawberry. I bought it and planned to give it to Seren. I've received two photos of Seren with it on, so it's safe to say she likes it! Marcus and I watched "You Don't Know Jack", an HBO movie starring Al Pacino that chronicles the life and career of the controversial Dr. Kevorkian. It was pretty good, and I've always wanted to know more about him and what inspired him to really lead the human euthanasia movement. And who knew he was also an artist and musician?! Apparently he's had his stuff in galleries, and he released an album once. Then I watched "Flashdance" on TV which I was excited about because I've never seen it in its entirety. I watched part of "Heaven and Earth" again yesterday, and once again, it's such a great, but seriously depressing film. Today I met up with my friend Liz again. We grabbed some lunch and tea at The Adore. We both ordered lapsang souchong, a black tea. She described it perfectly...she said it tastes like ashes from a fireplace! It's this good smokey, black tea. Before meeting up with Liz I went to a couple of places in search of something simple...plain black socks with no polyester. Who knew that would be so hard! I went to a couple of places before I found them at DSW! I thought I was going to have to buy horrific socks with cartoons of animals and teeny bopper phrases on them...

Reunions, Bruises, and Disasters

Okay, so I have not been on Facebook or really been interested. I found out I actually have an account, and recently, I wanted to contact some friends that I lost touch with. And this Facebook thing really came through! The other night I met up with Julie and Jindallrae, my old friends from my Access Hollywood days. I have kept in touch with Jindallrae, but I had not seen Julie in about 8 years! Well it was great to see her, and to hang out all together. She's now a news reporter in Philly. Impressive! Then I met up with Liz, an old high school friend who I lost touch with and had not spoken to in maybe 12 years! She's an artist and living in NYC now! It was like we barely missed a beat. Hanging out was just as easy and natural as it was back in the day. I also saw my trainer and we did some kickboxing and as usual, when I work with kicking and knee-ing punching bags, I get bruised (thus the ugly photo). Love 'em! Then yesterday I worked as a per diem veterinarian in NYC. Hmm...I don't know if I want to do that again. Things were a bit hectic, stressful...I didn't like walking into a situation where I had no idea how to use the computer system, didn't know anyone's names, and didn't know how things went at that hospital...augh!!!

Sleepover Time

Yesterday my good friend Christina, who I met during my internship, came over and we had a sleepover! It was a lot of fun. She's also a veterinarian, and one of the few people I trust to deal with Gustaf, our cat, on a medical basis. She's helped me draw blood on him in the past and has been my go-to girl for a sure-shot blood draw or urine sample! Well, yesterday we bummed around the West and East Village and ate dinner at Caracas Arepa Bar. It was good stuff. I love arepas! We then went home, and had plans of going out again, but we were beat! We watched a movie on TV with Marcus, then went to bed. This morning we went to the Smyth Hotel's new restaurant, Plein Sud, to have breakfast. What a cute place! And the food was pretty good. Then we went to MoMA and checked out the much talked about "The Artist Is Present" performance art installation, complete with live nude artists. It was pretty cool; I'm not a big performance art fanatic, but I can definitely respect the intensity and devotion it takes to do this kind of this. My favorite parts were film reels of male performers humping green grass on a hill, the artist Marina Abramovic aggressively fondling her own breasts, and women dressed in traditional Baltic dresses in the rain lifting their skirts and getting their nether regions wet...and why? Apparently, this was an expression addressing the old Baltic myths that if men masturbate to the Earth it will become fertile, and that the rain would stop if women expose themselves to it...and there was something to do with the breast fondling, but I forgot! I think fondling them would bring rain. Then there was another short film where Marina and her long time performing partner where locked lipped for minutes, breathing in and out from each other, which eventually became basically carbon dioxide, until they almost passed out. Intense! We then headed to my favorite---the permanent collection, where I got to see my beloved Matisse masterpieces. But there were way too many people there, and we were getting annoyed (well mostly I was) so we left, and went back downtown. We grabbed some lunch and hung out at home.