The Black Hole of All Restaurants...

I think Marcus and I found it! We went to Lord & Taylor on Fifth Avenue today, and we decided to eat at their restaurant called Sarabeth's. Sarabeth is the maker of yummy preserves, so I envisioned a cozy, welcoming, country-inspired establishment. Well, we walk in, and the "decor" was reminiscent of the type of restaurant furniture you find at one of those Marriot Courtyard hotels where reception is right next to the restaurant, and there's no wall or divider between them. Then, there was absolutely no music playing whatsoever. Then we place our order---they were serving breakfast all day which was great! I ordered eggs, which supposedly came with a muffin...I selected the pumpkin muffin. We get the food and there's no muffin, and no mention of the fact that there's no muffin. So I inquire about the muffin and I was told by the waitress that "he" said that because my meal came with bread already, I don't get the muffin...not that she couldn't have told me that BEFORE bringing the food over. And I had to ask her who "he" was, to find out she meant the manager. Then in the midst of eating our food, we hear someone screaming at someone else in the kitchen. When we headed out, we vowed we never needed to return! Too bad, the food was decent.

A New Decade

So last night, on New Year's Eve, Marcus and I ate an early dinner with family and friends in the city. Then Marcus and I headed back home and got ready for our little outing to the dance club (I must admit I looked pretty good, too). We went to Pacha, a superclub of sorts on the West Side. In classic cheesy style, we had VIP seating reserved, but in all seriousness, it was for practical reasons. I figured we then would have guaranteed seats to call our own. I remembered how it was going out to clubs on New Year's, and at this point in my life (and with my bum knees), there was no way we could be crammed in a corner standing up all night! We were treated ever so well by all staff who promptly escorted us to our couch and table, and got us started with some Kettle One with the appropriate accouterments! The usual suspects were present: college age couples, singles, occasional peeps our age, drunks, and scantily dressed gogo dancer types on podiums---and all that good stuff. Marcus was horrified by how many men were there in comparison to women. Early in the night a youngster approached me and asked if I either had some Ecstasy, or wanted to buy some. I apologized I couldn't help him, I wish I could...ha ha. Anyway, we got some good dancing in, and headed off to the main dance floor where some tribal techno was pumping. My ass was grabbed and caressed on several occasions, but not just by my husband...By the end of our night we were amongst young, drunk, sloppy girls, many of which were disturbingly barefoot and slipping all over the dance floor. A completely drunk girl practically fell all over our table and knocked over some glasses, and we just laughed...I also graciously took photos of twenty-something girls who asked me to...I remember how it felt to get all decked out in crazy outfits and want to capture them on film. At around 3:45AM, we headed out, and got a burger before we left. We had a lot of fun! I was game for more, but Marcus shot me down...ha ha. Although I must say if this is a representation of mega clubs of today, then they are really vanilla compared to what I am used to. My friends Lauren and Terry-a can attest to the good ol' days of our beloved Limelight. We were frequent flyers at that institution back when Peter Gatien ruled the New York club scene, and it was quite normal, if not expected to socialize and dance among heavy drug users, club kids, and people engaging in inappropriate actions... with excellent music and ambiance. Although I didn't know that there was anything wrong with this (and there isn't!), it was all I knew since I had been clubbing there since I was a mere 16 years old. Then in college and beyond I moved on to (partially because the Limelight was shut down) small, seedy hip hop joints, which were heavenly! And even these places barely exist right now in Manhattan. So don't get me wrong, I may be 34 years old, but I still love to go out till the wee hours in the night and I still love to dance, preferably to hip hop. So if that means that it's a little more cleaned up than it should be, then be it. I find that I'm one of the few of my friends that still finds joy in going out to clubs, but it's fun, and there's no shame in that---wanting to have a good time, but knowing that I'm not a 20 year old girl...thank God, I know better now, in so many ways. And it was fun to see all these youngsters doing their thing, and just having a good time remembering how it was to be those youngsters out and about and to be me now---34 years old, with my husband, having an excellent time with blaring music and people everywhere!

No Pain No Gain...This New Year

So yesterday I officially embarked on a new phase in my life: my life with a personal trainer. I've wanted one for a while, but now I finally went for it because I just don't feel like I'm getting anywhere with working out, and I've lost definition and gained weight. YUCK. I thought this was happening because I've been so busy the past few years with vet school and my internship. Plus, ever since my knees went bad, I have not been able to do things like running, which was a sure thing for me to shed weight. But now I have time to work out and I still don't see results. So I signed up with a trainer I've been eying for a while at my gym, and she's excellent so far! She's a spunky, petite Muay Thai kick boxer and personal trainer. She kicked my ass yesterday. We started with push ups, sit ups, punches and kicks using a weight bag and targets, then arms and chest. It was so painful and exhausting it was great. I could not keep up and I so wanted to stop a certain points...but she didn't back down and made me continue. I'm really excited, and hopefully this is going to pay off. I'm so sore and painful right now...the kind of post workout pain I haven't felt since pre season training for field hockey back in the day! YA! In terms of our New Year's plans, we're going to meet my sisters for dinner, then Marcus and I are headed off to Pacha for some superclub party action. Happy New Year!

Addendum: Walmartians

Okay, maybe you've seen this website, but I randomly receive emails from a previous co-worker with entertaining photos of people shopping in Walmart. And trust me, it's entertaining. Just wanted to share this site in the event you weren't enlightened.

Sore Spots and Residual Itching

Tantalizing title, right? Well don't worry it's not that bad. Since returning from Trinidad almost two weeks ago, I'm still itching my legs where I was bitten by mosquitoes...a great souvenir. And they're all scabbed up so it looks like I have a scary skin disease. And then the sore spot: the weird, large stack of plastic boxes we have sitting in our living room. The stack is over five feet high! When we moved from our vermin laden apartment to this one, we were advised to use plastic boxes to deter certain vermin from hitching a ride and setting up shop in our new apartment. Well, we have not gotten around to figuring out what to do with these things...we don't have any storage available to us in our building...but we don't want to just toss them. We did spend over $500 on these stupid things, and we could just use them again. But it's sad when you're so used to something sitting in a room, you don't remember it's there...and they've been sitting there for four months!

Trinidad in Summary

In summary, we had a good time in Trinidad. We got to see family, the sights, and we got to eat good food. I'd definitely come back for Carnival, and if I could, I'd definitely check out Tobago. So we finally headed home on a (delayed) afternoon flight back to New York City. On the plane I watched "500 Days of Summer" and "Nothing Like the Holidays"...both of which I enjoyed, the latter more of a guilty pleasure. We got home that night, and the following day I had to work. Then the crazy snowstorm hit! I think my favorite moment of that entire trip was watching the dolphins approach our boat. That was amazing. As you can see I've included an obligatory unflattering to Michelle (but seriously cute-n-cuddly Gustaf) photo. I'm always happy to be home to be with Gustaf!

Finally the Beach on Day Four!

This was beach day. We went to Maracas Beach, a popular beach on Trinidad. It was a beautiful day and there was no way you could wade and frolic in these waters...the waves were so powerful, I wished I knew how to surf. It was crazy. And crazy fun. Marcus took full advantage and was diving under the waves. Me? Well I was in some skimpy bikini, and at least the ladies can vouch for me: when waves hit, bikinis come off. And I didn't feel like playing that game every time a huge wave came my way. So I played in the big waves for a while, but then had to retire to the smaller, more bikini friendly ones. I also learned that the stray (or seemingly stray) dogs of Trinidad are picky---you'd think they'd take any food you had to offer. Well multiple times I only had peanut butter and guava jelly sandwiches, and it was a no go! They turned their noses up to it. Speaking of food, we got to experience a local favorite, and a good one! We had bake n shark sandwiches. Yummy, deep fried fish in a deep fried bread. So good. What's funny is that this beach wasn't huge, yet every 25 feet there seemed to be another bake n shark shack...literally there were 8 places for this stuff. After the beach fun, we headed back home and the in laws threw a little cocktail party. It was quite the international affair, as most of their neighbors are like them, foreigners working on the island. We met a bunch of people. Then later that night we went out with my party queen mother in law to a dance club. And yes, I danced with her to some bumping music as Marcus drank. Fun, but somewhat surreal, too...And Marcus isn't trying to vomit or anything in the photo---we're eating the bake n shark and was making faces. The food was good, trust me!