Matty Nay Morning Concert

In continuing with my no bummer summer, Anne-Sophie and I woke up brutally early for Matt Nathanson’s show at Fox & Friends. Shudder. Thankfully his music outweighs the biased banter we had to endure before the set and between songs.

They played well. They played covers when they weren’t being filmed. The usual tunes plus White Snake and Journey.
We ducked when the cameras panned towards us. The anchors stood next to me during “Faster” and I may or may not have looked like a goon on the morning broadcast when Fox may or may not have caught me singing and/or dancing.

See, proof. Here I am being an intentional goon wedged between a suit and a bodyguard who did not like my bag being on the ground.

Before the set, Matt came out to sign some signage…

“Faster, faster…”

This morning guy didn’t know the words to “Jesse’s Girl”. Pretty sure Matt did this on purpose since they had catered BBQ for the vegetarian.

Despite the long and early morning, the show was extremely fun and I was accompanied with good souls. I love how despite everything that’s happened between us during the past decade, the soundtrack has always remained the same.

Full gallery on Flickr…

The beginning of the end of summer

Holy crap how did August happen? I’ve truly enjoyed this summer…lots of trips, random conversations, late nights, new adventures. I also have a quite hefty decision ahead of me that I’ve been delaying, but should make pretty soon.

This past weekend was a perfect summer weekend full of running, biking, catching up with friends, and day drinking. I’m pretty sure after two glasses of wine I committed to skydiving. I don’t like planes or heights so we’ll see if I actually man up. After another glass of wine I think Aurora, Jen, and I caused a scene. Comforting to know that after many years, the conversations have the same them and we find ourselves in the same silly shenanigans.
There’s way too much socializing to be had during the next few sunny weekends left.

Today marks the first run under the RW Challenge plan – 4 easy miles. No biggie. Except that I couldn’t fall asleep last night and the last thing I wanted to do was wake up at 7 am to run. I just felt…off. I felt heavy, uncoordinated, slow, and uninspired. My iPod also died halfway through. Whenever I don’t feel like putting much effort into a run, I head to the piers because it’s flat, minimal traffic, and easily loop able to customize miles. Whatever, at least I got it done.

Weekend running

Well, it begins. Today is the first day of the RW Challenge for the Philly Marathon (I’m a month in of kinda sorta training for NYC, but this where things start getting real). Rawr!!! Today is also a rest day, which was much needed after this past weekend’s action.

On the running front, I spent both days looping around Prospect Park. During the week I usually run Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, and or the piers since it’s close to home and short mileage. Prospect Park is a run, bike, and subway away which is why it’s saved for the weekends. Sometimes I miss living only a few blocks away from Central Park…

Related, I know Central Park inside and out. I know the uphill and downhills. The bathrooms and the water fountains. I know which areas will be more crowded and which are less frequented by pedestrians. I know which spots are safe and questionable. I can even tell you the stories behind the statues along my running routes. Obviously everything important. I do not know ANY of this in regards to Prospect Park. On one hand, every run is like an adventure since I have no idea what to expect. On the other hand, I like consistency as well as knowing where I can hydrate and pee.

Saturday was a 10 miler…Starting in my hood, running 2.5 miles to the park, then circling 2+ around.

On Sunday, my tired and hungover carcass woke up early to bike 5 miles and run 5 miles with John, who is also training towards the NYC Marathon. Thankfully we took this slow and easy and chatted the entire way so it flew by.

Stop looking at me, swan!

She’s holding her tonic like a cross

I have a new obsession with Airborne Toxic Event. I had a band on tour with them and though I have the past two CDs, I never actively paid attention to the songs until recently. I dig! I kept going back to “Sometime Around Midnight” and after some research, that of course was the US and UK single. Cannot get enough and it’s now been added to my running and work playlist. I also just played it no less than three times while getting ready, I need to make up for lost time.

Lately a few new (to me) songs have been hitting me making me realize why I do what I do and what brings me back to my desk every day. Sometimes I need hints to remind me how and I got here and why. “They don’t even know what it is to be a fan. Y’know? To truly love some silly little piece of music, or some band, so much that it hurts.”

All the hours that we turned into days

“Worlds Apart” by Mostar Diving Club is my song of the moment. I’m a bit disappointed to not see much about them online, but hopefully that just means that they’re working on a release. Hopefully, it would be tragic if they don’t put anything else out.

The song was also featured “Waiting for Forever”. I wanted to love it, but I only just really liked it. Regardless, I thought it was endearing and it’s definitely worth placing on your Netflix queue. Lots of random stuff on my mind the past two weeks and this movie was accidentally fitting.

“If you ask me there’s a moment in everybody’s life when you’re helpless, just helpless with hope and trust. And then something happens, something too big to understand, and then everything changes forever.

Learning to love squash

There’s only a handful of veggies that I don’t like. Mostly due to texture, not taste. Squash, zucchini, and eggplant I can do without. Even though I know better, I still sometimes order eggplant parmesan due to brief amnesia then get knocked back into reality when it squishes in my mouth. Gross. All of those vegetables are squishy and foul.

Naturally, squash has been in every single one of my CSA pickups. A CSA aside: when I signed up they said that a weekly pickup would feed a family of four for a week. No. It barely feeds a family of Miranda for a week. I never realized how much produce I consume, but I suppose this is a good thing. We have an exchange box where you can exchange produce you don’t want for items that you do want. Usually the only thing in the swap box are heads of lettuce, so I usually keep the squash thinking I’ll FINALLY do something with it.

I tried roasting it, still gross and squishy. I stir fried it with other veggies, still gross and squishy. I steamed it, still gross and squishy. Squash is the devil’s vegetable. I hate wasting things, especially food, so I resorted to peeling it with a vegetable peeler. It can’t squish if it’s thin!

So here you go…

In the bowl:
Whole wheat rotini
Diced tomatoes
Sautéed: garlic, brussel sprouts, portobello mushrooms, and peeled squash
Parmesan cheese
(because let’s be honest, you throw enough cheese on anything, it’s guaranteed to be delicious)

Bam!

Love Out of Lust

This song is ridiculous.
Finally got around to checking out Lykke Li’s new release and I keep going back to this track. Usually I just let the album play then check the title if something attracts my ear.
“I Follow Rivers” and “Sadness is a Blessing” are also tasty.

Luck

My mom was attacked earlier today. She survived, thankfully, with only some bruises and uncertainty. The texts and feedback on Facebook have been overwhelming. Amazing. I don’t really want to get into it on here, so if you are my FB friend, there are more details on there.

Living in NYC full of people, you get used to your surroundings. Most times I feel invincible. Sometimes I stumble home at 4 am. Sometimes I talk to strangers wherever I am. Sometimes I listen to my iPhone too loudly while ignoring what’s going on around me. Sometimes I run in Central Park after the sun sets.
One can never be too sure of their own safety. So relieved that this story has a different ending than what could have been.

Summer training bootcamp

I’m a few weeks into summer training and so far so good. I enjoy a good schedule and ass kicking. Once I finalize my training plan, I’ll post. Right now I’m still in low but consistent mileage to just get into a rhythm, then the real fun begins August 1st.

I’m excited for this running cycle because a lot of friends are also training for a race this fall. Misery loves company. Thankfully we keep each other in check and hopefully as a result we’ll all obtain our best potential. The mantra of the summer during these hot and sweaty runs is “what you put in is what you get out.” I remind myself of the horrid DE Marathon every time I don’t want to go out for a run. Never again. I love running and truly find it fun and rewarding, just sometimes I get lazy about it, which leads to lethargy and injury.

But with views like this in the morning, how can I NOT get out of bed!? This morning’s run was a joyful 5 miles over the Brooklyn Bridge and back plus a loop in Brooklyn Heights. An easy run with hidden millwork. Rawr!

Counting the years

I’ve been living in NYC and the NYC area for over six and a half years now. That seems like forever! It certainly is the longest time I’ve ever spent in one place before. Though the time flies by, birthdays always mark when we come around full circle again. NYC birthdays are different from birthdays in other places. We have itineraries and weekends to help our friends celebrate by allowing guests to have options. This past weekend marked Miss Jen’s birthday. She started her celebration in Atlantic City on Friday and ended on the LES Sunday evening.

We spent Saturday evening at Wogie’s with musical chairs of guests. Two of her friends are Australian and I’m totally using some of their terms in the near future. It was great catching up with everyone while sitting outside watching passerby in the West Village.

The celebration continued Sunday afternoon as we watched the Phils beat the Mets. Then US lose to Japan. Then we stuffed our faces with Mikey’s (veggie) burgers because there really is nothing better after a day full of sunshine, beers, and friends. Here’s to another lovely year.