Can you have too much massage???

Today was my day to relax. The place I get manicure/pedicures had a 'sale' for spa week. I have been looking forward to this week since last fall. I called and scheduled a massage, facial, pedicure and manicure. I got all four in that order. What a day! I went at 1:00 and finished up about 4:45. I worked out at the gym this morning knowing my day of relaxation would be coming soon.

First, I had a full body massage...so good..everyone should have one once in a while.

Next, came a facial. Since moving to NYC, my skin has been 'adjusting', so I was wanting something to clean out my pores, etc. Gross part coming soon....When you have a facial, it basically consists of washing and steaming your face, then the comes the cleaning of pores....it HURTS...but all those blackheads and clogged pores are squeaky clean. The pain is followed by a mask treatment and then .... a face massage.....so relaxing.

The hardest part of a pedicure, yes there is a hard part....is picking my toenail color. I picked a pretty bright pink color today. This color reminds me of my Mom's pink polish she used to always use. Sally would be proud of the 'brightness'.
The pedicure is great. The spa has this 'gel' stuff that you put your feet. It feels like your feet are suspended in jello. Before the polish is applied...you guest it again....another massage from the knees down....again so relaxing.

The final part of the visit was the manicure. Because I purchased the 'sale' treatment, I got a super luxurious manicure. First, nails are filed and soaked, cuticles clipped and then comes the paraffin wax. While the wax cures.....another back, neck and arm massage.....so, so relaxing.

That was my day.......relaxing.

The City is Getting Ready for St. Patty's Day

I took a walk yesterday to run a few errands and get a manicure. I walked up Madison Avenue and then over to Fifth. On my way I noticed that the many Pubs in the area were getting ready for the St. Patrick's Day festivities. Below are some pics of just a few of the many Pubs. This holiday is HUGE in New York City. The parade is over FIVE hours long. Luckily, it goes right past the bank, so I can view it from the office. There are tons of people, off from work drinking their green beer and celebrating all day long. I will post some pics after Tuesday.
It was a beautiful day. Spring was trying to creep in, but the breeze reminded me that spring was not here yet. I made it to the park and walked for a bit until I found a bench in the cloud filtered sunlight. I sat and relaxed for a bit watching some squirrels run up and down the hill foraging some nuts that someone had dropped for them. I also snapped a few pics of the squirrels too. After my walk, I made it back to my favorite nail/spa, Spa Butterfly. This place is right around the block from my apartment. They do a great job and the place is so relaxing.

Spotted on my Saturday walk

Chair in dumpster - East 45th

I am sure this one has seen better days.

Right in front of my building......you guessed it....

ANOTHER CHAIR!!! As I exited my building, I looked left then right and there it was...in the spot where the building puts the garbage and recycling each night. I was thinking, some may wonder where in the world do I live where there is garbage piled nightly on the curb. Garbage collection in the city happens during the night, so every night businesses place their garbage on the curb for pick-up. There are no huge garbage cans like in the suburbs. All the garbage is piled in bags on the edge of the street. During the night a crew of garbage trucks come around and take the bags. In the morning, all of the bags are usually gone and some of the recyclables are left for a later pick-up. Enough about the garbage...but that is why I keep spotting these chairs. From now forward I am going to just post the pic fo these random chairs.

The Forecast was for Snow....

Well, the forecast for this past Sunday Night/Monday Morning was for snow....3-8 inches in the city...right. Well, the storm did pull through. Monday morning the storm was in full force. I bundled up in my coat, boots, hat and scarf and headed to work....remember I walk to work, not from my car to the building. By the time I got to work, I had enough snow stuck to my coat that I looked like a snowman. I shook that off my coat and went into work. I did not leave the building until it was time to go home. I took some pics on my way home of the 'aftermath'.

....and now I am going to take a nap!

The past week was very busy. It started Monday with a crazy project at work. As result, I had a weeks worth of late nights at the office...ugh! On Saturday, Jeremy and I rented a car to go do some shopping and visit Peter and Debbie. When renting a car, you never know exactly what car you will end up with. This time we ended up with a Toyota Prius....a hybrid car. Well, when I got in I had to figure out how to start it up and get it into gear. After a few minutes getting familiar with the car we were off. Driving to the Javier house is not too complicated, but every time, I drive there we get lost, but, we find our way there in the end. Every time we are lost, we see new places we may want to visit in the future...so the extra time it takes to get to the Javiers is not a waste. On the way back to the city, never a problem. Go figure.

Our shopping trip took us to BJ's, like a Costco, and then to the outlet mall, Woodbury Commons. This is a huge outlet mall with sooo many shops. The shops are situated in several different villages...nice concept in warm weather, but in the winter it is sooooo I was on a mission to get some new shoes for work. I was successful! I came home with four pair of new shoes...plus a few more things.

After shopping we went to the Javiers and had a great dinner. After dinner we broke out the Wii-Fit and had a great night of ski jumping, soccer heading and tight rope walking. We headed back to the city about midnight to unload our purchases.

This morning I took the car back to the rental place. The place is a short walk a couple of blocks away. On my walk back home I picked up a bunch of flowers to arrange in some new vases I picked up shopping. This week I chose an assorted bunch and some orchids that remind me of Hawaii. After I arrange and place the flowers, I have to watch the cats, because they seem to like to destroy them.

After I finished with the flowers, I had a 'conference Skype' with Sally, Kids, Dave and Mom. It was a short catch up for all of us.

Finally, I went to the gym and got in a good run and work-out. I am now going to take my long awaited Sunday nap and re-charge for the busy week ahead!

I forgot my camera on my trip yesterday, so I will include some pics I took today of the cats relaxing in the sunshine.....I guess the sunshine will be gone tomorrow, the weather forecast is for SNOW! (secretly, if it is good snow I will like it. If it is the regular crappy snow it might as well not snow)
Bye for now.

Chair Alert!!!

On my way home from work I was walking past some stuff left on the street for the trash and guess what was there...you guessed it....chairs!!! Actually this time it was a dumpster with pieces and parts of chairs. I am sure there are a few people who received a brand new chairs this week somewhere in New York. I was so disappointed that I did not have my camera with me to take a picture...but, I was on the phone with Sally and when I said "oh no, I do not have my camera with me...", she asked if I had spotted more chairs. So there is the picture in your mind...me, walking and talking on the phone then saddened because I did not have a camera to take a pic of more chairs. I do not know why I am so obsessed with these chairs.
Adios.

Jen's Wedding

My friend Jennifer got married to her fiance Jonah this weekend. Jennifer and Jonah are Korean and had a traditional Korean Dinner and wedding. She invited those of us from the office to attend. Jeremy and I took the train to Pelham and met Peter for a ride to the church. Jen was so thoughtful to arrange for the 'work friends' to have a reserved place to sit for the dinner reception. We had a great time during the wedding festivities. Of course, at the end of the reception, I had to get up for the 'always fun' single girl walk of shame to get ready to catch the bouquet....I did not catch it. Jeremy had to go up when they summoned the single guys.

We had a great time visiting with each other, Cristiane and family, Luciene and her husband Douglas, Jeremy, Peter, David and Me. After the Wedding, Dinner and Reception, there was an 'after party'. We traveled back to the city and had a great time at a club until early into the morning. I have posted a few pics below


Me and Jeremy and Cristiane's little one, 'Baby Brian'


Luciene (left) with Cristiane and her two little ones, Barbara and 'Baby Brian'


Jeremy (left) on stage with Jen


David (left), Peter (middle), Jeremy (right)


Third Avenue at 3:00 AM...the city that never sleeps!

Another Few Chairs....

Walking home from work, there were another few chairs up for grabs on the street this week. A few posts back, I talked about how there are often chairs just sitting on the street waiting for 'pick-up', either for the trash or something else. This week I spotted two more just 'sitting' in there. One was an office chair the other was a chair that may have been a 'guest chair' in an office. I do not know why I find chairs on the street so funny???? I did not take a pic of the first one, but had my camera ready this one. I asked Jeremy to sit in the chair and pose, but he quickly refused......You never can tell where a chair may have come from, especially if it is just sitting on the street......

President's Day of Events

Monday was President's Day. I did not get to take my picuture of the 'red, white, blue' Empire state building lights, but no worries....there are many other opportunities for the red, white and blue lights. The bank was closed on President's Day, so I had a much anticipated day off from work. I love Monday Holidays. I slept in and then went to the gym. I usually go before work on Mondays, but when there is a Monday holiday, I love sleeping in and going to the gym a little later. I can always tell who must work at a bank because they are the same sorry souls I see on my regular early morning schedule.

I took the remainder of the day to do a much needed cleaning and organizing of my apartment. I bought a paper shredder and got rid of the three shopping bags of paper that needed to be gone. I also organized my kitchen cabinets and clothes closet. Just as I was finishing up my organizing day, I got a call from Paula, who was in NYC for the week working at AMEX. Jeremy and I met Paula for dinner and some very welcomed catching up. We went to a Cuban Restaurant recommended by one of Jeremy's friends. It was a great. Let me know if you want to try it out when 'YOU' are visiting. We next went across the street to a 'pub' to chat. At the end of the evening, Jeremy and I cerimoniously hailed a cab for Paula and went home. It was great to see Paula and spend some time with her. (I realized now I did not take a pic of us, but I did take pic of the pub we went to for my 'pub pics' collection

I also bought a some potted hyacinth bulbs. They bloomed this week and are beautiful.

The Crane was back again....

For the past few weekends, 45th Street in front of my building has been blocked off on Saturday and Sunday. No problem for me since I do not have a car. There is a 'portable' crane that has been lifting object on the roof of a building across and down the street from my building. This crane is not like the ones that have been toppling over. The crane base is a huge truck. The tall part sits on top of the truck and lowers down like a fire truck ladder. Then the very top part disassembles and is carried on another truck. I know this because, last week when the work was over, the crane was laying down on 3rd Avenue and it took up three blocks from 44th to 46th Street. Today, the crane was lifting some very large canister shaped objects....I think that the building is getting a new air conditioning or some sort of HVAC system. Just a guess...I really have no idea. Today as I was walking past the crane one of the work men said watch out above...and when I looked up, there was one of these large canisters suspended in the air. I felt that maybe I needed a hard hat. I have attached some pics. You can see that the canisters are huge by comparing the man walking next to it. Well, that is the story of the crane. I am guessing it will be back tomorrow?

Happy Valentine's Day

Today is Valentine's Day....so Happy Valentine's Day to you. I have been thinking all day that I needed to go to see the Empire State Building tonight. You see, there is actually a lighting schedule for the building.

Click here for the actual website schedule....http://www.esbnyc.com/tourism/tourism_lightingschedule.cfm

The tower is lighted according to various different events and holidays. I noticed the different lighting last year and wanted to take pictures everytime there was a different light display. In the classic Valentine movie, Sleepless in Seattle, Meg Ryan goes to the Empire State building to meet Tom Hanks. I remember in the movie that the tower was lit that night too. As the day went into night, I trecked over to where I could get a view of the lights tonight. For Valentine's Day, the light colors are Red, White and Pink. Last week, the Westminster Dog show was in town and the colors were Purple and Gold. During the Summer Olympics, the colors were Red, Blue, Yellow and Green. At Christmas time....Red, Green and White.....and so on. Here are my Valentine's pics for this year.

New Paint...Check, New Carpet...Check, New Renter (finally!)....Check

I am so excited that I have a new renter in my condo. It has been a long 5 months of mortgage payments, but I finally got someone to rent the condo. The renter moves in this Saturday, so Dave and I took a few pictures of the place all empty. It totally looks different than it did when I lived there. Thank You, Thank You to Mom, Sally, David, Mel and Chris for helping move furniture, coordinate contractors and everything else. I could have never finished all of this work on my own 2000 miles away. After I uploaded the pics that Dave took, I notices some 'orbs' of light.....I wonder if there was a smudge on the lens or something else????? What do you think???

Snow Day.. and a visit

One thing I really miss about Utah is the snow...real snow. Here in New York City it rarely ever snows. Most of the so-called snow is this wet cold frozen rain crap....by the time you get somewhere it is just like it has been raining all over you. I went home to SLC to visit last week and got to go skiing (snowboarding for everyone else). I went with Dave and Meg and Maddie. We had a great time. After a couple of times and a quick lesson on the bunny slope...the girls were getting to be more comfortable on their snowboards. It snowed the entire day....and I loved it. We took a break for some lunch and had our usual...bowl of chili and grill cheese....we all shared it. I posted some 'action shots' from our lunch. I am going to try to schedule another trip soon to go skiing again. It is not really worth the time and $ to go skiing here in the east. I guess I am a snow snob? By the time I spend 2-3 hours traveling by rented car, bus or train to the 'mountains', then renting equipment, etc....I might as well fly to SLC, get my skis out of Mom's garage and go??? I don't think I am missing out, because everyone I talk to in New York says the skiing is not in any way like Utah. I guess I am not missing out?

A Noise on the Roof....

A couple of weeks ago, I heard some voices out on the roof. Outside my apartment windows is a roof. It is not the top of the building but the landing for the fire escape. I was doing my usual internet surfing and heard some people arguing out on the roof. I decided to call Jeremy since he lives five floors above, and ask him to look out the window. Well, he was not at home, but still at work. I stayed on the phone with him while he ran home to check out the noises. When he got here he went out on the roof and did see a person on the roof talking to someone else. We went to the Super's apartment which is a couple of doors down from mine to report the noise. Jeremy went outside to check it out again and the fighting got louder. Then someone started smashing in windows. All of a sudden, I heard my window being smashed in. I screamed and Jeremy yelled for me to come down the hall. We piled into the Super's apartment and called 911. Within 5 minutes the cops arrived...all NYPD style... and went to apprehend the suspects. They were able to catch one guy. Apparently he was all disoriented and did not know how to get off the roof. We then had to go and 'ID' the guy in the cop car out in front of the building. A couple of hours later some more forensic cops (CSI ones) came to look and see if they needed fingerprints. Jeremy and I were also working with the Super to get the tape of who entered and exited the building....all of this ruckus ended about 2:30 AM. The next morning we spoke with the Asst. DA regarding the situation. We ended up going to prepare for court the next week. We found out that the guy was friends of some other guys in the building and was all disoriented. He ended up pleading guilty and was fined for the damage. He also has an order to stay away from our building.

I have posted some pics of the damages....needless to say, I have purchased window and door alarms. I also have getting back to a normal sleeping schedule. I cannot seem to think every night around 10:30 if anyone is coming back.

This story also made it in the NYPD police beat....I guess we did not need a note for being late into the office the next morning.

Here's a link to the NY post police beat.....http://www.nypost.com/seven/02022009/news/nypdblotter/nypdblotter.htm

One Year Ago...

One year ago I packed up 3 bags and boarded the red-eye to NYC. I remember it was sooooo COLD that morning. A cold that I now refer to as 'not Utah cold'. When I arrived at my 'temporary' place at 7 AM, I lugged the bags up the steps and into a long hallway. At the end of the hall was apartment 1A. I unlocked the door and dragged my bags in. I looked around and something wasn't right. I noticed a couple of packed suitcases in the living room. Bathroom items in the bathroom and a half eaten piece of toast on the counter. I realized that someone must still be occupying this apartment. I tiptoed into the bedroom and I could see the outline of a person sound asleep in the bed. What to do???? I was sooo cold and tired....I had a key to this place....I was scheduled to meet a broker to look for an apartment at 10 AM and I needed some rest. I figured that this person was supposed to be leaving before I arrived and there was some overlap. I decided to lay down on the couch and take a rest. I covered myself in my coat and put my headphones in my ears and slept. I heard an alarm go off and the 'lady' got up and got ready to go. I did not know what she was saying on her phone because she was speaking a different language. I now know it was Portuguese. I heard the suitcase zip up and the door shut. Just as I drifted off again I heard the door open again and another person enter the apartment....speaking Portuguese. She was the cleaning lady. I told her to go ahead and clean around me. When I woke up, the place was clean and ready for my short stay.

After my morning rest, I got showered and dressed and went to meet my broker. He took me around to 13 different apartments all over the city. I narrowed my choice of apartments down to three and put in my application. By the next day I had signed my lease and was scheduled for move in. I have to say it was much easier to find a place after all of the advice from Jeremy on what not to do.