mystery man

So it has been a while since I've been on Match.com, however, that doesn't stop them from sending me e-mails begging me to come back.

I know. I'm that amazing.

They offer me three months for the price of one, 25% off, and other deals to get me to bite. Then there are the "He winked at you!" and "He e-mailed you!" ones. Most recently I've been sent the latter. It is my fault, really. I should have disabled my profile if I wasn't going to be active on the site. But generally I just press the "delete" button in my inbox and go on my merry way.

Now on to the gentleman who e-mailed me. I can't see him, don't know anything about him except for what they tease me with to get me to sign up again and e-mail him back... I know three things about my mystery man. He likes aerobics and camping and he works in IT/Computers/Engineering.

I keep picturing someone like this in my mind:

Whatta man!

(I know, I'm horrible.)

(image via google)

shop talk: reading four books at once

So I have mentioned here that I recently started a new job. What I haven't mentioned is that, in that job I have switched gears a bit. Meaning I now work in Children's books. When I moved to New York it was to work in kids' books so this is a realization of a dream of mine. While I do love adult books (and am finding myself looking longingly at the new releases shelves at B&N every time I visit) I really have always known I would work with or for kids in some way.


What this change means is that I read many more books. I read a lot when I worked in adult. But it was never expected that I'd read everything. It just isn't possible. Working in Children's means that 90% of my reading is now made up of the latest teen novel, vampire adventure or middle grade (think upper elementary) work of fiction. Sometimes I wonder what people think when the person next to me on the subway is reading Jane Austen and the cover of my book has cartoon kids being chased by make-believe beings.


What this also means is that I now read multiple books at once. You'd think, working in publishing, that this would have happened long before I defected to the kiddos but I've been a literary monogomist from the get-go. On rare occassions I would dip into more than one book at once, but generally speaking that happened only a couple of times a year and they would have to be vastly different from one another. Case and point, I read The Hunger Games, the first book in a dystopian Young Adult trilogy a while reading an historical fiction novel set in 19th century Britian. You get the point. But now I've developed a much different system.


I am currently reading four books.


Book A is my long subway ride book. This is for, you guessed it, long subway rides, train rides, plane rides, babysitting, anything that involves a wait and more than 15 minutes. This is currently a Young Adult (teen) book.


Book B is my short subway ride book. It is my "this-car-is-too-crowded-for-me-to-focus" book. Book B used to be Book A but then I decided I wanted to read an award winner so it became book B. It is light and funny and I'm breezing through it almost entirely during my commute to and from work.

Book C is my treat book. My "you-can-only-read-this-at-night-before-bed-so-you-aren't-thinking-about-work" book. And it will take me forever to read it because it is Freedom by Jonathan Franzen and is super long. But I'm reading it on my Kindle so that's OK.

Book D is a lark. It is an easy manuscript that is really more pictures than words and I flip through it while I watch TV. Shhh don't tell!

I do feel like 4 books is a bit excessive. I'm sure I'll dial it back but for now it is fun to think about. I told my friend's ten-year-old who I've recently started exchanging e-mails with (aww!) that reading books has become my homework.

Yeah, that's fun. I can live with that.

sweet dreams boy

I should be sleeping but I just got home and I'm one of those people who can't just fall into bed. I have to veg out and relax before I can even think about falling asleep.

Work is going to be rough tomorrow.

So as I wait for Mr. Sandman, I thought I'd share a pic of my boy:

It's old-ish. Taken during my visit "home" almost two years ago, I think. I miss him.

my winter weekend was. . .

. . . relaxed. I spent Friday night in with Fashion Police (It's kind of funny. I'd never seen it before.), the new Newbery Award winner, and a good burger.

. . .mismatched. I wore a white sock and a brown and yellow striped one on Friday. Saturday was a big laundry day!

. . .informative. I was in a documentary mood this weekend and I watched some great ones. 8 (Interesting and so heartbreaking. That's all I will say.), The Cove (incredibly heartbreaking), National Geographic: China's Lost Girls and National Geographic: Stress, Portrait of a Killer (both were really intriguing and informative).

. . .international. I baked in Italian at my friend's house for her housewarming party. We used her Italian cookbook (which she translated for me) to make yummy cake with Bavarian creme and delicious cookies.

. . .friendly. I met some lovely new people at said party and we chatted the night away.

. . .snowy. No, it didn't snow but I decided I needed an excuse to get my butt out of my jammies on Sunday so I grabbed my camera and boots and went for a walk. I hadn't really gotten any snow photos yet so I had fun for about 45 minutes at the park before I decided it was too cold and went home! (The featured photo is from my "photo shoot.")

. . .sharp and sexy. I went to dance class and loved, loved the combination. It was different from the funky and sassy stuff she normally does.

What was your weekend?

well hello there

I've tried to write this post about three times over this week. I just can't seem to get myself to string enough related sentences together, add a bit of flair so that it isn't completely mind numbing, and hit "publish post" so here we go with another random list of things...

I love how coming home and watching The Office on Netflix instant view after a long day at work puts me in my happy place. I have been going through all the seasons since before the holidays and am now on Season 6. Oh Jim. Why must you toy with my emotions? You know I love you.

My weekend was crazy. In a good way. I had four babysitting jobs. That's a total of seven children: five boys and two girls, four infants and three preschoolers, one set of twins. I cannot tell you how thrilled I was to be able to leave on Sunday after a full day of childminding to meet a friend who I hadn't seen in several weeks for Mexican food and margaritas.

I also spent Friday night watching Blue Valentine with a few girl friends and then discussing Blue Valentine with said girl friends at a swanky hotel bar (for which I was completely underdressed - hooray for casual day!) over a glass of wine. I really thought it was a good movie folks. Full of angst and emotional torture and the stuff that post-cinema depression is made of. Plus Ryan Gossling is just awesome in so many ways.

Saturday night I was supposed to go to a stranger's birthday party (A friend invited me. The girl is her old co-worker.) but I decided it was too cold, I was too tired, and my bed was too inviting. So instead I grabbed a slice at the cafe next door, watched 3/4 of the Miss America pageant on TV and then popped The Town into the DVD player. More cinematic hotness ensued.

Tomorrow is Friday! I am childminding once again. My credit cards are thanking me and I'm craving the solitude with a side of Showtime TV that such nights produce. Saturday's a housewarming party. January has flown by. And I'm all smiles. Mostly.

Hope you are all well!

M

miscellaneous monday - thursday edition

1. I love when a low key week turns busy. I'm kind of one of those people that thrives on keeping busy. Don't get me wrong, I love me some good vegging but I enjoy it so much more when it comes after several busy days.

2. This has been one of those weeks.

3. Tonight I had drinks with an old co-worker. It was unexpected as she called me this morning saying she was going to be in my hood. I was so excited. I miss her. We chatted about what has changed and what has remained the same since I left my old job. Such a wonderful night!

4. Earlier this week I had another great drinks date with fellow bloggers, MCW and Little Match Girl. I'd met up with MCW a couple of times before but this was the first time I'd met LMG (Both are super sweet!) and we had a lovely time over wine, garlicky apps and interesting conversation. Thanks girls!

5. TG tomorrow is F! And the upcoming weekend is long. The snow from Tuesday night's blizzard will probably start melting on Sunday but I hope to go to Central Park at some point to revel in all the white. So magical!

6. One of my goals for the upcoming months (I won't use the "r" word - resolution) is to be better about cooking and thus, eating well. Earlier this year I got lazy, stressed, and so much else and it became easier to just eat crap. And eat it out. I've been bringing my lunches to work and "cooking" at night. If anyone has any good and easy recipes for things that would make good lunches/dinners, please pass them my way. Particularly yummy things with chicken because chicken is easy! I frequently substitute ground turkey in things and eat a lot of salads (especially at work) but I'd like to mix it up. So send some stuff my way!

Happy Friday everyone!

and the mail goes to...

I've lived in this apartment for over two years. During that time, I've had two people move out and two new people move in. There are four bedrooms. This apartment has seen girls coming and going continuously for the last eight years. You do the math.

That means a LOT of mail for people who don't live here.

Some people have tapered off but there are a couple of people who we regularly get mail for. I rarely get fun mail. It is usually credit card offers, TimeOut or New York Magazine (OK, that's kind of fun...) or bills. Blech.

Today we got something that was misdelivered. It wasn't for Jane Moved-in-With-Her-Boyfriend or Sally Moved-Back-Home. It was for someone entirely different. It rarely happens but it does happen. As I was unpacking myself from the long day and sifting through the mail I came across said envelope, from the Screen Actor's Guild. I didn't think anything of it until I realized it contained a DVD. Since it is coming upon award season, I got excited!

A couple of years ago I was babysitting at the home of a family who had connections to SAG. They had all the award contenders on nice little discs for me to pass the long hours with as their three year old slept. That night, I was in cinematic heaven, smiling at my own fortune as I watched Across the Universe and The Reader.

It's the little things, folks.

Anyway, coming back to present day, I held this fortunate find up to the light and saw through the white paper easily. I had, in my little hands, The King's Speech.

Now I realize it is a federal offense to open someone else's mail but I really want to see this movie. I grabbed my dirty laundry, pondered the ethics of it all during the spin cycle, and later on this evening I circled the street number, wrote "wrong address" and put it up by the mailboxes for the postperson to see.

Sometimes being a good person is really, really hard.

an update of sorts

I realized this morning that I have yet to blog this year. I guess I haven't had much to say. My New Year's was low-key and nice. I hung out with the family in So. Cal. On NYE my parents and I cooked a fairly involved dinner and then the entire fam watched Inception and completely missed midnight.

I got back to NYC earlier this week feeling lighter and ready to take on 2011. Work is going well. I do not care about dating right now. And in a couple of weekends I'm going to repeat this idea I had last year. One weekend, just me -- no set plans, no seeking company.

I'm my own company.

They say snow is coming.

I am ready.