My Favorite Things: Tuesday Night Trivia

Some people work for the weekend. They tick off the days and minutes until its five o'clock on a Friday and the real fun can begin. Not for me. I prefer to have boring weekends and busy weeks. I'm a complex being what can I say?

In the past few months Tuesdays have quickly become one of my most anticiapated days because with the dawn of every Tuesday brings the possibility of victory. It's Tuesday Night Trivia my friends, and it can get intense.

I never like to feel stupid, it's not a fun feeling, however when you have a few beers in ya, and perhaps a nice batter filled plate of fish and chips, the sting is less painful. And sometimes I even leave feeling a little more intelligent than when I walked in, because not only do I gain knowledge when I don't know an answer but I surprise myself when I get an answer right.

For example: In figure skating how many rotations are there in a double axle?


Easy! Two and a half. Bam! Correct! Don't ask me how I know that...

While trivia can be a singular sport, its best played in teams and its a great way to spend an evening with friends. A team of regulars among my friends has developed and it's so much fun to catch up on the previous weeks events while exercising our minds at the same time.

It's a growing trend I hear and I highly recommend you jump on the Trivia Train. Do a little googling of some bars near you and I am certain you can find a place and time that fits your schedule. Invite some pals along and you have a regular weekly tradition in the making.

And may I say...Cheers to that!

Simple Pleasures: Wine Nights

Several years ago I was in a play. A really bad play. A play that was so bad it had to close early and made several "worst of theatre" lists in Chicago. However out of extreem badness total awesomeness can arise and it was from this diabolical production that I made two of my dearest friends today. Coincidentally they both share the same name and I dub them "My Sara(h)'s". Becoming friends with them made the utter embarrassment of that show totally worth it.

The summer of 2006 (which was the summer of the bad play) we began getting together for what we termed "wine nights". It was chance to go to someones home, drink wine (of course) eat some snacks and generally gab and be girlie. We made a point to have a wine night every couple of months and after a time they have become a pretty regular monthly tradition. It's amazing to think that its been over four years since the tradition began! In this time a baby has been born, a marriage has taken place, someone has moved to New York (and back again) while another cohabited with their significant other, jobs have been lost and gained and soon one of us will be off to grad school. Times may change, but the beauty of a wine night never does.

Sometimes are wine nights are centered around a theme, we have made vision boards, we have had veggie (from our CSA!) nights, we have gone to a BYOB restaurants, the possibilities are endless. It's not a novel concept, it's pretty simple really, but it's a tradition I cherish so deeply. And while I know that life's evolutions will make it challenging to keep these nights regular,  even if they have to stop I will always have the memory of them, and for that I am so grateful.

I deeply encourage people to create such nights with their friends. Life gets so busy sometimes and its so easy to let the days fly by without really connecting with anyone. Text messaging, facebook wall posting and tweeting have replaced real human interaction and have tricked us into thinking we are connected. We are not. We are informed, but we are not connected. There is a difference. I just came home from a wine night and during the entire evening not one of us checked our phones, or our email, or our facebook once. We didn't need too. We were totally contant and enjoying one another's company. It's the simple stuff, the free stuff, the no iphone app is as good as a true friend who listens stuff. I am blessed to have friends who are so willing and open to be so present.

So my Sara(h)'s: I raise a glass to you. For our friendship, now and always.

War Torn Umbrellas

Mother Nature has declared war on New york, and her chosen weapon of mass destruction: rain.  Massive amounts of rain.  She can be so cruel sometimes, and after a few days with winks of spring weather, she pulled out all the stops in the forms of fat, cold, dense raindrops coupled with gusts of wind that rival the winds of Chicago. Those winds I was more than happy to leave behind yet they seem to have journeyed East. You see the terror on everyones face as they walk through the doors from the outside: the pink cheeks, hair plastered to the sides of their faces, droplets falling from their earlobes.  Everyone wearing the same expression of disbelief mixed with frustration. Being wet and cold is no fun. No fun at all.

Then there are the carnage lined streets.  I wasn't prepared for such a sight but everywhere you turn you see the remnants of a life cut short. A life that was meant to travel miles, to serve and protect.

It was on my walk home when I chose to capture the final moments of this young ones life. I have no idea where it had been or to whom it belonged but I swear it whispered to me "please tell the plastic polka dotted angel, with her faux-wooden handle, who I met in the coat check of The Oak Room...I never forgot about her..." 


How the mighty have fallen.

My poor umbrella also saw it's demise all too soon. It was on the way to work this morning and she just didn't have the strength against the wind, not even even her darling multi-colored poly-fiber fabric could save her.

It was a rough day.  I had plans to meet up with two dear Chicago friends, their names are Jess and Cassie, but was secretly hoping we would all decide to flake out on one another in an attempt to stay off the violent streets. However none of us wanted to be "the one who flaked", so despite the danger we convened in midtown for some inexpensive thai food.  I had to seek shelter at one point while on 45th street for fear of becoming MIA.

(I wish I had a fancy camera that could capture rain falling....)

Thankfully we all made it, despite Cassie's train being shut down halfway through her commute, and we managed to ignore the events outside and focus our attention on being three ladies living it up in New York City.  It's hard to believe that I met them almost five years ago, when were all performing in a production of The Wild Party.  We had all recently graduated and danced and sang our tails off in a tiny Chicago storefront, with no air conditioning, in the middle of August.  Oh the days of being young, sweaty and performing in your underwear (I didn't let my parents see that one).  I am so glad we are still friends.  We gabbed about Chicago, New York, theatre, the brilliance of Sex and the City, being in our late twenties, high school reunions*, and many other topics.  It was incredibly lovely and worth fighting for.  Plus we were able to pay only $15 for a prix-fix dinner menu of chicken coconut soup, thai salad, veggie spring roles, chicken pad-thai and coconut ice cream! I didn't even touch my pad-thai, I boxed it up and plan on savoring it tomorrow during my lunch break.  Victory is mine!

Go to Yum-Yum Bangkok on 9th avenue. Go now. But be kind and leave your umbrella at home.

Also, while waiting for the train I caught site of this colorful fellow:

His sign read: Let us not forget that in this great big beautiful world that there are only two things that are really worth living for and they are love and happiness. Spread Joy. 

You hear that Mother Nature? Make Love. Not War.

*I had a mild panic attack while at work the other day when I thought my 10 year high school reunion was approaching this fall.  However I was comforted to know I was a year off, which means I have until the fall of 2011 to become wildly famous and successful.  I will get right on that.

Things that make me feel like a New Yorker...

Meeting up with your friend for a "power catch up" at Grand Central Station, drinking tea and eating an almond biscotti.

Very New York if you ask me.