Rosie Had A Really Fun Birthday This Year

Chris and I hosted a birthday party for our favorite person, Rosanne.  We got a cows worth of cheese and meat and had a big old bash.  This is Chris pridefully readying our house for guests.  What a guy!

Liz made super clever pins of old pictures of Rosies rave days.  All the pin backs eventually fell off, but we kept the pics and put them on our fridge, so now we have a fridge shrine dedicated to Rave Rosie.

Another one of my amazing, super talented friends, Eleanor, made this red wine, head-explosion delicious cake (we added the macaroons):

We tried to play Celebrity but everyone started screaming all at once, so that ended quickly.  Really what we did best that night was sit at our kitchen table and drink whiskey:

Sunny took a lot of super flattering pictures of everyone but me.  Is it me or does the camera add 500 pounds?

Sunny takes amazing pictures by the way.  Check her out here.

Its funny, something I learning about the difference between being in your twenties and adulthood is directly related to dinner parties.  When you are in your twenties and all of your guests bring a bottle of whiskey, you drink it all.  Every last drop like its your last day on earth and then you call in sick to work the next day.  But when youre an adult, you drink it casually, in moderation and then put the rest away in the liquor cabinet that only gets opened on holidays and other special occasions.  Im ready for adulthood.

Doesnt this seem like a low key night of soft light and cheerful banter?  It wasnt.  Things definitely got weird:

Love you guys!

Fantasy Land

LAOS.  Who made this place?!?! Aliens?

Sandy....

Arecaceae

Palm Trees!  I don't really know where to begin!  The world loves them!  I just got my film back from St. Lucia and literally, every picture I took there was of palm trees.  Imagine if our streets and parks were lined with palm trees instead of ratty New York generic trees. Margaritas and Mai Tais every day!

Remember That Workout Show In Gowanus?

High and tight!!!

Bridges Of China

This is Donghai Bridge which spans 20 miles.  Bridges of this type are called 'cross sea' bridges because they literally cross a sea!  Here's the real kicker - its not the world's longest bridge.  That would be the Hangzhou Bay Bridge which opened in 2008 (just a baby!) and is 22 miles long:

An interesting fact - the plans for this bridge were finalized in 2003 and it was completed in FIVE years.  It took China FIVE years to build the world's longest cross sea bridge and New York still hasn't managed to replace the World Trade Center.  Just sayin.

This is Sutong Bridge.  It spans the Yangzte River Delta and has really helped commuters apparently.  Its like China's George Washington Bridge!

Another beauty - the railroad bridge of Guizhou. 

The Ruyan Bridge which is the world's fourth largest suspension bridge and the second largest suspension bridge in China.  China is productive.  So productive it needs millions of huge, brilliantly designed and executed bridges to get 'er done.  Imagine if the Great Wall was a bridge!  Fantasy of the week: National Geographic sends me to China to cover their bridges!

I'm inspired and am going to do a mini version of this expedition.  This weekend I am going to Poughkeepsie to walk the world's longest footbridge (1 mi).  Yes! Its right in our backyard!  Train leaves at 10 on Saturday!

Your Love Is Like A Wheel

Monday Homesickness Puffiness

Repeat?

Governor's Island was a fail last weekend and with Beku in tow, I started to sweat being a bad hostess. So we hopped on the water taxi instead and I ran to the top deck to get us seats because, per this picture, the skies were immaculate. I secured a bench and waited for Jas, Emily and Becca to come up with our tickets, but as we pushed off from the dock, none of my fellow weekend warriors had joined me. Within seconds of eachother, texts rolled in from said missing peoples complaining that they weren't allowed on the upper deck because it was too full. As the boat ventured north up the East River, through the postcard-esque day, I snapped shots of the city solo and I thought about Alexander Supertramp's revelation as he lay dying in a school bus in Alaska: Happiness is only real when shared.

BUT THEN! The deck hand noticed I was all alone and came over to me and asked me, "are those your friends down stairs?" I pathetically began to answer, 'yesssss,' when he demanded I invite them up. I put in a call to Becca to deliver the good news and the deck hand snatched my phone from me and ordered Becca et. al upstairs stat. The afternoon had just been rescued!

See???? Look at this happy bunny!! Beku, I miss you!!

Missing Persons Report

If you find this baby, please return him to enids.

Ladies Weekend! Take Two!

En Route to the Club using the camera timer on the subway platform. Our gang invented signs.

This picture giving anyone else tattoo ideas?????

Confessing secret crushes...I also think Liz admitted to liking ham that night.

Honorary Lady, Alexa, steaming up the dance floor. She's such a bitch! She needs to WAX!!

Liz downloaded "Ladies Night" as her ring tone, thanks for footing that bill Liz's Dad!

Ladies compete to show-off their womanhood in the same way men compete to show off their manhood. Seeeeee?

No WAY! This picture EXISTS?!?!?

Charleston: Too Small To Be Its Own Country, Too Big To Be A Mental Institution

Charleston, South Carolina is really, really old. It kind of looks like a town from the North Shore of Boston that has been shipped to the South and painted turquoise. The burg is big on a number of things, to name a few: Eating, history and frogs. Seriously, there was a frog in every window. Tim's parents had no explanation.

Some facts for you to take home tonight: The Civil War started at Fort Sumter which is a man-made island in Charleston Harbor. The Union actually won the Battle of Fort Sumter, but we all know they lost the war. You know the feeling. Also, the first successful submarine attack in history went down in the same Harbor. The H.L. Hunley belonged to the Confederate - can you believe they even had a submarine back then?!?! I mean, wasn't that before things like sunblock and airplanes??? New biggest fear of all time: Submarines.


C-town is haunted and lots of former high school football stars make a living on giving "haunted tours" of the city. There was this one plaque outside a house that said if you came by at night, you could see the ghost of a white man shooting the ghost of an Indian in the third story window. This was a Unitarian cemetery and strangely, most of the people buried there were born and died in Gloucester, Ma (Perfect Storm). Tim's dad made some comment about the people being "ripe" by the time they got to Charleston and Tim's mom got mad at him and then apologized to me.


Along with the colonial charm was also the small town delight that comes with any hamlet that had a boom in the mid-1900's. On King's street there were several retro businesses and store fronts such as this theater. It felt like we were on the set of the movie My Girl but when we walked past the American Apparel that was so neon it was probably visable from outer space, that was all ruined.

Where I might retire?

Tim's parents lived on Kiawah Island, which is actually 45 minutes outside of Charleston and not an island. There were a lot of critters there including gators which were in abundance and proved to be the ultimate golf course obstacle. I went running one morning and what I thought was the biggest iguana I had ever seen was actually a gator out for some sun. Shiver. When I had to run past it I did the weirdest jog/walk where I tried to take really smooth strides (no sudden movements) while getting the hell out of there at the same time. Picture the grace of a speed skater in running shoes and two sports bras.


Look at this though?!?! You can't get these vistas in Nyc. Not even from some one's roof top BBQ in Brooklyn.


Oh yeah, and to add to all the mystic wonder, South Carolina's governor went missing while we were there. His wife wasn't concerned and mentioned he needed time off from the kids which is particularly un-southern on Father's Day weekend. Anyway, they found him hiking old Appalachia so the anarchy only lasted six days.