Why I Need a Muzzle: Take 1,462,397 ...

This week I'm attending the Advertising Research Foundation conference for work.

Topics include: Strategic Inflection, Brand Engagement, and Research Transformation (insert yawn here) but since I'm a nerd, I admittedly dig these sessions.

Yesterday Dr. Drew Westen (Founder of Thinkscan.com) gave a Keynote address and asked the audience of roughly 1,000 people to play a quick mind game ...

He asked us all to memorize 6 words:

Ocean
Moon
Wall
Sign
Window
Mirror

He then asked us at once to shout out the name of the first
laundry detergent that came to mind ...

I shit you not, the entire room yelled, "Tide!"
While my non-domestic ass blurted, "Snuggle!"
(insert hot face here)

Dr. Westen then said, "Ok, I believe I heard 999 say Tide and
1 Snuggle, which is a fabric softner ..."
(insert roaring laughter here)

I wanted to crawl under the table ...
Seriously, someone please shoot me!

I Realize That My Life Is Not Normal ...

and neither are my friends ;)

HAPPY FRIDAY FRIENDS :)

Yelp!

It's official ...
I'm a "Yelper"

Here's my first ever non-blog-related review
of a place I consider a home-away-from-home

Although I'm admittedly a:
blogger (obvi)
slash internet start-up employee
slash YouTube junkie
slash Hulu addict
slash email enthusiast
slash wannabe web geek
slash (insert http://______ lingo here)

I never really thought I'd venture to be a Yelper ...

But I'm all about paying-it-forward
and sharing the good things in life :)

So here's a little bit about a place
that's meant a lot to me here in ZYC ...
Enjoy!

Donnybrook

OMG...Chills! Oct 16th Can't Come Soon Enough!

Random ...

Today I was walking down Clinton Street
and my eye caught the following graffiti:


My initial reaction was,
Sarah Palin?

Whhaaaaaaaaaa?

Then I looked closer to read,
"Parah Salin"

And cracked up thinking,
Weeeeeeee :)

Hahahahaha

Jack: 100% Chihuahua ... 0% Work Horse ;)

Jaaaaaaaaaaaackpot!

My friends Lad & Lesley got a puppy :)

Meet Jackpot
("Jack" for short)

One perk to a home office is that
Jack and I can hangout in the mid-afternoon
while his moms are at work :)

Yesterday I left them a Report Card for the little rascal:

Cuteness A++
Snuggleness A+
Pee Pad Training B
(one hit, one miss)
Eating C-
(not so interested, would rather play)
Overall A+

On my way home I couldn't help but to think
"Man, I wish someone would give me a C- in eating"

Hahahaha

Happy No Longer Monday Peeps!!

One of the Coolest Initiatives I've Ever Seen :)

Check out the "Stand by Me" video on
Playing For Change

Wow!

Spring Cleaning ...

Like many Americans,
I have an ass-ton of t-shirts

However,
there are some that no matter how many
Spring-Closet-Cleaning-Sessions I conduct,
I simply cannot bring myself to part with.

Here are my favs that made it through (yet another) year :)

Why Does This Tempt Me?!?!?

Michigan Wins!

... aaaand clearly my fashion sense does not ;)

Me likey March Madness :)

Confession:

Being the complete clumsy ass that I am,
last night I spilled a full glass of water over my gas stove top :(
(Insert every swear word know to man right here)

Having no clue how to ameliorate the situation,
I googled that shit immediately ...

Turns out millions of other klutzes like me exist,
so many that there was an entire website devoted to it!

Unfortunately, 99.9% of the webchat posts were from parents infuriated with their spill-happy small children ...
but whose judging, right?? ;)

God I'm an idiot!

Foot In Mouth (...Yet Again)

Today at yoga the instructor started class (per usual)
by asking if anyone had any sort of injuries she should be aware of

I wanted to raise my hand and say,
"Ummmm, yes.
It's March 18th ...
I'm wildly hungover"

But have no fear,
I refrained ;)

So the woman to my right raises her hand and says,
"Yes, I'm 3 months pregnant"

To which I started hysterically laughing and jokingly said,
"Yep, I'd say that's quite an injury"

Then I looked at her and realized that
even with a melon ball in her belly
she had a better bod that I could ever dream to attain
and so I immediately stopped laughing :(

Looks like the joke was on me ...
Shocking

HAPPY ST. PADDY'S DAY PEEPS!! :)

Reason # 1,258,397 why I miss Chicago dearly ...



Hahahahaha
I think my friends are by far the funniest humans in the world

Cheers to green beers!

Hope you have a fantastic St. Patrick's Day :)

Bottoms up!

NYC Pocketbook Dictionary ... 1st Edition ;)

It's somehow mid-March ...
What/why/where/when/how?

Having spent the last 2.5 months on speed
(figuratively speaking)
I spent this past weekend in pseudo-detox
(literally speaking)

For 48 full hours I made a concerted effort
to drink less, talk less, and think less
(ok, maybe not so much the latter of the 3)

But for once in my life,
I attempted to shut my mouth and open my ears;
and this is what my sober-session officially confirmed:

Be it good, bad or indifferent,
I'd argue that there are words more
commonly/overly/acceptably used
on this crazy "little" island than in any other city ...

Here's the short list for your "reading pleasure" ;)

• Rent
• Rent controlled
• Overpriced
• "Starving artist"
  
• Stress
• Hedge fund
• Bloomberg
• "The Journal"
• Bodega
• Duane Reade
• Jewish Deli
• Tofu
• Take-out /Delivery
• Dry Cleaning
  
• Taxi / Cab
  
• Meat Packing District
• "The List"
• Non-committal
• Gay
• High fashion
• Heidi Klum
  
• Cocaine
• Sex
• 5am
  

Confession:
Making this list made me miss the days of
Pee-Wee Herman's Playhouse ...
I used to pretty much eeeek myself
when someone said the secret word of the day!

Hahahaha :)

"Beauty Bar"

HAPPY FRIDAY FRIENDS!
Hope you have a wonderful weekend :)

Nick Howard & Rachel Platten

If you haven't done so already,

be sure to check out Nick Howard
and Rachel Platten too!

It goes without saying,
they lit up the stage at the Highline Ballroom on Thursday night :)

Wooooohooooo
Way to go Nick!!
You NEVER cease to amaze us all :)

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SEEESTER!!

Jame-Jame
Jamie Cakes
Jamers
Teetee Tata
Teeeeets!

Happy Birthday to the best sister a girl could ever ask for :)

Wish I could be there to celebrate with you tonight :(

Love you lots and loads!

Xoxoxo

Hmmmmmm ....

While waiting for the Downtown A/C/E line tonight
(aka "the Blue train" ... in Chicago we just use colors)
I spotted this:


Just in case you're not getting this "Where's Waldo" moment,
allow me to clarify with this pic:


Hmmmmm ...

QUESTION:
How does one lug his/her piano down to the subway?

COMMENT:
Do you think he ever wishes his mom
wouldda just put him in like harmonica lessons?
I do

STATEMENT:
Had I not been on the opposite side of the tracks,
I ab.so.lute.ly would have given this dude my monies.
Hell, I would have given him my number for Christ sake ;)

Kudos to you Mr. Piano Man!

Thanks for making my day :)

Why I Love Weddings

A co-worker jokingly said to me,
"Ya know, you are allowed to say 'no' to a wedding once in a while"

To which I replied,
"Whhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?"

I wanted to say to him,
"Are you speaking English? Who says that?!"

Better yet,
who would ever want to miss a wedding!!???

Truly,
to be asked to share in the best day of your friends' lives
is an absolute honor

******

Which leads me to blab and brag about Rori & Mike …
and their utterly awesome ceremony this past weekend :)


Ror –
It goes without saying that you were a breathtaking bride!
But even more so, you are just a breathtaking human being!


I must say that you mingling at our table
(while nonchalantly eating an egg roll with chop-sticks)
and ever-so-cooly catching up with everyone
is most definitely a memory I'll forever hold on to :)

You're so comfortable with yourself
that you make everyone else around you feel at ease.
Your caring demeanor is contagious
and your laugh is infectious :)

I'm SO happy for you and Mike
and can't say thanks enough for such a wonderful night!

Xoxoxo

*******

Many have asked why it is that I love weddings so much,
so here's my best answer:

Aside from the open bar (hahahah, kidding, kinda ;)
I love weddings because ...

There is no greater feeling
than seeing your friends on Cloud 9 :)

I love weddings because
they are an expression of the couple,
and therefore each unique and lovely in their own regard.
They bring so many great people together
and I find them virtually impossible to not have a good time at!

But most of all,
I love 'em because with every wedding
you know that someone you care about
has found their partner-in-crime
and that they're "all set" now

Who could ask for anything more?!

:)

"Tow Me Home, Country Roads" ... Hahaha

Happy Friday Friends :)

"Guacomolies" :)

Today my Dad said to me,
"I bought a bag of guacamolies at the store, they were on sale!"

And I slightly tilted my head like a confused puppy ...
Hmmmmmm

I said,
"You mean, you bought a bin of guacamole?
Or you bought a bag of avocados?"

To which he said,
"Ya, exactly. I bought a bag of guacamolies"

Hahahaha

LOVE it!

As of today, I may never use the word "avocados" ever again

"Guacomolies" is soo way more fun :)

But I must say,
the word "avocado" is a great use of the letter "V"
(soooooo under utilized!)

Reprise

If you also share a dorky love for independent films
(and have the patience for Norwegian subtitles)
I rented "Reprise" last night and
absolutely ate it up!


If you're ever looking for a good movie review,
I must refer you to the blog of the one and only
Mr. Skiperoooooooo Gundrum!
a.k.a Cody's Dad

Be sure to check out
"Skip's Picks"
and go bananas :)

Happy Birthday Alyssa!

HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!!

Love You :)

Hello World ... Meet Lesley Roy :)

Lesley is not just one of the nicest/coolest peeps
that I've had the pleasure to meet in NYC,
she's also absurdly talented!

I thought it was awesome when she told us
that she was picked to tour with David Archuleta
(insert screaming teenage girls here)
but holy wow, it was a whole other kind of awesome
to see her up on stage before him
(insert chills of proud friend here)


Check her music out at
http://www.lesleyroymusic.com/

You will not be left disappointed :)





Confession:
I love me some David Archuleta!