Made my week!

Dear Harper Marie,

You are SO SO beautiful!! Could you be ANY cuter?!?

I'm so thrilled to see that your adorable littleness has grown into my mini token of affection. NYC loves YOU too and I cannot wait to hug you in your little hipster-T in person!!!

Xxxxx to the oh-so-many O's,

Your wanna-be Aunt Stacey Marie :)

Because the Prop8 vote was totally shit ...

Because the Proposition 8 vote was complete and udder crap,
the NOH8 campaign was created as a photographic silent protest
by celebrity photographer Adam Bouska.

Don't get me wrong,
I became a fan of this movement immediately
however, after almost a year now of D-list celebs
and Joe-the-Plumber tag-alongs,
it feels like the message of actually supporting
EQUALITY,
has become second hand.

As one columnist perfectly coined it,
"glamour shots meet drive-thru activism."

So in the spirit of satire and silliness,
Steven Paul, my friend, photographer and mastermind,
came up with the brainchild of a new campaign;
clearly not to hate on the NOH8ers,
but rather to have a laugh at the bandwagon.

Check it out ...
this shit's funny :)

DEFEC8.com

PS BTW,
to all those who posted inquiring,
we used chocolate brownie mix
Obvi!

Why does this make me laugh?!

Get excited people ... the Central Park Conservatory will be open super soon to sail toy boats again!! Yesssssssssss

Thoughts on the Letter "X"

It's simply not used enough!

And when it is,

the poor guy comes with such a negative connotation :(

I mean,

just the word "ex"

is impossible to say without getting the willies ...

So this week I'm making a concerted effort to use the letter X in only the best ways possible. Here are a few for x-ample:

Exxxxxcitement!!

Expialidoshus :)

Xoxoxo

I'll have a Guinness -- nope, never mind!
Make that a DosEquis please ;)

Sprizzing On the Horizon!

I'm seeing signs of Spring everywhere lately :)

In Central Park ...

Out my window ...

Even inside my apartment :)

Confession: Although no Martha Stuart, I'm completely a sucker for the new Better Homes & Gardens line!

So that would make me a "sink"?!?

It was SO nice to spend the week with my nutty co-workers at the ARF Conference. (Being on the opposite Coast from both our offices can often times get lonely.) So I truly enjoy every second of their company when we get together in NYC!

The other night I was hanging out with the fabulous Baillie & Heather (ya know, just solving all the world's problems over a couple Coronas ;) and the topic of babies came up.
Baillie and her hubby have been married almost two years now and she said, "I'm not in a rush for babes. Right now we're both kinda loving the 'D.I.N.K' phase."

My eyes lit up as I LOVE learning new terms!
Clearly my silence and deer-in-head-lights gaze
lead her to immediately inform me of what this stood for ...

"You know, 'Dual Income No Kids' "

Brilliant!

But then I thought to myself,

"Hmmm, so that would make me a 'S.I.N.K' ?"

Yet another glimpse into my seemingly bleak life path ;)

Hahahaha

MA! The Meatloaf! F#@%!!

Look out world!

We're back for Season Six of Dodgeball ...

this time with official team T's :)

Oh me oh my oh me!!!!!! Eeeeek :)

I'm at the ARF Conference this week

so I'm totally behind in announcing to the world

(aka: you lovely humans kind enough to read my blozzoggle)

that MY BROTHER PROPOSED over the weekend aaaaaaand,

SHE SAID YESSSS!!!

Yahoooooooooooooooo

A new sister coming 2011 :)

There are no words to express how

happy I am for these two lovebirds!!

More on the deets and funnies of my families reactions

when I can catch a break in the work action ...

Stay tuned!

Proud Friend = Me!

My friends never cease to ah!maze me with their talents :)

Please be sure to check out Raymond & Agnes

for the hottest new hair fashions

made by the hottest Hall in town ...

Melissa Hall that is!!

Congraaats "Cuz" ;)

Super crazy proud of you and all your hard work!

HAPPY FRIDAY :)

"Gooodbye my loooooooooove!!"

Christa is coming to pick up Mikey this wknd,

so I'd like to dedicate this post to my friend-with-shell...

Dear "Monkey Man",

You were the best co-worker I ever could've asked for!
I'll miss your gutz and will think of you often :(
I wish you all the very bestest and hope that each day from here on out, feels a little something like this:

X to the O's,

Stace :)

HAPPY ST. PATTY'S DAY!!!

Unlike my younger years, here's something I will most definitely not be found doing today ;)

ATO Frat House, University of Michigan

CHEERS & GREEN BEERS TO ALL!!

"Griswold Adventures" Take 1,457,036 ;)

For the first time in 2 years,

my parents came to visit!

Note: my mom has come countless times prior
(I fear she'd move in with me if even jokingly invited)
However, my dad does not-so-much share our same love
for Zoo York (understatement of the year).

So needless to say, I was a little worried about the 56 hour adventure we would spend together but I'm THRILLED to report that the wknd was a complete success :)

Ya see, I learned early on that it's fairly easy to win a Midwesterner's heart ... the "trick" consists of good food and booze. We're a simple breed really, and being from the snow-belt we're used to totally crap weather (so the fact that it rained the whole time was only par for the course ;)

(this is the only picture I took all wknd, woops!)

I can't exactly pin-point what won him over ...

Could have been the yummy places we ate:

Clinton Street Baking Company

The Meatball Shop

Donnybrook

Lombardi's Pizza

Freeman's

Katz's Deli

Stuffed Cannoli

Or the fun places we drank:

Blue Seats

Prohibition

Hmm, did I mention Donnybrook?! ;)

Maybe it was the neat things we did

or the great shows we went to see:

The Tenement Museum

The Statue of Liberty

Avatar in 3D

Rachel Platten

Billy Elliot on Broadway!

But all that aside, I think most of all, it's exciting for parents just to see that their child is happy. And in turn, as a "child", it's exciting to share your life with the ones responsible for it :)

Momsta & Papo,

Thank you SO much for such a wonderful weekend! I truly appreciate everything you do for me and miss you already.

Love,

Me

Happy birthday to my seeeeester!!!

Jamers, Jamie Cakes, Jamanthamum, Teeteetata ...

To my one and only sister :)

I hope you have the most wonderful day/night/wknd celebrating because if anyone deserves it, it's YOU!!
Wish I could be there to ring it in together.
Love and miss you lots and loads!!

"Gotta go, my mom's coming, gotta go"

I Like To Find These ...

because I believe expression is important

Googley Eye Gone Bad ;)

A Taste of Spring :)

And the Oscar goes toooo ....

11 out of 24 isn't too bad ;)

I'm just so happy Sandra Bullock won :)

Abs, thank you for having us all over to watch!

(I promise next year I'll bring a wig)

Happy Birthday Alyssa!

To my roomie, bestie, and better half ...

It's really not a shock to me that your birthday wknd was smiled on by the sun :) You light up every room you enter and brighten any situation to which you're involved. I'm oh-so thankful for the 10 years I've known you, and am entirely grateful for the future ahead! You're genuinely one in a million and I don't know where I'd be in this is crazy ass city (or life in general) without you.

Happy birthday babe!

X to the O's :)

Ahhhhhhhhh!

As if this 50 degree weather wasn't enough of a gift,

I just came in from walking the Derbster only to find

a little somethin-somethin in my mailbox :)

Regs, I cannot say THANKS enough ...

for I've officially said gooodbyeee to my Mon-keys:

and hellllllooooooooo to my new GNOME-KEYS!!

You're truly the best G.I.T a girl could ever ask for :)

Thank you thank you thank you!!

WOW!

Suuuper proud friend = me

My buddy Nick Howard has officially started his first tour!!

To check out his music and adventures, click here :)

Thoughts on "Small Victories"

Lately I've been joking a lot that I have a serious case of seasonal depression disorder ... I mean between the snow, the rain, more snow, some more rain, and the legit fact that my skin tone is a lovely shade of transparent, I'll be the first to admit that I've been a little under the weather as of recent.

But last night I finally got to catch up with two of my besties that I literally haven't connected with since Christmas (eeek, how is it March?!). Kate now lives in Denver and I loved every minute of hearing updates about her life there :) And Tyndie's in Chicago so I always love catching up on that front! Sometimes it feels like we're all going a million-miles-an-hour in a thousand different directions but there's no excuse that I let two months go by without as much as an email to check-in :( So needless to say, I was really happy to have gotten to connect ... It felt like a small victory of sorts :)

So, me being me, I made a list of other "small victories" to help get outta this Winter slump. And although there's not much I can do about this Casper-the-friendly-ghost glow I've got goin' on, I do feel good about the following:

• A friend wrote me to say that my blog helped inspire him to start one too :) I thought that was super cool
• My credit card is paid off ... I have zero savings, but no credit debt! Yahooooooo
• Peanut Labs reached all sales goals for February. My team personally did not, but we're a small part of the greater whole and contributed nonetheless. Small victory indeed :)
• Ma! the Meatloaf lost (miserably) in the Dodgeball playoffs. But, allow me to repeat, we made it to the playoffs! Such a great season guys -- can't wait for the next :)
• "M" told me that her test grades are up ... I think her potential is limitless!
• Mikey seems happy. I know I don't speak turtle, but he really seems happy :) And, after two months of me watching him, he's still alive which is a victory for certain ;)
• Last week my Grandma told me that I sounded happy and that she's proud of me ... made me smile :)

So those are my tiny-triumphs as of recent. Just thought I'd share so that you can think of yours too!

Meet my new bestie ...

I'm dog sitting this week for Derby :)

Ummmm,

could my new "co-worker" be ANY cuter?!?

I think not!

So Flippin Brilliant!

Life: One, Stacey: Zero

Tonight I had my weekly tutoring session with "M" and we decided to focus solely on her Spanish homework since it's hard to get one-on-one time in language class. Although we both take things seriously (for the most part), this exchange was "un poco chistoso" (translation: kinda funny) so I thought I'd share:

Me: Ok so you might think this is uber lame but this lil' ditty used to help me ... the saying goes, "How you feel and where you are, is when you use the verb Estar." Make sense?

M: (insert the quintessential teenage blank stare here)

Me: Allllrighty, was just a thought ... ok let's work on putting a couple sentences together using today's vocab words. Give it a go!

M then proceeded to write the following:

- Nosotros estamos nerviosos para escuela

Translation: We are nervous for school

- Ustedes estan contentos con trabaja

Translation: They are happy with work

- Stacey es una cocina

Translation: Stacey is a kitchen

Me: Wo, wo, wo "M" you're killin' me!! Last week you tell me I'm old and this week I'm a house?? Throw me a bone here woman!! Stacey is in the kitchen. Stacey esta en la cocina.
Small but crucial words missing from that last one ...

M: Hahahahaha

Unfortunately I fear she was laughing at me and not so much with me, but we sure had a good laugh :)

Made me giggle :)

Damaris's Show: "The Nest"

WOW, yet another totally incredible performance ...

Damaris, you seize to ah!maze us all :)

If you haven't had a chance to check out

Damaris Drummond's work,

I would definitely take a sec to do so!

Although a biased and a proud friend,

I think her talent is beyond inspiring :)

Here are my pix from the Brucennial "Miseducation" exhibition:

Kudos to each of the 420 artists involved!

Damaris Show The Nest

I Heart Future Rock!

I went with my buddy Luke and his friends to the Bowery Ballroom Saturday night to catch Future Rock. I hadn't heard of them before but hot damn, they put on one helluva show!! If you ever have a chance to check 'em out in concert, I would highly recommend :)

Future Rock