Happy Holidays from your Madison Ave Girls

Happy Holidays to you all! I wish for all of you to be smothered with love, good food, and lots of presents this holiday season!

xoxo,

asia and the apple

First Real Snow This Season

This weekend was maybe one of the better ones this year! I got a Christmas tree on Friday… and by got I mean dragged one home from Washington Heights in the middle of the night! It snowed all day Saturday and the city was just amazing in all the white flurries falling from the sky! And Sunday the day was bright and white all around! It was truly an amazing weekend and I swear God engineered it all for me and the sake of my happiness!

 

Phil's Birthday/ Indian Street Food/Robin Williams

Filipek's birthday was this week so to celebrate we went to a dinner and a show... the dinner was at the Biryani Street Cart (winner of the 2009 Vendi Awards) it was DELISH!!! then we went to town hall to see Robin Williams stand up show! HILARIOUS! there was some good toilet humor... one i enjoyed in particular was him descirbing his idea of a human poo powered car and how a bean burrito would get him from LA to Manhattan!

We finished off the night at EPSN Zone with drinks and using up the rest of the points on Phil's game card that he got a couple months ago... i realized that i truly suck at games... well air hockey and car racing i can still hold my own... the other stuff not so much.

Faaaaaaaaalafel

Totally forgot to mention that there was falafel involved this past weekend...
Set the effin catapult! Son of a Tit! You're a little asshole chucka! Slappin' the Bass! Those fish tacos are the tits! Big time! SUCK IT! Half a cup!

Thanksgiving Shit Show

Thanksgiving weekend was a total shit show! Started with the parade and ended up in a three way bitch slap fight! Good Times! Anna and I made ourselves a delish dinner, drank beer and watched movies, Agita got into town early Friday morning and we started off with a bang and kept going 100mph for the rest of the weekend. The whole weekend was a mix of quotes from "Land of the Lost" and "I Love You, Man" spiked peppermint mochas, bud light, jager, and cupcakes. Weekends/weeks when Agita comes to visit are always guaranteed fun and always end with a hangover. Can't wait for New Years 2010! And HUGE discovery of the weekend was: Anna can totally hang!! who woulda guessed...

its been a while...

...since my last post. sometime around the end of May work got crazy hectic as my project was nearing completion. May thru September was basically a sprint at the end of a two year marathon. Once that finish line was crossed and the Red Ribbon was cut (by a CEO and a senator of Jersey) i have been in recovery mode.


To make this short since my last entry here is a list of significant happenings in my life:


- My 25th Birthday

- My mother's 50th Birthday

- Labor Day weekend Szajda wedding

- Started new projects at Columbia University Medical Center

- Developed a crazy allergic reaction to my contact lenses

- Agita visited and we went to the Jay Z VMA afterparty

- Had an EXCELLENT review at work

- Met a nice boy...

- Celebrated 2 YEARS in NYC!

- Poconos for Kimmy's engagement party

- Gaby's wedding!

- Basita's Baby Shower!

- Told my boss about my traveling plans

- ... so called "nice boy" stopped calling...

- Agita ran IN the NY Marathon!

- Finally went to Boston!

- Started running in hopes to be able to run a half marathon in March! (thank you Agita for the inspiration and showing me that you can run marathons and still have a drinking fun social life!)

So all in all recovery has been pretty great! with exception to the whole "orange boy" situation but whatever... as usual i am sure I'll get over it.

The plan is to resurrect this blog... as well as create a new one that will focus mostly on world travel preparation.

Subway

There's a kid on the subway around 7 years old licking the pole and his dad isn't saying/doing anything about it! I just puked in my mouth a little!

Home Sweet Home

I wentto California for Mother's Day! I missed my flight to Long Beach, but after causing a scene at the jet blue counter got a free flight to Burbank the same day! Thank you Jet Blue!

it was so nice to see my Mommy and the rest of my family/friends! it was a pretty mellow weekend mostly spent in Huntington Beach which I must admit the weather there beats the weather anywhere else! It was so nice to walk around in shorts and a t-shirt and to sit in my back yard sipping on a minty drink while soaking in every ounce of sunshine!

Agita was in NY while I was in So Cal... leave it to us to be on opposite sides of the country at the same time! We have decided that she must come back soon and Puck Fair better prepare itself!

Five Boro Bike Tour (numero dos)

This year’s bike tour was completely different from last years! It was COLD, WET & MISERABLE! But all in all we managed to have a blast! Twelve of us Stantechies participated in the tour! We started off in great high spirits and ended up with chattering teeth and a high need for a warm shower! I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a hot shower more! Well… maybe that one time when I came home from ZLOT 2000 where I was allowed to shower twice in the two weeks I was there… but that’s a different story!

Half way through the race my brakes stopped working as I was going down a hill in Brooklyn that lead straight into a left hand turn! I just screamed as I was going down and was totally anticipating a complete wipe out… but being the crafty and fast thinker that I am I tried my best to run over as much pot holes as possible and to weave right and left to slow myself down. Once I got down the hill and around the turn safely (only pooping my pants twice) one of my coworkers helped me fix the brake and I was fine for the rest of the ride. The last 15 miles were the worst since the temperature dropped, the rain got heavier and the wind picked up! Then once we got to Staten Island 42 miles later we had to wait out in the cold for the ferry to take us back to the island. I have never been in a place with so many frozen bikers who actually paid to be there! It was a very adventurous yet terrifying experience but I would totally do it again next year!

Vegas Baby

What was originally planned as a girls weekend turned into an asia/archie weekend! I flew in to vegas at 11:30pm archie picked me up from the airport and we went straight to luxor for a night of bar/club hopping. Saturday we pool hopped and eventually ended up at carnival court with the crazy bartenders who balance 10 bottles of jager on their head while walking around the bar!

After a whole day of catching up and drinking we met up with archies friends at rain where the guest dj was paul oakenfoul (sp chk?) The music was awesome! And they had crazy trapeze dancers above the dance floor! We ended the night at ghost bar which overlooks all of vegas. I tried to dance off as much of the alcohol as possible and it seemed to work because now I am sitting poolside at the luxor and feel fantastic. A little dehydrated but feeling good!

Viva Las Vegas!

Coney Island

This past weekend was gorgeous and warm! Friday night was the season opener for Stantec softball in central park! I played 2nd base; I made a few great catches and some nice hits! On saturday I made plans with OG and a few coworkers to go on a bike ride to Coney Island! Sooo fun! We ate hot dogs and drank beer on the boardwalk... Didn't get to get on any of the rides but I will def have to go back and do so!

bye bye camera

While on a pleasant bike ride around Manhattan two weeks ago with a few of my co-workers I took amazing self-timer pictures of the group! It was a beautiful day, slightly windy but perfect riding weather! We stopped at the lighhouse underneath the George Washington Bridge and snapped a few more photos. Then we headed of to Inwood park where you can see the Bronx right across the river. As I reached into my backpack i realized that I have left my camera on one of the picnic tables by the lighthouse. We rode back as fast as possible but the camera already vanished... :( poop!

Bootcamp Update

I am halfway thru week 2 of bootcamp! The first week was KILLER! After day 3 I couldn't cough because my abs hurt so much and I walked with a limp. yup a limp. but after going to hot yoga over the weekend I feel much better and don't dread the 4:45am wake up as much.

The camp itself is really fun. Though I do curse god from time to time mid push up, after its all said and done with it's not that bad. We do a lot of running around to keep our heart rates up in between doing core exercises like push ups, planks, mountain climbers, sit ups, lunges, and squats.

The one thing I struggle the most in is push-ups... Being a waterpolo player/swimmer we never had to do push ups so I look like a complete idiot doing them!

First Signs of Spring

It seems like Spring is really taking its time to share it self with us! it wasn't until this past weekend in Pennsilvania Country that I saw first signs of spring's color: an iris flower poking through the dead of winter. And yesterday while walking home from work, yes its finally getting warm enough to walk around outside, I saw daffodils scattered through a small park! Spring in New York has got to be the most beautiful season! There are thousands of daffodils and tulips spilling out of flower pots along the street, coating fields in Central Park and patching the dead ground in little parks through out the city! Can't wait to sit outside a brunch spot, sip on a mimosa and take it all in!

Shinny New Bicycle

I bought a new bicylce yesterday! Its so pretty and I can't wait to ride it all summer long! Olga and I got a pretty sweet deal yesterday as we put our negotiating skills to the test... I get to pick up my new wheels on Saturday morning! I don't entirely know exactly where I will store my new bike but those are just details I can figure out later! Last year I participated in the 5 boro bike tour and I am all signed up to do it again this year, May 3rd! Also, in an effort to be more active a few of us from the office have decided to organize rides during the weekend. One plan is to ride out to Long Beach on a random Saturday and go to the beach! Probably would be wise to do so before it gets too hot...

St Patricks Recap

St. Patrick's Day this year was a success! nothing to crazy but just perfect for a Tuesday evening of drinking! Met up with OG and Oscar and Phil at Puck Fair after my meeting, searched for the hot Irish accented bartender i met there a month ago but no luck :(, then I met up with Szupinska and Habrat at an art gallery opening... Only in New York you can call a guy standing in the corner making shadow puppets in blinking red lights art! After getting out cultural fill for the day we went back to Puck Fair met up with more people and ended the night at the Spring Lounge followed by some drunken Ben's Pizza eating! all in all a nice way to spend st. patty's day.

NOTE: I highly recommend Guinness to add the following warning on their label: Consuming Guinness might result in excessive gas. Please drink responsibly! Slanche!

day dreaming

so I am sitting at my desk at work and day dreaming about my future travels and thinking how awesome it will be to be able to write blog entries from random internet cafes in even more random locations like Malaysia or a tiny Indonesian Island while my beautifully handsome and tan lover of that month waits for me outside smoking his cigarette every so sexy as the sun is adding extra highlights to his already blond streaked hair ;)! I did mention that this was a day dream, right? Why can't God just drop $10,000 in my lab so I can fast forward all this and be there already!?!

Boot Camp

So I have realized that I am technically giving away $73 a month to the NY Sports Club! Thats a lot of money!! I go to the gym about 2 to 3 times A MONTH!! thats about $25 per session! and I am definitely not seeing any results... no surprise there. So after analyzing the situation I have decided to cancel my membership and sign up for boot camp! its a bit pricey but I have a feeling that this will be the perfect way for me to get fit and healthy! It starts April 6th and runs for 4 weeks. The classes are one hour monday thru friday at 5:30am! yes that is 5:30AM!! craziness! The plan is to wake up at 5:00am, roll out of bed into workout clothes and rollerblade to Battery Park! I am so excited (and a bit worried) to see how I will adjust to this drastic change in waking time!

Got lucky on St. Patty's day!

No, not that kind of "lucky"! ;) naughty!

But lucky enough! I just realized that my 4:30pm meeting today is right next door to my favorite bar Puck Fair!!! I am sooo excited about the fact that right after my meeting i will be able to walk down stairs and have a St. Patty Drink at my favorite bar! I'm so excited!

happy memory

I was looking through my iphoto albums and this picture brought upon me a warm and happy feeling! look how amazingly yummy the eggs benedict looks!!! I heart brunch in New York!! This was taken on my birthday last year.