Category Archives: Summer

First Saturday

Posted on August 6, 2011 | Leave a comment

I may be in Manhattan today, but my thoughts are back home.

Best of luck to everyone working hard (and playing hard) at today’s Fancy Farm Picnic!  No one does barbecue better — I can almost taste it — and there might be loss of life during the political speeches this year.

I hate to miss that.

At the very least, could someone play a few cards of tab bingo for me?  And if that doesn’t work out…

…just make sure I win the car, okay?

Thanks.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Commentary, Entertainment, Family, Food, Friends, Games, Home, Humor, Life, Politics, Summer, Travel

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Candymegeddon

Posted on July 20, 2011 | Leave a comment

When folks come to New York City, they ask me two questions:

  1. Where should we eat?
  2. What should we see?

Not simple questions to answer in a city that has everything.

One of my favorite places — that I am happy to report is over on the East Side and requires a bit of effort on my part to visit — is Dylan’s Candy Bar.

Across from Bloomingdale’s, Dylan’s is every kid’s dream candy store…and every adult-who-still-loves-candy-a-bit-too-much-for-their-own-good’s personal challenge.

I usually don’t go unless I am with company sightseeing. (Then I have an excuse.)

NEWSFLASH — rumor has it a new Dylan’s location is opening in my neighborhood on the Upper West Side, just three blocks from my apartment.  Now, I could dismiss this as hearsay, but all of the stores in that block — save one — have closed of late, leaving space for what would be a huge sweet shoppe.

Sweet Jesus.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Business, Children, Cooking, Family, Food, Foods, Humor, Life, Shopping, Summer, Travel, Vacation

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

After midnight

Posted on July 15, 2011 | 2 Comments

12:01am — The premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.

I was there.

Yes, I could have waited until the crowds thinned…until the feverish mania around the conclusion of this epic movie franchise had died down a bit.

But what’s the fun in that?

Seeing the final film in an atmosphere of unbridled excitement and enthusiasm?  That’s how I want to remember Harry Potter.

People dressed in inspired costumes.  Spontaneous trivia contests breaking out in the aisles.  Chants of “Snape, Snape, Severus Snape” attempting to overpower a fervent rendition of “Neville Longbottom.”  And the particularly hilarious cries of hatred hurled at the trailers proceeding the movie.

But the film was so worth the wait.  Director David Yates’ vision is true to the book and yet so much more.

I’ll see it again, of course, at some deserted weekday matinee.  It will still be an incredible movie, but…

Nothing can touch midnight.

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Commentary, Entertainment, Family, Friends, Humor, Life, Movies, Summer

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Seeing red

Posted on July 13, 2011 | 2 Comments

I’ve seen a lot of articles online of late listing what’s hot and what’s not in the world of summer fashion.  Nothing too shocking, really — white, crochet and color blocking are all the rage.

Can I add my own entry to the ‘what’s not’ list?

SUNBURNS

Especially since the July 4th holiday weekend, I have seen more folks walking around my neighborhood burnt to a crisp.

And I’m sorry — there’s just no excuse for it.

In this day and age where there is a different sunscreen and sunblock lotion or cream for every skin type, time of day, and SPF imaginable, that kind of blood-red, all-over burn is unacceptable.

Sure, we’ve all gotten burnt ‘around the edges’ where we’ve missed rubbing in the lotion from time to time.  But not putting on any protection…when you’re out in the sun at the beach or on the boat all day?

That’s just stupid.

And don’t give me the ol’ song-and-dance about you doing this ‘all the time,’ or that ‘it fades into a tan.’

I’ll have to smack you in the sunburn.

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Beauty, Commentary, Fashion, Health, Humor, Life, Summer, Travel, Vacation

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hat rack

Posted on July 10, 2011 | Leave a comment

I gotta new hat.

Cool, huh?

I bought it yesterday at the Penguin store in Soho.  I didn’t even know they a) were still around, b) sold clothes for men and women, and c) carried casual styles.  (In my mind, the Penguin brand — the one with the cute little sketchy penguin logo — had something to do with tuxedos.)

Live and learn.

But yesterday, while shopping with a friend who was visiting — and who knows a lot more about Penguin than I do — I bought that hat.

I love it first and foremost because it looks great with denim and black — 99 percent of every New Yorker’s wardrobe.  Secondly, it fits my large cranium. (Yes, I realize it’s a man’s hat.  But still.)

And last but not least, while wearing it around the city yesterday, it was just fun to be that chick –

The one in the hat…from the tuxedo store.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Business, Design, Fashion, Friends, Humor, Life, Shopping, Summer, Travel

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Just right

Posted on July 3, 2011 | Leave a comment

It’s Fourth of July weekend — albeit a stormy one here in New York City — and Mashable.com has posted 15 fun ways to ‘geek up’ your 4th of July.

My favorite?

A picnic table condiment set, complete with vintage containers.

Mashable likes it because it’s a retro, miniature version of the real thing.

Maybe it’s my New York City point of view, but….

Looks full size to me.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Commentary, Design, Family, Food, Holiday, Humor, Internet, Summer

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

To be or not

Posted on June 20, 2011 | Leave a comment

It’s one of the first signs of summer in New York City:

The long line of people waiting for tickets to Shakespeare in the Park at Central Park’s Delacorte Theatre.

Rory and I walk by them almost every morning on our way to the Great Lawn.  They are in chairs and sleeping bags, reading and napping and sometimes eating breakfast.  (Those are Rory’s favorites.)

In recent years, when Anne Hathaway and Al Pacino headlined productions in Shakespeare in the Park, the line was ginormous even in the early morning hours.  On a couple of occasions, the stars themselves were rumored to have brought snacks to the fans camped out in line.

This year?  The lines for performances of All’s Well that Ends Well and Measure for Measure have been scrawny at best, even by mid-morning.  But then again, there are no celebrities in the cast.

Which begs the question:

Are people really hot for Shakespeare or movie stars?

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Celebrities, Commentary, Dogs, Entertainment, Humor, Life, Movies, Summer, Travel

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Perfect pairs

Posted on June 11, 2011 | 3 Comments

I went to see X-Men: First Class Thursday at the matinee.

Not only did I discover I like X-Men films — it was my first and is seriously fun — but I realize the movie gods have officially created a new ‘hot guy duo.’

In my moviegoing lifetime, Robert Redford and Paul Newman were the original dynamic duo.  Just look at the two of ‘em in this still from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid…

Sorry.  Lost my train of thought.

George Clooney and Brad Pitt were the next duo worthy of official status.  Seen here in a scene from Oceans 11,  they both have the same classic good looks…and the good sense not to take those looks or their celebrity too seriously.

Oops.  Drifted off again.

James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender in X-Men are the newest breed of hot guy duo, and possibly the best actors to achieve this honor to date.  They may not as be as classically handsome as their predecessors, but the camera loves them.

I do, too.

If you’re not typically a fan of the X-Men franchise or even this movie genre, I encourage you to give this one a look-see.

You’ll be carrying a torch for these two long before the final frame of film has unfurled.

→ 3 Comments

Posted in Academy Awards, Celebrities, Entertainment, Humor, Life, Love, Movies, Summer

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Refreshing, ya’ll

Posted on June 10, 2011 | Leave a comment

Happy National Iced Tea Day!

Today we celebrate the official drink of summer, that mother’s milk of the South — iced tea.

I grew up drinking my iced tea brewed with boo-coo’s of sugar, but today I prefer it with a just a touch of the pink stuff (Sweet ‘n’ Low).

Now, I know there are a lot of coffee drinkers out there who have never tried iced tea, or who simply consider iced tea the ‘second-class citizen’ of caffeinated beverages.  If that is true, I ask you this:

Which drink is so popular it has it very own piece of flatware?

Iced tea 

(It has its own long-handled iced tea spoon.  Coffee?  No such utensil.)

So, when the next heatwave leaves you feeling parched, consider a tall, thirst-quenching glass of sweet iced tea.

If you’re lucky, you might just pick up a sexy Southern drawl along the way.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Cooking, Family, Foods, Friends, Home, Humor, Life, Summer

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

No skin off me

Posted on April 15, 2011 | Leave a comment

It ain’t easy being pale. That’s why, some 11 years ago, I founded the PPA.

Pasty People of America

I’m not only the president, I’m a member…the pastiest member by far. You know that pale skin that kinda has a bluish glow?

That’s me.

A friend in Kansas City — also pale, also self-deprecating — inspired me to use the word ‘pasty.’  He too is a member for life.  (No choice, really.)  Today I am inspired by people who have a choice and stay pale, even at prom time.

The Melanoma Foundation of New England asked teens to sign a ‘no-tan pledge’ — a promise not to intentionally tan or visit a tanning salon before prom.  There was a similar pledge for college students before spring break.

The pledge reads:  “I realize that by getting a tan I am sharply increasing my chances of developing melanoma, which can be fatal if not caught in time. I have read the “Facts of Tanning” and understand the dangers of tanning beds and lying out in the sun.”

It was a contest, of course.  The winning school — the pastiest party-goers come prom time –  won $1,000 for their class.

This year’s winner was Waltham High School in Waltham, Massachusetts. 

Hey — I think I recognize that one student.

Cheaters.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Beauty, College, Commentary, Education, Family, Health, Humor, Life, News, Summer, Weather

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,