Summer Reading List

In addition to really need to blog more and keep this thing updated, my other goal this summer is to relax at the beach and do lots of reading. Here's my summer reading list:

-- Audtion, by Barbara Walters
I hate that she is promoting this and telling all these 'secrets,' but as a media lover I still need to read it.
-- It's Only Temporary, by Evan Handler
Love this actor and can't wait to check out his writing.
-- Giving, by Bill Clinton
Hopefully this will inspire me to get my non-profit blog off the ground.
-- Out of Sync, by Lance Bass
As my roommates and I are parting ways, I dont know if we will continue our celebrity trash book club. This was on our list as a next book to read.

Since my mom started working at the local library near her house she will be able to reserve these books for me. Reviews and thoughts to come as my reading gets underway.

TV Hunks

I stopped watching television for about 5 or so years. When I was in college, the screen I wanted to spend all my time in front of was my computer, not the television. As a result, I really stopped watching any show on a regular basis. Now that a few years have passed and I finally got a great DVR, I watch more television than I ever thought I would. Most of the time I set aside a few hours on the weekend to catch up on the week's shows.

Here's my must see list every week"

• How I Met Your Mother
• Grey's Anatomy
• Private Practice
• Big Shots
• Dirty Sexy Money
• Desperate Housewives
• Brothers & Sisters
  

Aside from the majority of the above being ABC shows, what else do they have in common? Incredibly hot and sexy male stars!

I never realized how much attractive actors could keep me tuning in every week. From leading men like Patrick Dempsey, Eric Dane, Dylan McDermont, Michael Vartan and Taye Diggs to some lesser known hunks such as Tim Daly, Josh Radnor and Dave Annable, I can't help but tune in every week. Sometimes I feel shallow, but other times I am happy to see the switch in leading men. Anyone remember who was dominating tv a few years ago? Ray Romano, Jim Belushi and Kevin James.

Daughtry @ The Nokie Theater

I never watched American Idol, but when Daughtry's music hit mainstream I became hooked! So when a coworker told he was going to be performing at The Nokie Theater in NYC, we decided to immediately get tickets. The show did not disappoint.

Daughtry played for a little more than an hour, but he totally rocked out the hits and the lesser known songs. He was wonderful at engaging the crowd and seemed at home on stage. I was also really impressed with The Nokia Theater. Aside from being located right in Times Square (which is great because it's so close to where I live, but bad because of all the people there!) the theater had great design elements. It seemed a little smaller than Roseland and a lot nice since it is brand new. Even the bathrooms were really amazing! With a circle of sinks and individual mirrors at each sink all lit in soft red lighting.

Here's hoping more artists I like make a stop at the Nokia Theater.

Reason to get married

For all you male committment-phobes out there....you never know when you might be shot at and have your wedding ring reflect the bullet. Full story here.

Every gift begins with Kay...and ends with a trade-in?

Talk about word of mouth, one of the things I spread the word most about is Kay Jewelers and their Lifetime Diamond Guarantee. Two years ago on my birthday, my parents bought me a beautiful diamond pendant and that's how I learned about this guarantee. My stepmom gave me all the paperwork and explained that as long as I had my necklace cleaned and inspected every 6 months and had those inspections documented, if anything happened to one of the diamonds it would be repaired or replaced free of charge. I thought this was a fabulous guarantee and tell practically everyone I know whenever they comment on my necklace.

My months for inspection are April and October, so before October ended, I headed down to Kay with my necklace and paperwork for the inspection. I arrived and told the salesperson I was there to have my necklace inspected...and without missing a beat, she asked me if I would be interested in trading it in for an upgrade. I nearly did a double take. I realize this person must work on commission and was just trying to make a living, but she obviously must realize that jewlery is extremely sentimental and often given as a gift. I doubt most people are that willing to give up diamonds that easily. Imagine you gave someone a nice pair of earrings and then you noticed they stopped wearing them and you found out they traded them in for something "better." I politely declined and let her know all I needed was the inspection. This necklace was a gift for my 25th birthday, from my parents, it's as much a memory as it is an object. I would never trade it in. All of my jewelry is sentimental and symbolic...I could probably tell you when and why I recieved every piece. So needless to say, Kay went from being a company I praised constantly, to one I might not be speaking so highly of in the future.

Chick Lit

I've been reading a ton lately. Ever since my grad class ended, I have been reading book after book after book. The last book I read was a chick lit fiction book called "The Breakup Club" that I stole off a coworker's desk.

I had high hopes for this book, thinking it would be a good beach read. It was okay...just okay. However, there were a few quotes I really liked. (I can't help it, I am a quote person!)

• "Sounds to me like you're hanging on out of fear of what's out there, not because you really still love this guy"


• "Why should I ever bother liking a boy if he's just going to dump me anyway" -- said by the 12 year old in the book


• "I know I said I wouldn't call you, but I can't go from everything to nothing...You don't even want to be friends"

Last Resort Or Long Time To Realize

My mom and I were in the car last weekend when I was home and had an interesting conversation. We were talking about a friend of mine who I have been hanging out with off and on for the last year and a half. For the sake of this post, we will call him LT, as in long-term potential. He has a really wonderful personality and just about everything else I look for in a guy.

Even when I was in my last relationship which I knew off the bat was going to short-term, I still occasionally thought about LT. In fact, after my breakup, LT was one of the only people who could get my mind off what was making me so unhappy. About two months ago we had a serious chat about our "arrangement." He was honest and upfront that he isn't looking for anything serious right now (but also made it clear that he wasn't hanging out with anyone else either). It felt good to get some things out in the open, but I was still left with some pretty strong feelings for someone who isn't interested in a relationship.

I resigned myself to the fact that it would be impossible to deny myself the wonderful, yet infrequent opportunities to hang out with LT but with that said I wouldn't put my life on hold or risk not meeting other new people. I know he could turn around tomorrow, meet someone and change his mind about not wanting a serious relationship. Hell, if I am lucky, the same thing could happen to me. And since I am in a transition period of trying to figure out what I even want, the arrangement continued.

LT is the type of guy I could really see myself being involved with for a long time. He's definitely a guy I would be lucky to date seriously down the line. So there is this little part of me that is holding out hope that you truly never know what the future holds.

But with the hope, comes the doubts. Recently I started thinking about how even if you might not want something serious, if you really did like a person, you would make yourself be ready for a relationship or enter into the relationship and hope you got ready quickly. How could anyone risk losing someone who might be right for them?

The conversation with my mom had to do with me declaring my fear of being someone's last resort. Pretty much saying that if LT was interested (or would ever be interested) he would have acted already and that if something happened down the line to launch us into something serious, how would I know if I was just a last resort because nothing else 'better' came along.

My mom, smart lady she is, turned it around and said maybe it just takes some people longer to realize what they want or the feelings they have. It's a good point...but leaves me back to being even more confused. How do you know if you are a last resort, or if it just takes someone a long time to realize they want to be with you?

I'm a bad blogger

I've been majorly lacking in posting recently. Work has been crazy busy, so I have all these half written posts that need to be published. The most awesome vacation to Vegas ever didn't hurt either (I really like the VIP life!). I'm hoping I'll have time this week to finish all the posts I am working on.

The Last 36 Hours

I am convinced that my path has crossed the most inconsiderate, obnoxious and rude people in the world throughout the last 36 hours.

Between the bus line cutters, the coffee line cutters and the people on the LIRR today who pushed me so hard to get on the train that I screamed out 'Holy Shit' because I couldn't figure out where the fire was or why they were acting so violently, I've really had my fill of absolute inconsiderateness these last few days.

It all capped off with me parallel parking tonight. I drove back into the city because I need my car for a day trip tomorrow and lucky for me, found a spot on my street. As I am trying to parallel park (which I am actually rather good at), people get into the car behind me...I needed to straighten out a bit and was delighted that I actually was going to have room to do so, when this white car tries swooping into the now vacant spot as if I am not even there trying to park in front of them. Eventually they had no choice but to wait and watch me straighten out my car, but you could tell they were pissed that now instead of just pulling in, they too had to parallel park. They were giving me dirty looks as if I did something wrong. I just hope my car is still there tomorrow!

(As for the line cutting, this is a HUGE pet peeve of mine, I feel like no matter what I am waiting for, someone thinks its perfectly acceptable to just cut straight to the front of the line. It happens so much with the bus, I actually started walking to work because I hated getting so aggrevated so early in the morning.)