June 29, 2011 - Blue Flowers

I walk by this house practically every day on my way to & from work. It's for sale and the yard is starting to get a little crazy... but those hydrangeas are crazy beautiful, right?

June 28, 2011 - We've Got Tile

Yay - work on the bathroom has started up again after a brief pause. The guys have started putting tile up and it looks great! You may notice the mess on the floor... that is because we decided to go ahead and replace that tile too after realizing that trying to patch the missing pieces would probably not work out very well.

June 27, 2011 - Yard Work Helpers

Part of my current morning routine now generally includes watering our plants along with walking the dogs. I usually take the dogs out back and water there first, then take them for their walk around the block, and then hook them up to the railing when we return so I can water the front yard. While I'm watering, Foxy likes to keep an eye out for squirrels and roaming kitties in our trees & bushes, Huckleberry makes sure to bark at any person who walks past the house, and Howard likes to remind me that he's waiting for his breakfast. It's a fun part of the day!

June 26, 2011 - Pride!!

Today was the NYC Gay Pride parade, huzzah! I wasn't planning on going, but I ended up near the village while running an errand and so of course went to see how it was this year. There were tons of people, and I actually couldn't get too close, but I did manage to spot Manila Luzon (from RuPaul's Drag Race and RuPaul's Drag U) on top of a float.

June 25, 2011 - Born This Way

Do you recognize this lady? Does the name Cynthia Germanotta ring any bells? How about... Lady Gaga's MOM!!??? Yes, that is Mama Gaga at Garden State Equality's Legends Gala about to present awards to 7 bullied students whose testimonies helped get the country's toughest anti-bullying legislation passed. As the mother of one of the LGBT community's strongest allies, it was incredibly movingly to hear her speak about her own daughter's struggles as a teen, but what topped even that was when she put her cell phone up to the mic so that Lady Gaga herself could say a few words directly to these brave kids.

Oh, and did I mention that Papa Gaga was there too? Or that I was sitting AT THEIR TABLE WITH THEM? It was very cool & I have to thank my friends Jack & Jon for making it all happen (for me, for Garden State Equality, and especially for those kids who were smiling from ear-to-ear the whole night.)

If you're interested in donating to or reading more about Garden State Equality, please check out their site www.gardenstateequality.org!

June 24, 2011 - Equality!

It happened... gay marriage is now legal in my great state of NY. I don't have the right words to describe how exciting this, so instead I'll invite you to watch this great speech from Governor Andrew Cuomo just after he signed the marriage bill into law

June 23, 2011 - Closed!

Hmm - this is the place next to my office where I get either breakfast and/or lunch almost every day. Not a good sign, but I have to say I'm not completely surprised. Among my co-workers, we refer to this place as the "smelly deli" or "dirty deli." It's remarkably slow and honestly pretty gross, but it's also ridiculously cheap & convenient, and it's always packed with people.

I'm actually relieved in a sense that the sign was up and the door was down because it probably should have happened a long time ago... that being said - where am I going to get my breakfast now? Boooooo!

June 22, 2011 - A View From The Bridge

No, not the Arthur Miller play, my real view from the Manhattan Bridge as my train s-l-o-w-l-y crossed it this evening.

June 21, 2011 - Happy Summer!

To celebrate the first day of summer, our office invited the folk from Cool Haus to come set up shop in our kitchen. If you don't know about Cool Haus - they make gourmet ice cream sandwiches to order. And they came to OUR OFFICE TODAY!!

This shot is of the sign they put up for people to pick their sandwich... I had a chocolate cookie with sea salt caramel ice cream. I would tell you how good it was, but I don't want to make you more jealous than you already are.

June 20, 2011 - Union Square is Clean!

As I was walking through Union Square, I spied this guy taking a break (or a nap) in what looks like a dumpster with his brooms and other supplies. I guess the place does look pretty clean, so why not? In any case, it's a no brainer for my picture of the day!

June 19, 2011 - Hello, Kitty!

Foxy just wanted to say "hi," but for some reason the neighbor's kitty wouldn't come any closer.

June 18, 2011 - Flowers Everywhere

Our garden is just going crazy with flowers right now - it's beautiful!

June 17, 2011 - Howard Can't Read...

,,,but I caught him relaxing with his copy of the "Daily Rover."

June 16, 2011 - Flashback!

It finally happened. My first day in 2011 with no picture. Boo. But... in trying to find something good from the archives, I realized that June has been a very fun month over the past few years - especially in regards to travel. So, rather than just posting one picture, I've got some of my favorite June vacation photos since 2007. Enjoy!

June, 2007 - Finland
Tom & I had an overnight stop in Helsinki on our way home from Russia and got officially engaged


June, 2008 - Alaska
I ran my first marathon in Anchorage and had an incredible time touring the state with Tom & Jimmy


June, 2009 - Norway
Tom & I travelled around the country and especially loved cruising around the fjords


June, 2010 - Wisconsin
My cousin Sara had one of the most fun wedding weekends ever and I of course loved getting to spend a couple days with my niece & nephew.

June 15, 2011 - It's a room again

It was very exciting to see new walls up for the whole room. Now it really feels like we're getting closer to seeing this reno completed!

June 14, 2011 - Lilies!

We've got gorgeous lilies blooming in the back yard - they are craaaazy!

June 13, 2011 - New Pipes

OOH! We got shiny new pipes in the bathroom - yay!

June 12, 2011 - Pugs On Trend

The boys have picked up this new "planking" trend - they're real good at it.

June 11, 2011 - Hucky

Just because he's so sweet.

June 10, 2011 - New Walls

We've got a new wall in the bathroom! Hooray!

June 9, 2011 - Odd Potty

Maybe it's because we're remodeling our bathroom, but I was fascinated by the bathroom in the Tribeca Grand (where we had some work meetings.) Fascinated in a "Oh no" sort of way. This is a shot of a urinal in the bathroom. Do you see the mirror above it? You probably can't tell from this angle, but when you are using the potty, it's positioned perfectly if you want to see your... zipper.

June 8, 2011 - Dog Avatars

I bought these wall decals from Blik, a really fun website, to put above the dog's water bowl in the kitchen. They love them... see!!

June 7, 2011 - Two Guys

No story - just thought this view across the tracks was interesting with the guys framed by the tracks and pillars

June 6, 2011 - A New Window

When we replaced all the windows in our house a couple years ago, I convinced Tom not to replace the window in our bathroom. Sure it was warped and was missing a panel, but it was leaded glass and had a lot of character. I was positive we would be able to get it fixed and save it. Well, 2 years later, after a lot of looking at that missing panel and a lot of struggling when trying to open or close it, I was all for replacing it as part of our renovation.

(Of course, I am keeping the old window so that I can put it on my list of someday projects to fix!)

June 5, 2011 - Sleeping Foxy

No story, just a cute Foxy. Sweet dreams, little girl.

June 4, 2011 - Better Big Mac

I read a post on the blog Serious Eats deconstructing the Big Mac... I tried it... it was GREAT. Here's the breakdown/recipe if you are interested in becoming the Ronald McDonald of your home for a day.

June 3, 2011 - Renovation, End of Week 1

So it's the end of week 1 and we have progress in the bathroom - including this crazy new invention called insulation which apparently didn't exist when the house was built in 1898.

June 2, 2011 - Team Huckleward ( or Ho-Berry?)

Even though Howard annoys Huckleberry (a lot,) the two of them together make a pretty funny team. Here the boys are in the backyard... probably getting ready to go trample some more of our plants.

June 1, 2011 - Assistant Project Manager Hucky

With workmen in the house tearing up the bathroom all day, the dogs can't get any rest. We've sequestered them all in the living room/dining room/kitchen area, but they can still see & hear people going up and down the stairs and there's a LOT of barking. By the end of the day, they are absolutely exhausted.

Huckleberry especially has taken a very "active" role in making sure he pays attention to everything. Nothing escapes his notice, so I'm deputizing him in recognition of his hard work.

May 31, 2011 - Bathroom Renovation, Day 1

Tom and I are having our main bathroom renovated. We have been planning it since we discovered a leak last fall; after holidays and trips we're finally getting started.

We're not making huge cosmetic changes, just fixing the leak and freshening up everything, but as long as we we're having work done, we're also having plumbing installed up to the 3rd floor so that we won't have to rip out the walls again when we decide to put a bathroom up there at some point.

Here's a shot after day 1! It is all very exciting!

May 30, 2011 - Helpers

I decided to try and make the closet in the Lilac room a little easier to organize via some bins and a shelving unit from Ikea. While I was busy figuring out how to arrange everything, I caught this glimpse of my 3 helpers behind me.

May 29, 2011 - Guard Pugs

Hucky & Howard on lookout* from the porch to make sure there was no trouble on the street. It's actually kind of a rare shot because they are in "Foxy's chair", they don't normally get such a good spot!

(*Howard was actually just taking a nap, but I figured he would rather want me to say he was protecting the house too.)

May 28, 2011 - Foxy the Observer

No surprise, but Foxy LOVES the backyard. She likes to sit out there and watch... anything. This shot is of her trying to figure out what was making a noise in the big tree above the garage. She must have decided it would be easier to spot whatever it was if she were just a little higher off the ground.