Thursday, February 28, 2008

Hard Getting Back into the Swing

Especially when it feels like I'm finally on the downswing. Things are going to be wrapping up quickly around here which makes me realize that:

1. I need to be serious about getting a summer job (I've started a few balls rolling, but need to hammer them down), and
2. I need to be serious about getting an articling job.

Sigh.

And just when the weather is starting to get nice enough that I want to go outside again ... and do stuff.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

Monday, February 25, 2008

I'm Back Baby!

And what an adventure it was.

5 airports, 3 hotels, 1 pair of shoes, and too-many-coffees-to-count later, I'm back in Saskatoon.

Ah New York. How I love you. You and I, we have a shy romance, don't we. I know, it's tough when we only see each other every few years. Maybe one day our romance will blossom into something more. In the meantime, I'll recount the fun that we had as best as I can remember (I know I'll leave some of the details out ... but what can you do?).

(Word of warning, though, some of the links on this site link to pages with some crazy sound ... if no sound is desired ... HIT MUTE NOW ... or don't follow any links.)

February 15th (a week ago Friday) I flew from the Saskatoon Airport (airport 1) to the Edmonton International Airport (airport 2 - realizing that I had NEVER flown INTO or OUT OF the Edmonton International Airport ... 1st time for me). I was greeted by a surprise visit from my Father-in-Law (FIL, who I thought was still working). My Mother-in-Law (MIL), FIL, my Sister-in-Law (SIL) and I hit up Moxies for dinner, and then collapsed into beds at hotel 1 (can't remember the name).

February 16th my FIL dropped my MIL, SIL and I off (bright and early) at the Edmonton International Airport to catch our flight to the Ottawa International Airport (airport 3). Last time I'd been there was 12 years ago. Wow. After a short 1 hour layover and a crazy last minute lunch purchase, we hopped onto a plane to hit airport 4 - LaGuardia Airport (airport 4).

We arrived, seamlessly found our car, and were whisked away to hotel 2 - the Mariott's Residence Inn - Times Square. We were perfectly situated on the Avenue of the Americas and 39th Street. That night we cruised around Times Square, and ate at Chevy's. I think this was the night that we later discovered what would be deemed the best carrot cake in the world at a small patisserie on 8th Ave.

February 17th, Sunday morning, we hopped onto the subway and rumbled our way down to Chelsea. First things first, we hit up B&H, the biggest, craziest photography/video store I've ever seen. SIL is a professional photographer, and was like a kid in a candy store (although, anybody would be ... I must admit that I had to staunch the salivation just a little). We were all amazed at the sheer volume of activity that went on, the level of service (sales staff were always readily available and so knowledgeable), and the crazy organization that lived there. Among our purchases (and by our, I mean one of us that wasn't me, but by being an in-law, I live through the purchase ... therefore ... "our" purchase) was the iPod touch - like the iPhone, but without the phone. So gorgeous, so jealous.

There was a wickedly chilly wind blowing, so we hopped into the Chelsea Market to find some grub, and came upon 202. This is where we discovered, at the suggestion of our fabulous waiter, the amazing french toast that is too good to describe, so here's a picture:


Our Favourite Breakfast - French Toast at 202 in Chelsea


Yum. We browsed our way through the market, and ended up walking down into the Greenwich Village area where we browsed our way back to Chelsea, and hit up some shops including MXYPLYZYK, and Shoegasm where I purchased the gorgeous shoes below:


Lisa Bought Shoes


After all that crazy walking (with SIL being pregnant too - what a super-trooper), we wandered over to Carmine's for dinner. We sat at the bar to spend the 1 1/2 hour wait for a table over wine and a to-die-for appetizer called Spiedini, and watched the theatre crowd come and go. When our table was ready, we went for a 4-pasta special which was enough to feed a small army, but was yummy nonetheless.

After all that food and wine, it was lights out for these chicas.

February 18th, Monday, was President's day down in the States. We hopped on the subway and crossed over to Brooklyn, where we got to see our Cousins-in-Law; MIL's nephew, his wife, and their new baby girl - SOOOOOO cute (we also got to visit with new baby's G-parents who were visiting at the time). They were the ultimate hosts, and even treated us to an amazing brunch. We were so spoiled, and it was so great to see their wonderful home, and all of the loving care and hard work that went into the new nursery.

After our visit, we hopped back onto the subway and jumped off at SoHo where we shopped our way through to a french bistro late lunch on a patio to people watch. We hit up shops like Giggle, Barney's Co-Op, Bloomingdale's, and more (I think we even wandered into a Burberry store, just because we could). When we were in the Lucky Kid shop, we saw what appeared to be an Adidas commercial being filmed just around the corner, which was kinda neat.

After we finished up SoHo, we were DONE LIKE DINNER, and basically flopped ourselves into a fast slumber once we got back to the hotel.

February 19th we made our way downtown to the Financial District. We stopped by the World Trade Center site. It was neat to compare the construction progress that has been made as compared with my trip about 3 years ago. We then hopped across the street and spent a crazy amount of time in Century 21 department store. This store resembled chaos, but it was chaos filled with desirable products for super cheap. It was a mecca of fashion steals, and we went to town. I even tried on a pair of Victoria Beckham jeans, but they didn't fit JUST RIGHT. It would have (in the illustrious words of Lainey) "made my life" to own a pair of VBs.

After a marathon shopping stint in C21, we walked towards Fulton Street, and ducked into a great diner for lunch, I THINK it was the Pearl Street Diner. It was greasy, had super service, and had the busy atmosphere that makes you giggle just a little. We explored the Fulton area, and we checked out the South Street Seaport area, browsed some shops, and then made our way back to the subway.

For dinner we dined at Shun Lee's Palace, which was good, but we wouldn't say GREAT in terms of the food. The atmosphere, service, etc. were all stellar though.

February 20th was MoMA in the morning. I got to see Andy Warhol's soup cans. It was awesome:


Andy Warhol's Soup Cans at MoMA


Makes me realize that I'd love to learn a little more about art. Ahhh ... so much to learn when life is so short ... how to decide!??!?! The ongoing Lisa debate.

Wednesday lunch was at the Red Lobster, grabbed a quick lobster bisque (which gave my tongue the tinglies in a scary allergic-y kind of way - weird, hunh?), and then hit the LION KING on Broadway. Wow. That's all I have to say about that. Wow. The music, of course, was fantastic, but the costumes. THE COSTUMES. The costumes were incredible. Unlike anything I've ever seen. Spectacular. The sets were kept relatively simple, and the music and the costuming took center stage. Sigh.

After the Lion King, we wandered our way over to the Empire State Building, and dined at the Heartland Brewery at the base. We made our way up the ESB for a nighttime view of the city. What was CRAZY was that there was NO LINE-UP. When Jason and I hit the ESB in 2005, there was a crazy line-up that spanned about 3 floors of the building, in and out, winding all around. This time ... nada. It felt like we were VIPs. I didn't have my camera on hand, but here's a shot from the top that I took in January in 2005.


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We got to listen to the audio tour this time, which was pretty neat, and something I'd definitely recommend.

February 21st was a spa day at Bliss. We got ourselves to the Bliss SoHo location right on time for our pedicure (MIL), maternity massage (SIL), and deluxe scrub (yours truly). I had first heard about Bliss by reading a Calgary Herald article about founder Marcia Kilgore's Albertan roots. After reading THIS Maclean's article, I see that she even has Outlook SK roots (as does my Dad's side of the family). So ... of course, I must support, I have no choice, you see.

The scrub was heavenly. HEAVENLY. Sigh. Just thinking about it makes me happy. I, of course, stocked up on my favourite Bliss products (which I only buy when I'm at a Bliss Spa - you can buy at Sephora, but I find it to be more expensive in-store): bliss hot salt scrub, bliss lemon+sage soapy sap, bliss lemon+sage body butter, and I bought the on-sale limited edition snow wonder body butter to try out. (I was introduced to the lemon+sage awesomeness of bliss during my 2005 trip - but more about that later).

After the luxurious spa treatments, we dazedly wandered down to Balthazar for lunch. We had been having uncanny good luck at picking spots to eat so far, and this random pick didn't disappoint. The food was incroyable ... and after our waiter presented us with dessert menus, as though it was a foregone conclusion that we must try one of their little slices of heaven, we decided to try two desserts to share; the Crème Brûlée and the Lemon Mille-Feuille. While we had already sampled the best carrot-cake in the world ... I think it is safe to say that these desserts were the real dessert highlight of our trip. Ah ... just imagining the melting on the tongue ... heavenly.

After more shop browsing, we found ourselves busting up to the upper west side to spy on Tom's Restaurant ... the REAL Monk's Cafe from Seinfeld.


Does it Look Familiar?


Tom's Restaurant

Here we ordered coffee and rice pudding (to meet the minimum purchase requirement - just to say we did, we were all still stuffed from Balthazar), and had the craziest service experience. An older lady with an accent (I'm not sure which language the accent was from) grumbled and mumbled her way through serving us ... it was comical how bad she was - but after reading THIS review - seems that that's part of the whole "experience" ... I love it!

Lastly, we checked out St. Patrick's cathedral at night, and then zipped down to Grimaldi's in Brooklyn for a unique and must-have pizza experience. Again, didn't have my camera, but here's a 2005 pic:


100_0208


The pizza was awesome, the staff were so engaging, and Grimaldi's didn't disappoint (I wonder if it ever does).

February 22nd we decided to hit up our food favourites on the last day we'd be in town. We went back to 202 in Chelsea for the french toast experience. Then we motored on up to 5th Ave to do that strip, including St. Patrick's Cathedral in the daytime. We saw Tiffany's, F.A.O. Schwarz, Bergdorf Goodman, Central Park ... all those goodies. We grabbed a brief lunch at the Europa Cafe, and then went to check out the Waldorf=Astoria ... and ... the W Hotel where Jason and I got engaged (awwww .... insert sighs of reminiscing right here). It was here that I was first introduced to the lemon+sage awesomeness of bliss ... the mini-bottles of shampoo etc. that are provided as room amenities are bliss products! How could I not LOVE this hotel!

After this trip down memory lane, we wrapped up our day with another amazing meal at Carmine's. This time we had cesar salad and the chicken parmesan ... and we only had about a half hour wait ... much shorter this time. We also tipped off our stay with a wonderful cheescake there.

February 23rd
we hopped back into a car and were driven back to LaGuardia airport, where we flew to Toronto's Pearson International Airport (airport 5), where we had to clear customs. With a perfect 2 hour layover (any shorter and it would have been a dicey connection, any longer and we'd have gone a little crazy), we all decided that Ottawa's airport is WAAAAAY better than Pearson (less confusing, a little friendlier ... etc). With that, we jumped back onto a plane and flew back to Edmonton. SIL's Hubby and her kidlings were there to greet her at the airport (cute), and FIL was there too. It was a happy reunion. MIL, FIL, and I checked into hotel 3 and hit the sac pretty quick (SOOOO TIRED).

February 24th
I had a great breakkie with FIL and MIL, and then they dropped me off at the airport for my short flight back to Saskatoon where Jason was waiting for me in the airport (sigh).

And so ... my brief 2008 fling with NYC was over. BUT ... I know I'll be back. The question is only ... when.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Tuesday Morning Reading

Fight the overzealous marketing ploy that has become Valentine's day, but if you can't ... ditch the gift for a poem.

Property class meets Civil Procedure.

Professional Responsibility in Florida.

Galileo makes the news.

Another Simpson's writer/Executive Producer knows exactly how I feel. Exactly.

Looking for A Free and Fabulous Wednesday Night?

Go see the lunar eclipse at the U of S observatory on Wed. February 20th!

Here's the Star Phoenix Article:

The public is invited by the University of Saskatchewan to take part in a viewing of the lunar eclipse, which will take place the night of Feb. 20.

The U of S observatory will be open for viewing of the total eclipse from 7:30 p.m. until 11:30 p.m.

This is the first of two lunar eclipses in 2008, and the only total lunar eclipse until 2010. The planet Saturn and bright star Regulus, not usually visible from earth, will be near the moon during the eclipse.

The eclipse begins at 7:43 p.m. and ends at 11:09 p.m.

Admission to the event is free. Call 966-6429 for more details.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Well ... No Monday Incident, Must be a Good Sign

My Monday is turning out better than my Friday did ... so we're heading in the right direction.

Got TONS of work done over the weekend, so I'm feeling pretty good about myself. Especially in light of the fact that I WENT TO CLASS today, even when I didn't especially want to leave the house.

Luckily, it has warmed up a smidge here in Saskatoon, which makes my whole life better. The garage door even worked for me.

As for my house ... still not too clean, but I did tackle the kitchen. Kitchen is spotless. One room at a time, right?

Now ... must finish preparing for Oil & Gas class tonight. And figure out what to make for dinner ... hmmmmm ....

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Saturday, February 09, 2008

Found Another 2008 Follies Video

I LOVED this one ... it is so funny.


Friday, February 08, 2008

On the Amusing Side of Things ...

... thanks to the GoFugYourself girls, I stumbled upon this:

Planet Unicorn.

Watch - it's awesome, I promise. Can't get the theme song outta my head.

I Woke Up Tired This Morning

Why? A bit of a headache from the temperature fluctuations outside, I think, coupled with the need I felt at 12:00 last night to stay up and watch Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette (what was I thinking). And ... maybe a bit of a cold coming on.

Anyhoo - here are a few things that're rattling around in my brain right now. These are what I blame this morning's incident on (see below for the incident).
  • I have a major paper outline 10 minute presentation to give next Thursday (the outline is MOSLTLY done, just needs some tweaking, and needs to be submitted to prof).
  • I have a Gender and the Law paper due next Friday (which is this weekend's mandate).
  • I have a hair appointment this afternoon (which is so long overdue it's crazy, seriously).
  • I've been running around trying to get ready for reading break, which has meant taking care of a lot of administrative details (which, generally, are the bane of my existence).
  • My house is a disaster area. I need to clean it. I don't want to and I don't really have time to right now ... so it's been a struggle and weighing heavily on my mind (especially because I don't want to clean it).
All of these factors in addition to the regular ol' grindstone, and things like THIS start happening to people:

FRIDAY MORNING INCIDENT:
- Last night, I set my alarm for 7:00 AM, as per usual.
- The alarm went off at 7:00, I turned on the radio to listen to the news.
- When I opened my eyes again (keep in mind, from my perspective, I've been awake and listening to the news for about 10 minutes) it's 8:15. Wow ... lost an hour of my life dozing to the news on the radio.
- Got up, got showered/dressed, ate breakfast.
- Checked the computer for any updated notes from today's prof.
- Thought about hair appointment I have scheduled for 2:30, which is AFTER my 2 hour class.
- Thought about making coffee, but decided I was running late (this is at 9:30), so decided to stop at the Timmy's drive-thru and pick some up on the way to class.
- Got in the car, picked up my Timmy's, drove to school.
- When I was looking for a parking meter, I was trying to think about how much change I'd need when it dawned on me that my class is at 12:00 NOON, not at 10:00 AM. Wow. I'm 2 hours early unintentionally. AND ... I'd thought repeatedly about how my hair appointment was AFTER class and was at 2:30.
- Drove home.
- Garage door wouldn't open (does this in the cold). Cursed the cold, and cursed my sister Julie for being in Cuba right now (how dare she go when I'm stuck in cold Saskatchewan).
- Gave up and parked in the front (didn't even try the manual garage door open dance that I usually try).

So ... I'm already impressed with myself today. The coffee hasn't quite kicked in yet, and I'm still feeling super fuzzy.

Oh well. I guess a dress rehearsal never hurt anyone. Now ... I've had my coffee, and I should be able to get to class without feeling like I'm running a little late.

Sigh.

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

I'm Afraid to Promenade

On Sunday afternoon I made a quick run to the local grocery store on foot. Unfortunately for me, when I was crossing the street, it was so icy that my feel literally flew out from under me and I landed on my right hip. Ouch. Luckily it was on the way there, so there weren't any FLYING GROCERY dramatics.

Yesterday while walking home from the bus-stop, I was crossing another street which was also slippery. Taking caution not to lose my footing again, I was SCARED OUT OF MY TREE when an older lady in an '80s Crown Vic turned left ALMOST INTO ME ... her car literally could have bumped my ass if I had paused for a second with my last stride. If I'd been facing the right direction, I would have been able to touch her car.

Made me think. Had I slipped yesterday and not Sunday, I'd have been toast. So ... I guess I'm thankful that my right hip is killing me?

Also - I'm rereading my Princessa Book (Machiavelli for Women) by Harriet Rubin. In light of all the reading I've been doing for Gender and the Law, I want to see if I feel differently when I read it this time.

Monday, February 04, 2008

Follies Weekend

Friday night I volunteered for Legal Follies, and on Saturday night J and I went to the show and the afterparty. With an amazing crew working like dogs behind the scenes, the show was well put together, and showcased some of the most amazing talent here at the law school. From musical performances to performance of skits that were written by law students themselves, it was an awesome night to appreciate my fellow students in a whole new way.

Here's one of the pieces I found that has already made its way onto youtube.






Oh - and that lecture that was held on Friday, I WANT THAT BOOK now ... although I'll probably see if I can get it from the U of S library ... reading material for reading break maybe.

Bar Codes
Women in the Legal Profession
BY: Jean McKenzie Leiper


Friday, February 01, 2008

TGIF

Well, another week down ... and everything has been chugging along.

I have an assignment in Gender and the Law which is due on February 15th, so I've got to get a move-on with that one.

I'm working on my Coalbed Methane paper outline, which has taken up some time.

I've been reading for my classes (novel concept, I know).

I've been missing my laptop for purely "I like to sit infront of the TV and surf the internet" reasons ... but frankly I haven't been sitting infront of the TV that much anyway ... so it's not a big deal. And ... Jason has one ... so it's more like "we both like to sit infront of the TV and surf the internet at the same time" reasons, which sounds excessive and silly, so forget I ever said anything.

I've been meaning to upload a couple of new CDs to my i-pod, haven't done it yet.

I found my camera cord (M&D - it was here the whole time).

The whole Law School is gearing up for Legal Follies which is tonight and tomorrow night, so it's been a different kind of stressful/excited atmosphere around there.

To get ready for Follies, here's a sneaky peaky at some of the videos from last year's show: