i'd rather go sailing.....

on an open sea.

but, alas, i cannot.

but i'm sure to have fun adventures and i hope you do too!

happy labor day!

my prayers are with those in Gustav's path.

*don't forget to bid on my auction!! see below

3 reasons i don't date musical theatre men (part 1 of an on going series)

1. you will run into him (once he's an fb) 

or his ex/current gf almost daily....

2. he may want to make out to showtunes. true story. 

i don't listen to showtunes unless i'm learning that specific show. EVER. 

NOTHING kills the romance buzz for me faster than hearing "ladies who lunch" or "defying gravity."

3. he wears more makeup than i do. 

nothing is sexier

than a man who knows when to use:

their

there

and

they're

*

your

you're

and

yours

*

understands that i's is NOT a word

*

and can carry on a text conversation without acronyms.

relax, nicole... everyone know's it's your photo!

.give. give. give.

to give love and some funds to the lovely nie nie, who will recover so beautifully, 

i am auctioning:

backstage tour of Grease on Broadway*!

you will receive:

an autographed poster (by the entire cast)

and a tour (given by moi) 

where you will see all of the madcap adventures backstage and just may run into mr taylor hicks, mr ace young, miss ashley spencer, mr derek keeling, or any of the other bway celebs depending upon when you schedule it....

bidding starts @ $100.00

simply leave a comment with your bid amount

then,

if you win,

log onto paypal

to secure your donation

deadline will be tuesday evening, september 2 by 7:00 est (grease's curtain time)

come play with us and join this beautiful community of giving!

*tickets not included.... wish i had the funds, but you know you're gonna bring peeps and mama's gotta eat!... but i CAN get you access to our very special house seats. 

my life's soundtrack...

for fall, i'll be keeping warm with 

this brilliant album. 

it is cozy-layered....ness. 

i think i should move to spain

to live with a passionate painter,

paint all day, 

ride my bicycle,

question the nature of love,

and listen to spanish guitar.

see vicky. christina. barcelona. 

buy the cheeky and sensual soundtrack

then

tell me what you think....

i think it's incredibly interesting. 

penelope is the most dazzling thing i've seen on screen in ages.

friends. old and new.

i was happily double booked for lunch today.

my first date was with my wonderful new blends, amy and glen, who i incidentally and unknowingly ran into 2x's @ the OPEN (remember? courtside watching my boyfriend, james blake...)

anywhoo... we celebrated blogs, their 25 yr anniversary (happy happy, congrats congrats!), their charming family, our love of the US OPEN, and the most delicious frozen yogurt in the whole entire world @ bloomingdales, natch. 

such a pleasure to spend time with you both! 

thanks for lunch!

then, 

i met my city brothers, varela (remember him from singing in the singles ward?) and adam (remember he's the deadbeat dad of stella's bf, chewy) for chips and guac at chipotle on their lunch break from rehearsing Oklahoma! for papermill. 

so nice to have a pack of big brothers to watch out for me.... or make fun of my dating stories...

natch, EV.ER.Y. time i go into chipotle, i run into another (or 3 ) fabulous friends

today, it was my mormon bro, jeff who i've known since i was 11. 

he's now rehearsing legally blonde (national tour)!

congrats on the new jobs boys! 

so now we can talk about it....

for those of you early-bird readers, i leaked the ace news pre-maturely. 

it's official now. 

he'll be in the show beginning sept 9.

he's very cool

and an eagle scout!!

welcome, ace of hearts (as taylor calls him)!

not bad!

the weather's here,

wish you were fine!!!!

sN and i have been enjoying these glorious perfect temperature nyc days.

what do you think of her color-free faux-hawk?

come visit!!

have you tried it yet???

dear ones,

while at the OPEN (did i mention i had court side seats?), i discovered a new b & j's flavor which is ONLY being sold in scoop shops. boo.

coconut 7 layer bar
coconut, butterscotch, chocolate chunks, graham crackers, walnuts....

it's a little bit of coconut heaven and a lotta bit like a girl scout samoa bar.

there is a scoop shop on my street.
.i'm in trouble.

step aside roger, i may just have to marry james blake.

last night, i sat COURT SIDE @ the US OPEN.

how?
after hearing it was sold out (it was opening night, after all)
i flirted my way down there

with?
my long lost (to married-land) darling Naomi
who is SUCH a woman of substance, talent, artistry and insight.
it was soo delicious to spend quality time (ALL DAY! hurrah!) with her!

why?
because i am now obsessed (not the first time you're hearing this) with Federer....
and now, after winking at James Blake, i'm pretty sure we're in love.

an event as waspy as the OPEN requires a certain dress code. miss nae nae went above and beyond! while i desplayed my inner wasp with pearls and a belted dress shirt (conditions weren't right for wasp-straight hair, sadly), miss n rocked the MOST FABULOUS ensemble including yellow heels and a verrrry federer-like blazer.
cocky and courtside

mr. james blake.
who doesn't want a harvard tennis pro?!
so well spoken. so darling. such endurance! 5 sets!

my spontaneous partner in crime and me

the cute jersey boys (including my college buddy, longoria) opened the event

then, former US OPEN champions took the stage....

gorgeous roger greeting johnny mac, evert, billy jean, boris becker, etc... while the williams sisters gaze on....

i'm ready to go back to flushing meadows.
and i'm ready for mr blake or mr federer to call me for our dates.

happy birthday to DD!!!

it's the first b-day in many that i haven't spent with precious bff dd.

since she wasn't here to celebrate in style, i won't deny her the famous Hill birthday song:

*happy birthday to you
(sung in it's entirety once-and all verses are to the same tune. original.)

oh somebody has a birthday,
our little Dhyana Mira Satma Prima Charlotte Gueneviere dear.
may Father in Heaven bless you throughout the coming year.

*another verse of happy birthday to you

may your birthday be bright from morning till night.
here's our wish for you dhyana mira satma prima charlotte gueneviere colony:
may the whole day be bright.

*one final verse of happy birthday to you

(note: by this time, the candles have melted and so has the ice cream cake)

dd and me celebrating last year @ rosa mexicana

dd and me on tour in dallas.
i like this pic cause her brows look great and she looks hot while i look.... young.

happy birthday to my

loyal friend,
caring sister,
occasional mom,
part-time therapist,
style adviser,
common sense enforcer,
travel buddy,
doting auntie to SN,
adventure planner,
partner in crime.

love and kisses from the big apple!
xoxo, SN and me*


oh, and it's adam's birthday too.... happy birthday, schmad!!

never promise crazy a baby

i am so pleased that i could provide miss natalie with her new favorite story. i'm also beyond thrilled that she asked me to guest post it!

i'm a guest virgin after all.
...

my husband had a crazy girlfriend he dated in high school for way too long because he was afraid to break up with her.....he has avoided her ever since.

a few months ago crazy came into husband's work, leaving him no choice but a head-on collision with crazy.

it goes like this...
(in a crowded place)

husband: "hey crazy. how's your family?"

crazy: "well... not good."

husband: "uhgh. ohhh. ohhh...." (think grace from ferris bueller's day off)

crazy: "yeah, my brothers are really having a hard time, so... and my parents
don't know what to do, so..."

husband: "oh, okay, so how are you doing?"

crazy: "okay, i guess, kind of... i spent some time this summer in _______.
have you heard of it?"

husband: "uh, no.what is that?"

crazy: "it's the university of utah psychiatric hospital.
i guess i have really bad depression, and i'm kinda
bi-polar,
so.... you know..."

yeah crazy, we know.

editors note: depression=not funny. common. chemical. not "crazy"
airing your dirty laundry in an extremely crowded place full of accidental-listeners=socially awkward/funny
adding "so... you know...."at the end of the depression bomb-news that SHOULD have been shared in private FB catch/up moment= hilarious and "crazy"

i actually had a run-in tonight that illustrates that point....

at an outside nyc bistro (with veryclose nyc tables)

me: hey _______ (distant female acquaintance-who is also a LOUD talker)! how are you?

distant female acquaintance: not great. i have a really annoying yeast infection....so....

me: uh............ well, so sorry..... monistat?

WHAT do you say to that?!


in occasions such as these, when somebody (who ISN'T close to you) asks,

"how are you?"
a simple, "well. you?" may be the most appropriate response.

i've been withholding...

my summer sandals.

the ONLY sans-blister experience of the summer.

steven by steve madden "banglezz " gladiator sandals
(couldn't find em online anymore....good luck)

*i bought them in flesh (as pictured) cause gladiators cut the line of the leg at the ankle thus making my already short gams even shorter....always be wary of an ankle strap..... vanity above all else.

AND,
my (few) celebrity friends (one female and one gay) BOTH adored them at different times.... so i knew they were fab.

find them. buy them.

sorry i withheld.

i won't keep things from you again.

i'm SO excited!

i'm SO.
i'm SO....

scared.

hold onto your hats and glasses,
my good friend Lints (woman of style AND substance, hilarity, jordanian travel tales and the like-originating from the Utah Posse)
will delight us with one of my new favorite stories.

bueno!

if i had the funds and the space,

i'd purchase this cozy and fabulous chair.
i'm obsessed with the print.

don't you want to cozy up and read in it?

but since i'm poor and live in a shoebox,

the closest i'll get is
this pillow.

to anyone who knows a man,

in my opinion, it is COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE
to allow your loved ones to wear short-sleeved dress shirts.

ESPECIALLY FOR CHURCH!

i know it's hot in arizona, it's sweltering in nyc, but come ON!
the extra forearm fabric can't amp up the temp that much.

unless your son is a missionary in the freaking tropics, please encourage him to man up and get a full sleeved non-poly dress shirt?

namaste*

i know better than to be friends

with boys with girlfriends.

introduced meiko to the B6 sorority and they love her as much as i do.

have a listen.

then find her on tour!

have you ever...

had a sobbing meltdown btwn the stacks @ barnes and noble while clutching anna karenina?

apparently the folks at B & N didn't find that unusual in the least...
chocolate mess.
hilarious in 24 hr hindsight.

it was the best of times...

today, i saw bff brandi become a broadway star!

see her in
tale of two cities.

she's brilliant.
such friend pride.
congrats, b!

.om.

i'd show you what i bought, but you may be getting it as a gift.....
. hurry. hurry.

i'm sort of obsessed

with
estelle.

hip hop?
rap?
reggae?
soul?
r&b?
motown?

yes.


download the ENTIRE album.
specially her duets with kanye and john legend

i'm jealous of her louboutins.

i heart acupuncture.

you should too.

more info here

won't you meet my neighbors?

kristan is the hair genius responsible for this gorgeous shoot
www.kristanserafino.com

while i am incredibly blessed to be so close to so many neighbors in my building,
i count my lucky stars every day for
doug, kristan & ringy!!

in a hurried and anonymous city, i have been gifted these three angel neighbors who watch over stellita and me.

hey, it's hard to be a single-parent to a high energy nugget.
so many nights/week, kris or doug will come up to my messy pad (while mommy's working) retrieve SN and allow her to chew their wall corners and exhaust herself playing with her bff ringy nugget (you should see them play! it's priceless) instead of sitting in her bathroom-prison.

then, i'll come home to retrieve SN, drink their sparkling water, eat their m&m's, regale my latest dating mishaps, and generally abuse their kindness and friendship.

.thank you. thank you. thank you.

did i mention that they also set me up on one of the most disastrous dates of all time?

miss ringlet in one of mommy's wigs

it's a birthday!!

ti-ti's actual one year old b-day is tuesday (grease's opening night),
but we celebrated early and in in high fashion
on saturday morning @ the pier 84 dog park.

our darling, SN was in quite a mood. always the social butterfly, she refused to play with any of her besties, only ate baked sweet potato fries, CRIED at one point (for no apparent reason), and spent the rest of her party laying her head on my shoulder. v.v. strange.
maybe she had "party anxiety." i always get weepy and anxious that nobody will show up/nobody will have fun/nobody likes me before i throw a fiesta.
then i'll feel stupid cause i spent so much time/energy/effort on a party nobody wants. ...
do you feel that way?

but her friends attended!
and played!
and ate!
and had a grand time!!

hell, it's her party and she can cry if she wants to....

the bday cake
puppy cupcake cookies
(which SN didn't even like-since WHEN does she refuse food?!)

parents chat while the nuggets play

miss abbie and miss laura nosh on H & H bagels + fruit
such good friends to celebrate with ti ti- even sans puppitas of their own!

note: the following photos are courtesy of celebrity hair-stylist, dear friend, and ringlet's mommy, kristan serafino

dr dan and SN's new friend sophie who gave her the most fabulous toys and treats

neighbors michael and brutus

stellie's bff ringlet and her true love, brutus.

the birthday girl before she threw her tantrum.

best friend forever ringlet

the littles

God loves a terrier
miss sophie is a norwich terrier
(her daddy bought her because of "winkie" on best in show)

stellie is a real new yorker (not like cousin molly's rasist water dog only fiesta):

her bff, ringy is asian (AND an overachiever, natch)
her new friend, sophie, is a hipster from chelsea
her buddy is brutus, the big protector of the neighborhood
her absent bff, annie was too white and prissy to get up at such an early hour.
(she's from battery park, you see)
and
her boyfriend, chewy (chewbaca) , a black yorkie from harlem, STOOD HER UP, natch.

maybe that's why miss SN was so morose.

thank you for coming, pups and parents!!!
xoxo . stellie .

if i fancied a man....

who owned a car,
i would suggest an east cost road trip to find the world's (ok, east's) best ice cream.

bff DD referred me to this handy roadside food guide

from my brief stint @ yale, i developed a HEALTHY addiction to Ashley's coffee/oreo ice cream.

heaven.

does anybody know of such an adventurous/ice cream loving/car acquiring man?

direct him here.

go nasty!!!

thrilled for nastia
thrilled for shawn

go team usa!!!

pretty sure i'll never sleep.