iLemon

I'm on the top floor of the Mac store on 9th Ave and 14th St. I'm killing time with Husband and Sister while we wait for a genius to become available.

My sister has been using a BlackBerry for the last 6 years. She was the first person I knew who owned a smart phone. My sister is the type of person who is loyal when she likes a brand. She has been using Canon Elf cameras since the ancient times when they used film. This month something amazing happened. She got an iPhone.

Her first impressions were, let's say, not good. "How do I cut and paste on this thing?!?" To which Husband (the iPhone user) replied, "um, yah, you can't. Not yet." He's the eternal iOptimist. Then she asked, "how do I search for a phrase in my emails?" "You can't do that either," Husband replied. My sister then said, "were they asleep at Apple?"

What happens next is really bad so skip the next part if you're a Apple "fanboy/girl" prone to queasiness. Her calls started failing. Once in a while, and now every single call. She tried making a restaurant reservation and had to call them 27 times, one word at a time. She also noticed her battery life was unusually short. Last but not least, the speed was at a crawl and then froze several times.

Now she's at the genius bar getting it swapped out. Her phone will be replaced but I don't know if her faith in the iPhone will ever be restored.

New York daily, part 2

I finally have a moment to recap the rest of my trip. Getting back to "real" life in Toronto has been busy so cut me some slack!

Monday night: Lower East Side.
Shang Chinese Restaurant by Toronto chef Susur Lee.
Stanton Social for a drink.

Tuesday: Upper East Side.
Got my eyebrows threaded while my sister got her hair did.
Had a bite at Hot and Crusty. My fave bagel place in NYC.
Mani /Pedi - black nailpolish on toes, translucent pink on fingers.
Kinkos to get business cards printed for sis.
Kate's Paperie - beautiful stationary for the office in our company color.
Really mean taxi driver - so funny.

Tuesday night:
Sister went to work function, I went to Whole Foods (saw Seven Weber).
The W Hotel Store - got two little Jonathan Adler ceramic vases (photo below), a wrap cardigan, Hanky Panky undies and pink "Love Quotes" scarf.
Wednesday: Flatiron district.
Guest on The 404.
Walked by the Shake Shack where they're famous for their long lines. (photo below: Shake Shack is on the left, the line snakes to the right.)
Met up with sister, walked by Baked by Melissa and bought a $1 cupcake.... the size of my thumbnail, or as my sister said, the size of a popcorn kernel. (photo below)
Wednesday night: Gramercy.
The Moth with sister and her 2 roommates. TWO MORE CELEB SIGHTINGS!!
- Lorraine Bracco, aka Dr. Jennifer Melfi from The Sopranos and
- Parker Posey, aka KitLex Luthor's girlfriend from Batman Returns (2006)
Gramercy Tavern Restaurant for dinner

Thursday: Chelsea/Meatpacking/West Village.
Bleeker Street pizza - award winning but not my favorite. The crust was too thin and crispy... like a dry cracker. Majestic still my fav.
Art Galleries at 529 West 20th St. - saw my favorite artist, Marco Maggi at Jose Bienvenue Gallery. Also saw a fantastic photographer, Corey Arnold at Sara Tecchia Gallery. (photo below is my favorite photo from Corey Arnold's show... I want it!)
Delicious canollis from Rocco's Pastry Shop - took a dozen back to Toronto.
Louboutin shoes - drooled over shoes. I'm an 8.5 , hint, hint.
Uminov Guitar store - bought some picks for my guitar teacher, one of my employees who plays guitar and me.


Back to Toronto!

New York daily

To finish off Sunday...
After parting with Ralph, I took a taxi from Newark to Tribeca. It cost $60 after adding tolls and tip. Next time I'll take the train.

After seeing my sis and meeting her new roommates, we went to Bouley Bakery for a snack. I had some fancy macaroni and cheese and for dessert, a chocolate croissant and a green pistachio macaroon. Can you tell I was in need of serious comfort food?

Later that night we got dressed up and went to our 9:30pm reservation at Megu. We're taking full advantage of Restaurant Week here in NYC when normally out of reach restaurants put out a prix fixe menu for just $35/person. It's similar to Toronto's Winterlicious (& Summerlicious) event.

Monday (today):
Sister got a call from her boss - had to do some work this morning. I got a call from Husband at the office - everything was falling apart without me there. Actually, he just needed me to make a couple files and email them off. I also bought Replay Media Catcher for $30 to try recording the live streaming video off of Ustream.tv. I would like to record the preshow when I'm on the 404. Unfortunately, Replay Media Catcher is a piece of shit. This is the second time buying the software - the first time was back in October for my first 404 appearance and I got a refund. I downloaded it again thinking they may have had time to work out the bugs. We'll see if tech support replies to my email. You'd think it wouldn't be so complicated.

We walked over to Century 21 (financial district), tried on some clothes and left with Jelly Belly's. Go figure.

You can't be in New York without having a daily greesy slice. My long standing favorite is Majestic Pizza . I used to only get one slice per trip but now that my sister has moved to Tribeca, we're just a couple blocks away. I'll tell you right now, I will be eating Majestic Pizza till my flight leaves.

I'm best friends with Ralph Fiennes

So, yah, I'm pretty good friends with Ralph Fiennes. And by good friends I mean, we were on the same flight. He's super good-looking in person. I gave him a warm smile followed by a nod. This simple gesture said to Ralph, "I know who you are, I appreciate your work, you are very handsome and I respect your personal space." I'm sure he got all that - I could tell.
The last movie I saw with my close buddy Ralph was the Constant Gardener. As you may know, I don't spend much time reviewing movies on this blog. However, there just so happens to be an entire entry in November completely devoted to reviewing a deserving movie... The Constant Gardener. If you didn't read the review, you can click here to see it. But I wouldn't bother. The details are not important. The fact is, I wrote a review about it. Really, don't read the entry... especially if you're name is Ralph Fiennes.
Anyway, I'm in New York now so stay posted...

Debbie in LosAngeles, continued

Friday, January 16
- the usual (do I even need to tell you at this point? We are creatures of habit.)
- started to drive without the GPS... Santa Monica, Venice Beach (got out and walked barefoot along the beach), Merina Del Ray, LAX (not on purpose), Manhattan Beach, and finally 3rd Street Promenade where we sat down for an early dinner at Bravo Cucina. My meal came with a side salad and the dressing was so good that I inhaled all the greens on my plate before I even tasted my main dish. It was herby and incredibly flavourful. Light yet creamy. If they sold it, I would have bought a bottle. The waiter was kind enough to give me a small container to bring home to my sister.
- nap, put boys to bed, cheese plate with the adults and a movie, laptop, bed.

"But all the kids in my class are nose-pickers!"
"One kiss is a hundred hugs... and a hug is 2... actually, a hug is 51 minus 2."
"What's a googleplex plus infinity?"
- Nephew "O"

Debbie in Toronto -> Debbie in LosAngeles

Debbie in Los Angeles wears her sunglasses a lot more. It's literally been some of the coldest days in Toronto this week (-16C = 3F) and I walked around all day here in a white tank and flip flops. Ok, I was accessorized L.A. style with a strategic scarf, designer jeans and large funky ring so don't go thinking I'm a big shlumpadinka with "tourist" across my forehead. (I just got a visual that I had to clear up for you) :)

I'd like to use this blog as a supplement to my insufficient memory, so I will track Husband and I's trip with a daily wrap-up on where I went and did, possibly ending with a meaningful quote from either my 5 or 2 year old nephew.


Sunday, Jan 11: Departure Day
- Went to the office one last time before escaping.
- Drove to Park&Fly and shared a Twix with Husband while waiting for the shuttle to take us to the terminal. (Yes, chocolate bars are important enough to make it into my journal)
- Did a self check-in with American Airlines only to find that we had to pay $16 per check-in bag!!! 2 bags = 32 big ones. That gets added to: $404 airfare plus $111 taxes per person = $515 x 2 tickets = $1030 on our Visa
- Left perfectly on time and arrived perfectly on time.
- Went to pick up our rental car from Avis. The first they gave us was a Pontiac G6. It was nice but our gps mount was not compatible with the air vent panel thingies so we got the Dodge Caliber. Our gps works in this one but what a terrible car! No wonder American car companies are going down the tubes! I can't imagine anyone taking this car for a spin and saying, "now this car makes me feel like a king!"
- Drove to my sister's house in West Hollywood, jumped around with excitement to see not only my sister and brother-in-law that live here but also my other sister visiting from New York.
- ate leftovers, went to sleep.

Monday, Jan 12
- the Grove for bagels and coffee from Coffee Bean
- went to Trader Joe's to pick up groceries for Husband to cook his delicious shrimp pasta. It was too busy so we went across the street to Ralph's. A lemon in Toronto is 25 cents. At Ralph's in West Hollywood it's $1.49. Husband went to the cash register and bent over.
- finally saw 5yr old nephew "O" after school and got a big hug
- ate delicious meal

Tuesday, Jan 13
- slept in and went to Coffee Bean for bagels and coffee
- was joined by both sisters and just as we settled into a nice seat outside, a nice gentleman off his meds tried breaking the front glass of the store with the table he was sitting at. The L.A.P.D. took unnervingly long to get there and eventually took care of the situation.
- we sat there for a long while chatting and enjoying each others company
- shopped on Rodeo but didn't find anything buy-worthy. Gave up on clothes and went into a bunch of furniture/decor stores including Fendi, Kartell and White Orchid.
- babysitter arrived and we all went out to a hot restaurant named "Mark's" for dinner. Turned out that it is a tres gay spot and that night was particularly busy because it was a "gay mixer". Had a great meal and great time - lots of laughs. Husband told stories of his rebellious youth that thoroughly entertained us.
- visited the condo my L.A. sister is moving into this week with her family. Actually, the main reason we're here at this particular time is to help with the move.
- had a long heart-to-heart convo with N.Y. sister till the wee hours

Wednesday, Jan 14
- Husband went to a business meeting in Burbank
- hung out with N.Y. sister till we were joined by L.A. sister and went to Terroni for lunch (a Torontonian restaurant with a new location right in my sister's neighbourhood - cool huh? Doing very well, by the way) . Husband joined us and when he sat down he announced that he was ready to move here. It hit him while he was driving with the windows down and the sun in his face that it was JANUARY.
- picked up little nephew "C" and went for milkshakes at Millions of Milkshakes
- sang the boys to bed
- took N.Y. sister to the airport :( boooooo
- ordered take-out sushi, stuffed ourselves and went to shluf (sleep)

Thursday, Jan 15
- The usual... long stroll to the Grove to get toasted Jalapeno Cheddar bagels and coffee. The girl now knows us and says she will save our favorite bagels for when we come back tomorrow.
- L.A. sister received a lewd and totally hilarious gesture from a man on the street. It can be interpreted as his appreciation for her voluptuous boobs. lol
- walked back home and stopped for a 7-11 slushy on the way
- Drove through the hills. Saw an incredible view and took a picture. I'll upload it from my camera when I get back.
- visited my brother-in-law's plastic surgery office and got a couple not-so-beautiful beauty marks lopped off. Two on me and two on Husband. We feel much lighter now.
- Trader Joe's for groceries to make chicken and shrimp fried rice. I must say, grocery stores are so much more beautiful and well maintained here than at home. I also love the idea of eating fruits all year round that don't have to travel half way around the earth to get to your table.
- Husband cooked up some dinner while L.A. sister and I sang the boys to bed.
- ate, watched tv, worked on laptop... GOODNIGHT!

"I'm older than my brother which means I'm going to get freckles first. I mean, wrinkles."
- Nephew "O"