Dawn at Oquaga Lake... Life is hard.

Fall returns!  I don’t know about you folks, but I am feeling an urgent need to live it up, as I fear that this may be the last of it that we get.  Last week’s sojourn in late November was in no way enjoyable.  If any of you haven’t made it out of the city for a little fall color yet, here’s a little vicarious foliage for you with the second half of my trip to the Catskills.

After our trip to Storm King, we drove west to Deposit, New York, to stay at the Chestnut Inn at Oquaga Lake.  If you’re looking for a weekend getaway with your honey, I can’t say enough nice things about the Chestnut Inn.  It was, quite frankly, so romantic that the boy and I started speculating on the things that would have to happen next if it was a movie.  You know, tragic misunderstanding — one of us diagnosed with terminal illness — we catch Legionnaire’s Disease from the two-person jacuzzi tub.  (On second thought, that last would be more of a slapstick comedy.)  Deposit’s a bit out of the way (it was about two hours from Storm King), but well worth the trip.

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Storm King Art Center in Mountainville, NY!

Let’s hear it for fall!  Normally, I am a reluctant connoisseur of autumn. Yes, fall is great,but I am not one of those people who get really sick of light summer textiles before, say, November.  More importantly, fall also heralds the onset of winter, which I hate with a burning passion.  This year, though, I am enjoying it the hilt despite today’s awful East Coast drizzle.  Although I’ve done the fall foliage thing in New England and the Midwest in prior years, this last weekend was my first chance to explore the local resources during a trip to the Catskills.  Here are some of the highlights of our trip for folks looking to get out of the city this fall.

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The National Aqarium on Baltimore's inner harbor.

Need a summer activity that’ll keep you off the beach long enough for your sunburn from this weekend’s barbecues to fade? This is the perfect time of year to visit the aquarium. Don’t ask me why this strikes me as a summer activity; while most aquaria admittedly have at least one or two open areas somewhere, the vast majority of their exhibits are in pleasantly climate-controlled indoor spaces that’d be just as nice during January.  Never mind that. It doesn’t matter why this is a summer activity to me.  It just is.  And tell the truth — as the weather heats up, doesn’t spending some time indoors surrounded by thousands of gallons of water sound pretty nice?

While admittedly the New York Aquarium is not one of the country’s most impressive aquaria (although the walruses are worth the admission price all by themselves), New Yorkers need not despair; great aquaria are only a road trip away. And for our friends down the mid-Atlantic? The National Aquarium in Baltimore makes Baltimore worth the trip all by itself.  (Although you shouldn’t miss the opportunity for a good crabcake while you’re in town.  My love for sea life is, um, many-faceted.)

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Ah toiletries, sweet, sweet, toiletries...

Hello, my name is Emma, and I’m a Hotel Toiletries Thief.  This is how I would have introduced myself had there ever existed a Hotel Toiletries Thief Group.  You see, I am That Girl. When I check into my hotel and get to my room, I bee-line straight for the bathroom.  Why?  Because I want to see what’s there!  To me, it’s like Christmas.  I go in there and if the products are really good, my eyes light up, a broad smile comes to my face and then… and then I hoard.  Having just completed a 3 week vacation in Japan and Singapore, I am still on a toiletries high.  At the Park Hyatt in Tokyo they had Aesop Toiletries. At the Shangri-La, it was L’Occitane to include full sized bath soaps! I like to justify my habit by saying that I like to ride my bike to work so those lighter toiletries are fantastic.  And why am I now gleefully confessing my obsession?  Click on the jump to find out… read more »

I know I’m delinquent with a couple of post (I’m looking at you, half-written SPF post), so I just want to apologize for the delay.My much anticipated move has been a bit, er, bumpy. In addition to the normal headaches of moving, I lost a beloved pet to heart failure in the UHaul on the way here.  So, yeah, traumatic move.

That aside, my Internet only got connected late last night, but I’m still drowning in boxes, UHaul’s own screw ups (never let them put a hand truck rental on a separate contract from the truck) and just random “get the house set up” nonsense.

I’ll be posting more soon, I promise.

The view of NYC from my 'hood

For the past three years, I’ve lived in an amazing area of Hudson County, NJ.  Alas, my time here has come to an end.

A variety of reasons has fueled the decision to pack it up and move, but the decision wasn’t an easy one.  I’ve come to love my little town within a big city, and have truly made this little slice of New York my home.  I’m leaving behind a lot of people whom I’ve grown very close to, people who’ve not only seen me through some of the toughest times of my life (including one memorable summer which brought the death of a family member, identity theft, a bad breakup and my ex’s subsequent decision to try his hand at a bit of stalking), but have also been right by my side through some very fun moments.

I’d rather not post publicly where I’m headed to (so if you’re a friend of family member, please don’t comment on it); that said, it’s going to be an interesting and exciting move.  I’m looking forward to it, even as I’m a bit sad to see this chapter of my life come to a close.  I’ll be back in NYC regularly, which I think is helping soothe my sadness.

That said, my posting has been rather light this week, as I’ve been dealing with utility issues, my current landlord and packing.  My Internet is getting turned off tomorrow afternoon, but I hope to be back and posting like normal by Monday. As always, I have a LOT to say (including a couple posts on Gym Bag Essentials and Navigating The SPF Aisle). 

Proving once again that science is a VITAL part of our lives, a crackpot team of researchers has determined which cities are the most cat-friendly (if you’re keeping score, they would be: Tampa, Phoenix, San Francisco, Portland (Oregon), Denver, Boston, Seattle, San Diego, Atlanta, and Minneapolis).

But the real breakthrough of this study?  Finally putting to bed, once and for all, the myth of the unmarried cat lady (I told you it was a myth, Grandma!).  Turns out, there’s a higher percentage of unmarried men in these cities than unmarried women.

Turns out, the infamous “cat ladies” actually have their pick of the litter:

Who's In?

Are you going to be in the UK in August?  Looking for a reason to be?  Like concerts?  Look no further… I’ve got my tickets for the Hyland’s Park location.   Tickets are sold out if you try to buy them alone.  But, buy them with a “coach” ticket, aka bus ticket, and you can still get in.  I’ll be the one screaming like a 16 year old girl, jumping like a Mexican jumping bean, with a beer in one hand and a camera (that won’t get any clear shots - ref: jumping bean) in the other…

The Good Guys

Ah, the sun.  My trip to St. Lucia was the reason I spent the last 2 months going to the tanning salon.  The first month I only went once a week for 10 minutes, I bumped it up to 12 minutes by the second month.  Growing up in Southern California I was taught to abhor the “fake and bake” in favor of the real thing.  That’s all well and good when the “real thing” happens most months of the year.  However, desperate times call for desperate measures.  Let me insert here that I am well aware of the dangers of tanning. I am also keenly conscious of the “first burn of the summer” phenomenon.   For those of you unaware of this event, it is the belief that one must get an initial, all body burn, in order to tan the rest of the summer.  Don’t ask me why, it was just a commonly accepted fact growing up on the beaches of So Cal.  So, thinking that a Caribbean “first burn” would be worse than a few months getting my skin used to fake rays, I chose the latter.  Having only done carry-on luggage for our flights, we were unable to bring large amounts of sun screen and figured we would just buy it at the resort…which we did… for $17 dollars a can.  I picked a Banana Boat dry oil aerosol spray (this was something new I hadn’t seen before) in SPF 8.  I have to admit that buying SPF 8 is a new thing to me.  My entire life I’ve been a 6 kind of girl, but, being told that the Caribbean sun is hotter, I chose a higher SPF.  The aerosol can was terrific.  I could easily spray my back and it was easy to rub in.  I did, however, use Neutrogena’s Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch Sunblock SPF 30 on my face (which luckily fell just under 3oz and thus was able to make the journey with me).  After all, one must protect oneself from wrinkles.  The Banana Boat ran out after two days.  On the third day I decided to buy a local brand ($10 vice $17), and an SPF 15 at that!  I did this mostly to make my husband happy who frowned every time I sprayed my SPF 8 on.  Never has that old phrase “you get what you pay for” been more accurate.  The Banana Boat 8 was great!  It wasn’t oily, it went on evenly, and I never burned; just tanned after spending all day in the sun!  The local brand 15, however… Not so great.  It left a bizarre white film all over me and after two hours I was burned to a crisp.  Me = not happy.  I ended up retiring to the room early and proceeded to spend the next 18 hours rubbing aloe vera gel all over.  Grrr…. My lesson learned?  Spend the extra dollars on a name brand that you recognize, it just may save your skin…

As summer draws closer, some of you may be thinking of trips to Europe.  If so, here are some tips on airfares to Europe and within Europe.    read more »