let them eat carrot cake

A weekend filled with family, the East Coast, hometown friends, lots of white wine (on the rocks, of course), my awesome boyfriend, and wedding festivities is always a recipe for ridiculous good times. I'm especially happy that we got to spend a little downtime with Michelle and Jay pre- and post-wedding at their home in Waltham.... and that my toast went well! I got to meet Erin's lil daughter, Ellery, and strut down the aisle to "The Sopranos" theme song. I also don't want to discount the rehearsal dinner, a wedding pre-game if I ever saw one.

lady fitness

I love the gym but I hate my gym, Epicenter. My friend Jess, who clocked some serious time there, called it the Crapicenter. They post flyers for discount smoothies and protein powder to anything that isn't moving, they recently cleared out a perfectly good circuit training room for conference tables and chairs, and this week, the showers ran out of water. Yep. It's dirt cheap ($27/month) but who cares. You get what you pay for. It's high time I switch to the nicer gym down the street. Let's take a walk down fitness memory lane, shall we?

1986- Asked for "Get in Shap Girl" for Christmas, a kit that included a jump rope, sweat band, and probably 1 lb weights...(I think I meant "Shape")

1997- Worked out to Cindy Crawford's "Shape Your Body" workout in my parents' den. What? You think it's weird Cindy is wearing a leotard on a towel in the tundra?

1998- Jazzersize with my mom, hells yeah. I was the youngest lady there by 20 years.

1999- I obviously did not go to the gym this year because I had a beer face like you wouldn't belieeeeeve. Thanks, Ireland!

2000- My first gym membership at an ALL women's gym in Boston. I had little income and all I could afford was the student plan. I could only go from like, 9-12 noon and 8-11pm. Plus I had to take two trains to get there. But I was dedicated. Or maybe I just didn't have any friends?

2002- My boss' brother owned a Gold's Gym outside of Boston and he gave me a free membership. Totally inconvenient but worth it.

2003- Erin and I signed up for Curves with the older Greek ladies in Astoria. I think I quit after Erin lost all this weight and I didn't! (I have an awesome Curves comic somewhere....)

2004- No money in NYC= Lucille Roberts, ghetto gym for the Queens girls. They talked on their cell phones while on the elliptical machines. True fact.


2006- Decided to ditch the ghetto gym and do push-ups, pull-ups, squats, run on my own. Best. Workouts. Ever!

2008- Running. And boot camp. And Crapicenter. It's time to go get my free one week trial at All Star Fitness.

Tap dancing with Obama

This is an exciting week because it's almost time for Michelle's wedding. It's a long time coming and we're really getting down the brass tacks. At this point, the thought "Oh yeah, that event way off in the distance will be fun" has been replaced with "What kind of hosiery can I wear? Dave, those shoes look like they're from 2001", and "I really should write that toast". Yesterday after considerable proscratination we made a trip downtown to Macy's for some good old fashioned men's shopping. He got some suit pants and then we ventured to the shoe department. Honestly, I feel bad for men's shoe designers. Even the shoes that look good are big and long and....mannish! Dave tried on a couple; one pair was so shiny they could pass for tap shoes. Yep, that's my boyfriend, Sammy Davis Jr.

Speaking of black men who are awesome, YAY Obama. Our Obama shirts arrived the day of the election, a good omen that helped allay my fears. I realize he's just one man, but I feel so proud and relieved that he won. We drank champagne with friends to celebrate a rejuvenated sense of American pride and, finally, a glimmer of hope.