No Fact Checkers At The Economist?

Oh dear. The Economist seems to think that Lionel Richie wrote "I Just Called To Say I Love You," even though it is well documented that Stevie Wonder wrote and produced it.

New Hair!

I love a real haircut. This afternoon I took off numerous inches and messed with the color of a bit. The Davidov Salon on 36th Street and Second Avenue may not have big name stylists, but for $100 they do an incredible cut and color. I'll never understand women who are afraid to do anything new with their hair. There are so many possibilities!

Also: Discovered the photo booth features on my computer.

Stormy!


Chic and French!


New York, New York!


Also: The definition of irony = Despite having run two half marathons, a 10K and two four mile races over the past month, today I pulled a muscle in my back while doing some burpee jumps in a weights class I've taken plenty of times. I am convalescing on my couch with F. Scott Fitzgerald's This Side Of Paradise.

Good Advice

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Found this on Pinterist. Would love to know if the little girl actually knows what a Birkin bag is. Amazing idea for a Halloween costume.

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I Clearly Missed My Calling To Be A Civil Engineer

I made this kick ass ramp in pre-school today. The little boys loved it. Although to truly achieve my toy car ramp vision I will need more than a basic Mega Blocks set.

Four Miles Cleared in 36:48!!

...totally a personal best. I bet it would have been even quicker if I could have gotten around the slow, fat guys in front of me who didn't get the memo that you sprint the stretch before the finish line. Nevertheless, an awesome time. Last year I did this same race and finished in 39:13. What a difference a year makes.

I am slated for one more race, a 10K, in two weeks, and that may be it for a while, since many of the May and June races are already full. Boo.

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Weekend Amusements

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The rain is coming this weekend! Here are a few things to check out if you're cooped up inside.

The Huffington Post's amazing series on wounded veterans. Do not miss this. It just won a Pulitzer!

Junot Diaz's short fiction in this week's New Yorker.

Everyone's favorite guilty pleasure, Revenge, is back. Watch all the episodes online.

The 40 Year Itch

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I don't often post single articles (unless they're mine) but this piece by Adam Gopnik is this week's New Yorker offers a compelling argument about why certain nostalgic eras appeal to the masses. And why Mad Men has such a hold on our fascination.

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A Few From The Weekend

What a great weekend. Gorgeous weather and lots to do.

First things first: I needed a new jogger bra for that half marathon that I ran on Sunday. I ventured for the first time ever into Lululemon in Union Square and picked up the Ta Ta Tamer (it's really called that) for $58. To test it, they make you jump on a trampoline. Utter genius.

Since a good jog bra is very hard to find, consider this a PSA -- and a ringing endorsement -- for the Ta Ta Tamer. Worth every penny.


These two were inseparable, as is their way on the weekends. I might as well not exist when they are up to their shenanigans.


I got a shrimp burrito from Paty's Taco. And it was right.


A nice sentiment.


Erin Duffy, author of Bond Girl, came to Sunday Funday book club. I was still very sore from running 13.1 miles just hours earlier, but she was hysterical.

Post Half Marathon!

The official time is 2:22. It's pretty lousy but two and a quarter loops of Central Park is not for the faint of heart. I felt as if I was running uphill for two hours straight. And the New York Roadrunners, always the jokesters, put the finish line at the top of a hill.

TR's Weekend To Do List

Another Weekend, Another Half Marathon

You'd think I'd be thinner. Ready for two loops of Central Park first thing Sunday morning.

The expo on 18th Street where I picked up the number was awesome. Seriously great swag.



I think I do these races for the goody bags. I could live off all the energy bars I picked up.

War Torn

This is a few months old, but I just stumbled across it on You Tube. I've been quite interested lately in Iraq and Afghanistan veteran stories. This one is done quite well, and the photography is beautiful.

Music And Senior Citizens

This video shows how music brings life back into a very old man at a nursing home. Of course, he says his favorite artist is Cab Calloway. How could that not perk you up?

Required Reading?

Found this in the laundry room this morning. After five years of blogging for The Huffington Post, maybe I should read it?

Easter And The Abandoned Mental Hospital

After dinner yesterday afternoon we all went for a walk and ended up at the old Essex County Mental Hospital, which is also known as Overbrook Hospital. It's been closed for about 10 years but is super creepy. You can walk around the spacious grounds, which were built in the early 1900s and even get inside with very little difficulty. (There's actually an open door in one building.)

Weather and time has taken a slight toll on the place, but it's intact. I had the wrong shoes and dress on to really scurry about inside, but there's plenty of stuff online.


I took about 140 photos in my Flickr set. Below are a few of my favorites.

The exterior


Lovely spot for a picnic


A rec room


A long hallway


The bulletin boards were still up


These nature murals were in a few rooms


It was a perfect day to photograph an old nut hut.


Even the curtains were still up.


What's for lunch?


Back of the building.


On a back porch.


Back porch


Old pergola

Scotland Run 10K! Finished in 59:38

It's better than my time from 2008 (1:00; 31) and 2007 (1:02:33) and also a personal best for a 10K. Nevertheless, I need to get the lead out. There's no reason I can't be in the 55:00 -57:00 range.

I've been getting some craptastic numbers for races, and I think if I were further up in the corrals I wouldn't get held back by all the slowpokes. And trust me, there are a lot of them. For the half marathon on April 15th I'm going to sneak up a bit and see how that affects my time.

Happy Easter!

It's a sunny Friday here in Manhattan. Everyone seems to be off from work because the gym and the sushi joints are filled. (Fish of Friday is di rigeur on a Holy Day of Obligation.)

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How Wedding Dresses Are Marked Up

This is a great video about the mark ups on wedding dresses. I am slightly flumoxxed, however, by this young woman's shock at how much fabric and labor cost in China. She paid $2700 for a wedding dress -- which is a deal in most circles -- and yet she feels ripped off because the dress only cost roughly $700 to make. It's almost as if she missed the memo that we live in a capitalistic society. Everything has a mark up. You either make the dress yourself or get the best deal you can. No one is going to sell it at cost.

Connected, But Alone

She makes so many good points.

Colon Cancer Four Miler -- Done! In 37:02!! A Personal Best!

Some people sleep in on a Sunday. I like to do a quick hop around Central Park.

I've done this race before, but the last time I did it it was freezing outside. Today was perfect weather. But the inflatable colon was there. Thanks goodness.

A bit of colon cancer trivia: Audrey Hepburn died of it (more specifically, appendiceal cancer). You can learn more about the disease here.