Well, it has been a week since I've updated so I suppose it is time I do so. Last weekend I went up to Stamford and 

had a great time hanging out with friends. On Saturday we went to the Woodbury Common outlet mall where I bought a couple of things. Not too many thankfully. The 

best thing I got was this strapless dress from Ann Taylor. Mine however is blue with white stripes. Now I just need to get a strapless bra and i'll be all set to actually wear it. I also got 3 tops.. but since factory stores don't really have websites i won't post pics.

Then on Sunday I hosted a game night at my place. We ended up having about 8 people attend. It was a lot of fun! We played Celebrity, Cranium and Apples to Apples.. and then ended the night with a game of Settlers of Catan. Good times!

What else? This week on Wednesday I went to the Mets game with 2 friends. I had a great time! Sadly the Padres did win.. but the game was fun none the less. Also, Blue Smoke is delicious and their Salty Peanut Jalapeno Dark Chocolate bar was AMAZEBALLS. Seriously.

The steady stream of house guests has somewhat tapered off, although a friend will crash at my place tomorrow after we see Garfunkel and Oats perform at a comedy club (one of the girls is Gooch from Scrubs). My aunt and uncle will also be in town this weekend so somewhere we'll get together for a meal or something too. Other than that? Not too many plans... a week from today my sister arrives and I really REALLY cannot wait for that. We're going to have a blast!

Hmm, that reminds me, I should look into tickets for concerts/games when she is in town. Alright, time to do that and then shut down the computer and head out for the weekend. I cannot believe i've been (not) working on this post all day and it still doesn't even really say anything. Oh well.

ps. Jersey Shore is back! woohoo! Also, despite disliking Rachel I was very happy with the BB13 twist and Lawon is an idiot. Also, tonight I will watch the finale of SYTYCD. Is anyone watching Bachelor Pad? My coworker saw JP at Duane Reade here in the city. He was surrounded by papparazzi. Pretty funny/sad. Sort of like THIS. Happy weekend! Hey Ya!  (<--click if you want to laugh)

Ugh, this is the 2nd time this week that Google Chrome has crashed and thus erased most of the blog I wrote. LAME! Let me see what I can reconstruct here:

First off, today I am showered and so fresh and so clean Just making sure everyone knows that what happened Wednesday was out of the norm for me. I'm not usually stinky and gross. haha.

So Obama turns 50, the market takes a dive, and the situation smushed snooki? Yesterday was pretty major, I don't know if I'm ready for today yet.

Today has thus far involved opening the door over my foot thus scratching it. Also it has been a day of receiving various messages from friends about their failing or failed relationships. I heart my friends.. I hope they are all okay! I stupidly sent a message that was intended for one person to about 10 on FB (thankfully it didn't really matter much but still silly) and my cousin just called to tell me his car (parked near my house) may have been towed. 

On the brighter side, this week has involved some good news. My landlord called and asked me if I am still living alone. I told him I am and so he told me he will not raise the rent this year again as long as it is just me paying rent. WOOHOO! Also, I was informed this week that before September 1st I will be receiving a raise at work. I don't know the details yet but I'm hopeful that it will actually happen this time.. we'll see. It's been mentioned since late May now so who knows. My last one was in February so i'm not really due for one. I'll obviously take whatever comes my way though. Fingers crossed.

This afternoon after work I will be heading up to Stamford for a fun night with friends (and a train ride with another friend to get there). Tomorrow will be spent at Woodbury Commons (outlets!) and then on Sunday I have a slew of people coming over to play games in the afternoon. I wanted to invite @Coffeebee this time too, but there are already about 10 people coming so it will likely be quite crowded. I stuck with just locals this time around. Besides celebrity, pictionary, Apples to Apples or Wii i'm not too sure what we'll play. It will be a full house.

In the mean time Hotel Naomi continues in full force. My cousin and his gf are crashing for a couple of days while they try to find roommies and get their first NYC apartment all set up. Kinda makes me want to be 22 again too. 

Random tangent: I heart Spotify.

So every morning as I walk to the office I cross a busy intersection where there is always the same lady directing traffic. However, she does this with dainty ballerina dance moves. Occasionally she throws in a curtsy or a bow. She usually stands in ballet's 3rd position and she flails a lot. Part of me wonders whether she thinks she's directing an orchestra or something.
   

I have tried a couple of times to snap a picture of her (cause she honestly makes me giggle every time) however none of the pics show the dance moves that she performs. One day I will get it just right. Ultimately she looks something like this:

It's the white gloves that make her Mickey. Perhaps she watched too much Fantasia as a kid? Who knows. 

I have a new best friend. He's two (almost 3). Yesterday we hung out for a while repeatedly building and then breaking a Brio train track bridge and making the (occasionally flying) train cross the (mostly broken) bridge. Good times! We also played with the ball for a while, oh and there was a fish too.. the fish kept trying to swim in his ear. He giggled and it was so cute! I realized while playing with my new bestie though that if I ever have kids they will surely be messed up! I spend so much time with little ones joking about how inanimate objects have feelings or thoughts.. As long as they are not my children though I remain convinced that there is nothing funnier than a slightly confused toddler.

For those of you who watch Big Brother all I have to say is ARGH!?! And did y'all enjoy the Jersey Shore in Italy premiere?

Welp, the interns are bringing me back lunch from the Greek place they went to and they just got back so I better go find me my gyro. Happy weekend everybody! 

Guess who woke up this morning 35 minutes after the alarm normally would go off, laying with no pants on on the couch? Yep, this girl. So last night after a great dinner  and a bottle of dark rose with an old friend at Asia de Cuba (so yummy!) I got home around midnight, flipped on the AC in my bedroom and wandered over to the couch in the living room to watch this week's episode of Weeds. I figured 30 min of TV and then bed.. suffice to say, i was rather surprised when I woke up this morning. Thankfully I was able to hustle and I made it to work on time. I hope my bed enjoyed the night off in a refreshingly cool room..  

Who is now sitting in the office feeling unshowered, sleepy and kinda gross? This girl! Hooray for hump day.

The Masterchef elimination made me sad. Hells Kitchen elimination confused me. Teen Mom had my head spinning. Why Amber didn't deem it necessary to brush her hair before going to the police to meet with CPS is beyond me. Then again, a lot of what happens on that show is beyond me. Catelynn and Tyler are parenting their parents.. Farrah has no social life and Maci may be the only sane one on the show. The Challenge episode last night made me happy. I'm glad that Evan's plan backfired on him and he was sent home. Poor Nehemiah though. That and Big Brother. Ah yes, summer TV is terrible and i heart it. I may need to stop watching BB13 though since Rachel annoys me so bad.. I'm also enjoying the season of Weeds thus far. I'm biased though since it takes place in New York.  Ooh.. speaking of NY.. did y'all catch the RHONY reunion? Holy cow. I have never seen a group of women so immature and catty. It was insane. Alex *was* panting like a dog. It surprised me that Cindy didn't apologize for taking the conference call the way she did at Sonja's house. Overall I was definitely team brunette. Watching Andy lose it cracked me up. Oh, and on Watch What Happens live.. did anyone else notice that NPH looked stoned? Funny stuffs.

This weekend I am heading down to Washington DC for a party. I am looking forward to seeing and hanging out with some good friends there. Unfortunately it will be 100F tomorrow in the district. Ah well.. sweaty fun we shall have.

Ooh, speaking of friends.. so I am facebook friends with a girl I went to college with. Lately her life has blown up and she is over sharing something horrible on facebook. Most of my friends have hidden her feeds since it is awkward to read about an acquaintance's personal sh*t in such detail when we haven't seen or spoken to her in years and even when we lived in the same dorm building we were never exactly besties. I on the other hand have made her life my own personal soap opera. I am not proud of it, but it feels a bit like a train wreck that I can not look away from. Other people have on FB asked her about why she's sharing so much and such personal stuff and she says things like "i'm just being real. I am not going to be kept quiet anymore. I am ME." I check her wall about once a day I generally have a  and then  reaction. I do hope that her life turns out ok in the end and that despite the various institutions, authorities and threats involved, things get back on track for her and the whole family. Yesterday I saw an article that compared Social Media to smoking. Considering this girl and my addictive tendencies to her wall, it has a valid point. 

I picked up a new load of CSA veggies last night and I need to make something relatively simple with boat loads of squash (and eggplant, basil, parsley, cukes, tiny green peppers..). I was thinking perhaps of making pesto with the basil and having lettuce and cukes with peppers for dinner. That would take care of some of it. I'd still be left with a lot of squash though. I also have 8 million plums but they taste really good just as is so i don't think i'll be making any tarts any time soon. Oh and there are cherries too. And greens. I never know what to do with those.. swiss chard, kale.. all i can think of is stir fry. But yeah, who has any good squash recipes? I'm all ears!

Last but not least, can everyone do me a favor? List 3-5 xanga sites that you read when you log in (be it daily or weekly or what not). I am subbed to 100some people on here but essentially today I read 5 posts before I got to posts from yesterday. Uncool. I want new sites to read. Anyone? Bueller? Ideally it would not be sites that write a blog and then every hour go and update the time stamp. Those people annoy me. But, i'd be very keen on reading some new people and what not. So, what sites do you check/read often on xanga? Give me some suggestions please!

Hello, my name is Naomi and I am a Xanga slacker. Since I last updated I have been to Steak Frites, Spice Market and Hill Country BBQ for Restaurant week. I have hung out with an old Norwegian friend who went to my US high school for a year about 15 years ago (in case you're wondering, yes she is from Oslo but we hung out before what happened happened. She is still in the US now and fine... just sad obviously). I have seen Harry Potter Part II. (LOVED IT!). Actually, i saw part I a week ago too (liked it). 
 

I have gone to Ikea and purchased the frames I need to frame my mother's art (see the various pics in the post--my mom painted them and i brought back the art from Amsterdam to frame in my apartment in New York). I still need to get the custom mats made but having the frames in my apt is a step in the right direction. I have gone to Splash for musical Monday's. I have watched the RHONY season finale. I have hung out with one of my favorite friends who lives in Holland usually. I have had many many house guests including now an old college friend who is finally back on land for a bit after working on a cruise for quite some time. 

I have had 3 little feathers put in my hair sorta like so.. but not as many or as crazy and mine aren't on top of my head, more behind my ear. I have played Apples to Apples and Cranium with friends (cranium even meant watching someone play Saved By The Bell in charades by acting out the theme song (instead of going for TV --> 4 words --> Bell). Too funny!!! "when i wake up in the morning and I.."). I have had a mini old college reunion session remembering lots of things from a long time ago and scanning a friends old quote book. I have had brunch at Il Bambino with my cousin and his girlfriend, i have hung out at the beer garden with my friend from college. I have been driving places quite a bit since a house guest has a rental car which I have been using.

I have gone thrift store and shoe shopping with a friend as well as brunching at this place. I bought these in red for $8 as well as these in black.  I have been totally frustrated with work but I have also been told I will receive a raise. I have gone on our annual office fishing trip off of City Island and had a great day with work people. I have had a kink in my neck from work stress for a few days now. I have watched Obama speak poorly of some republicans. I have heard that Jlo and Marc A are divorcing and Amy Winehouse passed away. I have owed certain people emails and phone calls for a while now.. but i have been busy. 

On Friday I will be heading down to Washington DC for a party. Next week I will be meeting a friend for dinner and drinks after work. I will also be traveling up to CT the weekend after.. but the best news is that on August 19th I get to pick up my sister at the airport (she is visiting for 10 days). So, this summer has been declared one filled with fun things. Looks like I have an hour left at work..  back to slacking..

My cleaning lady tends to move things around a bit while cleaning. Usually this annoys me. Not enough to tell her to be more careful and not enough to find another cleaner, but just enough to have me searching for my shoes a little longer the next morning.. or to have to re-sort one pile of mail back into two. I absolutely love coming home from work to a spotless house.

I don't have her on any regular schedule. Instead when I email her she generally finds time that week. I like this system because I can have her come right before I have house guests or right after a party. On average she comes about once a month and I clean the bathroom once myself in the interrim. Something like that. So Monday I came home to a spotless kitchen floor, a shiny bathroom and perfectly placed couch cushions. This made me smile ear to ear. In fact, I even emailed her thanking her for the great job. Clearly, the apartment was dirty enough that I noticed how different it looked when clean. Ha!

When I went to bed at night I noticed that while there were new clean sheets on my bed, the comforter was not in the duvet cover. I looked around and under the bed and then opened my closet. Sure enough, in a garbage bag tied up was my comforter. Yes people, it is 90+ degrees here and I still had my winter down comforter oin my bed. I wasn't sleeping under it every night. Merely occasionally a corner of it when the AC was on too high. That said, last night I slept just under the duvet sheet and it was perfect. So much cooler. While I realize that my cleaning lady is not a rocket scientist (and i am also not the worlds GREATEST idiot.. but perhaps on the list as a runner up?!?), it was the kind of mom-ish thing to do that I absolutely loved and appreciated.

I just overheard in the elevator that Queen is going back on tour with Adam Lambert as their front man. I'm not sure I have a comment..  

Speaking of music, i've been looking at various festivals and the itch to go has certainly surfaced. The one I am most excited about is the iheartradio festival in Las Vegas. Between yesterday and today though flight costs have doubled and I am not sure I can find someone to go with. Plenty people want to go, but I have yet to find someone who also has the $ to spend..  There's also Lollapalooza although that is actually coming up too soon (I already have plans that weekend) and Voodoo in New Orleans.. however, i think i'd rather do Jazzfest in NO than voodoo. Who knows. 

Did anyone watch the Bachelorette last night? I was amazed by the Emily interview, but only because every other word was 'yaknow'. It was SO annoying I hardly made it through the 4 minute interview.. in which she practically said nothing but 'yaknow'. I really don't want her to be the next bachelorette. Then again, who cares. ha!

I caved and signed up for Showtime so that I can watch both Weeds (loves it--AND it is in NYC this season which is extra fun) as well as Big Brother After Dark which I feel is like crack and I need to as much as possible stay away from. I hate watching Big Brother but I did see the first few episodes so I likely will be following it with half an eye all summer. The after dark show airs from midnight-3am and so it will only be allowed in 30 min increments in my bedroom or something.. I cannot start falling asleep around 3am every night. Or rather, i can't do that for very long. 

Speaking of feeling old..I'm going to be 30 by the end of the year. I remember as a kid setting myself various goals. "By 30 I will.." but I hate to say that I don't actually recall what they were. I know it wasn't along the lines of having babies or getting mawied--since I have always believed that stuff occurs organically and not because of a deadline. I guess if there is anything I want to or should do before i'm 30, I better get a move on it. Anyone have any suggestions?

Today the 5th book of Game of Thrones came out, but i'm sad to admit that I got stuck somewhere half way through book 1. Now that I know what happens in the rest of the first book (because of the show on HBO) I'm not sure what will happen reading progress wise. I'm not really one to re-read a book.. and reading a book when you already know what will happen is along the same lines.

I just received an email from Netflix that they are changing their plans. I have been considering canceling the service for a while now but because I have numerous friends using my account I just kept it open (for under $10 a month). Now that they will up the plan to $15 (unless I select just streaming or just dvds) I think it may finally be time to shut it down. We'll see.

Speaking of online accounts.. have you all checked out Google+. I can't say i'm impressed (yet?). I haven't really dug into it much.. I (jokingly) contemplated making circles 1-10 and dropping my friends into the circles by rank. Obviously I would never actually do that.. but since dropping people into circles is all I have figured out to do so far I was being creative..

When did you join Xanga?
August 20th, 2003

What brought you here?
Friends who I now no longer am in touch with

Do you have other Xanga accounts?
Yes, one. But it is private and secret and no i won't tell you about it

What sorts of things do you post?
If you read this, you likely already know

How often do you post?
Hmm, it comes and goes. Sometimes daily, sometimes never

Do you keep yourself anonymous?
Not really. I mean, i don't post info on myself and how and where to find me on here voluntarily but there are IRL friends that know about this blog

Have you met in person with anyone you originally met on Xanga?
Yes, a bunch of people (most of whom are now no longer on xanga). Most recently coffeebee but also gwenstyles, nieves4, noppstar, audiosnob, chaosmoon, o0_Gina_0o, MEluvCH, mudwoman1326.. and others

Who would you like to meet?
Hmm, RizzlGrizzl, karos, lilms_sassy, blunt_force_mama, oceanstarr, jillinireland, MarkLupton, nightblindness, laurelitavera, dippity, punkdiva.. ok this list is clearly getting long but i know that there are others too

How many friends do you have on here?
Actual friends or xanga friends? The friends category says 294.

Do you consider your friends here to be "real friends"?
Some people, sure.

Have you ever dated anyone you met on Xanga?
nope

What else are you just dying to say about Xanga:
Hmm, did xanga make this survey? It was sort of lame. LOL. I wish that the people that have been on here for a long time would stop leaving. I also wish I more often found (or was told about) new fun or interesting sites to start reading

So, tell me.. which sites should i go take a look at? 

Book of Mormon was great last night! I had high expectations and it didn't disappoint. I was amazed by the dancing and singing (and slightly less so by the quality of the songs). It was a typical musical.. and it had its very hilarious moments. I enjoyed it. Bunches. I think Hasa Diga Eebowai was my favorite song. I need to see whether I can get my sister a ticket to the show for when she's in NYC in August. Alternatively I could see about getting tickets for her and my dad when they're here over Christmas. We'll see...maybe we'll try for the lottery or something. The tickets are so expensive right now it is ridiculous. They're all priced at least $100 more than what I paid for my ticket for last night, and even that I thought was rather steep. Elder Cunningham, played by Josh Gad, (aka THIS guy from the Daily Show) was hilarious!

Did y'all catch the Voice finale last night? Pretty predictable I suppose. I enjoyed the duets and am also sort of glad the show is now over One less thing to watch.

THIS video cracks me up. Unfortunately I can't figure out how to embed it. Go take a look though. Its cute! Also, has anyone heard the 'new' Fleet Foxes album? How about The Civil Wars? I need to download some new stuff.. i've been a music slacker lately.

I just made a reservation for a friend & me, at a fancy restaurant during restaurant week. Now i'm basically salivating thinking of crab cakes and steak frites. mmm myumm. This evening I'm having drinks with the girls--followed by possibly some fireworks in the park. Loveliness.

I hope everyone has a happy 4th of July weekend. Mine is packed with only a half day at the office tomorrow followed by various fun things and even some time to get my apartment back up to par and to relax a bit. I can. not. wait.

Tonight I am going to see Book of Mormon on Broadway. I can. not. wait. In general these days have been filled with lots of fun social things. As a result i'm a bit of a slacker on life--unopened mail, dirty dishes and laundry.. but since i've been having a lot of fun I really can't complain.

Last week I went to see the Mets beat the Oakland Athletics with work. While at first the game threatened to be rained out, it ended up being a great game.
  We had good seats too.

In other news, I have a bug bite in the crook of my finger.. like on the side of my knuckle but where my finger folds. it doesn't even really itch, it just kinda nags. so weird.

A friend is trying to convince me to go down to DC this weekend (for the 4th). I don't think it'll happen.. i'm a bit traveled out at the moment. We'll see.

Has anyone been watching the Voice? I'm not sure who i think should win at this point. I guess we'll find out tonight. It is funny, the show actually started in Holland.. the guy who won there was all over the place media wise when I was in Amsterdam. Dia Frampton is apparently half Dutch.. I think that sways me into rooting for her. Not that Beverly, Vicki and Javier don't deserve it... I liked Xenia too. Sigh. TV always is lame around this time of the year. The Bachelorette has been annoying me with her Bentley weh-weh-weh crap. I am happy that the Real World/Road Rules Challenge is back. Oh whatever, judge me all you want for that. I like the show. Ha! Also I need to figure out the best way to watch Weeds now that I no longer have Showtime and there are new episodes. I'm sad that Game of Thrones ended. Looks like this fall there will be some new fun shows to check out though. Alright, enough about TV.

This video made me smile this morning:

So since it is past noon and I haven't yet really done any work here at the office (silly addictive websites), I should likely get crackin'. Happy Hump Day everyone!