How To Not Spend Money

It's basically impossible to not spend any money when you are unemployed in NYC, in case you are a thief. I try to limit the spending to food and bills (which there are about 10 of including phone, mortgage, maintenance, COBRA, electric, gas, etc.). Unemployment pays about half of what my actual salary was so obviously I'm now having to spend beyond my means. That said, I decided to go out with a friend the other day to do a little shopping. Thanks to my tax return I was able to have the extra money needed to go out and buy a new suit jacket. I've realized recently that maybe after almost 10 years of wearing the same black suit on interviews that it's time to freshen things up a bit and splurge on a new jacket. So after 3 hours of going store to store, I landed a new suit jacket! The best part is that my friend ended up getting the same jacket for FREE. You could say it was stealing but it was actually a huge mix up at the checkout counter where the sales person forgot to scan the jacket and my friend had taken it and put it in her shopping bag without realizing. So technically she did not know she was stealing. We debated for a while whether she should go back and say something. And then she realized that there was still an alarm tag! So she goes back to the store, they take the alarm tag off, and she still walks out without paying for the jacket. I, on the other hand, did pay for my jacket. I wonder who will get the job?

Because I Care Part 2

If you remember a few weeks ago I worked at the food pantry in Clinton Hill, which was a really great experience and I do plan to do it again, but yesterday I decided to volunteer at a something different for New York Cares to try and see where I'm really needed and just open my eyes to different experiences. So I volunteered at PS 77 on Park Place (I think this is Park Slope but might be Prospect Heights) to help special needs boys practice yoga. There were about 15 junior high boys. Some needed more help than others doing the yoga poses but most had a pretty good grasp on what to do since they had been taking the class throughout the school year. We all put our mats in a big circle while the instructor was in the center and did about a 45 minute class. I thought the class was going to be an hour and 15 min but I guess they just tack on extra time on the schedule for clean up, which took about 3 minutes. I have never worked with any special needs children before so I was a little worried that I wouldn't know what to do, but I just followed the instructor and saw that she would come right over to a boy and try and place his hands or feet in the right position so that is what I would try to do. It didn't really work for me because the boy on my right seemed like he understood what to do but if I tried to move his hands or feet he just wouldn't move them. Obviously the boys didn't know me and probably didn't want to have me telling them what to do, but I did the best I could and so did they. I'm not sure I was really needed here because there were many other volunteers, but I did sign up again for next Tuesday to try it out again.

Are Hand Models The New Super Model?

With Apple churning out one hand-held gadget after another, plus e-readers and other cell phone companies, hand models have now got it made. Before all this technology, hand models use to be mainly women promoting nail polish. But I've been noticing these beautiful hands particularly in the new iPad commercials and wondering who these faceless models are... and how much do they get paid? I've read that a :30 second spot can take up to 12 hours. So you may think you have beautiful hands and this would be the perfect line of work for you, but hand modeling is still considered "work." You need to still create a modeling portfolio, take really good care of your hands constantly, and deal with rejection. And watch out for those hand job jokes!

My favorite hand modeling reference is of course the Seinfeld episode where George becomes a hand model. Check out the video.

Chef in the House

My husband is a month and half away from graduating from the French Culinary Institute here in NY. I'm so proud of him for deciding to take a risk and go back to school to do what he loves. He had been working in TV for years as an editor/producer and after his company shut down and spending almost a year figuring out what to do, he took a leap and made his dream happen. And the best part is that I get to taste all of his yummy creations (Irish bread pudding, scallops w/ bacon, Mediterranean chicken w/ tahini and hummus)! The downside is that neither of us are working and he now has student loans, but I think the delicious food and doing what you love makes up for it. He's also been interning at The Grocery on Smith St. in Carroll Gardens that I definitely recommend everyone check out. But if you're hungry during the day, head to L'Ecole, the restaurant that is part of FCI. If you go by the end of May I'm sure you'll end up tasting something he cooked up.

Around the Hill in Warm Weather

Being unemployed and having such beautiful weather lately has allowed me to enjoy more of the Clinton Hill/Fort Greene area. Yesterday was over 80 degrees, so I went with my friend to Fort Greene Park for a few hours. We had a lovely little picnic at the top of the hill and checked out all the sunbathers. This is a great park and glad that there are places like this in NYC to at least get a little exposure to grass and trees. There's a huge playground, tennis courts, basketball courts, and the prominent Prison Ships Martyrs Monument. It can get busy but definitely not as crowded as many of the other parks in NYC, and not as much of a "scene" as McCarren Park.

Another place I visited a few times recently that I've never been to before was Tillie's cafe on DeKalb. I've walked by it a million times but finally decided that it was time to check it out. There are a few other cafes in the area, such as Connecticut Muffin, but Tillie's is definitely a hot spot for people with lap tops or people like me who want to just relax with a good book and a cup of coffee. I was a little disappointed that they don't have decaf coffee but they were able to whip me up a decaf espresso type coffee drink.

And if you're looking for a great restaurant, I'd have to recommend Maggie Brown. My husband and I have been here many many times and it's always great food and a cool atmosphere. There's also a big backyard if you want to dine outside in the nice weather. The brunch is amazing. The omelet's are great and come with a side of home fries, salad and toast or a biscuit. And the bloody mary's are not to miss.

LOST & Found

Last night was another amazing episode of LOST! It was a breath of fresh air to finally have an episode about Desmond (all cleaned up with no visible open shirt chest hair) and no mention of the smoke monster and Locke. I would really like to know more about the good vs. evil focus, but I was happy to see the writers get back to some things that were mentioned many episodes ago and to see how Desmond's "flash sideways" played out, especially with Charlie. And it was interesting to see how they realized that the flash sideways are not real life. I'm very much looking forward to next weeks episode which looks like it will be about the always entertaining Hurley.

And if you want more of some of the actors on the show, ABC's FlashForward, V, and the new Happy Town all have various actors. It's amazing to see that "Juliette" landed a main role on V now. I have not had any interest in watching that show but I have caught a few of the beginning episodes of FlashForward and thought it was decent but not good enough to keep me coming back each week. I can't wait for MadMen to start again to fill the void once LOST is over!