Something worth checking out

Recently I've noticed myself getting older. I look a little different, I'm not running to change my shoes so I can go out for a big night on the town, I look at 2 1/2 inch heels and think...ok now that's better, I don't listen to music as loud as I used to and finally, my love for Opera has grown incredibly!

I have always been an opera fan. Car rides with my family did not exist without a little Puccini or Verdi, and whether I liked it or not, there they were, the robust voices of Domingo, Carreras and Pavarotti! For me Maria Callas was like Debbie Gibson...I really felt like I knew her. My dad would start the car and I'd make my case for Z100 and then he'd say NO and the Tosca would start. He's hum the intro and then slowly start to sing...He has a terrible singing voice, but after a while I was so in awe of how he knew every single word. He would translate it for me so I could appreciate the story and after a while I would begin to hum as well. You might say this is not normal. Most families get in a car and listen to the radio or talk, but not my family...we listened to opera.

It never occured to me that this was strange. Until my friends would come with us somewhere or on a trip and they were in total SHOCK! I can only imagine the things they told their parents and other friends, but I honestly didn't care because the music was so beautiful.

At 26 I now look forward to my opera season. My parents and I go back and forth on tickets and who gets to see what...I check out the next season schedule super early...Some people look forward to rock concerts, I look forward to La Traviata.

So this brings me to what I really want to talk about...Anna Netrebko. SHe is the most incredible soprano I have ever heard! This young Russian singer began her career scrubbing floors in the opera house in Russia and has become one of the worlds best. Her voice is amazing and you can't help but take notice. I heard her for the first time a couple weeks ago at the Metropolitan Opera singing the lead Soprano is Bellini's I Puritani, a wonderful story of love, loss and reuniting. It's actually one of the very few operas that has a happy ending! Shocking, I know, but I was so captivated by her the 3 hour opera flew by!


And so this morning when I turned on the today show, there she was. She is gorgeous and funny, she sparkles on screen as well as on stage and she is making it her mission to bring opera to the younger generation. And when I say younger, I mean ages 18-40! I'm not talking about the little kids, there's time for them still. I wish for this age group to be able to listen and appreciate something as beautiful as opera.

Anyway, I hope you check her out...she really is amazing and I hope to see you at the MET soon:)

A New Home!

So we finally did it...more like, it finally happened...we found an apt and the seller accepted our offer! I can't even tell you how happy this makes me! The apt is great...a nice sized one bedroom in a great neighborhood not far from where we live now,brand new everything, with a terrace! Oh and awesome closet space! There are actually two walk in closets in this apt...very rare for NYC.

So here we are...prepping for the sale of my apt, trying to get contracts signed on our new apt and finally, finding a photographer and rehearsal dinner location for the wedding. Does anyone have any suggestions for restaurants...the catch is it can't be too expensive and it must have a party room. For example, Otto was choice #1, but to have it there it would cost $40k...so nothing like that...Any suggestions would be appreciated.

So that's the update!! whoo hooo! Things are looking up:)

Apt, wedding...

The saga continues...We found an apt we like! It's down the block from my current apt so the move wouldn't be so bad and well, it's just a great space! The process of actually buying the apt is the tough part...well, no, that's not that bad, the process of bidding on the apt is painful and difficult. It's a time filled with high stress and lot's of emotion, which I know is exactly what's NOT meant to happen, but does.

So here we go. I see this apt on 25th street, I love it. I call Ken and tell him he has to see it THAT DAY! He comes to see it, likes it, we talk about putting a bid in...18 hours later, we place our first bid. A bid we thought was reasonable...turns out we had to come up...we did that...came very close to asking...got a call that another bidder was right at us, so we gave our best and final offer at what we thought was the best price that represented what this apt means to us. Get a call this morning that the seller is giving the OTHER bidders 24 hours to sign their contract if they don't, it's ours...UGH!!!!!!!! Seriously, this is bullshit and I can't help but take this to heart! I want that apt! Chances are we are not going to get it, but I just wanted to show you all what this process is like. It's insane!

Wedding stuff has picked up again...meetings with photgraphers, invite designers, transportation people...it's all in process again and between seeing apts, working and planning the wedding there are not enough days in a week.

I just keep flipping through my date book and I'm way into APril with planning stuff for work but i have to keep in mind that I am moving out of my apt on April 30th!!!! Crazy! ANd then my wedding will only be 5 months away!!!!

Does anyone feel like their life is just flying by and you're working at light speed to keep up and try to remember everything...birthdays, weddings, friends,family...

Is this really happening?

I've asked myself this question every hour for the past three days because I feel like my life is all at once crashing down and being rebuilt. It's incredibly terrifying and amazingly exciting all at the same time. My apartment is about to be sold to the highest bidder, yes, we are now nearing a bidding war and there are 7, count them, 7 offers on my adorable chic apartment. Problem #1. going through the process of selling is a bitch and there is no clear timeline. #2. WE HAVE NO PLACE TO LIVE. As soon as I close on my apt I'm homeless, and so now it's crunch time and I'm running around the city like a freak trying to find us a home with the right amount of closet space, allows dogs and is big enough. I can't even tell you how frustrating it all is.

Today I saw an apt on West 16th street...a total dump in a great area. That's a no. An Awesome HUGE apt on 76th and 1st that is perfect for us...but do I want to move back to the Upper East Side after living in the heart of Gramercy for 3 years...hmmmm... It's all very difficult to decide, but it's not like we have much time to sit and "think" about all the possibilities. We have to find something, get out financial shit together so that the board can rip us apart, pray they have mercy and let us though, and then buy this sucker within hours of closing on my apt!

I just feel this enormous amount of pressure that cannot be avoided anymore. AND trying to plan little details of my wedding are getting harder and farther away from my immediate mindset. Oh and work...that little thing, which thank god I have freedom or we'd be living in a box in 2 months. But work is busy and I feel guilty I'm running around instead of doing my job. So all in all I'd say I'm reaching breaking point in about 5 days. Thank GOD we're heading to Florida for a break this weekend, even though what we should be doing is hitting up every single open house on the East side on sunday...I'll be stressing come monday afternoon. At that point a contract will be signed on my place and I'll know when I have to move out. Super.

I have a problem with...

Celebrities. No seriously, I have a huge problem with the way our current society finds the lives of these extremely ordinary people fascinating. I hate how we send them free stuff all the time. I think their constantly changing hairstyles, increasingly tacky new styles, and drastic weight gain and loss are simply absurd. If I hear anymore about who wore or didn't wear underwear to so and so's dumb ass party at some lame ass club in some other city, I might puke.

It used to be fun to read about them in the paper in page six and so on, but I feel like it's been taken to a whole new level. ALl we see on TV are shows about how rich they are and what they buy. We structure the way we look around "trends" dictated by asshole stylists from freakin bum fuck nowhere who all of a sudden woke up one day and said, "I think I'm going to be a stylist, yep, that's it...I have style." and Voila! You have someone now who thinks that they know clothing. And from that develops "style," like that of Nicole Richie and Lindsay Lohan...or lack thereof. And yet, we still send them shit. I just had to put together the most adorable gift pack for one of these immature arrogant little bitches. She's getting a new bikini, fabulous bag and of course other fun little things. Does she deserve it? No. Does she deserve a good kick in the pants and some serious therapy, as in being sent to Uzbekistan for 3 months with no toilet paper...yes.

I'm sorry, I'm just venting because this weekend I realized that I live my life as if I have a lot of money and I find myself carrying the same bags as these stupid celeb bitches and wearing the same shoes, but I don't have that kind of money. But I feel like everything I read and watch and listen to is about money and so many people have so much of it. It's not like I read everyday how people are starving on the street, no it's about another ass rich kid crashing his car into something and how he's going to get an even bigger and more expensive one this time! It's about what billionaire bought what yacht from another billionaire, who now wants to focus his attention on discovering outerspace... I just don't get it...when did we become so shallow?

When did we allow the media to bury us in a constant flow of celebrity garbage?! I don't care who threw what party in Miami or if Britney passed out because she's a schmuck...I mean, for the love of GOD the top story was NOT our former president Ford dying...it's was James Brown! And as much as I respect the man...he wasn't president of this country!

So as we enter 2007 I think my New Years resolution is going to be to stop reading and listening to all this crap about how much money celebs have and who puked on who at last nights party. I think I'm going to focus my attention on the people around me and how even though they might not drive around in a Bentley and summer on a yacht in St. Tropez, they are still fabulous.