Central Parked

Today I took the long way to midtown. I have not yet journeyed through Central Park since the snow started falling and had no idea what to expect. I struggled through unploughed walkways while getting clipped from behind by extraordinarily savvy cross country skiers but probably the most harrowing situation out of all were the people that would park themselves in front of the scenery to snap some photo ops.

I would wait kindly while tourist #1 smiled in front of the frozen reservoir, meanwhile tourist #2 found a newly constructed snowman to plant their arm around, tourist #3 was just so jazzed to be anywhere in New York City that they wanted to take five pictures of the same tree.

Between bobbing and waiting and scampering past these moments I stopped and actually took a look around. Norman Rockwell would be jealous of the scenery that resulted from blizzard after blizzard.

So-after being judgemental and quick about walking by all of these pictures, these memories, I stopped and took a second to truly enjoy what was happening around me. The infants in their head to toe snow out-fits, the toddlers cheekily grabbing hunks of snow and chucking them at the lower flank of their parents unsuspecting leg, and everyone was laughing as they took forgivable nose dives into the slush and sleet all around.

In the heat of the moment I took out my phone, a camera, and waited until the endless lines of people passed for my perfect moment to take the frozen memory.

And I do believe it was worth it.

The Fairy Princess Complex

I see this dress in the window at H&M and I stop dead in my tracks. Immediately my imagination starts soaring to the amazing adventures that I could potentially have in this get up. Champagne dangling out of hand, prince charming somewhere at the top of a majestic staircase, maybe a ball could be involved.



And I can't help but believe the reason this is where my mind goes is because I played with products like this when I was a kid:

Even a flashlight can be a fanciful corruption.

Oh Fudge!

Somebody stop me please before I make more puns. This is my brain:

(Insert your best pictoral understanding of what your brain might look like here.)

Well no truly; not really-it is indeed whatever you have created as my brain in your brain. Mayhaps even one that has been poorly manufactured using only a single piece of computer paper and a whole wad of endless imagination.

And this is my brain on fudge:





Or at the very least my brain staring wantonly at said fudge. Delicious.

But in all honesty it's not as hard to make fudge as I had once convinced myself. For some reason I had assumed anything as sturdy and scrumptions as a giant slab of peanut butter mocha fudge brownie double double chocolate must take hours of preparation and a dash of much more love than simply a saucepan full of simmering chocolate but that's all it is!!! Seriously.

I know some of you bakers in the audience are having a chuckle at my fresh faced baking naievety but cut me some slack. I finally got a fondue pot and it's too exciting to handle.

Plus, with all the snow banks shifting out-side of icy windows I can't think of any other activity to get truly invested in. Maybe it's a phase? Maybe it's a late in the game quarter life crisis but my brain can't stop thinking of ways to mix together scrumptious coconcoctions when I am within feet of an oven.

Watch out for my upcoming fantasy cookie business "Megan's Candy Surprise Cookies" or maybe "Megan's Sweet Treats" or.....well, I can work on that one later.

New York Is Having An Identity Crisis and/or The Snow Day Chronicles

As a child, hearing the words snow day was one of those rare moments that happened once, maybe twice a year if you were lucky enough to have a blizzard so severe that the schools stared at the piles of snow awestruck and gasping thinking....I'll never be able to teach in this weather!

For some reason- global warming, the Apocalypse as the people in the subway system would have me believe, or perhaps we just had it coming New York is experiencing one of its worst winters in history and I get to have one of those jobs that don't give you a get out of jail free card when it comes to treacherous weather.

So I-unlike many who get to gently lounge on their couches bringing warm cups of cocoa to their lips while watching back episodes of never ending reality shows, I put on my mukluks and I journey to do the unthinkable: dig out a car.

Thankfully, the streets were already being cleared in the wee hours of the morning but that didn't stop the snow banks from rising up to my knees.

And when I had finally reached the warmth of my hot cup of congratulatory coffee and work desk I stopped and payed homage to such a small tool but in sight of the vast amount of clean-up a true necessity.

Thank you scraper. Thank you for being the unspoken hero of snow storms nationwide. Hell, maybe even internationally. You deserve it.



And now I'll wait until next week.....when we have been told there will be another snow storm. Maybe I'll move to Alaska, then I'll know that I won't see the blacktop for six months.

It's Beginning To Look Alot Like Valentines Day.....Everywhere You Go

Ahhh, Kmart, that beacon of economy shopping placed as an icon of retail chains in most towns across the greater United States. Not only does Kmart have a little bit of everything BUT they do not discriminate against where they set up their wares and the one location that I seem to set eyes on repeatedly exists in none other then PENN Station.

So, whenever I have to sojourn back to the island that is long and find myself with some excess time to waste I saunter in staring despondently at whatever holiday they are promoting at present. Usually, the seasonal suggestions rest quietly off to the left however when I wandered in at the beginning of January I was taken aback at the amount of red already consuming the shelves alive.
I managed to capture a small portion of it here. Now take this snippet and exaggerate it in your brain times at least thirteen. Heck, maybe I'm being conservative it was obscene. The question that exists always is when did a greeting card holiday created mainly for the purpose of pushing chocolates and plush toys overcome the beginning of January?

Maybe I'm being an Ebeneezer Scrooge of celebrating love but I was equally disturbed by the already displayed small shelf of St. Patrick's Day paraphernalia and I'm Irish.

Can we ever just take a moment and enjoy the present before pushing forward to the next reason to buy stuff? I wish for once that at the beginning of January I could have a moment to check in with myself and my resolutions instead of staring at the next reason to celebrate.

The Art of Illusion

A puddle of broken glass? A marble counter top? Shards of ice that has felt the weight of a million footsteps?

Who's to say. Mother nature is winking at us cheekily and saying you decide.

Powering Up

Everyone does it....

Have that epiphany that the reason they feel so lethargic at 10a.m. is because they're eating a processed freeze dried meal every night due to time constraints and general malaise.

I am of course one of the endless foot soldiers that worship at the alter of how do I make my tortoise of a metabolism beat the hare? Is it possible? Am I fighting a war that will end in stalemate?

In past years people have done the Atkins, South Beach, cleanses with cayenne pepper and piss water, and never forget the notorious cabbage soup diet that simulates sea sickness on land, anything Suzanne Somers claims leads to everlasting life, and the always popular starvation plan which doesn't need a book just a tremendous amount of will power and an unhealthy attitude toward body image. This year everyone is gaga for power foods which I suppose is the better part of valour compared to those other winning weight loss regiments. Ironically, once I started focusing on power foods it was all I could see like the hallucination of a hamburger in the middle of the Gobi Desert - they are EVERYWHERE and everyone wants a piece of them.

As noted from the cover raspberries and blueberries are of course on the power food menu. Nuts, lean meats, eggs. Basically, anything your grandmother told you to finish instead of the creamed spinach. Of course, sauces and other flavorings are out of the question. We are going all natural here right down to the yoga mats we should equally be carrying and our core training on Tuesday nights.

In the same way, the devil of the power food movement lurks in the shadows. He is pink and impressive with an entirely new add campaign. One of the no no's of the power food movement is artificial sweeteners. They make food palatable and for that, they should be executed. Instead they offer you should use natural sweeteners that have no taste but I stay true to my pink power regardless of the foods I am endeavoring on consuming.

How could you say no to this adorable bird grasping the sweet & low packet - it's charming.

And after I have an affair with the pink packets of doom I saunter back to my new attempt at staying young forever. In a culture who fears death, we cross our fingers and click our toes together that something will save us. And this year, our savior could potentially be a nice fillet of salmon gingerly laid over a bed of leafy greens, blueberries, strawberries, and a 1/4 a cup of feta tossed in for good measure because hey, it's always worth a shot.

Who knows? It may give me unreasonable bounds of super human strength. Oh wait, forgive me, that's a freak accident that would occur in a superhero movie. This time I'll just have to settle with it will make me feel more awake at 10a.m.

Snowflakes Wild

Snow makes it difficult to do a great many things. Dig ones car out, walk gingerly over an unshoveled sidewalk, stop at Dunkin Donuts for that warm and comfortable cup of coffee. Out of those three I do believe that the latter rattles me the most. After years of routine caffeine pumping through my veins I can't face the a.m. hour without it. Would you know....as I shuffled sadly toward the let down of a coffee machine knowing I wouldn't be satisfied by the miniature cup and wanton coffee grains floating at the top of the cococtiom I was granted this surprise:




Oh, but wait, there's a back:




Who wants to play Holdem with this guy? Someone says workforce America does. The best bit is that the cup reminds you that a hold card is on the bottom. I had a 10 of clubs, I was less than satisfied with my hand. However, I feel like the premise is a little co-worker comradery. A friendly wager to wash away the stagnant curse of the Monday morning bustle.

Needless to say-these coffee cups are a new development at my place of employ and I hope they never go away. I plan on collecting the whole set.

While the companies at it....maybe they can make yogurts with roulette wheel tops? Hey, can't fault a girl for trying.

When I searched for where I could procure these novelty items on the internet, all I found were these:

http://www.cudacoffeevending.com/catalog-product.php?p_ref=6096

Similar, but not right. Oh well.

What's in a Name?

This sign made me stop as I walked past the new fiction to the drama plays section. I don't know why-because it's my name? Do I feel a sense of ownership over the vast array of Megan's trundeling around in the universe?

So often you think to "what's in a name?". It's simply a word we respond to. Something written on our personal identification punch card yet somehow it makes me stop....dead in my tracks when I see it.

As if I were the only Megan in the world even though thanks to the 80s and Ireland we all know that is not the case.