Things I love about my apartment

Besides its great location in the Meat Packing District of Manhattan I mean.

1. My stools from my dad's restaurant and the fire place that doesn't work--it looks nice though.

 

2. The bright gold fish shower curtain. It was one of my very first purchases three summers ago when I moved in. I had always wanted a gold fish shower curtain, don't ask me why but I spotted it at Details in the Village and saved up for it. Yes, I was that broke that I had to save up for a shower curtain. 

 

3. The rolling ladder I go up and down every morning and night in order to sleep in my bed above the kitchen IE The Bitchen. Yeah I actually don't mind it, despite it's disadvantages like middle of the night bathroom trips but it's fun pulling it out each night and turning the light off with my foot as I climb up to bed.

4. Space saver items like the my Pier 1 wine goblets hanging from the ceiling. I bought the rack at IKEA but my stepdad installed it as well as those cool red track lights.

5. In that vain, check out the hanging pots wall in the kitchen below my bed. The metal net was already in the apartment otherwise I wouldn't have thought of it and it's saved me lots of cupboard space.

6. My cute red microwave that matches my red stools, pots and couch. Also check out my cereal dispenser filled with Lucky Charms and my tiny fridge and freezer. Oh yeah and my stash of booze.

7. My veranda/terrace IE the fire escape. The window opens high enough for me to easily step out onto the metal escape to check out the moon or to put down a towel and sunbathe on (I face the back and not the street). And currently a dove is nesting on it. For another view of my view click on my really old X-Mas post or you can check out photos from other bloggers' casas at:

An Affair to Forget

This is the happy sign I pass on my way home at night. It's in the store window of We The People. I can't help but find it funny in its bluntness and at least $399 is cheaper than the wedding--I hope. 

Ring around the eye

Luckily I do not suffer from chronic bags under my eyes, but when I don't get enough sleep I can get rings or dark shadows under my eyes. My friend Karen says it's because I don't eat vegetables though, which I'm sure plays a part in it too. I've bought an eye brightening cream from Clean & Clear, which I use in the mornings after a hard night out or a restless sleep. It's a light skin color and has a bit of shine to it. Avon makes a similar under eye brightener product called Lighten Up Plus Undereye Treatment, which claims that in 2 weeks customers saw a 34% improvement in dark under-eye circles. It's on sale for $6.99, so I ordered one and have been altering between the two.

Apparently the day after having too many Cosmos, or whatever your drink of choice is, you should dab hydrocortisone cream under your puffy eyes to keep people from knowing about yesterday's adventures. I just read that tid bit, now I have to figure out what hydrocortisone cream is. Eww I just googled it and it's ass cream for anal itch. OK forget that, I'll stick to another solution, although I can't see shelling out $95 for Hylexin, which I've been seeing ads for, especially since reviews say it dries out your skin.

Tarte has a more cosmetic approach to dealing with tired eyes. Their dual brightening wand, Rest Assured ($22) has two functions to help you look as rested as a baby. First you apply their nude pink liner found on one side of the wand to the inner rim of your lower eyelid, which helps your eyes pop more and removes the red rim. Then, you add their pink highlighter found on the other side of the wand to your cheekbone, browbone and the inner corner of your eye for a glowing look that hides dark circles. Thus, it has the glow cream element of the others, but also has the cover-up eye liner for that extra mile. My friend Jacquie and I tried it this weekend and both thought it did a good job, especially since it looked appropriate for during the day wear because it didn't make us look overly made up but natural.

According to the book, Why Do Men Have Nipples: "Lack of proper restful sleep seems to cause dark rings for reasons not properly understood. The skin arond the eye is the thinnest found anywhere on the body, and this thin skin allows dark, venous blood to show through. Dark rings around the eyes are a common problem. They appear to be genetic and can get worse as you age and your skin gets thinner. Adequate rest, good nuitrition, and overall good health tend to make the circles less noticeable."

Further Reading: Top 8 Causes of Dark Circles Under the Eyes

Rant: Flacks and Hacks

So as a PR professional I get sent ProfNet’s, which are inquires from journalists asking for help with stories that they are working on and are looking to be hooked up with sources. So yesterday, I saw a request from a New York Times freelancer, Matt Villano, about the tired story of the Perils of Blogging About Work and  how he was looking for bloggers to speak about it. I wrote to him not on behalf of any client but as a blogger and to do a little PR for myself. I wrote that the company I work for actually encourages me to blog and links my personal blog on their Web site, despite the fact that my blog isn’t industry related (tech) and sometimes has questionable content. They also proudly mention my blog to clients and let me bill some of my time working on it under “Professional Development,” which I can’t help but think is pretty awesome and modern of them. I also think it's an interesting story that there is another side to employee’s blogging and how it's perceived in the corporate world.

So Matt writes back and I quote, “Thanks, Tara. I'm curious, but would never quote a PR person. Cheers, mjv.”  

WTF? He admits that he is indeed interested, but wouldn't quote me simply because I work in PR? What makes the public relations profession better or worse than any other vocation that he’d quote instead? As if none of us can be trusted, just because we sometimes deal with spin and help his colleagues with their stories without the byline credit. Well here’s some news to the journalism world, you are spin masters too, and our clients are just trying to ride the wave you start. I’ve also scooped you on several occasions; see two posts down, NY Times Got Nothing On Me. 

It’s crap like that, which I had to endure from some of my professors and classmates while going for my master’s in journalism at NYU, because in order to pay for the very expensive schooling I took a job in PR. Unlike most of my classmates, I was working full-time and going to school full-time, while most of them weren’t working at all or were only doing part-time internships. Yet, I did both, kept up this blog and also had some of my articles published. Sorry if that’s too aggressive and PR like. In fact, during orientation we were all told by faculty that they discouraged anyone doing the program AND working part-time, never mind full-time like I did. Yes, to some I’ve gone over to the “dark side” but I’m still writing AND paying the rent. I also find it funny that the media doesn't see how interrelated the two fields are. I've done both though, been pitched by PR execs and worked with them while writing stories for the paper and now as a PR exec where my coworkers and I think up fun stories and new trends. We also write releases that then get picked up directly by many outlets, who are looking to us to fill some of the gaps. Plus, there's a lot more communications to PR than just working with the media.

On a side note, it seems Matt has a website, Whale Head--where he is basically PR'ing his work. But it appears he has a cat and a page of her pictures, he also says he is a Yankees fan, so he can't be too bad...and his photo is kind of cute. I wonder if it would have made a difference if I emailed him from my AOL account instead? I wasn't really expecting him to actually quote me or be interested in my angle, but I could have lived without his comment about my job, especially after a long day.  

UPDATE: Matt took my post in stride and sent me the following note:

"Touche, Tara. Touche.
One more thing -- my cat is a male.
Feel free to pitch me work-related stuff in the future. m" 

Alls well that ends well :)

Desperately seeking a connection
To the internet that is. Yesterday, I returned home to my apartment after a nice weekend up in Connecticut to find that my modem was acting helter skelter and flashing its lights at me. I tried restarting it, unplugging it, moving it, dropping it (by accident on my toe) etc., but to no avail. I finally had to call my provider, Time Warner Cable. After going through many many voice prompts I reached a person just as my cell phone decided to die. Cute.

I called back and the man said my modem apparently has a history of restarting and that it could be my line. The earliest they can send a technician though is Thursday and the window time frame is from 2-6. Could they be any vaguer? It's not like I can work from home while I wait for them, since I can't without the Internet. Otherwise they do not do after work visits and weekend appointments are booked until September! Whatcha going to do? All I know is that a computer without internet is like Superman without any powers (been doing a Lois and Clark marathon lately). I couldn't think of doing anything that wasn't Web related on it. Grr!

News: Manatee spotted off Manhattan