Return of the Jetta

I'm now the proud leaser of a black & chrome 2006 VW Jetta 2.5, fully loaded with leather seats and sunroof. It looks more like a beamer actually. It took all of Saturday to do the paperwork, select a color, model and haggle the MSRP and lease payments. I say that like it wasn't actually my boyfriend doing all the haggling and number crunching. We basically "played" bad cop and dumb blond cop. At one point the saleswoman held out her hand to collect my driver's license and I, misinterpreting the gesture, placed my hand in hers. She looked at my guy and said "she's cute." Lol, I felt like a flake.

 

I had originally wanted a red Jetta but apparently VW is no longer releasing Jetta's in red, plus the only Salsa Red they had at the lot was leasing for the same price as a fully loaded model. So, basically it came down to whether a red car was more important to me than a better deal with sunroof and power seating. Is that a real term? Power seating? Did I just make that up? What I mean is that with the red car you'd have to adjust the non-leather seats manually by turning this big wheel as apposed to an automatic button that glides your seat into position and comes with three saved setting options. Although it's not my dream color, I'm extremely happy with it. It looks very ritzy, but now I'm scared as hell that I'm going to ding it or ruin its new detailed look.

 

It doesn't help that I haven't really driven on a regular basis for the three years now and that I don't know where I'm going, which is shooting my confidence to hell. Plus, none of the street lights here have arrows--nope it's just a free for all when it comes to turning at intersections.  As a result, I was reminded of a quote by Woody Allen in Annie Hall, "I don't want to live in a city where the only cultural advantage is that you can make a right turn on a red light."

 

It also takes three maneuvers to exit my apartment building's tight parking garage. Luckily the homeless guys that sleep in the garage are usually asleep in front of another tenant's car, located in the corners. It's still pretty freaky seeing their feet peaking out from the floor near the hood of people's cars.

My drive to work though is pretty sweet, only 20 minutes and no highways. I also get to pass the Pacific ocean and drive up and down palm tree lined streets. Sunroof open of course. Here are photos of my new ride (see the beach in the distance? That's my street):

I'm in the NY Times!

I only had to harass the feisty reporter and insult the paper on my blog here to have it happen. The reporter, Matt Villano, respected my gumption and equal feistiness though and included me in his piece and even added in the idea about companies encouraging blogging, which is what I originally pitched him. So sometimes it pays to speak your mind--even if you're in PR. 

Check out the resulting story in the NY Times Circuits section page 5: Blogging the Hand That Feeds You 

I'm mentioned in three graphs.  I'm so stoked about it. The story also mentions that a blog is created every second, wow! 

Here's the excerpt

"Another example of the evolution of business blogs is a site named When Tara Met Blog. It is a personal mouthpiece for Tara Renee Settembre, an account executive with the Horn Group, a public-relations company in New York. Ms. Settembre writes about all sorts of experiences, from buying lip plumpers to harassing feisty reporters.

When she recently decided to move to California, she broke the news on her blog. The site has the full endorsement of her employer, which links to it on the corporate Web site and mentions it to interested clients. As her blog has become more popular, Ms. Settembre has even received permission to bill some of the time she spends writing it as professional development.

“I can’t help but think it is pretty awesome and modern of them,” she wrote in a recent post. She added that the company continued to encourage her to write, despite the fact that the blog “isn’t industry-related and sometimes has questionable content.”

Shipping of Fools

So apparently 2-to-3 day Priority Mail means the post office will aim to get your stuff there in two to three days. They will try their "best," but there isn't a guarantee. Thus, even though you shell out the extra $$ for priority mailing your stuff can technically take up to two freakin weeks to get there.

Here I was, thinking that if I shelled out the bigger bucks my stuff could arrive before I started work on Monday and that way I could get settled in over the weekend and not worry about when my stuff would arrive and how to pick it up. Yet, that's exactly what I'm doing now. Only one of my four packages has arrived and it wasn't even the one with my shoes or pressed pants and dress shirts. I mailed them all on the same day yet...only one has arrived five days later. So riddle me this, why do postmen go postal? I would think it would be the people shipping and waiting to receive packages and not the deliverer. Oh well, what can I do but bitch in this post?

In the meantime (3 days), I have to lease a car and get an insurance provider, pick up a chest of draws found on craigslist and yes, have some fun. It seems I arrived on a good weekend, The San Gennaro Italian feast is going on here too and a Venice Block Party. I'll report back.

PS: How can Grey's Anatomy make me cry every episode?

The Long Goodbye

So you never realize how much crap one has until you actually try to pack it and ship it. Yeeks. Not fun and very stressful.  

Besides the errand stuff that had to be done before the move, I made sure I did a couple of things before I left the City, like take in another Yankees game on home field while I still could; they beat the Devil Rays 8 to 4. Also, ate at Tao, since I had been wanting to since I moved here and luckily I wasn't disappointed, especially since I'm a sucker for ambiance. I hit up Florent for their fries-- the place has became a tradition for my friends and I to visit before returning home after a long night out, it's a definite hangover preventer too. Had dim sum again at Jing Fong, since the San Gennaro festival in Little Italy was way too crowded because we went right during the parade time.

I crammed in four back-to-back goodbye parties too: one long night out with my coworkers, another with my NYC friends, then with my girls in CT and a big dinner with family friends.

Here are some of the photos that are fit to post of all the goodbying:

Now I'm finally off to LA, but as they say, if I can make it here I can make it anywhere, so California here I come!

Photo opp: A few weeks back when I went to Boston I had gone to the lounge Sanctuary on State Street with some friends and I just saw now that I'm in their site's picture gallery (it's the fifth pic on the page).

Best Cupcakes in Manhattan

So of course just when I'm leaving, I find my favorite cupcake spot in Manhattan.

Keep in mind that I live near the tempting Magnolia Bakery and their cupcakes are good, yes, but they aren't all that. Billy's, their spin off, is a little better and then there were some disappointments at Burgers & Cupcakes and Eleni's BUT now I've found ambrosia at Sugar Sweet Sunshine on the Lower East Side.

It was recommended to me by Nichelle, a blogger at Cupcakes Take the Cake. We were chatting at a pre-fashion week party and I eagerly asked the cupcake aficionado what her favorite cupcake in New York City is and she quickly replied, Sugar Sweet Sunshine--not to be mistaken with the fun independent film that I wrote about, Little Miss Sunshine.

So on a mission, two of my girlfriends and I headed there after work to try for ourselves. I admit I was skeptical but eager and very hungry. I ordered their sunshine cupcake ($1.50) which is a vanilla cake and buttercream frosting and their lemon cupcake. Sunshine was amazing. The cake was really moist and flavorful and the frosting was sweet and creamy. Way better than Magnolia's and without the line and a quarter cheaper a cup. My friends tried their red velvet cupcake and pumpkin spice instead of the lemon one, both of which were received with enthusiastic moaning.

The place itself has a relaxed coffee shop feel to it that invites visitors to stay and eat instead of taking it to go.  

So forget the line and two dozen limits at Magnolia's and head to Sugar Sweet Sunshine on 126 Rivington Street. The NY Press agrees by the way. Enjoy!

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