Ever since the last time I went to the Coney Island Mermaid Parade two years ago, I've wanted to be in it. Last time I saw things I never thought I'd see (or ever wanted to see). The craziest people make it out to dress up (or down) and shake it like a pepper shaker in this glitterfest, which is basically like the Halloween Parade and the Gay Pride Parade had a baby and tossed it into the ocean. Last year I couldn't make it because I was in Mexico (so worth it!) and the girls and I all said, "Eh, we'll just do it next year." Well. We all know what happened to the other girls. But seeing as this is very likely the last year for the parade (since next year our beloved Astroland is going to be either a condo multiplex or a Las Vegas-style resort), I decided I couldn't let anything stop me. Luckily, some girlfriends from work (Mitch, Sarra and Stephanie) and Dustin came with me even dressed up! If Kerri, Shannon and Jennifer had been there it would have been so out of control I don't know whether I would have made it out alive.
I think for this blog (which is comprised of Stephanie's, Dustin's and my photos) I will let it be photographic. I'm pretty sure the pictures tell the story. I'll just say this: I had the best time I've ever had in New York, which is saying a lot (although the Flaming Lips concert is a close second). I wore very little (Grandma, if you read this, brace yourself) but I was surprised by how comfortable I felt in my own skin. I guess I just decided, you only live once. There will probably be very few times in my life that I will be able to get away with wearing something like this. I was so excited about my costume that I just decided to rock it. The photographers were insane: as soon as one person would take my picture, there would suddenly be eight photographers clicking away. But, as you will see below, I was LOVING IT! I felt like a star. I let out a side of myself that I barely knew existed. Kerri Cole would have been proud (I think she IS proud of me for it). And, the people who came with me looked AMAZING. I was so happy to be accompanied by such enthusiastic mermaids (and one hot evil Prince Neptune). In addition to my co-workers and D., we tagged along with a group headed by a former PS260-er, Sandra. We were the Sapphire Sirens (although I was mostly gold) and they were all beautiful and super-nice ladies. Throughout the parade I kept shaking my body and trying to get the crowd into it, making them clap and shake too. I just figured that's what you do in that sort of situation. But one of the Sirens came up to me after the parade and said, "Jenna! I'm so glad you came! You really got the spirit of the parade and entertained the crowd!" Ha ha... well, that's what I came to do!! I had a freakin' blast.
So, without further ado, I present to you: The Mermaid Parade 2007.
Here you can see Rachel Weiss and baby, with her fab director husband Darren Aronofsky:
This just says it all. My fave.
Our poor co-worker Ned, who came out to support us. I think I freaked him out a little when I came running up to hug him.
And not a bit of sunburn! SPF 50 baby!!
The next week I was all over the photo pages among the Internet. You can see me here. And here.And here. But this one was the best.
Hey y'all, it's been a busy week! I'll catch you up.
Friday night Dustin and I left work and walked past this humorous sight:
As we walked down Broadway, we noticed the sun was gleaming in the most elegant of ways.
He noticed my hair looked aflame.
And I thought his face just glowed.
We were on our way to one of my favorite Mexican restaurants, Rosa Mexicana. It's gorgeously decorated and has amazing fresh guacamole and desserts.
I had been dying to try their Michelada, a Mexican drink that's like a Bloody Mary, but with beer instead of vodka.
Although our meal arrived a whole hour after we ordered it, it was still amazing.
Sassy!
On Sunday we met up for more good eats at La Creperie near his apartment. At first we weren't impressed by much more than the french onion soup (but really, how hard is that?).
That is, until our banana and chocolate crepe dessert arrived.
Oh lordy!
Decadence. But the night was just beginning. We were on our way to the Warsaw in deep Brooklyn to see Lily Allen, one of my current fave chanteuses. When we got there, it was made clear that there would be no violent dancing of any sort.
The place got filled up pretty fast.
The opener was a funky singer with a beatboxing guitarist.
Then Lily came out. Known for her crazy stage antics, she behaved herself for the most part that night, probably because, as she said, she had been sick all day.
But she was entertaining nonetheless. Adorable and sassy, with a beautiful voice to boot.
Unfortunately for me, as I have mentioned before, it was pretty dang hard to see anything in this venue, because I am not six feet tall. This was my view:
Because this is what I am.
I didn't know they made women that tall!
Anyway, I still danced a bit and had a good time.
The best pictures of the night came from stills from video I took that night.
Look everyone! I am now a Vlogger!
The first video has crap sound, kind of hard to hear, but good visuals to get the feel of the performance. The second video is hard to see, but it's Lily singing a ska version of "Heart of Glass," which was just lovely.
On the way home we saw something we'd never seen before: a brand-new train, all shiny and everything.
The very next night, concert week continued with a performance by Albert Hammond, Jr., of the Strokes.
He was great!
Dustin just has this knack for taking great concert photos.
We rocked out.
This photo takes the cake!
Finally, Wednesday night was the night I had been looking forward to for months: the Peaches concert! I always love seeing Peaches, and I was really excited because Shannon would finally get to enjoy the experience with me.
We met up at PS 260 and caught up over Coronas.
The concert was amazing, and we were pretty close to the stage. I almost got to touch Peaches when she started stage diving. Unfortunately, I was an idiot and forgot my camera, so this is the best picture I could get (with my camera phone):
Luckily, some other bloggers out there got some good pics, and I fully admit that I stole these images for this blog.
She's such a rock star.
Well, that's it for this week. I'm pretty exhausted from all this New York livin'. However, I will hopefully have a good post next week after the Mermaid Parade (in which I will be walking this Saturday). Wish me luck!
This is gonna be a big post. Let's just go ahead and get this part outta the way right off the bat. We finally got our pictures back from our photo shoot with Jay. Out of 650 pictures taken, about 30 were good, 600 were hilarious, and the rest were just bad. I mean, I have some gorgeous girlfriends, but we are clearly not models. (Although you'd think we could be, after all of those seasons of "America's Next Top Model" we've watched together.) In most of them we just look confused, awkward, pissed off, or silly in general. However I will post some of the better ones here, mostly because I know my mom wants to see them. The best ones were the candid or at least happy ones.
God, it's just hilarious!
We look like lovers in some of them.
The classic "strut"
At least we got to be silly on purpose some of the time.
These cops tried to ticket us for having a photo shoot without a permit (this is NY after all) but luckily we grabbed them and had some fun with them, and then they left us alone.
I know the girls are gonna be pissed I posted this one, but it's just too funny. Kerri and I are in a battle between good and evil, while Shannon is trying to get my back by laser-beaming Kerri with her eyes, and meanwhile Jennifer's like, "Don't cheesesteaks sound good right now?"
Yippeee!
See? We're lovers. Clearly.
Awwww! This is the best one.
In other news, doesn't this dude look just like David Hasselhoff, if he had aged better?
I thought so. Speaking of the 'Hoff, for the summer I am recapping "America's Got Talent" for TVgasm. Click Here.
Anyway, on Saturday Dustin and I went to Madison Square Park for the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party, erstwhile known as the Blues & Barbecue Festival. I have been to it every year I've been in New York.
It's soooooo much fun, just to chill, eat some good food and listen to some great music. Everybody else thought so too. It's a tradition!
I loved this pit cook's shirt.
Even the Fuzz stopped for a bite.
We settled on The Salt Lick, and it. was. so. good.
When we got our food, I dipped my finger in the sauce and was horrified to discover it tasted just like salad dressing. However, in combination with the brisket and thick Texas bread it was unbeatably good..
Dustin even went for seconds.
We saw David Cross right here. You may know him from Mr. Show, or Arrested Development. He stood about two feet from me and I'm sure could feel me staring at him. But we didn't bother him.
We just continued with our crossword.
It was pretty nice weather too.
And we finally got to see the Big Metal Tree, which we have passed by a million times but never stopped to really look at. It's this gorgeous, elaborate sculpture of 2 silver barren trees in the middle of the summery leafy ones.
It's really beautiful because the two trees intertwine and meld together in the middle.
We showed our love.
Later that night, the previously sunny sky turned gray and ominous.
But it was okay. We were safe in the shelter of Maya, an amazing Mexican restaurant in Midtown.
We got, of course, fresh-made guacamole.
Dustin had this crazy chicken dish, the name of which escapes me.
And I had all of my favorite Mexican culinary elements combined in one dish: chicken with MOLE, PLANTAINS, AVOCADO, CILANTRO RICE and freakin' OAXACAN CHEESE on top.
It made me pump my fists in delicious delight.
The ladies' room was pretty. Check out this great door, carved out of wood.
And there's something about bowl sinks that just feels classy.
And finally, Jennifer was due to leave on this Wednesday, the 13th. So I went out with her one last time for cheesesteaks. *sniffle*
Later we went to Virgin Megastore and on the way, I got a bug in my eye. We looked like idiots on the street trying to get it out and freaking out over it.
At Virgin, Jen decided she desperately needed this Nintendo belt buckle. For some reason she changed her mind at the last second.
And I decided I needed these three CDs from the $8 bin.
I know, I know,"The Bridge" isn't Billy Joel's best album ever. But it's the album I grew up listening to, because my mom had the cassette tape of it, so I love it. I know every word to every song. I was so young when I used to listen to it that I actually thought the female vocals on every song were sung by Christie Brinkley. As for Journey's "Greatest Hits," well, I have no excuse. Except that it's awesome. As awesome as this:
I typically don't post blogs about nights out that get too crazy, but last night was just too good to pass up. It was Dustin's sister Phoebe's birthday, and she demanded we come to her dinner party. She said to meet at her place and then we would be whisked away to a secret location. We were definitely intrigued.
When we got there, I was amazed by the size of her closet. It is bigger than my bedroom.
Most of her friends were already there, milling about and waiting for our secret ride to arrive. It was a little awkward, since Dustin only knew a few people and I only knew Dustin and Phoebe. However, I knew these would be some interesting folks since they are Phoebe's globe-trotting, Spanish-speaking, jet-setting friends. I was the only one present not fluent in more than one language.
As usual, Phoebe was gorgeous and fabulous.
Suddenly Phoebe cries, "Andele andele! Vamos aqui!" So we followed her outside and saw this monstrosity waiting for us.
La Rumba Express!
It is an adorable Colombian party bus that you can rent out to take you from place to place for special occasions. It had samba and reggaeton music blasting out of it and fake chickens on the top. Wait till you see the inside.
Crazy!
It was an awesome surprise, and Phoebe was so excited.
As was everyone else. We squished in and got ready to ride!
Our driver has been doing this for 15 years, and was quite enthusiastic.
Phoebe broke out the hammock and hats.
While this dude broke out the drums.
Phoebe immediately placed herself atop a saddle.
It was a loud, raucous good time.
We even stopped halfway there to pick up Phoebe's friend Claudia.
She was cowbellin' it in no time.
Everybody cried out in surprise as we passed over a bridge. We weren't in Kansas anymore, Toto.
At one point, Phoebe made us all shut up (not an easy task) because we were lost and she was trying to get directions. Lost in the Bronx. Good idea!
But, no worries. We were back on track in no time and the dancing re-commenced.
Phoebe's friends are CA-RAY-ZEE. In the best, most fun, most Latin way possible.
We finally arrived at our destination, a tiny restaurant in Riverdale (or somewhere). There were only a couple of people there and they high-tailed it outta there as soon as we came in and took over the iPod player. We had the whole place to ourselves.
With wine, women and song, everyone toasted the fab Pheebs.
And what's a birthday toast without a speech?
This friend, Alex, turned out to be the cousin of Dustin's best friend from elementary school, strangely enough.
I had the honor of sitting next to the bus driver. Boy did he tell us some wild stories. He's seen it all.
It was, like any other night out in New York, a beautiful time.
And naturally, there was a special dessert for the girl of the evening. The bus driver even sang a special birthday song for her.
As the night progressed, everyone ate, drank and was merry, and we all sang along to some great songs. It was a mix between 80's Mexican rock ballads and the hipster music of today.
And don't you know Phoebe got up to dance.
She taught us some great moves. I think she is the most charismatic person I've ever met: a little bundle of energy, she gets everybody up and going.
Soon it was time for the bus ride back to our homeland. This time we sat next to her friend Amelia, who couldn't get enough of the zany hats.
The music was pumpin', and everybody got to singin'.
Pheebs started swinging from the ceiling poles.
And once she does something, everyone's gotta get into it.
I think the party was less in the restaurant and more on the bus, to be honest.
I mean, who doesn't want to dance on a Colombian Rumba Express?
Thank you, Rumba Express, for a night we won't soon forget!!!
Where There's Room For One, There's Room For Eleven
Last weekend we met up with Dustin's sister Phoebe to attend her first auction. She has a new job as a jewelry buyer for the Phillips de Pury auction house. We went to lend our support. Neither Dustin nor I had ever been to an auction before. It was crazy! Everything moved so fast. The auctioneer was a most refined fop. He was smooth and had a good sense of humor: "Are you sure? Come onnnnnn... you've come this far; what's another hundred dollars?"
In addition to people present in the auction room, there were participants over the phone and internet.
Phoebe's friend had to leave early, so she left it up to us to bid for her on a couple of items. It was thrilling!
Afterward, we got down to the real business of the day: heading up to Massachusetts for the high school graduation of the youngest Stephens sibling, Tommy.
We rented a car. I swear to God, people who work for car rental places are among the most bitter, jaded employees in the world. They have absolutely no sense of urgency and not even the slightest bit of care for customer service. Every time I've rented a car I've encountered the same types of cold, uncaring, humorless people. The only people with bigger chips on their shoulders are those who work for the DMV. Jeez.
But soon we were off!
Since Dustin's license is expired and no one on earth wants to see me drive, Phoebe did the honors.
I have to say, for as much as I love New York, there's nothing like getting out of the city once every while to breathe some fresh air.
After three short hours, we arrived at North Mount Hermon prep school for the graduation-eve dinner and dance. We walked in and the place reeked of teenager. High school has such a specific atmosphere to it.
The already-present Stephenses had saved us some scrumptious cafeteria food.
The whole family made it up, including Caitlin, just back from a semester in London (with her friend Nick),
... and even Luis Jose made it up from Santa Barbara.
And so began the obligatory family photos.
But there was little time for that. There was a high school dance goin' on!
Dustin got into a bit of a tangle with the balloons.
And though it was stiflingly hot inside the gym, there were ways to cool off.
The music was a-pumpin', and boogie-ing commenced.
The Stephens offspring were together once again!
I guess I hadn't learned my lesson from Dustin's previous entanglement with the balloons.
Don't worry; I made it out alive.
After the dance, there was pretty much nothing to do but go to Mim's Market.
They have one table.
That's all we nine needed.
After catching up over some iced tea and coffee, we headed out... but not before Caitlin showed us the tattoo she got while across the pond. It's big.
Half the family stayed at an inn down the road, while D. and I and his parents had rooms at the Moor Cottage nearer to the school. It's sort of a bed-and-breakfast, without the breakfast. Just a big house with rooms to rent. It used to be a girls' dormitory, I think. The second we walked in, the first thing I said was, "This place is totally haunted." You can just feel it. Dustin said, "Nah, it's just an old house." But come on. Look at this place.
I mean, look at this wallpaper.
You're telling me it's not haunted??
Unfortunately, there were no ghost sightings, and we had a good night's sleep. There was just a lot of noise coming from the tenants upstairs. All night we kept saying, "What are they DOING up there? Who's moving furniture at 1am?" Sure enough, the next day when we saw Caitlin, before saying anything about the cottage, she immediately said, "Ohmygod that place is sooooo haunted! They say that people hear furniture moving in the middle of the night." Weird.
The porch was cute though. I would have loved to just sit out there with a nice cup of coffee in the morning.
But there was no time for that either. We had to all pile into the car to get to the graduation.
And to have all seven kids singing along to the new Fiest song.
Luckily for us, there were muffins and coffee at the school. Thank God.
I would not have been good company without that coffee.
We all traipsed down to the little field they had set up for the ceremony.
There were only about 80 kids graduating from this little school, a far cry from the 700 in my senior class.
Wouldn't it be amazing to go to a school with structures like these around campus?
Dustin and Caitlin did their usual hamming it up for the camera. It's a Stephens tradition.
While waiting for the ceremony to begin, it was a pretty typical gathering: Dustin and I took cute pictures of ourselves....
... and Phoebe sat around fabulously, looking like a celebrity.
Mom and Dad Stephens watched the procession proudly, their last child about to graduate from high school.
It was a generally proud moment.
... for all 80 childrens' parents, who crowded around the graduates' seating area to take photos.
This woman was seriously decked out for the occasion.
And Dustin captured it all with his new digital SLR camera.
One really cool thing about the ceremony was that the commencement speaker was Malachy McCourt, the brother of "Angela's Ashes" author Frank McCourt and an author in his own right, plus actor, playwright, and grandfather of an NMH graduate to boot. He is an old Irish sod, and despite having grown up with less than nothing, NOTHING, he didn't talk at all about how hard he had to work to make it in the world, to pull himself up from complete poverty, to gain success in any way. He gave the graduates advice on how to fully enjoy their lives, how to not worry about what adults tell them to do, and how to watch out for conservatives. He started off by declaring, "Any day above ground is a good one," and ended not only with a slew of Irish blessings ("May your roof never fall in, and may the people under it never fall out") but also, finally, by singing one of those traditional Irish songs. You know the kind, where one guy starts singing in the pub and soon everyone is singing along. He got everyone in the audience to sing this beautiful Irish song about friendship and life. Except me. I couldn't sing. I was too busy crying.
Mom, you woulda lost it too. You would have loved it.
So after that speech, and a few far less interesting ones, they finally started handing out the diplomas. Luckily for Karen, Tommy walked right past us on his way to the stage.
They called his name and we all cheered.
There was a lot of photography taking place.
At the beginning and the end of the graduation, the school had a traditional opening and closing officiation by the actual "sheriff of the settlement of Massachusetts." It was pretty hilarious.
With only 80 students, the tossing of the caps is a little lackluster.
Afterward, we all headed downfield to meet up with the grads.
Phoebe indulged her maternal instincts with their little cousin Isabella.
As did Caitlin, when Isabella revealed the masterpiece she had created as a graduation gift for Tommy.
We couldn't find the lad, so while we waited Caitlin showed off her cool Casio watch from 1986.
Dustin's father, Luis, is a charming, charismatic man who is unafraid to talk to anybody, not unlike my stepdad Tom. So, naturally we weren't surprised when we turned around and he was chatting up Mr. McCourt.
... which was a good opportunity for us all to have our picture with him.
This one's for you, Mama! He loved me. Old Irish guys typically do.
Isabella is so. freaking. adorable.
Strangely enough, while I snuck into a random building to use the ladies' room, the poster they had hanging in the stall was for a college in Arizona. Random.
When I came back, Tommy had just found his fam.
Little Isabella has a big crush on Tommy. I think she thinks he's Prince Charming.
They took many photos together.
In fact, from that point on, the photos were unstoppable.
Even the obligatory ones.
Everyone just loves this little doll. She was very well-behaved for someone with nobody to play with all day.
After a short lunch, we gathered in Tom's dorm room, just, you know, to take another picture.
It's a pretty tight space for eleven people to squish into.
We waited around for... something, I don't remember. We got bored and started doing some "America's Next Top Model" auditioning.
Finally, after the aunt/grandmother/niece trio left, we went out for Japanese food in the nearby town of Northampton. I'm not a huge fan of sushi, but I made do.
There were plenty of menu options.
Of course, a toast was in order for young Tommy, who has not only completed his studies, but is on his way to a fine music college on scholarship for jazz drumming.
We had all signed a card for him... ... and there was an awesome book about jazz and a DVD as well.
But the gift-giving had only begun! We also celebrated Caitlin's birthday (a little late) and Phoebe's birthday (a little early).
They got matching/opposite necklaces. Phoebe's was a white version, Caitlin's was black.
We only have weird pictures of the necklaces, because Phoebe decided to be a renegade and delete the only clear photo we had of them, because she didn't like the way she looked.
She approved of this one, however.
On to the meal. Have you ever heard of snooch?
Most likely not. It's a word Phoebe made up to describe the feeling you get when you eat Japanese food and the wasabi/ginger combination attacks your sinuses in the most intense, painful, and awesome way.
You're like, "No no no no! OUCH! AAAAAH, too much! Wait, give me more!"
We all got it.
Since it's not so often that the whole family gets together, it was hard for the Stephenses to part. So after dinner we got coffee. Isn't this the most adorable little town?
It reminds me of Payson, a bit.
So we got coffee.
And chatted just a little bit more. Dustin finally got to make Tommy confess to his parents the silly and hilarious story of his friend getting arrested when they were staying with Dustin last year.
We made our way outside and it was time to say our goodbyes.
Smooches!
G'bye Stephenses! It was quite a weekend. It's always nice to get outta town now and then, and when you are like me, and don't have your immediate family nearby, it's always nice to be welcomed into such a warm and fun family. It's always an adventure, that's for sure.
