The Good, the Bad & the Ugly

Mari's Brownies are tiny but tempting, and
snugly wrapped--individually--like little presents.

Good

• H.'s turn on the morning drive shift, so I got to sleep until after 8.
• Bus into NYC to meet young Jack Abraham, founder and CEO of milo.com, in from Palo Alto, CA with his smart, pretty press person, Martha. Milo is a virtual dog who fetches items for you at local stores [you enter your zip code] so you know which merchants have what in stock and don't waste time spinning your wheels and running around. Smart idea for holiday season. I remember the December days [for 12 consecutive years] when I absolutely had to get my hands on the annual Holiday Barbie for Figgy's Christmas morning in Maine or Montclair. Link: http://www.milo.com/. Hope to weave a consumer story pitch around this.
• Meeting was in a Starbucks right near the Canal Street subway station, so I took the Q train bound for Coney Island. Don't think I've ever taken that train before. Like new things.
• Figgy in happy mood. That should top my list. She and her friend, A., walked over to CUPS, the new frozen yogurt place in Clifton. Now that she reported back, I need to check it out before we move on Friday. ;)
• Work deadline met. Feel competent.
• Many laughs over an email stream from Patsy and boot camp friends today, regarding chocolate cake, avoidance of it and difficult workouts. Patsy nixed my idea--posted in jest--of a trip to the Petite Cafe in Nutley, a place Helen was raving about in a group email for its chocolate cake. Patsy's reply is too good not to repeat. It made me laugh out loud: As soon as the Petite Cafe puts bacon between the layers of their chocolate layer cakes, I'll bring a piece for everyone and you can eat as much as you want during the 10 seconds of rest between your tabata sets. [Tabata is a hellish running exercise she has us do on the football field. Life is unfair.]
• Dean and DeLuca's Soho store on Broadway and Prince Street! Drank it in, studying all the delicacies and their lofty pricetags, from foie gras to a gorgeous pumpkin-shaped cake, fresh white goat cheese to bright orange tulips. Pre-Thanksgiving excitement in the air. The rich and famous must shop there, b/c sign at door said no picture taking; http://www.deandeluca.com/.
• Lovely honey-mustard-colored sweater at Anthropologie--and they had a large size. Could not afford the $98, but still was glad to see it. Hold on a minute--am I evolving into a person who can take pleasure in how a sweater feels and looks, and visualize it in her life, and where she would wear it, but calmly walks away with no regrets? That reminds me of a woman I interviewed for Good Housekeeping Magazine years ago, who had lost about 100 pounds and kept it off. It will sound funny, she told me over the phone, but I can be satisfied now with just smelling pancakes and syrup, rather than eating them. Does that make sense? No, at the time, it really didn't. Now it kind of does. 
• One itty-bitty Mari's brownie from the charming marketplace in the Limelight, a former church on Sixth Avenue and 20th Street, in the Flatiron District. Link: http://www.marisny.com/. I met Mari once in Henri Bendel when she was promoting her bite-size goodies.
• Good long walk, all the way back from Canal Street to subway stop @ 23rd and Eighth. Took about 1.5 hours counting stops to browse.

Bad

• Dad's aggressive prostate cancer. He has had prostate cancer for 15+ years, but still, we never heard the word aggressive.

 Ugly

• Dropping off baby wipes at Van Dyk to leave by Dad's bedside because using washcloths on him for frequent cleanups is irritating his skin. Sorry, tried to warn you it would be ugly. This cradle-to-grave lifetime can be trying.

Good night.