Snow, Lots of Snow (by California Standards of course)

Last Friday it snowed. For like 6 hours straight. It wasn't evil, icy, pierce your skin hateful snow. It was happy, fluffy, fat snowflakey snow. Like in a Disney movie when snow falls and happy music plays kind of snow.

Anyhow, it snowed Thursday night into Friday morning and I got to walk into work in it. It was so fun!

Here's what it looked like that morning.

This is our building.

This is the route I take to the subway from our place. It's Cooper Street Made picking this apartment easy, I figured because the cross street was called Cooper it was fate!

My feet in the snow while walking to the subway on my way into work.

Self Portrait in the Snow.

On Sunday Mike and I took Cooper the Great to the park. It was like a picture perfect postcard. Everything was covered in snow and the sun was out. It was 40 degrees outside and lovely. 40 degrees is warm to me now... heck it's a heatwave!

Cooper in the snow - Sportin' his I love NY sweatshirt.

The park near our house- Inwood Hill Park It's at the top of the island of Manhattan.











Salt water marsh at the top of the park.

These are the baseball fields- Kids spent the day building snow people.

Families used the hillsides in the park for sledding- It looked super fun!

Cooper had a blast!!! He's decided that he loves the snow.

Afterwards- Cooper needed a bath. He thought it was a crummy end to a fabulous day. I thought it was great!! I love when he's a fluffy fur ball after he gets a bath.

Oh Happy Day (A Jen Post)

Our old laptop - may it rest in peace.

And now--- tada---- we have a brand new laptop. It's a Gateway and it's great! It's super light weight and it works- which makes it fabulous.

Until now I haven't been able to get pictures off of our camera because the old laptop couldn't handle it. As you can imagine I have lots of making up to do.

First of all... I got the Uggs. They are great. Super warm and I hate wearing anything else on my feet.

As you read in an earlier post my sister Rebecca came and stayed with me for a girls weekend while Mike was at that hockey thing in Atlanta. Here are some of the pics from that visit.

We went to this fabulous restaurant on the Upper Westside called Rain. It was NYC restaurant week and my coworker Dawn went with us. It was great food, but a snotty waitress. They gave us a $40 gift card as a Thank You for coming in during restaurant week. Mike and I used them last night. So Good!!! Nicer waitress too. This is us at Rain.

This is the chocolate Dessert at Rain.

The day before Mike left for Atlanta was the day Rebecca arrived. I met her at the airport and then we went to Peter's- a bar near my work that we hang out at. That's where we meant up w/ Will and Jenn Selva. Here are the pics from that night ....

The Jen's

Mike & Will

The Watts' & The Selva's

All In The Family

Well, as Jen mentioned earlier, Sister Jen came to visit us a couple of weekends back. Its always good to see my sister, and she's quite possibly the easiest houseguest we've ever had (along with Bec). The reason being, Jen came out here by herself last New Year's and pretty much did all the major touristy stuff...so when she came this time around, we had the ability to do stuff that none of us had had the chance to do so far...

Of course, most of that involved food....as our friends know, Jen and I are big time foodies, and we love the ability to check out new restaurants and such around the New York City area since there are only 14-thousand of them or so....

Among the highlight of Sister Jen's trip to NYC:

1. Dinner at Mesa Grill: (top Photo) Jen and I took Sister Jen (by the way, my sister isn't a nun, its just the only way to differentiate between the two of them...well, probably not the ONLY way, but one of the funnier ways, especially since Sister Jen is getting her masters in theology...) to Mesa Grill for her birthday dinner, as she had just turned 28 years old a couple of days before she got to NYC. (Still reeling by the fact that I have a 28-year-old sister...crap, I'm old)

Mesa Grill is one of Bobby Flay's restaurants in town, and I think it might have been the best of three (Jen and I have now gone to all of them). I had the flounder, which was awesome, and the Jen's had the salmon, which was also very good. The decor is also very nouveau and judging from the crowds, it remains a pretty popular place.

2. A trip across the Brooklyn Bridge: This was, in a word, awesome: We took the subway down to the base of the bridge and then walked across from Manhattan to Brooklyn. Going there was a little rough, because of the wind. It was really REALLY windy that day, which made for a bit of a struggle going over into Brooklyn. At one point, the wind actually lifted me off the ground and pushed me a few feet (hard to imagine, considering my 255 pounds). Of course, Jen was miserable and wasn't having a good time at all, but it was fun to cross over the bridge. The return trip, though, was even better. We had gone over to have lunch at a pizza place (more on that in a minute) and when we left, it started to snow....and I mean SNOW....very hard.

Jen wasn't sure she wanted to walk back in the wind AND the snow, but the Watts siblings ended up convincing her, and it turned out to be a good thing, because once we got on the bridge, the wind stopped, and we just walked among the snowflakes...totally cool visual, of which you can see above this post (thanks for the pictures, Sister Jen!)

3. Grimaldi's: This is the pizza joint at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge on the Brooklyn side. Really well known, and annually picked as having the best pizza within the five boroughs. And they aren't lying. We ended up ordering a white pizza with pepperoni, garlic and basil, and they mistakenly brought a regular red pizza with pepperoni and onions. We weren't all that upset, and began to eat, and about halfway through our pie, they brought out the pizza they were supposed to give to us...and left it there...two pizzas for the price of one!

Anyways, the pizza is spectactular...definitely going back there...though Jen says she'll be taking the subway next time and avoiding the bridge.

4. Serendipity 3: The famous dessert restaurant from the movies. Sister Jen wanted to go there on the Monday she was in town, so after I got off of work, I met up with her (Jen was at work) and we headed over to the place. We avoided the frozen hot chocolate (its their specialty, but it was also 22 degrees outside that day..and I didn't want a frozen ANYTHING) so we each had sandwiches, which were to die for. Sister Jen had a turkey apple brie concoction, while I had some sort of croque monsieur type sandwich, and both were delicious...plus, it was a neat place to go to...highly recommended.

5. Regis and Kelly...the Jens took in Monday's show while I was at work...Jen was able to go because the show lets out at 10am, right when she's due at ABC. According to the girls, they had a good time. I didn't, because I was waiting outside for them for 30 minutes in 20 degree weather...literally went to the nearby Starbucks afterwards and ran hot water over my hands for 5 minutes....

Sister Jen likes to bring her little Pluto doll when she goes on vacation. She then takes pictures of Pluto at a bunch of sites, and creates photo albums so it appears Pluto is having the time of his life. By the way, did I mention she's 28 years old?? Actually, who am I to talk...I'm 31 and still watch professional wrestling.

Anyways, here's Pluto at Regis and Kelly and the World News Tonight set!

There were a lot of other fun times to be had in the days Sister Jen was here...I was so glad she was able to come and visit us. Cooper was thrilled to see his Aunt Jen (and was very sad when she left) and we can't wait for her to come back...next time we'll make sure she's here for trivia night!

Now we prepare for my parents visit at the start of April. Unlike my sister, my mother has never been to NYC and my Dad hasn't been for about 30 years, so they will be in full tourist mode...I better start preparing now!

Mike

No Computers at this Holiday Inn

I'm so sorry we haven't posted anything in so long. Our computer is now dead again. I blame Mike.
Geek Squad- who I also blame - says that we need to buy a new hard drive... download everything we'd like to keep and re-install windows.
So, basically 2 months ago we should have just bought a new computer and we'd be done with this mess and able to blog.
To catch everyone up... The day before Mike left for Atlanta Will (former News10er now at ESPN) and Jenn Selva were in town celebrating Wills bday. That same night my sister Rebecca flew in from San Francisco for a girls weekend. I met Becca at the airport and then we headed over to a bar near Lincoln Center to hang out with Will and Jenn and some of their friends who also live in the city. It was super fun. They live in Connecticut now only about an hour away. We'll most definitely have top get together soon.
The next morning Mike left for ATL and I had a long weekend with my sister- just the girls it was great. We went to Soho and had brunch at Cipriani's which was amazingly chic and delicious. We knew we were surrounded by celebs, but with out my paparazzi hubby we couldn't really tell who anyone was. After going home and googgling we realized that the people behind us were Javier Bardem and Harvey Weinstein. We then went to Century 21 (the worlds greatest designer discount store) and then had dinner w/ my coworker dawn another great place on the Upper West Side called Rain.
On Saturday Bec and I had a girly spa day at Mario Badesco- the best place EVER. After she told me about his products about 2 months ago I have been using them religiously. My skin has never looked better. I highly recommend!
On Sunday we went to the Natural History museum and saw the planetarium show- It was awesome.
All in all it was a great visit.
Last weekend Mike's sister Jen came to visit. That was awesome too. The highlights of that trip were.. a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge to this amazing Pizza joint on the Brooklyn side. Best Pizza that I have ever had in my life!!! On Monday I got us tickets to go see Regis and Kelly. That was WAY fun. The guests were Rachel Bilson (Summer of the OC FAME) AND Enrique Iglesias. Then I went into work and Mike and Jenn got to tour the city.
I'll let Mike write more about her visit. All in all- it was super fun!!
Go to love sibling time. Both Mike and I were lucky enough to have great sisterly visits!
This week we have our Friends Liz and Lincoln and their 20 month old Emma visiting. They came in on Saturday afternoon. They are here following around the San Jose Sharks as they make their east coast tour. Can you say die hard fans? We saw the Sharks play the Rangers on Sunday and today Mike and Lincoln are off to see the Sharks play the Islanders. I'm at work (loving the computer) access and Liz, Emma, and Cooper are hanging out at our place.
All and all we've been busy with work, house guests and computer problems.
Just call us the Holiday Inn. We've got Free HBO- but no computer access!
Much love to you all!
Jen
P.S. I will update this post with pics from all of our guests ASAP.
Please excuse the tardiness of our blogs- all complaints can be directed towards the Geek Squad

I Fought The Law....

...and the Law won.



When we rented a car to drive to Canada to visit my grandmother back in December, we ended up parking it overnight in front of our building the night we got home. The plan was for me to take it back to the rental place in Jersey the next morning.



When I awoke, I found that we had a ticket because we were too close to teh fire hydrant...the ticket specifically said "car four feet from hydrant."



Which was BS...we weren't anywhere near 4 feet from it. Stupidly, I didn't take any pictures, but drove the car back...took a bus home, and stewed over the ticket before finally deciding to fight it...



In NYC, you can fight such tickets online...so I drafted a pretty good plea and argument that would win me the decision from the judge...

Well, the verdict was mailed to us yesterday...

and the law Won...

Grand total? 115 bucks...

Reason #7459 why I'll never have a car here....

Sigh....

Mike

Who would Spellcheck vote for?

Spellcheck thinks Huckabee is Chickadee and that Obama is Osama.

Hey Now, You're An All-Star!

Yes, its been a while since Mr. Watts posted in this space....I try and let Jen describe the more day-to-day events in our lives, which leaves me to deal with more random stories or special events...and this past weekend was a special event for me, because it was my annual trip with my father to the NHL All-Star Game.

As many friends and family know, my Dad and I have made this a regular trip since I got into the media business and was able to secure us credentials for each game...we've been to every game since 2000 (minus the 2003 game in Miami) which has given us the chance to eat free food and take in some fun hockey in cities like Toronto, Denver, LA, St. Paul and Dallas...

This year, the game was in Atlanta, and we had a blast, though there were some things that we were decidedly "thumbs down" about...so lets turn this whole post into a Siskel & Ebert recap of the weekend:

Right out of the gate, THUMBS DOWN to both my father and I for each forgetting our digital cameras. I left mine at home as I rushed out the door at 4am Friday to catch my flight at JFK. We had it in my hand, and then I left it, thinking "oh Dad will have his, and his is smaller and easier to lug around." So I meet Dad at baggage claim in Atlanta and what's the first thing he said to me?? "I forgot the camera"

So please excuse the pictures in this post for their low quality and overall shoddy feel...they are from my cell phone, and they're not the best, but hopefully they'll add a little spice to the post.

THUMBS UP to the irish pub just outside our hotel. We stayed at the Marriott Marquis in downtown Atlanta (which was the media hotel for the NHL) and had a few restaurants around the area, but we spent time Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday night at the place, where the beer was good and the mozzerella sticks were awesome...mmm..fried cheese....

I'm probably coming back as a homeless person in my next life because of this next one, but THUMBS WAYYYY DOWN to the homeless beggars outside the hotel, who seemingly popped up out of nowhere even when we only had to walk a block or two. The problem with downtown Atlanta is that all the major hotels are within a two block radius of each other, so the folks looking for handouts have decided that this area is their best bet to hit up tourists and visitors for coins.

And its not like I mind giving some homeless dude some cash every now and then. Lord knows I've been hit up more than a few times in NYC....but here's the difference between NYC homeless people and Atlanta homeless people...in NYC, you might get someone to ask for some cash, but if you tell them you don't have anything for them, they stop talking and leave you alone...Atlanta homeless people aren't put off that easily....first they come up to you and ask you where you're headed, then walk step-by-step with you as you try to get away, trying to make conversation with you, before finally, FINALLY saying something like "look I don't mean to bug you, but...."

REALLY?!?! You don't mean to bug me?!?! Well, you're doing a fine job so far, you annoying prick!!

As much as I'd like to have said that (or a few other choice things), I didn't...because you never know when a homeless guy might whip out a switch and cut ya or something, but still,

So I'd say, "hey, Man...I've got nothing for you."

And then you get harassed! They always say something smart or obnoxious, usually punctuated with the F-word or something...I'm telling you, homeless people around Atlanta have attitudes...and again, I know the previous few paragraphs is probably putting me on the fast-track to hell, but seriously!! I'll take my homeless people a little less obnoxious, please...

In fact, THUMBS DOWN to most Atlantans for having the same bad attitude...some of the staff at the hotel were cranky, the servers at the pub were surly, only the shuttle bus drivers seemed to be genuinely happy with themselves...everyone else seems to suffer from at eternal bad attitude, like they've figured out "Crap, I live in Atlanta...this town sucks...what am I doing here??"

THUMBS UP to getting to see the NHL guys up close and personal during the media availabilities....thats always fun...you learn pretty quickly that NHL players are usually fairly short, almost always personable, and overall genuinely good guys...guys you would want your daughter to date...in fact, when I have a daughter, we're making sure she gets together with a hockey player...of course, at this rate, I'll be 47 before we have a child, boy or girl...just kidding, sweetie...don't kill me... (seriously, don't kill me) =)

Anyways, here are some pictures from that day...none of them rival the picture of me interviewing Eric Lindros one-on-one while Bob Dylan looks on, but still pretty cool...

Ilya Kovalchuk

Scott Gomez

Evgeni Malkin

Henrik Sedin

By the way, the Watts-Lindros-Dylan picture does exist...just not digitally...which is unfortunate.

THUMBS UP for the unintentional comedy inspired by some of the people asking questions at Media Day...for instance, there was some black dude there from a hip-hop channel trying to ask edgy questions to the players...or at least trying to relate to them....which wasn't happening on any level....here's an example of one exchange:

Black interviewer: "Yo, dawg! You excited to be here and throw down for the fans??"

Vincent Lecavailer: "Uh, you know its just a great honor to be chosen to play in the game..."

Black interviewer (now hurriedly looking at his list of possible questions, because he's ALREADY out of ideas): "I feel you, I feel you, well tell the folks in the ATL that you're ready to put on a show!!"

Lecavalier (looking deadpan into the camera): "See you Atlanta folks at the game."

Highest of high comedy...good times....I love media time.

THUMBS WAYYY UP for a comedic moment infinitely more funny than the black guy at Media Day...so the Marriott Marquis was hosting a number of groups this weekend...along with the NHL, they had the International Poultry Expo (for what, chickens from Spain? turkeys from Turkey?), some sort of youth soccer convention, and the Battle of the Bands....which was taking place over at the Georgia Dome Saturday night (picture "Drumline")...so most of Saturday you had all these young kids running around the hotel...

So after the Skills competition Saturday night, we headed back to the hotel, dropped some stuff off in the room, and headed out to get a drink...so we're riding the elevator down from the 16th floor and we stop at the 11th floor and about six black guys between the ages of 16 and 18 jump on...being kinda loud, but no big deal...but they're all hip-hopped out, ghettoed to the max...

STILL no big deal for us (remember, I live in NYC now, I've seen it all and am scared of NOTHING anymore) and we're actually kinda chatting with the kids, asking how the battle went, and such...when the elevator stops on the 4th floors, the door opens, and there waiting to get on is a little white kid, probably about 12 years old....

Well, I've never seen a kid's eyes get wider...he took a step in, looked up, saw who was in the elevator....

got a look of panic in his face, and stepped back and walked away...terrified...meanwhile, one of the kids sees this and hollers back at him, "Hey, what you afraid of?!"....

I swear, Dad and I laughed about that the rest of the way down the elevator with the kids, then pretty much the rest of the night...the look was priceless...that kid probably figured he'd ended up in an elevator from Harlem or something...

THUMBS DOWN to the NHL for letting All-Star weekend get overshadowed by something called a "Jonas Brothers" during Saturday morning's practices....

First off, if anyone knows what a "Jonas Brothers" is, I'd love to know...please inform me...though I did find a picture on the Internet...

So, are they like Menudo for the new generation? Do they sing songs about getting rides on dates from their Mom?? And which one is the secretly gay one? (there's always one..if we learned nothing from N'Sync, we learned that...thanks Lance!)

...I'm brimming with questions...

anyways, so we show up for the morning skate Saturday and media availability and as we're watching the practices, I notice a fair amount of young teen girls in the crowd with signs like "I love you Nick!!" and "Jordan makes me hot!" and I'm scanning the rosters...not a Jordan in sight, and I'm pretty sure they're not talking about Nick Lidstrom...so we come to find out they'd hired these "Jonas Brothers" to perform after practice....

So after the practices we're down in the media room for awhile, and then we head up to leave, but we can hear all this screaming coming from the arena...so we walk up into the arena, only to find these Jonas Brothers performing, and all these tween girls screaming, and crying and shouting and WHAT THE HELL?!?!?

I guarantee about 75 percent of the people at the practice were those girls that didn't care about the hockey, but were willing to wait through it to see the boy band....oy vey....

Anyways, here's a blurry picture of some of their "fans"

THUMBS UP to the NHL for hosting their pre-game party at the Georgia Aquarium (just down the street from the arena). Every year the league hosts some sort of VIP party for the media and various people, where free food and free booze are in abundance, and its usually a good time...many times, they've just trucked us to some warehouse thats been converted to party central, but this time, they closed the Aquarium to everyone but us, and it was really cool....my father had recently been to the Monterey Bay Aquarium with Mom a couple of weeks ago, so he wasn't as enthused, but for me, I always love wandering around aquariums and zoos...as a few people know, when I was very young, I wanted to be a zoo-keeper when I grew up...(Christ, imagine that now)...but the Georgia Aquarium did have some stuff I hadn't seen before or hadn't seen in awhile...I guess they're the only aquarium in the USA to house whale sharks (which are gi-normous) and they had some beluga whales as well...the rest was pretty standard fare, but was fun to wander around and kill a couple of hours while having a beer...

THUMBS DOWN to Kathleen Edwards for singing part of the Canadian anthem in French...I can't begin to tell you how much I hate, HATE it when anthem singers do that...I know, I know, Quebec and the french-speakers probably love it, but it drives me crazy...sorry Gabe...I need my Canadian anthem in English please...the rest of you frogs can f-off...I can't even talk about it now without getting annoyed....lets just move on...

Finally, THUMBS UP for another fun trip overall...the All-Star game was fun, filled with spectactular plays and moments to remember...the weekend in itself was great, and it was cool to be able to spend another All-Star weekend with Dad...especially since I hadn't seen him since we moved to NYC....

All in all, a great trip...and I look forward to next year's All-Star game in Montreal!

Wait.....

That means the homeless people will be bugging me in French...

@%#^%!!!

I may kill someone...

Mike