Back when SNL was a show I found worth watching, Mike Myers use to do a skit based on his mother-in-law. The segment was called “Coffee Talk with Linda Richman.” He would dress as a woman and with a heavy fake accent say things like “Rhode Island is neither a road nor an island; discuss”. I found this hysterical and true. The reason I bring this up is because the title of this event is kind of like Rhode Island. It is neither really a holiday nor train show. But, we can discuss this together. The Holiday Train Show is an annual event at the NYC Botanical Gardens. This was my second consecutive year attending and my first time going during the day. I had heard about this for so many years but because I did not really know what it was and that it would be something I would want to go to, I did not go until they were about to close last year and the only available tickets I could get were in the evening. I am glad now that I have gotten both vantage points. The truth is l...

Have you ever met someone you really admired? Someone you thought you might faint if you actually got to see? I have been lucky enough to meet several of my idols: Samantha Brown, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (when she was a Senator), Dr. Zahi Hawass, Bethenny Frankel, just to name a few. Now I get to add photography legend Annie Leibovitz to that list. I have been in the room at events with Anderson Cooper before but if we are ever actually introduced and photographed and I remain conscious Lord help me. Rather, Lord help him. We will be doing butterfly kisses until the end of time. But today was a big day. I met someone who I fantasize about in a different way. In these fantasies we meet, become best friends, and she takes pictures of my future and hypothetical wedding and children for free.   That woman is the Queen of Photography: Annie Leibovitz. I like to say the other Queen of Photography and count myself in as one and since this is my blog I can do that. ...

To borrow a phrase from Bill Maher; New Rule: any restaurant that has a cheese gift shop is the place for me! I recently celebrated my 30 th birthday. I wanted to go back to Paris but that wasn’t really an option at this time. So I thought what would be the next best thing. I know, a French dinner party at my favorite restaurant in NYC: Artisanal Bistro! To say the food here is good is an understatement. Sure at first glance the steak looks like any other steak; just like the Eiffel Tower in Las Vegas looks like the one in Paris. But things aren’t always as they appear. There is always something better and in this case tastier about the original. The food here is so good it leaves you breathless.  It is so good you want to scream in your companion’s faces; how delicious is this? But you should try to restrain yourselves because after all this is a classy joint. The atmosphere and service is top notch. When planning my dinner party I have to say I was a bit of a pa...

Over the last few months I have been reflecting about what it means to me to be turning the big 3-0. I have never pictured myself getting older or worried what that would be like. I know a lot of women who torture themselves about getting married and having a family by this age. I am not one of these women. I am currently single and have always believed that your 20’s were for finding yourself. Whatever, that means. It turns out that what it meant for me was a road I would have never ever planned for myself. It was a road full of bumps and hard times. Yet, there were rays of sunshine. I have learned who are my real friends and family. The people I can be myself around no matter what. I feel like a decade has flown by in the blink of an eye and in the same breathe I feel like this journey of being “me” has taken all of my life. Well, indeed it has. This last year has been extra special to me. I have made the commitment to live my best life. To acknowledge that the things I love and...

I have never read Anne Frank’s Diary and only recently saw the 1959 version of the movie. Yet, I have always been drawn to her story. It is remarkable that anyone survived as long as the Frank’s and their co-inhabitants did in an attic unable to make noise or move for most of the workday. I am also intrigued to see a teenager’s view of what war and living in a world filled with hate was like. I am saving reading her diary for the day I finally get to go to Amsterdam. Once there it has always been my intention to visit the house that was her shelter that now exists as a museum. Tuesday night I got the opportunity of a lifetime that will definitely hold me over until my unscheduled trip to Amsterdam. One of my favorite NYC spots, 92Y, hosted an incredible event entitled “ “The Extraordinary Story of Anne Frank's Family”. As soon as I saw that title in their brochure I was hooked. It was described as the following: “Anne Frank’s first cousin Buddy Elias (the only living relati...

This year has been all about Martin Luther King Jr.   His monument was recently unveiled in Washington D.C. after many, many years of planning, design, and debate. This May I traveled to Memphis for the first time and visited the Lorraine Motel/National Civil Rights Museum. I saw the room he stayed in, and the balcony where he received the shots that would end his life. I went into the building across the street and saw where his killer laid in wait with the perfect vantage point. I cried and grieved for a man I didn’t know but somehow missed anyway. This October, Broadway has decided to tell the story of the man behind the legend. “The Mountaintop” is a fictitious tale contemplating what MLK Jr. would have been thinking, feeling, and doing the night before his assassination. That evening, April 3, 1968, he retreated to the Lorraine Motel (a common stay for him) after giving a speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop”, at Mason Temple, which provides the play with it...