A New York Moment

"New York Moment" : noun  pronounced:  \nu\york\mo-ment\
def: To put oneself in the midst of a situation, activity or event to experience something that could only take place in The Big Apple a.k.a. New York City, Manhattan. Usually resulting in one or all of the following:

• a really good story
• an even better memory
• an excellent photo op
• an overall bodily sensation

My friend Charlotte Omnes moved here to NYC 6 months after we did and one of the first things we did together was go to the Ticker Tape Parade for the Yankees World Series win of 2009.  THAT was a New York Moment and the impetus for a collection of events that we now call "New York Moments".  Some of which have become my favorite memories so far and are the inspiration for many more. Some I've shared with Charlotte, some with MDHK, and even alone at times. Such gems as:





That's Betty Draper on the screen behind me,
and Times Square all around.




• Seeing the Pee Wee Herman Show at Radio City Music Hall

• Going to the closing night of Manhattan restaurant institution, Gino's Italian Restaurant and meeting some crazy Guido that just purchased a billboard of himself on the BQE.
• Watching the season premiere of Mad Men in Times Square with the cast of the show.
• Spending the night in the Rubin Museum of Art (and getting my photo on Flavorwire in my PJ's!)
• Celebrating Christmas Eve at Sammy's Roumanian Steak house with a few hundred of our closest Jewish "friends" doing a congo line.
• Viewing the Empire State Building ablaze on New Year's Eve from our couch.
• Attending the most elegant wedding of our first really dear friends in NYC, Niki and Massimiliano, at the Neue Galerie, one of the most amazing museums in Manhattan housing a collection of romantic artist Gustav Klimt amoung others.
• Super slick, no line, no waiting passes to the David Letterman show (thanks to my Seattle sweetie Dawn Hobson)

The list goes on and on as you can imagine. But recently as I was being interviewed on video for a skin care line campaign on the deck of the 15th floor of the Martha Stewart building overlooking the Hudson River and all of Manhattan, realizing that this came about as a result of a trip in a private plane to a 5 Star Dude Ranch in Montana....



Charlotte Omnes takes a bite!

Yep, the opportunity to reach out and grab life by the b@&%'s definitely happens with greater frequency here.  Although nothing ever stopped me from doing that in any other town, it's just that it sounds a lot bigger in The Big Apple. Doesn't it?  The moral of this story: As I see it, you have one of two choices; take the opportunity that is being presented to you, or don't.  It all depends on how much of life you want and how big of a bite you are willing to take. Me? My eyes have always been bigger than stomach, but that doesn't stop me. Go ahead. Take a bite!