Family, Friends and Photos

Last week I was traveling around spending time with my family and my friends outside of NYC. Here are a few of the photos I snapped along the way using Instagram for my iPhone.

Here's me with some of my little cousins (well, second cousins, I guess):



And some snaps of my trip to Charlotte and Boone, North Carolina to visit Carolyn!

Vlog: A Quick Update from Pat & Carolyn

Horray! The besties were reunited briefly while Carolyn made a work trip to NYC this week, so obviously we made a vlog to catch everyone one up our lack of vlogs (sorry!) and what we've been up to.



Here's all of our lurking info in case you didn't have it already:

Pat's blog (um, you're on it right now)
Pat's Twitter
Pat on iVillage.com's "Likes or Yikes?"

Carolyn's blog
Carolyn's Wedding blog
Carolyn's Twitter

Watch our first North Carolina video here:


Thanks for watching!

Pat and Carolyn Skype with Oprah

I am very lucky to be able to say that I did something that very few other people in the world can say they have done, too. I had direct contact with Oprah Winfrey.

In November 2009 my best friend, Carolyn, and I skyped with Oprah in an online Webcast about her book club selection Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan.

Fittingly, we discussed the chapter about best friends and talked for a few minutes with the Big O and Mr. Akpan. Oprah even called us cute! I still can't believe it.

The embeddable version of the Webcast is no longer available, but you can watch it on Oprah.com to see the proof! We pop up around 1:40.

We'll miss you, Oprah!

Summer Friday: Turning 30? The Writing's On the (Facebook) Wall

Every Friday between Memorial Day and Labor Day I'm going to be featuring guest bloggers as a part of my "Summer Fridays" series. This week's post comes very a brave Sean M. who muses on the lessons he learned while going from his 20s to his 30s last week.

I turned 30 last week. Lots of people gave me their two cents, which is funny because I didn't really ask anyone for advice. But boy, did it come pouring in. I received phone calls, birthday cards, text message, tweets... but by far the most popular form of birthday advice giving came by way of my very public Facebook page. Let's take a peek at some of my favorites and the lessons I learned from them.


And it was. I went to Arriba Arriba, my favorite restaurant in the whole world, for dinner and drinks. I go to Arriba at least once a week and have been since I was in my early 20s. This isn't about to change any time soon. Turning 30 helped me to understand that this wasn't like a death. This wasn't an instantaneous change; the loss of a job or a loved one. It's a slow change that really does start way before you hit the big 3-0.

Five Years in New York City

I moved to New York City on July 11, 2005 and I can't believe it's been five years since me, my mom and my grandma schlepped my stuff from Cranberry Township, PA to The Big Apple.


Me, Gram and Mom outside the Today show on July 12, 2005
My apartment was small and dirty, my neighborhood was busy and cramped and I only knew two other people that lived here. I'm sure my mom and dad loved leaving me in the "city that never sleeps," but I'm sure glad they did.

In five years I've lived in more apartments than I can keep track of (like this one and this one), have had some amazing jobs, seen some amazing views and seen more inside-out umbrellas that you can shake a mangled handle at. I've met the most interesting people and made my life-long friends.

They say it takes ten years of living in the City before you become an official New Yorker, and if the next five years are anything like the first I'll have the title faster than a New York City taxi.

An Artistic Icing

America's favorite drinking game called "icing" -- which involves presenting unsuspecting victims with a delicious Smirnoff Ice -- continues its reign of terror.


First it was an Internet sensation, then it appeared right here on this blog, and now it's come into my real life. One of my buddies was unfortunately iced last week at a fancy art show. Check out the video of his sophisticated icing below:

City Slickers Pumping Gas

On a recent trip from NYC to the Finger Lakes region of New York for a wedding, Billy proved his car-less, city slicker stereotype to be true after spending eons trying to figure out how to work a gas pump... twice.

So, instead of helping him I filmed it for your enjoyment.


I guess filling up a car is nothing like riding a bike.

Hasbro Made a Game Just for Me: The Game of Things!

All right, maybe they didn't design The Game of Things just for this blog, but it sure was a great fit!

Several months ago I attended a presentation for Hasbro's Family Game Night and saw The Game of Things in their list of cool games. When I mentioned that my site was about "things" they were kind enough to give me a copy of the game to try out.

The premise is simple: One person takes a turn as "the reader" and poses a statement to group such as "something you shouldn't say to your wife" or "what a cow thinks when it is being milked" and then everyone writes down an appropriate answer. The reader then collects everyone's responses and you go around the circle taking turns guessing who said what. Trust me, the explanation is much less funny than actually playing.

It took me a while to finally get a group of my friends together to play but let me tell you -- it was worth the wait. I am a big fan of board games and I think this one ranks up in my top 5 ever. It was so fun and so creative and a really interesting way to get to know more about people. Just when you think you know what someone is going to say, think again!


We played several hundred rounds
We played for a good two and half hours last Friday and the excitement never died down. I think it was specially enhanced by the alcohol we were drinking, but that only added to the insane answers people were leaving. Trust me, it's fun.

If you're a fan of board games then you need to pick up The Game of Things for your next party.

Lookin' Fly in the Shamrock Shades

I had a blast yesterday while celebrating St. Patrick's Day with my friends, mom, aunt and cousin. We clearly had a great time, as evidenced by these photos:




Hope you had a good St. Pat's, too!

VLOG: Pat & Carolyn Visit London

Here it is! A full video of my and Carolyn's trip to London. Check out the clip with some videos and a bunch of photos from our adventure... and bonus days adventures.


Plus here are all of the photos that I took along the way. Some of them are pretty cool, I have to admit. Click on the picture to see the full version.


Fond memories of a fun trip.

Stranded Abroad!

Ok, we're not technically stranded per se, but Carolyn and I have been forced to extend our stay in London for an additional three days.


Freezing in front of Buckingham Palace
The snow on the East coast of the states canceled all flights back home, so we'll be across the pond until Saturday afternoon. It's both a blessing and a curse, though. We've already been here a week and when you have your mind set on sleeping in your own bed it's sad to get denied. Alas, there are way worse places to be stranded!


A shot I took of the river Thames
So, our little adventure will last a few more days than expected, but that is quite all right. We'll get to take in a few more sights, and I'll have plenty of photos and a video coming up later. In the meantime, here's a fun ride up the escalator of the London Museum of Natural History.


Cheers!

Traveling Across the Pond

Blogging will be fairly light for the next week because I will be across the pond in jolly ol' England!

One of my main goals for 2010 was to finally get a passport and do some traveling. Lo and behold my BFF Carolyn invited me to go to London with her right after the new year. After some hustling I got my passport within a week (major props to Riley for helping me out!) and now we are currently at the airport waiting to fly to London!


It's super early, but I wanted to let everyone know the exciting news. We're staying here for a week (swank) so if any of our London blog friends want to take us to a pub or get us some fish and chips we will gladly accept!

I'm sure I will have some photos and videos to share throughout the stay, but general blogging will be light. If you get bored please feel free to entertain yourselves with all of cool games I've written about.

Cheers!

Just Another Day at the Office

Sharing some giggles with my co-workers as they desperate try to get my camera off of video mode to take a photo with a celeb in our office...


Fun times :)

My New YouTube Friends

While taping our episode of BFF Carolyn and I met two other contestants who also make vlogs on YouTube. Grace 'n Michelle are two former roommates who now bring the funny to the internets.

We all had brunch together last weekend, which they filmed for an upcoming video series, so look for that soon! But in the meantime say hello two our new vloggy friends:

Here's Grace portraying a lifetime in 48 seconds


and here's Michelle playing with a slinky!


Making friends is fun! Check out more Grace 'n Michelle on their site.

Vlogging Through Carolyn & Alan's Wedding Weekend

I told you I was working on something and here it is! Carolyn and I always talked about her wedding coming up on our vlog, so we couldn't disappear for the weekend and not share a little bit of it with our YouTube family. Check it out...


I swear the wedding coverage will die down soon, but I'm still a little giddy for my homegirl, Carol. Check out the photos from the wedding if you haven't already.

Pictures from Carolyn & Alan's Wedding

I'm working on a longer video for all the blog and vlog viewers, but here are my three favorite photos from Carolyn and Alan's wedding this weekend.


Here are all the photos I took, including shots from the mountains, Carolyn's bridal tea party, getting ready and reception!


Congrats!

Watch Pat and Carolyn on BFF TV

Carolyn and I were recently on the MySpace gameshow BFF where we were put to the test to find out how much we knew about each other.


Think of it like a Newlywed Game for besties. We won some cool prizes! Check it out...


Head over to Myspace.com/BFF to watch more episodes, read blogs and see photos of us! We were intense!

Can we have our own show now? Thanks.

Talk About Rude...

So, you know I love Post-It notes and have them up all over my desk, etc, etc.

At work I basically have 3 areas of notes. One for serious work-related items that I need to accomplish, one of funny sayings and alternative names to projects we're working on (such as "Flats Are Fug") and one section of blue Post-Its of things I'm "over." Meaning things that I am sick of reading and/or writing about. It's all in good fun.

Well, my jerk coworkers (Michele, Jacki, Ysolt- I'm looking at you) decided to swap out one of my REAL notes with one with my name on it. Meaning they are "over" me.


What a-holes. I'M OVER YOU GUYS.

PS- Yes, that is a cut out picture of Alexis Gosselin from Jon & Kate Plus 8.

Kara Klenk Is Really Funny

I'm a little partial to this chick because we are totally buds and starred in a fakey product placement game show for Nick@Nite together, but Kara Klenk is literally one of the funniest people I know. Besides having laugh-til-I-cry conversations with her, I've seen Kara perform stand up several times and am always impressed with her sarcasm and timing.

Check out Kara performing at the Comic Strip in NYC... there may be Snuggie jokes involved.



Besides doing stand up and improv all over the city, Kara is featured in an online series called El Vacio and will be seen on the small screen this April on Spike TV's new show MoCap LLC. I'm proud :)

Check out Kara's MySpace page to watch some additional clips and for a list of upcoming shows. She's one to watch!

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The Amazing New York Race

This past weekend I participated in a really fun event, and I can't help but share. On Sunday, me and my five guys participated in The Amazing New York Race by Pogo Events. It was a four-hour scavenger hunt complete with photo clues, road blocks and detours. We were tired, sweaty and beat down by the end, but we had a really, really fun time!

Pogo Events sets up these "Amazing Races" about once a month with different themes for each month, like couples races, singles races, dog lovers etc. It's a cool way to meet people, bond with your friends and learn more about NYC. They also cater to private groups like corporate events and bachelor parties.

It basically went like this- Each team was handed a packet with 8 photograph clues and a long list of tasks. The teams had to photograph themselves doing the tasks at the specific locations, and all team members had to be in the photo (which means you have to ask someone else to take your picture.) The photo clues were basically snap shots of obscure places around town that we had to 1- figure out what they were and 2- figure out where they were. We couldn't take any taxis.... Everything had to be by bus or subway, so that was a big challenge.

My team didn't win, but we placed right in the middle so we were pretty happy with that. Here are some of our fun photos from the day. These are some of the less embarrassing of the group, and please excuse our outfits. We wore them to show our team spirit, not because they were "on sale" like some jerk on the street thought.

With a random couple kissing


Eating a hot dog with Balto the Wonderdog


Acting like kids with the Peter Pan statue


y con el Taconazo! (this was not part of game, but we couldn't resist.)

It was a totally fun way to kill a Sunday afternoon (and my feet.) The only questionable thing about it was that it costs $30 to participate, which isn't a lot of money, but it's not like that $30 paid for anything we did. We had to pay for our own metro cards and stuff, so... someone pocketed a lot of cash. But it's still totally worth doing. The next race is on July 27, 2008 and it's a free-for-all so you should get a team together and sign up!

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