Friday 5ive- October 22, 2021

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post featuring five things that caught my eye this week.

1) The new Target store had a soft opening this week for their new store on 86th Street. It's in the space formerly occupied by my beloved Barnes & Noble store, where I spent many an evening listening to fascinating authors talking about books, and heard Broadway performers sing songs from their shows.

The store is much bigger than the Target on 3rd Ave., and they have a much better selection of some things, like groceries, which takes up most of the lower level. I overheard someone saying the layout is odd, and I have to agree with that. The floors haven't been finished, and the Up escalator wasn't working, so they still have some work to do. 

2) You don't see too many Halloween decorations on the Upper East Side, but I did see this display set up tucked in between two buildings. 

3) They say you can find anything in New York City, and while walking to Target, I saw this COVID-19 Testing van set up on 3rd Ave. Get your groceries at Target, get your COVID test on your way home.

4) We started watching Dopesick on Hulu. Based on the book by Beth Macy, it tells the story of the opioid crisis from the perspective of a DEA agent, two DOJ lawyers, the Sackler family who own Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, a pharmaceutical rep from Purdue, and a doctor and his patients in coal country. Michael Keaton is astonishing as the doctor who cares for his patients, and Kaitlyn Dever is just as powerful as a miner who gets addicted after a back injury. If you want to know how we got to where we are today, this is must-see TV. It's heartbreaking, and I'm definitely going to read the book now. 

5) I read two book this week, both of them big ones. 1000 Perfect Weekends from National Geographic has 720 pages of suggestions to spend a weekend across the globe. There's history, beautiful photos, and fun Top Ten Lists. It would make a great gift for the travelers on your holiday gift list. (The Finger Lakes region gets a two page spread!) My full review is here. 

The second book is Amor Towles' new novel, The Lincoln Highway. Set in 1954, 18 year-old Emmett Watson returns home from a juvenile detention center to his eight year-old brother Billy after their father passes away. The bank is foreclosing on their farm, and Emmett plans to take Billy and go west to start over. He runs into trouble in the forms of Dutchess and Wooly, two other young men from the detention center who ran away. The four set off on an unplanned road trip to New York City, where they meet with various adventures and people, good and bad. The writing is exquisite, Towles builds this incredible world around these four boys and the reader truly cares about these characters. I loved this book, even more than his A Gentleman in Moscow, which I adored. This will be one of my Top Ten books this year, and it's this month's Read With Jenna pick. 

Stay safe, continue to wash your hands, wear a mask indoors in public, stay socially distant, and please get the vaccine if you haven't yet to protect others. 

Friday 5ive- November 15, 2019

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post featuring five things that caught my attention this week. I can't believe it's Friday already, this week flew by. It does not bode well for everything that I have to get done before the holidays.

1) Bryant Park opened up their Winter Village on Halloween, which is crazy. They have a skating rink (less crowded than the Rockefeller Center rink FYI), a huge restaurant, and dozens of popup shops for holiday shopping. There's lots of small mom and pop shops there where you can find unique gifts. At least the Christmas tree isn't up yet.

Bryant Park skating rink

2) Our Sign of Week from Olive & Bette perfectly sums up all of our feelings now that we turned the clocks back. (Shout-out Simon & Garfunkel)

3) We attended a gala this week and were pleasantly surprised to see that the Chiffons and the Shirelles were each singing some of their hits. I did video it, but there was too much ambient noise. The original lead singers from each group were still with the group and the ladies sounded wonderful. The Chiffons sang One Fine Day, He's So Fine, and Sweet Talkin' Guy. The Shirelles sang Soldier Boy, Mama Said and one of my all-time favorites Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow. 

The Chiffons

The Shirelles

4) I watched Mindy Kaling's movie Late Night on Amazon Prime on my Echo Show while I was making dinner one night. Mindy plays a young comedy writer who lands a job at a late night talk show hosted by Emma Thompson. Emma's character is a horrible boss who treats her writers terribly. It's funny and has a lot to say about people in power. I also liked that so many women worked on this project, both in front of and behind the scenes. Bravo Mindy Kaling. You can watch the trailer here.

5) I read two books in three days- Amor Towles A Gentleman In Moscow, (yes, I know, I'm late to the party) a novel about a man forced to live his out existence within the walls of the Metropol Hotel in Moscow for his transgressions against the state. It is a masterpiece of writing.  

I read Jeannie Gaffigan's memoir When Life Give You Pears, about the time two years ago she had a pear-sized brain tumor and the effect that had on her family of five young children and her husband and work partner, comedian Jim Gaffigan. It's harrowing, and moving, and yes, at times, funny. I read it in one day, I couldn't put it down. I met Jeannie at our ArchCare Gala in 2017 and had a lovely hour long conversation about family with her. You would never have known what she had gone through just months earlier. She is amazing. I'll post a full review of the book soon.

My husband, Jim Gaffigan, me and Jeannie Gaffigan

An update- I saw the balloon guy again on the street and he had an even bigger batch of balloons, plus a stuffed animal. Way to go man.

Let the countdown to Thanksgiving begin!