Miscellaneous

De-Stressing in a Stressful World

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This has been a hard week. And a tough month. Actually, it’s been a tough year since last November. I consider myself lucky that despite the fact that I know many people in Las Vegas, I didn’t personally know anyone at the Route 91 Harvest Festival. I am fortunate that despite my friends from all over the world, I don’t know anyone personally affected by the tragic hurricanes in the Caribbean. Despite living in New York, a virtual melting pot, I don’t know anyone by name who will be affected by the decision to repeal DACA. Despite being Jewish, I don’t know anyone who was in or around the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville. But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t affected.

It’s not easy living in this world. As a human being who has feelings, empathy, sympathy, all the things that our leader seems to be lacking, it’s not easy to wake up every day in these times. Unfortunately, or fortunately, we still have to keep doing it. It often feels like there’s not much we can do, but there are little things. No, I’m not talking about posting on Facebook about sending “thoughts and prayers.” But there are some easy things, like VOTING (COME ON PEOPLE, REGISTER!), or using and texting resistbot to contact your local Senators (TEXT “RESIST” to 50409). Sometimes, though, you don’t even feel like doing anything. You just want to wallow in your sorrows. I totally get that. Unfort., your job probably won’t allow a lifetime of mental health days. And meanwhile, if things aren’t getting better, what can you do to de-stress, simply so you feel like you can get out of bed?

I put together a list of a few things I do to try and forget the world we live in temporarily, just to keep my sanity.

  • Watch nice things on the internet. When I go on twitter, it is a sh*tstorm of terribles. It’s so bad. It’s so depressing. So sometimes I just seek out heartwarming things to watch. If I liked animals, it would be puppies. But I don’t like animals, so it’s Ellen. She recently did an 8-minute montage of nice, amazing humans, doing nice, amazing things. I only cried 6 times at my desk. But they were happy tears! There are good people out there!! **hits replay**
  • Watch YouTube tutorials about hair braiding and do my hair and my coworkers’ hair. This may not be for everyone, but it’s therapeutic for me. Plus, it’s nice to see your work actually amount to something beautiful. I talked about me braiding my hair for races before, but I have taken my skills to new levels!
I learned this 5 strand braid, check out my first attempt!
  • Work out. I will say, my workouts have now taken on a life of their own. My stats at Peloton have skyrocketed. I have so much stress and anxiety, that the best way for me to take it out is on my body and on the bike. The participants in my spin classes may not appreciate this new power from within, but they are reaping the benefits as well 😉
  • Stay busy by finding fun, random things to do. The cheaper the better. I have been taking advantage of the random events New York has to offer. In the last few months, I have gone to a free Oktoberfest celebration, a free yoga class (also counts for my last bullet point), a $20 pumpkinfest, and a free bootcamp class on a roof deck. I have found that by forcing myself to keep busy, I can stay off of the internet and focus on uplifting things. I highly recommend grabbing a TimeOut NY if you live in New York to find events. Or follow FitForFree on Instagram; I’m going to a Bollywood class in 2 weeks! If you live outside New York, take advantage of Google! Use your internet time to search for offline things to do, instead of getting down the Twitter rabbit-hole-of-horribles.
  • Read. Uplifting things. Nothing heavy, just fun “beach reads.” Or even join a book club! P.S. I’m looking for a good one to join. Anyone out there? Bueller?
  • Go to the movies. Nothing takes your mind off of the here and now like escaping into a far away place. Or any place with a happy ending. Rom coms are the best for this. I know movies can be expensive, but there are ways around that. Join advancescreenings, like I mentioned in my first-ever blog post. Then you can even see movies before they come out! Or, join the AMC Stubs program. It’s $15 for the year, and they constantly have deals like right now, $5 ticket Tuesdays. Plus, you get points for even more rewards. And you can skip the line at the concession stand. Nothing takes your mind off of our current world like a handful of melted butter from popcorn. Which brings me to my next point.
  • Eat. Tina Fey caught a lot of backlash for her emotional eating/grassroots movement #SheetCaking.

And obesity isn’t always the answer. But there’s a time and a place for emotional eating, and sometimes a pint of Halo Top just hits the spot. Ok, two pints. If it makes you feel better, it’s #WorthIt. Everything in moderation. I’ve been to Halal Guys more in the past month than I choose to admit. I’m a #HalalVIP. I’ll stop with the hashtags now.

The whole point here is, do what makes you happy. Literally. In these times, I do not suggest that you sit back and do nothing, just the opposite. Volunteer if you can. Donate money. Donate blood. Get the word out. Speak up. But also, it’s important for your mental health to take a step back and smile every once in a while. And in the meantime, I’ll try and keep you entertained here. So subscribe!!

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Miscellaneous

The Great Jack-O’-Lantern Blaze

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IT’S OCTOBER! The best month of the year for basic betches everywhere. It’s the month of the PSL, the month of the best holiday ever involving costumes and booze (more on that another time), the season of apple picking and other insagrammable white betch things, PLUS if you work for the Jews, it’s the month where we work half the time and get paid the same amount. That’s a win-win. But even more, it’s the month of PUMPKIN ERRTHING. Pumpkin candles. Pumpkin coffee creamer. Pumpkin cookies. Pumpkin-colored president. UGH.

Anyway, I’ve never met a pumpkin I didn’t love, besides the rotting ones in November. When my best friend sent me a link about something called “The Great Jack O’Lantern BLAZE” I was 100% in. Then I saw that NPH has been there with his twins, and I was 125% in. Did it live up to my expectations? HELL YES. Did I see NPH? Unfort no. I guess I’ll have to hang out in Harlem more.

Arguably the best thing about the BLAZE is their FAQ page, addressing incredibly pressing and hard-hitting questions like “what is a pumpkin?” and “It’s raining and I dress exclusively in suede. Can I get a refund or exchange my tickets?” and “Did I mention I’m studying for a certificate in Freudian analysis?” Answer: “Great, you might enjoy our installation of shrunken heads.”

Seriously, the FAQ page is legendary. But they also answer some of the questions you may actually be wondering about like how many pumpkins are involved and how long they’ve been doing it. Answers: 7,000+ hand-carved jack-o’-lanterns for 13 years running. Each BLAZE involves ordering more than 10,000 live pumpkins, because they don’t survive the whole time. This equals a total of more than 200,000 pounds of pumpkin!!! They start carving in JUNE and they are helped by more than 2,600 volunteers. The carvers are led by Creative Director Michael Natiello, who leads a team of Historic Hudson Valley staff and local artists.

The best news for you, it’s just begun!! It goes through November! The bad news is that a lot of the best tickets have ALREADY sold out! Click here to purchase them ($22/person, which may seem steep, or may seem like a BARGAIN depending on the strength of your pumpkin-love).

Being “real” New Yorkers, we didn’t have a car to drive to the BLAZE, but luckily for us, we have legs and unlimited metrocards. The only tickets left were for 9 pm, so we embarked on our Pumpkin Journey at 6:45 pm just to be safe. We took the 1 train to 225th street, then hopped on the MetroNorth for a 45-minute ride deep into the burbs, $11 round trip. Not bad! They didn’t even check our ticket on the way there. What a waste. Anyone want to go back? I’ve got a ticket!

Anyway, after our journey, which included a 13-minute brisk walk along the highway, we found the entrance. They sold pumpkin EVERYTHING. From headbands with jack-o’-lantern antennae to pumpkin curry. Oh, and of course pumpkin pie. But before refreshments we had to walk through the jungle-o’-jack-o’-lanterns. Holy cow. You walk in and immediately see this massive bridge made of pumpkins, aptly named the Pumpkin-Zee Bridge, as well as a full-on Statue of Liberty (Statue of Pumpkin?). Van Cortland Manor was completely transformed with LED lights and thousands of intricately carved orange fruits. Yes, according to the FAQ page, they are fruits from the gourd family.

There is “spooky” music piped in throughout the manor, and the jack-o’-lanterns are organized by theme, from a huge spider web with spiders, to a walking dead/Sleepy Hollow graveyard. There are fish in the “water” on both sides of the Pumpkin-Zee Bridge, not to mention the many moving aspects. There’s a working grandfather clock made of pumpkins, as well as a fully functional carousel. Maybe not fully functional since we weren’t allowed to ride on it, but still. I was impressed.

 

Some of the pumpkins were super intricate. Especially the possums. I took so many photos my phone nearly died from pumpkin-overload.

After we made our way through the whole manor, we did some mandatory pumpkin-posing, as one does, and then we got some warm apple cider and a cider doughnut. TBH, this was 50% of the reason for going. Gotta get those cider doughnuts. It’s the official food of October! We made the long trek back to the city and arrived home after midnight. Some may say we are crazy, I just say we are incredibly passionate about the white betch cause. So was it worth it? You tell me!! How cute are my Instagram pics? These ones? How about this boomerang? #WorthIt.

 

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