Knicks, movies, RW

I got to go to my first Knicks game last week! I think I have now conquered my goal of seeing all the major sports teams in NYC...Mets, Yankees, Giants, Rangers, and now the Knicks! I love basketball, so it's strange that this was the last team I made it to. The game was so much fun! We bought the cheapest seats, but snuck down to empty seats after the 1st quarter. Partly, because moving down one section made us much closer to the court, but also because I was originally sitting next to the nastiest smelling man you can imagine. I could not stop gagging and even my friends who were sitting on the other side of me could smell him. It was disgusting and unbearable! So, we went downstairs, picked up some nachos and drinks, and walked in the better section like we knew where we were going...no one questioned anything. The Knicks were playing the Spurs and my friends, Christina and Rosella, are Texas girls who decided to cheer for the Spurs. I went with the Knicks! It was a close game and even went into overtime, but the Knicks pulled it off. We all commented that we want to go to another game soon! Adding to the excitement of the night, Eva Longoria and Whoopi Goldberg were there and we could see them!!

This is clearly not a flattering self-portrait of Christina

or I, but she was trying to get that stinky man next to me

Kind of blurry, but Eva Longoria is sitting 2 people to the

right of the basket...the one with her legs crossed

and angled to the side.Whoopi, sitting court-side, in the middle of this pic.

I also made it to a couple of more Restaurant Week (the never-ending "week") locales. Joy and I met for lunch one day....it's even cheaper at lunch! We went to 21 Club, which is a very old, elite restaurant in mid-town near where we work. It was so cute and fun. The food wasn't quite as good as I would have expected. On Thursday night, Lucy and I went to Le Cirque, which is one of the most well-known restaurants in the city. The atmosphere was great...but they had us sitting in the Wine Lounge, rather than the regular dining room. We were glad though, because we saw the dining room and it was huge and didn't have as much character. I was expecting a lot from the food here and was a little disappointed...not that it wasn't good, just not as great as I thought it would be.

The outside of 21 Club is lined with Jockey statues...it's really cute. The inside cieling and walls are completely covered in hanging antique toys and sports memorbilia...it's different, but it's out of control enough that it is cute.

On Saturday, I spent all day at the movies!!! Lucy and I did the AMC Best Picture Showcase. For $30, you get to see all 5 of the Academy Award nominated Best Pictures, plus unlimited popcorn all day long. That's a pretty good deal anywhere, but especially here in NYC where just 1 movie normally costs $12.50! I wasn't sure what it would be like to sit through so many movies in one day, but it was awesome, I'd totally do it again! It worked out perfect because we'd both already seen Bejamin Button and had no desire to sit through it again. It was the 3rd movie of the day and broke things up for us. It gave me 4 hours to go home and do other things and get a run at the Park in. We decided to see Slumdog Millionaire again since we both liked it so much the 1st time. The other 3 movies, The Reader, Milk, and Frost/Nixon were new to us. The only one I didn't really like was Frost/Nixon. I liked the others, but didn't love them as much as I loved Slumdog Millionaire. I wasn't sure The Academy would like it as much as I did, so I was very excited to see it win so many awards!!

Two weeks ago, I officially signed up for my Movies 101 class. I knew that the class includes 8 weeks of class, but that it could possibly also include some free movie screenings. Class doesn't start until March 12th, but I've already received 2 invitations to movie screenings - yea!! I couldn't go to the first one, but got to go to one on Sunday morning. I can even take friends, so Mindy went with me. We loved it! We got to see "American Affair", which is a movie that will begin opening in theatres near you next weekend. I liked the movie, which was a fictional, yet plausible take on the JFK assasination. Afterwards, my soon to be professor interviewed the director of the film. This was the director's first feature film...he's only 32! The interview was really interesting and it gave me a sneak-preview of what to expect in clase - I think I'm gonna love it!

I watched the Oscars at home alone this year. Our book club had discussed having a party and I had at one point volunteered my place, but then my week started looking so busy that I didn't want to worry about cleaning and cooking and everything. And, everyone else kind of felt the same way - so we all watched alone and re-capped via email today. Kind of sad, but true! I enjoyed DVRing it and starting late and skipping the commercials! I thought it was a good show and liked how they presented the awards this year...allowed us to see more celebrities on-stage.

I heart Jessica Simpson!

I got to see Jessica Simpson in concert last Thursday, opening for Rascal Flatts!! Rascal Flatts was good – they are clearly some very talented guys. All the guys in the band had an opportunity to showcase their talent during the show. I was most impressed by Jay DeMarcus, who played bass through most of the show, but at one point took the stage by himself and sang while playing keyboard….he has an amazingly beautiful voice! But, honestly, I loved watching Jessica Simpson. I’ve been a fan of Jessica’s since before it was cool to be her fan and I’ve remained her fan after it became not-so-cool anymore. I don’t love her music, but I like her and feel sorry for the way the media attacks her. She looked great!!! Who cares if she isn’t Daisy Duke thin….she is still very thin! She seemed really happy and so excited to be singing at Madison Square Garden again…definitely not taking the opportunity for granted. I love her – she put a smile on my face! And she was not lip syncing and she really does have a good voice. She did start cracking on the last song….don’t know if her voice was worn out or what, but she sounded great on all the other songs.

I've done several fun things in the past week. Last week was really busy!! Last Monday night I stayed busy doing laundry and making chocolate chip cookies. It had been YEARS since I made plain old chocolate chip cookies. I went online and found a recipe on AllRecipes.com that got good reviews and made it. The cookies turned out really flat, but they were really tasty! I took them to my community group on Tuesday night. This semester, we are not doing a study together, but instead are discussing the Sunday sermons. The rest of the groups in our church have been doing that for about a year now, but we wanted to read the bible through last year, so we did that on our own. One of our pastor's puts together a detailed guide about the sermon each week so that we have something to get the discussion going. We are going to take turns reading the guide and leading the group. Last Sunday's sermon was great, so I was exited to hear what the girls had to say about it. The sermon spoke to me loud and clear that I’ve been trying to hard to turn myself into the person I think Jesus wants me to be, rather than allowing Him to transform me into that person. I have felt defeated trying to "fix" myself and it was good to be reminded why…I can’t do it on my own! The best quote from my pastor that really made some things click for me was, "It’s not behavior modification, but character transformation." I know that my relationship with Jesus has really suffered over the past few years and I need to get back on track. I need to spend more time with Him in prayer and scripture. The more time I spend with Him, the more like Him I will become…character transformation! I want so much to be who He created me to be!

This week I also had book club. We met at Kittichai to discuss "Forget About It", a very light chick-book we opted to read after our last book that was SO hard to get through. The book was okay - kind of silly, but a quick read and somewhat entertaining. Kittichai was amazing!!! I chose it because I’ve wanted to go there for a while and we could do their Restaurant Week menu. The atmosphere is soooo cool and we were in this little booth that was so fun and fancy. My favorite part of the meal was my appetizer…tuna tartar. Not only was it absolutely delicious, it was adorable! It came in these cute little petal-shaped shells. Presentation was excellent! For my entrée, I had pineapple braised short ribs in a green curry that was great, too. I’ve discovered recently that I really love green curry. My dessert was a flourless chocolate cake that was also good. This is definitely a restaurant I want to go back to…even just for a glass of wine and tuna tartar!

Saturday night, I met up with Mindy to go see Revolutionary Road and then eat at Corner Bistro. I really liked the movie, even though it wasn't a very happy one. I felt sorry for people who were there on Valentine's Dates! Not exactly a Valentine's movie. Mindy has been wanting a good burger in NYC, so I introduced her to Corner Bistro, which is in West Village and consistently ranked one of the best burgers in the U.S. It was really good and we had a lot of fun catching up that night. Mindy moved here last summer and is nannying for a little girl while trying to get her foot in the door of the acting world. She is really nervous about her nanny job ending this summer and not having some acting gigs or another job lined up when that happens. I think she's made some really great progress making contacts, taking classes, going to auditions, etc.... I hope she makes it!! And I am really praying that she'll have the courage to take the risks to stay here because she really thinks this is where God wants her....and I want her here, too!!

I had today off for President's Day and have to wonder why we don't have 3-day weekends all the time - or at least more often!! It is so refreshing! I was so productive around home, got in a really good workout, and then saved some time for fun! I went to the IFC Center to see the 5 Oscar Nominated Live-Action-Short Films. When I lived in Dallas, I would always see almost all of the movies nominated for any category of Oscar. I haven't done so well since moving to NYC, but this year, I will have seen a lot of them by the time Sunday rolls around. I have never, ever seen any of the Shorts, though! So, this was a treat and so fun! I really liked them all, but I have a favorite...Toyland. I hope it wins! I kind of hope to go back this week to see the Animated Shorts, but I don't know if I will make it there.

I started reading Twilight this weekend. There's nothing better on a Saturday morning than walking over to Starbucks and sitting down with a black tea latte and a book. I've been skeptical of this book....I'm not really into vampires or any kind of fantasy, really. But, I have way too many friends who loved it, so I gave in. It's good so far. I just hope I can read it as quickly as others have so that I have time to get through my book club book for March, too!

I babysat at church yesterday and had the babies. Kate is 1 & 1/2 and Aubrey is probably about 9 months. There was another girl with me, Megan, and she kind of took Kate and I took Aubrey who was not feeling well or something. She cried for an hour straight! And wouldn't let me put her down. Finally she fell asleep in my arms and I put her in a pack-n-play. I was proud of myself for not letting all the crying get to me or exhaust me!! Oh, and I served communion for the first time ever. One of the pastors asked me right before the service started if I would do it...I was like "um, sure. But, I've never done it before"! He gave me a quick run-down...it really isn't hard! I really love how our church does communion every week and really cherishes the act of remembering Christ's death and what that means for us. Everyone walks up to take a piece of bread and dips it in either wine or juice. The person holding the bread says "His body was broken for you" to each and every person as they take their bread and then the person with the wine & juice says "His blood was poured out for you". Often times, when I am taking communion, if the person who is passing out the bread or juice knows me, they will also tack my name on to the end of the statement (i.e. "His body was broken for you, Susan"). I didn't try to do that for anyone yesterday as I wanted to just get the basics down first!! I had the bread and was kind of nervous about messing up what I was supposed to say, but it went fine and went by so fast! It is very cool and meaningful.

So, it's back to work tomorrow and another pretty busy week. I'll catch you up after the Oscars!

Since Montreal....

Here are some things that have been keeping me busy since returning from Montreal:

- 20 @ 20 with Mindy! The last two weeks of January were when you could get $20 tickets to Off-Broadway shows 20 minutes before they start. We went to see Mike Birbiglia’s "Sleepwalk with Me". I have seen him do stand-up twice since I moved to NYC and I think he is SO funny, yet not too raunchy or too silly like many comedians. Birbiglia has been on a LOT of TV shows lately promoting this…The View, Conan, etc…. so you may have seen him! It is produced by Nathan Lane, so I’m sure this whole experience has been huge for him. Anyway, I was under the impression that "Sleepwalk with Me" was a play, but it was really more like any stand-up act. I loved it though – SO funny!!

- Restaurant Week. Winter Restaurant Week was officially the last 2 weeks of January, but has been extended through February (thank you, recession…no sarcasm this time!). I was in Montreal for most of the "official" 2 weeks, but Lucy and I and her co-worker did make it to Vong for dinner one night. She picked it….her chef brother had recommended it. I read reviews and got a little worried, but it actually ended up being really good. We all got lamb for our entrée - it came in this delicious sauce and with a bunch of fresh veggies…it was amazing! Vong is owned by the same people who own Spice Market, which is amazing, and some other pretty prestigious restaurants here and in Chicago and beyond. Over the next 2 weeks, I have reservations to hit-up Kittichai and Le Cirque…2 restaurants I’ve been dying to go to the past couple of restaurant weeks!!

- Super Bowl Party! What a great game! I decided to cheer for the Cardinals since I’ve always been a fan of Kurt Warner. Although they lost, having a team to cheer for sure made it more fun to watch! I went to my friend Lynn’s apartment to watch the game. She is in my book club and she and her husband moved here around August from Houston. So, it was mainly girls from book club and then a guy Lynn’s husband works with. She lives on the Upper West Side and it was so nice to just be able to walk over from my apartment. She and her husband live in a great building…it felt so new and fresh! And apparently Lisa Kudrow hangs out there because she has a good friend who lives there. We had a lot of fun and great food, of course! Since we’re all from Texas, we went with a Tex-Mex theme and it was delicious! We had queso, guacamole, and fajitas. Tex-Mex is best in NYC when we make it ourselves! I brought Cake Bites for dessert and they were, once again, a huge hit. I took the leftovers to work the next day and people went nuts! I really need to start a business here – they are still such a novelty!

- Discipleship & the Corporate World Seminar. My pastor put on a great seminar about bringing Christ into your workplace. He rounded up some Christian speakers from across the US who hold high positions at some very well-known companies. It was a great seminar! I helped out, so it was a full-day affair for me, but I enjoyed it very much!

- Joy’s birthday party. Danise hosted a birthday party for Joy and we all brought appetizers and Danise made a cake. It was fun and I got to catch-up with a few people I hadn’t seen in ages.

- Church dinner. Occasionally, my church will invite everyone who attends the evening service to go out to dinner afterwards. We go to this pub around the corner called “Shades of Green”. It’s convenient to church, the waitress is really nice, and it has a great back room we can take over. I went with the group this past Sunday and it was fun. I had yummy soup and salad. There were a ton of people there I had never seen before. It’s weird, but this is the service I used to feel like I knew most people at, but lately I’ve been going in the morning more and more and I definitely seem to know way more people there now!

-FRAUD. Things got exciting at work when we encountered some fraud. This has been the 3rd time I've seen fraud occur at companies I've worked at and I love it!! I really need to be a detective or FBI agent or something. We don't think this is an inside job, but someone who did have access to one of our checks, as they printed who knows how many checks with our information on it. Because of a previous incident, we have protection on our accounts, so the money would never actually come out without our permission. It was still exciting. We have received many phone calls from check cashing places or banks that had a person there trying to cash a check from us that looked suspect. These places called us to verify the authenticity of the checks and gave us information about the person trying to cash the check....some of them faxed us copies of the checks and even the persons ID. I was all over google and actually found pictures and detailed information about some of them - my co-workers were all huddled around my computer laughing at me. It was fun! We have since found out that it is some "Mystery Shopper" scam. The people cashing the checks were really the victims, not the criminals.

NHL All-Star Festivities

Like 2008, the NHL festivities over the All-Star weekend were pretty extraordinary. I love that I get to see this stuff. There were not big events on Thursday/Friday like the concerts we had last year. Instead, starting on Thursday and through the weekend, they had the "Jamboree". This was a tent set-up outside the Hockey Arena and had all kinds of interactive hockey games and activities. I went over one night and didn't think it was that great, but for anyone who is a big hockey fan, I’m sure it was a blast.

The street near the Jamboree was lined

with all the jerseys in blocks of ice

When I first saw this, I was afraid someone had made

a horrible mistake. Then, I realized LNH is NHL in French.

Gift Bag!! In addition to the new wardrobe, I also got a gift bag. We got a leather bag filled with all kinds of random stuff. Another hat, hockey cards, a puzzle, a toy motorcycle, a thermos, a key-chain, a set of playing cards, and a DVD.

Saturday night was the Super-Skills game. I like this competition better than the actual All-Star game. People compare it to the NBA Slam Dunk contest. It is basically an opportunity for the players to show off. It is so relaxed and fun! The players even had their kids on the bench with them – so cute!

In this game, each player has so many chances

to knock out all the McDonald's targets.

Mike Modano was so cute

talking to the other player's kids.

After Super-Skills was the big party of the weekend. I’ve been told that there were around 3,000 people there. It was held at a Movie Studio in Montreal where a TON of films have been made. It had the feel of an enormous warehouse, but was very well decorated. There were 3 rooms we had access to, each with a very different look and feel and each with a theme from a movie that was filmed there. The hallway that connected the 3 rooms was lined with posters from movies filmed there and on the floor were gold stars (like the Hollywood stars) with the All-Star players names on them. The first room we entered was themed after The Aviator. There was a HUGE airplane in the middle of the room that was from the movie set. There was live jazz music in there the entire night. The waitresses in that room were dressed to fit the era, some were walking around with cute little trays of candy. There was a shoe-shining station in this room and one lady I know got her shoes shined and said it was the best one she’d ever had because it was an awesome foot massage, too! This is the room that Schwartz’ Deli catered with their smoked meat sandwiches. There were also mini cupcakes that were quite yummy!

Schwartz' smoked meat sandwiches

The 2nd room was enormous and actually had 3 movie themes in it….The Mummy, Day After Tomorrow, and a third I can’t remember. This was the party room! It was LOUD, tons of people, tons of food tables, tons of alcohol bars, etc…. The Day After Tomorrow area was the coolest. All the waitresses were dressed in white mini-skirts and white tanks and wore white wigs. The bar was an ice bar – it was a huge, very long and tall bar made entirely from ice. There was a cover band in this room that sang any and everything – they were very good and fun all night long. I can’t remember what all we ate in this room…mostly little, fancy appetizers and these mini lemon tarts that were amazing. I definitely got my fill of red wine as well.

It's hard to tell in this picture, but there was a "wall" of
streaming water in the middle of the room. You could
stand on one side of and see the band through it.

The 3rd room was themed after Green Room. I have no idea what that movie is, but for our party, this room was set-up as if it was a dressing room on a movie set. They had people getting their hair and make-up done…you could even get your hair CUT! How crazy is that? They also had fun “bling” you could take and wear around the party. Even costumes you could try on! It was pretty interesting.

My new "fancy" ring

Last year, they had all the hockey players and other VIPs sectioned off, but they didn’t have that this year, so I saw lots of players walking around, although I couldn’t name any of them! It was a very fun night!

On Sunday, there was a pre-game celebration. I was only able to go for the tail-end of it as I was working in the Transportation Office during most of the party. I went over as soon as I could to check it out. It wasn’t super impressive. It was held in a very large banquet hall type room of the nearby train station. I’m sure it is a nice room, but it was very, very crowded. You could hardly move! There was also a big white tent located just off this room where a band had played, but it was very cold in there so people didn’t really stay in there for long. There was lots of food and drinks in the large room and in the tent. I didn’t eat much, but was very excited to try Poutine…a Quebec specialty. It is basically French fries topped with cheese curds and gravy. Sounds disgusting, right? It was actually very good! The cheese curds sort of scared me, but it actually tasted like good, quality cheese.

After the celebration, we were off to the All-Star game. I get bored during the game, so I only stayed until the start of the 3rd period….I didn’t want to miss the entertainment between the periods, but I could care less about the game! I just don’t know if I should cheer for the East or the West and when I don’t have someone to cheer for, I don’t care! I did get a hot dog at the game because this arena, Bell Centre, is known for their hot dogs. They are smaller and come on these really skinny, flat buns. It was pretty good!

They broke one of the panes of glass during

warm-up. It was pretty cool to see them remove

the braces and see the glass come shattering down.

Before the game started, there was a Cirque show that was pretty good. After the 1st period, a famous French pop star performed and then after the 2nd period, Simple Plan performed. It was all good and fun! I left as soon as the 3rd period started…I had a little bit more of Montreal to explore!

Cirque!

This violinst was pretty impressive as
she played while tumbling about in the air.
Simple Plan

All in all, it was a great week working and playing and staying in a hotel! I hope I get to go back next time, but it’s not for 2 years because next year our players will be going to the Olympics!! I REALLY wish I could go to the Olympics. Doesn’t sound like we’re really needed there, though, but if I find any way to get there, I’ll do whatever it takes! In 2 years, the All-Star game will be in Phoenix….a warm place like that would be a huge welcome in January!!

Exploring Montreal

My work schedule in Montreal afforded me plenty of opportunities to get out and explore the city. It was freezing cold there - literally - with temps as low as 0 degrees (negative 14, with the wind chill). But, to me, it was worth bearing the cold to get out and see stuff. I really liked Montreal or else I probably wouldn't have gotten out as much as I did. Pretty much everyone working the events had longer and different hours than I did...my job there is very cushy! So, that left me to explore the city on my own. I don't mind exploring on my own - I'd rather get out and see things alone than sit in a hotel room alone!

I was honestly shocked at how French Montreal was. Of course, I knew Montreal was full of French speaking people - I work with them! But, I guess I just expected it to be partly French/partly English. It was SO French!! Everyone would first speak in French to me and I would have to say I didn't speak it. They all knew English, but it is definitely not their 1st language. Some speak very good English, even with no accent, others struggle to know all the words - just depends on who you're talking to! Everything was in French!

Here is what I did when I got out to explore:

- Explored The Underground. Montreal has the 2nd largest underground city in the world! It was built for people to escape the cold winters. It is very nice - clean, bright, lots of good stores and restaurants. You can get to many buildings downtown and even entire malls without ever setting foot outside. Our hotel was located just above The Underground.

- Shopping & eating in the Latin Quarter. This was my favorite neighborhood that I found in Montreal and I ended up going there 3 separate times! It was very quick and easy to get there on the Metro, which had a stop just under our hotel. There were 2 streets I spent most my time on. 1) St. Denis which was a little more sophisticated and 2) St. Laurent, which was a little more funky. I loved the shops on St. Denis. Here are a few pics on St. Denis...it was a long street and each section had a unique look!


- Lunch at Schwartz' Hebrew Deli. Schwartz' is a very famous restaurant known for their smoked meat sandwiches. It was delicious. I ordered it like most people - with fries and a Black Cherry Soda. The sandwich was good, but the Black Cherry Soda might have been the best I've ever had. It turned out they had Schwartz' bring in sandwiches for one of the weekend parties - if I had known that, I wouldn't have gone there for lunch, but then I would've missed out on the awesome soda!

I was at Schwartz' on the coldest day of the week, yet

there were still people waiting outside to get in!

- Drinking chocolate at Juliette & Chocolat. I had never had this kind of hot chocolate (although, there are at least 2 places in NYC that serve it that I've wanted to go to over the last 2 winters, but haven't made it...maybe this is the year)! It was thick and dark and oh, so freakin' good! I loved it. However, within about 20 minutes, I had a sugar-crash harder than I've ever had before. I became so tired so quickly and generally didn't feel so great. Luckily it didn't last long, but, wow, that cannot be good for you.
- Chez Jose Bakery! When in France (or in a French speaking place), you have to get a pastry! I picked up a delicious tart from this quaint bakery in the Latin Quarter.
- Shopping at Jean-Talon Market. I had read good reviews about this market, so I went to check it out. It was evening when I went, so it was pretty dead. I was able to pick up baguette, prosciutto, olives, cheese, and some oranges to take back to the hotel for a yummy dinner.

Dinner from Jean-Talon and dessert from Chez Jose!

- Walking through Vieux Montreal (Old Montreal). I expected this area to have more shops and restaurants than it did. It was very quiet in this neighborhood, probably partly due to the fact that it was extremely cold the day I was there. It is a neat area with a more European look & feel. Really small, windy streets. I had wanted to go to a cafe there, but it was closed, so I really didn't do much there.
- While in Old Montreal, I stopped by the Notre Dame cathedral, which looks like a small replica of the Paris one. I debated going inside - not sure it could be worth the $5 entry fee. I ended up going for it and was so glad I did. It was absolutely beautiful inside! Pictures cannot capture it. But, the painting all over the walls/ceiling, the stained glass windows, and sculptures were simply amazing.

The outside, made to resemble the real deal in Paris.

The organ at the back of the church was gorgeous.

This was the chapel -- totally different look than the main sanctuary.

- Went to see Mont Royal. Mont Royal is a "mountain" in the center of Montreal, but to me it's really more of a really, really big hill than a mountain. There is a park on the mountain that was designed by the same man who designed Central Park in NYC. It was hard to get a real feel for what the park is like with all the snow and ice, but I'm sure it's probably really awesome in warmer months. I really wanted to hike to the Chalet that is at the top of the mountain, but the day I went was the coldest day we had and I was a little afraid that I would not make it up and back down! So, I just walked a little ways up and got a little view of the city and the river. I'm sure the views at the top were amazing!

This was the snowy trail that would lead me to the top!

View of downtown from inside the park

I thought this little, red buried fire hydrant was so cute!

- One thing I love to do when exploring a new city is to walk down residential areas. It gives me a better feel for the city than going to the touristy areas. There were some great residential streets near the Latin Quarter that were so cute. Montreal is known for having exterior staircases on multi-family homes. When I saw a picture of them before seeing them in person, I thought they would be ugly. They are actually quite cute in person!

- Tea! I went to a quaint little tea room that didn't end up being at all like I expected! I had read good reviews about it and expected it to be like an English tea room, with yummy teas and cakes and such. The entire menu was in French! So, I did my best to pick out a tea, but finding ones that had words that I thought translated to "floral" and "mint". The food didn't look great, so I just got the tea. It was good and nice to sit in such a cozy, quiet place, but I've definitely had way better tea.

I really liked Montreal and think I'd like to go back sometime in the spring or summer!

Staying & Working in Montreal

So, I am working on a few posts about my week in Montreal. Here is Post Numero Uno!

We got to stay at the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth in Montreal. I was SO excited about staying at this hotel. I had been in 4 other Fairmonts across Canada on previous trips and knew they are spectacular hotels. Unfortunately, this one did not live up to the others. It is no where near the level of hotel as the Castle in Banff or Chateau on Lake Louise. It doesn't even match-up to the Fairmonts in Jasper or Whistler. But, it was a fine, even a very nice hotel. Just not as grand as I had hoped.

The hotel was COVERED in NHL All-Star decor. Even my hotel room card key was decked out.
One night, I came home to find this sticker on my TV...advertising that we could, indeed, get the NHL Network.

From my room, I had a nice view of downtown and a pretty cathedral across the street.


Here is the front of the cathedral at night.
During the All-Star week, my NHL duties were very similar to that of last year. My schedule was different than a normal work week, but light...no more than 7 hours a day and as little as 3 hours (and I still get 2 bonus vacation days for working only 3 hours on Saturday & Sunday!!). Some days, I would work the late afternoon/evening shift and other days I would work the morning shift. We alternated so that I would work an evening and the very next morning and then have 24 hours off before I had to return. Like last year, I was basically helping keep track of VIP transportation. We all felt that the transportation office was less busy than last year. Plus, they had more people working. So, I felt like I had less to do, which was a little disappointing. I still enjoyed it, though. A few fun stories from the transportation office:

- I got to help schedule transportation for 2 actors....Lauren Holly and David Boreanz.

- I also scheduled transportation for many hockey players and team owners, including Dallas' All-Star Mike Modano and owner Tommy Hicks (JR, the son, who is quite cute)! I even got to talk to Tommy briefly one day when he stopped by our office to check on their transportation to the airport going home. He wanted to do a drive-by Schwartz' Deli to pick up food for their private plane. We weren't really able to do things like that, so had to tell him no. He was cool about it and scheduled himself a separate car to take him to get the food for everyone on his plane. He sat in our office for about 20 minutes taking care of all that. I thought his Cowboy boots with the Dallas Stars logo on the shins were a little much! Also, the HUGE gold ring with a star on it! Tommy also ended up sitting behind me at the game on Sunday night!

- The car drivers (all volunteers, mostly hockey lovers) often came into the office VERY excited about the players they got to pick up in their car. One day, a driver walks in and the dispatcher asked him, "So, did you get anyone good yesterday." And the driver responded, totally serious, "Yeah, I got the VP of Finance"!!! That, you see, would be one of my bosses! I laughed SO hard and so did my bosses when I told them the story.

On Wednesday-Sunday, breakfast and lunch were provided for all staff in a room in the hotel. I ate there several times, depending on my schedule. It was very convenient to have the food right there when working, but I really prefer to get out and experience the city I'm in, rather than be stuck inside eating hotel food! Some of it was pretty good, though.

I ordered room service for dinner twice. The night we arrived and got in around 9pm, I was starving and ordered then. I also ordered the next night when I had to work until 9pm and had to be back the next morning at 8am. I've never ordered room service where they wheel an entire table into your room...complete with fresh flowers! This Greek salad wasn't nearly what I'd hoped for....but, I had read about their creme brulee and had to try it....fantastic! On Friday night, we had dinner at Le Queue de Cheval with NHL finance people. Le Queue de Cheval is an excellent steak restaurant that was located near our hotel. One of my bosses, Mary, invited me to go with a small group - I had to work until 10pm that night, but Mary said their reservations were at 9:30 and they'd barely be starting by 10. I was so glad I got to go! It was really good food & wine and a very fun night. When I arrived, they were just finishing up appetizers, so I missed out on just that. My filet mignon was so good! We also had great sides to share. The restaurant was filled with hockey folks. One table over was Pat LaFontaine, who used to play for the NY Islanders, among other teams. Pat now has an organization where he is building activity rooms in children's hospitals....really nice rooms with tvs, games, etc.... His thing is to build a room in each city where the All-Stars game is held, so he was in Montreal to unveil the new room there - a big publicity gig. He was sitting with some of his friends/family, as well as the man who is the NHL liaison for Pat's organization. The NHL guy works on my floor, so I know him slightly. Mary knows him and had met Pat several times, so on her way to the bathroom, she stopped by their table to say hello. Well, at my table were 2 guys who grew up on Long Island, thus they are Islander fans and huge LaFontaine fans. So, Mary asked Pat if he would stop by our table to say hello. So, on their way out, they did! My boss, Brian, shook his hand and said, "You're a big fan of mine!" It was soooo funny! Brian turned it around pretty quickly and said, "IF you knew me, you really would be a big fan!" We laughed so hard and forsee that story being told around the office for a long time! Pat's table had a birthday cake brought to their table - the waiters did a very loud song/chant thing with a cake with a sparkler on top. We commented that it looked fun and joked that someone at our table should be having a party. But, we didn't do that and just ordered 3 desserts to share. When Pat stopped by our table, we asked whose birthday it was and he said no one, but he always makes it someone's birthday at that restaurant because it is such a show! Then he commented that it could also be someone's birthday at our table! They left, we got our 3 desserts. Then, came out the birthday cake for Mary -- Pat had told the staff on his way out. It was hilarious! When we got back to the hotel, we stopped by the bar in the lobby to have a drink and say hello to other NHL folks hanging out there. I didn’t stay long – I had already had way too much wine and had to be at work at 8:00 the next morning. It was a late night, but well worth the fun.

All the workers/volunteers for the week were given an entire wardrobe. Many people had jobs outside or highly visible jobs. I did not, so I didn't need to ever wear this stuff. It was an amazing amount that I got that I will never wear....I think I may try to sell it all on ebay!

There was a hat, a short-sleeved t-shirt, a long-sleeved t-shirt, a polo shirt, heavy duty gloves, a hockey puck, a fleece (which I LOVE and will wear), and a scarf!

Also, this HUGE, very warm coat. I call it the "Spy Coat". Those of you familiar with the Fendi Spy Bag know what I'm talking about. It has more pockets than anything I've ever seen! I'm sure I still haven't found them all. It also has zippers in random spots, that I assume are for ventilation. There is also one of those snow duster things that wraps around your hips and a zip-up hood! It is a major coat!

I thought it would be funny to put on all the outer wear at once and model it. Notice that every piece has the All-Star logo on it!

Here's an outtake when I didn't beat the camera timer!

So, that's how I lived and worked in Montreal. More posts to come on my explorations of Montreal and the All-Star festivities I got to attend.