NYC Rant: Crappy Spring & Summer Weather

You knew this was coming. Sooner or later, I was going to jump up on my soap box and complain about the weather we've been having. I think I've been more than patient with the forces that be. Every winter, when I'm wearing three layers of clothing and it's gray outside, and I only get seven hours of sunlight and I'm nearly freezing to death, I remind myself that spring is on its way. Soon, you'll be strolling around the city under your parasol, dressed in your cute summer dresses and your sandals, I tell myself. You'll be eating on that great open patio at Gigino's on the Hudson. It'll be 8 pm and still be warm out! You'll be picnicking!!

But really, I feel like a parent who's promised ice cream to her kid and then found the ice cream store is out of business. Aside from a few warm days (which weren't necessarily sunny), it's been cold, wet and overcast all spring long. The meteorologists forecast a day in the upper 70's but it always feels like mid to upper 60's to me. Or, if it is warm, it's disgustingly muggy and rainy.

In my nearly six years of living in the city, I have never experienced a spring like the one that just ended, and I'm not optimistic about summer, which officially began yesterday. I'm not the only one complaining--I have heard some truly loyal, entrenched New Yorkers, people who've been living here for decades, complain about the weather too. Even the ducks in Battery Park are regretting their decision to fly back for the summer. (these two were sitting in the public infinity fountain in front of Ciao Bella a week ago).

The entire city seems to be waiting with baited breath for the sun to come out. In the meantime, we shuffle around optimistically in our shorts and flip-flops despite the pools of rainwater and the fall-like temperatures, looking crankier and more dejected than ever. We spend our weekends letting our plans for picnics and trips to the Bronx Zoo lapse in favor of a good nap.

I'm reminded of the scenes in The Day After Tomorrow where Manhattan is iced-over, and there are news reports that people are fleeing to Africa where the weather's fine. Whatever the reason, I'm hoping the sun returns, because acceptance of life in NYC is being severely tested by these marathon days of gloom.

On My Mind: The Changing Of The Seasons

For most of my life, I've enjoyed just two seasons--hot and dry and cooler and wet. Now that I live in NYC, I enjoy all four (some more than others). Now that fall is upon us, I'm contemplative. The year's winding down. Only two months to go, but those two months are speedy.

Halloween is upon us (see Jacques Torres Chocolate Haven display above), signaling the beginning of the commercial holiday parade. Rockerfeller Center rink is already open. Soon, the city will be decked out for Christmas (I love the city in December--see above). The foliage is changing, and my life is too:

1. My closet has changed over. Summer clothes are in storage. Wool is now king.
   
2. Like the colors of my clothing, I feel grayer, darker and more insulated. I pat around the house in my sweats and yoga pants. Socks are back.
   
3. We eat more soups and oatmeal and stews. More beets and root vegetables, fewer good tomatoes or fruits.
   
4. The bed has a new look. On Sunday, we pulled out the down comforter and duvet.
   
5. Plants and flowers go into hibernation.We all know what's happened to Begonia.
   
6. My skin gets dryer. I've stocked up on moisturizer, face cream and night cream.
7. My hair looks better. Cold weather supposedly seals the hair cuticle. Keeps it tame.
   
8. Travel becomes more of an ordeal, so we tend to stay closer to home.
9. I get more productive. As they say, "summertime and the livin's easy..." Wintertime, and I spend less time enjoying the weather, more time making up for lost time.
10. I spend less time outdoors. It was nice for most of last week, but since the weekend, it's been cold! I think the real feel temperature on Sunday night was in the 30's.
    

The days are getting shorter and colder, and that usually means feeling less perky as the winter wears on. But guess what? I just bought a light box! Maybe I'll be able to trick my mind and body into thinking it's summer all year round. Will keep you posted on whether it works.

On My Mind: Fall's Schizo Weather

This Saturday, the 21st, was the official beginning of Fall. Like clockwork, the temperatures dropped into the 50's at night, girls have stopped wearing their summer dresses and open-toe shoes, it's getting dark at 5, and for the first time last week, I dug into my winter storage for sweaters and scarves.

Friday was freezing. Saturday was warm during the day but cold at night. Sunday was perfectly summery...people sitting out on sidewalks eating, playing chess...Yesterday was not that cold either. But these flip-flopping temperatures are enough to make me paranoid about catching a cold.

According to Accuweather's historical weather feature, the low temperatures have been in the 50's since Sept 17th (except for balmy Sunday night) but on Friday night, it was 52 degrees and on Saturday night, 51 degrees. And yes, I did feel the chill walking home from dinner!

It's not yet time to do the official closet switch over, as we do still have these 70-degree days in the forecast, but it's coming...maybe next weekend. I'll have to launder my pretty summer things one last time, take my dresses to the dry cleaner and do any mending before folding them away until next April or May. That's a New York thing too--limited closet space means only one season's wardrobe can be comfortably accommodated at one time--and I have a walk-in closet!

I will miss you, my summer wardrobe! If I still lived in LA, we wouldn't have to part. But we must make sacrifices to live in this city. At least, there are pretty winter coats and gloves to console me in your absence. Adieu!

Hunt For: The Perfect Winter Coat

If you count college, I have now spent nearly a decade of my life surviving Northeast winters. I come from the West originally, land of sunshine, so you can imagine how clueless I was about dressing for the cold when I was a freshman in college. My first winter coat was this ugly mustard yellow parka with down filling and a gray fur lining around the hood. It kept me warm but did nothing for me style wise.

Somewhere along the way I learned you don't have to look like Nanook the Eskimo to stay warm. My second major winter coat was a head to ankle black wool coat with a hood that fell down around the shoulders. Very warm. I thought it was a sexy coat at the time--picture Whitney Houston in the Bodyguard - but really I just looked like an Ewok.

Some Basic Tips
Anyhow, I learned a few things:
1. The coat doesn't have to come down to your ankles to keep you warm. That's what pants and tights are for.
2. It doesn't have to be bulky to keep you warm. That's what layers are for.
3. You don't need a hood. That's what hats and scarves are for.
3. It's not just for covering you up. It should make you feel stylish or attractive when you wear it so it should have so shape or flatter your figure. I hate those coats that make women look like wool columns with feet sticking out the bottom.
4. A coat is an investment - it's worth spending the extra money to get a good wool blend or lining that feels great against your skin.

This fall, one of my goals was to find another winter coat. So I scoured the Internet and stores around town for some finds. I'm not a slave to fashion, but I also wanted to find a coat that was fashion forward in some ways...not just like every other boring coat.

When To Start Looking
The fall lines start coming in in August, so by now, the hottest coats are sold out or near sold out, but the department store coat sections are still well-stocked. If you wait until December, the selections will be decimated and only gigantic sizes remaining....but truth be told, the first winter I moved back to NYC, I made the mistake of waiting until November to look for a coat, and I did manage to find one I love...so there's hope.

Where to Look and How Much
Department stores are a good one-stop shop for coats. Bloomingdales has some good staples -like Burberry, Cole Haan, Searle, and the great Canadian brands, Soia & Kyo and Mackage. The good coats are around $800-1000. Saks has a great selection too. That's where I bought my last two coats.

If you have a couple thousand to spend, you could go to Bergdorf's or any of the designer boutiques. Rick Owens, Jill Sander, Aquasqutum (pictured above) and Stella McCartney had some great coats this season, but priced at $1600-$3000, they were more than I wanted to spend.

On Sunday, walking around Soho, I noticed stores like Anthropologie and other small boutiques, like Ina or Purdy Girl had cute coats in the $300-$500 range.

Certain brands are known for their coats, so it can also be easier to go straight to the source: Searle and Burberry have stores in town with really extensive selections.

I have done the thing where I buy a coat for under $200 and I like it for maybe a couple months - but then the stiffness of the material or the trendiness or the lack of warmth - something makes it so I don't wear it for more than one season. But if that's what you need, there are coats galore at BR, Club Monaco, etc....

Use the Power of the Internet
Traipsing around town for a coat is exhausting. But now that we have the Internet, you can do a lot of your homework beforehand. I created a "lookbook" of jpgs of coats from different designer and shopping sites to get a sense of the silhouettes and styles I was most attracted to.

So Did I Find It?
Yes! I found my perfect coat at Nanette Lepore--feminine, unique, classic, yet girly. It was my first choice among "lookbook" images, so all I had to do was go in and try it on. Luckily, they still had one coat left in my size. The entire transaction from the time entered the store to payment took maybe 5 minutes. Yay! I'm glad this hunt was more successful than my hunt for a lamp...

Things I Love About New York: Perfect Summer Weather

Blue skies, a gentle breeze and temperatures in the 70's. This is perfect. Freeze frame! Oh darn, I'm not God. I don't control the weather. I was at Walgreens in Union Square yesterday, and they had a whole aisle devoted to fans...not people who like Walgreens--I mean fans, like the kind you position at the end of your bed at night to circulate the stiflingly hot summer air in your sixth floor railroad apartment in the Village...or so I'm told. I can't imagine living in the city during the summer without air conditioning. My condolences if you don't have it. It's one thing that does make life in the city more comfortable.

I'm alive!

The weather gods must have heard my cries b/c the weather for this morning's race was so beautiful it made me feel all warm and tingly inside. 50 degrees, sunny with a light breeze blowing - perfect running weather. And yes, my friends, the fact that I am here to write this post is proof that I finished the Healthy Kidney 10K this morning, my first race since Dec 2005, and I lived to tell the tale. I'm not going to embarrass myself by telling you my time. Let's just say of the 6273 people racing today, I was cruising in the back of the pack.

But I had a very zen moment as hundreds of runners whizzed past me--sometimes being in the back of the pack has its advantages. You can breathe easy--at least figuratively. People aren't elbowing you for room. There's no shame in huffing and puffing up hills or even walking when your legs give out. It's very forgiving there in the back of the pack. Contrary to my greatest fear, I was not the last place finisher, and I enjoyed myself. Just another reminder that when you take the ego out of living in NYC, it's really not that bad.

Today was also my initiation into color-coded bibs. Starting in April, the NY Road Runners are using a corraling system that requires you to line up at the start line based on your pace. "NYRR-member entrants with an NYRR race history will be assigned based on that history at the time that they registered for the race." This means, there's no way you can fudge your pace b/c they know your last best time. Your race bib is actually color-coded...so the scary fast runners are blue or red and then it's yellow, green, orange, light blue, pink (c'est moi!), purple, gray, and brown, in that order, from fastest to slowest--for a sum total of ten colors.

I think the pink is a very pretty myself, but I was remarking to City Guy (who wore yellow) that this color coded bib thing was soooo New York. I mean, now, everyone can tell how fast or slow you are by the color on your chest, so knowing how competitive New Yorkers, people are going to be raring to earn those "fast" color bibs as some kind of badge of honor. I know I intend to--as much as I really do like pink. The truth is, with today's dismal performance, I may be donning purple or even gray my next time out, but with hard work, I know light blue or even orange are well within my grasp! Bruhhaaaaaa! Happy running!

Bitching About The Weather

Just for a moment, can I say I'm sick of this weather? Yeah, I know Michael Bloomberg's outdoor plants need watering, but it's May 16th, and I'm still wearing my winter clothes because it's 50-degrees out and raining without end. With wind chill, it's in the 40's. Can you believe this? All I want to do is take a nap!

Doesn't it feel like the sun's been out only a few days this spring? When, oh, when will the sunshine return? Where or where could it be? Probably in California. Oh no you didn't! Yes I did!

Maybe the gloom and doom will lift tomorrow. The forecast is for 70-degrees and sun. I'm supposed to run a 10K at 9 am. I do hope the weather is good, so I don't catch my death of cold. I haven't been training consistently, so the race is going to be painful enough without being rained on. Plus, these New York Road Runners are hard core - they just zip right past you up those Central Park Hills. I used to think a 10 minute-mile pace was pretty decent. In LA, it's all good. They pat you on the back for trying. Here, a 10-minute mile means more than half the runners in the race are faster than you. To really be respectable, for a woman, you have to run an 8-9 minute mile.

This will be the first race I've run since 2005. I was pretty serious about my running back them. Took a running class with the Road Runners and was faster than I'd ever been. Now, I'm a slow poke again, and I could quite possibly be finishing last tomorrow. See those guys in the picture? They'll have finished the race, eaten their bananas and bagels...maybe a second helping..., changed out of their running shorts and gotten on their subways home before I cross the finish line.We'll see. I keep thinking, "A for effort! A for effort!"

Either way, I'll be motivated to train better. I signed up for a few races this summer, as part of my training for the NYC Marathon. Yes, that's right. After two years of postponing my guaranteed entry, I'm going to try and run it this year. City Guy's running it too!