National Kissing Day: Three Top Stops for Smooching

In honor of National Kissing Day, here are three top spots to get cosy in NYC:

Boqueria: There is something about sharing food that brings people together. This Soho staple delivers the best in Spanish tapas. Try the Pimientos de Padrón — Blistered Shishito peppers with coarse sea salt and Gambas al Ajillo Shrimp, garlic and Guindilla pepper in olive oil to get the party started. And let's face it, a jug of sangria doesn't hurt...


The Boathouse: It's been the backdrop of many a romantic comedy and for good reason. The Boathouse in Central Park is the perfect setting for a smoochy night out. A day trip is actually my favorite way to savor this moment. A glass of wine watching others attempt a romantic sentiment in a dingy is somewhat amusing and definitely a bonding experience. Better yet it is one of the restaurants featured in NY's restaurant week. What are you waiting for?

Barbounia

One of the best happy hours in town, Barbounia features bar seating at it's finest. Whether you want to get cozy with your loved one or are simply happy to socialize, this Mediterranean spot is a bee hive of activity. Catch up over drinks or dine in style, either way it will quickly become a happy smooching memory.

Archery is the New Black

It's the only sport I may have a distant chance of winning an olympic medal in — goodness knows these legs wouldn't hold up to a mid-life hurdle attempt. Now thanks to my good friend, Joseph Ungoco, my olympic archery ambitions came to life this summer in New York City.

Long been the past time of the wise and wonderful; Gina Davis made the olympic trials for the U.S. women's team and much loved author Paulo Coelho of The Alchemist fame has been a long time advocate, archery is one step up from bowling, one step below red-neck-gun-range action.

Once armed with your compound bow, all sorts of images will likely run through your head that will make you feel like the warrior you always knew yourself to be.

Depending on your imagination you could quickly become an Elf mid-battle to save a Hobbit; Angelina Jolie in an upcoming action flick and/or part Rambo, part majestic Greek warrior/ess. The choices are endless really.

When it comes to taking up the sport, there are many options. Everything from the bow you use, to the conditions in which you practice. Queens Archery is where our lust for the arrow began and I have to admit I'm a little bit of a slave to my twice weekly practice.

For $20, you get an hour of shooting time, your equipment hire and a lesson on your first visit. As you get better there are options to join a competitive league and for the under 18s they even have a Junior Olympic Development program.

Whether you've always wanted to try, or are simply looking for something different to do this summer, I highly suggest taking a trip with friends for a good laugh and a chance to be your own action hero. Let's face it, a little controlled agression does you the world of good.

Go the F**k to Sleep

In today's overachieving world, sometimes it's the parents that need a “happy ever after," particularly when battling bed time. Now, thanks to father of two, Adam Mansbach, it's only a page away with this storybook for adults entitled, Go the F**k to Sleep.

A children’s book for an adults-only audience, this Where the Wild Things Are type storybook revives the tortured soul at a time when parents need it most. Aunties, Uncles, teachers and helpers alike will all get a giggle out of this ingenius offering that small Brooklyn-based publisher, Aksahic Books took a leap of faith to publish.

The book has been enormously successful since a pdf was leaked and went viral; particularly in a place like New York where parenting was recently described as a “famously competitive sport” by the New York Post.

Here is a video of Samuel L.Jackson reading a passage. Truly brilliant.

Easter Parade

I have to admit, I'd never been to the Easter Day Parade before today. I figured it would be much like Manhattan's famous Thanksgiving Day parade—complete with floats and claustrophobic crowds all vying for a piece of the action. But for the first time in months, the sun was shining and my friend, New York milliner Anthony Maxwell, promised a leisurely day in the sunshine with friends. How could I resist?

Instead of oversized balloons of Disney characters, 5th Avenue took a trip down memory lane as hundreds gathered in their Sunday best to stroll down the avenue showcasing the ultimate in Easter bonnet style.

From the sweet to the surreal, it was a gorgeous day full of friendly faces and photo ops. If you didn't catch it this year, I highly recommend you work on your outfit and wow the crowds this time next year. Be warned: the competition is fierce.

Sesame Street: Me Lost Me Cookie at the Disco

Okay, as the trend tropic on twitter today was #CookieMonster, I couldn't help but go back in time to one of my favorite tracks of the '80s. Too funny. Particularly appropriate for Thanksgiving me thinks!

London: Life lessons

It was two days after the whole laptop debacle. In a work-induced stupor I had left my life (otherwise known as my aging PC) in the back seat of a New York taxi, complete with my monthly receipts — bound for an expense report — and all my notes on a new magazine I was working on. The depths of my despair was debilitating to say the least. It's hard to explain but put it this way, it made me seriously ponder how many laptop-left-in-taxi induced suicides there were per year.

The next day I was due to board a plane to London. Would the laptop show?

Very long story short, the answer is yes. Having had the credit card receipt in hand, the taxi depot were able to track down the driver who promptly returned my treasures an hour before I was due to leave for the airport. I'm not sure which was worse, the faint-worthy relief of having found it or the exhausting trauma of the past 24 hours thinking it might never show. Either way the ramifications, both good and bad, were tantamount to a slight case of Post Traumatic Stress syndrome.

In made me realize though — as did others who went home immediately and backed up their computers — that some instances in life, a single moment in time, as trivial as they may seem to others, can be life changing. Realizing for instance that working yourself into an early grave makes time fly by all too fast, carrying thirteen bags at the one time doesn't do you any favors and most importantly, that there is always time, can make you see the world a little more clearly.

Regardless of how busy you are, there is always time to stop and take a breath. There is always time to enjoy the moment. And today's to-do list is only tomorrow's kitty litter.

And so, life goes on. You board the plane to London and soon find yourself sitting in a private box at the Royal Albert Hall listening to the Australian Youth Orchestra, with your own butler providing champagne and bite-sized morsels of tender, tasty treats. And you think, thank goodness you hadn't taken the jumping-off-the Brooklyn Bridge option, I'm going to enjoy each and every moment of this. And then of course, you close your eyes to savor the stunning sounds and fall off the seat having finally succumbed to sleep deprivation. Still, it was worth it.

St. Vincent: The view from Grenadine House