La Feile Padraig Shona Dhuit! (a little belated….)

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! No, my cats didn’t go wild on my computer keyboard-the title of this blog is “Happy St. Patrick’s Day” written in Irish. March 17th is also the date that Jay and I were legally married here in the States. We had our actual wedding celebration in Ireland on April 26th, which is the date on which we’ll be celebrating our anniversary. Not that we didn’t acknowledge March 17th at all…there were some cupcakes, champagne, etc. And on March 18th we got to travel up to New York and stay at my favourite hotel….The Standard! Jay’s presence was earnestly requested by his employers for a meeting. Since it was St. Patrick’s Day the previous day, almost all of the rooms were taken at The Standard except the more expensive ones. The powers that be wanted him there so much that they were not daunted by the price (well maybe a little bit…)  so we got to stay in a Liberty King Corner Suite!

Yippee! It was, as usual, awesome but this time had an even better view! The huge window literally wrapped around the room.

 

The shower, always interesting there, had a huge window in it. Hmmm…I guess the showers at The Standard are interesting for their neighbours as well!

 

 

While Jay was off at the meeting, I went off exploring. I ended up in the Soho/Nolito neighbourhoods. It was quite a long walk but it was a gorgeous day and I got to browse through a bunch of cool boutiques along the way. I was also able to locate the John Fluevog Shoe store. Dangerous! Jay and I both love Fluevog shoes and already own several pairs. Jay became the proud, and somewhat surprized owner of one more pair that I picked out for him that day.

That evening we went out to dinner at Molé, a Mexican restaurant there in the Meatpacking District. Sooo….the restaurant looked great-cute tiles and punched tin lanterns-the food was very, very good-second only to my favorite Mexican restaurant-Diogi’s (strangely enough in Fayetteville, WV). However, with all that being said, it wasn’t a pleasant dining experience. The place was tiny to begin with and was super crowded! I mean, think of the most crowded place you’ve ever been squished into and then double the number of people around you. It wasn’t just crowded while we were waiting for a table, but when they actually seated us, our table was literally an inch(if that) from the tables on either side. In order for me to take the inside seat, they had to pull the table out and I had to squeeze by the other diners, nearly sweeping their drinks away in the process. Poor Jay was on the outside, where every single waiter/busboy that scuttled by bumped into his back along their way. I’m not too fond of people in general and was near to a full blown panic attack through the whole meal. I could not wait to get out of there. Our waiter, who I’m pretty sure was Billy Corgan from the Smashing Pumpkins, was overworked and inattentive. Really a shame because the food really was great. Apparently this is a problem in many New York City restaurants. Overall it was a great trip and I’m already planning our next visit!

 

Trippy shower view

Mesmer’s New Music

Wow! All kinds of great stuff is now available. First Jay’s iPhone App, Yodel-Ay-Hee-Moo… now some fantastic music from The Mesmers. Congratulations to the guys on their new CD, entitled Fitz’s Subway to Another Life.

Jay, Fitz, Peter and Dave recorded it at Fitz’s mother’s farm a little over one year ago. A whole lot of work has gone into it and it sounds great! You can listen to samples of the tracks on the Mesmer’s website where it is currently available for sale. It will also be available on iTunes and CD Baby in a couple weeks. Details about their upcoming CD release party will be posted soon. In the meantime, check it out!

Yodel-Ay-Hee-Moo

I am very proud to announce that Jay has his first iPhone App now available for sale. Yodel-Ay-Hee-Moo is the world’s first and only alpine cow timer. Like to see it in action? Please take a look at our website, Runcible Labs, and you can see a short clip of it. It is basically a countdown timer with a whole lot of fun and whimsy thrown in for good measure. What could you use it for? Many things I’m sure…..cooking, e-bay auctions, etc. Let your imagination be your guide. I absolutely love the “Moo-alarm”-the cow truly does sound alarmed. It will get your attention without a doubt. If you like what you see at Runcible Labs, there is a handy button which will take you right to the App Store. It retails for $1.99. What a bargain! If you have any ideas for Apps you’d like to see, we’d love to hear them.

Savvy Rest

Gimlet has a great night's sleep in his slumber ball

Savvy: shrewdly informed

So….Jay and I recently became the proud new owners of a Savvy Rest mattress. This was the result of a looooong search for the “perfect” mattress. Jay had been saying for sometime that he thought our then current mattress was not all it should be. He has some neck and back problems and thought that the pillow top on the mattress (which was an incredible, squishy 4 inches or so) was too soft and was definitely not helping his back and possibly even causing it to get worse. This theory, originally placed on the back burner, was given a lot of attention after Jay and I went to New York and stayed at the Standard Hotel. (love, love, love this hotel!)

View of our room through the cool peek-a-boo shower

Anyway, we both slept the whole night through and awoke feeling quite springy and refreshed! A notably different sensation from our day to day existence in Falls Church. We thought maybe we were just feeling invigorated by being in New York, but quickly decided that it really was a case of an improved sleep environment. “Easy”, we thought, we’ll just get the exact mattress that the Standard uses in it’s guest rooms and we’ll be set for blissful slumber! As it turns out the hotel uses the Sealy Posturpedic Palatial Crest mattress. “Great” we thought and set out to buy it. “Hold on a minute”….the Palatial Crest is only available to hotels and is not sold to the general public. Hmmm….let the mattress research begin in earnest!

There is so much online about mattresses, it truly bogles the mind!  I was able to deduce eventually that Tempurpedic mattress, air mattresses (like the Sleep Number bed) and latex mattresses have the highest level of customer satisfaction at 85% . The run of the mill inner-spring mattresses ranked a measly 60%. As far as rankings for mattress life, the first three types of matresses I mentioned are reported to have a 20 year lifespan, whereas inner-spring mattresses while guaranteeing 10 years, really only hold their shape for 4 years or so. At that point they start to develop sags etc. The first three types of mattresses mentioned also receive high marks for being supportive for people with back issues and are hypo-allergenic-ie. no dust mites, no mold, mildew etc. Jay and I both suffer from some allergies, so this immediately captured our attention. O.k., so we had narrowed it down to one of the above three types of mattresses. I came across many reviews of the Tempurpedic mattresses which claimed they “slept hot”. Jay is literally like a furnace. He is so hot! (he loves it when I say that) I decided right then and there that we would not be getting the Tempurpedic. Looking at the Sleep Number bed, we liked the idea that we would each be able customize the firmness of our side of the mattress. However, the Savvy Rest latex mattress allows each partner to customize the firmness of their side of the mattress as well and also rated a bit higher for helping people with back pain. That was our original motivating factor, so we decided on the Savvy Rest-billed as “the World’s Healthiest Mattresses”.

Savvy Rest mattresses are rated “The Greenest” by National Geographic’s Green Guide. These organic mattresses are fabricated of natural latex rubber, surrounded by a mattress quilting made of wool fiber. The wool wicks moisture, insulates, and therefore sleeps cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. Wool is naturally resistant to dust mites and mold. The mattress itself is built in layers which allow each person to select how soft or firm they want their side of the mattress. This arrangement can be altered at any time to change the feel of the mattress should their comfort level change. Jay and I were shocked to learn that regular inner spring mattresses are routinely treated with chemicals like formaldehyde (flame retardant, preservative) and boric acid (roach killer). While I’m sure no one wants roaches, never mind flames, anywhere near their beds, do we really want to be breathing in that chemical residue every night! YUCK!

It has been several nights now and Jay couldn’t be any happier with our choice. He is sleeping much more soundly and hasn’t been snoring at all. I have also been sleeping much better (Jay isn’t snoring). The mattress feels a bit firmer to me than it did in the showroom. I am going to give it a week or so and if I don’t feel it has broken in at all, I’m going to order a mattress topper from Holy Lamb Organics. They offer different width organic wool toppers as well as a lot of other great eco-bedding options. So were we “shrewdly informed” in our mattress decision? So far we think so. We’ll keep you posted!

As far as other things happening around here…..not a whole lot of note. I will mention that John’s house is really looking awesome! If you haven’t looked recently, check out his blog for new pics of the renovation. The last bit of news I can mention is that Jay has just recently released his first iPhone App! We are very excited and I will soon do another post very soon all about Yodel-Ay-Hee-Moo (Jay’s App)