Airports count

Magnet #958 - Zurich

It's an oft-repeated refrain that I dare anyone to refute.

I've been to Switzerland before. But never to Zurich. So now I've been. To the airport, anyway. Twice.

I mean, sure, we didn't leave the grounds, but it totally counts.

In fact, I was thrilled that we were doing a layover in Zurich on the way to the Save the World Wedding in Italy, because I totally knew that I'd have time to sprint into a gift shop and find the cutest magnet I could get my hands on. So, yeah, this magnet would be that cutest magnet I could get my hands on.

One thing that we totally missed, though was a guided tour of the airport. What? If you've been reading this magnetblog long enough, you know I am totally not kidding about the guided tour. It was a cute airport, actually - even if I totally hate their TSA folks for robbing us of our Italian wine.

But, what the Zurich airport did give me was possibly some of the best chocolate I've ever had. And, if you've known me long enough, you know that I can be a bit of a chocolate snob.

I will admit to being won over by the cutest little blue and gold tin (I'm a sucker for cute tins), but I can honestly say that $40 tiny box of Confiserie Sprungli chocolates I bought was fabulous. Di. Vine.

Now. No one dare tell me that they're the equivalent of Hershey's in Switzerland.

eta:
I just took a spin on their site, and linked the exact box that I bought. Holy. Frakkin. Cow. Even with all the chocolate I've ever bought, I've never spent that much on 15 chocolates. My. Word. That damn Swiss Franc.

eta2:
Shoot. I just did the price per calculation. Actually, I have spent that much. Still. These were the best. And look how pretty that tin is!

Exuma

Magnet #957 - Exuma

Not sure who gave me this magnet...I had to look up where Exuma was! It's one of the "other islands" of the Bahamas.

Apparently, it's where Thunderball and Splash were filmed, oh, and you can snorkel there, too.

I've never been snorkeling, and I gotta tell you, unless there's a cuteboy somehow involved, I will likely never go snorkeling, like ever.

I can swim ok (I actually found my Carolina swim test card last week to prove it.), but there's something scary about being on marinelife turf. Anything in great abundance scares me (birds, butterfly, fish), so you'll not catch me anywhere a school of fish could come up behind me.

Besides which, I've eaten too many fish and crabs and squid and shrimp in my lifetime, for them not to want a piece of me back.

Celeb sightings...or not

Magnet #956 - Carmel Beach Club

I bought this magnet out in Carmel, during my Woman on her Own Roadtrip many years ago. I stopped in Carmel, and then I did the Pebble Beach drive (not knowing the significance of the golf course, at the time) before moving up the coast.

But I kid you not, I bought this one in a random grocery store somewhere in Carmel - the same grocery store that I was absolutely convinced that I'd run into Clint Eastwood with his shopping cart.

What? It could totally happen!

I know, it happens when you least expect it. Like today, while having Baked by Melissa mini-cupcakes (you must try, if you haven't) and coffee in Union Square Park, Hope Davis, the guy who played pipe-chewing Kinsey from Mad Men, and the other guy from Veronica's Closet all passed me in the space of an hour. That's also on top of seeing Gilbert Gottfried pushing a stroller in Chelsea this morning.

Mind you, who knows if any of the four were really whom I thought they were - knowing me, I was probably just playing a very good game of Celebrity Lookalikes.

Book 'em, Danno!

Magnet #955 - Hawaiian Islands

For someone who hasn't been to, and has no plans to ever go to, Hawaii, I sure do have a boatload of magnets from there. It's weird! Not sure who gave this one to me, but it's supercute, thanks.

A fond memory I have living in Chicago in the mid-70s is running into my parents' room, hurrying as fast as I could go because I could hear the thundering score of Hawaii Five-O on the tv. By my count, I couldn't have been more than five or six years old. With a big crush on James MacArthur, who played Danno.

Thirty years later, things haven't changed all that much. Tonight's the third episode of the Hawaii Five-0 redux, and I can't freakin' wait til 10 tonight. Of course, the only difference is that now I have a crush on Alex O'Loughlin, Scott Caan, and Daniel Dae Kim.

If anyone had told me that H50 would be my favorite show of the season - indeed, one of my favorites in a long while - I would have scoffed. When I first heard about it a while ago, I was determined to shun it.

After all, who can beat Jack Lord and James MacArthur? Plus, while I love and own Moonlight, would dreamy Alex O'Loughlin be able to fit in hard-ass Jack Lord's shoes?

On top of that, seriously, CBS? A whole press release about the use of the letter O vs. number 0? Come now. (And yet, I'm diligently using the two different characters - it really does make a difference, I suppose.)

My fears were somewhat allayed when I saw the first teaser for the show, and saw Alex O'Loughlin running around in his bullet-proof vest. It was hot. (It still is. So is this.)

By the time I saw the full trailer, I was already looking forward to the premiere - even though I forewent the SDCC panel in favor of some floor time. (And am now sorry I did.)

But when I finally saw the pilot, it seriously took the opening sequence before I knew the show was going to kick ass...and about 14 minutes in to realize that it would be my #1 show of the season. Now I can't wait for the season to be over, and six months to pass, so that I can own the H50 DVDs.

Best of all, I got to watch the pilot with my parents, which was fun and totally nostalgic.

My dad came downstairs in the middle of the show, glanced at the tv, and without any hesitation or context, goes, "Oh! Chin Ho!" (Score one for Daniel Dae Kim. Actually, score two, because I didn't even go through a "there's Jin Kwon" phase - he's already Chin for me.)

On the flip side, the first time my dad saw Alex and Scott, he asked us, "Who are they?" That's not surprising. Jack Lord was 48 when he did the H5O pilot in 1968, while James MacArthur was much younger at 31. Both O'Loughlin and Caan are 34 - buddy-cop contemporaries, than anything else.

But, it works. Good gravy, does it work.

Mind you, I'm not completely blind, there are a few issues that they need to work on.

I don't necessarily like how the boys have gone and saved Boomer Kono in the last two episodes, and how they've banded together to "always protect her." (even though they were supercute in their uniforms during her swearing in)

I don't want them to always do the boy banter, while it's superadorable, it has the possibility of relying on its cuteness.

I wonder if they're gonna get more people in those empty offices.

And I want them to watch their brand/product integration - they're treading close to annoying me with the pervasive Chevy product placement.

Even with the above, I'm definitely looking forward to how this iteration of the 5-0 goes.

eta:
Having watched episode 3, ummm, yeah, it's till number 1 on my list.

What IS it about a man and his horse?

Magnet #954 - Faerie folk

I picked this supercute faerie nymph magnet (with her supercute acorn hat and flowery petally outfit!) at one of the booths at the 26th Annual Medieval Festival up at Fort Tryon Park today. Note - this is not to be confused with the Renaissance Festival up at Tuxedo.

Or is it?

The two epochs came and went, back to back - Medieval times being from 500 - 1450 and the Renaissance from 1450 - 1600, so I'm not entirely too sure why there are two different fairs. Feels like the same food, the same dress, and even the same knights, dragons and faeries, really.

The same fun, too.

My favorite part of both fairs - besides all the bad fair food that I so love to eat - are jousting tournaments. There's something awesome and visceral about watching two commanding knights riding their trusty steeds hellbent for leather toward each other, with bloodlusty crowds cheering them on.

So what if the audience sat on metal bleachers cheering and jeering to the sounds of a mic'd up medieval emcee making them do the wave? That aside, you could almost imagine being transported back in time to when the knights ruled the land (across the water, obvi, not Fort Tryon in the Bronx), and fought for the love of kings, kingdoms and fair ladies.

Plus, who doesn't love a strong knight with long flowing hair sitting astride a gorgeous horse?

What? We've discussed this.

Hi. Former romance editor. You can't find a bigger fan at a jousting tournament.

Good grief, it's a Peanuts 60th anniversary, Charlie Brown!

Magnet #953 - Peanuts 60 Years

Today marks the 60th anniversary of the Peanuts comic strip, and they don't look a day over eight.

Growing up, one of the best things to do on a Sunday morning was to rifle through the cool thickness of the Sunday paper, to be the first to grab the funnies section (And then the sale circulars, but that's a whole other magnet, I suspect) and read it from cover to cover.

For me, that's generally the only way that I've enjoyed the Peanuts gang. While I watched all of the holiday tv specials at least once, I've never been able to re-watch them every year as many of my friends do. So the strips were always the way for me to visit with Snoopy and his pals.

I don't really have a favorite of the gang - well, maybe Woodstock, but that's probably because (even if I hate birds), I'm partial to little yellow ones. But, then it could be Lucy, just because she was always so mean and a part of me identified with her bossing Charlie Brown around. Or, it could be Linus, cuz he was so faithful. Or Snoopy, cuz I would love to fly a plane and have fake dogfights! Or it could be Schroeder, because of his piano playing. Or Pig Pen, because who doesn't like a little muss every now and again.

Or maybe...yeah, see? Maybe they're all my favorites?

I picked up this magnet at BEA, where they were highlighting the 60th anniversary book, giving away these pins and a supercute yellow presskit folder with Charlie Brown's fun zigzig stripes running across it. And, if I weren't awake so early today (on a Saturday, no less), the anniversary would have gotten away from me.

The Schulz Museum in California has arranged and/or sponsored events at several museums around the country - oh, how much fun we could have, Charlie Brown!

What makes a keepsake, a keepsake?

Magnet #952 - Smurfs

Today, I've entered the next stage of clearing out the clutter in my life. Or, my apartment, really. Closet, if you want to get specifical.

Ya'll know I've been a little worried that I'm exhibiting signs of a Hoarder. Not like those crazies on television...but close, as it would seem. Instead of collecting random odds and ends like those people on tv, I'm a big hoarder of my life.

Odds and ends that remind me of places, people, events and things. Ticket stubs and tchotkes, programs and cards. Lots and lots of cards. (That's a whole other magnetpost, it seems.)

Just some of the things I've found:

• My cousin's birth announcement. Hint. She's old enough for Facebook.
• The registry for my friend's wedding. Hint. They're celebrating their 13th wedding anniversary in a couple of weeks.
  
• The Student Caller for my senior year. Of high school.
• My very first paycheck stub from Putnam Berkley, here in NYC. The job that made me want to run out to Madison and 36th, and throw my beret (if I had one, I'll never tell) up in the air, and sing, "You're gonna make it after all!"
• The office invitation I got on my first day of work - for office party to celebrate the launch of Tom Clancy's Op Center. Book one, ya'll.
  
• Letters, notes, Christmas and birthday cards dating as far back as 1995, when I moved to NY.
• The cheesy fangurl letter I wrote to all the Loveswept authors when I first started.
• The sweet letters and cards and notes that the Loveswept authors sent to welcome me on board.
• The cheesy fangurl letter I wrote to all the Loveswept authors when I left.
• Two boxes of old checkbooks, ATM receipts and random purchases - dated anywhere between 1995-2001. Hello, paper shredder.
• The Sears receipt for the first and only tv I've ever bought or owned - a tiny Sony 20" box TV, $352.44 in 1996. (No, I'm not giving her up until she breaks. She's served me well, I won't give her up for a prettier, newer flatscreen model!)
  
• A whole photo album that I forgot about. It included this funny picture from Halloween 1994 with my college roommate. I was Jokey Smurf. Though, really, maybe I was ahead of my time and really part of the Blue Man Group? Once you see that picture, you'll know why I picked today's magnet.
  

So, as I've picked through the last 20 years of my life, the question that's been running through my head all day is, What makes a keepsake, a keepsake?

Example, the plastic winecup with "Iris 2/4" markered on it. What's that even mean? (Toss. Sorry, Iris, you were wonderful to work with, but I can't remember why I'd keep a winecup...)

Another example, the plastic alligator from one of the many, many nights I spent at any number of Brother Jimmy's back in the late 1990s. (Keep. I drank a FISHBOWL of liquor to get one of those.)

In the end, my answer to myself is this:

If you're looking at something and you don't remember the memory (or the person) it's attached to - toss.

If you're looking at something and you get warm fuzzies from it - keep.

After all, you're keeping something for the sake of a good memory!