We have been caught up in an apartment hunt for the last week, and it has been an eye opener, but I think we have gotten lucky--Patrick found a 3-bedroom apartment on the first floor of a brownstone that has a little backyard, which is great for the dogs. It's also a few blocks away from Prospect Park, which is the best park in the NY area for dogs--it has off-leash hours and a swimming pond for dogs. There are great biking and hiking paths, so it will be good for us too.

The apartment is in Brooklyn in a neighborhood called Park Slope--I absolutely love it--it is block after block of beautiful brownstones, and lots of funky shops--the neighborhood has prevented almost all franchises from taking space there, so the shops are pretty mom-and-pop--they have a huge food co-op that we are going to join if we get the apartment.

Manhattan is a trip--we can afford to live on the island, but no one wants to deal with our babies--we have literally been told to either get rid of the cats or get rid of the dogs, because we can't have both. There are a lot of high rises, especially new ones in the financial district around the WTC site, that are actually pretty reasonable--they are still coaxing people back into the area since 9/11--but they are full of snotty hipsters, the kind of people that just annoy me on sight. There are a lot of people on this island who don't like animals--they look at Patrick and I like we are walking crocodiles on leashes--how sad to be so far removed from animal contact that you are truly afraid of a 30-pound dog who just wants to lick your hand.

I definitely want to live in Brooklyn--it has more of a neighborhood feel--people aren't quite so pompous, pushy, and in an insane rush, and they actually smile occasionally. And the air is so much better. Manhattan is beautiful and amazing, but it is filthy. I can feel it on my skin, in my eyes, on my throat--I feel slimed after being out and about for only a few hours. I wish I could get on a giant, city-wide bullhorn and order everyone on this island to clean--it is just shameful. This is such a remarkable and unique place, and people treat it like it's one big trash can. Little things knock me out--down by the GM building, where the Today show is filmed, there is a two-block department store, Bergdorf Goodman, that has all of its first-floor windows lined in garland for the holidays. Real garland--thousands of dollars just in boxwood--and that's just one store--it is these things that really get to me--how much beauty and art there is even in the window displays, but it's all in such sharp contrast to the trash and grime when you look down--weird.

Patrick and I had a nice Thanksgiving just the two of us--we went to the Macy's parade and cooked a big meal--it was nice--it's funny--our corporate housing "suite" is the size of our living room, dining room, and foyer mashed together. Chelsea, where our hotel is, is very hip and cool--home of the super cool gays and their trusty, even more glamourous fag hags--Martha Stewart tapes her show here, the Parsons School (Project Runway) and the Fashion Institute are here, so you can imagine what is running around the streets here--bitchy fashionistas. Then there's me and Barney and Betty.