[TAKE TWO]
No plans this Wednesday night (11/11)? Here’s an idea: Stop by East End Bar in NYC for some live music! I’ll be performing with world-renowned guitarist Emmett O’Malley from 9pm to 11pm—and there’s no cover. Hope to see you there…

Josey Miller singing at the Bitter End

Emmett O’Malley of mrnorth playing with Enrique Iglesias

“That’s it, I’m goin’ in!” I yelled as I rushed to climb over the rope.

The lanky stranger had been running for hours, and I wasn’t about to let him give up and walk that one more mile. I’d clapped my hands raw but, no matter how far I followed him yelling “YOU’RE SO CLOSE!” he just didn’t believe he had it in him. Having witnessed the moment when this middle-aged man’s gallop had dragged to a walk to a limp, I somehow felt responsible. I made it my heartfelt duty to reinstate his will to race across the finish line of the New York City Marathon.

“Well, hello!” I said.

He looked down at me, jogging in my jeans and leather boots, baffled. “What on Earth are you doing?”

“I’m helping!” I answered cheerfully. “So tell me! What’s your name?”

“Uh, Richard?” he responded breathlessly.

“Great. Come on, Richard. We’re running.”

He started to pick up his pace, still unsure of what was happening.

“So tell me, Richard, where ya’ from?”

“Texas?”

“Texas? I love Texas! Okay, Texas. So, do you have any kids, Richard?”

“Uh, I have three daughters.”

“That’s wonderful! Wow, three daughters.”

We made the right turn onto Central Park South. We were just a few blocks away from the finish line now. Richard was running.

“How old are they?” I asked.

He thought about it. “They’re, uh…”

“You’re doing great, Richard! Tell me! How old are your three daughters?”

“They’re, uh…”

He paused again.

“You know what?” Richard decided. “I think I got it now.”

I don’t know where it came from—somewhere deep inside of him—but Richard was sprinting to get away from me. I happily ate his dust. And I dodged the on-coming crowd of marathoners to find a way out of the race path so I could look for Jeff, who I’d abandoned in the cheering section.

As soon as I spotted him, I started jumping and shouting: “I did it! Jeff, I did it! Did you see? I annoyed a runner into finishing the race!”

“Way to go,” he nodded sarcastically. “You could’ve been arrested.”

I ignored him.

“See?” I sighed proudly.

“Now that’s the spirit of the New York City Marathon.”

…drift by my NYC window:

No plans next Wednesday night (10/28)? Here’s an idea: Stop by East End Bar in NYC for some live music! I’ll be performing with world-renowned guitarist Emmett O’Malley from 9pm to 11pm—and there’s no cover. Hope to see you there…

UPDATE: Due to the World Series, Emmett and I will not be performing on 10/28. Our show will most likely be rescheduled for 11/4, but more to come…

Check out my new article! It’s on iVillage.com-NBC Universal:
10 Spooky Candy Treats for Halloween.

We spotted Hugh Jackman wearing a fedora and a body-flaunting black t-shirt on Bleecker Street near Carmine Street. He was walking around Greenwich Village with a buddy: no kids in sight.

“Josey Miller is really glad she’s not out in this hurricane!” my Facebook status announced on that thunderous day in late July. But, while I was cozied up with a book and a cat or two, the situation wasn’t nearly as peaceful at my favorite apple orchard: Hail pelted down against the apples while the wind knocked them into each other—nearly an entire season’s worth of the farmers’ fruit, destroyed. So the pickings were slim at our annual apple excursion, but the view was as spectacular as ever (hence the name). And we were extra-protective of the winner we found in the pumpkin patch.

Check out my new article! It’s in The Nest magazine (brought to you by The Knot): 5 Top Vacation Spots.

Barbra Streisand and James Brolin at the table next to Jeff and a few of his coworkers at Chin Chin in the Midtown East area of New York City. Babs was wearing a beige pantsuit. James wore a suit without a tie and appeared sunburned, Jeff said. (Then again, he also said the night was “a tad fuzzy.”) The attractive couple received extra-special service from the restaurant. And—with the exception of somewhat subtly texting everyone they knew—their fellow patrons played it surprisingly cool: No one asked for photos or autographs.

I wrote this week’s Time Out New York magazine “Passport NY” column! It covers Nigerian activities in NYC. (To zoom in for a readable version, click this image, then click the next image.)