Happy New Year from Times Square in New York City.























The sun was shining bright just after noon when people were already gathered and camped out in Times Square. To keep Mena from squinting in her annual New Year's Eve pose, she needed sunglasses.
She went earlier in the day last year. Click here to see last year's NYE.

More New York City Holiday Fun
After a stop at the Plaza on 5th Avenue, who can resist a vist to Tiffany's a few blocks away along 5th? Willamena always seems to find her way right to the front entrance, so we call it Sniffany's.

NYC Holiday lights - just a few.

For people who love the consumerism of the holidays, these blue and red lights adorn the Time Warner Center in Columbus Circle. They constantly change colors, one segment of each star at a time.

It is well known that holiday shopping builds a hunger for borscht.

What better place than the Russian Tea Room to fill that craving?

Plus looks like you could even get your shot for next year's Christmas card out of the way. (Since everyone else goes to Rockefeller. Pooey.)

Who doesn't love the legs of the Rockettes?

The show outside and around Radio City is almost as festive as the show.

Across the street, red ornaments are stacked in a fountain.

Less than a block away, a toy train lights up 6th Avenue.

And of course, every year, tall nutcrackers line the UBS building.

WILLAMENA WANTS IN THE ACTION AS A FILM CREW PREPARES A SCENE ON THE UPPER WEST SIDE.

Remember when I went on vacation and Willamena had her headshots done by her babysitter? Well, I should have had one with me this morning as I had to pull Mena away from this set.

But even my tugs weren't successful. You'd think that along with setting the scrims and adjusting the lighting for the driver side of this Toyota Matrix, they were grilling bacon.

Mena even got a pat on the head from one of the gaffers. I said, "she wants to be in it." He responded, "she should be!" Even one the guys taping an interview with someone working on this set, turned the camera on Mena's persistance to stay and watch.

Then Mena saw that someone was getting in the truck that was going to pull the Matrix along Broadway for the shoot. She was about to jump in.

I was told they were shooting for a movie called "Three Girls."

ROCKEFELLER GRINCHES!

Now that Willamena is back in New York City from her white Christmas New Hampshire visit, she wants her typical NYC Holiday pics.
However, security is the grinch this year.
The security guard in this picture was on his way over to say get away, "no dogs." She didn't understand considering this area is a public sidewalk.
She came to this side because she had just been chased away by another security guard by the angels.
That is where the people from NBC take pictures at no charge. You are given a slip with a website and number. You can view your pictures on line and order if you wish. There isn't any pressure. It's a great holiday shot. BUT NO! I asked if that was a new policy, the guard said dogs have never been allowed. Prior today, it has never been an issue. Look at last year's photo. It was taken by a tourist offering to help us out. There was security everywhere, but we weren't told to leave.
Maybe it's for the best. Because of the embarrassing exile, Mena now wants to find unusual places to take NYC Holiday pics. She promises to have them posted before the New Year.

ALL MENA WANTED FOR CHRISTMAS WAS A MINI-ME-na.

Actually I just wanted a picture of the two together, possibly with their paws up to their lip.

But with all the food and holiday treats around, Willamena didn't want anything to do with another dog.

Instead, she spent the day guarding the tree, anxiously awaiting the moment she would get to finally rip into her gifts.

Which, as you can see, she did a good job of as soon as Christmas morning arrived.

She was even transformed into Santa-Paws.

Unwrapping gifts wasn't the only activity the holiday hound jumped into.


She was thrilled to run down this hill right next to the sledders.

She slept well that night, with plenty of time for sugar-plum kitties to dance in her head.

Hope you're having a howling happy holiday!

Supermena No. 1
Click comic to enlarge

This Halloween:

"Supermena in Metropolis."


The newshound is a direct descendent of Krypto, Superman's dog from Krypton.

She was at work at the Daily Planet when duty called.






A tourist was about to go Uptown instead of Downtown on the 1 at Columbus Circle.

She rushed back to meet deadline, but was still caught on cam by Jimmy Olson.

It isn't easy finding a phonebooth in Metropolis anymore. Not like back in the days of 1950s Marvel.
Another task on this all hallows eve, to wiggle some walk room between strollers on the sidewalk.

Before heading back to The Fortress of Solitude, Supermena meets up with Supergirl.
TO BE CONTINUED...

Willamena the newshound takes off her Clark Kent glasses, abandons her notepad and leaves her camera in the apartment this Halloween.

Instead, she will fly high over Metropolis to reveal her true identity:

SUPERMENA!

I guess I get to be Lois Lane.

TOUR NEW YORK CITY WITH ME.

It's summer in New York City, and the sidewalks have been hot. Willamena has been taking a little break from her tours lately because night-time pictures don't come out as well.

But once again, she promises she is working on two for you. Here you see where she will probably begin her Seinfeld tour. After this shoot, she ordered the "big salad."

The tour that is being expedited is her "beatnik" tour. It will be in celebration of 50-years in print for Jack Kerouac's "On the Road."

While you wait, please re-visit Mena's prior tours of New York City.

As a Met and Yankess fan, she took you to places to eat hot dogs at the beginning of baseball season.

http://heather-kovar.blogspot.com/2007/04/play-ball-eat-dogs-willamenas-new-york.html

In March, she celebrated St. Patrick's Day with tours of both Upper West Side haunts and Upper East Side Irish hangouts.

Also be sure to check out the Willabeast's Haunted Tour.

The Willabeastie had a great time at the Beastie Boys concert this past week.

Summer Rocks!

Willamena has been trying to keep it indoors during the day in the heat. But when it cools down at night, you can't stop this hot dog. Here she is at Summerstage back on July 16th listening to the Decemberists.

Tonight she is prepping her ears for the Beastie Boys. She also has her blanket, bottle of water, bag of treats, camera and digging paws ready for the event in Central Park.

No problem if you forget to bring your own libation. Even people outside of the actual Summerstage area have vending. "Amstel, Coors light, COLD water!"

All You Need is An Audience.

4th of July in New York City!

Mena enjoys the tricks of others, since she is good at pulling her own. "Hmmm. I could reach the top counter cookies if I could smuggle a stick into the apartment and balance it on my tongue."

So we didn't stay much longer, didn't want her getting too many ideas.


Taking a break to google a statue in th city, a woman eating an ice cream cone approached and asked in her most proper English accent, "do they eh'-ver allow dogs off the leash in the paark?" I explained before nine am and after nine pm.

"That's Lov'ely."

I told her a few years ago on the 4th a friend and I met and spoke with some men from the Royal Navy.

"They're here now! I just saw some a mo'-ment a ago."

"My husband has a tie with a British emblem on it. He said he was going to wear it out tonight. And I said NOOO'."

Didn't see any of those bloody blokes.

I-PHONE? Thought it was my I-PAW!
Willamena wanted to check out the hype that had people lining up and sleeping outside of the Apple Store in New York City here on 5th Avenue, as well as at at stores around the country, for the past week.

Here you can see her favorite Plaza Hotel through the glass store.

She arrived just hours before the I-Phone went on sale. Despite security guards, media and the crowds, Mena was able to circle the store, looking for a place to cut the line.

However, once this I-Dog realized the fuss was over an I-Phone instead of her eagerly anticipated I-PAW, she became more interested in I-Cookies.

She still had a good time, pushing through the crowd to get an upclose view of the action.

And of course, the News Hound had to hang around with the photo crews.

Though, even had it been the I-PAW that was going on sale, she admits she wouldn't have wanted to spend the past several days in the oppressive heat and thunderstorms to get one.

National Bring your Dog to Work Day

When I walked in the door this morning, my producer asked why didn't I bring my dog Willamena to work on this National Bring Your Dog to Work Day.

We talked about it on set yesterday, saying how good Mena would look onset with me. Two blondes. Honestly, though I didn't consider it. Maybe if she was a fit-in-my-purse dog. I joked she didn't feel like getting up at 3:30 this morning. Though she was the one wagging her tail and panting at my toes to get up and take her out!

She would have loved to come in today and shed hair all over the anchor chairs. But I look at it like this. I bring her to work all the time! Look how often she appears over on my work blog. My boss even joked once that she gets more air time than some anchors here.
Actually, it looks like Mena has been on vacation since March.
Here she helps with a Beatnik blog. She also goes "on the road" to showcase Irish restaurants in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

The art reception was Delicious!

Here is the picture that I have hanging in a Jaguar license plate frame. I actually made a series of four. You'll have to go to Crest Auto Mall to see them all this month of June.

Thanks to everyone who came out. The first picture is of the two artists: myself and Lori Golias.

Helping out opening a bottle of bubbly is Michael J D'Angelo. He is working to keep American young with his Univera Life Sciences products. Yummy.

Check him out here.





And Eric Greene, my co-anchor joined us for the fun as well.
This is us with Priscilla Lynn.

Puerto Rican Day Parade in the Park

Wigglemena, aka Mena-udo, really wanted to shake it at this 50th Puerto Rican Day parade in New York City, but she just couldn't squeeze safely through the crowd to do so.
The parade runs from 44th to 86th along 5th, so the first effort was 72nd and 5th. That is where she usually sees the St. Patrick's Day parade, but it was much more crowded today than she is used to. Organizers did expect more than 80-thousand people to attend. City figures show more than 789, 000 Puerto Ricans live in New York City.

Mena tried a different spot, near Central Park South and 59th. But still, she couldn't get close enough to the actual parade on 5th Avenue to see superstars Ricky Martin or Jennifer Lopez, or even any floats for that matter. You'll have to read this New York Newsday article for what was going on along 5th.

However, we did see the "second tier" parade. Lines of non-stop people walking through Central Park, trying to get to a spot where they could see the main parade.

Before heading back, Mena spotted a drinking trough for dogs, donated to the city by the ASPCA. But instead just lapping it up, she took a lap. She jumped right in to cool off. You can see in the bottom picture the approaching jealous German Shephard. The hair down the middle of his back is standing up! Yet Mena wasn't phased.
See, she got to shake it anyway. Shook off the snarl from the dog and the water, then she enjoyed the rest of the second-tier parade.

MAGICAL MENA

Known for magically making an entire bag of treats or jar of peanut butter disappear in seconds, Mena admires like minds.

So last year in May, the merlin herself made it out to see David Blaine as he spent a week in a water-filled ball in Lincoln Center.

He was napping when she stopped by, you can see his feet sticking up. He later escaped 150-pounds of chains after holding his breath for nine-minutes.

A little more than a year later, the next guy who also started out whooing crowds with street magic pulls off his public escape.

Criss Angel was just west of Times Square hanging in this concrete filled box. He had to escape before the box came crashing to the ground. The stunt was to promote Angel's new season of illusion and magic on A&E.

Angel has been promotion mode for a while. On Oprah last month, he broke Houdini's record of escaping from a straight jacket while hanging upside down.

The illusionist has also been traveling the country signing his book and DVD's. In his book, Criss reveals how some of his stunts are performed.

And that is where he and Mena are similar. She too, likes to unveil the mystery.

For example. The time she ate an entire pan of brownies that were left on the top of the refrigerator. Okay, so you think, the brownies must NOT have been put up high like thought.

Doubts cloud your mind as to how something you specifically remember doing must not have happened.

As Criss says, Reality is Just an Illusion.

But then, the trick made known.

Standing in the kitchen one day begging for treat, Willamena did a standing jump to land with all fours on the waist-high counter next to the refrigerator. From there, the brownies would have been within easy reach.