City Folk

Kate is here for the week. 

Emma arrives tomorrow and we will have six of our seven home together for 2 or 3 days before the older girls return to jobs and preparing for the next year of college. Jane is here a little longer and it's been sweet to see the 'little' girls interact like teenagers. 

Everyone grew up so fast.

Matt had to work yesterday, so the girls and I headed to the city.

 

 

 

Kate & Jane had never been to The Met and there was a Van Gogh display I wanted to see while it was still in town : Irises and Roses.

 

 

It was beautiful, simply beautiful.

 

 

I am not a fan of everything he painted, but you'd be hard pressed to find me snub my nose at anything with an iris. Kate and I discussed the things we liked about the series and noted some of the nuances of that particular phase of Van Gogh's life and how it impacted his art. 

Subtle color changes and blends, flashes of white amid stark black, yet wavering outlines.

The beauty and intricate details he saw in the ordinary and we speculated how much his madness played a part in what he saw. 

 

 

As we talked, absorbed in the paintings, I heard a man mumble something to me and turned to look at him. 

He was one of those people that seem to be straight out of a TV show about people in an art gallery.

He was tall and skinny- with a tweed jacket (in July), round glasses and a salt and pepper goatee. He probably had a pipe in his pocket that he smoked organic tobacco in and a pocket watch he picked up from a flea market, that he wishes his granddad had passed down to him instead of all of those pairs of blue corduroy bell bottoms.

(I may possibly be giving the guy more of an imaginary backstory than is needed.)

You see at least 10 versions of this guy at every museum in the city.

 He said to me "Yes, I didn't note before how the  madness dictated the line work. I see it now."

I just smiled and inched away as I tried not to laugh at how my just off the-turnip truck art assessment that I was quietly sharing with my equally turnip truck trained daughter impressed this cliche' of a New York gallery attendee. 

I guess that means we're cultured now.

 

 

 

 

NYC in 31,600 Steps

Emma, Kate and Jane came home for UEA weekend.

(In Utah, there is a fall recess so the teachers can attend a training workshop- that exactly zero teachers I know attend. Teachers need a break, too.)

Since it was just a short trip and the weather was going to be amazing, we packed a ton of things in our two full days together.

 I love, love, love  street art.

Bryant Park

We caught the morning bus to Midtown and spent Friday sightseeing, shopping and visiting the Museum of Natural History. 

Yes, this guy is famous. 

No, we did not get his autograph because he's a statue and doesn't actually come to life and ask us for gum-gum.

Also, he doesn't like to be touched by fans.

Worst. Dinosaurs. Ever.

19,600 steps- over 9 miles of walking that day. 

In the past month, I've been committed to getting my daily goal of steps in. The dog is going on way more walks, and go figure, he's managed to get house trained. He fought going outside, but since I wasn't going to turn around and return home until he went potty, he  gave up and quickly realized that going outside got him a treat.

Smart dog- feisty and bratty, but smart.

It took him about 4 days of consistent long walks and going outside to discover the joy in marking things.....every 10 feet. He also attempts to pee on any dog that he isn't trying to bite.  

We're very popular with our neighbors who have dogs.

Walks with Badger are not super fun right now, but he's getting better.

This is why you tall people should never date short people. 

I was glad to see that after a solid month of walking every day (except for when I was sick) I was able to keep up and it wasn't even that hard for me on Friday. 

Saturday was another story.

We all had Jell-o legs, but we also had theater tickets, so we forged ahead. 

We were able to get tickets to Phantom for a really low price and everyone had a wonderful time.

I will be forever thankful to my friend, Wendy Koller for showing me how to get the cheapest theater tickets, so that now, when we have guests, we can actually afford to go to shows. 

It was fun seeing each of the girls connect with and react to different scenes, I was crying during my favorite scene, where Raul's life is being threatened unless Christine vows her love to the Phantom. 

Emma & Jane have been to three Broadway Shows, Kate has been to four and Romy has been to two. I've lost count, but I think I'm at six or seven. 

Five years ago, I'd have sold a kidney for the chance to just attend one Broadway show in my lifetime.

It makes me so happy that my kids get to experience it and that they know we're all very lucky and blessed right now to be able to do this. 

We had Doughnut Plant for breakfast, NY cheesecake for lunch and Popeye's for dinner.

Super healthy.

It's a good thing we got in all of those steps.

We made a Popeye's convert out of Kate. KFC is lovely, but oh, Popeye's.... 

There isn't one close to our house, thankfully.

The girls flew back to Utah on Sunday, and Kyle and Rebekah came over in the evening to play games. 

We barely defeated the zombies, but Wanda had to die, in order for the rest of us to escape.

RIP Wanda, the roller skating waitress who had no weapons save a frying pan. 

You had to die because you sucked.

I' m not dead yet.....

We sure do love Kyle and Rebekah and can't wait for their baby to be born this spring. 

I might possibly go crazy with baby gifts for them, and since they are like younger brother and sister to us-- I get to be Auntie to their baby and Aunties spoil children with presents they don't need.
That's the rule.
 I read it in a book somewhere.
Probably the Bible, so it MUST be done.

Today, a cold front has blown in and the kids are bundled up in coats and I have to figure out how I'm going to get those steps in when the weather is just too cold.

Matt has finally succumbed to that awful sickness I had 2 weeks ago and he is home, in bed, coughing and dying. 

I've got 50 pounds of apples that I'm going to make pie filling with and can this week, and we have the big ward party coming up this weekend. I'm in charge of decorations, so I'll be busy making Halloween crafty messes all week.

Life isn't quite the same now that the kids are getting older. 

It's strange how much time and energy went into just managing the chaos when they were all small and home all of the time. Now, people have routines, jobs and everyone wants some alone time to decompress each day. The house is quieter, there aren't toys to trip over and plates of cookies don't get eaten within 20 minutes of my taking them out of the oven. We work out where the cars are going to be and aim to have at least one night a week where we can all be together, but usually we can only manage to have most of us together.  We are all very busy with our individual things and it's a strange season. 

I guess I think they are all strange.  I'm one of those people who wakes up every day and life still surprises the heck out of me.  

I always have the same sense of wonder at how each miraculously ordinary day unfolds, even when things are terribly predictable and obvious to others. 

Eh, I don't hate that about myself. 

The world is crazy wonderful, even when it's quiet and boring and cold.

NYCC and Nyquil don't mix

Yesterday was the first day of New York Comic-Con.

We went last year and took most of the kids, but this year, we decided to have it be a date activity.

I love the kids, but the crowds were massive and once they got bored or tired, it was like dragging around...well, a kid. 

Matt took the day off and we were both really excited to see the people, the booths and to meet one of our favorite authors, John Scalzi. We'd gone to a reading in SLC and met him, and we were looking forward to another opportunity to get books signed and breathe the same air as someone we are huge fans of.

But there is no way Scalzi was going to want to breathe my air.

I woke up with no voice.

I'd had fever and a cough all night and I felt like death.

I was sick.

But I could still get dressed and so I slugged down as much cold medicine as I could keep down and Matt and I agreed that if we needed to leave after an hour, that was okay. if I needed to crash in the hallway and take a nap at the Javits Center, that was okay, too. if i was going to hack and cough on everyone at the event....well, that was not okay, so we agreed to leave if my cough came back at all. 

I fell asleep on the bus ride into the city. 

The line was a good 6-8 city blocks long to get in, but it moved the whole time. 

Some of my stronger medicines kicked in while in that line, so i was having a pretty good time. 

We saw booths featuring video games, lots of comic book store booths (I don't recall seeing any of those last year) and there were a lot more book dealers this year than we saw last year. 

We walked a ton and kept ourselves hydrated with 4 dollar diet cokes and hit lunch at a Greek place. I had fried mozzarella, and it was the first time I have ever tasted home made mozzarella cheese. 

It was so good. 

I'm still craving it today, it was wonderful.

We stayed until we both felt like our feet were going to fall off and I knew I was at  risk of ending up dead in some alleyway if I took  any more cold medicine. 

I was getting grouchy and all New Yorky on people, snapping at them to move and get out of my way.
Did you know I started doing that?
 I know, it's terrible and rude and when I'm tired, I totally do it now. It's a big red flag for us all that I need to leave the city and go home, that I'm too tired- I just don't know it yet. When you're with me and you hear me say " MOVE!!" to some nincompoop who has chosen to stop right at the top of an escalator, or in a doorway...it's time to go home.
Even though they do need to move, when I'm not tired, I say "excuse me." 

Okay, I say "move, please" but still....

If you've lived here, you understand. 

I fell fast asleep on the bus again and we didn't have a ride home from the bus stop, so, we walked.

It wasn't too bad, the bus stop is by Roe's school and I walk there and back every day. 

I only whined a little bit.

Today I will not be walking there.

Today, I woke up and shuddered.

I not only have no voice, but my throat is raw and hates me.

I am either burning hot or freezing.

Every inch of my body hurts and I go from being restless and uncomfortable to passed out on my bed. 

I'm not taking enough drugs to kill an elephant today, I know I need to just rest and let this work it's way through. 

So there you have it- I went from totes kicking it with famous authors and Cosplay Kings and Queens, to lying in my bed, in my pink polka dot pajamas, binge watching Master Chef with a gross pile of tissues piling up in my room.

No Sleep Til......

It has been too long since Matt and I spent a romantic weekend together.

With summer just around the corner, we decided to take a little break and spend some much needed alone time together. 

Matt cashed in some of his points from his Amex account and we stayed at a swanky hotel in Brooklyn and pretended we were hipsters.

We started out day by going to Queens and exploring the site of the 1964 World's Fair.

What a cool place. 

The landmarks are abandoned and all rusted out, but there are also areas that look like they were taken straight from a 1964 postcard. 

After exploring that area of Queens, we drove to Brooklyn to check into the hotel and see what it had to offer.

I'd never really been to Brooklyn before and I was really missing out.

We had dinner at the Shake Shack and I even saw a sort of famous person as we walked through Brooklyn Heights, an actor named Maulik Pancholy.

He was in  Weeds, 30 Rock and some other shows. He also is one of the voices in the Phineas and Ferb cartoon, he plays Baljeet. (I have no idea who that is.)

I don't know why I find it so exciting when we see someone from TV in the city, but I think it's one of the coolest things. 

 We walked out to the pier and looked out on the city as we talked and reconnected. 

The sky was getting dark and the wind was picking up, so we headed back to our hotel, but not in time to miss a big rainstorm.

Not to worry, we had umbrellas......back at the hotel.

We got drenched. 

It was actually kind of fun.

We fell asleep listening to the pouring rain and sounds of the city.

The next day we grabbed breakfast and went to the Brooklyn Flea.

There were so many cool treasures there, we didn't buy anything because it was so overpriced due to the trendy neighborhood.

We had lunch from the Milk Truck, a gourmet grilled cheese food truck that had a booth set up at the event, and ate as a band played and cute little hipster kids with little skinny jeans and flannel danced to the music.

We didn't talk about the 400 things that are constantly weighing on our shoulders and we just enjoyed the city and being together. 

It was just what we needed and we're going to try and spend some weekends away more often, it was so nice.

Here We Go...

Each summer, we have a season of visitors.

We love it.

We love to see friends and family and to see their faces when they first glimpse Lady Liberty, or that look of awe when they stop in the middle of the sidewalk in Manhattan, look up at the buildings as the taxis honk and busses speed by and their jaw just drops as their souls absorb a little bit of the city and makes it forever a part of them.

We are admittedly a little bit sick of the Staten Island Ferry. :)

This summer, most of our company comes in June, right at the same time as Zane's graduation.

It's why they will be here, but we are going to be crazy busy.

On top of having a lot of guests, we're throwing a pretty big party for Zane's graduation. It's just a short ice cream social, but we've invited the whole ward. 

Heaven forbid I do anything subtle in life.

I am excited, though. 

Those times where you're flying down the roller coaster at full speed are fun, even though you always lose your hat.

We got a tiny little teaser this week, with our dear friends, Lynn and Joie Tucker from Taylorsville staying with us for two, too short nights. They were going to Kentucky and then decided to head further east to see us and are hitting New Hampshire next.

Joie is one of my very best friends and spending the day with her was just what my heart was needing. She's good natured, easy going, radiates joy and hilarious. She's also a nurturer who was there for me and lifted me up when the bottom fell out of my life in Utah. Her love (and that of my other sweeties in the knitting group)  got me through the hardest season of my life. 

Knit night at Joie's house was the night I looked forward too most. It changed me so much and I will always be thankful for that season.

Joie and Lyn had never been to The Big Apple, it was a dream of her's to go to the Manhattan Temple and see it, smack dab in the middle of the crazy city.

We planned to go to the 11:00 session.

Traffic dictated that we made it to the 2:30 session.

As we drove through the heart of the city, Lynn laughed his head off at the crazy drivers and marveled that in spite of how uts it it, nobody was getting in a wreck and people seemed to just take it in stride. 

We had a couple of close calls by SLC standards, but nothing out of the ordinary in NYC.

We ate gourmet doughnuts at my favorite spot, walked for about 5 minutes in Central Park and had lunch at a cafe near the temple.

Mostly, we were in the car, but that was okay because Lynn and Joie made us feel like we were giving them a world class guided tour, by way of our dirty car. 

I had a fun time and it was so nice to go to the temple again.

The next month is going to fly by, but I'm buckled in and ready.

Here we go......