bird by bird

ABC's Greek.. it's one of those guilty pleasure shows that is so cheesy but just so good!! I am especially invested in the incestuous love plots and chapter rivalries because they remind me so much of the 4 years I spent in undergrad at USD. Oh, the days when school was easy and rent was paid and beer was cheap. Miss that. Last night I had a dream that some of the main characters in my own Greek life were gathered together to watch the series finale. There were some of my KAO sisters, some infamous USD partiers, some college crushes, and some people that I must have looked at on facebook before I went to be bed (because I have no idea why they made it into my dream otherwise). As we all watched the finale together, the characters and plot of the show and of my own memory became woven together, and I woke up feeling all sorts of confused. I had good feelings and bad feelings about the dream, and I guess if I look back with an honest pair of eyes, I have both good memories and ...

It's kind of a long story.... The Back Story: This weekend I had planned on going to DC to see friends MM, DP, SL, KD, and MC! I more than needed a little Midwest love to cure my big city blues. But two days before I hopped on a bus with a weekend bag and a bottle of wine, I got a call from a family who I may potentially nanny for and have babysat for once before. They offered to be pay me $400 to go with the three little boys (ages 1, 3, and 6) and their grandparents (whom I had never met) to this resort in the Poconos Mountains for the weekend. This was a difficult choice to make, to say the least, but the fact that I don't have a job yet still have to pay my rent made my ultimate decision to forgo seeing my friends and instead go to the Poconos to make some money. The Start: After arriving at the family's brownstone on the Upper Westside, I met the grandparents, affectionately called BeBe and BaBa by the children, and also learned that the entire family was getti...

3 little boys with ADORABLE jewfros + their grandparents + the Poconos + me = God only knows... but now thanks to LS, I will have this song stuck in my head the whooole time! Can't wait to tell you about my weekend!

Somewhere in St. Marks Also NEW background! :)

Lately, some people have been telling me that I should write to make money (since no one will give me a full-time job!). I tell them that it's much easier said than done. But then I looked into it and it turns out that if I agree to advertise on my blog, I make like 15 cents per every 25 visitors. I realize that at this rate, that's going to earn me enough for a cup off coffee in June, but hey, I'm broke. And I happen to love coffee. So I still don't know exactly how this works.. or if I get "extra" cents if you click on the ads, but I thought I'd at least give you a heads up on why my blog is now advertising for black dating sites in Harlem. (I obviously don't get to choose the ads). It's true. My name is Amanda Lightfield, and I am a Capitalist.

People keep comparing my job search to the search for a man, and I don't know what makes them think this is an encouraging comparison. I have been single for almost a quarter of a century!! My job search just started a few months ago. God. How depressing.

I didn't say there were no jobs in NYC. I said that I didn't qualify for any of them...See what I'm up against?

Simone Martini Bar , 1st Ave and Saint Marks

Hey! Check this out!

Mandy Moore gave me the courage to cut my hair short. Anne Lamott gave me the strength to write shitty first drafts and then to continue writing. Sister Ida made me feel confident enough to teach an entire classroom full of illegal Mexican immigrants. Just like these influential women in my life, my high school friend ES is an example of a young, fearless woman who followed her dreams to Los Angeles. She was the first one to leave our sleepy town, and she still continues to inspire me.. most recently, with this excerpt of a message: Just remember that for every inconvenience the city causes, there is something wonderful it offers in return. It's like the city knows it's a pain in the ass to live in, so it has incomparable sights, sounds, restaurants, art and culture to make it worth your while. When I lived in LA nothing, and I mean nothing, was simple. Going to the post office, making a Walmart run, getting cable installed, finding a doctor, no matter what the task...

Happy Valentine's Day everybody!! And especially those of us without actual living, breathing Valentines. We won't be getting diamonds today, but that's ok.  We've got... well, we've got each other. I love you, single ladies! :) From a jewelry store ad that MM showed me once: Our left hand plans ahead. Your right hand plans for anything. Your left hand arrives on time. Your right hand knows just how late is fashionable. Your left hand gets it done. Your right hand shows the world how it's really done. Women of the world, raise your right hand. Your left hand dreams of love. Your right hand makes dreams come true. Your left hand lives happily ever after. Your right hand lives happily here and now. Women of the world, raise your right hand. Your left hand says you're taken. Your right hand says you can take over. Your left hand believes in destiny. Your right hand believes in the moment. Your left hand celebrates the day you were married. Your...

Roses are red, Violets are blue, I love New York City, And I love you too!

Over the past Christmas break, I had the privilege of spending some quality time with JK and her bf MJ (not Michael Jackson). They had been dating for over 7 months, so I sat them down and said, "You guys, it's time. Make your relationship facebook official already." They had many counter arguments for my request, but I countered those arguments right back. JK and I were like freshman debaters all over again. I almost took out a yellow tablet and started flowing our points and rebuttals. But at the end of the night, perhaps simply to appease me, they said that when they get engaged, then they promise to put it on the 'book. And guess what? THEY DID!! JK called me 30 minutes after he proposed, and of course I screamed and laughed and was obnoxiously happy for her, but when I saw their relationship status set to "engaged' on FB 3 minutes ago, I had the exact same reaction. Does this mean that perhaps I'm a little too reliant on facebook as a reliable so...

Because it's Black History month, and Frederick Douglass Avenue is like three blocks away. And I drank a bottle of wine last night. 

I wasn't sure how many candles to get :) Hope your day is FABULOUS!

Who knew a simple kids-friendly way of saying "good night" could turn out to be one of my biggest and most threatening fears living in NYC! To combat them, I have a special mattress protector and my eyes are peeled. Make my day, bed bugs!

The other day EH and I had to schedule our day around a visit from the exterminator to inspect our apartment for those nasty bed bugs you may have heard of. I was at a nanny interview in a NY suburb, and EH had to miss two classes to be home during the time of the inspection, a time that the exterminating company scheduled between 1-5pm. Our management company had warned us that if we miss our inspection time, we will have to pay to reschedule. At 12:50 while I was getting of the train trying to grab a taxi to take me to my interview, I got three calls from our management company informing me that the exterminators were at our apartment. EH got home from class at 1:06, and they were gone. Then they came back at 1:23, when EH was taking out the garbage. We missed them. Twice. Then yesterday, I grounded myself to our apartment all day and night waiting for 7 of EH's packages from home. If we aren't home when UPS delivers, we have to go get them ourselves. This is especially p...

Since I'm unemployed, and I've been grounded to our apartment waiting for unreliable UPS deliveries, this is what I've been perfecting. It's the Harlem Shake ya'll!!

I loved you at first, right away I did. You were like my own dolly but louder and smellier, but softer too. Mom taught me the word gentle , and I was, for the first year or so. But then you became annoying and very sticky, and you ate all the red popsicles. You stayed at Loxie's during the day when I had to go to school, and I hated that. Then we shared barbies and bunk beds and eventually a walk to school. We wrestled together and faked sick together, and you were still pretty annoying, but a little less sticky. Soon I moved to my own teenage room in the basement with tie dye curtains and a Leonardo Dicaprio poster, leaving you behind with crayon sheets and a twin mattress. We secretly still played barbies sometimes, but I denied it in front of my friends. In middle school, high school, and college I watched as you danced and learned and grew, and then you eventually moved into the teenage room in the basement. We had different friends, different styles, and different tastes...

 

"It wasn't until I got to New York that I became Kansan. Everyone there kept reminding me they were Jewish or Irish, or whatever, so I kept reminding them that I was mid-western. Before I knew it, I actually began to brag about being from Kansas! I discovered I had something a bit unique, but it was the nature of New York that forced me to claim my past." --William Inge

I betcha they ALL have girlfriends (or boyfriends)

 EH and I moved into our completely UNfurnished apartment last week, and we were ecstatic to finally have our own keys, our own bedrooms, our own address. We quickly realized though, that the not owning our own beds was an issue. I bought an air mattress at K-Mart (yes I know! It even has its own subway stop!), but the pump we borrowed malfunctioned at approximately 12:30AM leaving us with a very hard wood floor to call our bed. Like the Dakota girls we are, we got creative and gathered blankets, towels, yoga mats, robes, and winter coats to pile on the floor as a make-shift mattress. Then we each took Tylenol PM to knock us out. Despite our best efforts... it was a rough night (understatement alert!). We were both laying on our backs, when we woke up from our first night at 3W to the distinct sound of a vocal performer practicing her scales. Opera style. La la la la la la. Up and down again. Loud and high and opera-y. She must live above us. EH and I turned to each other a...

Destination: Harlem - New York City's Harlem Neighborhood Is a Hotbed of Culture and Cuisine / nycgo.com

New York City surprised me by showing me my first famous person today!! On the corner of 47th and Rockefeller I saw Josh Radnor from "How I Met Your Mother." I mean, I'm like 97% percent sure it was him. We made eye contact. There was definitely a moment. You can consider this our 'save the date'

This picture is kind of tilted because I wanted to be i nconspicuous when I was taking it. I don't want to be known as the weird girl on the block.. already.

Today I took the subway on my own for the very first time, and a woman asked me for directions! At first I was really excited because I thought, "This must mean I look like I know what I'm doing!", but then I remembered, "Shoot, I don't know what I'm doing!" I said, "Umm...I know it goes downtown..??" To make matters worse, I think she didn't speak English very well. I should have offered to tutor her. THAT I know how to do..

Watch the full video at Baeblemusic.com