bird by bird

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Tomorrow is my last day in Aspen, and I have so much to tell you!! Here's some pics to hold you (and me) over in the meantime..

Normally I spent my Sundays doing my laundry, scrubbing my bathtub, and buying generic groceries, but a few weeks ago, my fashion fairy godmother (ie AP) invited me to the ball (ie a fashion show) and gave me something wonderful to wear! There was no Prince in this fashion fairy tale, but there was music and champagne and people who looked like royalty. And really, who needs a dopy Prince to slow them down, anyway? See how it glows? Once upon a time... I was waiting in line in a white tent in Lincoln Center on a Sunday afternoon with all sort of impressive fashion-y people: designers, models, photographers, editors, etc. I was standing in the midst of the Mercedes Benz Fall Fashion Week wearing my little black NYE dress and a red rhinestone drapey cardigan from Tracy Reese's Holiday 2011 collection that AP let me borrow.  Thanks to AP, a good city girlfriend and designer for Tracy Reese, my name, which is so often not, was actually ON the list, and I was going to my fir...

Last Friday was a wacky day and random night, and I want to make sure to blog about it before I forget (any more than I already have). I woke at the ass crack of dawn and went to work as usual but this time with a train-riding, then walking companion! TB had come over Thursday night; we made dinner and worked on our computers in the "writing room," and then it was late so she just stayed over. As we walked from the 81st street train station to Amsterdam Ave where we parted, TB and I talked about my next career move, and it woke me up, in more ways than one. TB reminded me that my day-dreams can become real-dreams and those real-dreams can come true! I was feeling pretty good about life until 7:01 when I walked into the house where I work, took off my shoes, and stepped in a puddle of dog piss that quickly saturated my socks. I normally would go sockless, but JT and I had music class at 9:30 that requires wearing socks and there was no time to wash/dry them. So I stuck the...

Whitney told me once (with the help of Mariah) that "there can be miracles, if you believe." Say what you will about those cra-cra divas, but I think they were on to something. So that's why I'm using this blog as a selfish platform to ask for your prayers, good vibes, positive thoughts, and/or whatever else you're able to give up to the universe or God or Allah or whomever. I'll spare you the medical details (partly because they're boring and partly because I don't exactly understand) but tomorrow my grandpa is having bypass surgery on blockages in both of his legs and also having is abdominal aneurism.. fixed? That's clearly not the technical term, but it's late and I'm tired and worried, so that's how I'm explaining it. Anyway, the surgery is really risky and my whole family is going to be there for him tomorrow, and at the same time I'll be 1500 miles away changing shitty diapers and slicing apples. If you think of it, ple...

I had a note in my phone to write a Valentine's Day blog post about penguins.. not sure what that was about. I'm sure it was a great idea at the time, but it's now 10:01, one minute past my grandma bedtime, and I drank a bottle of wine alone tonight, so I apologize, but no penguin Valentine's Day post tonight. Maybe next year. Instead here are some highlights from my v-less v-day, I woke up, and put in pink, heart-shaped earrings. I dressed the boys in red. I took a picture of the roses that my boss got from her husband because they were on the kitchen counter, which is the closest thing I have to an office. They were lovely. I bought myself chocolates. The heart shaped container they came in was broken, so I got a discount. Sometimes it pays to be alone on Valentine's Day. JJ had a playdate after school and in making conversation with the other nanny (who was a 40ish year old Philippino woman) I asked her if she had plans for Valentine's Day. Without ...

What would Valentine's Day be without this song?! Here's to the probability that I'll never find out. http://youtu.be/wigqKfLWjvM

Happy Birthday Little Lightfield!! She never reads my blog, so I doubt that she'll see this or any of the past three years' birthday blog posts that I've written... but if she does, I'd want her to know that I'm so PROUD of her and THANKFUL to be her sister and friend! She's 21 now, and that makes me so excited for the upcoming sisterly shenanigans that we're bound to get into. New Ulm, MN American Legion Karaoke, you ain't seen nothing yet!

This is how you can tell I'm not from here... Pop? Or Soda? Suckers? Or Lollipops? A sub? Or a Hero?

I love blogging and I love my Mac, but lately, I've been feeling a little nostalgic for paper. It's like that cheesy Kevin Costner movie Waterworld when the whole world is an ocean and paper is a precious commodity. Paper is like gold. That's kind of how I've felt [sans printer] in New York. Even though I'm a big fan of paperless bank statements and paperless receipts, when it comes to drafts of stuff I'm writing, I just want to be able to touch it. You know?  So, there is a documentary called Bird by Bird with Annie about my homegirl Anne Lamott, and of course I love every little part, but there is one part in particular that I've been thinking about lately. In a talk, she says this:   "...I have my students send money quarterly to the Sierra Club to have more trees planted so they will let themselves print out copies of their manuscripts. It's not a book if it's on the computer. It's about paper. I'm sorry, it's the one rea...

OK you have got to check out this video portrait project that my friend TB has been working on! It's so creative and captivating and cute! Each video in the series is a black and white vignette of a classic 50's-ish song each lipsung by a visually captivating character of the opposite sex. It is as if the individuals in each portrait come to inhabit the voices of Eartha Kitt and Frank Sinatra themselves, though they're not the people you might expect. I think that the videos present a cool juxtaposition between dark and light, classic and youthful, polished and raw. Even the genders are opposite. It takes a simple concept and adds a creative and smart twist, which is why I love it so much! Not that I'm much of a critic, but if I were, I'd give it both my thumbs and they'd be pointing UP. She'll be posting new videos all week leading up to Fashion Week, so check out her stuff! This one is my favorite so far: Video Portraits - Atarah Valentine from T...

I was thankful for my hips today. They kept a tired and whinny four-year-old on my back while my arms were pushing a stroller down Amsterdam Avenue. It was a sight. JJ, the boy on back, was loving my love handles, and I, too, was appreciating them for a change. My hips may never bear children, but for now they do a good job of getting children around the city.

I found this when I was cleaning the other day (in addition to an old Target giftcard and a bunch of postcards I forgot to send months ago). It's the TO DO list that EH and I started when we first moved (back) to the city. We tackled some of the things in our list but ran out of time for others. I honestly don't even know what some of them mean. NUN CHUKZ?! I did not consent to that one.  I still want to have an art party though, and I still want to play spin the bottle. Hey, it could happen...

Last Superbowl Sunday I spent at a Dive Bar (that was actually its name) on the Upper West Side with EH, EO, and three skinny NYU swim team dudes. There were six of us total but when we got to the bar, there was only one table open with five chairs. Instead of us all taking turns sitting and standing, the three hippy girls (and I'm not talking about the 60's here) had to take turns sharing our chairs. The skinny swimmers enjoyed chairs to themselves while the three curvy girls took turns sharing halves of wooden bar stools that weren't comfortable to begin with. First EH and EO shared, then EH and me, and then me and EO. For four hours. I honestly don't even remember who won the game, but in the game of musical Superbowl chairs, it definitely wasn't the girls. I also had no job and no money at the time so I sipped on a warm microbrew for the entirety of the game while everyone else put their food and drinks on their parents' credit cards. I'm making this exp...

Super creepy video but FANTASTIC song. OBSESSED. 

I have looked everywhere, but my life in New York City does not include a Central Perk coffee shop. There is no Gunther. I don't live in an 1100 square foot apartment left to me by a fictional grandmother (Also, they just plain don't exist). Finally, I don't live within a 20 foot radius of all my best friends. BUT... I do have friends: a struggling actor, a fashion designer, a girl who went to my High School. Luckily for me, my own special collection of NYC friends consists of far more dimensional characters than those of Ross, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Joey, and Phoebe. (Not that I don't still love those guys). I'd love to tell you about (some of) my friends.  KS KS and I went to high school together yet we never really knew each other until we met up for dinner for the first time in July at a place by Union Square. Fortunately for me, KS had just moved back to the city, but unfortunately for her, she had done it during the awful heat wave of 2011. We beca...

Remember when I told you about how "I hate you!" is the first thing that I hear most mornings?! (If not, you gotta read this ). Well, getting positive blog feedback and comments makes up for this ten fold. TWENTY FOLD. As I'm getting verbally assaulted pre-8AM by kids in dinosaur pajamas, I take a step back and remind myself that even though a couple of kids in the Upper West Side may hate me, I know people in South Dakota, and Chicago, and Latvia that love me! (Or at least are kind enough to take a minute out of their day to say something nice to me). So THANK YOU for combatting some of the negative energy in my life with loads of the positive stuff.  In a city where it's (ironically?) hard to feel...