sneak peek September 22, 2008

my room is slowly shaping up.

it’s not totally ready to be
revealed, but i have a feeling
you’ll appreciate my bathroom.

my room is a large space.
i have a sleeping area,
a living area,
i might even be able to make a study/desk area,
and a bathroom.

here is a pic of my bathroom:

the toilet is so close to the wall
(about 6 inches or so)
that the user of the w.c. must sit
sideways.  i have to open the
door to the cupbard under the
sink from the outside of the bathroom
door.  a normal bathroom trashcan
does not fit. i use the sink by
bending over it from the outside
because i’d miss the sink if i
stood right in front of it.

however, the shower is great!
it has fine water pressure and
enough room to move around.

i like my bathroom.
i’m also glad there is a regular
sized bathroom with a tub and
everything just upstairs if i ever 
get tired of feeling like buddy the
elf in the north pole before he
discovered that he was human
and not an elf.

(p.s. aren’t you so ready to watch
christmas movies?!!  I AM!)

i’ll post more pics of my room
soon.  a lovely chair, otttoman,
and bookshelf are coming my
way!

they’re back September 22, 2008

i’m not even kidding.
look at what i saw in a store
on a rack
for sale
in soho

it’s just wrong.
people in the normal world
do not need to wear stirrup
pants. there are few who do.
here is a list:

*male gymnasts
*male dancers who need to dance
upside down for some reason and
can’t have their pant legs falling
down/up.

yep, that’s about it.
no one else really needs to
wear them.  just stick to the
regular tights. why make them
go under your heel and into your
shoe?

i just don’t get it.
i did it once 2o-ish years
and i’m not doin’ it again.

fashion or not,
i’m not doing it!

and you can all hold me
to that word!!

seasons of love September 11, 2008

the last broadway performance of

R E N T
the musical

was this past sunday.
brianne and meghan got tickets for
it the moment (literally) they went on
sale around 8 months ago at 3am-ish
in the morning.

this is brianne’s most favorite musical
of all time.

her plan for the day was:
watch the movie at least once
listen to the soundtrack at least once

unfortunately her turtle decided to bust
out of her home, and brianne had to
spend her day getting a bigger safer home
for lady, the turtle. so she was unable to
adequately prepare for the last show.

but we later decided that this was
probably for the best.

we were going to all dress in black to
show our mourning, but decided against
that.  for some reason i ended up wearing
white instead.  i looked like i was going for
an afternoon picnic and boat ride in central
park.  everyone else was dressed in darker
colors…more appropriate.

so there we are in our seats ready for
the show, and straining our eyes to see
any celebrities that might be there.
the section to our left was entirely
old cast members and it was like a
family reunion; hugging and kissing
and laughing with loud talking.

the lights went down and everyone
came to their feet. we thought we’d have
to watch the whole thing standing up.
there was practically a standing o after
every song, but we didn’t have to stand
the entire time, thankfully.

the energy in the building was electric.
the cast was on fire.  every note was
hit perfectly with heat and passion behind
it.  it was the best performance i’ve ever
seen of rent.

FANTASTIC

during ‘la vie boheme’ the old cast sang and
did the head, shoulders, and arms moves
with the cast on stage.  it was so fun.

then the opening song of the second act,
seasons of love.  i’m pretty sure that
brianne’s eyes were smarted with tears
the moment the lights went down.
everyone stood and clapped with the cast
during the song. it was unbelievable!!!

at the end of the show some old cast
members came up on stage and sand
seasons of love/i’ll cover you. 
anthony rapp (in green on the far left)
and jesse l. martin (in the hat and button down
three to the right of anthony) were my favorites
of the old cast. 

we clapped and cheered for the longest
time.  there were some tears from
brianne and meghan.  we needed to hug it
out afterward. but the two girls a row
in front of us were sobbing like babies.
tissues were out and they embraced
for a long time comforting each other.

goodbye, rent.
goodbye.

from 316 to 161 September 10, 2008

i’ve moved!!

i’ve been living with brianne
and meghan in apt number
316, as you know.

i started out in new york living
with the cates family back in june.

so this recent move(last wednesday)
has taken me into my very own
apartment.

in building 161 i have a spacious
basement room in a sweet little
apartment on the first floor with
a backyard on the upper west side.
it’s just
-one block from kari jo’s house
-four blocks from brianne and meg’s
-eight blocks from church
-four blocks from fairway
-less than one block from gray’s papaya (the best hotdog in town)
-fifty yards from pinkberry
-two avenues from central park

it’s a lovely situation.

as i was moving from brianne and meg’s
i had one large and one small suitcase,
two duffle bags, and three boxes that
i mailed to myself from hawaii.

meg and i took them down to the
corner and she hailed a cab for us.

it was lunch time and the stoop was
filled with the construction workers
that are working on the school adjacent
to the girls’ apartment.

i didn’t even have to pull out any
charms to get some help.

the kind men loaded up the taxi for
me and wished me luck in my new
place.

now i’m settling into my new place.
i’ll keep you up to date on things and
post pictures soon.

you see, i have no furniture here,
no bedding, no lamps, nothing
but my clothes and some books…
and my vitamix 5000!!

as i get things together i’ll show
you.  you’ll love my new place.

p.s. my new roommate julia is a
treasure!! see picture below!

i’m sorry, this number is not receiving calls at this time September 9, 2008

people don’t call me all the time,
so a day without any phone calls
doesn’t alarm me.

had i not tried to make any calls
i would have never known.

so…
ummm…
maybe…
i thought that my phone bill was
automatically taken from my
checking account.

bad news:

IT’S NOT!!!

so i maybe didn’t pay my phone
bill and it was overdue and my
phone was temporarily out of
service.

OOPS

so i immediately took myself
over to kari jo’s (to use her internet)
and paid my bill.

now that i’m all good on my bills…

call one
call all!!!!!

tennis, anyone? September 9, 2008

on tuesday night me, brianne,
and meghan went to the

US OPEN

we had night session tickets.

we got there early to walk around,
eat dinner.

we went to a mixed doubles match
where we now realize we saw andy
murray’s younger brother play.
they schooled the other team.

the men’s day match was running long.

w
a
y

l
o
n
g

they started the women’s evening match
on a different court and the men’s evening
match didn’t start until 9:30pm.  our tickets
were for 7pm.  but we got to watch the
long federer match on the jumbo screen
hung on the front of the arthur ash stadium
with the glowing fountain singing to us
and the crowd of people pushing in.

once inside we enjoyed our seats.
they were way way up in the promenade.
but was could see the court and players
surprisingly well.  i love live sporting
events.  it’s always a blast!

always!

 
while waiting to get into the evening match
we tried not to stray too far from a screen with
the match on it.  when we went to the mixed
doubles match we texted erica for updates.
she’d been there all day and was enjoying
the long  men’s match. 

oooooo. 
so pretty!
who doesn’t love a nice glowing water fountain.
we joked that it was being operated by chinese
men with straws.  (referencing the amazing
opening ceremonies of the olympic games
in bejing.  you all remember it, right? )

i just love this picture!

    

 

so after the match meg and i got ice cream.
mine was on the softer side and fell off the
stick onto my shirt and left a big wet spot.
it showed up in the picture so i convinced these
two firemen to put their hands over their hearts
with me.  i imagine that we’re saying, “we two
firefighters and one nurse dedicate our lives
to helping and serving others.  saving lives
one day at a time.”

we saw these firemen earlier in the evening.
you can’t see it, but they have on big backpacks
we were hoping there was a portable hose inside
…prefilled of course, for any emergency fires
that might break out.

when we offered this antic to the firefighters
the humor was lost on them and they gave
us a very logical answer with only a slight grin.
it really hurts ones high spirits to have to
explain a joke.

we love tennis…so much that we’d hug it and
love it if we get the chance!!!

funny story:
two days after this night at the us open
i was shopping at our local market, fairway.
a middle aged man came up to me and said,
“were you at the us open on tuesday?” shocked
and wondering where this was going i said,
“um, yes.” he said, “i am a big tennis fan, i
actually was there last night. well i was
watching it on tv tuesday night and the camera
 scanned across the food court.  i saw you
on tv!!  then then next day i saw you here
talking to a friend, a blond lady(kari jo). 
i thought, ‘hey! that’s the girl who was on
tv at the us open!’” he continued, “then today
i saw you again, and HAD to say something!! 
isn’t that crazy?!”

i agreed with him and we talked for a moment
about how much he loves federer and how
much he hates andy roddick.  then he went
on shopping, as did i.

R A N D O M

good idea September 6, 2008

i don’t know what the front
of this shirt says, but the
back holds a pretty good
idea.

one we should all take home
with us and store away for
when the time is right.

have you ever been to delaware? September 4, 2008

i hadn’t until last weekend.

my new roommate, julia, and some friends
rented a beach house in delaware
for the holiday weekend. 
i went along for the fun!

this was the second house we stayed in.
this wasn’t ready our first night in town.

i got off the bus from south hamptons
and into a car headed toward deleware
within two hours.

i will tell you that i was a bit green
in the face for the first hour and a
half of our journey to the beach.
i literally was hanging my head and
arms out the window over the george
washington bridge hoping the wind
on my face would keep me from
hurling.  i was sure that the pickles
i ate on the bus ride home was
going to make a showing.
all the going and stopping and going
again in the holiday traffic makes me
queasy even thinking about it now.

once we got there julia’s parents
(who live in new jersey and were
vacationing in the same area)
had a hot dinner waiting for us.
we ate on the third story veranda,
letting the cool ocean breeze
flow over us while we slowly shook
off the cares and ticking clock of
city life.  we were on the beach, and
we certainly were going to think
and act like it for four days!!

there were eight of us:
me
julia
scotty
scott
bret
chris
kirsten
matt (married to kirsten)

we had a great time.  here are some

highlights:

*three story beach house one block
from the beach.
*grilling out…lots of meat (note: there were
more men than women.  that = lots of meat)
*beach football
*beach botchy ball
*sun
*lots of sunscreen.  there were several who
don’t get out of their suits and into the
sun very often.
*lots of college football on tv.
*fresh fruit and veggies from the farmer’s market.
*watching scotty become best friends with some
friendly and hungry little cats that came begging
at our back door.

matt, chris, scott (standing), scotty [left to right]
beautiful night with delicious food. 
we ate so much meat we were in meat
sweats by the end.  it seemed like they
purchased 20 pounds of steaks, brats,
tender loin, and chicken.  bret did a
great job cooking it all on the grill.

    
we played mini golf one night.
it was a great course with lots
of hills and tunnels.  i takes
little to no skill to play this
game if you focus even the
tiniest bit. 

kirsten, me, and julia

we played golf at this place. 
it was also a shell shop. 
you know, the ones where
you can buy hats, toilet paper
holders, ash trays, neck ties,
wind chimes, jewelry, picture frames,
salad bowls, and handbags…

made entirely of shells?

this was that kind of shop.
the sign advertised free fudge
samples.  do you think we
took them up on that? 
yes, we did!!
guess what kind of fudge was
the feature?

pumpkin!!

it was amazing!!!!

on our way to the beach on sunday we came
across two lemonade stands.  we stopped
and supported these young entrepreneurs.
they were raising money for breast cancer.
how fantastic is that?!!!

   

    
scotty fell in love with that coffee table book.
it summarized the 20th century year by year.
we learned some very interesting things and
scotty now has only one thing on his 
christmas list.

i have a confession:
i seriously became deeply sad and homesick
for hawaii (like any sane person would)
when i hesitantly dipped my feet in the
cold,
murky
waters of the
wave-less ocean
we stayed near in deleware. 
my heart ached and my throat closed as
i remember the
beauty,
splendor,
magic….
and warm temperatures
of the hawaiian waters i grew so used to
over the past year.

on the way home we longed to find a sweet
little spot for lunch before we reentered
the constantly moving ways of city life.

we wanted a spot on the water with
delicious food and an even more
delicious view.

we found

new castle, delaware
established in 1651

we drove over a cobblestone road
to get to the center of town and ate
at jessop’s tavern.  it was

FABULOUS!!!

…the most tasty clam chowder
i’ve ever had.

it was the greatest find of our trip.
we were all in awe at the little,
old, quaint town from the past.

it was the perfect end to our weekend.

south hamptons September 3, 2008

so, i’m back from my blogging
silence.

i’ve missed you.

i was away.

so here’s the story:

two sundays ago i went to south
hamptons to care for ezra, my home
care patient. his family rents a house
there each summer and they spend 
weekends there.  at the end of the
summer they spend one or two full
weeks there.

isn’t this a sweet house?

me, brianne, and erica all work for
ezra.  erica does a fabulous job
on days and brianne and i hold
down the fort on nights. the three
of us all went for the week.
we came as a group.  we all went
or none of us went.

i cannot explain to you how necessary
it was that all three of us be there
together.  we could not have done it
without the support and help of the
others.

i worked overnight while brianne and
erica took care of ezra and his little
sister, daniela during the day.

we took a charter bus from the upper
east side to the south hamptons.
it was like an airplane.
the “bus attendant” offered us
water or lemonade.
he offered us pretzels or party mix.
he came by to collect our trash.
he walked down the isle and took our money.
he made announcements over the p.a. system.
and he introduced us to the driver who remained silent for the entire ride.

it was a very pleasant and quiet bus ride.
it was quiet because you are only
allowed one 3 minute emergency
phone call.  i accidentally exceeded
that time with a non-emergency call
on our way home.  i got the stink-eye
from a lady a few rows in front of me.

during the day erica and brianne took
ezra out for walks around town and
to the beach   (while i slept off the
night shift).  at night we bathed
ezra and put him to sleep.

after he was asleep the girls got in
the pool and we made a yummy
dinner while ezra’s mom and dad
went out together.

    
erica and brianne took ezra out for a walk.
a stoll through a cemetery can be nice.
i’m sure it was ezra’s first.

         
at the beach ezra covered himself and
brianne’s feet with sand.  sand resided
in almost every crevasse of his body.

            
we all love climbing trees right?                    erica and ezra sharing a moment.
erica helped ezra sit in a tree.
he wasn’t impressed, but liked the
branches he was able to reach.

             
erica, brianne, and ezra found many              the stocks and pillory are in the center
buildings and establishments to be              of town.  it’s clear that no one in south
the “oldest in america” or the “oldest           hamptons should disrespect their parents
in south hamptons.”  we are not sure           or dress inappropriately…there are serious
how true these statement are.                      consequences. (see pictures above)

 

    
fun in the back yard.  it’s beautiful.                         brianne and ezra.  i love this fake side-grin of his!!!
soft green grass.
cool blue pool.
sweet refreshing summer breeze.
bbq grill.

little sister daniela and ezra.
so cute!!!!!

         
me and erica enjoying our stripes.

    
playing in the front yard.                       sword fight!!!!  daniela won.

erica and daniela are having a serious
talk.

six days with the ezras (that’s what we
call ezra’s family).
six days with dear brianne and erica.

quick story:
one night after the parents went on
a date we decided to grill.  so brianne
and i went out to the back yard, turned
on the propane tank, and clicked the
starter button.  after a few tries it
didn’t light. so brianne took the long
lighter and put it into the bars on the
grill.  we were standing side by side
our heads sort of bent over the grill.

POOF!!!!
BOOM!!!!!

we were quickly and momentarily
engulfed in a ball of FIRE!!!!

brianne, who was holding the lighter,
had the hair on her arm burned off.
she ran to the pool and stuck it in.
it was a very bugs bunny-like moment.
it smelled like burnt hair in the
back yard.

erica watched the whole thing happen
through the bathroom window.  if
we had to stop, drop, and roll, erica
would have been powerless to help
us for a moment because she was
‘busy’.

brianne is still mourning the loss of
her arm hair.

we, of course, laughed ourselves into
tears almost immediately.