Happy Spring!

Today is the first day of spring. This also means it's my goddaughter Madison's 6th birthday. Holy crap.



This photo was actually taken last August on her first day of school. I can't believe how big she is. I can still remember when Kelly called me to tell me she was pregnant. She is something special and so is her little sister, Cameron. They are such different personalities - Madison is boisterous and mischievious like her mother and Cam is quiet and observant like her dad. It's fascinating and I look forward to watching them grow up and become even more complex young women.

Rich is back in Seattle working for the week and Karen and I had a total dating weekend. You know when you first start dating someone and you see each other all the time? That's what our weekend was like. We spent Saturday with our friend Kristy checking out Ft. Tryon park (click on my photo album link and you can see the few pictures I took). Ft. Tryon is at the northern tip of Manhattan and it's where the Cloisters museum is. It was so nice and sunny that we didn't actually go into the Cloisters but it was lovely nevertheless. After the park we took the bus all the way back into town which must have taken about an hour but we just chatted and did some sightseeing along the way so it went fast. Then we went out to dinner and since Rich is gone and Karen's roomie is also out of town, she came back to my apt and spent the night. The next morning we went and got Donut Plant donuts (mmmm, donuts....) and the best chai ever. We split up for a few hours and then met up again for a great yoga class and then back to her place to watch The Sopranos.

AND, in the elevator leaving the yoga class we saw Russell Simmons! Founder of Def Jam Records, yogi, vegan and all around awesome hip hop mogul. He was IN the elevator with us and he was sooooo nice. We were all giddy about it for hours afterwards and kept trying to call people to tell them but no one we called would answer their damn phones! I have finally seen a celebrity that got me excited. I walked past Washington Square Park the other day and they were filming a Robin Williams movie and I saw him from afar wearing a cowboy hat and sporting some killer sideburns but that didn't really excite me since it was a celebrity-spotting set-up and not just a random occurrence like sharing an elevator (AND A YOGA STUDIO!) with Russell Simmons.

My brother Jeremy gets to town on Wednesday and I am excited to have him here and show him around. It's been a long, long time since we have hung out, just the two of us. I am looking forward to it.

The furballs

I am finally publishing my first photo to my blog and what better photo to do it with? Rich took this one over the weekend.

Elevator amusement

In New York City people spend a lot of time commuting in elevators. I have discovered that this is a fascinating place to observe human behaviour. I suppose for those of you who have worked in tall office buildings this is nothing new but I have not so I am pretty new to this experience. Rich and I live on the 15th floor of our building so there is a lot of opportunity for observation. Generally, when I step on to an occupied elevator and someone steps into the one I am occupying I smile and usually say hello. If there is a conversation piece available i.e., a small child, a dog, a great pair of shoes, I will comment hopefully indicating to my fellow riders that I am innocuous. But sometimes, I have no choice in the matter. Like this morning. This morning I was heading down to the basement to do laundry and I made it as far as the 2nd floor before the elevator stopped to pick someone up. This guy, an older, middle-aged gentleman, got on and without even glancing at me hit the "L" button for the lobby and immediately turned and stood right in front of the door with his back to me. He seemed incredibly anxious to be as far away from me as possible. I was rather amused actually although I suppose he could have an anxiety disorder or something that makes him afraid of elevators or people or both. It's just so funny. Everyone feels awkward in an elevator but no one has come up with a solution to diffuse it.

Defrosting

At long last, today the thermometer broke 60 degrees. It is so warm and lovely outside it has completely made my day. I was out this morning and couldn't get the smile off my face. The windows are open in the apartment, the cats are investigating a new set of outside smells and I just feel buoyant. I really, really hope this isn't a freak thing and that it doesn't start snowing next week or something.

Baptism by taxi

I had a real Carrie Bradshaw moment today. Did a beautiful stranger look into my eyes and make me blush? No. Did I find the perfect pair of shoes? No. Was I splashed by motherfucking taxi driving through a 3 foot deep puddle as I walked down the sidewalk? Yes! [please watch the opening credits of Sex in the City if you don't know what I am talking about] I am so pissed right now. The weather is as shitty as shitty can get - raining enough to drench you but snowy enough that you could slip and break your tailbone at any moment. I was covered head to toe in an E. Houston Street puddle. I saw it coming but there was no way I could avoid getting splashed. It's not like I was walking along the curb of the sidewalk or anything, I was squarely in the middle. But that puddle was so big and that taxi was going so fast that even if I had just stepped out of the doorway of the store next to me I would have been splashed.

The really sad part is that I really need to eat lunch after my rehearsal this morning and was just making my way to the bank machine to get out some cash to buy a sandwich. Instead, I had to come home, change and find something in our bare kitchen. But there isn't much so I am going to have to find a new coat to wear, new gloves and then go back out there into that madness. I was supposed to go do some marketing errands for the theatre I am volunteering for but that will just have to wait until tomorrow.

I'm a wuss

I am not in love with New York these days. The main reason? It's too damn cold. For some reason this particular winter has chilled me to the bone. Like I never quite feel like I am truly warm. Right now, for instance, on the surface I am warm - wearing my favorite comfy sweatshirt, my cozy slippers with a warm cat asleep on my lap but I still feel like there is a deep internal chill. Thankfully it's been pretty sunny and dry so it's not a damp chill, it's just more like cold exhaustion. The idea of bundling up everytime I go outside and knowing I will still be cold is taking a toll on me. I don't go out at night. Karen invited us over for dinner the other night because some Austin friends are in town and although I was low energy anyway, the idea of the cold, windy walk from the subway to her apartment was enough for me to bow out for the evening. I want to go out and experience more of New York but I hate being cold so much that I am just waiting for spring to arrive to bump us up at least another 10 degrees. It's March so I am hopeful those days are not too far away.