Heading home

OK, I know most of the country is in the midst of a mega heatwave and I don't want to jinx myself but I am going to Seattle tomorrow for about 8 days and here is the forecast. I am so freakin' excited to escape this oppressive humidity, to see my friends, to see the mountains and the water, to eat a Red Mill veggie burger, drink a latte at Caffe Lladro, eat a cheese filled baked onion at Bandoleone, and go CD shopping at Sonic Boom and Easy Street. Sadly, my favorite bartender Holly won't be able to make me my drink (The Brit: champagne and chambord, mmmmm) but I'm sure she'll make me something delicious. I'll get to see my dear friend Janet who is due one month ahead of me, my book club is having a party for me so I'll get to see all those awesome ladies, we're staying with our wonderful friends Jeanne and Art who always take such good care of us and who are members of our Mutual Adoration Society and so much more. I've been looking forward to this trip since we left and I am going to soak up every waking minute of it.

Abundance

Rich and I had our first baby shower this past weekend. His mother wanted to give us one so she secured her sister's house in Connecticut and his parents, his sister, her husband and 3-year old daughter, and his brother and his wife all flew up from south Florida for the festivities. There must have been about 20 people there, all of them Rich's relatives, many of them family members Rich has barely seen in the past 15 years and some of whom I have never even met. We were overwhelmed by their generosity. We received a car seat, a Pack n' Play (it's a playpen that has a bassinet and changing table feature - perfect for people who live in small spaces), a Baby Bjorn, an infant chair, two handmade blankets and zillions of clothes, receiving blankets and washclothes. Two of my mother-in-law's cousins (two of the people I had never met before Sunday) gave us a seemingly bottomless box of clothes - there must have been 10-15 outfits in that one box alone. When we packed up the car the trunk filled up and we had to put things in the back seat. As we drove away we expressed our thanks and disbelief at the generosity of his family and then again as we made two trips to the car to unload it all into our apartment. We are so, so lucky.

In related news, I am going to look at some available two bedrooom apartments tomorrow. [note: for those who don't know, Rich and I live in subsidized NYU faculty housing and are at the mercy of the university when it comes to moving to a bigger apartment. We have been waiting for months.] I have been feeling a bit like Lady Macbeth through this whole process - determined to get what we want and deserve and prepared to be a royal bitch about it. I don't like that side of me and while I have always possessed a certain determination and tenacity, being pregnant has brought out the lioness in me. I'm not doing this for Rich and me, I'm doing it for the family. It's been bizarre to realize this particular source of my determination. Ever hear stories of moms lifting cars to save their children pinned beneath? This experience gives me the faintest hint of where that comes from.

Explosions in the sky

Rich and I live on the 15th floor of a building right in the middle of Greenwich Village just two blocks from Washington Square. Our apartment faces south. I wonder sometimes if they were still there, if we would be able to see the WTC towers from here. A lot of our view is blocked by still taller buildings but we are fortunate to actually have something of a view. One surprise benefit of our view? Random fireworks displays being set off somewhere along the Battery at the southern end of Manhattan. I think we have probably seen about 4 fireworks displays and that doesn't count July 4th (I don't know if we could have seen any because we were watching the mid-town ones from a roof deck on the Lower East Side). Last night Deana was over because I was helping her stuff her wedding invitations. I started hearing some booms so I asked Rich to look out the window to see if we could see anything (sometimes they are too low or too far east or west for us to see more than the accompanying colored flashes). He immediately said "You've gotta come see this". We walked over and were treated to a good 10 minutes of AMAZING fireworks. They didn't last as long as the 4th but the quality of the 'works was definitely comparable. It was so spectacular to be standing in our living room on a random Wednesday night watching this incredible display. I have no idea what they were celebrating and that's part of the fun. Sometimes you can make up your own reason. Last night I offered up the possibility that the UN had somehow brokered peace in the Middle East. A girl can dream, right?

It's a phenomena sweeping the nation (wink, nudge)

Here are my states:



And here are my countries:




It's nice how I can visit two cities in a vast country like China and still have so much satisfying red on the map making it look like I am more well-traveled than I am. I have a lot of this world still left to see! I have never been south of the equator and I really need to remedy that.

I'm melting

OK, I know this heat wave has hit pretty much the entire country with the exception of where? Oh, yes, Seattle where it's a perfect 75 degrees today. It was in the 90s by noon here in New York City. You know, it's one thing being hot in the city. It's another being hot and 28 weeks pregnant in the city. And then there's being hot, 28 weeks pregnant and waiting for a subway in the city. Ho-ly crap. I generally try to avoid the subway on days like this but I have a doctor's appointment today so I am going to have to deal. I've been beginning to experience some of the shortness of breath that comes at this stage of pregnancy due to my lungs having a little less room to expand and it is not helped at all by submerging myself into an airless tunnel to wait for a train. Yes, I'm drinking plenty of water and I carry it with me at all times. I think I need to go to Chinatown to buy a little fan too. I'm heading to Seattle in less than two weeks and, oh momma, am I glad.

Music quiz

I was reading Mandy's blog (she is part of Kat and Karen's Austin crew and I like her very much) and she had this music quiz that she had lifted from someone else's blog. It looked like fun so I have decided to participate. The first instruction is to list 10 bands you like in no particular order and then there are some questions that follow. So here is my list:

1. The Pixies
2. Wilco
3. REM
4. U2
5. Kelly Hogan/Jody Grind
6. Luna
7. Tom Waits
8. The Decemberists
9. Snow Patrol
10. 10,000 Maniacs

Now for the questions:

What was the first song you ever heard by 6?
Hmm, maybe "California"

What is your favorite album of 8?
Her Majesty the Decemberists, I think although Picaresque is pretty damn good too.

What is your favorite lyric of 5?
Well, she sings a lot of covers so the lyrics aren't really hers per se. But I love:
And now it's 55 years later
We've had the romance of the century
After all these years wrestling gators
I still feel like crying when I think of what you said to me:
"Papa was a rodeo
Mama was a rock n' roll band
I could play guitar and rope a steer before I learned to stand
Home was anywhere with diesel gas, love was a trucker's hand
Never stuck around long enough for a one night stand
Before you kiss me you should know, papa was a rodeo"
What a coincidence, your papa was a rodeo, too.

This makes me realize I neglected to put Magnetic Fields on my list...

How many times have you seen 4 live?
Once - in Lakeland, FL in 1996 (first show of the Zoo Station arena tour). I feel like I maybe saw them a second time but I can't remember now. Yikes.

What is your favorite song by 7?
Oh my goodness. I have to pick one? I guess "I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love With You" if I have to pick just one.

Is there a song of 3 that makes you sad?
"Nightswimming" makes me melancholy because it's so achingly beautiful.

What is your favorite lyric of 9?
It would have to be something from "Chocolate"

What is your favorite song by 1?
Again, if I have to pick just one I guess it would be "Gigantic"

How did you get into 8?
KEXP was playing them and I loved it. I love the tales Colin Malloy spins.

What is your favorite song by 4?
"Bad" and "Running to Stand Still" comes a close second

How many times have you seen 1 live?
2 times plus 2 songs (they walked out after playing two songs. I have heard tell that that "show" was the last one before they broke up but I've never researched it)

What is a good memory concerning 2?
Just about every time I've seen them live - 3 of the 4 times

Is there a song by 2 that makes you sad?
Several: "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart", "What's the World Got in Store"

What is your favorite song of 6?
"California"

How did you become a fan of 10?
Loren Jones put a couple of songs on a mix tape for me in 8th grade. I bought In My Tribe and was hooked.

Finito

Another World Cup has come to an end. Italy is the new champ. Can't say I'm happy about it since they were such thugs throughout the competition but I can say that the celebrations on the street can't help but make me smile. Over an hour after the game ended horns are still honking, people are whooping, flags are waving - it's pretty celebratory around here and I'm not even in Little Italy. That place must be a zoo.

It was unfortunate the way it ended in penalty kicks but worse, the fact that Zidane, a French football hero with a reputation for being a classy player, head-butted an Italian player right in the chest and got red-carded 20 minutes into overtime. Such a shame. Although as a half-Brit I should be genetically predispositioned to hating the French, I was routing for them nevertheless (once England was knocked out of course) because the Italians were such bad sportsmen. I had even grown to have a little crush on M. Zidane, largely because I admired the fact that he donned the jersey of the Portugese captain after France beat them in the semi-final. Now, since he is retiring, the lasting memory people all around the world will have of the great player is that one thoughtless, impulsive and violent gesture. Quelle damage.

It will be a little sad not having any more games to look forward to after a full month of enjoying so much coverage of a sport so neglected in this country. It's been so much fun to feel part of something bigger, something in which the whole world was also watching, cheering, supporting, enjoying. Now I have four years to forget everything I learned about this wonderful game.

I Don't Heart Smokers

I'm sick of smokers. Some of the people I love most in this world are or have been smokers and I am so grateful to those that have quit. I don't know if it's that more people smoke in New York or if it's that with indoor smoking banned they are all outside on the sidewalk or the fact that I am pregnant and even more sensitive than I already was, but it seems like they are everywhere these days. On the 4th of July I was trying to enjoy an outdoor concert and on either side of me were smokers. Yesterday as I was walking home from the grocery store I couldn't seem to walk fast enough to get past some chimney whose smoke kept going in my face. It's bad enough I have to deal with traffic exhaust but to have to contend with that foul stuff as well just gets me so angry - especially as a pregnant woman. I try so hard to eat well and avoid putting toxic stuff in my body and these fools make it so hard. Why people pick up the habit I just do not understand. I guess others may say that of alcohol and caffeine, two substances which I do enjoy, but sipping a glass of wine or a cup of coffee doesn't intrude on anyone else's personal space the way cigarettes do so it's hardly a fair comparison.

That's my tirade for the day. Thank you for your time.

Where on Earth is the sun hid away?

When people hear that we have moved here from Seattle, more often than not, one of the first questions I get is how we handled the weather. At this point however, I need merely point to New York City's own stinking weather this summer. Seattle has perfect summers - never much warmer that the low 80s, little to no humidity, a nice cooling down in the evening, you know, perfect. The stupid East Coast however, humidity that makes you feel like you are walking under a blanket and this year, all the ridiculous rain! For the last month I don't think we have had one single week with no rain. And mind you, this is no Seattle drizzle. This is full on downpour rain. At one point this morning I couldn't even see more than three blocks out of my window. I'm getting pretty sick of it. To be honest, the weather was my biggest hesitation about coming back East. Oppressively hot summers and freezing, snowy winters. I'm a Libra. I like balance and the West Coast is just so much milder. Sure, Seattle had dark, dreary winters and sure, come May I was ready for some freakin' sun already, but summer made it all worth it. We go back for a visit the first week of August and I can't wait.

The Land of Prince

This past weekend we went to Minneapolis for our friend Liz's wedding. Neither of us had ever been before and it did not disappoint. If it weren't for the frigid winters, it would be a lovely place to live. It's the Portland, OR of the Midwest. There are pics on our photo page. Sadly, there were no Prince spottings while we were there.

Here also is an updated photo of Chester for those of you who haven't seen us in awhile.