The real deal

Today Theo and I went to a playgroup at someone's apartment in the West Village. I was getting something out of my stroller when I looked up at her bookshelf and realized there four - count 'em - FOUR Emmy awards on her shelf.  She used to be a producer for Reading Rainbow and that's what she won them for. I so desperately wanted to ask her if I could hold one but I don't know her well enough so I didn't. Crazy, and also so awesome.

My battle with the kitchen

I am not a particularly good cook. This has always been annoying to me but now that I have a child I have to cook for it's downright frustrating. It doesn't help matters that I am a vegetarian and we are not raising our son as one. All these moms who cook chickens and meatloaf for their kids can eat the same thing for dinner or, if their child looks at them and throws it on the floor, they don't think to themselves "Wow, I'm so glad I stuck my hands in ground cow's flesh to cook you a meal only to have you refuse to eat it". Getting Theo to eat pasta was a minor victory but now I have come to rely on it too much. He'll eat the noodles with butter and salt but I still doubt he will go for something as complicated as ravioli. Tonight I might try a small frozen pizza to see how that goes over. I once tried an English muffin pizza and I ended up eating that myself. If he'll eat a frozen pizza then there is hope I might be able to experiment getting some vegetables in him.

Then there is the food for Rich and me. What to cook for us? I have all these cookbooks but I get so bored with them and some of the recipes are so complicated. I also hate taking the time it takes to make a really good meal. If I can't cook the same meal for Theo and for us, that means I'm not cooking our dinner until at least 7 which means no dinner until at least 8 and by then I am ravenous. I've always said that if I had enough money to hire staff, a personal chef would be one of my first indulgences.

Feeling ill

I just found out that a little boy from our neighborhood died this morning. I don't know him or his family but I know that he was almost two and his mother was part of an online mothers' group that I belong to. We have not been told of the cause of death, only that it was natural and the friend who told us will give us more information when she gets it.

Almost two. That's almost Theo. It is devastating, shattering. I gave Theo an extra tight hug tonight when I put him to bed. He could stay up all night crying and I wouldn't care. Tonight, as I mourn for that little boy and his family, I am giving extra thanks for my own.

Reality TV "celeb" sightings

I am going to avoid the fact that I haven't written in two months and I am also going to avoid the temptation to A) write an update on the last two months and B) make excuses for the last two months. Instead I am going to dive right in to something fun.

I don't watch much TV these days and when I do, it's recorded on my DVR so I can avoid commercials. Two shows I do confess to watching though are reality TV shows: Project Runway and America's Next Top Model. PR is just a downright great show that really puts designers to the test - not always fairly - but it tests their chops nevertheless. ANTM is a simple guilty pleasure. I enjoy watching what crazy thing they will think of next for these young women and stand amused at how much drama they can create over such silly things. Last week they made the girls wear clothes made out of meat while posing in a meat locker full of meat. I couldn't believe there wasn't a vegetarian in the bunch who would freak out and refuse to do the shoot. The most drama we got was "Ooo, gross! Meat is touching me!"

ANYWAY, last week I had to go pick up our poor little Lucy from the vet after she had some yucky teeth pulled. There I am in all my mama-glam (re: hair pulled back with a full halo of frizz, a big puffy winter coat, sneakers and my constant accessory, a stroller) when I spot Chris March, one of the top four designers from Project Runway! I thought he was great and I would have been delighted if he had won the whole thing. But, he had to battle it out with Rami, another talented designer, and Rami won. So I see him standing next to the Barnes & Noble on 5th Avenue looking at his phone and I was just so excited that I reached out and touched his arm (I know, I know, probably totally creepy and completely against the rules of celebrity engagement) and said "I love you! I think you're great." I got a half-smile and an annoyed "Thanks." I tried not to take it personally because I'm sure he has been getting plenty of that since PR ended its season but I was really embarrassed that I had actually said something to a "celebrity" and had been so spurned. Lesson learned.

My next spotting came this past weekend at Chelsea Market. Nigel Barker, fashion photographer and judge on ANTM, was there with his beautiful wife and son, watching a kids' musician play. A friend I was with spotted him first because she has seen him there before. First of all, he is gorgeous in-person as well AND he is about 6'5"! I had no idea he was so tall. When they left, he walked past my friend and I carrying his son and we both looked at each other and sort of patted our hearts and I mouthed "he is so dreamy." Then we look and there is his wife pulling up the rear looking at us with a very polite and rather amused smile on her face. Embarrassed? Check. But, we figure she sees it all the time so who cares.

Alright, so there is a doozy of an entry. I also recently had a relative stranger confess that she googled me and read my blog so now that I am reminded of the fact that more than about three people read this thing and that those people are not the same ones who have known me for more than half my life, I am going to try to get back on the stick with this blog.