Home for the Holidays

Image Via Pinterest 

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season. I loved traveling home, seeing friends and family, and, despite the intensity of a short visit where we packed in seeing many, many different people, it was lovely to spend time with those I love this holiday season.

Some of my favorite moments:

Image Via Pinterest 

Holiday meals: Be it brunch, lunch, or dinner, it was great to spend time with family over delicious food...

Seeing friends from high school and being there to see their reactions to some exciting news shared by another friend via speaker phone!

Getting crafty on Christmas Eve: Inspired by Pinterest, we made coasters using inexpensive tiles purchased at Home Depot, glossy modge podge, and some favorite photographs.

Exchanging gifts Christmas morning...While gifts are not the most important things by any stretch of the imagination, it is still fun to receive thoughtful gifts; among my favorites, a new comforter to keep cozy on cold winter nights, a favorite Christmas movie, The Holiday, and an adorable hedge hog measuring cup series!

Strolling around Mystic, CT to see M's dad's amazing city planning project come to life through the streetscapes of Mystic and enjoying a lovely meal and drinks afterwards at a local restaurant.

Manicures with my sister; nothing like the perfect holiday red to spice up the holidays!

Image Via Pinterest 

The candlelight service Christmas Eve: I always love the closing moment to the service when the congregation sings the various verses of "Silent Night" while lighting neighbor's candles until the entire church is illuminated with the light of individual candles.

A gorgeous snowstorm that left the world a soft, wintery, white...a lovely end to a wonderful week!

Mourning for My Home State

As a teacher, and as someone originally from Connecticut, Friday's tragic elementary school shooting felt far too close to home. For the past couple days, I have found myself suspended in a strange place in which I cannot seem to tear myself away from the news while all at once having a desperate need to avert my eyes from a situation so painful I cannot look. My weekend transpired much in the same way; a mixture of the usual normalities and trivial weekend enjoyments punctuated by tears I could not hold back as my Facebook newsfeed filled with comments from too many friends who knew the victims of this tragedy, or I heard the names read on the television, or I saw a family walk by with a child who looked to be six-years-old. 

While people on both sides of the vitriolic gun control debate or the when-is-it-an-appropriate-time-to-talk-about-gun-control-debate have voiced their opinions, it remains to be seen how a country in mourning will proceed in ensuring that a tragedy of this magnitude does not happen again. In haste, I have heard people say everything from: we need metal detectors in schools (I currently work in a school with metal detectors following a deadly school shooting before I worked there in 2005) to a completely crazy remark that had the teachers been armed this would not have happened. While like everyone else, I have strong opinions on this argument, I think that, just for right now, all I really want to say is that I mourn for those parents, I grieve for that community, I revere those educators, and I hold our nation's community in my thoughts as we try to make sense of something so senseless.  

The Ghosts of Christmas Past

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about time. Perhaps it is with the talk of New Years or with the changing landscape of my life, but it seems like the passage of time feels somehow more present lately.


Sometimes my brooding on the passage of time is more obvious, like this weekend when my friend's husband dressed up as "Father Time" at their annual "Hideous Holiday Sweater Party." This year, I didn't make the mistake I made last year when I misread the comma as a Hideous Holiday--Sweater Party and came as Columbus Day complete with a sweater depicting the rape and murder of North America's indigenous population. Yeah, that didn't go over so well in a sea of red and green, snowmen and reindeers, Santas and sleigh bells.

The party was comprised of people I have known since college and, at the end of the night as we chatted about New Years, we looked through old pictures of New Years from long ago. We laughed as we remember one particular New Years Eve when we went out in the "city" near my hometown and my parents dropped us off and picked us up at the bar. I still burst out laughing when I think about the image of all of us barreling into my mom's station wagon at the end of the night. We have since moved out of the house and as we looked at those pictures and saw a youthful fullness in our faces we laughed about how long ago that seemed and how different our lives are now from then.

While some of my thoughts on the passage of time have been humorous reminders of how far we've come, others have been more bittersweet. M. and I got our Christmas tree and, as we decorated it, I realized many of the ornaments came from a couple of my favorite people: My Nana and Poppop. Though my Poppop passed away a few years ago now, I think of him often and during the holiday season I always feel his loss more acutely. My favorite ornament is one that came from my Nana and Poppop; it is a beautiful glass bulb and it is so fragile that it has a special velvety box in which it is stored each year until it is placed in its rightful place on the top of the tree. Hand painted doves flutter across the ornament; a sign of peace, which is such a relevant reminder of my Poppop for so many reasons. Sometimes I feel sad when I think about the fact that if I have children they will never know my Poppop, but then I remember that, as cliche as it sounds, he really does live on in memory and in moments--like when I put that beautiful, fragile glass bulb on the tree each year. A reminder that life and love are fragile and precious, but they are also powerful like the memories that flood over me each year.

After we decorated the tree, we went to The Metropolitan Museum of Art at night to see their tree and walk around in the crowd-free, peaceful museum setting. It is difficult not to think about the passage of time when you walk around a museum and look upon all of the antiquities that were so alive and real during their time and are now merely relegated to artifacts for people to look upon and try to make sense of.

So, for me the "ghosts of Christmas past" have loomed large this week and I just want to take a moment and appreciate the past since it has help to make my present so rich and full of wonder. Since I know that one day these moments too will be merely memories, I hope to make them powerful and important ones.

Winter Warming the Swedish Way with Vinglogg and Pepparkakor

A few years ago when teaching in Cambodia, I was fortunate to meet a group of Swedish women with whom I traveled after teaching and came to become great friends with. In the years that followed, we have met in Spain to travel and they have visited New York City on several occasions  This week, one of my lovely Swedish friend's boyfriends was lecturing at Columbia University on Scandinavian crime fiction, so they came to stay with us in New York City. It has been wonderful to spend the week with them and catch up over dinners and drinks!

I always love our comparative discussions on the culture of The United States and Sweden. While usually our conversations revolve around politics or the politics of education, this week, with the Christmas season rapidly approaching, we also talked about Christmas traditions in Sweden and in the United States. As a thank you for letting us stay gift, Janna and Jonas (can you get anymore Swedish!?) brought us a typical Advent treat which was fun to hear about and sample!

In Sweden during the Advent season (those weeks leading up to Christmas), which is also a cold, blustery time in those northern reaches of Scandinavia, one common household tradition is to eat what is essentially gingerbread and buns with mulled wine. As a child, I remember lighting candles on Sunday evening to represent each week of Advent and I also remember opening little paper windows to reveal a chocolate treat for each day of Advent. It was fun to add a more adult interpretation of the holiday into my repertoire!

I definitely need to make this the year that I visit Sweden. Can't wait to begin planning that trip, but, in the meantime, I will indulge in some pepparkakor and vinglogg!  

A Little Bit of Luck

My 85 year old neighbor Art is a real New York character. He has lived in New York City for the better part of his life and claims that the day he leaves will be the day he is "carted out in a box." He is by no means politically correct and often says stuff to M. like, "Can you believe these husbands who wake up early on Saturday to push their kid around in the baby stroller? Their wives are lazy. My wife always took care of all eleven of our children all of the time." Misogyny aside, he is an interesting person who was at one point the reigning United States salsa champion and at another time choreographed all of the dance numbers for a cruise ship on which he toured the world. Sometimes he will share stories with M. and I and we will assume that they are a gross exaggeration only to realize there is some newspaper clipping corroborating their existence or picture proving their occurrence.

On Thanksgiving, after the turkey, I met family at a Connecticut casino for a change of pace. I am not a big fan of casinos and never gamble. After much urging though, I decided to play one game of Roulette. Much to my delight I won 200 dollars immediately on my favorite number and on my only gamble. My neighbor Art, a true gambler who used to frequent the OTB (a place I had never even heard of until I met him) and has M. help him transfer money into his horse racing account (because he is technologically challenged, yet involved in betting that requires internet skills), has claimed that this was extremely lucky since Roulette is a game of pure luck. Therefore, I am posting this for someday when I become the eccentric New York character in the building who tells impossible stories from my youth and need photographic evidence and documentation to prove that my tales are not just another old woman's yarn.

   

You Had Me At Woof

Nobody loves Thanksgiving as much as my dog Frenchie. The night before we leave for Connecticut, we begin to mention the words "train," "Connecticut," "Max," and "backyard" to our three-year-old Boston Terrier and, though he may lack opposable thumbs and has been known to turn around with wonder and sniff perplexed when any kind of gaseous substance departs his back end, he is quick to catch on when these words are uttered. When his travel bag emerges from the closet, little can contain his excitement at the journey that will surely end with a lot of face licking from his brother Max and treats from his over indulgent Grandma.

For anyone who is a dog lover out there, you understand how dogs have a way of worming into our lives and hearts and essentially becoming a member of our families. M. always says had I asked him a million years ago when we began dating if he would ever fall asleep with a dog in his bed and wake with a dog spooning him under the covers he would have called him crazy and yet when I am pretending not to watch, M. is the first one to rain kisses down on Frenchie's flat little face. 

Sometimes I think that this blog should just come out as the "Dog Book Genre Blog" that it is rather than masquerading as a regular old book blog, but until that day, for those who love a good dog story that warms the heart, check out Julie Klam's You Had Me At Woof: How Dogs Taught Me the Secret of Happiness, which, naturally, stars a Boston Terrier. I can't promise that you won't sob in parts of this book, but I will promise a heartwarming read--especially for those of us who love dogs. 

  

A Disappointing Ending

The final book Reached in Allie Condie's Matched series came out last Friday and I downloaded it Thursday night! I was anxiously anticipating the conclusion to a series that I have really enjoyed and would love at some point to teach as part of a dystopian/speculative fiction unit. Unfortunately, I was disappointed in the final book in this series. The character development was dragging and uninspired and the loose ends of the plot were tied up predictably. A shame considering the potential I thought existed in the first two books of this trilogy.

If you loved Matched and Crossed, check it out, but wait for your local library copy or borrow it from a friend...

Traditions

Tradition: Rituals, beliefs, or objects that are passed down within a society or family; a custom, or specific practice of long-standing.

As I walked to work this week through Lincoln Center, there were numerous workers on ladders wrapping intricate lighting designs around the trees that line the streets. Holiday cups have made their seasonal debut at Starbucks. People are constructing elaborate window displays in stores all over the city. The holiday season is upon us and, with the holiday season, comes the inevitable flurry of holiday traditions--pressured by modern media, others, or internally constructed pressure, and then reinforced by everything from window displays to coffee commercials.

I love traditions. From old traditions like decorating the Christmas tree with ornaments that I have had since birth or singing carols at the Christmas Eve service to new(er) traditions like "winter festivities" ice skating and secret santa with my friends or M. and I's yearly purchasing of our Christmas tree--which is a vastly different experience in New York City than the farm Christmas tree chopping of my youth--there is something comforting in traditions.

That said, I also love things that are non-traditional or unorthodox and feel that we should never get so caught up in tradition that we lose the ability to grow, change, and let new and wonderful things into our lives. It's easy to get caught up in the idea that we have to do the same thing in the exact same way year after year after year, but the reality is that if our lives were the same year in and year out, they would be boring, staid, and lackluster. 

Saturday morning, after a late night out Friday night, I was snuggling on my couch with my dog and I turned on the television to mindlessly watch something. I ended up watching the cheesy movie Christmas with the Kranks in its entirety. While the movie is a comedically modern Christmas movie, the films take on traditions I found completely endearing. 

In the film, The Krank's daughter tells them that she will not be coming home for Christmas that year. The couple, always obsessed with Christmas, decides to skip all of their usual Christmas traditions and go on a cruise. They forego Christmas trees, decorations, presents, and holiday hams, and are about to leave for the Caribbean when their daughter calls and says that--SURPRISE--she will be home after all. After a freak-out that they have not prepared for Christmas, they race around trying to recreate the exact same Christmas they have always had, failing miserably in their attempts. Ultimately, the family creates a new Christmas tradition, with pieces of the old traditions, and it ends up being the best holiday they have ever had; one of personal growth, redemption, and all of the aspects of the holidays that really matter. 

The past few years have brought many changes to my life; changes that have made it impossible to cling to every single old tradition, especially during, what can be, an intense holiday season when so often there is a pressure to maintain and perfectly render a holiday of shiny glazed turkeys, festive  holiday centerpieces, and apple pies that taste so incredible that you want to smile like a family in a Norman Rockwell painting. This message is often incongruous with a holiday that obfuscates a history of violence against the people indigenous to this country or the fact that so many people in this continent will be homeless this holiday season, but I digress...I guess what I am saying is that sometimes in the name of maintaining the tradition, the reasons for the inception of the tradition are lost. 

I guess I end with the sentiment that as wonderful as traditions are, they can also be confining and there is nothing wrong with opening ourselves to new things. We might even enjoy ourselves--or, better yet, appreciate what really matters! And, don't get me wrong, I will be the first one to begin playing The Nutcracker soundtrack the day after Thanksgiving, I will also probably purchase too many apple pies to count at the Farmer's Market from now until Christmas, and I will sing "Silent Night" loudly on Christmas Eve as I hold a candle at the candlelight service, but, that said, I look forward to all of the amazing adventures and joy that are birthed from the breaking of old traditions, the appreciation of all that I have, being with family and friends, and doing my best to help others in the spirit of the season during the holidays as well. 

Vintage Library

I know, I know, it has been a while since I've posted! It has been a busy, busy week; however, it has also been a wonderful week filled with delicious dates, baby showers with favorite people, drinks with friends, a growing obsession with yoga (thanks to a new local yoga studio), a successful presentation for graduate school, trying my hand at event planning, yummy shakes at shake shack, city walks, another trip idea in the planning stages, first snowfalls, and cozy nights in with chai tea. Feel sufficiently caught up? Good :)

Anyone who has read my blog knows of my love for old library card catalogues. Part childhood library nostalgia, part furniture aesthetic obsession, the library card catalogue is definitely something I covet. This is why I was so excited when M's mom called last week to let me know that she had stumbled upon a library that was parting with their vintage oak library card catalogue. I can't wait to see what purpose this piece of library history will serve for my home over the years.

Perhaps what once stored the locations of astronomy books will be reinvented as a wine storage system:

Or, as my friend suggested, a clothing storage system with built in drawer organizers by design.

Maybe, one day, when we live in a larger space, it will serve as a console ready to store serving ware and adorable napkins like these...

Whatever it will hold, I am excited to look for ways to fill it!!

Gratitude

Well, apart from the FEMA trucks rolling through, the relentless news images of devastation, the constant sounds of sirens, and friends from downtown texting to arrange shower times at our apartment, one might almost think that NYC is back to normal from the vantage point in my neighborhood. The New York Times even goes so far as to describe the phenomenon as "two Manhattans." Since work has been cancelled and I have not had to deal with the transportation nightmare that currently exists here, it is surreal to think about the fact that this storm has caused over 80 deaths in the area and that there will be a long, hard road to recovery ahead. 

Sandy's Aftermath

Well, the storm is over here in New York City, but the arduous cleanup process has only just begun. We feel lucky up here on the East side of Manhattan since we are one of the only enclaves on the island that still has power.

Images from Yorkville:

This has been called a historic storm and between the Con Edison explosion on 14th Street, the storm surges that left most of lower Manhattan flooded, the unprecedented three day school closures, and the fact that our subway system is so crippled they are saying it will take 4-5 days to have things up and running again, I would agree with that assessment. 

Here are some photos from around Manhattan captured on The New York Times website: 

While the storm has been devastating here and along much of the East Coast, something that has been really lovely to see is that, with the subway at a standstill, people are pretty much stuck in their neighborhoods and, moreover, since the larger chain stores are mostly staffed with people who come from outside the neighborhood, it is only the small, local places that are open. There is something nice about seeing all of the Starbucks closed and only the most local of the local places operating. Neighbors are checking on elderly neighbors. People are helping police and emergency workers clear debris. Coffee shops are filled with neighborhood folk catching up on local gossip and recounting "Sandy stories." I guess that the wonderful sense of community is the silver lining in all of the damages, outages, and closings.

Here's hoping everyone is staying safe, warm, and dry...

Halloween Hurricane

Last year Halloween brought a freakish snowstorm that left much of my home state of Connecticut without power for a week. This year, Hurricane Sandy is scheduled to arrive with high winds, two days of school cancellations, a paralyzed subway, and mandated evacuations in "zone A" of New York City. Before the storm though, my friends and I had a fun Halloween bash on Saturday to commemorate my favorite holiday. Hopefully, the weather will be better in time for the village Halloween parade on Wednesday, but if it is not, I am happy that I got to celebrate before the storm.

I don't sew, but I do love making halloween costumes. My trusty glue gun always saves the day on Halloween! This year, after much debate about whether or not to go political, I decided to be an entirely apolitical peacock. I went to the craft store in between the end of parent/teacher conferences on Friday and our after work happy hour. I bought feathers, tulle, and glitter glue and wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do with these materials, but knew I would figure something out! On Saturday before my friends arrived, I went to H & M and bought a really inexpensive peacock blue dress.

Armed with these materials, I constructed my peacock costume just in time for my friend's arrival when they safety pinned the panels for my tail onto my dress and stuck tons of feathers into my hair. Oh how I love halloween!!

The Finished Product

My friend's boyfriend did go political. I think he regretted that 
after hearing the first 5,000 comments from M. and I

Hours after my friends left on Sunday, we heard that the subway would be shut down and school cancelled in anticipation of Hurricane Sandy. This morning, as the wind picked up outside, M. and I took a walk down to the East River since we will likely be stuck inside most of the rest of the day. The FDR is already flooded and the hurricane has not even hit yet, so that is a little disconcerting. New Yorkers being New Yorkers are of course still outside wandering around. The FDR was crawling with people walking across the closed down highway. As I type, someone is playing "Please Don't Take My Sunshine Away" on the saxophone--only in New York!

Stay safe, warm, and dry everyone and good luck weathering "Frankenstorm!"

Trick or Treat

My costume hunt is in full gear...

I have made it no secret that Halloween is one of my favorite holidays ever. When I was little, like most kids, I would spend the entire month leading up to Halloween thinking about what I would be. Unlike most kids, I would then try to convince my sisters to let me make their costumes as well. Luckily, I live in a city where a childlike spirit of Halloween never dies and many people go out for Halloween, no matter their age. M and I make a habit of going to the Village Halloween Parade, which is always immensely entertaining. One of my favorite groups who march in the parade is always the Michael Jackson "Thriller" dancers...

This year, like most years, my friends are coming in for a little Halloween shindig on Saturday and I am still in the process of figuring out what to be. Some of my best costumes in years past have been my rendition of the Arizona immigration law SB 1070 and my take on the 1980s Operation Man game. One of my crowning glories was actually a spider costume that I made twenty minutes before we went out using nothing but old tights! This year is an election year, so naturally a part of me wants to go political; however, I am sure that half of the population here is already planning their big bird and "binders full of women" costumes, so I think I am going to have to come up with something else...

Hmmm...we'll see what this year brings, but my oh my do I love Halloween!  

Friday Footnotes

It is absolutely gorgeous out and-even better-I have very little in the way of actual plans for this weekend. Since I have been going non-stop every weekend since the summer, it is really nice to have a relaxing weekend to look forward to...

Here is what I am loving on this perfect October Saturday...

Perfect running weather...

Dinner plans with M. tonight at a new French mussel place followed by some donuts and drinks at a local favorite...yummm

The nearing of my favorite holiday: Halloween!! It's time to figure out my costume...

Happy hour with my coworkers last night, which helped to ease the pain of a really bad day at work...

M's complaint call to Delta about our flight cancellation this summer that resulted in vouchers for both of us...we are already daydreaming about where we will go!

All Images Via Pinterest 

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!

Binders Full of Women, Big Bird, and Other Memes

As we drank wine on Saturday evening, one of the many things that my friends and I talked about was how grateful we were that we did not grow up in an age when Facebook and other social media sites were quite as prevalent. We laughed imagining the immature comments that would surely grace our "walls," the "un-friending" that would likely occur (followed, of course, by re-friending weeks later), and the documented trail of years that are often volatile and filled with irrational pubescent behavior. A recent article in The New York Times pointed out that the college student of today often spends weekend mornings untagging him or herself from pictures and essentially doing social media damage control. I fear the amount of pictures of me sticking out my tongue that would be out there circulating for the whole wide world to see...

Despite my gratitude that I did not grow up in an age when social media was quite as overwhelming, I do love many social media platforms. Pinterest is endlessly entertaining. Instagram is oh-so-fun. And Facebook, while certainly losing its luster, has its moments. Last night, for example, when Mitt Romney made his now infamous "binders full of women" comment--within seconds I was invited to a group "Binders full of women" and my friend Carl had soon gone viral with mentions in The Wall Street Journal blog and fingers sore from adding people to his group. So, while I feel badly for my thirteen-year-old students who will one day look back on some all of their status updates and cringe, social media can be downright entertaining sometimes if I do say so myself.

Wishing for More Hours in the Day

I don't know about all of you, but I could really benefit from a few more hours in a day. For sleep. For yoga. For staring into space. Sigh.

In the meantime, coffee is my best friend.

Love this image from Pinterest...

If You Loved The Hunger Games...

...then you absolutely must check out Ally Condie's Matched trilogy! This addictive series shares many commonalities with The Hunger Games series ranging from a dystopian future society to a love triangle to a rebellion in the works. In November, the final book of the series is slated to come out, so it is perfect timing to read the first two books in the series. I tore through both books in a couple of hours (they are technically adolescent fiction, after all) and found both to be page turners. Definitely check them out!

The Best Holiday

The weekend always goes too quickly, no? It has been a busy weekend, but a fun one. My favorite part of this weekend was, of course, our annual fall festivities. The weather was gorgeous and made for the perfect day for all of our fall activities. After my friends picked me up at the train station and we hit Starbucks, we made the long drive up to the northern part of the state where we got pumpkins, wandered through the corn maze, and visited the country store at Lyman Orchards. The corn maze was hilarious with my friend's kids leading the way. The projected half hour maze time took us double that when following a two and four year old through the corn paths! After selecting our pumpkins we headed further north to our friend's house so the kids could nap and we could carve, catch up, and eat. The day was absolutely perfect--it really has become a sacred annual tradition to all of us.

We ended the night in the southern part of the state watching the Yankees, drinking wine, and continuing the conversation before I jumped the last train home with my huge pumpkin, an appetite fulfilled with roasted pumpkin seeds, and still warmed from a wonderful day with some of my favorite people!