The Hunger Games!

I am so excited to head to The Hunger Games movie tomorrow night with my equally nerdy English- major-turned-English-teacher friends! I will be sure to report back, but I expect great things. We bought our tickets a month ago and good thing because nearly every theater in this area sold out for tomorrow night. 

Just in case you haven't watched the trailer 300 times like I have, here it is for your viewing pleasure...

 

Friday Footnotes

The weather has been unseasonably warm in New York City this week. I cannot remember the last time I wore ballet flats here in early March. Loving it...

Here are some other things I am loving on this beautiful Friday:

The Irish Soda Bread I will get tomorrow morning in celebration of St. Patrick's Day; fresh baked and still warm from Orwashers...Yummmmm

Via this adorable blog...

Speaking of St Patrick's Day...while I am fighting a cold, I hope to make it to the parade and also drink a Guinness in celebration of the lucky green holiday!

Via David Airey 

AirBnB: My new (to me) favorite travel resource! On our upcoming trip to Spain, we are booking a few places through here and I am excited to see what this source is like! I have heard great things and have my fingers crossed that that will be my experience as well!

Wallpaper City Guides from Phaidon: colorful, cute, and chock full of great travel tidbits... I am totally in love with these guides!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!!

The Best Kind of Gift

Thank You Notes From One Canoe Two

Monday mornings are tough, don't you think? Personally, I hate them. I am not a big morning person in general, and sunrise is always a little chaotic in my life. This has persisted since my high school days when I became quite friendly with our high school attendance officer.  One summer, I even had to come in and scrape gum off the bottom of desks as a sentence for arriving to school late so frequently. Yeah, they definitely don't allow that anymore...but I digress.

Anyway, this Monday morning was particularly difficult as it was daylight savings weekend and, as a teacher, I have to be awake enough to entertain the often tough audience of teenagers at 8:00 in the morning. I arrived at work, exhausted, grande coffee in one hand, computer in the other, when one of my juniors walked into my classroom with a big grin on her face and said, "I made you a present this weekend!"

Over the weekend, Noemy, decided to make me a piece of art and frame it! She built the frame herself and the artwork brought tears to my eyes. One of my favorite books is F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. Knowing this, my student had illustrated (beautifully, I might add) a scene from Gatsby and included the quote from the novel that inspired her artwork. The painting captures the tragedy of Gatsby in such a heartbreaking and compelling manner.  On the back of her art, she wrote me a thank you note that left me radiating with reminders of why I love teaching so much. It was truly one of the nicest gifts I have ever received.

In a profession that is so often thankless, where everyone thinks that they have the answers--even those who have never set foot in a classroom--these are the kinds of things that remind me why teaching is such an amazing profession. Gratitude is an awesome and renewing gift. My student's gratitude reminded me that I need to tell people how thankful I am even more frequently, as thanks is truly one of the greatest gifts one can give.

Serendipity

Long before the days when I lived in New York City, I used to love that ridiculous John Cusack movie Serendipity. It inspired great New York City dreams, and I remember always imagining that I would one day live here and spend my weekends eating ice cream at that eponymous shop. Upon moving here, one of the first weekend outings that I took was to get frozen hot chocolate at one of the several Serendipity locations. While I found the restaurant completely overrated-- the long lines not worth the wait-- living in New York City, on the other hand, has easily been one of the best things I have ever decided and, despite the annoyances that can come along with large, compact, crowded, overpriced cities, I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.

Via

So, while the movie has, perhaps, lost some of its glamour now that I have actually been to Serendipity, I am still completely sold by the concept of serendipity itself. There are so many things that have happened over time that have led me places I never imagined--but have been the best course for me to follow at the time. I don't want to jinx it, but I feel like I had one of those serendipitous days this week.

On Wednesday, I attended a career fair at my university. It was overwhelming, to say the least. I spoke with a few places that seemed interesting, but, overall, there was nothing that really spoke to me. I walked out, called the boyfriend on my stroll over to an academic panel that I was attending, and expressed my disappointment over the whole experience. What a difference two hours makes. As I sat at the panel, I found the academics who spoke so inspiring. They shared my views and had concrete ideas about making those views reality. Feeling hopeful, I met up with friends afterwards to head out to dinner, when my idol (well, in rock star professor land, as she is the bomb and I totally want to be her!!) called me over and said, "Hey, there is someone I want you to meet..." A dialogue of emails back and forth later...I'm not sure where and if this will take me anywhere, but, in the very least, it was a reminder that sometimes we just need to trust that the universe knows what's in store for us...

In the meantime, I FINALLY finished The Marriage Plot--yes, yes, it has taken me nearly two months--and it was excellent. Not necessarily a beach read, but definitely a late night, chapter-an-evening kind of pursuit, and one that you will not be disappointed by even if it does take you a while to get through. Next up: Playing with Fire: Feminist Thought and Action Through Seven Lives in India. I'm not sure anyone else will be as excited about this book as I am...you can probably tell grad school is totally dictating my reading choices right now! Ahhh well...at least on the light reading front I have the latest issue of Food and Wine and I am psyched to read the article on the next best places in California wine country!

Happy reading and here's to serendipity...

Espana!

While this break, though bookended with fun weekend plans, consisted almost entirely of doing work, at least I know that April break will be completely devoted to fun! The promise of those plans are helping me significantly as I trudge through this graduate school paper, grading, and planning for work.

One of my friends is teaching in an international school in Spain and a few of my other friends live in Europe where, thanks to Ryan Air, it is cheap to get from one place to the other. Therefore, in April we will all meet in Barcelona! I. Can't. Wait. Usually in February or (sometimes and!) April, I head out to San Diego to meet up with one of my closest friends; however, once I told her I wanted to go to Spain, she decided that she wanted to head out of the country too. I am super psyched to be off to Spain to see friends and to travel with her. We always have a great time together as, though we talk almost every day, we live on opposite sides of the country. We are also planning to do a little traveling on our own--can't wait to see the south of Spain--ahhhhh Seville!! 

So far on my list of must-sees:

Las Ramblas in Barcelona

A glass of wine at La Vinya del Senyor 

All images via Pinterest...

Museu Picasso

In the meantime...back to writing papers...

Blog Neglect

If my blog were a houseplant, it would most likely be dead from lack of watering right now. Since my need for human social interaction outweighs my need to write for fun, poor little blog has suffered egregious neglect these days. Graduate school and the old job have kept me on my toes, but luckily I have managed to include some champagne filled happy hours, manicures with friends, and some lovely dates with the boyfriend.

The other day we headed off to MOMA for the afternoon where there are some really great exhibits. From Diego Rivera to an awesome exhibit called "Foreclosed," which looks at the relationship between city planning and the housing crisis, or "Sweet Violence," a fascinating look at the relationship between domestic violence and the portrayal of women in the media, I was loving exploring this mecca of modern art! Though it was freezing on the day that we went, I have also made a note to self/why on earth have I never done this before--to make sure that I visit The Modern and have a few drinks on the terrace of the MOMA sculpture garden. It looks like the perfect summer early evening spot for a glass of white wine.

Lichtenstein...a favorite 

Warhol

A piece that, like many works of modern art, has me questioning what makes something art...

 

I was trying to look like the "Billy goat gruff," but instead look like a poster-child for Prozac... :) oops.

Image via moma.org 

Ahhh...can't wait for warmer weather...

Facelift

Unfortunately, my reading these days has been limited to graduate school work and books that I am teaching, so I have no new recommendations on the book front. That said, this weekend, I stumbled upon a lovely little New York City gem where I am now dying to take out-of-town-visitors! Since last weekend was tragically boring and devoted to doing work/planning for the new semester, we decided that it was time for some fun this weekend. The boyfriend and I are both museum people, so in addition to some dinner plans at a jazz restaurant downtown (on route to which I had a fun Gossip Girl sighting!) and a post-museum trip to a little wine bar on the Upper West Side, we decided to spend the afternoon at the New York Historical Society. After a lovely walk through Central Park, we arrived at the newly renovated museum. I had been to the museum pre-renovation and, let me tell you, this place has catapulted to a very high place on my NYC "Must Visit" list after its 65 million dollar renovation! In addition to adding a beautiful wine bar/restaurant that is gorgeously decorated (I am a sucker for white decor and glamorous chandeliers) and has a newly conceptualized menu, the museum has been updated to be more interactive, culturally relevant, and fun. 

All images courtesy of the New York Historical Society 

Before touring the museum, there is now the option of a short film on the history of New York, which, I am not going to lie, made me tear a little during the September 11th portion, and ended with Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind." Again, cheap shots, but they totally worked on me. Favorite exhibits included: "Revolution! the Atlantic World Reborn" and "Urban Views: American Cities." The museum itself is architecturally beautiful, borders Central Park, and is across from The Natural History Museum. It is also dangerously close to Shake Shack! A definite must for those looking for a different museum than the usual suspects.