Tuesday, October 21, 2008

How you like me now?

Here is our completed bathroom. I completely love it.

Shelves on one wall.... (and the picture is of the steps leading down to the water at my family's house on the Cape)


Pictures on another...


Here is a closeup on those pictures (which we took ourselves). I'm actually going to replace the one on the far left, as I feel the yellow doesn't really go with the white/teal/cream thing we have going on.


But, from left to right they are:
(L) Yellow flowers growing by the side of the road in Bass Harbor Maine, which we took while waiting for the ferry to my parent's house on Swans Island.
(C) Mussels and shells on my parent's beach on Swan's Island, same trip.
(R) Our row boat and the sailboat we used to have at the Cape, The Rebecca May (named after my grandmother).

Now that everyone is sufficiently bored with my bathroom, I will attempt to post something next that has nothing to do with my apartment. God, you'd think I don't do anything else. (Ok, so I don't, and the living room is almost picture-ready, so prepare yourself).

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Saturday Revelations

Geoff and I had the whole weekend off, which hasn't happened in....I truly don't remember how long. Seems like it must have been August. But after a slow morning, I started to get cranky. I felt like we were wasting the day. I wanted to be productive on the apartment, but I didn't feel like working on it. I knew we should work out and didn't feel like it. I was frustrated that I wanted us to have food in the house and we don't. Since we never have time to cook (most nights I don't get home before 10pm) I wanted us to have some healthy easy options. But Geoff didn't feel like grocery shopping. And then the next thing I knew I was ridiculously upset at him because he doesn't like turkey sandwiches. (He likes a warm sandwich, but not a cold cold-cut sandwich, which of course i love and grew up on and are an easy, cheap lunch solution). So even though I realized it was beyond ridiculous to be mad at him because he doesn't like turkey sandwiches, I had to tell him and say it out loud. Which I did. And as soon as I was able, we laughed about it. And then we went for a walk.

We have always been the type of people who exercise out of necessity, not for pleasure. But it was sunny and brisk outside, which was so lovely - my favorite kind of weather. So we got on our workout gear and we had an awesome time. We walked through Sunnyside and Woodside and then over to the only Panera Bread in NYC, which is in Astoria, for lunch. Love me some Panera. And we'd passed a Michael's on the way, which we then went back to at the end of our walk and got a bunch of stuff on sale for the house. (So Fun!!) And we ended up walking all over Queens, just stopping for lunch, running errands and spent almost the whole day outside. And it made us remember how fun it can be to be productive and active. We both work so much that when we have time off we just want to relax. Which is important too. But we've turned over a new leaf and have decided to be as active as possible. Geoff even had the brilliant idea to take dance classes once a week...swing or salsa or something. Which I would LOVE. Now we just have to find the time. Maybe we'll end up loving to excercise after all....

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Can you even stand it...?


She has her snack and has found a hand to hold.
Both resourceful and a lover of cheetos.
A girl after my own heart.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

A blue bathroom

Just wanted to post some pictures of our blue bathroom. Its small and we're still have some finishing touches to do but this is pretty much how it looks ... I love the blue.


We're going to hang some pictures above this towel rack (which is opposite the sink). Either we'll make a square with 4 separate pictures in 4 separate frames. Or we may do 2-3 larger pics. Still deciding.


We are going to hang two shelves to the right of the medicine cabinet, one on top of the other.


From the hallway...a little dark, but you get the idea...

Ghetto or Genius?

I have to confess something. Though I have organizational skills for sure, I'm also slightly a mess. Geoff has always affectionately referred to me as a ragamuffin. Which is a nice way of saying, "a slight disaster, but in a charming way".

I never send birthday cards on time, if ever. Or anniversary cards. Even though they are marked on my calendar. Important dates always sneak up on me. I haven't been to the dentist in over a year and a half. Not because I'm afraid of him but because I just can't get around to it. I need new contacts and really want new glasses. Can't get to the eye doctor either. Despite the fact that Geoff refers to my current pair of glasses as my "fat girl glasses". Meaning that they don't look like something his sexy wife would wear. They look like what the sad fat girl wore in middle school. And he's not wrong. But I still can't get to the glasses store for a new pair.

I once wore this pair of sunglasses all the way to work before I realized that they were broken.



And then I bought another pair and the exact same thing happened. Seriously? Seriously.


I have about 12 gift cards, some for significant amounts of money that we got as wedding presents that just sit in my purse because I don't have time to go to Bed Bath & Beyond. There are STACKS of folders with headshots near my desk that I just can't find time to file. I've only done half the thank you notes from our wedding. And the rest of them just give me the evil eye every time I get in late from the theatre and have to just fall into bed. Geoff has given me an "Inbox" in an attempt to organize my desk at home and I always forget to look in it. I go FAR too long before doing laundry. Which results in some questionable outfits. I always put my makeup on every morning on the subway on the way to work, as I inevitably run out of time while I'm getting ready at home. Despite introducing myself as Kate Boka, and having changed my work email, I've not even legally changed my name since the wedding because of all the paperwork and the running around all over the city to get it done. I have one black dress that I have worn to basically every opening night I've gone to since I've started this job over 4 years ago. As Geoff has pointed out on many occasions (in a nice, but slightly sad voice), I am not very good at doing the dishes, as apparently I consistently miss a spot. Or multiple spots. And you may remember the "half cocked" painting job I did on our kitchen.

But the most classic example, and truly the moment I realized just how busted I am, occurred last weekend. I was searching for an outfit to wear and pulled out a yellow shirt that I wore a lot in Italy....particularly you might remember it from the pictures of bike riding in Lucca. It has all these pleats on a band at the bottom and I haven't worn it since I washed it last and it was really wrinkled. However, I never iron anything. Mostly because our ironing board is broken and so we threw it out three weeks ago, but also because there's never any time for ironing. I just usually pick another outfit to avoid ironing. Which can take even longer than the ironing itself.

But I really felt this shirt calling to me and wanted to wear it. So there I was, standing alone in our bedroom, half dressed, running late, talking to myself and ironing my shirt with the flat iron that I am supposed to use on my hair. It actually worked pretty well on those pleats but of course, it couldn't reach the rest of the shirt. And I thought to myself....this is ridiculous. And yet.....(picture the lightbulb going on)...resourceful. Who else has to iron a shirt with a hair straightener because they haven't had time to buy an ironing board? Probably lots of inventive New Yorkers. And possibly they should use it as a challenge on the Amazing Race. Or maybe I should send it in as an idea to Real Simple for their "New Uses for Old Things" section. And yes, I totally abandoned the yellow shirt for a different outfit when the flat iron couldn't work past the pleats.

But perhaps we will now view my "ragamuffin-ness" as both charming AND resourceful. In the same way that my lack of dishwashing skills could just be viewed as a resourceful/innovative way to get Geoff to wash the dishes. Wonder what Real Simple would think about that idea....

Thursday, October 9, 2008

An Unexpected Guest

Well, what an adventure we had this morning. I was all ready for work, sitting on the bed chatting with Geoff for a few minutes before heading out the door when we heard the wind blowing the blinds quite violently. Which was odd, because though the window was open, the blinds weren't actually moving that much. Then I had an unusual sense that we were not alone. And sure enough, moments later, the little head of a SQUIRREL peeked out from behind our curtain. He was on our windowsill ON THE INSIDE! IN OUR BEDROOM! I screamed like a girl and lept off the bed, backing out of the room and alerting Geoff to his presense.

Geoff told me to calm down, it was only a squirrel. Which was true. And at least it wasn't a scorpion or armadillo, which my friends Mike & Michelle have to worry about. But as you may remember from my recent post about Colette, I don't do well when wild animals show up in my home unannounced. We learned this morning that this does indeed apply to squirrels as well as mice.

Meanwhile, Geoff tried to usher the little guy out. And told me to grab the camera. Now, screens did not come with our apartment, so we bought some ajustable screens from Home Depot and have installed one in just one window of our bedroom (after wrestling for a good hour to get the childproof bars off just one window, we have momentarily given up on the rest). Now, after we installed it, we noticed that when the bottom part of the window is open (i.e. the window is not closed and locked) the top half of the window slides down a little bit, leaving between 2-4" gap at the top of the window where there is no screen. We think that's how he got in.

Another thing I learned this morning - squirrels can really climb. In a way that is disturbing.


Here's our buddy Cyril, (yes, we named him), trying to high tail it away from us. I think he looks kind of like a cartoon.


Cyril really wishing he could get the hell out of here.


And yet, admiring our view. Which was nice of him, considering he must have been having a panic attack.


Cyril being bashful.


Cyril being sassy and attempting to wink at me I think.


My reaction to it all. I needed a moment.


And then I could not stop laughing.


Certainly not the way I expected to start my morning. Not remotely. Can't believe I was such a damsel in distress about it either. SO glad Geoff was home. Even the pictures kinda make my hair stand on end a little bit, if I think about it too much. Now, squirrels are cute and fun in a park or any other of their natural habitats. Our bedroom just doesn't happen to be one of them.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Not So Much

A few weeks ago Geoff and I decided we'd have some people over for a housewarming party this Sunday. True, we moved in almost 10 months ago, but I definitely still have a box or two to sort and find a home for and we just hung our first picture on the wall last weekend, so we're a tad behind. Which is par for the course.

But we decided to have a little party anyway. And then today, we cancelled it. We're too busy to even throw our own house warming party. How messed up is that? But now I have to work on Saturday and so does he and there's not even time to shop for food or clean the bathroom or shove the last of the boxes out of sight. So we let ourselves off the hook and are gonna postpone it a couple weeks. And I admit, I feel relieved. I would LOVE to have our friends over. Hardly anyone has even seen our place. But preferably at a time when I can do it without stress.

Monday, October 6, 2008

How did this happen?

October is too busy. As of the last week in September I was already booked every single night and nearly every day of every weekend until October 25. I love the fall. But not when it's so busy I can't even enjoy it.

There, I said it.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Colette & Evan


Yesterday I went to a wedding. As an actual guest, not the videographer. Which is something in itself, but this wedding was pretty amazing for another reason. When I moved to NYC in July of 2001, I subletted a place with my friend Sarah Lilley for a few months until I found a place of my own. I knew I was going to live with a friend from summer stock, Anne Mannal, and we were hoping to find a third. I put an ad on the Redeemer Classifieds, thinking that I would be less likely to room with a weirdo/psychopath if I found them from a church bulletin board instead of Craig's List. Not always a guarantee there either, but it just felt safer to me.

A girl named Colette responded to my posting. She was moving to NYC from Iowa in September and was willing to live with me and Anne in an apartment she wouldn't see until the day we moved in. So, everything was agreed upon, Anne and I found a great place and we all moved in on Sept 1, 2001. I remember that as of 9/11 we still didn't have cable, so we hooked our TV up to the previous tenant's cable cord that was dangling from the wall, and put the TV on a stack of boxes and were able to get a few channels that could fill us in on everything that happened in the days after, when I refused to leave Queens for a week.

Anne moved to LA a few years after that and we had a succession of roommates come and go in the years that followed, but Colette and I lived together from Sept of 2001 to December of 2007, when I was engaged and moved into the apartment I now share with Geoff (about 2 blocks from the old apartment). Which is kind of amazing, considering that she and I have almost nothing in common. I'm 5'9" and she's maybe 5'2". She would burn incense in her room and I can't stand the stuff. She is a little more "earthy" and eclectic than I am. I don't know that we have ever even bought the same groceries except for maybe milk, and even then, I would always go for skim and I think hers was always whole. I'm definitely a dog person and she would probably prefer a cat. I take showers, she always takes baths. She can deal with getting rid of the mice we would catch in our apartment and I am a COMPLETE chicken in that department. I definitely saw a dead mouse one morning and despite my guilt, I left it right where it was and went to work, hoping and praying (and knowing) that Colette would be able to handle it.

And despite all these differences and more, we have so much respect for each other as people and truly care about one another. She is a very talented playwright. She's wise and open and incredibly smart. She's a jewelry designer. The times that we would sit down and talk were always interesting and rewarding and I think it was living with Colette that truly gave me a sense of what it's like to care about someone that I probably never would have been friends with if we'd met at work or in college. One of the only things we did have in common, besides our faith, (which I guess is how we found each other in the first place) is the fact that neither of us really had an extensive dating history before moving to New York, and certainly were coming to the city as single girls with a lot of married friends. Throughout our time living together, I know we both often felt like we'd probably never meet anyone at all. And then we both did. I was SO excited for Colette when she and Evan met. I'd been dating Geoff for maybe about a year at that point, and it was awesome to see, even just a little bit, the beginnings of their relationship and how she was excited, but cautious. And then yesterday, I went to their wedding.


I just think it's amazing. I never would have dreamed it up for either of us. Thinking back to the girls we were seven years ago, and looking at our lives now, to me it's just an amazing example of trust. Trusting that the road you're on is the road you're meant to be on, even when you can't see around the corner. And even when it seems it's taking you a lot longer to get to mile markers that other people have left in the dust. It just makes me want to take a deep breath every day and remind myself to let go and trust.