My Birf'day

Happy Cinco de Mayo/Birthday to me! I had a great birthday this year. Hard to top two years ago when I turned 30 and got engaged, but I wasn't expecting to. I got gorgeous flowers from my wonderful husband at work, and another equally amazing bouquet from my brother. The office broke out a crazy chocolate Reece's PB cup cake from Coldstone Creamery, which was INSANE. INSANE, I tell you
Then I went to meet Geoff for a drink, just the two of us (as we've had NO time lately with our crazy work schedules) and he brought me ANOTHER bouquet of flowers, pink peonies (my latest favorite) and purple tulips. Gorgeous. We sat outside at Iguana and he fought the CRAZY crowds at the bar to get me a margarita & some chips & salsa while we waited for our friends to join us for dinner. Most of you know my love for Mexican food, and I'd want to have it on my birthday even if it WASN'T Cinco de Mayo. The only trick is that, everyone else in Manhattan wants it too. But my wonderful friend Marisa fought long and hard to get us a reservation, so we enjoyed a great dinner in the back corner away from the madness. I had an awesome time. And managed to completely forget the camera, so I have NO pictures. We stayed far later than we should of on a school night, but...life is short.

Thanks to everyone who came to dinner -- The Hunts, the Mills(s) - no idea how to pluralize them when their name ends in an "s", Marisa, Mike Minarik (all aglow from his show's Tony nominations that morning), the amazing Sarah Lilley and the lovely Joanna, who was wearing awesome shoes. Thanks to family & friends who sent cards, care packages, gifts and much love in my general direction. I had a great day! And I'm glad all of Mexico and most of Manhattan was celebrating with me!

My Shiny new bike!!

OK, not really. These are not our new bikes. However, these bikes are always locked up on our block somewhere. Always together....aw, how cute. :-) They were not the entire inspiration for the bike purchase, clearly....but kind of a constant reminder of what we were missing out on.

And so, after visits to multiple other bike shops, we landed at Spokesman Cycles, with three locations in NYC. Super helpful sales guys who REALLY know what they are talking about. Here I am with my new bike! I love it! It has baskets!


Now for fun detail shots that tell you more about my bike:
That's right, Bike, I CAN ride you 'cross town. And anywhere else I feel like.


My bike is a little cocky. Which I dig.


Pretty trees. Unrelated to bikes except that we passed them on our block on the way to the car on the day we bought the bikes. We call them "fish trees". Because, while beautiful to look at, that is what they smell like.


Check out these amazing COLLAPSIBLE baskets I got. I love that they collapse. LOVE. And of course, my safety tail light for night time riding. As I think my friend Michelle always used to say in college, "Safety first, never last, have a future, not a past." I can't wait for her to say that to her son someday, as he will inevitably roll his eyes. :-)


Queens Boulevard & cityscapes at sunset while driving home with my new bike in the back of the car.


In our neighborhood...


So, we got bikes. And have already been on several amazing rides. But more on those later. And OK, so we bought these almost a month ago, but hey, what can you do....

PS, look at the bad-ass way they hang in our foyer (as we clearly have no garage like you fancy suburban people). Geoff, ever the engineer, rigged that sucker up. Impressive right? And dare I say, bordering on...art installation-ish? OK, that may be a bit of a stretch, but while I didn't originally want bikes hanging in the foyer, there's no place else for them. And they do actually look pretty cool.

Geoff's day of Art

So its about time that I posted on here. Kate gets all the fun. I just had to share about a cool day I had yesterday when I joined up with my friends Robert Norman and Rich Esposito along with their friend Tony Fiorini to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. What a place.



This painting has a hauntingly lifelike look to it. Its of Joan of Arc and the spirits that surrounded her before her destiny was made known. Just captivatingly beautiful.



This museum has literally acres of exhibits of works of art like this. Just gorgeous.



What I love about this museum is the architecture of the building itself. I mean how often can you see beautiful arches like this? These are inspiring in and of themselves.



Robert depicting his "post wedding season" expression.



the modern art wing



One of the most inspiring of the day. An acrylic painting roughly 8'x10'.



A self portrait in pointilism. like a sophisticated dot matrix color printer. incredible.



This is the new exhibit on the roof of the Met. Its GIGANTIC. Its their most ambitious piece of art to date. Stainless steel welded together to resemble the organic root structure of a tree. Polished to a glimmering shine. We couldn't stop staring at it and walking around it. Bravo to the artist just for pulling this off. I mean how the heck did they get that one up there?



Bafflingly impressive.



What was interesting was some of the forms the "root" system took on. Organic looking but yet in a very Matrix alien brain cell neuron kind of way. Whatever this artist was on was pretty potent. Definitely impressive.



Oh yeah, and there was a spring time roof top view of Central Park.



And of course there were the classics. These marble statues are just mindblowing in their beauty. I happen to love this atrium area of the museum. I could sit there for hours.



This woman agrees with me. I wish I could have her job. You know, just sitting around sketching gorgeous and impressive works of art in a grand cathedral art museum. Not too shabby. Seriously, where do I sign up for that?



Look at this one for instance. Just look at the flowing drapery of the robe as it hangs loosely over the woman's knees and body. How this artist was able to capture that through carved marble just blows the fuse in my brain. I don't get it but I sure can appreciate it. We all could actually.



And yet another amazing work of sculpture. Such intricacy. And on a small scale too. I just wander around places like this with a stunned awe sometimes. What a great privilege to have this kind of art just a few minutes from our house. So great.

Lately - in Brief

We are still both really swamped with work, so there's NO time for blogging, which makes me sad. There's also no time for laundry, eye appointments or grocery shopping. We have been living on tomato basil mozzeralla salads, protein shakes, taco salads from wendys and amys organic frozen burritos. Yes, i am quite the homemaker these days.

Other things that have happened:
-we bought bikes. Geoff's had to be ordered cause he's so dang tall and he's picking it up today. As it is planning to be in the 80s on Sat, we are counting on a fun day of adventure on our bikes.
- i got caught in a torrential downpour on Monday on the way home from work when the train when out of service 5 stops from my house. I was left to walk & find a cab or bus, was completely soaked and halfway in between being angry enough to kick something, but somehow having the urge to laugh at it all. i finally got home and we drank wine and had a frozen pizza and talked for HOURS on the couch. Which was lovely.
-we saw THE NORMAN CONQUESTS last Saturday. A british comedy & a trilogy. Three plays in one day all about the same thing but from different perspectives. VERY funny. Am hoping to post about that separately. Cause there were some fun pictures.
-I'm in the middle of casting the Broadway production of Bye Bye Birdie and my desk is constantly covered in teenagers headshots. We've found some really talented kids. So even though its hectic, the auditions are fun.
-all of my socks seem to have dissappeared. Perhaps this is linked to the laundry issue.
-I've officially gained back the 20 pounds I lost for the wedding. Which is just awesome. While on the bright side, this supports the idea that we are, in fact, living in marital bliss, the not so bright side is that none of my spring clothes fit. Hoping the bike purchase will assist in this new issue.
-I am obsessed with The Millionaire Matchmaker on Bravo. Patti drops truth bombs all day long and does not play around. I love her.
-I've switched back to my yellow bag that i carried all around Italy, as it is spring now. Even though i have been slightly too optimistic in my clothing choices this week. Sandals, i have learned, are not quite appropriate for the upper 50s, even if its sunny.

That's about all for now. More tidbits as we are able. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Rainy Saturday = Joy

Its Saturday. I finally have a full 2 days off with Geoff, and I'm loving it. Here's how its been amazing so far:
1) It's been raining since we woke up. I cannot begin to tell you how happy that makes me. I am a lover of a rainy Saturday morning. Breakfast, coffee and being in my bathrobe with the whole weekend before us. It gives me so much joy.
2) Photo shoots. Of our newly revived basil plants. It had gotten sick a few months back, had bugs and the weekend mom was here in February, we gave it some pruning, some medicine and some TLC and now it is SO green and lush and healthier than it has ever been. So I had to have a photo shoot.


They reach towards the sun so much that I have to turn the pot every morning to make them grow straight.



A little mushroom who has grown with the basil. Not sure if that's a good thing or not, but he's cute, so we'll keep him.


3) Learning a new trick or two. Geoff taught me a new element of photo editing and I got so excited about it I had to hold myself back from standing up. This is me, shyly hiding my over-excitement (pardon the pre-shower hair).


These next two are the same picture....just with some different editing effects. Which make me happy




and
4) Finally having a moment to blog, be it ever so briefly. YAY for that.

Future Ways this weekend will give me joy:
1) We are investigating buying bikes this weekend.
2) We will have Panera for lunch
3) I will go to the little corner market and buy tomatoes and fresh mozzarella to make a caprese salad with our newly amazing basil
4) I will buy fresh tulips because they look so amazing in the white pitcher.

Off we go for bikes and Panera. But not in that order. Leaving our rainy fire escape behind us....

Geoff is toying with doing a video for his business!

So what do you guys think? Geoff is thinking of making a video promoting his business. Something like this. Thoughts?

M.I.A.

Just wanted everyone to know we're still alive. Work has been crazy for both of us. No weekend for me this past weekend, and only half of one the weekend before, which totally resulted in a meltdown on Sunday night. Definately still haven't done my taxes yet either,(awesome), but am finding a spare moment to breathe here and there and wanted everyone to know we were still in the land of the living. And will post when we can.

In the meantime, this is what I did on Saturday. Over 1300 kids wrapped around a city block as of 830am. Whew!

Better

I'm better. Little perspective never hurt anyone. Only helped everyone, I think. And also, as I said to Geoff last night and my mom this morning, you know that "crazy" part of you that everyone has? That's what I call it anyway. I'm not afraid to admit it and I think everyone has it to varying degrees. Except maybe my dad who is just calm and unruffled as can be. Always. Or at least appears that way. But the "crazy" is the part of you that's irrational, emotional, selfish, fearful or whatever else? And part of it, when used for good can be what makes you fun and charming and interesting. But not when it's used for evil. Then its just Crazy. Well I've just tied Crazy up in a chair and put her nose in the corner and will leave her there until I have a day off to deal with her appropriately. And it frees me up. And also, after reading Stephen's blog about the Congo yesterday, it just seems ridiculous to be so fussed over what may seem to be legit concerns in my world, but are ultimately very trivial things in the big scheme of things.

OK, I will also promise to balance this recent "blog-as-therapy" craze with just some pretty pictures soon.

Challenging

Ultimately, in the big scheme of things...life is good. Really quite lovely. But today is one of those days I'm really needing to remember my tulips in the white pitcher in the sunlight. In fact, it it my new desktop picture at work. Am gearing up for a week much like the one in the previous post. Something every night. And working all day next Sunday, so just one day (Saturday) off next weekend. After no weekend this weekend (work on Saturday, and a photo seminar in CT on Sunday - we got home at 8pm and Geoff was asleep by 9pm. Will try to post about it soon, though I have no idea how that will be possible).

Basically, I'm tired. Or maybe not tired exactly but....over it. And I don't really feel I have the right to be. Because in the scheme of what my job is sometimes like, things are pretty easy right now. I must be "out of shape". I seriously feel like a wuss. But I want it all to go away. I want to sit on my bed and read in the sunshine for days and have no one bother me. There, I said it.

Ok, just talked to Geoff. Helped a little. Am going to have my skim latte/self medicate now. I know... bit of a theme/coping mechanism. Guilty/Unapologetic as charged.

This Week: in streamofconsciousness

MONDAY
It begins again. After a weekend with Mom, and while Geoff recovers from a ridiculously long and hard weekend of 12 hour shoot days and less than a quarter of that in sleep, I head back to the office. Tired. Mom and I were up late too. And lost an hour with the springing forward. Arrive at work shortly after the suggested time of 10am. The usual hecticness, then a reading at 2pm, quite good and interesting with talented actors, back to the office for more and by 630pm I'm down at NYU to teach the first of a trilogy of audition workshops for NYU's CAP21 musical theatre majoring seniors. 3.5 hours there, and some nice moments of feeling like maybe I actually helped them a bit and answered a few questions. Or at least I tell them what I wish someone would have told me at their age. A nice chat with my friend who is one of their teachers. About life. And "the business". And how we both think there's more/different that we want. And it will come when it's supposed to. Encouraging. Home by 11pm for dinner. Sit next to Geoff on the couch for an hour or so. Not able to talk much, on account of the Tired, but just needing to be near each other, since we haven't had any recharging time together over the weekend. I fall asleep on the couch during an episode of Property Virgins where a gay couple, both named Scott, search for their dream home. No idea if they found it.

TUESDAY
Day 2 of 5. Busy as usual. Lots of fragments of things that want tending to. Which leaves me feeling like I must have forgotten 12 other things. And increases my general job-induced dyslexia. Auditions at the end of the day for 8 year old boys to understudy in a play. Found one at 620pm, will hire him tomorrow, but for now, I dash to the subway and head downtown. Catch the express and get off at 14th street, but no local train in sight to take me the one stop further that I need to go. Head above ground and walk it instead, there's time. Slight drizzle. West village. Dash to ATM and arrive in time for the 7pm show that my friend Sarah Lilley has the lead in. Miles (of Alice's Tea Cup fame) has saved me a seat. I pre-order my 2 drink minimum and catch up with him. We agree on how to survive in this city/this business. Marisa makes it just in time and the show starts. Its nothing to write home about, but Sarah sure is. Charming and funny as all get out in a part that Carol Burnett originated when this show first played on the Broadway back in the day. We enjoy the heck out of Sarah and hang at the bar afterwards. Chatting, reminiscing, totally digging the amazing mix of 80s music they are playing which makes me want to sing at the top of my lungs, even though I'm hungry and tired. Catch up a bit with Marisa. Ride the subway home with Miles. Home by 11:15pm for dinner. Geoff arrives soon after from a networking meeting. We talk a bit. I do manage to fit in a small meltdown before bed. In the fashion of a 4 year old who is just so tired all they can do is cry. Everything triggers everything else. And I tell Geoff maybe I can't shoot the wedding with him on Saturday. This week is going to be so busy and I'm really stressed about being booked every night. Even though that's a common occurrence, I haven't had a week like this in a month or so. And what, I've gotten out of the habit? I forget how to handle it? I will need a day off on Saturday. I selfishly dream of it. How can I feel this way when it's only Tuesday? And while he's in the bathroom brushing his teeth, I tell God all the things I'm tired of. Out loud. And I feel a bit better.

WEDNESDAY
Hump Day. I hate it when people call Wednesday that. Surely we can think of a better phrase for it. I can't help it, it only makes me think of what dogs shouldn't do to your leg. I'd prefer a less awkward mental picture, please. Auditions in the morning. Didn't quite find what we wanted. Maybe one guy. He's a good actor, but is he right for this part? Spend the rest of the afternoon scrambling to have more options to bring the director tomorrow. Phone calls come at inconvenient times and I'm running late for my "early departure" - leaving at 5:15pm today. Get wires crossed with Geoff about meeting him downstairs at the end of the day. It's half AT&T's fault, but it still makes me fussy. We are heading to Newark tonight to see Alison in her show. Yes. TOPOL in Fiddler on the Roof has come to the NJ Performing Arts Complex and the Bokas wouldn't miss it. We can't find a gas station on the way, but eventually do, and solve my fussy-ness via processing/talking it out. We arrive, park and have to eat at the hotel restaurant across the street since both NJPAC restaurants are PACKED. Our waiter informs us that we are "late late late" if we're wanting to make the show (it's just before 630pm for a 730pm show - please....I've eaten a full dinner in FAR less time in the city, get over yourself). We have a glass of wine, steak for him, salmon for me and make it in plenty of time. Told you. We have box seats. As we are fancy. We eat candy in our box seats, which is so against the laws of theatre etiquette and it drives me NUTS when Geoff does it at theatre in NYC, but I do not care here, as it is Jersey. 1) Because no one knows us here and 2) because it's Jersey. No offense. The show is good. Alison is great (naturally), and Topol is hamming it up. But besides the fact that you can tell he's been doing this show for 50 years, he's actually pretty good. Consider me surprised. I'd take a little less clowning and mugging from him, but NJPAC feels differently. They LOVE him. At his curtain call we may have actually been transported to a Jonas Brothers concert, considering the thunderous applause and screaming and leaping to feet. Alison says its like this in every city, every night. Wow. We see her afterwards and she rides back to the NYC with us. We discuss the tour. And life. And Decisions. And drop her at 82nd and Amsterdam, making plans to see her at the weekend. We drive home. I am thirsty. Geoff (kindly and because of his great love for me) drops me at the house so I can get water ASAP while he looks for parking on his own. He always drops me off first. Love him for that and many other things. Home at 1130pm again. But at least we ate dinner at a decent time tonight. That's something.

THURSDAY
Closing in on the end. Auditions at noon. We start running way behind. And I have to tell one poor actor we won't have time to see him today. After he waited an hour. He was lovely and understanding. But I feel bad, regardless. Also feel bad for two more reasons involving two of my friends - one not being given the additional required scenes by her agent and the other, shoved aside a bit by a less than warm/less than considerate someone else. We get it cast, and with good actors. The one from yesterday that I thought was good but might not be quite right, apparently was both good and right, as he booked the job. Which of course makes me question myself. In perhaps an unfair way. But the whole thing makes me feel crappy and when it's over I flee slightly to get lunch before heading back to the office. I get cheese on my sandwich in attempts to self medicate. As always, it ends up being disappointing. More afternoon work, including Light Mill duties I have shirked as there has been no time up until now. Am therefore behind. Take advantage of some post 630pm quiet time in the office to catch up on that. Geoff finds another shooter for Saturday. I am off the hook. And.... relieved. Head down to Union Square and snag a very disappointing snack-sized pesto chicken salad from Au Bon Pain prior to seeing This Beautiful City at the Vineyard Theatre. Interesting subject matter. Based on real interviews from New Life Church in Colorado Springs and examines the evangelical Christian movement there in light of Ted Haggard's sex/drug scandal and alongside gay rights initiatives. Very interesting. And very impressive (and accurate) performances by most of the actors. Very interesting. Not quite as even-handed as they'd like to think it is, but far more so than most theatre that deals with Christianity. FAR more. I'm sure I'm biased, as everyone is, but consider myself right in the middle of these two often opposing groups. the Right and the Left. The Christian and the Not. So.... feel I can make relatively sound judgements about when something is fair to both sides. Am still thinking about it. But perhaps more on that and my experience/thoughts on the subway ride home another time. Swing by the grocery store on the way home, as I am craving granola for dinner. I purchase 2 different kinds, and try to remember if our milk is past its due date. I leave the grocery store, still concerned about our milk status, so I buy another quart at the Turkish deli across from our apartment building, just in case. By 1130pm I'm home in my PJ's and contemplating a second (small) bowl of granola, as I have to see if the other kind is any good. (The old milk was fine, by the way). Geoff gets home another 45 minutes later from a networking party in CT that a wedding planner friend threw in his honor (complete with his picture pasted to Popsicle sticks - like... Geoff masks) and he falls asleep pretty quickly. I'm close behind.

FRIDAY
Finally. No more auditions this week. Phew. Plenty of list making, organization, planning, phone calls, some Light Mill prep. Busy, but the least busy of the week. And oh no. I've got to do auditions on a Saturday. Sometime in the next 2 weeks. And our 2 remaining weekends in this month already have one day each completely occupied due to work of some kind. Nuts. No choice though. Just means less time for us. We will have to deal. I breathe. I take a walk to the bathroom and fill up my water bottle and breathe. And dive back in. Disappointing Potato Leek Soup for lunch. Better with salt, so I add some, as I am unafraid. Emails. A phone call from an agent who thinks his client is so right for a particular part. He describes her, and she seems anything but. One co-worker has a date this weekend and the other is very funny about it. As in making jokes, not as in acting funny/upset about it. Someone from another department comes in around 5pm asking if we have any alcohol. We do. We open and 5 of us split a bottle of pino grigio while we finish up the last of things. I make it out by 620pm. Yippee!! Home by 7pm. Enjoy the book I'm reading on the train. The one I'm reading on my iPhone. That I downloaded for free, as I never pay for anything dowloadable from iTunes or iPhone. I only have applications that are free, as am kind of a cheap bastard. Wonder how the poor author makes any money if I didn't have to pay for his book. Am concerned for him. Geoff is finishing up his day when I get home. I perch on the L part of the couch ("my spot") and we talk. And decide what to do about dinner. We talk. We laugh. We have wine and order Mexican food. And watch The Millionaire Matchmaker. Because I love her. She tells it like it is. And the Real Housewives of NYC. Who Geoff doesn't like as much because their drama stresses him out. They are pretty ridiculous. We do like Bethany and Jill though. We talk a bit and get to bed by midnight. He has a big day tomorrow. And I feel a little guilty for having tomorrow off. I remind myself that I need it. That the more I push myself to suck it up and push through on a week like this, the worse it is for everyone. Still feel guilty though. Will have to work through that some more, it seems.

SATURDAY
Get up early for brunch at Pastis with Alison and Sarah. 930am brunch because Alison has to be in NJ by 1pm for her matinee and will have to catch a train. Geoff gets to sleep in a few more minutes after I leave at 830am, and I want him to get as much rest as he can before the 12+ hour day on his feet that awaits him. I slip out. And enjoy my iPhone book. The Whiskey Rebels - very good so far. Slow in the very first few pages, but am really enjoying it now. Historical fiction. Which is so up my tree. (I realize that is a phrase we use at work, which basically means, "up my alley" - just in case anyone was confused). Still wouldn't have paid for it, since I never do, but do hope this author has some sort of all encompassing deal about free downloads, as I'm really liking him. I get out of the train at 8th Ave & 14th street and start heading to Pastis a few short blocks away. And realize I'm completely turned around. In the way that I used to be when emerging from the subway back when I first moved to the city. Back when I exited the subway with one finger or a thumb pointed discreetly (hands down at my sides) in the direction that the train was going when I got off it, so I would have some concept of uptown/downtown when I emerged above ground. Clearly should have done that today, as am fully as turned around as a first timer. Make it to Pastis and sit down with Sarah. Alison is missing. And ends up not able to make it. We miss her. But I shall see her when she's back in a few weeks at the beginning of April. Sarah and I have great conversation. About life. And fascinating conversation about how Sarah thinks the driven/independent part of me (the part that got me this far in this life and this city) needs to maybe take a backseat for a while. And let myself rest without feeling guilty. Without beating myself up. And I see the logic of that, and yet have a hard time silencing those voices and expectations I have of myself. And I don't fully realize that I am being that hard on myself. That deep down I think, in addition to feeling guilty for not helping Geoff with the shoot today, I should also use this day to myself to:
Go to the eye doctor
Go to the gym
Get groceries
Organize my iTunes on my new hard drive
Clean out my closet, as it is a disaster
Figure out a crock pot recipe to try tomorrow
Start organizing my receipts for taxes
Finish the last 12 thank you notes from the wedding
Clean out my filing cabinet and transfer files to Geoff's
Drop off the laundry
Edit photos for various friends
Blog
Make the apartment homey and welcoming for Geoff when he comes home after his long day
14 other similar errands
Basically get my act together

And likely, I won't do most of those things, but will feel like I should have. But after Sarah tells me to stop being so hard on myself and I feel tears start to well up in my eyes, there in the middle of the subway mezzanine with the world passing by (including a group of JMU kids on spring break), I know that means there's truth to it. And so I decide to let myself off the hook today. I read The Whiskey Rebels on the way home. I talk to Alison briefly before her show. I get home, change into sweats and lay on my bed reading until I get hungry. Then have half the other half of my burrito from last night and start to watch some TV, but blog instead. I know, I know, that seems like it was on my list of "things I should do", but I do actually enjoy it. In a way that I don't enjoy cleaning my closet, prepping my taxes or going to the gym. It helps me process. I look at photos that I like. And Geoff just texted to say that his day is going fairly well so far, all things considered, and that he's glad I'm resting myself. And he wrote it with an exclamation mark, so I know he means it. So now....back to those Whiskey Rebels.

This may have been the longest post ever. If you made it this far, I trust it was interesting enough to you, so I won't apologize.