California Dreamin'

Matt and I spend the last week in sunny, beautiful San Diego, CA.  It was nice to have one last vacation before I start back to school.  We stayed with our friend Brian, who graciously let us sleep in his detached living room.  

On Tuesday we went to Disneyland in Anaheim, just an hour and a half up the coast.  We had a blast!! We got there bright and early, used fast passes and single rider lines to scoot through lines quickly, and the weather was perfect.  It was fun to act like a kid and relive past Disney experiences.

(I'm in the very back, hands up)

We spent several days on Ocean Beach and Mission Beach soaking up the rays.  The beaches are very different from NC beaches, but still fun and relaxing.  These two beaches had wide areas of sand, but no sand dunes (weird!), really long, stringy seaweed all over, and no shells (also weird).  Other beaches are very rocky and basically just cliffs, but all seem to have turquoise blue-green water.  After getting over the initial shock of the water temperature, we went swimming and wave-jumping.  The waves were HUGE and lots of surfers took advantage of them, which was fun to watch. 

We went to Balboa Park one day, which is a large complex of cultural and botanical sites.  There was a cactus garden, rose garden, butterfly garden; there were theaters with beautiful architecture, 18 museums (we went to none of them), and an artist colony where we could watch artists at work and see their art for sale.

Throughout the week, we had fun reading Trivia Pursuit cards to each other and guessing answers.  There were also some epic corn hole games played among Matt and Brian's family.  We taught them how to play Fish Bowl and they were hooked, so we played that several times and laughed a lot.  Matt and I both finished two books during the week.  Fun!

On Saturday we went to Coronado Island, a very swanky island.  Coronado is also home of the Hotel del Coronado, where Some Like It Hot was filmed.  It's the largest all-wood hotel - very expensive!  We also went to the heart of downtown San Diego and saw the big boats and ships in the port.  

Next we went to La Jolla to see the seals on the coast.  The views were incredible and the smell was almost equally overpowering.  Seals are stinky!  

To end the evening, we went to Mission Bay and had a bonfire on the beach complete with pizza, s'mores, and fireworks.

Sunday was a full day of traveling and we got back to the apartment late after picking Charlie up from a friend's apartment.  He was very glad we were back and he could go home.

This week I will be setting up my classroom and getting ready for school to start next Thursday.  I'm thinking about all my friends who have already started teaching this week ~ best of luck to all of you!

Did all of that just happen in one week??

Whew...It's been quite a week.  Matt's mom, Gale, and some friends of hers came to visit this week and we were going, going, going all week.  I got a lot of things crossed off my Want-To-Do-This-Summer list, which was great.  Here are some (actually a lot of) highlights:

Shakespeare in the Park: King Lear with John Lithgow and Annette Bening!!

   We waited in some rain...

but were successful!  It was worth the 5 hour wait.  

During the day, Gale and I went to the American Folk Art Museum to see an exhibit entitled "Self-Taught Genius" about people who invented or did things on their own.  We saw some "interesting" things, including a model of the Empire State Building made out of cherry sticks that looked like clothespins.  

Also an awesome quilt hand-stitched by slaves in Virginia.  Some beautiful, intricate work...and it was cool that they actually attributed the work to the slave women, instead of the slave owner's wife, which was customary.

Later that night we went back to Central Park for the SitP performance.  As I was waiting for Matt, I turned and saw Danny DeVito standing around waiting to see the show.  That's one of those random, magical things that happens in this city.

The show was awesome and mostly dry until the very end when it started to pour.  The actors and actresses were truly professionals and the show went on through rain and thunder.  I'm glad we stuck it out!

~

The next day I took everyone on the "Matt and Anna tour" - we saw our work places, our grocery store, our church, etc.  We wandered and sauntered around the city and wore ourselves out walking.  That night we went back into the heart of the city to see Bullets Over Broadway at the St. James theater.  It was so good!!

 

Matt, Gale, Barbara, and Mark

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The next morning (briiiight and early!!) Mark and I went to The Today Show at Rockefeller Center.  This was one thing that I'd wanted to do, but it seemed too silly for a resident New Yorker to do on her own.  I needed a visitor to make it acceptable.  Mark was the right person because he's done this about 15 times.  We were right on the corner between the studio and the outdoor plaza.  I don't think I made it on TV, but that wasn't really my goal.  I just wanted to see it all happen and to say I've done it.  Check.

From there we went to a free "Broadway in the Park" concert in Bryant Park.  Cast members from several Broadway shows sang songs from their musicals and we got to hear them for free.

Cast of Mamma Mia

Next in our whirlwind day was a trip over to the main public library...a mecca for book lovers such as myself.  The iconic lions out front have a long history.  Excerpt from the NY Public Library page: 

Their nicknames have changed over the decades. First they were called Leo Astor and Leo Lenox, after The New York Public Library founders John Jacob Astor and James Lenox. Later, they were known as Lady Astor and Lord Lenox (even though they are both male lions). During the 1930s, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia named them Patience and Fortitude, for the qualities he felt New Yorkers would need to survive the economic depression. These names have stood the test of time: Patience still guards the south side of the Library's steps and Fortitude sits unwaveringly to the north.

As a tribute to the Lions' popularity and all that they stand for, the Library adopted these figures as its mascots. They are trademarked by the Library, represented in its logo, and featured at major occasions.

 I'm standing in front of Patience.

Inside, there was a free exhibition called "The ABC of It: Why Children's Books Matter".  It was like they were just waiting for me to come along that day.  It was a fabulous display of children's books and why they are so important in children's (dare I say everyone's) lives and how they have changed over the years.  We saw many favorite titles, original illustrations from authors such as Lewis Carroll, and even the real stuffed animals that inspired Winnie the Pooh!  What a treasure find!  Gretchen Westman, if you're reading this, I thought about you the whole time and wished you could see this phenomenal display of work!

Eeyore, Tigger, Kanga, Piglet, Pooh.  Roo was lost in the woods by A.A. Milne's son, who was the inspiration for Christopher Robin.  Winnie the Pooh was originally Edward the Bear.

Later that day we rode the Staten Island Ferry, which is free and affords you great views of the city.  We didn't do anything on S.I., but the boat ride was nice. 

~

I will be sharing adventures from a different city next week.  We are headed out to San Diego, California for a vacation.  We should have lots of pictures and stories to share after we get back! Have a great week : )

I thought we'd done this already...

Moving, that is.  On Tuesday we flew back to Durham to clean out our house and move everything that was left behind out.  We haven't sold the house yet, but we needed to get this all done before school starts.  Before we got down there, we thought, "We've already moved the big stuff, we just have a few things to store and pack up, it shouldn't take that long." Haha, my how we underestimated the amount of stuff we still had.  It really does accumulate quickly.

Matt was working at the Research Triangle Park location this week, which was nice because Credit Suisse paid for his flight and the rental car that we needed to get things back up to NYC with.  I flew separately, but that was ok.  He worked Wednesday and Thursday while I ran errands, saw friends, shopped, and packed things up at the house.  Even though we've only been gone for a month and a half, it was great to be back and to see friends and family.  Having access to a car was nice and the Bojangles biscuit I had tasted extra delicious.  

To store or donate what was left in our house, we had to split it all up among 5 different places: Matt's parent's house in Winston-Salem, Mom's house in Charlotte, Graham's apartment in Asheville, some friends' house at Lake Norman, and Goodwill.  Just coordinating all of that took a lot of mental energy.  We rented another Budget truck (we recommend Budget to anyone out there needing to haul stuff) - this time just a 10 foot truck - and it was packed to the gills again.  Matt's dad, Murray, came to help us and we filled up his car, along with a trailer he brought, and our car with stuff.  We just had no idea we would need this much space!!!

All of this stuff (truck, two cars, and a trailer) went to W-S, Lake Norman or Charlotte.  We drove it all down on Friday afternoon.  We spent the night at mom's new house in Charlotte and met Nick's daughter Hannah.  We had a lovely evening and it was good to recover from the looong day's work.

On Saturday morning we got up, drove our car back to Durham to finish things up.  We still had to take things to Goodwill (an entire car's worth), pack up our rental van, clean the house, and sell Matt's car before driving to South Jersey to spend the night.  Rain didn't help things.  We were already exhausted, but we kept going and got everything at the house cleaned and packed up by 6:15.  We sold Matt's car at Carmax and got on the road to NJ by 8:00pm...not ideal.  It was a long night, but we made it without incident by 3:15am.  

Today, we got up after just a few hours of sleep, had some breakfast, and made it to NYC with our packed-to-the-gills rental van.  We unloaded the van and returned it by 3.  Charlie had been staying with a friend, so I collected him (he was so happy to see me!) and we've all been taking it easy this afternoon.  

Matt and I commented at about 1:30 this morning that one of the things that makes our marriage strong is that we support each other and make each other laugh during the stressful, hard times.  These last few days were a testament to that.

~

Side note 1: If you've ever heard Matt or me rant talk about the bamboo issue in our yard, you'll understand how funny this headline in the Durham paper on Friday was to us:

It took us leaving and letting our bamboo go for them to realize the problem, I guess.  If you haven't heard us talk about our bamboo or ever encountered bamboo - just know that it is the strongest root system out there and to get rid of it you have to use a backhoe to dig six feet down and pour a layer of concrete over the roots to stop them from infiltrating your yard.  We almost got a panda instead of a dog to take care of our yard.

Side note 2: I might have unsuspectingly been convinced that I could eventually be a minivan person.  I have said repeatedly that I would never, ever own a minivan.  But, our rental van was a Chrysler Town and Country that thing was like driving a rocket ship! I've never seen so many storage places, gadgets, and cool features before.  They've come a long way from the vans I rode in as a kid.  We'll see in a few years...for now we are totally car-less!  What a liberating feeling!

~

This coming week will be filled with more city fun; Matt's mom, Gale, and a friend are coming to town to spend a few days.  I'm sure we'll get into lots of fun and see some interesting things!  Have a great week everyone, especially my teacher friends who are setting up classrooms and getting ready for another year : )

Giving and Receiving

On my birthday I started the day bright and early (5:30!) by volunteering at a soup kitchen uptown.  The volunteers that I worked with were friendly, efficient, and acted like family with one another because they see each other every Tuesday morning to serve breakfast to 125 homeless and hungry people.  It was really cool to see that generous perspective of the city.

The homeless situation is major here with tens of thousands of homeless people, but there are lots of organizations and efforts to help these people.  They are, perhaps, some of the most visible but least acknowledged people you encounter when in NYC.  They show up on the trains doing songs, dances, or just pure begging to scrape together pennies.  You see them lying on sidewalks.  As I passed out milk and sugar to the people at this soup kitchen, it occurred to me that while some people looked the stereotypical part of the homeless person, many did not.  There were people that if I saw walking on the street I would not know that they were hungry and down on their luck.

When I see people asking for money in the subways or on the street I've asked myself, "What should I do??" because I want to help those who truly need it.  It's a question that I know lots of people struggle with.  I feel conflicted about handing out money sometimes because I don't know what the person's intent is.  But, volunteering at a soup kitchen or in some other capacity helps ease my mind because 1) I can see the direct effect of my efforts and 2) I can actually interact in a safe way with these people and develop more compassion for their struggles.

I'd like to establish a routine volunteering schedule.  I signed up for this project through an awesome organization called New York Cares, which easily (I mean so simply) connects volunteers to projects all around NYC.  In the orientation for NY Cares, there was a video that talked about calling New York City "home".  I've been laughing to myself recently about how I have a 'home identity crisis' right now because I still call Durham "home" as well as our apartment here.  Home has a lot of meanings, but in this video it talked about how you work and give back to a place to make it your home.  You have to do something for your city for it to truly be yours.  That resonated with me and it makes sense that you feel connected to a place when you work to make it a better, more vibrant community.  Wherever you are reading this, I encourage you to volunteer somehow...do something to make your community even better.  

I entitled this post "Giving and Receiving" because through giving of my time I received a blessing of awareness and more compassion...those are pretty great birthday gifts.