yucko

today was one of those lovely days that I dread, a day when i feel sick and disgusting and nauseated and too hot and too cold at the same time and cranky and in pain and like my legs have left me.

It happened that it is also my busiest work day of the week on Tuesdays (today).

So, knowing that it was going to be the worst day ever, i got up at 6, ate a smoothie, and hopped on the subway for the ride to work. The subway doesn't do much to aide the nauseated and by the time I got to 34th st the thought of riding the cross town bus was unfathomable. i opted to walk from 8th ave to madison. It's a 15 minute walk. i was the first one to get to work so I turned on the lights, turned on the music, and hopped to it. I tried to get as much done as I could before my doom arrived full force.

Normally on days like today i feel quite lonely because i don't like to tell people that i am having a hundred issues and that i might not be my normal me and that i might really actually wish i was dead so i didn't have to wonder if i was dying. This was my first time feeling like this at my new job (luckily [?] all the other times have happened on the weekend), and while i love everyone at my new job, i feel like i am still working with relative strangers. Maybe because my past jobs were with family and with people i have known since I was 13. Anyway, i could tell that i wasn't going to last much longer so I emailed my boss a little heads up that i was feeling bad and i couldn't believe how sweet his response was. I mean, he is a very sweet man so i shouldn't have been surprised, but i felt so loved and cared for when he came out of his office and told me I could go home whenever I wanted, that my tuesday tasks wouldn't suffer at all if they were completed on wednesday, and that i shouldn't push myself if I am not feeling well. I told him that my intentions were to stay and get everything done, but that my body might have different plans.

Turns out, my body had different plans. I worked for about 2 hours this morning before i knew i had to leave. I tried to prolong my departure by eating goldfish crackers, but they didn't help. I poked my head into my boss' office and said "I think I had better go now, sorry" and he jumped up and offered to pay for a taxi ride home. Isn't that so kind? The subway seriously makes me so ill when I am feeling like this but I hadn't even told him that. I refused his offer because I always feel uncomfortable accepting gifts like that but I thought it was so so sweet.

After I left, I called casey and told him  I was coming home. He has today and tomorrow off for his "weekend" so I knew I wouldn't be bothering him at work. I also knew that he would be using these two days to work on his puppet, and since I prefer to work on things when he isn't home I didn't want to come home and bother him and make his day less productive. He doesn't get very many days off. I went on a half an hour walk towards home. It was a hot day today and it was making me feel gross in addition to feeling nasty and dying, but I couldn't will myself to go downstairs into the subway stations I kept passing. I decided to walk over to rockafeller center to pick up our mail from our PO box. On my way there, Casey texted me and told me that if I needed to, I could take a taxi home. Isn't that sweet? we can't afford a taxi and we're pinching pennies and he has been saving up all his tips to send me out to see shows with my mom and sister even though he desperately needs some new shoes and has been wanting some chartreuse and a book to read. he wanted me to spend way to much money on getting home. That made me feel so cared for. And he also offered his starbucks giftcard if that would make me feel better. I didn't use it because I had my own, and I would have felt uncomfortable taking that from him since I know he loves to get parfaits and almost never gets to.

So, after trying really hard to go into the subway at rockafeller center, I went out onto 6th ave and hailed a cab. I haven't ever ridden in a cab all alone and i felt so fancy telling him how to get to my home. The drive up the west side of the island is beautiful and there was very little traffic. I paid about $40 (including his tip) for the ride, and he dropped me off at the end of my block. It was so nice to have a day at home to relax and breathe and lie down. Casey worked on his puppet and I made sure the kittens didn't bother him too much and also helped him when he asked for my opinion on things.

We haven't had a do-nothing day together since we moved into this apartment and we kept saying "this is what saturdays would be like". It was such a lovely day, even though i spent most of it wishing my body would die or wishing I could scrape it off and flick it away like an old scab.

I am so thankful for everyone who was so sweet to me today. It really lifted me up emotionally and helped me through the day.

I love this place and I love these people in my life and I love my home and my job and my kitties and my family and my husband. I have so many blessings and I am so glad that I was given the ability to notice and appreciate them all today while I was feeling sick because I would have felt much worse if I didn't notice how wonderful my life is.

Sorry I didn't take any photos today. Hope you have a good night

traffic??

I think the thing that analyzes my "blog traffic" is totally mistaken. It says that 21 people have found my blog because of "top blog stories dot com"... but when I clicked the link it took me to a website about how to be less fat. 

And 13 people from vampire stat dot com?

And people in russia and peru and brazil?

WHO ARE YOU GUYS?

today!

Lately I haven't been posting about the actual day I am doing the posting on because there are always so many photos backlogged in my phone and I don't like things getting out of order! But today is not that way.

Today started off in a horrible way and I wasn't too sure how the rest of it was going to turn out, but it ended up being a super fun day :)

Last night I put Vitamin E in my hair to try to make it get healthy. My vitamin E is a super oily consistency so it made my hair look really dirty. I left it in while I slept with the intention of taking a shower this morning but when I woke up there was NO hot water. Like, the water was practically coming out in ice cubes. I wouldn't drink water that was the temperature of my shower this morning! It was so cold. Anyway, I looked disgusting and oily and I absolutely HAD to bathe, so I boiled a big pot of water and had to sit in the empty bath and wash my hair in my pot. It's a rainy day and I was frozen solid. I wasn't so sure about the days potential after that, but it was actually quite fun!

Casey and I went on a little walk this morning and went to Dichter Pharmacy, a new pharmacy that just opened 2 weeks ago here in Inwood. They have an awesome ice cream/soda counter and stools in addition to the regular drugstore products. We've heard great things about their egg creams (DID YOU KNOW WHAT AN EGG CREAM WAS? ME EITHER!) so we got our first one! It was apparently invented in Brooklyn. The lady behind the counter suggested we try Chocolate and it was yum. And she was so sweet - while we were sharing the chocolate one she made us little mini vanilla ones so we could taste them :). I think I would get a vanilla next time! The employees at Dichter Pharmacy were super nice - I think we will definitely go back for more egg creams this summer :).

THEN Kaitlin came over for a second and we went to our everyday group (we have been going to the inwood one but next time we're going to the creativity one! so excited.) and then the MET with the family group. I just LOVE the met. It's such a beautiful place to be and I feel like every time I go there I see so many new and wonderful things! I love looking at ancient things and imagining them in use... we saw some egyptian jewelry that was THREE THOUSAND years old! I like to think about the egyptian women and men who wore the bracelets and earrings that we saw, and whether the jewelry got passed down through families or just lost and buried and dug up or buried in tombs or what! It can get pretty overwhelming though when your brain is going a mile a minute about one thing and you are standing in a room with a hundred things to think about. I just really love going and seeing everything and thinking about it all. I would love to make the Met a weekly trip! It's pretty hard to get to from where we live (especially on the weekend in the rain), but totally worth it. AND they have delicious knishes outside! But I didn't eat one because I am trying to be good and never eat potatoes ever again. I think my only exceptions will be if I just can't say no to a knish from the steps of the Met OR if someone invites me to their home for dinner and makes me potatoes. So far it hasn't been too hard!
ANYway - I took some photos of our time at the Met :). Case didn't get to come because of his big dumb job. I hope he doesn't have to work there much longer!

Our kiddos at church have been learning about Moses - this exhibit is what prompted the whole met trip!

SLAUGHTER. HORRIFYING. LOOK AT THE TIED UP LEGS.

poor little buddy. don't look at the above picture. 

mr stork bringing a baby?

tiffany!

frank lloyd wright!

frank lloyd wright times two!

this lion was making an ugly cry face so we did too!

that's all for today. I'll try to update y'all more regularly! miss you!

mommy

My mommy was in DC for a business trip and she took a train up to see me! my boss gave me a day off of work to spend with her. Our visit was WAY TOO SHORT but we packed so so SO many fun things into the day!!

It was so SO great to see my mommy. You know how you don't realize how much you miss someone until you see them again? I don't think we could have possibly had a better day together.

I had requested the day off a long time ago and as it approached it became clear that it was going to rain all over me. I was worried that that would make our day stinkier but it didn't AT ALL and it totally added to the bounteous beauty of my pretty city and darling neighborhood. I'm so glad we went out - when we woke up and saw the rain we thought about staying cozy inside and playing cards or something but I am SO glad we went out.

We walked through Fort Tryon Park to get to our first stop. Pardon my weird lumpy face :)

The first stop was a darling little local coffee shop, Darling Coffee. We got to have an Americano, a Mocha and a DELICIOUS Orange Raisen Scone. I had always thought that scones were too dry but this one was moist and delicious. So delicious.

After Darling Coffee, we continued North on a path that my friend Andrea showed me a couple of weeks ago when I complained that there weren't enough beautiful things in the city (I know, it's silly. There are SO ANY beautiful things in the city. I think I was homesick).  The path winds through Inwood Hill Park, past Indian Road Cafe and to some CUTE little snow white cottages. I don't mean white like snow, i mean they look like they belong to a LITERAL princess. Do you like my appropriate use of "literal"? :)

And we saw this TREE! Covered in perfect flower pom poms! Casey thinks it is disgusting (he detests growths - even beautiful pink floral ones) but I think it is adorable. 

Then we hopped on the A and planned to head to Chelsea, but when we passed 190th we decided to make a pit stop at the cloisters. I'm so glad we did! We both really enjoyed it! AND it gave us an excuse to go to the met later in the day :)

(the above photo shows a ROSARY BEAD. It was like 2 inches in diameter!)

(Above: Such a sweet face!)

(Above: The underside of a bishop's seat)

(Above: Loved this guys feet)

(Above: Loved her giant head!)

Once we were all cloistered out, we headed down to Chelsea. Mommy hadn't done any NYC Research so the only agenda was to show her my favorite places - no landmarks necessary! That made it really fun :). OBVIOUSLY we had to stop at Chelsea Market - We walked through the whoe thing and got some crepes at Bar Suzette. DELICIOUS. And the guy making our crepes was a total artist, taking his time to chop everything perfectly and tenderly place it on the cooing crepe. Devine! After Crepes, mommy got a coffee and we got to have two Earl Grey Tea Chocolates, Delicious! We continued through and peeked here and there and went out the back so we could get on the high line. 

After the high line we went to Queens to check on my car (which is doing just fine in it's free street parking spot! woohoo!) and then headed to the Met. We'd already been to the cloisters and admission to one is free when you go to the other. Woot! I was Starvin Marvin so we got a knish from one of the carts just outside the Met entrance. Those carts are the best place ever to get a knish! I knew mommy would love the African and Oceanic art so we went there first. 

(Above: Check out this rad instrument! And his teeny tiny legs!)

After spending most of our time in that area, we came across some European room displays

(Above: pay special attention to the backlit royal cat palace!)

And upon exiting the museum we spotted our dream apartment.

AND we got to have fancy matching earrings. I have already worn mine a ton of times. It's fun having twin earrings with my mommy. It reminds me of those Best Friend necklaces you used to be able to get at Chuck-E-Cheese. You know, where half of the heart said BE FRI and the other half said ST ENDS and when forces combined they became BEST FRIENDS?

We walked through central park to get to Zabars which is OBVIOUSly the only place you ever need to go for cheese and bagels. We got lots of cheese! And then we went up to 181st St. to meet Casey for dinner at Saggio's, which Casey and I affectionately call Saggy-o's. I'm sure that's not how it is actually pronounced. That place has some BOMB Italian food. Italian food is usually way to rich for me and even though it has been my cuisine of choice since I was a baby, I haven't been able to eat it for a long time. Saggio's is light and INCREDIBLE and so tasty. You should go. And invite me!

Anyway - It was such a PERFECT day. Made more perfect because I got to show my mommy why we moved here and what I loved about it - and she loved it too! She said NY is her new favourite city! She was so overwhelmed by the richness of the beauty and art everywhere you look. Me too. I am so fortunate to live in a place that celebrates creativity and uniqueness with a serious lack of judgement. I mean, you can be a financier or a homeless man with a rainbow afro wig and stilettos or a mom pushing a triple wide stroller or an immigrant or a native or me or you or PUMPKIN AND PLUM and you will feel SO much love in this city. It isn't cold - it is warm and alive and seeing it with my mommy as she saw it for the first time really brought it even more to life with me.

I really am blessed beyond belief.

Now come back and visit again mommy! (And daddy!)

love nata