Crazy Town

is where I'm residing today.

Don't want to get into it, but suffice to say, today I've been horribly grumpy.

And my friend and I just watched "Up" by Pixar - and it's wonderful! Reminded me what's important.

If you need (or if you don't!), I recommend it.

PS

I really like it when the parents of the young child upstairs get up before I go to sleep. That doesn't make me feel like a total loser or anything.

I can't help it that I can't sleep! I even exercised today and it didn't matter!

Ugh. Valium might be in my near future.

Winter

It's here. Jess is staying with us until April which is amazing. Jon is working a lot. We get to go to Cancun this weekend which is awesome. I wish I didn't have a fear of flying, but hey, nobody's perfect.

I'm so tired. Why did I start this post? Because it had been too long, that's why.

Well, it's 3am at the beginning of a week and I better get some sleep or horrible catastrophic things will happen. I'm sure of it.

I'm just shy of dawn, people! Last chance for night sleep.

Bye.

O.M.G.

I'm tired.

I've been getting up at 6(ish)am for the past few days to babysit my friend's daughter, Sam, in NJ and I commute there each morning to arrive at 8am and then return leaving their place at 12:30 and getting home around 2pm. I'm POOPED!

Sam is wonderful, as is the little 1 1/2 year old I'm babysitting in the afternoons, but kids do not stop moving! It's giving me a window into what it's going to be like to raise them (hopefully). Yikes.

This old girl better invest in some tea! I didn't have tea today and fell asleep on the subway holding to large plastic bags of different kinds of Halloween candy and a few coloring/sticker books I got for Sam with Hello Kitty, My Little Pony and various kinds of sea animals on them.

I am going to be a zombie bride. This will be my 2nd year as a zombie bride since I insist on getting the most use out of my wedding dress as possible.

So much has happened recently I shudder at the thought of trying to get it all down here, but I will say I have had a lot of time to think about life in the long term - to observe how hard it is to get older, and to start to admit to myself how much in denial I am about my youth passing me by. I assume that because I WANT to be young forever that somehow I will escape the bonds of mortality that shackle... oh, everyone who's ever lived. Alas, I fear this not to be the case.

So I embrace my age (35), and admit that I feel MUCH closer to 27 and am shocked that I must begin to act like an adult or risk losing the privilege of having a family and a few other experiences, and hope that as I get older I can both keep my sense of play and adopt a graceful attitude of what I can no longer do with the same laissez faire affect.

It's raining balls here in NYC today and ALL I want to do is curl up in bed with my kitties and read a book. But I must prepare for sitting with Milo who is just quite mobile on his little feet and loves to explore and throw blocks and repeat words over and over.

Life. It is never boring. At least not mine. Not in the past.... 10 years anyway.

Things I want and do not need!

More.
My world is a jumble of decisions and changes and thus I do fantasy shopping online.

In a recent article in the NY Times they mentioned compulsive shopping as an addiction alongside alcoholism and overeating... ummm... something to think about for me.

But here we have things I managed to not buy but admire from a distance.

A steamer trunk as your portable office?

An herb wreath for your friend, the chef, (or you!) to make his/her kitchen smell & look great, and their dishes that much better.

An emergency pet jacket for your little furry loved one in case of a natural disaster. And yes, I am that crazy.

Crazy sexy wild gorgeous heels (do I wear heels anymore? no. but i would consider it for these puppies).

A place to put shit that makes it look cool rather than just a jumbled mess.

A garmet bag in Imperial Toile from Vera Bradley! Why not.

See how much fun you can have fantasy shopping?

Now it's chore time.

Hot in the city! Hot in the city tonight! Tonight! (New York!)

Well, I have the flu again. It's so tedious I won't go into it. Seeing my dr and hopefully getting rid of this blasted thing once and for all.

BUT.

I have gotten time to organize my home a bit more which is always good. And I thought I'd share with you Jon's and my dinner last night - we got to enjoy the fruits of our labor... literally! Ooh- my humor is too good, too good. ... Sigh.

We had a Caprese Salad with plum tomatoes and basil from our garden, and fresh mozzarella cheese from NYC which is always a treat. Oooohhh-wee it was delicious. Fresh basil... right from our garden! Kind of amazing.

And I had to snap a few photos of my darling, Yoda, who always helps me organize and sew. His specialties are: 1) eating while we're asleep (apparently, since he is quite large and I almost never see him eat); 2) lounging; 3) snuggles. He does all of these with all of the sincerity he approaches life, which is quite noticeable.

Summer is a pain in the ass. I am NOT looking forward to taking the subway to the dr's... but hey, in a few weeks the temps will start dropping and I will be THE HAPPIEST person in the world. Because then the best weather in the world is on its way - Fall.

Summer is zipping by... I'm not that unhappy about it!

Summer is wonderful, but I hate being hot so much that I often don't look forward to it as a season. I love Fall, it's my favorite so the end of Summer is met with big smiles on my face and a greedy rubbing-of-hands and cackling. Everyone else gets depressed, I have an extra bounce in my walk when the temps get down below 65F. Bye bye, Humidity! So long, Sweat! Ciao, Sunblock!

Hello long-sleeved shirts and light sweaters, tights and jackets, layers and crisp breezes!

So I'm not sad it's mid-August and the days are getting shorter. I do love the sunshine when it doesn't make me hot, but I also love storms and overcast days.

Let me talk MORE about the weather.

ANYWAY.
I have been riding my bike around, not as much as I'd like to given the heat we've been experiencing. 80F I can do, but 90 is a bit much... so it's the gym over the bike until later this Fall.

I have so much sewing to do it's crazy. CRAZY. I can't even make a list because it stresses me out too much. So much fun, but a lot of work.

I have had many visits from friends this Summer which has been so fun! I got married again (to the same person), had a birthday, had a family trip, traveled a bit, went to the beach, have been performing... the list goes on.

I am trying to grow tomatoes and peppers in our backyard. So far we've had four cherry tomatoes and have a few sweet and hot peppers growing and one, very green plum tomato who has yet to show any signs of becoming edible. Hmph.

We went to a friend's baby shower and my husband, who went to grad school for art, painted a onesie for their still-in-utero-son. The mother is an opera singer, and the father an actor friend of mine who used to be a bit of a trouble maker when he was younger. So Jon made this onesie. Mine is a lop-eared rabbit... not quite as talented as my husband in the visual arts arena.

Once again I am thankful for my life, for my family, for my friends... my life is a very rich one. And as I begin to see the fall of Summer it reminds that time is marching on, with or without our permission, and I acknowlege the people in my life who truly make it the wonderful, special experience it is.

I face many challenges in the coming years... personally and professionally. But I have to believe that as long as I keep my dark, pessimistic sense of humor and my heart open to change and my hand open to martinis, all will be well enough.