April Showers

The temperatures are rising, but the occasional rain shower is falling. It's really nice to have weather where no wool coats and lined boots are required, but we're not quite to the point where one can bike in just a dress. The ladies at Let's Go Ride a Bike are also lamenting the tease of the weather. They featured my winter look last week on their blog. I have to say, I'm really looking forward to the LGRAB summer games this year. It'll be a nice way to reconnect with biking after all the work travel I have to do in the next few months. Oh summer! I'm excited!

Bridge Time

The first time I rode over the Manhattan bridge to work I fell. Hard. Blood. Boo-boos. Torn clothes. Sad face.

But... I did get up and finished the ride to work, and rode home.

It does make riding the bridge something that I'm always slightly apprehensive about. I'm glad to say the other night was one of my best rides over the bridge. Seemingly effortless and perfectly calm, the bridge proved the perfect place to stop and think about the my place in the city. Sometimes lost, but happily fumbling along. At present, I'm enjoying it.

It's Green!

I am very lucky that on occasion, Brett will let me join him at his studio and help on a project. My work mode is either running around at an event or sitting in front of a computer. There is something very calming about doing physical work, like sanding or painting. It relaxes me. I managed to take a Wednesday off, and bike down to his studio to work on a set of bookcases. He was insulating them and decided to use Green Fiber insulation:


My job was to fill the bookcases with the insulation:


It was really nifty because the insulation was obviously recycled materials including paper, foil, candy wrappers, and even the sticky part of a band-aid (don't worry, I was wearing gloves and a mask the whole time):


It's good to know that we are able to reuse old materials for things like insulation. It really means that as a society we have the ability to be more environmentally friendly in our building techniques, if only people would make the choice to do so.

I thought the whole green-themed building project was made even cuter by our pair of green jackets:

Footsteps

I sometimes forget how magical the city can feel. The moments when it exists solely for one person. Or even just two. Or possibly three. I love when the city is blanketed in snow. Perhaps it's the Californian in me that still gets excited when I see the snow (even piled up all dirty on the side of the sidewalk). There is something about the way the snow covers the city in a pure and wonderful state, and it really does seem magical. Whenever I have a moment with the city, I'm always taken to the scene in Guys and Dolls when Sky Masterson and Sarah Brown return from Havana and they are walking through Times Square sharing this exchange:

"It's dawn any minute."

"What makes the light so strange and white?"

"Because only in Times Square does the dawn gets turned on by an electrician."

"Listen."

"What?"

"Footsteps. Now is the time you can hear footsteps on Broadway."


In my magical moments, I always hear footsteps.

It's Friggin Frozen!

Oh. My. Goodness. It is cold out buster! What's a lady to do? I feel quite fortunate that even in the worst of the cold, it's an easy walk to the subway. And to be fair...the combination of the two modes of travel keep me on my toes. Riding a local line on a New York City subway during rush hour (heck, whenever) reminds me of Bill Cosby's routine "A Nut in Every Car"



Well, when I'm willing to brave biking through the big bad New York streets filled with dirty snow, cranky city folk, and the general frigid air... I find it completely lovely. The key is the right outfit. For graduating, Brett's parents gave me a Po Campo bag. I almost cried!

I LOVE my Po Campo!!

This is important because it is the basis for all the other pieces of my riding outfit. I found the coat to match and the boots followed:


I like looking like I'm dressed to ride. The right outfit can change a whole perspective. Of course, when the real nastiness of the winter sets in, I throw on those rainpants:

New Kicks

There are really a few times that I can say, I totally nailed a gift. But I would like to think that this is one of those times. Completely stumped as to what to give Brett for the holiday, my co-worker mentioned that he once painted shoes for his lady, and she loved them! Well, this worked out well because Brett needed new shoes, and I needed a new project. I took inspiration from some of his favorites.

Umberto Boccioni:


Cyclist 1913:


Wallabout Studios (his Etsy shop):


Jean-Michel Basquiat:



And if he puts his feet together, his initials appear:


Of course, he just makes the shoes look a zillion times better!

The Long Fall

What happened to Fall? The leaves changed colors. I earned my master's degree. Oh, and all the holidays, and a flood.

One morning, I awoke to the text message: "So sorry to text you early, but it appears that our basement is flooded and sadly, your room is very wet." I had never been so politely informed that there was an emergency situation. The whole basement had flooded, and everything needed to be pulled off the ground, including my entire bedroom.


My bed even ended up on the dining room table:


And the truth is... it could have been worst. But I didn't have time to think about what could've would've been, because that weekend my friends Courtney and Boris were married. I jetted off to San Francisco, and met up with Ian:


The wedding was, of course, just perfect. I cried like a sad monkey. I was so happy for both of them, and just danced the night away! Couris and Bourtney deserve every last bit of happiness.



Next weekend, as a CERT member, I had the opportunity to participate in a city-wide preparedness drill for New York City. It was really fun. I got there super early so I could get a good wound, and be carried on a stretcher. By the end of the drill, I had been saved:


Brett joined me and about 50 other cyclists for the 2nd New York City Tweed Ride. I volunteered to be the flower lass. Over the course of the ride, I dropped rose petals to add a lovely fragrance to the ride. I was even featured in the Village Voice


I joined my Dad up in Boston for a weekend.


We went to the Boston aquarium. I love aquariums! Really love them! The sea dragons are always a favorite of mine.


I was afraid that with all of my schoolwork that I would miss the opportunity to see the colors change in the Fall. Not to worry, I was able to catch glimpses of color all season long.



At the end of October, Brett and I joined many others at the Rally for Sanity. It was overly crowded, but had the most incredible signs.


We stayed with our friends in DC for the rest of the weekend and celebrated Halloween. Now... normally I'm not a fan of couple costumes (unless they require the couple to remained connected for the entire evening), but this was awesome... and perhaps the most vomit bucket we have ever been.


I have a wee obsession with Harry Potter, and busted out a full-length dress for our formal movie night. I always think that Brett looks so dapper in his formal movie night outfits.


Somewhere in November, I went a little crazy with school work. Fortunately, I have the most wonderful boyfriend. He offered to be my personal chef for the last two weeks of my paper writing for school. The food was incredibly mouth watering, and delicious.


He even edited my papers for me!


After my plans for Thanksgiving took a last minute cancellation, Brett joined me at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The balloons are a lot LARGER up close. And thanks to super secret native New Yorker information from our pal Luis, we had the best view from Central Park.



But really, the main reason that I disappeared this Fall was due to school. Working full time, and attending school in my free time really limited what I was able to do outside of working, writing, studying, sleeping, and being. For two weeks our basement looked like a strategic planning war room:


Much thanks for their support, patience and aid goes to my housemates, who tolerated the extreme of my OCD personality as I prepared for oral exams. But in the end, all my hard work paid off, and I graduated!!!!


I am now officially a master of science in emergency management! Whew! In mid-December, Mamma, Charell, Brett, and I traveled to Jacksonville, Alabama so I could get my robes and walk across the stage to receive my diploma! It was a really incredible moment for me to look up and see the three people who supported me throughout my entire process. My mom, my boss, and my boyfriend, who kept me sane, proof-read, and smiling through it all. They are truly wonderful wonderful people!


Continuing with my obsession about aquariums, Mamma and I went to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. It has a really neat penguin exhibit where you can crawl into a space where the penguins can swim around you.


I love the holidays! I really do! Call me crazy, but I enjoy the decorations, the music, the happiness. Jeph and I spent an evening getting a Christmas tree and decorating it. Behind my graduation weekend, this was one of my favorite nights of all December:



Brett, who is not a fan of the holidays, surprised me by agreeing to look at holiday decorations in the city. As we approached Times Square, Luis called and told us he knew a place in Brooklyn that was better than Rockefeller Center. A neighborhood that really goes all out with the decorations. He was absolutely right.


Christmas this year was spent in Fresno with Brett's family. It was just a beautiful moment. I really am glad that his family is so welcoming and makes me feel really special. Brett didn't get much of a holiday because he and his brother gave their father the gift of new wooden thingys in the front walkway. I'm sure there is a real technical term like wood frame or something, but in his few moments of quiet, he rested. I found this to be the perfect opportunity to take pictures of him with his niece's new puppet Elbert:


And, very exciting... we went TANDEM BIKE RIDING again! We borrowed his parents bike, and even did a little off-road tandem bike riding.


With that, the long Fall comes to a close.