Natalia's Things

Covering "Fun Activities and Outings" or items 1, 5, 7, 8

2012-01-27T21:27:00.000-05:00

I'm getting sick, which is a serious blow to my spirits, but it also gives me the excuse to sit on the computer while Nate plays with LP. Let me clarify, I'm not making up feeling yucky for the sake of catching up on the Internet. This is merely a nice side-effect to an otherwise bad situation.

Nate was sick for the last week and a half. Seems he caught something on the flight back from Peru, poor thing. And I erroneously hoped that I'd avoided the whole cold issue, but apparently his virus got me. Though I am thankful that we weren't both sick at the same time, because with LP it would have been craziness.

I'm gonna try to address the list. I didn't finish it, but I didn't fail. The list served it's purpose, which was: to find a sense of purpose during my recession-based unemployment. Seriously, back in 2009 there were. no. jobs. This blog gave me a task list, things I could conceivable accomplish/plan/attempt. Halfway through we had a baby, and then I didn't NEED a list of things to do. Between diapering, burping, nursing, sleeping (HA!), singing songs, going to playgrounds, cooking, cleaning stuffy noses, bathing, and all the other fun things that parenting entails, I just didn't have time for the list. And I'm totally okay with that.

But here we not nonetheless.

1. Watch the sun rise after being up all night. Mmmm.... FAIL on a technicality? Or DONE , since I have seen the sun rise, I just wasn't up continuously. This is one of those ideas that is just. not. gonna. happen. Not anytime soon. When I wrote it I imagined one of those legendary NYC nights, where you go to a bar, then a dance club, then an after hours cafe, and end up at a 24 hour diner, and eventually make it home as the sun is rising. On an aside, I should add that the plan might have been hard to execute no matter what, because despite what people thing, New York most certainly sleeps, some neighborhoods even downright early. I still think that with some planning, we could have managed. The Bulgarian Bar has people dancing till 4 am or so, and I know of a couple of 24 hour restaurants (I'd probably pick Cafe Bar on Union Square), and I believe Think Coffee by NYU was also open 24 hours.
Instead, I have seen the sunrise out of my Brooklyn apartment window several times, while nursing my adorable newborn LP and cursing the Gods because I was so, so, so tired. Though I wasn't up all night, since LP at least let us catch sleep in 3 hour increments before needing her milk.

5. Go skinny dipping. FAIL. Didn't happen. Never really had the right situation, and never really had the guts to. I guess I'm just self conscious about my lady bits?

7. Ride in a hot air balloon. FAIL. No way, I never even found out how to go about booking a hot air balloon ride. I think when I wrote this, I overestimated my actual desire to fly in the air in a tiny basket suspended by a bag of hot air. I actually have a feeling I might never do this, because it seems a little scary, and sometimes, depending on the situation, I'm scared of heights. My friend Temi, and apparently my token reader, has done the Hot Air Balloon ride. You should post your experience on the comments, Temi.

8. Go Rock Climbing. DONE Jan 2012. So it was a couple of days after the deadline, whatever, I'm not gonna sweat the details. And I also didn't climb a "proper" climbing wall, but rather a wall in a playground where we took LP. But I want to feel accomplished, dang-it, so the fact that I climbed all 6 feet of wall will count

New Year's resolutions

2012-01-12T01:42:00.002-05:00

I haven't actually sat down and thought of what a new year's resolution means for quite a few years. I usually just let the new year wash over me in a drunken haze and enjoy the moment. Making resolutions feels so..... planned? boring? serious? accountable? Not sure what my problem is, but this year will be different.

What has changed, motherhood? Wondering what my life will be like now that I'm safely in my 30's? (I'm an adult married mother in my 30's..... when the h*11 did that happen?) Was it watching that dreadful movie "Happy New Year"? Don't care why; it's just happening.

This year I pledge to:
-smile more, frown less
- cook more
- wake up with a smile
- tell nate how much I appreciate him more often
- finish this list, because seriously, the 1001 days deadline came and went and I need to touch base with what happened. I am okay with not being done with every item, but I'm not okay with just leaving the whole thing just hanging there unaddressed
- admit to myself that I'm just not good at this whole blogging business
- finally wean LP off the breast milk, and get her to take less bottles
- tell LP that's she's the awesomest kid in the world, but manage to not let it go to her head.
- organize my photos (digital and print). For real. It's awesome and fun but also soooo daunting
- become fashionable again. I pulled it off for a while while working in NYC. I miss how good I felt about myself when I was properly accessorized.
- get the house set up just right. Put things on the walls, finish decorating. Clean it!
- admit that we need help. Daycare and cleaning service it is. There's no shame in that, and we should be able to put it in our budget. When there's a will there's a way.
- visit the Holiday Inn Hotel I helped design before it gets torn down in the name of "progress"
- feel in control of my life again. It will be good to slow down a bit. In the last 4 months we've moved twice in 2 states, 3 different cities, been unemployed and re-employed, and have taken an international vacation. I feel rightfully exhausted, and am looking forward to a period of content stability.
- stop complaining about LP, either to others or to myself. Though I realize that motherhood can be exhausting, and it's perfectly understandable to feel overwhelmed and express that, I don't want to put negative energy into our home. We are lucky to have such an energetic, cheerful, healthy child. So what if she eats like a bottomless pit, likes to climb on everything, doesn't sleep through the night, and has a stubborn personality? The good news is that she's a healthy eater, who's been great at every doctor's checkup, she's social and cuddly, super smart, and is a true delight to have around. Must remember that whenever I feel overwhelmed
- Feel in control of my food intake. Really get back in the weight watchers mode. This relates directly to being more fashionable. I want to fit into the cute clothes.
- stop reading online celebrity tabloids. The Kardashians finally saturated my tolerance for this whole stupidity. I miss the days of Katie Holmes baby bump watch. Such a simpler time....

23. Do 5 craft projects from the internet - Monkey Cake !

2011-10-25T15:28:00.000-04:00

Found this recipe on one of my favorite food blogs, Smitten Kitchen, which everyone should be looking at, since she has amazing recipes with clear easy to follow instructions.

I'm late to post this, since LPs birthday party was over 2 weeks ago. Actually, that's not much time at all, but things have been so strange lately, that it feels like a lifetime ago. We are currently staying with my parents as we look for jobs in the Austin area. It's been barely 3 weeks of this, two if you consider that the first one was about unloading the moving truck and getting our space set up. Then a day or two to recover from moving all our stuff from Brooklyn to Texas, which is no small feat.

But man, it's weird to not be in our own place and out there in the job market. Everyday seems to drag forever, and sending our resumes and networking can be emotionally debilitating. But we persevere. Because we have to, and also because, did I mention we're staying with my parents? Free babysitting, yo. Nate and I haven't had this much time to ourselves since before LP was born. Good times, and makes it all balance out in a strange way.

But I digress. Today is one of those babysitting days, where we've parked ourselves in a coffee shop to get things done for a few hours. So here I blog, because checking things off a 101 List feels like major accomplishments these day.

We had a blast preparing the birthday party. Nothing too crazy, since she's only turning 1, and it's important to keep things in perspective, but I had seen this monkey cake months ago and was dying to make it. It's very banana based, and therefore lower on sugar, which means LP loved it. She wasn't crazy about her personal cupcake, but once I cut her a piece of the real cake, she dug in with gusto. We even got the obligatory baby-covered-in-frosting photo op (it's on the flickr page). We also made caprese skewers, 3 colored jello, had a cheese tray, chips and guac, and mum-mums for the little ones. All in all it looked pretty good.

I cant believe a whole year has passed. Has it really been over 12 months since they handed us a little squirmy sleepy baby and trusted us to take care of her? The first few days seem like a crazy blur. Sleep, diaper, breastfeeding, burp, repeat again. Slowly she grew, and started to smile, sit, stand, babble, and not needing to be burped. And now here we are, with an energetic toddler who's the light of our lives. I never cease to be amazed at how life changes.

11. See the Ballet

2011-09-02T20:23:00.003-04:00

This is close enough.

A few weeks ago I joined my friends Beth and Stephanie and we saw Alvin Ailey perform at the Celebrate Brooklyn summer music series. I took LP with me, and we set up shop with some picnic blankets.

It would have been a wonderful night if it hadn't been raining so much. The rain was off and on, so we were able to hang for a while, and enjoy the night, but then there were times when we had to huddle under our umbrellas. I was particularly concerned about LP getting wet, and consequently sick. She was fine, happily eating her cheerios and banana.

Our spot was terrible, and we could hardly see anything in the first act. The second act was much better, as we moved to a higher spot. LP, in particular, seemed mesmerized by the dancers, which I found remarkable considering she was barely 10 months old, and the stage was pretty far. I guess she has an appreciation for modern dance.... her aunts will be happy about that.

We left before the third act because it started pouring again, and it was after LP's bedtime. Which.. bummer, I would have liked to see the rest of the show.

I wanted a posed picture of me giving the thumbs up with the stage behind me, but alas, I forgot my camera, and unfortunately the rain kept everyone else from taking photos. It happens. What counts is that I know I was there. :)

photo from www.hubreview.blogspot.com

97. Have a road trip with Nate to Canada and see Niagara Falls

2011-09-02T00:47:00.000-04:00

Our lives have been turned upside down these last few weeks. And for once, it's not fully baby related. Namely, we're moving back to Texas. More on that later (I think). Suffice to say, this move is a bit sudden and has caught us by surprise.

However, as all these issues were going on, and we were wondering if we should move somewhere else in Brooklyn (and sign a year lease, rent a truck pack and unpack everything, and put our firstborn as a new deposit), or go ahead and go back to Texas (closer to relatives, better job networking opportunities, but still having to pack and unpack, with the added benefit of not having jobs or housing arranged yet). Texas won, but that doesn't mean the process is figured out.

Nate in particular has the amazing ability to persevere no matter what. We had scheduled ourselves a trip to Niagara Falls, and by golly, we were gonna go no matter what. The trip ended up landing right after we found out we were getting kicked out of our apartment. So as we were figuring out whether to move within Brooklyn or go to Texas, or what to do, we took off driving to Niagara Falls for the weekend.

I don't recommend taking road trips with a 10 month old. I also don't recommend putting your life on hold just because you have a baby. Our compromise is that we waited until my mom was visiting so we could have help during the trip. We borrowed a portable crib from a friend, packed an excess of baby food and snacks and took off without any particular plan.

And we made it! Niagara Falls is a truly amazing natural wonder. I'm so glad we were able to spend two days exploring it. On day one we stayed on the US side, which has a beautiful state park. Nate and I did the Maid in the Mist boat tour while my mom and LP hung around the park people watching. We got soaked and enjoyed the falls close up. Incredible.

On day two we went to the Canadian side and got to see the horseshoe area of the falls up close. The mist on this side is so strong that it's as if it's constantly raining. I put on a poncho to protect LP who was napping on the ergo carrier. Every part that wasn't covered got soaked. Nate and my mom were dripping wet as well. Word of advice: when visiting the Canadian side of Niagara, bring your best rain gear.

The drive was pretty exhausting, mostly because LP gets bored in the car. Why, oh why isn't she one of those babies that naps in the car as a default? It's probably because she's not used to her car seat. Seriously, she only used the seat on average once a week. Such an urban pedestrian baby... :)

35. Learn to knit

2011-06-20T14:36:00.000-04:00

I've concluded that knitting is for sissies. I'm only half kidding, but in all seriousness, I tried to knit a blanket for LP with disastrous results. I can do a basic stitch, but the main problem is that I had my mom show me her technique, and as awesome as she is at knitting, she does it mostly on muscle memory from childhood. When it came down to instructing me, she wasn't clear enough for my needs.

As a result, we both started baby blankets at roughly the same time, and while hers looks great and LP uses it to sleep in the summer, mine only amounted to the size of a baby scarf. I would love to just declare it a scarf and leave it at hat, but sadly I don't know how to finish a knitting project without it unraveling. I should have been more diligent when I was pregnant, because now with the baby I really don't have time to deal with yarn and needles that could do LP serious damage.

However, my list just said to "learn" to knit, not that I had to be successful at it. So, not quite done, but enough to check it off the list.

113. Go see musical theater - Stomp

2011-06-12T20:12:00.004-04:00

My mom was in town, which means that we have a reliable and willing baby sitter. Which... yay! But also, once again so much pressure to make it a memorable night. We don't get to go out just the two of us all that often these days, so we need to take advantage. In all honesty, I don't want to go out more than we currently do; it's fun being home with LP the three of us. But once in a while we need a break, and it's nice to be out without having to worry about early bedtimes.

Also, my mom is the only person so far we've trusted with LP's bedtime routine. Someday we might hire a teenager to watch her for the evening like normal people, but that day is not today. Nor tomorrow.

Anyway, Stomp is one of those shows Nate has always wanted to see. He's a percussionist, after all, and watching this fulfilled some fantasy of his youth. It would definitely have been on his 101 list, if he was inclined to make one.

It was also a father's day gift of sorts. My mom wanted to give us a night out, including babysitting, and I knew that Nate really wanted to see the show. Win-win for everyone!

Regarding the show, it was so much more fun than I was expecting. And I had pretty high expectations to be wowed. I mean, I know Stomp was big quite a few years ago, but you don't become a household name without putting on a great show. So in addition to the expected bucket drums, rhythmic hand clapping, hubcaps and kitchen sink drums (yes, everything and the kitchen sink jokes are appropriate here), they also performed with match boxes, lighters, and were surprisingly funny. They also encouraged audience participation, going so far as to teach us some different clapping techniques. All of this without actually uttering a word, their world is one of noises, rhythm, dance and body language.

Highly recommend it.

And as a stroke of luck, the Stomp theater is located right in front of my favorite french fry establishment ever, Pommes Frites. I know, competition must be stiff. (I wanted that comment to be sarcastic, but then I began to wonder if NYC, with their burger culture, might actually have lots of wonderful french fries... mmmm) The fries are okay, I could stand them to be a bit crispier, but you go to Pommes Frites for the mayo. European style mayo and about 20 different types of dips. We ended up choosing Garlic Rosemary this time, but I've also tried garlic, sun dried tomato, pesto, smoked eggplant, and blue cheese. So we were able to stop by for a snack before the show.

Actually, our evening kept going. After leaving the show, we went to Cafe Orlin, our favorite pre-baby date spot. Had a glass of wine and talked about the Stomp show, and I think we had a B-celebrity sighting. Don't want to type his name because I don't want google reader to pick it up, but suffice to say, it's the bearded guy from Bones. *giggle* I'm pretty sure it was the actor, but I can't be sure, it could have been a look-alike. (Side story, we met a guy a couple of years ago who looked just like Ry an Gos ling. I mean, looked just like him, in a spooky way. And he would get confused for RG all the time, and even saw his own picture of some blogs mislabeled as the celebrity. So look-alikes do exist.)

55. Have a Homemade Spa day, take a bubble bath, make clay masks and finally do the cucumber thing in my eyes like the movies

2011-05-30T21:15:00.000-04:00

I have an awesome husband. Seriously, he rocks, and he actively encouraged me to check off #55 from my list. He offered to watch LP while I hung out in my bubble bath, and put cucumbers on my eyes. Heck, he even got the bath ready.

I've never been a bath person, (it always feels to me like you're sitting on your own dirt, am I the only one?) but since LP was born my relationship to baths, and showers in general, has shifted. No longer a functional chore I need to get through in order to feel clean and refreshed, I now crave that time that I can be by myself with water pouring down my back, without a child sticking her adorable hand into my mouth or needing another rendition of the itsy bitsy spider. During regular weekdays I take 3 minute showers, in-soap-rinse-out, while LP plays on her over-the-door bouncer on the bathroom door. Sometimes, if she's in a good mood and relaxed, I can even wash my hair.

So yes, bring on the bubble bath. I got a big pack of lavender bubbles for my last birthday that needed to be used, anyway. I have a horrible sense of smell, I can't really tell lavender apart from the next smell, but I hear it's relaxing, and so it was.

Of course, I'm still the same dork as ever, so I relaxed in my bath while listening to NPR (This American Life, to be precise). Can't think of a better way to spend an evening. Thanks Nate!

112. Go to the Guggenheim NY

2011-05-17T23:57:00.000-04:00

We are making a very conscious effort to not let LP cramp our style too much. In our daily routine, yes, she takes precedence and I'm staying home with her for at least a year; our evenings are usually spent playing with her and we indulge in a fun nighttime routine (bath, lotion, pajamas, milk, book, cuddle, sleep). However, on the weekends we still try to take make it out of the house, and explore the world. Sometimes that means we stay in the neighborhood and go to brunch, some other times we are more ambitious.

I'm so glad we made it to the Guggenheim last weekend. Seriously. It's unacceptable that after living here for over 3 years, we hadn't gone to see its exhibits. The Guggenheim is both an architectural landmark and a world-class museum, and we had inexplicably ignored it for the MOMA and Met. It's about time we finally made it. Thanks Groupon for providing a good incentive!

It's also wonderful to see LP enjoying our adventures. This marks her 4th time in an art museum, after going to the Fort Worth Modern, National Gallery in DC and the Smithsonian. And the girl seems to like her art. I never cease to be amazed at how she takes in the world, looking curiously at it, engaging people in the streets, staring at colorful items.

She must be used to these things by now. From her perspective it's all par with the course, she was in a subway, then she fell asleep walking outside, and when she woke up she was huge white rotunda (that would be her understanding of the Guggenheim, by the way). Sure. Bring it on.

After breastfeeding her in a circular bench in an exhibit hall, she was awake the rest of the museum experience, happily chewing on her pacifier cord while Nate held her in the baby bjorn. As most babies probably do, she tends to prefer brighter canvases, leaning towards abstract expressionism. As a result, she found many items in this exhibit boring, since it focused on 1910's, constructivism and early cubism. How do I know he didn't care for it? She kept going pfffffffrrrrrrr. And I trust her artistic opinions, even at this age.

28. Buy an item at a flea market and refurbish it

2011-05-16T11:07:00.000-04:00

We finally made it to the For Greene Flea Market, which doesn't seem to be a true flea market at all, but rather a collections of artists, craftsmen, gourmet food carts and the occasional quirky antique. Aren't fleas supposed to be... I dunno, dirt cheap? Expensive is how they roll in Brooklyn, I guess. This last statement sounded like Yoda, and I'm okay with that.

No matter, it was a lovely day. The twins came all the way to Brooklyn to meet up with us and see LP, and it reminded me of how I miss sometimes my pre-baby friendships, even as I know that our topics of conversation have changed forever. I can't go back, on a Tuesday night I'd rather hang out at home with the family than look for a bar in the East Village, but I do miss my friends. Mental note, must make plans to hang out with them again, in some middle point in Manhattan.

Temi also came to NY to spend the day, which added to the loveliness. After we looked around the Flea Market, marveled at the overpriced furniture and bought a few accessories/fun items, we headed out to the Havana Outpost, where we finished the afternoon with margaritas and grilled corn. I can't think of too many better ways to spend a sunny Saturday afternoon.

And about my list? I ended up purchasing a set of screen printed pillow cases with an amazing graphic of the Brooklyn Bridge. They look amazing and were actually reasonably priced. The artist (who was there) must have gotten confused about which market day it was. Our plan is to frame them and hang them above our bed, since they look too nice to ruin them by actually putting our heads on them every night. Which, I know, I know, they're pillow cases, I should use them as such.

I'll post an update once we find the right frames and finish hanging them properly. Thus far we're having a hard time finding the right frames (in terms of shape, and color/thickness of the trim) that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Seriously, why are are frames so expensive in the US? We'll be taking a trip to Ikea soon and hopefully we'll find something very clean and very Swedish to fix the problem.

Purple Toe

2011-05-14T22:59:00.001-04:00

No accomplishments to list right now, just wanted to vent that my pinkie toe is swollen and purple and might very well be broken (not that it would make any difference, since even if it was broken, doctors can't do anything for it). I stubbed it last night on LP's high chair. She's got the solidest greatest high chair ever, and apparently it's so solid that it might very well smash your toe to pieces.

Tonight is one of those nights. Nate is out with some friends having a boy's night (well deserved too, he left after LP was in bed for the night), and I'm here figuring out what to do with myself. No baby (she's asleep), no husband, full access to the Internet and television. So here I am writing about my inane problems and debating what to put on TV. So much junk to watch, so little time....

For all our sakes, I hope this toe problem sorts itself out soon. I'd hate for it to be broken, because the only "cure" for that is to keep it elevated and not walk too much. Which... riiiight. We live in Brooklyn, I walk everywhere, and LP likes to go to the park. It probably didn't help that we took a day trip today via subway, so I've been walking on it all day. I can literally feel my blood pulsing on it. *sigh*

111. Breastfeed successfully

2011-05-06T21:07:00.001-04:00

This will probably be the first of a bunch of items I'm adding to the list related to baby LP. Things that couldn't possibly have been on my original list because having a baby wasn't on my radar back then. Actually, if I was to be honest with myself, babies have always been on my radar, but to include having a baby and it's related issues to a bucket list is just to invite trouble. Specially when such list has an expiration date. I mean, how was I to know if we'd have trouble conceiving, if the baby would be healthy, if we'd even be in a position to have children.

However, we did have a baby. And though it's impossible to retroactively change the list, I'm just gonna add to it. After all, there are things I won't be able to do anymore due the baby related time constraints. It seems fair.

Anyway, where was I? Yes, breastfeeding successfully. I'd talked before about my desire to breastfeed, and I am happy to report that LP has been exclusively breastfed all the way to 7 months. At this point, she's still breastfeeding, but she's also having solid food, which she loves. And she'll need her mama's milk less and less.

That day is not today though, so I figure at the rate we're going we will be weaning her to cow's milk around the one year mark, which is now only 5 months away.

It wasn't without it's setbacks. Despite having a pretty good latch from birth, we still struggled when my milk first came in, and with her having a good latch that wouldn't hurt the living daylights out of me. I credit the great nurses at NYU hospital who helped us find our groove, the lactation consultant at our pediatrician's office, a lot of support from Nate and family to keep at it, and mostly, having the good fortune of a baby with a good latch combined with lots of milk production. I know breastfeeding is not something everyone can do, gets to do, and many try with all their might but have too many problems. We had a lot of support, but also, LP was just a natural nurser, and that can't be taught. She's such a chunker.

We breastfeed everywhere- parks, cafes, restaurants, Hobby Lobby, the subway, peoples houses, museum cafeterias, and even in a moving car while she sat in her car seat and I leaned over her and nursed. That last one might be the weirdest of the bunch. Though ultimately, our favorite spot is on the couch, with her laying on her boppy pillow.

After she turned 6 months, LP eventually had 3 bottles of formula, due to circumstances beyond our control. So far it hasn't affected my milk production, and we are still rocking the booby milk.

So rock on, mama's milk, rock on.

37. Take a dance class in something fun - ZUMBA

2011-05-03T23:24:00.000-04:00

I've joined the fitness craze and started going to Zumba classes at my local yoga studio. I try to go on Saturdays or Sundays, and so far it's been pretty successful.

Finally, I'm gonna use my yoga membership. I purchased a 20 class pass when I was pregnant, because I was going to prenatal yoga, and though I tried to go every week, my body didn't always cooperate. It was post-baby and I still had 7 sessions left. A bunch of people I know had been going to mom-baby yoga, where you take your baby with you and they sit on a mat while you do your yoga poses. In all honesty, it sounds stressful. I just can't imagine LP sitting there calmly the full hour and a half. And if I have to be mindful of a baby, wouldn't that get in the way of... I don't know... my finding that zen place?

Turns out I don't really like yoga, because I went to a Zumba class on a lark and I'm hooked. So much fun! And I sweat for a solid hour without really noticing. Sweating while you're dancing to Latin music is sooo much better than holding downward dog and balancing. Also, as an extra bonus, LP likes to watch me do the steps at home. She thinks it's hilarious.

94. Eat at WD-50 Restaurant

2011-05-03T21:38:00.000-04:00

Sitting at our booth for dinner

I'm not a foodie, but I like watching Top Chef. And it introduced me to lots of amazing cooking techniques, restaurants, and food presentations. Cliche, right? But in all seriousness, I don't think I had a full understanding of everything a meal could be until I started watching gourmet food television.

And since we moved to NYC, I've wanted to eat at WD-50, Wylie Dufraine's restaurant. Why? Because his dishes look amazing. And because the more I learned about molecular gastronomy, the more curious I became.

I tried to convince Nate to go to WD-50 a long time ago, but he was utterly uninterested in paying way too much money for an artfully designed bite-sized dish. I understood where he was coming from, but he just wasn't getting the full picture. So we watched Top Chef together, and I showed him some molecular gastronomy stuff, and sure enough, a couple of years later he was excited about the possibility. Of course, we decide it's time to make a reservation and set aside some serious moolah, and lo and behold, we find out I'm pregnant! And no, I'm not going to a fancy restaurant when I have dietary restrictions and everything makes me nauseous. No way.

our drinks

It took until last month to go. My mom was in town and offered to take care of LP, and we called the restaurant the required month ahead of time and got a table. We went all out, with drinks, appetizers, entrees, dessert and coffee.

They have a tasting menu, but it's $140 per person, and though we were planning on ordering well, it still seemed a bit extreme. I'm not sure if I regret it, as it might have been nice to get a sample of everything. On the other hand, there were too many "offensive" ingredients in the tasting menu. I'm not a big fan of nuts, or shellfish, etc.

eggs benedict

No matter, the table next to us got the tasting menu, and since this is one of those restaurants where tables are ridiculously close together, we were able to see every plate they got. And they were beautiful.

Surprisingly, the portions were normal sized. I was expecting minuscule dots on the plate. Instead, we got a hearty meal, and by the time is was time to order dessert we were both pretty full. We ended up splitting dessert and getting hot tea to settle our stomachs.

cold fried chicken

Veredict? Everyone should go. I honestly expected to not like the dishes. However, the flavors were also very interesting, though some plates were some successful than others. The best was Eggs Benedict, the worse was probably the tabasco caviar component in Nate's Cold Fried Chicken (and I have no idea what technique was used to make that)

Ultimately, for me it comes down to a unique restaurant experience. When I go to an Italian restaurant (just to give an example), I know I *could* cook this at home if I had enough time, patience and access to fresh ingredients. However, no matter how much I cook, I will never have at home liquid nitrogen, sous vide cooking stuff, the ability to make foams, and the other gadgets that molecular gastronomists use.

duck breast

fish

chamomile dessert

68. Watch 10 new movies from 100 Greatest Films

2011-05-01T17:59:00.000-04:00

My movie watching time has been seriously compromised with little LP on the loose. She just demands a lot of time, and frankly, she can much more fun than most movies. Its great, we stare at her staring at us, and she smiles, laughs,babbles or grabs a toy, and it's so strangely fascinating. I totally understand why someone who is not related to her would find it mind-numbingly boring, but for me its just so a joy.

Actually, the first two and a half months were pretty great for movies. LP could sleep anywhere with any noise going on, so we would pop a movie and watch it while we rocked her and then set her down to sleep in the living room with us. Now that she's so much more aware of the world, curious about things, she needs help sleeping. And loud noises bother her much more.

So we're not really watching new movies. At best our Netflix cue has episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which we enjoy, but highbrow it is not. Whatever, I have the rest of my life to see pretentious French films (and I will see them). Right now, I'm tired most of the time and enjoy energetic comedies. So instead I decided to see how many of the top 100 films I've seen, and check how many I've seen in the last 5 years or so. I think that captures the spirit of the challenge.

It's also hard to find a good selection of the 100 Best Movies. The AFI has an extensive list, but that's just American Cinema, which is very limiting. And the IMDB list is just a popularity contest. So though it might not be the best list based on my film tastes, I'm gonna use Time Magazine ALL TIME 100 movies. Get it? All Time? Like the Magazine? Yeah, I didn't really laugh either.

I have problems with this list. Namely, the lack of contemporary representation. I know the golden age of cinema was in the 40's, but there have been some amazing films in the last 10 years that deserve attention, even if they aren't as established. Also, this list veers towards the bombastic and epic types of movies, rather than those hidden gems that tell wonderful stories in understated ways. No list is perfect though, so this is what I have.

Ok, so it's a bold for those that I've seen, bold AND italics for those I've seen in the last 5 years, and regular font for all others.

Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972) The Apu Trilogy (1955, 1956, 1959) The Awful Truth (1937) Baby Face (1933) Bande à part (1964) Barry Lyndon (1975) Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980) Blade Runner (1982) Bonnie and Clyde (1967) Brazil (1985) Bride of Frankenstein (1935) Camille (1936) Casablanca (1942) Charade (1963) Children of Paradise (1945) Chinatown (1974) Chungking Express (1994) Citizen Kane (1941) City Lights (1931) City of God (2002) Closely Watched Trains (1966) The Crime of Monsieur Lange (1936) The Crowd (1928) Day for Night (1973) The Decalogue (1989) Detour (1945) The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) Dodsworth (1936) Double Indemnity (1944) Dr. Strangelove: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) Drunken Master II (1994) E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982) 8 1/2 (1963) The 400 Blows (1959) Farewell My Concubine (1993) Finding Nemo (2003) The Fly (1986) The Godfather, Parts I and II (1972, 1974) The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966) Goodfellas (1990) A Hard Day's Night (1964) His Girl Friday (1940) Ikiru (1952) In A Lonely Place (1950) Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) It's A Gift (1934) It's a Wonderful Life (1946) Kandahar (2001) Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) King Kong (1933) The Lady Eve (1941) The Last Command (1928) Lawrence of Arabia (1962) Léolo (1992) The Lord of the Rings (2001-03) The Man With a Camera (1929) The Manchurian Candidate (1962) Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) Metropolis (1927) Miller's Crossing (1990) Mon oncle d'Amérique (1980) Mouchette (1967) Nayakan (1987) Ninotchka (1939) Notorious (1946) Olympia, Parts 1 and 2 (1938) On the Waterfront (1954) Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) Out of the Past (1947) Persona (1966) Pinocchio (1940) Psycho (1960) Pulp Fiction (1994) The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) Pyaasa (1957) Raging Bull (1980) Schindler's List (1993) The Searchers (1956) Sherlock, Jr. (1924) The Shop Around the Corner (1940) Singin' in the Rain (1952) The Singing Detective (1986) Smiles of a Summer Night (1955) Some Like It Hot (1959) Star Wars (1977) A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) Sunrise (1927) Sweet Smell of Success (1957) Swing Time (1936) Talk to Her (2002) Taxi Driver (1976) Tokyo Story (1953) A Touch of Zen (1971) Ugetsu (1953) Ulysses' Gaze (1995) Umberto D (1952) Unforgiven (1992) White Heat (1949) Wings of Desire (1987) Yojimbo (1961)

So.... 30/100. That's bull. I know I've lots of "good" movies. Maybe at some point I'll update this when I find a list that better reflects the 100 best movies out there.

110. Play bocce ball at Union Hall

2011-05-01T17:14:00.000-04:00

I don't know about everyone else, but when I think of Bocce ball, I see old men like my grandfather - wearing their guayaveras, drinking beer, keeping it old school. Actually, I never though of bocce much, the same way I don't daydream about polo, fencing, fox hunting, or any other of those old fashioned sports that I'll never engage in.

Except now it's here again. Brooklyn has bocce ball lanes.

One of the best things about Union Hall, besides their great beer selection and casual-yet-festive atmosphere, is the bocce ball. Nate and I would go on any evening and nurse our beers while watching the games. There always seemed to be experienced players throwing the little balls, expertly keeping score. I don't know why it never occurred to me to sign up to play. I think we figured the wait was to long, that there were usually only two of us, that our total ignorance of rules would be too obvious.

Then a couple of weeks ago, for a friend's birthday, we managed to get a lane! 30th birthdays are the best, everyone wants to have a good time, but most people don't want to be out till 4 am. Our aging bodies can't handle it anymore. And apparently, when you get to Union Hall at 7:30, you actually have a shot at getting a lane for a bit.

We just played 3 or 4 games, Nate and me against another couple, while someone else acted as score keeper. She said she knew how to keep score, and in all honesty, she might have been making it up as it went along for all I care. All that matters is that she was decisive and effective. I don't even remember who won, though I know that we won a couple of rounds. Nate's only request was that we not be team Blue Balls. I can't understand that. So we were the yellow team. Go... yellow balls?

Fun stuff, I get while the elders like it. It's like shuffle board with a real dirt lane.

36. Learn to sew

2011-04-27T21:45:00.000-04:00

I'm going to go ahead and call this one as DONE, even though I didn't "learn" per se. Actually, I don't know what I was thinking when added this to my list, because I do know how to sew. I just don't know how to sew anything of value.

So maybe I should have named it, sew an actual wearable item? Pick a pattern and borrow someone's sewing machine? Ha ha, too bad, I just said learn to sew. So I'm instructing my faithful readers (all two of you), to see this post about making Ergo drool pads, and see how I was actually sewing.

Some time in the future, when I'm back in Texas and spending time with my mom, I want to make an outfit for LP from scratch. With my questionable sewing skills I'm going to limit it to Halloween costumes, where details in the stitching won't matter as much. But that day is way in the future, beyond the deadline of this list project.

23. Do 5 craft projects from the internet - 4) Ergo drool pads

2011-04-18T14:00:00.000-04:00

Now with the baby, it's harder to keep up with blogging. Mostly because I was pretty bad at it to begin with.
LP is now 6 months, and growing awesome! She's big for her age, and is hitting her milestones at the expected rate. So what if she doesn't seem to show any interest in crawling, she's sitting on her own already, laughing, grabbing her own pacifier, and recognizing us from across the room. I am not ready for a mobile child yet.

She's also taken to her Ergo carrier as of late. We are total baby-wearing parents, not so much out of principle, but mostly because living in Brooklyn results in a more pedestrian lifestyle. It's easier to strap LP to a carrier and go out for errands. I also put her on her stroller, but many times it's more of a hassle than it's worth. We love the ergo because she gets full back support, the straps are thick and ergonomic (so it doesn't hurt our back), and she will sleep on it for loooong naps. Many times it's saved us when she just wouldn't nap.

She also liked drooling on the ergo straps, so I found some great DIY instructions for drooling pads at Lu Bird Baby. I'm really digging her blog, and hope to make other of her craft projects. And everyone should also check out her Etsy Shop.

I made them while we were visiting in Texas, because I'd have my mom help me, and we could have better access to craft stores like Hobby Lobby. NY/BK is seriously lacking in plain-jane craft stores, everything is specialized, so every time I've tried to buy supplies for little projects, the employees have been so condescending and snobby that it took away any initiative I had. Also, ultimately, my mom finished stitching the drool pads. Taking care of a baby is exhausting, man. My hat's off to all you moms who embrace the homemade WHILE taking care of the baby. I can't really do both at the same time.

Marking the size of the pieces

With my Mom, also cutting the towel we used to absorb the drool

And we have it all pinned together

After sowing it together, we attached Velcro and ironed it flat

SUCCESS!!

Giving up something for Lent

2011-03-09T22:09:00.000-05:00

I'm not a very good catholic (as an Atheist, I couldn't be), but growing up in Peru has made me a cultural catholic.

This means I celebrate Christmas (with a nativity set, natch), like Easter brunch, am fascinated by religious iconography and saints, and had a catholic wedding. Oh, and I like going to old churches when I'm traveling, I find them very soothing. This also means that though I've never had a cross on my forehead on ash Wednesday, I do like to give up stuff for Lent once in a while. But not every year, because as I said, I'm a terrible catholic.

This year I'm not very organized, and I don't know what to give up.

I was originally thinking of Facebook. It is, after all, a bad vice and I usually don't get much satisfaction from people's insipid updates on their lives. But then I realized that like it or not, it's a social tool, so if I give it up completely I'd be cutting myself off from some actual real-life plans. People plan outings on facebook these days... weird.

Another typical one is coffee. But I hardly drink coffee these days, since I fear it would affect my milk production. I'm also half convinced it would throw off my sleeping patterns even more than a 5 month old baby does. And we can't have that.

Maybe liquor? I'm not strong enough to give up all alcohol. I enjoy the occasional wine or beer. But in all honesty, I'm not drinking any liquor because of the breastfeeding, so there'd be act of sacrifice.

And isn't the notion of testing our personal limits what lent is all about? I'm not actually religious, so all I have is the rituals, so I figure if you're gonna do it, it's gotta be for real.

I'm thinking of giving up Haagen Daas chocolate chip ice cream. So specific, I know. I got hooked on it during my pregnancy, when I HAD to have it. But only this specific brand, in this specific flavor would do. Nate had to go to three or four stores some nights to get it, and once he'd find it, he would stock up the fridge, only to find it gone by the following week. I swear LP is made of ice cream and popsicles. Must be why she has such a sweet disposition.
Since I'm no longer pregnant, and therefore shouldn't be having those strong cravings, it's time to nip this problem in the bud. Those last 10 lbs aren't going to lose themselves if I don't do something about it.

So... facebook still here, vanilla chocolate chip ice cream.... GONE!

59. Gather all the coins in the house and deposit them in the bank

2011-03-07T18:29:00.000-05:00

I'd been procrastinating this because I refused to have CoinStar charge me a 9% commission for this service. Did you know that the UFCU in Austin has a coin counting machine (at least the south location) and do this service for free? I assume it's free as long as you have an account with them, which I do. (Incidentally, if you have an account with a credit union, never ever let those go. Our current experience with Chase has been disappointing to say the least, while UFCU always felt on my side. Glad I'm still keeping the account.)

In any case, I refused to succumb to CoinStar's services. It's a travesty, I tell you!

Of course, with that logic, we'd been sitting with accumulating coins since we moved to Brooklyn 3 years ago. Yes, stubbornness can be a powerful emotion, and it can turn you in to a hoarder. What finally did it was that I'm attempting to baby-proof our apartment. Not in an anal-retentive way, but rather just trying to eliminate small choking-sized and/or breakable items from the bottom living room shelves. And a big pile of coins is definitely a choking hazard. I figure LP will dictate whether she needs everything up to three feet padded or if she's fine with just a few adjustments. So in the meantime, we'll just make a few adjustments that don't cramp our style too much.

Besides, LP and I need excuses to go out. We have our mom-group gatherings, but those don't happen every day, so we end up trying to run errands to fill out the week. (In fact, we make it a point to go outside everyday. Unless it's under 30 degrees and/or storming, lets not go crazy here.) So cashing in our coins just seemed like a great excuse to walk all the way to the Key Food on 5th Av. It's about a 15 minute walk, so it's just right to go there and back in a whole nap cycle.

Man, I wish I'd done this sooner. We ended up counting our coins in two separate sessions, and our net gains were $46 and $34. Even if they ended up keeping about $7 in service fees, that's still $80 that we didn't have before. I'm so excited about the extra spending money, it's just enough to buy a cup of coffee here and there. So here I am, a supporter of CoinStar. What's next, supporting Wal-Mart? Nah, not there yet.

Whatever, we got our coins done eventually. That's what counts, right?

23. Do 5 craft projects from the internet - Calder Mobile

2011-03-01T23:14:00.001-05:00

When I was pregnant, Nate and I used to talk about getting the little one a Calder Mobile.

"Most mobiles are so corny", we'd say with conviction. "Why would I want my baby to stare a stuffed animals?"

I was sure that if there ever was a neighborhood pretentious enough to offer modern art inspired baby gear, we were there. But much to my surprise, there is no such thing as a Calder baby mobile. Seriously? Sure, there are very expensive mobiles (hand crafted by Calder himself, I presume), but nothing that could be attached to the crib the way a child's toy would.

We decided that the easiest solution would be to make it ourselves. It's not that we are crafty per se, its that we are two designers and eventually the ideas in our head don't exist in the real world. So we have to make them. Ah, life would be so different right now if we had a garage to set up a workshop. I have a feeling Nate would spend his weekends making furniture. Maybe we'd never go to Ikea again? *shudder* What a scary thought.

I have to admit that the mobile we made is not what we originally intended. We had sketched up and discussed how to make the whole thing: frame, wires, wind up mechanism. But ultimately we didn't get it done before LP was born, and now that she's here, we don't have time to d!ck around like we used to. We've taken a few shortcuts. Also, the resulting mobile is NOT baby proof, which means that it needs to be hung from the ceiling (not her crib) and be out of reach even when she learns to stand.

So here it is, how to make your very own Calder mobile. :

Materials:
Wire photo mobile - such as this Kikkerland mobile
Foam in primary colors
Scissors

We ended up finding some door tags at Hobby Lobby that fit the size, color and material. Sure, they are religious (and I can't figure out what their actual use is), but it doesn't matter, because we were going to to cut them anyway. Main thing: they are soft foam.

The shapes are very important, as they dictate whether your mobile will look Calderesque, or simply a bunch of colored pieces of foam

We threw out the left overs, though they looked pretty cool.

Attach the pieces to the existing wire frame

And voila, you have a mobile ready to hang from the ceiling!

109. Visit Washington DC

2011-02-26T14:19:00.001-05:00

I really don't mean to be neglecting this blog. I like my list, and I fully intend to finish it. It's just that having a baby around is just so. time. consuming. I manage pretty good to keep LP happy, fed, changed, while still keeping up with my Flickr pictures (the grandparents love that), the house in working order, cooking 90% of our meals, doing our daily errands, and taking on the occasional architecture project from home. Man, when I write it down like that it makes me feel much more productive.

Anyway, enough about excuses, lets get to it. Over Valentine's day weekend we went to Washington DC. Nate hadn't been before, and my mom was there for a conference and had extra room in her Hotel Room. It rocked. We arrived on Friday, saw all the memorials, capitol and art museum on Saturday, had LP stay with my mom while we went out to a nice dinner, went to the Aerospace museum and Building Museum and drove back on Sunday. Short and sweet, but Nate got to see the Washington and Lincoln Memorials, which he'd always wanted to to.

Traveling with LP was easier than I expected. This doesn't mean that it was easy by any means, as we had to time our touristing with her feeding schedule, found ourselves changing her diaper on a Subway Restaurant table (their fault, they didn't have a changing table, and it was the only place open on a Saturday), and it took us way longer to drive there than we initially planned. But we were expecting it to be tough, so no surprises there.

What was surprising is how wonderful it's to sight-see with a baby. I know LP is too young to understand where she was, but she was looking at everything attentively. For starters, she loved the museums, specially abstract expressionism and similar bright colored rooms (she didn't really appreciate minimalism, which is one of my favorites, but I understand why she'd find it boring). And there's just something inherently wonderful in watching the world through your child's eyes. The way she would just stare, taking it all in. It's amazing. Can't wait to take more trips with her

85. Eat the typical ethnic cuisine from three separate neighborhoods (Little Italy)

2011-02-10T17:28:00.001-05:00

Am I cheating? Am I stretching the letter of the law past it's fundamental spirit? Something doesn't feel quite right about counting this.

But I gotta be honest - I really want to make it far on my list. There is this balance I have to reach between checking items of the list (yay), and acknowledging that the new baby has forever altered my abilities to do certain things (also yay). So I am looking back through this last year, and trying to figure out which experiences I have done and just forgot to mark on the blog. Curious thing life, when you are most active in it, you have the least amount of time to document it.

I now try to upkeep the blog and my flickr page during LP's nap times. So I have about.... 20 minutes left before she'll probably wake up. Here it goes.

Last year Angie and James came to visit, and we went to Lombardi's Pizza in Little Italy because... well, its THE pizza place, isn't it? We went, got seated, ordered the classic large pizza and bread sticks, had a delicious meal that we all enjoyed. Then afterwards we bought wine at a store and proceeded to get hammered on the Staten Island Ferry when it decided to leave us stranded for almost an hour on the Staten Island terminal. Angie and I snuck into the bathroom to open our bottles of wine and brought them back out in brown paper bags, and we served ourselves in paper cups we'd procured from the nearby food court. True story. And the fact that it has almost nothing to do with Lombardi's and Little Italy doesn't take away its awesomeness.

LP woke up. ...... and I am back now, while she plays on her exersaucer.

So... Lombardi's, right? I am going to mark this off as one of my ethnic neighborhoods with specialized cuisine. Little Italy - had Italian food.

I'm thinking other options for the future are: China Town - Chinese food, preferably dim sum, Astoria - Greek, Brighton Beach - Russian, Lower East Side - Katz Deli, Korea Town - Korean bar-b-q, Caribbean food from the other side of Prospect Park, and I"m sure there are plenty more that I'm just not thinking of.

We meet again ARE's

2011-02-06T00:42:00.000-05:00

I am once again in full study mode for my Architectural Registration Exams. Supposedly, I've been doing it for a couple of weeks at least, but I spent all that time making sure I had a clear desk in which to work. I'm telling you, I need a clean space to concentrate.

The architect I had been telecommuting with seems to have disappeared. Many emails went unanswered, and three phone calls later, he claims that he's just gotten a couple of new projects and will be needing my design and drafting help soon. Right... I tell him I'm ready and then nothing happens. I understand on his end that the snopocalypse has been hard on small businesses. But guess what? I am a small business too- an architect-in-training seeking part-time employment from home. At least he was able to count the last 6 months I've been working for him toward my IDP hours. Now we play the waiting game, architect who will give me design work soon...

Meanwhile, I have decided to make myself professionally useful. Therefore, I will be taking another ARE soon. I'm not sure if it was a good idea to get back on this endeavor with a 4 month old baby, but I am determined to feel like a career woman. I can have it all, dammit! I will not let a poopie child who needs constant play and attention stop me from my professional goals.

Of course, day to day, it's hard to be motivated. Studying is boring, while playing and feeding your own baby is just divine. Maybe I am better suited for domesticity than I thought.

Next up: Construction Documents and Services Exam. I am determined to not fall asleep every time I open my study guide. My goal is to schedule the test in about 2 months. By that point LP will be 6 months, and I will be less concerned if we have to slip her a bottle of formula here and there. Mommy has to torture herself by taking a *insert cuss word* test to be a licensed architect.

46. Make a complicated dessert from scratch

2011-01-27T14:15:00.000-05:00

When I put this item on my list, I had aspirations of a really complex sweet treat. I envisioned myself in full baking mode, suffle-ing and stuffing gorgeous bright colored fruits into tarts. I am not sure why I thought I'd be able to beat experienced pastry chefs. Seriously, I don't even like sweets. I am more of a cheese person myself.

However, I can bake things from scratch once in a while. I've been known to make my favorite Wacky Cake for birthdays (named thus because its a chocolate cake made with oil instead of butter, wacky!). Nate doesn't like the WC, but I think he's crazy. I mean, its moist and goes great with fudge. He's just crazy.

I also tried one time to make a more traditional chocolate cake, and the results were less than desirable. Needless to say, I wont be making that recipe again. Ditto for the fruit crisps I made last year for Valentine's day dinner. They were good, but not good enough to go through the effort again. Plus, at some point I threw out the frozen pastries that were part of the recipe. That's just the way the cookie crumbles. Freezer space is at a premium.

So instead I'm going to focus on the Red Velvet Cupcake I make for Nate's birthday last year. This was pre-baby, so I still had time to bake things from scratch. As it is right now, it would be more difficult, though my no means impossible.

Nate has always liked Red Velvet cake, and he introduced me to its wonders when we started dating. They are now my favorite cupcakes. And I've wanted to make him some red treats for a while.

In fact, when we went to Texas for our wedding, we went to visit his grandmother, who would be unable to make the trip for the wedding in her advanced age.

"Nate always talks about your Red Velvet Cake," I told her. "I want to make it for him, what's the secret?"

And she leans forward to me, and tells me as if she's revealing a big family secret, "Lots and lots of red food dye." And she laughs. God love that woman, she absolutely rocks.

So for Nate's birthday, we made cupcakes. Which ended up being much more challenging than expected because Fairway, the large grocery store that's supposed to have EVERYTHING, was out of red dye. No problem, we thought, we'll just buy it at one of the many places in the neighborhood. And it took Nate 45 minutes going to 4 different stores until he found it. This, of course, being the record breaking hot hot summer, and me 7 months pregnant waiting for him. So unfortunately, with that delay I was unable to make cream cheese frosting for the cupcakes. Life is tough sometimes, but we make-do.