Happy Birthday Mom

Happy 58 Mom!

If you were here, I’d take the day off from work. But I bet you’d want to meet me at work. You’d want to see my office and meet my co-workers. I’d like to think you’d be proud of me.

I’ve gotten to know “your” city a lot better since you left. I think you’d be quite impressed. I never even have to look at a subway map.

I had always wanted to treat you to a meal at Erin’s restaurant, so we’d have to go there for lunch. You never got to go there, just like you never got to meet Erin. You would love her. You would also love how we would get “fussed over” at her restaurant, treated like princesses, or celebrities, or both.

We’d have oysters (did you ever get to try oysters? I hope so, at least once…), shrimp cocktail, ceviche, goat cheese tart, followed by chicken paillard (we’d split it, “halfsies”). You always liked to have “lots of little things instead of one big thing.” And of course there would be Sancerre. Lots of Sancerre. And for dessert, profiteroles. Heavenly. Maybe just as good as the chocolate fondue we had one Valentine’s Day at Bread & Ink in Portland. You'd complain jokingly, "so much food!" But secretly, you would love it.



After that big lunch we’d have to take a nice, long walk. We’d meander through SoHo, (you’d marvel at how much the neighborhood had changed, when you and dad lived here there were “real” artist lofts). We’d stop in the wonderful bookstore on Bleecker and then we’d get lattes on Mulberry at one of the outdoor cafes (and maybe another glass of wine) and we’d people watch as the late afternoon light began to dim towards evening, the buildings and people like outlines in a Magritte.



Then we’d head back to New Jersey, because you’d probably want to spend at least part of your birthday with your daughter-in-law and grandchildren. You would remark how you couldn’t believe after everything, that I would end up in the suburbs, but you would understand, and I think you’d be proud of the sacrifices we made (no Thai or Indian takeout! No coffee shops in walking distance (unless you count Dunkin Donuts-pfooey)! so that Leo could attend an amazing school and so that both children could have space, a yard, room to grow.

You’d love my garden. I would complain how I don’t have enough time to make it look as good as I’d like it to, to look as good as yours, and you’d tell me there will be plenty of time for that someday.

And of course, you would marvel at your little grandchildren. You’d remark how light their hair is, how blue their eyes are (thanks for that Mom!). You’d delight in Ellie’s dancing, her “conversations,” how she nods her head in agreement/approval when you feed her something she enjoys. You’d compliment Leo on his sense of humor, his whistling abilities and at how well he writes his name. You’d read him book after book (you would be so proud of how much both children love to read). And you’d laugh as you watched Leo chase Ellie around the stairwell, the contagious giggles reverberating through the house.




You’d say you wish Bubby could have met them.

I’d make a nice dinner (though you would protest and insist on helping). We would snack on manchego and bread, both laughing about how we would never be hungry for dinner but knowing it didn’t matter.

Happy Birthday Mom.

I love you and I miss you.
xxxooo,
Maya

The Weekend in Pictures

It rained a lot this weekend. But rain isn't always bad. Because you get to wear these.


And it's official. Ellie has a blankie. She has attached herself to this particular blankie, one of Leo's old ones. I confess I am encouraging this blankie love. I Because I had (OK, still have, you can laugh all you want!) a blankie. I think it's adorable. She sees it and gets all giddy and squeals and throws her round little arms around it.



And check out that belly. I mean, seriously? I just want to get some blue cheese and take a bite out of her.

Sunday we went to DUMBO (a neighborhood in Brooklyn for the non-NYC readers) to see our friend Dora and her family. I forgot to take any pictures during the actual playdate (Dora's mom Penny and I were a little busy wrangling Leo, Dora, Ellie and Dora's three month old sister Bibi) but took this cool shot outside their apartment (oh excuse me, loft). That's the Manhattan Bridge and this image pretty much personifies DUMBO, which stands for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass.

It reminds me of those pictures people take of stuffed animals traveling around the world, a shot of a famous landmark and then their little characters thrown in as proof that they were there.

We drove across the Brooklyn Bridge to get to DUMBO and my heart fluttered a bit. I lived in New York off and on for close to ten years and I have to say, I think I will always be impressed by the skyline. Shoot, by the city itself. I've always had a bit of a love affair with the city, an idealized vision of it, even if the closest I ever came to my Woody Allen fantasy of it was a graduate school apartment (pre-war though!) on the upper-upper west side. You can say what you want about New York. It can be a real pain in the ass, but come on, it's New York City. Sometimes I can't believe this girl from Portland, Oregon is now in New York (well, now I'm in New Jersey, but you get the idea).

All in all, a lovely weekend.

Redecorating (dreams)

Does anyone else out there watch Mad Men? I am a little obsessed right now. Last night I stayed up way too late watching it. I’ve only seen the first three episodes of Season one and since they took them off of On Demand I’ve been relegated to watching Season two and trying to figure out what happened. It’s not so hard (and I’ve read about it a little online). And it’s totally addicting.

I love the show, though find it a little sad (such miserable marriages!). But on to more important matters. I am preoccupied with painting the walls in our house the same robin’s egg blue of the Drapers’ home.

I love this color. It is so bright and happy and just, lovely (though the same can certainly not be said for the Drapers’ relationship).



I do worry a tiny bit that it's a little trendy right now. Would I still love it in a year? In three? Honestly the chance of it actually getting painted this color is so slight that to actually worry about tiring of the color is laughable.

We paid a decent amount to have our house painted before we moved in a couple of years ago. I still like the colors but am just itching for a change: the living room is a warm light brown, the study an earthy green and the kitchen is warm, cranberry red. But that robin’s egg blue is just so happy, and in a funny way neutral enough that I think many colors would compliment it. I guess as we head into winter I think of needing this brightness. Also, I like the idea of changing things a bit interior wise (fall is, after all, my New Year).

Now if I can just figure out how to get the walls painted without doing it myself or paying someone to do it. Oh well, a girl can dream.

Interesting Quote on Motherhood

"When [a mom] is with [her children], she is not herself; when she is without them, she is not herself.

-Rachel Cusk, author, A Life's Work

Bill Clinton and Down syndrome

Bill Clinton, on why Sarah Palin is popular in the heartland. People relate to her:

"I come from Arkansas; I get why she's hot out there, why she's doing well."

Clinton said voters would think: "I like that little Down syndrome kid. One of them lives down the street. They're wonderful children. They're wonderful people..."*

You just have to love Bill Clinton.

*Speaking on Monday to reporters before his Clinton Global Initiative Meeting.

You can read the full text here.

Weekend Pics

Ellie looking tough, getting out of her car and ala Tony Soprano on the way to whacking someone.

Couldn't get either one of them to look at the camera.

Leo is obsessed with covering our poor dog with a blanket. He thinks it's hilarious. Follows that unbelieveably patient dog all over the house with blanket.

I like this self-portrait of Ellie and me. Oh I'm so arty.

Leo is also into putting inappropriate things on his head. I realize we shouldn't encourage this, but honestly I think he just really likes to make people laugh. He's a total clown and I don't mind encouraging that. Pictured above, Leo and his pizza box. Because, why wouldn't you want to put a pizza box on your head?

I'll Always be a Library Girl at Heart But...

I actually accomplished nearly everything on my list this weekend. That does not happen often. Granted the list was not long, but still, that was quite satisfying.

Saturday I went to the library by myself which was absolutely luxurious. I spent about an hour just scanning the fiction shelves. I had a list of new releases in my hot little hand but they were all checked out. I put them on hold, and ended up with a couple of novels that should hopefully keep me occupied on the commute for the next week or so.

Sunday we made it to story time at the new Barnes & Noble. It was so lame! So sorry that I sort of rushed us all out the door for that one. It was just a weird woman sitting on the stage, reading from a dorky Disney version of Winnie the Pooh. I can do better than that in my own living room. But the good news is the store is beautiful. And the kids section is really lovely (I especially liked the mural of favorite children’s book characters: Eloise, the Cow jumping over the Moon (from Goodnight, Moon), Harold, from Harold and the Purple Crayon). It’s almost entirely enclosed, which meant I could let both kids kind of wander around without being too worried about them going in completely opposite directions. My heart still goes into my stomach if I can't SEE them both at all times and this did happen about twice. Luckily, Leo seems to be nearly out of his wandering aimlessly stage (at least when there are books around to distract him) and Ellie is at least for now, on the mellow side. She even sort of listens to me if I call her (unlike some people, ahem). She was quite content to climb over the store’s small wooden chairs and the stage, and also to take the baby board books off the shelves.

I’ll always be a library girl but I have to say it was pretty nice hanging out in a brand new bookstore with crisp new books, and it makes such a difference when the books are displayed covers out, as opposed to spines only. You can really see the books better that way (duh). Oh and did I mention there's a Starbucks? And although I’m sure the store wasn’t happy about it, we managed to leaving without spending any money (except at Starbucks). You know what else is great? The kids can fight all they want about wanting to read the Same Book at the Same Time because there are multiple copies of all books. Hurrah!

You can say what you want about boring chain stores but I think I know where we’ll be hanging out a lot this winter.