April: Concerts, Anniversaries and Tummy Time

April was my first full month back at work, albeit still part-time.  It was a busy month, nonetheless.

On April 10, we took Amelia on her first road trip, to visit our friend Eric in Philadelphia.  While we were down there, I met up with some friends to see Andrew McMahon:

 

The concert was amazing, a mix of Something Corporate, Jack's Mannequin, and his new solo stuff.  

Oh yeah, and I made out with Eric's chinchilla, Mittens:

 

Amelia turned 2 months old on the 10th, but this picture was taken the following day, since we spent the 10th in Philly:

As of her two-month appointment, she was 23 1/2 inches long, which they told me was 90th percentile for height.  She clearly does not get her height from me!

On the 22nd, Glen and I celebrated 7 years of marriage with our traditional trip to Minado, which has an amazing sushi buffet.

I love that picture above.  Three of my favorite things: My husband, my daughter, and all-you-can-eat sushi!

And even though Amelia's been holding up her head pretty consistently since she was a few weeks old, we finally figured out the trick to tear-free tummy time:

It seems that propped up on the Boppy, in the crib is the way to go.  This past Sunday, we tried it without the Boppy, and she rolled from her stomach to her back twice! 

In other news, I've been debating downgrading my jewelry business to a hobby, because clearly once I go back to work 10 weeks from now, I will have even less than the currently-almost-nonexistent free time I have now.  For the past 3 years, I ran it as a business, complete with sales tax returns each quarter and a Schedule C each year.  

At this point, based on this IRS publication, I don't think it really qualifies as a business, since I'm not really able to put much time and effort into it and I don't depend on the income to make a living since I already have two other jobs!  The hassle of filing quarterly sales tax returns and filling out a Schedule C doesn't seem worth it as this point, but I still want to continue to make and sell jewelry as a creative outlet.  If I report it as hobby income, I could still deduct certain expenses, I just couldn't claim a loss.  Potentially having to pay slightly more taxes feels worth it to me since I'd have more free time, and right now time is more important to me than saving a few bucks!  

Stranded! (and a PSA)

Last night was probably going to be one my last late nights out in New York City before baby Stormageddon makes her arrival in February.  Now I can say it was DEFINITELY my last late night in New York City.

It started off SO well.  My husband was already in the city for work, so I took the bus into Port Authority with one of our friends.  We met Glen at Veselka for some delicious Ukranian food.  I got a variety of pierogies, which were delicious despite the fact that they had run out of the pumpkin pierogies I was so looking forward to!  The place was all decked out for Christmas and it was very cozy.

After dinner, we had some time to kill before Glen's show at the Upright Citizense Brigade Theatre, so we found a bar to hang out in for a bit, where I drank the biggest Shirley Temple ever.  (Seriously, I think I've spent more time in bars since I got pregnant than I did before!)  Glen's show went really well, but by the time it let out, it was about 12:30am.

Here's where the PSA comes in.  I hadn't been to New York City since before Hurricane Sandy.  Glen has only been in weekdays during the day.  None of us had a clue that the PATH trains are currently shut down between the hours of 10:00pm and 5:00am.  Our plan had been to take the PATH back to Jersey City where Glen had parked, because we'd done it a million times before. 

After trying the 33rd St., 23rd. St. AND 14th St. stations to no avail (and a lot of walking!), we finally bit the bullet and took a very expensive cab ride to get to the parking garage near Journal Square.  When all was said and done, Glen and I didn't get back to our house until 4:00 this morning.

I had originally planned on taking the morning off from my day job, since I knew it would be a late night, but I think I made the right decision in calling off for the whole day instead.  And since I spent that entire ordeal paranoid about the possibility of going into preterm labor and with no way of getting home, I think it goes without saying that I will be staying a bit closer to home for the next 7 1/2 weeks!

By the way, I DO have 31 week belly pictures, but they haven't made it from the camera to the computer just yet.  I'll post them soon, I promise!

Seize the Day

How was everyone's weekend?

Mine was pretty darn fantastic!  I spent Saturday in New York with one of my best friends from high school, as well as one of her sisters and he sister's friend.  We had tickets for Newsies, and as we were making our way toward the Nederlander one of my friends stopped short and gasped when she saw this: 



Also exciting: the Godiva store was to the right of Chop't.  We had truffles for dessert. :-)

I've only been to Chop't once before, when visiting that friend in D.C, but was amazing!  And my friend loves Chop't so much she would probably benefit from some sort of 12-step program, so we were both incredibly excited to see that they were in New York, too. 

My salad consisted of baby spinach, romaine lettuce, crumbled egg, carrots, broccoli, sunflower seeds, and smoky bacon ranch dressing.  SO good.

Yum!!!

Then it was off to the Nederlander, where we waited in a line that wrapped around the block.  It was ridiculous.



Yay!!

I hadn't seen the movie in awhile, possibly since high school.  Which is probably kind of good, because they did make some completely arbitrary changes that might have bothered me more if I'd seen it more recently.  But changes or not, it was an incredible performance, and so much fun!!  I haven't seen any other shows that are nominated, so my opinion may not count for much here, but I will still be extremely surprised if it doesn't win the Tony for best choreography. 


Covert picture in the theater before the performance started.  I'm a rebel!

 Next we headed down to Veselka for dinner:



7 plates for 4 people.  But we're not gluttons. :-P

Everything was amazing.  That picture above?  It's not even everything we ordered.  There were no leftovers, unless you count the 3 quarts of borscht my friend ordered to go. ;-)

A Concert at "Carnegie Cave"

How was everyone's weekend?  Mine was about as close to perfect as I could imagine.

Friday was so incredibly nice that I couldn't resist taking a couple of hours of vacation time to leave work early and take Elvis to the dog park.  The sun was shining, it was just warm enough that I didn't need a jacket, and there were lots of dogs there for Elvis to play with.  This particular dog park sits on top of a hill and the view is amazing:

The next day, we got up early and went to New York City for the 12:30 show of Jim Henson's Musical Worlds.  I grossly overestimated how bad traffic would be going through the Lincoln Tunnel on a Saturday morning, so we had enough time to wander around Central Park for a bit before the show.

 When we arrived at Carnegie Hall around noon, this sight made me feel positively giddy:

The show was absolutely amazing.  I had to fight back tears when the New York Pops opened with a medley of the themes from The Muppet Show, Sesame Street, and Fraggle Rock.  I got chills when the entire audience joined in the clapping parts of "Fraggle Rock."  

I really enjoyed the way they integrated the Fraggles into the show.  Uncle Traveling Matt (Dave Goelz) was taking Red (Karen Prell) and Wembley (Steve Whitmire, who I didn't realize would be there!) on a tour of Outer Space.  According to Traveling Matt, "Carnegie Cave" was a Doozer contruction that was completed six weeks ago, and was meant to me a summer home for Ma and Pa Gorg.  They sang a medley of songs that included two of my all-time favorites, "Follow Me" and "Let Me Be Your Song."  I may have teared up a bit. 

Unfortunately, from our seats in the second tier I wasn't able to get particularly good shots of the Fraggle Rock, Emmet Otter or Sesame Street characters, so I won't bother sharing them here.  But I did get a fairly good shot of the Muppets, along with John Tartaglia (he's the one in the green pants) and a bunch of the human members of the Sesame Street cast:

And here's a shot of the Muppet performers during the curtain call:



Oh, and remember when I posted video of the performance of "Just One Person" from Jim Henson's memorial service? 

Well, they performed it on Saturday!  I missed the first couple of verses because as soon as they started singing, I started crying, and it took me a moment to compose myself. ;-)

Between February's Pete and Pete cast reunion and this past weekend's Muppet performance at Carnegie Hall, I don't think I've ever been so grateful to live just a short drive away from New York City.  2012 definitely seems to be shaping up to be the year of once-in-a-lifetime chances to revisit everything I loved about my childhood!  Maybe this means they'll finally release Salute Your Shorts on DVD??

Music Makes Us Real (Ping!)

Ok, guys.  I'm in serious danger of nostalgia overload here.

A few weeks ago, this happened.

Then about a week ago, Glen found Being Elmo on Netflix, which was amazing.  I was always more of a Fraggle Rock girl, so I never got into the Elmo craze, but the more I learn about Kevin Clash, the more I appreciate everything he's done to carry on Jim Henson's work.  I thought I'd have to wait until April to see the documentary on PBS, so I was really excited to be able to watch it a few weeks earlier.

Well, Tuesday I found out that this is a thing that's happening. 

Yup, a musical tribute to Jim Henson at Carnegie Hall, complete with appearances by John Tartaglia (whom I saw in Avenue Q - twice), Dave Goelz (Gonzo!  Boober Fraggle!!), and Karen Prell (Red Fraggle!!!!!!). 

Needless to say, I ordered tickets within minutes.  I am beyond excited right now. :-)


P.S.  When I named this post, I must have underestimated how obscure I was getting.  I original intended to embed video of the song "Music Makes Us Real (Ping!)" from the episode "Mokey and the Minstrels", but I can't seem to find it anywhere.  I did, however, find the audio: Music Makes Us Real (Ping!)

I Think I Found My Happy Place

Have you seen this post from Apartment Therapy?

This place is El Ateneo Grand Splendid, in Buenos Aires.  It's a huge bookstore housed in an old theater.  So basically, two of my very favorite things in the entire world, together in one place.

Of course, I'm fairly certain that if I ever visited this bookstore, I would decide I want to live there for the rest of my life and refuse to leave!

Fun Times in Philly

So, that concert I mentioned in my previous post? 

Absolutely amazing.

Unfortunately we missed most of the first band's set because dinner ran long, but we made it in time to see Jukebox the Ghost.

I was mostly unfamiliar with them until this point.  My Pandora station has played some of their songs, which I did enjoy.  And oddly enough, I saw them open for Harvey Danger at the last concert I attended.  I have no idea how I managed to not take note of them the first time around, except perhaps that I was too busy mourning the fact that it was Harvey Danger's last east coast performance to care about the opening acts? 

At any rate, I am now a huge fan.  They had a great stage presence, and after hearing more of their music I couldn't resist buying a CD (which their piano player and drummer signed!).  Anyone else a fan of these guys?  And if you're familiar with them, do you find that "Hold It In" and "Empire" are both serious earworms?  Seriously, those songs have been rotating on repeat in my brain since Sunday morning!

Jack's Mannequin was fabulous as always.  This is something like the 4th or 5th time I've seen them, and I'm never disappointed.  Of course, it wouldn't be a Jack's Mannequin concert if Andrew didn't stand on the piano:

They played a good mix of songs from all three albums, and during the encore, Andrew played an older Something Corporate song, "Cavanaugh Park."  Apparently earlier that day, he purchased his first iPhone, so he decided to take his first ever iPhone photo: the audience.  It was posted on the website earlier this week:

Maybe if you squint hard enough, you can see me waaay in the back. ;-) 

Happy (Belated) New Year!

Yup, I'm still alive.  My original intent was to just take the week between Christmas and New Years off from blogging, but I accidentally added an extra 5 days. Sorry about that!

Anyway, I did spend plenty of time relaxing and reading.  Last week I read Fathers and Sons, Sleeping Arrangements, and My Life as a Furry, Red Monster.  Yes, that's Turgenev, chick lit, and an autobiography by a Muppeteer.  I'm very well-rounded. ;-)

Anyway, here's a quick recap of my break:

Our fireplace was pretty great even when it was broken...

But it was even better after we got it fixed!!!

I got to spend lots of time with these handsome guys.

Unfortunately, this little guy (Sery) passed away a couple of days after Christmas. He was getting up there in age (most rats only live 2-3 years, he was 2 years and 8 months) so it wasn't entirely unexpected, but I will still miss him very much.

As usual, we spent New Years Eve in Wildwood with some friends from college.  This was the view from our balcony.

So pretty. :-)

Oh, and Glen was interviewed about our dog Elvis on Coffee with a Canine, check it out!

I hope 2012 is treating everyone well so far!  How did you ring in the new year??

How I'll Spend My Christmas Vacation

I saved up enough vacation time this year to take off the entire week between Christmas and New Year's.  I have a half day today, and don't return to work until January 3.  AMAZING. :-)

This is pretty much how I plan to spend my time:

Wine, books and music, curled up on a comfy recliner in my den... To be interrupted only by our traditional New Year's Eve trip to Wildwood with some friends from college for some late-night water sliding.

What are your plans for the holidays?

Texas Nuptials

I've been back from Texas since Sunday, but I am just now getting back into the swing of things. Despite there only being a 1-hour difference between Texas and NJ, I somehow wound up horribly jet-lagged. I found myself unable to fall asleep at night, then I'd go through my work day feeling sleep-deprived, and I'd pass out on the couch for an hour or two after dinner, which just perpetuated the whole can't-fall-asleep-at-night pattern.

On the bright side, I do have a few photos to share!

Here's a picture of me all dolled up and ready to watch my college roommate get hitched:


Needless to say, I had some (ok, a lot of) assistance putting on the sari, because I had NO CLUE what I was doing. ;-)

Here I am with the lovely bride and maid of honor, who was also one of my college roommates:


Glen was kind enough to join me on the trip even though he wasn't a fan of going to Texas at all, much less in the middle of the summer. I bribed him with a new seersucker suit:


He looked so handsome in his new suit that I couldn't resist stealing a kiss. ;-)

I don't think there are any pictures of the back of my head, but for what it's worth, I did go with style # 3 from my previous post, except with a side-swept bang instead of pulling everything straight back.

I have very little to do this weekend for a change, so I'm planning on catching up on gardening (so many weeds, ugh!!), finally getting fish for my pond, and finding craft shows to sign up for this fall. This summer has been so crazy, my poor jewelry business has been sorely neglected. :-\ But I am determined to turn that trend around, starting tomorrow!

Lady Liberty

Somehow, despite the fact that I've lived less than an hour and a half away from New York City for all of my 28 1/2 years, not once have I gone to see the Statue of Liberty.

Well, not unless you count looking through the binoculars at the Liberty Science Center once when I was in middle school.

So while my nieces were visiting from Colorado this past week, my mom and I decided that seeing Statue of Liberty would be a fun thing to do. We were originally going take the ferry that actually drops you off at the statue, but there was a 1 1/2 hour security line and they were out of tickets to enter the pedestal, so instead we did the Gateway to America cruise, which is a 1-hour cruise around the harbor - it doesn't let you off at the statue, but the line was shorter and spending an hour out on the water enjoying the cool breeze was wonderful on such a brutally hot day!

The closest I've ever gotten to the Statue of Liberty!

We also went around Governors Island:

Hi, Governors Island! I miss you! Let's hang out again soon. ;-)

And under the Brooklyn Bridge:

At this point, my older niece decided it would be fun to try to mess up my pictures. That's her hand. Teenagers, I tell ya. :-P I have a teenage niece. That makes me feel so old!

At this point I've more or less resigned myself to the fact that my jewelry business is going to have to take a back seat to my insanely busy schedule for the next couple of weeks. My plan is to focus on signing up for fall craft shows and hopefully schedule some parties. And also finally do something about those sweet little brass butterflies I bought at the bead show more than a month ago. ;-)

All That Jazz

First of all, let me apologize for the lack of garden photos this past Friday. I was just too darn busy to get them posted. I'll have them up this Friday, I promise. ;-)

This weekend was incredibly busy, but also lots of fun. The highlight of the weekend was attending the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island. Getting there was quite the adventure - we drove about an hour to Jersey City, took the PATH to World Trade Center, walked about a mile to the Battery Maritime Building, and took the ferry to Governors Island. It was about a 2 1/2 hour trek.


And naturally, when we passed an old abandoned library on Governors Island, I had to take a picture.

I still can't decide whether it was cool or just sad!

Here we are, all dressed up:


We packed a picnic lunch:

While we were hauling that thing from World Trade Center down to the ferry, buying lunch started to sound like a good idea. Then we found out that the line for food was 1 hour + long. Packing a picnic lunch? Best. idea. ever.

There were a bunch of cool old cars along the side of the park:


And live music and a dance floor:


It was a pretty amazing way to spend such a gorgeous Saturday afternoon. :-)

My Slightly Morbid Sunday Afternoon Field Trip

So I may not have taken pictures of any of the residences on the garden tour my mom and I went on this past weekend... BUT one of the locations on the garden tour was the Easton Cemetery. We ran out of time on Saturday, but decided to check it out on Sunday and I DID take pictures of that.

Weird?

Maybe a little, but there was some pretty neat stuff there!

At the entrance to the cemetery, you could pick up little booklets with maps and information about graves/monuments/buildings of interest. The place is pretty massive, almost 100 acres with more than 29,000 graves!


Of course the librarian has to take pictures of the headstones that look like books:


George Taylor is buried here. Here's a photo of the monument, and a cute little chapel:


Here's the Grand Army of the Republic Cannon. Most of the grave stones immediately to the right are those of soldiers who fought in the Civil War:


A mausoleum, built in 1910:


This next one is pretty awesome, at least in my opinion. As you may already know, I play the clarinet in the Easton Municipal Band. Well, Thomas Coates (aka the "Father of Band Music in America"), who directed the Easton Band more than 150 years ago, is buried in the Easton Cemetery:


This next picture is from, rather than of, the cemetery. Just as we were leaving I realized I could see the cupola of the courthouse where I work from the cemetery entrance. It was a cloudy day, so it doesn't stand out against the sky as much as it would if the sky was clear, but still a pretty neat photo:


So tell me, have you ever spent the afternoon frolicking around a historic cemetery for fun, or are my mom and I the only weirdos?? ;-)

Focusing on the Fun Stuff

So this past week has been... interesting.

There was a lot of fun stuff, but also one really awful run in with the Jersey City Parking Authority that almost ended with me spending Tuesday night in my car on Columbus Blvd. But instead of dwelling on that, let's focus on the fun stuff that happened, shall we?

Tuesday night my husband performed at the new talent showcase at Gotham Comedy Club.

First we stopped by the New York Public Library to see the original stuffed animals that inspired A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh stories.

For all the time I spend in New York, and despite the fact that I'm a librarian, I'd never actually set foot in the NYPL until Tuesday afternoon. And I'm not ashamed to say that being there made me feel a little bit giddy.

So there they are: the "real-life" Winnie the Pooh and friends. In case any of you are wondering, Eeyore's tail really is held on by a pin. I thought that was adorable. Also, Piglet is SUPER tiny.

And there's my husband on the stage of Gotham Comedy Club! I believe this is actually the third time he's been there, but it's still pretty exciting. :-)

On Saturday night we had a bunch of people over, and friends of ours brought their 5-month-old boxer puppy, Lilly. So far she is the only dog I've known who can wear Elvis out.

There's Elvis, ready for a nap, and Lilly about to pounce. Needless to say, he was a tired boy yesterday!

As far as the jewelry business goes, custom orders continue to abound, and I'm trying to line up some craft shows for spring/summer (difficult when there seems to be some sort of wedding-related event every Saturday from now til the end of July, but I'm doing my best!). I need to send out some applications and I'll be sure to post dates and locations here as soon as everything is confirmed!