Solitude in the Snow

 

Since the surprisingly early snowfall began this morning, it has been dubbed many things, from Snowpocalypse to Thundersnow to Snowtober. Must be nice to get so much attention when you’re just a spot of precipitation.

I’m taking this opportunity to have a quiet day. It’s hard to get those when you work in a very public position at a popular startup and are addicted to social media. And of course, by quiet day, I really mean that I haven’t spoken much out loud. I’m still tweeting up a storm (#tweetpocalypse?).

Nevertheless, it’s been nice to catch up on reading, both online journals and actual physical pages in a book (scandalous). I’m about halfway through the Game of Thrones series (to be accurate, the series is named A Song of Fire and Ice) and dying to sword fight someone, and taking breaks to read The Huffington Post and Good for some doses of reality.

There’s something beautiful about listening to branches laden with snow crackle outside while I’m warm and curled up with a book and a warm steaming mug of joe. The heavy sound of ceramic against wood, when I place the mug down on the table, gains significance in this quiet scene. I forget how much I need days like this, and lately, it doesn’t feel like I get them enough. Once I hit “publish” on this post, I’ll be disappearing back into a world of my own. For those reading out there, I hope you enjoy what this day has to offer.

 

 

Hangin’ Tough

This is not going to be a big surprise to anyone: I am not a tough girl. One of the stories that my parents still love to tell is about the time I climbed a tree (I read about it in a book and it sounded fun) and then wouldn’t come down. From where I was, it looked too high to jump. I had effectively treed myself. Finally, after a lot of cajoling, someone went and got a chair for me to step down. The branch was so low that I had to lift my legs up to stand on the chair, before climbing down. Once I was on the ground and feeling safe, I realized I could have just hopped down.

Flash forward a decade or two, and here I am playing football. Ok, coed flag football where I’ve warned my teammates not to throw the ball at me, but still. Football! I’ve only had two games so far, but there’s been marked improvement. In Shirley Game #1, I worked on running in the right direction on the field. In Shirley Game #2, I progressed to knowing who was on my team, hiking the ball a couple times, and even getting aggressive enough to run, like, close to an enemy player. My goals for Shirley Game #3 are to finally grab someone’s flag (preferably from the other team) and to understand when I’m on offense vs. defense. Ooh, I forgot to mention another major milestone. My friend and I made up a victory dance! It has a little bit of everything: snapping our fingers assertively, hopping up and down, spinning and freeze-frame posing at the end. I’m not sure if football’s gonna make me tough, or if I’m gonna make football more giggly. Can’t it be both?

Wait, there’s more! This week, I started making a turkey puppet (don’t ask). For that project, I had to cut up a small piece of balsa wood, drill holes and attach it together into a + shape. So, I enlisted the help of a really handy friend who taught me how to use a band saw and a power drill. He seemed pretty amused when I insisted on wearing safety goggles, but I’d rather learn the right way. Besides, I’m already missing a front tooth, I really can’t afford to lose an eyeball.

All in all, I think I’m getting pretty darn tough. Watch out, world!

My Year of Weddings

It’s been over a year since I last posted. I miss writing with no agenda! One major reason was the plethora of weddings keeping me busy. Little Miss Hussy, Rits and Ctina all got married, and they all made me their Maid of Honor. It really was an amazing honor. Each wedding was different and added something new to my life, just like these ladies. Below, a small taste of those celebrations.

Little Miss Hussy kicked things off last December with a dinner at Frankies in Brooklyn and a cupcake reception dance party at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe. The food at Frankies was scrumptious. Platters of puffy pillowy gnocchi, meatballs in sauce so good that it made you drool while eating it, and many other dishes covered the tables. Afterwards, we headed to the reception to dance the dinner off. Most of our friends are in publishing, so it was fitting that we were surrounded by laden bookshelves and tomes of literatures. The middle of the room had been cleared to make space for dancing, a cocktail bar, a table full of gorgeous cupcakes, and a classic photobooth. Once all the guests had arrived, the couple took the floor for their first dance to Kat Edmonson’s version of Just Like Heaven. I choreographed and taught them the dance, so I felt like a majorly proud mama watching them!

Next up was Rits’ wedding. We traveled to Iceland for her bachelorette party because we wanted an adventure! There, we had an amazing, multi-course, wine-paired meal at Fiskfelagid, got addicted to lamb hot dogs, partied all over Reykjavik, rode Icelandic ponies (my pony started a minor stampede but I managed to stay on!), and relaxed in the geothermal spa at Blue Lagoon. Un. Real. Her wedding day was just as special, at a cozy penthouse in the heart of SoHo. The ceremony was held on the rooftop beneath perfect blue skies, and then the party spread out into 2 floors for a dinner and dance party. Rits is lucky enough to have a talented chef as a brother, and he orchestrated a meal that transitioned seamlessly from a salmon tartare amuse to fish and meat courses that melted in our mouths. After we reluctantly stopped eating (because it was that or burst), we waddled upstairs to the dance floor to watch the couple’s first dance and then jumped right in to boogie down all night long.

Not to be outdone, Ctina decided to have two receptions, in New York and Ohio so that no friends or family members would be left out. The New York party was way outside the box. They took over a nightclub with a stage so that the groom could perform with his jazz-punk-rock band and filled long tables with 30 different kinds of empanadas and a cool deconstructed cake from Milk Bar. As we stuffed our faces, the groom played saxo-ma-phone and serenaded the bride. Hello, romance! The party danced the night away. A few weeks later, I flew to Ohio for part deux of Ctina’s celebrations. The ceremony was held in this lovely white church with polished dark wood beams and pews. After lots of tearing up and picture taking, we went on to the reception where we had to force the way-too-polite couple to sit and eat, instead of greeting guests. Needless to say, we all danced up a storm after dinner. Whee!