Musical musings

It's been forever, I know. I don't think I can even call myself a blogger anymore. I wish I could. How to catch up when life has a way of catching up with you? The kids are getting older, we're all getting older. Opportunities come a-knockin' and you just gotta go for it. Don't sweat it, there is a plan, so why worry about it... I get the odd sense that Dad is looking out for me(oh to be young and to rave...) ... and if the good stuff happens, relish the moment (a-ha...) ...and this song just because I normally don't really like Pink and only marginally like "Fun" - but together they're magic...

Hard Work

You can pretty much find video instructions on Youtube for anything these days.  Which is a really good thing when your daughter wants to wear a fishtail braid. 

Or when your own hair becomes a lot thinner than the horse hair texture you had in your 20s ... and now you can experiment a bit with it.  Like doing fancy things with a flat iron.  Yeah, who knew.

The other day as I was getting ready for work, I thought I'd try something a little different from my usual.  My boy walked by my washroom, paused while looking at me, and commented:

"Hey, Mom, what are you doing?"

Me: "Oh, I'm using the flat iron to curl my hair.  I saw it on Youtube and it looked easy enough.  Trying to shake things up a bit, you know?"

The Boy: "Oh.  Well, it looks like a lot of work."

Me: "I guess it sort of is."

The Boy, with a sigh..."I guess most things are.  A lot of work, I mean.  And it's okay if it's worth it."

Me (wondering how he'd become 40 years old overnight):  "I'd agree.  How'd you get so wise?"

The Boy: "Heh.  Funny.  That'll only last for today right?"

The little bugger.

Dustin' off the old blog

...to capture life as it whips by.

For those of you who are still with me - whaddup?

I know I promised a final installment of our trip to NYC back in March - and I actually thought about it again a couple of book clubs ago as I hosted a discussion of "the Virgin Cure" which took place in the Bowery district of New York ... but then life promptly got in the way and here we are almost 6 months later.

So the long and the short of it - we had a great last couple of days in NYC, where we ate at a resto that used to host a huge nightclub scene back in the 80s (saw pix of Andy Warhol and Tina Chow in the bathroom),

 which was just around the corner from where

the Blue Man Group now perform .... which itself was a hilarious experience and if you haven't yet seen for yourself, you should, as it's probably now available at a city near you...

Also explored a bit more of the Upper West Side ...

And that was January 2012.

February was pretty crazy workwise - with another couple of cross-atlantic trips for me ...  and life wise- with the kids' school and their schedules, which got rudely interrupted by the boy's concussion on a ski hill while snowboarding ... which promptly ended the indoor rep season for soccer.  I'll have to admit although it sucked somewhat for the boy and moved him even deeper into the underworld known as the land of Xbox addicts ... it alleviated things a little without the soccer runs on a thrice-weekly basis.

[As an aside - the concussion thing was a bit life-altering at the time.  I suppose this is the stuff of 12 year old boys.  If I had blogged about it at the time, the intensity surely would have surpassed this one sentence acknowledgement.  Little did I know that there was more to come for this 12 year old.  He didn't score an A+ on his report card for drama for nothing, after all. An update on this when we get into May]. 

For our late winter/spring break we decided it was my turn to determine holiday -ie a warm weather trip rather than the ski-based vacay.  Which turned out to be a great thing.

Bahamas.

  (I'm always holding a glass of something ... )

Jumping in the sun - what's not to jump about?

And the big bonus - the man did NOT get sick.  Not once.  A miracle for any hot vacation spot- for that is what he tends to do whenever we get on a plane for a destination somewhat Caribbean - get the GI (ie. gastrointestinal sort) blues. 

I think we've stumbled onto something.

The lovely thing about Nassau (other than the fantabulous fresh-fruit alcoholic-even-at-10:30-AM-in-the-morning-daiquiris) was that we could take public (*cough* rickety buses with doors hanging joyfully by the hinges) transit to and fro without a worry. We chose not to  do the usual all- inclusive, which tends to be become less and less economically attractive as our livers get older and it's no longer such a deal for "all you can drink" we are responsible parents, after all...although given the boy's growing hefty appetite it may be worth considering again as he hits the teen years).

Back to the bus.

Both kids, especially the G, were having a blast - not only was there no car seat on these buses, there was no seatbelt, and as above, sometimes barely a door.

You couldn't beat the Bahamian locals for their hospitality and overall pleasantness.  One morning I took the girlie grocery shopping and the local bus driver not only suggested which place to go to for the best stuff- but when I showed up back on the road to head back to the hotel, another bus driver stopped mid- route (I couldn't find the bus-stop and was struggling with grocery bags through the bushes and keeping a hand on the girlie) and actually FOUND us. We hopped on the bus and he dropped us at the hotel within minutes.  All for $2 USD.  I told the driver it's as if their buses are always looking for lost tourists.  He  gave a hearty laugh, complete with gold toothed grin and although he was wearing sunglasses, I could see the glint of a smile in his eyes as he agreed with me.

On the Sunday night, when the restaurant we wanted to check out was closed, the bus driver wouldn't drop us off until he found one that was open, and when there weren't any along the way, he took us to a lovely place along the beach which we knew was open.  So friendly, we felt well taken care of, truth be told. 

And we did the dolphin encounter thing.  Complete with Awkward family with the dolphin photo.

And that was March.

Now that we're in September,  I've still got so much more catching up to do.  I'll try to make it quick, as memories have a way of sifting through the sieves of my brain lately. 

Return from the land of Lego

Rather jeg-lagged today as I basically spent the last 24h awake, in meetings, roaming airports and on planes. ( I did catch up on some movies as those are how I watch them these days, on the plane, the plane.)

But I had to share the cuteness that is the girl, who was obviously thrilled with the latest "Mom guilt" purchases that came her way this time. (Oh, the brilliance of marketers who continue to keep the parent pocketbook-challenged.)

(When leftover Lego Star Wars and Spiderman no longer cut it...)

And on the controversy, why can't we all just be Friends?

NYC Trip Report continued: Of kicks and toys and American girls

Wednesday was the day set aside for SHOPPING! Only NOT for me - it was time for the kidlets!

The one passion the boy shares with his mom is his love of hats and SHOES! (With all these amazing post-Christmas sales I've been tossing the shoeboxes into recycling and keep my new purchases at the office, in case my husband notices. Shhhh, let's keep it a secret!).

I had promised the Boy a new pair of kicks for his size 9 men's feet (not kidding - he's not even 12 yet!) We thought that Macy's would be good place to start, and given that it wasn't too far from Times Square, another shopping mecca, we headed into tourist land first thing after breakfast. I had scoped out the subway route, but with a family of 4 it made sense just to hop into the nearest yellow cab. We lucked out - we got a clean non-stinky hybrid for our ride downtown.

We didn't luck out so much at the department store - although I'm continually amazed at my son's growing preference for neon bright apparel. The wooden escalator was cool though:

We decided to head into the thick of Times Square to continue our search - but we got hungry (and cold) again very quickly. So we stopped in at the Hard Rock for lunch -we don't normally like the chains when vacationing, but the NYC resto was actually quite good. You can't beat a good burger on a freezing day.

With our stomachs full, we continued on our quest for the perfect shoes. Thank goodness for the girlie that Toys R Us, complete with indoor ferris wheel, presented itself right next to the shoe store.

Lady Liberty in Lego glory...



Barbie, Barbie everywhere...



I still find this Toys R Us more impressive than FAO Schwartz. Maybe it had something to do with the hot chocolate:



Little G wanted make some small purchases, but I told her we were saving up for our visit with the American Girls. That promise and the cookie kept her content. In the meantime, the boys found fancy bright blue high tops - a great NYC souvenir for the boy.

The thing I love about Manhattan is that it is so walkable. From Times Square, the American Girl Store was but a few short blocks away. I'd never been exposed to the American Girl experience - and that's exactly what it is. When I first heard of this phenomenon, I found it a little creepy that the doll could be dressed exactly as its girl owner. On top of that, there was enough experience to occupy four floors - complete with restaurant, doll salon, pet shop ... I knew we would drop some coin once we went through the door. And this was heavenly for a 7 year old girl:



It took us a little while to settle on which doll was our mini-G, but we did it. I had to promise that if we were to go to Chicago I would arrange for an American Girl salon visit for mini-G - $12 for braiding is a little steep ( I offered to do it for $5 but it didn't cut it). When we left the building it was already quite dark and we decided to head back to the hotel. We were actually turned down for pickups by a few yellow cabs before we finally lucked out. Didn't think a cabbie would ever refuse a fare but I guess this was NYC. I guess with so many people hailing cabs they have the luxury of being picky.

At home base, the boy decided he wanted to check out the Urban outfitters across the street - cannot believe that he can actually fit some of those fashions. Hilarious that the boy noted that one of the sales guys was wearing majorly low, I'm talking down to his knees, low-riders. The boy noticed the boxers, but did think it was rather silly. We did score on a couple of cute striped T's for him, though.

Picked up some juice, fruit, yogurt and salmon and bagels for next day's breakfast - and headed back to our UWS headquarters.

For dinner we went around the corner Asian - Fusha West. Amazing pan Asian food and despite the look of the lounge once you enter, it was quite family friendly. We had sushi, tempura, soup - all with a little bit of a twist. We girls enjoyed it - see our shiny happy faces.








(Yes, that is a sari that was fashioned for Mini-G by the fabulous Bigger G. She's still an American girl under all that, after all, the US is multi-ethnic, isn't it? I suppose we should look for some mukluks for her, after all she's now in Canada, eh?)

And that was Wednesday. We didn't have too late a night, as Thursday would be our last full day in the city. So much more to do and see.