First

Sunday 11 August 2013 kristyDevin, gratitude, love, New York, weddingLeave a comment

It’s our first weekend in New York together, or rather it’s the hundredth one we’ve spent here but the first one we’ve spent as two New York residents, living in the same apartment, with no place else to be. It’s our first weekend in New York ~together forever~ if you know what I mean. And if you don’t, what I mean is we’re married!

This morning we went to look at a place where maybe we will make a home. ‘Is it a room or an apartment?’ ‘It’s both! It’s a two-in-one!’, we joked. A front door that locks, space for a bed, a stove, a little fridge, and a bathroom. That’s all anyone really needs, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed.

After the apartment viewing, we came home and made tomato soup with tomatoes of every color and ate it with homemade bread, a wedding present from our friends in Wisconsin.

Our life is one big wedding present lately. Heartfelt words and pretty cards and hugs and cool kitchen stuff and pictures and books everywhere we look! I can’t wait to write a thank-you note to each of you. For now, I’ll start with a big group thank-you right here.

All of your notes, phone calls, text messages, e-mails, playlists, recommendations, cards, pictures, packages, and trips to see us—whether at the wedding or before or after—have made the past month the most magical, awe-inspiring moment of my life. I looked up synonyms for ‘thank you’ because it just isn’t enough to express all the gratitude and love I feel for you. The best way I can sum it up is this: my cheeks hurt from all the smiling, and they’ve hurt every day since July 13th. Honestly, I’m not sure they’ll ever recover.

10 DAYS

Wednesday 10 July 2013Wednesday 10 July 2013 kristyDevin, hooray, loooove, nostalgia, the future, the past4 Comments

Devin and I are getting married in ten (!) days. Here’s what we look like in case you forgot.

Our first picture together! April 2009. — Our first picture together! April 2009

First photo strip, May 2009. — First photo strip, May 2009

"Hey, I have an idea! What if I wear a tie that matches your dress?" -Devin, May 2010 — “Hey, I have an idea! What if I wear a tie that matches your dress?” -Devin, May 2010

Our life in Portland summed up in one picture, August 2010. — Our life in Portland summed up in one picture, August 2010

'American Gothic in Sepia', January 2011 — ‘American Gothic in Sepia’, January 2011

One of my favorite Devin faces, May 2011

october 2011 — First Photo in Brooklyn, October 2011

Grand Central, our portal to each other when Devin lived in Connecticut. March 2012

Confession: I am really into coordinating costumes. Possibly I am the cheesiest person alive. City mouse, country mouse. October 2012

Last picture before Devin left the East Coast for the summer. Central Park, June 2013 (I think it kind of looks like our first picture together, but possibly all our pictures look exactly the same, ha.) — Last picture before Devin left the East Coast for the summer. Central Park, June 2013 (I think it kind of looks like our first picture together. Then again, all our pictures look almost exactly the same, ha.)

Hey Dev, you look good enough to marry! See you Tuesday!

First Sign of Summer

Thursday 4 July 2013Saturday 6 July 2013 kristyLeave a comment

I know it’s summer in New York when the fire hydrants get turned on. It’s the city equivalent of sprinklers in the front yard, and it makes me so happy! Last year I started carrying my phone in a plastic bag so that I could walk through the big gushing streams without a care in the world.

I think it might be illegal, but I’ve never seen anyone get in trouble. All the city parks have misty water toys, though, and I speculate they might have been built to curb the fire hydrant tradition. Scratch that, I just Googled and learned that the fire department can open fire hydrants for you, just for fun! They usually open one per block, which is all you really need, and you’re not technically allowed to open one on your own, but you probably won’t get in trouble. So I guess the water toys in the park are just for additional fun. Water toys for all!

After the fire hydrants and the misty water toys, which come in all sizes and shapes (not just fish sculptures, as pictured above), I start noticing the soft-serve ice cream trucks—they play these weird songs I’d never heard before moving here. My favorite is one punctuated by dog barks.

Then, the senior citizens set up card tables to play bingo on the sidewalk in the shade of a tree (or building). I get invited to concerts in the park, which are free unless you count time spent waiting in line as currency. My friends start talking about rooftop access, and all I want to do is spend all day every day at the pool.

Last summer I worked at a restaurant on the Upper East Side, which completely emptied on weekends because all the rich residents escaped to the Hamptons. This year, at my office job, sometimes I get summer Fridays (you only work a half-day so that you can leave the city and weekend in style, presumably). I think even if I had the choice to go elsewhere, I’d choose to stay in the city on summer weekends, making sure to walk by fire hydrants on my way to the pool.

Gloopy Shards

Sunday 23 June 2013Wednesday 26 November 2014 kristyNew York5 Comments

A few weeks ago, I was rushing to catch the train when I broke my brand new bottle of foundation. Sephora has a generous return policy, so I briefly contemplated carrying the gloopy shards of glass back to their ancestral home before deciding that even I couldn’t be so ridiculous (and okay, I had no time).

I threw them away and kept running–that funny run I do when I’m wearing heels, for some reason it involves a lot of arm flailing?

And then, while I was speed-walking across what felt like a ten-lane street, my brain went ‘hold up, reality check’, and I realized that I was running to get to a GALA in NEW YORK CITY, which I was being PAID to attend (and I do NOT mean à la ‘Pretty Woman’, thank you).

I caught the train, and when I emerged, I found myself face-to-face with my very favorite building in Midtown. It’s the one I saw while looking out the window of my first interview, on my first day as a New York resident, and every time I see it I’m like, ‘Oh! What are you doing here? I’m so happy to see you!’ even though it’s a building and it never moves.

At the gala, I ran into people I know from other parts of my life and was even more surprised. It’s like I can’t fully comprehend that I live here.

I hope I never do.

A little bit about my mom

Sunday 12 May 2013Thursday 13 March 2014 kristymami4 Comments

Before I was born, my mom and dad moved from Boise to Philadelphia. Upon arriving, they took a guided tour of the city. They saw the Constitution Center, the Liberty Bell, and all the other famous landmarks. At the end of the tour, my mom saw that they were hiring tour guides. Without thinking twice, she applied for the job, and within five days, she was leading the tour she’d just been on. She says that the people on her tour would exclaim, ‘How beautiful!’ and she would think (‘That’s exactly what I said last Tuesday!’) while seeming to everyone else like a Philadelphia expert.

When I was little, my mom worked for a municipal program in Chihuahua that helped wimyn find jobs. She set up training classes for the participants, taught them interview skills, and outfitted them in appropriate interview attire. She was so successful that soon the wimyn started bringing their husbands to her, and she helped them find jobs, too.

My mom had other jobs: at different points in my childhood, she worked for the newspaper, ran her own ad agency, and worked in the marketing department of the biggest chain store in town. But when I was in second grade, my mom decided she wanted to be a teacher.

We moved from Chihuahua to Texas, and she got her teaching degree. And then, she got her M.A. in Education because why not? She’d teach all day, and then go to class. Sometimes she’d pull all-nighters to finish her homework, always making sure that she did her very best. Her students’ parents would tell me, ‘You are so lucky to have her as your mother’, and her professors would say, ‘Your mom is an impressive student. You’re a lucky girl!’

My mom can become friends with anyone anywhere, and when she throws parties, sometimes the house gets so full that people end up sitting in the dining room, kitchen, living room, backyard, and even the bedrooms.

She taught me to treat everyone with dignity and respect, to learn the names of everyone at my school: the teachers, the principal, the custodians, and the crossing guards. She taught me to dream big and to trust myself and to let life be fun!

That bright little apartment

Sunday 28 April 2013Sunday 28 April 2013 kristyapartments in the city, New York, roommatesLeave a comment

When I first moved to New York, my friends and I shared a one-bedroom apartment with a pitbull named Penelope. It was very clearly her apartment and not ours. After a month of Penelope’s antics-–and having to feed her raw chicken three times a day-–we finally moved into our own apartment! It was far from perfect, but it really felt ours. Our bright little sitcom apartment. I could always count on coming home and laughing with my friends. Outside our door I spoke spanish with our neighbors, learned to use a laundromat, and bought groceries at a little store under the Williamsburg bridge. On the best days I walked to a pool the size of a lake and swam then headed home to throw little dinner parties.

So, while my current apartment far exceeds this little one in the categories of square-footage, amenities, convenience, and non-toxicity, I think the bright little apartment is worthy of a blog post.

What's that, tucked in the trees? Why, it's apartment number two! — What’s that, tucked in the trees? Why, it’s apartment number two!

The glorious morning light! — So many windows, so much light.

The light made even solo breakfasts exciting, and the vintage dishes–-a gift from Marika's grandmother–- are the most beautiful things I've ever eaten from. — The light made even solo breakfasts exciting.

This bookshelf? Anda found it on the curb! — This bookshelf? Anda found it on the curb.

Outside there were always unattended cars playing really good salsa and reggaeton.

The school down the block had the biggest blacktop!

And this was the view from one of our subway stops.

Hip-Hop News Alerts

Sunday 14 April 2013Saturday 20 April 2013 kristyfeminism, hip-hop, lil wayne, redistribution of wealth, soulja boy2 Comments

So the big news for socially-conscious hip-hop lovers this week is that Reebok dropped Rick Ross after he released a terrifyingly misogynistic song (and after thousands of people signed a petition, but you know, baby steps…). I’m glad that the petition was successful, but I’m sad that Ross isn’t a feminist. It’s like, ‘Does the patriarchy even care how much I love “Diced Pineapples”?’ Nope.

In way, way smaller hip-hop news, I really wanted to listen to that song that goes, ‘Hopped up out the bed, turned my swag on/Took a look in the mirror, said what’s up?/Yeah, I’m getting money/Ohhh!’

I asked Devin to put it on, and he searched for ‘Getting Money’ on Youtube, only that brought up like a million songs, and do you know why? Capitalism.

It’s hard to find ONE piece of art about getting money when the most important thing in our society is getting money (am I being hyperbolic here? I really can’t tell. Disclaimer: If getting money isn’t the single most important thing, it’s up there). But! In our Youtube-searching and pondering of capitalism, we did discover that one of the most famous ‘getting money’ songs in recent memory isn’t about getting money and keeping it for yourself. Consider these lyrics to ‘Got Money’ (2008) by the incomparable Lil Wayne:

If you got money

And you know it
Take it out your pocket and show it
Then throw it, like

This-a-way (fly)
That-a-way (fly)
This-a-way (fly)
That-a-way

Clearly, this is a modern anthem for the redistribution of wealth. And so, I hereby award, the first ever smoothliminal Award for Progressive Top 40 Music (which I just made up on the spot) to Lil Wayne for advocating just economic policies. Congratulations, Mr. Carter!

He feels so honored, you guys.

I am also appointing Devin as my honorary blog editor because this blog post was his idea (and this one, too!). Fun fact: earlier I caught him typing ‘Little Wayne’ and ‘Soldier Boy’ into the search bar. He’s come a long way from not knowing who Beyoncé was in 2009, but you know, baby steps…

A Day in the Life: Tuesday April 2nd 2013

Saturday 13 April 2013Sunday 14 April 2013 kristya day in the life, mundanity3 Comments

My friend Anja does this project where she photographs everything she does in one day at the the beginning of every month. It’s a simple project, taking pictures as you go about your everyday life, but there’s something really captivating about it for me. I look forward to seeing how much she packs into her days and always feel really peaceful after looking through her pictures. You can see Anja’s April day-in-the-life here.

This month I decided I’d try doing it for myself. My days aren’t nearly as full of life and adventure as Anja’s, but I’m sharing the photos regardless.

Here’s what any old Tuesday is like for me.

I wake up to this view from my bedroom every morning. It reminds me of ‘Hey Arnold!’

I walked out of my building and found this adorable scooter. I think one of my neighbors just got it.

Then, I went to my favorite coffee shop to have some tea and start reading the first book for my new book club.

I wore a dress my mom got me for Christmas (thanks, Mom!), so I thought I’d take a picture. Aside from serving great drinks, this place has the dreamiest lighting, even in the bathroom!

Despite the sun, it was very cold. I can’t wait to see what my new neighborhood will look like once the trees have leaves!

Whoosh! Time to get on the subway. Sometimes I marvel at how I get to see more people in twenty minutes than a lot of people see in a whole day, and sometimes I am just united in crankiness with my fellow commuters. ; ) This was a pretty fun commute because I listened to a gruff New Yorker give a Polish womyn advice about helping her daughter apply to college. They didn’t know each other, and right before getting off the train he told her, ‘But you never know what can happen. That’s the beauty of life.’ Also, I read that the stop where I switch trains, Hoyt-Schermerhorn, is where Michael Jackson filmed the video for ‘Bad’! Maybe soon I’ll stage a flashmob there. Who’s in?

My office building has a sign that says newsstand but no newsstand! I always feel a little wistful when I pass it even though I know it’s for the best. And yes, I am this dramatic about EVERYTHING.

Oh yeah, the elevator skips floors 2-25. Seriously, what is up with this building?

This is the view, so I guess it’s not a shabby building after all.

I worked until lunchtime, and then I made myself something to eat in the kitchen. This is what I get for eating strawberries when they are not in season. (It was tasty, though!)

After work I planned on heading straight to the gym, but my family needed help finding accommodations for their trip to Portland (for the wedding!). Sometimes wedding planning is fun, fun, fun, and other times it is just worthwhile. Two hours trying to find vacation houses and hotels is what I would politely call VERY worthwhile.

At least the sun hadn’t set before I made my way to the gym.

This mural is cool. And it is an unofficial marker for the beginning of the most francophone neighborhood in New York City. Okay so I don’t know if there’s another neighborhood that has more French people, but once I pass this mural, all I hear is French. And they even shut down the streets to celebrate Bastille Day, so it’s not just my imagination.

Super secret shot of my gym. I didn’t want anyone to think I was photographing them at their sweatiest, so I just took this. I got to the gym just in time for the last fitness class of the day, hooray! Going to the gym is a new thing for me, and so far (two months in), fitness classes are my favorite.

After the gym, I hit up the Trader Joe’s. This is what the produce section looks like at 9 PM. Haha. They weren’t out of rice noodles, thankfully, and that was all I really needed.

The quickest thing I could think to make was Pad Thai, which made me feel like a legit cook or something. ‘Oh, I’ll just whip up some pad thai.’ Ridiculous! The greens you see are from the CSA program that my roommate and I belong to. I didn’t have time to crush the peanuts because all I wanted to do was get to bed at a reasonable hour (11:30 PM).

Good night, pom-poms! Thanks for brightening up our home.

Mad Men Season 6 Predictions

Tuesday 9 April 2013Sunday 14 April 2013 kristyfeminism, gender, Mad Men, Race, TV5 Comments

**No spoilers, I promise.**

Friends, Romans, TV-Watchers…

I am presently languishing in a deep, deep discontent brought about by a lack of Mad Men. I missed the premiere——knowingly and with good reason. I didn’t just forget! I would never forget.

Coming back to New York in time to make it to one of my beloved watch parties (I love them so much, I have a history of showing up a week early) would have meant leaving Connecticut 5 hours early. Since Devin and I are only in the same city for approximately 36 hours a week, 5 hours makes a big difference.

But oh! If I only I could have my cake and keep it, too!

Now who knows when I’ll get to see season 6. Will I be behind next week? Will I never attend another Mad Men costume party again?!

Thankfully (or not), I get a little dose of Mad Men every morning at my subway stop where I get to wait by this ad.

I’ve spent a lot of time examining it and, just from this ad, I feel ready to make some predictions about this season.

Question: Who is that walking behind Don and the person he’s holding hands with?

Answer: It’s Megan. It’s totally Megan. And even if you don’t think it’s Megan, there’s no way the womyn holding Don’s hand is Megan. Megan would never wear that color, and in general, she favors bolder clothes. In fact, wouldn’t you say that gauzy blue thing is much more reminiscent of Betty’s style? In previous seasons, she often wears light blue.

I’m not suggesting that Don gets back together with Betty in season 6; but I think he will definitely cheat on Megan, probably with a womyn who is more content with being a traditional wife (i.e. being subordinate to her husband) than Megan is. In season 5, Don isn’t keen on Megan asserting her independence in any way, and he probably won’t deal with that issue by going to therapy and starting a male feminist support group (but wouldn’t that be a cool twist!).

In general, I think the show will keep marginalizing characters from historically underrepresented groups*, just like I said it did in seasons 1-4. And just like it did in season 5, even after starting on such a promising, if stereotypical, note.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to watch it. As anyone who knows me will tell you, I watch the show primarily for the set design and costuming. Hopefully, Mad Men will stay on point in that realm.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to hide from the internet to avoid any and all spoilers while I figure out how to watch the premiere.

*I use the term ‘historically underrepresented groups’ to mean non-White, non-straight, non-rich people.

Every Day is Hat-urday, Pt. II

Sunday 31 March 2013Thursday 8 October 2015 kristyHATS AND HATS AND HATS3 Comments

I wasn’t kidding when I said it would be fun to do a blog post about all the hats I’ve worn and loved. There’s no real point to it except to declare my love for hats and encourage everyone to wear them. There just aren’t enough hats being worn in the world. Why is that?