Blizzards & Sweethearts.

 Blizzard 02/09/13.

Tim and I spent the day exploring nearby Prospect Park in the snow.  It was absolutely beautiful.  This was the morning view from our front stoop.

Oh, Valentine's Day.  My sweetheart made me fried chicken, delicious mashed potatoes and freshly steamed asparagus.  He really impressed me when he came out with this Ginger Custard and Raspberry Parfait he so sweetly made.  This generous meal, decorated by an exchange of my rose and his card, paired with the viewing of Say Anything made this one of my favorite Valentine's Day's yet.  I think it was the simplicity of it all.  We didn't spend a lot of energy, time and thought on food and gifts this year.  But because of that, being so simply prepared and decorated, we were able to really enjoy each other. 

Now did anyone else enjoy any mouth watering food prepared/payed by their Valentine?

Visitors!

Another advantage to living in NYC: many dear ones pass through for business, vacation, travel, competitions, sporting events, 'art deliveries' etc...  Tim and I really enjoyed being tour guides for some friends that came up to NYC for a conference back in January.

Thanks to Jason, Shannon, Josh and Allison for the wonderful day full of delicious drinks, incredible food topped off with more delicious drinks.  A few places we visited in Manhattan, and would be happy to take you when you come to visit:

-Dim Sum in Chinatown

-Lombardi's Pizza

-Gimme Coffee for an afternoon pick me up.

-The Historic McSorley's for a brew in the East Village.

-Enjoyed some high quality Indian Food at Brick Lane Curry House.  Jason entered the P'Hall of Fame! (The photo where he is holding his certificate of achievement was taken right after. He could not feel his fingers at that moment...)

It was so nice seeing familiar faces and being able to spend a good amount of quality time with them.  It brought much warmth and encouragement to both mine and Tim's heart.

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Happy Two.

Celebrating two years of this wonderful blessing of being the wife of the man of my dreams in that great commitment called marriage:

 I made Tim homemade chocolate peanut butter cups for one of his anniversary gifts.  They went along with a book I had sewn.  The book was full of sweet handwritten notes, as well as some photographs of us from the past few years.   Tim booked a room at the Hotel Belleclaire for a night.  Was I surprised!  Living with two (adorable) kids in a Brooklyn apartment and sleeping on a twin mattress on the floor made this quiet 8th floor Broadway King room even more sweet.  (Our room was on the rounded corner, second from the top!)   The stay was completed with a full breakfast from a nearby New York Diner.

We spent the next day at the American Museum of Natural History.  You can spend an entire day there!

 Tim took me to the North American Forest exhibit, knowing how my heart misses the forests of Kentucky.  While in the exhibit there were parts that looked untouched since it was installed around 1950!  It also reminded me of the ChildCraft books I used to read as a kid.

Tim took me to a nice dinner at a great authentic Italian restaurant called Celeste.  We also spent our real anniversary day (February 6th) enjoying happy hour drinks at the neighborhood bar, The Double Windsor and cooking one of the soups our friends had generously prepared for our wedding celebration two years ago.
So many exciting changes have happened during our second year of marriage.  I can say with pure confidence that Tim's made me a better woman by loving me.

Stop Motion

Tim and I have begun to get real creative in our time spent with one another.  Not working much (for money) but working in the same room as one another all day is, in Tim's words, "like we're on a ship".  We have found you can only read so many stories out loud to one another, play so many card games, so many two person games of Pandemic and watch so many movies before you're ready for something new.

When our friend Joy was in town we went to The Museum of the Moving Image.  They had an interaction exhibit making stop motion films.  That exhibit inspired Tim and I to make our own.  On a recent Friday night we got to work making a back drop from an old paper grocery bag, cutting pictures out of Wired Magazine and setting up the perfect amount of lighting.  Tim took the director's seat and led the way.  He helped instruct me as I moved the pictures to help create an epic tale of a a guy and a girl getting lost in a forest, taking a ride on their touch screen phone, running into a fairy and her dragon, and making a trip up to Heaven. (Can't wait to see it, right?)

We still need to do the dialogue, and are looking forward to it.  It was so much fun working on a project together.  Especially in the field where my husband's passion lies.  We hope to post it once it's complete!

Birth Story: Ina May Gaskin & The Farm Midwives NYC Screening

If anyone is somewhat involved in their birth community, they know who Ina May Gaskin is.  She is the "Wendell Berry of Birth".  She is the pioneer of bringing confidence back to women in a society obsessed with the latest machines.  Women are not machines, nor are they lemons.

“Remember this, for it is as true and true gets: Your body is not a lemon. You are not a machine. The Creator is not a careless mechanic. Human female bodies have the same potential to give birth well as aardvarks, lions, rhinoceri, elephants, moose, and water buffalo. Even if it has not been your habit throughout your life so far, I recommend that you learn to think positively about your body.”

― Ina May Gaskin

The screening for NYC was at the IFC Center.  I chose the screening that had a Q&A with Directors Sara Lamm & Mary Wigmore, as well as with Ina May Gaskin.  It was so cool being in the same room as Ina, one of the women who's writings and birthing philosophies threw me right into the passion and beauty of birth.  She's a huge part of why I became a doula.  I know many other doulas that can say the same.

 

My flatmate, Kerri, is a doula as well.  We went to the screening together, followed with drinks at her old bar she worked at.  It was a very motivating night for sure.  Check out the website for the film to check out if there will be a screening near you.

http://birthstorymovie.com/screenings/