Woozy from Weaving through Wave Hill

I'm still so tired from yesterday(?)'s red-eye, my body thinks it's MST, and I'm so so so far behind on catching up on my email. I thought one day of a buffer before hitting the ground running was enough, but no ... Ha! I should just know better by now.

Tonight is going to be late, even for me, even with my body thinking it's on MST. It's after 9:30 and I JUST started 4 loads of laundry.

I hadn't planned to be doing laundry so late. I hadn't planned to do anything but come home, finish unpacking, do laundry and REPACK for a 3-night stay at the office because of a weekend full of events - but some how I'm ending powering through jetlag.

Instead of coming straight home after work, I ended up representing the company at a Members Night with Christine at Wave Hill in the Bronx. It was so lovely to explore a cultural partners property in a different light, talk with random ladies and get restaurant recommendations, meet new contacts from our exclusive catering company, see how different companies deal with parking issues, get an unexpected meal, and see some great sights.

But I'm going to pay for this ... (I already am. I may have been weaving a bit by the end of the night. Thank goodness it was brisk?)

Enjoy the photos.

I'm off to deal with the laundry and keep packing.

So THAT's the name of the plants I have hibernating in my office over the winter. I had no idea. And they are succulents-esques. No wonder they are thriving NOW and not when they were outside.

 ~ photos by iPhone

Photo of the Day: Going out on a Line

Ye Olde Homestead, Connecticut House

There's nothing quite like the smell of line-dried clothing/sheets, plus, in a close neighborhood, hanging your dirty laundry out to air takes on an entirely different meaning. You want to start a conversation about religion? Hang out some religious "funny underwear" and see how diverse your community really is. I was so lucky to grow up in a neighborhood where we had Jehovah's Witnesses, Latvian Christians, Buddhists, Catholics, and Protestants as next-door/across the street neighbors. It was a wonderful way to grow up, and learn about customs, cultures, and community. We are more alike than we are different. How do I know? I saw their underwear - as much as they saw ours. We're all basically the same when it comes down to it.

New National Holiday!

Did you know that Sunday, March 28th was a little-known national holiday? Me neither. Luckily I have neighbors who let us know about such things.*

Apparently yesterday was National Return the Laundry Cart Day!
Festivities include the plastering of your building and the elevators with reminders to:

It is a very low-key holiday. It's not even sponsored by a detergent or fabric softener company who could pay for the design and printing of fancy decorations/flyers.

Think of the sponsorship opportunities. We could have Pimp Your Laundry Cart days, ala the Pimp Your Bookcart contests run by these guys and sponsored by the major bookcart company. Since it was so close to Easter this year, the carts could have been decorated like Easter Baskets. Think of the Halloween tie-ins ... A Where's Waldo? costume for the laundry cart would also be appropriate!

This holiday is an opportunity to bring shared-laundry room apartment/condo/co-op dwellers closer together ... to put names to the faces of those laundry cart hogs, er, I mean, users. We could debate the pros and cons of the amounts, sizes, and other attributes of the carts we have:

i.e. Do you like the ones with the bars or not?

When do you use the carts the most? For laundry or grocery hauling?

Is the cart EVER there when you need it?

What color would you like to paint the cart, if you could?

What about names for the cars? Squeaky? Gimpy? Pokey?

So, next year when March 28th rolls around, won't you join us in celebrating National Return the Laundry Cart Day? Spread the word -- and return the )(#*)!( cart!

* This isn't the first time.

Recipe for a Perfect Sunday

Recipe can be customized per individual. Family sizes may take some adjustments.

To "pre-heat," make a list of things To-Do.

To start, take:

¼ part Sleeping in Late
¼ part Leisurely Reading of many Sunday papers
¼ part talking to Friends and Family

Add equal measures of the following Sensory Delights to make up the rest:

~The sights of Indian summer light streaming in through window and dancing through falling leaves;
~The sounds of classic Pink Floyd (Echos) and/or The Who (Quadrophenia) blaring through the CD player;
~The comforting scent of fabric softener wafting from the clean laundry;
~The yummy aromas of baking spices like cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, plus the tang of lemon zest and apples rising from the two loaves of apple bread, the apple crisp, and the batches of snickerdoodles cooling on the rack;
~The delectable tastes of the homemade soups and the wild rice and turkey casserole made for my meals throughout the week;
and finally,
~The feeling of accomplishment for finishing almost everything on the To-Do list.

Mix with a hearty sprinkling (or a dash or two) of the utter and complete Joy of:

-not having to go to work;
-the lack of appointments;
- and absolutely NO deadlines.

Bake for about 12 hours at 98.6 degrees.
Let rest six more days before repeating.

Variations could include: movie marathons, window shopping, walks on the beach, more sleeping in, reading in front of the fireplace, and lots and lots of chocolate.

In the Heights

Last night I had great plans to do something like 5 loads of laundry. I had even gone so far as to strip the bed, sort the colors/white, find the fabric softener sheets, haul out the 5 lb bottle of detergent, sort out the change to find all the quarters, and place the two baskets of dirty laundry by the apartment door. I was committed to doing the laundry. I had a plan.

Plans change.

About mid-day an e-mail went around the Big J with a free ticket offer to a newish Broadway show, In the Heights. Hello? Free show? Yes please!

I knew next to nothing about it, aside from it being a new musical set in the Washington Heights section of New York during the present day. I'd heard the radio ads and it had been peripherally on my radar, but since Broadway ticket prices are so expensive these days and I don't have a lot of time or money, I hadn't investigated it further. (Plus, I loathe mid-town. Don't get me wrong. I love Broadway and theater -- but the hordes of people there are worse to navigate than the subway and Grand Central during rush hour -- and that's saying quite a bit.)

The show was totally relatable, especially if you've spent any time in an ethnically diverse neighborhood, have friends from P.R. or any Hispanic/Latin background, or have worked in NYC. My Spanglish was good enough to understand the mix of English, Spanish, hip-hop rap, NY patter, and slang. The set made it look like it was a typical corner in NY, with its bodega, beauty shop, and apartment walk-ups. Two of the leads were actors known for their appearances in Center Stage and Charmed (among other shows), and the mix of Puerto Rican, Dominican, Cuban, African American, and other ethnic mixes were hysterical. There were a lot of "in" jokes that I don't think that the vast audience got, seeing as it's April break and a great deal of out of town school groups are here from the mid-West and the deep South, but those of us who did were crying with laughter. The dancing was a phenomenal mix of Latin, hip-hop, and modern street dancing, and the music was infused with an infectious Latin flavor. (Click here for the Musical Montage)

Apparently the show has quite an evolution. A few colleagues and I were talking about it today, and one of my office mates knows the lead, who was also the show creator. There are a bunch of articles at The New York Times site (see here, here, here, and oh ... here).

Yes, there were moments when the plot was contrived, the songs and staging were calculating, and a few of the characters were weak and their voices weren't as strong as the others. But, it's like t.v. -- suspend belief and buy into the story. If you want to go to a Broadway show set in the current "real" New York, this is it.

For those who need to know about ratings, I would consider it PG-13 for some language, both English and Spanish; suggestive situations, including implied sexual relations (not shown), "dirty" dancing; and some revealing clothing, i.e. short skirts, bared mid-riffs, exposed arms, etc. However, I saw and heard worse every day in school, many many years ago, and see it everyday going to work. If you're prudish, it might be a problem.

If you get a chance to see the show, I recommend it. Avoid the Disney-fication of Broadway and go see ...

In the Heights

Vamanos!

Joys of Apartment Dwelling

I came home from work the other night and found this posted in the elevator.

I hope they return the carts soon. I have 5 loads of laundry to do!