Catching Up (w/ Beach 2 of 2)

Hello readers! Allow me this moment to appreciate your reading, truly it makes me feel loved. Because, as I told Ken, one of the ways I think I'm made in God's image is that I have a desire to be known.

So as I sit feet-up on Brigid's couch, her baby asleep in the next room, exhale, and finger-tap, it's time to recollect what I want to share. Now that I'm really into blogging, stuff will happen to me or I'll have a particular thought and immediately want to blog. So, you're all on my mind, what I want to show and tell you.

First off, NYC. Part of my heart rests here. I can tell by the way I feel: relaxed, at home, purposeful, awake. Staying with Juanita has been such a blessing! Though I have loved all my previous hostesses and their families and homes, somehow, being with this sister in her studio, a few feet from her pet rabbit's cage, pigeons cooing on the A/C, I'm so comfortable. It's amazing.

She lives in Queens, not Brooklyn where I lived most of my eight years here, and treated me to a lovely dinner at La Flor the night I got in.

The next day I ran errands, including ordering my bridesmaid dress for Grisel's wedding coming up Memorial Day weekend--one reason I didn't buy the Round the World Ticket, for all you wondering 'why not'. Then I met up with Anna who has taught me to say "I don't speak Polish" in Polish--this will be a helpful party trick next month in Warsaw. She is an aspiring furniture designer. And I had another yummy snack with her at Doma Cafe where I felt very uncool. I'm consoled by knowing I limited myself to three pairs of shoes for a two-continent, 10-state trip.

Saturday, Juany and I headed to Brooklyn for breakfast at Tom's, where the waitstaff remember me and ask how I'm doing even though they see hundreds of diners in the average morning. Love that. Juanita loves the lemon butter. I chatted with a young french woman who was visiting Brooklyn and directed her to Vanderbilt for more shopping. Nothing is more validating to me as an ex-New Yorker than helping visitors find their way. I want people to enjoy the city as much as I do.

At Joyce Bakeshop, where I was so full I could only finish half the banana bread pudding, I reconnected with Karin. Last time we saw each other was in Olivia, MN on my cross-country drive from NYC to WA. She's doing great, making a living and vocation by writing. It was nice. She smelled like oysters because the sweater she was wearing had soaked up some Massachusetts coast air during a recent getaway.

She walked us up to the Brooklyn Public Library where we parted ways to wifi and read. Juany and I then met a Wellesley classmate Wendy on the Promenade where we goofed around to Dumbo. Wendy, like Karin, is employed and hanging in there. She helped me find organic baby skin products for Karen whom I'll be seeing soon in Turkey. She also treated me and Juanita to hot chocolates at Jacques Torres. It's amazing that I weigh the same as when I left Richland.

If that wasn't enough, Juany and I went to meet her ex-roommate Brigid (whose apartment I'm now in and whose mini Acer I'm using) and her little baby for Italian dinner at their favorite spot Donato's. [Website needs a little help so if you've been clicking through, don't judge by the site. They're clearly putting more effort into their food.]

And that was just Saturday! I love NYC.

Sunday, I attended 10AM and 3PM at my beloved Times Square Church (TSC). Had lunch with Suansee at some Thai place (I forgot the name) and then sat in a corner park with her and Tiffany sipping lattes and avoiding pigeons. That evening I tried a new church, the Gallery wonderfully suggested to me by Jessica. God used TSC in a major way to get me back to Him, but it's neat to go to a church like Gallery and chat with the pastor by the time service starts and meet several other people by the end. I even met another blogger and heard her fantastic story of how she wound up in New York.

A different Jessica treated me to dinner at Momofuku [steamed buns--very tasty, like Peking Duck only with pork) where we were thankful to not be on the stools but rather the low seats. I've known Jess since my first year at college, and we've stayed in fairly good touch since--we lived near each other in Brooklyn for a while and then towards the later years of my NY time, had dinner often. She and her family are dear to me. As she said: it's nice to have a friend you can look slobby with. (Not that she looked bad, she looked great, just casual--I'm west coastified now.) We caught up on each others lives, she's happy to have her job as an attorney and also wondering if it's what she wants to do. Good thoughts, IMO.

The next day, I caught a morning flight to Ft. Myers, FL where Ken's lovely wife Julie and her mother Mary picked me up from the airport and whisked me over the causeway to Sanibel Island, i.e. paradise. Man, it is beautiful there. I will post photos. Ken is my only male friend from college--he is still the stagecraft instructor at Wellesley. But his Real Life is on Sanibel where he recently bought a restaurant with his buddy Richard, the Sanibel Cafe. After a quick stop at Mary's condo, Jules and I went to the Cafe and had lunch. Chicken salad with dill and grapes, yum. Ken and I rode bicycles to the beach and watched the waves and talked about Real Life according to him, me, the bible, and as nature evidences. I have always admired and continue to Ken's pursuit of life. He is one of my favorite persons and I have learned much from him.

Tuesday, Sanibel Cafe had a new hostess: me! My first try at restaurant work and it was great: messy, hurried, theatrical, profitable, and (best of all) temporary, because, as my small glimpse provided, it is above all exhausting!

Julie and Ken were off Wednesday so we got a slow start after breakfast ala Julie and coffee ala Mary to Captiva where I soaked up some sun, read the book I got at Noah's Ark (Julie's favorite spot on the island) by local author Randy Wayne White, watched pelicans and dolphins(!) and a man persist in flying a kite despite the lost interest of his grandson. Julie likes eagles and I like wildflowers so our ride back took a bit, we can cite the headwind. From a hot, breezeless footbridge spanning the Sanibel River, we saw wrens and a baby alligator(!!). Outside the hotel where we stopped for a poolside drink with a view of the ocean, Ken dug up an aloe vera plant to treat our sunburns. Wonderful. Evidence of the Creator. The Perfect Ego, as I said to Ken.

I woke to Mary's: it's 4 o'clock! Yes, I booked a 6AM flight for some now-silly $-saving reason. Jetblue isn't charging for the 1st checked bag, thankfully. Back in (cold) New York, I took a short nap and then met Tiffany for late lunch at Excellent Dumpling House. [If you visit the site, I ordered what's shown in the 2nd picture.] Our plan was to take the ferry to Ellis Island but when we got to the ticket booth, it was sold out. Bummer. Or so we thought. We walked across Battery Park to the Starbucks and caffeinated. And in so doing had the best conversation. Counseling is paying off! (see previous post re: angst) We overcame some fear in pushing certain topics and it was great! She's looking for co-visionaries in a movement. I'm unsure how to proceed yet hopeful. And within 24 hours, we both received relationship-building interactions. That's as detailed as I'm going to get. Suffice to say: Yea and Amen. Or, Yay and Amen.

In the evening, I surprised Loretta and Lisa/Patron by showing up to rehearsal for The Gate, the Friday night youth rally held weekly at TSC. I got home later than expected but it was refreshing to be with folks who depend on the Holy Spirit to work, cover, and move. Rode the 7 train with one of the actors who, earlier in the night, said she thought I was younger than her. Excellent, as she's just a year out of college.

Friday, it wasn't raining but sunny. Perfect for Tiffany and my actual trip to Ellis Island. Tourists. Exhibits. Black and white photos. More pigeons. Ferries. We skipped the Statue of Liberty (I've already been there) but I got some good photos of her.

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Ok, Brigid and Juanita are back from Target. I gotta go. Four days left to recount and I'll be current. Except for photos.

Jersey Green

Yesterday was Saint Patty's Day and we didn't wear any green, but Shirlie made this terrific saag in the time it took me to brush my teeth. Her food blog is too serious to post un-photogenic food shots.


This is Shirlie's lovely family. We think the last time we saw each other was five years ago. Funny: the first time I met Shirlie's husband David was the first time they met--it was New Year's Eve and she was hanging out with me in NYC. The second time I met David, he proposed to her. The third time was their wedding. :) Then the pattern breaks because the next time I saw them their daughter had yet to be born. This is time five and here she is, the cutie pie:

She lives on the Jersey coast so we took a brisk walk along the shore line, you are going to be even more jealous once it gets warmer here, I am.

Shirlie and I made dinner loosely based off of this recipe
I totally busted the basil but somehow the final product was yummy and spicy and David scrubbed the pot, so I was spared most the consequences.

Today, I woke up too late for the morning latte ala David, but Shirlie just sat down with a spinach feta egg scramble she whipped together while I've been posting this. Later we're going into the city to see my friend Anna's mini furniture show.

Regarding my emotional health, my counselor said I'm doing "hard work"* facing some tough issues like shame, trusting that God really truly has a plan for me, translating the affection my dad has for me that he expresses to other people into what I crave which are words of affirmation. BLAH! It does feel good to cry. And do I really need to blog about all this? Well, friends, trying to be real. I'll figure out how much I want to share, and I can always edit.

*Isn't it great to feel affirmed in work when I haven't been gainfully employed in over two months?

Old Friends/Old Town

DC stint contained no national monuments. Rather, friend-since-junior-high Colleen and her stinkin' cute daughter and funny husband. I drove Shannon's car (with Shannon in the passenger seat fielding phone calls) to DC and we had Korean food (see, Joyce, still not sick of it) and then arrived at Colleen's house. The next day, I accompanied Colleen and s.c. daughter to play group:


After a long Starbucks wifi session and Georgetown nature walk, I met up with Shannon and we met her friends in Old Town for BBQ:




Saturday was girls day, we went to REI where I cashed in my dividend for a non-fleecy-looking-fleece (inspired by Joyce's similar item), had lunch at Chipotle, then spa pedicures (caught up on celebrity gossip and therein deduced that Colleen has enough time to Facebook...), and Trader Joe's where I managed to spend $0. :)


We finally got home and participated in a dad's and daughter's burger night for Colleen's husband's friends whose wives were away for the weekend. I was enchanted with Cinderella and Shannon's nearly cordial welcome of the babies.

Sunday, my old friend Riah whom I know from NYC (my first friend from TSC) picked me up and we had a light lunch at Le Madeleine and then Korean church service where I was introduced as "our Chinese sister" and then Korean food (a buffet, nonetheless, i.e. heaven).

I realize this is is pretty much an events account. I had a pretty emotional day today with a great tele-therapy session with my counselor from Richland so perhaps I'll be more up for emoting later this week.

Shirlie's house in New Jersey is super quaint and her daughter is warming up to me...we'll see. For some real good news, check out my friend's blog.

Beach 1 of 2

Virginia Beach is pretty cool. I've been there once before, also with Shannon but this time, she lives there! She's a practicing attorney so she spent a lot of time on the phone and in court but the rest of the time, she showed me around. We hit two happy hours ($.50 wings and steamed clams!), one diner, one rehearsal of her newly formed band, one grocery store, and a car wash. Woo hoo!

In between, I formed an ever-so-slight a bond with her dog Monroe. (I normally am fairly civil-to-cold toward pets, though it doesn't seem to stop most of them from trying to be my friend.) Here is a picture of the pretty girl:

This is band rehearsal:

And here was us at the diner for breakfast, our booth faced the ocean, lovely. And so were the grits:

I'm taking sponsors who will front me $30 to become a Flickr premium member. :) More on DC visit later. (I'm posting from Colleen's computer, thanks, Colleen!) In a few minutes, I'm headed to New Jersey to visit my third high school friend on this leg of the tour, Shirlie. And then after that it's NYC!

First Quarter Interim Report

It's been two months since I stopped working and 2.5 weeks since left Washington State. I've already been in four locations and now am in Virginia Beach with my high school friend Shannon, so it feels like longer. The adage "time flies when you're having fun" apparently falls prey to the theory of relativity--time expands the faster the body is moving.

My mom has been emailing me, and some of you have been FBing and stuff, which I super appreciate. Thanks! Got a ticket to Fort Myers because Ken IS going to be at his restaurant in Sanibel during Wellesley's spring break AND I just paid the fee for the RZIM course in Chennai, India for October. Budget-wise, everything is working out.

In answer to many prayers, here's one cool evidence of God's protection. In my last Alabama stop, folks told me to eat at Chick-fil-A once I got to Atlanta since the chain started in Georgia and I hadn't gotten the chance to eat there yet. As I was outlining my objectives to Joyce's sister and her husband (H-mart, Whole Foods, Chick-fil-A), the husband asks me, "Do you have a peanut allergy?" I do. And only because their sons have a plethora of food allergies are these two parents hyper-sensitive and aware. Apparently Chick-fil-A, though having superior chicken product, fries in peanut oil. Do you see the hand of Providence?! And my Epipen remains unused in my suitcase. :)

And I just remembered I didn't follow up about the glassblowing class. Well, it was terrific. My instructor Drake (or was it Blake?) was the perfect Southern punk gentleman who saved (in some way) all three pieces I made from disaster. I FBed about the burn I got, it really wasn't that bad, more surprising that the glass was so hot as to give me a mild sun burn. This is out of the furnace, not even glowing just HOT. Two vases and a cup were shipped to Richland. Addicted? No, but very interested. Drake told me two funny things: 1. (as he's lighting up) Don't be a glassblower who smokes, it's bad; and 2. Everyone makes a mess, but the kids especially.

Joyce's Nephews

As some of you know, I only have one nephew and lots of nieces. Joyce, my college roommate and good friend, is the opposite: one niece and lots of nephews. While she lives in San Francisco, her family all live in Atlanta so I met up with her and stayed at her sister's house for a few days during which we celebrated two of her nephews' birthdays.

Here she is with one of the non-birthday boys. He called me "Ween", as in, "Oh, hi, 'ween." Very cute.

I love Koreans (well, some of them) and Korean food! Half the items on this table are plastic. But the other half are real and So-Yummy.

For me, the Atlanta attractions were H-mart (got a $.99 grocery tote that features their motto: better food better life) and the huge Whole Foods (evident theme). But we did go to this regular tourist attraction in Stone Mountain. It's a big park with all sorts of stuff including the signature sight of this not-quite-Mt. Rushmore carving of three Confederate heros: Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and Jefferson Davis (I got to mention that I'd seen the house he died in).

The next day I got to play rowdy Aunt Irene and cheer our mini-Ichiro (I know, he's not Korean but whatever) on and loudly question the umpire's home plate calls. Embarrassing, but fun. And the 50 cent hot dogs were good too.

Had a couple good laughs with Joyce and lots of Korean food. Also got to see Joyce in the context of her family which was great fun for me, I love families.

Nancy 2 of 2

The other Nancy in my life is my friend from New York City who is interning at a women's home in Alabama. She is the same Nancy as from New Orleans but not the same Nancy whose parents I stayed with. This Nancy is Nuyorican and drinks coffee. Light and sweet. She was the inspiration for my heading to New Orleans in the first place as I wanted to visit her and as she was scheduled to be in Nola, to Nola I went.

But I also wanted to see her in her new-as-of-September existence as intern in rural Alabama. It was wonderful, being a guest, I should say. The residents (who are there as an alternative to incarceration and who all qualify by having some sort of life-controlling addiction) varied in their opinions of the program, I'm sure. I didn't ask any of them directly. But I heard tons of stories and suffice to say that there is a true work of God going on to help the workers stay sane and to set some of the women free.

We went to the Waffle House and Auburn University campus. We watched a matinee of "He's just not that into you" and had sushi. All sorts of regular life stuff that Nancy had kind of forgotten about in a haze of rides and doctor's visits and court dates and medications and chores. We even made beignets from the Cafe Du Monde mix I brought from New Orleans. We laughed, we cried. We drove around. It was a great visit.

Among the more ministry-related activities, we attended bible study at Miss Kim's house where she served us taco soup and a frozen creme/berry dessert, quite lovely. The next morning, I had the pleasure of meeting Miss Kim in attempt to help Harvest Evangelism with their web presence. I would post the new blog I helped her start but it's still under construction.

Nancy 1 of 2

My former colleague Nancy grew up in Alabama and her parents were nice enough to host me for a day. They drove me all around Selma, the birthplace of the Civil Rights movement, looking at houses and telling me terrific stories about women hiding jewelry and silverware in their houses to prevent those damn Yankees from stealing them. This is the house that Miss Juanita lived in where Mr Lonnie drove past every day until they finally met. This house is amazingly (to me) two houses down from the house Mr Lonnie lived in when he was a child. Fascinatingly intact family history to a west coast daughter of immigrants.

They also took me to dinner at the Tally Ho where the waitress Annette (photo: center) told me a joke that I should probably not post here involving a Baptist preacher. I did promise to tell it to Nancy as this was their usual repartee. Miss Juanita presented me with an "I'm an Auburn fan" t-shirt and also picked up an Alabama map to aid on my drive to Opelika the next day. Isn't she sweet? Not to be outdone, Mr Lonnie fixed me some sausage and bacon for breakfast the next morning ("I didn't cook you breakfast, I cooked breakfast for MYSELF and there are leftovers," or something like that was his response to my thanks) and let me eat a slice of his pineapple upside-down cake. :)

Photos from New Orleans

Finally got some substantial alone time with a regular computer (uploaded these using Joyce's laptop so want to acknowledge that service donation as well) so here are some photos related to the Po Boy post:

My hotel room had this awesome umbrella stand furniture piece. Feel free to let me know what these are really called. And it's my first picture of Mooch. Not a famous place but significant to me. I don't know how many famous attractions he'll get to visit as that's not usually on my agenda.

A particularly striking house in the Garden District. Down the street was the house where Jefferson Davis (the Confederate president, for those of you lousy at US history like me) died.

Yes, I am foodie, hear me munch. Beignets and au laits. It's a rhyme! And these particular ones were courtesy Nancy. Thanks, friend!

The first oyster po' boy I tried in NOLA. The last day I was in New Orleans I had another oyster po' boy and bit into a tiny pearl! I saved it in a sugar packet and am going to try to do something with it once I get to NYC.

This is Nancy at Radosta's Famous Po-Boys waiting for hers.