#59 NY's inflow and outflow...

365 Blog Challenge: Post #59

New York attracts young adults for various reasons: school, job opportunities, the ability to say "I lived in NY", etc.  It takes people in, wines them, dines them, abuses them, cultures them, and then more often than not, let's them go.  As I've been in NY for almost 5 years, I have made a number of good friendships, and seen more than a few of my close friends depart for other cities, other opportunities, other lives.  Thankfully, the draw of New York continues to even late 20-somethings as I've recently found out 2 good friends will be moving out to NY this year.  Also, I have made a couple new NY friends who aren't exiting anytime soon. Here is the exit and entrance list:

Exits:

Me and Erica, 2007

Erica- In NY for her masters in Art History from NYU.  Exited NY to get her PhD in Art History from the University of Minnesota.

Gumby and Julia S. (now married!)

Julia S.- Came to NY to be close to a boyfriend who she eventually broke up with and met a better boyfriend, now her husband.  Exited NY for medical school in Virginia.

Amy- Came to NY for her masters in psychology from NYU.  Exited NY to get her PhD in psychology from Temple University in Philadelphia.

Me and Amy in the Financial District

Julia V- Came to NY with her husband who is a PhD candidate in Columbia University's religious studies program.  Exited NY (thankfully just to Brooklyn) to start a family.  #1 is on the way in June!

Tim and Jamie Lyn Callahan

Julia V., our friend Ellen, Karen

Jamie Lyn- Came to NY for her work with Ingersoll Rand.  Exited NY to be closer to her new husband who is in the Navy. They now reside in Virginia Beach, VA.

Karen- Came to NY for Columbia's ETP nursing program, will graduate with her DNP (doctor of nursing practice)! Exiting NY for Chicago to do her DNP residency with her dad who is an MD.  She and her hubby Paul will be missed.

New NY Friends:
Rachel- A 2nd year resident at my hospital who I bonded with during a particularly critical month on our medical cardiology floor.  Turns out she almost became a nurse and then became a doctor (an excellent one) instead.  No wonder I like her.

Hazel- A sales assistant at JP Morgan who I met in my creative writing class. We share an intense love of books and hope to have writing dates together soon!

Incoming:

Brad, Partho, me in 2006

Brad- Brad and his boyfriend, Partho, came to visit us within a week of Scott and me moving into our first apartment together (317 W 105th), and they helped us put our furniture together!  Then they graciously slept on the floor because the pump to our air mattress broke.  They didn't even complain.  Partho is an MD and will be working at Mount Sinai.  Can't wait to have them!

LMA

LMA- Lauren Michelle Anderson, a friend from swimming class when we were in preschool, and then junior high, high school and the U of MN, is an international girl.  She is currently living in Argentina, working for a law office and perfecting her already amazing Spanish.  I don't know the details of her move yet (she just informed me of it last night), but I can't wait to see her in October.

Thank goodness for NY friends, new and old.

#56 Minnesota Recap Part 1

365 Blog Challenge: Post #56

I enjoyed a lovely weekend in Minnesota and returned to New York today.  Here are some highlights:

Feeding Dani (aka Toots) solid food.  Here are some carrots though she prefers sweet stuff like her Auntie Lo.

This is Dani's way of kissing we've been decided.  Really, she's teething and will latch onto anything she can get her mouth around including cheeks and noses.  It's so cute though we call them kisses.  And look at that girl's grip!  My cheek was being ripped off!

Yep. There's a bunch of Dani-spit up my nose.

Toots gets a tubby.

Randomly in town the same weekend as Jamie so she joined my family for dinner and became semi-addicted to Angry Birds.

Playing Angry Birds with Toots.  She just likes to get her fingers all over my iPad mostly.

Jamie looks like a natural!

Accidental Mickey Mouse pancake courtesy of my dad.

More highlights to come!

#49 Meet Arela!

365 Blog Challenge: Post #49

Scott and I started out the day yesterday on a high note when we got to have lunch with our friends Peter and Jessica and their 2.5 month old, Arela (A-rell-a is the best phonetic spelling I can come up with).  Arela is a little cutie who came into the world in December, a full month early!  She likes to be on top of things.  And you can just tell her parents are ecstatic to have her around.  Congrats Jess and Peter on your little lady!

New papa, Peter, and his little pink marshmallow, Arela

Apparently Scott and I bored Arela but that's ok.  We think she liked us anyways.

Proud new parents and their cutie!

Other events of my busy day yesterday? Allergy shot appointment which turned into sinus infection appointment.  Trying to find some clothes to wear on our cruise (did you know you have to dress up on these things?)  Apparently this task was for naught because Scott tells me that none of the dresses I picked out have any shape and they all look like potato sacks.  Dinner date with my friend, Hazel, from class and then class from 7-10.  Today is shaping up to be another busy one as I'm trying to fit in a bunch of stuff before heading to MN tomorrow.  Can't wait!

#27 Knitting Innuendos

365 Blog Challenge: Post #27

I recently spent some time with one of my favorite couples in the world, Karen and Paul.  As mentioned before, Karen and I went to nursing school together.  Paul and Karen were married last May, and sadly, will be leaving the city at the end of the summer to move back home to Chicago.  I am trying to take advantage of Karen's being nearby (12 blocks away to be exact).

During my most recent visit to Karen and Paul's Washington Heights apartment, Karen taught me how to knit, while Paul made sexual innuendos about all of our knitting talk.  (Big balls of yarn, thick knitting needles, you get the picture.)  Completely inappropriate, yet hilarious.

Here are some pics of a night in with two of the best people ever:

Granny Karen preparing her ball'o'yarn.

Clever Paul, dirty mind.

Granny Lo, trying to be crafty when I'm not.

So that top line is supposed to be straight but hey, it's my first time!

Big Ball O' Yarn.

Maybe if I practice enough, I'll be able to make a blanket for Dani or a scarf for Zoe or a hat for Tyler.  For now, I'll stick with getting my lines straight....or not poking my eye out with a knitting needle.

#13 Atlantic City baby!

365 Blog Challenge: Post #13

 Last night, Scott and I took a 2.5 hour road trip to Atlantic City with my friend and co-worker, Miriam.  To be honest, I'm not much of a gambler, but Scott and Miriam were quite excited to win some big bucks.  Also, I'd never seen the bright lights of Atlantic City so I was happy to go along.  Scott and I ended up not being so lucky.  We lost all the money we brought (although we made the last 11 dollars last for a good hour....we're big spenders, I know.)  But Miriam came away with some winnings and we all had a good time!

"Good Luck" in Hebrew...didn't do us so much good....

The Borgata is the casino we chose, and Scott reports it was much less tacky than Caesars, the last casino he went to in Atlantic City.  But I was more impressed with the clientele and the staff when disaster struck.  (Ok, not so much disaster.  But it felt like a disaster to me!)  After we left the Borgata, around 2am, and got an hour or so away, I reached into my purse to see if I'd missed any very important emails, texts or calls.  (And by very important, I mean any emails, texts or calls because I am a addicted to my "crackberry".)  I couldn't locate my phone in my purse or in my jacket so I called my phone from Miriam's blackberry.  Strangely, some man with an accent answered it.  I was flabbergasted.  I asked where he was and if he worked at the casino and he seemed to have a hard time understanding me (drunk? non-English speaking? not sure)  but was able to communicate that I left my phone on a slot machine (Gold Fish by chance? That was a good one.)  Not able to understand me well, he kindly passed the phone to a sober woman who graciously took the phone to the front desk of the casino.  We got home at four, and after getting a few hours of sleep, I woke up to call the Borgata and spoke to three different people (information, security, lost and found), all very kind, and they happened to have my phone!  (Yes, that is my blackberry with the red rubber bumper and the picture of the beautiful baby on it (i.e. Dani.)  The Borgata is shipping my phone to me UPS and I should receive it by Monday.  Now that's luck!!

Me and Miriam, gambling it up.

I'm blowing up this picture to show you the ridiculousness of it.  On the ATMs at the Borgata were these signs offering help if you think you have a gambling problem.  I think by the time you're at the ATM in the casino, it's probably a bit too late....though it's a nice thought (and maybe required by law?)

Scott, Me and Miriam with the winter wonderland fountain behind us.

Miriam with her winnings and "Good Luck" in English.  At least someone came out on top!

#9 Two of my best girls

365 Blog Challenge: Post #9

2 of my best NY girls and I went out to dinner last night at Otto, Mario Batali's restaurant (Iron Chef!) near Washington Square Park, and we had things to celebrate.  I met these girls in my nursing program and we have since gone different directions in our careers, but remain close.  

We were celebrating Karen's completion of Columbia's Family Nurse Practitioner program for one, and Karen will continue on into their Doctor of Nursing Practice program later this month.   We are proud of her!

New FNP Karen & I


Our other reason to celebrate?  Our darling Julia is pregnant and due June 27th.  We know Julia and her husband Dan have been wanting this for some time, so we're happy they're about to get their turn at parenthood.

Pregnant Julia and FNP Karen! 

Here's to good things for my lovelies, Karen and Jules, in the year to come!  Love you ladies!

Me, Julia and Karen, happy as clams :)

#8 Philly Visit

365 Blog Challenge: Post #8

This weekend, I went to Philly to visit my good friend Amy.  Amy and I met working as research assistants at the Bronx VA, and she is now working towards her PhD in psychology at Temple University.  She moved to Philly in August, and this is my first visit to her since then.  Here are some highlights:

Amy's cute little house.  Three floors but teeny tiny.

Funny thing about Philly is seeing all sorts of people in colonial outfits, especially in places like this mall. (Actually the Shops at the Bourse, a sorry excuse for a mall).

Amy and I went to see "I Love you Phillip Morris", and I was amused by the lengths they took to prevent people from sitting in these chairs which were "out of order" but upon inspection, nothing appeared to be wrong with them.  We decided they must actually be soiled.

Amy and the painted plants.

Here I am at Jones, a great breakfast place on Chestnut.  Notice my right eye is swollen.  That is thanks to Amy's lovely long-haired cat, Maya (and my cat allergies despite the 6+ months of allergy shots I've gotten). Pretty sexy.  At least the cat is sweet.

Amy and I went to the National Museum of American Jewish History which opened in 2010.  Did you know the first Jewish immigrants came to America in the 1600s from Brazil??

Amy and I in our Purim masks. 

I thought this was interesting because this story about a Jewish man who was accused of murder and killed by a mob is the premise for an excellent musical, Parade, which is one of Scott's favorites.

Other debauchery ensued Saturday night.  But to put it plainly, I'll just say- Four Loko! (Sorry if you got a text from me.)

Thanks Amy for a great weekend!

Halloween '08 in 3 states!!

Happy (belated) Halloween!  I wanted to wait until I could get as many pictures as possible from people before posting this diverse  blog of Halloween experiences.

We start off our Halloween in the wild forests of Wisconsin, as Isaac, Erin and Steve's darling nephew, dressed as a fierce, ferocious tiger...who you just want to squeeze!!

Now we move to the streets of Vadnais Heights, Minnesota and the home of Fifi the poodle (aka McKenna, our good friend Jill's adorable daughter).

It's a tough job staying up late to get candy from strange people.  Sometimes, Mom just has to take over.

And here we are in New York, Halloween day (I didn't dress up until the day after, but I had my nails painted black in the spirit of my costume!) Also in the picture is Pirate, Kristen and Kitty Cat, Jen.  They're not impressed with my lack of costume.

Here are the real spirited Halloweeners, Judy (the school girl), Kristen (the tough pirate, argggg) and Jen (the sweet, yet sour kitty cat). These girls are in my Assessing Clinical Evidence project group and we are all suffering the terrible group project together.

Here I am on party night...being GOTH GIRL!!!! Freaky, I know.

We were the first peeps at the party so we took advantage and got a great pic of some clinical ladies! Emily (catholic school girl), me (goth girl), Alex (Mardi Gras) and Jen (Blair Waldorf of Gossip girl)

Emily was fortunate enough to get a pic with Flavor Flav!! (Jen's nice friend from Jersey.)

And sadly, part way through the night, my makeup started coming off and you can see specs of my pale skin under my white make-up (Thank God for Scott's stage makeup.)  Oh wait...you can't tell the difference? Never mind. Pic with Emily and Jen.

Nursing girls just want to have fun!!!!!  Here is a group of us from the Columbia ETP program showing New York City that we work hard and play hard!

Happy Halloween y'all. And make sure to get out and vote tomorrow!!