the bright side

I read an article a few days ago on twitter about the power of optimism leading to a longer life span!  What great news for me.  Not only is my positive attitude keeping me happy now, but it is also adding to my time on earth!  As I tried to search for the article to share here, I could not find it, but google provided me with many more articles which claim that pessimistic people live longer.  I guess there are a few optimistic pessimists out there!

whoosh

It's been over a year since the last ladies-only durbo party, (not counting the office version in February) and I guess word has spread because the attendance was up by a lot and it was crowded!  Except for the fact that I don't have time to talk to everyone, I think the more the merrier, but more people make for more music opinions and I admit that I got a little stressed out about it.  This is where I will also admit that my stress slowed down my drinking which made for a better 'morning after' since I found myself quite sober when the party hit its peak.  My wild shoes from the nyc durbo party inspired my outfit with a gold punk theme and the shoes were a hit with the ladies.  Things got rowdy with lots of body movement, and if I were to say what songs actually triggered the highlight of the evening, I must specifically site the following:

The Electric Slide (which brought lots of wallflowers to the dance floor)

I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor (which is a crowd pleaser)

Jeremiah Was a Bull Frog (I think people's minds were blown by this one - the singing could be heard for miles I'm sure)

Little Willy (enough said, they exploded)

But the moment that defined the night for me was the most spontaneous moment I can remember having in years, maybe ever (that is bold, but I think true)... during the Little Willy screaming fest, I literally without any warning or premeditated thought, did a body slide and I mean belly-first fling down the middle of the dance floor!!  I think everyone was in shock, including me, because I don't remember thinking before doing it - you know - you have that moment where you might think "hey maybe I should body slide" and THEN you body slide... but no... just WHOOOSH - a spontaneous combustion of diving movement!!!!  I'm sure everyone thought I was extremely drunk, but what made it funnier for me was that I did this without the influence of alcohol and I am laughing even as I type this because it was so ridiculous.  I was so overcome with joy and enthusiasm that I even surprised myself!  A rare thing indeed.  

foot jewelry

Since July, I have been stopped in my tracks numerous times by woman commenting on my foot jewelry, so I am on a flight home from Dallas using my little blogger app because I must document it at last. I am in the first row of the cabin (row not class) and my latest admirer is the airline stewardess who started off the beverage service and froze in her tracks oooo-ing and aaah-ing over my foot decor which appears to be attached to my sandals but I quickly showed her by kicking off my flip flops, that they are in fact connected to my feet independently of any footwear!! Well this led to round 2 of oooo-ing and aaah-ing and the full flight of passengers waiting for drinks behind me just had to wait a little longer as she pumped me for info about my little treasure.  Earlier when I kicked off my shoes to go thru airport security, the same thing happened there!!  Sometimes it's the people I least suspect who take an interest or stop me to admire or inquire. its really amusing!  The funny thing is that I was talked into the random purchase this summer while browsing a local beach craft show with my sister Cath and she literally talked me into buying them saying how great they would be for me to wear all summer long since I was living on the bay. When I think back on it, I remember that I was really not interested because I felt they looked a little "jersey girl cheesy" so just as I was about to move on to the next vendor, I impulsively pulled out a $20 (which my mom thinks I must be printing in my basement since I seem to endlessly peel $20's from my wallet on numerous occasions) and put them right on and I have not taken them off since that day (except to put running shoes on since I don't want the beads to break) and they have become the "summer 2013 Helen signature item" which has been getting as much attention as if I were walking around carrying a golden retriever puppy!!! (Even non-dog-lovers know what I mean right??). I have been stopped on countless occasions in the past 3 months by mostly women but I do catch some guys eyeballing my feet and I guess they contain their urge to approach me probably because they don't want to be put in the Rex Ryan foot fetish category (and I must digress because I ran into the man himself at a 711 recently and if he was not so busy getting hit on by another woman my age, I just KNOW that he would have noticed my special jewels!!!). Every time I am stopped I think that it is just amazing how that one incident (of my sister's shopping coercion) has changed so many little moments that would have just passed without incident but instead have become little blips of happy connections with fellow females that I would have missed out on completely if it were not for my foot jewelry. It should be noted that I searched on line for the exact kind of jewelry and although there are several links to similar foot candy, I could not find this exact kind and so you know that I will be back at that craft fair next summer to find the genius behind the gems!!  I "need" another pair! In the meantime, I will find a special spot in my jewelry box where they can hibernate for the winter as the thought of putting on boots makes me misty. 

Bad airplane lighting and I am not a fan of feet in general, much less my own, but here's a photo to complete the visual for the accounting above. 

rainy run

I am out for a run and it just started to rain a little too hard for my enjoyment (and for my iphone) so I'm undercover waiting it out and i just realized that I'm sitting in front of a liquor store at 9:00 am looking like I can hardly wait for them to open the doors!!!! As I'm wondering what I look like to anyone who might pass by,an older couple came around the corner and looked at me so I blurted out "I need a bottle of wine now!" And they burst out laughing! Now that it has become a torrential downpour, I think I will be here awhile so for those who wonder why I don't leave the phone behind and just use an iPod to get away from being connected, the answer is: for times like this when I might end up stranded with nothing to do for awhile and then I can write about it for my blog!!

#1 leaves the nest

What a whirlwind.... 10 days ago, Tommy found an apartment and yesterday we helped him move in!  After the roller coaster of him waiting to hear if he was approved, he signed the lease on Friday, packed on Saturday and moved into his "HUGE" pad (by NYC standards) in the east village yesterday with a view of Freedom Tower from his bedroom window!  Bittersweet for all of us, and of course I had to take photos all the "lasts" which were happening too fast over the past week.  After the Sunday chaos of unloading on a busy corner, into what looked like a pretty low-end building with a sketchy lobby, the entrance right next to a cool graffiti door...then up 3 long flights into the brand new renovated bachelor pad where his keys WOULD NOT OPEN THE DOOR,  he had his first lesson of city living!  The building super was luckily nearby and got us in, but Tommy had no idea he needed to 'talk care of him' so Tom slipped him a $20 and while we were at lunch (Katz Deli across the street), Tom enlightened him about some of the unspoken protocols of living in a city building!!  He then needed some time to unpack and wanted to get a little organized on his own, so Tom, Juli and I went for a walk in the amazing neighborhood where there were street fairs underway and the San Gennaro Feast was in full swing on a beautiful sunny day. Juli was ready to abandon all her college choices on the spot and try for NYU so she could live in the city asap!  After a lot of walking, Tom hopped on a Citybike to go for a ride around the 'hood and Juli and I searched for a salon so she could get a haircut.  While she was with Fillipo who was definitely 'slow and steady', I headed back to pick up the hopefully-empty-by-now suitcases from Tommy.  When I got there, he had gotten some awesome decor items free from a neighbor who was moving out, so I helped him 'set up house' and we just hung out til Juli got there.  We were all exhausted after a long day, so we all went down to load the car back up with the few things that were going back to NJ and we had our little 'photo session' outside and as we proceeded a block to the car Tommy said "I guess I should have locked the door" and I almost dropped the stuff I was holding!!!  "YES, GO BACK RIGHT NOW!!" and I grabbed everything from him and he started to run back "home" and I shouted  "BYE HAVE FUN!!!" (a little relieved we didn't need to have a big emotional goodbye hug on the street which would have mortified the teenage girl with the new fabulous hair) and when we got in the car I told Juli what happened and she just shook her head and we both started laughing.  He is a really smart "man" with a good job in a big office building in Times Square who passed 2 of the 3 CFA tests already, but I think he is about to learn a lot the hard way! 

last sibling breakfast (friday)

sibling bonding

last day of commuting from chatham

Mr Moped heads out

 truck is loaded - ready for lift off

enough said (happy, sad, happy, sad)

bedroom (mirror not yet hung over bead)

bedroom other angle

bedroom entrance

hallway to roomie's room (yes, there is a HALLWAY)

kitchen / living room combo

tiny apartment - HUGE TV

 cool table inherited from an apartment neighbor who was moving out

 building entrance

walk up TIMES 3!!

view from bedroom and kitchen!!

Juli wants to live with him

goodbye hug :(

jenna

I see her every day - running confidently, perfect long lean body, not too thin, did I mention perfect?   Fast pace, awesome running posture, pretty blonde hair, pretty face, athletically fit to a tee.  I love watching her fly along with her knee socks on... I have wondered all summer about her - is she a professional soccer player?  Why does she run with knee socks on and why is she training so intensely?  Today as I headed out for my run, I saw her in the distance coming toward me.  As she got closer, I thought maybe I was mistaken because this girl was not wearing knee socks.  When I realized it was indeed my idol, just as she was about to pass me I said "where are your socks?" and I motioned to my calves since we were both wearing headphones.  She blew by me with a smile and I figured that she didn't have a clue as to what I said.  About 10 minutes later, I was startled as she ran up next to me and started chatting away about how I must be out there as much as she, which made me laugh out loud.  She introduced herself and we ran for abit together.  I told her she is an inspiration to me and we talked about the upcoming Dog Day Race this weekend, etc.  I found out that she is a professional triathlete (sponsored and all), trains 5 hours per day and is a part time lifeguard.  I was thrilled to find out that in addition to her physical perfection, she was a lovely person with a great personality!  When I run the race on Sunday, I will look for her in the lead when the front runners circle back toward the slower runners... and I will shout out "GO JENNA" as she will surely be the female leader, but I am still left to wonder why she wears the high socks because I completely forgot to ask her about that!

crazy creatures

Back in the spring, I didn't get around to writing about our kamikaze bird, but the time has come.  The koo koo bird aka robin-red-breast in our yard, continuously flew into our dining room window over and over all day long for days on end to the point where (no surprise) I was able to get a still photo of him!!  Why was he trying to get into our house so badly???  Of course getting video footage was easy and I had to do it because it was too unbelievable to me that this bird had such a serious death wish and I was completely intrigued - ok - obsessed with him.  I admit it, I love nature.  The kids watched me day after day shaking their heads as they got ready for school while I set up my camera to get more footage of the head-banging bird, but I was hooked and determined to figure out why he was doing it!!  After weeks of this, and I am NOT exaggerating, I mentioned it to my neighbor Melanie who enlightened me that she too had a koo koo bird trying to get into her house through a closed window and she called the 'bird authorities' to find out what to do about it.  As she explained, the bird was building a nest somewhere near the area and each time he (or is it SHE, since she was going to lay eggs? another question for the bird authorities) flew toward the nest, she would see her refection and mistake it for 'the enemy' and in an effort to protect the nest, she would try to attack the enemy bird. You go girl!  Whew... mystery solved, but what to do about it?  Cut down the reflection by putting a screen up on the outside of the window (which I did) or tape newspaper to the window (which she did) - and I have to report that although the newspaper seemed to calm her bird down, my feathered friend just moved on to other windows in the house!!  I wonder if that nest was ever finished or if those eggs were ever laid??  And our creature feature continued down here at the beach where we encountered a 2-inch baby turtle in our outdoor shower (TOOOOOO CUTE FOR WORDS) and then an orange and black 'halloween inspired' cicada in a doorway, but the most recent source of my confusion has been the kamikaze DRAGONFLY who keeps flying into the window down here!!!!  ????  What is up with the suicidal critters this year and where is Melanie to provide the answer to this latest mystery???  Sorry to say that I'm quick with a camera, but I have yet to capture any footage of the dragonfly.  The other nature moments are documented below.  

Click here to view Kamikaze Bird Video

Stay tuned for the "Death of the Dragonfly" film which is in the production.

our french girl

When my neighbor from France asked me to send out an email to the neighborhood looking for a family to host a French exchange student, I didn't consider volunteering since all my kids took Spanish, but I always wanted to host an exchange student and the opportunity had never presented itself.  So when the email didn't produce any responses, it's probably not surprising that I decided to go for it.  I figured well the point of it is that she wants the "American experience" which includes speaking English, so even though we do not speak a word of French, Emma from Paris spent a week with us in LBI which fell during the July 4th holiday, so I would say it could not get much more American than that!!  When I picked her up from the previous family who hosted her, they told me she was quiet and didn't speak much so I was a little worried.  But after an hour with her, I was pleasantly surprised by her English, she was immediately part of the family and she enjoyed a whirlwind week at the Jersey shore!  Here are some of my "Emma highlights"

 - After knowing Emma for 10 minutes, I ask her "do you like boys?" and maybe she thinks I'm crazy but she cracks up laughing and we were off to a good start!

 - Emma is my best mozzarella chopper!

 - Tom teaches Emma his rules - the 3 "B"s - no booze, no boys, no bongs!  She loves this and repeats it all week.

 - Tommy asks Emma many questions about France and the boys across the street think Tommy is very strong and they ask him for workout advice!

- Emma tries to teach us to speak French and I am the worst, but I try the hardest.

- Sunset dinners, mussels, clams, burgers, fish, steak, salads!

- Fireworks on the beach by Jonathan on July 4th!

- Emma tries some American "S'mores" and they are delicious!

- Emma does NOT love Six Flags but tries El Toro and Nitro after I beg her to try!

- I give Emma a good night hug every night because she is so far from home.

- Ryan makes Emma nutella banana crepes - yummy!!

- Emma is my shopping buddy - grocery store and other stores!

- COSTO is so American and SO BIG!  Lots of food samples to try and a big chocolate cake for Jonathan's birthday!!

- Emma brings us delicious chocolates that we eat like crazy, dish towels with Paris on them which I love - and coffee mugs I use every day!

- Little "dance party' on the bay beach on July 4th!  Celebrating America!

- Emma, Juli and Kristen like to watch the hot lifeguards doing push ups!

- Riding the big beach bikes to stores!

- Emma and JuliAnn do the 'polar plunge' into the cold ocean.

- I start to cry saying goodbye to Emma - I will miss my little hazel-eyed french daughter!