Month: November 2012

This Photo Made My Day

Click through to get a better look at this image–it’s so pristine that it’s hard to believe it’s a photo and not painting.

Peter sent it to Mal and me this morning with the message, “Guess where this is?” I thought it looked like Lake Bled, in Slovenia. I was close; it’s actually Lake Bohinj, also in Slovenia. The three of us have been wanting to take a trip there for years, but we haven’t been able to get the timing right. Peter’s family is Slovenian and every time I go to his family’s house and see their gorgeous paintings of the country (which look a lot like this photo), I just want to pack my bags and go!

Anyway, this morning, I was running late and completely frazzled. But when I saw this photo, it immediately made me smile and cooled my nerves. Nothing like a little vacation inspiration to put you in a good mood, huh? рџ™‚

(“Inbound” image by Phrasikleia Epoiesen)

Oh, Ballet

Gif Tumblrs may have reached their saturation point, but I’m still endlessly amused by them. Recently, I discovered “Oh Ballet,” one dedicated to my favorite hobby, and had a good laugh from their entries.

Like this:

When you think the teacher finished teaching the combination but they keep going

and this:

When somebody can pull off a white leotard

And my favorite:

After I tell people IвЂ™m a ballet dancer

*Sigh* it’s so true. Happy Friday!

(Text and.gif"oh ballet" href="https://ohballet.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">Oh Ballet)

Election Night 2012

I’ll admit, I’ve been a little jaded about U.S. politics during the past few years. (In my opinion, all the divisiveness makes it hard for our government to be progressive or super-productive.) But one thing I will never take for granted is my right to vote. Millions of people around the world don’t have that opportunity, and it’s never more apparent than when you travel abroad, talk to others and hear about the political strife they’ve lived through—or are still experiencing.

So this morning, I waited in line to vote for almost an hour at my local polling place in Washington Heights. While there was never any doubt that New York would go Democratic, I still wanted to make my voice heard—and was happy to see that so many others did, as well.

On my walk across town this evening, I passed Rockefeller Center all lit up as NBC prepared to tally the electoral votes on the side of their building. As much as I’d like to go to sleep soon, I know I’ll be up until they call the election!*

Did you vote today?

PS – Happy, happy birthday, E! I love!

*Just as I hit “publish,” the election was called! рџ™‚

A New Beginning in November

You probably wouldn’t have guessed from my entries over the past few weeks, but October was a bit of a tough month for me. Nothing spectacularly bad or life-changing happened. I was just under the weather for almost four weeks, which felt like an eternity—and not feeling well for that long had me feeling down and out of sorts. (First I had a horrible cold, then caught whatever Mal had at the Grand Canyon, then had my wisdom teeth removed and experienced a complication with one, then the hurricane hit…)

I’ve found that when I’m feeling down about something, it helps me to look ahead—literally, to flip through the months in my iPhone calendar—and choose a date when I know I will be out of the situation and feeling much better. And while I’m moving forward, I’ll look to that date as often as I need to and remember that things are improving. Earlier this year, I was going through a particularly trying time. I gave myself three months to feel mostly better and six months to be 100% healed. This time, I didn’t need nearly as long. I chose November 1 as my all-better day.

Sure, illnesses and natural disasters are out of my control. But just reminding myself that happier days are ahead did boost my mood a great deal. And now that we’re a few days into November, I can happily report that my colds are gone, all my wisdom teeth have healed and I was super-lucky to have made it through the hurricane without any major troubles.

This quote, which I stumbled upon via Shoko’s blog a few weeks ago, puts it perfectly:

Definitely wise words to keep in mind!

How do you deal with trying times? I’d love to hear your thoughts. And thanks to everyone who reached out to me during the hurricane—I was touched by your concerns and good wishes!

(Top photo via Travel, Culture, Books and Tea—though if you know the photographer or the setting of this shot, please share! Bottom image via Shoko.)

NOLA to New York

While we’re on the topic of the kindness of strangers after Hurricane Sandy, here’s another example that gave me the warm-fuzzies. Andy Kopsa currently lives in NYC but once called New Orleans home. She was in New Orleans this past week when Hurricane Sandy hit and left her unable to return to the Big Apple. While waiting and worrying about her husband, friends and city, she created “NOLA to New York,” a Tumbler where Katrina survivors offer hope and words of wisdom to New Yorkers.

As Andy describes it:

Who better than the people of New Orleans to talk to the people of NYC right now. They know, they lived through Katrina. They are still living with it seven years later.

Each entry features a New Orleans resident’s tale of living through Katrina and a photo of him or her holding a sign with a handwritten message to New Yorkers.

A few of my favorites:

Have a safe and dry weekend!

(Images via NOLA to New York)

The Kindness of Strangers

It’s been days since Hurricane Sandy hit, but we’re still feeling the effects of it, here in NYC. Downtown Manhattan and many other neighborhoods are still dark. Mal and Peter and lots of my friends and co-workers are still without power and hot water. And, very tragically, one of the storm’s victims was a friend of the family and another was a friend’s former classmate—which has made this event all the more sad.

As for me, I was definitely one of the lucky ones. Sure, I wasВ cooped up in my apartmentВ for a few days, trying not to go stir crazy. But I never lost power, hot water, cell phone service or the internet—so I really have nothing to complain about.

Throughout all this, I was touched by the ways New Yorkers helped each other out—like in the photo below. I heard many stories of friends who opened their apartments to others and offered showers, dinner, flashlights and electricity to those who’ve been going without.

I had a moment of my own yesterday, when a stranger’s words made my day and helped me forget my hurricane-related stress. Since buses were running in Manhattan, I felt that I had to go to work, despite the fact that I live way uptown on the west side, not anywhere near my midtown east office. Plus, I wanted to get out of my apartment. So in the morning, I boarded a bus and hoped for the best.

I walked into my office 4 hours later.

Traffic was insane. I stood for hours and listened to episodes of “This American Life” as the bus crawled through Harlem; we spent more than an hour going from west to east on 110th Street, alone. At 86th and 5th, I finally gave up and walked the home stretch to 50th and 3rd.

I was fried from that commute. The thought of having the same experience going home was so daunting that I decided to go to ballet and head back late, after rush hour was over. It turned out to be a good plan. At 10:30 p.m., I was tired, hungry and worried about how long it would take to go the 130 blocks home, but I managed to squeeze onto a packed bus. The driver was super-nice and, at every stop, implored everyone to move back so he wouldn’t have to “leave any New Yorker behind.” At one point, I scored a coveted seat, but then gave it up when I saw an older gentleman and his female companion get on.

While I stood next to their seats, the woman turned to me and said, “I would be happy to take your bag on my lap. It looks so heavy!” And then, when she saw that it was full of ballet stuff, she asked if I was a dancer at the Met.

I declined her offer but was so touched by her kindness (not to mention flattered that I’d been mistaken for a professional ballet dancer) that I was smiling for the rest of my trip home—which included waiting in the cold for another bus, dealing with a very not-nice driver who cursed at every rider who got on, unexpectedly being dropped off at 135th Street when that driver decided he was done for the night, waiting for another bus, then finally giving up and hailing a gypsy cab that almost got into a fight with another gypsy cab who bumped our car.

It’s amazing how powerful a few unexpected, kind words are.

How have you weathered the storm? I hope you stayed safe and dry. And if you were affected, my thoughts are with you.

(Photo by Velojoy via SwissMiss)

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