What I Learned (and did) On My Summer Vacation

Okay, so this post is a little tardy, but I still feel like I've got to make the effort. I had a summer that seemed to fly by. Busy at work, didn't even get to take my full vacation, but I squeezed a lot in there.

What I Learned:
That I absolutely love being a mom to an amazing little boy.
That said little boy LOVES the beach and would throw himself in the ocean given half a chance.
That I love salads with chicken more than anything.
That yoga daily has done more for my body than all those hours spent at the gym.
That yoga + walking + eating healthier has started to make me look like pre-cancer me again.
That it is possible to reclaim one's abs after a c-section.
That sometimes the best things in life are free.
That my son is a daredevil and will go on any carnival/amusement park ride I will let him on.

What I Did:
Played about a half dozen weddings with the Prima Quartet - the best looking and sounding string quartet on Long Island.
Got to hang out with Merry Berry, who I miss terribly.
Took Luke to a few carnivals and stuck him on a few fire engines, boats and merry-go-rounds.
Met Annie and Ahmed and Ismaeel at Adventureland where we put the boys on rides together.
Went one night to see Stealin' Dan which rocked out for over 2 hours and was easily the best concert I've ever seen. And it was free. I have to expound here - the concert was at the Sayville Marina beach - which is on the body of water between the south shore of LI and Fire Island. It was an incredibly muggy night and it was delicious to be by the ocean breeze. No one wanted to go with me, so I went all by myself. Which was fine, because I could sit anywhere I wanted, no one talked to me and I sang out loud to all the songs. They were awesome. Steely Dan is a top notch band which used some of the all-time best studio musicians. Stealin' Dan didn't disappoint. They actually played Aja. They played all my favorites. (Except for Deacon Blues) They played for 2 hours. I was in heaven. Since I couldn't justify spending $80 for Steely Dan tickets, this was a good compromise.

So, all in all it was a good summer. We made it through with not too many bumps and bruises and had some fun.

New Duds

I went "back to school" shopping with my mom and got some cute duds. I got 3 dresses:This one makes me feel like a "Mad Men" extra. I feel cute and sassy in it.
This one actually makes me look forward to chillier weather. I can't wait to pair it with low-heeled boots.And this one I'm saving for the Fall Fair Preview Party to look pretty and dolled up in.

Diamond Dave, No One Can Hold a Candle

I finally purchased the latest album by The Bird and The Bee. They are my newest favorite group. They compete with Steely Dan for playtime on my pandora.com account. I love the melodies. I love the hipness. I love Inara and want to be her. She looks like a cute spy that you want to hang out with and share Cold War secrets with in the liner notes. I sing along out loud in the car. Listening to them makes me want to go out and overhaul my wardrobe at Anthropologie. I want to wear pencil skirts with matching scarves. I want wear red lipstick and berets. Go give them a listen.

Hello Again, Hello

I am embarrassed beyond belief for the lapse of time between my posts. Honestly though, things have been very sedate lately. Luke's growing like a weed, we're still battling Stony Brook for Tommy's degree and I'm still in one piece.

I've done some reading:











I've done some cooking:







And I've made some changes to my routines. I've been devouring salads. Eat them every day almost for lunch. Give me some baby spinach or arugula and I'm a happy girl. And I've started taking vitamins. Lots of them. I even have an old-person pill organizer. And I'm trying to walk or do yoga every day. My pants are bigger on me and I'm looking a wee bit more svelt, but most of all I feel better in the mornings which is always good. More to come soon. Promise.

Inspiration Strikes

It could be that I was inspired by the beautiful, spring-like weather. It could be that I was inspired by my good-hair-day. (Which was made possible by the new L'Oreal EverPure Moisture Conditioner) Or most likely I was inspired by Molly Wizenberg's book, "A Homemade Life" (go buy it - now) which waxes poetic about cooking in Paris, cooking in Seattle and making salads and homemade dressing. But I had inspiration to build a salad for dinner. One with lots of veggies and homemade dressing. One with poached chicken. I thought a lot about this salad. So much so, that I told Tommy I had to make it for dinner and I'd make him anything he wanted. (He's not really a salad type of guy.) He said, "I could go for a salad with chicken." "Huh? You want a salad? Okay." So he took Lucas home from our outing so I could hit the supermarket and buy what I needed. I felt so European and Parisian shopping for that evening's dinner right then and there. I purveyed the produce section. This is what my amazing, delicious salad contained:

• Arugula from Trader Joe's that I've also been layering on sandwiches
• Radishes that were still on their greens
• Endive
• Goat cheese - I forgot just how much I love goat cheese
• Toasted pine nuts that I happened to have in the pantry
• Poached chicken breast
• Avocado
• Homemade salad dressing which was so simple - dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, salt and olive oil (courtesy of Molly's book)

It was delicious. It was filling. It even made the non-veggie Tommy exclaim "This is delicious!" It even looked a smidge like this:

Ahhhhh....spring time. I can't wait to hit the roadside stands and try more veggie salads.

But I'm Only 33

I was reticent on blogging about this, but I figure you never know who you can educate or help through your experiences.

Last Thursday I had a colonoscopy. There. I said it. Out loud. My last CT scan showed a 'thickening of the colon wall.' Which the gastroenterologist said was probably due to the contrast not making it to the colon, blah blah blah, and to cover our collective doctor asses, we have to do a colonoscopy.

I cried. I cried the whole way home from the doctor's office. I'm tired of being poked and prodded and examined. I'm tired of prepping for invasive tests.

In preparation for this particular test I had to:

Not eat all day the day before, with the exception of 'clear liquids'. Clear liquids mean things they think are food but to your gaping, empty stomach aren't really food. Like broth. And jello. I just kept drinking tea without milk, Sprite and beef broth.

Purchase a half gallon of Gatorade (no red or purple, which of course are the only flavors I drink).

Purchase a bottle of Miralax.

Purchase a package of Ducolax tablets.

Find a 'responsible adult' to drive me to my appointment. Luckily, Tommy squeaked in on this one.

So. I ate nothing but clear liquids the Wednesday before. Of course on this day, there was steak for lunch, a breakfast with eggs and bacon and some little person classroom was baking something. It was torture. I finally gave up and ran a long lunchtime errand - dropping off the cello for some work to be done on it. This kept me in the car for a good hour. Of course, I then noticed how many eateries there are on Grand Boulevard in Baldwin.

At the appointed time of 5:00 I mixed the Miralax (which cautions you on the bottle not to exceed their recommended dosage except under the care of a doctor) - the entire bottle into the Gatorade and started drinking. I learned that you really can't go by instructions - the instructions said to drink 8 oz. every 10-15 minutes. I figured I was fine if I just kept the cup full and kept drinking continuously until the bottle was empty. (I was right - I was told my prep was perfect!)

About 7 or 8 I had to start running to the bathroom. I was well prepared though - I had the latest issue of Bon Appetit, Molly Wizenberg's new book and a puzzle book. But it really wasn't that bad - it wasn't like when you're sick and doubled over in pain, you just have to get to the bathroom quickly. And by the end of that part, I felt pretty good actually.

The next day I kept myself busy with errands. Then we made our way to the office. They were running an hour and a half behind schedule. Grrrrrr. And of course every older person in the waiting room was bitching and moaning about it. It took every nerve I had to keep from yelling, "Shut up! We're all waiting, you're not making it any easier by complaining!"

They called me in and had me change from the waist down. It was actually nice that I could keep my shirt on - it lessened the procedural feel of it. The anesthesiologist came in and got started. Let me tell you - I think sometimes they're more important than the 'main' doctor. The anesthesiologist gets you all set, talks to you and kind of sets the tone. He was great. Then the gastro guy came in. I rolled on my side, asked if I should feel burning when they injected the anesthetic and.....that's all I remember. Honest. Next thing I knew I was waking up. I flexed certain parts of my body, curious to see if I'd notice a pain or anything. Nothing.

Then home I went to relax the rest of the day. Watched "Twilight" (a not-so-bad encapsulation of the book) and ate a panini from Panera with bacon on it. Bacon makes everything better.

I'd take one of these over a CT scan ANY day of the week.

Here Was Peter Cottontail

Here's last year's photo of Mr. Lukey Bear with the EB.

And here's this year's photo. He practically ran up to the bunny, touching his fur and smiling at him. Upon being told we had to say goodbye to the bunny, he threw himself on the ground and screamed.

It's So Kewl

I've now rented twice from RedBox and I had to say, it's pretty darned easy. It doesn't get much easier than picking the movie out, swiping your card and *poof* out it pops. And at $1 a night, it won't get much cheaper than that. So far I've rented:

• Twilight
• Blindness
• Slumdog Millionaire
• Eagle Eye

She's Crafty

I never knew I had it in me. I made these 3 floral headpieces for the girls in the pit for "Once Upon A Mattress". It took me a good 3 hours, but I just sat in front of a few movies and worked my little fingers off. It was actually way easier than I thought it would be. Look out Martha Stewart.

And The Beat Goes On

I recently dug "The Light in the Piazza" out for a spin or two. I love that show. It rivals "The Last 5 Years" in my all-time favorite cello scores list. But when I was listening to it, it struck me how the music is intangibly linked with the memories from doing that show. When I listen to it, I get goosebumps in just the same spots as I did when I played it. I remember the way Cara would conduct from the piano, the way Susan and I would glance at each other when we played the coolest unison parts, all the little in-jokes and nifty musical moments. When I listen to it, I'm instantly reminded of summer and how warm it was upon exiting the theatre. Just like when I hear anything from "Cats" I think of Christmas tree lots, baking for the pit and laughing at just how....inane the music from "Cats" is. When I hear music from "Ragtime" I think of hanging out with Jill and the crew afterward and the oboe heater that blew a fuse in the pit right before intermission, knocking out both keyboards. I know smell is a a sense that is highly linked to memories, but for me it's hearing music. I hear the song, "Abracadabra" and think of the time I heard it at Adventureland and watching the 'big kids' on the giant swing. I hear "You Oughta Know" and think about walking down a street in Chicago on a warm, summer afternoon.

Mmmmm....Kobe beef

We finally checked out Burger 9 Point 5 last night. I love seeing independent restaurants doing well - when we got there it was fairly empty, but by the time we left, it was packed! The food was amazingly delicious, the service was incredibly attentive and it was just a cozy little place - I don't think you could fit more than 50 in there at once, if that. But we were just amazed at how good the food was. I splurged and had a Kobe beef burger (probably the closest I will ever get to Kobe beef), which was really tasty - I could tell there was a difference between your garden-variety burger and that one, but I don't know if I'd order it again (I'd probably opt to try a bison burger instead). And I had them cover it with caramelized onions that were so well cooked they just melted upon eating them. I didn't even get to make a dent in my fries - which were so yummy that I took them home.

In Like A Lion

March is one of those odd months. Not quite winter, not quite spring. Everyone's going nuts over St. Patrick's Day (which I just don't get). But it brings with it Easter Candy (yes, I had to capitalize both words). Mmmm...chocolate marshmallow. Mini Eggs. Peanut Butter Eggs. It's the worst time for me willpower-wise. I stash them in my desk and break them out when it's about 2:45 and I'm trying to proofread or reconcile or typeset. But I digress..... I gave up buying unnecessary beauty products for Lent. I'm not Catholic, but I always feel like if I do without something, it's a teeny step towards trying to be a better person. (I also don't eat meat on Fridays - or sweets.) I'm also trying hard not to purchase anything that's unnecessary, be it sweets or something indulgent. So I can just lust over this: It's this nifty, Jetsons-like device that carbonates your water. Could I be more of a foodie geek? I could make delicious lemon-lime 7-Up without having to wait for it to go on sale. I could just make seltzer for using in egg creams. I want one. And it's on sale. I guess I'm hoping that my dear sweetie will see this sad plea since he's now on facebook and my blog rolls right over there and take pity on me. Or reward me. Either one works for me.

But there are other cool things about March. I'm doing "Children of Eden" with a local high school. Never played it before, but the MD is one of my favorites and I don't foresee playing "Wicked" any time soon, so CoE is just about the same anyway. (Seriously. I was gufawing at the blatant theivery going on from himself.) And.......my favorite columnist from Bon Appetit is launching her first book. I don't purchase many books, mostly because if I can grab the new Stephen King (although I will purchase his short stories since their re-readability is pretty good) from the library and save $$$ I do that. But books about food??? I've read Ruth Reichel's "Garlic and Sapphires" a million times. And I love love love Molly Wizenberg's writing. She inspired me to make homemade mayonnaise. And....she's doing a book signing in NYC on March 18. So I'm excited to go pick up her book and praise her with love.

Say Cheese

It's not even 11am and already I've had a CT scan. On the plus side, it's out of the way and I can enjoy the rest of the day. On the minus side, I had to drink 2 of those barf-inducing smoothies. Ugh. I get the dry heaves just thinking about it. If you've never had to have a CT with oral and iv contrast, let me lay it out for you (sadly, the picture to the right is a good approximation as to the phoney cheery face I put on the whole time. Luckily, my favorite tech was on today, so it really wasn't too phoney. The tech is a SPITTING image of Anthony Edwards, so all I can think is that Dr. Mark Greene is giving me my CT scan.):

*You drink 2 bottles of this lovely stuff. One at bedtime (whereupon you realize you won't be eating anything until AFTER your appointment and are suddenly ravenous after you started drinking the contrast.) and one the next morning. You take a swig. You think, "This isn't as bad as I remember" and proceed to try guzzling. After the first prolonged guzzle you feel woozy trying to get past the sensation that this stuff is coating your insides. You whimper as you trying thinking "chocolate milkshake, chocolate milkshake" to no avail. You try all sorts of breathing techniques while drinking, but realize it's not the taste, but the texture and no kind of breathing will get you past that. (This is of course after trying to add chocolate syrup to it thinking that will surely help. It doesn't.) You slog down the first bottle and go to bed. The next morning you dread that second bottle. It stares you down. You open it up and just the sight of that viscous while stuff is enough to make you cringe. You shudder as you force it down.

*You get to the CT scan place and sign in and fill out the same paperwork for the umpteenth time.

*By this CT scan, you've wised up and wear nothing metal so you don't have to change.

*You go into the freezing room where the machine is and glug that last bit of contrast down. (By this point you're ready to pass out if that stuff touches your lips again.)

*A few passes through the machine.

*Then a nurse (if you're lucky) comes to hook you up to an iv to administer the iv contrast.

*They start the iv and you get a hellacious taste in the back of your mouth, reminding you of the disgusting taste you'd get when you had the chemo.

*Then comes the flooding warmth through the lower half of your body.

*Then after the pass with the iv in your arm (still hooked to the machine as seen in the picture to the right), they remove it and you lay on the table for 15 minutes with nothing to do but stare out the dirty skylight. If you're lucky, there's clouds in the sky that day. (Today there weren't.)

*Then one more pass and you're free to go wait in the waiting room for the disk with the images.

*Disk in hand, you are on your way.

Repeat again in six months.

Luckily, these are to make sure I'm still healthy. But it still dredges up the same emotions and feelings and memories from back when I had my first CT scan when we were trying to figure out what was wrong with me. So even though this morning was quick and (relatively) painless, it still sucked. Not to mention the lovely things the oral contrast does to my digestive system. *Ahem*

More Baking

Since I tried an apple galette from Boston Market I've been dying to make one. So the other day I bought some gala apples and I had a refridgerated pie crust in my fridge. (Don't judge - I have insecurities in even attempting to make my own pie crusts. It's one that I will get over once I have a larger kitchen. And perhaps a food processor.) And the funny thing is, I'm so not a pie person. I'm not a fruit fan. I'm not for fruit in my desserts. My thinking is, if I'm having dessert, it better be gooey, chocolatey or decadant. And fruit doesn't fall into those categories.

Tonight I had the means and time to assemble it. I Frankensteined a few recipes together - added a layer of frangipane under the apples and popped in the oven.


It looks so pretty. I love how it looks so rustic because I pleated the crust around the filling. I'm actually quite proud of it.


It will be making its tasting debut during tonight's episode of Heroes. Which I wasn't loving last week because I was falling asleep during it, but after a second viewing, I'm hooked once again.

Easy Like Sunday Morning....or Afternoon

Sunday was one of those perfect days. Luke and I snuggled in bed. We read books. He took a nap early. And I had the classical station on while he slept. He woke up while I was finishing up getting dressed, and I heard Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune by Debussy. Beautiful. So I was happy he was awake while it was on. Then I made breakfast for us all, got the classical station going on in the living/dining room/home office/kitchen and we all ate together, enjoying a Brandenberg concerto.

*sigh*

Luke and I then picked up leftover cake from Grandma's, went food shopping and hit the library where we discovered we can go to a Mother Goose singalong next week.

It was a good day all around.

They're Cousins...(Un)Identical Cousins

Cuties. They had a grand ole time chasing each other around and being silly. I bought them matching pajamas for the holiday season so I pounced on the chance to take a picture of them wearing them at the same time in the same place.

For some reason, Luke was unhappy about the paparazzi.

Then, once it was apparent that it was a party, he warmed up a little.

A good time was then had by all.

Some Enchanted Afternoon

I actually got to work the system and chaperone a field trip. (Which means I had to behave, make sure the same number of kids came home that left on the trip and make sure everyone got home in one piece. They're super kids, I had to do almost nothing in the way of yelling.) The trip was to go see "South Pacific" and lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. It was fun, the kids were great and I got to see a Broadway musical. I was actually impressed with the revival. The coolest part was that the orchestra was not only revealed during the overture and entr'acte, but that they were in concert black - tuxes and nice black - no tee shirts! And Kelli O'Hara was still there singing her heart out - I liked her version of Nellie. Not too corn pone, and not too dopey and love-struck. Plus, I mean, she was the original Clara Johnson, so I got a thrill out of seeing her perform live.

Here's me and Kerry (Curly Girl) in the lobby of the theatre at Lincoln Center (we could see Julliard from the windows which was also a thrill.) She's much too enamoured with her iPhone to pose.

Miscellany

Here are photos I found on my camera that I meant to include in posts but never got around to doing so:

This was the marquee at the theatre when I was doing "Grey Gardens" over the summer. I just felt so cool that there was a real marquee - one with a picture and everything. Not just a name of the show that used backwards '3's because they ran out of the letter 'e'. Smithtown is like that though - they're pretty on-the-money.

This is Bea. She's the only Bea I know. She's one of the violinists in my quartet. She's also a party animal, hence how she fell asleep, sitting in a chair during a performance of "1776" at Hofstra. So it's also a photo of what the inside of the pit at the big theatre at Hofstra looks like.

These are amazingly delicious peanut butter cookies that I made. I had leftover ganache frosting from the birthday cake I made for my mom, so I decided to dip the cookies in the ganache. It resulted in tastiness.

A Minute A Day?

Even I can do that. I read this article on ways to change your life in 31 days. This one chick (who was an aerobics instructor) did a minute of pushups every day. And saw a difference. Sounds reasonable, right? So I'll have to give that a try.....starting tomorrow.

And not for nothing, but if you have a Starbucks addiction that's so bad that you save over $120 a week by not going to Starbucks numerous times a day, well, that's just sad.

A Budding Art Critic and Suzy Homemaker

We took the Lukey-Bear to the Islip Art museum yesterday to catch the last day of "Fashion Forward" a group show where all the pieces were about fashion. It was a great show and a bargain at $6 for the 3 of us to enter. (Plus, the $$ goes to a good cause) Lukey seemed to enjoy just being somewhere different and seeing unusual things.

He decided to get a little closer to some pieces. I think he felt a certain kinship to the monkey-girl, being that she was his size.

Later that night I was feeling decidedly domestic and made homemade sauce and homemade peanut butter cookies that I just had to dip in chocolate ganache. Mmmmmmmm.