Utah: Weekend 1

So I am out here, in Utah for work. But I decided to use this time wisely.
Exercise, massages and spending time outdoors.

My frist weekend here, Justin came to visit. Here are the pics.

Adventures in baking or I have a belly ache

I was recently reading a former college of mine Elissa's post about these cute little cupcake pops. So from her post, I followed the link to Bakerella's blog. I thought, hey if Ellissa could make these, I should be able too!

As I read reading about how to make them, it dawned on me, that these adorable little treats would be perfect for my Gluten Free cake. If you have never had GF cake,it is usually dry and crumbly. So breaking apart cake and mixing it with the frosting to form somehting like modeling clay, made perfect sense.

Saturday night I made 1 spice cake, modified from Gultino's Old Fashion Cake and Cookie Mix and 1 vanialla cake using Whole Foods 365. I used 2 different mixes only bexcasue I am trying to find out which GF mix is best for cake.



Sunday morning, I awake early to begin my adventure. I started out by molding about 100 small cake/frosting balls and placing them in the fridge to cool. Around 10 am, I to set up a make shift double boiler and melt the chocolate. And began the process of dipping each little cake ball into the melted goodness.

I had some trouble with the dip, often my little cake balls would contaminate the metled choclate with crumbs and I would need to start the pan over again. Those crumbles also provided me the excuse of needing to eat the misatkes. Which resulted in the frequent comment of "wow, I really have a belly ache." It didn't stop me! I kept working on my dipping technique, and think I need more practice.

Not long after I cleaned up the first mess, I started on the batch of white chocolate cake balls, by 1130, I had quite a few of these:

Posting just for you

This week Neha of Cravings, also soon to be leaving the JetBlue Family, mentioned to me, that it has been a long time since I have blogged. It isn't that I don't write, but my level of sharing has been reduced to one liners on facebook.

However, this post is just for you!

20 Questions for Food Lovers

1. How often do you eat out? 3 -4 days a week for lunch, and usually 2 dinners a week. Between working 10 hour days, 2 hours on the train, juggling yoga or the gym after work, and other things I love doing- eating is usually the best way to catch up with friends!

2. Favorite restaurant? This one is tough for me, just because it is my favorite doesn't mean eat there all the time. My new favorite: Pala - www.palapizza.com. Gluten free pizza. And it is amazing.

3. Favorite food? french fries

4. What do you ALWAYS have in your fridge? romoano cheese

5. What do you ALWAYS have in your freezer? Neha, great mind think alike, I always have icecream. Current flavors: Cococonut Milk Chocolate and Dark Chocolate Gelato

6. Favorite spice? dill or garlic

7. Favorite herb? A toss up between Rosemary and Sage

8. What do you eat every day? I need a lot of variety, so I am pretty sure I don't eat any of the same thing every signle day. Maybe spinach or rice, I eat each of those 3 or 4 times a week

9. Favorite fruit? Fuji apples are perfection.

10. Favorite vegetable? Spinach

11. Favorite drink? non-alcoholic: root beer
with the sauce: patron margarita with salt made with fresh lime and agave nectar or a dark and stormy.

12. Favorite comfort food? almost anything my Mom makes. at home, grilled cheese- boy do i miss it.

13. Favorite grocery store? WholeFoods.

14. Favorite dessert? a true toss up between key lime pie or a lemon tart

15. Favorite appliance? the steamer

16. You can't cook without...? a good all purpose pan

17. You never...? roast meat. I like roast meat, but I don't like turning the oven on.

18. Where do you get restaurant reviews? http://aglutenfreeguide.com, http://allergicgirl.blogspot.com/, http://www.celiacchicks.com/

19. Most disappointing meal? I just wasn't wowed with Mesa Grill

20. Best meal? Too many to count, but consistently- my Dad's Christmas Eve dinner, we start planning the menu around New Years, and he tests out the creations and plating all summer, so when Christmas comes, it is executed perfectly. And the best part- he makes me special gluten free substitutes, and he's my Dad.

GF eating

I haven't posted in a long while- I think I have even been slacking in keeping my photos updated. Sorry Mom!

This morning I decided to take a spin around the internet and look up GF Cooking classes in NYC, which then brought me to http://aglutenfreeguide.com. She even has a guide to eating GF in Italy! Anyway, I found links to Miller's Gluten Free Bread Company in NJ, who sells online and even has GF pirogois and also learned that S'mac, the little E Village mac and cheese place i used to adore, now has GF elbows and breadcrumbs- making going back to a place I thought was gone from my culinary adventures, possible again!

photo updates!

I have added lots of photos from the fall so far, but still have lots more to add from my trip to Learning 2008, maintenance days and a few other things in between.

Here the links already in my picture list:

Marty and Yan's wedding
Transit from VA to Baltimore on Lettie G.
Sailing on the Long Island Sound
T5 Crewmember only party
Gloucester Schooner Race

ouch!

so after out last weekend volunteering on Pioneer this sailing season, my elbow was starting to feel non-functional, at best.

Sunday night I awake with a startled yelp, I assume, from trying to roll over onto my left arm. It is feeling a little better but still a little more painful than sore. So I took a trip to the doc and found out i have some bursitis in my elbow and and some tendon issues in my wrist and hand. I was told to take it easy for a couple of weeks, take some pain killers for the next day or 2. So sailing this weekend? She said no, unless I "take it easy."

I say, if the pain is gone without meds, and I can keep my wrist wrapped for stabilization, sailing is the only answer, that and a dark and stormy.

We'll be headed out Friday late afternoon on a road trip with some friends headed down to Postmouth, VA to bring Lettie up to Baltimore. It feels like being in my early 20's all over again, but even better. Becasue I am extremly happy, my friends are awesome and my boyfriend is willing apart of the adventure! There is going to be parties, and sailboat and my friend Leslie who loves in the next town over.

slacking on the sailing posts.

back in early September justin and i took a road trip up to gloucester, ma for the schooner race! which i posted a quick link to, but didn't post about.

I spent my day on the topsail team, tacking as needed, gaining some solid understanding of how a topsail works and a few good callouses.

we came home and i have been working on my fears of being on the head rig on pioneer. This is me and kerry, chey snapped this picture my first climb out. so little by little i am working my way out. i think today i may try to go out and work since we're going to spend a full day on pioneer.



and i''ll try and post soon about the fun we had out on LI Sound on Lette last weekend.

Back to the Gluten Free life

I went for my Celiac test last Thursday. Prior to the test I spent 3 weeks gorging myself on things I missed or only ate with guilt. Warm bread, mac and cheese, PB&J on potato bread, pizza, egg sandwiches on everything bagels and beer.

My taste buds were happy- but my tummy not so much. I managed to gain roughly 9 pounds in those 3 weeks. But I had to try to trigger the autoimmune reaction for confirmed diagnosis.

Even if it comes back negative, I am returning to my no wheat/low gluten diet. It seems like wheat bothers me more than anything. Easting other items that have high gluten don't seem to have an effect I notice.
A few days before my test I went to the supermarket to stock up on alternatives of the above mentioned favorites. My freezer stocked and ready to go!

So for starters, on week 1, it is a low gluten intake. I wanted to wait until after the weekend out on Lettie before I tried to do major alterations on foods. So today, Tuesday, Oct 7, is now day 2.

At work, some of us have decided to participate by removing refined sugars or processed white bread. I know that week 1 for me will bring a lot of high fat foods and some snacking on chocolate to supplement my early withdrawal bread cravings. So I am not being overly strict about other foods as of yet, but by November, I want to reduce my dairy to 2-3 times a week and remove most process sugars (unless it comes in chocolate). this will help me keep track of substitutes and my dietary changes, and maybe inspire others to try different things.

Challenge: attempt 2 new vegetarian meals a week

So week 1 recipes:
Monday:
Lunch: Meat cart chicken combo with extra lettuce and 1/2 scoop of rice, yogurt sauce
Espresso with steamed fat free cream, 1 teaspoon sugar
1 fun size pkg of skittles
glass of coke
Dinner: 1/2 cucumber, 1/4 low fat cheese, grilled veggies, fat free sour cream with dill, 3 oz grilled chicken, and 2 small corn tortillas, 1/4 cup quinoa salad with black beans
1/4 cup frozen yogurt with live cultures (can someone explain how they are alive if they have been in the freezer for months?), and gluten free, low fat caramel sauce

Tuesday:
Breakfast: low fat small curd cottage cheese and 1/2 fresh peach
Lunch: repeat of Monday's dinner, Espresso with Skim milk, 1 can of pepsi
Snacks: 1/2 peach, 1/4 quinoa salad, 6 slices of peperoni (I don;t know if it was GF, I didn't look)
Dinner: Challenge: Tofu chicken fajitas- 2 corn tortilla , 2 tbps sour cream mixed with cilantro, salad: 1/2 cup garbonzo beans, mexican corn, and fresh salsa , 1/2 small avocado, and 1 serving fake chicken strips

Wednesday:
Lunch: lean cuisine, ice cream
Dinner: cheeseburger, on a bed of alfalfa sprouts, heirloom tomatoes, backed potato (scour cream) bean salad

Thursday
Lunch: Yumm Thai food
Snack: icecream
Dinner: left overs from Tuesday, and than nachos at the bar with a margarita

Friday:
breakfast: 2 slices of bacon and some potatoes
lunch: Wednesday dinner left overs
snack: coke for my pounding headache
dinner: 1.5 cups rice pasta with metled homemade cheese sauce, tomatoes

what i should be doing, and what I am doing are very different

I have a million tasks at work to do today. A million things that need to happen to finish training materials for T5.

I also have a big empty place in my brain and chest filled with worry about my Grandma.

I have the desire to be on Lettie this week that I can't even begin to explain. I want to climb aboard and not leave. I want to nap on deck when I am off listing to the wind. I want to haul on line until my hands are raw. I want to hear nothing but the wind passing and quiet my brain.

The yearning to be on the water is always there now. The yearning after last night, is now exploded. I wandered around the house pouting like a 4 year old after being told that can't have that REALLY AWESOME TOY. I pouted so much, Justin finally told me to stop.

It is a clear thought in the million bits rapidly firing chaos in my brain. This week my heart will need to settle for the partial calm of the NY Harbour and Pioneer and the electric stars that look down at us.

so to quill the unease at work and to avoid working, i am shopping for gear. I found very nice fowl weather boots in my size on ebay. Now, my feet will be dry!

so many thoughts, so very little time

this is my first time as an adult i have watched old age take over life. as a child and teen both my grandfathers struggled with clogs in arteries, either at the heart or brain. And more recently, both.

however, my grandmothers, aside from a small hiccup here or there have been fine until about 2 years ago.

it is hard watching these 4 people age. you hold a hand and remember that hand helping yours make cavatelli. and the person who used to carry you around so you could be 5' tall, you tower over at her former height and when you hug you feel like you could crush her.

i write infrequently about this, becasue i am distancing myself from my emotions, letting reality settle in. letting logic dictate why things happen they way they do: the brain's loss of function, the hearts ability to pump correctly, lungs can't hold enough air to speak beyond a whisper and the fragility of the inner workings to regulate body chemistry.

it puts me at a place, in between meetings or on the subway, when i have a moment alone to think about all these thoughts and how little time i leave to process them.

and all these thoughts and dreams and little time to live them we all have.
---
my grandma, who i wrote about last week, is still in critical condition and "in the woods." Her heart still revealed to the world and hidden only behind a sheet of stapled plastic to her body. and her mind lulled to sleep by medication. i saw her late last week before going to Gloucester. She was awake, and knew who I was and that I was there. I haven't gone to see her since they have kept her asleep. but i call to check on her every 4 hours. becasue each hour that passes, so many changes can happen.

this week on sailing with shana and justin...

Photos are here.

Here's the first video, more to come.

i am not often with out words

but here I am. my grandma in critical condition apparently leaves me with little to say. i am in the position of being a support system for my family- which is how I deal with high stress. That and humor. So I am in a good place for me, but also I know the amount of emotion I am restraining because of how I am. realizing i deal with the unknown by boiling things down to just facts, and taking care of small details (keeping my grandpa well fed, my mom's feet in wool socks, my dad plently of distrcations) i sit alone, avoiding my own thoughts of sadness. I thought by writing just the facts, I could pass the next 20 minutes until J gets home without an emitonal meltdown.

so here goes.

almost 3 weeks ago my grandma (in ny) went into the ER in the middle of the night with congestive heart failure. my mom, at the hospital with my grandpa was asked if there are any advance directives.

her response was do everything you can, she may be 81 but she is sound of mind, and relatively healthy (aside from high blood pressure, anemia, and this being her second episode of heart failure. Her first was on her 80th birthday almost 18 months ago, her heart working well on medication since.)

her pulse down to 30. she somehow bounced back.

i saw her the next day. she did not even look like she had anything happen the night before. after 1 week at smaller hospital she was transferred to a bigger, and more state of the art heart facility to get a little stronger and have 2 valves replaced, followed by a pace maker.

the surgery was postponed by a week due to some dehydration and the need to hydrate her slowly so she would not have blood back up into her lungs again.

yesterday she underwent the valve replacement. 10 hours later, 2 valves, 1 too strong for her heart, leakage, and an emergency by-pass she left the OR for the first time in 24 hours.

At about 9 pm last night, I got a call that she was going back in. Her O2 levels were extremely poor along with some other things. They opened her back up, removed a clot, dealt with a hemorrhage and she left the OR about 1130. They decided to keep her chest open. We left the hospital around 2. Between 2 AM and 830 am, she went back in to clear another clot.

Sometime between 830 am and 11, she had a grand maul seizure. The nurse stated it as "pretty bad"- translation from nurse- is means really, really bad. I speak nurse, my mom is an RN. Which is probably why I deal just in facts when I am in awful situations.

we'll be leaving for the hospital soon. my 2 aunts will be here (conveniently on my airline) tomorrow at noon, while i am conveniently already at the airport but i think my dad is picking them up.

we are not out of the woods. i said to my mom we're not even into the woods yet, we're still plunging down the rapids after the waterfall. my stomach is a mess, but I am happy to report that the hospital bathrooms are clean and not a bad place to get sick in. aside from my stomach being a mess between the possible ulcer and the fact i internalize my stress into stomach issues, i am just watching the clock and keeping positive thoughts.

so please keep her in your positive thoughts, hearts, or prays pending on your beliefs, all of us here appreciate them.

hello mommy!

I bookmarked my site in your favorites, I am wondering if you have looked at my blog yet. If you have, you should post a comment.

To post a comment:
1. At the bottom of this post click "comment"
2. Type your comment in the text box "Leave a comment"
3. Select "Anonymous"
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5. Call me and let me know of your success!

Tuesday: We set sail by 0700, had breakfast and needed to be in Hell's Gate (Harlem River and East River meeting point) by noon. We watched as the city neared and motored down the E River, because our top sails do not fit under all the bridges.

We ate lunch and sailed around NY Harbour before heading up the Hudson. Pier 40 on the west side, is a sign I am almost home any day of the week, and even more so that afternoon.

We docked up at the 79th street boat basin, next to the picnic tables. I am sure those folks eating lunch were floored when the semi-clean Crew jumped off of a 125' boat onto the dock next to their lunch.

We did clean up, and sat down to debrief over cold drinks using the highs and lows, moments most proud talking points. For me my low was feeling seasick on day 1, my high not feeling seasick anymore and my proudest moment- the only one who offered and the first to stand bow watch during a storm.

Raining again.

"Kids go to sea to grow up, adults go to sea to feel like kids again" -
Shana, Day 2 on Lettie G. Howard

Monday: I went below after breakfast, grabbed my sleeping bag and headed up to the deck to sleep away the morning. The air was cool and we were in the LI Sound ahead of schedule. I slept on and off most of the morning and work up at 1100 with orders to grab my rain gear again before my 1200 watch. As soon as we were on duty again, all hands were called to strike sail and prepare for another storm. "A watch" was beginning to be marked for rain at every step. We motored through the storm for about 2 hours and as it cleaned up I took over at helm (see photo above) and sails were raised again. At 1600 my watch was over, the sun was shining and I decided there was no time like the present to wash my hair over the edge of the boat with seawater.


We watched towns on the North Shore pass by and could see a shadow of NYC ahead. We ate dinner in shifts, and planned to anchor in Hempstead Bay/Harbor(?) for the night. Sails down again on the 2000 start of my watch, anchor down at 945 and anchor/boat check assignments for the night were given for pairs. I was thankful I got first watch with Justin, and were off duty till 0530 for all hands on deck. I hit my mini bunk and don't remember a thing until my hot tea and sunrise.

Justin was wishing for thrid mate to strike the bell

"Strike the bell, second mate, let us go below,
Look you well to windward you can see it's going to blow!
Look at the glass, you can see that it has fell,
We wish that you would hurry up and strike, strike the bell!"

Sunday: After breakfast, (which I could eat and keep down) I decided I would spend part of the morning on deck, my next shift wasn't until 4 pm and I thought an afternoon nap would be perfect. Soon into sailing on Sunday morning, we encountered a pod consisting of about 50-75 dolphins. They played with the boat driving under. popping up on the other side and darting around the bow or under the boat again. They swam with us or around us for about 20 minutes. We continued on our journey, and neared Nantucket right before I settled into afternoon nap. At 1530 I woke up and started my shift at 4 and steered the boat again for about an hour off Maratha's Vineyard. I ate a quick dinner knowing I had the 0000-0400 shift and there was weather systems ahead. We need to make it to the LI Sound (nicknamed the race) before the tide ebbed- so we had to sail strong and fast. I went below to sleep, but the warmth from the galley and the excitement that I felt kept me from snoozing.

So I put on foul weather gear and headed up top by 10 to sleep in the cold breeze and light drizzle. I was woken by the folks on C watch and grabbed a hot cup of tea, put on the full rubber jacket and was assigned to get sails down as soon as A watch was up from below and before C watch was given a break. The forecast called for hail, gusts up to 50mph and heavy rain. We struck sails, and Justin started below after kissing me on the cheek as I strapped myself into a harness. about 90 minutes of my watch, it poured, had lightening and gusted. I shared bow watch with the 2nd mate (who was not on duty at the time) and we had those types of conversations reserved for many beers or late at night with friends. Such as evaluating how you got where you are at this moment, and why you are here and stories from your past.

In sailors talk, it also means talking about ship wrecks and abandon ship situations. His stories were numerous and time passed quickly. With the water churned up, the phosphorescent organisms were lighting up the water pushing off the boat. And the feeling I had was that of awe, relief, and excitement, a feeling you don't often feel as an adult unless you take the time to look for it.

shoes

if you know me at all, you know i have a deep love of shoes. i usually own anywhere from 70-90 pairs. I own vintage shoes, expensive shoes, affordable shoes, and shoes in many colors. just because I own many shoes, does not mean i actually wear them.

in the winter and rainy days i tend to wear sneakers to and from work, switching into some snazzy looking pair that no one will see me while my feet are under the desk. in the summer, i wear flip flops or keens. my desk alone houses about 10 pairs of heels or dress flats.

i have countless shoes that live in the car. boxes of shoes under the bed or dresser. i tend to usually have 2 pairs of shoes on me at all times. one on my feet, one in my bag so when i get where i am going i can look good.

this summer, things have changed a bit. i don't go out, unless it is to dinner after sailing or rowing. so i have been living in keens. i wear them to work, i wear them in the rain, i wear them on the weekends. i wear them so much they to smell awful causing me the need to get a second pair before i went on a sleep away boat trip so i would not be embarrassed about my shoe smell. stinky keens are to the left, new keens are the 1st picture.

i haven't done any dress shoe shopping in months. the last pair of shoes aside from keens i bought was a pair of handmade, leather, reproduction, square toed buckle shoe from the 1700's from Flying Canoe Traders. And I only got these because i sprained my ankle wearing my fugawee (other wise known as an explicit word) Anna shoes walking across a very busy street. Or should I say falling on a very busy street.




so today i went on a shoe buying spree. justin had to stop me from a 3rd pair but these are the two new ones.




Aren't they so pretty!? Impractical but i am glad i got them. shoes just make me happy! (must learn to proof blog posts before hitting the post button)

Day 3: Sea sick and in love

Wake at 0530, all hands on deck at 0600, leave dock by 0700, sails set by 0730, breakfast by 0800, all hands on deck 'till 0900, watch assignments, and working on A watch until 1200, lunch at 1230, dishes at 1300, ongoing nausea, patch at 1400, whales by 1430, watch at dinner at 1730, watch at 0600, off duty 0800, assigned to stay on deck, strike sails at 0900, to bed by 0930.
Too hot to sleep, stayed awake partially, nausea subsiding.

So you read the introduction to the day and wonder how I could be in love?

Saturday: We left the dock with high tide, and set sails pretty quickly and by the time they were up, breakfast call started.
After eating we mustered and were divided into watches and given assignments. I was in A watch and Justin C. Which is nice because we usually could spend a little time together over meals. Right after assignment of watch, I started to feel seasick. A feeling I tried to just plow through but after 5 hours I just couldn't take it any longer and I put on the patch.

Good thing I did, because an hour later, we were almost to the tip of Cape Cod, and you could see the poofs of water appearing on the horizon from whales! (See photos site for whales). The whales were beautiful, friendly and loved swimming by the sail boat. I started to feel ok to eat crackers and water and the day was long, especially after the 2 hours of sleep the night before. I was off duty from 2000- to 0400, but was too excited to sleep all that much since we were in off-shore Atlantic fishing grounds, pushing 7.8 nm an hour and there was a meteor shower happening that night. I went to bed around 2200, and woke up (by the sound of the sales tacking) to go up and much on saltines and water and watch the stars streak across the sky. I basically spent half the shift before mine and my 1600-2000 am shift enjoying the sparkling sky and sunrise. I have never seen a night sky with out the influence of artificial light, let alone a sky lit up like that also having a meteor shower. I also got to learn how to do dead reckoning, use the charts and GPS and perform hourly boat checks. I got to steer during the afternoon, and was much improved after the last time I tried to steer a 60 foot sail boat. Justin came up on deck with a surprised face that the smooth ride (and not hitting the waves dead on) was actually me! I have definitely improved.

Day 2: Nice to meet you Lettie!

We woke up and had breakfast with the others that stayed there and discussed our upcoming adventure on the Ocean with the owners of the B&B. They graciously let us leave our bags in ]
their hall while we wandered around town, and got to see in a few more sites.

We did a tour of the House of Seven Gables and I bought a beautiful reproduction traveling writing desk from the 1800's. We picked up our bags from the B&B and made it down to the docks. We were the first volunteers to come on. We chatted for awhile, stowed out bags and decided to talk a walk down to the post office to mail my desk home.

On our walk there, the clouds decided to weep large drops all over us so we sat on a stoop of an office building under the cover 'till it lightened up enough to finish the errands.

We made it back to the boat, just in time for the rain to stop. We met the others and spent time talking with them and getting to know each other before we all went to sleep before an early call of all hands on deck at 6 am.

Day 1: Salem

Day 1:
We took Amtrak to Boston, then Commuter Rail to Salem.

The weather was cool, dreary and rainy as our can brought us to the Amelia Payson Bed and Breakfast. We spent the afternoon wandering around Salem, catching a sneak peak of Lettie G.

After a big dinner of Shepard's Pie we walked around a little but more and made out way back to the docks. Across the docks I saw one of the volunteers we know, Tommy, walking and I hollered to him. We met up and meet one of the professional Crew and ended up back at the boat meeting the others and sharing a drink or 2 with a lot of singing of Bon Jovi, Queens and getting to know each other.

Around midnight, we went back to the B&B for an evening of sleep. Our room had a beautiful canopy bed, and even the same wallpaper pattern I had as a child in the room at my grandmas. I slept so peacefully on Thursday night that by 8 am I was ready to start day 2 of the adventure.

Pictures from the sailing trip

Sailing trip log will be typed as soon. But here's the pics.

wisdom from justin

i am sitting here in the living room in a half awake state and justin walks in saying "that explains why they never got off giligan's island.... they were boaters, not sailors. 'tho the songs says The mate was a mighty sailin' man..."

then he walks away.

sailing update

"It is more like I am transitioning from a pirate hobby to the pirate lifestyle" - Shana

If you have been following my summer time activities you probably know I am pretty active with Rowing (Village Community Boathouse) and you may also know Justin and I volunteer with Southstreet Seaport Museum as Volunteer Crew on the Schooner Pioneer.

We started this marine training summer as part of our medium term goal of buying a sailboat. To gain as much knowledge and experience as possible. We went out on a trip in May out of Mystic, CT. Our biggest take away was "We need to do more of this."

And more of this is what we have been doing. Which sort of explains why we are volunteer Crew at Southstreet. Southstreet has multiple boats, but only 2 are schooners which are taken out to sail. The Pioneer goes out 3-4 times a day with educational, public or charter sails. The other boat the Museum has is the Lettie G. Howard. She is about 125 and requires 7-9 people as Crew.

And guess who is going out as apart of her Crew next week?! ME! (and Justin) I AM SO EXCITED!

so I dressed nice for work today, did my hair- put on make up, wore glasses have on heals put on a skirt and I walking through an area that I don't talk to anyone in but i know the people over there
and as I passed by i heard a small whisper say "who was that"

I am not sure if that was directed about me or just part of another conversation

and if it is about me, I either look really bad every day and today I look really nice or it is the other way around

I have a feeling it is the 1st one.

29 things

this is the running list of accomplishments and "new" or "adventitious" things I have been doing during my 29th year. My goal this year was to do things more adventurous and be more psychically active (aside from hours of yoga a week)

1. ran 2 conferences back to back (1, 2 weeks before I turned 29 and one a few days after)
2. sailing on schooner brilliant
3. went to, was not arrested, nor had a nervous breakdown at my cousin's wedding (this goes on the list of risks and accomplishments)
4. bought my first dslr
5. attended Hampton Blackbeard festival
6. started rowing on the Hudson
7. Continued rowing on the Hudson (and I have gone out many times now, so I have rowed to NJ, uptown, and almost all the way to Governor's Island but the wind was pushing us too hard to actually get there)
   
8. passed Coxswain training
9. joined the volunteer crew program at southstreet
10. started working on my AB checklist
11. sailed on Lettie G. Howard from Salem to NYC (this was a goal I set for myself this summer)
12. Saw whales in the wild
13. Saw dolphins in the wild
14. Worked on a watch, that pleasantly hit rain every time I set foot on deck.
15. Saw the night sky, horizon line to horizon line with no additional light or land interference
16. Watched a meteor shower from the ocean
    
17. Sailed in the Gloucester Schooner Race
18. Saw phosphorescent in the ocean off the boat
19. can climb out on the jib and do stuff!
20. Took Amtrak
    
21. Spent the week between Christmas and New Years in New England just hanging out
22. Took and passed ASA 101, 103 and 104
23. Sailed to Catalina
24. Charted sail boats
25. Went to the San Diego Zoo!
26. Found a good endocrinologist, it has only taken 11 years
27. Learned to make simple earnings
28. Learned that as an adult, you can still make new friends
29. Learned that trusting myself is essential to success in anything you do
    

28 New things (2007-2008)

• Spent my birthday at Chichen-Itza (Happy 28!)
• Drove downtown Cancun
• few on a flight deck jump seat from JFK to PIT
  
• Drove down the Pacific Coast Highway, across the state of California and up route 49
• Saw the fireworks from Fisherman's Warf on July 4.
• Went rock scrambling in Yosemite
• Swam with a sea turtle in the keys
• drove to and attended the Maryland Renaissance Festival
• Saw Atlantic City and the Storyland Theme Park
• Attended my first Pirate Festival
• Toured ancient roman ruins with my mom and dad
• Saw Artemisia Gentileschi and Carrivago's work in person in Florance
• Went to the Sistine Chapel
• At lunch staring at the Colosseum
• Stayed in a true 5 star hotel on the "key access only" level
• won the official Gobbler Stuffing trophy at my annual family Thanksgiving Stuffing competition
• organized, produced and managed a team of people to run internal conference
• took a total of 29 flights (estimated and I think I missed a few)
  
• flew from spain with an inner ear infection and lost my hearing out of my right ear for about 10 days
• flew to tampa for the day, and had sonic for lunch
• went to the flordia state aquarium
  
• had lunch 45 min after I saw the food network
• voted in the primaries
• started hand sewing again (yay stays!)
• went sailing (in the poring down rain) on a key west vacation and loved it

in retrospect

A few months ago a friend and I were talking about aging and how she makes it a goal every year to do X amount of new things. X is defined by the age number she is turning.

This year on my 29th birthday, I decided it would be awesome to just be more adventurous.

However, in retrospect I thought it would be fun to define the year before 28 new things and then start my running list of 29 new things/adventurous things so when 30 hits next April I can feel like I have accomplished a lot.

rowing log: or sprinting down the dock

or it could have been called "something weird is in the air." I also don't have a whole lot of time to write- I am waiting for my Mom and Dad to get here but I was instructed to walk to the deli and pick up breakfast for us before the drive to Ohio.

Last night Rosanna from work and I went down to Pier 40 to meet Justin and spend the evening rowing. Rosanna is a new rower but has been kayaking a few times so I thought maybe she would like this. So we got in, waited around for a Crew to be set up. Boy was it packed with a lot of new faces!

We went out on the water with someone who was out on the water with me the first time. Justin was in bow (as usual), her brother , Rosanna and then me in Stroke. We rowed a few times around the basin, and went uptown to the next cove. I took a few pics so I will post them when I get home on Sunday.

We came back, rowed around the basin some more and had a little trouble docking so we ended up docking in reverse. We cleaned up the boat- said some goodbyes and see you on Sundays and started walking to the end of the pier. On the way out some crazy kids were riding bikes yelling get out of the way. 2 grown ups were biking pretty hard behind them (haha grown-ups more like my peers).

I thought "Wow I kinda wanna go running tonight, maybe I'll stop at the gym on the way home"

Then I hear someone yell call the police. Repeat. I turn my head and see kid from bike running at us, and Henry running behind. Thought 1: Kid must have done something really bad, what if he stole the boat house keys or a wallet.
Thought 2: Can't adjust weight and balance to tackle kid by the time he reaches us
Thought 3: He's in front of me now, start to run.
Verbal reaction : You mother fucker (yelled pretty loud)
Thought 4: I am gonna be able to catch him (I was gaining on him ^_^) must decide if I am going to throw my weight onto him or run and restrain (not that I have tried to run and restrain anyone in a number of years but at the time my brain did not think about that)
Thought 5: we're going to round the building, I need to give distance so he can't ambush me must start to move out

As we're nearing the end of the dock- I hear Henry yell stop. Which means, I should stop. I was almost of full sprint, not much time has actually passed. But I was pretty sure that I would have been up to the kid and probably able to pass him if we were racing.

So I know I scared the crap out of Henry. I am pretty certain I scared Rosanna and Justin. I don't think anyone expected my reaction to be that of chase and catch the kid. I am pretty sure said kid went home and said this fat, short crazy white lady started chasing me like she could catch me. Ha, what you don't know buddy is I can sprint like that for almost a mile now and there is no way you are in as good as shape as me even though I am probably 10 years on you.

The good things: I am pretty protective of stuff that means anything to me- which means the boathouse and rowing and the people there qualify on that list. My keens are amazing to run in, in fact I may switch to the at the gym

The bad things: The kid is a kid and I am crazy white lady (not crazy white chick) I guess almost being 30 will do that to you. I still don't think about my size or gender as a hindrance. I have had many bruises because I am the first to follow a friend into a bar fight and the first to protect people I care about. Which means I don't process consequences. I process how to fix something at that moment.

The really disturbing: after that experience we walked back to W4th for the subway- and we say crazy drugged out couple arguing. Rosanna got on the train and we kept walking. We then saw guy with pants around his ankles and laying in a pile of trash bags face up.

Yup last night should be called something weird in the air.

But I did finally get the run I wanted the other night.

rowing log: we don't need to stinkin' ferry.

Sat Justin and I enjoyed a quiet day in NJ only to return to Weehawken, NJ on Sunday with the VCBH. We rowed up to about 45th St on the Manhattan side, rowed across the Hudson and up a little further to dock about 3/4 of a mile walk from the Weehawken ferry terminal. A bio break and a soda later we were headed back.

2 boats went across, with 10 people. I was rowing hard, or at least it felt that way since much of the time my butt was lifting off the bench. On the way back, Phil noticed and thankfully took my place while I slid into steer for the first time. It was a long row, we got back to dock about 1630, cleaned up the boat and headed home.

why take the ferry when you can row?

i am just tuckered out

well with all the rowing happening, I had cut back on the gym to 2 days a week.
Now with adding another weeknight out on the water sailing- which was my one weeknight off a week I am now officially not going to the gym. At least this week, because this Friday I will be traveling to my family in Ohio with my mom and dad.

Maybe next week I can go running. I am so, so tired- but all i want to do is run.

Well its now time to cram down something for dinner and go to bed.

Night night

rowing log: 4th of July (or rowing in swamp air)

Better late than never is what I say! Ok not really- usually I am a little more nutty about certain things being prompt. However, this weekend was kinda busy, making it difficult to post about the 4th.

We got to the VCBH about noon with a few packs of veggie burgers, some beef burgers buns cheese and macaroni salad. Put stuff in the fridge and were out on the water about 1230.

We rowed uptown, against the tide, no wind in either direction. It was hot and muggy with heavy cloud cover. The clouds dissipated as we started across the river where we continued to row up the Hudson.

We stopped about parallel to the Steven's University Tower where Phil told us he heard on the radio it was a flushing pressure testing facility from the 60's. I hope he's serious because that makes me laugh way too much.

We headed back with another boat the 3rd boat pressed on toward the small beach between Hoboken and Weehawken.

We came back across, cleaned up the boat and started to get the picnic stuff together at the end of the pier.

I assigned myself to the grill, where I proceeded to attend to the meat grill for the remainder of the afternoon, trying my hardest to cook the burgers evenly to requests and also had the prime pickings for hot dogs and medium rare beef at the tips of my tongs.

I think about 20 people attended, it was actually great getting to know a bunch of people we have seen around and since we're still new it really helped me with learning names. Although I will admit, I don't think I will remember everyone's name for some time to come!

July 4th pics start here

rowing log: trip 5 or rowing on a treadmil*

I made it down to pier 40 as it was nearing 6pm; the tide was almost high when we got there, and 5 boats were already out for the night. I was happy to see we would be able to go out on my favorite boat.

We got our life jackets on and went out by 1815 with a full boat or 7 people. I was on 2nd, which I was really happy with as the evening progressed, I knew I had to work but I was glad it wasn't me setting the pace as the current was pulling like crazy, and every few waves were splashing into the boat. It really felt like we were doing to go over. I had a couple of near nauseous moments, and was terrified to move thinking I would fall off if we did. Justin has been in bow almost every week so far, and he seems pretty happy about it.

We made it down to where a new dock is being built, it took about 30 or 40 minutes, and then got to stop for a rest.


We switched crew for the row back with Henry on stroke, and I think Robert (or John?**)as coxswain.

I took some pictures tonight which can be seen here.

In addition, I want to resubmit my self portrait from my spring 2008 photo assignments





We are looking forward to our first long row on the 4th of July and also our first volunteer sail with the pioneer on Thursday.

What a totally fun week this has been so far. Including my cholesterol is almost normal and my triglycerides are normal. I bet at the end of the rowing season, I can have BOTH normal.

* basically, we rowed constantly without getting very far, but what resulting in rowing for 5 minutes and being back in our cove.
** I am so bad with names

rowing log: trip 4

I somehow skipped writing the sailing trip recap from last weekend. So I am going to make an effort to report in on my process with rowing after each trip.

Watching the weather yesterday, I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be able to row after work. I took the 75 minute (best time yet!) trip after work to Pier 40 and was out on the water about 1815. Both J and I were anxious to try out our new life vests and see if mine didn't ride up and sit under my chin. They were fabulous to work in.

I am not sure how long we were out; we rowed up the Hudson on the NY side nearing the old garbage hold around 14th street. I was on stroke, my first time in this position, and an after thought- I wasn't ready to be in that place. I also dislike the boat we were on last night. The foot block is too close on the nearest peg and WAY too far on the 2nd peg- causing me to either be so far back on the seat I have no stability or so far forward I am barely balancing in the edge. The various angles cause a lot of problems with my hips and lower back from having to constantly contort to be able to row, causing a bit of residual pain even this afternoon.

We went across the Hudson, tide was about 3 hours before low, rowing hard and fast with a large barge, holding what appeared to be crushed cars about 1 mile up river, moving toward us. You don't realize how small you are as a 25' wooden boat, let alone your insignificant form as one human being until you can see yourself in its path. Although we were safe, it gave me a moment to reflect upon this week's book, The the Heart of the Sea. Some of my thoughts are echos of words from the men who survived the sinking of the whale ship, Essex, the inspiration for the novel Moby Dick. Your vulnerability of being handful of people on open ocean with squalls, waves, and wild life attacking you at all time is something you don't often this about. It is healthy for the soul and mind to remind yourself of your humble existence in the presence of the world.

We rowed across taking a needed rest in a cove on the South end of Sinatra Park. I talked to the coxswain about out location, both Justin and I spent countless hours lounging the the soft grass of that park looking at the city the summer we meet. It was also nice seeing the park from the water.

We headed back across, the a ferry approaching and using it's wake to our advantage. We rowed into the dock area, retrieving a soccer ball from a group of adamant children (who I think purposely kicked it into the water below) cheering us to throw it to them. They must have not wanted the ball badly enough to come down and get it from us when we landed. Throwing it up about 4 stories while being on the water wasn't an option.

We cleaned up the boat, and put away the supplies. I am starting to feel at home at Pier 40-- not only do I enjoy rowing-- but I am starting to feel that I can be apart of a community or group besides my work. When I leave water at night, I feel happy, like I am on vacation, that I am happy to love in NYC again. That people here, aren't always so awful. Even on the subway home, I joked around the a person next to me when they moved away to give room for Justin to sit. It's nice to feel a sense of calm while being here. I didn't think I would actually find it again.

fashion faux pas

I am not the most stylish person out there. I am excited about new shoes that are handmade and are reproduction of shoes from the 1700's. But I have some common sense. And I think this is the first post I have ever made insulting anyone.

BUT COME ON PEOPLE: NO SOCKS WITH CROCS!

If a presidential candidate wants my vote he needs to be on board with this cause. It's bad enough people wear socks with sandals, but with CROCS. Those things need to be outlawed to begin with. They are not fine except for working in the yard or a child wearing them.

Note to any readers: I am sorry if you like crocs, it is your choice to wear them, I just think you should know I will probably question your choice in footwear if you happen to wear socks with crocs, i may not just question it, but I will probably tease you for it.

Rowing Log: Stardate: 61928.2 (or I went rowing for the 3rd time)

So last evening, Justin and I went rowing, again. This is our 3rd week (or 3rd trip) out on the water. So far, this adventure has been very intimidating to me. I keep going back determined to actually improve.

Which, I have.

This has been the most progress I have made in any athletic adventure to date, let alone the shortest amount of time I have seen me progress in a phsyical activity.

Last evening, we rowed across the Hudson River at sunset, lounged around in a cove near Jersey City and rowed back across and had the boat cleaned and away before sundown.

What a way to spend the evening :)

Photo Assignment: Part 1 Tell A Story

This morning, I intended to find an opportunity to take a photograph for this assignment while attending the Long Island Pirate Festival. We ended not spending a whole lot of time at the festival and on our walk back to the car, I fell. My left ankle went out from under me as we were crossing a very busy street. Justin moved my equipment out of the way, while I crawled on my hands and knees with him practically pulling me a long because I couldn't put any weight on my foot to stand.

Let's not forget to mention I was crawling while wearing a full mantua (wool dress with a train) stays (corset) a skirt and a tri corn while yelling obscenities about the pain.

So no pictures were taken today. I do have 2 from the archives that I think sorta capture the theme of tell a story. I wanted to get something in tonight- but if the ankle can hold weight tomorrow we are going to CT for the Sea Chantey Music Festival at Mystic Seaport- hopefully I will get the assignment done with current photos by tomorrow night.

Image 1: Travels to Aruba, Gaffiti- Aruba, December 2006

Image 2: May 2008 Mother and daughter, May 2008

new york moments

Here is the first of 2 I am posting.
In the last 27 hours I have encountered too many, not positive, New York moments.

If you know me outside of the internets, you know that the more I travel, the more difficult it is every time I come home to re-adjust to what I had considered normal behavior for so many years

I find it harder and harder to fortify my shell with each trip. We got home from Virgina last week, so far with little incident.

Yesterday, at 730 in the morning I am notified by my land lord in broken Italian-English about the home next to us getting knocked down.

In the suburbs you would say, what on inconvenience U am going to live next to all that noise for the next year! I won't get any piece and quiet.

I say, crap what are we going to do now!

The homes are adjacent and the floors on our side slope heavily (unsafe, many inches) toward that outer supporting wall. If they pull down the house next to us (you can imagine how my mind begins to race here..)In addition to this process affecting me, it has also been plaguing others in our area of Brooklyn during the last few years.

From their experience I have heard horror stories about the fire marshal evicting the people in homes next to the site the morning of the scheduled demolition and giving them only 2 hours to move out all their belongings and not return for 2 weeks. You can imagine my brain wondering how we are going to pay for movers, storage and a sublet or getting a new apapartment, all of which will cost thousands of dollars. Even the cheapest option, and the most risky to all of our stuff and if the building falls, will results in at least 3500.
You can see my concern now.

The best part, the building department customer service line knows nothing about what happens to people in adjacent homes; neither does my landlords daughter (who is not only our translator, but also a wonderful downstairs neighbor).