Get It Together

I know, I seem to start every post lately with "I'm such a bad blogger for not writing in so long".  This last gap was particularly long and I'm sorry.  I had midterms followed by Spring Break in California followed by a not so fun knee injury.  Let's start with midterms- they are over.  End of story.  Spring Break was awesome.  I spent ten days with my parents in Cali and got to enjoy some fantastic weather.  I left the cold snowy Northeast and arrived in the Napa Valley to sun and 70 degree weather.  Finally, a couple of weeks ago I dislocated my left knee cap.  Yeah, it sounds worse than it is.  It hurts like a bitch but I had an MRI and there is nothing torn in there so I don't have to have surgery on it again.  (I had surgery on that knee in the 8th grade after a track and field injury).  I have to wear a brace for a while which prompts people to ask me what happened.  I wish I had a better story.  All that I did was kneel down for too long and when I stood up the knee popped out.  It has dislocated before so I knew immediately what had happened.  The cause of the repeated dislocation is actually something that I have called Benign Joint Hypermobility Syndrome.  It makes me very, well, bendy.  So there you have it, one of my many freaky qualities.

Sorry this post is such a random mashup of information but my brain is a bit tired.  Here's a little treat though: A family portrait I took when I was in California using my awesome tripod.

San Francisco, View From Takeoff

It's a lot of fun to fly in and out of San Francisco because the landmarks of the area are so easily defined. This shot shows San Francisco (peninsula on left side of picture), the Marin Headlands (hills to North), and the Bay Bridge (two spans of bridge with Treasure Island in the the middle at center of picture).

But I've Always Found My Way Somehow, By Taking The Long Way Around

First off, let me say that I'm a bad blogger given that it has been over a month since my last post.  I figured it was time for me to let all my supporters know what is going on with my life.  I've decided to break in down into a few helpful categories.

School:  I just began my second semester at Northeastern University's Graduate School of Speech Language Pathology and Audiology.  I had to write that all out because I still can't believe that I was accepted into this program.  I aced my first semester and hope to do the same this time around.  Something that has helped me through is two new girlfriends who are in my program.  We are crazy, funny, and we kind of just clicked.  I'm so thankful for them.  I'm not sure how we can only have known each other a few months, it feels like longer.  We are the three nerdy Musketeers.  We can complain about the guys here, and dating issues.  (Little known fact - There are almost no male Speech Language Pathologists.  It's a girls club.  Makes meeting guys on campus a bit difficult.  Apparently men don't like to talk about talking.  SURPRISE!)  Do I love Northeastern University?  Your answer is this photo from one of my classes on campus.

Work: I think I can describe my job in a few words: exhausting, incredibly fulfilling, life altering.  As I have mentioned, the family I work for is wonderful.  They are kind, generous and fun.  C is two-and-a-half and is a delightful handful.  We've started time-outs and are trying to cut back on the whining, but his smiles and dimples part the dark clouds.  His language is exploding and I usually feel like a translator.  I have known him since he was 20 months old and love to watch him grow and attach to me.  M is 8 months old and is hysterical.  I've know her since she was 7 weeks old and we have a special bond.  Her giggles are infectious and she is so easygoing.  She is so close to crawling and it really frustrates her that she can't.  I love them so much.

Home Life:  Well, I went home to California for 3 weeks over Christmas vacation.  It was wonderful, but weird. I was home, but it wasn't home. I didn't take a single picture (except the one I snapped of Jeff Corwin at the airport after we got off the same flight).

Then I came back to my cozy apartment and felt at home, and I consider that a blessing.  I don't get to spend much time here (I worked 50+ hours this week plus school), but it is home.  I feel so lucky to have found this place.  I spent Thanksgiving with the family who owns the house and lives downstairs.  It was wonderful.  A little touch football, some food, and laughter.  All wonderful.

Boston/Weather: I really have grown to love Boston, Cambridge and the surrounding areas.  I feel like the entire area is one big College.  The history is is wonderful, as are the people.  The Charles River is particularly spectacular.  I was warned repeatedly about the weather here, but it hasn't been too bad so far (knock wood).  We did have that one bad snowstorm on Halloween that devastated New England. Since then it has been pretty warm (Highs in the 40's and lows in the teens and 20's).  But...as I write this post the temperature outside is 4 degrees and our high is going to be 20.  It has been dry (no snow), just windy and cold.  I find it totally doable, but ask me again in February.  One fascinating/sad thing is that the Charles River is beginning to freeze, which is beautiful, but means no more Harvard Crew teams to see rowing each morning.

Future Plans: Well, as we all know, plans change, but here is a little taste.  I'm going back to California for Spring Break in early March.  Then in May and June I will be spending a month at a villa in Tuscany with the family I nanny for.  Just let that sink in.  Italy for a month, while being paid.  I also hope to continue to explore Boston and the Northeast.

Highs and Lows:  I'm not going to pretend that there haven't been hard times since my move.  Particularly since my return from California last week.  I try to think of this adage -  "Get a large group of people together and have them take their biggest problem in life and place it on a table.  After looking around at everyone's problems, each person takes their own problem back from the table".  I like to think hat I was given my challenges for a reason and I need to own them and work them through.  That's also why I chose Dixie Chicks lyrics for the title of this post.

The Long Way Around (abridged)

"I've been a long time gone now, maybe someday, someday I'm gonna settle down

But I've always found my way some how

By taking the long way

Taking the long way around

Well I fought with a stranger and I met myself 

I opened my mouth and I heard myself

It can get pretty lonely when you show yourself

Guess I could have been easier on myself  

But I, I could never follow

No I, I could never follow

Well I never seem to do it like anybody else 

Maybe someday, someday I'm gonna settle down

If you ever want to find me I can still be found 

Taking the long way around"

The Thing With The Guy In The Place

  I'm sorry that it has taken me so long to write a post about my trip to Boston.  I could give you excuses like jet lag, stress, busy work schedule, and so on.  It could have something to do with the fact that I tweaked my back last weekend...again.  Or, who knows, it could be because the new season of Toddlers and Tiaras is on and I just HAVE to see parents give their three year olds Red Bull, then wonder why their kids are melting down.  We'll never know.  Anyway, here's the story...

  The flight to Boston was long, but not too terrible.  Mostly I just kept thinking that I would be repeating the trip pretty often, and that wasn't really appealing.  The hotel was lovely, as were the people and the shopping.  My mom and I got some good quality mother-daughter time in, anticipating the fall when we won't see each other much.  We were in the city on Memorial Day which meant lots of tourists, some cool flag memorials, and busy tours.  The first day was also unbearably hot and humid, leaving me sweaty and frustrated.  Luckily, I was told that that kind of weather is not the norm, especially during the school year.  

  I'm not going to go into a lot of detail about what we did on the trip.  I will say that we did both city and harbor (pronounced hah-buh) tours, rode the T a lot, and saw a few movies (my abs are still sore from laughing so hard at Bridesmaids, a much needed emotional lift). We enjoyed a lightning storm, toured my school, and searched for apartments.  I loved the tour of my program, conducted by my advisor.  Northeastern's campus is well known, and is used as a model for other urban campuses.  This could be because they have a strong Architecture program which results in gorgeous buildings, grassy quads with painted Adirondack chairs, and rooftop gardens.  This means that the campus feels like a sanctuary in the middle of the city.  Calm and relaxed.  

  The apartment hunt didn't go as well  We met with two realtors.  One showed us absolutely abysmal studios, the other showed us nice studios, but nothing fantastic.  This left me frustrated.  VERY frustrated.  I didn't expect to land a place while I was there, but I would have liked to have some prospects.  The good news on this front is that I now have a possible place to live!  The papers are being signed and now all I can do is just hope that it all works out.  I will share more about it if/when it comes through.  Let me just tell you this - $1500 a month for a studio.  Yep.  Ugh!

  When I sat down to write this post I wanted to make sure that it was a true account and not a whitewashed story.  It most certainly was NOT all rainbows and unicorns.  I wanted to be clear about this because I don't want other people in this situation to think "Why is it hard for me, she made it seem like a dream?!"  My emotions on this trip were up and down like Charlie Sheen and his Tiger Blood.  Sometimes I was too excited to be scared, and sometimes I was too scared to think straight.  Until the trip, Boston had been just an idea, not a reality.  When I was finally there, a place I had never been and didn't know my way around, I kept thinking "I don't live here!  This isn't home!".  Now, I realize that this is true, I don't live there yet, and don't yet have ties to the city, but I was hoping to feel and immediate connection to the city like I had with the University.  It didn't happen.  Part of this was because I was tired, hot, stressed, and scared.  Part was because I couldn't look at the city through the objective eyes of a visitor.  I was there knowing that, come hell or high water, I will be moving there in a couple months.  A lot was riding on my relationship with the city.  One of the BIG stressors I have had, both during and after the trip, is that I don't know where I'm living yet.  I don't have a place to think of as home.  I can't distract myself by thinking of how I am going to decorate my new place, or what the area will be like to live in.  When that piece falls into place I know I will feel 100 pounds lighter.  I do know I will be taking a little piece of home with me - my car (Greta the Jetta).  I was initially planning on selling her here, but between work and school it became clear that a car would be a huge help and open many doors.  

  So, that's the story.  The good, the bad, and the ugly.  I will continue to update you this summer as my August 15 or September 1 move in date approaches.  Thank you all again for your support through this, and enjoy these pictures of my new city.

Beantown And Lima, Ohio

Don't you just love what I did with the title?  Well, I leave tomorrow for a five night trip to Boston to check out Northeastern and look for places to live.  I'm sure I will come home with a ton of great pictures and stories, but until then here is a little look at my trip to Glee Live 2011 last week.  It was freaking amazing.  I didn't know what to expect from the tour and was not disappointed in the least.  The photos aren't great because I wasn't allowed to bring my DSLR camera in (thanks to a bitchy security guard who thought she was Secret Service), so I used my iPhone.

Yippie Skippie

I'm heading out this afternoon for my long weekend at Millennium Tower in San Francisco.  I am uber excited.  I know there will be many photos and stories to come.

A Post Rally Tour Of Our Nation's Capitol

After the rally Javan, Karen and I grabbed a much needed lunch at Union Station. Once we had refueled we decided to go on a double decker open top bus tour of D.C. That seemed like the best way to see as much of the city as possible without using our aching legs any more than absolutely necessary. That turned out to be one of our better decisions on the trip. We rode around the city and saw everything from Ford's Theatre and the National Archives to Georgetown and Embassy Row.

We hopped off the bus at the Lincoln Memorial, one place on the tour that I wanted to go inside for photos. We had obviously seen the Washington Monument earlier in the day, but seeing it at night and mirrored in the reflecting pool was spectacular. We went up the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, which was much more crowded than I had expected, and on the way passed the spot where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his "I have a dream" speech. We were walking in the footsteps of history. Somehow, the interior of the memorial was just as I had pictured it. The seated statue of Abraham Lincoln, luminous white against the golden stone around it, was breathtaking in its solitude.

After leaving the memorial we decided to go find some dinner. We ended up around the corner from G.W. University at a fun bar/restaurant. A drink and burger each later, we wound through the streets toward the Metro station. A pre-Halloween Metro ride in the G.W. area certainly was interesting. It's not often you can say you rode the subway with Chilean Miners, Alice in Wonderland, Vampires, The Cat in the Hat, and Death. We took the Metro back to Virginia where Liz's mom picked our tired butts up and took us home. It was late and we were tired, but not too tired to recount our day for the others and live it all over again.

All in all it was a great trip and I feel lucky to have gone with these amazing people.

The Capitol Building

The dome in profile

Karen and Javan

Overlooking Rock Creek Park, where all the murders on crime shows based in the D.C. area take place

This sums up their personalities perfectly

Sunset over Georgetown

National Cathedral

I've got mad picture taking while standing and in motion skills

Washington Monument and reflecting pool

The inscription above Lincoln's statue

Our 16th President

The Rally To Restore Sanity - It Was Insane!

We woke up early on Saturday morning ready to get on the road, after some coffee at least. Liz drove us (me, my cousin Javan, his wife Karen, and Liz's boyfriend Pablo) to her friend's apartment in the Dupont Circle area of D.C. After getting a bit lost, my iPad map had us back on track. We left the car at the apartment, picked up a handful more people, and left for our long walk to the National Mall. It's a 4 to 5 mile walk, but was good to get to know our new friends and see a bit of D.C. at the same time. My legs weren't so happy the next day though. Once we hit about 7th street at Constitution we got separated from the rest of the pack. Javan, Karen and I stuck together and headed up the Mall toward the Capitol Building to find an area to stand. The crowd was spectacular. Roads around the Mall were closed off to cars for blocks and there was an absolute sea of people. We slowly worked our way up the Mall and found a relatively good spot to stand where we could see one of the Jumbotrons and could hear pretty well. We were right by the Smithsonian and it was cool to see the number of people watching from the steps of the museum, or on the roofs of other buildings. We saw some cool signs, watched a few guys climb trees (with people chanting "yes you can, yes you can!" as they climbed), and waited for the show to start.

I won't detail every moment of the rally, you can watch the entire thing on Comedy Central, but I will give you a few highlights. Doing the wave as commanded by the Mythbusters was pretty cool. We were all just lemmings at that point, doing whatever ridiculous thing they said. The music was great (The Roots, Sheryl Crow, The O'Jays, Cat Stevens, Ozzy Osbourne, and Tony Bennett). The Ozzy/Cat Stevens bit was particularly funny. Then came the moment we had all been waiting for, Jon Stewart came on stage. The crowd went absolutely wild, but in a very civilized way. Then Stephen Colbert made his appearance via an underground elevator a la the Chilean miners. It was spectacular. From then on we watched in awe as those two went through their bits, as we listened to a poem from Sam Waterston, and other great guests too (like Anderson Cooper's tight black T-shirt). And just like that the rally was over. Looking back, the most amazing part of the entire rally was how civilized everyone was. In a crowd of 250,000 - 300,000 people (or 75 angry, stoned, drunk, white guys if you listen to Fox news) you would expect to have some bad behavior. However, from everything I could see, everyone was pretty well behaved. People were polite, I heard lots of "pardon me" and "could you move your sign please? Thanks!". If someone started to irritate me (like the woman trying to push an enormous stroller through the packed crowd) I remembered why we were all there and it's not sane to be a jerk. I am so glad that I get to say I was there. It was a once in a lifetime experience.

Our view, with awesome signage

Countdown to Sanity

Me and Karen

I also saw "God Hates Figs"

View of the stage

This lady saw me trying to take a picture of her sign and made sure people were not in my way.  Sanity.

The steps of the Smithsonian

The stage up close

Javan and Karen

A rally sign referencing NPR, perfect.

Next up: A Post Rally Tour Of Our Nation's Capitol.

Should I Stay Or Should I Go Now?

Let's see, where should I start? The beginning, I suppose, is most appropriate. Thursday was my last day at work, which I guess means I'm starting at the end. It felt amazing and weird at the same time when I turned off the lights in my office for the last time. I jumped in the car, turned up my music and smiled all the way home. That feeling helped me know that I had made the right decision in leaving. It's moments like that, when we turn our brains down and let our hearts speak to us, that we see the truth.

I went home and started packing for my trip to Washington D.C. for the Rally to Restore Sanity. Because of the timing and nature of this trip I didn't have time to over-think or over-plan, which for those of you who know me, know it's unusual. It was very freeing to barely know my itinerary and not care if I didn't pack perfectly. Anyway, I left Sacramento around noon Pacific time and arrived at Washington/Dulles at about 11pm Eastern time. Definitely a full day of travel. My iPad was a huge help on the flights. But more than that, I enjoyed the alone time. I could talk to an interesting fellow passenger if I wanted to, but could stick in my ear buds and close my eyes and feel completely alone as well.

I stopped in Las Vegas and Denver, but I actually like layovers rather than non-stop flights. Plus, if I hadn't stopped in Denver, I wouldn't have met one of the coolest 8-year-olds ever. Annika and her family were also flying from the Bay Area to the rally. When she sat next to me she told me her name and that she was "a big talker". Her poor father looked, well, like he had been flying with an 8-year-old all day, so I pulled out my iPad and let Annika play with it. We played games for about three quarters of the flight until I took a break to read a book. Her father nearly gave me a medal as I left the plane and Annika told me I was her new best friend. Oh, I failed to mention why Annika was so cool. She was going to the rally dressed as a zombie tea partier. How awesome is that? If she is the future of the country, I'm not worried.

I met up with my cousin Javan and his wife Karen at baggage claim at Dulles and then we waited to be picked up by our host, Liz. We all took over her house in Virginia, which was awesome. The icing on the cake was her dogs. I kept threatening to take Sergeant, the 14-year-old beagle home in my bag. My cousin tried to do the same with rowdy heeler Capone. After getting settled, we went to bed early. Early in the morning that is. Around 1am. Again, it was great to let go of how many hours of sleep I needed or what my schedule was. Liz and I talked much of the evening away and came to the conclusion that we were separated at birth. New city, new friends, new experiences, new priorities, new Meghan.

Flying into Denver

Multi-purpose bathrooms at the Denver airport

 Karen and I outside Liz's house

Sarge

Capone

Next up: The Rally To Restore Sanity. It Was Insane!

My Birthday Weekend

I was lucky enough to be given the gift of a weekend at Millennium Towers in San Francisco.  The gift was from my parents and was a girl trip for me and my mom.  I knew that the apartment on the 47th floor would be nice, but I had no idea how nice it would be.  I guess the asking price of $2,000,000 should have been a clue. Here are a few pictures around the place.

And here are a couple of shots of the views.

My diet started to go out the window on Friday night when we went downstairs and had dinner at RN74.  The dinner was absolutely delicious and the atmosphere was rocking.  The food got even more scrumptious on Saturday night at Restaurant Gary Danko.  Sometimes it is all about who you know, and we are lucky to know Greg, chef Gary's partner.  He made the meal so special.  We started with champagne (and ended with champagne now that I think about it), we were brought caviar, and a full birthday cake.  I think he was trying to kill us with rich food.  I cannot speak highly enough of the restaurant, its staff, and Greg in particular.  

Saturday also saw us at the Ferry Building for Farmer's Market.  I have never seen a Farmer's Market that size and we found some pretty wonderful fresh produce. 

I really couldn't have asked for a more spectacular birthday.  Thanks to everyone who made it possible and to everyone who sent me birthday wishes! Now back to the diet, Ugh...