Month: October 2013

gratitude-a-thon day 249: how bout them sox?

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Was anybody in Boston doing anything last night except watching our boys of summer brave a cool October night, against one of baseball’s best pitchers? Well, except for me, who was in actuality, watching The Good Wife and toggling to the game.

In truth, I am not a die hard baseball fan. But when the Sox get this far, I’m always in. Because this town gets electric. People stay up way past their bed times, there’s a layer of hope and pride and fun wafting through the air like The Sausage Guy’s cart on Yawkey Way. Even Boston drivers are slightly nicer than normal (not much, but a little).

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I remember 2004, when the Curse of the Bambino was being challenged and Boston history was about to be made. The team we hated most, the Yankees, were trying to take away a history-making moment, and this city wasn’t having it. Ally was in first grade with a maniac Sox fan teacher, and Jake was in fourth. They made signs and put them up all around the tv. They went to bed hours later than their bed time on game nights, and when they were actually half awake, they could speak of nothing but the Sox. They wore Sox hats and shirts to school everyday. We had to keep the den in exactly the same configuration, for fear that we’d jinx the team.

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I’ll never forget the adorableness of my kids watching Big Papi and Manny, Damon and Shilling, (before he became poor), not to mention, everybody else in town being so obsessed by some guys dubbed “The Idiots.” The sign on the Longfellow Bridge, which normally said “Reverse Curve,” was changed to “Reverse the Curse.” The Prudential Center read “Go Sox,” and the signs at the games were a whole other part of what made the series so damn much fun to watch (at least for me).

Peter took Jake to a World Series game, and I’m not sure who was more excited! In the end, we swept the Cardinals, and Boston exploded into a rolicking good time. The parade reeled in 3.2 million people, including us. It was one of the most fun times this city has ever had. There was dancing in the streets. Ally’s class made posters and paraded through Brookline Village, including through Town Hall. We went to a fundraiser, and got our picture taken with the trophy, and Terry Francona.

Detroit has a pretty impressive team, but the faith that Boston has, well, that’s pretty hard to beat.

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gratitude-a-thon day 248: creativity at 10,000 feet

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We are a creative lot, we humans. We can entertain ourselves with very little, no matter where we are. For Nina Kathchadourian, a long plane ride is a time to o.d. on the shameless selfie. But with a twist–in the tiny plane lavatory, she adorns herself with lavatory accoutrement that makes her look like a 15th Century Flemish merchant. Here’s a better explanation, but hallelujah, Nina, this is the kind of stuff that makes me laugh myself silly!

gratitude-a-thon day 247: small bites friday

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Rifrullo gluten free chocolate cookie. Awesomosity in food form.

My sister Joni was here for a week. I wish she lived here again. I wish it so hard.

Organization for the Prohibition of Global Chemical Weapons wins Nobel Peace Prize.  Thanks for the work you do, guys.

Harvey Milk gets a stamp. Makes me want to write a letter.

It was so great to see my friend Deb Lucke for the past two days. i miss her insane talent and wit. Check out her website. And then hire her as an illustrator. She is a creative superstar.

People, not things, bring happiness. Apparently, I’m really rich!

If you’re trying to drop some Lb’s, it’s your motivation that carries the weight and not your willpower.

Call it silly, call it unrealistic. But I love the relationship between Olivia and Fitz on Scandal.

I want to read Elizabeth Smart’s story. I mean how did she live through this and turn out so seemingly normal?

I’m obsessed with paint colors. Mmmmmm, Farrow & Ball.

gratitude-a-thon day 245: starbuck’s howard shultz

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The government shutdown is ridiculous. John Boehner should just get back to his obsessive tanning. But, hey Starbucks, look at you. Now this is something I’m grateful for in this giant mess. It’s as good as a Soy Latte, for crying out loud.

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A D.C. Starbuck’s got it right. I mean, what are these workers supposed to do while the Republicans pretend to be three year old’s whose parents won’t let them  eat candy for breakfast. This is a serious situation that’s going on and the Republicans are acting iike the backside of the Democratic symbol. Yeah, there’s an elephant in the room, people. But you go, Howard Shultz, who’s pushing for CEO’s to end the government shutdown. My gratitude goes to you.

gratitude-a-thon day 244: knowing who you are

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Maybe Dr. Seuss said it best. Doesn’t he always? Plus he makes everything rhyme!

This Brene Brown article on vulnerability struck a chord with me.

Maybe you’ve noticed, but I’m a pretty open person. In real life, I will mostly tell it like it is, let you know that the roll around my middle could save me in a global warming induced hurricane, that I often wait at the door for DSS to show up because my kids never clean their rooms, that I watch an absurd amount of television, and how I feel about almost everything else going on out there. Number one, I never try to paint a fake picture of myself, a coy woman of mystery. Nope, I will tell you the real deal.

Now, not everybody finds this an attractive quality. Some people find it frightening to go there, as in right at the truth. There have been times throughout my life, where I’ve considered my ability to “share,” a negative. Like when you are an open book at a party with someone you’ve never met, and they are obviously not a reader, and you walk away feeling like the head clown at the Big Apple Circus, because didn’t you notice that you should have stopped talking when they didn’t even share their name with you? You do the walk of shame on your way out of the party, embarrassed for the over share, reminding yourself to give your mouth a whopping dose of Kaopectate before the next party so you don’t get verbal diarrhea again.

But somewhere along the line, I realized that who I am is a talker and a sharer and a connector.  What I’m not is a bullshitter. If you don’t like that, you won’t like me. And if you don’t like that, I probably won’t like you. I’ve accepted that I will let myself feel vulnerable, that I will open my heart up to others in a real way, and that if they don’t open theirs back up to me, that I’m not going to feel shame about having tried to be my real self, I’m just going to understand that they’re not my peeps.

I’m grateful to know that being my authentic self isn’t bad. What’s bad isn’t being who you are. What’s bad is not getting yourself out of dodge when you share who you are with someone who shouldn’t have the privilege to be in your life in the first place.

gratitude-a-thon day 241: Enough Said

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A great pairing. I give the movie an A.

I saw the movie “Enough Said” last night and I laughed and I cried, and at the end, I didn’t want to leave the theater because I wanted Eva (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the lead) and Nicole Holofcener (the writer) to be my friends, and James Gandolfini (the lead) to be not dead.

This is one of the movies where the writing and acting blend seamlessly to create characters so real, and so approachable, you want them to be part of your life. I have always been a super fan of  Julia Louis-Dreyfus. I mean, the Seinfeld episode where we see Elaine’s total inability to dance made me love the actress forever. But The New Adventures of Old Christine cemented that love, and her role in Veep, where she is the V.P. of the country sealed the deal. But this role, in “Enough Said” is the ultimate. Her character is a fictional character who seems like your next door neighbor. And damn, I wish she was. Exquisite timing and subtlety, blended with a face that expresses itself minute by minute, makes Eva a girl you just want to know.

It’s a simple plot. But it hit me at a time when, many of you probably don’t know this, but my son has just gone to college (HA, HA!) and both Eva and Albert have only children who are leaving for college. They meet at a party and they start dating. I won’t say another word (enough said!), as I am notorious for giving away a plot.

Anyway, I cried for two reasons. One is that the college goodbye just got to me (although I have really been feeling ok), and two is that Gandolfini is no more. What a teddy bear of an actor. What a ridiculously premature loss. What a reason to go immediately on a diet so you don’t die of heart disease.

I just loved this movie. I just loved everything about it. That Nicole Holofcener knows how to write.