that time of year, again

Holiday weekends do not typically bring with them productivity. Case in point: I had the week off of school, which would have been a great time to get ahead of the game. Instead I read books not about the American Revolution, and watched a lot of movies.

us all weekend

We did not plan Netflix correctly and found ourselves at the local Red Box, where we rented 3 movies on Saturday evening – Up, The Ugly Truth and G.I. Joe. When he returned them Sunday afternoon, three more came home in their place – Funny People, Angels & Demonsand Four Christmases. As we had just finished decorating our shoebox apartment (lights strung on the high ceilings! Tchatcky everywhere! Fake prelit $20 6′ tree!) , we opted for Four Christmases to keep with the holiday spirit!

It is of no relevance that I happen to love Reese Witherspoon, and forgive her for taking Jakey G away from me (rumors of their split almost broke my heart!). Her kids seem well adjusted, as in not dressing like sluts, and if I had to rank Hollywood parenting skills I would put her right up there with Jennifer Garner. This has absolutely no bearing on this movie at all, because my love for Reese was leveled out by my ambivalence for Vince Vaughn, but it was a pretty decent movie. This paragraph is not even close to my point, by the way.

In one scene in the movie the main characters were trying to go to Tahiti for the Christmas Holiday to avoid their families. Mr B made an offhand comment that we could never do that with my family, because we actually love them and like spending time together.

many pumpkin martinis were consumed

And, he’s right. This year we spent three days at their house eating, drinking and laughing. We saw the high school football half time show, played hearts with my folks, and had ten people for dinner, plus an additional six for drinks and foyer-turned-dance-hall party afterwards. There were two twenty pound turkeys, each brined to perfection, stuffed cabbage, veggies, salad and more dessert than you could shake a fist at. While we missed my sister (who is still living in Ireland), it was nice to have so much of the family together.

Of course, Thanksgiving marks the kickoff of the holiday season. Mr B and I pack the Trans Siberian Orchestra CD’s and listen to them on the 2 hour car ride home. While we planned to bag serious decorating this year because a. we have no room and b. we won’t actually be here for Christmas Day, that fell through once we wrapped the first gift. We needed lights! And that required a trip to Lowes to get sticky hooks to hold them up…and we emerged with a fake, pre lit tree. We barely have enough room for it, but it’s so well worth it.

It seems that for a lot of people the holidays are one stress after another. I am thankful that thus far we’ve been able to keep our eye on the positive side of it all…now to see if that continues in the next few weeks!

peace&love

Ren

that small time charm

Until August of 2007, I have never lived in a small town. I grew up in a city of about 85,000 people in Central Connecticut, which had a great sense of community but was not small. I lived in DC for four-ish years while I did my undergrad. It goes without saying that in no way, shape or form is DC a small town. And then, because Mr B is from upstate NY I agreed to move here once I was done with school.

For a year we lived in a tiny village (village as in it is a smaller part of an already small town) in Columbia County. We were right on Main St in a quaint 1770 apartment, complete with wavy glass windows and slanted molding. This town had two gas stations, a Family Dollar, two small restaurants (one catering to the locals, and one to the ‘city-idots who came up on weekends, pricing wise) and a volunteer fire alarm that was right across the street from us. (Side note: if you have never heard one of these alarms, imagine the loudest and most prolonged wailing you can. And then repeat it three times. At 2am.) This small town did not have a grocery store and thus, many day to day essentials were purchased at the Stewarts Shop, which was diagonally across the street from us.

Well. I was unemployed for the first month we lived there. This meant I ran to Stewarts quite a bit. One day while I was getting the paper the cashier asked me how the job search was going. Say what?! Turns out she had noticed that I would go to the job section first and deduced it from there. Then other things – my hair cut, my clothes, and on. At first it was a little bit weird (I had not lived in places where people were nice to you!) but I grew somewhat accustomed to it. I noticed her haircut and knew she was a single mom. It was a decent relationship, even if it did mean I didn’t run out of the house without brushing my hair anymore.

Now we live in Greene County, and have been here a few months past a year. Because it is larger than our last stomping ground I was convinced for a while that it would not be quite the same. Thankfully I had already had small town experience, because I was quickly proven wrong. We frequent one Italian restaurant (always sit at the bar) and they know us by name. The one time I abstained from a beer with dinner, the rumor mill got started that I was pregnant – now, I make sure to always drink (!) or explain why I am not. The laundromat owner knows what day I come in and will ask if I was ill if I am late. The cashiers at Price Chopper know we always have a 3 pack of water under the cart, and the pizza joint on Main St knows us by face.

I began writing this intent on pointing out the times when this is a negative thing – when you see someone you don’t want to chat with but are obligated to by social standards, or when you want to pick up a prescription in private. But as the words unfolded, I realized that this is not indicative of how I feel most of the time. The truth is, after living in large, impersonal cities for so long, it’s nice to be part of a small community. Cheers was on to something – having somewhere people know your name is underrated, especially in todays world.

peace&love,

Ren

goooooo yankees!

So. Maine fails to allow gay marriage. The Yankees win the World Series for the 27th time. And Matsui proves why he has always been my favorite Yank. What a whirlwind.

Incredibly disappointed in Maine, but I almost think that goes without saying. I won’t stand on my soapbox much longer than to say…shame on you, Maine. And shame on all the other states without laws legalizing gay marriage.

Very excited the Yankees won! I had my doubts after they lost game 1 but they held strong and showed everyone what they were made of.

from the NYT, I wasn't there

I do wish that some Yankees fans could be more gracious *ahem facebook mud slinging ahem* but to be fair, over the course of the series I’ve seen a lot of people actively rooting against the Yankees in some not so nice ways. It’s the nature of the game, I suppose. And speaking of the nature of the game, I am so excited that Matsui was named MVP. He was one of the main reasons I began to love the Yankees as opposed to just going along with it because I was a New Yorker. At any rate, it was a well deserved win in their new home.

Today will be day one of Couch to 5k . SA already did her portion, so that means I have to motivate through it! I am really excited. My former college roommate, Roomie, put it perfectly: “I want to be able to do a 5k whenever.” That’s only 3 miles and to be honest, seems like it should be an entirely reasonable goal. This is one of the main reasons I am excited about the Couch to 5k Program that we are going to be using – it’s structured, and if we can push through it, I know that we can get to where we want to be.

peace&love,

Ren

of morality & legality (or something like that)

“Drive Safely” has become the new parting phrase at school. Where we used to say “catch ya later” or “hang in there”, we now remind one another that it takes but a swerve to end it all. I am not a religious person, but I find myself saying a prayer when I pass the spot where HSR passed.

We attended a wedding in CT this past weekend for a family member of mine and his partner of 21 years. It was a beautiful wedding for so many reasons, not least of all that their relationship has already lasted more than most marriages do*. This is why I don’t understand why people have an issue with gay marriage. How is this joining of two people who love each other dearly, and will continue to love each other dearly, damaging to the sanctity of marriage? Our good friends, two women, are about to embark on the process of adopting a child. Domestically they can adopt as a couple but they are looking at nearly 4 years of red tape. Internationally, they have to pretend to be single, because the rest of the world doesn’t think a child should have two mothers.

In other news, my girlfriend in NYC and I are going to long distance train to run a half marathon together. We’re going to start with a 5k and work our way up, but this is very exciting. It will be nice to have someone to be held accountable to, but still have the independence of doing it alone. I’ll update as we go along. As of now, starting Thursday.

Annnnd I’m off to do schoolwork. Or something.

peace&love,

Ren

*(I am making this statistic up)