Wanderlust: New York City Edition

I've been to New York once before.  I went in eighth grade on a school trip, and we visited MoMA and a tenement house and saw "Chicago" on broadway.  But this time I'm visiting a school friend, and I get to see her map of the city - her hometown, her favourite places....
So what would you like to do in New York?
(no pictures today - I'm just curious about your choices!)

The boots that taught me about investment

I have a pair of very distinctive shoes.  They are a pair of old Frye boots, and I wear them everywhere - so often that once a friend of mine could tell that I was at another friend's house because my boots were in the hallway.  They don't make them anymore, but these boots are some of the most comfortable - I wear them everywhere with everything - heavy leather boots that remind one a little of hiking boots, a little of paddock boots.  I wear them with dresses and jeans and skirts.
But here's a secret: they aren't mine.  They technically belong to my mother, who has had them since before I was born.  When I was quite young she wore them on hiking trips - I don't know how long she has had them but I imagine they've been all over the world with her - to Kenya and to Thailand and to New Zealand (I know they've been all across Europe with me, at least).
These are boots that are at least twenty years old - probably more like thirty or forty, if we're being honest.    I wear them almost every day, and they are the shoes that are in the best shape of any of my footwear.
I'm serious - trainers disintegrate after a while, the heels on my cowboy boots have been worn down, the linings of wellies rub away, and high heels are prone to all sorts of accidents.  But these boots persist - they are older than I am, and I could imagine a daughter of mine one day wearing them and quite possibly attempting to sneak them away to university with her.
I have no idea how much those boots cost at the time my mother bought them - £100?  Less?  More?  Anyways, however much they cost, I can almost guarantee that they were worth it and more.  If you look in your closet, how many items can you find that you can wear for twenty years and more - shoes that won't break down, that won't go out of style?  That's what an investment is - a pair of shoes that your kids will want to steal one day, that are comfortable enough to climb a mountain or walk around Paris in, a pair of shoes that your friends recognize.
I know I don't do this - I'm a university student and thusly don't really have that much money - but I think it's a good idea to "invest" in most everything you do.  Buy the boots that stand up to the test of time, or hardcover books that you'll love forever, or the overcoat that your granddaughter will wear proudly throughout her life.  Invest.

Today and beyond

Hello, dear blog readers!  Good morning!
Last night was bitterly cold so my mother made coq au vin - delicious!  Today I see the lovely Alexandra after a semester apart and tomorrow I leave early in the morning for a mini-break in New York City!  I'm super excited for both - so expect a couple more posts throughout the day!

(photo of ballet dancers from here)

This, ladies and gentlemen, is Paris

Note the floors, and the fireplace, and the giant mirror, and the panelling

This must have once been a larger apartment's drawing room or something.  Also, my God, those windows!

Seeing these photographs makes me miss Paris so much...

(from here)

I Resolve

Do you make New Year's Resolutions?  My family does ours together, gathering at midnight with champagne or some other sparkling wine (or, you know, sparkling cider for those of us who don't like wine) and sharing what we hope to do for the new year.  In the past there have been resolutions like write music and get in shape and finally find the perfect lamp for the living room.  Mine this year were a little different.  

I resolve to go to every Friday at Four.  Friday at Four is a Reed College institution - a musical performance at the aforementioned date and time.  I've only been to one so far, and I think it's a good idea to get out and actually hear music for a change, rather than playing it on my computer speakers in my dorm room.  Besides, I definitely have half an hour a week.  

I resolve to practise the piano every day for at least an hour.  I have never been "the musical one" in my family, but my entire family is musical.  At school, I find playing the piano incredibly relaxing, even though I have to cross campus to get to the music building (soooo hard, I know).  It's lovely to play, and even lovelier to see myself making progress.  Practising piano also holds for sight reading and theory work.

I resolve to work harder in biology.  Biology is my hardest class, mainly because science does not come naturally to me.  I'm naturally a fast reader, which is helpful for humanities, but I find graphs and diagrams (which our biology textbook is full of) difficult to understand.  Still, I think if I can do all of the readings before lecture and really work, I'll do better.

I resolve to keep my room clean.  I'm usually kind of good at this at school - less so at home.  My dorm room is tiny, and letting it get super messy interferes with my studying and productivity, so it shouldn't be that hard to just make my bed and put things away.

I resolve to go running even when I don't feel like it.  Like an idiot, I left my trainers in Portland over the break, so that means that in the early Northwest mornings when it's chilly and my bed is warm, I get up and run through the canyon anyways.  Even when it's dark and raining.  

And finally, I resolve to brush my hair every day.  It's easy to forget about brushing, to just throw wet hair in a braid and go about daily life (what I do practically all the time) but brushing hair is good for it and makes it shiny.  Besides, making an effort is a good idea, no?

Do you have New Year's Resolutions?  What are they?

(Above: a clean room.  From here.) 

Almost skating

Today Ursula and I almost went skating.  It's something that she had been looking forward to for a while, a good motivator for me to get out of the house, and a beautiful day in Boston - bright, cold, clear.  But then we arrived at the Kendall Square Rink to find it horribly crowded - a line stretching out of the building and through the little park - and immediately called our father to pick us up.  That's what we get for going out on a federal holiday, I guess.
Hanging out with the family is my favourite part of being home for the holidays.  We can skate or not, it doesn't matter - what matters is that I was spending time with my little sister.
I hope you've had a lovely day thus far!

2011, in retrospect

Today is a beautiful bright blue-sky day and the first day of 2012!  And my God, 2011, was an excellent year, no?  Last year I marked the year by months, but this year I think I’ll mark it by places I’ve been, by trips I’ve taken and things I’ve learned.
On February first last year I left my family behind on the icy tarmac and flew by myself to France on a day when it wasn’t clear that we would get off the ground because of how much ice and snow there was in Boston and I landed in Paris, a Paris with no snow but grey skies and long stretches of early morning without sunlight, a Paris full of café crèmes and buttery croissants and lectures on Hellenistic Athens.  I got lost in February again and again, turning down strange seventeenth-century streets, traipsing through the Jardin du Luxembourg, losing myself in Shakespeare & Company to novel after novel.  Caleb arrived, and we ventured further afield together, to the Marais and l’As du Falafel, to museums and little forgotten parks, to places that seemed scary or lonely by myself but were beautiful with someone else.  And finally the rest of the family arrived, and we started our incredible Parisian adventure (well, I’d already started mine).  The next couple months were French classes and public lectures and playing the big grand piano in the living room, venturing with James Joyce and David Foster Wallace to cafés scattered across the city, attending Fashion Week with my siblings and having picnics with my school friends.  Until April.
In April my family took two weeks off (part of the deal we made with the people whose apartment we were renting) and went to Morocco and Spain.  We went to Tangier and Meknes and the glorious city of Fès (one of the most beautiful and vibrant places I’ve ever been), and then to Andalucía – to Granada where the Alhambra is and to Cordoba, home of the Mezquita.  Those were a glorious two weeks, full of new places and experiences, and suddenly we were back in Paris.
In May the ever-lovely Alexandra and I left Paris and China and Istanbul behind for Budapest and our month-long train trip through Europe.  We started in the shining Budapest and went to Vienna (where we attended a concert in the opera house and ate at the café that Trotsky frequented), to beautiful and romantic Venice, to living-history Florence and to Milan with the incredible cathedral.  We went to the glorious city of Praha and to Copenhagen by way of Berlin, to Brussels and then back to Paris (with a short stop at the Catacombs) and onward to London and Oxford.  Alexandra, this May-June month has been one of the most incredible thirty days of my life, and I couldn’t imagine doing it with anyone but you.
At the end of June we had to move from our lovely apartment in the fourteenth to the super-hip Marais, and we took a couple of weekend trips into the surrounding countryside, to Bourgogne and the incredible Bretagne, and all too soon it was August and we had to leave Europe.
We went to Nantucket for a week in August, as we do every year, and I got on a plane once again to Portland, Oregon, to go backpacking in Washington State (Mt Adams, in case anyone is interested) and to move into my new home at Reed College.
The past couple months have been all college.  I have read about Greece and Egypt and Persia, more David Foster Wallace, and biology-at-large.  I have gone to French conversation classes and come out spinning and dancing with happiness.  I have gone home for a week in October to a bright New England autumn and up to Seattle for a weekend on my grandfather’s birthday.  I have helped to capture the Doyle Owl and made chocolate-pecan pie for Thanksgiving with my friends.  And I have spent long nights studying alone and with friends, working on finals and finally coming home for Christmas with my family, for the holiday party and picking out a Christmas tree, for beautiful morning and afternoons like this one with the five of us in the kitchen.
Happy 2012, everyone!  Hopefully this year will be even better than the last!