the mighty boosh

Moved into our new flat. Happy days.
It's funny, but after 4 weeks in Spain I find myself needing to learn some set phrases for situations that frequently occur. You might imagine this to be an exchange at the market, introductions to new people etc. You would be wrong. I need witty invective to dress down seriously rude Catalan people who don't wait for you to exit the underground train before barging their way on (even when you have a stroller/pram), who try and run you over in the street (happened today) and who lack every common courtesy familiar to those of us from the civilised world.

In other news, we played some ronders on the beach today (pre-cursor and girl-like version of baseball) with some colleagues from our school. We're living with some delightful Romanians who organise festivals and beyonce concerts when not transporting Ikea furniture for us. Got a hair cut the other day. Thought it was good 'cause he gave me a face massage, but when I got home I realised he'd given me a Spanish. This is long at the back of the neck and on top, but short at the sides. Disgusting. I'd rather a Wicker Park side parting and tight jeans combo any day.

Other than that, Barcelona is fuckin' A and I'm glad to be back. Feels very much like home.

I left my camera in the rain so bought a new one and took some photos in B&W. This is them:

Not captured by gypsies

In response to emails asking after us, know that we are alive.
We've just been busy and currently living in conditions lacking regular access to internet and phone.

As a quick update:
The dream flat didn't work out. The owner is old and afraid of foreign renters due to a whole court battle incident he had with the last tenants.

The same agency showed us another place in the same area and although it is a newer apartment lacking the old charm, it has all the appliances and space we need, and has a spectacular 11th floor view to the sea. Nice.

Kevin Rooney will likely be living with us for a bit while he settles into BCN. He's in a hostel now and traveling for a couple weeks as of this weekend, but will return thereafter to make a life for himself here. Betsy and Casey were just here passing through and we had a nice day at Park Guell. Michael McAndrew also gave us a random phone call last Saturday at 8am noting that he was in BCN and wondering if we wanted to hang out. So really, even though we're living in a flat that is under construction (story for later), we've had a lot of distraction and found temporarily living 5min from the sea a happy repayment for the crappy home conditions.

Oli works A LOT. Things will get easier once we have internet and phone, and my computer comes over form England.

My classes are good. I teach 14-year olds and adult beginners. I love my beginners and forgot how easy it is to teach the zero level because every class they have such a high learning curve and are not yet disillusioned. Teens are teens.

I actually must go now and plan a lesson based on High School Musical. My students have demanded a lesson that includes some of its songs.

Oh! Lily is such a big kid -
She wasn't eating vegetables and fruit, just bread and meat, for a while there. I realized if I offered her something, she would always say no, but if it was mine, she wanted it. So now I just prepare food in front of her or with her and wait for her to ask about it. It has worked and today she had cucumbers, carrots and green beans at lunch. Laura Hartrich will understand the immense implications here and how good I feel right now.

She speaks loads and we have little conversations. She even says "sí" or nods her head, a big improvement over weeks of "no" being the response to everything. Everything. She speaks more Spanish now, not just caca, but also pan and bús. Every day when we go in a panadería, we get something free because of how cute she is asking for pan over and over.

OK, more soon. High School Musical calls.

CROSS YOUR FINGERS AND SAY A PRAYER, WOULDYA?!

OK.

I have found our dream flat.

It is in a classic 1940s building complete with shiny glass and wood elevator. The apartment is on the 5th floor and two of the rooms have an adjoining balcony overlooking a lovely avenue which has a large median lined with cafe seating and play parks every few 100 feet. Children play there all day and old people read newspapers. At the end of the avenue is Plaça Espanya, which is pretty, but more importantly, is where Oli can catch transport to all his classes. Beyond the plaza is Montjüic, a mini mountain that overlooks the sea and is covered in paths and pretty gardens, a palace and an olympic stadium.

The flat itself is huge, with 4 bedrooms and has light filtering in from all directions. It has classic Spanish tile and tall wood and glass doors. Lily could run around all day and in the winter and be a happy little camper. Best of all, the monthly rent is within our price range. Old people who own flats seem to have a thing for keeping rent low. We like this.

On Monday, after returning from Almería, I went back to the big administrador´s (like agents but different) website and did a big search for 3-bedroom flats. Then I looked up their locations on the city´s online map. I grouped apartments that I was interested in by their nearest metro stop. Then that night I walked for an hour and a half past the 8 flats that were near my friend´s place, deciding based on the look of each building and neighborhood if I wanted to call for an appointment to see them. I did the same in another area on Tuesday and that´s when I came upon Avenida Mistral, which I never knew existed. When I saw the building and the location, I knew instantly that I wanted my Lily to live there. I called and got an appointment for Thursday evening, only after they made sure it was clear that the flat was not for students, the elevator functions in a way such that it only takes people up, not down, and that up to a 9 month´s aval bancario (like a deposit, kind of) could be necessary. None of this bothered me because when you find the right place for your girl to live, you just do what you have to do.

When I approached the building on Thursday, I was bummed to see three people out front. Often when seeing places, the administrador will set up like 10 people to come see it at once, which is instantly depressing. But alas, these people were two old ladies representing the owner and a very nice middle-aged lady who was the agent. They were extremely sweet to me, and even though the place could absolutely sell itself, they kept pointing out things that were great or classic, trying to convince me.

All we have to do now is turn in all our proof of identity, income and savings so the little old man owner can decide if we´ll have to pay a 6 or 9 month aval bancario and then sign a contract, and then do all the other fun things like buying some appliances on Craigslist/Loquo (yeah, there´s no fridge and washing machine), getting some basic furniture, and transferring the utilities into our name. Whatever, I could care less as long as we have a home we´re happy in!

Oli and Lily are coming out to Barcelona on Sunday afternoon and we´ll be staying in a duplex near the beach for three weeks while we sort all this out. The duplex belongs to a Canadian girl who´s going home for a few weeks.

In other news, as a thanks, I took Timo, Eddie and Carla out for a huge Indian dinner and drinks last night after we watched England kill Tonga in the Rugby World Cup. I am now tired and must buy groceries because nothing is open on Sundays (tomorrow) and MY FAMILY is arriving then!!!

PS - I often only blog when good things happen. The last couple weeks have been a real shit most of the time, and I will detail some of the crappiest highlights for you later.

When the going gets tough, go to Almería

So we almost lost our nerve and just moved to London last week.
More on that later.

Over the weekend, Oli and I met up in the south of Spain and we went on a long-time-in-the-making holiday to Almería with the Milford Krü:








The Anadlucians were really wondering what we guiris were doing when orchestrating that beach photo.

We are rejuvenated and back at it, me in BCN, Ol and Lil in England...but they´ll be joining me in just a couple days.....and the flat prospects are looking good...again.

Happy belated brithday, me

Thank you to all those of you who sent me birthday wishes by email yesterday. That was nice.

While I did spend the big 2-5 alone in Barcelona, it was not wholly bad. I finished sorting out our work schedules at Oxford House where if all continues as is, we will have a very nice non-overlapping schedule of classes. Everyone there has been lovely and helpful and I´m excited to get back into things there.

Housing may also be sorted, but still waiting to hear. We´ve decided to go with a flat that a course director from another company has available as he and his family are moving out to a bigger place. The only issue is that they´re still living there....thus the waiting game.

After dealing with all that, I planned to go shopping or to the beach, but the sky got overcast and I was tired, so I tried watching Lost in Translation and ended up feeling pretty cheated after watching the first third of the movie only to find that the DVD was scratched such that it wouldn´t function starting from the scene when Bill and Scarlett meet through the karaoke scene..... So I went out and bought Timo and his roommate Eddie some household supplies (dishsoap and toilet paper) and then went for a swim in their rooftop pool that overlooks the city. I finished the night with Eddie, who is quite fun, watching Real Madrid play in the Champion´s League. They won, though I don´t really care because I hate Real Madrid.

Today, I shop.

If we get a sense today of when we can move into that apartment, then Oli and I will be in Almeria this weekend with all the Milford friends on a camping expedition that has been months in the making. We will then move our operation, including Lily, to Barcelona next week (if we can´t move into the apartment at that time, we´ll be getting a vacation rental apartment until we can move in).

Yes, I still REALLY REALLY miss Oli and Lily. Yesterday Oli wrote me this:
´I have enjoyed my time with Lily and we had a good walk today and we learned about the sun and mushrooms and she kicked me in the face.´

How could I not miss being around THAT?! On Tuesday he sent me a short video over Facebook that showed Lily sleeping in his arms and I started crying in a locutorio (internet cafe). They called me yesterday and Lily said hi into the phone. I cried. Evidently she has been picking up the phone at random times saying ´Hi, Mommy´and when I was first gone, looking for me under the blankets in our bed. !!!

Anyway, we are nearing a finish to this drawn-out moving saga and will shortly be complaining about having too much work to do and how much we annoy each other. I can´t wait!

Back in the old world

I´m house hunting in Barcelona while Oli and Lily are back in England. Our old flatmate Timo has been kind enough to let me crash in his living room and it has been extremely good to catch up on all of the bizarre things happening in this city over the last two years.

Timo is doing well having stolen one of his former business English company´s clients, meaning he now teaches all the English classes in that client´s offices as a free-lance teacher and they pay him twice what his old company did because they´re not being gouged. Timo´s also got a flourishing free-lance art journalist career going, writing for magazines based in various European countries. Nice. His girlfriend Carla is Catalan and an interpreter for the police. She knows every pickpocket trick in the book as she translates for all the poor Americans and English who get whacked.

Work is sorting itself out. Teaching jobs are lining up and I´m meeting for coffee with a guy tomorrow who runs an English lesson website and develops bars. He´s looking for someone to help create English lessons with explanations in Spanish for his new Barcelona website that already has a thriving Madrid sister, a job I could do from home, and is thusly ideal.

House-hunting is full of ups and downs but my most recent up has been an 82-year-old man. I tend to really get on with the old Spanish men (recall my former student Juan and our gleeful shouting matches), I think perhaps because they talk a lot and don´t care if I respond or if what I respond with makes no sense. They also speak slowly, so I am actually able to understand them. What they say is often quite humorous as well, as they pontificate on everything from the horrors of discotecos to the importance of having a good doorman.

So, this Señor and his wife have two properties that they rent, former homes of theirs, and they rent them at cheap prices to people they deem trustworthy: families and couples. I was the first person to contact him and he shouted with glee when I told him we were a family. He said it usually takes him weeks to get through the phone calls from drunks and students replying to the ad for a three-bedroom apartment with a low rent. Anyway, the flat has three bedrooms, two baths, a giant living space, kitchen and two large balconies...and costs less than every other flat I´ve looked at...and is just off Passeig de Gracia and Diagonal, like living at Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive for the Chicagoans out there.

So after listening to the gentleman for about 20 minutes, we arranged to meet tomorrow afternoon. Keep your fingers crossed that it´s not an apartment full of old people furniture.

I am missing my Lily and my Oliver VERY much. I can´t possibly come up with more words to express how much so let´s leave it at that.

But, I did take advantage of being single and was out on Friday night and in a bit of pain on Saturday as I generally don´t drink but was given many free that night. At the good old Black Horse pub we watched England lose big time to South Africa in the rugby world cup, moved on to a swanky bar with a mojito special, wolfed down kabaps (like gyros and the favorite food of drunk people) on the Ramblas like real tourists, moved on to an acquaintance´s bar where drinks were cheap for us, and then went home in a cab that saw Timo´s girlfriend puke out the window. I don´t think I´ll go out for another year.

I want one of these

more photos

Do you see what I have to put up with?

A photo stolen from Michael McAndrew's Facebook photo album showing the Seeley family in Hampstead Heath. Lily is sending the camera a very clear message.

Checking in

1. Got stung in the face by a bee two days ago, right under my eye, and it still looks like Oli beat me. I've been telling people that "I got chavved on the high street," which elicits an, "Oh my God, what did you say to them?!" each time. Should have taken a picture yesterday when it was at its worst - the part under my eye that is normally sunken was puffed up to the level of my cheek and beyond. If I took a picture of me today you'd be unimpressed with my predicament.

2. Lily has finally started pointing at things when we ask her where they are and we realize how many things she knew and was hiding from us for her own reasons.

3. Lily has also chilled out the tantruming quite a bit and become quite the little buddy. She gives me hugs all the time, chats it up quite a bit and actually listens to me when I ask her not to do things. Whoa. I have this whole philosophy of not shouting no at her except when she is on the verge of doing something that could instantly kill her. I figured she was too young to understand why I was telling her no and that shouting would just urge her to do the act in question even more. Anyone who knows Lily knows that she is willful and wiley. I figured she might ultimately understand my reason for saying no when her language abilities improved or that she would realize on her own why it was better not to do certain things. So I just gently say no without making a big fuss and then try to redirect, as when she sticks her hands in her milk at dinner, which generallly yields spilt milk. I figured this method of "the gentle no" would not yield immediate results, but would keep Lily from hating me and would get her to understand that I actually have good reason for saying no when I say it. And alas, I am finally reaping the fruit of my labor as she listens to my explanations of dangerous or naughty things and heeds my commands thereafter! For the time being I am feeling like super mom who is buddies with her toddler while successfully keeping her alive and well behaved. This will likely all change by next month when Lily next morphs, but for now, Oli and I are awesome parents.

4. Expecting to go to BCN later this week. Have an interview with OHC on Friday. Thinking to go for renting a house outside the city so Lil can have more room! Basically, work is our last priority behind finding the right place to live for Lil.

Barça recon

Oli and I are in Barcelona in Lawson´s bar (see below) doing recon without Lily for a few days. Flat hunting has gone poorly but all together we´ve been successful in that we´ve reconnected with old contacts and pals who seem to have the Barça thing down:

Former flatmate Lawson is living in a 3-storey house in Maresme outside Barcelona and running his own bar in port town Masnou. The bar, which is full of beautiful old carved furniture and Scottish parafrenalia (including a sporran that just arrived by mail on Tuesday), faces out on to the port of sailboats and yachts and looks great. Law has many bright ideas for keeping the place fun and profitable and is happy that it has improved his Spanish and Catalan. Oli´s hoping to take a weekly shift to help him in the same way.

Neal, a former course director of Oli´s, met with us in his new business´s office and we´re stopping by in the morning to see the lady in charge of hiring. Unsure how much business English teaching is in our futures as it can be tedious, but it´s important to check out all options....

Oxford House College is still where we left it in Oxford Press´ former BCN offices. Got some good flat hunting advice from one of the adminitrators and are hoping to get some work there as it is a social lively place with further training/certification options and use for my Spanish.

Friends Antony and Marta are finishing off their cafe which will open in just a few weeks. Very exciting stuff on which we will likely report more soon...

As for housing, we´re thinking we´ll do a short-term rental starting next week and ending at the end of the month so that we can continue the housing hunt and solidify some work options. A friend of Marta´s and the contact at Oxford House both turned us on to an administradors website that we have found to show waaay better apartments at waaaay cheaper prices. There are more terms and conditions because they want to rent to serious people, but we are serious people, so no trouble is forseen. In fact, many of the terms and conditions are quite good for us. I really want to have a terrace (BIG balconies that are generally walled in) so Lil has some outdoor space attached to our home, so I´m being pretty picky about the places we call on.

This post has gone all factual, so I´ll end it and go watch the boys play video soccer.

Nana Anne's 96th Birthday

Lisa's mum turned 96 this week and family gathered to celebrate:

Lily and Hannah

Friend Mal's baby Aldous (with Lily's blanket Diti in the background)

Lily, Hannah and Dylan (cousin who lives in Wales)

Dylan

A proper garden party

Surrey by bike

Kevin Rooney has stayed with us in Buckleigh House for a few days and has been subjected to Lisa's excellent cooking, allowing us all to be treated to specialties like Sunday roast. Lisa has a great 25-mile bike route that Kevin, Oli and I tackled on Monday. It took us through the woods to a tiny valley full of horses, cows and sheep, down a big hill into the valley, and along the canal to home. Photos are here:

Quicks

Running out the door in a moment with Oli to head to Brighton for a music festival we will spend the day at with Chicago friend Kevin Rooney (saved up some money, quit job and is now traveling 'round Europe for some months) as well as Milford friends Ben Milner and Michael McAndrew.

Lily is out looking for blackberries in the woods with Nana Lisa and Papa Ray is out for a walk somewhere else.

We're thinking we'll be heading back to Barcelona in September in order to make the transition easier on ourselves, since we are already familiar with how things work there. It's a little unrealistic to just pick a town in Spain and move there when we're not even in Spain right now! So we'll do some further traveling on weekends once we're settled to see if there are any smaller places we'd like to try. We've found a house with a yard that we are very interested to rent in Barcelona and I am most likely flying out on Monday or Tuesday to handle those arrangements. (Anyone in Barca want to put me up?)

Otherwise, the Milfrod Krü met up last night from their unique corners of the world and fun was had.

More later this week when we go on a canal boat trip to celebrate Nana Lisa's birthday, which was this past Thursday.

~

We're alive...

...and in good old Milford.

Flights and all were fine (Aer Lingus is GREAT; service was excellent and the planes state-of-the-art), though we did miss our connecting flight and ended up spending three extra hours in Shannon, Ireland, but not really a problem. Oddly, Shannon seems like the American place to lay over. There were Americans everywhere and passengers on US-bound flights go through US customs and border patrol in Shannon before boarding, so in a way, it is treated as a domestic US airport...now you know.

On Friday Oli’s olderst brother Alex and his daughter Hannah (20 months old) came over to play. The girls got on very well; Lily pushed Hannah on the swing and Hannah kept bringing Lily her sippy cup whenever she came upon it. On Saturday friends Charlotte and Mal came over with their respective sprogs, Hermione (almost 19 months old) and Aldous (3 months old). Lily was pretty fragile this day.

Buckleigh House has turned into a real child’s paradise with toys and books ‘round every corner inside, and outside a sand play table (like in pre-school), swing, slide and pop-up gazebo.

Last night Lisa (Oli’s mom) and I went on a bike ride and she showed me all the sites of stories I have heard – the Seeley’s old house, the theatre where Oli did pantomine and Lisa directed plays, a friend’s house in the woods where Oli spent much of his youth. I have to say, it is so beautiful around here and the weather is so cool and balmy right now, I felt pretty Jane Austen-y sitting up straight on my bike, whizzing down hills in the woods and coming out on big golden fields bathed in sunset. The outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease that is causing several paths to be blocked off also adds to that Olde England feel.

Today Oli and Lily are in Brighton and I am home alone doing Spain research...and posting to the blog.

I’m starting to feel all nostalgic and old and sad and strange about what mine and Oli’s relationship and plans mean for our relationships with our own families and friends. Makes me feel a bit numb and unable to write properly, thus the simple factoids above. I’ll write more when I’m less jet lagged (still am after a few days of being here and after a month of house-moving activities) and more clearly introspective.

~

Response

Our former Barcelona flatmates Todd and Matt recorded a video/song about Oli and I and put it up on Facebook.

We recorded the response below. Sorry if it's all inside jokes, but that's how these things go. I think you'll still get a kick out of Oli's guitar skills and our vocals. A regular Johnny Cash and June Carter pair, we are.

big shoulders (DONE)

Big strong shoulders required to move disgustingly oversized furniture from our apartment tomorrow at 9am. 3 pairs required. text or call 312 391 0388 if you can help.









Thanks to the mercenaries pictured above who drove all the way up from Louisville, Kentucky, having read my blog late last night. I hope the $60 I paid them covers their travel costs.

Setting myself up...

I donated to Chicago Public Radio during the end-of-the-fiscal-year pledge drive during an hour when, if 100 people pleadged during that hour, everyone got a CD (not availalble in stores!) with a recording of each and every story told on This American Life's recent US tour "What I learned from television" (Listen to some stories at: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=328). So even though different stories were told and retold in different cities, I have one telling of each story (I'd like to think they're the best tellings of each story) here on a cool art-nouveau looking CD....that I am about to listen to.

I actually thought I wouldn't be getting my CD. When I called in and pledged, they asked if I wanted any of the thank-you gifts and I said no, meaning I didn't want the regular gifts offered at my pledge level, and then I just quickly mumbled something about still wanting the cool This American Life CD, not wanting to seem too greedy but simultaneously wanting to secure my CD. I later ruminated on the fact that by saying no to the thank-you gift, I didn't have to pay the $5 shipping fee, which probably meant I wasn't getting the special CD gift.....am I an 80-year-old lady worried about her next Reader's Digest book of the month or what? Next I'll be taking salt packets from McDonald's (I already take extra napkins to keep in the car for Lily mess moments).

When Oli got the CD in the mail yesterday, we were both a little surprised by my emotional reaction. I can't remember the last time I was this excited....and I don't even listen to This American Life; I've heard it twice. I've gone from 80-year-old ruminator to Ralphie's dad in A Christmas Story, psyched about his "major award."

I can't help but think that I am setting myself up for disappointment blogging about this and all, but here I go all the same.

---

In moving news, we've been busy bees, selling most of our things on Sunday. Our apartment is almost furniture-less. What's left is for sale on Craigslist, in plastic storage containers going to my sister's, marked as "ship to Spain once we have an apartment," or in a suitcase. We go to Wisconsin this Thursday-Sunday and then move out Tuesday, July 31 to live with my sister until we take off on August 8 for the UK.

~

Palabras

Lily says some new things:

No
She repeats this one sometimes when we say it, but hasn't yet started using it to tell us no. Our days are clearly numbered.

Down (from my high chair), More, Abre (open)
Lily was a bit feral last month, screaming in place of asking for things. Some real parenting was required and we started saying a gentle but firm "no" to screaming, then earnestly repeated the word she should use to ask for the type of help needed (Parents Magazine should hire us). Two weeks later we've got her using "down" (pronounced "dow, dow") and a fervent pointing to the ground gesture to get her out of her high chair, "more" (pronounced "Mm, Mm") to, well, ask for more of something, and "abre" (pronounced "Ah, Ah") to get us to open things for her. A hand to the mouth also serves for, "feed me!!!!" Screaming levels are back down to a normal range.

She is also finally in line with the whole eating in the high chair thing as opposed to the roaming eating thing. In the week before we went to California, we had started reinforcing this rule, having snacks in the chair and eating meals together at the table. When we dropped her off with my family, she was still a protestant (I highly doubt you can use "protestant" in this context, but I want to, badly.). My family continued the hard work we had begun and she was fixed when we came back. Nice.

Peepee, Poo Poo (pointing at her diaper to tell you she's just done one)
Lily has decided to begin potty training herself at 17 months. We taught her "peepee," as in the body part, a while ago. She enjoyed learning her body part's name, and started saying its name and grabbing it when her diaper was changed. This was only slightly problematic when she had "done a dirty," as Oli calls it. We moved on to telling her the names of the things in her diaper and now she points and says the name of the one she's done. At this point we go to the toilet and talk/act out potty time, which she loves (she will flush the toilet on demand if commanded in Spanish), so maybe some time soon she'll start telling us before she does 'em (although books tell me kids don't have the muscle strength to control their bowels until after 18 months, so we'll take it at Lily's pace I suppose...)? In the meantime, it is really funny to see Lily's little body on a giant toilet.

Car (pronounced the British way, without the r sound; it's kind of the cutest thing an American could ever hear.)
As a car passed our balcony this morning, Oli pointed and said, "car." Lily then said the same, in Oli's accent, and repeated it a few times. Now when we point to cars she utters a gentle "cah."

Mweeeeee (as in the sound an elephant makes)
Point to an elephant. Yes, now. Now Lily will stick her nose to her shoulder and say "mweeee." Good job.

Gooooool! (pronouned "Daaaaaaaaa" by Lily)
Now she can not only dribble, pass and shoot, but when she does so, she throws her arms up and heaves her whole body behind a "Daaaaaaaaa!" Purely champion material.

Mwah (as in the sound of kissing)
She now kisses. Kisses aren't words, but they ARE newsworthy.

Ta Da!
~

No longer nameless

Lily calls me "mommy" now, as clear as a bell.

~

Reunited

Lily has grown about 4 inches and learned about 20 new things since we last saw her a week ago.

She was staying part of the week with my sister and her family and the other part of the week with my parents and brother, and it seems everyone had a great time with her and that she pretty much didn't miss us.

Noteworthy bits of Lily's week away from us include:

- Spending lots of time with my dad (Papa Lee). They went shopping all kinds of places (Target, Walgreens, Jewel) together and now Lily calls him "Papa", which is pretty cool because when Oli's parents just visited, she got to calling Oli's dad Ray "Papa" as well.

- Everyone in the family taking to calling Lily's blanket "Titi" because that's what she calls it. When she was sad, my niece and nephew would yell to my sister, "Mom, get Titi!"

- Getting closer to my sister and finally warming up to my brother-in-law Nick (Unky Neecho - because my sister calls him "Neecholas" instead of "Nicholas" sometimes); I hear she was being pretty playful with him, hiding behind corners and jumping out at him.

- Family members working on getting Lil to say "gracias," which we hear she managed once, and on recognizing the parts of her face, which she has a 50/50 record on.

- Becoming best buddies with my nephew Jacob. Lily has been calling him "Jakey" for some time now, and with him being the little caregiver he is, it didn't take long for them to become inseparable.

Overall then, it was a restorative week for us the parents and she the child, and everyone else seems to have had a swell time, too. ~

Santa Ana to Santa Barbara and back: an overview

Preferred Driving Music: 2Pac and Leslie Fiest

Friday
- Were met at the Orange Country (a.k.a. Santa Ana, a.k.a. John Wayne) airport by Bill of Vintage SURFari Wagons in Nalu Imi (“Wave Hunter”), the 1979 VW camper
- Were initially disappointed by Orange County and California because everything looked like the suburbs of Chicago (housing subdivisions and Target) but in stucco
- Got stuck in big traffic jam on the 405 going past LA but didn’t notice because we were too busy making a music video to 2Pac’s California Love
- Got beeps and waves from people lovin’ the camper
- Stopped where Bill had told us to at Emma Woods state beach just past Ventura and met two surfers, Adrian from Australia and Jeff from California, who gave us the scoop on where to learn to surf and where to visit
- Camped in Carpenteria, a town just up the coast where the surfers had suggested; kind of a crappy campsite but a very lovely town and ocean view

Saturday
- Ate breakfast on the beach
- Called Brad Hagan in San Francisco to let him know we now realistically understood we would never make it that far north to see him; Brad was at a TGIFridays when we called, but he claims it was like the first time in years
- Hung out in Carpenteria, taking in a classic car show and spending way too much on clothes but really enjoying finding clothes we both loved
- Went down to Santa Claus Lane just north of Carpenteria to the A-Frame Surf Shop to see the guys Jeff and Adrian had mentioned
- Got an evening surf lesson with Eric and both managed to stand; learned SURFING IS HARD and realized that the average person in California generally has two more good-looking points than the average person in Chicago due to their sun-kissed skin and athleticism
- Got invited to a party at Eric’s place and then camped out on his street

Sunday
- Ate an extremely overpriced breakfast at the Brown Pelican overlooking the water near/in Santa Barbara
- Walked the beach our waitress told us was named Hendry’s but a sign said was called Arroyo something
- Shopped a bit in Santa Barbara
- Drove through the wine country of the 154 (BEAUTIFUL)
- Camped on the ocean at the rather crappy Gaviota state beach

Monday
- Breakfast on the beach as usual
- A slight tantrum from a pre-menstrual Angela set off by the loss of a pair of earrings she had just bought in Carpenteria
- A drive back through wine country past the Los Olivos grocery store with much time spent filming and rigging the camera to the front of the van for enhanced filming
- Back to Santa Claus Lane to rent surf boards and practice; ran in to surfers Adrian and Jeff again, wondering what job allowed them to surf mid afternoon on a Monday; Angela had to wimp out after 40 min of surfing due to being thrashed by waves, Oli went strong for 2 hours but was also thrashed
- Realized we could park for free overnight in the public lots in Santa Barbara overlooking the water
- Went out to a touristy dance bar on State St where many foreign college students went looking for something like the discotheques back in their home countries
- Walked down State St a few blocks to our van and passed out from exhaustion

Tuesday
- Chilled in our van overlooking the water for a LONG time, immobilized by tired
- Decided to drive back down the coast, stopping to walk down Venice Beach’s Ocean Front Walk before finally making it to Orange County
- BUT the van wouldn’t start after we stopped to use the bathrooms at a beach along the way; fuel was shooting out of the fuel line when Oli tried to start it
- Within five minutes or so a guy pulled up who was camping at the beach and also happened to be a former VW mechanic; one butter knife later the naughty bit was secured back in place over the fuel line and we made it to Venice
- Walked the classic part of Venice Beach, then impressed passers by with our Frisbee skills
- Checked in to an airport hotel where Bill picked up the van

Wednesday
- Woke up WAY too early for humans to imagine and flew home
- Angela had a pretty good cold that had started as a nose tickle, a reaction to salty blasts from multiple submerssions in massive waves

Can’t wait to see Lily when she comes back to us tomorrow morning!!!
Must purchase a camper for ourselves; Bill says he's happy to help.
Look forward to a future surf vacation where we work out our kinks over a week of intensive practice.
And lastly, Friday is my last day at work. Sweeb, as we say in Milford.

PS - Video version of the above vacation will be available in a few weeks....as will Marty and Megan's wedding from last August and my niece's b-day party from last July...

~

Dad vs Lily

Where are you from?

Fair play

So a certain 5-year-old child we shall not name often gives my niece and nephew a hard time, and my sister has a hard time with this child's mom. The child constatly yanks things out of Jake and Marisa's hands and the mother always replies with, "Let's just let her have it. That's one of her/his favorite toys," instead of doing some gosh darn parenting. When Jake or Marisa ask to play with certain toys, this child generally says no, and the mother doesn't encourage sharing (Some times sharing is a crock and kids should be allowed to say no, but this a pretty extreme case). My sister tries to let the kids battle it out themselves and not to say too much (unless things get physical), espcially because if she says anything, the other mom gets upset that someone has criticized the child.

So after an afternoon of having things taken from their hands and being told they couldn't play with anything, when the kids got in the car and my sister asked if they had fun, they immediately complained about this kid. My nephew Jake told his sister, "You know what we should do, Marisa?! When - comes to our house next time, we should put an electric fence around our toys and each time - goes to grab a toy s/he'll get zapped, and then s/he'll learn not to play with OUR toys!"

What a Jake.

Leslie Feist

For those of you who haven't heard, she's delicious:

Mushaboom music video
May 3, 2007 on NPR
July 25, 2005 on NPR
Wikipedia article

PS - I know I'm years behind.

Lily's first birthday!

It's a bit long at over 5 mins, and I know no one actually cares as much as we do, but here it is, enjoy.

Battles and Breakthroughs

Battle
Angela vs. Webshots
I'm currently trying to post all our good pictures online in big albums so we have a system we can just keep adding to. I've opted for Webshots again because there's better organizatonal tools than Facebook, and it has a function where you can share your Webshots photos on Facebook. BUT now Webshots has decided that about 1 out of every 3 of my photos is "in the wrong format" and I for the life of me, despite hours (Oli can attest) of comparing file types and sizes and orginals to renamed version, cannot figure out why. I am going to email Webshots.

Breakthrough
Esther Greenwood = Holden Caulfield = Huck Finn
I re-read the Bell Jar last week and LOVED it. It had depressed me beyond belief when I read it sophomore or junior year of college, probably because I held so many of the same fears as Esther Greenwood. Now that I realize choosing one life path doesn't necessarily exclude all others, I was able to appreciate how well the book is written and the narrator's voice crafted. I even got dorky and wrote out a character sketch of things Esther would and wouldn't do because I wanted to see how well I understood her just from reading her story. Answer: pretty well. Well done to Sylvia Plath; it's just a shame she can't be here to revel in her genius....

Thinking about Esther got me thinking about Holden Caulfield of Catcher in the Rye and Huckleberry Finn and I am convinced they are very similar:
1. Their personal opinions don't jive with those of the society around them
2. They all act out and go on personal adventures in relation to their rebellion
3. They all think humorous self-depricating thoughts constantly in relation to 1 and 2 to make things not seem so bad

In any case, I'm half way done re-reading Catcher and will move on to Huck next week. My train rides to and from work are pretty fun lately.

Why did you need to know all that? Just because, I suppose.

She's back, for a limited time only.

Remodeling

Check out link changes under "Las fotos y los videos" to the right. Now non-Facebook users can access our photos there through these links :) Adios Webshots.

More to come...

"Tears of pain wash the blood away."

A quote from a pbs documentary narrator. A Japanese fighter pilot fights to regain control of his plane after winning a dogfight against an American fighter over Guadelcanal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saburo_Sakai
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pug_Southerland

Girl Next Door

What do you do when Playboy (yes, Playboy) conducts a film shoot in your neighbours garden?
This:

She's a girl

A new gallery.

bloggidy bloggy blog blog blog

Someone keeps harrassing with me emails and texts telling me to write more blog entries. I am hearby stating to that person that I will not give in, not now, not ever - I shall not write ANY blog entries. Leave me alone. Please.

In other news, Angela and I are going to Summer Camp music festival this Thursday to see Umphrey's McGee, Tea Pot Green and a host of other unmemorable bands. I'll be volunteering at Lollapalooza this year, and you can too, simply by signing up on their website. Ummm what else...considering getting an SLR, not going to Panama can't afford it, might go to California camping in a camper van, there's a hole in the living room floor, getting ready to move to Europe in a few months ...if you need stuff to fill your apartment with, such as a round bed, a butcher block, papa-san chair with stool, TV, N64 with MarioKart and GoldenEye, anything and everything really, put your bids in now, 'cause we got a lot of stuff to be rid of and if you can pick it up it's yours.

Listened to the Wilco and Decemberist and haven't listened to them again since. nuff said.

Facebook Fotos

New photos on my Facebook page at:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=7457&l=7fcf4&id=659342526

Some old BCN and Chicago Christmas things are up.

Oli has most of the Lily pictures on his computer, thus the lack of pictures of my child.

~

Info post

I'm back in my role as warrior against junk mail, particularly credit card applications. Not only is junk mail annoying, but it kills over 100 million trees a year (!).

For Americans to rid themselves of credit card application mail, see:
This link
Then click on the first option:
Unsolicited Mail, Telemarketing and Email: Where to Go to "Just Say No"

Removal from lists will require a phone call or some letters but the link provides the phone number or, if you're in a mail mood, a template for the letters.

To remove yourself from other mail marketing lists:
https://www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offmailinglist

Save yourself some headaches, and save some trees for Lily and her short friends of the future.

Everyone poops

Especially Lily.

England Part 4

Crazy - The most amazing home videos are here

New vid at last - North Avenue beach

I've just gotten over a long period of dislike for video editing; this is something I rustled up rather quickly to give those back in the UK an idea of how the little one is doing.

Enjoy

Resumes

Oli and I are correcting high school students' resumes. Here are some gems:

As a bullet point describing a recent position held:
- Work together to create globe on how to solve global warming
- Experiences kinds of different evasive species

Under Skills:
- Good communicator skills

Another student's Skills section:
- I communicate pretty well

Under Interests on another:
- Baseball
- Reading manga
- Watching anime
- Computers

Another description of a recent position:
- discussed about the earth
- took "fieldtrips"
- cut down bushes
- cleaned the earth

And on a slightly darker note:
- Education: 2 years of high school - planning on graduating

Ain't nuttin but baby talk up in here

Just some Lily chat and mommy thoughts here.

She still climbs everything and now can mount the futon by lifting up a foot, placing it on the seat and hoisting herself up. Very humorous to see (Eh-hem, Oli.).

Her comprehension of English and Spanish grows by a handful of phrases each week. Tonight I almost scared her with my shouts of joy when we were in the bath and I asked, "Donde esta el pie de Liliana?" and she franticallly searched the water for her foot, finding it and lifting it into the air with her hands.

Overall, we girls had simply the best evening together. A trip to the library to grab some baby books set us up to meet some little Mexican girls who switched from English to Spanish as soon as they realized we understood. They poked Lily, chased her, hugged her and kissed her, and were sad to see us go. It made me hope our life in Spain might be like that...

Lily ate a big dinner and I must say, I do love dinner time sometimes because I take the opportunity while Lily is tied in a chair to entertain her with all my talents. While Lily eats, I generallly do the dishes, then dance and make faces at her, getting her into hysterics by putting my back to her and then looking at her quickly over my shoulder. Somehow she manages to feed herself, and sometimes me, during all this.

Bathtime, another time for us to be silly, was stellar as well. Lately Lily is learning to wash people, including herself. The only danger is the old soap-in-the-eye bit. When that happens, Lily knows water needs to be dumped over her head, which she is rather ok with, so long as it gets the bastard soap out. Similarly, as much as she hates putting on or taking off clothing, she understands how it works and lifts legs, arms, whatever to make the process go faster...that is, when she's not yelling at you to let her go.

All in all, this post is a big Yeah to myself that I feel Lily and I are buddies, that we're communicating, whether it be about getting clothes on, new vocabulary, or blowing bubbles in the bath, and perhaps most importantly, that Lily understands I like and respect her. I sometimes worry that I'll focus way too much on intellectual development and just be a mean mom who's no fun, that I'll explain way to much to her and always try to show her how to do things "right" rather than letting her take the wheel. On the contrary, lately I've really been enjoying being goofy, teaching Lil through goofiness, and generally just letting her know that I think highly of her. I'm really trying hard to teach Lil without stepping on her toes, to let her know she is good, and to just generally respect her so that as she grows she'll be open with me. Our buddiness is the first sign that she's getting the messages I'm trying to send her! So, that's all, just a post to share my worries and a little personal triumph.

Louis Theroux

Loo-ee Ther-oo.

He's a television journalist for the BBC and you should check him out because:
a) He is excellent at acting dim to disarm his subjects, a la Colombo
b) He does great interviews
c) His topics are interesting and outcomes oft unexpected
d) He's pretty cute in a dual national hipster way

See:
1) Wikipedia

2) Most Hated Family in America (in several parts on YouTube)

3) Google or YouTube "Louis Theroux Weird Weekends" and you'll find episodes of his old BBC program

Today

My parents came out to Small Bar with us this morning to watch English football. Lily ran up and down Division enjoying the glorious day and Oli chased her around with a pool cue. Dad read the paper and Mom raved about the whole wheat pancake. And yes, Mom asked the waiter his name and introduced herself to him.

After that it was Humbolt Park, walking around the fishing pond, over bridges and through patchy trees. We pointed at geese, dangled our feet in the cold water, found a big egg, released cat tail silk into the wind, and found a most excellent scrubby stick to hit things with. A typical day in kiddom, where you're king if you've got a stick in your hand and rich if you find several Heineken bottle tops. Lily is a queen and a millionaire today.

Today's our anniversary

No big plans in the works yet, though we've set aside next Monday when I'm off work to celebrate.

It always seems to happen that I don't realize an event is important to me until it arrives, and by that point, there's no time to plan anything or do anything, and it passes away so that next year when we ask ourselves, "What did we do on our anniversary," we will have no idea. Caramba.

In any case, it's a beautiful day, much of which has been spent outside with our Lil, and Mr. Milner may be arriving from New York tomorrow to spend a few days with us, so hopefully we can remember that!

~

More proof that our child is cool, but you already knew that

Being Lily's mother, she impresses me in many ways. Her new way of impressing me is with her bravery. She's so tough and inquisitive!

Take for instance her fearlessness when it comes to dogs. No matter how giant the beast, when Lily spots it from 100 feet away, she begins woofing like a high-pitched poodle and moving toward the thing. We must then go accost the owner, make them stop their walk and let Lily commune with the dog, which means letting her woof at it and pet or pinch it. Dogs don't seem to mind.





Another example: her new interest in climbing. Boxes, stools, roadside curbs, steps. You name it, Lily wants to put her feet on it....but not without asking for a helping hand from Mom or Dad once in a while. This makes me admire her even more; she's not a reckless child, leaping off things or clambering up things she can't manage, but she still goes for it. When she sees something climb worthy, she sticks her hand out to us, asking for a little stabilizing hand hold, and then begins her assent, which sometimes leaves her in a horizontal position, feet on the high thing and hands holding on to us.

Tonight she started exploring the world of swimming, which only further impresses me. We were in the bath together and it was quite deep. She slipped and went right under at one point, only to stand up and shake it off. I'd like to think my not freaking out about her falls helps her to not be bothered by them, but in this case, it was all Lily. Her slip under the water got her interested and from there she kept experimenting with ways to slip or float on her belly or back. This experimentation led to a few other dips under, but she just blinked out the water from her eyes and kept trying it out. What a cool kid.

Anyway, here's one last photo of her playing in the alley like a real city kid.

~

Lily in her 14th month

Nellie McKay

A few years ago I took a walk to Virgin Megastore on Michigan Avenue and ended up buying a CD that was on the $10 rack because I liked the cover. It was a two-disk set by a girl named Nellie McKay, and ended up being one of my favorite buys ever.

I still listen to Nellie regularly and as I was transferring my music into my new mac, I thought to look up where Nellie is now: http://www.nelliemckay.com/

I learned that Nellie had been interviewd on NPR when the album I had, entitled Get Away From Me, was released. On their site you can listen to the interview in which she sings live playing the piano, and you can hear that she really can sing as well and as in control as she does on the album. NPR also has some of her songs: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1700688

~

the prime minister ain't bothered

This film depicts a classic stereotype in the UK; the chav. I don't really know what the equivalent in the US is ("urban white trash" perhaps), but I think you'll soon understand the character if you're not familiar with it already.

In this scene a chav has an internship with the prime minister with chavlarious results. In the UK we use the expressions "I can't be bothered" and "I'm not bothered" to say "I don't want to do" something or "I'm not interested" in something. Knowing that, you should find Blair's perfomance quite amusing.