Delivery Service

The other day we were standing in the kitchen after I got home at 9:30 at night after a longggg day of work. Mike said something about how he now understands what they mean by a "New York Minute". The time flies by here. You wake up at 7:00am to get ready for work. You leave your house by nine to get there by 10:30. I usually get home by 8:00 at night. By that point you're starving so you grab a bite to eat and by the time you look at the clock, it's 11:00 and you've got to go to bed to get ready for the same routine the next day. It's insane!!! Sometimes I feel like I'm wasting my life away....I don't do anything but work! I have to remember though that I have a "life" at work too. I get to talk to customers and interact with my staff...but sometimes I just feel like I need more than that. MUCH more. I have spent the last two weeks working long, hard hours. In order to make customers happy, I've offered to deliver packages to their houses. I found myself in a cab twice and also delivering dresses by foot to wealthy women across town. I don't mind it so much, as it gets me out of the store for a bit and I can take a breath of fresh air....especially now that the weather is so beautiful. I wonder what it would be like to have things delivered to your apartment that overlooks central park all of the time? I wonder what it'd be like if I was an entrepeneur....if I was able to make my own schedule and be my own boss while doing something I was passionate about? Man, I need to start brainstorming.

When I feel exhausted and overwhelmed, sometimes seeing the beauty of the city from afar gives me a reality check and makes me feel grateful for experiencing all of this. Last night, we climbed up onto the roof and Mike shot these beautiful pictures of the skyline right as the sun had gone down.


I kept wondering if all of the people in all of those lit up windows of the Manhattan skyline feel the same way I feel each day...and if they're embracing those short lived moments of solitude with their families before they have to go to bed.

Quiet morning

...over here in Queens. It feels more like 5am than 9...the apartment is so cold and gray. Why is it that I can never find socks when I need them? It has been raining all night, I keep hearing this noise that sounds like one giant raindrop falling onto a tarp from outside. The cat and I slept in my new room last night. I felt like I was at summer camp or something... anxious about closing my eyes and resting in a new spot. I know I slept, although it doesn't feel like it. Drank some coffee a little while ago, read the news online, now I'm watching Rupert sprawl out on the cold tile. How do their backs bend like that? It has truly hit me that our normal Kate and Tara routine is infinitely finished. I'm upset that she has moved out. I know it is for the best though. It is time for the both of us to experience a new New York. My new NYC is about to start on Friday.

One of my favorite pictures that Mike took last week.

Purple Dolce and Gabana platforms...

...were Betsey's shoes of choice this morning as she burst into our 9am meeting in a whirlwind of color and craziness the way she usually does (and how she does it best!) We spent the better part of the day sitting in on the regional meetings at the showroom. After a short afternoon break, our meeting resumed more casually at a long table in a dimly lit wine room at Freeman's Alley near the Bowery. Chit chatting about sales and retail philosophy over wine and incredible food....I'm absolutely exhausted. By 9pm we were all ready for bed.

I have a crazy day ahead of me tomorrow. Pray for good luck.

Old and new, but still old.

I found a few old photographs of my grandma, Pearl, from when she was around my age. I think these both were taken of her in the 1930's. She grew up in the Bronx and was the only girl (and the youngest) of five kids in her family. Her father was a tailor and handmade all of her clothing. I'm talking about fur coats, suits, petty coats, the whole enchilada. (Must've been who I inherited my fashion itch from!) I used to try to steal all of her old hand tailored trench coats from her bedroom closet when I was younger. Her style was so elegant....

I scanned these pictures in a few weeks ago and keep them on the desktop of my computer. Usually once a day or so I for some reason open them up and stare at them. I just can't get over how time can change you physically. I feel like she is looking right at me in these photographs and that this is a completely different person from the grandma I know today.


My mom has spent the last few days with my grandma in Arizona and has been pretty affected by her sharp decline. Although Pearl has kvetched (yep, there's some Yiddish for ya, folks!) constantly about every single thing for the majority of my mom's life and has driven so many of us crazy for many years, we still hold a deep admiration for the long life she has led and much love for the innocent girl in the pictures above taken 70 years ago and the one below taken 7 hours ago.

Never thought hot weather could feel so good.

Sunday was a well needed day of rest and reflection. Mike and I packed up a knapsack in the morning and we took the train to Central Park after my doctor's appointment. We picked up some sandwiches along the way and set up shop next to a baseball field where there was a group of crazy old men playing a way-too-competitive softball game. We laid in the sun for a few hours and lost track of time. There was no agenda, no place to be, nothing to worry about. I appreciated every single moment. You could tell that all of the smiling couples and families were all feeling the same way that we were - GOOD RIDDANCE TO YOU, WINTER!!

Long long time...

I want to apologize for the lack of posting within the last few weeks. I have been having a really hard time recently. My motivation to write in this blog, or talk, or do anything really except for come home each day and feel emotional had completely disappeared. I think the accumulation of homesickness, sickness, exhaustion and the cold weather really has begun to take a toll on me. Everything seems a little up in the air right now, there is a lot of transition that is about to begin....but like I've been advised by my friends and family....I just need to embrace everything for what it is. I can't continue to lead a life like the one I've been living for the last few weeks. It's definitely not healthy. Definitely not healthy at all. It's amazing what your body can do to itself when you don't take care of yourself.

On a much lighter note....yesterday was the first day of warm weather and the city had an electricity about it that I haven't experienced in as long as I have lived here. Mike and I met up after I got out of work last night and sat in Union Square for a few hours. It was eerily quiet considering the hundreds of people who were just sitting out on the steps, on the benches, in the grass, embracing the long overdue cool breeze swirling around amongst the 80 degree temperature. I watched people of every age chat, relax, stare up at the stars....the blue light from the empire state building casting a cool night time glow over all of us. We sat on a bench for a long time and enjoyed the mood. It was exactly what I needed.

Today we're heading to central park to lay in the sun to catch some rays and melt away all of the depression I've been feeling.

Bummin' around day 2

After being sick for a week and a half with what felt like the Pneumonia I had last year around this time and then having a really busy week back at work, it has felt so good to sloth around my apartment for two days. Ohhhhhh does it feel good! Yesterday I started to feel a little glutenous, but then I thought....GLUTENY? WHO CARES? I DON'T CARE! THE CAT DOESN'T CARE! NEW YORK DOESN'T CARE! Sloth away, Tara! Bum around like you've never bummed around before! That's what days off are for, right? Eh?

So on that note, yesterday I slept in till 11:00, forced myself to go to the grocery store around 2:00, came home, took a nap, ate a little bit, played with Rupert, fell asleep watching The Office season 4, played with Rupert some more and then woke up from nap #3 feeling extremely guilty for doing nothing all day. Kate has been in Austin for four days, so I've been extremely lonely and homesick, not to mention that I miss my boyfriend like crazy! (Who am I?!) So in lew of my newfound solitude-induced depression, I decided to go to the movies to take my mind off of how I've become one of those lonely women obsessed with reality tv, boys and cats. I went to see The Reader in Union Square. It was a great movie but a bit of a downer. Maybe not the best movie to see when you're missing your friends and family and feel like enhaling an entire vat of buttery popcorny goodness. I made a quick stop to Whole Foods afterwards because, well, I was bored and who doesn't like staring at perfectly placed pyramids of fresh vegetables? I picked up a variety of random goods: Peanut butter, seedless red grapes, nectarines and veggie burgers. Oh, and also a very over-priced bottle of fizzy water. "Mojo cool" to be exact. I then hopped onto the train and got home around 10:30. I started another movie on my netflix but fell asleep 20 minutes into it. Sorry Parker Posey, I tried my best to stay awake!

Today seems to be trending very similarly to yesterday. I must have fallen asleep on the couch because I woke up around 7:30AM to Rupert meowing and pawing at my face. I gave him some food and then laid back down in my bed. Re-awoke around 10:30 am. Have played on the computer for a couple of hours doing the neccessary scan through all of my favorite blogs. I then received a buzz at my door and discovered a very robotic looking package sitting infront of our mailbox!






I received a bar mitzfah-themed greeting card that read, "Dear Tara, congrats on the Mitzvah, it has been a long journey but you are finally a man. Enclosed are two mugs (you may want to use the enclosed hand sanitizer on the mugs. They are from savers), the MP3 cd you requested and a brand new copy of Spooky Sounds." I laughed for a long time. I needed something to cheer me up and almost make me shoot coffee out of my nose all over myself. Thanks Robot, I love you. You're a great brother.

Suddenly, I am feeling an inspirational itch to be productive! (I would hope so, it's 3:00 in the afternoon!) I need to do laundry, clean the house before Kate gets home (Eeeeeek!!) and take a shower. I will also try to be more productive with writing in my blog. This last week has been so long and tiring, I couldn't find much motivation to do anything, let alone the inspiration to write about anything interesting!

I will leave you with a few pictures of Mike's cat. He has been a great source of entertainment. It's funny how easily distracted cats can be. They think they're wiser than dogs, but I've never seen a living creature become so infatuated with a runaway grape on the floor or the shadow of their own tail.

Baltimorian...water is pronounced woooarter.

Spending five days in a new city was so refreshing. Minus getting sick, I felt revitalized when I returned to New York. I love spending time with Mike. And even while he was at work, I kept entertained by playing with Rupert in his apartment and walking around the neighborhood taking pictures. The city is so old and there is so much history there. You can feel it while you walk down the old cobblestone streets. I met a lot of new people during my stay and was engulfed in new cultures that I may have never been exposed to otherwise. Some of the neighborhoods are so old and beautiful, while others just two or three streets away are poverty stricken. Entire blocks of homes are completely abandoned and the streets are drug infested. There is so much to be seen and experienced in Baltimore. I can't believe a city that has so much potential has been so neglected and uncelebrated. Such a shame.

At first I was a little nervous about Mike and I being far from one another, but I have really enjoyed the distance and the anticipation of visiting eachother in separate cities. It has worked out perfectly. Funny how things like this seem to fall into place when you are least expecting it.

Feelin better.

I got home from Baltimore late on Wednesday night, worked Thursday, left early on Friday and left early on Saturday due to this crazy flu that I randomly caught. After a couple of days of feeling feverish and sounding manly with this burly cough I've acquired, today I am finally feeling a bit better. Fever feels gone, only one nostril is plugged...things are looking up! On top of feeling poorly because I was sick, I also felt bad because Mike and his buddy Ray drove all the way up from Baltimore on Saturday to see Kate and I. They drove a u-haul packed with a bunch of Mike's things to give to us since he is moving out of his apartment. I was probably not a lot of fun to be around, but it was nice having them here to spend a day with. I wish I could have shown them a better time in Manhattan, but the cold weather was taking a toll on me. I can't believe how sweet of Mike it was to give us his all of his furniture, his tv, etc etc. Also....we're watching Rupert for a while. Mike is thinking about trying to move here sometime in the summer, so Rupert will be living with two girls until then. Having a little kitty around feels so nice. He is such good company.

Our house looks beautiful. It finally feels like a home now! I'm so thankful.

I'm okay!

Hey everyone...

Oddly enough, I've gotten a bunch of calls/emails about my lack of blog posting. I'm okay. I've just been out of town and now I have the flu. Posting will continue as soon as I'm feeling better.

xo,
Tara

Blizzard!

New York is expecting a foot of snow today. Me, Kate and Travis played around in it this morning on our walk to our favorite diner.