1 month as a new yorker

4 delightful weeks as a New York city dweller have passed.  Hard to believe. It went by quickly. And, was a delight.  The seasons are starting to change and the mighty musky mornings of subway humidity are something we can practically kiss goodbye. Fall is at the doorstep and I will gladly welcome it in.  July was so nice - the subway stink wasn't even on my radar.  As we moved into August...GOOD-NESS! Hello hotness in a giant way! My weekends have been full of exploration, and big naps! This school day biz is nothing to sneeze at! The kiddies surely can wear a gal out!

Sunday Exploration - Kate Spade Flagship on Broome in SOHO



After new student orientation at school - week three of in service



During week 2 of in service



During the first day of school - 5th graders in the gym

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I am STILL a doctoral student at University of Memphis - This is hopefully my last semester of classes. Thankfully for SKYPE, I dial in for class and the learning continues and instead of sitting next to my "wolf pack" cohort in class - class looks like this...

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On the personal front....

I am the proud keeper of a giant stack of apartment keys.



And they open all the right doors in this beautiful brownstone!



...on a tree lined street that looks like this...

(this isn't actually my block - it's one a few over)

It's funny how time can change plans. As of July 1, 2015 we were set to move into this house on Labor Day weekend (approximately 2 months later)...and instead I moved to NYC. Time is a funny "thing"...it really is amazing what can happy in the span of a few days, a week, or a month!

Alas, the time wasn't right for this house...
Perhaps there will be another house, another day/week/month/year

All in all - things are great! It's still hard to believe that I'm here and doing what I love. Teaching - working with the masses, growing everyday in knowledge and with a group of humans who ask questions and desire answers, or at least have the fortitude to move towards results in some way shape and form. I enjoy being on a faculty of hard working educators from diverse backgrounds who bring a sizable volume of worldly experience with them. I enjoy being able to celebrate the cultures and rituals of various types of religions and backgrounds of the people I am now part of. I enjoy getting to actually apply what I've now spent over a decade in university studying. The desire and outcome so far, far outweighs the difficulty it took to get to this place and time. Virtually everything in my daily life is new. There's newness in my daily routine, perhaps the biggest that when I leave home in the morning I'm not climbing inside my Lexus that's parked in my heated garage, now I'm walking 8 blocks and then getting on a subway. (And yes, my legs are looking nice.) I'm living in an apartment that's approximately 1000 sq ft. as opposed to a house with 5000 sq ft. I have 1 bathroom, not 4. I have a bath tub, not a indoor salt water swimming pool and hot pool (yes, that was hard to let go of that.). I don't have a dishwasher, I don't have a washer and dryer (although I'm totally fine with the later because the "fluff and fold" is the best thing EVER. I may never do laundry again). I hardly cook - but then again I didn't really in Memphis either. For the first time in approximately 8 years, I'm living without a piano of any kind. This is maybe the hardest amongst the amenities that I'd grown accustomed to in daily life. In fact, I haven't even played a piano now in over a month! This, obviously, is something I'm working to fix, but none the less is perhaps the longest I've gone EVER not playing. Yes my fingers itch to play and I have songs in my head basically all the time. My days are longer and usually include some sort of deep breath exercise at some juncture in the day, but, I love it, and am so very, very happy.