What a week

It's been quite a week, and it's only Wednesday. Oh dear.

Monday evening the ever inquisitive Mischa helped herself to half a pack of Trident gum, the sugarfree kind that's loaded with xylitol. In case you are unfamiliar with it, xylitol is a sweetener that is toxic to cats and dogs. It can cause their blood sugar to drop, which could result in seizures, as well as liver damage. Basically, it makes you wonder if you should even be consuming it as a human, but according to the google, our human metabolisms can handle it. Right.

So the last few days have been super fun as you could imagine. We spent Monday night getting checked out at the 24 hour animal hospital where she spent the night, last night we picked her up and this morning it was back to the doctor. Mischa is home now and doing well, her liver levels are a little elevated so she is on medication and goes back to the doctor for a follow up on Saturday.

The little troublemaker, happy to be back home after a long day and night in the hospital. 

PS. The red bandage on her arm is from having her blood drawn, she is now bandage free!

Graduation

JD graduated from Law School yesterday. I am so incredibly proud of him. And though he does not feel very finished or accomplished, and swears that he won’t until he takes the bar at the end of July, he has accomplished so much, and he is finished!

 I cannot believe how fast the last three years have gone. It’s a little scary actually. Was it really three years ago that we loaded the old van with all of JD’s things to drive in to his new apartment? It’s strange how you can remember certain things so clearly that they could have happened last week, and other things feel much further in the past than they are. 

JD about to have his name called. Once it was he booked it across the stage so fast I didn't have time to snap a picture! 

Mayor Bloomberg, the guest speaker, receiving his honorary degree from Arthur Abbey and Dean Crowell.

After the the ceremony. It rained all day in New York. Our sinuses, and hair, didn't stand a chance!

Remember when iphone photos used to be good? Could have sworn they were much better quality when I first got my phone, but that was three years ago. Maybe it’s just too old to care. I wish I had ignored the rules like everyone else and taken my camera anyway. The number of family members snapping photos with specifically prohibited dlsrs made me want to cry, but that's what I get for following the rules. JD, you may be asked to don your cap and gown once more for a proper photo shoot. (:

Short Hair

Every now and then (usually at the exact moment my hair gets to my desired length) I feel the need for a change. A few years back I cut my hair so that the ends just brushed the tops of my shoulders. I loved it. It was a great cut and so easy to style, but then one day I decided that I missed my long hair and vowed to grow it out. Thanks to a series of miscommunications between my hairdresser over the years, it hasn't quite gotten to that dream length yet. You know what I'm talking about, you go in for a trim and boom, three inches later... there are tears, and you're "never getting your hair cut again, UGH!" It's all too common. Well, I'm still working on that dream of long hair, and I'm determined to stick with it. But, lately I've been wishing for short hair. I think it has to do with the season. Long hair in warm weather can get frustrating, especially hair that has been damaged by color and styling.

This all boils down to a very simple question: how upset will I be with myself three weeks after the cut?

The answer is always the same: very.

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Amanda Seyfried has the most gorgeous hair, so glossy and healthy looking. This is my goal length and has been for what feels like forever.

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But Brooklyn Decker's long bob is so pretty and fun for summer!

So while I dream of days walking around with a Grace Kelly cut, they'll have to wait for now.

The Golden Era

If there is any concept that the first eight episodes of Mad Men have reenforced it's that there is no golden era. We know that life was tough in the US during the 1930s and 40s, but the 1950s and early 60s are often looked at through a rose colored lens. Enter the perfect family, dad's a handsome businessman, mom raises the kids at home while looking perfectly gorgeous in a full skirt, the kids have manners, and the family dog rescues them all from the well. Not on this show folks. No one is happy or appears to possess any redeeming qualities. Everyone is having affairs and just being terrible to each other in general.

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The Great Gatsby has a similar theme. The glamour of the 1920s is only put on display at Gatsby's parties. Once the guests have trickled out of the garden and the gates have closed, everyone in the story is pretty miserable. Fitzgerald's characters have everything and nothing at the same time and most of them are so evil about it. Having read the book several times I have seen different sides of them. The first time I read it I hated Myrtle and felt sorry for Daisy, the last time it was the opposite. I haven't seen the new film yet, but plan to do so soon, mostly for the costumes. It's a great story, don't get me wrong, but I'd rather go to the theater to laugh than feel sad about the state of the world.

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Two picture perfect era's have their dirty undersides revealed time and time again, reminding us that nothing is truly perfect, but it doesn't sway our perception of those golden days, does it?

On another note, have you seen The Great Gatsby and is it any good?

Last Night

First things first, I hope that all of you lovely mothers out there had the best Mother's Day yesterday!

It was a very busy weekend around these parts. Friday I took JD out for dinner to celebrate taking his last law school final. Saturday, we bottled our blueberry beer and brewed a vanilla porter in record time. We're definitely getting the hang of it. And yesterday, my mom came into the city for brunch. 

Last night JD and I went to see ASSSSCAT at the UCB Theater in Chelsea. If you don't know what that is I suggest you log into your Netflix account right now and watch their special. You could also consult the Google. Whatever floats your boat. Amy Poehler hasn't been around to do the show in a while, and it was Mother's Day, something I did not realize when I decided to purchase tickets for the 7:30pm show last month. I had accepted the fact that Amy was probably not going to be there, but the show would be worth seeing regardless. As we walked in, this really familiar looking guy held the door open for us. I couldn't place him. We made our way downstairs. and settled into seats behind the guest monologist's chair on the side of the stage area. Then I noticed four seats taped off in the area facing the stage. I whispered to JD "oh, I wonder who's here..." They usually don't have seats reserved, it's kind of a sit wherever you can sort of place. The lights dimmed, the music stopped, and out runs Amy Poehler with wet hair to introduce the show! It was her first night back in almost a year! The cast: Neil Casey (writer for SNL), Shannon O'Neill (UCB), Tami Sagher (writer for How I Met Your Mother), Zach Woods (The Office), and Chad Carter (UCB). Oh and that nice gentlemen that held the door open for us? Rich Sommer of Mad Men, the guest monologist. 

The show was amazing. By far the best improv show I've seen. The creativity and commitment to the characters they created and the scenes was impressive. Everything was so seamless, it really did look as if it had all been preplanned, which of course it hadn't. I'm always so impressed by how they know when to edit a scene, and how quickly they're able to come up with ideas. 

After the show we walked home, stopping for dinner at a sweet little French restaurant, La Grainne Cafe, on the way. Years ago, before JD lived here, we met his mom for lunch at this restaurant. We couldn't remember the name, or the neighborhood it was in and thought it was lost forever. Every now and then it would come up in conversation and finally JD asked his mom if she could remember it. She did, and there we went. It was just as wonderful as I remembered. We'll have to go back again soon.