Babies and Boats

In early June, John and I drove out to Philly to visit my friends Emily and Mike, the friends who had a baby shower, because that bump was born! When one of your best friends has a baby, it's slow torture until you finally get to meet the little one and I wanted to meet the sweet baby Juniper!  I wanted my friends to meet John too; and he had friends on the other side of Philly to visit with also that I was looking forward to meeting, but just outside of Binghamton I got pulled over and got not one, but two tickets!  One for speeding, and one for my tints. Ugh, needless to say I was not pleased, but we did have a great trip despite a minor delay.

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Me and Juno!

Juno and one of her many funny faces.

Sweet baby girl fell asleep in my arms for 2 hours!

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The month of June turned into a baby extravaganza.  First, we went to our friends Mel and Bob's house for a barbeque who just had their second baby, Edie. Then two weeks later we went to Philly and met Juno, and John's friends had two toddler boys.  Then two weeks after that, my dear friends Erica and Yassine came out to the East Coast from Oregon and I got to spend time with them and their baby girl, Farah.  All baby girls, all completely adorable.  I'm eager to watch them grow and turn into the interesting people I know they will be.  And there have been other babies too, unfortunately ones I have not met; Briana, a friend and fellow IC alum and her husband Charles had their first, a girl, Eliza!  And Derek-- a friend of the (first) man I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with--and his wife just had their first, the only boy in the bunch, Trey.

Jake & Edie!

Edie baby!

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December 2010, when Farah (at 3 months old) and I first met!

Farah and I in Gimme on State St.

The last night they were in town, at 9 months old, not a fan of sitting still :o)

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This morning I had court for said tickets.  (Whenever you get a ticket, plea not guilty, they are almost always willing to reduce it for you).  The District Attorney I spoke with was very nice; I mentioned how I lost my job in December and I know that helped my situation.  I found it curious though, that when I asked her and she didn't have an answer as to why you can get tints on your car that are legally too dark and yet that doesn't affect the car from passing inspection.  I didn't question it too much and appreciated that I got my speeding ticket reduced to a moving violation, not as many points and also not as high of a fine, with a lower surcharge too and I got no fine for my tints!  The court was also willing to set up a payment plan.  So, since I did receive depositions with my tickets, I couldn't get it dismissed, but other than that one scenario, it pretty much went as well as it could.

Driving back to Ithaca I took my time.  There were a few things I saw on my way down I wanted to stop and snap pictures of and I also had today's Ithaca Art daily mission in mind: boats.   So, I stopped a few times before getting back into town and I also drove around a bit on some of the back roads I used to drive frequently during college and got some great shots.

Ithaca Art Mission Submission: Landlocked, by L.A. Illiano

Ithaca Art Mission Submission: Caution: Abandoned Canoe, by L.A. Illiano

Going Nowhere Fast, by L.A. Illiano

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I have always loved babies; their smell, their noises, especially cooing and gurgles, their funny faces.  The way the world feels completely different while holding them.  The question comes up, do you want a baby? Do you want children?  And while I understand this question, it's really only part of what I want.  A family, that's what I want.  Having a partner who also wants children, who wants the same kind of lifestyle, has the same values and wants to work together to raise children, that's what I want.  But a family has so many different kinds of looks, children aren't necessarily a definite piece of the puzzle, even though I'm almost certain of the answer.  But most of the time, I don't feel like getting into this discussion.  Being in my late twenties and watching more and more people pair off, or pairs become married, or married couples have babies, and my predisposition of loving babies has kicked my internal clock into a gear I wasn't quite prepared for.  So the simple answer, the one that is vague enough to leave plenty of uncertainty, but doesn't lead into a string of other questions is, I think so.  I think I want a boat too.  But right now I'm happy with loving my friends babies and children like a pseudo Aunt, settling into the house with John, and taking pictures of other people's boats, even if they are being unappreciated.

Philly, Friends, and Fitness

I'm back from my weekend in Philly to see some old friends. They are the first friends from college who are married, bought a house, and are now expecting a baby where my initial reaction wasn't anything but excitement.  I've certainly known plenty of others who have had babies, but none who I have stayed in close contact with, or had the availability or experience of going to their baby shower.

It was so great to get there Friday night and have time to catch up with a dear friend who took the bus up from NYC who I hadn't seen in too-long-to-even-try-and-figure-out.  While we were talking in the living room the hostess came and joined us and the three of us updated the others, though when the conversation eventually turned to men in our lives--the way it does when you're in your late twenties and dating--the beautiful hostess replied something along the lines of not being able to imagine living her life like that; and while looking at her pregnant belly, I thought I can't imagine my life being like hers right now.  Not that one is better than the other.  It's so interesting to watch the different paths my friends and my life takes, and that we can all be there for each other during our variety of adventure.  These are women I have and continue to hold dear to my heart, no matter what zip code we reside.

The baby shower on Saturday was pretty low key as baby showers go.  This was my first in person baby shower attended; other friends of mine (not from college) who just had a baby at the end of the summer moved across the country and video-taped their shower and sent it out to everyone who sent gifts.  Both couples including the husband, which I am a fan of because, well, it's their kid too, right?

So we drove to her parent's house and the only activities were the thumbprint tree (which is an idea I've filed for when/if the day ever comes for myself) and also onesie decorating. People got pretty creative.

After cake and presents we drove the hour back to their house for time with friends before we all went our separate ways again on Sunday.  Sitting around their living room, I couldn't help but notice the couples; these were friends who, last time any of us were living in the same city, I had been with the same person for years and never experienced singlehood in their presence.  Two married couples (host & hostess included), one couple who were living together, one lady who was minus her partner, and then four singles.  I guess it was so strange to be surrounded by people married or pregnant my age because most of the people I am surrounded by locally are still single and searching or simply single.  My friends who have kids are single and had their kids very young and the people who are married, were married before I met them so I never knew them single.  What that means, well, it's nothing more than an observation.

After breakfast on Sunday, I hit the road and made great time on my drive back to Ithaca and drove straight to the gym.  I had made a commitment to myself the prior week that I wouldn't go more than 2 days in a row without working out; and for this week I made a commitment to get my run (always on an elliptical) up to 5 miles. So holding to both of those, I got myself to the gym Sunday afternoon and started my week off great by hitting my goal of 5 miles! Afterwards I made a big batch of tuna salad: tuna, light mayo, celery, carrots, and red onion with  some salt and pepper.

Making a big batch of it means I could have leftovers and healthy food ready to eat after my workout tonight.  I got to the gym and walked 1.3 miles, which was just enough time to create two amazing blisters on my heels, then I stretched and did a few yoga poses and then I went to a spinning class and biked 17.4 miles! Killer workout and came home to a bowl of tuna salad and a piece of cheesecake my housemate made.  I have a sweet tooth and as they say, I'm not looking to be a saint by Thursday (as if I'm really looking for sainthood at all).