i live in a small space, yes i do. I live in a small space, how 'bout you?

The title of this post should be read as if you were chanting like a high school cheerleader. Go ahead, try it again. I'll wait....Wasn't that much more fun?

I live in a small space. Let me clarify, for our family it is a small space. I have to clarify, because it seems one can no longer make statements like that without angering the internets. Without said clarification, angry emails can be hurled my way like blocks of cheese, saying I am a liar. I like to avoid angry emails unless I'm feeling particularly feisty. I'm not feeling so feisty right now. But I am craving cheese. It's a bit of a dilemma.

Anyway, I got to thinking about our home in Colorado. Probably because WE FINALLY HAVE A CONTRACT ON THAT HOUSE. After 10 long months. Thank you economy. As I was thinking about that home, I was reminded how different our current space is.

Here's a few of the differences:

Colorado: 6 bedrooms
NYC: 3 bedrooms (one of which was converted from a dining room)

Colorado: large family kitchen
NYC: tiny kitchen that gets me hostile if more than 2 people are in it

Colorado: living room, dining room, office, family room, media room...
NYC: den (and... there is no more. That's it.)

Colorado: 4 full bathrooms
NYC: 2 full bathrooms (3 boys share one and Lily shares with Rod and me. As a result our bathroom is usually covered in pink toothpaste.)

Colorado: Total square footage of 5000sq feet
NYC: Total square footage of 1200sq feet

Different, right? But to be honest, I think we have adjusted quite well. Yes, Lily still calls our apartment, "the hotel" but it feels more like home now. Here are some reasons I prefer our tiny space to our larger Colorado home.

• I used to use my cell phone to talk to my kids. When we were all AT HOME. We were so spread out in that big house. Now we're usually in the same room.
• It was possible to go the entire day without seeing one of my kid's faces. They hid in their tricked out media room for hours on end. Now we literally run in to each other approximately 1,387 times a day.
  
• I used to find out what's going on with my older boys via their Facebook status. Now I just overhear then talking on their cell phones with their friends because their bedroom is next to mine. Side note: I've learned A LOT of valuable information.
• Our whole family used to be home-bodies. Now we are explorers. Our life goes beyond our 4 walls. It has to.
  

I don't think I'm just looking a the bright side. These are things I genuinely love about moving to a small space. In fact, if we ever move again, I don't want a huge house. I like this better. We are a family, probably more now than ever.

Clearly, I've drunk the Kool-Aid.

bits of my weekend- volume 10

We had another beautiful weekend in NYC. I love that spring is finally here! It's great to get outdoors and explore the city.

We headed down to the Tribeca Film Festival Family Fair. But on our way I got side tracked by the Manhattan Municipal Building. I just loved the architecture.

The Family Festival was a lot of fun. Great food, interesting people, lots of music.

I'm pretty sure this is art. Well, actually I'm not sure. It could have been an exhibit for full-body spanx.

The food was amazing. I'm a southern girl and have been craving a pork sandwich. I couldn't believe it when I saw a table selling them.

Please do not email me about the horrors of eating pork. I am well aware of them. I have even taught nutrition classes about it. I am a hypocrite. Thank you.

At $59 for 4 pork sandwiches, and 4 pink lemonades, I quickly realized this was not the same type of street fair I grew up on in Tennessee. It's a tad more pricey. Delicious. But pricey.

I was pretty happy with my choice of pork sandwiches, until I saw the tacos.

And the lobster rolls.

We also learned some valuable information at the street fair. Lily's phobia of puppets extends to the "larger than life" puppet category.

And maternal instincts were not required to make this discovery. Everyone within a few feet were well aware of Lily's phobia.

To cool off we took a walk down by the Hudson River. So beautiful.

With a view of the Statue of Liberty.

There is a great park on the river, too. The kids sat and watched the ducks for a while. Lily tells us grandpa LOVES ducks. And that he loves them so much he hangs them on the wall.

Finally back home to make homemade pizza for dinner. Lily is the expert oven watcher in the family. And I'm pleased to report that the pizzas were delicious.

I hope you had a great weekend too!

Add your linky here. But, please link directly to your post that is about what you did over the weekend. It's great if you title it "Bits of My Weekend." But you don't have to.

If you merely link to your blog and a random post that has nothing to do with your weekend, I'm afraid I'm going to have to be mean and delete your link. Gasp! Please don't make me do that. But please share your weekend!

dare to dream

my feet on the Brooklyn Bridge

If you had told me this time last year that our family of 6 would be living in New York, I would have laughed. Not at you, but with you. OK, maybe at you. But while we were comfortable living in suburban Colorado, it was by no means where I wanted to stay the rest of my life. Rod and I have moved around a lot in our 20 years of marriage. I guess we like adventure.

Even though we didn't know about moving to the city a year ago, we did dream about living in a city where we could walk everywhere. We used to talk about it and say someday. I thought that someday would be when the kids were grown and out on their own. But it came sooner than that and now our whole family gets to experience the wonders of New York. It's better than what we dreamed.

I'm reading a book right now and part of it talks about the importance of dreaming. I realized I haven't done that in a while. Dream about my future. But I think I need to start again. Would you like to do it with me? I'm not talking about whining about what you wish was different in your life. I'm talking about dreaming about your future. Side note: My rule is you're never too old to dream about your future.

So, let's dream together and see what happens. Let's start with one question,

Where do you want your feet to take you?

Maybe it's somewhere new to live. Maybe it's somewhere to visit. Maybe it's just into the other room to take a nap. But let's start dreaming. Don't try to figure it all out, just let yourself dream.

i was a knish virgin

My friend Mitch and I were exploring the Lower East Side when we walked by an old bakery. Mitch stopped dead in his tracks, which threw me off a bit because he had been working a fast sprint the entire day. This is obviously due to the power of a knish. And not just any knish. This place is heralded as having the finest knish in Manhattan.


This is Yona Shimmel Knish Bakery on the Lower East side. It's been here over 100 years.

Do you know what a knish is? I didn't. I am a Presbyterian girl from Tennessee. Knish was never part of my vocabulary.


Obviously, this sign was strategically placed in the bakery for people like me.

A knish is a thin dough shell filled with potato or buckwheat groats (kasha) and finely chopped onion, but the ingredients run the gamut from spinach to blueberry cheese.

Mitch said I had to try one. And since I am not one to turn down an invitation to eat, and since it also meant we could sit down instead of continue our race through the streets, I agreed to order the blueberry cheese knish.


It was quite different than I expected. It's doughy and not very sweet. But it was really good. I'd definitely eat one again. Shocker. I know.

But what I loved the most was the actual bakery. When you walk in it seems time has stood still. There was such a sense of history lingering in the air. It's over 100 years old and has the original dumbwaiter in place to bring the knishes up from the basement ovens.





Old photos and newspaper clipping line the walls.



And a subtle reminder to tourists about tipping:



Our time was up and we had to head out to our next destination. But Mitch took my picture as we were leaving.



It's obvious that I am thrilled to no longer be a knish virgin. It's also obvious that I watched a few too many episodes of Wheel of Fortune during my formative years.

the cats might push me over the edge

Unless you are mega-rich in New York, you have a small apartment. That means most of the people here are living in small spaces compared with the rest of the United States. It's not uncommon for an entire family to share a 1 bedroom. So I will never whine about our apartment being too small. Because I know it's bigger than a lot of them. But I have wondered what would be too small for our family.

What about you? What would be too small? Could you live in a really small space? Ok, maybe not with kids, but what if it was just you and your spouse or you and a roommate? How small could you go before you were close to going postal?

Here's a couple in NYC who recently purchased a 175 square foot studio apartment. This is their home. With 2 cats. So they not only felt they had room for each another, but they also felt they had room for cats? Two cats? Their apartment is about the size of a subway car. Let me give you a visual:



They don't cook. So their only appliance is an espresso maker. Side note: I used to wonder why a lot of New Yorkers don't cook. Now I don't wonder. This is the food capital of the world and I have the ever-growing waist line to prove it.

Because they are short on closet space, they use their kitchen cupboards to store a lot of their clothes. They leave their apartment every morning in their work-out clothes and have their work-clothes stashed at various dry cleaners around the city. Wow. They seem to have it figured out how to make it work!

Plus they bought their apartment for $150K. Pretty unheard of to own a piece of Manhattan real estate for that price.

What about you? Could you live in a space this size?

i think i've lost another one

As I've mentioned before, my older 2 boys are not fond of the camera. And by "not fond" I mean they treat me like I'm the evil paparazzi and they're the famous movie stars who complain about how I'm invading their sense of privacy. It's not pretty.

But now my 3rd son, Jackson, is headed that way as well. It must be something that happens to boys around puberty. You know along with all those other things. Anyway, this is what happened on a recent walk.

Ugh, There is that camera again. They tricked me. This time Dad has it. I'm going to give him the evil eye to see if he understands how I feel about cameras.

OK. He clearly does not get that my life sucks because of this.

I'm going to try and out-maneuver him.

And fake to the right...now.

Dang it! He's fast for an old man.

I'll just try standing behind mom and that enormous pink scarf she has on.

bits of my weekend- volume 9

While it's true there is ALWAYS something to do in New York City, I've found that even the simplest tasks can become an adventure. What started as a simple errand to pick out Jackson some new clothes ended up being a lovely day.

Subway rides can be boring for kids. And I can only play 20 questions with Lily for so long before I start losing my mind. Thank goodness for the iPhone. As a side benefit Lily is becoming a master Checker player. Can you get a college scholarship for being really good at checkers? If so, I'm going to keep pushing this.



Once we got off the subway, we ran into a Sikh rally or parade. While I couldn't understand anything they were yelling through their microphones, I was drawn to their colorful turbans. Unfortunately, Lily was so confused that she thought we had stepped off the island of Manhattan and landed in another country.



After walking a few more blocks, we looked up and saw The Empire State Building.



A quick snack at Herald Square. It's at Broadway and 34th street. So charming with their little tables and green chairs.





Later on we headed over the the West Village to try the famous Milk & Cookies Bakery. Love the West Village! Full of great places to shop and eat.



You can also order their cookies on line. Delicious!



This weekend my son Bo turned 15! Happy Birthday Bo. When he woke up he found this taped to his door. He liked it, but then requested that I make SURE to take it down before his friends came over. Ahh...to be 15 again.



So what about you? What did you do this weekend?

Add your linky here. But, please link directly to your post that is about what you did over the weekend. It's great if you title it "Bits of My Weekend." But you don't have to.

If you merely link to your blog and a random post that has nothing to do with your weekend, I'm afraid I'm going to have to be mean and delete your link. Gasp! Please don't make me do that. But please share your weekend!

top of the rock

Rockefeller Center is an amazing sight to behold. But climb your way to the Top of the Rock and it's even more amazing to take in the views of the city. Rod and I took Lily and Jackson the other day and were not disappointed. Make sure you go on a clear day though so you can get a good dose of vertigo. At 70 stories up, it's much more fun that way.

Here we go!





Most people prefer the views from Top of the Rock as opposed to the Empire State building. The reason is that the Rock has glass panels you can see through for an unobstructed view. Lily managed to find the space between the panels. She enjoys freaking me out.



Dear AT& T: I am thoroughly disappointed with your cell service in NYC. But am finding it hard to forgive you for not even being able to provide one lone signal at the Top of the Rock. Once the Iphone is available with other carriers, there will be a mass exodus from Manhattanites. Consider yourself forewarned...But if there is a way you could get me a discount on the IPad I would find it in my heart to forgive you.



We spent quite a bit of time up there. I believe in getting my money's worth.







We even saw a couple exchanging their wedding vows. I had to wrangle Lily from being their impromptu flower girl. It was a romantic setting for a wedding. And quite a bit cheaper than being married at The Plaza.



Statue of Liberty off in the distance:



Central Park:



The Empire State Building:



Look! I see our apartment!



If you are in NYC, make sure you go to the Top of the Rock. It's definitely worth it.