One year, two weeks and counting...

After a year of blogging about this wonderful girl named Elisa, I somehow managed to miss a posting on her actual birthday. But considering that she had been sick for a week, we were leaving for Spain that day and I had to run into the office to tidy up some things before leaving, I guess I'll give myself a break. So, here are some photos of our trip to celebrate Elisa's birthday with the familia.

Elisa's birthday party at Tia Pauli and Tio Ignacio's house in Encinar.
Sitting with Abuela and Papa in Toledo.
Nacho and I celebrating an evening out with the family and our 6th wedding anniversary.
Elisa chugging some sidra at Casa Mingo--my favorite restaurant in Madrid--where the chorizo is divine and the roasted chickens so juicy you have to soak your bread in the plate!
Our last night out walking around the palacio and having a late night of tapas in front of the opera house. It was quite an end to the 2 weeks of fun. More photos to come!

The mac is back...kind of

Just when I thought there was no hope for the laptop, we took it to the Apple store and lo and behold...it started. It's definitely a bit tricky typing on a sticky keyboard and there's a weird flickering of the screen now and again, but hey, it's on. It might not last, but for now it's worth riding this out until I'm ready to surrender $800 to the Apple Gods to fix it. So, without further ado...here are some photos of Stacey's week in NYC with Jordan and Mia, and yes, Grandma.

We took these at Central Park one evening after eating a delicious dinner at the UWS Shake Shack. Those burgers with their old fashioned pan-fried greasiness and potato bread buns are the BEST. And yeah, the shakes are pretty good too. Even Elisa was getting in on the action, eating bits of burger and fries like a champ.

Of course there was a lot of packing and unpacking and cleaning and making messes all week. Luckily I had some extra hands so Elisa made it out to the neighborhood park with her cousins and they did a great job of entertaining her at home too. I think she had more ice cream in one week than she's had in 11 1/2 months! And no, she wasn't complaining.
And now that they've all left, I know why Elisa was having such trouble napping that week--she didn't want to miss a thing!

A great lady

In honor of Lillian Price (October 24, 1917 - August 6, 2009)

Last week in Kansas City, my Nana passed away at the age of 91. Until recently, she had lived on her own in her well maintained home, continuing to cook for herself and do her laundry down the steep basement steps. She was an original. We liked to spar on political issues of the day, talk about current events and share photos and travel stories (mostly mine) around her large oval dining table. As a child I think Nana's appearance came off as rather proper and well, stern. But through the years, I got a better understanding of her as a woman and as a grandmother. She was a plain spoken and religious person from a farming background. Though her worldview was not as broad as the one I had grown up and into, Nana still found a way to connect with me despite our very different perspectives. When I pulled into her driveway with a Darwin "fish" sticker on my car during a road trip in college, she laughed and said "what will my neighbors think?"

Waking up at Nana's meant reading the Kansas City Star over a cup of coffee and powdered sugar donuts (my favorite) while we chatted about the weather. She liked her scandal too and sometimes offered a bit of gossip about a neighbor or some strange happenings in the city. She spoke with a slight "Missour-ah" twang and tossed around the word "kid" with a kind of wake-up-and-listen tone. When I was pregnant, I made a surprise visit to KC to reconnect with some old high school friends and I hadn't wanted to work her up about me dropping by in case I couldn't make the flight. So when I landed, I called and shocked her with a "what are you up to this afternoon?" query and she happily took me in for an afternoon of food and good conversation.

We ended up digging through her cedar chest, rummaging through old family photos and she described different scenes and people to me in stunning detail. Her mind was so sharp and her recollection of those times like a window into another lifetime. For Nana, it had been over 25 years since she'd lost her husband and over 70 since her wedding, and yet we talked about her wedding dress (a long deep brown tunic) and their lives starting out in California after the war as if it was yesterday. She was a rather stoic lady but her emotions could run very high. She told me of an aunt who had made a rather disparaging comment about my grandfather's Native American heritage which she never forgot, nor apparently forgave. It was the kind of wounding that stings most when you love someone. I think at that moment I realized how much she loved my grandfather and how much I wished I had known him better.

Having a daughter of my own now has made me appreciate my ties to family and to the history we all inherit. I only hope that Elisa will have the chance to know her grandparents well and to see them as the complex and loving people they are.

The wonders never cease

There were supposed to be some great photos here of my sister's visit to NYC, complete with Mia and Jordan (and Grandma). However, earlier in the week we fried the new mac laptop. :(

Let's just say I was disappointed. It was one of those accidents involving/caused by Elisa and though not exactly her fault, I still had to stop myself from thinking that babies are the devil's agents. I'm sure she didn't mean to knock the whole cup of coffee over on the keyboard, right? Well, on a lighter note, our new camera isn't broken (yet) and the pictures we've made so far seem to justify the purchase. Here are some test shots of the week. Enjoy!

The week that was

There is nothing fun about moving. Whatever joy I felt at having a new place, new possibilities is completely negated by the amount of sweat and frustration caused by moving every last little thing in my apartment to a new place. I am the worst about keeping bits and pieces of things that I just might one day find a use for, so these events are particularly upsetting for that reason. Once my shame of keeping junk is exposed, I realize that I make everything harder by leading such a life. And I have to pay someone, usually big, burly men, LOTS of money to help me continue on this path.

Luckily, we found some great movers (shout out to Ken's Moving and Storage of Maspeth) and the rest was easy. Oh wait, no. It was hellish and I think I almost killed my mother. Not as in "killed" because I was sick of her, but as in "killed" because she had to clean everything twice and then put all the pieces together. She swears I'm worth it, but I think she really only did it for Elisa. I love the grandma love. It really goes deep.

So, here are a few pics from the beginning of the move in. I love that Nacho and Elisa have almost the same pensive look here. I'm guessing Nacho is wondering when I'm going to make him take me to IKEA for more blinds and Elisa, well, she's probably going to poop. What a week.