a photo a day

i'm a traveling girl…the weekend after my trip to florida, i went to DC to see my TIP friends…and took exactly zero pictures of my TIP friends.  i am bad at this whole documenting-the-fun business.  but suffice it to say that we wore yoga pants all day every day, played with a little kitten, played tons of board games, caught up on each others' lives, entertained an almost-two-year-old, and cooked and ate delicious food.  i have some really special groups of friends in my life, and this is another group that i wish lived closer together.

i did take some pictures one night while i was there - when my cousin sara and her baby nico came to dinner!  this baby has style (he also has a fedora!):

my TIP-friend eric's two year old, nora, loves babies.  and she insisted on holding nico.  i was like, "they are almost the same size.  how is she going to hold him?"  eric explained that this is what she meant - HA.  nico was happy to comply:

people, you are not guessing about my halloween costume.  this is a guessing game!  get on it.

in other news…

it is almost (well, not really, but let's pretend) the weekend and that means it is almost time for my cousin sara's wedding in DC!  huzzah!  family and visiting monuments and good food and celebration and lots and lots of hugs and brunch with some DC friends before i leave.  i can't wait!  work is going well - i'm not behind on anything at the moment, and the mid semester meetings i'm having with my students about their grades are going well (i love talking to them!) - but nothing beats a weekend away with family/friends.  and there will be four baby girls born this year who will be there who i can't wait to meet!  so let us just say that i am excited.

come on weekend.  get here.

Halloween

Guess what I'm dressing up as for Halloween...hint: I am part of a group with work colleagues. (Yay - my new work colleagues like to dress up for Halloween just like my old work colleagues did!)

I am incredibly proud (perhaps embarrassingly so) of this beard that I made. Ruby is terrified of the beard and ran away from me while I wore it. It was pretty hilarious. Try not to laugh at the terror in her eyes in this photo. 

a screenshot a day

finally, the day has arrived!  houston weather is exactly what i want it to be!

four freedoms park

today i went on an adventure to roosevelt island to see the newly opened four freedoms park.  i wanted to do some exploring and it was fun to have a destination in mind.  plus, you know, HURRICANE'S A-COMING, so i wanted to get outside before the four days of rain that are being predicted.

view of manhattan (the weird rectangular building is the UN) from roosevelt island:

new baby trees at the FDR memorial:

the memorial is really simple, but the views from the memorial are gorgeous.  i like that idea: to allow people to appreciate FDR in a place where they can also appreciate the world around them.

CREEPY SMALLPOX HOSPITAL on the island:

i am a creepy hospital:

friday afternoon walk

yellow and green on the same tree:

i live 3 blocks from grant's tomb!  who knew this was a real place and not just a riddle?  (apparently grant is not BURIED in his tomb, but entombed in his tomb.)

black kitty cat who posed for me.  happy halloween!  i hope you have a home, little kitty.

riverside park:

one orange tree, overlooking the hudson:

oh, that's right: it's fall in new york.  today i'm wearing corduroys (my favorite kind of pants!), a long-sleeved shirt, and a sweater.  i love it.  (please don't ruin this moment by discussing what the weather will be like in 2 months.)

i have a vivid memory of being like 5 years old and hating corduroys because i thought everyone could hear my pants swishing as i walked, and i was self-conscious of this.  consequently, i wore a lot of skirts.  looking back, i find this hilarious.  swish away, pants!  you are so comfy and pretty that i no longer care.

today was a blustery day.

or, more accurately, this afternoon was a blustery afternoon.  it looked just like it does in the hundred acre wood a lot of the time.  it was really warm - mid 70s - and i went for a walk on my new favorite walking trail.  about halfway in it started to sprinkle.  and then the wind blew hundreds of red and yellow leaves off the trees (and one stick - of course i got hit by the one stick that fell), and it was beautiful.  i heart fall.

the three little pigs

as you may remember from halloweens past, at my school the seniors and the pre-schoolers are allowed to dress up for halloween and they go on a parade in front of the whole school.  my work friends and i dress up and participate, too, because...really...why not?  plus, any excuse to wear a sweatsuit to work for the whole day is an excuse i'm going to use.

happy belated halloween!

i am my mother, example #5

yesterday it was beautiful (we're having such incredible weather here - highs in the 80s, lows in the 50s, sleeping with the windows open weather.  LOVE IT) and i went for a walk at my new favorite walking location (read about it here!).  it is history + beautiful + shady + a 1 hour round trip walk.  it makes me happy.

as i'm on the home stretch and nearing the parking lot, i see a mcdonald's coffee cup on the trail.  here is a transcription of what happened in my brain: "argh!!  it is beautiful here and some lame person is littering.  i hate them.  i should throw this away.  i'm not too far from the parking lot so i won't have to carry it too far.  oh my god.  I AM MY MOTHER."

so i picked up the coffee cup, and then a twix wrapper, and then a starbucks napkin.

when i was growing up, this is what my mom would do all the time.  it's wonderful, of course - leaving the place cleaner than you found it - but somehow this really embarrassed me as a child.  like, mom, don't be weird.  no one else does this.  isn't it funny how much of our childhood we spend trying to be like everyone else?


next thing you know i'll be carrying a special bag on my walks just for other people's trash.

(i will do my best not to let that happen.)

new hampshire

this weekend other claire, lilly, and i went to new hampshire to visit two coworkers who moved there this summer.  here is a visual highlight:

add to that: beautiful red and yellow leaves, a walk through the woods, great food, time to read books, a walk on the beach, shopping in portsmouth, and four nights in a house built in 1745 (!!) and you've got my weekend.

it was wonderful to spend time with friends and talk about things big and small.  the weather was incredible - highs in the 70s, lows in the 50s maybe, and sunny all weekend.  coming back to work today was a little bit of a rude awakening...

when i was in new york visiting becky i bought this hoodie (in blue) from athleta and it is totally the best thing everrrrrr.  on saturday i went for a long walk on a trail that runs off of the silver comet trail (a 5 mile drive from my house) and it was such perfect, crisp, sunny fall weather and me and this hoodie became best friends.  so then i wore the hoodie again to yoga today.  and i'm planning to wear it to the gym again tomorrow.

can i go on the record as saying that fall is absolutely the best season?

"Delicious autumn!  My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."
--George Eliot, 1841

city sunset

the clouds were beautiful, and i just happened to have my camera...

baking class = happy claire

this morning i went to the baking class that my friends got me for my birthday, and it was EXCELLENT.  the instructor showed us how to make each item and then we got into groups of 3 and made it ourselves.  we baked:

1. focaccia that tastes just like it does at a fancy restaurant.  i was perhaps the most impressed with this - how easy it was to make and how freaking delicious it was.
2. sweet potato biscuits - heavenly.  now, i need to tell you about my group of 3, but first you need to know that i hate group work.  for most of my educational life, i was one of the smartest kids, and thus in group work i had to either settle for a lesser product or be bossy and do most of the work.  other smart people are hopefully nodding their heads here.  i am not good at group work.  but here i was, in a group, baking.  one of my group members was a 60ish year old woman who thought she knew everything about baking.  (hey, lady?  i don't want to hear your unsolicited tips about making chocolate chip cookies - you aren't the teacher and that's not on the menu today.)  the other group member was 40ish and knew so little about baking that it was tragic.  on each item we baked, one of us would do the mixing/kneading/etc. and the other two would watch and help.  tragic baker-wanna-be took the helm here and i actually had to walk away at several points while know-it-all told tragedy/wanna-be all the things she was doing wrong.  but!  the biscuits turned out really well.
3. parmesan-poppyseed cheese straws.  again: ohmygod are we in a restaurant?  delish.
4. cranberry walnut pumpkin bread - also really good.
5. parker house rolls and involve lots of kneading and rising - we didn't finish them, so we each brought the dough home and are doing the second rise and the baking ourselves.  with the amount of delicious butter in these, they are bound to be good.

after all the baking we had lunch - the instructor made VEGETARIAN CHILI.  oh. my. god.  i love it when people are thoughtful about the possibility of vegetarians.  and we got to taste all our breads, too.  heaven.

if you will be spending thanksgiving with me, GET READY.  i'm really excited to make some of these things again and glad to have an audience to feed!

it is october 29th, for crying out loud...

...why is it still 75 degrees outside and sandals weather?  i just bought a bunch of cute sweaters AND I WANT TO WEAR THEM (without sweating through them).

but seeing as this is probably the last time i'll get to wear these (really comfortable and cute) sandals until march-ish, maybe i should stop complaining...