Pictures of our Walk in the Park

Cloisters


I saw this little guy as we were about to leave - you can't tell from this photo, but he was HUGE, and I can't figure out what it is. A giant potgut? Maybe a groundhog? I only say that because he reminded me of the Punxatawney Phil in Groundhog Day, except I'm pretty sure this guy was bigger. And then I walked past and he meandered slowly up that cliff next to him.

Note to Self:

Unless you want Lydia to be mistaken for a boy multiple times, when you go out in public, she must be wearing pink. Even then, it's anything but a sure bet.

Maybe I should just cave and start putting bows on her. I just don't think they're our style. And she's too wiggly - she's always pulling them down around her neck. Isn't that a strangulation hazard?

Rolls with Holes

One of the things I was looking forward to most in New York was eating the famed bagels - the quintessential bagel, if I can say that.

Unfortunately, I've been disappointed.

I have to remind you that I'm not a dummy when it comes to bagels - I've been eating them all my life, and, for the past 2 years, making them. However, our living situation is such that we don't have the things necessary to do much baking - and if we did we would probably just end up cooking ourselves by adding that extra heat to our apartment. So, I was just assuming that we would find a neighborhood deli or bakery that made great bagels and go from there.

WRONG. All our neighborhood bakeries and delis and this weird idea about bagels - namely that you don't have to boil them. LIES! I am here to tell you that a bagel without boiling is just a roll with a hole (line stolen from the writer of our bagel recipe). Seriously - the texture ends up all wrong and I, the consumer, am most seriously displeased.

As you can see, this is causing great unhappiness in my life. What should I do to get my bagel fix?

*image from here.

Also, if you haven't noticed yet, there are a couple new Lydia posts.

The Quest to do things

On Tuesday, the New Yorky thing Lydia and I did was to find a library and get a card. One subway stop later, one cranky librarian conquered, one plastic card in hand, I couldn't overcome the final hurdle, which was finding the Children's section at the Inwood branch of the New York Public library. For obvious reasons, I didn't want to even talk to the librarian of crankiness again, so we went home and googled it. Ah...it's upstairs. There was an upstairs? Guess we'll be back.

The next day (the day commonly referred to as Wednesday) we were going to go back to the library and to playgroup (or Lunch Bunch, as our ward likes to call it) but things didn't happen quickly enough and we were just lazying around the apartment (more like "in the shower") when the door buzzed - loud and long and repeatedly. I had no idea who it could be, but buzzed them in. Turns out Adam (A) got out of rehearsal/class early and (B) forgot his keys. Good thing we didn't make it to playgroup. Also a good thing the person I buzzed in wasn't some psycho killer intent on butchering us, right?

Which brings us to today, the day we planned to spend moseying around Central Park, to see what we could see. Basically, it didn't happen. Before going to Central Park, we wanted to walk through Times Square (how could we not?), which isn't a problem unless you get on the wrong train and skip all the stops up until 125th street. At that point, we had been walking for an hour and a half and didn't want to back track, so we rescheuled for Saturday and went home. 5 minutes after we walked in the door a thunderstorm started. Maybe it was a good thing Central Park fell through.

I feel like a slackface though - no pictures of Times Square - I was too intent on not looking like a tourist, but when I'm walking around with a camera bag twice the size of my baby's head (and have you seen her head? It's a big 'un), what's the point? Note to self: Just take a lot of pictures.

I Love This City

On Sunday, I had a startling realization. We are a third of the way through our time here. I personally, feel like I haven't even started the whole living in New York process. Well, we've done the essential things, like figure out where to shop and how to get around, but we haven't done many quintessential New York things. But we have had fun. I have pictures to show you of our Staten Island Ferry trip (very nice, especially once Adam got the baby to sleep), and for our anniversary, we went to a great little Indian restaurant (which is how Adam would prefer to be a tourist - just eat all the great food in a city) and Adam works right next to Times Square - so he feels like he's in the thick of things every day. Basically, I am not saying we haven't done anything, but I may be saying that I feel like we haven't done enough. So...Lydia and I are going to start doing things.

One evening last week Adam had to pick something up from the apartment of a guy in his program. So we went on a little family walk. I discovered that by cutting through the subway station, I could take an elevator to the top of the cliff that's in front of our apartment building. Huzzah! No stairs involved! Or at least fewer than if I go through the park. That was going to be a death march with a stroller. Anyway, on our little walk, we discovered what I think is one of the most beautiful parts of the city. It's high up, with views of the city and the river, and there's this park. So awesome. We walked and talked and looked and wished we had a camera and then finished out the night with ice cream from an ice cream truck. Doesn't get better than that. So today (or Monday - which might be today or might be yesterday, depending on when this posts), Lydia and I took a walk to that park. The one on top of the cliff. Coincidentally, the home of The Cloisters, a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art - pretty much a really cool building put together from all these old medieval buildings that were going to get torn down, and the place now houses the Met's collection of medieval and renaissance art. I wanted to go and see it, maybe go inside (depending on how much I was going to be able to swallow my pride and pay less than the suggested donation). We walked around, Lydia slept, I took pictures, and it was generally gorgeous. This city knows how to do parks. I don't know if it's an East Coast thing, but I love parks here. Lots of shaded benches, tons of old and huge trees, beautiful (but not too manicured) flower beds, and perfect views in all directions. I feel like the parks that I'm used to (i.e. Utah parks) do big families and entertaining for kids parks, but not parks for the individual. And that's what Fort Tryon Park is. A park for the individual. For walking and sitting and thinking. It reminded me of parks in London, honestly.

I had a great time and felt like I had a nice New Yorky thing going on. Everyone was so nice, too. An old man sitting on a bench (not wearing much, I might add) said "Take it easy, honey. It's hot out," and then complained about the ice cream truck not being on time. A group of teens on their bikes came whizzing around a corner just as I was about to turn it. The leader called back - "Be Careful, Dudes. BABY!" And then everyone of them called out "BABY" to the ones behind and apologized for not seeing me sooner. So pretty. So - if you're ever on the north end of Manhattan, spend an afternoon in Fort Tryon Park and walk through the Heather Garden. Take a picnic and eat it on a nice shady bench. You'll like it.

Only damper on my day - the only entrance to the Cloisters I could find involved a flight of stairs. Doesn't that violate some sort of accessibility law? Only people who can walk (and don't have babies) can appreciate art, clearly.

Maybe I'll put pictures on this post tomorrow when I can use Adam's computer. Until then, sorry about the wall of text. Love you if you got this far.

What we have learned in the past few weeks:

• I speak better Spanish than I do Russian.
• The MTA is not in the habit of blowing up suspicious packages on their subway platforms. Thanks to this oversight, Adam's scriptures are intact.
• Lydia actually loves rice cereal. You know before, when we thought she hated it? Really, she was just like, "PSYCH!"
• On a related note, highchairs really are a necessary baby item.
• On another related note, Craigslist is our favorite - in the past couple months, we have gotten an AWESOME (and relatively cheap) sublet, sold our car, and gotten a perfect highchair on that great list of Craig's (or ksl.com - which, let's admit, KSL kinda kifed from Craig).
• Eastern European mustard doesn't mess around. Clears out your sinuses, that does.
• Having a baby with you can make the crustiest of New Yorkers smile.
• I am perfectly capable of navigating the New York subway system with a baby in a stroller (sans husband). I feel so empowered.
• The above is only made possible because of our wonderful stroller. We love Maclarens! Along with the rest of New York.
• Government employees hate me.
• We moved into THE ward to live in if you sing Opera. Seriously, the amount of singers in this ward is ridiculous.
• Lydia loves it when we sing. She apparently inherited her father's affinity for music. Not sure if she's a discerning listener, though - she likes my singing just as much as Adam's. Also - whistling is the coolest thing since sliced bread, or in this case, rice cereal.
• Humidity really is beastly - but hey, no need to use lotion!
• Making meals is easier when you only have 3 ingredients. No decisions necessary.
• Singers in New York are surprisingly similar to singers at BYU, but make more slightly inappropriate jokes.
• Breaking into our apartment is surprisingly easy. How comforting.

Happy Anniversary, Adam - and Happy Birthday, Laura!

Today is a big day! Two years ago, Adam and I got married, and yes, we did choose my little sister's birthday as our wedding date. Sorry, Laura! But I think she's recovered and doesn't hate us anymore. I just wanted to give her a shoutout and tell her how awesome she is - what a great example of hard work, great sense of humor, impeccable fashion, insane intelligence, wonderful taste in music, and all around fun. I hope your day is awesome, Lauralyn. Also, I'd like to say thank you to Adam for a wonderful two years. They've been unbelievable, and I'm so glad to be going through life with the best man I know. I love you!

Just a big kid

On Memorial Day we went to a farmish type thing with Adam's sister and her three girls. Adam started out the day by attempting to not be photographed. So unenthused.Look - an unhappy smile.

But then he saw the train.And had quite a bit of fun proving that he could fit through spaces meant for small children.

Check it out - this is our apartment!

Sorry about the bad lighting, but this is basically what the apartment we're subletting looks like. We couldn't be happier with it.

New Lydia posts

There are new posts on Lydia's private blog. Let me know if you need an invite. Included in those posts is a way to watch that darned video!

What the heck, Blogger?

This is what blogger thinks our apartment looks like.

Grrrr

I spent all of yesterday trying to upload a video of Lydia's first time eating rice cereal. It failed about 80 times, so I've given up - I will have to find a different way of doing it. She hated it anyway. We tried again today and she hated it even more. She would turn her head way over to the side and refuse to open her mouth while Adam was trying to shove the stuff down her throat. Poor kid. She's too distracted to nurse and too picky to eat. Guess she'll starve.

Well, we live in NYC now. We think our apartment is just perfect for us and are enjoying ourselves so far (although the prospect of going out and doing anything besides grocery shopping has so far been too daunting to overcome). I took a bunch of pictures of the apartment that are loading on to the computer right now - I'll post them when we get a chance.

Any suggestions for navigating NYC with a baby in a stroller (one who hates humidity?)? Or fun things to do? Or hints for getting a picky baby to eat? Please, let me know.

Happy Birthday Katie!

It's birthday season around here. Today is my wonderful older sister's b-day. We used to live right across the hall from each other, but now we don't and I miss it. Here's hoping we live close sometime in the future. I love you, Katie!

Happy Birthday Ali!

She's smart, talented, beautiful, creative, and kind of a spaz. She's also 12 now! Congratulations, little sister!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

The amazing woman I'm named after's birthday is today. Hope it's grand, Grandma Bonnie!

So, here's the deal

I have a cute baby. I also have a lot of pictures of that cute baby that I love to share on her private blog. The cute baby also takes up a lot of my time so that I don't have much to talk about on this blog. But I said that I would post on this blog whenever I had posted on that blog, but I feel lame just posting that I posted. Do you follow? I don't have a great way to remedy this problem, but I'll make up a post.

...

Thinking...

Adam and Lydia and I have moved in with Adam's parents. Adam censuses (did you send yours in? If not, Adam may just knock on your door one of these days) all day and I play with my cute baby, play Mario Kart on our new Wii (my birthday present) while she naps, and feel guilty about the fact that my in-laws house now looks like our personal storage unit (boxes in the kitchen, boxes in the family room, boxes in our room and Lydia's room, and lots of boxes in the garage) and sometimes move some of those boxes other places to attempt to remedy that problem. Clearly, I do a lot with my day. So...that was my post. And now I'll link to Lydia's blog, where there are cute pictures of her. But here are some pictures so this post isn't completely lame. Only mostly.

Laura had prom. I did her hair. She will probably never speak to me again. But she looked beautiful.

My grandma got me flowers for graduation - aren't they pretty?
Adam and his friend Eric: graduates. Awesome, eh?

We're Gradumicated!

Adam loved his pink tassel :)

Click here to see how Lydia liked graduation.

Dropped Eggs

As a big party before various family members scattered to the four winds (we're going to NYC and then Indiana, have you heard?), we got together with my siblings and Mom to have a contest of sorts. There were two aspects - who could build the tallest tower out of toothpicks and marshmallows, and who could design a carrier that would protect an egg whilst it was dropped from the top story of a 6-story parking garage? And fun was had by all.




Happily but tragically, all the eggs survived. Until we redid the dropping without a few layers. Then we got some good yolk.

In other news, a new Lydia post will be up just moments after this post.

New Lydia post

There's a new Lydia post, along with one scheduled to post tomorrow morning. Just FYI.

In other Walton family news, Adam has been accepted to a graduate program in Indiana - we're not sure if we're going to accept yet (he's still got another audition next week), but regardless of what happens, WE HAVE SOMEWHERE TO GO! I'm excited. Congratulations, Adam!

I've learned a new skill

I am now capable of uploading video onto blogger. Hence, a new video of Lydia being happy is up on lyddlelydia.blogspot.com.

Gorgeous short

Graduation at Harvard

Love this talk by JK Rowling. Thanks, Ogdens.

JK Rowling: The fringe benefits of failure | Video on TED.com

Update?

Okay, it's been awhile. Funny how a newborn takes a lot of time. And school - that thing I do.

Quick update:

• Lydia appears to be thriving. Nice and fat. Just the way we like it.
• Adam got a job for this summer! Huzzah! We'll be living in New York while he gets PAID to SING at a music festival called Caramoor. If you're in the area, let us know and we'll try to get together/give you information so you can watch him sing.
• We're doing great.
  

Here are things we're hoping for:

• Adam getting a job
• Me doing well in my classes
• Adam getting into a good grad school (he's got auditions for several coming up in the next few weeks!)
• Lydia learning how to hold up her head - she hates tummy time.
• Me losing enough weight to be able to wear my wedding ring again. As fun as the teen mom look is...
  

Speaking of Lydia, there are new pictures up (including ones of her blessing) on her blog, lyddlelydia.blogspot.com. Let me know if you need an invite.

Smiles!

Lydia has started smiling this week! Right on schedule! See this new trick here!

Pictures of Lydia now available! (on the other blog)

Here goes nothing - there are a few pictures posted on lyddlelydia.blogspot.com. Email me at bonbonbassoon@gmail.com or comment below if you want an invite.

The Lyddle One

Adam and I have decided that we don't want pictures of Lydia out there on the internet for all to see (although we do have some on facebook, for all our 400 or so "friends" to see). However, we do want our blogosphere friends to be able to see her. So..., I've decided to make another blog. This one will be private, and will be solely about Lydia. All our pictures and updates about her will be on that blog, but I will post links on this blog to any updates on that blog. Make sense? Then, people won't have to worry about the hassle of following two blogs, or remembering to check the private blog. Any new posts will be posted on this blog. Make sense? Anyway, all that remains is to actually start posting on this other private blog of ours, and to send invites to anyone who wishes to be able to view said blog. So, either leave a comment on this post with your email address or email me at bonbonbassoon@gmail.com if you'd like an invite to the private blog, lyddlelydia.blogspot.com. Is this whole post too convoluted and confusing? Any complaints should also be put in the comments or emailed to me.

Not being pregnant is a beautiful thing. So is my baby.

It's over! And just beginning! Just a post to say that my baby made her appearance yesterday (9 days overdue) and is positively perfect in everyway. Lydia Denise is her name, she was born at 6:43 am, and weighed 7 lbs and 6 oz with a length of 19.5 inches. Did I mention that she's beautiful? Because she is.

Where have I seen this?

My little bro, on a mission in Philly, sent this photo home. I loved it, mostly because Li'l Bro looks so darn good and I miss him, but in part because I know I've seen this billboard somewhere on the blogosphere. However, I have absolute no idea where it was. Anyone have any ideas?

Unfortunate Pregnancy Symptom #823

Your fingers blow up like sausages until you can barely move them, let alone get your wedding ring off. You think everything is fine and dandy until the finger encircled by the ring starts to hurt. Wheps. Enter an early morning, lots of cold water, soap, and twisting, and the thing finally came off. Barely.

Guessing Game!

Currently, I am 3.5 weeks away from my due date. Basically, I'm ready for this baby to come any time. With the arrival pending, Adam and I are hosting a little contest for people to guess the birth day, time, weight, length and name of the baby. Anyone who wants to guess is welcome to, and we may even have prizes for winners! Maybe (no guarantees)! My favorite entry so far has been from Adam's niece Ashlyn (age 2). Her whole entry was pretty awesome, but the best part was her guess at the length: little.

Men are funny - or maybe just Adam

Adam does not know our home phone number. It has not stuck in his brain (partially due to a complete lack of effort). The home number is the only way of getting hold of me. As he carries a cell phone (or portable phone book), this isn't usually a problem. However, every once in a while his phone dies or he leaves it home. Then, when he needs to talk to me (to ask for a ride home, say), he's in a bit of a lurch. A couple times he has just walked home, but the latest instance cracked me up. 

The phone rang. I answered and was surprised to hear Adam on the other end, since I knew his cell phone was sitting right next to me and that he didn't know our digits. 

"How'd you get this number?"

"Oh, I just called University Info, and got the number for the housing office, called them, and asked for the number for our apartment. No biggie."

I laughed at the rigamarole he had to go through just to speak with his wife and suggested that he just memorize our number. No action has yet been taken.

Not over until the fat lady sings - but I'm not singing

Hey all!

Adam's opera is playing this week, so things have been a little hectic. Everyone should come see it!

Tales of Hoffman, by Jacques Offenbach, French with English supertitles
October 21-24th, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday @ 7:00
HFAC, BYU

If you want to see Adam in his big role(s), the nights to go are tonight and Friday, but he has a smaller part on Thursday and Saturday, so you can still see him if you go then.

If it's good enough for The Sartorialist...

A couple months ago The Sartorialist posted about some of his influences, as far as both fashion and photography go. He talked about this book. Besides having an awesome subtitle, it seems like something that would be accessible for a lay person (read: me). I certainly wouldn't mind having this around.

Piecing it together

The first step towards making a quilt has been made - I bought a bunch of fabric.I wanted to put together a mix of pinks, light browns (kind of carmel) and peach (These photos make everything seem kinda yellow, sorry), and I'm quite pleased with the results. What do you think?

I guess, if you want to be technical, the first step was finding a pattern, which I did about a week ago in a quilting book from the library.The thing that won it for this design was the doability of it. I can do straight lines and squares. SWEET! Obviously, I chose less garish colors, but I hope it will turn out well.

Now I just need to find a rotary cutter and mat - anyone have suggestions?

Rugged

Today's rugby pictures on The Sartorialist make me happy. And nostalgic for London. Not that I ever watched rugby there, but if it had been in season, gosh darn I would have. It's on the list of things to do when I go back with Adam.

Economics news

I'm not heavily involved with the world of economics these days (bad econ major), but I would like to point out the fact that for the first time since the creation of the Nobel Prize for Economics, the prize has gone to a woman, Elinor Ostrom.

I should be all for this, correct? The only problem is that she's not even an economist - she's a highly decorated political scientist. Steven Levitt, one of the authors of Freakonomics (and Superfreakonomics, coming out in a week or so), predicts that economists will be more upset over this than Republicans were over Obama winning the Peace Prize (which is a completely different discussion, so if you put anything in the comments that is remotely similar to the tirades on facebook a few days ago, I'll hate you forever. Just Kidding. Probably).

Making the lives of pregnant women everywhere easier

It is with great chagrin that I post this picture, but rest assured, I am only attempting to prove a point.This picture was taken last night, so we're looking at 33 weeks, 1 day (yes, I have gotten to the point where each day is significant, in that it gets me one day closer to not being pregnant anymore). This period during my life shall henceforth be known as "a time of great largeness that I'd rather not talk about." I can do this for 7 more weeks, right? I hear it's worth it...

That, believe it or not, was a tangent. The real point is to show off the dress that I'm wearing. I've been considering investing in a nice maternity dress for awhile, just because they look so comfortable and easy to wear, and also because up to this point Sundays have been kind of rough, with my wardrobe of skirts not made for pregnant women. Uncomfortable doesn't even begin to describe it. My wonderful mother took pity on me and bought this dress, considering it an investment that will be passed on to my sisters when they have kids, etc. So I now own a maternity dress. Let me tell you, it is heaven. This thing is so freaking comfortable. I put it on for something earlier this week (on a weekday) and then just didn't change out of it because it was so nice to wear. Moral of this story: Maternity dresses are a pregnant woman's best friend.

This was all fresh in my mind while browsing the internet a few days ago, when I came across these.
What a genius idea! Of course we'd need an LDS appropriate version (possibly in better colors), but I thought this looked cool.

*found via swiss miss

So cool

I want one of these in my house.

We didn't need that Pre-natal class

Adam already posted this on his blog, but since I was the one who found it, I feel justified in posting it here. In case you find the thought of attending a pre-natal class too much to bear, here's everything you need to know about babies.

http://makememinimal.com/2008/instrucciones-para-cuidar-un-bebe/

Ignore the Spanish - it still makes sense.

Which one is your favorite?

Thoughts on love

One of my favorite blogs to read is the Apron Stage. Today's post was particularly poignant.

http://theapronstage.com/2009/10/07/a-post-about-love/#more-2296

Are we immature?

Adam and I have been attending a prenatal class, which teaches/scares you about giving birth and taking care of a newborn. Maybe it's just us, but some of the things they say are just too funny (and immensely awkward), and we bust up laughing at the back of the room. Clearly, we are the immature members of the class, the ones whose child will be shunned for their entire life because they weren't brought up by real adults.

Favorite quote of mine: "Some couples may be alarmed by the appearance of their newborn and experience an urge to put it back because it's not done yet."

Classic, I tell ya.

Lots of time

So, I'm officially unemployed. There are pros and cons to this situation, the pros being that I no longer have to sit for long periods of time (you'd be surprised how uncomfortable this is when 7 months pregnant) and that I now have loads of time to get ready for the baby to come. On the con side, we don't have very much income and the word on the street is that babies are expensive. Who woulda thunk.

In all my newly acquired time, I've got big plans. I checked out a bunch of books on photography, and I'd like to create some skills in that department, and I'm going to make a quilt (and possibly some other items) for our incoming munchkin. This blog may be somewhat resurrected and become an arena for showing off my mad skillz. Yes, that's a z. I'm such a gangster.

Also, I'm hoping to read a lot. If anyone has suggestions for things to read (either baby/parenting related or completely for fun/interest), let me know.

No Duh

My brother ran into a friend of his on campus and the following interchange ensued.

Brother's friend: "Hey, I saw your sister! Did you know she's pregnant?"
Brother (Clark): "..."

Prize goes to the person who comes up with the best response Clark should have used.

Pretty good odds

Adam has been working on applications for summer programs. He's applying to several, all of which would pay him (at least a bit) to sing. I approve of this step - getting paid to sing. We're not sure how stiff the competition is, but we did run into a bit of info that seemed encouraging. This is a blurb from the website of one of the programs Adam is applying to.

How many applicants do we receive?
Below are the averages of our auditions data covering the last seven years:

• No. of applicants 545
• No. of applicants scheduled 455
• Age range 21-approximately 35
• Sopranos 226
• Mezzos 78
• Tenors 50
• Baritones 45
• Bass-Baritones 9
• Basses 6

Adam is a Bass-Baritone. Looking pretty good, eh? Of course, they only hire 26 or 27, but still, we're glad he's not a Soprano, because that's freaking ridiculous.