Cleveland

I flew to Cleveland for the Midwest School Social Work conference this week (paid for by KSSWA!) and enjoyed it very much.  I was impressed with the city of Cleveland or what we saw of it.   The downtown has a bunch of tall buildings but unlike Chicago, New York, LA, and any other big city I've seen, the streets were not all straight and the buildings were placed uniquely.  And there were some gorgeous ones mixed in.
I left work on Wednesday mid day and drove to Aberdeen for a quick hello to the papa.  My buddy and fellow School Social Work friend, Alexis, picked me up at Aberdeen and then we drove to the airport and flew uneventfully to Cleveland, arriving there after taking a Lyft from the airport, at 10pm.  We changed planes in St. Louis and didn't get to sit together due to the new boarding methods at Southwest.
We stayed at a hotel in the famous Playhouse square area.  It was a nice room in a decent hotel.  We got up and found a cool vegan coffee and juice bar for Alexis (I ate and drank and enjoyed also) and spent Thursday in workshops.  Lunch was on our own and we found a super cool grocery store/deli that was in an old bank.  It had tons of food to choose from, deli, salad bar, bakery, soups.  We sat outside and people watched.  After the afternoon workshop, we napped then went on a long walk up and down Euclid ave seeing the stores, Cleveland University, beautiful churches, etc.  Then we changed clothes and walked a few blocks to a pedestrian alleyway full of restaurants and bars.  We ate outdoors at Pickwick something or other which is a comedy show place and restaurant.  Alexis had vegan meatballs and I had meatball flatbread pizza.  Yum.  I also discovered blueberry Smirnoff and gingerly and sucked down three of them which made my toes numb and my laugh louder.  Then we walked back to the hotel and spent two hours by ourselves in the hot tub, pool, and sauna having our fabulous girl talks.
Friday was a day of learning with a luncheon at noon to honor the 11 state School Social Workers of the year award recipients.  I was given a corsage to wear and they had my name and pic on a huge power point.  They read off what Cheri had sent and I walked up, stopped to get my photo taken with a plaque and then said a few words at a podium.  I also had a power point I'd made playing at a table in another room.  I don't like recognition but I was honored by all this.
Friday after the workshop we were pooped so we got a smoothie and sat out and people watched some more before our lyft to the airport and uneventful flights home.  I then drove alone from midnight to 2 am to get home to my warm bed and family.

Mini Vaca Girl's Retreat

What a wonderful two days at Lake Wabaunsee!  So needed and sooo enjoyed!

Met my dear friend Alexis at the turn off to Lake Wabaunsee yesterday morning.  We both had worked so hard to clear our busy schedules to get some very needed time together.  We had researched places to go that had water, wasn't  too far and didn't cost too much and bing!  We had the idea of Lake Wabaunsee and Larry and Joanna said sure!  

It rained pretty much all day yesterday and was warm but not hot.  We thoroughly enjoyed sitting on the patio, looking out across the lake and watching the rain.  We had so much catching up to do.  Alexis is so genuine and easy to be with.  When the rain let up a little, we sat on the dock with our feet dangling in the water.  (I did see a snake yikes!).  And also in Alexis' hammock.  After dinner we put our swimsuits on and sat in the tube floating on the water for awhile til the sprinkles started again.  

Late evening we watched an oldie but a goodie DVD, the Sure Thing.

Today the sun came out and it was awesome!  We hit the water first on the tube then on floaties at 10 and didn't get off the lake til 415!

I'm realizing as writing this that it's nearly impossible to capture in words and even pictures how wonderful this two days were.  Guess you had to be there and I bet you wish you had been!

Day 4 LA

Apparently I wore out my son.  Or the sun did.  I slept til 8 which is late since LA is two hours earlier.  Joel slept til 10.  So while he was sleeping, I walked to the neighborhood coffee shop, Sabor y Cultura.

after showering and got the iced latte. Yum!  I did my quiet time and read til Joel got up.  We hung out and read together in the apartment which I quite enjoyed then walked to a cafe about 10 blocks away for brunch.

More pics of Joel's neighborhood and apartment.

Street view of Joel's house.

He lives in the back unit, ground floor.

View from Joel's window while lying in bed.  

Friends and Family Cafe, appropriate, huh?  

We walked the hot sweaty walk back to the apartment and laid around and read (enjoyable!) until we decided to drive the route that Joel drives every morning, down Los Feliz and a short jaunt on the 5, about 20 minutes to Glendale.  Joel works in the Grand Central Central Creative Campus or GC3.

 His section is just one floor.  It was very modern and very clean and impressive.  There is a large quad area with cartoon statues and a cafe with indoor and outdoor tables, more life a cafeteria.  

Joel's desk:

Snack area:

On the way back to Joel's apartment, even though it was very hot and Joel is very sunburned, we stopped by Echo Park Lake for the Lotus Festival.  This was a celebration of SouthEast Asian culture and had food and ware booths.  It would have been more enjoyable without the heat so we didn't stay long.

More resting in Joel's comfy cozy cool apartment. And watching Joel watch Game of Thrones was a trip.

And then....dinner at Stout Burger with birthday boy nephew Jc, Kristi, and Ryan and his friend who were visiting from Kansas!  

Next morning, up,early, Joel got up to say goodbye and move his car.  It was soo hard to say goodbye.  (Looking forward to seeing Leah and Emmet who,are picking me up at the airport helps).

So I leave you with these random thoughts of LA:

Random LA thoughts:

Anything goes in terms of style including just wearing a towel draped over your head

Homeless people can sleep anywhere

There are no perfect bodies on the beach 

LA people don't greet one another on the street

Joel has a hairy man chest

People eat healthy here

Parking is a bitch

There are lots of palm trees

No one is concerned about all the trash and weeds sprinkled in the succulents and flowers. 

Sidewalks occasionally randomly smell like urine

Grass and open spaces are not necessary for owning dogs. 

Tourists stick out like sore thumbs 

There are waaaay too many restaurants to choose from

Day 3 LA

Woke up early again and while Joel slept I showered, had my quiet time, blogged, then cooked up his breakfast/lunch and packed our picnic lunch.  When Joel got up we headed out to the beach.

So we got on the 101 near his house and then the 405 ( sounds so California cool to say that) 

then drove through the Palisaides area which was super cool to get to Ventura beach.  We stayed three hours!  We ate our picnic lunch and read and listened to all the great parenting going on around us (it really was).  The beaches here are crowded and the surf was so strong that me being a chicken, I didn't go far enough out and the rocks in the surf pounded my feet and left little bruises.  Joel swam way out past the crests.  I roasted like a brown rotisserie chicken and Joel went for the lobster look.  

Then we came back to the apartment and showered and headed back to Echo Park to shop at a cool thrift store.  I tried on a bunch of cool thing and bought a lacy top.  Joel bought a nice shirt and two pairs of sunglasses.

Then we went down Los Feliz and went to the same cool vintage movie theater and watched Baby Driver.  I liked it ok, liked the characters and thought it was well done but too violent for me.  Joel liked it.  The movie theaters here stay dark until the entire,credits run on the screen.  Joel said that Los Angeles people like to watch the credits.

We decided to stay and eat at the nearby vintage cafe, Fred 62.  I had a burger and cheese fries and Joel had a steak and veggies. We ate outside.

Random LA street:

Also while near Los Feliz, there was a block that had dozens of short semis, mostly open, with security guards in law chairs sitting nearby.  Joel,said it was a film shoot.

We came home and chilled and watched an episode of Glow then walked to BR and got me and ice cream cone then walked home and watched another episode.

I like hanging out with the Joelster.  

Day 2 LA

Day 2 I got up and showered and cleaned as a good mom should and did my quiet time outside on Joel's beautiful patio.  When Joel was ready, we walked the half block down to his favorite coffee shop for breakfast.  I ordered strawberry yogurt with granola and Mexican mocha latte but ended up eating Joel's delicious whole grain bread that came with his breakfast plate and saved the yogurt.

After breakfast, we returned to the apartment and napped.  Morning naps rock.  Then we walked.  We went all the way up Hollywood blvd to the tourist part where the stars are on the sidewalk.  As a true Los Angeles citizen now, Joel hates that part. There were people of all languages gawking and taking photos and tour busses trying to get you to ride along.  Not sure exactly what they were looking at.  

I saw some sparkly chucks in a shoe store window and went in and almost bought my dream shoes, pink sparkly, but they were about 70 bucks and maybe just a little much (style).  So I settled on some hot pink unique ones that were on sale.  Scott wanted a picture so I texted him one and his response was, "good lord" which continues to make me giggle every time I see the shoes.

We then started the "where should we eat" conversation which takes about an hour because Joel doesn't eat anything I eat and I don't eat anything he eats basically.  Except meat.  So we chose a chicken place that had rotisserie chicken and sides.

 Joel's side was veggies and mine was Mac and cheese.  We were both quite happy.  Then we went to Joel's favorite bookstore and bought used paperbacks then returned to Joel's apartment to rearrange his books.  I love Joel.  

Next, we went the other direction to a very nice area (not that Joel's area isn't nice) and went to a tiny quaint movie theater and watched "The Big Sick".  We both thought it was fabulous.  I love movies and books where the characters are well developed and give bonus points if they are likeable.  I truly liked every character in this movie.  After, we stopped next door at another bookstore.  

We returned to the apartment for round two of "where shall we eat" which frustrated Joel enough that he decided to break his diet and we headed to his old neighborhood, echo park to eat at Masa which is a chicago pizza place.  While waiting for a table, we went to Echo Park lake and listened to some music for a bit then popped by a bookstore cafe that I realized I've been to before with Joel.  

Dinner was fab, it was late and loud and it was the biggest pizza I ever saw.  The leftover box weighed like ten pounds.  Joel got a stomachache so looks like I'll be tackling the leftovers alone.

We returned exhausted and full to the aprtment and watched episode two of Glow then went to sleep. Day two awesome.

Day 1 LA

I love coming to see Joel!

Travel was uneventful except for Joel being stuck in traffic picking me up.  LAX feels like an airport in a foreign country with all the hustle and bustle and the variety of people.  It reminds me so much of the airport in Guatemala City.  

So we were facing traffic to get to Disneyland right off the bat after Joel had driven in horrible stop and go traffic from work, so we slowly made the decision not to go and to workon other options to get to Disneyland this weekend. Later we were glad we did.

So,first Joel shared that he is eating his version of the paleo diet.  Ha!  This is quite unique for my very non health conscious son.  So he talked me into a vegan Cuban restaurant.  What?  I ate fake chicken with potatoes and carrots and peas with rice and fried plantains.  Joel shared his delicious black beans.  It was all surprisingly edible!  

Then we drove through a whole bunch more traffic across familiar street names (from movies), Ventura, melrose, sunset, Holywood blvd.... Joel's apartment is a block off Hollywood blvd. on a cute wide street with palm trees and unique apartment buildings and converted homes.  Joel's house is very craftsmancottage style.  His apartment is in the back on the ground floor. It seemed small but very homey right off the bat but seems plenty big now because it is arranged perfectly with all he needs-- a decent sized kitchen and bathroom and closets, a sitting area, work area, and full size bed.  

So we went walking right off the bat down Hollywood blvd to get some things Joel was out of.  Hollywood blvd has coffee shops and restaurants and familiar places like petco and Marshall's. All with palm trees and lots of people, mostly normal looking and some quite unique, of all races and ages and socioecominc groups.  We went to a basic pharmacy place to get the supplies and saw these cool planters on the way back.

After settling in to Joel's apartment, we walked down to his favorite coffee shop, less than a block, and got some coffee (Joel isn't drinking coffee now!). It was open mic night.  I am telling you it was more entertaining than anything you'd see on tv.  First there was a comedian who read his jokes off his phone who wasn't funny at all.  The audience was so small that he kept reading and commenting on my facial expression!  There was a poetry reader and some not so great musicians then this big lady dressed in black with sunglasses and a hat, had them crank the volume and with guitar accompaniment she sang a ballad about growing up in Tuscan at top volume with lots of vibrato, not on key and complete with all the animal sounds, coyotes, rattle snakes, etc.  It was a trip.  Extreme entertainment.  Then there were rappers who were very energetic and very into it.  They reminded me so much of my students that I must have looked very encouraging because they commented on me liking it.  They were not very good but made up for it with their enthusiastic hopping around and gestures and style.  And how much fun they were having.

We returns to the apartment and watched glow on netflix and got a good night sleep.  Here is my quiet time place right in front of Joel's aprtment and we are about to embark on day 2.

More Emmett

I know that most of my posts are about Emmett lately, but I want to capture these special memories.

I went to spend the day with Leah and Emmett on Wednesday.  I arrived while Leah was still at work at Prairie Harvest and Dave was home with Emmett.  Emmett was cruising around barefooted in a big t shirt, diaper and no shoes.  He was curious when he saw me but shy.  He stood and moved his hands all over his head and wouldn't come to me.  I sat down on his little bench and just watched him and eventually put out my arms to him.  He ran to me with his arms up and cuddled up close, laying his head on my chest and letting me hold him for a bit.  So sweet.  

Emmett and I played for a bit then Dave left for work.  Emmett fussed a bit when his dad left but then got busy with his stacking toy standing at the coffee table.  Leah got home shortly after.

We dressed Emmett in a cute romper with no,sleeves that showed off his adorable little muscle arms. And little blue chucks.  We loaded him up in the stoller and walked over to Mojos for lunch.  Emmett ate his entire breakfast burrito sitting quietly in his high chair and looking around at everyone.  When someone new came in, he tilted his head so he could see who they were.  Leah knows quite a few people who all came over to,say hi.

Then I took the adorable video,of Emmett playing with his light up soccer ball, tossing it, waddling around, stooping to pick it up, then throwing it again, sometimes babbling.  

We loaded up again and walked home and he played some more then went down for a nap.  Leah pit me to work in her shop.  I printed off and cut labels and put the labels and stickers on blankets.  It is satisfying work.  

When Emmett woke up, we took him downtown.  We stopped at Etc. Shop and he enjoyed looking at the books and toys.  He picked up a stuffed animal and touched it's eyes then hugged it over and over and rocked it.  Then he looked at a book and carefully paged though it again and again gently.  We stopped at my favorite store Mainstreet and Company and I didn't buy anything!  Then we filled up my Kombucha jug and Leah got groceries at Prairie Harvest.  

I love going to Newton to see Leah which I did many many times before Emmett came along.  Now I get to see my precious grandbaby boy too.