Generations

love, *jenna*

Bad Blogger!

Over Christmas I not only forgot my charger, I also forgot to take photos of most of my family and the friends I met with whom I hadn't seen in six or seven years.

Alas, here is all we have.












I can't believe I have a photo of a dog wearing a Santa hat, but when it's a family dog it suddenly doesn't seem as corny!

love,
*jenna*

'Tis The Season......

... for late Christmas cards.


Sure, this looks like a photo taken straight outta Stephanie Land's blog, probably from a "Letters I Sent Today" post, but it's actually all of the hilarious Christmas cards I bought, having arrived three days too late for me to give them to anyone. There are a select few people whose addresses I actually know, but for the rest (particularly my coworkers), they'll just have to wait for next year.

At least I have a long time to look forward to it.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Fondest regards,
*jenna*

Lately

It's been really cold out. In New York, though, the cold makes the light shining at three or four o'clock utterly gorgeous. Particularly through a dirty window.


One day in November, Stephanie graciously accompanied me to the Devendra Banhart concert at Town Hall. I have a deep affinity for Banhart, and his "Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon" was one of those albums that found me at the exactly perfect moment in my life that I needed it. Which is a lot of profound association to put onto one collection of songs, but the thing is, it's hard to overstate its importance to my heart.

Unfortunately, Banhart is a total hippie nutbar, but it speaks to the quality of his music that despite his goofy stage presence, the show was still amazing.


His backup band, The Grogs, rocked the hell out of his eclectic songs.






A beautiful, inspiring night. Also, I saw Patrick Carney outside for the third time in a row. It seems like every show I go to lately finds him chillin' outside pre- or post-show. One of these days perhaps I will gather the cojones to talk to him.

Also notable in the past month was the Dana Boulé performance in Brooklyn. Steph's friend, originally from Brooklyn but now living the dream life as a musician in Paris, was in town for the week and put on a show with her cutie-pie cohort, forming The Sobs. I was super excited to meet her, because I am a big fan of her hilarious blog. You should probably check it out.


Her show was awesome, the audience was rapt, and the Sobs even brought chocolate chip cookies to share with everyone. What more could you ask for?


While we were there, Steph and Nicole checked out the digital photo booth, which cannot even compare to a real photo booth. I peeped like a voyeur.


... before admiring the wall art in the boys' room. (what can I say, I don't always have the patience to wait for a line of girls to primp and preen in the ladies' room.)


And that's that for now. I'm currently confined to my bedroom, strep throat-ridden, listening to the Fleet Foxes "He Doesn't Know Why," looking out the window at the 30-degree New York air and anxious to come home to AZ for a little warm-up.



love,
*jenna*

This Year, On A Very Special Episode of "Thanksgiving"...

Thanksgiving has never been my favorite holiday. Christmas, with its lights and gifting and wonder, or Easter, with the thrill of the hunt and copious amounts of chocolate, have traditionally been holidays I look forward to more. Since I moved to New York, however, Thanksgiving has taken on a more bittersweet tone than ever, because, due to its proximity to Christmas, I don't go home, but most people I know are busy or gone to their respective home towns. So in the past I have often just sulked at home, watching the parade and missing my mom.

Last year, Shannon and Mike graciously invited me to celebrate with them and her visiting parents, which was awesome (and without a doubt the best Thanksgiving dinner I've ever had). This year, my mom realized that, if I didn't come home before Christmas, we would go a whole year without seeing each other. And to her, that is unacceptable. She would rather have eleven months than a year, so she decided to come to me for Thanksgiving.

After work on Wednesday, I took her out to dinner and then we headed up to the Museum of Natural History, where they were blowing up the balloons for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I've always wanted to see this, but somehow I never realized this is an event all in its own. As Dustin always says, if you have an idea of something to do in New York, a thousand other people have the same idea.


It was freakin' awesome though!!




This Spidey balloon reminded us of my brother Greg and his affinity for the webbed one, and many cuddled-up-watching-the-parade Thanksgivings of the past.


We didn't realize there was a structure to this thing. All thousand of our fellow spectators were going in the opposite direction, rendering us the proverbial salmon swimming upstream.


But I got to see my favorite balloon - Kermit!






Not to mention how gorgeous the Museum looked lit up at night.


And my gorgeous mom, too.




As we were swimming upstream against a crowd of parade enthusiasts, we spotted a group of New York's Finest off to the side. We chatted with them for a bit and, seeing as they were going in the same direction as us, we asked if walk behind them - because everyone moves out of the way for the police. They happily agreed.

When we asked for a photo with our police escort, they not only obliged, but they popped police caps on both of us and gave us batons to pose with! Who says New Yorkers aren't friendly?


It was easy goin' from there on out.




The next morning, Mom and I woke up just in time to watch the parade from the comfort of my wonderful new Tempur-Pedic bed. We made bacon, eggs and blueberry muffins for breakfast, and then it was time for some serious business.

I was going to attempt my grandmother's famous Banana Cream Pie, for the first time on my own.




It came out perfect, if I do say so myself. I credit my lucky apron.


After that was finished, we headed out for our Thanksgiving dinner... by way of a Riverside Park stroll.










Absolutely yummy Thanksgiving dinner, complete with spiced cider, provided by Henry's Restaurant on 105th. Delicious!


This being a day of eating and all, we went right home and killed a few minutes before diving into the banana cream pie.


That night Mom was staying at a hotel, so we thought it would be fun for me to have a stay-cation and sleep in her room for the night. But after some complications, we had to have our room changed. So we got dressed, gathered our things and headed to another floor. Being a freak about bed bugs, I insisted on a quick inspection before lights-out... the sight of which cracked Mom up.




The next day was museum day. Mom had never been to the Guggenheim, which is unacceptable. So off we went, through Central Park to the Gug.


The autumn colors and cool air were a pleasing change for my desert-dwelling mum, and the weekend helped get her in the Christmas spirit.


I wasn't so much into the Kandinsky exhibit on display, but I did dig the "Paired, Gold" installation by Felix Gonzalez-Torres and Roni Horn.


What can I say, I'm a sucker for all that glitters.

That night I had a special surprise planned for my dear mother. She had mentioned that she wanted to go to a show while she was here, so I told her just to bring a fancy outfit, and the rest would be a surprise. We went for dinner and drinks at Josephina's, across the street from Lincoln Center (our ultimate destination).


It was a swanky little place with lovely service and yummy food (and creepy guys in the background).


My Thanksgiving gift to my mom was tickets to the Nutcracker, performed by the New York City Ballet. She used to take me to see it when I was a little girl, and I figured it would be a nice surprise.

She was definitely delighted, and as we walked around the newly renovated fountain, she reminisced that the last and only time she'd been to Lincoln Center was when her grandmother got her and her family tickets to see "West Side Story" when she was a little girl. It all comes full circle.




It was a lovely night for fountain-watching.






I had never been to Lincoln Center before, and the Edward Koch theater was just lovely. It's fun to get all dressed up and go to a classy event.








Even more fun is seeing all the little girls dressed up!




There was a full live orchestra to accompany the dancers. I suppose that's standard but I hadn't even thought of that element.


This night was utterly beautiful. It's hard to explain how much it meant to me, because I was so focused on making sure my mom was having a special time that I didn't realize how special it would be to me. Within the first five minutes of the ballet, hearing music so familiar to my childhood and experiencing it with the person who first gave it to me, tears came to my eyes. My mom and I spent the hour and a half clutching each other and crying every once in awhile.

I know this makes me a crybaby, and I try to never use this word, but the night was truly magical.




After the performance, hesitant to let the experience end, we took our time exiting the emptied theater.






We stopped into Josephina's for a little nightcap and dessert.




Mmmmm, coffee and Baileys!


Not to mention this ridiculous chocolate mousse concoction.


What a night. The next day was Mom's last day. Since she was leaving from Newark, we met up with her cousins Eileen and Matty for lunch in Weekawken.


Afterward we stopped at Eileen's daughter Amy and hubby Oliver's house to say hello and see their two beautiful children.

Amy, expecting their third, looked as lovely as ever.


Her daughter Anna and I bonded quite quickly over an "Amelia Bedelia" book. She's so sweet! I especially dig her red Mary Janes.


Before long, it was time to say goodbye. It's always hard to do with one's mother, but it was slightly easier this time because I knew I'd be seeing her in just a few weeks.

Then it was onto the ferry and back to my fair city.






I had such a wonderful weekend with my mom - just the two of us! Definitely my best Thanksgiving ever. And now I get to see her in just a few days....

love,
*jenna*