Perfect Summer Saturday

It started last night with the company happy hour. It was the last day of the national IT director since he got a position with a new company and as such all the IT workers from the US were flown out to attend the happy hour planned.



Normally the company plans them on Thursdays but this was made Friday which was obviously nice since no one had to work the next day. I looked forward to it all week.

It really lived up to everything I was looking forward to. Usually the office manager gives us all 3 tickets that we cash in for drinks, but not only did they ration off more, but hardly any of the teachers were able to attend, so the one teacher who did come brought along the 40+ tickets for them and shared it with the student services staff. Let's just say that it really made for a wonderfully fun-filled night with all of the staff. Song of the night by far was BATTLEFIELD! I just lovelovelove my student services coworkers! And all my coworkes for that matter.



I woke up in the morning feeling just a little sluggish. I made it to an 11am yoga class, which felt wonderful since it's been a few weeks! I arranged to walk dogs for a friend of mine from the volleyball league while she's out of town. She rents a room from a couple in an apartment in a beautiful West Side location in the 70s with a posh entrance and a doorman. They are two little Pomeranian mixes and I leashed them up and took them out. It was a perfect day! Warm, clear and breezy. I took the dogs to Riverside park, which overlooks the Hudson.





It was perfect! I was in love with New York. After the walk I brought them back to the apartment and fed them and sat in the living room for awhile. The wooden floors and interior reminded me of my apartment in France. It also had beautiful wide windows letting in so much light and breeze with great rooftop views of NYC. I sat in there for awhile enjoying it, it felt so summery.

On the way back to my place I stopped for coffee at a cafe, and then came back to my place. I took a shower, which proved difficult to start since Wolfie still claims the bathtub as his own. I've decided to keep the bathroom door closed now and force him to be around me. It's the next stage in our relationship. He's currently laying on the windowsill behind the curtain. It's now time for some cleaning but it's been such a great relaxing Saturday, the epitome of summer.

You Think You Know A Place...

This morning I got on the wrong train.

It's not as bad as it sounds. I was running late, and I've been running late this whole week so I was really anxious to switch trains as fast as possible. When I got to Columbus Circle to switch to the #1 train, I heard a train, ran up to the #1 platform, and got on.

I was relieved, grabbed a seat, and pulled open the magazine I kept on me for my subway rides. It was awhile before I heard a street name announced and realized that the streets were going UP. I had gotten on the uptown train, and not the downtown train.

There is a pretty big happy hour for my company tonight and I feel like I've never looked forward to drinks so much before!

Meet Mitch

Supposedly, her real name is Michelle.



We met my senior year (her freshman year!) of college. I had just gotten back from France, and she pledged my sorority that year. This was the moment I just knew that we would be friends:

At one of the first pledging events we were playing Two Truths and a Lie. One of her statements was that she was born in Iraq. No one knew her at all and she was keeping such a straight face, and everyone felt racist or bad to bring up the Iraqi comment. Of course it ended up being her lie (she is Egyptian and was born in Fresno) and I just thought anyone with that great a sense of humor was my kind of friend! And she was! I like to think that I had quite the impact on her studying abroad in Sweden.

My senior year we spent lots of time together, did lots of events together. My first year out of college she rallied my sorority to buy a train ticket for me to make it to the Thanksgiving dinner they put on every year. Below is Mitch, myself, my lil sis Adara and another fave sorority sis Keid



In an effort to combat my calling her "Mitch", she calls me "Sterile", which was a derivative of my pledge name, Sterling (also hence the blog address!)

Years later and we are across the country and soon to be across the globe from each other. We just had a Skype date. It's been so long but she made me feel much closer to home and with friends again. She's still funny, still encouraging, still inspiring with lots of great stories, intentions, and a great head on her shoulders always considering the deeper meaning and going one step further. I'm glad we still keep in touch



This one's for you Mitch!

Wolfie!!

Last night I had Wolfie brought over to me. He's just beautiful. He got out of his carrier and walked around a bit, doing that super cautious, low back, giraffe-necked looking that cats do when they're in new environments. I was talking with the lady who brought him for awhile and then we looked over and saw this little number



If you can't tell, that lump next to the penguin is Wolfie under the covers. He ended up staying there until I fell asleep. We fell asleep on the bed together, but on opposite sides since I didn't want to disturb him. When I woke up, he was in the bathtub behind the shower curtain.

All day I just wanted to come home and see him and spend time with him. Of course not only did I have volleyball today, but I was also on snack/drink duty, so I couldn't skip. (Side note: volleyball was awesome today. Beautiful warm, breezy weather, sunny, with some awesome band giving a free concert nearby that we could hear!)

I came home, Wolfie was in the tub again. I decided to feed him in there since I don't want to push his limits, and he needs to see that I am the one supplying the food!



You might make fun of me now, but when I start writing books on training cats or something and making my millions... you'll be humming a different tune!

Sweet Success!

I can't even verbalize the agony this window has put me through. First with the embarrassing can't-open-gate story with the super, then couldn't open the window itself at all. With the stifling heat and humidity, seeing that window but unable to open it... I felt like that character in Greek mythology who, as his punishment in Hades, stood starving and thirsty knee-deep in water and just below hanging grapes, and, each time he bent down to scoop up water it receded, and everytime he reached for grapes they rose just above his grasp.

I don't know what did it, my determination I guess, but somehow i OPENED IT! It took manipulating, maneuvering, and I'm not even sure I opened it correctly but here it is... wide open letting in sunshine and cool air, making my once stuffy and baking studio a fresh, breezy, open and liveable place to be!



In the words of Johnny Drama....

Victory.

I'm Going to be a Host Mom...

...for cats!

Isn't that great? I happened to come across a foster agency for cats and got in touch with the woman running it. She's crazy. BUT, she approved me! She takes in abused and homeless cats, and I will be a foster home to house and help housebreak the cats until they are friendly and domestic again.

Once the cats are ready to be adopted, I come in with other foster homes and we show the cats at Petco twice a week. If the cat gets successfully adopted, I get a (surprisingly hefty) bonus.

This is the cat I am going to be taking in next week, his name is Wolfie, isn't he beautiful?!



I KNOW everyone says I'm going to be crazy cat lady but EXCUSE ME if cats are way more badass than dogs!

At any rate, I get the company of a cat but no committment, looking forward to it.

The New Trains

Though I did not move too far from where I had been living originally, I have different options of taking the train to work.

Option 1: Continuing taking the #1 train. It's two blocks away, tends to be more crowded

so I've begun taking

Option 2: Grabbing the B or C train from the 103rd St stop 1 block away, and transferring to the #1 train at Columbus Circle.

I LOVE my newfound train route. The B & C hit the same station and platform at 103rd street. It's a lovely walk through a nice parkside neighborhood, where I can jump on a train right away since there are 2 different lines running through it. It's not as crowded, I can always get a seat, and when I transfer to the #1, it's the easiest thing ever: I simply walk up the stairs right where it lets off and I am on the platform for the #1 train, which gets off at 28th street, aka my work's block corner. It couldn't be easier or more convenient.



My gradual mastery of the public transportation system, along with the normalcy of taking it to/from work makes me think I am acclimating