A couple of weeks ago, we hit Summer Streets, where Park Avenue is closed to car traffic from 72nd Street down to the Brooklyn Bridge. We walked with Cool Friend Kristin. Here are three scenes from Summer Streets.
this was taken before things got too crazy
Cool Dad is going to come home tonight and ask why I smell like beer after being home with our two sons all day. I hope he believes this story.
It all started with an innocent pool party in our backyard with a cool friend who brought her baby over to join us. Soon after she left, I felt some type of liquid being sprinkled all over me from above. It started getting heavier as I looked up. I guess our top-floor neighbors had decided to drain a keg off the edge of their patio. I actually know these neighbors too, but they did not show their faces as they made my pool party a little too wild. Luckily Cool Baby was out of the pouring range.
Shouldn’t I get cool points for this? Do you think any other SAHM’s got beer poured on their heads today?
Last Monday, we posted a video musical tour of our latest apartment, the Cool Duplex. Unlike our guided tour of the Cool Studio, this one had plenty of vocals, but no words. We’re sure that the video left plenty of you at a loss for words as well. We’ll explain ourselves as well as some things about the Cool Duplex that you should know.
THE SONG
As much as I would like to claim so, I did not compose nor sing the incredible the epic overture that the tour is set to. It is actually a song called “I Am Glad I’m Finally Going Home” that was performed on a 1970s Russian variety show. The song has become a viral video among mostly the internet geek community; you probably won’t see the morning shows talking about it like Losiah Whittaker’s meltdown. If you want the details, I refer you to our friend Wikipedia.
THE APARTMENT
As entertaining and disturbing as my tour was, you didn’t learn much about the apartment. Lemme break it down for ya.
The place is a duplex, meaning it has two floors. Our roommates share the large bottom floor, dividing their spaces with curtains. To commemorate Good Friday, I tore their curtains in half when they weren’t home. Just kidding.
Here, I ascend the spiral staircase from the bottom floor. We have a baby gate for the entrance; it’s just open so I don’t fumble with it while filming. CB is also too big to fit between those bars, but we will install some guards for any littler ones coming over.
I’m walking in from where the front door is. The coat closet is actually our closet where our hanging clothes are as well as CB’s strollers. The bathroom door has an organizer hanging on the inside of the door. That’s how four adults’ personal hygiene items are stored in one small bathroom. The organizer is held up by some hooks that hang over the door, which prevents the bathroom door from closing all the way. We haven’t had an embarrassing barge-in yet, though I’d bet I’ll be the first victim since Cool Baby has a habit of running through the door when I’m in there. continued…
photo: photoeverywhere
This is the story of an island.
It was almost an accident that they ended up on The Island, but it was no accident. It was the machinations of an intricate plan with ancient roots.
Each of them were lacking direction of a sort, tossed about by the waves. Stripped of the comforts of home, wandering the jungle, they were scared, misplaced, doubtful, but alive with hope.
This is because The Island is special. It transforms and it hones. It offers mysteries and histories deeper than the waters that surround it. Somehow, on The Island, they found their way.
But some of them left. And some were left behind. Turmoil ensued. Maybe they were never supposed to leave. But maybe they were.
This week, we begin the next chapter in the story about The Island. And the story will go to lengths more extreme than we could have ever fantasized.
But the story is real.
The Island is Manhattan. Cool Mum and Cool Baby left weeks ago, but now they come back. Our future will be chaotic. Questions loom like skyscrapers and statues; answers may lie in their shadows.
Our story is landing somewhere, but we don’t know where. Our hope is secure, though sometimes we can’t help but feel lost. But we’re ready for the next chapter. Cool Mum is pregnant.
The last few months have seemed like a long flashback as we’ve tried to keep up with what’s been going on. Now, we finally catch up. We pick up at July ‘09 …(cue big WHOOOSH sound à la Lost).
July 2009: We put our house on the market in June 2008 when it was clear that God meant to move us. We first tried to sell it ourselves, but our lack of desire to promote, advertise, or clean the house made it unlikely that we would sell it on our own. So, we got a realtor.
We got an offer fairly soon, but it was a little less than we wanted, and we declined. Surely, a better offer would come around soon.
A year passed.
We waited, hoped, stressed, prayed, and knocked the price down a few times. We felt ensnared by the house, like we couldn’t thrive in NYC until we were free from it.
In May, we finally got a decent offer on the house ($5,000 less than that other offer – sigh). The folks couldn’t move in until July, so we waited with trepidation until then. On July 15, we closed on the house and wriggled free from the threat of being forced to move back to Florida.
Aug 2009: Cool Mum and Cool Baby attended the casting call for extras for Sex and the City 2. CB had already scored us front placement for the New York Magazine photoshoot. Alas, after waiting in line with some of the hottest and coolest non-union actors anywhere, CM and CB never got a call. The casting agency didn’t get it right, but at least WABC 7 did.
Sept 2009: After a year of pushing used, ragged strollers around the city, we finally upgraded to a new, primo deluxe jogging stroller. The good news: easier handling and added safety for Cool Baby. The bad news: carrying the stroller down and up 4 flights of stairs every day; we had left our other strollers downstairs without fear of theft.
Oct 2009: A busy month. CM and CB visited family in Florida. While there, CM discovered our dream NYC apartment on Craigslist. Ground floor. Backyard with deck and grill. Dishwasher. 3 bedrooms. A lot higher rent than we could handle. We’d have to get roommates to afford the place, but we had tried in the past to live with roommates to no avail. The dream place was like a pipe dream.
The next week, Cool Grandmum (on my side) and my cousin visited us in NYC. We had a good time showing them around the city, especially the naked jungle that is Times Square.
We decided to give our dream place a shot, and to our surprise, people actually wanted to live with us. Us… The weirdos that call themselves Cool Dad and Cool Mum on their silly blog. By God’s grace and after the requisite twists and turns, we were getting our dream place after all.
Work was a dream, too. I loved the people and the mission of the non-profit that I worked for, but I felt that being an office manager was not my calling. I was good at it, but it didn’t fit my talents.
Over the year, I put my talents to use and worked on the geeky side of the organization between my office manager duties: databases, website, social media. I loved the work, and it became clear that I didn’t want to do anything else.
I preached that the future of our company was online. My bosses agreed, and after a series of presentations, delays, and prayers, a position was created for me: Director of Communications.
And I realized God’s brilliant plan: A year ago, I wanted my career to be doing communications at a non-profit or church. But I had no experience, so I would never get hired. I became an office manager, pretty sure that it wasn’t my calling. A year later, the exact job that I wanted, but never could’ve gotten, was created just for me. Faith and patience (though I was the model of neither) yield sweet results.
Nov 2009: We moved into our dream apartment during the first week of the month. An email went out to our local church group, and 13 people showed up to move us out from our 5th floor apt. It took a New York-record 30 minutes to move! Slowly, we’ve been settling into the new place and readjusting to life with roomies.
We hosted our first Thanksgiving and had friends visiting from Orlando and local friends from Japan. On the menu: crock pot turkey breast, stuffing, sweet potatoes, frozen vegetables, and a couple of pies. When our Japanese friends asked if they could bring anything, Cool Mum responded with a Thanksgiving necessity: toilet paper. We’d like to think that we were the only family in America that asked their guests to bring TP to T-giving.
Dec 2009: My birthday was early December, and I celebrated with a deluxe Tex-Mex lunch with my co-workers (Chipotle) and dinner with our small group at church. My brother gave me a gift certificate to the Gator Sports Shop, so I loaded up on Florida shirts to proudly wear in the city. We spent 10 days in Florida for Christmas, so both sets of Cool Grand ‘Rents enjoyed reacquainting themselves with Cool Baby.
…and we’re finally caught up. I left out some big twists, but they’ll be in the book. 2010 has been good: living through the cold, settling into my new job, bonding further with our church family. We look forward to an even more adventurous year and actually keeping up with it here on the blog!
