The other night, we hosted our friend Polina (aka Truly Cool Parent), who was in town for New York Fashion Week. She came to dinner with her wardrobe stylist-slash-art director Nikki. We dined on coconut chicken curry and the finest durn cupcakes in New York City (my apologies for rocking the worlds of Magnolia and Billy’s advocates).
Polina and Nikki are the queens of fashion photography in Indianapolis, so Cool Mum and I quizzed them on their line of work because the only thing we are more clueless about than parenting is fashion. We loved hearing stories as micro as working out details for a shoot and as grand as effecting cultural change in Indianapolis.
Since we moved up here, fashion has occupied more space in my consciousness. Not that it ever occupied much. (What do you mean Hypercolor shirts went out of style? You press the shirts, AND THEY CHANGE COLOR! These are shirts of the future, if anything.)
I even went on an online clothes shopping binge towards the end of last year. Winter was coming, and I didn’t want to alternate the same two sweaters that I did during our first winter here. Thanks to Slickdeals, I picked up better-fitting jeans, Merino wool sweaters, two corduroy blazers, a wool pea coat, and a crate of slightly irregular purple Z. Cavariccis (no i didn’t).
Despite my shopping spree, I still feel fashionably inadequate; my clothes just aren’t cool enough. It doesn’t help that a lot of friends here work in fashion and design and always look swank. And it especially doesn’t help that after dinner with Polina and Nikki, Cool Mum asked me if I think that my hairstyle is outdated. Apparently, she does because this is not a typical after-dinner cleanup question.
Even when I have decent clothes, my fashion sense is bankrupt. I could be the all-time champion of Project Run-away. One day I went to work sporting a nicer shirt (that happened to be striped) and my cool new pinstripe dress pants. CM pointed out (after work, of course) that I shouldn’t wear striped tops and bottoms together. I checked online, and one commenter on a forum called the combination “horrific.” That makes me long for the days when CM called my clothes choices “not bad.”
How’s your fashion sense: Fetching or retching?
If we knew what was good for us, we would stay away from IKEA. Our first big trip to the yellow and blue monster was a disaster. I’ll never forget that fateful trip though I quickly forgave Cool Mum. Despite that bad memory, we find ourselves returning to the Swedish palace. We can’t resist the affordable furniture and, most importantly, the affordable food. Almond cake… oh, the almond cake.
With the recent move into an apartment with roommates, we had to get more creative with our furnishing. For some reason, I didn’t notice that our bedroom didn’t have a closet. We have the coat closet to store our clothes, but it isn’t enough room for the three of us. And with roommates now, storing our underwear in the kitchen cabinets is a good way to have them accidentally broiled in the oven.
So, my friend John and I headed to IKEA to acquire two affordable dressers.
When planning a trip to IKEA, it is best to estimate how long you think it will take and then add two hours. And be prepared to come home from your shopping trip only to realize that you forgot to purchase anything but meatballs and lingonberry soda. Unfortunately, I ignored this wisdom.
We went by public transportation, which meant taking the subway to the free water taxi across the East River to Brooklyn. We thought that we could carry the dresser boxes back to Manhattan and then take a cab back to the new apartment, henceforth known as the Cool Duplex (since it has two floors).
We got to the store and of course headed straight to the cafeteria for affordable lunch. We then did affordable shopping.
At the end of our winding shopping trip, things got complicated. We picked up the boxes for our two dressers and discovered that they were ytterst tung! (Swedish for freakin’ heavy!) I wussed out due to back problems, so we weren’t carrying these boxes to the cash register, much less to Manhattan.
We decided that we needed a vehicle to get the stuff back to the Cool Duplex. There were no cars nearby to rent, and a taxi would have been $70. We called Cool Mum and John’s wife (who were hanging out), and they said to take the taxi. Common Sense suggested, “Yes, let’s pay a little more to get the job done and learn our lesson for next time.” But Frugal Sense won out by screaming, “No! Take the ferry back to Manhattan empty-handed, rent a Zipcar (an hourly rental car), drive to Brooklyn, buy your stuff, drive back to Manhattan to the Cool Duplex, drop the stuff off, and return the Zipcar. It will save you $30!”
We left IKEA having bought meatballs, soda, and a $5 plastic stepstool for Cool Baby. We got to John’s apartment, and I reserved a Zipcar for 2 hours (4–6pm), which would cost about $35. We were to pick up the car from a garage around the corner from the Cool Duplex. My plan was perfect.
We picked up the Zipcar, raced down to Brooklyn, and hit traffic. We eventually made it to the store, parked, and ran inside to find our cart of items in the same place we left it. We assembled our haul, raced to the cashiers, and hit traffic. We finally made our purchase, picked up cinnamon buns to appease the women, loaded the car, and hit traffic.
And this where God takes over. Stuck on the highway, it becomes clear that we’re not going to return the car in time. That’s OK though because you can call Zipcar to extend your reservation by 30 minutes and avoid the $50 late fee. John calls. It’s 5:45. He’s on the phone and then ruins my day: someone else has reserved our car for 6:00 pm. He talks to a rep, and there’s no way getting around it. I’m going to be charged the $50 late fee. So, after all of the extra time, travel, and stress to save $30 with the Zipcar instead of a taxi, I’m going to spend even more money and make someone else late for their plans. I wanted to melt down.
But instead, I let go. I told myself that we should have listened to the ladies, and it was a dumb mistake, and it would cost me money, but God has blessed me with a lot more than $50. Then something very cool happened. At 5:57, John made a call. After a minute, he exclaimed, “I just extended the reservation!” He explained that he felt God tell him to call Zipcar again because the person who reserved the car canceled their reservation. At first, John doubted, but went ahead and called because there was nothing to lose. We exulted and high-fived all the way home.
Maybe we should have listened to the girls, but I’m happy with the cool God story we got instead, along with the cinnamon buns.
We’ll probably be back to IKEA this weekend. We hope for a less dramatic time. We’ll let you know.
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 had graduated from college 10 years ago, but still hadn’t settled into a career. 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!
When I finished my tale of how we finally settled in NYC, I had gotten a job after two months of blasting through our savings like a golf club through glass. Well, here are the highlights since then. This is mostly a 2009 recap, conveniently done at the end of the year when blogs do such things.
Nov 2008: For our first Thanksgiving in NYC, our few friends here were gone. A girl from our church sent an email around, opening their Thanksgiving dinner up to anyone in town without plans. We saw the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade with prime spots in Central Park, and then, being the types that like to eat others’ food, we went (and brought something, too (i think)). We met the girl (Katie) and her boyfriend (Jeremy) and enjoyed Thanksgiving with strangers who were to become friends.
Dec 2008: We celebrated my birthday with our few friends at a local diner called Big Daddy’s. Quite appropriate, since at 5′5, I am definitely a big daddy. Our first NYC snows fell later in the month, and we enjoyed the fresh experience while the locals watched us make snow angels. In 2 inches of snow. In the street. Actually, we kept our cool and enjoyed the snow safely.
After an early Christmas trip to Florida to be with families, we returned here to marvel at the department store Christmas windows and the tree in Rockefeller Center. New Year’s Eve was bitterly cold, so we spent it alone in the Cool Studio.
Jan 2009: Cool Mum’s childhood friends visited NYC and spent a lot of time with us. They saw the Cool Studio. They wept.
Feb 2009: Our church opened a service on the Upper East Side, just a few blocks from our place. This changed us. We had friends at the Upper West Side service, but it was difficult to make it over there during the week to get to know people well. Now, we were meeting people in our neighborhood, just minutes away, that we could live life with.
Oh, and we spent Valentine’s Day at the IKEA cafeteria. I know how to show my lady a good time. Actually, if you knew Cool Mum, then you’d know that cafeteria food is dear to her heart. Points scored for CD.
March 2009: While still cold, the first signs of spring were in the air. The most hardy flowers were blooming through the frost. We saw U2 in person as Mayor Bloomberg renamed part of W 53rd Street “U2 Way” during their weeklong stint on Letterman. The band walked back into the CBS studio, and we left. I said bye to CM while she ducked into a cafe to warm up.
As I was walking to the subway, I saw a crowd in front of a restaurant along with plenty of police. Bono and Larry Mullen, Jr. were sitting inside. I turned around to get CM and a column of police headed toward me. I realized that Adam Clayton and The Edge were walking right by me. I thought, “If I could only touch the hem of The Edge’s coat, I could be a decent guitar player.” I didn’t. I got CM and CB out of the cafe, and we watched U2 scan their menus for a little while.
April 2009: My friend in Indianapolis forwarded me a photoshoot call for a major magazine. They were looking for recent arrivals to New York. We weren’t sure if it was legit, but we figured that New York is a safe, happy place where one is ever taken advantage of. So we pulled out our new $200 Pollo Ralph Laurez umbrella that we bought on the street and headed to the studio. The photoshoot turned out to be very legit.
Because of this photo and our vain desire to share it with you all, we decided it was also time to break our 1.5-year code of anonymity. On April 16, we unveiled a new blog design and our names. We’re still waiting for the New York Times to cover the story.
May 2009: Most people would go crazy being holed up in a 200-sq ft box with a 2-year-old for over 10 minutes. We did it for six months in the Cool Studio. We had good times in that little place, but the novelty had worn off, just like the paint on that spot of the wall where I would bang my head. We searched and found an affordable 1-bedroom apartment in a great area of the Upper East Side. Our current management company, so we were able to just switch apartments without having to find someone to fill the Cool Studio. With the help of a couple of friends (one of which was just visiting for the weekend – we have no shame), we moved to our new place, conveniently located on the 5th floor of a walkup (no elevator) building.
Later that month, we went to Hartford, CT with our friends Katie and Jeremy (of Thanksgiving fame). What was in Hartford that was worth leaving NYC for? Coldplay. K and J watched CB while CM and I saw the other CM (Chris Martin), JB, GB, and WC. Amazing show. For me, only second to the U2 Vertigo tour. We felt kind of bad that we didn’t take CB, but his little ears couldn’t handle it.
That’s enough catching up for one post. Come back next time as we count down the biggest hits of the Cool Fam’s 2009!
