trio – JFK street, cambridge, ma – april, 2008

photos l to r – mary, nesti, jack

weeks in review – april

where did i leave off?

 sat, april 12 flour, titus sparrow, barnes and noble

sun, april 13 coffee at flour with becca; picco for pizza and icecream with cindy and lou

mon, april 14 – friday, april 18 work work and more work. rachel’s defense, coffee with suzanne, catching up with denis. secret of NIMH for friday night movie night – i had no idea it was natl inst mental health.

sat, april 19 – YARD WORK and YARD WORK and more YARD WORK – flowers everywhere – daffodils, vinca, and early wild violets – the white with blue stripes – dark purple come next. head to flour, park, barnes and noble and realize that it is marathon weekend – the city is packed! jack earns 27 stars on the super star pee chart – a record-breaking week!

sun, april 20 – zip the Ford Escape and head to IKEA for breakfast and shopping – it’s PACKED! stock up on essentials and pick up some pieces for my home office corner. back to unload and then on to chestnut hill mall to hit the stride rite for new shoes for jack – size 8.5 and he chooses the fire engine sneakers with lights. then we are off to the little gym in west roxbury for a birthday party for jeremiah – a fellow preschool 1 classmate.

mon, april 21 – start the day with a super rich mocha from flour and YARD WORK, jack poops on the potty – wooo hooo – it’s only taken 10 weeks of hard potty training labor to get here…boys 😉

tues, april 22 – pick jack up from school and head to the bookstore for his choice of a book – a sticker book – tuesdays are mom and jack nights because dad has class. we have fun drawing and reading his new book -several times.

wed, april 23- gorgeous day! it’s 87 right now! jack tries the potty at school – a first! we hang out on the back deck – barefoot and in shorts – drinking white wine and loving the heat.

trio – rutland street, boston, ma – april, 2008

photos l to r (mary, nesti, jack)

THE CIRCUS

At jeremy’s behest/request/prompt…

This past Friday the three of us attended our third annual Big Apple Circus on the plaza at City Hall.

Lights, action, confetti from the sky – very fun.

 

E and I ate churros while Jack devoured a soft pretzel.

We found inspiration for Gretchen’s wedding – gown (costume), entertainment, and party favors all in one neat package 🙂

 

 

 

circus post postponed

so, we haven’t had time to upload additional photos…our ‘circus’ post will be …coming soon!

in the meantime.

rachel defended and it was lovely – i know much more about tanzania, uganda, and malawi than i ever thought i would – at over 500 pages (!!!), let’s just say that she covered quite a bit of ground in 90 minutes.

taxes(?!?) – yes those were due this week – ugh

holiday weekend coming up in massachusetts – monday is patriot’s day (boston marathon day). plans include – YARD WORK – so many of the flowers are starting to bloom and they are buried in leaves. we are also planning to go see a play – cinderella – at the coolidge corner theater. and we are zipcarring it on sunday to ikea and a birthday party at the little gym – woo hoo! 😉

dr. ellett!

what an amazing defense! Congratulations! gretchen is next 🙂

week in review – april, 2008 – 2

much calmer week

monday – spring quarter begins! i stay late to help with start up and enjoy the opportunity to talk with instructors i rarely get a chance to catch up with.

tuesday – spend the day at the boston foundation – the massachusetts nonprofit network town hall. lots of state reps and a couple of state senators. diane was there and i was happy to be represented by her. a very interesting mix of state, local, and nonprofit people. ran into a friend of a friend and had a great talk with stephanie’s boss. she truly outdid herself! run from tbf back to the office, catch up, run to get jack and end up staying for a rousing round of “The Grouchy Ladybug” read by the one of the best storytellers in Jack’s life – Ms. Auyana. Nesti heads to Sound Design.

wednesday – day begins with a meeting with mike – discussion of the book proposal. a colleague and i run down to exchange place (gorgeous view of harbor/rowe’s wharf from the 26th floor) to meet with the arts and business council of greater boston – they do amazing work! ann and i leave feeling inspired and discuss lots of great ideas on the return subway ride to campus. the work day ends with a meeting with a faculty member from copenhagen and a discussion of 21st century higher education and the entrepreneurial spirit. today i catch a reading about bugs and spring!

thursday – GORGEOUS DAY! It finally hits the 70s in boston. I begin the day with a 630am phone meeting with riham. we discuss the osi – mena initiative and decide to apply for a grant. day ends with a reception honoring phi kappa phi inductees and i catch up with one of my undergrads – an english major – and one of the first students i interacted with. we talked about graduate school and her future – very nice. i left and met up with jack and nesti and we headed to mission hill and to penguin pizza for slices and pints and followed that up with the season’s first ice cream at jp licks!

friday – THE CIRCUS – this deserves its own post.

trio – congress street, boston – april, 2008

photos l to r – mary, nesti, jack

streets

I was inspired by Andrew Wagner’s talk at CRAFTBOSTON in late march. He gave a nice litle slide show the highlight of which was a series of street-level photos of his city block in nyc. I have been trying to figure out how the three of us can take photos that share enough to tell some sort of intentional story (on the part of the photographers) but different enough that they allow our unique personalities to shine through 🙂

We started this blog with words of the week and accompanying photos from the two of us. Now that Jack can handle the camera on his own terms and choose his own views, it makes sense to include his photos. We also realized that daily photos were desirable but unrealistic and that more conceptual words of the week might be a bit difficult for Jack. So, we turned to objects. This felt quite random (even for us) and a bit too confining and then I saw Andrew’s slide show and had that aha moment!

Streets! How cool – can be done anywhere, anytime – so versatile but structured. So, we started with Newbury street and we will continue with our street theme on a weekly basis.

week in review – april, 2008

monday – my operations team converts to office 2007 and chaos ensues. i avoid my IT person and conversion 🙂 a short-term tactic. it’s cold and rainy when i leave to get jack.

tuesday – it’s warm! temps hit 64 – warmest day of the year. i catch an 8am bus with my boston coworkers and we make the hike to burlington for a ‘retreat’ to discuss our pending move. first day of april – new theme at jack’s preschool – spring. jack makes a beautiful flower. jack slaps ayanna during circle time…immediately, the scene from 101 dalmations comes to mind – cruella slapping one of her henchmen…ugh.

wednesday – work is total chaos. i am in meetings from 8am to 3pm and run out the door to get jack. the day begins with a great meeting with mike brown. midday, i run across campus to a women’s studies talk by eileen – amazing, as always! the talk is based on her upcoming book on women and formal political participation – a comparative study that shows how the u.s. is a ‘laggard’ – excellent work! while i’m in meetings, my team is submitting a grant proposal on the creative and cultural industries – this was very stressful and dragged out over a week and a half – involved european partners and the securing of several signatures in three countries. jack and his classmates make butterflies. they are hanging from the ceiling of his classroom when i arrive to pick him up. today, jack has scratched ayanna during circle time and miss jackie gives me a lecture and an “incident report” to sign. we walk to the south end library and read some books, stop at flour and split an oreo on the bench outside, and catch the bus home.

thursday – another day of back-to-back meetings. begin the day with a goodbye and good luck breakfast at brasserie jo’s for one of my team members. jack makes bees in class today – no slapping or scratching. after i pick him up, i run back to campus and hand him off to ernesto. a friend and i take our colleague out for goodbye drinks at the cactus club and i run back home to be there before jack goes to sleep at 8.

friday – i get up at 4am and work on my book proposal and enjoy the writing! our grant proposal is rejected – one of our forty attachments was in word 2007 and the feds only accept word 2003…we ask for the chance to resubmit but we are denied. the work morning begins with a great meeting with a colleague – we decide to write an article together on incorporating best global business practices into higher ed – fun! i attend an open house celebrating another colleague’s promotion. it ends up being a day of meetings with food – begins at starbucks, moves to espresso royale, and then to the parish cafe where i meet up with a former workstudy – emily – who is on her way to work at a dude ranch out west – woo hoo! run to get jack. he is just waking up from nap and miss jackie tells me that today they set up the ‘flower shop’ in the imaginative play corner. she made flowers out of tissue paper and the kids helped decorate the shop. as she is telling me this story, jack walks away from us and over to his cubby where he pulls out a bouquet of flowers and walks back over to us and hands the flowers to me. miss jackie is not impressed but i do leave with the flowers…. cindy and i finally go out for her birthday celebration — nearly two months later…we have a wonderful time at toro! cindy drops me off at home and jack starts crying when i come in the door without her. i call her on the phone and try to catch her. she comes back and plays with jack and he is thrilled. sleep until 330am and then i’m up again.