Hello, Fall and Winter!

So...life has been a little busy. I completely forgot about the blog in the insanity of school.

But I'm back! I think the number one thing I am learning in graduate school is time management. Well, maybe not the first thing, but it's necessary for survival here...and I've been in survival mode for the past month.

Now that Scott is working full-time as a preschool teacher and part-time at the co-op grocery store, and everything in my classes is starting to snowball, we feel like we are always running around and trying to see each other for a little bit every day. Crazy!

But, life is good--before everything hit the fan we snuck in a little trip to Toronto and to Niagara Falls in September. Then last month I got to go to Washington, D.C for a class field trip for a few days. And in just over 3 weeks we will be flying home for Thanksgiving and Corey and Lissa's wedding! Time flies.

That's the update, more or less on our lives. We're still finding time to socialize--with our neighbors across the hallway in our apartment building and with friends of mine in the department. Everyone loves a good party here so we are struggling to find this little thing you might call balance. I'm hearing the motto at Cornell is 'work hard, play hard' and I find that to be very true.

On a weather note, fall is amazing and I will post pictures of the gloriousness around here, but it snowed last week!! Actual snow. It didn't really stick to the ground though, although it will soon.

I miss everyone dearly! Yesterday I was listening to Switchfoot, which always reminds me of California for some reason, and it really made me nostalgic for my old life. I really already feel like a different person, which is somewhat strange for both Scotty and I as we are trying to figure out our identity here in a new place where no one knew us before. It's a really awkward time that we are trying to navigate and although it is tumultuous we somehow are getting through each day.

But it all comes back to balance. Maybe someday we'll figure it out. For now we just have to get to Thanksgiving alive and not completely overworked.

Ithacan Life

Tomorrow will make two weeks since we have arrived in Ithaca. It's hard to believe. I haven't even started school yet and Scott has not started work yet either (we think he's working at Starbucks, yay!). So you might be wondering what we have been doing with our time and why we haven't blogged more or emailed more...

We found the farmer's market on Cayuga Lake on Saturday mornings which is the most amazing thing ever. Yummy blueberries, TONS of people, really good peanut lime noodles and cranberry iced tea. Beautiful scenery. Everyone has told us about the horrendous winters here but forgot to mention the gorgeous summers! It's still very green, sunny, and pleasant outside with an average temp of about 75 degrees. It's only rained twice, and usually at night or in the early morning so the rest of the day is nice.

I started my official orientation for my program last Saturday. Apparently, the CRP department has a reputation at Cornell for being the most social group on campus, so we have to live up to that with a social outing everyday. After being a bio major with all of the science people (I do love them but they are often anti-social) this is refreshing! Everyone I've met so far in our class of 34 is great and nice, interesting, and personable. It's quite intimidating because almost everyone has lived outside of the U.S. for some time in their life and speaks at least one other language besides English. However, when they found out I was a city planner, they always are interested in that (I'm the only one who has actually worked as a planner!)

And then there is always organizing our apartment. I like to call it "tetris for real life" because it is almost impossible to fit everything we own in 690 square feet. But so far, we really like our apartment--and with this view, how can you not? Plus, we have some fun neighbors to make it interesting.

So adjusting hasn't been too difficult yet. At least for myself, it probably helps that I'm flying back to California on Friday so I don't feel trapped here yet. Scotty is doing great because Ithaca is a pretty fun place to be right now and it is not too different from SLO. Except I would say SLO is more upscale because they have Sephora and Banana on the main shopping street and we have hemp stores and homemade craft galleries. But word on the street is that they are putting an Urban Outfitters on the first story of our building which is pretty cool for me. Not cool for our bank account. We'll see.

For now I'm just pretty stoked to be in the academic environment again. I do miss California already (and last night we rented "A Day Without a Mexican" from the library which is pretty funny and interesting) which made us think of home even more. But we'll be back someday....

Dani & Scotty: Coast to Coast

I cannot believe how much has happened in such a short period of time.

1) We take on Portugal and Barcelona and find them to be quite nice places to visit. Maybe live. Just kidding family.

2) Bump alert: Sarah. (for those of you who do not read Us Weekly, this means pregnant).

3) Become unemployed. Very bittersweet. Being a city planner (and for Fresno at that) was a great place to spend my time the last year and a half.

4) Pack up and leave California (most stressful experience, ever.)

5) See 12 states. Eat breakfast with Chris/Stew in Boulder. Decide that spending an extra $100 to stay in Chicago was worth every penny. LOVE Chicago. Stop at Notre Dame. And Cleveland, which is surprisingly nice. Wonder when the cornfields will stop. Realize they don't, as I saw some in New York.

6) Arrive in Ithaca, New York. Find out that our apartment really is an aquarium and we are the fish. Get library cards because it is next door to us! Eat dinner at Jimmy Johns which Yvette and Robyn first introduced me to in Clovis. Sit at Starbucks and write emails and this blog.

I'm so relieved we made it. It seems like now we can go on with our normal lives. Being in a car for 6 days was a little much, after everything else that has happened. But I think we're both ready for normal...whatever that means here. It's kind of funny, we know like 2 people in Ithaca (and both work in our apartments), and we ran into both of them walking around downtown tonight. I wonder if that is an indication of how things go around here.

Regarding the pictures....they will be coming!

Travel? Travel?

Today was our last official "hangout" day in Fresno.  I have to admit, last night I got pretty melancholy as I started packing while eating my hot cheetos and watching Carrie screw things up with Aidan for the millionth time.  I mean, I've packed up my stuff several times, to move back and forth from the Valley to San Luis Obispo, and then back again....

I was sad.  It took me a minute to recognize the emotion "melancholy".  My brain just doesn't get that very often.  I feel very blessed to have a "la vie en rose" disposition towards life (thanks, Dad and Grandpa George).  It's just that I think seeing our belongings go back into boxes (and realizing how many sweatshirts I own....hello college again!) makes it become very real that we are moving across the country.  And I wonder, how many more times am I going to feel this emotion come August?  

So today, we did the most Fresno thing you can do: go shopping at River Park (yes, I am ashamed that I didn't say that we didn't try out a new spot in the Tower District, or bike through Fig Garden, or hang out at Woodward Park).  Alas, we spent the afternoon basking in bookstores.  I LOVE BOOKSTORES.  Scotty and I are like little kids in the candy store.  Today, we had some goals for buying gifts to help us stay on track.  But all roads at the bookstore eventually lead to Travel.  (Remember Charlotte, in the bookstore, looking for travel to cover up the fact that she was in the self-help section?) I usually try to hit up the bestsellers and architecture sections first, but Travel always comes next, with an occasional side-trip to religion since it's right there as well.  It's especially fun now because we are taking like 3 grand trips in one long Indian summer.  Europe first in July, cross-country road trip in August (with stops in Boulder and Chicago), and then upstate New York exploring for the fall foliage.  Which, apparently, is amazing.  Posts to follow to document the presumed "gloriousness".

Our day in Fresno is done.  And our life in Fresno is coming to a close.  It's a strange feeling.  I'm ready to be moved, literally and spiritually.  I'm not sure which direction God is going to take us, but I'm looking forward to that conversation.  Or maybe, it won't be a conversation.  I will have to listen for a change, as the world familiar to me is gone.  I think that will be good.

  

My Life on the B List

Okay, so Monique and Mom thought my humor was funny on the last two entries I wrote, so I felt like I had to keep it going with another laugh-inducing post. And with a title like that, how can I go wrong, right? (Is there an acronym for sarcastic remark? There's one for laughing out loud [LOL] and laughing my ass off [LMAO] but not one for 'that was sarcastic'.)

But it really is true. I mean, planners really are on the B list when it comes to social circles. We know political figures (although not in the schmoozy way that most others have encountered them). We are in the Fresno Bee or on the news, but never in the headlines. People occasionally blog about us. But when you go to a dinner party, or just hang out with some friends/acquaintences, and you have to explain your job, the inevitable question pops up every time: what the heck is a planner? Do you, like, plan events?

No. We plan LIFE.

It's so funny, though, because we planners usually take our jobs so seriously, and have to try to explain that our field is a hybrid between architecture, engineering, and landscape architecture, but on a broader scale. After a few minutes of blank stare, I'll usually draw an analogy with the game Sim City, which takes the glaze away. Or for the less technologically saavy, I usually just say "I try to make Fresno pretty."

Back to taking our job so seriously, I really do think we have a B-list complex as professionals--I mean, the one article I have posted in my cubicle reads "Planners Can Save the World" (in reference to, of course, our efforts to stop global climate change through requiring more bike lanes and thus more alternative modes of transportation) and the most recent article I read on Planetizen (our trade website) today was entitled: "Can Planners Save the Overlooked Masses?". You know, it's tough bearing the weight of the world on our shoulders from 8 to 5.

(Please sense the sarcasm and satirical tone at this point.)

But honestly, I am just really excited to be in a field where we are taking on the challenges that seem really impossible, like making Fresno more bike and pedestrian friendly, and eventually, undercovering the dynamics that make southwest Fresno what it is now and helping to make it a vibrant community in the future.

I just wish it was more clear cut! How on earth do you maneuver through the politics with a clear conscience?

That's something I think I'm going to be grappling with for awhile. I think Cornell will be a nice break, a completely different perspective, and hopefully some new experience in different political climates.

Enough philosophy.

If you see Scotty this week, give him a huge hug. He's been working major overtime for the end of his credential. I really think this guy could convince a KKK member to like Martin Luther King. No really--watch the link! He's so dedicated, I was making dinner the other night, and he made me listen to a podcast of a MLK speech while he was in the shower so that we could talk about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdMrWVJ2oHk

Public Meetings? Count me out.

Seriously. I think I hit one too many tonight. I've always been one to get extremely uncomfortable when people are arguing in front of me (but I always wanted to be a lawyer?). But I still chose to enter a profession where people like to think you are ridiculously stupid and yell at you because, you are a public servant. And a profession which requires countless hours of mediation between different interests and being extremely diplomatic. I'm taking off my diplomat hat off for a bit.

Tonight completely sucked!

I'm not going to go into the gory details, it will make me more frustrated. That being said, usually working with the public is pretty rewarding. Occasionally, I get yelled at for no particular reason just because someone thinks their taxes pay my salary (which they don't, for better or worse, development fees do). Sigh. I do like to help people. Honestly. But when they are yelling at me (and my co-workers) for something they do not understand, but something that we are schooled in, and practice on a daily basis-- I find that hard to just swallow. Really makes turn the other cheek come alive, I guess. And since community development is my fate in life, I guess I better accept it now. I'm hoping that maybe it's just a Fresno thing, and the people here will grow out of it eventually (and think, read, or educate themselves before speaking)....but let's not hold our breath.

On a happier note, how amazingly awesome was The Office tonight? BEST NIGHT EVER. :) And I'm getting more into 30 Rock, especially since Will Arnett, BEST ACTOR EVER was on tonight.

Back and at it!

I'm back, after a brief (9 month) hiatus. But so much has happened since then, it's overwhelming! Scotty and I got married, I became an auntie, applied to grad schools, got accepted to grad schools, and then just decided to move to New York [state] to attend Cornell! (I feel I have to clarify, because everyone assumes that New York is New York City, and Ithaca is far, far, far from being NYC).

I'm pretty stoked on Cornell. I think the thing that excites me the most is that I can be just like Andy Bernard [The Office] and always brag about my Cornell status. Not really. But when people are like, what? Where's that? I just remind them of the most famous alum of Cornell. And, I guess Janet Reno too. But most people (at least my kind of people) think Will Ferrell boxing Rudy Giuliani when they think of Janet Reno.

But, that is still a good 4 months away from now! I have to keep reminding myself (with Scotty's help) that we still have some solid time here in California to savor. And we're going to Europe in July, which seems like it has been overshadowed by our grad school decision! Not to mention, my job is keeping me more than busy lately! It's funny, I told my boss a few weeks ago that I really needed more work. Silly me. They didn't assign anything to me, the work just naturally came. But I am loving it. Neighborhood meetings, public outreaches, working on design guidelines--my job is awesome. Not that my job description doesn't involve being a paper pusher at many times.....but why would I mention that?!

For now, Scott and I are going to be living it up here in Fresno. Dr. Mario 24-7, eating dinner on our tiny balcony in the sun, going to Kingsburg to enjoy the small-town life when we can, seeing all of my valley friends.....and of course, saying dude and like totally awesome all the time, because we can. When we move to New York, Scott has decided that we are really going to have to live up to our California stereotype and just say dude and rad all the time and ride our longboards everywhere and talk like we are major surfers. I'm hoping it will be endearing. Not annoying. We'll see.

Anyways, enough NY talk. It's so hard, but I'm going to try to focus on my life here still, and not on how to arrange the furniture in our new apartment....