Economic Crisis, how I loathe thee....(why must you take my favorite things!)

I seriously lived for the day this magazine came in the mail every month. I would set aside a full hour, have my snack of choice, be home alone, and revel in all of the design wonderfulness and creativity that was to be found in Domino. Now, this is no more. I am officially depressed.

At least the New York Times cares:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/garden/05domino.html

Well, although I will have more free time, I will have lost all of my design sense. Great. Back to boring as toast decor.

The walk home from school

This is my time to think, catch up with people, bitch about school with friends, etc. My mom is always curious about what it looks like because I almost always have something to say (i.e. the first leaf color change, the first snow, the first time I thought the wind felt like knives against my face) regarding the weather. Living over here in the northeast has made me a weather channel fiend. Love it. So anyhow, here is a photo of my walk home everyday, taken on a nice Thursday afternoon this week where it was actually -1 F outside. But beautiful.

On another note, I start school tomorrow, as well as the ULI (Urban Land Institute) Design Competition, which should be pretty intense. Two weeks of staying in the basement working on concepts and designs. Yay. And, I already have homework due before going to class. I guess it's really just to read Obama's urban policy proposals and then write about it, so not too shabby. Well, back at it, I guess. I am anxious. Very.

January is Cold and the Sun is Shining in Ithaca

This week has been different but I like it. Since returning to Ithaca last Thursday night (scary drive home in the snow, we ran into a snow bank after slipping around on the interstate!) I've had more time than normal to get my life in order. So I've been biding my time until school starts next week by purging the apartment of stuff and dirt, organizing, cooking, and catching up with the steady stream of people trickling back into town. I could almost get used to this life. Almost...

It's nice to be lazy, but I think I would drive myself crazy thinking too much, and wasting too much time getting addicted to television shows that I don't really care about (i.e. Weeds, which I've almost finished the 2nd season in two days.) But I've discovered that making butternut squash soup is really yummy and that Pandora is the best internet radio ever, and I have contemplated some theology questions I've had lately--debating which book to read this week: Christianity and the Social Crisis (Walter Rauschenbusch), The Great Divorce (CS Lewis) or The Art of Loving (Erich Fromm). I feel like I have to finish one, because once school starts I can say goodbye to reading for fun until May.

But this is what real winter is like! I actually love that it is 5 degrees and sunny outside, forcing me to stay in and curl up on the couch and read and cook soups and make our studio more homey, and play board games at night. A friend the other night said that we Californians don't play board games well because we don't have winter. Au contraire! Scotty and I play a mean game of Sequence and we are mustering our skills on Scrabble. So challenge us all you want, eskimos of the northeast.

Well back to life here. It is really great to be back. I actually missed Ithaca. I think California is still home, but not my parents' house, not Kingsburg really, and I don't know about Fresno. I loved seeing everyone, but I am really content with life here in Ithaca. I know Scotty is dying to be back in California, but I could stay here for at least a few more years. Maybe because the winter doldrums haven't come, or I haven't experienced -20 degrees yet. Which I will this week. Yippee.

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.