"Poultry in the Big Apple" ... or "the first half of a longer blog"

They say that a rolling stone gathers no moss - well it also gathers little sleep, minimal connection with loved ones and eats a lot of unhealthy food/coffee. This is all in order to say that my new job keeps me movin a bit more than I'd like to be movin . So, in all this craziness the last thing I want to write about it is my past two months of ridiculous therapy. Instead, I will share some pics and stories from a recent weekend in New York with Best-Friend-Holly, South-Africa-Melissa and Fuller-Seminary-Crystal. There were a few celebrity cameos including the actor with dwarfism: Peter Dinklage, in the village as we waited for Magnolia Cupcakes (yum, btw)...


He looked just like this - black leather jacket, intense eyes and all. He had a completely unremarkable dog on a leash as he stood outside a local bookstore probably waiting for a tall buxom blonde to meet him. And as we stood there mouths watering for butter-cream frosting every other person stopped him on the street using his leashed friend as an inroad to an awkward conversation where both people pretend that one of them is not famous. I always enjoy spotting celeb spotters.

However, the most notable cameo of the weekend came by way of the New Jersey Turnpike and over a 13 hour period ate his weight in gummy candies... drumroll please... welcome, the Chicken!!!! In case you, the reader, have not heard of the Chicken - here are the basics: he's a 5 year old who, at a harvest festival 2 years ago, Holly and I spotted running into a bounce house dressed in a chicken costume and flip-flops... we were in love. Since that sighting we have befriended both Liam (Christian name of the Chicken) and his parents Bill and Val. The whole Chicken family met us in the city for a day of good eats and lots of walking. Here is my favorite picture of the Chicken taken at the Apple store.



Very Serious.

Liam picks favorites. FYI: Children who pick favorites are awesome. I cannot stand children who indiscriminately love or despise people at large - no time for them at all! I hope many things for my future children - but an ability to pick favorites is a non-negotiable. Well, Liam picked his favorite - and it was South-Africa-Melissa. See Exhibit A, B and C:




Obviously, South-Africa-Melissa fell in love too.

-- Okay. So, I want to blog more tonight, but it's past 10 o'clock and I need to go to bed since I have two consecutive 12 hour days before flying towards the western skies for Thanksgiving with the fam.

Hopefully this little taste of my New York trip is enough to keep you checking back at Avoiding the Inevitable every couple days for the rest of this post.

Swing It Shake It Move It Make It

just because i'm feeling nostalgic...



delicious.

zigazigah,
erin

pick a pail of pickled peppers. hmmm, or apples as the case may be...

Brett, me, new law friend's Mike & Lauren, and next-door-neighbors Josh, Melissa & Vincent. We picked 20 lbs of Central Mass apples for $20 (plus a hay ride!!!) at Honey-Hill Orchards. I made apple crisp this week... you should know it was seriously kick ass.

Me and B

Josh and Melissa's one year old Vinny - he's wicked fun and loves helicopters.

Hope you enjoyed a quick (like really super brief) bite of our past weekend - we might go back to the Cranberry Bog this weekend... who knows what the future holds.

happy fall from new england.
erin

Stone Eggs in My Heart

These are two videos from my recent trip to California.

Above is my cousins Kristi & Matt's baby girl Taylor with me & my cousin Megan at my Aunt Wendy's (Mimi) house. Taytay is just beyond.

Below is my 'baby' brother Mikey on our way to the city showing me how the kids are dancing in the Bay these days - his coolness factor is astounding, or as a client referred to me this week: he is 'mos def wit the coolness'.




my relatives are funny, i miss them.

hope you had a nice swim in my gene pool,

erin

updates never cease to amaze

Dearest friends - and Ambiguous blog readers,

sorry about the long hiatus... didn't feel much in the creative zone this summer. with the combination of a rough summer gig, adjusting and readjusting and adjusting once more to east coast towns, and starting the official professional career... I was left blank for my internet masses (i.e. holly, JR, and other friends who might read but don't comment - - yes that was a sad ploy for more feedback). So, here's a highlight reel of my summer.

1. Shimmering visions by the light of the dancing flame...



This summer was marked by Wednesday and Thursday nights in long succession. Fox captured me for a few hours each week with its summer hit "So You Think You Can Dance". Little to say, it was a great way to mark time over this most eventful summer. Knowing that my baby Tivo was recording fine dancers & innovative choreography made my heart soar during the midweek long Metro ride home through the oppressive DC heat (p.s. seriously, whoever decided to put our nation's capitol in the middle of a swamp needs to be flogged by the side of the Potomac!).

Talking about SYTYCD is also the perfect segue into sharing my favorite thing/person/old-new acquisition of the summer... a female housemate. For those out of the know - B and I lived in a big ol' townhouse on Capitol Hill for the summer with a boat load (read: 3) of HLS students. One of them was a girl named Vanessa. Let me tell you, she is the queen of fabulous land. We had so much fun cooking and talking and camping and watching many hours of dancing & "What Not to Wear" together. Here is a picture of V looking so very chicly Zen during our hike in the Shenandoah Valley.

I have missed daily female companionship since college. It was nice to have such a high quality girly around. Thanks to Vanessa for being a great sport and friend this summer.

2. I think I'll try defying gravity...

Throughout my childhood musicals played a very influential part - I can honestly say that the heroes of my youth were Barbara Streisand and Annette Funicello. In my post-marriage years I have had a noticeable lack of mus-i-cals in my day-to-day... perhaps a function of my increasing patronage to live music performances or as a perfunctory courtesy to my dwindling pocketbook. Either way, I have been reborn, and Kristen Chenoweth has breathed into my deflated lungs the song of witch friends and Oz-ian goodness. Though I have yet to see the Wicked stage-play, I have listened and listened and listened to the soundtrack - making it the anthem of my summer. I even got into a car accident along the GW parkway during my first listen of 'Popular'... this did not dissuade me from exchanging information, observing the damage, getting back into the car and click-wheeling myself back for a second listen. Wicked - it's worth everyone's time. Thank you to Holly "Elphaba" Snyder and Eric "Dillamond" Nguyen (even though he's sworn to never read my blog again) for teaching me that celebrated heads of state and especially great communicators don't have brains or knowledge... they're pop-u-lar!

Speaking of heads of state - DC! I loved living on the Hill... running in the morning by the Capitol & Supreme Court, going to Eastern Market on the weekends & buying muchos hand-made goods, and catching the very contagious feeling of self-importance that runs up and down Pennsylvania Ave. I could go on & on about the many things I learned about myself and all things politic - but I will not bore you with the details. Here's the basic run-down: I'm much more to the left than I once thought (Hillary for prez!!), there is far less glamor in working for the Senate or DOJ than the West Wing would have me believe, and very significant things go down in the district all the time - things wholly unnoticed by people like yours truly (I will listen to NPR more).

[ Oh, Abraham - we love you... you're so noble and just and marble ]

But, of all the things I learned this summer and things I saw nothing touched me more deeply or will have a more lasting impression than my time (vicariously & otherwise) amongst the interns & staff of International Justice Mission. B was a law intern in their HQ office, he did lots of law research & wrote law memos and was the world over a fantastic lawyeresc person all summer. The organization continues to impress me with it's professionalism and commitment to tangibly working for the poor & oppressed.

Brett's IJM intern class at a very special dinner. So much hospitality, wit and wisdom seeped into my person during the course of this evening that I was full to overflowing. Sigh.

3. Hey little girl goin window shoppin', I've got something traffic stoppin'!

Like many prepubescent girls the world over, I too have Zefron fever. Between the blockbuster musical Hairspray and made-for-disney-and-my-heart HSM2 I can't get enough of this tanorexic teeny-bopper. Enjoy two of my favorite moments in my 2 favorite films of the summer:



((hear this: if you have not had a chance to see Hairspray stop whatever you are doing and get your sweet bottom to your nearest theater, disappoint - it will not))


4. Well, it's been a long, been a long, been a long, Been a long day...

My summer job was rough - really rough. I was working as a play therapist with children with developmental delay at a Maryland childhood development center. It was long days and strenuous/exhaustive personnel experiences. But, it's over so... onward and upward.

I have a new job as a child and family therapist in a community mental health center in South Boston. It's ridiculous to have the job I got a degree to perform. I am excited and a bit nervous to be working as a pre-licensed MFT. My job affords me supervision and a very wide client base. I am sure that many therapist inside jokes about HIPPA compliance and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy will be in the works for future blogs. For now, I am feeling a bit like the picture below of Eric, Brett and Doug (friends at the law school) re-enacting a scene from "How to Succeed at Business Without Really Trying" ...

Rip, Rip, Rip... the Chipmunks off the field...

5. Green eyes, yeah the spotlight, shines upon you. And how could, anybody, deny you...




At the end of this summer I finished the 7th and final Harry Potter book. It is an important work of fiction - that's all I'm going to say in critique, even sharing my feelings about any part of the story may taint the reading experience of those unread.

I will say this, along with watching Hairspray (moreso actually) I have no stronger recommendation from this summer than to let the little boy wizard into your heart - let his story sit with you and simmer. If you do, you too will find yourself weepy in the small hours of the morning and laughing aloud alone in your car without warning.

And, that is all I have for you tonight. I am quite blogged out, though intend to post more often. With very little time who knows what this site will reveal.

Seacrest Out.
erin

I'm Just a Bill...

Update: We've arrived in DC. More on the move and the new digs soon.

Color Me Suprised

This video made me smile. Far too few Broadway-esc music videos have graced our satellite dishes & tivos over the past decade. A big thank you to Feist for taking the time & effort ... I give you 1, 2, 3, 4**

My best guess: this has been the work of Hug-o-Lot Bear & his gang of Care Bear Cousins.
How else can the unmatched rainbowrific cinematography be explained?


Cheer Bear, Out!

** Thanks to the hilarious and illustrious H. A. Snyder-84

Holla!!!

This is an official shout out to best-friend Holly...

pictured below, revealing herself as my favorite literary hero of Concord Mass

So, in honor of Holly - as a gesture of love and appreciation since I've been so neglectful & busy and in so doing have not connected via tele - I will insue to write a top 5 list of the last 2 days of my life.

Erin's Top Five ALL TIME occurrences of my life in the last 48 hours:

1. SUPERMAN should have stayed in Krypton

I watched and sort-of enjoyed the new Superman movie.

2 redeemable points: One - anything with Kevin Spacey as the quirky antisocial Lex Luthor, Two - SPOILER ALERT finally an answer to the age old question of Clark Kent's procreative abilities. After that the movie fell somewhere between Batman Forever and Sky High. Though, I do appreciate the care they took to make the movie harken back to the days of Christopher Reed, but on second thought, that just made the movie tragic and sad.

But, I will say my favorite part of the entire movie is when the triumphant Messianic Kent says to his little sleeping halfling "You will be different, sometimes you'll feel like an outcast, but you'll never be alone. You will make my strength your own. You will see my life through your eyes, as your life will be seen through mine. The son becomes the father and the father becomes the son." Seriously?!





2. Moping the floor with the sweet sweat of a hard days work.

We cleaned our apartment. It was boring, but took up a large part of Saturday so notable. The floors are clean and the laundry put away - oh goodie. Oh, and I took a shower.

3. Law School Birthday Party

I have learned that when budding legal minds gather for light snacking and heavy boozing things get interesting. Here are a few highlights: Participating/Observing a well articulated and rationalized argument about whether Jenifer Anisten or Angelina Jolie is better for Mr. Pitt, which morphed into a discussion about Brangelina's adoption practices & their legality, Being force-feed an almost ripe watermelon smothered in goat cheese, Being horrified by a graphic description of slaughter houses coupled with an uninvited diatribe about the finer points of vegetarianism, and eating a birthday "cake" made out of dim sum.

4. Oh, Sing to me Peter Gomes

Brett, law-friend-Eric and I went to church this morning at Memorial Chapel to hear the Right Reverend Gomes. He spoke with eloquence and candor unmatched. Then we went on to eat Pho at a local Vientamese restaurant and talk about our collective summers in DC. I equally enjoy the Albus quality of Gomesie & the fine banter between the husband and the law-friend.

Here are 2 things I learned today:
1. You can measure most relational variables between two hands. Imagine each finger as a tentacle of compatibility of each person, the level to which the persons are matched the fingers will interlock. This is both a quick-and-dirty way of measuring relational quality & a clever hand gesture when speaking with friends. For example: on the measure of humor, five out of five fingers makes for a full hand-hold of interlocking fingers, a three of five creates a stable but non-robust grasp, and a one/two of five makes for a casual/unstable connection.
2. It is widely agreed upon that people who do nothing but talk about money from the pulpit or any other place are, as the Reverend put it "most annoying and irritating". Simple words, profoundly true.

5. Bringing the Juices into the Wires

These are the songs I downloaded today:

1. I'll Stand By You (cover) - Carrie Underwood

Ms. Underwood has capture my heart and my wallet. She has a voice like a songbird in flight. She is a lot bit country and a little bit rock-and-roll. Now, she's no Kelly Clarkson, but not many lady singers get Brett rockin' out on his guitar covering their sassy ballads.


2. Come Again - Sting

The sultan of Channai Pop comes round with this delectable treat of lute & fife. Brett received 2 free songs from Ticketmaster after purchasing John Mayer tickets for the summer - this was my pick. Never has a 1500's cover sounded so sexy.


3. Too Little Too Late - JoJo

This one comes from left field. Brett has recently had a hankering for teeny-bopper pop music. Of all the songs of iTunes to pick he chose this one. Know that a role-reversal has taken place in our home recently, when on numerous occasions my lovely husband has scanned all the radio channels looking for this song while I was having a penchant for NPR - Go Figure!

So, friends (but mostly Holly) that was my weekend. I love you all and miss you and wish I was better at figuring out my time so I could talk to you more.

Seacrest, thank you for moosing it up every week to deliver gems like Carrie & Kelly to my doorstep,

Erin

Pearls of Wisdom

I love everything about this short film - down the the smallest curl on Will Ferrell's head... every single piece of footage makes my sides ache & my body contort into some kind of pretzel or reduced-fat crescent roll.


I love Pearl - I would join her for a cold one anytime.

-Erin

"Hizzah! Her sides are made of angst" or "A moment among friends to vent"

ARGH!!!!

Is it possible to live in limbo for an entire year?! Seriously, can a single person - or in my case a couple - live for 12 whole months in a constant state of uncertainty and live to tell the tale? Whether or not you wanted an answer to these obviously rhetorical questions, here it is.... kind of.

Since last April the Arnold's have been going from one state of unknowing to the next. Here are a few of the questions I've/we've had to live with over the last year:

1. Law School?
1a. Go to law school at all?
1b. If yes, which law school in what town?

2. Where to live for the summer? this one is a repeat offender on the list.

3. Where to store belongings for that summer? so is this one.

4. How to move said junk cross country? Ship. Drive. Fly. Combo.

5. Once in new town what to do with self? Work. Study. Make friends. Cook. Combo. this doesn't seem like a hard question to answer, but believe me that I have spent many a day this past year stuck on this question (just ask my tivo).

6. Should I get a full-time or part-time job?
6a. Job in counseling or play therapy?
6b. Job at Peet's?

7. When is the best time to finish my master's thesis?
7a. Will the thesis ever be finished?
7b. Who can I blame for the thesis taking 6 months longer than expected?

8. Should we stay at Harvard?
8a. How long should we give this whole lawyer gig?
8aa. What are we going to do when we find out lawyering is not that bad?
8b. Is it okay to miss California and friends while really enjoying New England?

9. Where are we going to live this summer?
9a. Is it a good idea for me to go with Brett to D.C. or better to stay in Cambridge?
9b. Having made above decision, what am I going to do about my work... will they hold my job over the summer?

10. Where is Brett going to internship for the summer?
10a. What are we going to do with our house and stuff if we are not in Cambridge?
10b. Is working for IJM is best option? Should we hold out for something else or go with what we know is good and solidified?
10c. Are we going to be able to withstand the humidity of a summer in DC?

11. Who is going to sublet our apartment if the entire town is overrun with subletting options?
11a. Can I blame Alfred Marshall for my economic woes?
11b. What will I do if a gaggle of teenage French foreign exchange students are my only option? subquestion: can I handle having my couch smell like the cigarettes they swear they don't smoke?

12. Will I be able to get a job working in Autism & Floortime this summer? Will it pay enough to have some financial freedom?

So, a question for every month. Just reviewing all these decisions and transitions makes me begin to understand why my body is over producing norepinephrine these days. If after reading the list your heart is beating a bit faster, your palms are becoming a bit balmy and you are fearing not being able to fall asleep tonight - don't worry, these are just empathic side effects.

I realize that I could write an opposing list; full of all the questions & ponderings that have been life affirming this year- you know, the half-full stuff. I could write that list, and it would probably be good for me. I know. It just seems trite. Like an unnecessary and undeserved pat on the back - I would be patronizing myself. Being patronizing is never aceptable - NEVER ever, especially to one's self. In the same breath, if I look closely I can see all the beautiful things I've experienced this year in the heartbreak of the undecided. It's not all anxiety and black holes of angst, but there's been a lot of that too.

Thanks for listening. Now back to our regularly scheduled broadcast.

Seacrest, bathe me in the melody of the Sanjaya.

Erin