I Heart NY...

Yankees!!

I love baseball, and I love it most when it involved the New York Yankees.

My love for the Yanks started when I was in middle school. I had always watched baseball with my dad, it was his favorite sport, and he taught me all about it. In seventh grade I decided I needed to pick a team for myself.

But how to choose?

First of all, I lived in upstate New York, so clearly I had to pick a New York team.

Now, Mets or Yankees?

At the time, I knew nothing about the teams themselves. My dad wasn't a Yankees fan, in fact he had disliked the Yankees ever since they beat the Braves about a hundred years ago.

What I did know was that the Mets hats were ugly as sin. The Yankees clearly had/have the better uniform...

And so I became a Yankees fan.

This has since turned into deep affection and proud affiliation. I'm not the most thorough fan - I usually only get to one or two games a season, and I don't start getting super excited until the post-season. BUT I proudly rep the Yankees wherever I go.

Including here in St. Louis. Today I am wearing a Yankees shirt (Texy!) in honor of us making it to the playoffs. Three people have already expressed dislike. But you know what? Fuck 'em. I don't care if people don't like the Yankees. I do. That's what matters to me. (Actually, I do dislike when people hate the Yankees for no reason other than 'they are the Yankees', and I do hate when people bash the Yankees so much they forget to CHEER FOR THEIR OWN TEAM. But I digress.)

The point is, with autumn comes baseball, and part of the reason I love this season is because its New York time.

I heart NYY.

Yum Yum!

Tonight I made stuffed mushrooms for a class potluck tomorrow. They look super delicious. I tasted one and they TASTE super delicious. I'm so excited. I love my St. Louis kitchen, and I hope to do a lot of cooking over the course of this year. Mmmmm!

Nostalgia

The change in the seasons, coupled with my change of scenery, has got me feeling nostalgic. And because I like lists, I'm going to make a list of the things i miss most. Disclaimer - this is in no particular order.

1. Sunrise on the Hudson River. Rowing in general is something that I miss with a permanent ache. But the crisp September mornings, the promise of a new season, the bright foliage on the banks of the Hudson, and the mist rising off the water as the sun comes up...inexplicable. I miss rowing every single day. the feel of fiberglass under my hands. The distinct shape of a coxswain seat. The blue NK headband strapped tight around my head, hearing my voice echo through the microphone. Working the cox box. Speedcoaches. The clunk...clunk of eight oars in sync. Paying attention to innumerable details, simultaneously. Being part motivational speaker, part instruction manual, and part raging, furious water sprite. Being freezing and miserable, choking on waves of Hudson water. And being absolutely elated when the last power 20 pulls the boat past our rival. Screaming 'bowball!' and knowing how it makes everyone feel inside.

2. Paris. My favorite place in the world, the place I know I will live someday for more than 5 months. Just waking up every morning and knowing I was in Paris made my study abroad experience better than it could have been anywhere else. I love the city. The architecture, the history, the vélibs. The metro. The euro. The food, the wine, the people. (Yes, the people too - on my first day in France several very nice people helped me carry my two HUGE suitcases up various flights of stairs in the metro.) The clothes. Exploring, walking, my neighborhood. Being able to say 'my neighborhood'. Knowing the snail like the back of my hand. My tiny room under the roof and its spectacular view. Speaking French. Getting chased by bums (ok that part maybe I don't miss so much). Living my dream.

3. My best friends from high school. Because we had a comfort level that was through the roof. There are four of us, but one bed? Not a problem. You want some gum? Here's some...out of my mouth. Surprise! We are going to show up at your job and attempt to kidnap you and bring you on a day trip. Speaking of day trips, lets get in the car and go and see what we can find. A Russian orthodox Church? A graveyard? Let's explore. I miss the comfort of being able to wrap myself around them, walk into their houses unannounced, call their moms 'mom', treat their siblings like my siblings, and be as comfortable in their space as they were in mine.

4. My childhood home. The house I grew up in was the spot where all the kids hung out. My mom provided endless ice-pops in the summer and baked goods in the winter. It was only a couple blocks from my high school, and a hub for all my friends who lived a few blocks away in various locations. There was a tree in the backyard that was perfect for climbing and sitting in for hours. My bedroom even had a balcony that would have come in quite handy for sneaking out, had we not moved before I started going to parties.

5. Being in love. This has the potential to be super cheesy, but its true. I'm not talking about having a crush, or sexual tension, or a flirtation, or a random hook-up in a bar in Dublin, or a friend-with-benefits who visits every once in a while. I mean real, heart wrenching love. Where you know the person better than anyone else. You can finish each others sentences. Full conversations are had via eye contact. When you want to constantly be in contact with them, physical or otherwise. Now, my attitude toward love right now is kind of laissez-faire, whatever happens happens. But I do remember the feeling.

6. High school football games. More specifically, cheerleading at high school football games. The chill in the air, the uncomfortable long-sleeved leotards under the uniforms. The shiny, toothbrush-clean sneakers. The feeling of the gravel crunching beneath my feet. Cheering for my friends (and high school boyfriend) out on the field. Stunts. Calling cheers. Bright lights, big crowds, laughter.

Whew...I think that's enough of the nostalgia. I love where I am in my life right now. I love my friends, what I'm doing, where I'm living and how I'm living. There are very few things I would change, and there aren't very many things that I regret. But with change comes the chance to look back and remember.

Shavasana

I recently took up yoga. And by recently, I mean Tuesday. I had my second class this morning, and I'm still feeling the peace. I am hooked. This class is excellent for a few reasons.

First, I am the only one in the class. So I pretty much get a one-on-one yoga class twice a week. Pretty sweet deal.

Second, the studio is right around the corner from my apartment. I can literally see the building from my window. That is super convenient. It's also inside a gym (which I joined, obviously) so I have access to cardio, weights, and a whole range of kickboxing and other classes. Which I will take advantage of...eventually.

Third, the class is at the perfect time. Its 7:30-8:30am and my first class is at 9. So I can just pick up from class and drive straight to class. And since its a pretty gentle class I'm not disgusting and sweaty.

Fourth, the instructor is excellent. She is attentive, kind, and a genuinely nice person. And she drops nice tidbits of yoga information along with the practice.

All in all, I'm loving it. I've already started dreaming of the day I teach my own yoga class. But I'll keep it slow for now. And as Ashley, my instructor says: "Each breath is a new opportunity to become present." Music to my ears. Om.

Lets Go Cardinals?

This past Friday, the law school organized a group outing to a baseball game. As a lifelong baseball fan I was pretty hyped to go. The only thing is, we are in St. Louis and not New York. So the team everyone was cheering for was the Cardinals...not the Yankees. I didn't expect it to make as big a difference as it did.

When the Yankees play, I am all about it. Engaged, happy, heartbroken, interested. With the Cards, not so much. I'm not emotionally invested in them at all. Yes, Albert Pujols seems pretty cool but that's where my involvement ends.

Now, since I like baseball anyway it wasn't a chore to sit and watch. But when my friends suggested leaving after the 7th inning I was all about it, something that would never happen at a Yanks game. This makes me seriously question how I'm going to cope in life if I am not in New York or the surrounding area. It could become a problem.

On the upside, being a Yankees fan in the Midwest means that other Yankees fans are on the lookout. I've already bonded with a couple of people over a mutual love of the bronx bombers. So I guess the moral of the story is that every cloud has a silver lining. At least I'm not surrounded by Mets fans.

New Beginnings

I'm Baaaack!!

I was away for a looong time. Since my last post I went on vacation with my college roommates to San Diego, California and had an AMAZING time. I quit my job (!!!). I moved 1/3 of the way across the country from Upstate New York to St. Louis, Missouri. And last but not least, I started law school.

As of today I am 2 1/2 days into law school here at Washington University in St. Louis.

And. I. Love. It.

I cant really explain why. There is a ton of work. I plan to spend at least six hours in the library tonight. If someone even suggested such a thing during my undergrad years I would have laughed in their face. Six hours in the library during the first week of class? Nonono. The library was lucky to even SEE me before midterms. But now things are different. The material calls to me. 'Understand me,' it whispers, 'read me again!' and so I do. It's funny because I can see as I'm reading that any normal person would be bored out of their skull. WHO CARES if, in 1911, someone breached their contract to sell wheat at $1.03 per bushel?

I care. I really do. Which is great because a (substantial) part of me was worried I was making a HUGE mistake coming to law school. It was pretty much a spur-of-the-moment decision. I decided on a whim, researched and applied, got in, got a great scholarship, and decided it didn't make sense to back out. Clearly someone thought I would be good at law school. Plus I'd spent a grand on a Kaplan course and that was too much money to just flake out.

So here I am, in the Midwest - somewhere I never ever in a million years thought I would be. (I will discuss the fact that everything I vow to never do ends up happening in a later post.) I have a great studio apartment, I'm enjoying my classes, at least so far. I'm meeting tons of interesting new people from all over the place with all kinds of backgrounds and perspectives on life. And we are all connected by this inexplicable draw to understand "the law". I guess I'm pretty lucky.