Tuesday's Tales 8.14.12

What's up, friends?  I hope you are having a great start to the week and are excited for another Tuesday's Tales!

Today's book is a great one for city kids (NYC kids, to be exact) or any kids who will be visiting NYC: The Lonely Phone Booth by Peter Ackerman.

This is the sweet story of a phone booth on 100th and West End Avenue that is very popular with all of its neighbors until one day when the phone booth starts noticing everyone has these "shiny silver object[s]."

The phone booth becomes quite lonely and rundown because no one is using or maintaining it, until one day when there is a terrible storm and everyone tries to use their cell phones at once, jamming the circuits.  A little girl successfully uses the phone booth and everyone quickly lines up to use the dependable old neighborhood staple.

As I was about to read this to my girls tonight I realized that they have never seen a phone booth like the one on the cover, so I had to explain to them that before cell phones, this is really what phone booths looked like and how people made calls if they were not at home.  P and L were somewhat mesmerized by the idea of a telephone in a booth with doors that could close for privacy just sitting on a street.  We may have to make an outing up to 100th and West End Avenue sometime soon because, according to the book, the phone booth is still there, having been protected from the dump by the neighbors and the mayor.

Isn't it great when a story connects to your life/city?  Living in New York, we are lucky to have plenty of books to read and then go explore in person (such as Eloise, The Curious Garden, and now The Lonely Phone Booth).

Vacation Part III - NYC

Part II was light on photos, so here are a bunch from our very busy days in NYC.  We drove up - 8 hours in the car and the girls were absolutely fantastic the entire time until they started with piercing screams as we were driving through central park, minutes away from arriving at my parents' apartment. We went to see Rockefeller Center and the gigantic tree, the windows at Saks, the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall, the Big Apple Circus, and to tea at The American Girl Doll store.  I'm exhausted just remembering it all.

walking around Rockefeller Center:

 watching the Rockettes:

 The Big Apple Circus (it is Grandma Clown's final year - boo too):

 At American Girl:

waiting to see their dolls with their newly pierced ears

SAHM Burnout?

For those of you who don't know what SAHM stands for, it is the acronym for "stay at home mom."  And I am not really sure if it is burnout from being a stay at home mom that I am feeling, or if I am just in a strange place in my life at the moment.

I'm living somewhere that I am not sure is for me - far from the hometown that I love (NYC!), far from fantastic friends, far from family, far from SoulCycle (yes, that is included in this list).  The daily grind and monotony of our days has me dreaming of work and what I will do when I do go back to work one day.  (I haven't had a job in five years - since P was born! - which should make finding one an interesting challenge when the girls are both in school all day.)

I never really gave serious thought to my career before we had children, always knowing that having kids was a top priority for me.  It still is a top priority (or I wouldn't still be a stay at home mom!) and I absolutely adore my children, but I wonder about me.  What happened to me as an individual?  What are my passions and interests, apart from my family?  I would not change the last five years, but I really do feel that I lost myself along the way.

It has been quite an interesting year and a half since we moved here to Richmond from New York.  I have realized a lot about myself, including major fears that I have that made me be a passive presence instead of an active participant in my own life.

I want to wake up every morning and feel excited and energized about the day ahead.  I want to feel motivated and inspired.  I want to love my surroundings and feel the joy in all of the wonderful things around me.  I will get there, I am confident of that, but I have a ways to go.