Success!!

That's right, ladies and gentlemen...that there post-title, up above, deserves not one but TWO exclamation marks! Because not only did I emerge unscathed from the chaos of last week, I emerged in TRIUMPH. That is to say: the week was a HUGE HIT.

And, ahem, I'd like to think I had something to do with it.

Let me explain. You all know who my boss is, right? Oh, you don't? See, I forget once in a while that most people don't give a damn about who's who in American theatre, but usually once I mention what he's done and who he is, there's this thing that sort of happens, and people say "OHHH, you mean HIM." His name is Jack O'Brien and he's the Artistic Director of the theatre company I work for, and if one were to gauge his success as an artist, you could probably look at the three Tony Awards he's won (among countless Tony nominations), or the people he's worked with (from Kevin Kline to Mary Louise Parker to John Lithgow, among others), or just the work he's done (Hairspray, dozens of Shakespeares, and his most recent hit, The Coast of Utopia). He's just a force to be reckoned with. And an amazing person to boot. So, you see, working for him and with him has provided me with some of the greatest professional experiences I've had thus far.

So last week, we held the first ever Jack O'Brien Directors Lab, which was essentially a week-long seminar for early-career directors. A directing boot camp, if you will. And guess who got to coordinate it? Uh-huh. ME.

I rarely talk about my work, and it is pretty self-indulgent of me to use Boba's internet screen time to discuss my career. I realize that. But I wanted to share this because I often wonder if being a working mother is worth the sacrifice of not being with her on a day-to-day basis. This is a complicated question, and one that I can't fully address right now, but I think writing about my job reminds me and others that one's work outside the home can be both worthy and rewarding, and can therefore nurture a person in a way that enriches the experience of being a parent. And as unbelievably cheesy as that sounds - I truly believe that.

Anyway, the Lab was a huge success, with some minor flubs along the way, but nothing I couldn't fix. It has partially addressed an ongoing issue I have with my career; questions such as, "How do I want to spend the rest of my professional life?", which is actually just a better-articulated way of saying, "What do I want to be when I grow up?" I realized, halfway into it, that I was very much in the right place at the right time, that even though my career has not (and probably will not) seen high monetary rewards, I have found an unusual path that has been remarkably well-suited to my strengths, passions, and interests. Certainly, at some point the monetary issue may become more important, but for now, I find myself very lucky to be in a place that both serves me, and provides an opportunity for me to serve. Last week's Lab confirmed this to me in many ways.

So - I'm back! And while things have slowed down considerably, I may not be completely present blog-wise since, a.) Jason is still out of town and thus I am still "single-parenting" it, and b.) My folks return this week, but will probably not be in full-swing babysitting mode until the weekend. (At least, that's what I hope.) I'm going to post some Boba-photos with some cute stories, though, in a minute...so thanks for indulging my virtual patting-on-the-back!

How things are going

I've been getting emails, phone calls, and various messages from people who have been wondering how I'm doing while Jason and my parents are out of town. You have all been so sweet to think about me and check on me. I wish I could answer everyone individually, but as you can imagine, I don't have a lot of free time on my hands; or, I should say, I don't have a lot of free time where I'm not sleeping. And god knows that in times like these, I DON'T GIVE UP MY SLEEP. (Or what little I get of it, anyway.)

I'm doing fine. Not the sing-song kind of "fine" that's tossed around casually and without thought; I'm fine as in, I'm not sick (thank goodness), all the bills are paid, the house is in one piece, and my job is, well, getting done. So, yes, in the grand scheme of things, I'm doing well.

The best part of everything is, Boba is doing GREAT. As in, just stellar. Her mood has been perpetually cheerful lately. I can't tell you how much better that makes everything!

The toughest part of this current situation for me is the lack of rest...I feel like I'm literally being thrown from one thing to another, with no break in between. Overnight sleep has gotten better, but BOY - those early mornings (6am-ish after only 5-6 hours of broken up sleep, usually) are kicking my ass. Pardon my french.

The other tough part is the constant guilt and stress over not being 100% available to Boba...while nothing has really changed in my time commitment to work, Jason and my parents definitely have always spent quality time with her when I was unavailable, so that appeased my guilt somewhat. Now that I'm her only immediate family around, I'm really feeling the pressure of being with her as much as possible. But the summer is the busiest season for my company, so alas, I often feel torn between Boba and the Globe. Of course I would rather be with her, but as we all know, I gotta make the big bucks too!

So there it is. I'm afraid I've oversimplified the situation somewhat, but I do want to assure everyone who has inquired about my situation that I'm holding up fairly well. I appreciate everyone's offer to come and hang with us, to simply spend time with me and Boba and give me something to look forward to. I will definitely take ALL of you up on them.

Tomorrow, I'll have fun and cute photos of Boba, as well as some great stories...she has been really entertaining lately! And then I'll probably be quiet for another week or so because my HUGE project at work begins on Saturday. Not that THAT'S big news...you're all used to that by now. :)

Update, update!

Jason has been gone exactly 10 days, not including last Monday when he flew in to visit for less than 24 hours. Totally worth it, though...Boba loved having her Daddy home and was pretty much focused on him the entire time he was there. It was a great way for Jason to celebrate (albeit belated) his second Father's Day. I have to say, when Boba is all about Daddy, I think it's one of my favorite things EVER. Because I get to sit back, relax, and watch the two loves of my life having fun together. It's a beautiful thing.

What's NOT a beautiful thing, is that since Jason left Tuesday morning, I've been slammed with The Cold From Hell. I've actually had The Cold in the past before; twice, as a matter of fact, so I thought I'd be able to escape it this time when Boba took it home from daycare. NO SUCH LUCK. Boba had only a light case of the sniffles, but I am so congested I feel like I am drowning. In air. It is not a happy feeling at all, and it is made worse by the fact that Boba has decided that sleeping in her crib is no longer acceptable, especially since Daddy's side of the bed is empty! How convenient for her! So she likes to wake me up every couple of hours to remind me that she can keep me company, if I'd be so kind to release her from her cage, er, I mean her crib.

The main reason I don't do this is because once she is in my bed, I will not sleep. I might doze here and there, but I will not sleep. Why? Because I think in her dreams she is a Solid Gold dancer. And in her dreams she leaps and kicks and turns...while in reality she is thrashing and flipping on to my face. It does not make for a good night's sleep, as you can imagine. (Just for me, though. I think she sleeps through this whole little number just fine.)

Aaaaanyways. I wish I could say I was doing "just SUPER!" without Daddy around, but all kidding aside, it's been pretty hard. And I don't even have it that bad! For one, I have help (daycare), and two, I only have one kid. One! And I'm still complaining! Yeah, well, it's my blog, and I guess I'll take the liberty to bitch when I want. Besides, this will give me more leverage in the fall when I run off by myself to a spa for a weekend respite - are you reading this, Daddy? - GUILT-FREE. Hmmm, or maybe I'll go to Vegas instead. Decisions, decisions.

Our New House, Part III: The Other Rooms

Perhaps I've mentioned that the new house, although it's definitely a kick-ass house, is rather on the small side...sort of cottage-like, if you will. We're grateful that there's an amazing yard out back because it acts as our "sitting room", and the patio acts as our "formal dining room". But as far as the house itself, the bedrooms are kind of cozy (read: tiny) and kinda close to each other. On the plus side, I don't need a baby monitor in Boba's room! On the not-so-plus side, I really have to monitor the clutter that accumulates (*quick glare in Jason's direction*) because if I don't, it's very easy to start feeling claustrophobic. In other words, I have to constantly clear away stuff. Not an easy task with a toddler and a husband who likes to throw things every which way because it "makes him feel more at home."

This here is the office/3rd bedroom. It's a little on the boring side because we decided not to paint the walls any specific color, but I actually like it because it's a highly functional room. (Whatever that means.) Plus, putting it together really satisfied the neat freak in me, as there is nothing more soothing than organizing files and other random stuff into piles and rows. It isn't in pristine shape in this shot, but you get the idea.

Then, there is Boba's room, which happens to be my favorite room, because it was actually the previous owners' office, and we painted it green and made it all warm and playful. Note the toys that are on the floor; they are actually there for a reason; mainly that if I don't remind Boba that she has toys to play with by leaving them in clear view, she will find other things to terrorize, like the food in the pantry, or the box of tampons under the sink.

Then there is Jason's & my sanctuary: the BLUE room. We inherited it as a blue room, but we amped up the blue by using a blue duvet cover, and by using artwork that had blue as their central color. The effect is very comforting and quiet....the perfect place to retire after a long day.

So, yeah, I'm quite happy with how the house turned out. The main thing, as I've mentioned before, is keeping clutter to a minimum, and managing the flow of stuff that goes from one room to the next. But Jason will tell you (rather begrudgingly, probably) that I am an EXPERT in keeping things in their correct place. Yes, even with a toddler. Thank you, thank you...no need to applaud.

But seriously, the house has been my pet project for the last 3 months, so I'm kind of at a loss now that everything is in order. I mean...what next? Well, Jason left for his 3-month gig up north yesterday, so I am now a pseudo-single-parent. The challenge will be keeping a system for how things happen at our household so that, well...so that I don't lose my mind. THAT is the main objective for the summer. "Remain sane."

At the very least, I now feel like I have the house on my side. It is definitely a place I look forward each day to coming home to!

Our New House, Part II: The Kitchen

I can't really take credit for the kitchen because all of the furniture in it was left to us by the previous owners - rather generously, I should add. Actually, they left more than just their furniture; they left their beautifully painted walls, their new appliances, their toaster (which we ended up not using, but it was super-cute), their artwork, and their decorative touches. We just added the dinnerware and food. So I'm cheating when I post these pictures.

We don't have a lot of cupboard space, so we have a semi-retired entertainment unit in the garage serving as dish storage...but I don't care. The place still works for me. The wall colors they chose would not have been my first choice if I were designing the kitchen, but I'm so glad I inherited it because it all works so beautifully together. The plus? Our "casual" china, which was on our wedding registry, matches this kitchen perfectly. Like it was made for this kitchen. I love how things work that way!

A Day with Daddy

I know I promised everyone pictures of my kitchen today, but I'm not satisfied with the ones I have so I'm going to take more tonight and then post them tomorrow. In the meantime, here are a couple of cute photos of Boba with her Daddy during a recent trip to the zoo!

Boba loves her Daddy. But she loves her pink bottle of milk too. Can you tell?

Our new house! Part I

I've been so looking forward to posting these pictures of our new house, decorated and all! When some of you have visited, you were lucky enough to see an assortment of odds & ends serving as furniture, like my side table made of file boxes, or my couch made of lawn chairs. Yeah, THAT was classy. Well, I was finally able to do something with all those hours of watching "Trading Spaces" and "Design on a Dime" - I made our house look good! Finally!

I'll start with the living room because it's the centerpiece of the house - plus it was the most fun to decorate because, um, it was the largest room. Some pieces were new (like the couch & ottoman that took a whopping THREE MONTHS to build and ship to us), some are heirloom pieces (like the antique chest/coffee table that I love so much), and some were inherited from the previous owners (the cool entertainment center and CD towers). All in all, I think I pulled everything together well.

The Living Room

I chose browns, reds, and golds for the living room. Don't know how I came up with the color scheme - I had to find things that would go with elements that were already in the room, like the curtains and the entertainment unit. Also, the walls were painted a textured butter-yellow, so I kind of used that as a starting point. But the rug, which I bought after I ordered the main pieces of furniture, was meant to pull everything together, which I think it does nicely.

This photo features a wedding gift given to us by our friend, Tera, who is a fabulous artist based in L.A. She had asked us what our living room colors were, and at the time our predominant color was olive green, so she painted us this beautiful picture of a swirling flower. (At least that's what I think it is.) Anyway, our living room is now completely different, but I'm glad the painting still works!

Anyway, isn't this room wonderful? (Sigh. I just love it. Sorry for the self-congratulatory tone of this post, but I am just enamored with how the room turned out!)

Tomorrow I'll feature the kitchen! Yay!

Memorial Day Party, Part II

More photos of good times and fun people! I'll add captions to these to make things a little more interesting...

K.B. and Becky, with son Eli. It's so great to be able to host a party with kids!

Our friends Derek, Assaf, Albert, and Katherine, all from L.A. (And yes, you've probably recently seen Assaf on "Entourage"! Doing what he does best...playing a sleazy Arab prince!)

Daddy attempts to get Boba out of the pool, but she's more interested in the Otter Pop her Lola is holding for her

"FOOD, glorious FOOD...HOT lumpia and SALAD!"

Me and "Jennifufu"

David, Nick, and Rebecca, all former castmates of Jason's in the local theatre scene

Memorial Day Party, Part I

We had a fabulous housewarming/Memorial Day BBQ to kick off the summer. And I know these are a bunch of people most of my readers don't know, but suffice it to say that it was a HUGE turnout - much more than any party I have ever hosted - and it was a real blast. Hooray for the wonderful backyard that was able to accommodate everyone there. It was a gorgeous day and we all had an awesome time. And so did Boba, who everyone commented was a cutie patootie in her bathing suit and bunny robe!

"Otter Pops are da BOMB on a hot summer day!!"

Why we left New York

Things for kids have gotten way out of hand in New York City.

Read this and you will be floored at what people will do to get their kids into the "right" pre-school.

Can't we just go back to simpler times when enrolling in pre-school wasn't an application circus?? When the term "admissions" had something to do with college or graduate school??

It is just MIND-BOGGLING.

Taking a breath

I've missed mentioning a lot of important days so far....my second Mother's Day, Jason's birthday...life has been a bit of a whirlwind lately so I apologize for my absence. Boba is on her second illness of the month - the first was the another strain of the Coxsackie virus, and now it's a bad cold - so sleep has come in fits and starts at the Boba-household for all involved. My other focus this month has been getting the house together before the man-of-the-house leaves me this summer - that's right, he's LEAVING me (okay, okay, it's for a acting gig and it's a good opportunity so it's totally forgiveable but it still SUCKS) - so forgive me if I haven't been too inspired to write about all the chaos. I think by next week all will have calmed down a bit (plus I should have some great pictures of the house in all its decorated glory!) so perhaps I'll be able to talk more freely and positively about everything. For now, though, I am just CRAZED.

We visited Black Angus again this year for Mother's Day...I'm beginning to wonder if we've begun a tradition. It wasn't intentional; it was just the only place that had reservations open! Plus we like steak! Boba wasn't as interested in sitting in her high chair this time around - but then again, she hadn't learned to walk yet last year at this time. Little did we know how lucky we were back then; we could all actually eat at the same time. No "shifts" or shoveling down your food so you can free your hands to catch her as she flings herself off the table. But hey, she's even cuter now than she was then, because she can actually say "Mommy" now, so, you know, you just go with the flow and it's all good. At least, that's what I keep telling myself as I ram my forkfuls of steak down my throat at record speed while hearing Boba screaming from across the restaurant. Yeah. Good times.

Daddy's birthday was pretty good too...mainly because we had the night off! Thank you Lolo and Lola! Jason was all, "What do you want to do?", and I replied, "Honey, it's YOUR birthday, YOU decide." He settled on watching "Shrek 3" and eating at Forever Fondue. Not a bad evening actually, although I would have liked to see a movie geared for a slightly older audience, I was perfectly happy seeing "Shrek." And our fondue was AWESOME! Oh, and Daddy - how about the 9 hours of STRAIGHT SLEEP you got after that, huh??? Best birthday gift EVER!!

Anyway, despite our crazy schedules, we're all doing pretty good over here, and even though I could do with less viral illnesses, Boba's just a joy. Here she is chilling in her car seat from one place to another. She's just a real trooper.

More cousins!!

On one of the hotter days, we decided to make a little pool for the kids in my parents backyard. The only problem? No pool. So we took this kiddie-floater thing, filled it up with water, and stuck all the kids in. It was cozy, but they didn't seem to mind, and BOY did it keep them busy! I'm talking at least a half hour! Any parent would say that was GOLDEN.

Aren't they sweet, all three of them cooperating like that? (Yeah, not really. I mean, there were no huge fights, but there was the occasional "Mine!" and "NO!" and the like. They are all toddlers, after all.)

Boba LOVES Joaquin. Have I mentioned that? Here she is mauling him with kisses.

She was pretty crazy about Fli, too, but she was less demonstrative about it. Actually, they were much more like girlfriends, just hanging out and kickin' it.

Ain't she cute? I tell you, this family has got some MAD cute-genes!

And here were all are, my brother & his beautiful kids, and me with my lovely little one. I know it's not the best shot, with all the kids looking kinda bored, but it was the only one with my face somewhat obscured, so, THERE! (I maintain this site, so I get to choose my photo content!)

Boy, do I miss my brother and his family! We had such a wonderful time with them. We are so excited for them to be back in the States!

Boba's favorite things!

BOBA'S FAVORITE --
Food: Broccoli (I kid you not!)
Drink: Milk
Snack: Cheddar rainbow Goldfish crackers
Color: Green
TV Show: Tie between "Little Einsteins" and "Teletubbies" (and Mommy's favorite, "The Wonder Pets")
Saying: "Thank you!"
Song: "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "Row Row Row Your Boat"
Shoes: Her white patent leather Mary Janes
Animal: The "Elleh-PANT"
Toys: Baby dolls Suri & Shiloh (named by Lola Doe)
Book: "Snuggle Puppy" by Sandra Boynton (a.k.a., the "Oooo-oooo Book")
Pasttime: Talking on the phone
Place: Anywhere outdoors, ESPECIALLY the park
Thing: Her pacifier

Other Things She Loves --

• Sitting in the front seat of the car and pretending to drive
• Snuggling
• Dogs
• Chocolate
• Pushing strollers
• Other children
• Swiffering the floor
• Bathtime

Things She Absolutely Cannot Stand --

• Eating in a high chair
• Getting her hair done
• Diaper changes
• Anything medicinal, like Tylenol or eye drops
• Time-outs
• People saying goodbye

Things Mommy & Daddy Love About Boba --

All of the above, and so much more.

Cousins

My brother Joji, his wife Gaby, and his two kids Joaquin and Sofia are here in San Diego (and have been for the last 3 weeks - my bad for not posting earlier!), and so we had a fun mini-housewarming party with them a couple weekends ago. Along with them were Gaby's brother Paul, his wife Rachel, and their 2-year-old Alex, whose energy rivaled that of Boba's and was a joyous playmate for that entire weekend. Indeed, it was a weekend about kids, pizza, and beer, as these shots will show you.

The Princess Hostess cavorting in her playground

In the tent with Alex

In the tent, with Gaby & Sofia in the background

Uncle Joji attempting to control two rowdy kids (with the help of a brewski)

Toddler basketball with Joaquin, Sofia, & Gaby

"Wanna join us, Fli?"

Topsy Turvy Baby

Good times all around! Thankfully, after Joji & Gaby finish their work up in Qatar, they're moving back to the good ol' U.S. of A. - Pittsburgh, PA, to be exact - so hopefully weekends like this will happen more frequently. Because, I tell you...Boba LOVES her cousins!

Sad

I am still reeling from yesterday's events at Virginia Tech. I am so far removed from it, but somehow, as a mother you can't help but feel deep, deep sorrow for those families that lost loved ones in the massacre. I don't quite understand how these things happen. Truth be told, I don't know how anyone recovers from a tragedy like this.

(moment of silence)

Action shots of Boba dancing!

(Yes, these shots are blurrier than sin - I apologize for that. But - hey! - I posted! That should make someone happy!)

As you can see, the house is still a work-in-progress, which is somewhat infuriating, as I don't feel as settled as I should after a month of living there. Furniture should be here this week, fingers crossed.

She's cuter than ever, loves to sing and dance and is also SUPER ATTACHED TO MOMMY which has been, um, a little tiring (to say the least)...but she's cute, so, you know. 'S'all good!