by laura beth

Today we went to Manhattan, just for the afternoon. Pat, our camera shy friend, was our guide. He drove us to New Jersey, where we hopped on the train, and in no time at all we arrived at Penn Station. We hit the streets and took in a few of the main free touristy sites. Hi Empire State Building. Hi Macy's. Hi Times Square. Hi National Debt Clock. Helllooooo pizza. On to Toy R Us and FAO Schwartz and all the wonder they behold: stuffed animals, amazing Lego creations, and The Big Piano. The Big Piano, by the way, is sort of lame. Lame because you can have your very own for only $250,000,000. No joke. Or maybe it is a joke. Either way, lame. Hi Central Park. I'm really glad we went, and a day spent with good friends is always wonderful, regardless of where you are. That being said...

I don't think I like Manhattan. Admittedly, I've spent only one afternoon there-I didn't scratch the surface of what there is to see and I don't think I have a grasp of what it's all about. And it's not that I don't like cities, because I do. Just not ones this big, I guess.

Everything is outrageously expensive, traffic is deplorable, it's smelly, it's polluted, it's gritty, crime is bad, housing is cramped and rent is through the roof. Those are the givens, and those are the things that people look past because there is something about the place they love. There are other things that I just don't enjoy, but I get that other people do. There's the buzz, the vibe, the rhythm, the noise, the excitement, the options, the shopping, the going-bankrupt-for-fashion's-sake, the food, the entertainment, the action, the looking-out-for-number-one, success-driven lifestyle. I realize there is opportunity, but there is always opportunity. Dreams come true in Denver and Cheyenne and Albuquerque and Olympia.

Maybe I'm a wimp (well, I know I'm a wimp). I love nature, and community, and people working together and loving each other, and growing things, and fresh air, and escaping into the mountains for a hike, and quiet peaceful mornings. Smiling at your neighbor, and good deals at second-hand store, and farmer's markets, and yard sales. I don't care about fashion because it doesn't matter in the big scheme of things. I don't think jackhammers and car horns are charming. I don't like being stressed out all the time. And I'm not sure that I would feel different about any of the other boroughs. I realize a lot of good comes from New York, culturally. But for now I think it might just be a good place to visit. I have no need for it otherwise. And how often do you really want Thai food at 2 am?

by laura beth

Hot....hot. Hot. We walked around Center City Philadelphia today like hot, sticky, tourists with swollen fingers. We parked and walked Benjamin Franklin Parkway to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which was closed. We walked up and down the "Rocky steps" and took a photo with the over-sized Rocky statue. I really felt like a zombie the whole time cause it was so hot. And Kenny was like a zombie cause his allergies were really acting up. We had a picnic lunch in the lawn in front of Julie's nourishing mother, Moore College of Art and Design. After a refreshing nap, we walked to Rittenhouse Square, which is my new favorite park. On the way there, Julie and I stopped in this adorable shop that sells my favorite incense at a bargain. Hoorah! Later we grabbed some water ice and Gelatis at Rita's (I had watermelon, fell in love, and wept inside at the fact that I can't get one just anywhere), and cooled off in the Kimmel Center, home of the Philadelphia Orchestra. I loved the Kimmel Center, other than the vertigo-inducing levels, and the stairwell banisters that were on backwards and ergonomically incorrect (Bill, can I get an amen?). It had an indoor roof top garden, and reminded me a little of what the cities of the future might look like. Plus they had really comfy chairs. It was then on toCity Hall with it's fun acoustics and lovely statues, Love Park, and Logan Circle (Square) with it's projectile vomiting frogs and turtles. We also stopped by Saint Peter Saint Paul Albanian Orthodox Church. The couple there spoke broken English and could not understand why we would want to come look at the church. They were very hesitant to let us in, but eventually they did. We had a nice conversation with them and the church was beautiful and really old. We then drove to Standard Tap for dinner: awesome beer, awesome chicken pie, awesome salad, awesome creme brulee. Local produce. Local brews. Awesome. At this point, with thought to myself that I wouldn't mind living in Philadelphia. It's pretty great as far as a largish city goes. We stopped by a beer distributor before heading home and I picked up some cute little Japanese owl beers. They were expensive and not super great. Oh well. It was a good day in Philadelphia.

by laura beth

Today Kenny and I walked to Holy Ghost Orthodox Church down the street from Julie and Bill's apartment. HGOC is part of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic diocese. I'm not completely sure what that means, but it was a pretty church and nice service. They celebrate the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrystostom like other Orthodox Christian churches, but it was interesting to observe the little differences between Holy Ghost and Saint Barnabas. I am totally biased because I love Saint Barnabas, but I did notice that there seems to be more interaction and singing at Saint B. So I left HGOC feeling a little meh.


After church, we went to the shore with Julie and Bill. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. Neither Kenny nor I have ever spent time on the east coast (other than a trip I took Boston in 1996), and we probably don't have much a feel for what it would mean to live here, but without a doubt I tell you that I would trade the California beaches for the Jersey shore any day. Maybe it was the weather or the company or the particular beach we went to (Julie grew up spending the last few days of summer in Ocean City and said it's nicer than other beaches), but I soooo enjoyed our day at the beach.

First on the list was Mack & Manco's pizza. Best ever. Shhhh. Don't argue. Best ever. After, we just walked the beach for a long while, nicely exfoliating our feet. We saw Bill's brother Dave's doppelganger on the beach and tried to sneakily take a photo of him. Bill saved a lady bug from the tide. He held her most of the time while she dried out her wings. We walked the boardwalk keeping our eyes out for the most terrible tattoos. Green, white, and red Italy-on-a-shoulder? Barbed wire cross? Silly chest tattoo accentuating male nipples? Nope, I think the pair-of-eyeballs tramp stamp won. Kenny and I slurped up a Banana Whip from at the Bashful Banana-a couple frozen bananas, frozen blueberries, and frozen strawberries ran through a juicer, topped with all-fruit fudge! Amazing. It's pretty much the consistency of frozen yogurt. Dense, sweet, 100% fruit! Then the four of us got yummy fries and lemonade at Curly's Fries. Oh, and we ran into Mr. Peanut. He's a lot shorter than I imagined. Also, I think he might be a woman. As the shadows grew long, we made whooshy sounds with our feet in the sand. I love friends and beautiful days.

by laura beth

Each Friday I would like to post one item-a video, photo, poem, story, etc-just because it makes me smile. Hopefully I will be diligent at keeping this up. And hopefully it will help me be more consistent in my other posts. Here's to Fridays!

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Ira Glass
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor

by laura beth

This American Life is my favorite radio program (there's also a television version of the show, on Showtime). TAL did a live taping of the show titled "Return to the Scene of the Crime" on stage in Chicago, and beamed it to theaters across the nation. We were able to watch it at a local theater with Julie and Bill and it was AWESOME. Hosted by Ira Glass, guests of the show included Dan Savage (I actually cried during his piece. He's been a long-time favorite), Starlee Kine (cute as a pair of homemade shoes!), Mike Birbiglia (his piece was so humbly-what a incredible & brilliant human), Joss Whedon (who doesn't love Joss?), among others.

Be sure to listen to the full radio episode podcast (free to download and listen)-when you get to the episode page, just click on the orange link labeled "full episode" under the photo.

by laura beth

I have to tell this funny story, partly because I love how small and connected our world is. Small world stories are my fave.

Aunt Laurie drove us to LAX, and because we had a morning flight, we got there pretty early and the airport was mostly empty. I saw this girl two separate times in the airport. I noticed her because she had a friendly face, and she smiled at me both times I saw her. Later, when we boarded the flight, Kenny and I realized that we were not seated next to each other, but he was seated in the row ahead of me. I was seated next to the Pretty Airport Girl, who very kindly offered to switch seats with Kenny. Once she was seated in front of us, she started reading. We noticed her reading material contained phrases like "the Church Fathers", "Apostolic Succession", and other Traditional Churchy things. We thought, "She must be Catholic," but we continued to sneak peeks at her reading material. Finally Kenny asked what she was reading, and she showed us and said, "I'm an Orthodox Christian." What are the chances? She had to be the only one on the plane. And she was seated with us! So we carried on conversation with her throughout the flight, and she gave us some of the booklets she was reading. Her name is Heather, she is from Canada, and she is engaged to a man (Philotheou, I think, is his baptism name) that spent 10 years at Saint Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monastery in Arizona (I think that's right), although he was never tonsured a monk (I'm not sure if he was a Novice or simply lived at the monastery). He is now at Saint Lawrence Orthodox Church (again, I think that's right-I didn't take notes, so I'm going by memory) in Felton, CA. Anyhoo, it was a pretty cool "chance" meeting, and a good encouragement in regards to the Orthdox Christian Faith. May God bless you Heather!

by laura beth

We made it safe and sound to Phoenixville, Pennsylvania to visit friends Julie and Bill. They were generous enough to buy us tickets for a 2 week visit!! Our friend James (Julie's brother) is heading off to Marine boot camp, so this is our chance to spend some time with him as well. I'm excited for 2 weeks of fun friend time!


James' arms are always attached to pull-up bars.











Julie's lips are always attached to this jar, and Bill's butt is always attached to the counter.

by laura beth

My friend Maggie worked with Salt Lake City's Brolly Arts H20 Festival this year. Part of the festival included an installation of altered umbrellas, and Maggie asked if I would like to submit one. It sounded like an easy enough project so I put off getting started with it. Aunt Laurie supplied the slightly broken and beat up umbrella (black and gray snakeskin print!) and although I toyed with several ideas including changing the fabric, stripping the fabric all together, covering it with bit & baubles of all sorts, and draping it with origami animals, I ended up just painting it. I had to get it in the mail before heading to Pennsylvania and I just finished it this morning before going to the airport! It fun a pretty fun project. I didn't do my best, and I didn't put as much work into it as I could have, but it did end up being pretty darn challenging! I love being crafty, and being given a project rather than staying within my comfort zone is a healthy stretch for me. Thanks Maggie!

by laura beth

Kenny and I fasted like weenies during Lent. Yet we fasted all the same, a first for us. For Kenny, the no-In-N-Out- burgers was tough, for me, the no-cream-cheese-jalepeno-poppers. Here's the line up of our indulgences post-Pascha:

(This is more exciting for Kenny than me...)

Pascha celebration middle-of-the-night-meal: meatballs, fried chicken, ham, lamb, pulled pork sandwiches, carne asada, bratwurst, mac-n-cheese, and chocolate fountain for desert (I really didn't eat half of those things, but Kenny did).

Dinner later that day: Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles with friends Drew, Jared, and Will.



Lunch on Monday: In-N-Out burgers. I don't usually partake in the ground beef. But in the spirit of things...
Dinner on Monday: La Palma Chicken Pot Pie shop. Best value comfort food ever. Lunches run $5 for a delicious gravy-smothered pot pie filled with tender chunks of chicken (not cubed), a cup of chicken noodle soup, AND your choice of fries, mashed, salad, or slaw, AND a roll. Dinner is the same, except you get the potato choice AND the salad choice, PLUS a slice of fruit pie for $6.75 !! I had boysenberry. They do have other items on the menu, but we didn't even look them over.



A little more about the Chicken Pie Shop: It opened in 1955, and apparently has the same carpet (according to our waitress) and decor. I kind of love that about it. The clientele consists of more or less the same crowd that has been coming here for years-the "regulars" that keep the place in business. The food is not amazing, but it is good. And filling. And cheap. And the chicken pies really do have a homemade flavor. The chicken looks like it was just pulled off the bone. I recommend it to the non-snobbish, which should encompass everyone reading this, since I don't really have any snobby friends.

So our shrunken little stomachs have once more expanded to "normal" (XL) size, and we are fat and happy. Fasting does wonders to renew one's excitement for food.

by laura beth

Pascha was awesome.

I will try not go into great detail here, but here's the overview. Since being in Orange County (since November 1), Kenny and I have been attending Saint Barnabas Orthodox Christian Church. We have meet amazing people there, and have become deeply interesting in the ancient form of Christian worship.

Pascha (Easter) follows Great Lent and Holy Week. The Orthodox church celebrates Pascha, with a Saturday evening service (10 pm to 12:30 am this year), and directly after the service is a huge feast and celebration. And let me tell you, these Orthodox cats sure know how to party. Orthodox folks fast during Lent (primarily from meat, dairy, wine and oil) and when the feast comes, it comes largely in the form of meat. Fried chicken, ham, lamb, pork, carne asada, hamburgers, bratwurst, mac and cheese, beer, wine, cigars, dancing. And on. And on. We parked the moho in the church parking lot overnight. I think we finally hit the pillow at 4:30 am. No joke!

The next afternoon there is a service called Agape Vespers. During this service a Gospel passage is read in as many languages as are represented in the parish, or I suppose whatever language a person is interested in or would like to share with the others. It is so simple and so beautiful! We heard English, French, Italian, Russian, German, Vietnamese, Swahili, and several more I can't remember at the moment.

But back to the Pascha service. This is really condensed, so be sure to read the links above. During the 40 days of Lent and then Holy Week, the Church has been preparing for the Resurrection of Christ. Repentence, fasting, giving, focusing, renewing, remembering who Jesus is and why we follow him in the first place. And then comes Holy Week, somber and dim (literally), in which the Church remembers the week leading up to Christ's crucifixion. Then the climax comes during the Pascha service. There's this part-my favorite part-in which is all comes alive. The church building is dim and candle lit. The people form a procession around the outside of the building with candles, in the middle of the dark night, softly singing:

Christ is risen from the dead,

trampling down death by death,

and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!

And then, the people come back into the church building which is now brightly lit, symbolizing the resurrection and the empty tomb. The tone is cheerful, rejoicing, and absolutely real and beautiful. I can't even describe it here, I am only scratching the surface. Amazing. Christ is Risen!!

ps. Our good friend Mike Merryman joined us for the service and a little bit of the party. As always, it was awesome to spend time with him. And also, sorry for the lame lack of good photos. Like some of our other wonderful experiences, we got too wrapped up in everything that was going on that we just didn't get around to documenting it well with the ole camera. Here's a few from the party. Arrgh!

by laura beth

Heather has been house sitting for a friend in Corona Del Mar and invited me over for a sleepover. (The house is the cutest ever-so homey with 1940's era decor.) We caught the sunset at the beach (sort of) and headed out in pursuit of dinner. We ate at La Fogata (in CDM) which is AMAZING. It's a super fresh Mexican restaurant specializing in rotisserie chicken, great and speedy service, and deliciousness. I had the Del Mar Mediterranean Salad with side of beans and (jasmine) rice. Heather ordered some kind of chicken plate with goodness of all sorts. We shared the chicken nachos with blue corn chips and incredible shreddy chicken. As I write this, I want to eat there right now.

Food aside, I had a wonderful time with Heather, sitting in a tepid jacuzzi followed up with hot showers, falling asleep watching late night television, walking to the farmer's market in CDM, visiting, and just being with her in general. I love this friend.

by laura beth

We had a couple of great days with Caleb (7), Emma(5), and Sarah(2)-Kenny's cousin Chase and his wife Carrie's kids. They spent the night with Gigi (Grandma Ratface) and Grandma Laurie while Chase and Carrie had a yard sale, and we had a great time playing outside. Kenny and Caleb were playing catch with a tennis ball. Caleb threw it hard, and it bounced off the brick wall and disappeared. We spent several minutes looking for it, before I found it under the branches of a short palm, with the sharp needles of the palm embedded into the ball! Amazing! I guess Caleb has a pretty strong arm...

Another day we met up with the whole family and headed to Irvine Regional Park in Orange. There is so much to do there! Aside from the usual parky suspects, they have a petting zoo with tiny goats and such; a regular zoo that's filled with seemingly old or injured animals (cougars, coyotes, black bear, beaver, coati, Bald and Golden eagles, Great Horned owls (my favorite!), a Chinese pheasant (my other favorite!), and more; there are pony rides, train rides, water bikes, 2 person trikes to ride through-out the park, and tons more. Once again, I left the camera in the car for half of our time there, so I only got limited photos. Maybe if Carrie puts them on her blog I can snag some of hers...The kids had a lot of fun on the pony rides (Caleb and Emma went on horses and got trot rather than walk) and we had a nice picnic. It was a really fun day at a beautiful park. To top it off, there were peacocks meandering through-out the park grounds (really my favorite!)

by laura beth

Our friend Drew drove us all the way to Riverside to go to a Vespers service at St. Andrew Orthodox Church only to find out that the service was canceled by the Priest who was stuck in another town after a conference. A small group of parishioners were there cooking for the homeless. They let us in so we did get to take a look at the church and spent sometime in the bookstore. Hopefully we can visit next year when we come back.

With heads hung low, we went to Tio's Tacos.This place is amazing, and the photos do no justice. It's a huge double lot with the small restaurant, a small house, and another building. the rest of the space is littered with sculptures, fountains, folk art, mosaics, a bottle Chapel, and outdoor seating. The food looked awesome, but I found myself slightly dissatisfied with my GINORMOUS bean and rice burrito (to be fair, it was much better left over the next day). I'd like to go back to sample something non-vegetarian.