Coffee, and date night, anyone?

On Sunday, Osei and I took Palesa to a church in Denver.  After the service, I held Palesa in my arms rather than put her back in the Moby wrap, because we were headed to the car.  A woman came up to me to admire the Moby wrap.  She said nothing about the adorable baby in my arms, but asked where I'd bought the wrap, and went on about how stylish it was.  And then she exclaimed, "and the great thing about it is that you don't even need a baby to wear in the wrap!  You can just wear it out and about!"  Hmmm, I don't know about that, but I'm glad that we can both agree that the Moby wrap rocks!

Afterwards, we went out to lunch at Noodles and Company.  I'm proud to report that despite eating with chopsticks (while wearing Palesa in the Moby), I didn't drop any food on her head this time!

Later in the afternoon, we met up with a Smithie (and Fairview) friend of mine, Makenna, for coffee.  We enjoyed hearing about her adventures around the globe, and all of the inspiring things she is doing!

Finally, Sunday night Osei and I had our first "adults-only" date while Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Ralph watched Palesa.  It was mostly a dinner date.  Except we drove to Whole Foods to pick up prepared food, which we brought back to my mom's house to all eat together.  We were maybe gone 40 minutes, but it was the first time we've both been away from her!

Palesa meets Auntie Suz and goes to school!

Friday morning we went to Denver for a few meetings.  Osei had meetings, and Palesa and I just hung out in the coffee shop.  Then we drove up to Windsor, CO, to meet Auntie Suz.  She was SO excited to finally meet Palesa that she was even waiting outside for us.  Palesa was very excited to see her too.  Auntie Suz is a band director at Windsor High School.

Later that afternoon, we went to pick up Uncle Bryan from school- he is a math teacher at the same school.  I wore Palesa in the Moby wrap, and since I generally don't spend much time these days in high schools, especially carrying a baby, I hoped that no one thought I was a high school student with a baby.  Actually, let's be realistic- what almost 30-year-old wouldn't want to be confused with an 18 year old?  What am I saying?

Anyway, after we visited the Math room, we went to the Band room and I got to meet many of her band students.  Windsor High School marching band and Palesa have a special connection, because the band won the marching band State Competition on the day Palesa was born.  The overwhelming consensus was that Palesa is 'sooooooooo cuuuuuute!"  It was a big day for Palesa.  After all, she was only 3.5 weeks old the first time she went to school!  (We take our education very seriously in this family, and I'll let you know when Palesa selects her instrument)

Then Palesa slept while Auntie Suz wore her in the Moby wrap.  I took a nap.

10 reasons why I appreciate my job

1. This Friday we have our annual holiday Gala at the Boston Harbor Hotel.  Prom for grownups
2. Sane working hours, especially compared to the craziness of New York City
3. The gym in the building basement, which includes weekly Zumba classes, and is dirt cheap, like $12.50-a-month-for-membership-cheap
4. Casual Friday, every Friday 
5. Kurig coffee maker, with more coffee choices than I can count, including flavored and fair-trade coffee.  Limitless juice, soda, and bubbly water too.
6. 100% covered health insurance, for both Osei and I
7. Casual-attire every time it snows. Occasionally, snow days too
8. Co-workers are all smart, good people
9. Lots of leftover snacks from meetings, and bagles for breakfast on Fridays
10. I definitely appreciate getting a paycheck

A Columbian Dark Roast to start the day

Since moving to Boston in March, my coffee drinking habits have changed dramatically. In my New York City condo, Starbucks was literally adjacent to my building lobby, and my baristas knew me by face and by my coffee order- grande drip coffee in a venti cup with cold soy at the bar. If I needed more coffee, there was also a Starbucks in the lobby of my office building.

Daily between 9:00 and 10:00 am, my Coffee Buddy and I would rendez vous in the elevator bank for a coffee run... I'd get a refill (free, of course) of my drip coffee, and he'd get a single-shot expresso (double if the week was really tough). Keep in mind, I worked on Wall Street at the time, an industry that has perfected the dysfunctional balance of high stress, low sleep, and intravenous caffeine drips.

Just before I left the city, I even received a gold credit card with my name engraved on the front in size 16 font. Preferred Customer. Basically, Starbucks was probably going to ask me to run the company, because I had earned gold card status for my loyal coffee consumption.

And then I moved to Boston, where I'd maybe pass by a Starbucks once a week. Certainly there were none in my neighborhood. But all was not lost. I shortly after married a former-Starbucks-barista, who brought not only his coffee expertise, but a stainless steel coffee press.

We registered for a Cuisinart expresso maker, and my fabulous hubby now makes lattes for me in the morning, swirling the tip of the foam milk just so as to make the treat delicious and aesthetically appealing.

Today I attempted regular coffee in the coffee press, for the first time in a solid 3 or 4 months. I guess I underestimated the capacity of the container, because this brew is as thick as sludge. Since beginning to write this, my typing has increased by about 20 words per minute. My heavy eyelids no longer beg me to return back to bed- in fact, I'm probably about ready to go take on Wall Street or something like that.

One more cup of coffee before we go...

New York Times has an article today called It's Time to Make a Coffee Run, proving what distance runners (at least this one) has known all along... the benefits of caffeine and exercise...

* Caffeine is one of the few legal performance enhancers not prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency

* Nothing new that caffeine improves performance... but scientists believe the reason for the power-output post-coffee is that the muscles release calcium stored in muscle, which helps speed and endurance. Also, caffeine impacts the brain's sensation of exhaustion

*The effect of performance improvement is estimated at between 5-25% (the low range for average performance expected for the masses, and a controlled labratory setting.

Not sure if I'll be able to find a Starbucks to get my SBUX staple (grande in a venti cup with cold soymilk) before my Paris marathon, but I'll definitely be able to find a cute place to get my pre-race cup'o'jo

Every time I see an Italian coffee percolator, I think of Jess

I heard from a good college friend today, none other than Ms. Jess P.  You will one day see her on SNL, or doing stand up, I predict.  

Typical Smithie... A very accomplished flutist (is that a word), I think a Music major, possibly double major in Italian too.  She now lives is San Francisco (again, typical Smithie behavior to migrate to cool cities, what can we say?) and is getting ready for an MBA in finance/economics.  Clearly she and I took similar different paths from Smith by starting career paths that appear to have absolutely nothing to do with anything we studied in college.  In addition to intramural soccer and the community orchestra, Jess is now doing Venture Capital analysis and research for Dow Jones.  That is precisely what I love about Smith though.  Jess knows what I'm talking about here... must be a Smith thing.  

Anyway, whenever I think back to my time and friends at Smith, images of Jess are never without a coffee percolator.  I'm not really sure what branded such a distinct mental image, but I pity everyone else who sees coffee percolators and does not have the pleasure of remembering Jess P. stories and laughing.

Milk Frother update- frothing milk as expected

Ralph received his birthday milk frother yesterday and loves it.  

He claims that with instructions in 9 different languages, he should have no trouble operating it.  He also promises to report a full update post-first-latte

Ralph- this one's for you!

Zabars sells this great milk frother.  On Thanksgiving, I took the 'rents for a post-parade bowl of matzo-ball soup, and we came across this little guy who remained an in-store un-purchased orphan for the rest of the year.  

However, I'm now happy to report he'll soon be en-route to his new home in Colorado with Ralph, where he can spend his days frolicking and frothing milk and enabling frou-frou coffee drinks galore.  

Happy birthday Ralph!