Mashable Link Round Up - Weekly Reading Pleasure

1. As someone who continues to debate the private vs. public school choice, shinybrite provides more insight into the differences between public and private school. Definitely worth a look as it adds more information on the discussion. 
2. Shiny Bright highlights one of my cooking heroes, Mark Bittman listing some of his best Summer 101 lists of recipes from 101 Fast Recipes for Grilling, 101 Quick Meals, 101 Simple Meals Ready to go in 10 minutes or less, 101 Simple Salads for the Season and 101 Simple Appetizers in 20 minutes in less all in one place. As she says, get them now before the Times starts charging for them. 
3. Mom Finds has some cool-looking diaper bags for dads, although if I were you I wouldn't call it a diaper bag. Hardly seems cool or masculine. 
4. Sesame Place is one of the more popular day trips from New York. If you are looking to visit Sesame Place this summer, A Child Grows in Brooklyn provides helpful tips to make your trip more enjoyable. 
5. Adhoc mom provides us with her take on what she and her husband would name their fictional child. It's pretty funny, I will give you one name Bacardi Chardonnay. I can only imagine what names they would come with after a few Bacardis. 
6. Is Eminem appropriate for a two year old to listen? Read Ad Hoc Mom's response to being castigated for exposing her child to his music. 
7. Mom Delicious wonders if she has about the age old question for moms - womanhood vs mommyhood and decides she can choose both. 

I am Happier Since Becoming a Mom - So there New York Magazine

Last week, New York magazine ran an article, "All Joy and No Fun - Why Parents Hate Parenting", which has been tearing up the blogosphere and getting lots of buzz on CNN and NPR, etc. The article makes the case that having children doesn't make people happier.

Here some quotes from the article.
"Most people assume that having children will make them happier. Yet a wide variety of academic research shows that parents are not happier than their childless peers. I don't agree no matter what the data says. 
"Mothers are less happy than fathers and single parents are less happy still." I don't agree.
"Children bring unrivaled moments of joy but also unrivaled moments of frustration, tedium anxiety, heartbreak." I agree. 
"Studies have found that parent's dissatisfaction only grew the more money they had, even though they could buy more child care." So don't agree. 

So here is my response to Jennifer Senior's article:

Am I happy that I adopted my daughter? Yes, of course I am.

Am I happy all the time? No, but I wouldn't I say I was unhappy. What I would say is that, sometimes I am tired,  worried about on my financial future, worried about my daughter's education, wonder if she is overscheduled and the big question, am I good parent.

Of course, if I had a personal assistant to help with all the chores, make appointments, pick her up from school, watch my daughter when I am sick or when I needed a break, I might be a little less everything so the notion that if I had more money is bulls**t.

I will admit, over the last few years, I have had a good cry because I am so overwhelmed. I think it's more from the lack of support from my family not my friends. I know they don't do it intentionally because they have their own issues but...

Luckily I have friends who offer to take my daughter to church, or the park when I need some mommy time.

The Upside to having a child - New Friends - I don't know about you but after a certain point, you stop meeting new people especially in New York.  It's just get exhausting and tedious trying to make friends.

Because of my daughter, I met people who I would have never crossed paths with if I did not have her.  Sure, our initial and continuing bond are our children but true friendships has definitely evolved.

Am I jealous of my single friends? Occasionally. Sure, I would like to go to dinner on the spur of the moment and not be disappointed when I can't find a babysitter (damn, those girls with lives and plans.) Sure, I would like to go on trips. Sure, I miss opening weekend of a movie or being able to get a mani/pedi when I want but it usually passes.

Even if I was still single and carefree, my life would not be perfect, either. I think we all learned ago, life is not perfect. You can choose to be happy or sad or complain or blame your parents, they system or whatever.  Life is about choices. I maybe naive, but I choose to be happy and positive with a litte anger and a good cry thrown in for good measure every so often

I love my daughter and when she makes me laugh with her nutty skits or her role playing being "in the business" or learns to ride a bike on her own or boldly introduces herself to kid on the playground or has full scale conversation with one of her aunts, I am so happy and proud. Those moments happen more often than the frustrating ones.

Of course, check back in a few years during the tween/teen years, I am pretty sure, then I will unhappy.

Are you happy that you became a mother or father?

Where's My Single Mom Reality Show- Now it's just Kate plus Eight

Originally posted October 02, 2009 on NYC Moms Blog. 


In tribute to Kate being on The View last week, I thought I would offer last year's post after her "world" started unraveling. 


As you can see, I was wrong about the show going away but I still ask where's my reality show TLC?

For months, like most of America, I have been riveted to the train wreck that is Jon and Kate Gosselin. I was an early fan of the show and unlike the majority of people, am a Kate fan. I always knew she would prevail as she has a better public relation's team than Jon and is smart enough to stay out of the public eye. And no, having TMZ follow you to Target does not count. 

I had no idea how this melodrama would play out but it never occurred to me that TLC would get rid of Jon and re-title the show "Kate plus eight." What irks me is that TLC is going to pass Kate off as this single mom raising her eight kids alone. She is not raising those kids alone. I am a single mom who adopted her daughter when she was just 12 days old, on my own. Where is my show?

I don't have a stylist, housekeepers, nannies, a bodyguard and cadre of camera man following me around helping me raise my daughter. Yes, raising eight kids is a challenge but seriously, I am not getting $75,000 an episode and live in a million dollar ($1.5million to be exact) house like Kate. She is hardly this struggling single mom. It is an insult to single moms everywhere trying to keep it together with no help to put her in the same boat. 

I used to love the show but since the season opener when Jon and Kate announced their impending divorce to the tune of 10 million viewers, I have not watched it. The show has veered completely off course and become one big product placement. It is so pathetically staged that it is no longer worth watching, cute kids or not. I just don't care if Kate puts up a tent for a backyard camping expedition. Seriously, did we really believe she put that tent up herself? No, we did not! TLC should just pay out her contract and move on. This show is on its last legs.

Fantastic Four Friday - 4 Tips for New Single Mom Sandra Bullock

Unless you have been living under a rock, we all know that Sandra Bullock is now the proud mom of a baby boy, Louis Bardo Bullock.

As you can surmise from my blog name (duh), I am also a single mom. I adopted my daughter when she was just 11 days old. Now that she is a single mom, I wanted to give Sandra my two cents worth on being a single mom. I won't bore any one with "single parenting is hard" routine (but it is.) Moving on...

Four Tips for New Single Mom Sandra Bullock:

1. Add Mom Friends especially Single Mom Friends into your inner circle - I love my single friends (two are my daughter's godmothers) and my married mom friends but my single mom friends really get what I am going through raising a child on my own.  All of these great moms keep me from losing my mind, offer great advice mom-related and non-mom related, listen to me whine on occasion (or ramble on) and can commiserate and emphathize on all the little things about bringing up a child.

2. Make Mommy Time (And Don't Feel Guilty)  - There is nothing wrong with making time for yourself. Yes, it's hard to be away from your child but you need to recharge and reenergize yourself. I love my daughter but nothing is more refreshing than getting eight hours of sleep, sleeping in, going to an adult movie (hey, not that kind) or getting a mani/pedi.  And sometimes, yes, it's okay to go away for a couple of days, it doesn't make you a bad mommy. I am still trying to schedule this year's trip.

3. Don't Be Afraid to Ask For Help -  Hillary Clinton is right "It Takes a Village to Raise a Child." I don't have family that live nearby so I have had to ask for help from friends and other families. I took me a long time to ask for help and not feel guilty about burdening other parents but now, I just do it. Everyone is happy to help you. They get it.

4. Get Up Earlier - Right now, I am sure your son is not sleeping through the night but one day. My body is conditioned now but there is nothing more relaxing and peaceful than to wake up early, have cup of coffee and read the paper (or scour the internet) in peace before the madness of the day begins. Of course, there are others who would rather get that extra time to sleep but personally, I rather get my day started in peace and quiet versus a whirlwind.

This isn't a tip but I look at the photo of you with your son and it makes me reflect on the day I went to pick my duaghter up and seeing her for the first time. I see the happiness in your eyes and remember that day.

Good luck and hey if you ever need a babysitter, my seven year old daughter just loves hanging out with little kids.

Any other tips for Sandra, feel free to weigh in.

Adopting as a Single Woman - "But it's only Tuesday..."

My daughter at 3 months (all earlier photos are on film)

Adoption Tale - Adopting as a Single Woman

It's been awhile since I have done a adoption post and wanted to revisit it on a ongoing basis. Today's post recounts the day I found I was going to be a mom. It's a long post since I am working on a book of my adoption experience and this is going to part of the book. Please provide feedback and questions. 

But's It Only Tuesday... 

And so it began, a morning like so many before, starting wistfully out my window at the Statue of Liberty. I began to run through all the items on my to do list that need to be completed by the end of the day - draft agenda for J's leadership meeting, begin draft on her presentation in preparation for meeting with G next week, teambuilding ideas and on and on. ...

As my computer slowly booted up, and I mean slowly, I reflected on how lucky I was to have this incredible unobstructed view of the 43rd floor of the World Financial Center. 

Actually luck had nothing to do with having this view. September 11 made this view happen. Because our company headquarters was impacted by September 11, the entire building needed to be cleaned to remove debris from the lower floors when the windows were blown out when the World Trade Center feel. All the employees were relocated throughout the tri-state area. That experience is another chapter. 

Due to the position I had, one of my responsibilities was to manage the move back to the building for our group and low and behold, the number one responsiblity was floor space assignments. So why not give myself the best view on the floor. 

Back to my story, I had gotten in early one March morning so that I could get some emails done and have a leisurely breakfast before the floor became alive with people. 

Then the phone rang, which I though odd because it was so early. "Darn it," I comtemplated not answering the phone since I did not recognize the area code but did anyway. 

"Good morning, are you sitting down?" asked T, the adoption agency director. 

"Yes, I am at my desk," I said, thinking who doesn't sit at their desk. "What kind of wacky question is that?" Isn't amazing what pops into your head at the most inopportune moments?

"We have a little girl for you," she calmly stated.

Racing through my mind, I thought over the past years, I had heard those words before but there always something just not right with child's circumstances or the mother changed her mind at the last minute, all those situations resulted in disappointment, a feeling of rejection and a gnawing feeling that my being a mother was never going to happen. 

Gathering my composure and quickly blocking those negative thoughts out of mind, I somehow blurted out, "Tell me about her."

But I wasn't really listening, feeling like a character in a Charlie Brown show where you never see the parents but only hear the "Waa," "Waa," "Waa," noise. 

As the director began providing detail about the little baby girl (and I mean baby, she was only three days old), I realized that my journey to be a mother was over and the next chapter of my life was just beginning. 

Again, crazy thoughts popped in my head. "Yikes, what had I done?' "I am nuts," All of sudden it hit me, I am no longer alone. My life is now going to be  as a single mother living in a small one bedroom apartment in a third floor walk up on MacDougal Street, raising her child alone with no family or support group. 

After providing details about the birth mother (young teenager,) reality set back in when the director asked, 

"Can you pick her up on, Friday?"

Stunned after being inundated with details about my daughter, her birth mother, I blurted out, "But it's only Tuesday, you want me to pick her up on Friday? Thats in three days!"

Pulling myself together, I calmly asked, "Can I pick her up on Monday?" 

The director said, "Okay." I am sure she wondered why after I had waited so long and had called every few weeks to check on my application. 

"I have to get my life and work in order, I don't exactly have the type of job that I can drop everything and go." The work part was true, my manager knew that I was trying to adopt. I knew she would be somewhat sympathetic and understanding because she had adopted three children from Russia although I am not sure how sympathetic given I had three days notice to sort out all my work assignments. The work situation aside, I did not want to admit that my apartment was ill-equipped to handle an infant. Because I had waited so long and did want constant reminders in my tiny one-bedroom, I had not gone out and bought clothes, accessories, nothing. 

I needed the weekend to get my act together. 

"Fine, see you on Monday and congratulations." she said.

Luckily, no one came into my cube after I hung up because I was shaking so much. Slowly, my tears began to tear up. I turned to stare out at the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of renewal and new beginnings for the immigrants who passed through Ellis Island and I began to sob. 

Of course, my rational and practical side kicked in and I began thinking, "Could I actually get my life in order in just five days? Who knows. 

And off I went to find my manager to tell her the news so I could start the next chapter of my life, being a mother.

Other Adoption Tales:
Is she really adopted? 

Buy, Buy, Baby - Saviour or Nightmare

No, my daughter is not from Ethopia

5 Things to Consider Adopting as a Single Woman

Originally posted on NYC Single Mom. Linda also blogs at NYC Single Mom Reviews, NYC Moms Blog, NYMetropolista and travelingmom.com.

Fantastic Four Friday - 4 Reasons I love my iPhone

Since I am talking about my iPhone and not the iPad, it's obvious that I am not an early adopter of technology.

The iPhone was introduced in 2007 (can you believe it?) and when did I get around to joining the cool kids, late 2009.

And why did it take so long? Because I'd rather all the early adopters spend the $$$, Apple work out all the bugs that come with a first generation product and because I was in the middle of my phone contract and it was not worth the extra $300 to break the contract to buy the phone.


So after two years of iPhone envy, I finally bought one and with the exception of the short battery life, I love my iPhone.

Here are four reasons, I love my iPhone. All of the following are features of the phone.

1. Voice Memos - I love this feature the most because when I want to remember key ideas, places or my daughter's quotes, all you have to do is the hit voice memo button and record it. No more fumbling for paper and pencil or forgetting stuff.

Let's face it, we moms have too much to remember with school forms, doctor's appointments, bills and life, sometimes the things you want to remember most just doesn't seem to be able to stick in our brains the way they used to.

I can name two instances this little feature turned out to be quite helpful.

•  I was concerned that my daughter might have sleep apnea because she wow she can really saw those logs. I was able to tape her snoring and play her snoring for her pediatrician. The pediatrician was amazed she always asks parents to do this but they never do and I was the first parent to tape their kids snoring. And no she doesn't have sleep apnea, she just snores loudly. 
• Last week, I went to the Dove Spa event and took part in a MAC eye makeover. I loved the eyeshadow that the makeup artist used on me. It looked amazing. Without the voice memo function, I would never be able to remember the eye shadow or maybe it was the wine. 

2. Timer/Stopwatch - I never thought I would ever use this feature but realized it's utilty on playdates. As you can imagine, if there is only one toy and everyone wants to play with it, nothing but arguing and crying ensues. Now I  tell the kids, I am using the stopwatch and when the timer goes off, you have to switch turns. Problem solved.

3. Maps - I admit, I am terrible at getting around New York City especially in neighboorhoods I am not that familiar with. Hey sometimes, I get lost trying to get to places I have been to before like my daughter's godmother apartment in Brooklyn. With this feature, you can never be lost. The GPS tracks your current location and then provides a map to your intended location. Voila!!!

4. Voice Mail/Texting  - Sure all phones have voice mail and text capability but now you can play the voice mails you want versus listening to them in order that you want with a press of a button. And being able to follow the text threads for a particular person has seriously impacted my life. How you say? You would be surprised at how often I refer to previous threads for a phone number or confirm the address from someone. Plus you can attache photos to a text message, say what? Yes. 

I will let you know about my favorite free apps.

Originally posted on NYC Single Mom. Linda also blogs at NYC Single Mom Reviews, NYC Moms Blog, NYMetropolista and travelingmom.com.

New York City Single Mom Questions and Answers

NYC Single Mom Questions and Answer Session 

Over the past few months, I have been asked questions in the comments section. At some point soon, there will be a redesign of my site and I will be taking your questions on a regular basis. In the meantime, I am going to try to answer some recent questions that have been posed to me.


Question 1:
JM asked  "Are you still getting anything out of the therapy against your original goal? The original purpose of starting therapy was that your family wanted you to "parent better."

Response:
JM, great question. Your question came up  in response to Therapy Thursday - Nanny 911 stay in England, your services are not needed  post.  Yes, the original intent of starting therapy was to "better parent." As a single mom with no family around to help out, Dr. R. provides an objective resource to help me out during those moments of insecurity and that in turn leads to better parenting. During the emergency instructions given on flights, they tell you that in the event of an emergency take the mask first and then help your child." Same for therapy.

Question:
JM asked "How do you manage seeing friends, balancing job search talk and friendship talk without turning the interaction with friends into an attempt to solicit help in finding contacts or sharing information?"

Response:
Another good question.  It's definitely a fine balance. Everyone does the best they can.  I don't really expect them to ask me all the time how I am doing.  Let's face it everyone has their own problems, family etc and can be self centered.  Often times, I don't bring helping me up in conversation unless I really need feedback about things. I will be honest that my twitter/blog friends probably have a better gage on what I am feeling on a daily basis. It has served as an outlet for me.

5 Things to Consider Adopting as a Single Woman

When people find out that I adopted, they have a whole host of questions for me. I suppose the reason is that it is fairly uncommon to find a single African-American women adopting on their own. I don't exactly fit the stereotype, right?

For the most part, I am pretty comfortable about answering questions. I have to be since as my daughter gets older, I have be able to deal with her questions.

1. Are you ready?

Step back a moment and consider how your life will change, if you adopt a child on your own.

• Are you truly ready to caring for a child 24/7 for the next eighteen plus years of your life?
• Do you travel a lot for business or pleasure?
• Do you like to go out to dinner and stay out late?
• Do you like to go on long walks?
• Do you like to go to the gym?
• Do you like to sleep in late?
• What happens when you get sick?

It sounds cliche, and you hear it all the time. When you have children, your life will change!!!

Children are not a pair of Manolo Blanicks. You can’t return them if you suddenly don’t like them. It's all you.

For me, I realized that Prince Charming wasn't coming, the white picket fence and the 2.2 children were not going to be forthcoming.

This notion hit me like a lightning bolt when a colleague told me that she was having a baby. It wasn’t so much that she was having a baby as the fact of the timing of her news. You see, she met her husband, got married and was having a baby all under 24 months. I wasn't jealous or envious. Good for her and I was truly happy for her. But what were the odds of that happening to me? Nada! I had a better chance of winning the lottery. So I knew that if I wanted to be a mother (and I did) and I would have to do it on my own. Life takes mysterious turns.

2. Before you decided to adopt, did you try other methods to become a mother?

• Are you truly over the loss of not being able to have your own child with your DNA or with you significant other? A lot of women try invitro and it doesn't take or they tried having a child with their husband and boyfriend and things just didn't work out. Just asking. You need to come to terms with your former situation, before you start the adoption process.

For me, I had no interest in going the sperm donor route or injecting myself with hormones. I am lazy and so not organized to even get that right process right. I know a lot of women who really experience birth. Again so not me. If I had gotten pregnant, I would have definitely gone down that route but adoption seemed the right choice for me from the beginning.

3. Domestic or International Adoption

• Do you want a newborn or are you fine with an older child? In international adoptions, the child is older.
• Can you travel and stay in the country for long periods of time?
• Are you willing to go alone or do you have a friend/family who can come and support you? Remember in most instances, you have to stay in a foreign country for a minimum of two weeks and then travel back to the United States by yourself.

For me, domestic adoption was the way to go. I really wanted a newborn baby. Plus it hardly made sense to go abroad, when there were so many children in the United States to adopt. Most importantly, domestic adoption just seem to be less complicated than international adoption.

4. Gender, Race, Age, Special Needs

This is a completely personal preference but will determine which agencies to work with.'

For me, I wanted a girl from the very beginning. This is a completely personal preference. Even after two years of waiting, I hung in their waiting for a girl. In my heart, I think every family ends up with the child that completes their life. My daughter was meant for me.

5. Financial Consideration

Should you be thinking about money and how you will support this baby rather than if you are ready or can provide love and support? Yes. On top of the adoption expenses, lawyers, etc. Children are expensive. According to the latest study, it costs $221,000 to raise a child until age eighteen (I think its' more.)

Thinking about finances when all you want is to become a family may sound callous and impersonal but you need to consider your options since you are the primary earner. This means less shoes for you and more diapers and formula for the baby. Rather than going to dinner, you will have to buy baby clothes. Also, who is going to take care of your child while you work?

For me, I was lucky to have worked for Fortune 50 company for many years in which I was able to save money for the adoption expenses. The company offered twelve week Family Leave without impact to my position. They also offered partial reimbursement for my adoption expenses. It was only $3,500 but every little bit helps, right. Also, I worked for a wonderful woman who was very understanding since she had adopted three children from Russia. She got it and was very supportive during the process and when the time came for me to pick my daughter up and take off for three months.

The flip side of working for a big company was, I worked a lot of long hours which meant additional babysitting costs on top of day care expenses. My monthly child care expenses were close to $1,800 a month. You do the math.

All these questions are for you to think about as you think about heading down this path.

If you have additional questions, you would like me answer in a following post, please send them to me at nysinglemom@gmail.com

My next post, I will talk about beginning the process.

10 Reasons Why New York City is a Great Place for Single Moms

Since I was laid off in December, the second question after how is the job search going, is  (drum roll, please) have you thought about relocating?

Sure, I have thought about it but I have dismissed the notion. Why? 

Because I think that New York City is an incredible place to be a single mom and raise your child. 

Clearly, I am not completely delusional so I will acknowledge the obvious downside to New York City.  

Yes, it’s crowded, it’s competitive, it’s expensive and unless you are a gazillionaire or lucky to be living in a rent-stabilized apartment, you will live a small sized apartment. Sure, I would like to have a two bedroom apartment but unless I win the lottery, I don’t think upgrading is in our future. 

But the advantages and benefits of living in New York City outweigh the above drawbacks. 

Here are 10 Reasons why New York City is a most excellent place (yes, a reference to Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure) for single moms.

1. You don’t need a car  - Every destination in the five boroughs can be reached by subway, taxi or town car.  Imagine, I spend a $225 month for the subway versus suburbanites who spend $600+ in gas, insurance and car payments. If you really need to head out to IKEA, a day trip or just a few hours to run some errands, zipcar.com was designed expressly for city dwellers.  
2. Everything you need is within a 20-block radius - Every New Yorkers is 5-15 minutes from a supermarket, drugstores, banks and most major big box retailers. Personally, I can easily walk to my daughter’s school, doctor, pediatrician, dentist, supermarket, drugstore, bookstore, and ice cream store without breaking a sweat. 
3. Delivery Service – Again who needs a car, when all the supermarkets, Bed Bath and Beyond, IKEA and other big box stores deliver directly to your door. 
4. Museums – My daughter and I go to a museum at least once a month. My daughter has been visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art since she was four. I did not go to the Met or MOMA until I was 25. My daughter can identify Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Henri Matisse and Edgar Degas. I had never heard of those artists until I went to Europe during college.
5. Parks and Playgrounds – Suburbanites have their backyard but I am within 10 blocks of 3 playgrounds and odds are we run into one of my daughter’s friends.  Playdate issue, solved. 
6. Built -in Maintenance Help – I am lucky enough to live in a full-service building. That means, there is a doorman here to accept all my packages. Best of all, when something goes awry in my apartment, I can just put in a service request and it will be taken care of.  Last month, my daughter and her friends stuck a pencil in the toilet. No need to call a plumber. Just ask and  a maintenance person will come up and take apart the toilet to find the offending item.  Over the years, they have replaced a bathroom doorknob installed a smoke alarm, unclogged my sinks and installed a dishwasher. 
7. No yard to mow, shrubs to trim … – Enough said
8. Celebrity Sightings – I love New York for the number of celebrities who walk amongst us. Just in the last month, I have seen Lauren Hutton, Susan Sarandon, Jon Stewart (at the Central Park Zoo), Bruce Springteen, Tim Robbins (riding his bicycle up 6th Avenue), Anna Wintour and Christy Turlington.  And if you go to certain downtown parks, odds are you will run into at least one celebrity with their child.  My lovely daughter had the pleasant experience of playing at the park with Sarah Jessica Parker’s son when she was three.  (Yes, she was nice and said my daughter was cute, alas no playdates were had, darn!)
9. Diversity – For better or worse, I like the diversity of the city. Sure, having to explain why some guy is dressed in women’s clothes and some wacko with a parrot is walking around with a parrot on his head can make for an interesting conversation, it does provides color to my daughter’s life you will not experience anywhere else. 
10. Community -  I feel that there truly is  a community of single moms (single moms who adopt and older single moms, to boot) in the city so much so  that I don’t feel out of place and most of all neither does my daughter. Her well-being and self-esteem is so important to me. Being able to see other children with single moms or have two mommies or two daddies shows her she is not different.  

For you suburbanites, don’t get me wrong and don’t be offended. I still love the suburbs, I grew up there and love being there when I visit family and sometimes, I even it miss it but I just can’t see myself living there at this juncture of my life.

Now, if I was married….. Nah, just kidding

Living and Thriving in New York City as a Single Mom.  That's me.

Kate Gosselin Book Signing was a disappointment

I was so excited when I heard about the Kate Gosselin book signing. Kate is the mother from Jon and Kate plus eight fame. I love the show. I know I am also in the minority but I am a big fan of hers. She really does make the show worth watching.

So I trekked down to the Tribeca Barnes and Noble, braving the drizzling rain. I arrived at the store about 45 minutes before the signing whereby I purchased two books Multiple Blessings and Eight Little Faces. There were about 30 people ahead of me in line which was not too bad.

About 12:30, she made her appearance to a single cheer. Yes, I understand she can't take pictures with everyone or have a conversation but it would have been nice if she at the minimum thanked the crowd for coming or said a few words. Instead she plopped down and began signing books. She barely look up or said anything.

Maybe I have watched too many movies where the author gets up and chats for a bit, answers questions and then signs books, this was not a movie but pretty much a boring, business like book signing. Naive me.

After about 10 minutes, I did get my turn. I quickly mentioned that I watched the show with my 6 year old daughter and she did say "awesome' but barely looked up when she did say it.

I have to say she looked amazing. I think the haircut is flattering and yes she does look younger in person than when the show first started. Having money and stylists does agree with her. She was also wearing some serious bling, not too flashy but a lot of diamonds. Diamond bracelets, diamond rings, not sure about the earrings but I am sure they were diamonds as well.

All in all, I am happy I went but I am not so sure I would attend another book signing. This was truly a disappointment.

Inauguration Day - One of the most memorable days of my life

Going to the inauguration has to be one of the highlights and more memorable days of my life.I am so happy that my friend Elaine suggested that we go. Of course, having family living in northern Virginia helped since all the hotels were booked. 

The day before the inauguration, we went into the city to meet friends (Donnell and Katya)  up from Miami for the festivities.  Donnell graciously invited us to a reception given by her congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz for her constituents at the Library of Congress.

After the reception, we took the opportunity to walk down by the Capitol building and stake out where we should try to position ourselves for the next day.  While we out walking past the day, Miss Aretha Franklin was rehearsing her inauguration song. What a treat that was to hear her person. It gave me goose pimples. 

The Big Day - January 20

Before I relive the day, I have to tell you that Elaine and I both got about 2 hours of sleep. We were staying out in the guest house which is isolated from the house so it can be a little creepy. 

Around 11:30, I heard noises downstairs and thought that Pop Pop had come to his office to work. It's plausible given that he does business in Russia, right. I fell back into a half sleep and was woken up some more noises. At this point, I am delirious and unlike other people who walk into danger, I am thinking well, if there is a serial killer downstairs, come and get us. I was still alive a few minutes later so I guess we were safe and again I try to go back to sleep, to no avail. 

Around 2:30 am,  right before the alarm was supposed to go off, I see a shadow coming up the stairs and I am thinking it's Pop Pop coming up to tell us we are late and we need to get going to the metro.  It turns out to be Elaine.  She had gone downstairs because I was snoring so loudly and the noises I heard were her walking around downstairs.  

Moving on to the big day, we drove to the Vienna metro stop leaving the house at 3:30 am to catch the first train of the day that was to depart at 4am. The Vienna  stop is the very last stop on  the orange line in Virginia. It was a smart move on our part to have someone drive us (thanks, Dave) and not park the car since there was a line to get into the parking lot. 

Once we got into the station, there was already a  line of people waiting to get into the metro station. Just as we were walking into the gate, the metro attendant told us to stop and wait. Don't you just love obnoxious people who refuse to listen. While the attendant was off helping people buy tickets someone pushed the gate open and we snuck through the turnstiles. All we could here was, "Stop, close the gate, you can't come through yet".  Seeing that the train was packed, we waited for the second train coming up the track. As we walked down to the end of the 2nd train, I noticed that the last car in the first train was half empty so we scooted across. Lo and behold, we  actually made it onto the 4am train as planned. Yeah!!!

The scene  as we came to each subsequent stops become more surreal as only 1 or 2 people could actually squeeze onto the train and by the time we reached the fifth stop, there was no way anyone could get on.

Our goal was to go the L'Enfant Plaza stop since that is the open stop closest to the mall. Good and bad idea. Yes, it was close but  L'Enfant Plaza is a major hub in which four metro lines converge. The scene to get out the station was a mad house and it was only 5am. There were hundreds of people all trying to get through 4 turnstiles. We got outside and there more masses of people.  We found ourselves at the gate to the mall at 5:30 with another 1 1/2 hours to wait.  This seemed nuts. After about 20 minutes, someone with some sense or someone who did not want unruly mob opened the gate and the people started streaming in. 

 This was truly the scariest part of the day. People in a hurry to get a good place to view the capitol starting pushing. You hear about these things but I have never experienced it. I was not afraid for myself but for 5 year old daughter, Alex who literally disappeared from my sight as the crowd starting really pushing to get in. She started crying hysterically. I am had fears she was going to get trampled but luckily this woman next to me starting pushing back and screaming at the people behind us.  Thank god this did not last long and we were through the gate. 

Once we got in, we ran into the section we had staked out and starting looking for the jumbotron. We knew yesterday, that we would never be able to see the Capitol from the first non ticketed section. We found space near a tree. 

Our location. Look for the third circle on the left down from the Capitol. We are in the crowd south of 4th street. The article is correct, there was lots of space in the section due to the police limiting people into each section for which I am eternally grateful because it allowed us some breathing room. 

All I can say is that were outside trying to stay warm from 5:30 am - 1pm. Around 9, they started playing the We are One concert which the crowd excited. People started cheering at the site of Obamas and Biden families. We all sang and cheered the singers coming on. Or at the least jumping up and down to stay warm. 

Then the networks started showing the motorcade and everyone being seated in the stands. Most of the intro was close captioned which really was odd, it was like watching C-Span, all pictures and sounds but no color commentary. 

Then the main event, you could feel the excitement in the crowd and all the flags waving and the cheering. I cried and teared up through most of the swearing. I really did think about how far we had come and only wished my father was alive to witness this day. 

This truly was memorable event in my lifetime and will never be forgotten.

That said, after the speech, we and 2 million people were off to get out of the cold. Imagine all those people streaming onto the metro, NOT. 

We ended up in the Air and Space Musuem trying to warm and avoid the crowds. Unfortunately, the station was closed and crowds followed us. It took us hours to get home since we got separate from Elaine and 2 out 3 stations I tried were closed. 

The only good thing was that we ended up at the South Capitol station and we saw Henry Waxman  and Ruth Bader Ginsberg leaving the luncheon. Yes they drove themselves in case you were wondering. 

Celebrity sightings aka celebrities they travel like regular poor folk

Saw Spike Lee day after the inauguration coming out of Amtrak

 Acela room 

Saw Ron Insana (MSNBC) financial analyst on the Amtrak back to NYC. Pic for those of you have no idea who he is. 

PICS are in subsequent postings