some down time!

You'd think being unemployed would mean I'd always have down time...and normally that's true. However, I had my first guest! Dustin flew in from Chicago for Oscar weekend last Thursday. We headed over to Niagara Fall--which were FREEZING!! Beautiful though, really. The ice added a fantastical effect. Then we had a whirlwind trip to NYC to visit my old high school friend Jeremy Dewey. I'd never been to Brooklyn before and it was really very cool. We walked around his neighborhood and as always, I imagined if I lived there. Dustin and I had traveled to NYC 9 years ago in May. This was our anniversary trip! We watched the video I'd taped when we got home. 9 years ago...I looked good! Cute pig tails with a NY Jets hat on...strolling through Greenwich Village. That was the trip that spurred on my move to Chicago. Life changing...huh, guess you never know how experiences will shape your life. I think traveling is good for the soul. It gives you such great perspective! I love to visit places I've been before, but seeing new things is what really inspires me. There is a comfort in going to all the old spots--Strawberry Fields...The Dakota...Times Square, etc. But I really loved taking the subway to Brooklyn--eating at a neighborhood bbq place and just enjoying seeing how other people live their lives. Dewey is great...very laid back and sweet. He just keeps trudging into new territory and seeing where it leads. I love the adventure in him.

It was great to have Dustin around. We relaxed on Sunday--watched The Oscars. I wanted Anne Hathaway to win, but Kate Winslet did. That's fine. We saw The Reader...it was just ok. Sean Penn won for Milk and that was my big one, so I was happy. Dustin hadn't seen Slumdog (won for best pic), so we saw it Monday night at The Little Theatre downtown. He really liked that area. I took him around the neighborhoods Jason and I think about living. He couldn't believe how big the houses were at the cost. We like looking around at this point, but are not in a position to buy...mentally. One day.

I've been into memoirs for quite a while now and am now reading the journals of Sylvia Plath that Ted Hughes had published. I'm really enjoying it. I know that there will be some dark parts, but I haven't hit them yet. Right now, she's still 18 and talking about school. I've already out lived her. She died at 31. It's hard to imagine what her mindset was. (Well, not too hard to connect to that, but not somewhere I want to go.)

I'm feeling good today. The sun is shining and that just does me wonders. It's 44 degrees out. (a heat wave!)

I think the 5 days of constant talking and venting was healthy and helpful! I feel renewed. Hopefully he enjoyed it as much.

The picture is of Jeremy Dewey, Dustin and me at The Coffee Shop where we ate brunch on Saturday morning. (It's right off of Union Square)