The new normal

Remember how crazy I got when I was looking for the perfect school? The hours and hours I spent touring campuses, meeting principals, taking notes on bathroom cleanliness? How I packed up our house and moved us to a completely new neighborhood?

Well here we are, a week away from the big day, the first day of kindergarten. And once again I am freaking out. Only this time, I'm totally caught off guard by it.

I did everything I could to prepare, but I didn't really let my mind realize there'd be way more stuff to worry about.

Is my child going to make friends? Is she going to be sad when she goes to pick up her sister and sees her old friends all happy in their kindergarten uniforms? Am I going to fit in with the other parents even though we don't have a big house or extra money to buy tickets to the gala and the cocktail night and everything else?

It probably hit me hard today because Ella went to school for the first time without her sister. And it's just the first in a series of new things that will be happening before they become normal.

Goodbye

Friday is Marina's last day of preschool, ever.

Officially, she was done in June, but she's been going to summer camp in her exact same classroom, so it hasn't actually felt like a major transition was on the way.

But tomorrow is the last day I'll be picking her up at the place I've been picking her up since she was seven months old.

I remember being so scared to leave her there, in the baby room, when it was time for me to go back to work. And now I'm scared for her leave all that's familiar and begin a new life as a big kid.

Preschool is where she took her first steps and babbled her first words. It's where she learned about sharing and taking turns. It's where she made best friends and learned that boys will play guns even though she doesn't want them to. It's where she learned to write her name, draw pictures and memorize the Shabbat songs I sang when I was her age. It's the place that loved her as a baby and transformed her into the lovely child she is today.

And so, preschool, all I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you.



Here is Marina visiting her class at 6 weeks old. Though she was registered on this day, she didn't officially begin until five months later.



This is the day she graduated from the baby room, where she was for a year and a half.



Marina celebrates Ella's birthday in the 2-year-old classroom, where they both spent time.



The official last day of school with one of her best friends.

Reason #8 I love our neighborhood

Happy color wall = fun times!

Adventure day: Drybar

Sometimes being a part-timer is stressful and depressing. But other days it frees me up to go on solo adventures.

(I had quite an adventure yesterday too, when I took the girls to Sea World all day - for nine hours - by myself.)

But this adventure was what some people would call "me-time," but I won't say that because I hate when people say "me-time."

I've been pretty vocal about how excited I am about Drybar opening in San Diego. Drybar is a salon that only does blow-dries. Because they don't cut or color or anything else, I don't feel guilty going there. I don't feel like I'm betraying my mom, who is a hairdresser herself (and a very good one).

The salon is literally like a bar, a very fancy, pretty bar. It's a bunch of chairs all in a row and you can pick the kind of straight hair you want from a little book. I got the generic one: straight with some "body" or whatever.

My hair got washed and then dried straight while they gave me Diet Coke, had "The Devil Wears Prada" with captions on a TV in front of me and they had so many gossip magazines that I felt like I had to read one. (Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez in Hawaii? What? Really?)

It was all presented so nicely, everything had a lovely yellow accent to it that I don't think I'll wash my hair until after my high school reunion weekend, whether I go to it or not. (And that's really the heart of this story, but I'm not getting into it.)

So here's the result

What Miranda July said . . .

"This is my little girl. She is brave and clever and funny. She will have none of the problems that I have. Her heart will never be broken. She will never be humiliated. Self-doubt will not devour her dreams," from an art installation by Miranda July.

Checking in

You'd think as a part-time employee I'd have all this time to eat cookies and watch hours of Real Housewives of New York.

And you'd be right. I have done those things.

But I also haven't had an entire day off thanks to small jobs I've picked up - whether it's writing a paragraph about art or interviewing Anderson Cooper in person. (Yes!)

I don't think I'm earning the same amount of money I did before "the change," but I've been busy in a way I haven't been since I was starting out. And I really like having the juxtaposition of my regular job and being able to meet and work with new people.

Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays I often take a walk around the neighborhood while listening to Marc Maron's WTF podcast, throw in a load of laundry or cook something, sit at the little table and write.

So, anyway, that's how it's been the last month. But I know you really want to know about Anderson Cooper so here it is: he was perhaps the loveliest interview I ever had, very smart and well-spoken.

Usually, when you have 20 minutes with a celebrity, it goes by so slow because it's nervy and awkward and forced. They're not going to tell you anything too personal and how much can you really talk about a movie or album that hasn't been released yet.
But I felt like with Anderson (I call him Anderson) the interview could have gone on because he's had such a fascinating upbringing and has experienced more than most of us ever will.

Here's a link to that story.