Lenny take New York City

After we'd been in New York for two days Lenny turned to me and said, "MOM! Let's pretend we're New Yorkers! We can talk about how boring Toronto is*!"

*Don't worry, Toronto, when we got home she announced that her home felt "fresh and new to her".

My kid took to New York (or as she would say You Nork) like a fish to water.

We'd all be here all day if I got into too much detail about this trip (and if you follow me on social media you saw it all happen in real time) but I feel the need to record a few moments for posterity. It was one of the best trips I've ever taken and it served as a reminder of the joy that friendship, travel and music can bring.

Our dear friend and gracious host Céline made sure that Len's first time in the big apple was full of magic. Our first night in the city we were treated like VIPs at Birdland.  The kiddo had such a blast that first night (jazz! showtunes! personal attention! buttered noodles!) that we went back several times during our stay. Each visit was more magical than the next. Birdland is now one of her favourite places on the planet!

^^^ Lenny gets up close and personal with the best and the brightest (and nicest) in NYC at Birdland. L - R, Christine Ebersole, Billy Stritch, Jim Caruso and Kenny Ascher.  Special thanks to Gianni Valenti, owner of Birdland, for taking Lenny under his wing. Seriously, these are some of the greatest memories ever, right here.

We saw the sights, including Barnum's Bones (DINOS!!!) and Lenny did a lot of "nature sketching" in Central Park.

I'd say seeing Stevie Wonder close out his Songs in the Key of Life tour at Madison Square Garden is a great "first concert" wouldn't you?  She was out of her seat dancing and asleep by intermission. So it was kind of perfect.

By the end of the trip, Lenny was convinced that she was, in fact, Eloise. Not one to discourage this kind of thinking, we had to come home with a full Eloise costume, naturally.  A few more updates from the trip to come...

Things I want to remember about June

Coming back home from a blissful May in New Orleans was kind of difficult.  Lucky for me June turned out to be more than a little alright.  Family, friends, music, celebrations.  Keep it up, Summer 2014!  A few really special things I don't want to forget...

This is indeed a right of passage for any Nolan girl.  Lucky for Lenny, Aunt Mo runs the Social Media initiatives for Silent Sundays at the Revue and just about the whole clan came out to join in the fun.  I've been sitting on the fence for years (for real, that's crazy) about what Lenny's first in house movie experience should be.  Buster Keaton's The Navigator was the perfect choice.  She's been playing Buster Keaton games for weeks. Success! Team Buster!

Aunt Paddy, who happens to also be the excellent film blogger Caftan Woman, chronicled the day here.  She says it better than I could.

Soul Rebels in the house, y'all!!!  My favourite brass band in the Tdot just a few weeks after I saw them in Nola?  Yes, please! Lenny showed them how she's been practicing her 504 chant.  She was a big hit.  They were on their way to Europe after this show and joked that they were going to take her with them.  Something tells me she'd be into that.

Elvis Costello played 2 1/2 hours of some of the most hauntingly beautiful music I've ever heard at Massey Hall on June 15th.  His endurance and musicianship and humanity...just wow.  Also, a rare date night with my BFF.  A perfect evening.

And then, there were the birthday celebrations.  Viv turned 2!  There was a wonderful backyard BBQ with great friends.

2 year old DAREDEVIL!

Lenny loves Sarah so much she literally says things like "I wish Sarah Sisko was wiping my mouth"

And yes...the glasses are fakes.  But she continues to wear them all the time :)

With Kath in her beautiful backyard and Desi AKA The Farmer's Only Daughter (Thanks for the pics Sarah!)

Then there was Céline's birthday party at the Jazz Bistro during the Oliver Jones show. I've already talked about how great the music was but the company was killer too.  I was so focussed on capturing the band with my camera I forgot to take any fun party pics.  Thanks to Rosemarie and Mo for these awesome shots.

Surprise!

With the birthday girl and the awesome and talented Rosemarie 

One of Lenny's besties, Sully Cooper turned 3 this month and he invited her to join him on a trip to Ripley's Aquarium.  It was amazing.  We adore Sully and his whole family.  It was a great day.  I didn't manage to get many pictures because they were total moving targets.  I Love their friendship.

Bring it, July... 

Snow Day

We paid a visit to Annette and her fam and while the men sat inside and watched Hunt for Red October and ate chips (at least I'm assuming that's what they did) we had a little fun in the snow.

These girls love each other so much. It's always such a love-fest.  Annette and I were Lolo's age when we first started hanging out.  Doesn't that just blow your mind?

Pretty safe to say that these two look like their dads.

Lolo got so ambitious she thought she could haul Len up the hill.

Then Baby Ava got a little ambitious with the shovel.  We couldn't stop laughing.  Mothers of the year!

Will you look at her GO?!

In case you were wondering, I am graceful. Like a gazelle or some shit.

You want a hot chocolate now, don't you?  Go on, you've earned it!

I am the State.

When Lenny met our pal Carly (who you should just go ahead and "like" on Facebook already) it was the first time I've ever witnessed her come down with what appeared to be an instant case of hero worship. She watched her every move. If Carly leaned against the wall and crossed her arms, suddenly, there was Lenny, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, carefully watching Carly to make sure she got it just right.  Then, when she played "this little piggy" with her Lenny's head blew clear off with the sheer joy of it.  A couple of days later we were playing with Lego on the floor and the TV was on in the background.  Lenny starts fa-reaking out "Car-leeeeee!"  It was this commercial, where Carly does indeed appear as a "young mom".

As you can see, she's not on screen that long which means two things:

1) My child is a genius (duh).

2) Carly has some kind insane kavorka over said genius-child (may she only use it for good and not evil).

What's happened since then is that I think Lenny has come to believe that all of her favourite people are on TV.  The other day a car commercial caught her eye and next thing you know she's pointing at the pretty smiling lady with the straight blonde hair and saying "Ah-net! Ah-net!" 

Dig the adorable toddler arm pointing at her friend on TV.

Ah-net!

As you can see, it's not a bad likeness to her actual Ciocia Annette, pictured below with some douche bag who thinks hamming it up for the camera while at a fancy restaurant is a good idea.  Will she never learn?!?!

So imagine my excitement when watching CBS Sunday Morning yesterday, Lenny starts pointing at the TV and saying "Mommy!"

Yes, CBS Sunday Morning.  Judge me if you must, but sometimes, on the weekends, I like my knowledge useless and my humour gentle.

They say daughters all think that their mothers are beautiful, especially when they are young.  I was ready for a little ego boost.  And then...this:

My daughter thinks I look like Louis XIII.  Despite the initial shock, I  have to say, this outfit is pretty snazzy.  He's got really shapely calves.  Also? I could totally pull off that hat.  

So. What do you guys think I should call my fashion blog?

Stating the painfully obvious...

A text conversation this morning with Annette, regarding a friend's birthday party for her kids that is going to be held at a gymnastics studio.

Annette:  Goodmorning! Hey, do you know where the gymnastics place is for the party?

Me:  I have no idea.

Annette:  OK.  I will find out and let you know, Nadia.

Me:  OMG.  Now I have the Y&R theme stuck in my head!

Annette:  Hahaha

Me:  I think these jokes mean we're old.

THE BEST THING ON THE INTERNET.

You remember I told you about my mega talented pal, comedian Andrew Johnston? He's the one responsible for Bitch Salad? Anyway, if you knew him, you'd have a lot of reasons to love him too...not the least of which would be that he introduced us to THE BEST THING ON THE INTERNET.



You are welcome.

In Conversation - Episode One - Kristian Reimer

Had enough quality filmmaking for the next little while after watching the Oscars last night? Well then, have I got the thing for you! Please enjoy the first episode of In Conversation a series of short videos that I'm putting together to introduce you to some of my favourite people in Toronto. In episode one we meet Kristian Reimer, comedian, concerned citizen and stellar drinking buddy.

My Girls.

Annette and Loreto and I all went to grade school together. Old friends are special. All those years of walking to school together, pooling our change for a bag of chips on the way home. Joy riding in the elevator of Loreto's building. Sitting on my balcony, drinking iced tea. Letting Annette do our make up in her basement and then taking glamour shots of ourselves. Old friends are in a unique position to know exactly how geeky you REALLY are. Old friends are the ones you can let it all hang out with.

I'm so lucky that I get to talk to Annette pretty much everyday, at least via email. I was her Maid of Honour a few years ago, and now, here she is, big shot in the bid-ness world, about to become a Mom. We haven't seen Loreto in almost three years, since she went of to the Lower East Side of Manhattan to teach. She's "To Sir With Love"! Scratch that, she's Michelle Pfeiffer from that movie with the Coolio song. She's fierce. She's gorgeous and tiny and I bet every bad ass in her class was terrified of her.

We're glad to have her back, that's for sure! We spent a couple of hours together today, the three of us, eating brunch, getting Starbucks and strolling around swanky Yorkville.

The best thing about old friends is that no matter how long it's been since you've seen eachother, you can always just ease right into the way things used be. See?

Happy Birthday Sam!

It's hard to believe this was only a year ago!

Maybe that's why we always wear our hats.

This week began with the Robeau and I attending our first ever Passover Seder at our wonderful friend Elaine's house. We were both raised Catholic and I am now what can only be described as aggressively secular, so something that steeped in tradition and spiritual was a change of pace for both of us. It was fascinating to be a part of someone else's traditions, to meet her great family and enjoy all that incredible food and drink. What I liked the most about the whole thing was the discussion had around the table about the disenfranchised and the suffering. While they were celebrating their people's freedom from slavery they considered the plight of the homeless and of the people in Darfur. It was inspiring. Like anything to do with organized religion though, I am still left thinking, "nice place to visit, wouldn't want to live there".

The week ended yesterday when I hooked up with Book Vixen to enjoy a belated b-day breakfast (happy b-day BookVixen!) and to take in the "Jesus Parade" in Little Italy. Every year the Passion is marched out along College Street, complete with marching bands, ancient women saying the rosary and a different young guy from the community playing Jesus for every station of the cross. What was the most entertaining was the fact that the best Jesuses (Jesi?) got saved for the more showy parts (whipping, cross-bearing) and the really weak Jesi were cast early on, in the less exciting part of the story, riding a donkey and wearing a bad wig. I imagine there is a great deal of back talk and jealousy involved in the casting of the big man every year...just like any other form of theatre. It was a very cool spectacle and really fun afternoon (you can check out all the pictures over at my Flickr account).




Today we enjoyed what has become my favourite new Easter weekend tradition, a visit from Momster, Robby Disco and the adorable Mr. Liam and Miss Norah. This year we gathered at Sam's house. He was a very amiable host...


It was great to meet Norah, the first girl of the bunch. She's quiet and sweet and I get the feeling that she is just sort of tolerating all of us and our stupidity. She may only be three months old, but at one point, I'm pretty sure I saw her roll her eyes at me. I'm OK with that, I probably deserved it.


Liam is more fun than I can tell you - he had a field day with our camera, taking well over 100 photos (some of the best ones are up at Flickr too). What was really cool was that he made us all feel like we get to hang out with him every weekend and not just once or twice a year.


But that's how it is with old friends, right?

Happy Easter everyone, however you choose to celebrate it.

On finding comfort in the authenticness of felt and googly eyes.

When your girlfriend with kids (aka Mrs. Robby Disco) emails you a link for something that is, and I quote, worse than Barney, you really start to worry. What kind of crap has she been forced to watch by short people? Well...here it is....Hip Hop Harry. Wow. What can you say? Is this supposed to be, I don't know, urban or something? If it is, why is he at a suburban community centre with a bunch of medicated looking kids? The Robeau took a look and is distressed that the bear has such light coloured fur. I'm just distressed. Mostly because I can't get "When I say Hip Hop, you say Harry!" out of my head. It's unreal.

I went on Youtube to try and find an antidote and found this freakin' GEM from the good people at the Children's Television Workshop. You want URBAN Harry you Bastard? I've got your urban RIGHT HERE!



After I watched the Subway song I got a little sad. I mean they just don't make kids shows like they used to, back in my day, right? Then I found something recent from Sesame Street.

(Insert drum roll here)

"Law and Order, Special Letters Unit". Bless their urban little hearts, spoofing a CRIME DRAMA ABOUT RAPE VICTIMS!!!! Also, I'm pretty convinced Belzer is doing his own voice and that means that Munch has now appeared on something like 42 different shows on 7 different networks. I love everything this stands for. Suck it Bernie. Take the gas pipe Hip Hop Harry. The Muppets still rule the city.

Group Think, Valentines and Stuff.

Allow me to set the stage for you. Sunday morning. Three girls get together to enjoy a quick coffee and yes, a less quick mimosa before going to a fourth girl's baby shower. This shower has been a couple of months in the making, and our three girls, they were in on the planning of the event with the fourth girl's sister. That's just how tight these girls are, you see? The best of friends for more years than I, as one of the aforementioned three girls, care to mention. So off we trundle to points West, our Pottery Barn Kids wrapping paper gleaming in the mid-morning sun. Our heels clicking on the pavement. Why, Zee Noixy even wore a skirt. Bunz was wearing her snazzy overcoat, the one she wears when her bebe isn't around. I used the diffuser to dry my hair that morning, Bloggy McBloggerson. The diffuser! We went all out. We were all in and ready to toast Rachel and her "bundle". Everything was perfect, except for one small detail. Through some sort of horrible, group think malfunction we showed up a full 24 HOURS LATE!

Gulp.


We are so on the ball! Let's go to a baby shower!


Wait a minute...we're LOSERS!!!!


...thank goodness Rachel is so forgiving. I personally think that having to deal with such flaky girlfriends is giving her a head start on the whole motherhood thing. After us? A baby will be a walk in the park.

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And now, because my darling CeCe asked, a quick recap of Valentine's Day at Chez Nolan/Robeau. I spent the evening alone because the Robeau, bless his hard working self, had a gig. I hung with the cats and drank vino. We're not too good with Valentine's Day or our Anniversary, the Robeau and I. New Year's used to be a big issue, but we're getting better at that as of late. We're good 363 days a year, but when we're supposed to be good, it just doesn't happen. And this isn't some sort of rant against "Hallmark" holidays. It's not. We just don't have it down yet. We get awkward. Something to do with expectations, I guess. I'm giving it another five years and then we'll see where we're at before I give up on the idea of observing these days all together. That said, he came home from his gig with some roses for me, and I made him this card, with my own hands and cold sense of logic. I think he liked it.