How to Get to Sesame Street

A couple weeks ago, I did something I almost never do. I went to an exhibition… alone. Matt’s sister told me about an amazing exhibit that The New York Public Library was putting on all about Sesame Street. We both share a deep love for this show, its characters and the incredible amount of good that it has done for so many young kids and parents. So I knew this was definitely up my alley.

So after work, I made my way up to Lincoln Center and was immediately transported back to my childhood. The exhibit is full of interesting stories about the show, the performers and the incredible thought that goes into producing it. And of course, there were many muppets on display, including all of the big names: Elmo, Oscar, Bert, Ernie, Snuffy, Super Grover, Zoe, The Count, and Hoots the Owl. I walked around in awe, staring at the characters of my youth, amazed with how large the muppets were in person and how they looked just as they should.

After taking in the exhibit for a little, I made my way to the auditorium for a two hour program entitled “Making Learning a Funny Affair”. The panel featured an impressive line up of Sesame Street’s top individuals including the Executive Producer, a writer and the Senior Vice President of Global Educational Content. However, the two who stole the show were the two muppet performers.

As they walked on stage, one with Grover the other with Murray, the entire audience was transported back to age 5. I literally couldn’t stop myself from smiling and I even teared up a bit (let’s blame the baby for that display of emotions).

For the next 2 hours, SNL performer and Sesame Street die-hard fan, Bobby Moynihan moderated an interesting, and funny, discussion about the creative genius that is Sesame Street. After 60 minutes or so, Bert even made an appearance and engaged with a muppet that a young fan brought. It was amazing to see the spirit of Jim Henson live on through the performers and their willingness to support a young dreamer.

It was a truly great night – something that only the city of New York could deliver. The exhibit runs through January 31st so I definitely suggest you make a trip over at some point.

An Interview with Big Bird

As I have written about many times before, I grew up in a cable free household. And not only was it cable free, but because of the poor antenna reception we received living out in the woods of New Hampshire, we only received four channels on our tv: NBC, CBS, ABC and PBS. This meant that I didn’t get Punky Brewster, the Smurfs, Gummy Bears or Duck Tails. As a result, both my sister and I spent nearly all of our television watching time with the characters of PBS. I can say without hesitation that the most influential television show, movie, music or theatrical performance in my life has been Sesame Street.

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This show and its characters exposed me to early reading and counting skills, songs and games as well as the ONLY bit of spanish I have carried with me into my adult life. It was also crucial in learning how to tell time – instead of saying that a car ride would take “an hour” which meant nothing to my 5-year-old self, my parents would say “one hour which is one Sesame Street.”

I’ve taken my love of the show into my adult life by learning as much as possible about the show, its creators, actors and supporters. I’ve read nearly ever book written on this group of incredible people, visited the Jim Henson exhibit at the Museum of the Moving Image, and seen Being Elmo – an incredible documentary about Kevin Clash’s journey to Sesame Street. Two years ago Matt surprised me by taking me to see Sesame Street Live – and while we were certainly the ONLY adults there without a child, making us look a little creepy, it was one of the most amazing things he has ever done.

As I mentioned yesterday, I have a few things on my bucket list… near the very top of that list is visit the set of Sesame Street.

Sesame Workshop, the non-profit educational foundation behind Sesame Street is one of the only blogs that I subscribe to (and I work in communications for a non-profit!) and I came across this post today. While I was sad that I didn’t realize the first day of Spring had already come and gone, I was happy to read this incredible article. I hope that all of you who also grew up watching Sesame Street enjoy it as much as I did.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG BIRD!

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My Thoughts on The State of the Union

I really wanted to write a blog today recapping my thoughts on the State of the Union address last night. Sadly I got caught up in work today and seem to find myself unable to commit the solid amount of time that a post like this requires. Thankfully, a fellow blogger over at pink brief case wrote one that is right up my alley!

Click to read her State of the Union Recap

You are seriously funny. Let’s be friends?

I was able to get a few of my own thoughts down that weren’t addressed in her post:

1. Really Hillary, you think it is appropriate for a woman of your age (and not to mention stature) to wear a headband? Hopefully you aren’t accessorizing like that when you go and meet with President’s of foreign countries. I can’t see Mahmoud Ahmadinejad taking you too seriously wearing a blinged out head-piece – unless it was a tiara. And let’s be serious Hill, you know I love you, but you are no Kate Middleton.

2. Michelle –  you look awesome (as per usual)! I don’t care what type of job your husband is doing, you are transforming fashion in the white house and I support it. Rock on.

3. Debbie Bosanek, (AKA Warren Buffet’s secretary) I am so sorry that your boss continues to make an example out of you. Not only does he and others continue to call you a secretary (I am sure you official title is something much more dignified like “executive assistant”) but has he even asked you if you are comfortable being forced into the lime light as a tax victim? And who knows, maybe you are an investing genius and you are actually making more than old Mr. Buffet and that is why you pay more in taxes. Geez, give this poor woman a break already! At least they seated her next to Laurene Powell Jobs, that’s pretty baller.

4. Vice President Biden, are you checking you text messages? I know you are number two in line, but number one is talking. Show some respect.

Finally, on a related but different note, how much does Mitt Romney look like Guy Smiley from Sesame Street? I can’t decide if that makes me like Mitt more or less…

 

Bachelor Party vs. Parental Visit

This weekend Matt atttended a bachelor party out in Las Vegas, so my parents came to NYC to we could have our own equally crazy weekend. It was the first time that they had visited New York since my sister left last fall, so the pressure was on a provide a fun-filled weekend. I spent a lot of time researching things to do, restaurants to dine at and cleaning my apartment for their arrival. I also cranked up the A/C to try and counter the 100+ degree temperatures outside. Here is the itinerary that I came up with:

FRIDAY
My parents arrived in the afternoon, their called filled with wedding presents that had been mailed to their house. We unloaded the car and brought eveything upstairs. I was in the middle of watching the Tour De France when they arrived, so we finished the stage and unpacked some of the things that they brought with them. We then jumped in a cab and headed downtown for dinner. I had originally planned to go to Fette Sau, a BBQ joint in Brooklyn that Matt raves about. However, with the hot temperatures, no one really felt like eating BBQ. So instead, I made a gametime decision and took a chance on the line at The Spotted Pig. We arrived just as they started to seat people for dinner and we were seated within 5 minutes. SCORE! After enjoying a delicious dinner consisting of bacon wrapped dates, the most amazing burger and shoestring fries we headed back up to the theater district for the show, Jersey Boys. This show was incredible. I can not recommend it enough. After the show we walked the 10 blocks home in the heat, stopping for ice cream at Holey Cream. We all ended the day tired and very full.

SATURDAY
We woke up, enjoyed some delicious coffee from our Keurig and looked at the hundreds of wedding pictures that our photographers took. It was really nice to relive the wedding and see a lot of things that I didn’t really get a chance to look at that day. Now I just have to figure out what I am going to do with all of these pictures! Then watched the time trial stage of the Tour de France before heading out to one of my favortite breakfast spots, Nook. We started off with the baguette covered with nutella, bananas and strawberries. I enjoyed an egg scramble, while my mom had the french toast and my dad had a slice of quiche. YUM! After breakfast, we took the subway out to Queens to visit the Museum of Moving Image where the exhibit, Jim Henson’s Fantastic World had just arrived last weekend. As a child who grew up watching Sesame Street until the age of 14 (ok, really 28), this was a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

After the museum, we jumped back on the subway and headed to Eataly, a cross between a farmers market and a restaurant. I had never been to Eataly and was dying to adventure in. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint!

I couldn’t believe how large the space was and how many delicious foods there were. We decided to buy food, as opposed to eat at the various restaurant/counters, and cook ourselves at home. We bought a baguette, a few cheese and meats for appetizers, tomatoes, mozerella and basil for a capreses salad and some pasta and sauce for our main dish. Everything was so fresh and so amazing. It certainly inspired me to make the time to cook – recently, I have spent too much time with the microwave and frozen Lean Cuisines! We spent the rest of the evening just relaxing, chatting and eating.

SUNDAY
Whenever I have guests visit, Sunday always feels like a wash. Their pending departure seems to get in the way of any fun plans, even if they aren’t leaving until the afternoon. We woke up and went to Sarahbeth’s, another breakfast favorite. We then walked around the park and went to Crate & Barrel to do a couple errands. Once we got ome, my dad packed up their bags while my mom assembled my new spice rack for me. After they left I rode my bike for a while on my trainer (i.e. something  that turns your road bike into a stationary bike) and made some cookies. It was a fantastic weekend!

Thank you Mom and Dad for making the trip down. And after hearing about Matt’s weekend in Vegas, I feel satisfied that ours was more fun. I mean, casinos and pool parties don’t hold a candle to Jim Henson and the Muppets!

Lazy Weekend

Growing up in a cable free household, I cherished Saturday morning cartoons more than most children. Sunday through Friday, my tv was limited to Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, Square One and 3,2,1 Contact! While my peers were watching Rainbow Bright, Jem and Inspector Gadget, I was desperately messing with the rabbit-ear antenna to bring into focus Tiny Toon Adventures and Ducktails. After 5 minutes, I often gave up entirely.

But on Saturday mornings, it was a different story. The channels that normally only contained soap operas, Jeopardy and the news showed hours and hours of child-friendly cartoons. So after Saturday morning swim practice and quick stop at Dunkin Donuts, I would return home and drag my comforter from my bed downstairs and plop myself in front of the tv for hours. I would start off with Garfield and Friends, then Muppet Babies, and Carebears.

 As I grew older, the line up changed to Doug, Pepper Ann, and Recess.

 

I would become so absorbed in these shows, that I wouldn’t even realize that I had spent hours in front of the tv. I would come out of my cartoon coma as soon as coverage of various bowling tournaments started. Sadly, my day was 1/2 over and my brain was fried. I have said it before, but this is what happens when you don’t have cable and have to make up for lost time.

This weekend, I didn’t spend hours in front of the tv watching cartoons, but I did have a very lazy weekend. After 3 weekends in a row of weddings (all requiring travel) I figured I deserved it.

I started my weekend off by taking a 1.5 hour long nap on Friday afternoon. I should preface this by saying that I was pretty sick with a cold and certainly could use the extra sleep. Matt and I then went to see Social Network that evening. It was surprisingly good and I think they depicted two ends of the social scene at Harvard pretty well (a little exaggerated, but not much…)

Saturday morning I worked at the newly named TasteBuds (formerly Cupcake Kids) where I helped teach a Birthday party that had 45 two and three-year olds. Needless to say, even though I had slept for nearly 11 hours the night before, I needed a mid-day nap to recover. Saturday night, we went out for dinner with some friends and I went home early, getting another 10 hours of sleep that night.

Sunday was the pinnacle of laziness. Although I did leave my apartment for a low-key workout, I didn’t leave the apartment building (or go outside) all day. I spend the day relaxing, cleaning and watching a movie (Remember Me). While I don’t think I could do this EVERY weekend, I also don’t feel too ashamed of the quality pj time that I had this weekend.