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9.14.2011

THINGS I SAW TODAY THAT MADE ME SMILE

i woke up this morning alarmed to find that everything in the room was frowning at me.

the drapes, the lamp, all of the bedding and the mess of toys on the floor, but most of all my baby, oh how my baby frowned at me.

when i realized my sinuses were still mad at me from the night before and that their discontent had since spread to my lungs i nearly called it quits. "ugh, this day!" and then huck kicked at the blanket in frustration and nothing, not even a bagel could help us, we were too far gone.

so for the rest of the day, in an attempt to turn things around, i wrote a note of everything i saw that made me smile. in no particular order, here they are:

a very old man wearing head-to-toe polyester leaning over two seats on a bench to shout "when can i see you again?" at a sweet old lady with a salt and pepper afro.

a fluffy old english sheep dog coming out of the subway.

santa claus crossing the street at 72nd and amsterdam. he was wearing one green sneaker and one red.

a newsstand stocked with cold bottles of diet pepsi just when i thought i'd die of thirst.

there is a place called manhattan cat specialists. amazing.


there were lots of yorkie puppies by the fairway this afternoon for some reason. one got stepped on by accident and a fancy lady's driver shouted out the window from the curb, "stop texting while you walk!"

i tried on huck's red suspenders to see how serious i felt about buying my own matching pair. verdict: i'm more serious about it than i expected to be.


a man on 14th street asked me why i looked so serious. it was because i was thinking about thrifting.

i bought a whole bunch of cheesy western paperback mini novels at the borders 90% off closing sale the other day, and they've been staring at me cheerfully ever since. one of them is called "strongheart: a promise kept . . . in blood." 

i got to pet maddie, the terribly overweight poodle, in the elevator.

i stopped by tani to visit with my new swedish friends. they whispered in my ear that they would be a perfect birthday gift for me. "tell your husband!" they said. and then i said back, "are you crazy? do you know how much you cost?!" i think those swedish shoe friends are a bad influence on me, because i told him anyway.


huck ate some prunes and i got a little carried away with my prune plane. as i was executing masterful prune spoon stunts, he waved his arm at the spoon like king kong and i heard a splat from somewhere across the room (i have yet to find it).



that was the best part of this post.

39 comments:

  1. why are baby raspberries the best thing on the planet? you and huck are so cute. it's like your own secret club there on the couch.

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  2. this week's laughing place: my husband and i trying to recreate the scene in "crazy stupid love" where ryan gosling and emma stone recreate the jumping into patrick swayze's arms scene in "dirty dancing" and me falling flat on the pavement. don't try that in a parking lot, people.

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  3. AWWWWW! Love the "bear" and the raspberry-blowing baby :)

    www.blissfuldomesticgoddess.com

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  4. i love this city. i literally see and experience similar things everyday, which bring me so much joy. and i get to watch that adorable video! win, win.

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  5. holy smokes he is quite possibly the cutest human on the planet. I bet you've never heard that one before.
    and i have three children of my own for pete's sake!

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  6. peanuts! great idea for halloween...huck is so chuck.

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  7. The yin and yang kittens stretching to their full length to paw at their food canister's top and my 3.5 year old daughter running over to feed them, saying "Oh you poor poor kittens! You need feeding!" It's taken her 2 months of asking, "What does 'poor thing' mean, Mommy?" to start using it and it's adorable.

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  8. Goodness that was darling! :)

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  9. Grumpy kicked me in the pants today. IN THE PANTS! -At least I got to end my day at the Temple. (The Temple is always wonderful...)

    Your little Henry is an old pro at making raspberries. Oh, and his shriek of delight is STUPENDOUS!

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  10. ok. laughing at many things. i think the prune-covered huck wins....but gosh, i want to live in new york now.

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  11. Today we attended a puppet show and my three-year-old participated, laughed, and clapped at the end (a year ago in this very room, she screamed and bawled because the audience applauded at the beginning of the performance, forcing us to beat a hasty retreat to the sidewalk out front, the only place she would calm down). Her happiness today was MY happiness today! And then my 1-year-old spent the afternoon screaming, and I realized I actually have measurable hearing loss from 14 months of Tamsin screaming. No joke. But then I went to an Enrichment planning meeting with some of the world's kindest and loveliest ladies, who put their arms around me and told me stories of leaving their screaming kids strapped into carseats in the backyard while calling their moms to come and get their grandchildren before they were sold to the neighbors. And then I felt happy again.

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  12. i'm glad you found your laughing place!

    mine was watching survivor & BB w/ my mom tonight. we lauuuughed at a lot of things! happy joy!

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  13. today i took my 6 month old grocery shopping in our Baby Bjorn carrier. every few minutes he'd look up at me to make sure it was me who was still carrying him, and every time i'd laugh a little to myself :)

    Smoking Crayolas Blogspot

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  14. The bear comment was AWESOME. And totally kicked me in the grumpy pants on this cold, rainy morning. Thank you for that. (And Nat, please. NO on the suspenders. They are just a little too Mork & Mindy. I mean that in a loving way).

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  15. thanks for being a thing that made me smile today.

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  16. Ok. That's officially the cutest little giggle in the whole wide world. That bear comment was awesome. I'd like to buy that guy a diet pepsi. Yesterday my laughing place was watching my dog become stupid excited about my husband coming home from work. You'd think he'd been away for 2 years, not 8 hours!

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  17. I split the seam of my pants at work today!! Like a 5" opening right at my butt!! The worst part was that it didn't rip I just happened to notice when I went to the bathroom so who knows how long it'd been there!!! And of course I was wearing hot pink undies today!! Die!!

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  18. I love this! And it's a really good idea to scare away the blues. The bear man is doing wonders for my bad mood today.

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  19. I really needed this today. You are a sweetie. I also live in NY. Most of the time just getting out of the apartment can do wonders for an attitude. Love your blog.

    ThreadEthic.com

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  20. I love this! This is exactly why I started keeping a gratitude journal -- to jot down things/moments that made me smile and made me grateful for this world we live in. The more you acknowledge it, the more you will find.

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  21. This. This is my laughing place today. Thanks Nat and Huck!!

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  22. My babies laughing at the video of your baby laughing... hilarious!

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  23. Ahhh how I'd love to romp around NYC all day in search of pleasure! Lucky you!

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  24. My little man was Charlie brown last year. Easiest costume ever!

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  25. every time i read this blog i have a sudden hankering, no NEED to have a diet coke.

    today my lad pushed all the other babies off the giant floor drum at music class so that he could be king of the giant floor drum. i only pretended to ask him to share, because it was awesome. i think that's my happy place today.

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  26. Let me just quickly tell you about my laughing place: finally having a red-headed back-tickler of my very own.

    We're lucky ducklings, aren't we?

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  27. this was one of my all time favorites, natalie! thank you thank you. needed this today. xo e

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  28. Love the costume idea, and the video had me smiling so much my face started to hurt. lol

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  29. Yes on the red suspenders, nothing quite says," I'm fun" like suspenders

    My laughing Place today, watching my 2 year old neice clobber my daughter & then give a huge grin that said "yep, but aren't I just cute!"

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  30. Hmm, today must be a day of missing laughing places. Mine's been hard to find all day, and I have no idea why.

    Oh my word! I just paused in typing this and looked out the window, and I promise you, I saw a SNOWFLAKE. A SNOWFLAKE!

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  31. love this post. your baby is adorable. i love his chunkiness. sounds like an exciting day.

    one thing that made me smile: good online shopping and my baby taking a 4 hour nap. and he just went down for another.

    yes.

    Lindsay

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  32. You're storytelling is superb, Natalie. You're writing just keeps getting better and better. When should we expect your first novel? =)

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  33. I too, loved LOVED this post.
    I was even thinking, "Are those for real"? So many of them so great you really did have to write them down for the rest of us to smile and think about!
    Your little one is such a little cutie. Darling!
    This week I've been thinking about the little three year old boy in my church class that said, "My mom says food turns into poop!" You can't argue with that! But boy did it make me laugh (as I tried to hide my face) and it has made me smile all week.

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  34. saw steely dan last month, go!
    you know how i feel about those hasbeens.
    i'm in support of the suspenders, girl.
    do all of it.

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  35. Ha ha! That is so funny. I used to live across the street from "Manhattan Cat Specialists."

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  36. I love all the adventures that you and Huck go on! So sweet!

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  37. That little video made me laugh and cry! That huck is where It is at. I'm tellin ya!

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