NY, I Love You

Growing up on the West Coast in a suburb outside of Seattle, I was a well traveled kid. With immigrant parents I had checked off places like Japan, Hong Kong and the Philippines before I hit a double digit age, but domestic travel? That was a whole other ball game. The first time I traveled anywhere past the Pacific Standard Time Zone was the first time I went to NYC my Senior year of high school and I remember it like it was yesterday when my friend Leigh told me, "Tabitha, you're going to love it! It's soooo you." And she was right. It was so me and even though I've never lived in the city, it feels like home.

It wasn't until 2006 that I returned to NYC after my first trip in 1998, all thanks to my job that had a bi-coastal team based in LA and NY. Since that first trip it started a re-occuring visit and sparked my love for the city. My first solo trip to NYC plays a significant role on how I view the city. I was there for a whole week, only really knowing my co-workers who lived there and I made it my goal to experience the city the way a local would. I remember walking the streets by myself for the first time, jaywalking like a pro and taking the subway downtown to stroll around SOHO. While I loved my time alone, loneliness gave me an opportunity to re-connect with people in the city that I hadn't seen in years like my old boss when I was a young intern at Ticketmaster or a childhood friend from the Philippines who happened to work in the hotel I was staying. By the end of that week I lacked sleep, had aching feet and felt more independent. After that trip, going to NYC has felt like second nature and the more I visited, the more it reminds me of why I love it.

New York, to me, is a place of discovery and a place for the un-expected to happen. At any given moment you can be walking down a street and discover something that can change your views on life. At the same time, you can be wandering the city and bump into a friendly and familiar face that allows you to re-connect with someone you once knew well. Every trip I take I have no expectations and no set plans, but leave always feeling so fulfilled and refreshed because I experienced something I didn't plan for.

In the last 10 years I've been extremely fortunate to take at least 2 - 3 trips to NYC every year. Thankfully my work always brought me back to the city and while my current job doesn't give me that luxury, my in-laws have since moved to NYC making our trips more of a family experience. Since birth, Liam has been lucky to come to NYC at least 1 - 2 times a year and this past trip made me realize how much he loves NYC as much as I do. He walks down the street saying hi to the doormen and knows that the pedestrian sign doesn't dictate whether we can walk or not. He knows that a subway is the only means of getting anywhere with limited traffic and he especially loves that most meals are eaten out due to small kitchens. Every time we are in NYC he dreads leaving, largely because his grandparents live there, but proof that he's in love with the city as much as I am was when he asked me, "Mom, do you think we look like we live here?" It mattered to him that people saw him as a local and we chatted a bit about how he wants to live in NYC when he gets a family of his own. Even thought he's 4 it means something to him to feel comfortable in the city and it means so much to me that at a young age he appreciates (and loves) something that took me 17 years to discover.

The Meaning of Christmas...Cards

We had a quick chat about Christmas cards the other day at work and it was interesting to see that there were mixed opinions. A few that said, it wasn't their thing and others who said they liked them. I for one am in the camp of loving them. Ok fine I was probably the most vocal about loving Christmas cards, but there's a reason why. In the Green household (ie: my small family of 3), Christmas cards are kind of a big deal. Sadly I can't take any credit for it because Matt is the brain child behind it all and since we seem to always out do ourselves every year based on people's reactions, I'll continue to let him have this one. While we're not a family to follow traditions, our Christmas cards are one that we're known for and while they can be somewhat offensive to some, our cards have one purpose: Bringing joy to our friends!

It all started back in 2010 when my husband, the man with the driest sense of humor, decided that we were going to super impose ourselves onto another family's Christmas card to bring the gift of laughter to our loved ones. What started off as an experiment, and meant to be only a one time thing, has evolved into this conversational piece during the holiday season that has people asking us to include them on our mailing list and saying things like, "I can't wait to see your holiday card this year!" 

2010 Christmas Card

One year we placed our faces over the nativity scene, myself as Mary and Matt as Joseph. And when Liam was born we upped our game. Taking on those awful 80s photos headfirst and posing for family portraits in ugly Christmas sweaters a la Awkward Family Photos. As you can imagine, the woman at the Target portrait shop was having fun with our request.

2013 Christmas Card

Poor Liam was born into this tradition and until he's 18, or finally realizes what kind of embarrassment we are as parents, he's kind of stuck with it. Since the first card, we've evolved our approach, tackling on current events. Taking the most buzz worthy moments of the year and placing ourselves in those memorable events. With 2016 being focused on politics you can imagine that we had to follow the biggest news of all and Liam had no issues nailing this facial expression on the first try.

2016 Christmas Card | Card design via Minted

So you see, while Christmas cards are a great way to wish your friends and families a happy holiday, we see it as something a little more. While we would love to provide gifts to many of our friends, the closest we can get to it is the gift of laughter. It's a gift of small monetary value, but our offering behind it is whole hearted.

Happy Holidays to all!

The Imperfect Life

Can I just say that I'm #blessed?! I kid. I kid. I don't think I've ever used that hashtag and I'm pretty sure the delivery of it would come across as awesome as when I greet women with "Hay gurl!". Terrible. It just comes off terrible.

In all honestly as of lately I've been content. Happy sounds like I'm bragging and saying it's alright doesn't do it justice. When I've caught up with friends lately all I can say is, "everything is good" and that sounds so down played when realistically I've never felt as content with my life as I am right now. The funny thing is that this year has been far from perfect. It's had some highs and many lows, but through it all I've still been very satisfied with my life to date. Given the year that many of others have had, I know I'm lucky. 

I've taken a mass hiatus from this blog to the point where I 100% said I'm giving it up completely, but I recently realized that I was giving it up for the wrong reasons. I was "quuitting" because I didn't like the pressure of blogging for others when first and foremost it should be for myself. It's no secret that I work in marketing that so happens to be in the influencer space, so I do get wrapped up in quite the bit of hub bub around "are blogs dying?". Being part of this world made me realize that I was falling into the pressure of keeping up with it all and I was quickly losing the interest of doing it. But, what I miss most about it is having a personal outlet. A place where I can put my thoughts, issues, personal problems (you name it) on "paper" to get it off my chest. Kind of like Doogie Howser's running personal journal. I forgot that what fueled my ongoing storytelling was the stories I heard back from others that would comfort me by saying, "I hear ya sista!" Call it a friendship, a bond, a community. Like a long distance friend, I'm feeling a little homesick from it all. So here I am. Back to share my stories.

Like any long term relationships I'd love to set my intentions, just so there are expectations you know?  This blog has gone through MANY evolutions in the decade of its existence and once again it will change a bit (not much, but just a bit). My focus? Life's imperfections. Stories that don't always end up in happy endings and ones that may be challenging to tell, but they're real. My hope is that by me sharing some of my life's not so glamorous and everyday moments that you (at least one of you) feels a moment of relief that someone can sympathize with whatever shit you're dealing with. I'm guilty of letting social media blind me into thinking that everyone's life is hunky dory, and I'm also guilty of maybe portraying that life, but I'm nowhere near it. I'm an everyday person, with everyday issues who leads a imperfect and content life.

So as I continue to share my stories I hope you'll continue to follow along because you (yea you!!!) and this blog, have given me so much in my life and to be frank, I've missed it.

potty training

Urgh we're potty training. You should know that I try not to rely on Dr. Google when I need answers and when we decided to start potty training the last thing I wanted to do was read a book. It's not easy, but at the same time it doesn't have to be hard. I'm not in the camp of "Let's go on lock down for a whole week straight" because really who has time for that? However, I am on the camp of letting it happen naturally. So we came up with our own method...Pay someone else to do it for you. HA! Just kidding, I wish. No but really we came up with our own set of rules on potty training and for us, so far it's working great. So if you feel yourself lost in the sea of know it all potty training guides and want a break - here are my recommendations.