Monday, April 10, 2017

To Be Back...


The Boys Hiking Shanahan Ridge Trail


I have to admit. 

It was good to be back in Boulder this last week. 

It felt like we had never left. 

Like Dec. 31st, the day that we were last there

was like the day before we arrived this time on April 4th. 

Like we still lived there. 

It's like time stood still for us. 

For while we are in Washington, our view of Boulder and friends in it is a still one. 

Though time didn't stand still for all of our friends and acquaintances. 

It had been 4 months since we were last there

and alot has happened, there have been changes:

the boys' pals are taller, friends of mine are pregnant, 

new stores/restaurants have replaced old ones. 

Like where the Boulder Cafe used to be on Pearl Street in downtown Boulder

there stands a bank.  A bank!

Our poor beautiful Boulder cafe!

Travesty. 

My world was rocked a little momentarily.

However, other things are the same. 

Like the Shanahan Ridge Trail above that we hiked one day. 

Walking it was like walking back in time. 

Doing what was familiar brought comfort and contentment

Reinforced the sense of "home" in our hearts.

Because Boulder is still home to us,  even as Seattle and its Eastside is becoming home to us.  

Our only regret:

the time there was so short! 

Not enough time to reintegrate for a long while. 

But we plan to make that up in July. 

Our hope: three weeks, at least. 

In a place that is still home to us. 

  








Saturday, April 1, 2017

New Beginnings/Changes/A Revival


Juanita Bay, Kirkland, WA

Another year later and here I am...

We are now living in Kirkland, WA, the boys and I. 

We have joined the husband/Dad full time. 


I am no longer a stay-at-home Mom who subs in school from time to time.  

I am a full-time working Mom for the local school district.  

Due to the loss of the job the husband is no longer at - one that was taken away the week the boys and I officially moved here.   

He is working again, in a slightly new industry and loving it. 

It has been a new beginning with more changes and new beginnings as my job has shifted twice and will possibly shift again. 

And now there will be a new change as this blog will have a partner.  Another blog known as Eastside Stories. 

Feel free to check it out.  
Like this blog, that blog will carry stories and experiences but from our new digs here on Seattle's Eastside. 

As I continue to share experiences and stories on this blog based on life growing up in the Bronx and our life in Boulder (which still exists when we visit between 2-4 times a year)

All from this city girl's perspective, of course. 

Look forward to seeing you around.  



Thursday, March 31, 2016

Changes/New Beginnings



Changes. 

Are Inevitable. 

And there are some looming for me. 

This Bronx 2 Boulder blog will soon have a new home because it's author will be moving to a new place. 

Yes, this Bronx girl will be leaving Boulder and heading to some new digs in the Pacific Northwest, specifically Seattle, Washington. 

I'm still wrapping my head around it though the boys and I have visited at least three times. 

The above photo was taken on the beach along Lake Washington, the lake that separates Seattle from the Eastside -- the region across from Seattle. 

This beach is across the street from our soon-to-be new home. 


I am moving from Boulder officially in two months.  The husband and I aim to visit Boulder a few times a year (we are keeping the house so we have no excuse to come back) - we have built ties here and we just love Boulder.  The plan: coming back a few times a year, during breaks, during holidays, long weekends...we'll revisit Boulder, we'll explore more of Colorado...

We believe we'll enjoy and appreciate Colorado even more...


However, life will change drastically.  

The hubby is already there, waiting for us to join him.  And the boys and I are excited to. 

Yet, I believe...

We are not completely gone.   

Just here, part-time instead of full-time.  


The only change won't just be in location.  

This blog will get a few of its own - content wise.

Stay-tuned....


Monday, December 29, 2014

This Holiday Season






The Christmas/holiday season is here.

Though Christmas Day has come and gone, we are in the middle of a two week holiday break and I am embracing it so much that I don't want to let it go.

In fact, I am wishing that I could add an additional week since I know this second week will just zoom by.

I love breaks.

Now this could mean that I am lazy at heart and love lounging around and not dealing with my worldly responsibilities (i.e. bills, kid activities, appointments, etc.) and not going really anywhere...

Or it could mean that I love the balance that a break brings to my life when put up against the everyday busyness that can be my life.

I like to think that the latter is true.

It has been a good holiday season so far.  We had family in town - still have one: my mother, - and it was good to have a holiday with them and the kids.  In fact, the four year-old bawled when his aunt left on Saturday.

My three boys are social beings and they love their family.

Even though they ignored the adults for about 70% of that time, they relished in their presence.  It was comforting to them and so were the little mini routines that started with the family being here: the meal times together - we actually sat around the table every day of the week that the family was here, - the hugs to each one before they went to bed.

The photo above of the boys (taken a few weeks earlier) says it all, expressing the happiness of the holiday season for me so well.

It was a good time that came to an end pretty quickly.

Like this next week will, I'm sure.

But kudos to this holiday season that is bringing us joy and a balance.

I'm so not ready for it to end yet.  Can I have another week, please?

Please?



So was your holiday a break for you? Or not?

Feel free to share because this Bronx girl would love to hear your thoughts. 


Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Wordless Wednesday: Their World


I have three sons. 

The soccer ball and the airplane above

are supreme symbols in each of their lives. 

Play soccer almost every day. 

Love transportation: planes, trains, light rails. 

This is their world now. 

Pure and simple. 

And I'm soaking it all in...

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Yes...Yes, We Live in Boulder...





So begins a series of posts about life for this Bronx girl in Boulder.  It’s been 7 years of Boulder living and fairly interesting.


“You’re not in Boulder!” someone told me (still a Boulder newbie) with passion and gusto when we first moved to our neighborhood,  which is northeast from the central part of town. 

Our house sits in a cul de sac in a neighborhood that is surrounded on three sides by open space (aka fields, pastures, lots of grass and few trees).   A creek runs along side the neighborhood.

“Yes, we are,” I would say. 

“But where you are is not Boulder!  That’s Longmont!”

I shake my head.  “Not according to my address,” is always my light-hearted answer.  Both address and zip code are in Boulder.  We are in a neighborhood next to a section of town known as Gunbarrel.  At times, people put us in Gunbarrel, which is fine, though officially we aren’t in that section.  Sometimes it’s just easier and quicker to say “Gunbarrel”. 

Gunbarrel is a section of town that is a combination of two cities/counties:  Boulder and Longmont.  South of the main dividing road in Gunbarrel contains Boulder, north of that same main road is considered Niwot/Longmont. 

In moments I give this explanation to those “in-town” Boulderites and out-of-town Coloradans who question the validity of my living address.  In other moments, I just nod and smile.  Sometimes it’s not worth the energy to go into details such as these.

 “You’re in Boulder County!” another person exclaims to me in one huge epiphany as she tries to rationalize how I could be in Boulder but don’t live directly in town.  “That’s it!”

“Yes, yes, I am.”

“So this is not Boulder but Boulder county!

Um…actually it is both.   The Boulder rural property taxes that we pay tell me so.  And because thankfully to a real estate friend of ours, we discovered Boulder is divided into three sections on most real estate maps: Boulder West (next to the mountains, in the hills), Boulder (in town) and Boulder Prairie (us).

“It’s all Boulder,”  he concludes.  

It’s what happens when people move out from the town and set up roots in the rural area surrounding Boulder because of the desire for more living space, which happened in the late sixties and seventies.  Hence an extension of the existing Boulder community was born amongst vast fields and open space.

 Oh, and let’s not forget, the address is a big indicator, too.  I am sure if we lived in Longmont, my address would actually say that.

Welcome to the country. Some look at as “suburbs.”

I cringe, no offense to anyone who lives in them.  They’re awesome but rural Boulder is not the suburbs. 

It is open space and farmland.  Where the prairie dogs live and where in moments, coyotes roam, with your occasional mountain lion. Not to mention field mice, foxes raccoons, skunks, and bunnies.  In moments, it really does feel like the prairie.

It is countryside and for this city girl, it was a faraway land like several of my in-town Boulderite friends viewed it.  A no man’s land and so far (like in 15 minutes from downtown Pearl street far). 

Sooo far.

But now living in this no-man’s land for six years, I get that it’s an amazingly special place.      

We get to pass by cows, horses, sheep and alpacas on our way into town everyday and have the quiet of the country right on our doorstep.  You can literally hear the engine of a pickup truck as it goes by four streets away.

There is the community of our wonderful neighborhood of 1,000 families.  Because we’re surrounded by open space we’re all we’ve got…until you drive out of it and go across the street to the Twin Lakes neighborhood (actually in Gunbarrel).  We’re a naturally gated (via open space) community of friendly people of all types.

After a time of listening to the naysayers, I started to doubt myself.  Whenever we drove back into town along Highway 36 (Boulder-Denver turnpike)  I’d find myself looking at the gorgeous view up ahead of Boulder, trying to spot my neighborhood in the distance and wondering out loud, where is the dividing line?  Do we really live in Boulder?

My husband, driving, next to me would just shake his head and smile. 

Duh?  His facial expression would read with a ton of endearment following it because he was confident enough and right enough to know (before the explanation of our real estate friend) that the answer is a resounding “Yes!”.

Yes…yes, where we live is Boulder, too.  No need for an identity crisis, sweetie.  It’s all good.


Months later, at school, a fellow Mom exclaimed to me, “Oh, you guys moved!”

Flustered I said “What?  What do you mean?” 

“Well, I was looking at the school directory and noticed you have a Boulder address.  Weren’t you guys in Gunbarrel?”

Out pops my characteristic smile.  “Oh, we still are,” I answer.

Her forehead crinkles. “But you have a Boulder address.”

I inwardly sigh and launch into the explanation, “It’s Boulder. The southern part of Gunbarrel is Boulder…”

And it goes on... :-)

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Here's The Truth...




Here’s the truth.

I am not ready to be back in the frenzy that is the new school year.

I am not ready for laid-back summer to be over, where we are not on a schedule or pressured to be anywhere early.

For other parents, this is the most wonderful time of the year.  The kids are back in school and they get a little more freedom and a break.

I still want to wake up and wander around the house with the kids, pull them close to me and hold them on a weekday morning, while we’re hanging out in bed, with no where pressing to go or be.

This is not to say that I am not excited for their new school year – and all the new things that they will learn and do.  I am ecstatic and can’t wait.  

And I am very happy to reconnect with the Moms and Dads who are part of the school community.  It’s good to see everyone again. 


However, at times with the school year comes complexity and stress and worries and pressures: is the oldest having good experiences today?  Are the kids being nice to him or is he again being ignored, rejected, and teased by some?  Is he maintaining self-control with his body and his emotions or is he having another meltdown? 

Multiply the above frets by two as it applies to his two younger brothers as well.


With summer – for us at least – we could just be.  A freedom to just spend time with each other and be ourselves.  Not have to face weekly injustices or attitudes from others. 

The school year. 

It's a part of life, I know.   

An important part of life for the growth of my children and myself even as a person.

I just can't help but love my season of summer and all that it brings.  

And with all the busyness and sometimes complexity our lives become during this school time, summer is always a welcome friend.  

Pouring my heart out today with Shell
 at Things I Can't Say