Everything is Great

I know, it's been awhile, but that's usually a good sign. Too busy to be too self-absorbed. But a cold has thrown me a little off and so I have a little time to write.

I am in such a good place right now, and I'm really happy about it. It's been a long time since I didn't feel like I needed some sort of change; closer friends, different work, a new path for the larger life goals. I feel really satisfied with what I have, really comfortable. I have a general sense that I'm on the right path, personally and professionally. The last few months have been really busy, but very positive. I'm living amongst some really great friends and I find that I have more time to socialize than I did in school. It also helps that my coworkers are incredible, funny and supportive people who are often up for hanging out after work a few times a week, and make the work day fun as well.

Work is good, I'm feeling more on top of my projects, even as new ones pile up. I'm now running a preschool program, and 8th grader internship, an elementary school vacation camp, and doing my usual school and adult tours on top of the office work. The second cycle of the preschool and internship make it far more manageable, and the vacation camp I'm looking at as preparation for the two weeks of hell that will be the summer camp. I was able to create my own tour focusing on peace and multiculturalism which really connected me to the Cathedral as a space for the kind of education I want to do and develop. I'm working on another for April which I would like to see develop into a larger program opening the Cathedral and department up to more diverse audiences. I'm looking forward to attending a conference in April as well, and meeting other young professionals and learning about the many paths that are opening up to me.

My relationship with the boyfriend, JJ, is continuing to develop. This relationship has thrown other relationships in my life, namely familial, into perspective as well. It's bit shocking, and incredibly grounding, to realize in this time of self-reliance and independence, of self-analysis and blogging, that there are some parts of yourself that you can only learn about through another person. I think NY is a fabulous case in point, where you can be such an individual and not interact with anyone if you choose not to, but it's in the interactions that I find the city the most exciting and frustrating. One of the challenges (and there are many) of our relationship is that JJ lives in Boston. I went for the other weekend and we had an incredible time; salsa lessons in the kitchen with his Puerto Rican flatmates, walks around his cute neighborhood, introducing him to fish and chips at an authentic Irish chipper, just spending time together. And then he came here for a few days the next week, and it was almost like he lived in NY; we had an impromptu picnic on my lunch hour, a romantic Italian dinner at our favorite restaurant, I spent my day off with him doing nothing special. I am having a lot of fun, and I am surprised about how this relationship has developed, it's far from what I imagined when this relationship began.

Another aspect of my life I'm enjoying is my neighborhood. More friends are moving here all the time, and I love the mix of stores and people who make up the area. On the weekends I love to sit at a tiny neighborhood cafe and have a tuna sandwich. It sounds simple, but it's really delicious and they let me sit with my book for as long as I want, although I usually get up after a few hours when the tables are full and more people are coming in. Today I tried something new, a walnut honey-glazed brie toast and it was delicious. The people who work there are nice and are getting to know me. I feel that I know a number of people int he neighborhood, people in the streets and the shops, that I wave at or Buenas Dias or Sabach al-Hir as I walk along.