Art Makes Me Happy - NYC

While in NYC we had the opportunity to visit many museums. It does involve a lot of time and a lot of walking. But they do not disappoint.

We started with the Guggenheim. We took the Subway and caught our first glimpse of Central Park. From the web site: "An internationally renowned art museum and one of the most significant architectural icons of the 20th century, the Guggenheim Museum is at once a vital cultural center, an educational institution, and the heart of an international network of museums."

Not to mention the movie scenes that get filmed there, like Mr. Popper's Penguins. Director Mark Waters relates about going to the actual Guggenheim Museum, "We had to kind of shoot everything at night in between the time that the museum would close and reopen in the morning.  We'd have to bring in the entire carnival of people and light the whole place and shoot the sequence. And Angela Lansbury is 85 years old and it's 4:00 in the morning, and she's dancing around with Jim Carrey, getting spun around.  And I'm saying to myself, I can't believe this is real. They actually let us in here to shoot? Are they out of their minds?"

After viewing each floor, getting told not to take photos on the ramp and using the tiny rounded bathroom where you can hit your head on a column while getting up from the toilet, we then went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Met.

As like so much of the city there was construction going on so part of the front of the building was blocked.

The Museum mission statement: The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded on April 13, 1870, "to be located in the City of New York, for the purpose of establishing and maintaining in said city a Museum and library of art, of encouraging and developing the study of the fine arts, and the application of arts to manufacture and practical life, of advancing the general knowledge of kindred subjects, and, to that end, of furnishing popular instruction."

This place was huge. You had to actually use the Museum map to get around in all the various exhibit rooms. It was multiple floors packed with so much to see. It was quite amazing.

Photo taken from the rooftop garden at the Met.

Remember the movie The Thomas Crown Affair, where the painting was stolen from the Met? Well, a set was built to look like the museum.

 

From Wikipedia: Filming took place throughout New York City, including Central Park. The corporate headquarters of Lucent Technologies stood in for Crown's suite of offices. Due to its being nearly impossible to film interior scenes in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the producers' request was "respectfully declined"), the production crew made their own museum on a soundstage. Artisans were hired to create a realistic look to the set. Another scene was filmed in a different city landmark: the main research library of the New York Public Library.

 

After viewing these two museums we made our way across Central Park to Shake Shack for lunch.

The City That Never Sleeps

There is only one city I can think of where I can be in the M&M store at 11:30 p.m. and the store clerks are monitoring the number of people going up the escalator to the 2nd floor. It was that crowded. That would be New York City (maybe Vegas too).

On August 6th, my daughter Natalie and I flew to Newark, New Jersey. From there we spent three nights in midtown Manhattan and two nights at my friend's home in Middletown, New York.

For this post I'm going to keep it simple with some helpful tips and facts about the trip.

When: August 6 - August 11th. The weather was perfect that week. We were lucky.

How: Flew Alaska Airlines nonstop from Seattle to Newark, New Jersey. We used my companion fare. It's a good perk of having an Alaska Airlines credit card. From Newark we had a prearranged shuttle bus that took us into Manhattan from the airport. I would highly recommend it. There are other airports but we picked this one for convenience.

Hotel: Club Quarters Midtown Manhattan. We found the hotel through Alaska Airlines webpage. I believe it goes through Orbitz. It was a great location. We were literally on the back side of Radio City Music Hall. No matter where we went it was easy to find out hotel coming back.

Discount Tickets: New York Pass. We bought a 3 day pass online in advance, and discounted. And we had the booklet mailed to us. Great maps, great way to organize what you want to do.

Transportation: 1) my two feet - wear socks and good walking shoes, by day 2 I had blisters; 2) Subway - buy a metro card from the machine; 3) taxi - convenient; 4) train - Grand Central Station to go out of the city; 5) New York Water Taxi - very fun and discounted in New York Pass; 6) bus - we didn't do this option but it looks like a good idea around town. A coworker told me today that when he goes there they do they Subway for north and south and the bus for east and west travel. You can also rent bicycles, (maybe in Central Park but I would not ride them around the city). And there are Pedi cabs but they look to be quite expensive.

I observed a pecking order in traffic. Starting with who has the most power to the least power on the streets. This is my observation: tour bus, city bus, emergency vehicles, town cars, taxi's, personal vehicles, Pedi cabs, bicycles, and pedestrians.

Broadway: We bought our discounted tickets (courtesy of New York Pass) from the box office on Thursday for the Saturday matinee. We wanted a particular show. Otherwise (and next time I go) you can go to Times Square in the morning and get half price, same day tickets for many shows. The people sitting next to us on the 6th row had bought their tickets that morning. We saw a show called Once. It was very good, a really fun time.

Times Square

Twas the Night Before NYC

Yes, that's right. Tomorrow I'm on an airplane to fly to New York City. It will be my first visit to the Big Apple. I'm going with my daughter. What an adventure we have planned. This is something we've talked about doing for about 3 years and now it's here.

We'll be posting photos on Instagram and I'll share a lot when we get back. We have our days packed with fun sight seeing, museum visits and lots of pizza, I mean lots of good food.

I'm in the middle of a two week vacation. I've been home for the first part of it playing tourist here in Seattle with my daughter and her husband.

Since Thursday we have toured the Theo Chocolate Factory, ate burgers at the famous Red Mill Burger joint, explored the Seattle Underground and the CenturyLink Stadium. We also did a whale watching cruise in the San Juans and visited the Seattle Aquarium.

Now we're heading to the East Coast. This is my magical birthday year, the year I turn 57 which matches the year I was born, 1957. This only happens once in a lifetime. This vacation is part of my magical birthday year.

I also get to take my daughter to visit my best friend Gail who I've known since we were in third grade.

Off we go.

July 27, 2014

I must say a few things have happened in the last two months. The end of June was our annual family vacation to the cabin. Even though neither of my children attended this year I was able to enjoy a lot of family. We had a really fun week. And before heading to the cabin I was able to see more family at Sue's house.

It's quite the road trip for Wally and I. The first day we go 500 miles to Boise and spend the night. The next day is about 350 miles. We then stay six nights and repeat the process on the way home. It's a good thing I enjoy driving.

This year the weather was great. It wasn't quite as hot as it normally is when we are driving through Idaho.

A couple of weeks after returning home from the cabin I was able to fly to Utah to meet my newest little grand daughter, Amoura Emilene. It was so wonderful to spend time in my son's home with his sweet little family. She was born on July 6th.

July and August will continue to be very busy months. Summer is going by so quickly but I'm loving it all.

The Gaytan's

2014 Cabin Crew

Avea, Amoura, Grandma Trudy and Annelise (3 of my 4 grand daughters)

Three generations. Daddy Wayne, baby Amoura and grandma Trudy.

On a Roll

I purchased a sweet little Nikon film camera from a Facebook friend in Ohio. It belonged to her husband who hadn't used it in years. She was cleaning and helped him get rid of it. I'm so hoping he was in on it. She included a flash attachment which I've never used before. I shot a roll of film the last few days and had it put on a CD. Yes, you can still buy film. This camera was one of the first plastic bodies Nikon made so it's really light weight. I do have some manual reading to do to fully understand how to use it. Here are a few of my first photos. Most shot on automatic, a couple on manual.

My attempt at something.

Sweet Smells of Springtime in Seattle

This morning on my way to the gym I rolled my window down just a bit (too see out better). And there was that beautiful scent of April in Seattle. It brought me back to 26 years ago this month when I moved with my new husband and my two kids from Utah to Kent, Washington.

We got married in January of that year, but Wally was working out of town. It was April before he could come get me and the kids and we road tripped it with my car fully loaded and Wally's small truck pulling a small U-Haul trailer. If it didn't fit it was left behind. There were really only a few items that I felt bad about leaving behind.

I even brought house plants with me. My children at the time were 7 1/2 and 5. Wayne wasn't even in school yet.

Here's the interesting thing. I had never been to Washington state before that day we moved here. On our trip from Utah we spent the night with my parents in Boise.

We drove through Oregon and Washington and as we were driving west on I-90 my first thoughts were that there was no big city here. We were moving into the woods, big trees everywhere! I was briefly panicked by that thought.
Then we arrived to our apartment in Kent. At the time Wally selected Kent because it's school district had high ratings in the nation.

When we got out of the car, the first thing that hit me was that wonderful fresh, rainy spring scent in the air. I vividly remember that to this day, 26 years later.

Six months in an apartment then we moved into our home, getting the keys on Wally's birthday in October. I was 31 years old and it was my very first house. And we're still here. What started out as a great little starter home, served us well with 2 kids and is now the perfect size for retirement.

A Whole Lotta Floating Going On!

Today was my fourth float at U-Float. My first float was February 15th on a Saturday afternoon. It was full of all sorts of emotions.

My second float was on March 7th. It was on a Friday evening. I came home from work, fed Wally dinner, then went to U-Float.

When I finished my second float I told Phil it was 300 times better than my first float. There were lights, there were words, there was relaxation which extended beyond the float.

My third float was also a Friday night. It was two weeks later on March 21st. This time I drove straight from the office, which is a bit of a drive. I got there right at my appointment time so I felt rushed. But I still managed to enjoy the float. I had a very different experience then with my 2nd float.

When I began 3rd float I felt like I was rotating in a circle. I can't remember if it was clockwise or counterclockwise. This went on for a few minutes. Of course there is no time in the tank. Five minutes could be 30 minutes. I felt like I went into a very deep sleep. I don't have much recollection of thoughts while in the tank.

When the piano music softly came on to let me know my hour was up I felt a little disoriented. I had a hard time figuring out how to open the door to get out. But at the same time I wasn't panicked at all. I like the feel of the water. It feels like I belong there. After my first float the darkness no longer bothers me. Not just in the tank but other places too.
 
Between my 3rd and 4th float I traveled out of town to visit family. I slept really well on air mattresses for four nights. I even monitored my sleep with my FitBit so I know I had less disturbances than when I sleep at home. I found that unusual.

After I came home from vacation on a Sunday evening, during the week I just felt like I needed to be in water. Like I craved the feel of it. On one of my regular gym days before work I shortened my work out and spent some time in the pool at the gym. I swam, I floated, I walked in the water.

Today was my 4th float. It was the first time I was able to get on the schedule for a Saturday morning float. My appointment was for 9:00 am. I woke about 7:30 did some things around the house then went to Auburn.

Getting in and closing the door is getting very easy for me now. I try to keep my mind clear and I use relaxation techniques like counting backwards from 10 to go into a deeper relaxation. It was a very relaxing float. When the piano music came on I kept my eyes shut a little longer. Than I stretched, rolled onto my stomach for a couple of minutes then I got out.

There was a little heater in the room which probably didn't need to be turned on, but it was on, so it made it feel like my towel was heated after my shower.

When I got out of the tank I viewed an art book that a Portland float business put together. They gave artists two sessions in the tank then asked them to create some art. It was then put together into a book. It's very cool to look at, and there are photos which I can totally relate to.

I also mentioned to Phil, that I tried hard to not think of things while in the tank, his response to me was priceless. He said, "trying not to think of anything is thinking of something." Point taken.

I have done my initial session, I have used up my 3 pack of prepaid gift certificates. They have now raised their prices to the regular rates. I'm thinking I will continue this journey going once every 3 or 4 weeks.If you are reading this and are the least bit interested in trying it I highly recommend it. Some advice I would give for first time floaters: take flip flops for getting out of the tank and in the shower, before getting into the tank after showering be sure and dry off your face. Otherwise water runs down your face and you have salt water hands, not good. Prop the door open if the darkness and small area disturb you. Go into the darkness gradually, you'll get comfortable with it.

I highly recommend this book, I'm still reading through it. Phil commented that it was even better the second time he read it.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Book-Floating-Exploring-Consciousness/dp/0895561182

Here is the book with the art: http://floathq.com/float-on/programs/artist-program

Sunny St. George, Utah Trip Part 2

After spending a couple of days with my sisters, on Saturday morning my daughter picked me up in Springville for our road trip to St. George in Southern Utah where my son and his family live.

It was a beautiful sunny day. We passed the time in the car by browsing through a AAA NYC tour book. Natalie and I are planning a trip there in August.

When we arrived in St. George we first went to visit another Aunt. My Aunt VeLois. She is the youngest in my Dad's family. She is 85 years old and lives in a lovely home in Santa Clara. We had a nice visit with her.

After our visit we then headed across the valley to Washington, Utah to what is referred to as "the fields". We arrived and were greeted by two adorable little girls outside waiting for us. Natalie and I walked down the street with them to their grade school and spent a little time on the playground.

Avea who just turned 6!



Did I mention it was very sunny? With Avea and Annelise.

Aunt Natalie with Avea.

There was also some trampoline time. It's been years since I was on a trampoline and I thought I did pretty good. Unfortunately the only photo is when I had stopped jumping.

We then went out to dinner to celebrate Avea's 6th birthday. She had picked the restaurant because she liked the sound of it, Sakura. It's a Japanese steak house and sushi. We sat up at the grill and were greatly entertained as our chef cooked our rice, noodles, chicken, steak and shrimp. Wayne had sushi and I tasted my first spring roll and a salmon piece. It was okay. I didn't gag.  The chef delighted the girls with the fire and flipping shrimp into our mouths.

Just when you thought it couldn't get any better, they brought out a piece of cheesecake with a Japanese flowering candle on it for Avea. Her expression was priceless.

We then went home and relaxed for a bit and then Andrea's parents came over for ice cream and cake. Earlier Avea had opened up one present and Annelise also got to open up one early birthday present I had brought her. They were both thrilled with their small quilts I had made them.

Big sister got pretty excited too!

We spent the night and in the morning we were treated to French toast and sausage. We took some photos then we had to hit the freeway.

We left in quite a dust storm which caused large tumble weeds to breeze across the highway. We had a 4 1/2 hour drive to get me to the SLC airport. We had wind, rain and then snow. At the airport they had to de-ice the wings before we could take off. For my 2 hour flight home I was entertained by the woman sitting in the middle seat who started the conversation off by saying, "sorry if I'm talking too much but I had some drinks before getting on the plane." It was an interesting flight.

The quilt on the far right is for my new baby grand daughter who will be joining the family in July. (This picture is before the binding was put on the quilts.)

It was a very wonderful trip to Utah. It was so great to spend time with so much family.

 

We Are Family, I Got All My Sisters With Me!

Here is a photo from 2004. Ten years ago. Nancy's husband had passed away one year earlier. And our mother passed away in February of 2004.




Trudy, Becky, Nancy and Sue

Fast forward 10 years, we're just getting better with age!



Trudy, Nancy, Becky, Sue

Sister's Spring Break - Utah 2014

This might be part 1 of 2 if I get carried away. This is an annual tradition my sisters and I do every spring. Except for last year when I ended up going by myself due to schedule issues. One of my sisters lives in Springville, Utah. My other two sisters and one brother live in Idaho. I'm in Washington state. And somehow after having been born in Utah but raised in Washington, both of my children now reside in Utah.

Years ago we started making an annual spring trip where the four of us sisters would all gather in Springville.

This year I flew out on a Wednesday and Natalie picked me up at the airport at 10 am. It was lightly raining in Salt Lake. We had a delightful lunch at Gourmandise on 3rd East. I'm pretty sure it's in the same location as a very famous Italian restaurant that was there in the 1970s. They were famous for their multiple course dinners. It was a great date spot. For the life of me I can't remember the name of it though. Gourmandise has great food and a fantastic bakery.

Then Natalie dropped me off at City Creek, where I walked around and did some minor shopping. City Creek is very pretty with lots of stores. It was still raining and I walked from City Creek over to the Joseph Smith building, formerly the Hotel Utah. There was a woman playing on the piano on the main floor. I walked up the stairs to the mezzanine where a bride and groom where having photographs taken. I just sat for a few minutes and remembered the grand hotel back in the 1970s when I was in SCL going to college.

View of South Temple from City Creek

I then walked over to Temple Square. I forgot how beautiful the flowers are in the springtime. It was incredible. I took a lot of photos.

Then my cousin Russell picked me up and we met Susan and Becky in Bountiful at my aunt's place. My Dad was the oldest of 7 children. Three of his siblings are still living. They are 85, 90 and 95. On this trip I got to visit Aunt Margaret who is 90 and Aunt VeLois who is 85. Two more cousins came over for a visit. It was fun visiting and sharing family photos and stories.

Visiting with Aunt Margaret and her daughters Jill and Dana.

We left Bountiful and met Scott and Natalie for dinner at Thai Siam in Draper. There were 6 of us at dinner. We had a nice visit. From the restaurant I then drove with Sue and Becky to Springville to Nancy's home. We encountered more rain and possibly light snow flurries.

The next couple of days were spent, cleaning, visiting, eating, watching movies, visiting, sleeping on air mattresses on the floor and just having a wonderful time hanging out together.


View from Springville grocery store parking lot.

We watched lots of Hallmark channel movies, Austenland and Frozen. There was caramel corn, Girl Scout cookies and creamies.

On Saturday morning Natalie picked me up and we grabbed some breakfast at Del Taco with my nephew Scott and then we headed to St. George to spend time with Wayne and his family.

I Float

Yes, I do. And today I floated in a sensory deprivation float tank with 10 inches of salt water. It was my first experience. A friend had recently done it and enjoyed it. I did my research and was ready to give it a try.

I made my reservation and payment on line. Today I showed up 15 minutes before my scheduled time. Phil showed me to room 2. The room was pretty good size, rectangle shaped. There was a bench, a shower in the corner of the room and there was the tank. The door of the tank was closed.

His instructions were to put on the ear plugs first to get used to them, shower and then climb into the tank. The light in the room was motion activated and would turn off once I had the tank door closed. Outside the tank was a provided towel, wash cloth, spray bottle of fresh water in case I need to get salt water out of my eyes and a short water noodle. He said the water noodle can be put under your neck while floating to relief the weight/tension. There was also shampoo, conditioner and body wash in the shower.

My only question to him was, "is there a light in the tank?" to which he replied "no". While he was in the room with me we did not open the tank to look inside. He did however show me the ambient (rope) lighting on the edge of the shower floor.

He left, I locked the door, undressed, put in my ear plugs and took a shower and washed my hair. It was then time for me to open the hatch. The door is quite large and opens over to one side. Looking inside the tank I see only blackness. At the foot of the tank are a few PVC pipes. Oh, Phil also told me that since it was my first time I would probably want to put my head towards the end of the tank closet to the door. I thought that was only reasonable.

The next 10 minutes are what I can only describe as an I Love Lucy episode. The door is open and all I have to do is step inside, lay down and close the door. Sounds easy, right? Not so easy. I step in through the opening and I'm trying to sit down to get into position when my legs start floating and next thing you know I am grabbing onto the opening to hold on. I haven't even attempted to close the lid yet.

The one thing no one told me and I never read in my research is what Epsom salt feels like in water. It's best described as gel like. And it was kind of slippery. So there I am hanging on to the side. I reach down and bring the noodle into the tank with me and I close the door.

And I lay down. And my entire body floats. And then I immediately reach up in the darkness and try to find the door. I hang on to the door handle for a very short time. Then somehow I get salt in my right eye. So I open the door and blot my eye with the wash cloth I had put fresh water on, just in case. To reach the wash cloth I once again have to hang on to the side and reach over.

I then close the lid, but this time I put the noodle in the corner of it and it gives me a couple of inches of light since the light in the room was still on. I lay there floating trying to figure out what exactly it is that scares me about the dark tank. It wasn't so much the darkness or the feeling that maybe the tank was just too big. For a moment I was thinking it would be better if there wasn't so much room to drift around in. I was worried I would float around and get disoriented and not be able to find the door to get out.

But the biggest fear in the tank was, what if I couldn't breathe? Once I figured out that was my problem, I focused on breathing. After another drop of salt water in my eye and the wet wash cloth, I then closed the lid.

And I kept breathing. I relaxed my body. I couldn't feel my legs, it was as if they weren't there unless I wiggled my foot. I tried my arms by my sides and the water made my elbows raise up to my shoulders and that felt weird. So I tossed my arms up over my head.

I could feel my hair all splayed out on the water and imagined myself a mermaid. I had the noodle under my neck for a little bit. Then removed it and my head sank a little more into the water. The water never went over my face, it barely covered over my hair line around my face.

As I floated I was trying to remember how I was feeling so I could record it. I had no sense of time. I was to spend 60 minutes in there. I thought to myself, am I supposed to try to fall asleep, or am I sleeping already? Then my breathing would get very slow and I would take deep breaths.

The tank was a very comfortable temperature. My skin wasn't cold at all. If I moved a foot or an arm, it would shift my entire body. Sometimes I would feel the pipe at the end of the tank. Sometimes it felt like I drifted off to one side. At one point I did a foot jerk, that thing you do when you are sleeping. But I didn't think I was sleeping, but maybe I was.

I had no aches or pains while in the water. Sometimes I felt like I was just laying on the bottom of the tank, but I wasn't. A couple of times I would put my hand underneath my back to feel the gap of water between my back and the bottom of the tank.

I resisted rolling over to float on my stomach which I kind of really wanted to do, but I don't know what I would do with my face, trying to keep it out of the water. Let me say, salt water in your eyes does not feel good.

When the 60 minutes was up, as Phil said would happen, piano music starts playing in the tank, it gradually gets louder and louder. I found the lid and pushed it open. It takes a bit of effort to open it all the way off to the side. Then as I stepped out I realized I probably should have had the plastic mat to step on since I was a little slimy and the floor a little slippery. I was going to bring my flip flops but forgot them. That would have helped.

After getting out I closed the lid and hit the shower one more time. But not before glancing at my face once in the mirror to see the dried salt on my cheeks.

After getting dressed I went out to the front area of the spa and just sat for a few minutes and relayed my experience to Phil. I think he was a little surprised when I told him I did manage to close the lid.

I'm glad I have my first float over with. I think I will be able to immensely enjoy it more the second time. And even though I wore ear plugs, my ears still have a little moisture in them.

The say a lot of the benefits of floating are felt later, after the float. I'm hoping I sleep really well tonight. I can already visualize though when I lay down I'm going to be seeing that black tank and I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Here is the place I went to: www.UFloat.org

Added 2/17/14. The last two nights have been some of the best sleep I've had. And during a windstorm too. Here is a paragraph from UFloat's website, This is what I experienced.
 Can I fall asleep in the tank?

Yes and falling asleep is encouraged, as you will find that one hour of sleep in the tank is equal to about 4 hours of rest. Since you are very buoyant in the water, your body and spine are supported better than any mattress. Because you are lying in water and not on a bed, there are no pressure points on your body which allows blood to circulate freely throughout your body. The interesting thing about the float experience and level of relaxation that can be achieved, is that a lot of people aren't sure if they fell asleep or not during their float because it puts our brain in the Theta state that is experienced between being awake and sleeping, even if you do not actually fall asleep.