A Long Weekend In Austin, Texas Is A Capital Idea Reply

Austin Texas, Gruene Mansion Inn, home ownership, San Jose Hotel, Texas, The Driskell Hotel, wanderer

I’m starting to think I’m a travel whore.  It no longer matters where the destination is (well, that’s an exageration – Newark, NJ is not an option), if someone asks me to come along, I’m the first one on expedia.com.  I found that one way of combatting the letdown of moving from a city of 18 million to a town of 15,000 is to make enough plans to leave said small town.  My husband made a list of where I was going in 2013 and it is the source of a few laughs around the office water cooler.  I’ve always been a bit of a wanderer – something that becomes more of a challenge with each child you conceive.  But at the apex of my motherdom, we lived in at least five different homes, on and off, while the kids grew up.  I just can’t bear to dig in and grow roots.  I’m not really sure what that’s about but it seems to work for me and thankfully it works for my husband too.  We are in the process right now of selling the last piece of real estate we own.  My current goal is to minimize the keys dangling from my key chain which brings with it a sense of freedom and relief.  And of course, the increased ability to say YES the next time someone asks me to go away.  For the next few years, my husband and I will have to drag a few teenagers with us but we’ve got a 5 year plan and we’re six months into it.  The not knowing where we’re going is the best part of all.  Carpe the freaking diem!

Oh wait, this blog was supposed to be about spending a weekend in Austin, Texas.  That’s what a nice large glass of white wine will do to you.  It seems I’m wandering right off the topic.

So, Austin, Texas.  I’m a big fan. I stayed in three different hotels in 4 nights and I loved them all. A brief synopsis:

The Driskell Hotel – right off 6th street – completely old and authentic – it’s even haunted.  Perfect place to stay right in the heart of it all.

The San Jose Hotel – this hotel is too cool for school.  It’s in the SOCO district (south congress) and it’s basically the Brooklyn of Austin.  Very hip – very cool – almost cold.  But worth staying in (for a night).

The Gruene Mansion Inn (technically not in Austin but in the town of Gruene which is pronounced Green but not by me or anyone I was with because – duh, there’s a u in it).  This was a little bit country, a little bit disney and a lot of kitsch.  But if you are going to a Jerry Jeff concert at Gruene Hall (which is next door to the Inn) there is no better place to walk home to.  And during the day, they have amazing live music for free in the parking lot.  They pass a jar around for tips and you can buy a cold beer (or nine).

One of the best meals I’ve had since I moved back to the US was a Japanese restaurant called Uchi in Austin.  I had a reservation, it was a Monday night and I had to wait about 20 minutes to be seated.  The lines were out the door.  And I swear it was one of the best Japanese meals I’ve eaten – even in Japan (i’m cringing because I’m sure there are readers that are throwing things at my blog) but seriously, I’ve lived in Japan for 6 years and this was OUTSTANDING.

So, as a card carrying wanderer, I highly recommend a visit to Austin, Texas.

*Full disclosure – I’m writing this as I pack for my trip tomorrow to Vieques.

My Eight Month Coma 1

Asian Travel Adventures, eating in tokyo, life in tokyo, My Life, Uncategorized

Last week I travelled back in time to Tokyo.  You’re probably thinking that makes no sense because everyone knows that Tokyo is actually 13 hours in the future (from NYC).  Nevertheless, that’s what it felt like.  Or maybe I’ve just been in a really long coma.  Yes, some things had changed (many many friends were missing) but I could easily explain that away – they were off traveling.  What I’m trying to say is that even though its been 8 months since I left Japan, it felt like I woke up from a long sleep and I was right back where I started from.  My 100 words of Japanese returned and came flowing out of my mouth upon arrival at the airport limousine bus counter in Narita airport.  Directions to taxi drivers were a cinch, the staff at the American club welcomed me with open arms and a few shopkeepers in Azabu Juban were friendlier than they would have been to a total American stranger.  I had hoped that my time away would have given me perspective and that returning would give me the closure I really wanted and needed; the figurative final stamp in my passport sending me on my way.  I was too emotional when I left to really process the departure.  This, unfortunately didn’t happen.  There was no perspective, no closure.  I found myself pretending that I still actually lived there.  Looking back on those very very brief 5 nights/4 days, I’d say that I didn’t do anything any differently than I would have if I still lived there (with a few exceptions that I’ll get to later).  I went to the fundraiser of my children’s school, ate ramen (2x), had a foot massage (or 2) went to the supermarket, the American club, had sushi in Tsukiji, went to a shrine sale, took trains, spent the night in a ryokan, saw a fire festival and had a girls night out.  So, you’re starting to get the point, right?  What I did in that short period of time was not a vacation itinerary – it was my plain old vanilla life – or the life I used to lead.  Which was anything but vanilla.  Hence the lack of closure.  But i’ve returned home happy to know that even though I’ve been gone for 8 months my friendships lived on.  We picked right back up where we left off – if anything, I appreciate them more.  And, those exceptions I mentioned earlier… well, lets just say I was fortunate to have an opportunity I won’t ever forget.  I spent those five nights and four days happily ensconced in the MacArthur Suite at the US Ambassador’s residence.  Kisses to John and Susie Roos.  Maybe next time, the coma won’t have to be so long…

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I Went To Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week (or did I?) 3

Carolina Herrera, Hearst Corp., My Life, New York Fashion Week, ny, NYFW, rye • Tags: , , ,

mercedesbenzFashion Week in NYC.  Iconic, star-studded, drama-laden and normally something I would read about in the Style section of the NY Times.  But this past Monday, I had a golden ticket!  A few weeks ago, I called my closest friend with fashion connections (JOM) and begged her to rustle up two tickets.  She said probably unlikely and then  a day later, like magic, the email invite appeared in my inbox for Carolina Herrera’s show on Monday at 10am.  My first response was sheer excitement followed closely by the dread of what to wear.  My closet is limited when it comes to anything with a name. I asked JOM what she was wearing and she said “when in doubt, wear black”.  I decided to rock my Buddhist Chant jeans and wore it with a long Japanese free form BLACK tunic.  But in the end, I shouldn’t have given it a moment’s thought.  Monday was a dreadful day weather wise and I was more concerned about the state of my hair (matted and wet) then what was under my coat which I never even removed.  After being whisked away from our small hamlet of Rye to Grand Central via fairy godmother (the Metro-North railroad) we waited in line for a taxi that never came  (NYC + bad weather = subway).   I say subway casually but truth be told I haven’t been underground since my NYU days and those are days LONG GONE BY.  After overshooting 66th street by a stop, we made a u-turn and raced back down to Lincoln center.  The show was scheduled for 10am but from experience JOM assured me the show wouldn’t start until at least 10:30 so even though we were late, we weren’t anywhere near FASHIONABLY late.  We had plenty of time to sit and scope out the crowd before the lights went out.  And it was a beautiful crowd.  My friend KOM was in the second row (husband of JOM) and I took a picture of him: he’s the cute one in the black suit.

kom

Carrolina Herrera is a style icon.  There were very few pieces that came down the runway that I wouldn’t want to own – and that’s saying a lot for fashion week.  The clothes are usually not designed with someone like me in mind.  I must say that fur is IN IN IN for Fall 2013 which I couldn’t be more thrilled with.  I’m sick of being made to feel bad about wearing my coat out in public. I did find the shirt with the furry chest a little off putting and I’m sure no girl going through the “changes” would EVER buy that – her internal temp would ratchet up to unsafe levels!

This is a picture of my favorite look that came down the runway:  It’s hard to see but it was a dress that looked like it was made out of gold kimono fabric with a very thick and beautiful band of chocolate fur at the top:

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While I was busy snapping away, I did manage to pick out a few of the uber BP in the crowd.

If you look carefully you can spot Fran Lebowitz and Graydon Carter.graydonfran

And here you can see Anna Wintour and Grace Coddington (look for the red blur):

wintour:coddington

And this is a shot of the runway finale when all of the models came out together.  It’s hard to see anything but you get the sense of the experience:

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me

And then just like that the lights came up and people started moving at a crazy pace to get to the next show.  JOM and I had a lovely invitation to meet KOM at the Hearst Building for lunch.  If you’ve never been, its quite a place.  The architect kept the historic landmark building base and then built this incredibly modern building right on top of it.  The company cafeteria is on the floor that separates the old from the new.   After lunch we got the million dollar tour of the building including the fabulous art collection owned by the Hearst family and hung in the hallways.  It was such a beautiful place it gave JOM and I thoughts of going back to work!  And then it was a quick cab back to Grand Central where the fairy godmother train was waiting to turn us back into suburban housewives, and I was in the carpool line in time for pickup.  As I went about the rest of my day driving the girls here and there, cooking dinner and hauling out the garbage I did have a moment when I thought “did it really happen or was I just dreaming?”

Ban On Plastic Bags in Your Town? You’re Killing Us – Literally 1

life in tokyo, ny, plastic bag ban, recycling, Uncategorized • Tags: , , , ,

bagsI first started using the word incongreenient when I moved to Tokyo in 2008.  I wasn’t sure if it was actually a word but that didn’t bother me.  It suited my purposes well. Tokyo was years ahead of New York in terms of recycling and the process left me weary.  It was not unusual to see six different receptacles for sorting your garbage, hence the need for a word like incongreenient.  When I returned home to New York in 2012 I moved to a town (Rye) that had banned plastic bags.  I must admit to the huge eye roll and the reoccurrence of the usage of my trusty new word.  I shook my head each time I would run into CVS to buy a small box of tampons and be given a huge (grocery sized) bag to put it in.  This couldn’t possibly be a good thing.  So now the back of my car has at all times an assortment of reusable bags that I have purchased at Whole Foods, Stop and Shop and Trader Joe’s.  I don’t always remember them when running into the store which causes me to frequently buy a new bag or four.  But the term incongreenient has taken on new meaning and might not even fit the bill anymore.  A new study was done in 2011 in California and Arizona which tested reusable bags and found that 51% of them contained coliform bacteria.  Here’s how it gets there.  We shop, we don’t always separate meat from vegetables in our bags, we empty the bags without washing them and then we throw them back into our trunks where they sit and roast (depending upon where you live and the time of year) and voila! the bacteria grows ten fold.  The study reports that we can eliminate this risk by 99.9% if we wash our bags!  Excellent news.  However it goes on to say that only 3% wash our bags.  Immediately following the plastic bag ban in San Fransisco, the ecoli admissions at the area hospitals grew by 46%.  Sometimes, when lawmakers pass laws with knee jerk reactions to appease their citizens we end up with unintended consequences.  And by the way, those plastic bags that use too much oil to make and pollute our waterways and kill marine animals – they only represent .6% of our total litter problem.  Now that is incongreenient.

Tweet That! Reply

twitter, twitter over 30, Uncategorized

twitteregg

Lately I’ve been taking a very unscientific poll – basically if I come in contact with you and I remember to ask, then you’ve been included in my data points.  The question is: do you follow anyone on twitter?  The answer for almost every single person I’ve asked over the age of 30 is No.  And sometimes the answer comes with angry emotion as if Twitter were a person and they hated them.  But mostly the answer is “I’m too busy”.  Which leads me to the point of this blog entry.  We are all too busy and it is this reason alone that people should use Twitter.  In 140 characters or less I get (for the most part) related information  on topics that I am specifically interested in – that involve people places or things that I want to know about.  In 140 characters or less!  Is there anything more time saving than that?  For someone who reads the New York Times daily, and pages through a lot of unrelated (to me) information to find the kernel, the golden nugget to take away for the day, I say Twitter is brilliant.  Just to give those naysayers out there an example, here are a few of the sources/people I follow and a few tidbits of information I picked up today:

New York Magazine @NYMag – The Sundance Film Festival starts today

New York Times Metro Desk @NYT Metro Desk – Joe Lhota is running for the mayor of NYC

CNBC @CNBC – S&P trades at the highest level since Dec 2007

Maria Popova @brainpicker – Researches estimate that if everyone washed their hands regularly, a million deaths could be prevented each year

Food & Wine Magazine @fandw Biscuit dough + thick-cut bacon = easy, DIY braised pork buns

U. of New Hampshire @UofNH Former UNH football player, assistant coach Chip Kelly named Philadelphia @Eagles Head Coach

Westchester Magazine @WestchesterMag Is that the sun?  Enjoy it, because after this weekend things will turn cold, cold, cold

Obviously I follow people I am interested in and that’s the point.  I go to twitter as a news source several times a day and often I have news way before other people do.  You might not care about that and then I guess Twitter might not be for you.  But everyone likes to know a little information before their friends and neighbors, no?

And if you are unsure of how to set up an account or find people to follow, just grab any 13 year old.  They are pretty much experts on the topic and that’s how I am able to keep up.

Sandy – Can’t You Make A Dog Leg To The Right? 1

Hurricane Sandy, My Life, Uncategorized

What does this photo look like to you?  The 9th hole on your local golf course?  A middle aged woman’s left arm?  What it looks like to me is a long week ahead.  We’d been forewarned for days and yet I made my first trip to the store(s) Saturday around noon.  Smarter, more experienced folks went days before and basically bought out all the items on my shopping list.  You see, I’ve missed the last four years of “the biggest storms ever seen” on the east coast of the United States.  And I just thought there was a huge CNN effect going on – you know, the doom and gloom over exaggeration of any news item ever.  The updates in the past days reminded me of the hours after the earthquake and tsunami in March, 2011 when we kept hearing terms like “countdown to the the meltdown” whenever we would put on the US television.  But as I’ve been watching the storm move north, and the various news reporters providing live coverage from their various cities I think this time we might be in for a little bit of trouble.  The thought of spending a day let alone 7-10 in my small home with two teenage daughters and no internet or television makes me shiver.  The power is fully on as I write this and they are starting to get edgy already.  No showers, no flushing toilets, no hot coffee – meals of tuna (mayo less because of course that will have gone bad days before), canned chili and soup will not make for a happy family.  And that’s assuming nothing happens to our windows, trees or flying outdoor furniture – despite all the preparations.  I haven’t been in a home thats lost power in so long I can’t remember what its like.  I hope I am not newly acquainted with the situation.

The Hot Clock 1

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Time is ticking on my biological clock.  Not the one that has to do with diapers and sore nipples.  I’m talking about my hot clock.  At 47, its only a matter of time before I look in the mirror and see a friendly face that sort of resembles me in an oh so luke warm sort of way.  I’m not talking about beauty because I do believe people are beautiful from the inside out and age has nothing to do with that.  I’m talking down and dirty, sweaty heat.  And not the kind that has the word flash after it.  When I lived in Japan I barely looked in the mirror.  Well, that’s not really true but lets go with it for the purpose of this  blog entry.  Living in a metropolitan area of 35 million people where about 98% are Japanese gives you quite a license to, as they say, let yourself go.  In the four years I lived there I can honestly say I can’t remember any man on the street ever looking at me twice – unless you count the guy who pleasured himself on the beach and gave me quite a surprise.  And it’s not like the reason you get your hair colored or you go to the gym is so that you will get acknowledged on the street by a construction worker.  But trust me, if you lived in a society where no one was watching, well then, things start to unravel a little.  And a lot of that had to do with access.  I never found a place in Tokyo where they really knew how to give a good gaigin (foreign) haircut – or blonde highlights, or a facial where they actually did more then rub cream on your face – the Japanese aren’t fond of extraction.  And of course there were plenty of places to work out and exercise but there were even more places to eat really really good food.  And given the choice, I will always choose good food.  Always.  So, I came home with a bad dye job, 20 extra pounds, skin that had been ignored, and countless other things that I’m too shy to mention.  But there are no more excuses.  People are watching.  Mirrors don’t lie.  Time is running out…

Re-entry Was A Bitch But Now I Think I’m Warming Up To Her 3

Uncategorized • Tags: , ,

So, its been almost 2 months to the day since I last wrote a blog entry.  Not the best idea if you want people to follow you.  But when I started the blog it was to write about musings on life in Japan by a 40 something American woman.  Well, that’s not how I can describe myself anymore but life is all about change and change brings lots of things to write about so I’m not going to be stuck on my original terms.  Like many of my friends, this past June I left Japan after several years and returned to my “home”.  Well, sort of.  We moved to a different house in a neighboring town and the girls started school somewhere they have never gone before.  Hayden went off to college leaving our house severely uneven in terms of estrogen and testosterone (poor Tom) and things are just…different.  I feel like I am playing house.  Its similar to the feeling I had when I first got married and I was a new wife.  Living in a small apartment in the middle of a large city forces you out into the streets and here in Rye, I feel tethered to my home.  Everything revolves around your house in the suburbs.  Cleaning it, decorating it, maintaining it, sweeping the leaves, tending the garden – its a lot of time and effort so I guess there is good reason we spend a lot of time here.  I’m also finding it harder to be spontaneous.  Things are more programmed here – time more allocated, kids more dependent.  I feel I have lost some of myself moving back home.  And not all my friends came home.  Many of them are still living my life back in Japan and I get to watch it daily on fb.  Not easy.  But on the flipside – there are so many good things about being back in New York again: pillsbury ready pie crusts, credit card machines in nyc taxis, 900 television channels, backyards, garbage pails on every corner, restaurants that deliver, shoe stores with sizes bigger than 6, real bagels, New York Times home delivery and of course family and old friends.  I’m determined to start some new projects and finish some old ones. It’s certainly not a bad thing to take stock of one’s life at 47 and decide what and who really make them happy.  And then start making decisions based on that inventory.  So regardless of whether you moved back from Japan recently or if you’ve lived in the same small town for decades – life is too short to do things that really don’t make you happy.  It’s a huge cliche but when I moved back to Japan in August of 2008 I went with a carpe diem sort of attitude.  And I intend to do the same here.

 

What Will Your New Life Look Like? 2

life in tokyo, My Life, Uncategorized

*this entry is dedicated to all my friends who are on the move…

What will your new life look like?

Will you live in a city? A home with a backyard?  Will you hear the waves crash while you eat dinner?  What will you do after the kids go to school?  Play tennis?  Go to a new job?  Clean your house?  Do laundry?  Play cards?  Will you drive your children to school or will they walk or take a bus or a train or a bike?  Will you go out every Friday and Saturday night or will you stay home and have dinner with your kids?  Or order in?  Or cook for friends?  Will you still dance?  And sing?  Will you travel domestically or use a passport?  Will you join a book club or just read magazines instead?  Will you ever use your bike as a means of transportation or just on a beautiful summer day?  Will you return to Japan next year?  Or will life get too busy?  Will you look through your photos and wonder if life will ever be as fun or will you just get on with your day?  Will you have three course lunches?  With a glass of wine?  Will you travel on trains?  When you hear the Japanese anthem will you be moved?  When you see the white flag with the red sun will you smile?  At 5pm will you wait to hear the bell?  Will you go out of your way for a Japanese meal just to practice your unused words?  Will you still use a rice cooker when you make dinner?  Will you Skype?  Will you go to the doctor more?  Will you still walk to where you are going?  Will you still be curious?

Carpe Diem 2

Uncategorized

I wanted to write a poem about leaving Japan but poetry just isn’t my thing.  So I sort of stole a poem.  A pretty famous one too.  Here’s my version of “Do Not Go Gently Into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas.

DO NOT GO GENTLY ON THAT LAST FLIGHT

Do not go gently on that last flight

While we drink our champagne in business class, rave at the end of our expat days

Rage, rage against the dying of our package.

Those wise men at their end know going home is right,

because damn it’s hard to make those equity budget numbers

Do not go gently on that last flight.

Good friends, the survivors – wave goodbye, crying “who will plan our next day trip out of Tokyo?”

Rage, rage against the dying of our package.

The wild man in the booth who gave the play by play on Friday nights

will no longer scream “and another ASIJ First Down!”

Do not go gently on that last flight.

Member Services staff reduced by 25% due to lack of Jardine-san’s requests

Rage, rage against the dying of our package.

And you, our best friends – we’ll miss you the most.

No doubt – Tokyo is an amazing city, but its the people we’ve shared it with that have made it unsurpassable.

Do not go gently on that last flight.

Rage, rage against the dying of our package.

***

A few people have commented that I’ve made the most of my time in Asia and someone recently asked for a list.  So here are the highlights…the places outside the ordinary Tokyo spots.

47 Ronin at Sengakuji, Amanpulo, Atsugi, Bali, Bangkok, Beijing, Belly Dancing, Bhutan, Cambodia, Disney Land, Disney Sea, DMZ, Enoshima Island, Fuji, Ghibli, Gora Kadan, Grandma’s Harajuku, Guam, Hakone, Hakuba, Hawaii, Hiroshima, Hong Kong, Ise Shrine, Kamakura, Karuzaka, Kawagoe, Kinnick, Kiso Valley, Kyoto, Mashiko, Mikimoto Pearl Island, Misawa, Miyajima Island, Mt. Mitake, Mt. Takao, Nagatoro, Narita, New Zealand, Nikko, Niseko, Nokogiriyama, Nozawa Onsen, Odaiba, Odawara, Okinawa, Ome, Onjuku, Phuket, Sapporo, Sawara, Seoul, Setsubon, Seven Lucky Gods, Shanghai, Shibamata, Shimoda, Shimokitazawa, Shirakawago, Suwara, Sydney, Takayama, USS George Washington, Vietnam, Warabi Naked Festival, Yokota, Yokusuka, Yudawara, Zama, Zao.