An Urban Girl

Since I am now able to venture out of the nest for short periods of me time, I am on the look out for amazing and sublime ways to spend my precious time. On my outing today, I was pretty much delivered to the doors of heaven! I serendipitously discovered the newly opened Mayfield Café and Bakery at the (recently revived and renovated) Town & Country Village in Palo Alto. The tiny, narrow café, which reminded me of another favorite spot, Balthazar in NY , had everything I could ask for: great jazz music (Diana Krall, Bebel Gilberto), exquisite French pastries, and an assortment of baskets filled with fresh loaves of bread you could just fall in love with. Their latte was the best I have had in a very long time. I returned home happy… and with a lot more of myself than I had left with.

I adore city living. The rush of struggling to catch a cab on a rainy Friday evening. Walking to appointments. Having access to (but never using) efficient public transportation. Tiny apartments, in tall high-rises, with tinier views of the mountains or the ocean or other tiny apartments in tall high-rises. Magazine stands, hot dog stands, flower stands, and coffee stands. Walking down busy shopping streets with designer clothing stores, and cafés, and restaurants, jam packed with locals and tourists and all kinds of beautiful people. And little neighborhoods, just around the corner, with cozy bookstores, beloved boutiques, and those great hole in the walls. Jazz bars, wine bars, martini bars, and the theatre scene. Easy access to all kinds of culture and entertainment, always something new to discover. Watching independent films in old, warn-out movie houses. Happy people, laughing and yelling, just outside your window at 2:00 A.M. Six years ago, I moved from my fabulous city to Sili

As of late, I have been lunching under the watchful gaze of a magnificent pair of eyes. All morning I secretly look forward to a time when I can finally sit across from my delicious bowl of salad, pretending to catch up on Google News, but in truth marinate under the weight of an admirer’s undivided attention. It’s a great time of the day. She, sitting on her swing, in that euphoric state before afternoon nap-time. Me, stretching my mental net, trying to catch one of the hundred to-do’s jumping around in my head - my daily search for a perfect occupant of my time, that will be at once fun, productive, relaxing, meaningful, and a fantastic use of my only hour or two to myself. The gaze beckons my attention again and again, and as I look up I am rewarded with a sweet smile or a joyful squeal. My reward for putting down the heavy net, for becoming present. This weekend, I saw the amazing Karen Maezen Miller , a Zen priest and the author of Momma Zen, talk at the Mothers' Symposium at