An Urban Girl

For years I have been a closeted admirer of Anderson Cooper, of CNN fame.  I even bought his book in Hard Cover, and I never do Hard Cover.  I pre-ordered it on Amazon.  And when I got it, I read the whole thing cover to cover in one sitting. I was worried that Mr. Urban would notice something fishy going on, but luckily he was busy that day with his own secret crush, H.T. (Ms. High Tech).  Yesterday, I saw Anderson Cooper on the left hand margin of my Google News page, right under the heading Top Stories.  My heart skipped two beats.  I clicked on one of the 33 links.  And there, in mere instants, a decade old crush went to heaven.... Mr. Anderson Cooper, is that REALLY the laugh of a man who braves his way to the scariest places in this world?  SIGH...

Last  August, you started your first day of Preschool. Today was your last. Oh My, how much can be accomplished by one little girl in 12 short months: Over Two Hundred Pieces of Art One Paper Mache Volcano   Three Sun Clay Sculptures Over 20 Colds and Flu's Sitting Through Circle Time Diaper to Undies A mouth filled with Teeth Please, Thank you, Sharing, Waiting your Turn, Asking others to Wait their Turn NO Thank you! Words to Full Sentences and None Stop Chit Chat The Alphabet and Numbers Jumping, Plies, Arabesques, Triking (tricycling) Sitting through Meals and Eating "Nicely" Inches and Pounds Washing your own hands, Dressing yourself, and Picking Shoes that Match the outfit! I am so proud of all that you can do.  By "MY SELF"! I am proud that you kept the last piece of chocolate for daddy last night when he was working late, even though you really wanted some more yourself.  You have the best heart and know how to be "gentle"

  If you haven't already listened to "Give Me Everything Tonight" by Mr. Pitbull, please STOP everything right now. On the right hand side of my page, lives a music player.  Go to song number 2. Now, I am willing to bet that the song put a little bounce in your pretty bunny tail. Last night, my sweetheart took us girls for a special outing to the B ig C ity.  A night-out-of-the-burbs outing.  (Why is the title of this blog the UrbanGirl and not the SubUrbanGirl?) Our hearts were pounding with excitement, walking alongside posh city folks in the Marina neighborhood of San Francisco.  Bars, cafes, restaurants and shops filled with B eautiful P eople. The sound of music, laughter and cocktail hour chit chat spilling into the streets, bumping right into us. So much energy lives in the Big City, and you don't even know you are missing it until you are right in the midst of it, feeling giddy and electrified. Mr. Urban pulled out all the stops.  F rench bistro d

This post is probably a little dated by now, as most of you have moved on to whatever opening is happening this week. But last week, when Mr. Urban was away for an extra long business trip (weekends away count as 5 week days as far as I am concerned!!), the new Winnie the Pooh movie opened.  And I am always grateful for little blessings. Given our connection to Winnie , my girl and I had to go.  I got our tickets on-line and got to the theater an hour earlier to beat the summer-blockbuster-rush.  But we got there and the only crowds we had to worry about were the crickets...  Trying to keep a toddler busy for an hour in an empty theater when she came to see her friend Winnie the Pooh, can take some work.  But I won't digress.  I will say, thank god for the Extra Large Popcorn. Now, given this time of animation technology and 3D's and 4D's (where believe it or not they give you a scratch and sniff to use during the film), Winnie the Pooh promises So Much Mo

Mr. Urban and I had decided that we would not make a big fuss decorating the UrbanBaby Nursery.  We bought the softest pink sheets.  Yellow linen curtains.  A lovely brown wooden crib and matching dresser.  We promised each other that we would not paint the room or get involved in time consuming wall decoration projects, mainly since at the time, Mr. Urban was in the throes of a tech start-up and each night as he would crawl into bed at obscene a.m. hours, he would sweetly whisper that focusing on work now would allow him more time with the UrbanBaby once she arrived, when we both needed him the most....  (you say a lot to each other when you are becoming parents which have nothing to do with reality, but believing them gets you through...) However, weeks before the big date, I decided that I love Winnie the Pooh.  I didn't know much about his story, but he looked so adorable and wholesome that I had to have him in the Nursery.  So I bought the cutest Winnie the Pooh lamp, a s

    I don't know about you, but in my life I have found it imperatives to have my very own council of Wise Wo/Men to function half-optimally. There is my Mr. Urban who I go to for guidance on all matters philosophical, historical, medical, technological, business, psychological and pop culture - somehow he is always up on the hottest books, shows, editorials, blogs, movies, and above all music of all times and genres....  Then there is Oprah - need I elaborate on that one? And finally and becoming increasingly more important by the day, my network of genius mommy friends.  For instance, how else would I have ever known of a surprised looking blue locomotive with a cult like following among the "little people", passing through our town the other day, but for an alert from another resourceful mommy.     And that is how, the UrbanToddler and I came to spend a glorious summer morning riding Sir Thomas the Train through the beautifully tall redwood trees of Santa