Field Trip to the Boston Nature Center

Last week, I had the pleasure of taking Mr. Berg's 2nd grade Philbrick Elementary School class to the Boston Nature Center (BNC).

Ms. Maciunas and Ms. Brown assisted us on the walk over to the BNC, about a quarter mile from the school. The students did well maintaining a safe, straight line.

Once we arrived, Andrew and Chelsea from the BNC greeted us and went over the day's planned activities, including collecting bugs in the meadow and harvesting the community garden.

We broke into 2 groups and headed toward the garden. On the way, we spotted bees pollenating a flower and passed several beehives.

In the garden, Andrew showed the class how to harvest green zebra sausage tomatoes.

The tomatoes were delicious!

Next Andrew asked the class to identify the parts of the plant.

Then it was time to switch groups. Off to the meadow we went to sweep for insects!

Before long, it was lunchtime, a picnic enjoyed outdoors. Afterward, the children viewed the insects they'd gathered and illustrated and labeled a drawing and wrote about them.

Finally, it was time to work together as a class to build a structure. Although the scene was a bit reminiscent of Lord of the Flies, everyone successfully collaborated to build a huge fort.

Violet Loveland's extraordinary rescue

Since our cat Violet went missing on Monday, I've been patrolling my neighborhood, a complex of townhouses, calling her name and shaking toys and treats, hoping to entice her to come out. We publicized our search on Tuesday, and received lots of good wishes, thoughts, and tips. We put up posters, set an alert with Home Again, and shared on Facebook and local news sites like nextdoor.com.

Violet and Isabella in calmer times

One neighbor suggested looking at construction sites, as their family pet was found at one after a 17-day search. Others suggested setting a humane trap outside along with her litter box. All of the buildings look the same, so we figured it was quite likely she was lost very close by, and scared.

My family was growing more distraught and hopeless as the week progressed. On Friday afternoon, I went for a walk with a friend and brought my flashlight and a cat toy. We were talking and calling for Violet when after about three minutes, we heard a frantic meowing. The next door neighbor came out from her back porch and we asked if a cat lived there. She said that she'd called the neighbor that morning around 10 am to make sure the cat was OK because the meowing was louder than normal, and that the neighbor had just told the cat to be quiet and moved on with her day. But the next door neighbor agreed that the meowing sounded frantic, so she called the other neighbor a second time, around 4 pm. We waited for a couple of minutes in this neighbor's house, and she got a call from the adjacent apartment that the meowing was coming from the wall and that it was not her cat!

I called to Violet from the vent opening in the second floor and heard her and her bell jingle very clearly. I was so, so relieved to have located her! I was crying and hugging my friend and neighbors. Little did we know, our rescue effort would take us until the next day.

I sat in my neighbor's bedroom calling Violet for about 5 hours. I phoned everyone I could think of: Boston Fire Department, Animal Control, Angell MSPCA, the building management company, HVAC specialists.  The Boston Fire Department and Animal Control tried for hours to get her out, with no luck.

It seemed Violet was trapped next to, not in, this duct in the wall.

Finally, a contractor from our town came to our rescue.  Greg, an employee at Step by Step Construction, owned by Todd Vaughan, came out and spent 3 hours trying to get her out. By 10 pm, we had a few holes in the first-floor ceiling but no Violet. We decided to regroup in the morning.

After a night of little sleep, Greg returned with Todd. They cut open the duct work in the second floor and had her out within 45 minutes!

This little cat caused quite a disturbance and a lot of repairs! We suspect that she somehow fell through a small hole in my townhouse in the attic and crawled across to the neighbor 3 doors down.  We have sealed off the attic and Violet is readjusting nicely to her surroundings, albeit with a lot fewer than her original 9 lives! We are so, so happy to have her home, and so grateful for everyone's searching, thoughts, tips, and good wishes. And if you need a reliable, honest contractor, please call Todd Vaughan, 617-504-0914 or stepbystepconst@aol.com.

Swan Boats field trip

I had the privilege of attending Lu's field trip this week to the Swan Boats in the Public Garden.

We started from the school and took a public bus to the train, then walked over to the public garden.

We spotted a swan right away!

Everyone was well behaved on the boats, and we all managed to stay dry.

We waved hello to the rest of our group on the other boat.

After the ride, we headed over to Boston Common for a picnic.

Then everyone headed over to the playground for an afternoon adventure.

When playtime ended, everyone was feeling pretty silly.

What a lovely day for a field trip!

You can turn it off?

I'm a big advocate of going on vacation. I'm fortunate to work for a company with a generous vacation policy and I never leave any on the table. Going on vacation, especially to a new place, inspires me, gives me much-needed time to reconnect with family and friends, and leaves me feeling enegerized and excited about coming back to work.

Ft. Myers Beach, my most recent vacation

However, I find it critical to really unplug during my short time away from the office. My key colleagues have my mobile phone number, so they can always reach me in an emergency. I'd rather just sort through my inbox upon my return than sift through a bunch of work-related mails while on the beach. It just stresses me out to know every detail of what's going on, and I'd rather be present at my vacation location: maybe people watch or become engrossed in my latest beach read.

I've written previously about how to turn off the annoying badge app icons on your iPhone. Today's tip is how you can completely turn off your work email and calendar so that you don't get pop-up notifications for meetings that are happening during your absence.

First, go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars. 

Click on your account (e.g., if you have Microsoft, it's Exchange).

Slide the green bar to the left to temporarily deactivate your mail, calendar, or reminders.

Then, just reverse the process on your first day back in the office.

I hope this allows you to enjoy your vacation time off to its fullest extent!

My 15 minutes of fame

I recently had the opportunity to publicly comment on a couple of subjects near and dear to my heart. The first was regarding the townhouse where we live. Boston Magazine interviewed me as a renter in Roslindale. I heard about the project on my local moms' forum and offered to be interviewed, since I really enjoy our newly rented townhouse and have had a fantastic experience with our landlady.

My family was a really good sport about the photo shoot, and we ended up with a lovely family photo.

 

My second recent media experience was with my company, EMC, at my daughter's school. They were producing a video montage for International Women's Day on the theme "Make it Happen." I had posted on my company's internal wiki about my volunteering efforts for the Hour of Code, and I received an email asking if I was interested in being in the video.

EMC TV came to my daughter's school last week to film me teaching the Hour of Code to the 5th grade students and interviewed me on the project and the importance of volunteering. The kids loved learning about coding using the Frozen game I taught, and they did so well advancing to the higher levels of the game. I wrote all about the Hour of Code in this blog post.

Here is the link to the EMC video for International Women's Day. It's currently on the home page of emc.com. I feel so fortunate to work for an amazing company that not only allows, but encourages, my volunteering efforts. Go EMC!

Surrender

My word of 2015 is surrender. I didn't choose this one word lightly. I used Thesaurus.com and the internet in general to attempt to classify my feelings stemming from the emotions, themes, and insights from my 2014 retrospective/2015 plan. 

So many words came to mind. My 2012 word was mindful. I considered calm, peace, reflect, and a lot of antonyms to chaos. None of them felt like the mot juste. So I kept searching. What do I need to learn in 2015? 2014 was a year of transition: a new school for my daughter, a new house for my family, and at work, 4 different managers and a job change. I seek some stability and comfort in my routine. 

How did I face this last transition year? Not always with grace, I'm afraid. Particularly in often-shifting situations, I was too bossy and controlling as a way to exert the power I craved. I kept myself busy with projects, sometimes to the point of overwhelm. It's important to give back to your work, family, community, etc. But like the old oxygen mask adage, you need to care for yourself first to have enough to contribute. More does not equal better. It can lead to clutter in your belongings, too many insecure thoughts, not enough time for introspection.

So, I reflected on what control means to me. A lot of control is feeling competent and in power, so it makes sense that it's what I sought in a year of change. A fantastic manager from 2014 helped me to understand my sphere of influence when it comes to items I cannot control. So rather than focus on global issues or problems, my limited time is best spent exerting control and influence in the areas where I can make a difference.

Now that the dust has settled in 2015, I seek to cede control wherever possible. I am realizing that I lack experience in this area. I don't know how to not fill my life; I've never tried it. It's a huge leap of faith to imagine that I can just turn off, or turn down, what has made me successful for the last 34 years. Part of me wonders why I would want to. But the larger part realizes the fallacy of control and is willing to experience this transformation. To focus more on my reasons for needing this power, and backing off.

I am a huge believer in messages coming your way over and over, in different ways, until you can internalize them and integrate them into your life. Several dear friends have attempted to show me that I am too overwhelmed in the past. I have adopted these well-intentioned teachings only to the extent I knew how at the time. I struggled with the impulse to Let It Go last Halloween, and I've become better at letting the small things go. But what about the larger ones? And how can I internalize this lesson, besides using a mantra bracelet? Here's a NSFW (profanity) article about the subtle art of letting go, and choosing what to focus on.

I'm evolving, one small step at a time. This year I'm learning to sit with the discomfort and overwhelm, and resist every impulse to distract myself or tune out from the uncomfortable feelings. I don't really need to check my mobile phone every 5 minutes. My friends and family will always be on the other end. While I am looking for a breakthrough, I realize that they don't happen overnight.

It was snowing when I dropped Lu off at school today. I took it slow, since my car is suboptimal in the snow. I left my daughter at the front door with a kiss. Seeing no reason to rush home, I took a different route home using right turns rather than face a dangerous left turn across 3 lanes on a busy, snowy morning. On the way, I made a right turn that brought me right to a dead end, so I needed to turn around. I took a deep breath and registered my initial frustration on my new route taking even longer. I realized that this was a remnant of my cluttered thinking that I always need to rush to the next thing. So I breathed again and returned on my way.

It's a small step. But it feels right to eliminate some left turns in my life at this moment, and seek an alternate route. 

Happy new year

2015. It sounds quite futuristic.

I just did a couple of looking forward and back exercises from Rosie Molinary's blog that I found very inspiring. First she has a retrospective of 2014. It's not too late; I did mine today! All you need is half an hour, some paper, and maybe a mug of tea.

I followed up my retrospective with a plan for 2015 and a word for the year. Her idea to flip the usual line of thinking from DO->HAVE->BE to BE->HAVE->DO really resonated with me.

These exercises are so insightful, so please check them out. The combined 3 exercises outlined above have been the best 45 minutes I spent all year. I think that they have set me up for an amazing 2015. Here's to new experiences!

Hey, Mickey, you're so fine!

We just returned from a week at Disney World. It was hot, exhausting, and so much fun to see the magic on Lu's face as she met her idols, the princesses.

"Look, Elsa!"

As you can imagine, I read a lot about tips and tricks to use on our trip leading up to it. I'd like to post our best-of here so that you can use this list for your next trip to see the mouse.

1. Rent, or bring, a stroller. There is so much walking that even our 5 year old who hasn't used one in years spent most of her time here. It doubled as a handy napping area and backpack carrier. We rented one at the parks, which was cheaper to do across multiple days. Also bring a backpack with sunblock, a mini first aid kit, water and snacks, ponchos, misting fans, and extra camera battery and clothes.

2. Buy your souvenirs at home. I went to the Wrentham Disney Store and spending $65 on a Frozen beach towel, Mulan hat, Sleeping Beauty sleep mask, Tinkerbell dress, Rapunzel sunglasses, t-shirt, and Disney water bottles and canvas bag. I called the gifts her special surprise each day and it was a huge deal. Extra bonus if you can also use these at the end of the day to reward good behavior. We still ended up with a $12 Frozen balloon and $25 mouse headband on this trip, but that was what we might have spent daily without the special surprises.

3. Get a guidebook. We used The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2014. This book was so helpful! We booked the recommended car service, Tiffany's, which exceeded our expectations. They dropped us off for groceries on the way to our hotel. We saved a ton of money bringing our own bottled water and PB&J sandwiches. We also found our favorite restaurant Raglan Road here.

Lu with her step dancing friend Emma

4. Take rest days. We relaxed at the hotel for part of Sunday, all day Tuesday, and all day Saturday. It was at least 90 degrees with torrential rain in the evening, so it was a huge relief to have some down time amid the hectic pace of the rest of the trip.

5. Other advice. A friend recommended the cinnamon buns at Gaston's pub, which were really good. She also suggested bringing a Sharpie if your kid likes to get autographs from the characters. Luckily we missed out on that particular experience since Lu wasn't interested. 

I doubt that this will become an annual trip for our family, but I'm so glad we got the opportunity to go when Lu was the perfect age to embrace the magic!

What did you do today that scares you?

Eleanor Roosevelt famously gave the advice to "do one thing every day that scares you." That's a tall order, Eleanor. How is one supposed to carve out the time to make a daring decision, not just monthly or weekly, but daily? In our always-on, always connected world, it's easy to do something scary but ill advised: a dissenting comment on Facebook or an inflammatory tweet, perhaps. Surely running into oncoming traffic would get my adrenaline going, but I don't believe that is what the former First Lady had in mind. So I would add a huge caveat to this advice, to make sure that the thing you choose is not dangerous but useful. The greater challenge is not to make a scary choice with such regularity, but to carefully choose a task or step that will not just scare you, but bring greater benefits.

What might a scary but useful choice look like? Maybe it's a feat of strength that catapults you out of your boring gym routine. Or you could speak up in a meeting without having all of your points carefully crafted in your head. How about merely taking a detour from your usual route home to see if it's faster?

My perfectionist tendencies often get in the way of taking a calculated risk. In an uncharacteristic move, I took a chance last week and was pleasantly surprised with the results. One of the many amazing benefits my company offers is an indoor pool. I've been swimming laps at least a couple of times per week since I started. I never belonged to a swim team but I love the water, and was a lifeguard and taught sailing. So, with little formal training, my technique is a bit lacking. I'd gaze over in wonder at the more advanced swimmers doing the flip turns in the lanes next to me and wish that I knew how to do it.

Last week, I decided that I would give it a try, even though I had no idea what I was doing. I fretted as I approached the wall, wondering if I would hit it with enough force to bruise my face and my ego. Then, at the last second, I flipped over, kicked off of the wall, and surfaced, almost in one smooth motion! I grinned, well, as much as one can while rhythmically breathing, and tried it again. My turns haven't all gone as well as that first one went, but I haven't completely missed one, either. I'm enjoying the opportunity to improve my flips with each swimming session. 

Swimming-themed birthday card from my friend at work

Thinking back to the last time I took a chance in a physical sense, I was on a yoga retreat last autumn and did a supported wheel pose. It was the first time I'd gone into the position and the feeling of dropping back while my head was upside down was terrifying. I was grateful for my supportive yogis and instructor, but I was not at all comfortable with being upside down. However, I felt accomplished after I finished. 

I'm sure I didn't look nearly as graceful

These have both been such positive experiences. I hope that I the next time I try something new it will not take me nearly a year. I am sure that there are plenty of other opportunities to do something that, while a bit frightening at first, will turn out to be rewarding. 

What are you holding you back on based on some preconceived notion that you don't have the information, power, permission, or experience to do it right? Jump right in, the water's fine!