While sharing some common traits such as ironic facial hair, love of fixed gear bicycles, and a eclectic outdated hobby, there is some variation to the hipster.
-High fashion hipster-there clothes are meant to look old school but definitely cost a bunch of money and every piece is completely thought out.
-Punk hipster-looks like they walked out of London in 1983. Lots of striped clothing, shredded pants, drapey shirts. Throw in some neon and haircuts with random parts of their head shaved.
-Bohemian hipster (the majority of Montreal)-a bit more salt of the Earth. Thrift store clothing that never matches on purpose with a hint of Wasp/preppy. And definitely glasses to that are way too big for your face, which may be common to all hipster species. Love to bike and probably garden. And you kind of end up admiring them.
-Traditional Williamsburg Hipster-skinny jean, t-shirt that are too small but are too cool to pass up (too cool is likely something your mom would wear, think kittens or eagles). Adorned with formerly unique tattoos that everyone now has.
*the ultimate hipster dabbles in each of these categories.
Monday, May 20, 2013
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Small things for a good day: sleep, not my own
My little family traveled to LA for a family reunion a few weeks ago. We were really looking forward to seeing old friends and family. And we were actually looking forward to our babe getting used to Pacific time. The East coast babe went to bed at 545/6pm and woke up at 4am. Not sustainable. So we traveled and he was a champ on the plane. He even did good for the first few nights of sleep, although we had to pull him into bed. Sleep teaching knowledge says basically do whatever to survive while traveling. It's a new environment, new time zone for you and the babe. It can be tough.
But it was over 2 weeks of tough. Somewhere very early in the trip our kid started to get up every hour and a half. Which meant I had to be up every hour and a half. When your cousins and brothers are right next door, it's not the ideal place to let you kid cry and you feel bad anyway because it's all so new. And because he's a champ with all the strange faces (which happen to be his extended family) all during the day. So in true mama-bad-ass fashion I was up with him a lot. And nursed him to sleep in bed a lot. And may be he was teething because he did drool a lot but isn't that always the excuse? Then when we got home he was jet lagged and a bit sick, so we let it continue.
Just last night we let him cry a little. Insert heart break here. But we had to. He wasn't even going to sleep after I'd go in to help him once, twice, thrice! It was crazy. So it was a tough night. But then for some strange reason today his first two naps were like dreams. He went straight down and slept for an hour and a half for each. The third nap is not so good, but that's not the point. Without all the crying and all the drama about how are we gonna get this kid to sleep, I felt so rejuvenated! Even though I haven't slept more than an hour in weeks and last night was no different. Because there was no drama around sleep today I actually felt like I could go on. And I could be a happy mom and may be, kind of do this mama thing. It's the little things, isn't it? Okay, you're right. Sleep is a major thing.
But it was over 2 weeks of tough. Somewhere very early in the trip our kid started to get up every hour and a half. Which meant I had to be up every hour and a half. When your cousins and brothers are right next door, it's not the ideal place to let you kid cry and you feel bad anyway because it's all so new. And because he's a champ with all the strange faces (which happen to be his extended family) all during the day. So in true mama-bad-ass fashion I was up with him a lot. And nursed him to sleep in bed a lot. And may be he was teething because he did drool a lot but isn't that always the excuse? Then when we got home he was jet lagged and a bit sick, so we let it continue.
Just last night we let him cry a little. Insert heart break here. But we had to. He wasn't even going to sleep after I'd go in to help him once, twice, thrice! It was crazy. So it was a tough night. But then for some strange reason today his first two naps were like dreams. He went straight down and slept for an hour and a half for each. The third nap is not so good, but that's not the point. Without all the crying and all the drama about how are we gonna get this kid to sleep, I felt so rejuvenated! Even though I haven't slept more than an hour in weeks and last night was no different. Because there was no drama around sleep today I actually felt like I could go on. And I could be a happy mom and may be, kind of do this mama thing. It's the little things, isn't it? Okay, you're right. Sleep is a major thing.
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Making friends as a mama
Making friends when you move somewhere new is always kind of tricky. It's kind of like dating. You meet someone cool/nice/interesting/funny/like you/not like you and you want to somehow get to know them more. How do you do that? Do you ask for their number? Email? Find them amongst your mutual friend's friends on Facebook? All of which I have done. You hope they don't think you're coming on to odd/strong/eager. And you hope they also need a friend because truth be told, so many time when we move some where, other people aren't looking for friends. They have their community and they are happy with it and are maintaining it.
It seems it gets both easier and harder when you become a mom/parent in a new place. Bam! You have something in common! The baby! Kind of like when you went to college/grad school in said city and found out you had all the same interests as everyone in your program/club. But a kid is almost better because it brings all sorts of different kinds of people and puts them into the same boat. Young mom, old moms, working moms, stay at home moms, athletic moms, deal shopping moms, moms who are carefree, moms who read every study--the mix is endless and kind of refreshing.
But the tricky part is that you are a new you. And one you don't know very well. You are trying to figure out how to be a mom, raise a baby, be a wife, be a friend, a sister, a daughter, a daughter-in-law, unemployed, employed, a striving to get back to running gal, etc. It's really hard to sort it all out because it turns out that the baby affects each and every part of you. Because my baby has such a hard time sleeping I also compound this with being really fuzzy. So when I meet new moms I feel like I can barely put thoughts together and finds words. I wish these people knew the old me. The one who talked about other things besides sleep. The one who had interesting and funny things to say. The one who thought she was going to be a different kind of mom but it turned out her kid had something else in mind. The one who did interesting things and tried fun activities. Lived for doing something just because it would make a good story. I guess I always just hope the moms will just like me enough to give me a chance. May be they'll relate, may be they'll feel sorry for me but whatever it is I long for friendships. Parenting can be a lonely gig. And stack that on top of a new country, new city and even a new language that prohibits you from time to time--phew! it can be a lot. But I am thankful this babe brings a new community of interesting people into my life and I am hoping to make just a few good friends even in my hazy state. To help my hazy state. Not too many, just a few. Enough to make me feel like someday someone would want to try to get my number.
It seems it gets both easier and harder when you become a mom/parent in a new place. Bam! You have something in common! The baby! Kind of like when you went to college/grad school in said city and found out you had all the same interests as everyone in your program/club. But a kid is almost better because it brings all sorts of different kinds of people and puts them into the same boat. Young mom, old moms, working moms, stay at home moms, athletic moms, deal shopping moms, moms who are carefree, moms who read every study--the mix is endless and kind of refreshing.
But the tricky part is that you are a new you. And one you don't know very well. You are trying to figure out how to be a mom, raise a baby, be a wife, be a friend, a sister, a daughter, a daughter-in-law, unemployed, employed, a striving to get back to running gal, etc. It's really hard to sort it all out because it turns out that the baby affects each and every part of you. Because my baby has such a hard time sleeping I also compound this with being really fuzzy. So when I meet new moms I feel like I can barely put thoughts together and finds words. I wish these people knew the old me. The one who talked about other things besides sleep. The one who had interesting and funny things to say. The one who thought she was going to be a different kind of mom but it turned out her kid had something else in mind. The one who did interesting things and tried fun activities. Lived for doing something just because it would make a good story. I guess I always just hope the moms will just like me enough to give me a chance. May be they'll relate, may be they'll feel sorry for me but whatever it is I long for friendships. Parenting can be a lonely gig. And stack that on top of a new country, new city and even a new language that prohibits you from time to time--phew! it can be a lot. But I am thankful this babe brings a new community of interesting people into my life and I am hoping to make just a few good friends even in my hazy state. To help my hazy state. Not too many, just a few. Enough to make me feel like someday someone would want to try to get my number.
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