margie and timmy in costa rica.

For two people who love to travel and have six weeks off of work with no plans, T and I sure had a hard time deciding what to do with our summer. When we eventually set a deadline to stop looking at options and book something, we came across a great flight to Costa Rica and knew that was it!  We left Brooklyn at 4:00 AM on Tuesday, and we're enjoying the first leg of our trip on the Pacific coast of Guanacaste. We're staying a few miles from the beach at a jungle estate outside of Huacas (seriously - we're in the middle of nowhere up here but have multiple floors, bathrooms, and a pool all to ourselves!) and have done lots of exploring in our badass mini-SUV. We're off to the beach today, and then eastward to La Fortuna and Arenal in the AM. I’ll be writing more about our trip over the next week or so, but in the meantime, follow us at #margieandtimmyincostarica.

formula for fandom.

I'm super competitive and love playing sports, but have never been a big sports fan. Going to baseball games is one of my favorite summer activities, but I care significantly more about eating garlic fries and socializing than I do about who wins the game. Sundays in the fall are full of frustration for me as half of the important people in my life are busy obsessing about their fantasy football teams and refuse to stray too far from the TV. The whole month of March I feel left out and annoyed about seeds and brackets and worried that T will have a heart attack or is actually losing his mind while he paces around the apartment and talks to the TV during Memphis games. I have to smile and pretend like I care when Syracuse sports come up in conversation; usually a generic comment about Boeheim and zone defense is enough to feign some level of interest in my alma mater before I have to awkwardly change the subject. It's not that I don't understand or enjoy sports; I appreciate an exciting game or web gem as much as the next person, I just really don’t about a particular player or team or sport as much as other people seem to.

I always thought maybe the specific sports were the problem. Perhaps if my friends followed softball or field hockey or something else I had actually played I could care and be a good fan. Or maybe being from Cleveland has taught me that being a fan just results in disappointment and heartache; it isn't since the Indians went to the World Series in ’95 and ‘97 that I can actually remember caring about any specific team. I'm always down to play catch or talk smack to losers and have spent lots of time thinking that being a real fan of something would be cool. I just couldn't pay attention to a game (let alone a whole series or tournament or season) long enough to actually consider myself a fan.

Then we moved exactly one block behind the Barclays Center. T was never really into the NBA, but liked basketball enough to be excited about going to Nets games. We casually went to a few in the fall and winter and I liked them alright. The vibe in Barclays was fun and the tickets were cheap and it was a good weeknight date that involved beer, snacks, and being in bed less than ten minutes after the end of the game. We kept going and the Nets started to get kind of good. At that point, I had Instagrammed enough generic photos of the Barclays Center from our $15 seats and was tired of spending the entire game thinking about what else I could eat. It was time for me to start paying attention and make a real effort to become a fan.

Naturally, my first move was to invest in some gear. I’ve never played basketball and lack a basic understanding of the game, but I still believed that my love of new things would undoubtedly translate to a love of a team. This was definitely not the first time that I convinced myself that purchases were the first step in cultivating love -- there was the Browns towel I bought before going to college so I could show my new dormmates what a "fan" I was as I walked to and from the bathroom, the OSU t-shirt I got on a college trip with my students that I now avoid wearing for fear of crossing paths with a Michigan fan and having my allegiance put to the test, and the Varejao jersey (actually a gift from a friend, I think) intended to increase my enthusiasm during Cavs games several years ago when Lebron made them good for a hot sec. Anyway, I got a Nets shirt and still didn't feel the love. It was going to take something deeper than material goods.

Regardless of the sport, one of the hardest parts about not being a fan is feeling left out of the competitive banter. I decided I needed an entry point to these conversations, and since that certainly wasn't going to have anything to do with basketball, I decided to pick a favorite player to brag about and defend. I quickly learned that it doesn't matter who your favorite is as long as you are ready to fight to the death in his defense. Sports fans have strong opinions, so I started to fake some of my own and could feel I was on to something. I decided on an initial favorite player very quickly, and learned enough about him to justify him being my favorite, but knew I had to feel a real connection before making a lasting decision about who deserved my undying love.  

Thankfully, the media figured this out far before I did and makes "getting to know" the players a cinch. I watched the interviews and melodramatic background stories about coming from nothing or overcoming terrible injuries. I followed them on Twitter and Instagram to see how likable and silly they are in their daily lives.  Seeing this photo of Paul Pierce and his family dressed up for Halloween was a pivotal moment in my growth as a Nets fan. Maybe I don't care about basketball, but wearing matching costumes with your adorable family?! Come on... if that's not a reason to love someone and want the best for him and his teammates, I don't know what is. 

My prior efforts at becoming a fan involved hours watching games searching for any hint of enjoyment and asking questions that were so boring that I didn't even listen to the answers. My research turned from figuring out who is a good player (insignificant) to who is a nice person (essential). These days when I’m trying to get into a sporting event, I ask the real questions to help me figure out which players and consequently, which teams, deserve my attention: Does he have a good personality? Is he funny? Is he a good teammate? Is he a good husband and father?  Turns out, the same qualities that make me love and respect people I actually know translate super easily to loving and respecting people I don't know. Being a true fan is a big deal, and I’m not about to put my all into rooting for a team of people that I know nothing about. This might be a silly realization, but it was life changing for this budding fan. 

The happy end here is that I'm officially the biggest Brooklyn Nets fan on earth. My get-to-know-the-players-first formula has also resulted in my genuine enjoyment of the World Cup, which I had previously dreaded and assumed would ruin my entire summer, and now I'm actually excited about my future endeavors as a sports fan. Dissecting my own path to fandom has left me with lots of questions. I’d love to hear from you guys… Who are your favorite players and teams? And, more importantly, why do they deserve your love? What keeps you invested in being a fan?

(thanks for the photo, Steve!)

ireland #1: stop and smell the roses.

For someone who feels most comfortable when her daily activities are scheduled into fifteen minute increments and struggles to sit through a movie without simultaneously completing another task, it was surprising that one of the things I enjoyed most about Ireland was the slower pace. We had an entire week with essentially no plans; our phones remained on airplane mode for the majority of the time and all of our work was thousands of miles away. I was left with no choice but to enjoy the moment. Although there were times I resorted back to my constant desire to be doing something (you can ask my friend Steve about the times we had a few minutes to kill and I was thrilled to sit and write stuff in my planner), in general we allowed ourselves to be relatively relaxed. 

We must have taken cues from our environment because everyone we encountered appeared to be way more laid back than we are. When we asked a woman working at the Jameson Distillery to suggest a local pub, she put on her jacket and walked us to her favorite place. When we asked a barber where we could find the local bus, he left his client mid-haircut to step outside and point us in the right direction. After an overnight flight and trek through the rain, we napped for three hours in our hostel's TV room and nobody seemed to mind. We learned to enjoy lingering at the end of each meal and actually having to ask for our check rather than scurrying out after our final bites. Maybe it's always this way when you're on vacation, but time felt different in Ireland. Without lists and spreadsheets and constantly thinking about what we were going to do next, we seemed to do a lot more. 

Anyway, while I was busy not doing as much as I normally try to do, I noticed that Ireland has some awesome flowers. They are everywhere: displayed on sidewalk stands, on tables and in the bathrooms of restaurants, in beds on the streets and popping up in grassy fields. 

updates from ireland.

Friday after work I took off for Ireland for a week of exploring with a good friend. Although neither one of us has been here before and there's lots we want to see and do, we've resisted our inner-teacher urge to plan detailed daily agendas and have been casually planning our days as we go. We're off to Galway then Cork after a lovely three day stay in Dublin, and are super excited to continue this adventure for the rest of the week. Follow us on Instagram at #weregoingtodublin and share any tips you have for the rest of our trip! 

christmas lights.

A few weeks back a bunch of us went on our annual Christmastime adventure to see the best lights in the NYC area. We trekked to Astoria after work on a snowy Tuesday evening, picked up some delicious pizza for the road, and piled into two cars to head up to our first stop in the Bronx. 

If you've never been to the Garabedian House, it's a must. For the past 30 years, the family has worked together to create this absurd Christmas display/show that takes over the entire house and can probably be seen from thousands of feet above the earth. They design, build, and maintain hundreds of dolls that not only decorate the outside of the house, but actually entertain visitors by moving in sync with music blasting from the house. This was the second year in a row that we approached the house to the sounds of Michael Jackson's "Will You Be There." Sadly, the weather caused the dolls to take the night off from dancing and we only got to see them through their creepy protective bags. 

A rare sighting of Mr. Garabedian hard at work inside the house.

The second stop was the Lynch house, a more traditional, yet perfectly gaudy place in Whitestone. We even got to chat with Mr. Lynch, who was welcoming visitors on his porch and sharing stories of his family's recent victory on ABC's "The Great Christmas Light Fight."

Finally, we headed out to Jamaica Estates to my favorite of the bunch. Nestled in a fancy suburban neighborhood, it feels like you're far from the city unless you spot one of the gorgeous views of Manhattan. In my opinion, this house provides the ideal combination of flashy and tasteful, and with the snow covered trees and lights shining down from above, it feels as though you're walking through a winter wonderland. 

Thanks to our friend Matt, the king of planning fun events, for getting us together for such a delightful winter outing. 

What are your favorite holiday activities?

love, m

apartment tour: the parlour

As I've mentioned before, our apartment is oddly shaped. The main living area is made up of two long, skinny rooms, and it's taken us a while to figure out how to use the space. We thought about making one room a dining room or one a bedroom or treating the whole thing like one large room, but nothing seemed right. We also didn't want our personal stuff all over the living room, so since this is where our dressers and much of my jewelry and make-up lives, we opted to think of it as a sitting room off of the bedroom (the parlour, if you will.) Although it doesn't feel quite finished (I think these West Elm poufs are exactly what it needs; I've got some major plans for crafting them myself over break!), the parlour is a bright spot in the apartment that has recently served as the ideal spot for quiet work time, gift wrapping and at-home workouts.