Photography of Mary McGroarty

This is Mary McGroarty. She is a photographer, fashionista, world traveler, college student and my adorable kids sister. I'd like to take a moment to highlight just a few of her amazing photos.

Love you, Kiddo. Take me with you on your next photo adventure, OK? OK. Good.

Parents Say the Darndest Things

Previously I posted a short email from my father that could have been sent by a parent or a tween. Lest we forget that I have not one, but TWO unintentionally hilarious parents, I give you the following story.

This past winter my parents were visiting from Minneapolis. My mother INSISTED we go to The Greek Islands Restaurant in Greek Town. Before moving to Minnesota she was as single gal working as a nurse in Chicago and she wanted to visit an old favorite.

Before being seated in the extremely crowded restaurant, we took a seat in the equally crowded bar and enjoyed the packed mass of jolly people. Here is an exchange I had with my mother:

Mom: What do they say? Oooom Pa pa?
Me: No, it's just "O pa."
Mom: "Oooom Pa pa?"
Me: "O pa." You know, like "O PA!"
Mom: O PA!
Me: Right!

Ten minutes later.
A group next to us makes a loud cheer and shouts of "O PA!" ripple through the restaurant.

Me: O PA!
Dad: O PA!
Mom: OOOOMMM PA PA!

I love that woman.

BREAKING NEWS! NEW MUSICAL!

Christmas 2010 will witness the premiere of a new musical written by Kate McGroarty and Corinne Mucha. It is the tale of a sloth who wants nothing more than a Pony Barista for Christmas and the evil zombie elves who stand in the way. Yes, there will be puppets.

And by "written by Kate McGroarty and Corinne Mucha", I mean that Corinne will be making up all the songs and I will be following her around with a laptop to record them.

And here is a preview:

Corinne: Kate! Kate! I came up with a song from the Pony's perspective. It goes like--
Kate: Wait! (Opens laptop) ...OK, go ahead.

Corinne:
I'm a Pony
And I'm lonely
I don't want a girl to ask for me
Under her Christmas tree
Cause I may be a small horse
But my heart has a different course
I love coffee
I LOVE COFFEE
Let me make you an espresso
Cappuccino
Double shot Americano
How about a latte
Or for a hot day
Something iced and sweetened just so

But kids don't understand
When they have coffee they get our of hand
You want to sick* them with your favorite viper

Kate: I'm not so sure about that last lyric.
Corinne: We can fix that one later.

*This is actually the correct spelling. Isn't that crazy? Like, wishing someone sickness AND vipers. Or maybe an attack by vipers who are also carrying a life threatening disease. How strange then that these a days, "sick" is also slang for "cool." As in, "Did you hear Kate and Corinne are writing a musical?" "No way! That's so sick!"

35th Birthday Wishes

Since getting back from New York a couple of weeks ago I have continued to think about my career goals, life goals, blah-de-blah-de-blah.

Enough. Time for some life goals that are actually important. I've picked 35 mostly at random. I will allow myself to reach these goals late, if need be. Geez, I'm so understanding.

By the time I turn 35, I hope to have these three things in my life.

1- THIS pug:

OK, maybe not this exact pug, but look at this dog! Every time I look at this picture I turn into a fawning, giggling pool of a person. Gah! Its face fat is spilling over its nose! How could I NOT love this dog? Did you know pugs were originally bred in China so that the wrinkles in their forehead form the Chinese character for "Prince"? That's insane and amazing! Further research tells me that they have a tendency to overheat, they have breathing problems and if you squeeze them too hard, their eyes pop out. I'm in love.

2- A home library.
If stacks of books surrounding my bed can be considered a home library, I suppose I already have one. One day, one happy day, I want to live somewhere I can devote an entire room to books. You know that scene in Disney's Beauty and the Beast where Beast gives Belle his entire library? THERE is a man who knows how to treat a lady. Well, aside from locking her in a castle. Wait, locking her in a castle and being controlling. OK, locking her in a castle, being controlling and being a different species. As they say in Some Like It Hot, "Nobody's perfect".

3- A Hammock.
In my opinion, hammocks are the pinnacle of relaxation. If in the future I have the time to swing gently in a hammock while reading a book from my library and snuggling my pug, I will know I have made it.

I can't explain why, but I know 35 is going to be a great year in my life. I've been excited to turn 35 since I was in high school. I guess for now I'll just have to "enjoy" my 20's, or something... Ho-hum, life is SO hard...

NEW YORK CITY: DAY 5

After a morning spent eating our way through various NYC dessert offerings (It's vacation! Why have a normal lunch when you can have a salted maple glazed doughnut with a side of volcano brownie bites?), we happened to have a spare hour in the middle of the day. An hour that was perfect for... the last adjective in Adjective Adventure Day! The final word was "Majestic". Here is where we ended up:




On the 35th floor of a hotel whose name escapes me, there is a lounge over looking south Central Park. We splurged on some $10 sodas and took an hour to relax with the gorgeous view. The picture doesn't do it justice. The sky was a perfect blue and it was exactly the kind of setting I wish I could always afford for reflecting.

Soon after, I boarded a plane and flew back to good ol' Chicago.

So, am I ready to move there tomorrow? Surprisingly, no. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE New York. It suits me very well and I fit right in, as evidenced by the fact that within hours of arriving three separate people stopped me on the street to ask me for directions. It has ample people watching and a pulsing spirit that I find intoxicating. And it is not nearly as scary as some people have lead me to believe. All those discoveries did not come as a surprise, I went into the trip expecting them, but I thought it would lead me to the conclusion that New York is where I'm meant to be. Instead, it helped refocus how I think about my future.

The "Where" is not as important as I once thought it was. In my frequent college era planning of the Rest Of My Life, picking where to live was always step one. I assumed once I had found my "perfect" city everything else in my life would follow. But a city does not determine my fate, I do. "Where" is not nearly as important as "What", "Why" or "Who". What is it I want to accomplish? What do I want from life? Why do I want those things? Why am I attracted to certain projects and interests? Who is it I want to spend my time with? These are the questions one has to answer first. My whole life I've thought I knew the answers with absolute certainly, but recently I've redefined my answers and I'm allowing room for future change.

I love New York. And I love Chicago. And I love Minneapolis. And I'm sure I would love other cities. As long as I continue to ask myself the hard questions, and answer them as honestly as I can, the where is sure to fall into place.

Late day 5 Piper picked me up from the airport. We drove to her place and ordered some Thai take out as neither of us had the energy to shop for food, let alone cook anything. As I snuggled into her amazingly uncomfortable futon and listened to all the things that had happened while I was gone, I smiled and thought, "It's good to be home."

NEW YORK CITY: DAY 4

Adjective Adventure Day!
Let me take a brief moment to explain one of my favorite games. Adjective Adventure Day is a game I made up a couple of years ago in response to the typical blandness of Date Nights. Here's how it works: One person thinks up three adjectives and the other person needs to find three places in the city that can be described by those adjectives. The only rule is that they have to be places that are new to at least one of the participants. Also, I make it a rule that the person who came up with the adjectives cannot know where they are going until they get there. For example, the first time I played this game I was given the words "Saucy", "Warm" and "Fragrant". I took us to a restaurant that has great BBQ sauce ("Saucy"), a dessert place with some of the best hot chocolate in all of Chicago ("Warm") and after dessert we explored one of the largest used book stores in Chicago ("Fragrant"). Who doesn't love the smell of old books?

A few weeks before flying to New York, I gave my friend Scott these three adjectives: "Majestic", "Bumpy", and "Remote".

First up on Friday morning: Remote.

We took a hike over to Brooklyn and discovered the Brooklyn Farmacy.

Outside, it's a cute looking Pharmacy.

Inside, it's an old fashioned soda shop!

This is a Cherry Lime Ricky, the Brooklyn Farmacy specialty.

As you can see, the Cherry Lime Ricky is delicious.

Clearly, I've just said something hilarious.

Next word: Bumpy.

Again in Brooklyn, we ended up at Sacred Vibes Apothecary.

Kate: What makes this bumpy?

Scott: Um, I thought the things in the jars might be kind of bumpy.
Kate: Works for me!

So pretty!

And then for Majestic...

We didn't have time. We were supposed to do Adjective Adventure day on Wednesday. When it got pushed back to Friday, we didn't have nearly as much time. We took the subway back to Manhattan, Scott went to get ready for his show and I went into the Drama bookstore and emerged a much poorer woman.

Then, show time. The show was a rock musical in progress about three people who may or may not be romantically involved. And because I guess I can't do anything in New York unless it involved food or books, at the end of the performance they served everyone in the audience champagne and cake. Delightful!

Cake: Demolished.

Then off to an unmarked bar for drinks. And I thought I was trendy before...

Lydia: able to look adorable even in dimly lit bars. Skills.

So at this point it's like midnight. So we decided the BEST idea in the WORLD would be to go get a cup of coffee. So we went to Max Brenner's and got designer chocolate coffee and stayed up until around 3 or 4 am. After a long day packed with so much awesome, I went to bed officially enamoured with NYC.

NEW YORK CITY: DAY 3

After a full day of healing my body by gluing it to a couch, I finally had the strength to shower and walk down two flights of stairs. I was about to walk the streets of New York and continue on my big apple adventure when I was foiled by THIS:
As you can see, this is a door knob. The door knob is attached to the front door of my friend Lydia's apartment building, AKA my path to FREEDOM. You my also notice next to the door knob there is a large ominous red button. Now, friends, I ask you, if you were to see a large red button of this sort in an apartment building in New York City, what you would you think? Clearly, this is the sort of button one only pushes in case of emergency, correct? This is the sort of button that screams, "DON'T PUSH ME OR I WILL CREATE LOUD NOISES AND BRING FORTH VEHICLES THAT HAVE FLASHING LIGHTS!" ...right?

WRONG!

Turns out, in order to leave the building one needs to first push this button and then open the door. I discovered this after about ten minutes of trying to pry the door open. Funny how many times we have to perform an action with no outcome before we understand it's really not going to work. ("Maybe if just pull a little harder...") BUT! In my defense, the exit button as shown above is not doing its job very well. Why can't the button say, "Open"? Or be a nice inviting shade of violet?

Everything is more extreme in New York City. Even the act of exiting a building.

After being defeated by a doorway, it was off to Boarders bookstore to wait for Robyn to play a free acoustic set.

Front row at highly stylish Borders, waiting for Robyn!

Then, I tried to recreate an intensely awkward family photo in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral, but they've taken down the white sign featured in our Christmas Card of a decade ago. To make up for this disappointment I located The Strand Bookstore. According the the internet, The Strand is home to 18 miles of new, used and out of print books. According to me, The Strand is HEAVEN. While there I overheard an elderly lady say this to a sales person:

Lady: Well, he's not a New Yorker, but he is VERY sophisticated.

Hilarious.

I'm proud to report I only bought one book from The Strand. I bought a beautiful book full of black and white photography of musicians in NYC as a "Thank you for letting me crash on your couch and be sick in your apartment all day" gift for Lydia. Lydia is musician who writes music and sings and plays piano in NYC. I know, I know, I have the coolest friends.

My friend Madeline took me to a tasty Thai Vegetarian restaurant for dinner. The food was beautiful, the tables were too close together, and the service was hurried. I felt very trendy. After dinner she brought me to her apartment and showed me some photographs from her recent trip to Israel. Unbelievable discovery of the day: Madeline is an amazing photographer. She has a fantastic eye for images. I've know her all these years and I had to travel to New York City to discover her hidden (to me) photography talent. Isn't it amazing how you can still discover things like that about your close friends even after years of friendship? Again, I know, my friends are amazing.

I took the subway back to Lydia's and only got lost three times in the process. All in all, a successful day.

NEW YORK CITY: DAY 2

There are no pictures from day two.
Wait. There is one:

This is Spoon. Spoon is my friend Lydia's cat. Spoon and I spent the entire day together cuddling on her couch when I wasn't either rolling around on the ground in pain or trying my hardest to reach the remote so I wouldn't be forced to watch "Keeping up with the Kardashians." Thank God I found the last ounce of strength in my muscles to prevent that disaster.

So, I got sick. Very sick. I'm not sure how. We had gone out for drinks the night before, but one small $3 Margarita does not an entire day on the couch make. Probably run of the mill food poisoning, boring old food poisoning.

Sometimes my stomach has a personality. Sometimes my stomach is a world pie eating champion: "What is this pitiful meal you've offered me? I need pie! And LOTS of it!"

Sometimes my stomach is an indecisive anxiety ridden teenager: "Am I hungry? Am I full? Will I be able to eat later? I DON'T KNOW! ANGST!"

Day 2 of NYC 2010 my stomach was a stuck up woman of the finest class: "Oh no, I don't want that. No no no, that will not do. Ugh, what is this? Send it back!" She was finally vanquished with some fancy ginger drink from Whole Foods. Figures.

Later in the week my friend Scott asked me what the most touching moment of my trip had been. Surprisingly, my immediate answer was all of Wednesday. Yes, it was saddening to lose exploring time but I had three wonderful friends rush to take care of me. It was a strange and touching way to be welcomed to a new city. Any day that includes cuddling with a cat, watching an Eddie Izzard DVD and ends with a living room picnic party thrown by close friends isn't such a bad day after all.

NEW YORK CITY: DAY 1

A week ago today I set off on my NYC adventure. Did it live up to expectations? Was it wild and crazy or stressed out and discouraging? Am I ready to move there now or never see the city again? Let's take it a day at a time and find out.

NEW YORK CITY ADVENTURE: DAY ONE
My outgoing flight was a 7AM departure. Which meant a 6:30AM boarding time. Which meant I had to leave for the airport by 5AM. Which meant I (and my dear friend and very gracious driver Piper) had to wake up at 4:30AM. Making matters more bleary was the fact that we had been up late watching "Shark Week". It may sound tedious, but for whatever reason we had a delightfully silly and sleep deprived morning drive to O'Hare. So far, so good.

After a restless flight (I hate flying) I landed at LaGuardia airport at 10AM, ready to take the city by storm. Tuesday had no set plans as all of my friends were still at work for the day. The only thing I had in mind were my two goals of the week: 1-Do as much as possible and 2- Spend as little as possible. My first major task was to get into the city. Public transit was the most cost efficient, but I thought I would at least check the prices of cab shares. I walked outside and saw a sign for a $10 shuttle. As I was mulling over cost versus convenience, the bored looking ticket man eyed me and said,

"Where you going, Miss?"
"Manhattan."
"Grand Central Station?"
(Pause as I consider...)
"Anywhere."
"Ten Dollars."

The first thing I decided to do was go to the Lincoln Center Library. Yes. I am that much of a nerd. They has an exhibit of photographs from the Lincoln Center Theatre Festival I wanted to check out. Also, one of my favorite things to do is to go into libraries, pick a book or two at random, close my eyes and flip through the book until I land on a sentence and then write that sentence down. One of my favorites this go around was from Cymbeline, "Coten: The south fog rot him!" Well said, Shakespeare.

While at the library, I snapped a picture to show off how little I packed for the five day trip. I was pretty pleased with myself:



I still had hours until my friends were done with work and I filled them by walking EVERYWHERE. Late in the afternoon I was walking through Central Park, almost to the point of total exhaustion, when I saw this:



And so I did. I alternated between exploring and bench sitting, completely happy with the beautiful surroundings. Here are some of the pictures I snapped:

No, Central Park, Thank YOU.

I headed over to the little basin with all the tiny sail boats and stayed there until meeting a friend. I could go on for pages about the people I observed and the conversation snatches I overheard. New York is a city brimming with people. Considering I've spent my whole life obsessed with people and how they move, speak, think and interact with one another, I was in heaven. I had been in the city for less than 12 hours and I was already exhausted and overwhelmed in the best of possible ways. The only way to go from here is up, right?

To Be Continued...

"The Bronx is up, but the Battery's down"

On the Eve of my five day foray into New York City there is a certain song from my childhood stubbornly refusing to vacate my brain. It is Betty Comden and Adolph Green's classic "New York, New York" from On the Town. If, like me, you grew up in a house where at least one of the classic movie channels played 24 hours a day, it would have been pretty hard to miss the 1949 classic. Let me break down the plot: three sailors go on shore leave for one day only in New York City. They all meet women. Hilarity ensues. Oh, and they sing and dance. A lot.


Ah, to be a happy singing sailor...

Growing up in thoroughly Midwestern Minnesota, this movie inspired countless fantasies about New York. In my big apple dreams the city was exactly like a technicolor movie: friendly, glamorous and an enormous feast for the senses. Up until now, I've been in New York City three times. Have any of those trips realized my romantic vision? Let's see.

TRIP #1: McGroarty family vacation, August 2000
Age: 14
In what was undoubtedly our most ambitious family vacation, the McGroarty clan took an epic week long trip to the east coast with a start in New York City. My father spent most of the time preventing his three children from getting hit by cars, my mother only opted out of one trip to the theatre with a "migraine" and we managed to find our way around New York, saving our directional challenges for a three hour stint lost in rural Pennsylvania on our way to Philadelphia. The real icing on the cake was the "reality photography" phase I was going through. I had somehow gotten it into my barely teenage head that smiling for photos was something that should only be done when one was truly happy and all other photographs should depict how one was actually feeling in the moment. And because most of the pictures from this trip were taken while waiting in lines, the majority of them feature my strong older brother and adorable younger sister smiling like fools with me in the center scowling like an awkward teenager who was just told she needs head gear. One such photo is framed and displayed in our front hallway.

Verdict: Would Gene Kelly or Ann Miller scowl for a photo? Not on your life. MGM movie dream not achieved.


TRIP #2: College Visit, January 2004
Age: 17
I was dead set on a life in the theatre since I could read the audition notices in the local paper. In my mind it was the only true ticket to an adventurous life. My parents never tried to pursuade me to try something else. Actually, that might not be true. If they did I wasn't listening. What was NOT certain was where I would be allowed to study theatre. My father and I took a trip out to New York to check out NYU and Fordham. In retrospect I now understand that it was not my evaluation of the schools that was important, it was my father's evaluation of the city. I was not encouraged to apply.

Verdict: (College Admissions Speakers + Constant Supervison) - Warm Weather = MGM movie dream crying on the inside.


TRIP #3: Pilgrimage to see The American Plan, January 2008
Age: 22
The American Plan is a beautiful play written by Richard Greenberg. I was fortunate enough to direct a production of The American Plan while I was an undergraduate at Northwestern. Our production went up in a building called Shanley. Shanley is basically a shack with terrible acoustics and poles holding up the ceiling. Poles are really great for sight lines.

Six months after graduation a revival of The American Plan was scheduled for Broadway. My favorite play on BROADWAY! I immediately bought my ticket. I invited my then boyfriend to tag along for the weekend trip. This was it! This was going to be the dream! My first weekend in New York City without my parents, the chance to live out my childhood fantasy!

A week before the trip I dislocated my ankle and my boyfriend dislocated his shoulder. I limped through the city streets and he schlepped around in what amounted to an almost full body arm sling. The production was terrible. If I wanted to watch family members sit around not listening to each other I could have taken a trip home. Making matters worse, I had scheduled the trip down to the minute. In my recent college graduate haze I was begging the universe to let me control SOMETHING in my life.

Verdict: It's difficult to frolic through the streets of New York like a singing sailor with a busted ankle and a tightly wound demeanor. MGM movie dream yet again not captured.


Three weeks ago a close friend of mine told me he was going to be in a show in New York August 5th. I did the two things any sensible person would do: I bought a plane ticket and requested double the shifts at work to pay it off. This time there is no plan and no expectations. I'm bringing a notebook, a camera, an umbrella and some clothes. New York in 2010 is not the New York of 1949. And I'm not the girl I was at 14, or the young woman I was at 17, or even the young adult I was at 22. If anything, I think I've become less jaded. I used to get so stressed that I might miss something, trips became all about getting the most out of every moment even at the expense of enjoying them. All I've got set right now is that tomorrow morning my plane will take off from Chicago at 7AM. Beyond that, who knows? Maybe this time I won't be so worried about living the dream and I'll be able to let my inner singing and dancing sailor spirit out on the town.