live fabulous Archives - Page 3 of 12 - Rhymes with Fabulous

July 19, 2018

Bucket List

Today marks my two-and-a-half-week anniversary of coming back to New York. This means that I’ve had sixteen days to contemplate my bucket list (ie all the things I want to do in my year off). Obviously, considering my general compulsion and deep obsession with list-making I’ve started to number off the things I’m planning to do. The good news? The list is only two things long! The bad news? Well, you can see the two things below: Right. Soo, not the coolest bucket list (and possibly I don’t really understand what a bucket list is), but it’s mine and I like it. How am I doing with these things? You…

written by carolineschley@gmail.com - Posted in live fabulous

July 14, 2018

Manhattan: Five Fabulous Things (Upper East Side edition)

Moving back to New York I’ve had the wonderful remembrance that there are endless things to do in NYC! The temperature has miraculously stalled out around 90 80-ish degrees, and a breeze has materialized that is actual cool wind, not just the wafting smell of hot garbage floating through the air. I’ve been having the time of my life wandering through the neighborhoods of my childhood, happily fighting discussing with my mother where the grocery store/movie theater/David’s Cookies/pizza shop on our block used to be. The Upper East Side gets a bad rap. ‘Boring’ they say. ‘They’ are idiots! (Aren’t they always?) Here are five things to do in NYC…

written by carolineschley@gmail.com - Posted in live fabulous

June 30, 2018

Leaving the Atocha Station

Disclaimer: Leaving the Atocha Station is actually the name of a novel by Ben Lerner. I haven’t read it but I’m sure it’s great-you can check it out on Amazon here. The title came to mind this week as I was, well…leaving the Atocha Station, probably for the last time in a while. For the four years I’ve lived in Madrid, I’ve gone through Atocha on average twice a day (it’s part of my work commute). It’s the Grand Central of Spain. As a rabid devoted New Yorker, I am stalwart in defending Grand Central as one of the greatest train stations in the world, but after four years in…

written by carolineschley@gmail.com - Posted in live fabulous

June 23, 2018

Saying Goodbye

As I may have mentioned (here) I’m soon saying goodbye to Madrid, a city I have spent the last four years making my home. In addition to the myriad of “commitment issue questions” that come up every time I leave a new place, it always makes me think about the nature of saying goodbye. The Nature of Saying Goodbye Yesterday I had my last day of work and many goodbye experiences. Teacher goodbyes are especially weird because we say goodbye SO often that I think people get a little desensitized. For example, this spring I said goodbye to 79 students that I basically spent more time with during the course…

written by carolineschley@gmail.com - Posted in live fabulous

May 18, 2018

Burning the Midnight Oil

Burning the midnight oil is truly an idiom designed for the Spanish spring. Here’s why: In Spain, May marks the beginning of the 9:30 PM sunset. The country is in the wrong time zone, a result of the alliance between Franco and Hitler during World War II. You can read more about that here, but know that when you hear about those “late Spanish dinners”: Late Spanish Dinner Facts It’s true. In the summer it’s not unusual for 11:00 PM dinner reservations to book up before anything else. It’s not our fault! It’s nice if it’s actually dark out when you’re having dinner. 7:00 PM is the middle of the…

written by carolineschley@gmail.com - Posted in live fabulous

May 5, 2018

My Interest with Nature: Climb Mallorca

My interest with nature started in high school. I lived in a cabin in Maine for four months when I was fifteen, plucked up off the streets of Manhattan to participate in an intensive environmental science program in Wiscasset. I learned how to feed a horse, drive a tractor (the first and only vehicle I knew how to drive for many, many years) and how to enjoy camping/boating/hiking/surviving in the wilderness. One of the capstone experiences of the program was a two-night “solo camp”. This meant the exhausted, well-intentioned staff dropped off all the students in the woods near the school and left us to our own survival devices. This…

written by carolineschley@gmail.com - Posted in live fabulous

April 28, 2018

Earth Week 2018

Oh, did you guys not know about Earth Week? It’s like Earth Day, but longer. Disclaimer: I actually sort of thought I made it up, but it’s mentioned on this Wikipedia page, so it must be legit. (You just have to scroll down a little). We celebrate Earth Week instead of Earth Day at my school for several reasons: Earth Day is sometimes on a weekend and it’s difficult to make the children come to school. (For example, this year Earth Day was on a Sunday.) It allows us to have more events and raise awareness among our students, the future leaders of tomorrow. Someone in school administration thought it…

written by carolineschley@gmail.com - Posted in live fabulous

April 18, 2018

The Worst Part of an MRI

This will come as no surprise; the worst part of an MRI is sitting in that little machine. The problem is that I’m claustrophobic. It started when I was in my 20’s. I’d been living in New Zealand for nine months, desperately avoiding the ‘real-job’ thing most of my friends got into after college. Finally I’d run out of farms to wwoof and patience for backpacker conversations (and money) so I boarded a plane in Auckland bound for California. Right before the door sealed, I had this crushing sensation that all the walls were going to collapse in on me. I took some ambien deep breaths and talked myself through…

written by carolineschley@gmail.com - Posted in live fabulous

April 11, 2018

Micro Victories

Hello from WORDPRESS! This gorgeous new website is going on my micro victories list for the year. How did I acheive such a monumental feat, you ask? It started, as most good things do, with a vacation. About two days weeks ago, I awoke from my winter Netflix coma and realized it was time to go on spring vacation. Turns out, I needed those ten days in Sicily to get out of my productivity slump. ‘Productivity slumps’ in my life are tricky. I am employed full time. This means even on ‘unproductive’ days I do the following: First, I get up and get dressed. Then, I spend between 20 and…

written by carolineschley@gmail.com - Posted in live fabulous

January 23, 2018

Organization

Below is a short list of things in my life I desperately need to get organized. Please keep in mind, organization is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. These are not activities I can organize once, like a spice rack. These are ‘making-the-bed’ type organization things. In my opinion, they need to be focused on for a few minutes each day. Otherwise, you might find yourself awake at 5 AM, locked in the following triptych thought pattern: First, frantic with concern over where you put your Spanish homework. Then, frantic with concern about the ridiculousness of this query bouncing around in the mind of a woman in her thirties. Third,…

written by carolineschley@gmail.com - Posted in live fabulous

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