April 2004

Personally, one of the first pages I look for when hitting a new personal web site is the "About" page. It's nice to get a feel for the person before diving into the daily nuances of their life.

So keeping with my own tradition, here's a little about me.

My name's Theressa. I've been living in New York for the past 4+ years. If you'd told me that I'd still be here four years ago, I'd have probably laughed in your face. New York, while exciting and cool seemed a little too fast paced for a real life. Not to mention, all my friends and family were back in Canada.

But here I am, years later, settled and adjusted as a 'New Yorker'.

A lot of things have happened in the last four years. Not the least is 9/11 which changed things here forever. Strangely enough, I almost feel like the rest of the country was more affected (at least on the surface) then the people who live here. We went on with our lives, plowing ahead. We kept going to bars, restaurants, shopping. We live with the daily threat of how vulnerable we are in this city. Yet, we stubbornly go on without letting it affect how we live our lives.

Honestly, I'm proud of the people who live here.

Then personally, other things have changed too on a more superficial level.

My darling nephew is growing older and it's bittersweet to see time pass in reference to him.

Mo has changed employers, and recently gone through a company buy-out. Because of this, he's gone from working in Manhattan, reverse commuting to Stamford, CT and now is commuting to Jersey City.

On the job front, I've only gone through one change. But that job led to lot of physical changes for me. The 70 hour weeks I used to work left me little time for exercise and some poor eating choices. I'm glad to say that I finally changed my way of life and lost all that weight... and then some! I'm now as svelt as I was in high school (size 4-6). I run twice a week, spin twice a week, strength train twice a week and usually do some other sort of cardio to mix it up. I feel healthier than I've ever felt before. Not to mention, I have a race coming up in April! Go me!

Socially, we've got an amazing network of friends here, not to mention our friends back in Canada. And I've been branching out to pursue my interests. (Erm... does shopping count as an interest?)

And finally, Mo and I will be celebrating our sixth anniversary this year.

Another change is the recent broach of kids on the brain. I blame it on a friend of mine who is now paving the way with his newborn daughter. I like that they will be doing the legwork to find the babysitters, preschools, etc in the city. I figure, it'll be smooth sailing when we finally have kids. Raising a child in the city used to sound daunting. But now it sounds advantageous and appealing. What other city exposes your child to all the culture that New York has to offer?

Now some random facts about me. I am still an caffeinated girl, but I have definitely cut down on coffee to 1-2 cups a day. Only the rough days push me into that overcaffeinated area.

I still have a weakness for chocolate, ice cream and all things sweet. I am especially falling victim to retro candy nowadays; like Fun Dips, Sweet Tarts and Ring Pops. Which reminds me, I need to see the dentist soon...

As my interest in fashion picks up, I find myself reading less and less books and more fashion magazines. This is something I need to reprimand myself for because reading is fun and exercise for the brain. On the plus side, I do know how to put together an outfit if I say so myself. The backdraw is that it's hard on the pocketbook. Especially all those cute, sexy shoes I lust over.

I've given up my Gap-ish outfits for stuff that is more fun and flirty. This year especially, I'm having fun with the full skirts, shrunken cardigans and fishnets that all the stores are carrying. I rarely buy black nowadays and find myself drawn to texture and colour. (Yes, I *am* a New Yorker even if I don't wear black everyday!)

Travel is still a passion of mine. The only trouble is finding the free time to see all the places I've read about. I'd like to go back and see more or Europe, and of course relax again in the Carribean. But I'd also like to meet my extended family in Asia, and see where Mo grew up in Egypt. Oh, so many places... so little time.

To the biography from Early winter 2000