My kid is funny

The laughter of your child is something that is difficult to put into words. In hopes of not over complicating things, her laughter is simply, divine. My favorite is when she tosses her head back and has a hefty chuckle as if she has heard that one a million times. The sound of her giggle is infectious and it makes every long tiring day turn around to be the best day ever. I want to eat her up sometimes I am not sure I can hold myself back so I hug and squeeze her and call her Lydia.

She has new dance moves every day. Last night she kept pushing the button to her weeble house to get to the dance music  tune and she would stick her hands in the air and her butt out and bounce. One time she crossed her arms and shook from side to side. There was little doubt that she was gifted before but now she is a musical savant too. Hopefully dual enrollment in Columbia and Julliard will be a reality by the time she is ready to be in college which I would say would be by 15 however, she isn't allow to leave home until she is 30. So we will see how that all works out.

So I Wrote a Book...

During the last year I was given a great opportunity to join a colleague in an endeavor to write a book for young adults about religion. Talk about dreams coming true. Not only do I get to write about religion, BUT for young adults which I have been working with now for almost 20 years (18 years to be specific but it's been awhile) in some form or another, BUT I get to be a bonafide published author.

There has been some nervousness involved. Would I be smart enough? Capable? Did I know enough? Granted I had to research a lot. I had to double and triple check my facts because I didn't want any one religion to be looked at poorly by the reader because of something that I had written. Then going through the process of editing. Watching the changes from my words to rephrasing or sharpening of the editors evident red marks on the screen. Sometimes it was too much. By the end, when the typesetting was done and the page looked like what a digital book typically looks like, it sent a rush through my body. My words will be out there. Forever. Published.

Why haven't I been shouting all this from the mountain tops? "I AM A PUBLISHED AUTHOR!" Partly because of humility, I think. Not so humble to claim humility I don't think, however, I do struggle with overt accolades and others thinking that I perhaps would think of myself as better than them because I have accomplished something such as this. It is the Camp Counselor that will eternally live inside of me, that always wants everyone in the room to sit in a circle so we can look each other in the eye, be equals and be supportive. I will go get the extra table or chair to make that happen and I have done this in the classroom, at the bar, and around the dinner table for as long as I can remember. Despite this ideal, I am so deeply proud of the work that I have accomplished. thus it is time to shout! In this moment, I ask all you take a seat around the virtual circle and share in this with me.

If you put my name in Amazon: Christine Ortega Gaurkee the book comes up! I do have a beloved co-author and friend, Jessica Tinklenberg deVega. If you put in her name it comes up too! How cool is that? The title is All You Want to Know But Didn't Think You Could Ask: Religions, Cults, and Popular Beliefs. Release Date is February 7, 2011. (Amazon says Feb. 21st.) You can pre-order your copies!

Happy Holidays and Happy Travels

Some time has lapsed since I have last blogged, mostly due to the excitement of the holidays. We are now on the road through small towns in Georgia as we make our way to Gatlinburg, Tennessee to meet good friends for New Year's Eve cabin fun. We are currently in Helen which is a quaint little German inspired town at the foothills of the Smoky Mountains. We have enjoyed relaxing and eating German cuisine. Yesterday, we visited Dahlonega which is the home of the Indigo Girls. The night before Cordele.

Lydia is growing just 4 inches short of being 3 feet tall. We noticed just this week that she two more teeth that have bopped through her gums in the further back. Her vocabulary is getting pretty big in both Spanish and English. She can say agua, baby, caca, hello, hi ya, mama, papa, daddy, happy, hat, apple, hot, and tata (which refers to my mom). She says no very well and will nod yes. She can also do almost 7 different animal sounds. She can point out her nose and mouth but is still a little stumped on which are the eyes. Not a day goes by that we are not amazed by her.

At the moment I just spent 20 minutes pacing the halls of our Bavarian styled Hampton Inn pushing her stroller hoping for her to drift into sleepland. She did in fact fall asleep but the moment we returned to the room she was awake again. Last night we just put her in her pack and play and she played until she fell asleep. Both Eliot and I fell asleep before her but the safety of her being less than an inch away in a safe space was enough to allow us to slumber. However when I woke in the middle of the night and check on her she was pantless. She took off her pajama pants and they weren't even pajama jeans. Thus the intention to have a different system this evening. Eh...maybe she was just hot.

Day 3: San Francisco

It was a rainy morning here in San Francisco so we made the most of it by taking the double decker bus tour. We got to see the entire city. It was perfect.



We made a stop of course at the Golden Gate which is neither golden or a gate discuss. But we drove over it which was amazing since it can swing 27 feet in either directions.


Lydia fell asleep in the bus so she missed this photo op from her ultra comfy stroller.


Afterwards we has a hotdog at Union Square and headed to Golden Gate Park which was built on sand dunes. The sun had come out by then so we made the most of it by admiring the interesting trees and architecture.


We visited the Japanese Tea Garden where not only did we see a ton of amazing gardeny thinhs like pagodas, giant Buddhas and bonsai but actually had Japanese Tea.








We finished our visit at the park by heading to first children's playground in the United States.












It was a great day and we were tired so we decided to head back before meeting Jessica and Heather for dinner. The park is big and the walk is long. We found ourselves in Haight-Ashbury with tired toes when a magic taxi appeared and took us back to the hotel. As I am resting I see that Jessica has posted a photo of a poster of our book that I must see! We get dressed and rush over to the convention center but the exhibit hall was closed. I tried all the doors and seconds before hanging my head the custodial crew came out of the hall. I begged for entry and was granted a moment. I zoomed through the giant room and found our publisher: Thomas Nelson and there it was.


What an amazing feeling! As I floated on air we grabbed a cab and had a terrific dinner catching up. A quick after dinner stroll to admire the Pier 39 Christmas tree before our trek home.






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Day 2 San Francisco: Dinner

First of all Eliot and I are foodies. Second we really like Top Chef. Third the moment we decided to come to San Francisco we made reservations at Fleur de Lys Huber Keller's restaurant.


We began the meal with champagne and amuse-bouche of gazpacho and quinoa with chorizo.

As an appetizer I selected an Avocado salad and El a fois gras.





Next a seared scallop with fresh bacon. The fish course was so good we ate it before remembering to take the picture.


The meat course for me was a trio of lamb and for El the venison.





The cheese plate offered a well selected variety including a delicious goat cheese but a surprisingly addictive sharp cheddar.


Finally dessert with a chocolate soufflé and els a cheesecake, truffle and cupcake.





This last dish was compliments from the chef a last bit of goodies. My favorite was a mini lemon pie.


The food was wonderful. The best is eating and sharing with each the experience of trying completely new flavors. However fine dining with a toddler may not be the best idea but the staff was wonderful. The server happily brought Lydia milk. The bread boy was sure to give her her own plate. But Marcus, the wine guy, took her for a tour of the kitchen, filled up her milk and showed her pictures of his own girls. He was amazing.