Congratulations to Michela (Jordan's mom) for being selected as our July Mom of the Month. Michela has been working extremely hard at Stroller Strides classes and it shows! She has lost weight and inches and gained endurance, energy, and confidence. We are so proud of your hard work, Michela. Keep it up!
1. I grew up in McLean, VA and graduated from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, in 1991. This is only important because my best friend Jason, who I met at Hopkins introduced me to his best friend from high school, Brian, who is now my husband. I kept complaining that there weren’t enough tall men to date. It took him 5 years to finally introduce us at his New Year’s Party in 1996. Brian was visiting from Boston and is 6’9”. Brian ended up inviting me to Maui for our second date for Valentine’s Day. Not a bad start!
2. After I graduated from college there were not a lot of jobs to be had, so I ended up working my way up to manager in a Mexican restaurant called Rio Grande Café, where I learned to make some great margaritas!
3. After a few years of that I realized that I didn’t really like running around a restaurant like a crazy person for 60 hours a week. So I managed to get a few jobs that were more in my field of environmental science.
4. I was working at the EPA for a small contracting firm in 1996, when there was a 2 month government shutdown. When this happened, I lost all of my vacation and basically didn’t get paid for 2 months. This happened right around the time I met Brian and he invited me to Maui. My boss almost didn’t let me go because of the lack of vacation time. I managed to talk her into it, but it started me thinking about getting another job where I actually would have some vacation for once.
5. I happened to be going to school again for my Masters in something else and discovered the maritime academies. At this point I gave my parents a heart attack. I quit my job, rented out my condo and moved to Massachusetts to go to Mass Maritime to get yet another Bachelors, but more importantly my Merchant Marine License. This gives me the ability to drive big ships like the ones you see coming and going down in Norfolk.
6. My first ship was quite an adventure. I got to fly out to Diego Garcia, in the middle of the Indian Ocean, and join the ship. From there we took the ship to Singapore to have the hull cleaned, and I got to shop!
7. We then turned around and headed to Sunny Point, North Carolina. MSC changed their minds at the last minute while we were docking and decided they wanted the ship facing the other direction at the dock. We had to turn this 1000 foot long ship around in a very tight basin on the fly. It didn’t go very well, since we hit both a buoy and a container crane on the dock as we turned. The crane actually lifted off the track about 3 feet! That was not a good last day for the Captain I can tell you.
8. After we discharged all of the cargo we took the ship the yard in Charleston, SC. We didn’t stay long since the port kicked all the ships out because of the approach of Hurricane Floyd. We were out in that nightmare for about 3 days. I could see the ship twisting in the heavy seas. Luckily, since I was the lowly 3rd mate, I had the smallest room with little in it. The 1st Enginneer’s office next door to mine was reduced to splinters and the Captain’s bed collapsed out from under him among other things.
9. One thing about that voyage that sticks with me is that as we were coming back into port it was an amazingly calm and clear evening. As we sailed through the Gulf Stream the ship caused the phosphorescent algae to glow as we passed through. Suddenly I heard splashing and caught a glimpse of dolphins playing in the bow wake, leaving behind long green streaks of glowing algae behind them. It was truly amazing and beautiful!
10. Since the ship got pretty beat up in the hurricane, we ended up staying in the yard in Charleston for much longer than was originally planned. Lucky me! I got to explore Charleston for a whole month! What a great city! Brian even got to come down and visit me for Labor Day weekend. We loved it so much, it was where we chose to get married a few years ago.
11. That brings me to another funny story. We had our wedding in a garden, so needless to say we were praying for good weather for the weekend. We heard an old wives tale that if you bury a bottle of bourbon in the city where you are getting married, you will have good weather. The owner of the Palmer Home B&B was nice enough to let us bury it in her garden when we stayed there to get our marriage license. We dug it up on the morning of our wedding along with another couple who happened to be getting married at the Palmer Home that day. Darn it if it didn’t work! All day the weather report wasn’t great for the evening. While we were getting our hair done, the hair dressers were saying to my bride’s maids “You are in such trouble!” Luckily they didn’t say it to me! Anyway, the weather was great all evening right up until midnight when all of a sudden the wind picked up and all hell broke loose. Soon it was blowing 60 knots! That bottle of bourbon really worked!
12. I can tell you wild shipping stories ‘til the cows come home but I will resist – Ha! Ha! I do have to recommend shopping at the Gold Souk in Dubai if you ever have the chance. It is at least 5 full blocks of gold shop after gold shop, some of which you can’t even see in the window because they have so much gold hanging there. There you buy gold jewelry for the price of gold, which is fixed by the market, and then you get to haggle over the manufacture charge. It is great fun! My family had a gold Christmas that year!
13. I must talk a little bit about my last shipping job before I had Jordan, my daughter, since she was such an integral part of the trip. I found out I was pregnant 2 days before I was supposed to fly out to Salalah, Oman, for my first Chief Mate’s job aboard the Maersk Arizona.
14. I had promised to relieve the permanent chief mate several months before while working aboard the Maersk Alabama (yes the one that was high jacked by pirates!). I took the job, not knowing that I was pregnant. I then got the go ahead by my Ob-Gyn, which was good, since it would have been difficult to back out at the last minute.
15. I have to say, that was the hardest thing I have ever done. Since it was my first trimester, I was tired all the time. This doesn’t mix well with being a Chief Mate, a job that requires you to work at all hours sometimes up to 20 hours a day. I just kept repeating the mantra “super baby” to keep myself going. I couldn’t let anyone know I was pregnant either. Luckily I didn’t show much.
16. When I got home, after an exhausting 81 days, I had my first ultrasound to make sure Jordan was doing fine. I was a little nervous to say the least, but everything was just dandy.
17. At this point I changed to a midwife to assist with Jordan’s birth. It took me a few weeks to convince Brian that this was the way to go, but we were both happy with the decision in the end.
18. Some of the best advice my midwife gave me was to ignore labor for as long as possible. I did! I had been told that labor might take as long as 48 hours. Well for me, it went much faster than that. I guess labor started around noon on a Saturday, but I didn’t realize what it was until around 1 in the morning on Sunday. Jordan was here at 9:15 am. Can’t get much better than that. The birth pool certainly helped too!
19. Jordan was born in a pool and is an Aquarius. She already loves the water and was blowing bubbles in the pool at 16 Months. I am really hoping that she gets into swimming like I used to. She is really going to have a height advantage! It will be great fun taking her to meets and swimming practice. Fair is fair, since my parents did it for me.
20. Jordan was born in our Church Hill home that I have renovated over the last 10 years. My brother Sam, sister-in-law Mel and my nephew Little Sam are my neighbors. The latter 2 you may have met at Stroller Strides. Sometimes I bring Little Sam (AKA “Fiver”) with me to class.
21. I moved to Church Hill because they throw great parties here. It also reminds me of being on a ship. Everyone knows everyone else’s business. Now it’s even better since we have a Stroller Strides class here too!
22. Purple is my favorite color. You should see my kitchen!
23. My husband works in Bethesda, MD during the week so I get to play single mom during the week. Quite a challenge!
24. I love to knit. I have 5 projects going at once, but since most of them are for Jordan now at least they are small.
25. I help out with Border Collie rescue periodically and have 2 Border Collies of our own. Rembrandt loves to herd Jordan and Rigel loves to clean up her snacks.
1. I grew up in McLean, VA and graduated from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, in 1991. This is only important because my best friend Jason, who I met at Hopkins introduced me to his best friend from high school, Brian, who is now my husband. I kept complaining that there weren’t enough tall men to date. It took him 5 years to finally introduce us at his New Year’s Party in 1996. Brian was visiting from Boston and is 6’9”. Brian ended up inviting me to Maui for our second date for Valentine’s Day. Not a bad start!2. After I graduated from college there were not a lot of jobs to be had, so I ended up working my way up to manager in a Mexican restaurant called Rio Grande Café, where I learned to make some great margaritas!
3. After a few years of that I realized that I didn’t really like running around a restaurant like a crazy person for 60 hours a week. So I managed to get a few jobs that were more in my field of environmental science.
4. I was working at the EPA for a small contracting firm in 1996, when there was a 2 month government shutdown. When this happened, I lost all of my vacation and basically didn’t get paid for 2 months. This happened right around the time I met Brian and he invited me to Maui. My boss almost didn’t let me go because of the lack of vacation time. I managed to talk her into it, but it started me thinking about getting another job where I actually would have some vacation for once.
5. I happened to be going to school again for my Masters in something else and discovered the maritime academies. At this point I gave my parents a heart attack. I quit my job, rented out my condo and moved to Massachusetts to go to Mass Maritime to get yet another Bachelors, but more importantly my Merchant Marine License. This gives me the ability to drive big ships like the ones you see coming and going down in Norfolk.
6. My first ship was quite an adventure. I got to fly out to Diego Garcia, in the middle of the Indian Ocean, and join the ship. From there we took the ship to Singapore to have the hull cleaned, and I got to shop!
7. We then turned around and headed to Sunny Point, North Carolina. MSC changed their minds at the last minute while we were docking and decided they wanted the ship facing the other direction at the dock. We had to turn this 1000 foot long ship around in a very tight basin on the fly. It didn’t go very well, since we hit both a buoy and a container crane on the dock as we turned. The crane actually lifted off the track about 3 feet! That was not a good last day for the Captain I can tell you.
8. After we discharged all of the cargo we took the ship the yard in Charleston, SC. We didn’t stay long since the port kicked all the ships out because of the approach of Hurricane Floyd. We were out in that nightmare for about 3 days. I could see the ship twisting in the heavy seas. Luckily, since I was the lowly 3rd mate, I had the smallest room with little in it. The 1st Enginneer’s office next door to mine was reduced to splinters and the Captain’s bed collapsed out from under him among other things.
9. One thing about that voyage that sticks with me is that as we were coming back into port it was an amazingly calm and clear evening. As we sailed through the Gulf Stream the ship caused the phosphorescent algae to glow as we passed through. Suddenly I heard splashing and caught a glimpse of dolphins playing in the bow wake, leaving behind long green streaks of glowing algae behind them. It was truly amazing and beautiful!
10. Since the ship got pretty beat up in the hurricane, we ended up staying in the yard in Charleston for much longer than was originally planned. Lucky me! I got to explore Charleston for a whole month! What a great city! Brian even got to come down and visit me for Labor Day weekend. We loved it so much, it was where we chose to get married a few years ago.
11. That brings me to another funny story. We had our wedding in a garden, so needless to say we were praying for good weather for the weekend. We heard an old wives tale that if you bury a bottle of bourbon in the city where you are getting married, you will have good weather. The owner of the Palmer Home B&B was nice enough to let us bury it in her garden when we stayed there to get our marriage license. We dug it up on the morning of our wedding along with another couple who happened to be getting married at the Palmer Home that day. Darn it if it didn’t work! All day the weather report wasn’t great for the evening. While we were getting our hair done, the hair dressers were saying to my bride’s maids “You are in such trouble!” Luckily they didn’t say it to me! Anyway, the weather was great all evening right up until midnight when all of a sudden the wind picked up and all hell broke loose. Soon it was blowing 60 knots! That bottle of bourbon really worked!
12. I can tell you wild shipping stories ‘til the cows come home but I will resist – Ha! Ha! I do have to recommend shopping at the Gold Souk in Dubai if you ever have the chance. It is at least 5 full blocks of gold shop after gold shop, some of which you can’t even see in the window because they have so much gold hanging there. There you buy gold jewelry for the price of gold, which is fixed by the market, and then you get to haggle over the manufacture charge. It is great fun! My family had a gold Christmas that year!
13. I must talk a little bit about my last shipping job before I had Jordan, my daughter, since she was such an integral part of the trip. I found out I was pregnant 2 days before I was supposed to fly out to Salalah, Oman, for my first Chief Mate’s job aboard the Maersk Arizona.
14. I had promised to relieve the permanent chief mate several months before while working aboard the Maersk Alabama (yes the one that was high jacked by pirates!). I took the job, not knowing that I was pregnant. I then got the go ahead by my Ob-Gyn, which was good, since it would have been difficult to back out at the last minute.
15. I have to say, that was the hardest thing I have ever done. Since it was my first trimester, I was tired all the time. This doesn’t mix well with being a Chief Mate, a job that requires you to work at all hours sometimes up to 20 hours a day. I just kept repeating the mantra “super baby” to keep myself going. I couldn’t let anyone know I was pregnant either. Luckily I didn’t show much.
16. When I got home, after an exhausting 81 days, I had my first ultrasound to make sure Jordan was doing fine. I was a little nervous to say the least, but everything was just dandy.
17. At this point I changed to a midwife to assist with Jordan’s birth. It took me a few weeks to convince Brian that this was the way to go, but we were both happy with the decision in the end.
18. Some of the best advice my midwife gave me was to ignore labor for as long as possible. I did! I had been told that labor might take as long as 48 hours. Well for me, it went much faster than that. I guess labor started around noon on a Saturday, but I didn’t realize what it was until around 1 in the morning on Sunday. Jordan was here at 9:15 am. Can’t get much better than that. The birth pool certainly helped too!
19. Jordan was born in a pool and is an Aquarius. She already loves the water and was blowing bubbles in the pool at 16 Months. I am really hoping that she gets into swimming like I used to. She is really going to have a height advantage! It will be great fun taking her to meets and swimming practice. Fair is fair, since my parents did it for me.
20. Jordan was born in our Church Hill home that I have renovated over the last 10 years. My brother Sam, sister-in-law Mel and my nephew Little Sam are my neighbors. The latter 2 you may have met at Stroller Strides. Sometimes I bring Little Sam (AKA “Fiver”) with me to class.
21. I moved to Church Hill because they throw great parties here. It also reminds me of being on a ship. Everyone knows everyone else’s business. Now it’s even better since we have a Stroller Strides class here too!
22. Purple is my favorite color. You should see my kitchen!
23. My husband works in Bethesda, MD during the week so I get to play single mom during the week. Quite a challenge!
24. I love to knit. I have 5 projects going at once, but since most of them are for Jordan now at least they are small.
25. I help out with Border Collie rescue periodically and have 2 Border Collies of our own. Rembrandt loves to herd Jordan and Rigel loves to clean up her snacks.
