Most Fabulous Laundry Day
I am a survivor. Every time I get down because this motherhood thing seems too difficult, I tell myself: “I am a survivor. I can do this. I can conquer this.” For some reason this helps me. Instead of tearing my hair out and feeling like a miserable failure, I keep on keeping on. And then before I know it, I’ve moved from one obstacle to the next and I am a supermom after all! I can do it all. I just have to be tough.
Today we conquered the unfamiliar laundromat. The one that was way across town and totally inconvenient. It turns out this new laundromat rocks! It’s ten million times better than my old laundromat!
It’s twice the size and everything was clean! What a concept! There were washers and dryers lined up for miles and nobody was using them! I was the only person in there besides this little old lady who owned the place. She hobbled over and introduced herself even. Here I was worried that it might be in a shady neighborhood and it turns out to be so much more charming than my laundromat in snobville. What a relief.
If they hadn’t closed my old-faithful-across-the-street laundromat, I never would have found this groovy place. It’s in this shopping center that got stuck in the seventies and I love it! After I loaded up my washers, Baby Bug and I took a walking tour of the neighborhood. We spied an old barbershop, a real life private investigator’s office, a fish and chips dive, a strange but hip hair salon, the oldest IHOP ever, a really cool shop that I bought myself some new Mary-Kate-and-Ashley bug-eye sunglasses in and a really neat bakery that sold cookies and cupcakes. I bought myself a lemon bar and felt very proud of myself for having fun while doing laundry.
Who knows, I might start looking forward to laundry day now.
21 Comments
weaker vessel
yay for successful urban safaris!!!
Nila
I love those kind of adventures. It’s even better shared with a baby bug.
Yay for a fun laundry day, finally!
Rose
How about that … Secret Agent Josephine now does her laundry in the neighborhood of a real life private investigator … maybe you’ll drop in & introduce yourself one day!?!
deeleea
Oooh, I LOVE those serendipity moments…
And a bonus for us too of new funky photos!!
Hurrah!
lynne
I love laundromats too! I always think they are like steping back in time by a decade or so. Most laudromats in London are time warps of the 70’s where orange and brown patterned formica feature heavily. Oh the stories I can tell of people watching in laundries, such perfect places for hunkering down with a good book and a coffee. I once lived above one as a student, which was run by two crazy but amiable Irish men, our hallway always smelled of washing powder which was nice. Which city do you live in San Fransisco? I haven’t been reading your blog for long. I’ve got lots of laundromat stories but I better stop now incase you feel alarmed by the attentions of a loonie laundromat enthusiast :) P.s. Your baby is really, really cute.
BeachMama
You know the saying, “everything happens for a reason”. There is a reason your old laundromat closed and you had to go try out this newer or maybe just cleaner one. It may be a little inconvenient for you, but it will make you go on an adventure at least once a week! Enjoy!
Julie
I too love urban adventuring! You never know what you’re gonna find if you go off the beaten path. You could mutlti-task and get your hair done while you do your laundry. Oh and Baby bug looks highly content in her little bjorn.
andrea from the fishbowl
*poke poke*
See? SEE?
I knew it would work out. Sheesh! :) :)
andrea from the fishbowl
p.s. love that photo of you and the bug! But why compress your JPEGS so much? Not to be a nitwit knitpick, but it makes me say ACK everytime because it takes away from their lovliness.
josephine
I have to dither them to make the slide shows… but I will upload the good ones to flickr and you view their high res goodness there. Just email me if you want me to invite you to flickr so you can see the baby bug privacy protected images.
Jessie
Sounds like you had a nice day. It’s always fun to go out and explore new neighborhoods.
Carrie
I’m so glad things are looking up! But now I want one of those cookies!
Leah
I had the same experience when I had to switch laundromats–after my old one burned down!
rebecca
Sounds like such an awesome day! I think I may have lived in your neighborhood before we moved to the burbs (otherwise known as where we could afford to buy a house!). If it’s where I think, I used to go to your old laundromat all the time! I’m glad you found a good new one. :)
ginger incognito
Not to sound too stalker-ish, but . . . I know exactly where you were! I’ve eaten at that stuck-in-the-past IHOP (although not for ages). I shop at the grocery store across the street. Oh my! I could have a SAJ sighting someday!
Or, you know, not, now that you’re going to find a new cool laundromat to avoid this ginger person. . . .
Liane
Hey, how do you make that frame around your pictures? Do you have to have special software for this? It looks so nice.
josephine
ginger: we should hook up for some coffee at Diedrich’s!
liane: it’s just a white border I made in photoshop. I use a template that I created to keep everything the same. no fancy software, other than photoshop–which is pretty fancy I guess.
gretchen
I am a longtime reader, don’t think I’ve ever commented before. But I was thinking about you last week, when my dryer broke down and I needed to make several trips to the laundromat.
I was dreading it, but it turned out to be kind of fun. The place was pretty empty and my 2-year-old loved it! He loved watching the laundry spin around, and thought the basket of beat-up toys was so exciting. The weather here in Ohio was nice enough that we also went for a couple long walks while the clothes dried.
Who knew that laundry could be so fulfilling?! Glad you had a good experience too.
laura
Laundry is such a huge part of our lives, that I’m glad you have found a place to do it that makes it enjoyable. Have fun exploring, and by the looks of it, meeting new people in the ‘hood.
something blue
How positive! That is a fantastic attitude. I never knew laundry could be so rewarding.
I’ve also have been meaning to comment on your site. The photos are stunning and your words are moving. You are one of my favorites.
Rachel
It makes you feel like a Person again, going exploring in new neighborhoods with your little baby… I remember with my first son when he was a newborn desperately walking out the door with the baby strapped to me thinking, I have to do something besides clean and take care of baby, and then listening to music in record shops for hours. Being a mom of a newborn is not the same as being a mom. It really does get easier.