Meg(h)an Fun!

This week, my friend Megan has been visiting us. You may remember that last year, in celebration of 20 years of friendship, Megan came and spent a whole week with us. We had such a wonderful time - we did some touristy stuff, we shopped, we dined, we saw a show, we caught up on life. It was great. So, I was very excited when Megan told me she wanted to come visit me again this year! This time she only stayed four days, but it was still very nice. It's always great to have a friend in town.

Megan arrived at Port Authority around 10:30 a.m. on Monday. Achilles and I went to meet her, and brought her back to the apartment for a bit. We made some lunch and did a good bit of catching up right off the bat. Megan is just one of those friends who, no matter how long it has been since you last saw each other, you can pick right up in conversation as if a day has not passed. And that's just what we did!

After relaxing a bit we headed over to the east side for something I knew I had to take Megan to do: dessert at Serendipity. Remember when I nearly overdosed on chocolate there with my friend Amanda in January? On that day, from the moment that Frozen Hot Chocolate first hit my lips, I knew this place had MEGAN written all over it. So, we went. And we were not sad.

When we arrived they told us it would be about an hour wait, but we got in after only a half hour. We had a nice little table towards the back. Learning from my past mistake, we skipped a chocolate cake "appetizer" and opted for strawberries and cream instead, to mix up flavors. Plus, that makes it healthy. (Fruit! Duh!) Of course, we also each ordered a Frozen Hot Chocolate - Megan got the original, and I tried the mint. HEAVENLY. Thanks to our lighter "appetizer," we were actually able to finish our entire goblets of chocolatey goodness. (Although maybe I should not be admitting that, because they're huge. Don't judge.) Needless to say, Megan was pleased and Serendipity was an awesome way to kick off the week.

Strawberries and cream, and two Frozen Hot Chocolates. Try not to drool.

We are ready to dig in.

After Serendipity, we walked off our chocolate/cream/fruit down Fifth Avenue to Bryant Park, stopping for some quick shopping along the way. We were headed to Bryant Park for a Movie in Bryant Park (another NYC To-Do List item!). That evening's movie was The Goodbye Girl, starring Richard Dreyfuss. We arrived shortly after the lawn opened to movie-goers at 5:00 p.m., and we grabbed a good spot. We spread out our blankets and waited for the movie to begin at 8:30. Eric came by to say hello when he got off work, and he was nice enough to pick up a Chipotle dinner for us, too. He didn't stay for the movie, though. All of our waiting around gave us even more time to catch up, and in such a beautiful setting. It was a gorgeous evening.

In Bryant Park, with the Empire State Building behind us

Crowds gathered for the movie

Ready for a movie!

More of the view from our spot

Before too long, the movie started and we settled in. I have talked before about how I love outdoor movies - the crowd gets so into it and it's just such a fun setting. We enjoyed the movie, and afterwards walked home through Times Square just so Megan could get a little taste of the lights and energy. Always a fun time! We spent the rest of the evening relaxing at home and making plans for the rest of the week.

On Tuesday, we took our time getting ready in the morning, then left and went to the Richard Rodgers Theater to get tickets to In The Heights for that evening. We got a great deal on orchestra seats, so that was a great way to start the day!

Richard Rodgers Theater

We then took the train down to SoHo for an afternoon of shopping. We got off to a bit of a slow start, but both had some success at Uniqlo. By the time we finished there, we were getting pretty hungry so we started our walk north towards S'Mac, that macaroni and cheese restaurant Eric and I tried back in March. Again, we were not disappointed. I tried the Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese and Megan had the Napoletana, which is what I had last time. Both were delicious, although the Buffalo Chicken was a little hot for my taste!

Buffalo Chicken and Napoletana Mac & Cheese

After lunch we went back to the apartment to relax for a bit. Shopping in the heat can really wear you out! We just bummed around and watched TV until it was time to get ready for the show.

Our seats for In The Heights were great! We had a perfect view and I loved the show. I had heard some of the music before and was vaguely familiar with the story, but didn't know too much about it. I really enjoyed it - it was very high energy, and I liked the music and the dancing. Corbin Bleu (of High School Musical fame, I'm told) played Usnavi, and I thought he was good. Apparently he will be leaving the show next week, and the new headliner will be past American Idol winner Jordin Sparks in the role of Nina. I would definitely recommend this musical!

View of the stage from our seats

Rather unflattering self-taken pre-show picture

On our way home from the show we stopped at Blockbuster to pick up a couple movies: Date Night and Leap Year. We watched Date Night that evening with Eric, then called it a night.

Wednesday started with another relaxed morning. We lounged around and watched Leap Year, had lunch and then got ready to hit the town. We took the train down to Chinatown so Megan could do a little "cheap purse" shopping, and she was successful! I picked up a pretty little folding fan to keep in my purse, which I have been wanting for some time. We also wandered through Little Italy a bit, then headed back up to Midtown.

Mulberry Street, a/k/a Little Italy

Meg(h)ans on Mulberry Street

When we got back to my neck of the woods, we stopped to pick up some Crumbs cupcakes (a must for any NYC visitor), pretzel M&M's (Megan was singing their praises so we had to try them), and another movie for the night (Sherlock Holmes). Then we went back to the apartment and ordered in Italian food from a local restaurant called Maria Pia. Eric was home in time for dinner, and we had a very nice meal and more great conversation. Then we put in the movie and that was the rest of our night!

Thursday was Megan's last day, unfortunately. The weather was pretty dreary - much cooler, but drizzling off and on all day. We didn't let that stop us, however, and went down to meet Eric in Bryant Park for lunch for the last installment in their Broadway in Bryant Park series. The rain died down pretty early on in the show, which was nice. So, we enjoyed our lunch and listened to performances by performers from La Cage Aux Folles, American Idiot, Mamma Mia, Mary Poppins and West Side Story. They were great! (Side note: I learned that my husband has never seen the movie Mary Poppins. I find this unacceptable, and coupled with the fact that he also never saw The Lion King, I feel a Childhood Movie Marathon is in order.)

"Official" photo of us in Bryant Park before the show, trying to stay dry!

Cast of Mamma Mia

"Tony" and "Maria" from West Side Story

Enjoying the show!

VIDEO: A short clip from West Side Story

After Bryant Park, we made a stop at a brand new NYC establishment: Pop-Tarts World. Why should M&M's and Hershey's have all the outrageous store fun, after all? At Pop-Tarts World, you can use their Varietizer machine to build your own customized packet of Pop-Tarts, design a custom t-shirt, buy lots of Pop-Tarts crap merchandise, and order such delicacies as Pop-Tarts Sushi (which is, of course, minced Pop-Tarts wrapped in a Fruit Roll-Up). It was quite the scene. Unfortunately, the line was too long for me to sample the Pop-Tarts Sushi as of yet, but trust me, it will happen. It's too ridiculous not to try. How can I live in a city that offers such a divine culinary creation and not partake of it?

Exterior of Pop-Tarts World

The Varietizer Machine

Pop-Tarts in a classic NYC photo

The menu, which in addition to Pop-Tarts Sushi, includes other delicacies such as Pop-Tarts ice cream sundaes, Pop-Tarts trail mix, and Rice Krispies treats with Pop-Tarts pieces.

And of course, since we couldn't possibly let one day go by without shopping, we took the subway uptown to Michael's and TJ Maxx. I somehow ended up with a pair of utterly fabulous new black patent pumps, and then we came home. Megan packed up all her stuff (quite a feat, considering all the shopping we did!) and then it was off to Port Authority to bid her farewell.

All in all, it was a wonderful visit! I'm so thankful to have a friend like Megan, and so glad she was willing to come visit for the second year in a row. I hope we can make this a tradition and continue with these nice visits! Thanks for coming, Meg!

Paint By Number

I mentioned in my last post that during our Central Park walk, Eric and I made a detour to Michael's for a little craft shopping. This is a true story. We decided we should spend our evening drinking wine and "doing a craft" together. I told you we're dorks.

We spent quite some time wandering through Michael's, primarily in the kids section, looking for something we could make. Before reaching a decision, we got sidetracked by felt hats, which are AWESOME.

Tell me these hats aren't awesome.

We finally settled on some tiny paint-by-numbers for 75 cents a piece. Score!

And, we did them! After recuperating from our super long Central Park walk, we settled in with some wine, a movie and paint-by-numbers. Eric's was a spaceship, and mine was a fish scene.

 Hard at work

Eric working on his spaceship

Eric's turned out much better than mine, I think. He was a little neater and his had brighter colors. But, we both proudly displayed our finished products by the end of the movie. (Is it bad that it took us an hour and a half to do these children's paint-by-numbers?)

Eric and his spaceship painting

Me with my fish

The finished paintings and our "work space"

Naturally, Achilles had to check things out.

It was really a fun way to spend an evening! Although yes, I do find it strange that I can say my husband and I spent a Saturday night sitting around our dining room table painting spaceships and cartoon fish. But hey, I liked it. Seriously, though...who does that?

A Walk in the Park

This weekend Eric and I crossed off yet another NYC To-Do List item: walk the full loop of Central Park. Of course, Eric has run the full 6.2-mile (10k) park loop many times, but I had never actually walked the whole way around. Eric was excited to show me his running trail and the hills and various spots he sees on his way, so I agreed to walk it with him.

It was quite a hike, I will say that. Of course, the jogging trail itself is 6.2 miles, but we also wandered off track to check things out here and there, plus we walked to and from the park, too. All in all, we probably walked about 8-9 miles. Even for seasoned walkers such as ourselves, that's a pretty long walking day. Below is a simplified map of Central Park to give you an idea - we followed that inside grey line that circles the whole length of the park.

But, it was a really nice walk. I got to see parts of the park I've never seen before, and there's just so many things to see and do in Central Park. We started at the southwest corner of the park (Columbus Circle) and walked counterclockwise, going north along the east side of the park then over and back down the west side.

Statue at the SW corner of the park

We walked along the south end of the park, past Wollman Rink and my favorite spot to sit for an afternoon of reading. Our first stop for something new was at the Chess and Checkers spot, where there are a number of checkerboard tables and you can sign out either chess pieces or checkers to play for as long as you like. Eric and I played a game (which he won handily), then Eric was nice enough to play with a little kid who was looking for someone to play with (but he was not nice enough to let him win). It was really fun!

Playing checkers in Central Park

Clearly, this is not going well for me.

We continued north from there, past the Literary Walk, where there was a violinist playing. We stopped and listened for a while before continuing on our way. I should mention that we heard many different musicians all over the park, including this violinist, a singer, a saxophonist, and men playing paint buckets as drums. I love the music in the park!

Violinist in the park

VIDEO: Violinist just south of the Literary Walk

We continued past the Rumsey Playfield, where I saw Wizard of Oz under the stars last fall. For the summer they are having regular SummerStage concerts there, which are free to the public. We haven't been to one, but they do draw crowds!

People lining up for Saturday's SummerStage concert

We then made a quick detour over to the Conservatory Water to check out a puppeteer and the boats that are always sailing in the water.

A woman with her marionettes, and an adorable sailboat behind her

Conservatory Water (that's a duck floating on a board in the foreground)

We also ran into the "Still Hunt" statue as we walked, which I really like. The cat just sits up on a rock, and it's very easy to miss. It really does look like he's stalking his prey - perhaps the runners on the jogging trail?

"Still Hunt" statue

Look at him perched up there, looking out over the jogging trail!

We also passed the Obelisk, as well as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim. One of these days, I need to get myself into those museums.

The Obelisk

The Guggenheim, as seen from the park

We also stopped to take in the views around the Reservoir - always a lovely sight.

At the Reservoir

When we finally made our way to the north end of the park and over to the west side, we exited the park for a little detour. When Eric was a summer associate here before we made the move, he lived in an apartment on W. 112th Street. We stopped by his old neighborhood for lunch at the pizza place he used to frequent (Giovanni's), then continued on south to Michael's for a little craft shopping (more on that to come!).

Eric enjoying pizza at his old stomping grounds

We then made our way back into the park and continued on. We passed the Delacorte Theater, where they have been having Shakespeare in the Park performances this summer. This year's plays were "The Winter's Tale" and "The Merchant of Venice," starring Al Pacino, Jesse Tyler Ferguson ("Mitchell" from Modern Family) and Jesse L. Martin (the original "Collins" from Rent). We wanted desperately to go, but unfortunately, so did the rest of New York. In order to go, you had to wait in line for a minimum of 6 hours OR hope and pray you got lucky in the online lottery. For the last performance, people started camping out around 1:30 a.m. for ticket distribution at 1:00 p.m. Yes, that's a 12-hour wait. We're just not that crazy, so no Shakespeare for us.

From there, we continued on past the Belvedere Castle and Shakespeare Garden. The last time I saw those things was when Eric was a summer associate and I visited him - back before we were married!

Belvedere Castle

View of Turtle Pond from Belvedere Castle

At Belvedere Castle

Shakespeare Garden

As we continued south, we came along some great views of the Lake that Eric always admires when he runs. It really was beautiful - the water is populated with people in canoes courtesy of The Boathouse, and it's just very pretty. There was a musician nearby playing some Beatles tunes, which made a great soundtrack as we admired the view.

Looking out over the Lake

The Lake

We also passed through the Wisteria Arbor, which until now has been blocked off by construction. It was also very pretty.

Wisteria Arbor

We also made our way through Strawberry Fields and past the Imagine Mosaic, but I have posted tons of pictures of that since we've lived here so no pictures today!

And that was our walk through the park! Of course, this is just a sampling of the wonderful things we saw. Central Park is just such a cool place because all the different areas have such a different feel, and there is such a variety of things to see and do. You can sunbathe, walk, listen to live music, see concerts, run, ride bikes, take a carriage ride, play sports, go canoeing, walk your dog, etc., etc. The list just goes on and on. What's not to love about that?

Also, our fun day ended with a fun surprise for me in the mailbox - a jury summons! Isn't that great? As you know, I work in jury consulting, and I have always wanted to be called for jury duty to see the process from the other side, so to speak. I don't expect to actually get on a jury, but I'm still pretty excited. Am I the only person ever to be excited about jury duty?

And in other news, my friend Megan is coming to visit me today! She's staying until Thursday and I'm very excited about it. Don't worry though, I won't neglect you - I have another post scheduled to go up for you in a couple days. That one will be about our somewhat silly "craft night" after our long walk in the park! We're really kind of dorks. Stay tuned!

A Sleeping Progression

As soon as Eric leaves for work each morning, Achilles drops whatever toy he was playing with and settles in for some sleeping. This is how it usually goes...

He starts all cuddled up in a sweet little ball.

Then he starts to stretch out a bit. He likes to bury his face in corners and between pillows.

Before long, he just lets it all hang out. Please pardon his immodesty.

He really has such a rough life, don't you think?

Weekend Recap and Other Ramblings

Eric and I had yet another really nice weekend together this weekend, and I'm going to tell you all about it, but get this - we didn't take any pictures. I will pause and let you recover from your shock. Take your time.

Yes, that is very unlike us, but I guess we were just too busy having fun. Or something.

As I mentioned last week, I had some work come in on Wednesday and it really picked up on Saturday. So, I spent an absolutely beautiful Saturday ("80-degrees-and-sunny" beautiful) sitting inside going through focus group data. It was kind of a bummer to be stuck inside, but Eric made the most of my preoccupation with a trip to the driving range, as he is wont to do. That boy will never turn down an opportunity to swing a golf club.

That evening, however, I was feeling a little stir-crazy so I took a break from my work for a couple hours and we went to see Inception at the Ziegfeld Theater. We have been wanting to see a movie at that theater (it's on our New York To-Do List), so this seemed like a good opportunity to check it out. The Ziegfeld is a single-screen theater that seats over 1,100 people, and frequently hosts movie premieres and galas. The Dinner for Schmucks premiere was recently held there, for example, and if any of you Sex and the City fans recall the scene in the latest movie where Samantha shows up to a movie premiere wearing the same dress as Miley Cyrus, that was also filmed at the Ziegfeld.

So, we saw Inception there. The theater itself was very nice - as you walk in, you are greeted by a very friendly, outgoing, loud man welcoming you and informing you where to go, where to find the restrooms, and to enjoy the show. The theater lobby has red carpeting, plush benches, lovely chandeliers and lots of old movie posters and memorabilia. It just feels very "old Hollywood." Inside the theater is huge, of course, and it was fun to picture so many celebrities sitting in there to watch premieres over the years.

As for the movie itself, we really enjoyed it. We tend to like those sorts of mind-bending movies that really make you think, and it certainly did just that! It's definitely the kind of movie you should see more than once to really try to figure it all out, I think. I would recommend it.

So that was our Saturday. On Sunday, Eric left the house around 9:00 in the morning to go - guess where? - golfing. Shock! He was playing golf with the managing partner of the New York office of his firm, and two other young associates. That afternoon, I made my way over to Grand Central to catch the train to Rye, NY to meet up with them for dinner. It was about a 45 minute train ride, and when I arrived in Rye I met up with several other young associates and other spouses/significant others. We took cabs to Bob's house (the partner) and met up with the golfers.

We had a very nice evening hosted by Bob and his wife Diane. Their home is lovely, and the food was wonderful. We spent the evening eating, drinking and talking in their backyard (a yard! With trees and grass! And crickets and birds! And stars in the sky!). They had delicious appetizers and for the main course we enjoyed grilled lamb, grilled peppers, potato salad, cucumber salad (made with homegrown cucumbers!) and rolls. For dessert they had cakes, cupcakes, cookies and fruit. And of course, the wine flowed freely!

After dinner we walked down to the Long Island Sound, where they also have a view of Playland Amusement Park. It was a great view! Bob also told us that in the summer, Playland sets off fireworks every Wednesday and Friday night. How fun!

After our walk to the water it was time to catch cabs back to the train station and head back to the city. We got home around 11:15 pm, and just like that the weekend was over!

In other news, can you believe it's August already? Holy cow. I can't believe the summer is nearing an end already. We have lots to be excited for in the fall, and I'm not opposed to a slight temperature cool-down but man do I not want it to be winter again so soon. I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but I just can't stand the thought.

However, our August is shaping up to be a busy one (aren't they always?) - a couple of visitors, an anniversary, some possible travel, a Colbert Report taping, etc. And that's just August! The fall will bring more travel (including a trip to Mexico for my cousin Molly's wedding), shows, baseball games, Gator football season, the works. We definitely have lots to look forward to! Stay tuned for all this fun!