Good gracious, has it been busy!

Has it really been that long since I posted?  I swear I have been writing daily blog posts in my head, though I'm not sure what good that does me.

Last weekend Jeremy & I headed off to NYC.  Many many thanks to my fabulous mother-in-law for watching our kids (who seemed to have just as good of a time as we did).  It was a great weekend, with the exception of a lot of rain on Friday.  We were soaked by the time we got to the hotel on Friday (Jeremy insisted we take the subway, instead of a taxi).

After dumping our luggage, we wander around a bit.  In spite of the rain, it was nice because foot traffic was light.  We took a long walk to check out the Laduree store for some macarons.  We were supposed to do this when we were in Paris a few years ago, but it just didn't happen.  I was in HEAVEN!  It is beautiful with all the rows of brightly colored cookies!  And I must say, my macarons hold up pretty well compared to theirs (and they don't cost $4 a cookie!).

Look at those (slightly melted because they got too warm) beauties!  

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Fortunately, the weather cleared in the afternoon before we took a round trip ride on the Staten Island Ferry.  It was great (both because of the views and the price -- it is free)!  

 We also did the "Top of the Rock" (Rockefeller Center) tour.  The views were great (that is Central Park behind us).  I'm getting better at snapping self portraits!

I hit the Metropolitan Museum of Art by myself on Saturday, which I enjoyed.  I must say, though, after touring the Louvre, Musee D'Orsay and Versailles, it wasn't very exciting.   I also squeezed in a fabulous run in Central Park.  I usually don't run outside, so I was a bit worried, but there was so much to look at (and so much to dodge), that I did really well.  I'm getting better at monitoring my own pace and I'm guessing I averaged a good 8 minute mile.  It felt like running in a Super Mario game -- so many things to dodge and look at.  I'd like to think I got some bonus coins for making the run without hitting anyone, stepping on any feet or getting lost!

Of course, we also had to do some shopping.  Jeremy loved the Macy's at Harold Square (see dorky photo below).  I, honestly, don't like shopping in those kind of crowds.  Thank you, but I'll stick to smaller markets like Charlotte and Columbus.  I did, however, HAVE to make a trip to Tiffany's and just couldn't leave without a little (actually, kind of big) blue box.  I recently broke one of champagne flutes, so I indulged in a very nice replacement set.

The last night we were there we saw "Rock of  Ages" which was FABULOUS!  I had soooo much fun (in spite of the fact that they charged $8 for a can of beer -- really?).  The music was so much fun (all 80's rock hits) and made me want to dig out some Bon Jovi for my next run!

I also did a lot of knitting (Bryant Park was a great place to sit), eating (the cheesecake was good, but I fell in love with black & whites) and people watching!  I was ready to come home to my babies on Monday, but would go again in a heartbeat (or, maybe in two or three years when Jeremy wants to hit the same conference again)!

New York!

Since moving last year, Jeremy & I have had only a few occasions to spend time together without the kids.  I know "they" (whoever the hell "they" is) say "date night" is important, but it just hasn't been feasible.  This has really started to wear on us and Jeremy, being the great guy that he is, decided to intervene.  On October 1st, Jeremy's continuing education requirements re-set (for lack of a better term) and he now has to complete 40 hours over the course of the next 2 years.  It just so happens that there is a conference in New York in a few weeks that will meet a good chunk of those CE requirements.  So, thanks to my in-laws, I'm going along and we are getting a few days away.

I'm really excited, though a bit nervous, too.  I absolutely LOVE Washington, DC and would, honestly, love to live there.  But I really detested Paris (it was a beautiful city, but the people were appalling).  I'm afraid that NYC might be closer to Paris in my eyes than to DC.  We'll see...I figure I'll either love it or hate it, but I doubt I'll be ambivalent towards it.

So, I'm searching for activities that I will enjoy doing on my own during the 3 days of conference that Jeremy is attending.  So far, this is what is on my (solo) docket:  running in Central Park, picking up macarons at Laduree, and buying something at Tiffany's (I'm not coming home without a blue box, damn it).  I'm not a huge shopper, really -- I can usually handle only 2 or 3 hours before I poop out (unless, of course, I have my good friend Erin along, and then I can go for the day and do major damage to the check book).  So that is one of my tasks for the next week (along with about 3 billion other tasks) -- find some activities that I will be happy to take on solo!