Families

It's Sunday afternoon and we're winding down (ie., Craig is sleeping on the couch and I am doing laundry at the ladies' - towels, sheets from the guest bedroom, shower liner, bath mat, etc.) from a long weekend with my parents in town. I don't mean "long" as in "I wish it had been shorter"; I mean that they landed last Wednesday night and we took off work Friday. We had a really nice time - took them to eat at Vespa on Wednesday night, worked Thursday while they buzzed around town, and took them to our friend Lynn's modern dance benefit Thursday night, which was such an array and display of the talent of our friends to show off!! It was held at the Chelsea Art Museum in this gorgeous open loft space with delicious wine and appetizers and music and a little number the dance company did in their party cocktail dresses. My mom and dad got to meet Eric, Andrew, Lynn, Amanda and of course see Lauren and Jeff again. The room was filled with beautiful chic people rubbing elbows and sharing chitchat. Lynn's dance company met their financial goal, which is so terrific for them! After that the four of us headed to Molly Shebeen's for dinner. To relax a little, we came back to the apartment and played Wii with my dad! Good times! Friday we woke up early enough and ate bagels, then walked mom and dad to quite a few sights: the Literary Mall in Central Park (pictured above), Columbus Circle, lunch crepes at Shade Bar, walking in the Village, then stopping for a monster stein of beer at Lederhosen. By that time, mid-afternoon, we were all pretty wiped out. We ate dinner at Brother Jimmy's up the street, then came back here and popped in Talladega Nights, which my dad had not yet seen. Mom fell asleep and I instructed her to go to bed, then I fell asleep between my dad and Craig on the couch! It was an exhausting day. Saturday morning we traveled to Mud for breakfast, then headed to Williamsburg in Brooklyn to ready up for our Radegast Beer Hall afternoon, stopping first for tea and coffees on Bedford Ave. Lauren and Jeff were already at Radegast when we arrived, and shortly after our first beer, Eric, Lynn and Lynn's mother (who was in town for the benefit) arrived. We had such a great time - played some Euchre, talked over beers, ate brats and kielbasas and spicy mustard with kraut and Lauren's favorite wheat bread. I love my friends and family. I'm so blessed, and I just grinned with pride watching a whole table of people that I so adore! I don't get to see my parents enough, but we do always get to that point by the end of a span of time together where it's time for us to resume our individual separate lives. I had to apologize to mom this morning because while trying to open our window shades while I was still asleep, one of the end pieces ripped out of the wall and I came out of the bedroom to find my very tall dad standing on one of our bar stools trying to perform damage control. I stared in horror from mom to dad and said, WHO DID THIS?? My mom was sheepish and said, "I didn't mean to" but I still seethed a little. I apologized right away, though, when I saw her start to tremble and appear fragile! I explained that it was just time for us to go back to our routines. My dad echoed my sentiments, particularly because he likes New York but would gladly take his little Michigan village with one stoplight over this fierce metropolis anyday! And plus, our window treatments can easily be salvaged by Craig later. :) Overall, it was a really fantastic weekend. I hope mom and dad liked being here as much as we loved having them. They are super special individuals.*Today we ate breakfast at D'Alsace - they treated, and it was so yummy! Then mom went with me to C-Town to buy a bird for Thursday. We found a 9 lb. bone-in breast which will fit perfectly into the toy oven. I've scoped out a slow cooker dressing recipe and I already know which mashed potatoes recipe I plan to make - with cream cheese, sour cream, milk, butter and Ranch packet flavoring - so good - and I'm still debating over other vegetable sides. I can't wait to cook warm awesome food on a cold Thanksgiving in New York. I'm also contemplating either a butternut squash soup or a wild mushroom leek soup with thyme cream. Mmmm.*Work should be okay this short week. Wednesday night we are attending a Purdue Alumni pre-basketball party, followed by Purdue basketball at the Garden. Thursday we're hosting one friend for Thanksgiving, and Friday will be rest, rest and rest. Saturday morning, Roger, Mary and Alexander land in New York (they are here on a leg before traveling to Hawaii) and I will get lots of Alexander cuddle time. I've had a great weekend, and will do so this coming weekend, which makes me a really lucky girl.*Unlucky news = our Rainbow Ace is closing its doors. Stupid 2nd Avenue Subway construction. It's shutting down businesses right and left. I've relied for years on that store. So now they are selling everything at 20% off, and seeing as it's the only store in hundreds of blocks that sells the Only Toothpaste KB Can Ever, Ever Use, I stocked up on enough of it to brush all of Manhattan's teeth. Now the question becomes Where Do I Store All That Toothpaste???*Happy Holidays soon. I'm looking forward to it.