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I'm pretty sure I have posted a similar picture before. I will explain. But first, let me back up and say that it's a complete relief that we're slowly rising up and recovering from the massive push to get our project up and running. I still don't feel comfortable rehashing work here, so I won't. But I will say that we're all off work today, every last one of us, hopefully respectively each indulging in what feels like our first break in a couple of months.*The weekend has been a blur of baseball and other things, so this morning when an alarm didn't sound, it felt like such a relief to stay in bed. We also felt strangely guilty, like maybe we should be up and about - what's this relaxation thing all about, anyway?? - so we rose and headed right to breakfast, no showers!, and settled on Timmy's on the River at 90th and York. Breakfast was just okay, but the restaurant itself felt really comfortable, like being served in your parents' home or something. It seemed strangely like everyone in there knew one another, too. Anyway, after breakfast we came home and got ready immediately for a morning and afternoon in New York. First thing, we traveled north to the Bronx to lay eyes on the new Yankee Stadium. The weather today was stunning, skies were brilliant blue and even a breeze kept the temps mild. Yankee Stadium...is...breathtaking. It's obvious that the Owner spent approximately 800 million more than the other new stadium in town, Citi Field. The place is a palace, with impeccable concourse finishes (what we could see of them) and an interior (which we could see through windows from the outside) that surely has fans gasping at its magnificence. We were amazed. Seeing a game there is a must before we potentially leave New York City, if we leave.*Then we rode the 4 train down to Union Square. We wandered around, sat in the sun for a bit, then eyed some art of the vendors who had all of their work out for sale and display. We encountered a photographer's table and were stopped short when we saw a photo imprinted on a canvas of the heavily (legally) graffitied building in Long Island City that we see every morning on our commute into Queens. The canvas, we learned, was selling for $200, but the photographer also sold smaller regular matted prints of them. We stood there amidst a crowd of other impressed viewers rifling through his boxes of photographs and lucked upon a smaller version of the large canvas print. We then found another more recent photograph of the same building, only further down on the building. We bought them! They are super cool, and they will follow us wherever we go and we will have ties to them because the graffiti on the building changes periodically as new tagging artists request space to display their aerosol art (which must be approved, nice!) So we can always admire these photos as images from our daily commute. We talked about how we will frame/matte them (we will matte over the white with a colored matte, likely) and how they will look over our couch! (see below for iPhone poor quality images of the two photos). So that prompted Craig to request that we walk by our other favorite City tagging on a garage door across from Against the Grain and Grape and Grain, two of our favorite intimate classy adult beverage spots in New York, and that I shoot a photo of it to print and frame. So I did! And I will upload it to Snapfish and have it printed probably to 8 1/2 x 11. Graffiti images are going to become part of our interior flair, and I like that!*We ate lunch at Zum Schneider in the East Village, sausages, kraut, mashed potatoes and imported Eastern European beer, and halfway through our lunch, a little blonde girl fainted, which prompted a handful of FDNY paramedics, as well as another handful of NYPD's to arrive, and Zum Schneider is not a giant place. The poor pale little thing was given an oxygen mask and she really, really looked awful. Her friends were milling about, confused and concerned, and it seemed to take forever, but finally a stretcher was wheeled in and she was lifted in her fragile state from the bar floor to the thin medical mattress, then wheeled out. Our waitress commented to us on the taxpayers' dollars hard at work on all of those city workers just standing around because a girl fainted, and the bartender recommended another girl who was trying to get to the lavatory which was obstructed by the medical emergency to "just climb over the corpse". Insensitive responses, perhaps? I felt really bad for the little blonde. Not only did she pass out (faint) at a bar, but her incident became a dramatic scene for others to view. I hope she's ok.*After lunch, Craig and I wandered to the Momofuku Milk Bar so that he could get dessert. He loves that place. He's such a sweetheart when it comes to his sweet tooth - it makes me smile. He wound up with a milkshake comprised of Bavarian Cream soft serve and wild strawberry flavored milk - I took a couple of sips of it - holy moses, was it amazing! Rich, smooth, delicious. Then we took a taxi home, and I've been messing around a little with Light Room (I've got 5 days left of the free trial) and I think we're just taking it easy the remainder of the night. It feels strange, but nice, to be home at this hour, listening to Frightened Rabbit on my headphones, posting random stuff about my random day, and contemplating what's next in my evening. I may even take a nap, who knows! Nice. Thanks, Universe. Today was much needed. Thank you for it.