Mitch and Kathy Come to Visit

So my brother Mitch and his girlfriend Kathy came to visit me for the weekend. I was thrilled to see them, and thrilled for an excuse to have some fun.

Here are some of the things we did:

• walked through Central Park
• went to the Museum of Natural History to see the butterflies and the H2O exhibit
• had lunch in the Upper West Side
• went to Union Square, where a hungry squirrel ate peanuts out of Mitchell's hand
• toured my school
• went to the Build-A-Bear store on 5th where Mitch and Kathy added two to their collection
• took a pedi-cab ride down 5th
• ate BBQ in Times Square
• went to see Horton Hears a Who at the AMC on 42nd Street
• on Sunday, spent the morning at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, where we bought cactuses

Looking at some of the awesome plants at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden.

Anniversary

15 years.

Baby!

I went to Allentown, PA, to attend a reunion of my mom's side of the family this weekend. Lots of people were there--a lot of whom I haven't seen in a number of years. Here is the newest addition to the family, Harmony (my cousin Renee's second daughter), taking a snooze on yours truly. There's really nothing better than holding a sleeping baby. She's so sweet and well-mannered.

Mykonos, Greece

I love this pic of me and my dad.

Holly, Laura, Ken, Gram, Dad, Me.

The Weekend Report

This weekend Gram and I went to see the revival of A Chorus Line on Broadway. It was terrific. I have always known the music from the show, and I knew the story, but I hadn't seen it before. They really did a great job with it.

The rest of the weekend was spent at Gram's, eating, relaxing, chatting, doing (free!) laundry, etc., and yesterday I drove home to Albany.

When I got home, I found a gift on my bed from my brother and his girlfriend. They've been collecting Build-a-Bear stuffed animals, and whenever they bring one home, I always comment on how I'd like to have one because they're so huggable and cute. Yesterday, they got me one! Mitch had texted me to ask me, inexplicably, what my favorite boys' names were. I told him, and he picked one to name my new stuffed cat--Josiah. It's so fricking cute. They dressed him in a tux with fancy shoes. It was a really sweet gift and Josiah couldn't be more huggable. I'll blog a photo soon.

P.S. I am NOT too old to have a stuffed animal.

Anniversary

14 years.

Holiday Lounging

Mitch and Kathy hang out by the fire.

My brothers and I busy doing nothing at Dad's place.

Charlie's Wedding

Mitch and I went to Freeport, Long Island, this weekend for my Uncle Charlie's wedding. The weekend also doubled as a mini family reunion on my mom's side. I only was able to see four of my 19 cousins, but hopefully we'll be able to orchestrate a larger family reunion soon, maybe in the fall. I did see four out of seven of my mom's siblings though. Here they are:

Here's Darcy, Lisa, Derek, my mom (Carrie) and Charlie.

Their other sister, Elle, is in Italy for the summer (where she already managed to get hit by a Smart car), and one brother, Bucky (a.k.a. Danny) is in London for a Cream concert, and the other brother, Johnny, has been excommunicated from the family. I still don't really get what's going on there, but no one seems to want to go into detail to explain it to me.

Here are the cousins that were in attendance:

Me, Val, Shawn, Renee, and Mitch. Nicole showed up later.

Here's Renee's baby, Kiera:

She's a cutie, alright!

And here is my Uncle Charlie dancing with his bride, Be:

Her dress was beautiful. I'm so glad Charlie finally got married! Yay! Congratulations Charlie and Be!!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

It's been raining for like seven or eight days straight. C'mon, people, we do not live in Seattle here. Augh.

Off to Long Island this weekend to attend my uncle Charlie's wedding. He's 60-something and this will be his first marriage. Impressive. It looks like I'll be seeing some of my dozens of cousins on my mom's side who I haven't seen in quite a while, so that'll be interesting.

OK, back to work.

Today Is . . .

1. Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry's
2. Free Smoothie Day at Dunkin Donuts
3. Holocaust Remembrance Day
4. Tuesday
5. Exactly 30 years since my parents got married