What I Done Did

First I got on a train. I sat behind a group of judges who'd been in Philadelphia for a conference and were on their way home to New Haven. They were playing Words with Friends on one of their iPads and complaining about the computer's lack of respect for them and some of their words. They joked and giggled and gossiped and acted generally immature together. Judges gone wild.

Next, I got off the train in New York City. You know you're in New York City because of the smell of fresh urine and pretzels. Mmmm. I met up with my sister-in-law Betsy and niece Sydney. You know you're with Betsy and Sydney because of the fresh smell of shopping bags. Aren't they cute?

We ventured to Brooklyn and stood in line for the best pizza on earth. It only took an hour to wait for the best pizza on earth, which is reasonable, I think. Especially on a beautiful fall day.

Later, I sat in their hotel room and asked them to share all their shopping finds with me and, oh, what a parade! Ladies and gentlemen, the economy has officially been stimulated. I lived vicariously, delighting in the gorgeous fabrics and frugal finds. I may or may not have coveted a poncho and lusted after it in my heart.

The next morning, I arose bright and early and donned my walking shoes. I made like a pioneer and walked and walked and walked all day. First, I walked to Alyssa's apartment. Look how cute my baldy friend is! We're calling her new look chemo-chic. My look is slept-on-the-floor-frazzled. But I think it works.

The color theme of the day was pink. We joined a sea of pink at Central Park for the Race for the Cure. I'll be honest, mine was more of a walk for the cure, but I know the cure won't mind.

After the race, we had lunch with some of Alyssa's friends (such nice people, by the way) and then Alyssa and I spent some much-needed sofa time together at her apartment, laughing, talking, and occasionally crying. Eventually it was time for me to catch my train, so I walked and walked to the station. They oversold my train, but I pushed my way through before I could get bumped to the next one. I was ready to get home to my house full of boys. And also my bathtub.

The next day, I got to have dinner with my brother John who is in Philadelphia for some meetings this week. Lucky for us, it's Restaurant Week in Philly, so we took him out for swanky Mexican food. (Did you know Mexican food can be swanky?) We ate ourselves silly. We ate so much, my hair lost all its volume and pizazz.

I crashed in bed last night. I slept like a corpse. When the alarm clock went off this morning, it was a foreign and disturbing noise. I must have been dreaming that I was a wealthy aristocrat, able to sleep to my heart's content and never bothered by such annoyances as alarm clocks. I love that dream. I finally awoke, firing the butler, and crawled back into my everyday life.

Everyday life today included more walking, some writing, some emailing, some errands, and the creation of the first butternut squash soup of the season. It's roasting in the oven now, bathing in Thai spices and coconut water. I will patiently wait.

And that's what I done did. I wonder what I will done do next.

My Weekend in (Mental) Pictures

We spent the weekend in New York with Alyssa, schlepping around the city in search of our next good meal or snack and enjoying the company. The day before we left, I purchased a new handbag---a smaller, strap-across-the-chest, hands-free bag. Whenever I carry my regular bag, I become the family pack mule and my ample bag digs into my shoulder by the end of the day. I celebrated my independence with a bag too small to hold much more than my wallet, phone, and lip gloss.

And, unfortunately, too small for my camera. Oops.

You'll have to imagine all the fabulous sights, okay? And while you're at it, imagine that I lost 23 pounds and grew six inches taller. This is going to work out swell.

Look at us on the speed boat, out in the harbor, the wind in our hair. See the kids getting soaked by the spray? Max's shorts were wet for an hour, and all the adults were jealous.

That's us in Puma City, the World Cup party headquarters sponsored by Puma. The boys have been caught up in the World Cup, so we couldn't resist getting some team t-shirts (Brazil and Ivory Coast) with free customization. Plus, we got free vuvuzelas with our purchase! Even though we can't remember the word vuvuzela and substitute it for Vesuvius and Venezuela and Voldemort the entire trip.

Speaking of the Vesuvius, can you see the look of suprise/delight/annoyance on the faces of passersby as my boys trumpet around the city? We startled one homeboy on his way out of the subway terminal. He shouted, "What the fudgesicle is that?" (We may as well substitute other words, don't you think?) When he realized it was Max and his Vesuvius, he bashfully said, "Oh! It's all right, little man." Thanks, homeboy.

Oh, here's a good photo. We're walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. Christian kept looking down through the wooden slats to the water below, even though it freaked him out. He said it was addicting. By the end of the walk, he had Alyssa addicted too.

After standing in line in Brooklyn (doesn't that sound like the title of a good song?), we were seated for pizza at Grimaldi's. We ordered two large pizzas, even though it was going to be way too much food. Or was it? It looks like we ate all but one piece. See how bloated and ecstatic we look?

After a subway ride back and a movie, we settled in for a good night's sleep in Alyssa's new apartment. Isn't it nice? It looks like the new and improved version of her old one, which is awesome and confusing at the same time. It's like her old apartment had a little augmentation done, if you know what I mean.

Sunday was much more low-key. There we are strolling the city, visiting the Intrepid museum, staking out a spot for fireworks on Alyssa's rooftop, and cooking a picnic dinner. I deleted the (imaginary) photos of the mayhem that began on the roof, when too many people wanted in and the security guard was threatening to send everyone to Time Out if they didn't start playing nice. No sense remembering that ugly scene.

We ditched the roof and carried our picnic down 57th street until we found this lovely piece of hot, New York concrete. We laid out our blankets and feasted on one of the most delicious summer picnics I've ever had. Doesn't the food look amazing? Steak salad, corn salad, watermelon salad, and potato salad. I had at least three offers to buy our food--it was that gorgeous. Nice job, Alyssa.

Check out these photos of the fireworks. Aren't they spectacular? I like the new ones that look like Saturn, and three dimensional cubes, and smiley faces. But, my heart will always belong to these glittering, white, willowy beauties.

The streets were packed with literally millions of people. It was fun to see these rough-around-the-edges New Yorkers ooohing and ahhhing over the fireworks. Look at them, a sea of heads and little digital cameras and phones.

It was also fun to see this crazy Chinese woman smacking another lady in the head for standing in her way. She is an interesting character---a statue of pure discontent---magically brought to life to whack somebody in the head and utter threats about Chinese fudgesicles. Who does this?

Only in America.