Friday KD and I had a lovely relaxing day. Morning began with a trip to a local diner before heading off to the post office for a new PO box for SMHeart and renewing my passport. On the way home we took a stroll through Harlem.

Saturday started with a shopping trip to Arthur Avenue with Lucy and Uma. Fresh warm mozzarella, onion bread, olive bread, huge dates!! Great score! Next up was an Amtrak ride to Exton Pennsylvania (near Philadelphia) for Sandy’s wedding reception. We stayed the night in the Sheraton. 4 weddings that day, all the brides gathered about the bar with their respective entourage.

Sunday KD and I were up early and swimming, making it back to the hotel room in time for the hotel fire alarm to sound. Turns out it was Sandy’s husband (Mike) two year old niece who pulled the alarm. We opted to take SEPTA and NJ Transit to get back to NYC. Lunch was Jimbo’s Burgers on Melrose. Tasty, inexpensive, but stay away from the onion rings. After relaxing at home for a few hours we headed to Hunts Point for an exploratory bike ride.

It was a great weekend, Philadelphia, Hunts Point, great people, train rides!! Wahoo! KD and I also took some time to reflect on the past year and all we’ve accomplished. Hard to believe all that we have done. Wonderful and amazing!!!

Saturday remained cool and overcast. KD and I worked about the house and ran a few early errands to Animal Feeds and Food Bazaar. After a few more hours of work about the apartment we took an evening break and walked up to the Vietnamese restaurant as there was a Vietnamese grocery store we wanted to explore and pick up a few things. We also stopped past a pizza shop at aqueduct and Fordam road for a bite to eat and then went past a house KD looked at last year to see if it had sold.

Sunday was up early and bike down to Toni and Eric’s apartment on 91st street to help them pack the truck for their move to Chicago. Toni had picked up H&H bagels and Starbucks coffee to power us through. A very tasty combination. The only other person to help out was a woman named Kelly. Her job was to watch the truck as we ran up and down the elevator. Happily it tool only 3 hours to pack the truck and KD and I biked home to finish cleaning the spare room in preparation for Toni, Eric and cat Julia to arrive for the night.
We dined on pizza from Tiny’s and drank tasty mojitos! KD Eric and I walked Kelly to the 167th subway stop 4 line while Toni relaxed at the apartment.

Tuesday
Angus was very snuggly this morning.
During lunch on Chelsea pier, Rusty a black lab munched my nearly completed lunch. His owner Viva was mortified.
It turned out that I was not as busy at work as I expected I might have been and so met KD for a walk home from work. It rained, but we shared a Rootbeer ice from Rita’s. We were both tired from the day and relaxed in the kitchen working on food and websites. One bit of good news was a webdesign project to bid.

Wednesday

Tuesday – unexpected bike repairs, tapped for Hot Pockets pitch, picnic in Mill Pond park with Rebecca

Wednesday -at the moment i so don’t remember, wait I was removed from the HP Pitch. Wednesdy was hot. So hot I think my brain was baking as I rode my bike to and fro work.

Thursday was a long day at work filled with Faces of Influenza site im working on. I was working on documentation to submit the site on Friday to MLR review. Long long day of notes ad screen captures. Chris our neighbor was to come over for drinks, but he had friends down from Poughkeepsie for the Yankees game. Only there was a 3 hour rain delay so they hung out at his apartment till nearly 11.

Friday – spent al day at work going over the documentation and makingy updates to the Faces site before the submission. It was a lovel day out and i could not wait to leave. Regardless of my intentions i was at work till nearly 7. On the up side KD, Thurmin, Billy, Lucy and myself went to a little vietnamese restaurant on 193rd street near Jerome. Tasty stuff!

Saturday we prepared for the night’s Granny Cart market… Our entry “Fishing for Compliments” was a smashing success. Participants cast a magnetic fishing line into the granny cart to snag a fish filled with compliments.

Good friends Toni and Eric held their farewell party at the Alexander Hamilton statue in Central Park. Eric accepted a position at Northwestern and they are leaving in a week. Toni also unveiled that she is expecting and December is the due date. After eating everyone joined in creating fish and writing compliments.

A quick trip back to The Bronx to grab the granny cart pack the fish and head off to the East River park dance area. I think we had 24-30 people go fishing with Kevin Balctic discovering that fish believe he has nice boobs.

Sunday Andy was up early (5:30) and began his journey back to Madison Wisconsin. A few hours later when KD and I fully woke up we went for a lovely bike ride through Van Cortland park and up into Westchester County. We stopped for lunch at this great little Irish pub, Piper’s Kilt to discover that they offer a $17 brunch special of any burger or eggs with either Coors Light, Mimosas, or Bloody Mary’s all you can drink 12-3.

One more venture out to Target and Bed Bath and Beyond before settling back into CK for the remainder of the day. I finished our application for City Island Yacht Club and arranged a rental van to pick up our new boat on July 1. Laundry antics and lunch prep for the week helped draw the weekend to a close.

Saturday
Help Shelley Pack
Explore Chinatown with KD
Forward Building

Sunday
Rain
Cooking
Arranging
Jess Hooks

Gantry Park is the space on the East River where you can see the big illuminated Pepsico sign. One magical moment occurred when a party boat came up river and used the water in front on the park as a turn around. Musically it was an 70′s cover band that resembled what might happen if Bruce Springsteen sang the songs of George Michael and Michael Jackson.

Saturday was a relaxing day with the biggest item being Christina’s 30th birthday party in Williamsburg. It began at the east river park as a potluck. Ryan, Meeghan, Rachel, Brittany, Adam, Ashley, Collette, and Steve became new friends! Phillip and Linda joined us as we headed to stage two: Berry Park. Being on bikes KD and I rode ahead and hung out in McCarren park and enjoyed the last notes of the Bacteria Records & Third Ear day party. It was a fast and thumpy house music. Christina and crew arrived at the rooftop bar and began the celebration and more new friends arrived, Aaron, Mark, and Will. A few beers and a slice of tasty gluten free cake later and we headed back to our bikes and began the return ride to Chez Kitteh.

Sunday was supposed to be a ride to the Rockaways, but an urgent need for crickets and golf pencils found KD and I riding about Staten Island instead. It was the most different of all the five boroughs that I’ve explored. Staten Island felt more like a fishing village than cityscape. Trees, lawns, and not overly bike friendly.

Angus and Biscuit were amused with the crickets chasing them about and maybe even munching one or two… Hard to tell as it was fast and furious pouncing going on.

I had a Skype with Debra and Adele planning for Conflux in October. Debra and I met up at Loki Lounge in 5th Avenue in Park Slope. Good beers on tap and lovely couches! The rest of my night was filled with laundry and brownie baking.

The evening wound down sharing a bowl of brownies topped with peaches and vanilla ice cream with KD.

yeah it was a good fun weekend and I’m happy to be back writing again!

For those of you that hadn’t heard it is a recent development… less than a week since the offer. So there has been a frantic pace of apartment hunting with this Clinton Hill duplex the front runner:

I am also tempted by high rise living.. something about a corner apartment on the 40 somethingith floor of a mid-town building…..

So I’m furiously packing and trying to remember what it’s like to have over a foot of snow on the ground.

I’d appreciate any suggestions on where to find good people, music, and food! And when you find yourself on the East coast know that you’ll have a place to stay!