15 January 2008

At Last....

I think Addy's finally accepted that I'm not going to abandon her. Of late, she's taken to putting herself to bed when she wants or when I'm ignoring her because I'm watching tv or playing on the computer. For those of you who haven't met my sweet, precious baby, she--until recently--was happiest/calmest when laying on me...or in lieu of getting to be a lap dog, laying on my feet. However, I must admit that albeit it is nice not ALWAYS tripping over the pupcicle, it's a bit weird not tripping over her all the time....

but progress, methinks....

:) SHEZ

03 January 2008

...But It Feels Like -2F!

Okay....it's ccccold, especially in the wind. By far the coldest day of April's visit--ironic espcially given the plan was to spend it walking around Central Park and doing some last minute gift shopping. We decided to forego the Park and have a bit of a sleep in before bundling up and heading to Canal Street so April could grab a few last minute gifts.

After that, we head down to the train so I could "take" April back to JFK so that she could leave us....waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!

The house now seems so empty and even Addy spent a few minutes looking around for April...guess it's back to the real world. sigh. Of course, as is typical for JFK, April just texted me to let me know that her plane's been delayed...I decided not to mention that I'm sitting here having a slice of that fabulous cheesecake (well, I couldn't let it go bad!!)

I hope you had fun April because I LOVED having you here! Come back soon!!

:)SHEZ

02 January 2008

Les Miserables!

When she woke up April declared the following: "I AM NOT RUNNING TO CATCH ANY FERRY, BUS, OR SUBWAY." alright, alright...since it's her last full day, I'll be accomodating...

SURPRISE! April--the wonderful, fabulous, generous, special, great, wonderful (oh wait, I already said that) decided that for my birthday (okay, it's a ways off) and Christmas, she bought me a ticket for Les Miserables! When we finally realized that it was the show we wanted to see, tickets were a bit outrageous because Sunday is the last show. So--unbeknownst to me, as I was working--she went back to the theatre and got us tickets.



IT WAS FABULOUS!! I'd never seen the play before. I had read the story and seen part of the movie, but what an EXTRAORDINARY introduction to Broadway. There are truly NO words to describe the experience!

Following that, we (via subway to get out of the insanely COLD wind!) went to Grand Central Station. After looking around, found our way to Junior's whose cheesecakes looked toooooo tempting to pass up on. Bought the most chocolately ooey gooey cheesecake we saw (chocolate devils food cheesecake) and went home to order Chinese food in (which April was excited about doing because it can be DELIVERED!). The food was good, but the cheesecake DIVINE! of course, to honor the occassion I brewed some of the Kona straight up to enjoy with the cheesecake....OMG. I needed a moment.
So here's a description of the cheesecake: thick chocolate icing with chocolate chips sprinkled on top then a layer of devils food cake , another layer of icing, then a FAT layer of cheesecake, a thick layer of chocolate icing and finally another layer of DFC. It it about 12 inches tall....and full of yummy deliciousness!!!

WHAT A FABULOUSLY PERFECT DAY (weather excluded!)--THANKS APRIL!!

:)SHEZ

Happy New Year!

Since I didn't have to be at work until 10am, we got to sleep in and April accompanied me to the subway stop at work...then went on to the Natural History Museum, where she spent most of the rest of the day. After I got off work, we headed 2 blocks over to the Empire State Building. I'm very glad to have gone to the top (AAAANNNNDDDD, we walked up the last 6 flights!)---although quite honestly I'm not quite sure that it was worth $19.00 (and that's without any bells, whistles, headphones, maps, or photographs). Here's why I question the $19: first of all, EVERY level/floor where they stopped you was yet another place to get you to try and "upgrade" your experience. For an additional $5, you get this, for an extra $10 you get that. Let's wind you through lines, lines, and more lines...now let's take a souvenir picture, it's only $25....it was crazy. Aside from the wind--and all the annoying tourists...ha!--the top was great. It was dark by the time we got there and there were some breathtaking views of the city. I tried pointing out a few bridges to April, but "they all looked alike" when I would reference them later.

We finally make our way down, checked out our photo--nope, not worth $25, sorry--and back down to ground level. By then (we also walked down the same 6 flights of stairs) our tummies were rumbling and so we headed down to Little Italy.

After strolling down Mulberry toward Canal and passing pizza and pasta places left and right, we decided on Giovanna's. It was quaint and cozy--the food was good, not too insanely overpriced. I had a great carafe of house wine that was only $13 and quite yummy, especially given the price! We got to indulge in the tiramisu, as the waiter forgot April's asparagus and didn't ask if I wanted pasta with my meal (YES!) and brought me potatoes instead. We pretty much rolled out of there completely stuffed (at least I did!). We got a chance to work it off while RUNNING to catch the ferry (what? we had 3 minutes before the ferry left and if we missed it we'd have to wait an hour for the next one!).

It was a good way to start the new year.

:) SHEZ