Brian's Working Late

Tonight is a much more productive night. Isabella has only been in bed for a half hour and the house is clean! I still have to clean up a bit from dinner. Dinner tonight was fresh, sweet corn on the cob, roasted tomato tabbouleh salad, brie on crackers and blueberry cobbler for dessert. Yes, it was so delicious!

Thank you, Brian, for working so hard! xoxo

Brian's Night Out

Brian is out to a movie tonight with a friend who is in town. I probably should have done the dishes, or cleaned our room, or gone to bed already. But, no, I decided to do this:

before...

...after

before...

...after (front)

...after (back)

before...

...after

before...

...after (a lot shorter and tighter than intended)

Why? Well...Since I run in a few races each year I have tons of t-shirts that I really don't like, but I wear them running anyway, most of the time. Recently I've been thinking I really should get myself a cute running t-shirt and get away from the boxy, stiff boy t-shirts. I've been looking at a few shirts to buy, but I just didn't want to spend the money.

Yesterday I was browsing through Barnes & Noble and came across this book. I was inspired! I only flipped through the book for a couple of minutes, but I got the general idea into my head and then made it happen tonight.

My favorite? It is the first blue one posted, but I really like the racer back of the second blue one too (with the monkey). I can see myself wearing the monkey one more running.

Peach!

Oh, how I love summer! With all it's sweet, ripe, juicy fruit it gives me! What joy!

Reading Room

On our 6th wedding anneversary Isabella and I met Brian at Bryant Park for some sandwiches, Broadway in the park and then enjoyed sitting in their Reading Room.

Then that night we went out to dinner and then to a comedy show. I was a little nervous about the show, since you are never sure it will be good. (I despise gross, vulgar comics! Really, come on!) But we got lucky and I laughed until I cried. And then we left when the bad one came on, later in the show. If interested, we went to The Broadway Comedy Club on a Thursday night.

I {heart} Summer Streets!!!

How often do you get to stop and look at Mr. Vanderbilt's statue outside Grand Central?
Umm...Never, until Summer Streets!

Isabella putting up with it all. She really enjoyed it most of the time, really!

Spencer & Brian trying out brand new, free roller blade "rentals".

Seriously! One of my all-time favorite things I've done in NYC in the last three years (and we've done a lot of fun stuff!) has been Summer Streets. There's nothing quite like it; riding my bike, with baby and hubby, down Park Avenue with not a single car around! We rode from W 110th St all the way to the Brooklyn Bridge (and back) on streets sans cars. It was such a wonderful, calm, relaxing way to enjoy my favorite city. The weather was fantastic both weekends and Isabella has been a real trouper. We did it two Saturdays already and the last one is this coming Saturday. There are lots of fun free classes, free bike rentals, and such along the route. So, if you haven't tried it yet, GO!!! I really hope they do this again and again! Thank you Mayor Bloomberg!

Last Saturday I had a true New Yorker moment. Someone told me I couldn't ride in a certain area of the park and I was confident and rude right back at her. I'm so proud of myself, 'cause I'm usually such a pushover.

Finger Painting, Again

We tried finger painting again recently. The first time was fun, but so very, very messy. See my post here. This time Isabella seemed to enjoy it more and was able to follow directions better, i.e. don't touch anything!

Summer

Some fun summer photos. Also, see Beth's super sweet post about Isabella and her good friend Morgan. They seriously adore each other!

Playing at the Park

Morgan Stanley rented out the Wollman Rink at Central Park for an employee event. During the summer is transformed into a small amusement park called, Victorian Gardens. I was amazed how many little carnival rides they could fit on a ice rink. Isabella (and us too) had a great time.

Music in the Park

We went down to Madison Square Park on Tuesday with friends for the free kids concert that they have every Tuesday & Thursday. We've been a few times this summer but this week's group, Opus Ditty, was my favorite; a bit more calm, no crazy wigs/hair and some good ole kids folk music. I loved the banjo!

Mouse & Bunny Get a Diaper Change

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this new phase Isabella has entered into. She has begun to pretend and it is so sweet, silly, and fun! Sometimes she pretends she is sleeping with her eyes closed tight, scowled forehead and lips puckered. Othertimes, her stuffed Piglet gets to do just about everything she does: eat pasta, sit on the potty, suck on a binky. But my favorite is when she asks for the "why, why, why" (the wipes). She then finds the changing pad, gets a diaper and goes to work. I love how focused she is when she gets going: lays down the pad, puts the bunny (or mouse, or Piglet, or babydoll), wipes their bottoms and then attempts to put a relatively huge diaper on them. Today she even requested the diaper cream (since she's had a rash lately and has needed it herself). That's when I had to really "teach" about pretend, watch closely and make sure Piglet didn't become covered in Butt Paste.

Beach Cruisers

This weekend I had a big event I did science entertainment for, so I had a car. When I was done with work, and still had the car, we thought, "Let's go to the beach!" It was a fabulous evening at Long Beach!

I really need to go to the beach more often; especially when no one is there.

Rescue Me

Outside our living room window

We don't have television and I really don't care much of what goes on--on television. But when a whole, huge crew showed up at our apartment building shuffling paint, equipment, crew, cords, etc. through our hallways, and locking up our elevator, my interest piqued. I had never heard of the show Rescue Me until now--but I guess it is in its 4th season. (Is that right?) And it has a big name, Dennis Leary. Who knew?!

They are filming the 8th episode for the fall in apartments 2C and 4A. Or at least that's what that unfamiliar, buff man in the hallway told me.

So, if you are a fan and plan on watching the 8th episode next season, just think, "Hey, Kiasa lives there! Does she know her building is on fire?"

Please, Rescue Me!

Blueberries...again!

Yes, I love to pick blueberries! And I love to eat them. Right off the bush, the next day, or months later when they have been frozen. My good friend Sarah joined us on our trip to "the country" last weekend. There is really nothing to compare to the peace and joy blueberry picking brings on a beautiful summer day. Hopefully I have enough to last through the winter (11 quart size ziploc bags full).

Paparazzi

When you see a crowd forming in the West Village, what do you do? We were curious (assuming it wasn't street performers), so we had to find out. It was all the paparazzi, focused on Lindsay Lohan and her girlfriend. We were so entertained, not by Lindsay (no thanks!), but by watching the paparazzi move and sway together, trying to get that perfect shot. These photos really don't do the moment justice.

Restaurant Week Day 4: Eleven Madison Park

Two years ago I had a reservation for dinner (during restaurant week) at Eleven Madison Park, but ended up canceling it since I knew I wouldn't enjoy it as much as I should since the reservation was for 10pm and I was 7 months pregnant and could fall asleep by 8pm every night if I had the opportunity. Pregnancy in NYC, during the summer is absolutely exhausting!

My attempt to discretely take a photo of the menu...for you!
Can you read it?

After going there last Thursday I'm so bummed I canceled that reservation two years ago. I LOVED it! It was all so fabulous. We weren't crammed in like cattle, our waitress spent a ton of time, happily telling us about all the dishes, and the food was really, really good. I felt like a million dollars!

This is the Salmon Escabeche...so good!

Brian got the tuna with heirloom tomatoes, the skate (which is a fish, if you weren't sure), and the cheesecake. The tuna dish was amazing, the skate was very good, and the cheesecake nice and creamy, just the way I like it!

I had the salmon, which was delicious and light. Then I got the lamb which was a bit heavy for the summer, but it had tons of good flavors. I loved the other parts of that dish: the eggplant and tomato confit. For dessert I had the honey glazed peach which was fabulous!

Brian says Gotham Bar & Grill is still his favorite, but I'm really leaning toward Eleven Madison Park as mine. Both had great food, but I really love the atmosphere of Eleven Madison Park so much more.

Please forgive the poor quality of the photos...I only had my iPhone.