Weekend fun

We had a great trip home to Minnesota in the middle of March. We literally enjoyed every minute, but wished for many more minutes in order to spend more quality time with friends and family. We vowed to make it a longer trip when we're back in July for Elizabeth & Eric's wedding. Here's a photo from the party Jon & Debb graciously hosted for us in their basement. This is Silas, clearly worn out from singing Michael Jackson songs on the karoke and looking for refreshment at the basement bar.

I made a new pledge of sorts to do at least one fun "New York thing" a week, just to make sure to take advantage of the city. Some recent highlights included:

* Walking on the beautiful Brooklyn Promenade after brunch with friends Ada and Troy (see great view of Manhattan in the background).


* Going to galleries then dinner in Chelsea with friends Avery and Heidi (everyone but me spotted Ted Danson leaving the restaurant as we waiting for our table, drat!). In this photo, we're making fun of a new series of subway posters for some TV show, maybe on the Lifetime network?


* Eating at a super-touristy diner off Times Square last night where the waitstaff continuously sing Broadway hits. The reason we were there? Our friends George, Julie, and their kids Sam and Ella were in town! We had a great time with them - sorry I neglected to get a photo. We look forward to staying with them in Syracuse in June on our way to Sena's wedding.

In other news, Jeremy passed his big mid-year review and is really motivated to keep making work. He has an open studio night April 17th to look forward to. My job continues to get better every week as I get to know more about the place and make more of a contribution. The commute -- 2.5 hours a day -- takes a toll; although I love all the reading time, it wears me out and I don't feel like doing much in the evenings. After all my years of being self-employed, it is hard to get used to a "normal" person's schedule!

Barb & Rick visit!

Jeremy's parents came for a special visit to New York City, their first time in the city! Some highlights included...

* Seeing the first signs of spring in the neighborhood, just a week after the biggest snow storm of the year.



* Taking the (free) Staten Island Ferry, passing right by the Statue of Liberty.

* Making good use of trains and buses, including a bus ride through the Hasidic neighborhood north of where we live.

* Running into Jim Palagrini, the president of Twin Cities Public Television, at a tiny bar (Pete's Candy Store) in Brooklyn, where we went to hear music. We were one-third of the people in the room, and there he was, the guy that we've seen a million times on the screen asking for pledges and telling us about the digital conversion!

* Great meals out, especially a small Polish restaurant called Lomzynianka in the Polish ghetto of Brooklyn. Warning: if you ever come visit us, we will try to take you to this place, where the food is cheap, the decor is plastic, but the vibe is amazing. The whole neighborhood is worth seeing -- most signs are in Polish, including this one I spotted in the window of a pharmacy.



It was a great visit, and now we're going home later today to see every one again - can't wait!

Liz's Birthday

Some of our favorite new friends are people in Jeremy's program at Pratt. He still loves the program and the faculty he's had, and we feel lucky that the other students are mostly great too. We started something we call "Friday Night Club" with a few other students who like to hang out on the cheap, having a potluck at someone's apartment. Here are two club members, Liz and Scott, at Liz's recent birthday party out at a nice tapas restaurant in our neighborhood. Things would have been fine if we'd just gone home after dessert, but someone wanted to go to a dive bar called Rope nearby, where the PBR was just $1/can. Sometimes it is hard to make good choices when faced with bargain prices.

Top of the Rock!

I decided to become a "Volunteer Captain" for the MS Society here in New York. They need some extra-responsible volunteers to take on roles at events that their staff have to do otherwise. When I hear "extra responsible," I sadly think of myself. So my first event was "Climb MS," where people climb the 66 flights of stairs at Rockefeller Center, as fast as they can, to raise money to fight Multiple Sclerosis. My job was overseeing the first rest stop on the 29th floor. By the 29th floor, no one was walking very fast, but some people made to the top in 10 minutes - amazing. In addition to the money and awareness raised, the cool thing about this event was being in Rockefeller Center, the home of NBC, where the show 30 Rock takes place, sweet! Here I am with the famous ice rink behind me (the big Christmas Tree came down in January...)