Another year

"Every year unfolds like a petal inside all the years that preceded it." –Naomi Shihab Nye

Oh, yeah, I had a birthday! Since we were in NYC, we met friends in Hoboken for lunch, went to the cray-cray Toys R' Us in Times Sq. with the indoor Ferris Wheel. While we were tromping around looking for a Disney store, I saw a pair of Tokidoki rubber rain boots and got an immediate case of the "I wants."* Then some solo shopping to The Point Knitting Cafe, Purl, and Uniqlo. Followed by pizza, cake (strawberry shortcake), and lambic. Owen went to sleep fairly quickly, followed by a drunken evening at Tom & Jerry's.

Remember: beer before liquor, never been sicker. And lambic *is* beer. You'd think I'd be old enough to know this, but older is not always wiser.

Being righteously hung over did not stop me from eating my two-day-old red velvet cupcake from The Point (which I think is really from Magnolia's) that survived intact the train ride home. The cupcake was smartly "packaged" in an upside-down coffee cup & lid. Sure, it looked like a Glade air freshener, but it worked! Oh, and I can thank my mother-in-law's still-warm and homemade omusubi, rice balls wrapped in seaweed.

*I did get the boots as my present to myself, but thought about it for a week first.

NYC highlights

Lately I feel like I couldn't post anything until I'd put up a summary of the trip Memorial day weekend. The weather was perfect! We got to hang out with Tak's family, our NYC pals, and I got to see Karen & meet Zoe (she's so sweet)!

-Food/Coffee: We introduced Owen to the ritual of eating a New York hot dog from a cart on a rock in Central Park after going to the Natural History Museum; La Columbe Torrefaction in the Toyo's neighborhood won for best coffee (even if the interiors did get the Soho treatment--that's not a bad thing); the big coffee loser was City Girl cafe (too expensive and poorly laid out), and their Red Velvet cupcakes were not great and small to boot. The new Kinokuniya is gorgeous, and the cafe is really small, and sleek and modern (of course).
-Knitting: Visited the new location of Seaport Yarns (cool new straightforward layout, although somehow it seemed smaller than their old shop). Really wanted to get something at The Point Cafe but didn't--nothing really moved me. The owner at Stitch Therapy was very cool (especially about exchanging unused yarn from Christmas without a receipt), and it's a nice small place and I did get a nice skein plus a little camouflage Know Knits bag that I've had a little crush on for awhile. Lorie & Sarah were very patient with me while I futzed around.
-Friends & Family: Explored Hoboken a little bit to meet up with Karen & Zoe. Hoboken's a neat area and so close to Manahttan, plus it's got a bunch of kid-friendly parks along the water (yes, Frank Sinatra drive). We did some good hanging out with Lorie & Pete, Sarah & Dan: seeing Indiana Jones 4 at the Ziegfield, going out for dinner (Spice, yummy) & a Harvard Sailing Club sketch show at the P.I.T.; picnic at Prospect Park. Owen (and Tak & I) got some good hanging out time with Baba & Jiji.

A fine time!