Boston 2017

Kevin goes to Boston once a year or more, usually for a sporting event, but I hadn't been since 2010 when I was pregnant with James. Before that, I used to go at least every other year.  I missed Boston but I was a little dubious about a trip in the winter.  But Grandma Kathy offered to babysit in Cape Cod so Boston in the winter it was.

We started with lunch in Cambridge on Tuesday afternoon. It was pretty chilly in the mid-20s. We went to the Crema cafe and got delicious sandwiches on pretzel bread, and warmed up with coffee and chai tea.  We started in Cambridge because there are two great bookstores in Cambridge: Raven books and Harvard Bookstore. It was heaven for bookworms and we bought 8 remaindered books altogether. We also cut through Harvard Yard.

 

Kevin at Raven Books

Harvard Yard- the first time I was here I was 16. Over 22 years ago!

Our hotel was in Copley Square, so we went back, checked in, changed and went to our free hotel happy hour. Then we walked over to the Boston Public Library and looked at the amazing John Singer Sargent murals. We walked down Newberry Street and the nearby streets looking at the stores and Christmas decorations.

Christmas tree selfie in Copley Square

Boston Public Library

John Singer Sargent murals

My favorite. The blue goddess is amazing looking.

Then we went to a lovely Mexican restaurant Lolita where we met Jaime for dinner and drinks. It's a really cute place and the drinks were especially good. Jaime and I have our own little long-distance book club of 2, so we talked about those books with Kevin and discussed some future reads. I'd never been to "Top of the Pru" in all my visits to Boston so even though Kevin was dubious, we got one drink there. Now I can say I did.

Jaime, me, and Kevin at Lolita Mexican restaurant

Oh yeah they gave us cotton candy after dinner!

Top of the Pru!

Making my (sort of Jewish) friend pose in front of a big Christmas ornament

Wednesday was much colder than Tuesday, with temperatures in the mid-teens. We hustled to a nearby breakfast diner, the famous Charlie’s Sandwich Shoppe. But it was too cold to keep walking so we took the T to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. It's a small beautiful museum that was the former home of art-collecter Isabella Stewart Gardner, and which is most known for the famous 1990 robbery of its paintings including paintings by Degas, Manet, Rembrandt and Vermeer.

Attempt to get pictures of famous people behind my selfie at Charlie's

 

In front of the house's Spanish-style courtyard

 

A part of the house with a painting of a Spanish Cafe and abbey replica

Kevin + Mosaic

 

Stolen painting fram

 

Jazz band in the beautiful courtyard

View from the top of the house

After warming up in the museum, we got brave about the cold again and walked along The Fens. We walked over to another- bookstore- the Trident Bookstore Cafe and looked through but it didn't have deals as good as Raven Books and the Harvard Bookstore. I was exhausted. We had a little nap back at the hotel, and then after a failed attempt at waiting outside a ramen shop, we ended up having delicious Cambodian food at Kim Pang.

The Fens- it is so cold and all the ground is ice ice ice.

We took the T to the Museum of Fine Arts. Our first stop was the Takashi Murakami exhibit. Then we made our way through other parts of the museum that interested us, but ooh boy was I tired by then. I kept looking at my Fitbit, and by the end of the day I was up to 20K steps.

Thankfully, our final activity for the trip involved sitting. We saw the Strauss Symphony of America at Boston Symphony Hall. The performance is inspired by Vienna's beloved New Year's Concert, conductor Michael Zehetner, soprano Jennifer Davison, tenor Matjaž Stopinšek, and dancers from Kiev-Aniko Ballet.

 

Me at the Murakami exhibit

Murakami exhibit

Regular exhibits at MFA

Strauss Symphony of America


Boston Symphony Hall selfie


Strauss Symphony of America

A successful no-kids trip to Boston!

Fall for Dance with Sarah 2013

Last week, Sarah invited me to come to a night of Fall for Dance, a dance series at New York City Center. She reminded me that all the great performance art is one of the best parts of living in New York. So true! We had lots and lots of ramen at Menkui Tei, and then head over in time to take lots of failed selfies with the beautiful theater as our background.

Sarah and me at New York City Center

We saw Dorrance Dance's "SOUNDspace," which was a super fun tap dance performance. We also saw Doug Elkin's Choreography's “Mo(or)town/Redux,” The Royal Ballet's "Untitled New Work," and Martha Graham Dance Company's “Rite of Spring.” I thought the "Rite of Spring" was painfully over the top, but I enjoyed all the other performances, and I definitely enjoyed my night out with Sarah. I think that was a better date than Kevin and I have been on in a long time. Ha!

 

Dorrance Dance: Tap dancing! (nytimes photo- shh)

Doug Elkins Choreography

Belmont Stakes and Clous Visit 2011

The Clous!

What an exciting weekend! James's uncle Andrew planned to visit us as soon as he was done with his Masters program, and based on our schedules and convenient flights we thought it would be fun for his trip to coincide with the Belmont Stakes. Since Andrew lives in Florida and we don't get to see him often, Kevin and Andrew's mom decided to come visit at the same time. She stayed and babysat James while we all enjoyed the horse races. The Belmont Stakes are a big deal in our town, so the day before we had fun little street fair here.

Uncle Andrew meets James (at 7 weeks)


At the local street fair

We started our gambling day with mimosas and bagels at our house. Then we put on our most ridiculous hats and walked over to the horsies. We got there in time for five races before the big race of the day. I put a $2 bet on the winner of the first race, but then Kevin taught me about Exacta bets where you pick the winner and the second place for the chance to win more money (because your odds go down). Brady taught me about Exacta Box bets which are really two bets on a winner and a second place horse or the two horses in the other order. With Exacta bets I was able to lose cash more efficiently. Meanwhile, Andrew stuck to regular bets and quietly won the most money of anyone there. Hm.

Mimosas and bagels at our place


Everyone headed to the race + James - surprise guest Brady


Off to the races!


Outdoor area at Belmont Stakes


In the grandstand, after losing a bunch of money on races, beer, and food

This weekend was also the first time that Christina, Dan, and Brady met baby James. Christina brought the baby these awesome socks that look like shoes that I wish they had for adults (for use at carpeted job places). And Brady, well Brady got our child a boomerang. Seriously.

Dan and Christina meet James for the first time


Brady meets James

If you're still keeping track, James is 8 weeks now!

Things My Wife Complains About: #17 Spending an Entire Day in the City Doing Everything She Wants to Do

If you're not currently pregnant or haven't been pregnant in the immediate past, you've never heard of a "babymoon." A "babymoon" is a way to spend money on yourself, instead of the child growing inside of you, which seems sensible if you're receiving weekly emails telling you what vegetable your fetus is the size of (current size: maize). In lieu of traveling somewhere exotic with someone who let her passport expire, hates flying, is uncomfortable everywhere, and doesn't like the way she looks in anything but a Snuggie, I decided we might take advantage of the things she's long wanted to do in New York but hasn't done because those things are boring.

We started by going for soup dumplings. My wife didn't complain about the soup dumplings unless expressing frustration that the soup dumplings weren't on the menu and wondering why I'd take her somewhere for soup dumplings that doesn't have soup dumplings sounds like a complaint (note: the people next to us were loudly and obviously eating soup dumplings). Next we made it through nearly twenty yards of Central Park before my wife complained that she was tired--a reasonable claim for someone in her advanced state--so we did what anyone tired does and took several hundred photos of her belly in front of bushes.

After Central Park, we went to the American Museum of Natural History, which I will confess is not boring, if only for the floating blue whale the size of a rocket ship and Brontosaurus in disguise. Unfortunately, my wife turned into the little-understood Pregosaurus halfway through the museum. The Pregosaurus, I learned, is low to the ground and slow moving. It is unpredictable, omnivorous, and has to sit in Starbucks between feedings to complain about its feet.

Pregosaurus and Allosaurus
For the evening portion of the "Babymoon," we took in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, sponsored by every corporation in the United States. This is the narrative arc of the RCCS for the uninitiated: Santa invents reasons for forty white women to kick their legs in the air for an hour (rising tension), some kid suddenly and unconvincingly discovers the True Meaning of Christmas (climax), Jesus--unmentioned to that point--is born in front of live camels (denouement). Before any of this happened, my wife went to the restroom. When she came out, she said, I can't tell you how many things I have to complain about in there.

Possible Solutions!

1) Turn the "Babymoon" into a "Maybemoon," in which we discuss all the things we might do; ultimately, do nothing
2) Preemptively complain about crazy things (could this sunset BE more orange?) and see how wife responds
3) Invent "Husbandmoon," which takes place in Florida during Spring Training and is greeted enthusiastically by a lack of complaints (hard)

Espirit Red Carpet Opening 2010

This week, in between working a full day, and going back to the office late night, Michele took her friend Susan, her cousin Tatiana, and me to the opening of the Esprit flagship store in Manhattan. It was a semi-fancy affair with a red carpet and free wine and champagne.

Half the people there were related to the fashion industry in some way. And the other half of us, well, not-so-much. The difference was a bit obvious. There were models mixed in the crowd, and a ton of other people who I figured were "somebody" except I don't read fashion magazines or watch the right television shows so I couldn't figure out who they were. Here is an incomplete list for those of you who know about these things or care: Emmy Rossum, Robert Verdi, Erin Lucas, Andy Hilfiger, Amanda Ross, Merideth Melling Burke, Paula Meronek, David Meister, DJ Mia Moretti, and Ryan Kehoe. There were also a bunch of people who seem to be known simply for being all the places famous or rich people go.

I was most impressed by Jennifer Love Hewitt, who was standing on the red carpet when we arrived. Jennifer Love Hewitt! She has lost too much weight and seemed positively waifish (this photo adds 5-10 pounds) but we love her just the same.

Before we left Macy Gray performed a few songs. It was a fun night, and thanks to Michele, so different than what I usually get to do.

Attila Opera 2010

For my actual birthday, Kevin and I went to the opera again, this time to see Attila. This performance was better than Elektra in December, with better sets (read: more than 1), and more dramatic. The music was more interesting too, but sadly since there was no catchy tune, we couldn't come home and sing it like we did last time. Agamemnon! Agamemnon! So we just sang the Agamemnon song again instead.

On the battlefield

I know Attila's a tyrant, but his fiance seems harsh

Valentines Day and the Ballet 2010

Kevin and I postponed Valentine's Day until this past Friday because his birthday festivities kept us occupied all last weekend. We had dinner at El Centro, a fun Mexican place with great guacamole and mangoritas. (Yes, I will need to start a tag for alcoholic mango drinks.)

Chelsea Market, February 15th

Then we walked over to Lincoln Center for the ballet. We saw Liebeslieder Walzer (Music by Johannes Brahms, Choreography by George Balanchine) and Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2 (Music Peter Ilyitch Tschaikovsky, Choreography by George Balanchine). It was wonderful, thanks in part, to the previously mentioned mangorita.

At the New York City Ballet, February 19th

A View from the Bridge 2010

We went to the play A View from the Bridge and loved it. A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller is set in 1950s America, in an Italian American neighborhood near the Brooklyn Bridge in New York.

Outside a View from the Bridge, at the Cort Theater

The main character in the story is Eddie Carbone, an Italian American longshoreman, who lives with his wife, Beatrice, and his orphaned niece, Catherine. Scarlett Johansson, making her Broadway debut, played Catherine. Tony winner Liev Schreiber played Eddie. Jessica Hecht played Beatrice. Hecht is the same actress who had small roles on the television show Friends, as Ross's ex-wife partner Susan. I didn't recognize her until the end of the show because she was so deeply in the character of Beatrice that she didn't look or carry herself the same way. I thought she was by far the best.

It was particularly awesome because it is narrated by a lawyer, and I feel like he was telling the story of my professional life right now.

Elektra Opera 2009

We went to the opera last night to see Elektra. We sat in the balcony and I tried to think tall thoughts so I could peer over the ledge and watch Elektra fight with her sister over whether or not to kill their mother. Don't worry, I won't spoil ancient Greek mythology for you if you don't already know.

Kevin and I enjoyed singing along, "Agamemnon! Agamemnon!" I also enjoyed the beautiful chandeliers in the jewel room Met theater (those never get old), watching the man playing the triangle in the orchestra, and pushing the button on the translation box so I could see what Elektra was saying in Spanish, or um, German. This last thing made absolutely no sense to me since the opera Elektra is already in German. Is this translation only for deaf German people? Oh, I know it's probably always the third language, but are Germans who don't speak English the third most likely group to go to the opera in New York? I would guess it would be Chinese or Japanese speakers.

The Met at Christmastime