Michele Visits NYC 2016

Michele visited New York last weekend! Happiness! I met her in Karen in Chinatown where they were already 2/3rds way through a dumpling crawl. We went to Joe's Shanghai for a few soup dumplings.

Karen, Michele, me inside

Karen and Michele outside Joe's Shanghai

Then we decided to get foot massages, but there was a little bit of a wait so we went for a hot chocolate and coffee. There's not a lot of coffee shops in Chinatown so write down the location of this one!

Cheers at Little Canal cafe, 26 Canal Street

Finally, it was foot massage time! It was my first massage and Karen's foot massage. Why have we been waiting? Amazing. I didn't take photos inside but this is what it felt like:

Renew Day Spa, 42 Bowery

Seriously, they'd rub something on my feet and then it would start to feel like a pleasant burning. And then all the sudden I'd feel it on my ear lobe or something. Crazy.

Then it was time to head to Williamsburg to celebrate Karen's birthday! Michele and I got there a little early and had drinks at Sugarburg. Then we were risking being late so we ran to the restaurant. Everything at Mesa Coyocan was delicious and the drinks were amazing. Karen's friends from grad school and home were awesome and fun, and the whole evening was well worth it. 

David, Nate, Hannah, Nada, Sarah, Karen, Michele


We mixed and matched (the hard way)

Birthday desserts!

Happy birthday, Karen! 

Apple shooters!

Sunday, Michele and I met Ash for brunch at The Breslin in Midtown. Brunch was delicious, it was great to all be together, and I forced everyone to take many many photobooth photos which I haven't scanned yet but will update this post to include later. Perfect visit!

 

I saw these pretty pumpkins on the way- so selfie!

Ash and Michele at The Breslin

Michele + lamb burger + amazing fries + tea = happiness

Midtown selfie: me, Ash, Michele

Our 5.5 Wedding Anniversary 2015

Our five-year wedding anniversary was in June of last year, but Miranda was only six weeks old and I was nursing so we really weren't going anywhere to celebrate. At first, we were at peace with this, but 5 years is kind of fun, and when Miranda started sleeping through the night (!) we started looking at some options. Of course, none of this would have been possible without Grandma- thank you, thank you, Grandma.

"Before" picture by Grandma

Kevin found a new Argentinian restaurant he wanted to try in the city, and had the smart idea to book us at a fancy hotel for the night so we wouldn't have to come back to Long Island for the night and listen to the children scream. We set out for our "Anniversitine" or our anniversary celebrated closer to Valentine's than to our actual anniversary.

Since our dinner reservation was in the Lower East Side, we found a random bar to get pre-dinner drinks. We wandered into El Sombrero and it was pretty awesome. The music was straight out of my grandparent's living room, and the drink I got was great: tequila, cointreau, lime juice, passion & guava puree.

Tequila drink at The Sobrero

For dinner we went to Balvanera, an Argentinian (steak) restaurant and wine bar. We had the most amazing appetizer- Empanadas Caseras filled with hand cut roast beef. YUM! Kevin got the strip rare, and I got the skirt steak (entraña) medium. I know my choice sounds kind of gross to American ears, but trust me, it wasn't. Hispanic people pound flank steak into sweet submission. They were a little heavy on the steak but delicious. Both steaks came with thin fries. We washed it down with A Lisa Malbec from Patagonia.

After dinner picture

After dinner we weighed going back to the hotel, getting a drink near the hotel, or getting a drink near where we were on the Lower East Side. Kevin suggested The Magician, so we popped in for "one drink." Right away we spotted Briggs at the bar, who promptly told us that Nick and Emily were also coincidently there with another group of people. All of Kevin's friends like that bar, so it wasn't the craziest thing that's ever happened but it was kind of weird. Especially the part where Kevin and I were out together. We had a lot of fun running into everyone. We also ran into Kevin's college ballroom dance partner (there with Nick and Emily). I didn't even know he'd taken a dance class ever!

Nick, Kevin, me, Emily, Briggs at The Magician on Saturday night

We headed back to the hotel, but we were remiss to give up the good times so quickly so we stopped at bar near the hotel we'd never been to before, Session House, rumored to have a really good Guinness pour, which Kevin confirmed. They had a musician who just happened to play Miranda's early favorite song, You're So Vain (though now it's Itsy Bitsy Spider).

In the lobby of the Waldorf on Sunday morning

To top it all off, we stayed at the Waldorf Astoria over night so we didn't have to drive or take the train back at night, or take care of kids in the morning. The hotel itself is gorgeous, and I want to come back for the super luxurious Sunday brunch sometime. Our room was a bit more sedate, but it was in a corner away from any potential source of noise, and our window framed a view of the Chrysler building which Kevin loved. He loved sleeping even more, and though he assured me he didn't even know how to sleep past 8 am anymore, I'm pretty sure he would have slept through the check out time if I hadn't woken him up a bit before. I did wake up a bit earlier so I luxuriated in bed and finished my super long book. We grabbed some New York bagels for everyone and headed home. Great anniversary. Anniversitine. Whatever.

• The actual day of our 5th wedding anniversary at home in Long Island 2014
• Our 4th wedding anniversary on Cape Cod (Summer Shanty) 2013
• Our 3rd wedding anniversary in Martha's Vineyard 2012
• Our 2nd wedding anniversary at home in Long Island 2011 (because again, new baby)
• Our 1st wedding anniversary in Niagara Falls  (but also in Brooklyn) 2010

Guys' Night- December 2014

Look who came to town!

Jon, Kevin, and Casey at Jimmy's Corner- NJ, NY, and MA represent.

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

Ash's Masters of Psychology Graduation 2013

Ash has had a very successful career in Marketing, but she really wanted a career where she could use her skills to help people so she went back to graduate school for School Psychology. I was super excited and invited myself to graduation, because frankly, that's how I roll. She graciously accepted my self-invitation. 

Ash and her family at Radio City Music Hall

The graduation ceremony was at Radio City Music Hall which is amazing. I got there early and sat close to the front with my big camera. After many introductory remarks the presentations began with awards. I started wondering if Ash was going to get one, and I didn't have a program so I asked the woman next to me if I could look at hers. Just as I got all excited that Ash's name was listed under Graduate Departmental Awards for School Psychology, I saw a curly-haired person in the front start moving around. Apparently, Ash didn't know she was getting an award either and she had to jump up to get in line to go up on stage! I hooted like a crazy person when they called her up. I was like one of those moms on "Toddlers in Tiaras" which I realized only because the row in front of me turned around to look at me.

Ash accepts her award

The chorus after degrees were conferred

Ash and her friends from graduate school

Afterwards, her family, Kevin, and I went for drinks to celebrate. Ash came too. She told me that on the way to the graduation, they'd had a lot of traffic on the way over and Ash had to get out of her car and run the rest of the way leaving her sister to park the car. Luckily, everybody made it in time.

Sisters Aneira and Ash

Me and Ash

Walking around Manhattan... in circles.

We made her hold up her award

Drinks at Le Maison

Me, Ash, and Kevin

Congratulations, Ash! You're going to be so helpful to many young people.

GW Alumni Event- January 2013

Christina, Rachel, and I recently braved a college alumni event. The three of us attended the Elliot School of International Affairs at George Washington University, and when we saw that this event was free, we thought, eh, why not?

You are invited to join your fellow Elliott School alumni in New York for a reception and discussion with Dean Michael Brown on "U.S. Foreign Policy: The Next Four Years." Dean Brown will provide updates on GW and the Elliott School of International Affairs and examine the extraordinary foreign policy challenges facing the United States, as it heads into another Obama Administration.

The Dean is a very accomplished man, but the lecture topic was a very tall order for a short cocktail-type event. It might have been the topic for a multi-day symposium. In any case, we enjoyed the cocktail reception, most of the lecture, and the post-lecture dessert reception. We'd definitely try another alumnae event in the future.

Christina and Rachel at the Cocktail Reception

The three of us!

Dean's Lecture

Enjoying the lecture


New friends after the lecture

Afterwards, we got sushi at Haru. It was pretty good and the sushi for 2 platter was enough for all 3 of us. Fantastic!

Bon Iver Show 2012

Kevin, Briggs, Michele, and I went to see Bon Iver at Radio City Hall. Jon and James W. were there too, but they had much better seats that night so I didn't get to see them. I heard they did get to hang out with Kevin and Briggs though.

Michele and I went to the city early and got dinner at Iroha, my new favorite place to eat in Midtown Manhattan (they said there weren't any decent places to eat in Midtown-- I found one!). 

Thanks to Sarah T., who babysat James for the evening I was able to sit next to Kevin at a midweek concert for a whole hour or so. Kevin got there late, and I had to had back early to minimize the time that Sarah T. was held hostage on Long Island. Sadly, I had to leave about an hour before the concert ended to run to the train.

Anyway, the part of the concert I saw was awesome. Though if I were Bon Iver, I would focus more on the awesome music and less on the douchey talk. Or maybe he should hire someone to coach him to sound less douchey.

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)

NYPL Christmas Party 2009

After our engagement on the steps of the New York Public Library, I have mentioned to Kevin on occasion that I have never actually been inside the NYPL. So Kevin became a member so that he could take me to their Christmas party so that the first time I went in would be special. Isn't he the sweetest husband?

Me outside the NYPL

The NYPL Christmas Party

Private Concert

Kevin's "author picture"

Before the tour of the stacks

Boston Celtics v. NY Knicks 2009

Good times! Can you tell who we were rooting for? Most of us are Celtics fans, though I'm not sure where Brian stands on the issue. Sadly we lost and I don't really want to go into the sadness. But at least we saw a bunch of famous people courtside.

Mike, Brian, Me, James (low down) Kevin, Jon, and Becky

Girls' Night- June 2009

Out with Ash and Michi at Bill's Gay Nineties. Awesome place despite the weird name. It's a 1920's speakeasy and piano bar.

Michele, me, and Ash after work