New York City Fashion

I didn't realize just how little shopping opportunities we have in Asheville NC until I walked along 5th Ave, Madison Ave, and more in NYC. And, how I could spot a New Yorker a mile away. Dressed fashionably in black with expensive shoes walking purposefully down the streets. My clothes budget wouldn't last a day in NYC which really explains to me why my sister in law is such an avid sewer of really beautiful fashionable clothes. Oh well. My family (son and husband) didn't let me go near the front entrances to any of these stores, but I will be by myself for most of one day in Chicago on Michigan Avenue in about a week. But, usually one look at a few price tags is all I need to not spend any money!

New York City

I figure it has to be over 35 years since I have been to NYC. So, the memories were vague and was not sure what to expect. A direct flight from Asheville to Laguardia was certainly convenient and only about 30 minutes to the hotel.

First night there were no real plans, and since the flight was over an hour late leaving Asheville, it made life a bit calmer. Our hotel was a really nice one at 62nd St and Park Ave. Nice size room with kitchenette but no real view. We found a movie theatre (thanks to the concierge) and saw "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs". Better than expected. Afterwards, we hit Dylans Candy bar for dessert (cupcakes) and candy shopping - yum.

Friday we walked across Central Park (and it was cleaner, and safer than I remember) and went to the Museum of Natural History. Lots of fun. My favorite was the dioramas that haven't changed since I was a kid.  Husband loved the dinosaurs, and mammals, and just about everything.

Friday night was dinner in the theater district, then into the Toys R Us (which is so big, it has a Ferris wheel in it!) and then to see Mary Poppins, which was just off of Times Square. This was at the New Amsterdam Theater which was the most gorgeous of all the theaters we went into. And, the singing, and sets and show was fantastic. It is so hard to describe, they added some songs, deleted some from the movie, and, well we were in the second row and it was fabulous. Every night we walked down to the theater district and then took a taxi back to the hotel.

Saturday we had 2 plays to go see --On the way down we did some shopping -- F A O Schwarz, and Disney Store were the highlights.  We started with a  Matinee Performance of Avenue Q (Just Moved Off Broadway).  The best way to describe this show is "Sesame Street for Adults". Four of the developers actually worked on Sesame Street at one time. There are muppets, run by people that you see (but they blend in) and people, and a street scene of an old NY City neighborhood. To give you an idea, one of the song titles is "What do you do with a BA in English?". Although it wasn't the glitziest show that we saw, we really enjoyed it the most (probably had to do with the fun, and the adult theme) The building we were in housed about 6 theaters total.

The evening show was "Wicked". The one everybody goes to see in NY. It is based on the book, but does not follow the plot of the book. The singing in this show was operatic in quality and in that regard was awesome. Our seats were not as good as some of the theaters (almost last row of the Orchestra -- row Y), but none the less a wonderful performance. Compared to Avenue Q the theater was huge!!

We learned fast to walk a couple of avenues away from Broadway to get taxis after the show back to the hotel, and having a tall son, helped us to find an empty one.

Sunday was Central Park Zoo. Quite small, but very nice -- and we did the children's zoo area also. Looking for a place for lunch, we did a real NY treat -- pizza by the slice. Yummy. We ended up at a Borders Book Store near our hotel, bought a lot of books, and then had to run Dana back to the room with them. Adam and I walked down to the district and we were going to meet Dana and do the Wax Museum. But, the line just was not moving, and we ended up in Ripley's Believe It or Not next door. It was fun, followed by an early supper as our Sunday play was at 7:00.

Sunday we ended with Shrek the Musical (after eating Dinner at Hard Rock Cafe, Times Square). It was fun, but unfortunately we had the understudy for Shrek. Not as good as the other plays, but had we not seen the other ones we have been wowed! Maybe 4 plays in 1-weekend is too much!?

As you can see, we didn't explore all of NYC, but we still had a blast. I got to see the Torah's being carried at the Temple near our hotel (they were crossing from one building into another one), we got to see part of a parade that went on for over 3 hours, and we got to have a good time together.

Monday we had breakfast at LaGuardia airport (yum!) so we treated ourselves to lunch at Stoney Knob when we got home. Stoney Knob is about 1/2 the price of the same meals in NYC! Made it seem more than affordable.

Sorry for the long time that it took me to finish this entry. I really wanted to buy a new camera in NYC, but with Simchat Torah the store I wanted to go to was closed, and another one was too far away. Oh well, may have to live with Best Buy.

Apologies to my New York Relatives

This is an advance apology to all my relatives in NY that have been reading my blog. Yes, we are going to be in New York City this weekend. No, we don't plan on seeing any of you. Why you ask? Well, Adam wanted a trip to NYC to see Broadway Plays, and see some of the city. So, we arrive Thursday afternoon. See a play Friday night, two on Saturday (one matinee), one on Sunday (early evening), and then leave Monday morning. I love visiting relatives, so please don't be insulted. The problem lies in wanting to sleep in, wanting to explore with no schedule, and then having a schedule to get to the theaters. So, don't be mad at me. Just be glad that I am taking my son on his first trip to New York. And, introducing him to the culture that I grew up with.

And yes, I will blog on our return about the plays and what we liked.

Summer is Over

My definition of a good weekend during the summer is having nice enough weather to swim in our pool on both Saturday and Sunday. This weekend although the weather was only about 75 degrees, we turned on the pool heater and went for some very relaxing swims. This is the first time in a long time that our pool was still open the first week of October. But, now summer and swimming are over. The pool towels have been washed, folded and put away for another year. And the pool people come Wednesday to officially "close the pool".

It seemed like a good idea at the time!

It seems like I keep over committing myself to different things, and then when the project needs to be done, or the travel needs to happen, or whatever, I find myself exhausted trying to keep my commitment. So, I look back at when and why I said "sure I'll do it" and then always seem to say "it seemed like a good idea at the time."

A year ago, I committed to write two articles for the Door and Hardware Magazine. One was published in September, and the other has a December publication date. I figured I would get them done over the winter when I wasn't as busy, and then there would be no stress. Hmmm.... the first article took me 3-4 months off and on to write and was published in September. I had just barely started the second article (with an Oct. 1 due date), when the first one hit my desk around Sept 10th. So, the last few weeks at work, I scrambled to finish the second article. Thank goodness, I managed to get about a week extension from the publication. I did finish the text in time to have 2 different people proof it for me (for technical and grammatical errors), and it is going to them with a couple of days to spare. Phew. But the stress showed.

And then there is the trip to Roanoke for one night stay. Sure, I told my mom months ago, anytime you want to go to Roanoke I'll drive you up there. Now, those of you that saw me there before you get upset -- it was definitely worth it to see all of you and spend time with family. However, it rained on the way up and it poured (heavy rain) on the way back. about 4 hours of driving with short stops. I crashed the next day after I got back and got behind on other things that needed doing (like laundry).


Will I stop saying "sure I'll do that". I doubt it. But, I do realize that the stress I put on myself is from me. And I often wonder if what I said I'd do was a "good idea". Other people do appreciate what I do and it is that appreciation that keeps me saying "sure, I'll do that".

Now, for the fun part of this blog - some pictures from the Roanoke Trip. Went up to Roanoke with my Mom to see my nephew and his wife that live there (they are expecting a boy), and to see my brother from New York with his daughter (my niece) who has been in South Korea for a year.

Here is my brother (in the center) and his two children.











Brother and Sister who haven't seen each other for a year.










Mother / granddaughter (my niece). Hate to say it ... but there is certainly a family resemblance.