When I walked out of the subway this morning, I had to walk through Bryant Park to see what the mini hot air balloons were doing. Apparently, to promote Snapple White Tea, "the lightest tasting teas on Earth," Snapple is giving flying lessons. And free tea. But the free samples weren't quite set up yet when I got there, so I will have to take an early lunch to grab some before they run out.
If anyone wants to try flying, they'll be there until 2.
+ full set of the parabounce photos
Photographic evidence of me in the Harlem River
Saturday, as some may have noticed, was not the ideal day to spend 8.5 hours on the water. But the plus side was the water felt a bit warmer, and when I was swimming, I couldn't even feel the rain. All in all, a great time despite the unplesantness out of the water, and I hope to return on a nicer day next year. Oh, and as my mother-in-law pointed out, we did win the 4-person relay category, which was pretty great and now I have a pretty trophy.
+ Complete 2006 photo set
+ Photos from last year (when I was an official)
Things have been a bit hectic around the office lately, trying to get a major set of documents out to get approval for work to go ahead on a project in Idaho. Which is why I left the office "early" last night at 7:45pm and got in at 7:15am today.
But coming in early today has dual purposes. One is to ease my feelings of guilt over leaving at 12:30 today to attend the swimmers meeting for that little race I have tomorrow. The second reason is I have to be at the World Financial Center tomorrow at 4:30am (otherwise known as the ass crack of dawn), and I want to be able to fall asleep early tonight and figured the best way to do that would be to get up early.
Tomorrow, if you have some time, wander over to your local promenade and look for some swimmers in the East/Harlem/Hudson Rivers - one of them may be me!
Best way to avoid the heat? Hang out on our porch with those of our friends who could actually make it to our housewarming party (note to self, next time we have a party, plan it more than a week in advance). Go to Ikea. Go to work. Yup, our bedroom was so hot on Sunday night that I was actually looking forward to going in to work on Monday. But then Sam came to the rescue and hit the glorious Brooklyn haven of Target to purchase us a fan. Sadly, our ceiling fan isn't enough.
Things that made me laugh internally today:
- Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me podcast (obvioiusly not designed for the NYC subway, given the looks my released chuckles got).
- The woman in the elevator in my office building this morning, breezily moving her vibrator aside in her bag while rummaging for her keys.
Friday night, I headed to Astoria to cheer Sam and his pool team on in the regional champs, where they were playing for a trip to Vegas to play in the national championships. The pool was great, and they won their match on Friday, but since we didn't get back until 2am, I decided to be a bad wife and not watch them on Saturday too. Which I'm glad I didn't do because they had to wait around for hours to even play their next match, and then they lost. Meanwhile, I got to sit on my couch, and get this, watch TV! I haven't vegged out like that in months! I took a break to go for a spin on my sweet new-to-me (i.e. top notch hand me down from my dad) road bike in the park, and I filed away in our office so that you can see the couch, but sitting on the couch rocked. When Sam finally got home, after close to 10 hours at the pool hall, we went to see A Prarie Home Companion, which I loved.
Then on Sunday, Sam switched places with me, napping on and off for a few hours while I went out to Brighton Beach to swim. The water was still freezing, with temps hovering around 60, but it only took me 5 minutes instead of half an hour to get in the water, and I swam much farther, so I think I'll be fine for MIMS. The water was very choppy due to the strong winds, though, making it pretty hard to swim, and I didn't realize how different the muscles it works are until I got up this morning. As reward for my hard work, we headed into Manhattan to hit up the BBQ festival. The lines were ridiculously long, but Sam and I split up so that he got some pulled pork for us while I waited on the very long baby back ribs line. A good strategy that also helped prevent overeating.
I just scanned the review of Prarie Home Comanion in the NYTimes, and their description of the radio show's following, "beloved by tote-baggers across the land," cracked me up. Just last night, I was browsing through the gift offerings at WNYC. My tote bags tend to be populated by my mom these days, and its about that time of year. Anyway, I can't wait to see this movie. I grew up listening to the show, and when I met Sam, it seemed like a sign that he did too, though a bit more since his dad used to perform with Garrison on a weekly basis. Word on the street is that my father-in-law makes an appearance in the film, so keep your eyes peeled for him.
(Click for pictures from my weekend)
Last weekend, we went up to my parents weekend house in the Berkshires. On our way up, I composed a post in my head about how it took me three hours to get from my office to Sam picking me up in Queens, due to flooding on the trains. But that was last week and more important complications have come up. Like our delicious lobster dinner on Saturday, with my parents and my aunt and uncle. The lobsters were delicious and huge. I have never had leftover lobster before! Big lobsters are definately the way to go, though be sure to bring a crowd.
On Sunday morning, while my parents were tending to their lovely garden, I baked my dad a birthday cake, since he'll be in Israel for his birthday on Thursday. Best carrot cake recipe ever.
Oh, and I almost forgot, even though we will be celebrating it next week, Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!