When you get caught between the Moon...

I have to admit, Katie and I got a LOT accomplished that Tuesday morning while my nephew was in school.

After the donut shop we continued our journey to the Flat Iron district.

Conveniently located just across the street was something on Katie's NYC bucket list: Eataly. I had never heard of the place, but according to Katie it is somewhere Mario Batali and other Food Network folks like to shop, which is enough to interest me! (random vague side note: I saw a guy there that I KNOW is on tv, but I haven't figured out who he is yet...)

The whole place is one big store, make that HUGE store, but broken down into different areas and stalls and mini-shops and restaurants.

I got a big kick out of the boards next to the Vegetable Butcher:

But also really enjoyed all the different shapes and colors of foods and drinks. I was in foodie/photo heaven!

I think I could have stood at the pasta counter eternally...

...but we had to hop back on the subway and pick up the little man from pre-school and head home for a nap.

MORE Tuesday (to be continued...)

...Now I Need a Little Give And Take...

On Tuesdays and Thursdays my nephew attended pre-school.

Katie and I dropped him off just before 8a on Tuesday and made a quick stop at the Starbucks nearby before getting on the subway headed for Chelsea.

We got off the subway and walked down 21st Street (I think) to the Chelsea Market.

We walked through starting from the Food Network end where Masaharu Morimoto has his restaurant and bought freshly baked bread twists from a bakery before coming out onto 9th Avenue where we circled back around and took 21st to 10th Avneue and up the stairs to the High Line.

I won't go into a full description of the High Line (I'll let Wikipedia do that for me), but I will summarize by saying that it is a former raised railroad track converted into a park.

At one point it runs beneath the Standard Hotel.

The landscape design was very nicely done and I could have spent all day up there.

We walked to the end of the High Line and then headed toward the Flat Iron district. On the way we came across a fancy donut shop.

We were much more impressed with the decor in the shop than the donuts, the prices, OR the customer service...

but how often do you get to disco while peeing?

(Tuesday's escapades to be continued...)

There's Nothing You Can't Do...

When we last left our heroine (that'd be me), I had spent the Saturday of my trip to New York City walking and walking and walking, eating, karaoke-ing, walking some more, and finally sleeping.

Sunday morning my nephew Jackson had a birthday party to attend, so I was able to sleep in a little while until he and Katie returned. Most of the day was spent entertaining Jackson and trying to keep him out of the way so Katie could pack for their move to Virginia.

We decided to get pizza for dinner, so we walked a few blocks away to Famiglia Pizzeria. We had them make us a large - half "Veggie" and half "Fresca" (basically a margherita).

I had intended to try multiple kinds of pizza and cheesecake while in New York, only managed to have two different restaurant's offerings of pizza, and only ended up having cheesecake (although six different varieties) from the Whole Foods next door to where I was staying.

We went to bed at a reasonable hour Sunday night to prepare for our big morning out on Monday.

Katie had acquired tickets for the two of us to attend a taping of the Wendy Williams show. I will admit that I had never heard of Wendy Williams, but watched a clip or two of her on youtube before leaving on my trip, so I thought I had an idea of what I was in for.

I had no idea that I was going to be in for a crazy dance party and that Katie and I would have a ton of air-time. Wendy Williams herself is a riot, and the taping segments were fun, but the REAL entertainment is the audience-warmer, Kevin.

Kevin is a hoot. He gets everyone up and dancing and singing and laughing. He flirts with the entire audience and made us all feel welcome and like there was nowhere else in New York we would rather be RIGHT THEN.

If you are in the audience, you are instructed to dress "fashionably", so I decided this was probably my one chance to wear heels and get away with it. I chose a pair that are pretty awesome, but that I also have quite a bit of experience wearing, so that I wouldn't be uncomfortable walking a fair distance or standing in them for quite awhile. Unfortunately, we were running a little bit late, so we walked much faster than those shoes are intended for, and I ended up with blisters on my feet on only my third day in New York.

After getting back to the apartment we watched the playback of our appearance on the show, took naps (thank goodness for 2.5 year olds that take naps!) and I finished off the evening with a big salad and some middle eastern and Indian food from Whole Foods.

Fortunately, they healed quickly and I had several other pairs of shoes to wear throughout the week to avoid making the injuries any worse.

It's Up To You...

A week ago at this time I was gallavanting through NYC.

My nephew Jackson is two-and-a-half, and wakes up every day around 6a or 6:30a. When you are all living in a tiny apartment, there is not much sleeping in. Kevin had come up from Richmond for the weekend, so the four of us went to Central Park together for a walk and a little bit of running-around time.

Kevin took Jackson back to the apartment and Katie and I hopped on the subway to 42nd/Times Square. We walked through Times Square (Lego store!) and over to Rockefeller center before getting back on the subway and heading to the Soho area.

We walked from there to Ground Zero (quite a walk!) by way of Bowery, through Little Italy and down Church Street and Broadway.

This is one of the buildings under construction (many things under construction there of course).

St. Paul's Chapel is a Trinity Church is across the street from Ground Zero and has survived many New York disasters. It was opened in 1776 and was one of the only buildings in the area left standing in the "Great Fire" of 1776. When the World Trade Center collapsed, it again was nearly untouched and became a haven for rescue workers.

Katie and I took the subway back uptown and I got to take a little nap while Jackson was still sleeping.

Saturday evening we went to dinner at Dhaba, a fabulous Indian restaurant. We then met friends for drinks at Me Bar, which is next to the Empire State Building (and located in the top of a LaQuinta, of all things).

After taking an obligatory picture of the landmark, we continued on to Boho (West) for some Karaoke. Katie had apparently been touting my abilities as a vocalist, so I was thrown into singing a couple of songs. I chose "Everything" by Michael Buble (which I have never sung publicly before, and had forgotten completely about the a Capella key change at the end... OOPS!) and Katie chose for me to sing "Stay" by Lisa Loeb. I was backed up significantly by the rest of the patrons.

There was a rather large group of people from New Jersey that inundated the bar shortly after we arrived. After they pretty much took over the place (and managed to gas us out more than once - thanks, dude) we decided to call it a night and parted ways with the girls that had come out with us.

Kevin, Katie and I took the subway back up to Times Square and then walked through so I could take some pics with all of the lights.

We then ducked in to the M&M's store about 10 minutes before closing since none of us had ever been to one. I picked up a postcard for my Dad, and Kevin picked up what turned out to be some VERY expensive M&M's.

We got back on the subway and headed uptown to the apartment, crashing into bed (the couch for me) soon after.

Traveling Hot Sauce Saleswoman

Boy have I been busy!

I had the greatest of intentions to blog daily (HA!) or at least weekly (hardly!) once I officially became a housewife.

The truth is that I traded one full-time job for another, maybe even two. While I am indeed now a housewife, I am also now the driving force behind the Homeward Bound Hot Sauce roller-coaster. (If you have been a faithful reader and not figured out what this hot sauce thing is all about, I'll be happy to talk your ear off about it!)

Between trying to get the house into a better general state and filling hot sauce orders, I haven't had much time to do all the project-y things I'd like to tackle now that I supposedly have some free time.

I HAVE been able to start to tackle a few things, like embroidering penguins onto a pair of Converse for my nephew, and sending out the stack of remaining Christmas presents that have spent the last five months next to our front door.

I traveled to Portland, OR for two weeks in March/April to help my Mom with her last big project at work before she retires this summer, to visit my best girlfriend and her newborn baby (and her other three children), and to visit my best guy-friend and clean out my Vancouver house. It was wonderful to spend so much time in what I consider to be my "Home Turf" and it really helped me get motivated to dive into our dream of making the hot sauce what ultimately takes us home to the Pacific Northwest.

After I returned home to Georgia I was able to reschedule my surgery for the middle of June. Once that was taken care of it enabled me to schedule the other pieces of my summer.

My sister and brother-in-law and our nephew have been living in New York City for the last year and are moving to Virginia. This was my last chance to visit them here (and maybe my last chance ever for free lodging), so I booked my tickets once our tax return came back and arrived at La Guardia airport on Friday evening around 6p.

I took a cab to Katie's building and we spent the evening catching up and making our initial plans for the week.

I have taken about 300 pics so far and uploaded over 200 to Facebook, I'm having an amazing time seeing the sites and appreciating all the artistry and nature in this huge city.

I still have a few things to see (and EAT) before I head home early this Friday morning.