Thursday, May 29, 2014

Baby C

is in there somewhere!



The outpouring of love after going public with our baby news has been extraordinary.  I am so grateful.  It makes me feel not only incredibly supported, but also beyond excited for the enthusiastic village that will be helping to raise this child.  Lucky baby, lucky mommy.  Love you guys.

Monday, May 26, 2014

MoMA


One of the coolest gifts we received for our wedding was annual memberships to the Museum of Modern Art here in New York.  It was such a neat gift to receive and we've already gone quite a few times - thanks Kat! 
I'm totally going to start giving museum memberships in the future.


 






 


Wednesday, May 21, 2014

En Garde!


My friend Elaine is always on the hunt for fun new exercise outings for us to try. And since she is also the queen of Groupon deals, we're able to experiment with lots of odd activities we probably wouldn't normally try.  She was the one who first introduced me to urban rebound trampoline workouts (which I totally dug) and also drags me to spin (not a huge fan) every now and then.  Her most recent random find: Fencing Academy.  Très chic.

 

The fencing facility was just a few blocks from home and I was really stoked to try something so wacky (if not for the pictures alone, right?) that I didn't even have to travel very far for. There were about 8 of us in class (nerrrrrds) and about half had been there before, as they have ongoing beginner classes you can join at any time. The instructor started out with easy warm up drills, and we were feeling good. He began introducing footwork and I thought, uh oh this is a bit difficult, but it was still really interesting. Then he added in weapons (foils?) and they were so much heavier than expected. My arms were burning from holding that dang sword out in proper position. When he took us over to get the proper equipment on, however, things really started heading downhill...

 

Sure, the little white onesies with between-the-leg straps and turtleneck velcro were definitely awkward and a bit uncomfortable, but still fun and funny to put on. I was fully unprepared for the uniform topper, however - the inside of the masks were SUFFOCATINGLY DISGUSTING, smelling as though they had never ever ever been cleaned. The foul build up of other people's breath was literally gag inducing. I almost didn't think I'd be able to continue, but everybody else just slapped the masks on like it was no big deal and went back to practicing footwork and form, so I went along with it. It was all I could do to get through the rest of the hour without barfing.

  

As soon as the regular portion of class came to an end and the instructor announced open gym for whomever wanted to stay and practice, Elaine and I swiftly bailed. We couldn't get the gear off quickly enough. Once home, I showered for about an hour and still felt gross. Ugh you could taste the smell inside that mask. Needless to say, though the membership we'd purchased included a unlimited classes for the month, we didn't venture back.


Pre-class pump-up photo courtesy of my father. Keep working on those iphone skills, Pops.

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Más México


  It was drizzly and dreary when I left NYC,
which made it that much more fun to head somewhere so deliciously tropical!


Our hotel was smack dab in the middle of the jungle.  After checking in at the open air lobby, you literally had to walk through the jungle to get to the rooms!  We miraculously got upgraded to a beach front unit (in the yellow building below), so our balcony faced the ocean directly and we were just a few steps from the sand.

 
 
 

The resort was full-on Dirty Dancing style with activities, classes, shows and overly enthusiastic staff members attempting to rouse participation in group activities (and possibly hook up with  drunken  lonely singles). Water aerobics in the pool each morning, twice-daily snorkeling excursions to Cozumel, salsa lessons in the west hall, water polo in the "active" pool and beach Zumba at sunset. Never figured out where the archery was held. Boo.


Got to spend a ton of time with old friends from LA that I hadn't seen in ages.


They made my birthday especially fun and heck I got to wear a sombrero. 
How can you NOT have fun while wearing a sombrero?

 

We went into "town" one day on a mission to find sparklers for the wedding send off (Cristen wasn't able to pack any and was really hoping to have them for the end of the evening), but surprisingly weren't able to find any (can't you get firecrackers everywhere in Mexico?). Looked for a lightweight cotton embroidered dress for my mom to wear this summer in Costa Rica, but I'm terrible at bartering and chickened out whenever the shop guys started shouting prices at me. No shortage of colorful tchotchkes and blanket sweatshirts though.


And then it was time for the wedding!
Ali and I helped Cristen get ready in her room (just like for her first date with Ryan!), then when the photographer showed up to escort the wedding party to their places I hightailed it out to the ceremony site in the jungle. Things got exciting when a rowdy troop of monkeys scampered through the treetops above just as the ceremony was about to begin; thankfully, they refrained from engaging in the usual (disturbingly loud) hanky panky.

 

The celebration that followed was lively and fun, full of laughter and love. Cristen's dad gave a wonderful speech that left everyone in tears and Table 5 was deemed "Most Fun Table of All Time" by the groom himself. Booyah, grandma. Around 9pm, there was a sudden BLACKOUT that extended throughout the peninsula and left all resorts in the entire area without any power. It was crazy looking out along the beach and seeing no lights at all for miles. But the wedding party just kept on going! Someone ran to their room for a portable speaker and we continued dancing by candlelight until the power came back on a few hours later! Memorable, indeed.


Congrats to Cristen and Ryan!


Thank you for hosting your wedding in such a beautiful place. It was perfect.