trader joes!

Good Morning! It's Sunday and I'm pretty excited about going church shopping. This morning I'm going to check out the Brick Church on Park and 92nd. It's the church that hosts the annual Park Avenue Tree Lighting Ceremony and Carol Sing that Adrienne and I attended in December. That was such a beautiful evening and a source of many God moments that I decided I need to check it out! This evening I'm planning on going to one of Redeemer's services...this is the church that every person I ask about churches in NYC seems to suggest. My friend Betsy and her husband Riley go when they are in town (she is not, right now) and Redeemer has a whole network of small groups for artists and musicians. I'll report back soon....
Yesterday I went to my first Equinox dance class. It was so fun although definitely more intense than CA. I miss my dancing friends! I hope to make some new ones. This one was taught by Abby, who is a friend and former teacher of Molly Bell. She reminded me of Molly in so many ways and it was an all-around great time. Molly had called me on Thursday to wish me well and had left me a message about Abby. I thought it was particularly fortuitous that Abby teaches a class at my Equinox! So exciting! I found out that it will cost me $300 to change my Equinox membership to All-Access. I'm going to hold off on that one...apparently they have two free-enrollment periods during the year...so we'll see! I just have to convince Karim to visit my Equinox!
Saturday's adventures also included a healthy lunch at Fetch...there are two dog-themed restaurants within 94th Street. I'm not sure what that's about. On Friday night we got burgers and fries from The Barking Dog...next door and featured once on Sex in the City. Adrienne and I went shopping for our new eating plan...we're working on the Dr. Oz diet...no refined sugar, no white flour, no trans fats, etc. We had two fun shopping adventures...first to the local supermarket and second, the big adventure! Adrienne had never been to a Trader Joes...we went to the only one in Manhattan in Union Square. It is such a cute area...right by NYU and apparently very trendy and pricy. You would NOT believe this TJs. It has all the good stuff, of course, with pretty much the same prices (although $2 buck chuch is $3 buck chuck.) Big difference...as soon as you walk in the store...you see the line and a guy holding a card that says "12 items or less." Yes, TJs is the NYC Disneyland where you wait in line for as long as you would for Space Mountain. Seriously the line runs the entire perimeter of the store and if you need any cheese or cereal you have to fight through two lines of people just to get to the items! Crazy! I wish I had taken pictures. We took the bus home on 3rd Avenue and it was fun to look at all the restaurants and shops at a relatively slow pace.
Goals for today...calling more friends, finding a keyboard and figuring out how to get from my side of the park to the West Side. Miss you all, friends!