Catching up with May!!!

Okay friends, I've been bad, bad, bad....so I'll be brief, brief, brief...I know you're thinking, yeah, right. When is the last time she's been brief. But yesterday at the gym, I was reading Vanity Fair which has this amazing article on Ronald Regan's presidential diary...and he was really great about being brief.
So this one, Ronald, is for you!

Since I last wrote, many celebrations occurred.
Highlights of my visit to CA:
*Time with Charlie, the brainy baby who literally has memorized his "Lisa in New York" book that I bought him for last visit.
*Two hikes at Rancho San Antonio, one with preggers Christa and Katie, and one an amazing solo time in the most beautiful spot in the world (okay, one of the most...)
*Family time at Lisa's house
*Creating Amy and Steve's Snickerdoodle Dandy for their wedding dessert contest and receiving feedback from the family and Sheina and Bob.
*Outlet shopping extravaganza day with Sheina
*Doing my taxes with Dad (well, thanks Dad, anyways!)
*Steve and Amy's wedding....so so fun, and such a spirit of family in every detail...it was the community sending them off and it was a really joyful and happy event
*Not making the finals of the dessert competition (okay, okay, this might be a little sarcastic)
*The after-party... being with my Highway friends, I was struck by how much I feel they are such a part of my family and home
*Going to church on Sunday and manning the Start Here table for a few minutes and causing confusion!!
*Hanging out with Mary, buying strawberries and stuffing our faces at Los Charros.
*More family time at the house. Charlie: "Go outside? Go outside?"
*Reconnecting with voice teacher Pam
*Story hour with Mom and Charlie...."Only Nana, only Nana!"
*La Bodeguita visit with Seri and field-trip to pick up Bella, my new-old computer
*Fun, slow dinner at Kapp's pizza (all of a sudden, I've decided pizza is my favorite food) with Mom and Dad.
*Showing up 1.5 hours late to OAG and getting away with it!
*Leaving was not a highlight. :( Especially at 4:40 in the morning. :(

Highlights of life back in NYC:
*A new session of the Gym began the night I got back (after a 3 hour super-shuttle drop-off...when will I ever learn?) I was a zombie and an idiot, I think, but I still took down some good notes!!!
*Jenny and Jeremy Kitchen were in town visiting...and I somehow conned them into treating me to breakfast at the Central Park South Sarabeth's
*A really fun evening with Jenny and her friend Jackie, eating in WA Heights, walking through my new favorite, spring-blooming park (Fort Tryon) and watching a friend from church play jazz sax at a hip little restaurant called "New Leaf Cafe." It was an evening of much frolicking and skipping and pure joy. Good times!
*The Mag 7 weekend!!! The girls came out to celebrate Jenny's upcoming marriage (Aug 18!!!) to Billy. Adrienne was sooo nice to vacate the apartment so all 6 of us could stay. I was worried it would be way too crowded but I actually loved every minute of the fullness in the apt. It was so warm and happy....and some of the stories told, were not my favorites (ahem, ahem) but we had a blast, all in all. We ate a lot: Sarabeths, Patsy's Pizza, Pinkberry twice, Alice's Tea Cup, Brother Jimmy's...not to mention ice cream and cheese and beer, yes, these girls like beer! It was the most beautiful weekend yet...perfect weather and we did pass through the park a bit, but also spent time just lounging, shopping and painting memory-filled tanktops!
*Elina's extra day of fun. I was with Jenny all day Monday for her knee surgery...(she did great!!!) and I loved being called "her family"....that's what it's all about! But when dinner came, I came home and went out with Elina. We had some yummy Vietnamese Food on my favorite 2nd Ave., stopped by Brad H's apt to get him to sign her a note saying her ankle was sprained so she could push her trip up, and then literally put a cherry on top with the "I just can't say no" sundae at the famous Serendipity where we sat next to Frank Langella, Broadway and movie star.
*Tuesday night I got a free ticket to see Midori at Lincoln Center from Elina's friend Karen. She has bad wardrobe choices but wow, can she play the violin!
*Back at the Gym class on Wednesday...where an older woman with a "process" was worth more than the price of admission.
*Indian food with Megan and Adrienne...getting duped into the "bread basket" that probably really could have fed the 5000, and then going to hear musicians from Megan's small group at a local Starbucks.
*My favourite Canadian Tawnya's multi-media chamber group "VisionIntoArt" playing at the Whitney Museum. Ali and her boyfriend Mark joined me to look at weird art and to listen to some even weirder art. But cool, too.
*Saturday through Monday Adrienne and I took a road trip to Cortland, the town where she grew up, for her Dad's marriage to Anna. One highlight was stopping at Friendly's...my favorite restaurant from Tanglewood days. We stayed with some really, really lovely people, the Ames', in their gorgeous three story house. It was like a mini-retreat...Mrs. Ames set out all sorts of breakfast every morning...so sweet! The rehearsal dinner was at a place in Ithaca called "Antlers" whose walls are covered with well, antlers. I was delighted to get to know Adrienne's Dad's cousins who were Presbyterian foreign missionaries....we had a lot to chat about and much in common. I really enjoyed them! Adrienne and I had fun doing little wedding errands as well. Sunday morning I went to church with the Ames' and the cousins and loved the intimacy of such a small town coming together there and also, at the wedding. I sang a few wedding hits, the wedding was lovely and the party was at a family friends' large house that also had a room full of animals' heads. Must be a central NY thing! Monday morning we made our drive back...and hit lots of traffic. :(
*Being a tourist with Laura Balzano. She was in town for a nerdy engineer conference and we went to see the Statue of Liberty! We took a boat out to Liberty Island on one of the windiest days of the year. So much fun catching up with her! We met up with her longest friend, Kristy, for Thai food at the very trendy Union Square "Republic" and finished a weekend of debauchery (for me! at least) with a peanut-butter and chocolate sundae at the West Village "Peanut Butter and Co." The biggest and best sundae I've seen in NYC for only $6. Danger!
*Being typed out of Evita on Tuesday and then again West Side Story on Wednesday. What happened to me being generically ethnic looking??? :(
*A Fellowship Group mixer at "Stitch", a bar in the garmet district where a fellow musician Heather plays fiddle.
*A matinee of Kevin Spacey in "A Moon for the Misbegotten" on Broadway. AAMMMMAAAAAAAAAZZZZZZZING! The acting was really incredible. What was not so great were all the patrons that left during the second act. As each one got up, their chair would swing, the back curtain would screech, the door would slam and light would rush into the theatre. It literally happened 20 times. AH!
*Grace and Don enjoyed pizza night with us at the apt. Eating too much...including creeping crust cobbler!
*A great coaching with Laura B., a perfect day at Bryant Park with Karim, and winning a 1st row $25 lottery seat to "Spelling Bee" so I could see my friend James' Broadway debut!!! Watching him with all his young fans after the show was such a thrill!


Okay, all caught up!!! I'll try to be better, promise!