rainy days like this on the east coast only make me think of better places to be... like california, where it's sunny ALL THE TIME... where you can spend days like this at huntington beach. we took a quick trip down that way before a wedding we went to a few weekends ago.
a band was playing, we walked the pier, got a delicious waffle sammich from bruxie, a cookies-n-mint-chocolate-chip ice cream sammich from the scoop on cookies, and perused the cutie lil shops in the area.
success... california, you stole my heart in 1 afternoon.
wish i could have brought that sunny-n-seventy weather back to the east coast so i can get some sun on those ghostly white legs of mine! we're lucky if we get that in the summer, let alone all year long!
due to unforeseen, very unfortunate circumstances, mr p and i have been going back to ohio the past few weekends. yes, it's 8 hours away, and yes it's even 4 hours longer for me as i come to NJ from boston each week, but it's what we have to do, what we want to do....
so even though it's been pretty exhausting to do the 8-hour drive, there's a bright side to the situation: we get to see mr p's family more than we expected. it's nice to sit at "home" eating/learning to cook vietnamese food, drinking delicious vietnamese iced coffees, hanging with mr p's siblings, parents, and friends. the trips are short, we don't see everyone, but that's not the first reason we are there, so it's ok. we're there to be with mr p's family in the rough time, but we make the best of it and try to squeeze in a few smiles and laughs while we're there.
....it helps when you have little ones around to make those smiles a little bit bigger ;)
baby Wesley is only 7 weeks old!
....and has anyone ever seen this hilarious device? apparently it's the lazy-man's way to getting that six-pack (i think? maybe it's some sort of medical machine? i'm not really sure...). I can't vouch for getting a six-pack with the thing, but I CAN guarantee some kiddo entertainment ;)
please keep mr p's family in your thoughts, and cheers to a positive week ahead!
how do you entertain visitors in NYC who don't want to site-see, don't want to see museums, and don't want to walk a ton?
you do like the locals, and eat and drink yourself silly through the weekend!
....and insist they at LEAST go up in the empire state building (with prepaid tickets of course, less, line-waiting) and force them to put on their walking shoes (unless you want to use your entire vacation budget on taxis, you have to walk at least a few miles blocks to get anywhere).
i mean hey, i don't really want to see the statue of liberty AHHHGAIN, and in this food mecca, who wouldn't want to eat and drink all day? besides the fact that i think i was in a food coma for the rest of the week, it was a pretty darn good weekend... you know, one of those ones where you forget to take your good camera with you because you go to restaurants so small there's only seating for 22 and bars are so rowdy the drinks are always 2-for-1 and the bartender brings them to your table 20 beers at a time (in 2 hands, no tray needed, 10 beers a hand, no big deal).
(ok ok, so they DID want to see times square... but afterward, they agreed with me: it's fun for about 5 minutes, then you wanna get the heck outta there but there's so many people you're stuck for a good half hour)
when my dad and his wife tina came into town a few weekends ago for the first time, we were on the go non-stop (well, except for the day the weather decided to drop a few 20 degrees and pour down rain with insane wind)
we found out that skinner's loft in our neighborhood has a rockin' steak (good lord it was good, tasted like summer)
i finally found a time at the frying pan when it WASN'T jam-packed (turns out you have to get there before everyone ELSE gets off of work. i mean, a bar on a boat really IS the prefect happy hour spot, isn't it?)
we got lucky at yunnan kitchen and walked right in to a table at 7pm on a friday night (was it just me, or did that tingly-spicy fried chicken get even spicier?!)
we had our fix of light and dark beer at mcsorley's (those were the only two options. tina was not amused, but the rest of us could have stayed there all day :P)
....got some more at our favorite weeknight happy hour spot, phebe's (too bad it wasn't a weeknight and they didn't have 10-cent wings)
...and of course it wouldn't be a weekend at OUR house if we mr p cooked dinner for the guests. this time it was pork loin, red cabbage slaw, salad with our version of westville's dill dressing, and bread with a sampling of our many infused oils and vinegars :)
next time they come we'll have to spend a day at the beach, because that was an exhausting 4-day weekend!!
so many things going on, so busy lately, lots of things i want to tell you all!
but... all i can think about is jean jackets.
you know those cool kids who can throw on a jean jacket with anything and it looks cute?
i was convinced i was NOT one of those people.
i bought a jean jacket that fit on the day i spent my free $300 to Gap/Banana Republic (helllloooo credit card rewards points :P)...
medium?
sure.
that's my size usually.
i try it on.
looks aight.
not great, not awful.
it's free.
i'll make it work.
i wash it to get most of the leftover blue dye off.
i wear it a few times.
i think i look like a whale each time.
(why can't i make this work? i'm wearing it JUST like the girl in the picture)
today after popping into the Gap looking for a shoulder-covering-and-below-the-knee-but-trendy dress for a traditional Jewish wedding i'm going to on sunday, i walked out with a maxi skirt and another jean jacket.... instead of a dress.
same jean jacket, same style.
(as in i now have two of the same jean jacket... i guess i'll be selling the other one on ebay or something since i already washed it :/ )
fellow small-chested friends, you must know that the key to finding a great jean jacket is trying on a smaller size. you will be amazed. a lot of times i can't go down a size because of my waist, and the chest and shoulders end up being too big. but for a jacket or top as short and open as a jean jacket, the smaller size is key.... you just gotta try it!
call it the summer of jenn's jean jacket.
....because i'm not taking it off.
cheers!
p.s. i got a hair cut. so much for trying to grow it long, it's all chopped off!
in january we lost one of the nicest, kindest people i know.
everyone who knew him would say the same thing.
...and today would have been his 29th birthday.
from the big heart of his mom, at least 29 random acts of kindness we carried out in his honor.
each day i walk through the streets of new york city, whether it's 5:45am and i'm racing to catch my train to boston, or it's friday night rush hour, i see homeless people everywhere. sleeping at a storefront, walking through the warm halls of penn station, i even saw one man this past monday who had a stroller stacked to the brim of belongings NOT belonging to a baby. i wanted to be mad at him, thinking he probably stole it. but i couldn't stay mad, because that's all he had. moms who have it all push full strollers around the city with big smiles on their faces, then bring them back home where they may have even more strollers. but for this man, the stroller WAS his home.
tonight i decided to go to whole foods, pick up a nutritious sammich (and a justin's peanut butter cup because everyone loves something sweet), walked out of the store destined to give the brown bag of goodies to the first homeless person i saw. this is the wealthiest neighborhood in boston. although i kept my eyes peeled, i expected to walk at least a mile to the park (the only place i have EVER seen anyone who looked homeless in boston).
little did i know, though i only had to walk about 3 blocks before finding an elderly aftrican american woman asking for change in a cup.
she totally caught me off guard, but before i had a chance to think "how about a sammich instead" burst out of my mouth.
a genuine "thank you" and her open arms for a hug put a big 'old lump in my throat.
a hug and a "have a good night" later and my job was complete.
maybe you think that buying a sammich for a homeless person is cliche (walking through the store trying to find a good sammich felt like it too, but i couldn't think of something more creative). but lemme tell you, i didn't feel an ounce of cliche after doing it...
i can't think of a better way to remember tyson, by doing something that makes me feel good inside :)
