The Goldens came. The Goldens changed a tire. The Goldens left. Let's have a recap, shall we? (warning to those with heart conditions or who may be pregnant or who may become pregnant whilst reading this post. it is very long. take a deep breath, drink some water. power through it)
This weekend my parents came to visit, huzzah!!
Friday i left work early to meet them at their super cool modern(e) (with an e because it's so so super modern it's totally french). Hotel on Rivington (also home to super hot hotspot Thor. i mean, come on. thor?)
Sooooo, anyway. I met them at their hotel and then we treked up to Madison Square Park to partake of the Shake Shack (thanks to sheena and seth for waiting in line for 25 minutes so we could cut. it was awesome) and had a lovely lunch. Then we went back to the hotel and took a two (2) hour nap, obviously. Then we had a nice dinner at Mesa Grill - i had the chile relleno, which was nice, but a bit overpriced. Dad didn't like the level of noise (high), Andy and Dad didn't like the wait for the check at the end of the meal (long). All in all, a nice time was had by all. Then, Andy and i went down to the Angelica and watched Who Framed Roger Rabbit (which, by the way, was/is the scariest movie i have and will ever see). I am proud to say that I did NOT run out of the theater screaming during the last scene, and I kept my eyes open the whole time. Even when Christopher Lloyd is all springy and screamy with the red eyes.
Saturday, we took a walk around the lower east side to see where my grandpa (Sambo) grew up (apparently he was a bowery boy and smoked and chewed tobacco at the age of 5 and worked for the mob etc.). We went to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and walked around the rose garden. Some time during this walk I strained a muscle in my shin (didn't really know we had muscles in our shins). Then we had an AWESOME game of pick-up soccer in the park. There were heroics, there were falls, I scored two (2) goals, Robbie scored like eleven. Mom and Dad and Deirdre and Joy watched from the sidelines and cheered us on. I, meanwhile, injure my leg more and realize that I can't hike the Mohonk Reserve (as we have been planning for the past month) because I can't comfortably (or uncomfortably for that matter) walk down the street.
Sunday was the longest day ever. I might need an entirely new post to talk about it, because there are pictures to go with it and they are not available to me right now. I will do a quick recap. In bullet-point format.
- met parents for breakfast at 9
- picked up rental car at east 12th street at 10
- turned onto the westside highway at 10:30
- realized the westside highway was closed at 11 (at 44th street)
- got over to central park west at 11:15
- realized there was a triathalon so central park west was a parking lot and we couldn't cross the park at 11:30
- finally got out of the city at 12
- drove over some road debree on the Deegan at 12:20
- changed the flat tire in Historical Yorktown Heights at 12:30
- made our way to Mt. Eden cemetary to visit Grandma at 1:15 (then tried to yell at someone about the state of the plot, but there was no one in the office)
- drove through Poughkeepsie trying to find a dollar store from which to buy towels
- turned the wrong way down a three lane highway trying to cross the bridge, promptly pulled a u-turn.
- got across the bridge heading to New Paltz (trying to find the lake at the Mohonk Preserve)
- see a sign for the mega-millions jackpot ($849 million), and decide that, with our luck, we must buy a ticket, or twenty.
- stop at Shoprite, RiteAid, Super Stop-n-Shop to find towels. unsuccessful.
- arrive at the Mohonk Preserve at 2:30, eat a picnic lunch on the bench, discover that the lake is not at the Mohonk Preserve, but is a 10 minute drive away.
- make the 10 minute drive. find the lake (12 feet x 14 feet) and the 400 people who have found said lake before us.
- leave lake to see the Mohonk Mountain House (another fifteen minute drive off the highway).
- get to carriage house, get turned away from Mohonk Mountain House at 5:15 (I'm convinced the guy saw we were driving on a donut tire and decided we were undesirables).
- drive back through New Paltz, stop at the starbucks (for shame)
- I leave my purse at said starbucks. I remember it. I answer three riddles in order to get it back.
- We stop at a gas station and buy 10 quickpick lotto tickets at 6:46
- We realize that the jackpot is actually only $49 million, and that the $849 was a typo.
- Make it to White Plains, were we pick up a couple of boxes of plates and have to talk to the family that has been keeping them for me for the last two years. They have just come back from Aruba and apparently traded their skin in for tanned leather.
- Finally head back to Brooklyn at 8:30
- Pull up in front of the apartment at 9:30
- Drive back to Manhattan at 9:35
- Get to the rental car place at 10
- Argue with the attendant about where to put the car, who needs to inventory the car, and the fact that we're still driving on a donut tire.
- Finally get to Chat'n'chew for dinner at 10:35
- Are told that the kitchen closed at 10:30.
- Walk down the street the the Coffee Shop, eat, digest.
- Get on the subway home.
The end.
* i stole this title from
Josh * and from
Sheena.
This last one is my favorite. mostly because seth and i have similar expressions on our faces, and a little bit because of how uncomfortable sheena looks to be touching shoulders with me. excellent.
This weekend was one of wonder and amazement. To the left you can see my cousins, Matthew and Daniel, a mere 14 rows behind home plate while we watched the Devil Rays kick the Yankees in the can. Man that was a great game. Below you will see my uncle Steve. 
This is uncle steve. He looks just like my dad. Handsome devil, isn't he?
Saturday was also Sarah's birthday. Happy Birthday Sarah! Here she is, so happy at the Astoria Beer Gardens. After a lengthy subway ride and an even lengthier wait in the line (don't worry, i had a book to read), Andy and I got to join the gang of idiots (well, some of them, anyway) and drink my share of beer. Before our arrival, Seth had made his entrance with a box of Munchkins (as a birthday present, i presume) and was stopped by the security professional, Gold Tooth (I call him Gold Tooth because he had, you guessed it, a gold tooth. and was very much into his job). Gold Tooth told Seth he could NOT bring his munchkins in. So Seth, being a reasonable fellow, said, "ok, that's fine Gold Tooth, can I just leave the box here, behind this tree?" Gold Tooth was amenable, and Seth was allowed to enter. Now, Erin (of whom i have no pictures from this party, sorry) saw the aforementioned exchange and decided to go ninja and rescue said Munchkins. She pulled out all of her spy moves and successfully brought the munchkins to the table, after which they were eaten. The picture below was taken right after Gold Tooth walked by our table and saw the empty box of munchkins. I believe he asked Andy, "Who ate the fucking munchkins?" Andy demured. Seth looked on. Gold Tooth was hurt. Then I took a picture of him.
As some of you may know, I'm gearing up to apply to grad school As such, I have been studying for the dreaded GRE test. Then, last week, I decided I just. couldn't. take. it. anymore. So I took the GRE test on Saturday. Huzzah!
Yeah, he ate pretty much 54 hot dogs (and buns) in 12 minutes, beating his own record of 53.5. The surprise was the guy who came in second place, Joey Chestnut, who went dog for dog with Kobayashi, even getting into the lead at about minute 6, but fell behind at the very end - finishing with a whopping 52 hot dogs. I could be wrong, but I think that's the closest anyone has come to Kobayashi in the last seven years he's won.
