family

So Thrilled

salar de uyuni

I am beyond happy. I just found out that my two favorite people are officially moving back to New York in a few weeks!

I definitely enjoyed/reaped the benefits of Mal and Peter’s time in Maryland: having beach weekends at my “summer share,” grilling, eating lots of blue crabs. And as much as I’ll miss that, I’m elated that they’ll only be a short Metro-North ride away, as opposed to a torturous six-hour Greyhound trip.

Now that summer officially starts this weekend (summer Fridays = the beginning of the season, in my book), I’m planning to make as many weekend trips to their place as I can, before it’s time to help them pack and haul everything up north. And as for next year? I suppose we’ll have to find an actual summer share closer to NYC.

Yesterday I also found out that one of my best friends is moving to London in September. And while I’m sad about that, I’m also looking forward to meeting up with her in different European cities for weekend jaunts and vacations. New opportunities to travel are always the biggest silver linings to loved ones leaving town!

(Photo: Mal and me at the Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia)

Happy Mother’s Day Weekend!
heather and meme

This photo makes me laugh–I am so obviously my mother’s daughter.

This is the first time in three weeks that I’m not going out of town. But there’s a good reason for that. I’m sticking around NYC to spend time with someone special: my mom.

I’ve mentioned before how awesome she is. My mom is the most selfless, wise, supportive and wonderful person I know. I’m always awed at her strength, generosity and energy (she has way more than I do!). Plus, she had some great adventures when she was younger–like taking a cross-country Greyhound road trip–is always out and about going to new restaurants and traveling today. She’s such an inspiration and I’m so lucky to have her!

To celebrate, we’re having a family brunch here and then seeing a City BalletВ matinee. (On the program: “Serenade,” “Firebird” and “Symphony in C.”)

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom–love you!! вќ¤

Off to Maryland!

I’m starting my weekend a little early. I took the day off and I’m headed down to the Maryland shore to see my favorite people in the world. (So excited!)

I was hoping for warm weather of 75-80 degrees so we could go to the beach–at the very least to just hang out and have a picnic. But since the forecast is looking cooler, we’re planning to grill, go shopping and running–and hopefully get my first crabs of the season!

Have a wonderful weekend!

A Happy Saturday (and Sunday)

happy saturday

I’ve been spoiled. My two favorite people have made the trip from Maryland to NYC two weekends in a row. And this weekend, I had the added bonus of having our friend, Doug, in town, as well. So to celebrate our converging in NYC, we spent the entire weekend doing what we do best: Eating.

Saturday was the kind of day I’ve been craving for so long: Warm, sunny, gorgeous and perfect for whiling away hours outside. (As in, it FINALLY felt like summer–which I’ve been counting down to before winter even began.) We headed across the river toВ Smorgasburg.

Not surprisingly, tons of people had the same idea. The lot was crowded, but we didn’t have to wait very long for food. Between the four of us, we amassed quite a spread: a gigantic carnitas sandwich from Cemita’s, a chicken schnitzel on a pretzel roll from Schnitz NYC, loroco and pork papusas from Solber PapusasВ (my personal favorites) and a pizza from Pizza MotoВ (which had, to my delight, a runny egg on top). Everything was reeeeeeeeally delicious.

schnitzel, cemita, papusas

pizza

After eating…

mal with schnitzel

…we just hung out enjoying the sun and view of the Manhattan skyline.

mal and peter

We’d planned to hit Brooklyn Brewery next, but a crazy line outside discouraged us from even bothering with it. Instead, we made our way to Berry Park‘s roof deck–and that ended up being way nicer. (Brooklyn Brewery, you need an outside space!) The place was packed, but we amazingly managed to score seats.

heather

Yay! We got seats!

mal and me

mal and peter

A couple hours (and beers and girly huckleberry lemonades, on my part) later, we moseyed back across the river for shopping and Korean BBQ.

On Sunday, we all headed out to Long Island to celebrate Peter’s father’s bday. His mom–always the amazing cook–put together an awesome spread of cheeses, meats, bread and veggies, plus hardboiled eggs from last week’s Easter celebration. (How gorgeous are these? Mariana explained that she just places herb leaves flat against the eggs, carefully wraps them in stockings and then boils them with onion skin.)

easter eggs

I was sad when we all headed off in our own directions, but glad to squeeze in a 5 mile run to work off the weekend’s calories. (And I’m already looking forward to heading down to Maryland next weekend–after my trip to Chicago this weekend!)

(Second photo via Smorgasburg)