Wednesday In New York City

May 15, 2019 By Carole

Let’s go back a month (I can’t believe it’s been a month!) and talk about what we did on Wednesday in New York City. Ready?

Dale and I got up very early to be in the studio audience of Good Morning America. We waited outside in line for a bit but the process was very easy and everyone was friendly and helpful. We did not get on camera (except for a brief shot of the back of Dale’s head) but I wasn’t really there to be on television.

I was there to enjoy the experience. To see George Stephanopoulos in person. To ogle that day’s celebrity guest, Josh Lucas (he’s pretty cute in person) and to maybe get a free gift. (We did. 2 $100 gift cards to CVS.)

And to meet Robin Roberts. You never know which of the hosts will stay behind for photo ops with the audience members but I was thrilled that it was Robin Roberts and Ginger Zee on this particular day. As Dale was chatting to Ginger Zee he mentioned that we were in NYC for school vacation and that he drives a school bus. Ginger turned to him and said, “did you know that Robin used to drive a school bus?” And then Dale and Robin Roberts chatted about what it’s like to be a school bus driver. (How awesome is that?!)

After the taping we headed back to the hotel room. Hannah had taken a yoga class and she was hungry and we were hungry and so we set off in search of food. We ended up at Mom’s Kitchen and Bar in Hell’s Kitchen, just a short walk from our hotel. Hannah had pancakes with fruity pebbles in them, I had chicken and waffles, and Dale (Mr. Adventurous) had ham and eggs. It was all good, made even more so by a Bloody Mary or two.

After all that gluttony we were ready to stretch out legs so we walked over to Central Park. We visited The Dakota, where John Lennon lived, and also Strawberry Fields. It was a beautiful day and we sat for quite a while watching the people come and go and pay their respects to John Lennon’s special spot in the park. I may have also shaken my head a lot at the people who rode their bikes right up to the memorial despite the signs that were literally everywhere that said no bikes. Sigh.

It was a glorious day, sunny and warm, and we were in need of refreshment and I wanted to see The Boathouse. Now, here’s the thing with me and Central Park . . . I always get lost. I’m not great with maps anyway and when you account for the fact that there are roads and walking paths and biking paths and more . . . I get terribly confused and frustrated and leave. But this time I had Dale and Hannah with me and, despite the fact that I kept telling them we were going in the wrong direction, they were right and we found The Boathouse and I had two wonderful glasses of rosé while watching the row boats. It was heavenly.

Come back tomorrow and I’ll tell you about 3 more things we did on Thursday.

Weekend Catch Up

May 14, 2019 By Carole

There was more to the weekend than pie – although that pie was pretty great!

There was Friday Night Snacks under the pergola. It had been raining and crappy all day but the sun came out at 6pm, just in time for us to head outside. It was lovely. When we came in we played Phase 10 and listened to music and it was perfect.

Dale spent a lot of time last week getting the deck stained and the railings painted, mostly because I told him I wanted the furniture back out there on Saturday. (My man works best with a deadline.) So on Saturday afternoon he and I set up the furniture. Our outdoor living room is ready for action! We got to spend some quality time out there on Saturday evening before heading in for a delicious dinner of scallops.

Sunday was relaxing and quiet and rainy. Hannah and I baked the pie in the morning and then late in the afternoon Jessica came over with Jackie and Hannah came back and made us all dinner. She joked that it was probably going to be the adult version of burnt toast in bed but she was wrong because everything she made was terrific. It started with some really great green goddess dip and veggies. Luckily I had the perfect napkins (a gift from my friend Rose) for the occasion because I certainly have taught my children that message!

And that’s a wrap on the weekend.

Pie Is Love

May 13, 2019 By Carole

Yesterday was Mother’s Day and I saw a lot of stuff on social media about it. I saw pictures of moms with their kids. I saw gifts that moms received. I saw brunch celebrations and bouquets of flowers. I read some beautiful words about celebrating moms, remembering moms, honoring the women in our lives who aren’t our moms but who inspire us and raise us up. It was all pretty wonderful and made what can be a bittersweet day for me quite tolerable.

You know what else made it a bomb Mother’s Day?

Teaching my girlie Hannah to bake an apple pie.

To be perfectly honest, I was not excited about baking a pie on Mother’s Day. It’s . . . work. There’s the crust and the peeling and slicing of the apples. There’s the mess and clean up and timing of it all. But I did it gladly. I did it because Hannah asked me if I would. Because Hannah thought this would be a great way of spending time together on Mother’s Day. Because it was a way of remembering and honoring my mom, teaching her granddaughter how to do this thing that she taught me to do when I was about Hannah’s age. Because Hannah sees me as an expert when it comes to baking pie and because she knows I learned from my mom and she wants to be the third generation of women in our family who make really great pie for the people they love.

Because, despite my reluctance to do anything even remotely like work on Mother’s Day, I love my daughter. And it’s the love that makes all the work and mess and time worth the effort.

And maybe also because we got to have a really great pie for dessert. My daughter’s first pie. I’m a proud mommy.

I hope you all had a wonderful day yesterday celebrating the moms in your life. And I hope it included pie.

Weekending

May 7, 2019 By Carole

I’m looking at the 3 pictures I have to share with you from last weekend and thinking I should start calling these weekend recap posts Boozending. Seriously, I do more than drink on the weekend, all photographic evidence to the contrary.

Here’s Friday Night. The usual snack routine.

And Saturday Night. The first outdoor fire of the season.

And Sunday Night. Tequila, pico de gallo and guac for Cinco de Mayo.

In between all those cocktails there was Jackie time, a Reiki class, shopping, and plenty of yard work.

But still. I feel compelled to say . . . with my tongue planted firmly in my cheek . . . drink responsibly!

Weekending

April 29, 2019 By Carole

Happy Monday, friends! Let’s take a glance back at the weekend that was.

It started with a great Friday afternoon with Jackie. He’s so much fun these days, making all kind of animal noises, identifying things in the grocery story (bananas and cheese), and singing (in his own fashion) along to his favorite songs. His current jam includes Baa Baa Black Sheep and Mamma Mia.

Once our little muffin was delivered home to his Mama, though, it was grown up time, aka Friday Night Snack (and cocktail) time. We thought we were done with fires for the season but it was chilly enough Friday evening to get one going. It always makes things feel extra cozy when we have that orange glow as a backdrop to our evening.

On Saturday Dale did yard work and I hung around, reading and sorting through some clutter. In the evening we headed in to Boston to meet up with Kim and Ken as they were in town for the weekend. We had a terrific meal at Legal Harborside and then spent the rest of the night hanging out in their hotel room. We haven’t seen them since last fall so it was really great to catch up, share some wine and laughs, and make some plans for summer vacation.

On Sunday we hosted a family gathering of Dale’s siblings (minus his brother Glen, who lives on the other side of the country) at our house. The idea of doing this was born one Friday night a month or so ago. Dale and I were catching up, as we do on Friday nights, and we were talking about how we just don’t see his brothers and sister all that much. Before I could talk myself out of it I looked at our calendar, picked Sunday April 28th, and sent a group text to get the ball rolling.

It was a simple gathering and everyone brought something to share and we had a great time just . . . hanging out. There was no holiday pressure. None of our kids were there. It was just a bunch of siblings who truly, really love each other and enjoy each other’s company. We reminisced and told stories, we laughed and shared silly little details of our lives, we ate simple food and just encircled ourselves in family love. I know it was a success because when the evening was over Dale looked at me with tears in his eyes and thanked me for bringing everyone together for a little while. You can bet we’ll be doing it again soon.

And that’s my weekend recap. Hope you had a good one, too.