last hurrah state of mind

you know its time for a vacation when you're putting socks on your head.

actually, i knew it was time long before we got to this point, which is why

i booked a trip to our favorite place.  the big apple.

 

could it be the pregnancy?  the prepping the house to be warm and safe

enough for an infant to happily live with us?  could it be the overtime

that richard has been working?  or possibly the crazy master's classes that

he's super busy with?  maybe a combination of all of those...

whatever the straw that broke this camel's back, we needed a break.

 

 

 

so early one wednesday morning in august, we headed to the airport.

we were tired of work and the daily grind, but we had lots to look

forward to...

 

 

i thought that my traditional pre-flight cinnabon would be one of those things.

wrong.  whatever idiot at slc international thought that was a good idea better

hope he never meets me.  i know it was a man.  no woman would ever, ever

do that to a pregnant gal.

 

 

our airfare was a good deal, which unfortunately meant that

we had a long layover and day of travel, but we finally made it.

we hired a car service to take us to our place in brooklyn.

 

 

first thing we did, after dropping off our bags, was find some food.

we chose a delicious thai restaurant just down the street from the

brooklyn heights promenade, and after dinner we went for a stroll.

a giant rat greeted us, and we may or may not have witnessed a drug deal.

 

 

after a terrible first night of sleep, due to an uncomfortable bed and

all the commotion right outside of our window, we started the day by

going to the discount tickets booth to find a show.  i let richard pick

since he hated my choice the first time around (honestly, who hates

west side story?!), and he chose stomp.

 

 

i'd warned richard that being 7 months pregnant would most likely mean

that i couldn't walk as much as i usually do, but we still took the longest

detour ever (on foot) to the brooklyn bridge and then made our way across

to manhattan. 

 

 

 

i was hot and sweaty, and my feet were already hurting, but

richard was a really good sport and let me take lots of breaks.

 

 

we finally jumped on the subway and headed to the central park zoo.

 

 

 

 

after leaving the zoo, we made our way through the park, but stopped

to visit balto.  pretty glad i'm wearing a tent.  woof.

 

 

do you hear what i hear?

i wish richard could've played guitar here - i'm sure we'd

have come home rich!

 

 

last time we rented a boat, i was in a foul mood, but this

time it was richard who was hungry and cranky.

 

 

all he could muster was a half-smile.

 

 

clearly, it was contagious.

 

 

but after fashioning a turban, his spirits lifted quite a bit

 

 

and that was contagious, too.

 

 

until i got us stuck.

 

 

never fear, sinbad to the rescue.

 

 

he rewarded himself with a falaffel sandwich at a halal food cart,

and then he was good as new.

 

 

we made a long (too long, if you ask me) trek to the theater where we

would see stomp, but on the way something important happened...

well, two important things happened:

 

1. richard bought himself a fedora

2. i challenged him to eat a slice of pizza every time he saw a sign

advertising $1/slice.  and he accepted.

 

 

so he ate his second slice.

 

 

i had my heart set on shake shack, but it had been closed for a private event.

so i had frozen yogurt for dinner.  call it a craving, but i'm pretty sure it had

nothing to do with being pregnant.  i just wanted ice cream.  i surely could've

done without the fish-tasting topping that richard lied to me about, but after

it was in the garbage i was satisfied.

 

 

stopped to talk with optimus prime outside of a quirky boutique.

 

 

and we finally made it to the theater.

my face is smiling, but my feet were crying at this point.

 

 

we had great seats!  that is, if you don't mind sitting in a corner

with a pipe poking you in the leg.  again, richard was a good sport,

and we both loooooved the show!  the entire thing was a group of

people doing percussion without any traditional instruments - instead

they used plastic bags, garbage cans, lighters, sinks, newspapers, and

lots of other random objects.  only a few words were spoken the whole

time.  it was right up richard's alley.

 

 

here is richard with one of the cast members.  this guy was a riot!

and very, very talented.

 

 

on our way home, we stopped in little italy to get some pastries at

our favorite bakery.  there was an incredible street festival going on

and the bakery had stands all over...it was heavenly.

 

 

we were pretty wiped, though, so we got them to go, and enjoyed

them from the "comfort" of our little room in brooklyn.

 

 

i really wasn't just being a baby.  both of our dogs were barking, and with

good reason...we walked over 29,000 steps (i was wearing a pedometer),

which is almost 15 miles.  FIFTEEN MILES!  this is the night that we

implemented foot-rubs into our travel itinerary.