Back from the Big Apple!

I have to say, my butt looks cute in this picture...

Hi!  I'm back from my whirlwind trip to New York and Connecticut.  I left very early last Friday and flew in late Monday night.  It was soooooooooooo great to see my friends, sister and brother-in-law, and the city.  I normally always went straight back to work in my previous voyages but not this time.  I had Tuesday off to recuperate and it was a great decision.  I slept in until 9:15, caught up with my friend Cathy by phone, hung out with my retired parents for a time, and ran some errands.  One of those errands involved picking up holy water to bless our new home with and to give some to my parents.  I had been meaning to do that for a long time...

On Sunday, I saw two great high school buddies for brunch.  We ate at Montmartre in Chelsea which was eh but I had a wonderful time with the ladies.  The walk to the restaurant from Penn Station was fun.  I passed a shop called Nasty Pig with a window display that stopped me in my tracks.  Hipster mannequins walking pigs with leather spiked collars.  Okay.  The tag line on their website is "Fun clothing that gets you laid."  Uh huh.  I also saw a 60+ year old man who was looking haggard.  Gravity hadn't been kind to him.  He was wearing a black trench coat and was unsuccessfully attempting to be a transvestite.  His wig and powder blue eye shadow made him look worse and his outfit wasn't very good.  I think he needed some help from RuPaul - big time.

After brunch, we saw some Banksy graffiti art, a sheep at a gas station installation around the corner, and the Yoko Ono exhibit pictured above which was free and open to the public on 10th Avenue.  The Yoko Ono one was a 'wishing tree' where you got to write and then hang your wish on a white tag.  I enjoyed reading what other people wrote like "I wish to play John's guitar" and people wishing for loved ones' health to improve and for others to find happiness.  There were a lot of "I wish all the wishes on this tree come true" messages.  Much more generosity of spirit was on display than selfish wishes.  That was nice to see!

The 10/18 Banksy art - on the left wall it had a message which I forget ("What will you leave behind"???)

I ate a lot of bagels which didn't help my waistline.  I now believe that Bagel Master in Syosset is better than Bagel Boss in Plainview/Hicksville.  I rode the LIRR without incident.  I drove a cute black Dodge Avenger from Dollar Rental Car which was a lot more affordable than Enterprise has been and the car was a lot cleaner.  Note to self: use Dollar in the future.

The big adventure was I treated myself to a new cell phone.  My first new phone in five years.  When I pulled out my iPhone 3 at an Apple store in Farmington, the employees marveled at how old it was and how new it looked.  Apparently, I'm a good cell phone mama.  I'm now the proud owner of an iPhone 5C in bright yellow and I love it.  :-)   Haven't tried Siri or FaceTime yet.  Need to do that...

I had an epic bagel fail.  On Friday, I bought bagels, bialys, and black and white cookies to overnight to my hubby.  Neither UPS or the Postal Service overnights on Fridays.  *sigh*  So, stale food arrived on Monday.  Oh well.  I know more about overnighting now than I did before.