Catch Up!

Over the past several weeks, I've had time to just do short entries and the few long ones I did from my mom's visit. In the meantime, I've missed updating on other things that have been going on. So, this is a bit of a catch-up post! Here's where I've been:

-- Work, work, work! Things at work have been insane and all I keep thinking is "I did NOT sign up for this"! It's our budget season, which is normally a little busy, but this has been crazy. There have been some midnight and 1am work nights and then it all came to head this past weekend when I worked until 10pm on Friday night, went back at 3pm on Saturday and stayed until 3am (who is at work at 3AM on a Sunday morning....ridiculous). Then back again on Sunday from 3-7 and back Monday morning at 7AM (WAY early for me). I thought it would basically be over Monday when there was a big meeting, but there were more changes to be made and this week was still a little crazy- although the latest I stayed was 8:30pm. I don't deal well with these kind of hours, so this better not continue!

-- Tonya & Sean came into town for work and I got to meet up with them for dinner. It was raining, so we wanted to stay close to my office/their hotel. There aren't many good options in mid-town, but I did remember that I'd heard about a restaurant called Aspen was supposed to be pretty good. We decided to check it out. It's in a hotel, but it has a really cool atmosphere and we enjoyed the food...small plates that we shared. We got a little thing of chocolate fondue for dessert - yum! It was fun to catch-up with Tonya and Sean for a few hours!

-- Kids Club Carnival! I've been trying to serve at Kids Club at the Chelsea Projects once or twice a month. This past Saturday was the annual carnival with the kids. So fun!

The kids won tickets at the games and then got to get prizes with their tickets. There were some great toys & games! And it was all completely free for the kids - so awesome.

I helped out with what was definitely the most dangerous game at the carnival. You probably can't tell in the picture below, but this little girl is holding cardboard with push-pins sticking out of it. Grab that sucker the wrong way and ouch!! We had a board with balloons stuck on it (also with push-pins) and the kids would hurl this little disk at it in an attempt to pop a balloon. I'm not sure who thought this was a good idea. Kids would pick up the disk the wrong way, the balloons would come flying off the board along with a push-pin that would go sailing through the air, the disk would go no where near the direction of the balloons and towards crowds of people, etc.... I don't know how we survived without any casualties...especially me since I was in charge of replacing the popped balloons and it's hard to get a kid to stand still and wait their turn...the disk was thrown my way more than once.

This is Sassary. Sassy, Sassary. I know you're not

supposed to pick favorites, but I just can't help it!

Dean manning the Lemonade & Popcorn stand

Face Painting Booth
There was a Christian singing group there doing fun kids songs

-- Tribeca Film Festival! I went to see one of the Tribeca Talks forums and it was the one with Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding). It was at the Apple Store in SoHo and I think they actually do this kind of stuff all year long and have some pretty big actors come in, so I need to stay on top of their calendar - it's FREE! She was talking about her new movie that is coming out in June. It was so much fun! The next day, I went with Mindy to a screening. The number of films at this thing is overwhelming and it's very difficult to know how to choose what to see and then getting tickets can be tricky as well. We ended up seeing a French film that was made to look like a documentary, but wasn't. It was about actresses trying to make it and some of the best actresses in France played the main characters. It was kind of a strange movie, but we enjoyed it. The writer/director/star of the film was there for a Q&A afterwards which was probably the most interesting part.

-- Max Brenner's! Mindy and I had lunch at Max Brenner's (The Bald Chocolate Man) after seeing our Tribeca movie. I had a veggie burger and it was so delicious! I need to go there more often. After lunch, we went back to the theatre with the intentions of seeing another movie, but decided the lines were too long and we couldn't decide what we wanted to see, so we went to the other Max Brenner's for dessert! We split a souffle that was amazing!

-- Walking, walking, walking! At work, we're doing a 10,000 steps a day challenge. I love it! To kick things off, a physical trainer from Equinox came and took us for a 1.5 mile walk. It was a fun outing! We're doing it again on Monday. I've also enjoyed wearing the pedometer...it motivates me to walk more. I've been trying to walk a mile at lunch and then walk home in the evenings which is about 2.5 miles and also trying to do little things like walking the platform while waiting for the subway. My walk home takes me either through Central Park or along Central Park West (which is lined with beautiful high-rise apartment/condo buildings that have views of the Park). When Brooke was here, she asked if the Park gets flowers during the Spring/Summer! Yes, and it's gorgeous!

The trees with blossoms are my favorite!