And so it begins...

I honestly wonder whether I'll be better at this than Chris is with his...but I would really like to find a way to stay connected to those we've left behind in Chicago & Milwaukee, and to better connect with others strewn around the globe, so I'm giving this new-fangled 'blog' thingy a try.

So, what to write about...hmmm...
Let's start out with last weekend, and then work backward. During the week, I had seen playbills slapped all over town for one of Chris' favorite DJs - Sasha. We've both been working crazy hours, been sick more times in the past 6 weeks than we have in the last 5 years, been stressed with the move, and generally unable to really enjoy any of our weekends here since we moved. So I thought to surprise Chris with some tix to the set. It was only after I made the purchase that I thought to check and see when the doors opened...turns out the doors opened at 11pm...and there were 2 other DJs on before Sasha. Now, I'm not very good with numbers, but I quickly realized that not only would this mean staying up into the double digits, but more than likely we'd be out into the mid single digits. Wonderful. No problem. All we needed to do was nap after work, and then we'd be able to get up refreshed and go out. Which would have worked well for 20 year olds, but for 2 out of shape sleep deprived people in their mid 30s this proved somewhat challenging. After hitting the snooze button for a good hour and a half, I finally got up and took a shower and got ready, all the while hoping that Chris would tell me that he really wasn't up for it, at which point I would have pouted for about a minute, and then gladly gone back to bed. Apparently he was hoping for a similar declaration from me, as I found out on the way to the subway (yes, mom, we took the NY subway at 2 in the morning, and are still alive to talk about it). But by this point, we were committed, and pumped full of starbucks and redbull, so we pressed on, and made it to the venue, Webster Hall, on 11th street in Manhattan, just after Sasha started his set at 2am. It was a decent show; we both danced the entire time, and by 4:30 I was ready to leave. (Sadly, my knee was starting to give out). It was interesting people watching, and strange to be there as a married person, as neither of us have really done that sort of thing since being married. So the element of suspense (you know - the, gee, I wonder if I'll meet anyone tonight type of suspense) was replaced with the ability to actually go and enjoy oneself and really like the music and not care whether anyone is watching you do the white man (or woman's) overbite.

We took a cab home and by 5 we were asleep, only to be awoken 2.5 hours later by the obnoxious ones (Harley & Echo). Harley could barely contain herself because she knew it was a dog park morning, and so up we got, and off we went to Prospect Park, in which, every day before 9 a.m., you can let your dog run off leash. The first time we went there and unleashed the hounds, I swear I thought we would never see them again, but alas, they came back. And so, this has become a weekend morning ritual, because 4 walks a day just doesn't tire Harley out. I'm beginning to think our only option is to overfeed her to the point of obesity where she really can't move anymore, but I think that would probably be considered animal cruelty or something, and we'd likely go to jail. But anyway, I digress.

After the dog park, we came back to the pad and everyone slept some more except me, because I suddenly came down with an impulse to do laundry and other general housekeeping and puttering. Then I fell asleep around 1, and was awoken by Chris at 4 to ask whether we were still going to try to sell the Fit. Which sounds like a simple proposition, except that we had decided to take the car to Carmax, instead of a regular dealer, [we had originally had this crazy notion that we could sell it ourselves, and then reality set in (available for test drives...test drives with complete strangers in NY...who were we kidding??)] and the closest Carmax is in East Haven CT. I was tempted to put it off again, but we'd made plans to see Tom Bontley in New Haven (which, as you might have deduced is close to East Haven). Besides, we wanted to see Tom (he's one of Chris' friends from childhood - their dads are professors in the same English dept at UWM), and we really needed to unload the car before we got ticketed or towed or both again, so we loaded the girls into the Accord, and we drove both cars the 2 hours up to the Carmax, sold the Fit, and then dropped in on Tom.

We passed a great evening with Tom (his wife Allison was at a conference in New Orleans, unfortunately for us), and I was very impressed, not only with the neighborhood, house and yard, but also with Tom's cooking. It was a wonderfully cool autumn evening, perfect for grilling, so Tom had thought to get some steaks, and he grilled them to perfection in some sort of seasoning which I'm sure he told us the secret ingredients and I've already forgotten. We also had a great Shiraz, salad, tomatoes from their garden, potatoes...a veritable feast. Quite lovely. I really look forward to spending more time with both of them (apparently Allison cooks as well, and - get this - enjoys it, so Chris and I are quite interested in this behavior of couples who not only cook but actually enjoy it; Karl and Steph are like that too, and Josh and Lauren, although I'm not sure how much Josh cooks, or whether he truly likes it, but still), and to having them show us some of the better skiing areas in NE. After all, I've skied Iron Mountain, so that means I can handle real skiing, right?

We drove home that night in our one remaining car (her name is Suki Jones, or SJ for short), and for a 16 year old car with 120,000 miles on her, she does pretty well. I'm sure she was kind of pissed off when we bought her (she was expecting a nice quiet undemanding retirement in Port Hope), and then drove her 500 miles from MI to Chicago, and then turned around and drove her another 1000 miles to NY, but she seems to be adapting quite nicely.

On Sunday of last week, we did all the usual things...dog park, dog walks, tv, more laundry, cleaning, house puttering, groceries...and one unusual thing, which is to say that we went to see an art 'installation' that I never would have guessed was art - at least, not in the traditional sense. We found out about it from a neighbor who was the curator for it. I can't really describe it, other than to say that it was pretty neat, and interactive, so if you're curious, check it out on the website www.creativetime.org - look for the "A Psychic Vacuum," by artist Mike Nelson.

Anyway, that was last weekend, from which I've almost regained my normal sleep patterns. This weekend, while not containing as many late nights, promises to be fun and exciting too. Chris has something up his sleeve for tomorrow, which involves comfortable clothes and shoes and Manhattan, so my guess is that we'll be walking a lot...hmmm, perhaps a museum, or central park, or shopping...or any combination of the above. The only thing we have planned for Sunday is a halloween party for the girls at one of the dog parks in the area. The girls are already complaining about their costumes, as Echo's is too small (she's long since outgrown her bad-ass skull and crossbones hoodie) and Harley says she feels like a clown in hers (which is appropriate as it's a clown costume), so maybe we'll look for some new costumes for them, if we have time.

2 weekends from now, Mike and Carrie will be our very first overnight guests, and we're really looking forward to taking some time off to be 'tourists' with them. I'll definitely be in Chicago on the 8th and 9th, but don't yet have my travel itinerary hammered out yet. And we'll be in FL & MI in November as well. Lots of travel coming up, but December is looking pretty travel free, so if anyone is so inclined...take a trip to NY...you now have a place to stay and we'd love to see you all.

Take care - more to come, I promise.