Monthly Archives: August 2015

Piece O’ NYC: Romancing the Weekend

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There are a lot of weekdays when Jeff and I get home really late from work and school. We often feel like we don’t have enough time to connect and it can feel like we’re more married to our work than to each other — even when we do have time during the week, it’s used to run errands, clean the house, or do all the other little things that build up at the house (a major reason we started up Blue Apron was to save time and headache). I guess this is what you go through during this stage of life, but boy is it distressing sometimes. Honestly, the weekend should have three days and not just two…
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We should probably put down our phones during brunch, huh?

But in efforts to keep the romance alive, Jeff and I try to do fun and special things together. We have a great city to take advantage of, so it should be easy right? Sometimes it is, and sometimes we really just want to chill and veg out on the couch with our cats. Lately we’ve been going for long walks and runs in Central Park. A few times, we’ve tried a new brunch spot we’ve never been to and consumed copious amounts of fun brunch cocktails. Last weekend, we went to the only Cat Cafe in NYC, Meow Parlour — leave it to me to find something to do with cats during “us” time ;p. The upside was that Meow Parlour also has a patisserie down the street that sells cat shaped macarons…and they were yummy!
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This is Carlton, our own cat. He always needs a little weekend romance too.

Another day we went to the Whitney Museum. Jeff loves modern and abstract art and, though I’m not a huge fan of modern art, I loved the new museum. It’s in a great location and is down the street from ‘bruffins‘, so I was content to visit with a pit stop along the way. If you visit the Whitney, get lunch at Bubby’s afterwards and go for a stroll on the High Line. Bubby’s had an amazing corn salsa that we tried and we will definitely be replicating this weekend.

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Nice views at the Whitney Museum, no?

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Since we know that as soon as the academic year commences, and our stress levels elevate, Jeff and I are on a serious mission to try as many new brunch spots and new things together! Gotta keep the romance alive! Do you and your partner do anything special to connect or reconnect? We’re all ears!

Show & Tell…

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I’m happy to be back home, even though it means I’m not in Hawaii. Home is indeed where the heart is.

Two very fine quilters sent photos of their quilts for me to share with you. In both cases, the applique colors shine against the black backgrounds.

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Joyce Lytle wrote this about the first quilt:

In the retirement village where I live (Savannah Lakes Village) in South Carolina, we have a group that meets every week. Every 2-3 years we make a quilt, then give it to a non-profit organization in our town of McCormick to raise funds for their group. That way we do not have to sell the raffle tickets, they do. Of course we all purchase tickets and hope we win the quilt! LOL.

The binding still needs to be stitched to the back and a sleeve attached. We haven’t decided which organization will get the quilt yet, but we are sure they will be thrilled.

I agree—the winner will be thrilled. You all did a wonderful job!

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Roseanne Bullock, from Adelaide, Australia, sent the second photo. She wrote:

Have attached a photo of my version of your Stars In The Garden quilt, which I am happy to say came equal second in our exhibition jut last weekend.  No prize, but considering we had 108 quilts, hangings, etc, I feel very happy with the result.  Hope you are too!

Loved the pattern and only modified it slightly, as I was hand sewing, missed doing the hydrangea block… Did a mini stipple all around the flowers, took me two weeks!

This is a lovely quilt! I’m impressed that it only took 2 weeks for a mini-stipple :-).

I thank you both for sharing the photos of your lovely quilts. They are inspirational!

 

Oahu…

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We are staying in Waikiki. Let me just say that this is a place that is about shopping. Lots of it. If you don’t have shopping where you live, and if you like to shop, this is Nirvana. If that’s not your thing, Waikiki is sort of like hell.

I can love it, in small doses. Let me just mention that Steve and I went to the Apple store and I had a sincerely great time. My wrist is happier than I thought it could be. I know, I said I would resist. Dammit. I could not. More about that in a future post.

The four of us went to Kailua Beach today. This is one of the most beautiful beaches on the planet, depending on when you go. In our experience, it’s better in the summer than it is in the winter. I mostly took people pictures for this post but if you check my instagram or facebook feeds, you’ll find more.

The Japanese kids are so very cute! And their parents are cute too!

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This mom pulled her kids going…beckygoldsmith-Oahu-37-1

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And this woman may be the selfie queen. Later, I offered to take a photo of her with her phone but she was all about doing her own thing.beckygoldsmith-Oahu-26-1

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Let me admit that I take pictures. More than I used to. But I am not going to fall into selfie-land. Just how much documentation do we need? I know that the photos I took on this trip are largely meaningless in the grand scheme of things. They are not going to be famous, or noteworthy, or… you get the idea. They are fun! And I enjoy sharing them. But tomorrow, when we hike up Diamondhead at a very early hour, I am not carrying the big camera. And Steve says he isn’t either. Watch for instagram photos :-).

We fly home tomorrow. This has been a lovely trip, shared with good friends. I hope to get back to Hawaii in the future. If you have never been, don’t miss this place. It is truly special.

Aloha!