Our Glamorous Travels

So. New York and I.

I think we're in love.

Sure, we had our ups and downs, but as Mr. Shakespeare said "the course of true love never did run smooth." So it was with us.

Here's a list of the wonderful, sometimes tragical,but always adventurous happenings of our trip to New York and Boston:

1. Amelia lost her glasses on the first full day we were in New York. She had them when we were at breakfast, and five minutes and two streets later they were gone. If anyone finds a pair of pink pygmy glasses floating around on Lexington Ave let me know.

2. Pete's team did NOT win the Brandstorm National competition. The trashy NYU team took that honor. If any of you ladies know a gentleman who could benefit from a sleazy line of "male sexual grooming products" you're in luck, Diesel may be making them soon. For those of you who would rather buy classy products from a luxury skincare line for your man, too bad. Diesel didn't want them. The up side? Pete still landed the internship, so we're going to live in New York anyway. In effect, he gets the prize even though he didn't win the competition.

3. We stayed at the W Hotel, which provides these great little tubes of fabulous smelling body lotion and all the toilet paper Amelia could pull off the roll. We were both in heaven.

4. Amelia, Pete BOB and I made the acquaintance of Central Park. Better than I could have imagined. Who knew there was a zoo, a puppet show theatre, caricature artists, museums and a bronze statue of Balto all in one park? We shall return often.

5. I discovered that F.A.O. Swartz is the only place in NYC to buy souvenirs of any value; unless of course you're really in to knock-off designer handbags or I Heart NY T-shirts, mugs, bumperstickers, etc.

6. Unfortunately Tiffany's was a bit of a disappointment. I didn't even see anything that I wanted, which really, how likely is that? On the bright side, the elevator operators had loading a stroller into an elevator for maximum spacial efficiency down to a science. Do you suppose they get strollers in there often?

7. Food: Crumbs Bakery, Magnolia Bakery, Butter, and a fabulous little Mexican restaurant that I can't remember the name of, but I later heard it was a quite a hot spot for the gay community and I don't care at all because the FOOD. WAS. INCREDIBLE.

8. Pete Amelia and I met the couple whose apartment we are sub-letting this summer. Nice couple. Cute apartment. Scary basement laundry room and elevator, but I'm told to be grateful it has a laundry on site at all. Whatever.

9. In our wanderings of the city we happened upon a Scottish parade. I've never seen so many elderly men in traditional Scottish attire; no, not even at the Scottish Festival in Payson. There were at least two dozen different pipe bands marching and every different plaid kilt in existence was represented. I love this kind of stuff; I live for festivals in the summer.

10. We conquered the NY subway system, big stroller and all. In fact, I'm beginning to realize that keeping BOB home in the suburbs of Utah county is kind of like keeping a German Sheppard as a house dog; he was meant for bigger and better things. BOB maneuvered narrow store aisles like a charm, took curbs and potholes like nobody's business, and bounced on and off subway cars like he was built for it-which in fact, he was.

On to Boston:

Sharon and Dan deserve a big thank you for all the planning and effort they put into entertaining my little family while we were in Boston. Pete could only stay for a day and a half before having to fly home to take finals, so we packed those first two days pretty tight. During our time in Boston we:

1. Walked the Freedom Trail. Sharon bought a tour guide pamphlet at some point and read to us about all the historical sights. Pete and Dan looked so cute walking along and pushing strollers next to each other.

2. Visited the aquarium. So fun to take Amelia to see all the fish and sea animals; she particularly loved yelling at the penguins (incidentally, Amelia thinks all animals are bears, and growls at them because its the only animal noise she remembers. Poor penguins.)

3. We took a stroll around Harvard campus. It was pretty I suppose, but I guess since I don't really have any personal connections to the place I was a bit underwhelmed. And the girls I saw prancing around naked on campus really didn't look like super-brains to me. Goes to show, you can't judge intellect by the amount of clothing a person wears.

4. Delightful Italian restaurant for dinner, complete with a private serenade by the man who plays the accordion. (He wasn't as good as the guy who used to play and sing at Ottavio's in Provo though.) Amelia and Caroline decided to tag team dinner, and anytime one wasn't fussing, the other was. Luckily Italian restaurants are known for being loud and "family friendly."

5. Mike's Pastries for dessert. I'd never heard of it, but I guess it's famous locally, and I can see why. I'm still dreaming about that cannoli.

6. Sharon and I took a mommy-walk in Boston Commons with the trees all in blossom (we just missed Sarah Palin). Shoot.

7. Amelia woke us all up at 2:00 a.m. with a fever. Poor baby, it took me two days to discover she cut three teeth while we were in Boston.

8. Sharon and I expanded our minds by watching a couple of documentaries; Food, Inc. and The Business of Being Born. I'm totally sold on Food, Inc. and determined to eat closer to the earth and do my part to stop evil food conglomerates from ruling the world. Not so sure about The Business of Being Born. Interesting and thought provoking, but I've just heard too many horror stories of women who choose mid-wives who go two weeks overdue, and either end up getting an emergency c-section anyway, or tearing in half as they deliver 9 or 10 lb babies. The jury's still out on that one.

9. Sharon and I took the babies to the Science Museum and Amelia got to growl at real, taxidermized bears. We also caught a lightning show, watched baby chicks hatch, played with optical illusions, and learned about dinosaurs.

10. Going to church with Sharon and Dan was a cultural adventure. Class discussions were colorful, and I came away with a whole different point of view of my life as I looked around at women in Relief Society who had lived such remarkably difficult lives. I'll never complain about being a "poor student" again. To some of these people, the fact that a person gets to go to college at all is a status symbol in itself. They'd love the opportunity to "struggle through college."

I loved my time in Boston. I loved my time in New York. I loved coming home to my sweet husband who I missed like crazy after he left, and who spent his time cleaning the house for when Amelia and I got home.

What an adventure. What a novel.

I'll post pics later.