Wouldn't Trade Her for Gold in Magical Realism

Last Saturday - got back from airport, got 16 Handles for lunch/dinner (linner?) went to sleep nice and early. I don't really believe in jet lag, but was really hoping to use the time difference to get us onto an earlier sleep pattern.

Sunday - got my wish and woke up at 5:30am! Straightened up the house, then went to the diner for breakfast. So nice. We sat in the window, A had french toast and I had eggs and coffee and fresh squeezed grapefruit juice. Almost no one on the street so early in the morning! Went to the grocery store, two open houses, with Hu Kitchen lunch and a bit of window shopping in between. For dinner and upcoming lunches I made two kinds of chicken. One was just baked in red wine (leftover from a bottle we hadn't finished) and balsamic vinegar, and the other was something new. I mixed ground ginger, honey, and soy sauce to make a glaze for baking, it came out really tasty! Went to sleep early.

Monday (Memorial Day) - woke up at 5:30 again, I made us breakfast, we went to vinyasa yoga and then a circuit class using battle ropes - good workout. We snacked on the leftover chicken and took a really nice walk around the neighborhood. Came home, made turkey lettuce cups for dinner and went to sleep early.

Tuesday - back to work, we woke up early again so had time for a very nice breakfast before heading out to the office. Worked, had the ginger baked chicken over salad for lunch, did the rowing circuit class with my colleague and A, and stayed for power flow yoga right afterwards. I think we had mini-burgers with romaine and avocado for dinner. I spent $150 on Sephora.com which is really out of character for me. I bought Dr. Gross Alpha Beta pads and the Naked 2 eyeshadow compact. I have seriously had the same 3 Stila eyeshadows for like 8 years now, I know they say to throw them out but I can't do it.

Wednesday - got up early again, nice leisurely breakfast, then headed to our midtown office. I hosted a welcome lunch for my new intern at The Smith. I had the Maine Lobster salad, with greens, burst cherry tomatoes, and avocado. The lobster was chilled and kind of flavorless. We did laundry, went grocery shopping, and baked more chicken for dinner/lunches. Did ginger again, but had no more honey or soy sauce so I did olive oil, lemon juice, and ground ginger for the rub, and baked with slices of fresh lemon and fresh ginger on top. Also very tasty!

Thursday - worked downtown, chicken over salad for lunch (may have actually been better cold!) Did tabata high intensity intervals class with my colleague, then A met me for vinyasa right afterwards. We had grilled steak over salad for dinner.

Friday - I had to get up at 4am to catch a flight to DC. Ugh. My car came at 4:30am and at 5am as we were pulling into the terminal I got a notification that the 5:40 flight was cancelled and they were putting me on the 7am instead. (So annoying, they cancel them when they don't have enough passengers.) Luckily I left extra time for traffic, which wasn't horrible, and I still got to my event 30 minutes early. I was the first one there actually, and the day went by quickly. We went to an Italian place for lunch, and I had a really good spinach salad with grilled chicken (am sensing a theme here.) Left work around 3:30pm, was booked for the 5pm shuttle but was able to board the 4pm instead - nice. Read my book on the plane (My Notorious Life, by Kate Manning - interesting account based on the life of an Irish woman in 1860's NYC who rose from poor station to apprentice with a female doctor and became wealthy/notorious with her own practice of patent medicine/midwifery, including contraception and family planning procedures. Recommend!) Got home around 7pm, tried to watch some Sons of Anarchy but passed out.

Saturday I was supposed to work but ended up doing the DC trip instead. A was doing a Spartan Race adventure run with some colleagues, so I unexpectedly had a completely free day. I woke up, made breakfast (two eggs over easy with fresh ground pepper, sliced red apples with cinnamon, and iced kombucha green tea), straightened up the house, and cleaned the bathroom. Went to a leisurely vinyasa flow class in Tribeca, came home, showered, and went to the library, then to my mani-pedi appointment. A met me at the nail place, and we walked up to Mermaid Inn for happy hour. He was all cut up, but super happy and really enjoyed the race. Mermaid Inn was hopping but they gave us a seat right at the window, open to the air but perfectly in the shade. A had Narragansett beer, and I had my first glass of rose for the summer. We shared oysters, tuna crudo, and shrimp cocktail. We walked up to Beauty Bar and had some drinks and just chatted. They had prosecco on tap, served in an oversized french champagne glass for like $3. It would have been ideal if the prosecco wasn't terrible! After that we were hungry so we went next door to Crocodile Lounge for a drink and free pizza. Yum! After that we walked towards home and stopped in to Bunga's Den on the way. We had another drink and I played obnoxious music on the jukebox, went home, went to sleep.

Sunday was an absolutely wasted day. We lay around, ate pizza, candy, rainbow sherbet, napped most of the day, watched some Sons of Anarchy. Read two novels of moderate merit/interest, (Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfeld and The Divorce Papers by Susan Rieger.)

Theme continued into Monday when I worked from home, ate all the food in the house, and had tortilla chips with melted cheese for dinner. I finally showered that night, which I think broke the streak of gluttony and sloth.

Got up early on Tuesday, went to work, packed lunch and workout clothes to get back on track. Leftover chicken/spinach/kale mix for lunch, rowing circuit class and then power flow yoga with my colleague. Showered at the gym, then went to TJ Maxx but didn't buy anything. Came home and A had made a lovely dinner, quinoa salad with avocado, cucumber, and radishes. He has made this but not with the radishes, which added such a nice crunchy, earthy taste. Yum. Watched Sons of Anarchy and went to sleep.

Yesterday (Wednesday) I went to work early, worked, chicken/salad lunch, and then interval training class after work with two of my colleagues (I am starting my own cult. It's sweaty.) Showered at the gym, got dressed and blowdried quickly, then headed uptown to meet my mom. She loves Broadway shows, so for Mothers' Day, I got tickets to the musical Once through a charity auction. I had seen it as a work in progress, just the songs really, at a tiny theater years ago, so I had a feeling she'd really love it. We had a glass of wine at Frankie & Johnnie's, then went into the theater. Seats were really good, and on the aisle which is always my preference. The cast was playing music as we were seated, and overall the show was great. At intermission they set up a bar on the actual stage, since the set is a bar, what a neat idea. After the show we were told to wait in our seats, and the stage manager came and got us when everyone cleared out. They gave us a bunch of signed stuff, and the cast came out to meet with us. My mom was so cute, and it was fun to be on stage. Here is a photo of us with the cast!

After the meet and greet we headed out, but somehow got caught in the the ticket window lobby area between the outside doors (locked) and theater doors (locked!) We tried all the doors but could not get in or out! Luckily one of the actors was walking by and I recognized him and motioned that we were trapped, so he came and rescued us. He took us out the back way, and although it was super-embarrassing, it was also neat to get an unofficial backstage tour! After that my mom was hungry so we went to Smith's. This place used to be the biggest dive, in kind of a desolate area, but in recent years they upgraded/expanded a bit and it's kind of a nice mid-range tourist bar/grill now. They had the Rangers game on, and a great live band. Our server could not have been nicer too - overall a great experience. I had a burger and my mom had a BLT with avocado and sweet potato fries, and we each had a beer. It was a lot of fun! I walked my mom back to Grand Central Station, we bought some day old bread, I put her on the train, and I took the subway downtown. I just missed the 8th Avenue L train and there wasn't another one for 18 (!) minutes, so I went upstairs and got on the bus. Going across 14th Street, I saw a Dairy Queen shop! Have never seen one before, it was weirdly exciting. Like the IHOP, also on 14th Street, and Red Lobster, I will probably talk about going frequently but never go. A has been to Red Lobster before, and I am jealous. He says if we go to Red Lobster one day, it needs to be somewhere outside of NYC. I am amenable to that.

Today (Thursday), washed up, read a bit (Night in Shanghai by Nicole Mones, really interesting book about a Black American jazz musician brought to Shanghai, just as the Japanese invade the city.) Went to sleep around 1:30am and slept in a bit today to make up for it. Kind of a drizzly day! Got into the office at 9am, had breakfast, and had my colleague take a photo of me to send to my mom since I am wearing a scarf she got me for Christmas:

It's almost lunchtime...can anyone GUESS what I am having?!