take me to the beach- jones beach

I've been in the city since January and had yet to leave the 5 boroughs until this past weekend. With the warm weather here I have been itching for some open space and water. On Saturday DPM and I sat out to find just that- some wide open stretches of sand and some cool Atlantic water to splash around in.

Well we found a beach. Just not exactly what we were expecting. By recommendation we headed out of the city on the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) bound for Freeport. Once in Freeport we boarded a city bus for Jones Beach. The entire trip was about 1 1/2 hours.

The beach was huge, packed, and well packed. The beach seemed really really big but maybe my estimation was off because all I could really see were people and umbrellas. We did finally make it to the water after fighting our way through the crowds.

There seemed to be a extra large crowd at the beach on Sunday because of an air show being put on by the army and blue angels. Once the show was over most of the people left and we were able to sit, read, and enjoy the nice warm sand.

jones beach
the air show
enjoying some peace and quiet

my little buddy

Dear buddy,
What a special week this is. You make our family complete!



Happy 12 year adoption anniversary. We love you!

navigating the concrete jungle

My life became a bit busier last week as I decided to take on a new challenge. Per Ahop's advice, and a few others, I enrolled in two continuing/professional studies classes at NYU. Both classes are 10 weeks long and only meet one evening a week for three hours.

I am hoping to find a job in corporate meeting planning so decided on two human resource courses in the business admin section. My BS degree is more of a recreation degree and I don't have much of a business background so I'm hoping this will give my education background and resume more of a business/corporate look.

I'm excited to be in the classes and all the other enrollees seem extremely focused so I am hoping it turns out to be a good experience.

RIP Lucky

One of our two family cats passed away this past week. My dad sent me Lucky's obituary via text-

Lucky died peacefully in his sleep in the shade of a pine tree. He was adopted shortly after birth by the family. He leaves behind Masters Mike, Gwen, Chip, Robyn and Alex. Also special friends Priscilla and Molly. He was interred after a brief private ceremony. He was approximately 11 years old. Memorials to the family for, "Molly's How to be Friendly Schooling."

Tribeca Film Fest

A couple weekends ago we were able to enjoy the poor mans version of the Tribeca Film Festival- sans red carpet, photographers, fancy dresses, etc. The viewing was outside of the world financial center alongside the Hudson making for very picturesque views.


The festival put on a free outdoor premier of a BMX bike riding documentary, "Big Air." The film was interesting and obviously attracted many people interested in the hipsterish sport. At the conclusion of the film the real life star of the film hopped on a bike and showed us some of his tricks on a pipe (not sure if that's the correct terminology!).

an exciting weekend

We had an exciting weekend in the city. Between my mom's visit, the high temps drawing lots of people outside, and the attempted Times Square attack there was a lot of action to take in around the Big Apple.

Saturday my mom arrived and we explored my neighborhood, a local street fair, braved the crowds at Macys and 34th St., wondered up and down 5th Avenue, and finally made a stop at the bank to visit AHOP.


Sunday we found out about the attempted attack in Times Square. We didn't witness any of the hubbub and we were happy we weren't part of the excitement. We started the day off with brunch at Alice's Tea Cup (so cute!) and took a quick walk through Central Park before spending the rest of the day in lower Manhattan- around Canal Street and Bleeker Street. We finished off the evening with Indian food and delicious desserts at Serendipity 3.
We had to try their famous frozen hot chocolate. It was delicious. I definitely recommend it!

Monday my mom met up with an old high school friend during the day. We met up after I was finished working to see Mary Poppins on Broadway. On our way through Times Square we saw Diane Sawyer filming the evening news.


Whew! I'm tired..but I miss my mom. We had a great time.