Lately...

I need to go back and fill you in on my life and times throughout the month of April (in case you care).

After the skateboard cake, I made a cake based on the Twilight cover (the book, not the movie) for Brittany's 16th birthday. Plus, I cooked a mini-feast for the party.


After all that, I had to get ready for my trip. The night before I left was Katie's birthday party. Duane agreed to take me to the airport, so we figured that we would just hang out until I had to be there at 4 am. Frank hung out for a while, too; it was like old times. Eventually, it was time to leave, and I was beyond tired.

Day 1:

The flight was fine; it was getting to Brooklyn from LGA that was a mission -- especially on no sleep. When I finally got there, I was able to take a power nap before I met up with Julie and Danny (who flew into LGA a couple of hours after I did). Oddly enough, we only hung out for a half-hour, talking on a street corner. Go figure. Hamptons met us there. From there, we walked for quite a while until we settled on a place to have lunch. The place, Bamboleo, in the West Village, was alright at best. Luckily, we followed it with Cones, which made up for the disappointing meal. We walked for a while longer and headed home.

The next LONG WALK was later that night when we searched for a place to have dinner. After walking around for a couple of hours, we ended up just getting pizza at Sal's (not to be confused with San Remo -- hahaha). It was good, but we were tired. Walking that much probably wasn't a good idea given the next day's events.

Day 2:

I went to NY for the sole purpose of completing a mission/goal: Walking from Harlem to Brooklyn (which Hamptons and I dubbed as the Harlem Walk). After one failed attempt and another spontaneous, but unsuccessful attempt, Hamptons and I were determined to get our Harlem Walk on before it got too hot. We scheduled the HW for Easter Weekend, and I am pleased to say that we did it! We started out on 125th and St. Nicholas and walked down CPW, down 7th Avenue, made a pit stop at Joe's, and, eventually, crossed the Brooklyn Bridge. Our finishing point was at the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory, a perfect stopping place and an excellent reward.

Later that night, as if we did not walk enough already during the past day and a half, we walked to Park Slope to have dinner at Lobo. (The one on Court Street was closed.) As usual, the food was delicious, but, we couldn't get dessert there, so it was time for yet another walk. We went to the Chocolate Room and had the fondue. It was pretty awesome.

Day 3:

Saturday was the day of the swipes. I wanted to swipe my MetroCard as much as possible, and we achieved that goal. We went to the library only to discover that it was closed, which prompted us to get another swipe immediately as we got back on the bus. We also decided that the theme of this trip was change '09; it was all about doing new things, so, at one point, we tracked down the Cakeman Raven and sampled a piece of red velvet cake (as those are the only slices that were available). Earlier in the day, we even took an access-a-ride to Ikea and took the smelliest bus ever back; if you don't believe me, ask Hamptons or Mike.

Day 4:

On Sunday, we had a feast (courtesy of A.G.) and did the family thing.

Day 5:

On Monday, I walked to the 78th precinct to meet my uncle and went to Sal's a.k.a. San Remo for lunch. From there, I headed into the city to meet Allyson, R.G., and Hamptons for dinner at Max Brenner. Anthony was supposed to go, but proved to be the missing link yet again. Anyway, dinner was pricey. My dessert cost more than my dinner! It was good, but the portions were way too small. Hello---I only got 5 waffle fries, literally. After dinner, R.G. and I went on a nearly 5-mile walk. We ended up exploring parts of downtown Manhattan that I didn't even know existed. By that point, we were so far from any train that we needed that we decided to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge at 1.15 am.

Day 6:

On the last day, I had lunch with Allyson. We tried to live on the edge and go somewhere new -- BAD IDEA. Allyson learned that she shouldn't listen to her co-workers. It was raining, so I went back to the apartment for a power nap before meeting with Hamptons for one last walk over the bridge before heading to the airport. Getting home was awful. My flight was delayed for 3 hours.

Since getting home, there are a few things worth noting:

1. Soap opera Saturday: Duane and I attempted to resume Social Saturdays! Little did we know that there would be more drama than the daytime soaps.

2. Failed Friday: Our last Fun Friday went down in flames, but Duane did get an early birthday present as Clap and I buried the hatchet. Who knew? Plus, we ate awesome BBQ, and John Joseph was more entertaining than we'd imagined.

3. The Night of the Interesting Couples: While hanging out in the parking lot of the Shake, waiting for Frank, Duane and I saw several couples that were so interesting that they were photoworthy. If only we had a camera...

4. I made a quick (thus, far from perfect) cake for Kane. In sticking with a naval theme, I went with an anchor with USN (United States Navy) on it. He loved it!


Since this post is long-winded enough, I'll save my movie commentary for next time.