Spend more time with friends and family

This holiday has been nice. Sister, brother-in-law, 5-year-old nephew, Mom and Dad, brother, sister-in-law and brother-in-law. Lots of food.

Last night I went to a River Rats game with Dad, brother and brother-in-law. Nice.

Tonight, I think we’re going to dinner.

And I think I will be done by tomorrow :)

So I have two friends who wanted to go to midnight madness shopping at the outlet malls last night. And I said I would go with them. I figured:
1. It’s some good quality “girl time.”
2. Hey, I’ve never done it before.
3. I can’t afford to buy much anyway.
4. Who needs to sleeps?
5. So what if I hate crowded malls. This is mostly open, right?

So I went! I had planned to go with C & G but C backed out early last night. So it was just G and I. We met up and headed out. We swapped T-day family stories, laughing all the way.

And then, we hit the wall of cars lined up to get to the outlet mall. We were stopped in the shoulder nearly a mile from the exit ramp. It took 45 minutes just to get through the toll booth. Then, we had to park at the bottom of the hill in the grass.

We hiked up the hill to see lines everywhere! Huge lines in stores like the Gap, Ann Taylor, Calvin Klein and Bath & Body Works. Even a huge line OUTSIDE Coach, where they were only letting a certain number of people in at a time. They were being told it was more than an hour wait.

So we avoided those stores and hit a few others. Great buys, but were were not about to wait on line for an hour just to check out. So we left at 2:30 am with little in our hands.

Not sure it was worth it, this time. But if we can manage to get there early next year… I might just do it again :)

WEnt down to visit my sister this weekend. She needed someone to watch my 5 year-old nephew while she and her husband went to a bar mitzvah. Oh, twist my arm.

Although traveling down on Friday night was tiring, at least we didn’t hit traffic (amazing). And I had a blast with my nephew. We “rough-housed” as he calls it and snuggled and talked. We made a quick shopping trip and we shared snacks. It was great quality time.

Got to spend time with sister and brother-in-law. They are fun to talk with and watch movies. And the bonus? I got to bring back good bagels and go on a little shopping spree at Trader Joes!

And I’ll be seeing them again in a few days for the Thanksgiving holiday. What a treat!

Hubby and I went to my parents’ for dinner last night. Mom’s ziti is awesome.

Went to Larkfest, a local street festival with Mom, brother and hubby. A beautiful day. Great bands. My brother was mostly psyched because they were serving alcohol on the street. No, he’s not a college student either. But everyone had a good time and I talked by Mom into trying Indian food. I was so proud of her! Then out to dinner with Mom, Dad and hubby. I was so full I thought I might have an alien inside me ready to pop out.

This morning we went to brunch with friends. I wonderful place called Lippera’s. Check out the menu if you want to drool. Thank goodness it was at 11am because i was not hungry until then. A great time.

It was a lovely weekend. Now off for a busy week of work!

This weekend my sister and her family came to visit and stayed with my parents. Saw them for dinner on Friday and went to a baseball game together. On Saturday, went to African American Family Day with my brother and went out to dinner with the whole family.

It was a nice weekend. I hope they have a safe drive home today.

A little disappointing for the day.

The original plan was brunch at Lipperas, spending the day with Dad and ending the day at the Father’s Day Pops Concert on the Hudson River.

Well, Lippera’s raised the price of brunch to $23 for Father’s Day, so that was a no go. So we went to lunch at the Pump Station. Dad ate too much. So by the time we got to getting ready for the concert, he wasn’t feeling well and changed his mind.

I think he just changed his mind because he realized he’d miss part of the NBA final. I just wish he would have said something.

So we rented I Am Legend and Michael Clayton and split into the male v. female factions.

Ah, family. There’s nothing like it!

We’ve caught up with all our friends in the last few months and I’ve been making a point to visit with my parents at least once a week.

Life gets busy and we really only have the weekends, so it does get difficult.

Tomorrow, a bridal shower for a close friend. That should be fun. And of course, Sunday is Father’s Day. All day with Dad! Brunch, then the Father’s Day Pops Concert in the park. How cool.

I invited my ‘rents and my brother over for dinner Sunday. Not the best meal I’ve ever made. I tried to compromise on the vegetarianism and made turkey burgers. They sucked. But they were all very nice about it, even though no one had seconds. Next time I will stick to the veggies.

Anyway, I still liked spending the time with them. And that’s what counts!

So, long story short: I’m being sued. I rear-ended a car 4 years ago and needless to say, it’s always your fault if you hit someone from behind. Even though they were STOPPED on the highway.

The way it works: they call you at 3pm the day before you are required to appear. But I had to appear on Long Island, 3 hours away. So I left work and went home to pack and drove down that afternoon, dreading rush hour traffic around New York City. I was going to stay with my sister and at least spend time with her, my nephew and brother-in-law.

I was about an hour away from home when I realized I forgot to put my suitcase in the car. F-U-C-K. I called sis and decided to power through so I didn’t have to deal with too much traffic. We’d hit Target and deal with it.

So I spent the evening sitting with my nephew and shopping with my sister. I survived the deposition the next day. Then, on the way home, I stopped to see some friends for lunch.

It’s all good. Well…not all, but you know what I mean.