Thursday, October 16, 2008

The Long-Awaited Girls' Weekend

My "big" sis Jenn came to visit last weekend. Before you chastise me for not posting earlier, let me explain that this week has been very busy with client presentations (3) and travel (Philly and Boston) with planes, trains and automobiles.

Last Friday, Jenn was arriving at JFK airport, which is the farthest from Manhattan, but since she was coming in at 9:30 p.m., I decided to take the subway out to meet her and planned on taking a taxi back into the city. I was amazed and horrified that the subway took so long to get out there! I had planned on getting out there before she arrived and brought a book to keep me company. Unfortunately, I was still on the airtrain trying to get to her terminal when she called and said she was there. (I kept her waiting 20 minutes, which stressed me out a bit.)

After waiting through a LONG taxi line, we told the driver to take us straight to the restaurant, suitcase and all (not that uncommon in NYC), since we were both hungry. I had called the restaurant to make a reservation, but the lady I spoke to said not to worry about a reservation, just show up at that hour (between 10:30-11 p.m.). The restaurant was in the ever-trendy Meat Packing district, and of course, there was a line out front and some fierce looking doormen choosing who got in. After some finagling, we did get in (thank goodness). By this time, I was quite worked up (stressed!) because I wanted everything to go smoothly for Jenn. But she's so easygoing, probably the most so in our family, and she helped me relax by telling me she was just happy to be there and enjoying whatever happened. 

Since I have a king size bed, Jenn slept on the unused portion. I was surprised I woke up before she did on Saturday morning, but she revelled in the quiet -- no kids to wake her up, and because of the holiday weekend, no construction noise from Ground Zero. After some fruit and a virtual visit with the kids back home through iChat, we met my friends (and sisters) Liesel and Erin for brunch. Then I took Jenn by my office and to the Union Square farmers' market. We also stopped into a discount store, but didn't find anything worth buying there. Back home, we dropped off our grocery purchases and speed-walked over to the Hudson River and kayaking. It was a little cold, and Jenn accidentally splashed me once with her oar, but it was beautiful and fun. Then we speed-walked back home to get cleaned up for dinner and our Broadway show.

Traffic was horrendous going uptown to the Theater District, and we were late for our dinner reservation. The Italian food was terrific but we both agreed we would have liked to have lingered over it a bit more. However, the show must go on! Our theater was just a couple short blocks from the restaurant, and Wow, oh WOW is Wicked an incredible show! I've been wanting to see it for some time, but not wanting to go on my own, and it was great to share it with Jenn.

On Sunday, we went to church and then headed uptown to go to MoMA (Museum of Modern Art). We ran into a street fair, which I love, and got some cheap but tasty eats for lunch. Unfortunately, we were unable to see the Van Gogh exhibit at MoMA because it had sold out for the day. I don't go to many museums -- just not my thing -- so now I know you can (and should) buy tickets ahead of time.

However, this freed up some time for shopping. I took Jenn to Macy's, which is 7-8 stories high and a block wide. She got some great deals and we thoroughly exhausted ourselves. Dinner that night was at another fabulous Italian restaurant, and my FWB (friend-with-benefits) joined us for a glass of wine (and low-key scrutiny...he passed).

We were up late our last night, and a bit tipsy on the wine, but Jenn was up early the next morning to head to the airport. I was sad to see her go. It was so great having her here and so easy to be around her. 

You can read Jenn's recaps of the eventful weekend on her blog.

1 comment:

grandad says said...

So nice that you two could spend that time together without kids and family.
Sorry you missed the VVG exhibit.