Summer in New York

The summers here are insanely wonderful. Free music in all the parks, crafts and arts fairs in the streets, delicious taco stands on every corner, 24 hour fresh produce stores, crazy puppet dancers, muchos perros... I am so distracted from doing anything productive because I just wanna party!

I've been good so far though, keepin' up with my girls (they're on summer break now, woo!) my workouts and yoga, my writing and chores and all that. In just a week, Dave and I will be adopting our first child, from an animal shelter in Long Island. Yay puppies!!! That will be a wonderful way to just play outside but feel like I'm still being productive because I'm taking care of the dog. We can't wait.

I think I need to find a summer groove, a nice balance between enjoying the outdoors and NYC, but also being chill and keeping up with my projects. So far it's been hectic, working a lot and trying to do everything else around the 10 and 11 hour days. But the family I work for are leaving for vacation soon, which gives me a week and a half off to play with the pups and relax hardcore. Then they come home and start day camps, so I'll be back to the normal schedule. I really can't believe there are people who happily work ten hour days every day! There's really no life except working and then chilling out at home. It's interesting that some people are so career oriented that their ultimate goal is to work work work and make tons of money. I definitely want to be advancing my career, but not at the expense of everything else in my life. I guess that's why I'm not a lawyer.

Oh! Congratulations to my friend Rico! He just had his first baby, Sammy Sneller, who is beautiful and big (almost 8 lbs and 21 inches long!). I can't believe it -- in the same week, my friend from high school got married, a friend from college had a baby, and my fiancee turned 30 (happy bday Dave!). When did I grow up?

I went to Coney Island the other day with Marie and two of her friends, and we had an absolute blast. What a fun place! We played loads of games, rode a few rides, chilled on the boardwalk, swam in the ocean. The Cyclone, New York's famous wooden roller coaster, completely destroyed my neck for two days, and the girls got a kick out of making fun of me being old. What? I should make fun of them for being short. Everything about this place is sooo wonderfully Brooklyn, like out of a movie. The guy selling Cyclone tickets had a cigar hanging out of his toothless mouth, grumpily handing us our tickets and telling us to stop "lollygagging." It was hilarious to see these white, Upper East side rich kids walking along the boardwalk with these black Brooklyn girls wearing tight shorts, carrying boom boxes and screaming cuss words at each other. My girls were like, "Whoa, language!" I laughed and said, "Welcome to Brooklyn!" It was truly fun. Now I can't wait to go back with friends my age... it stays open until six a.m. or something crazy like that, and strawberry margaritas are only $2!

My highlight from the week involves a story from C.I. Marie and her friends were playing the game where you throw balls at rows of cups and win a goldfish if a ball lands in. Luckily none of them scored so I thought we were in the clear (not sure the Upper East Side mommies wanted goldfish). Then, some enormous man with no shirt, chewing a cud of tobacco in his cheek, wins two goldfish and gives them to the girls. Ahhhh! So, these two goldfish are tied in baggies with some water for the hour and a half subway ride back home, and the girls are so concerned they'll die. Somehow they make it home, where Linda is like, "Um, who's going to take care of this goldfish?" She didn't so much mind having it, but the point is that they go away every weekend, either to visit Dad or go to the farmhouse or soon, on vacation. So the goldfish, named Helios because it had a red spot on its back that reminded Marie of the sun and Helios is the Greek God of Sun, got to take another trip to Brooklyn with me to join our menagerie.

However...

Helios was in a bowl that I put in a large bag with handles, and on the walk to drop Marie off at a friend's house before going to the subway, some water spilled over into the bag. As I was walking to the subway, the bowl broke through the paper and landed on its side. I hurriedly picked the bowl up to save some of the water, then tried to scoop up Helios, who was dramatically flopping on the sidewalk alongside the subway grate. A women literally stopped and watched me, kind of laughing and kind of cheering me on. I finally get him in my palm, and the dumbass jumps out, landing perfectly between two sections of the grate and falling to his death. By this point, two other people had joined the crowd and all gave their commentary. I laughed my head off all the way home. Poor Helios! After making it all the way from Coney Island to the Upper East Side, after being so cared for and worried over, he jumps from my hand into a subway grate! I haven't told Marie yet, and think rather than laying out the whole story, I'll just say he died. I'm not sure if she'd get the humor in it or be upset.

Anyway, feel free to say your own words for Helios. And also take my survey!