I'm back!
I made it back from Long Island. The flight down was great, despite the 5:40am departure. The flight only had 4 other people on it, so I was able to stretch out and have a little nap. Saw a lovely sunrise above the clouds. There's hardly any snow there, I changed into my shoes after we landed. I was the designated driver because my boss can get lost in a closet. This worked out well, because I really hate being a passenger. We got a Ford Taurus with lots of electric gizmos that were pretty fun to play with. Work was somewhat futile the first day given that there was an office party the night before, and the people I was talking to were finishing their contracts that day. After work, I was exhausted and could hardly go through the 50 channels of american tv. I made a quick trip to the grocery store for a look around at all the goodies. I am constantly amazed at the variety, packaging and volume you can find in US grocery stores, they really do make ours look sadly understocked. I had no fridge this time around, alas, so no yogurt reports. On Friday night, I jumped into the car for the trek to Kuan's place in Jersey.
The drive was like last time, it rained and I forgot to bring a map. This time I managed to get through NY city and found the Lincoln Tunnel, no mean feat in a city with no signs. I made it to Kuan's not too late and had a nice evening with her. She was in full party prep mode and was making mountains of food. A couple from Boston showed up around 10, they were staying over for the party. Saturday we got up and went out for breakfast and ran errands for the party. People started showing up in the late afternoon and the last ones left at midnight. I helped clean up a bit and then dropped into bed. Kuan put me in a great bed with comfy sheets and a big comforter, I slept very well. Sunday we lounged and then went out to a mall close by where they had a Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barn, and William-Sonoma, my favorite stores to check out online! Kuan treated me to lunch and while she was shopping for books I snuck over to a Crabtree & Evelyn and picked up a little treat for her that I hid under her jammies at home. It was hard to leave, I miss her sooo much. The trip back was interesting, I missed the GWB again and ended up going
through Staten Island and Brooklyn (I saw the bridge), but eventually I made it back to the hotel.
Monday and Tuesday were normal rushing around days. People have been very nice to us, which I wasn't expecting. The geese are still all around the office down there, apparently, they never leave. I guess they're not really Canadian geese anymore, they probably don't even keep a residence up here for medicare ;-)
We made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare and sat around for a couple of hours. The flight was almost empty again, so I stretched out over two seats. I got home just after 10:30pm, pretty tired. Steve got me roses and made me food, he's such an amazing husband! There's nothing like coming home to your own bed, I slept so well last night, but was still tired this morning.
Now back to the usual Christmas rush, baking, cards, shopping, packing.....argh!!!