The Girl is home!

The Girl is home for spring break, what a sight for sore eyes. We've been missing her so much, but appreciate she is having a good time at school, a thousand miles away. Treated her (and US) to some 10 inch hoagies at Which Wich:

She came along for Paul's latest follow-up post-surgery and convinced him to do a striped cast with glow-in-the-dark stripes:

And she even made me a bowl of ice cream and strawberries. Heavenly.

Fun, fun, fun in NJ and NY

It wasn't all work in the Northeast for me--got to have a tasty meal at Olea with my friend Dean:

Who gave me some great music to listen to:

Coffee with my good friend Tom:

Who gifted me with a small snack for the plane ride:

And of course I loved this total CUTE time with these kiddos:

Pretty sure bath time is the cutest, especially when I imagine their words:

And I even was able to squeeze a little hug and some Blue Steel before I raced off to JFK.

Sweet way to end a visit, right?

Back in Brooklyn

After landing at JFK, I met up with my sister and her family at baggage claim and we headed to Brooklyn.  Josie let me put this crazy cute Cookie Monster hat on her and she helped with the unpacking:

She also let me take some cute Funny Face selfies:

Her brother was a little less psyched but humored me:

A nice respite before heading down to NJ to work on Mom's house.

SF visit

Our stay in San Francisco was incredibly short--just a long weekend basically but we packed as much as we could including seeing sweet (and times, downright saintly!) cousin Clara every day of our stay.

So glad we got to see all the cousins the day of my mom's memorial, and a few even drove into the city to see us for a few hours (forgot to get pictures--kicking myself!).  My OC transplant friends even drove in from the east bay area to spend a couple of evening hours--so great catching up with them:

We made one touristy visit to Pier 39 to see the famed sea lions, which apparently started out as (and still are?) a nuisance but were corralled into makeshift piers that visitors can enjoy them with sight, sound, and smell!

Also able to grab a pic with Alcatraz in the background:

One of my favorite sights, the girl and her cousin:

My sister said they looked like a pair of Williamsburg hipsters on a stroll.  I just love how sweet they look together.  Nice way to end a trip in SF.

Mom's memorial

Today was my mom's memorial.  Unfortunately on our way, while stopping to meet up with my cousin, our rental car's rear window was smashed and our backpack stolen from the backseat.  The shocking part was that we were gone for only 45 minutes in broad daylight (from roughly 11:30am to 12:15pm) and about 100 feet from a busy restaurant with folks waiting and dining outside.  99% of me was relieved that our coats and shoes (that weren't in the backpack) were left behind, but 1% of me was slightly insulted that they weren't taken.  Like the thieves were like, EYEROLL on my cool coat. 

Of course cleaning up glass slowed us down and made us late but eventually we were heading to Mill Valley from the city:

 

Unfortunately the break-in gave us a late start, but it was still a lovely ceremony.  My sister and I buried our mom's ashes, said a few words about how much our mom would be so happy to be around her family again, and then everyone came up, gave us a hug, and laid down a flower.  It was simple and nice to have a moment together like this.  Especially a life full of challenges, ups, and downs, it was nice that our mom was at peace.

Afterwards, one of our cousins hosted a get-together at her house and we all collected together for a picture:

And of course one of all our cute kids:

A sweet coincidence--our mom's alma mater, Michigan State trounced in-state rival, Michigan:

Though it was kind of a bummer that my Michigan State t-shirt was in the backpack that was stolen.

Anyhoo, it was a great day being with everyone, but bittersweet that our mom missed out on spending time with everyone.  But I guess that's the nature of loss, right?

Off to the north

Heading up north to see my mom, squeeze in a few eats with friends, and smooch some cute babies. Like this one:

NJ and Brooklyn Visit

On my way to the Charlotte airport to fly up to NJ to celebrate my mom's birthday, I had an unlucky start:

My car kind of just stopped working and all these lights came on.  I called AAA and got my car towed back to the shop in Columbia.  I was able to get on a later flight and not miss the festivities for my mom's big b-day lunch.  My aunts and uncles all flew in as well which really made my mom happy.  That and the platters of sushi:

And of course, have her youngest grandchild pour on the charm:

Back in Brooklyn, my niece helped me cook some broccoli:

How soon can I get that broccoli?!

And of course, some funny face time!  Tried to squeeze in both kiddos, which was a bit challenging:

Visiting a friend at work in Manhattan and got an awesome birthday cake cupcake at Crumbs:

It was a fast and furious visit--finally relaxed on the plane ride home, with some DD coffee and getting sucked into Divergent.

What I missed while I was gone

While I was up in NJ/NY for 3 weeks, I missed the arrival of this cutie on February 21:

Also the girl played in the District Honor's Orchestra and performed a unique "solo" where the first chairs of violin, viola, and cello played a piece entitled "One Bow" where they had to share (take turns using) a single bow to play the piece:

Needless to say, I wish I was there for these events, but I'm sure there will be great events to look forward to in the future.

Leave the place crawling

In my final days in NJ/NY (after 3 weeks), another trip to the ER (which resulted in another stay) for my mom--though I have to say, this hospital has a sweet setup with a nice place for me to set up my laptop within sight of my mom. Kind of cozy, right?

I got to shovel a bit of snow:

Got to meet up with a wonderful friend from SoCal visiting her daughter in New York.  They sweetly invited me to join them for post-show dinner after they saw the Broadway show "Once" (which they loved):

And then I took them to a bar where my BIL's brother's was tending bar:

And folks, we stayed until it shut down at 4AM. I was due to take an Amtrak train 7 hours later, around 11am (and of course, first had to go back to my sister's in Brooklyn--where the two trains back got me there around 5:30AM) which made for a bit of rough travel, but it was soooo worth it to see my lovely friend and her equally lovely daughters and their friends!

Great way to cap off this trip!

HIghlight in Park Slope: Most Adorable Hider

When my nephew went off hiding, I had to give him 4 stars for being the most adorable hider:

Though his satisfaction at revealing himself after such a great hide is pretty darn cute too.

Funny Face!

One of my very favorite activities with my nephew is making funny face pictures with him:

Working on it with his little sister:

Though she's not quite there:

But I'll give it some time. In the meantime, she makes up for it with cute cupcake-butt pants: