This past weekend, Kristen, Doreen and I took the Honda Civic down to NYC to visit Kimberly. We drove down Saturday, arriving at around noon.

We stayed through Sunday afternoon and left to come back to New England at about 5:30pm Sunday evening.

In those two days, we tooled around the city and saw quite a number of things......and all the while ate at some simply wonderful places.

I totally forget the names of all the places.....and also the kind of food, but it was really great.

Our first lunch was at a place with an outdoor room tucked in the back of the place. I think I had a Salmon quiche of some sort that was absolutely wonderful to eat. The combination of great food, and eating in the warm New York sun made it an absolutely wonderful experience.

We saw Brooklyn block parties on both days.....both ethnic in nature and with lots of music and culture. (and there I was on Saturday....without a camera having left it in the car in the hotel garage!)

On Sunday we went to Kim's office in at Clinique and I have to say it is just a wonderful facility and office! I am so proud of my big girl and the wok she is doing....it makes me proud!

The office is in the GM Building, up on I think the 37th floor. The views of NYC are just outstanding, and the office itself is wonderful to look at....just as you would expect a design firm to be. The physical facility is a sight to see, but the artwork placed all around the place is just shorty of outstanding!

It lines the walls, and greets you just inside all the doorways. But the coolest thing are all the paintings that are hung in the stairways between floors....there are hundreds of paintings that have been done from some pretty famous artists. Kimberly tells me that one of the company owners collects it, and leaves it there where people can ask for pieces be hung in employee offices. (we walked up two flights of stairs and saw perhaps 30 pieces of artwork)

Down in the basement of the GM building is the NYC Apple Store. It is a big glass building the juts out of the ground and into the air...inviting people in. Inside, it is probably just like the Apple store in Burlington....but that outside glass building makes for a wonderful eye catching beacon that calls people in!

Saturday evening, Kristen went back to Kim's dorm to stay with Kim, and Doreen and I went over to the Brooklyn Heights Promanade, a wonderful sort of cement park that overlooks Manhattan....a wonderful view at sunset. (more on that in my next post)

Again....still no camera!

That night, Doreen and I stayed at the Nu Hotel in Brooklyn. It is a pretty modern hotel with very contemporary furnishings and color schemes. The place seemed to have the feel of a place that was perhaps designed by a Pratt Institute Student. It had very dark hallways that gave way to very bright (white) walls in the rooms.

The bathroom even came with a vertical chalk board that could be decorated by custom artwork. (which Kim and Kristen did do)

Sunday morning came and we sort of slept late....getting together just about in time for lunch....and a nice lunch indeed, at a Thai place in Brooklyn. Kim didn't think it was authentic Thai, but it was darn good either way.

After lunch, we went to a South Street Seaport, which was a lot like Quincy Market in Boston, except it was right on the river with wonderful views of the other part of the city.

After all that fun for those two days, my legs were exhausted! We packed into the car and drove home....and let me tell you, I was tired. I am just not as young as I used to be....but even so, it was a great weekend

The weather was sunny and wonderful.....the traffic down and back was very tolerable, and we ended up at Doreen's at maybe 10:30pm, and the Kristen and I in Litchfield at about 11:00pm.

I slept well.....it was a great weekend, and as I said before....I am so proud and happy for Kim.

Current Mood: bouncy

Last Friday afternoon my daughter Kim was robbed at gun point at her apartment in Brooklyn.

First of all....everything is fine....no one was hurt. (it must have been very traumatic for her, but she is getting along well)

The person approached her while she was opening her apartment door and forced her to bring him up to her apartment where he made threats and then took various things from the apartment including Kim's cell phone, credit cards and her cash.

He took other material goods, but quite honestly, I don't really care about any of it because all of that is replaceable. I am very happy that Kimberly is OK.

There are many more details....but I'm not posting this so much to give out information on the robbery/assault, but to tell people in case they want to contact Kim to perhaps talk to her and help her feel better. (of course, please do NOT contact her on her cell phone as the robber has that and the police are looking for activity on it to try and find the guy.)

Current Mood: sad

Should I go? (total harmonic conversion?)

Current Mood: bouncy

I have not checked the weather, but I think it will be fine.....

So I'm off to pick up Kristen at school...and sort of unofficially kick-off my Christmas Holiday season.

As usual, have camera will travel....

Current Mood: On my way

Last Saturday evening at dinner Kim and Lee told us about this place which is located at 841 Braodway in NY.  Kristen, Cheryl and I had just left the Strand Bookstore when we were walking down the street and came across Max.

We were went over to check it out, and absolutely fell in love with the sights and smells. We were sort of between lunch and dinner, but we had to stop in for a quick snack. (I am on a diet to lose about 10 pounds, so I just watched, smelled and had a glass of water)

The place is loaded with chocolate....in all forms! Dark, milk and white.....on pizza, on bagels, in spreads, in tea, with peanut butter, with cake as frosting, as a powder as well as the standard delivery vehicles of cookies, brownies, fudge and the like.

Everything inside looks like chocolate....everyone was dressed in brown. They wore hats that said Choco-man or Choco-Woman. It was a full body press of cocoa , a full 360 degrees around! (and the smells were out of this world)

Cheryl and Kristen had a Chocolate Fondue with both Dark and Milk Chocolate. The dipping bits included bits of fruit (bannana, strawberry, pinnapple), bits of Bannana bread, and marshmellows.

There was of course a small sterno pot on which to toast the marshmellows before dipping...and I was old it was all so delicious.

I took some photos of a guy running around who "looked" as though he owned the place....it certainly looked as though the staff was talking to him and almost taking direction from him....and he sure looked like the drawing of the bald guy on the napkin (see the first picture above too)....but who knows. This is a business that comes from Australia...I'm not sure the "real Max" would be way over here.

When I read the reviews they mostly complain about service...and I have to say our service was just OK. It took ages to get the waiter's attention to get us our check (I had to actually grab him on the way by) and I had to eventually had to grab another waiter to take my credit card and run it.

They were even written up in this guys candy BLOG.

It wasn't all that bad though...the service was fine, and they received a good tip.

I highly recommend the place if you are in the neighborhood. (at least for a look and sniff)

Current Mood: Thinking of Cocoa

I don't have a single photograph that tells the whole story, but here is one of Cheryl and the girls in NYC.

Cheryl and I traveled down to New York to see Kim and Kristen. We first went over to Pratt Institute to see Kim and then over to Kristen. (we had a nice dinner in Brooklyn)

The three of us went around Hofstra. This was the first time Kim had seen the school. (Cheryl and I have seen it several times of course) Kristen was our guide.

After the tour we took Kim back to Brooklyn and Cheryl and I went back to Hemstead and stayed at a motor on Saturday night. On Sunday morning Cheryl, Kristen and I went into the city to map out the various busses, trains and subway routes. The weather was fantastic both days, though it was kind of a shame that Kim and Kristen were feeling a little under the weather.

We stopped at a couple of cool places on Sunday, the Strand Bookstore and Max Brenner Chocolate.

Both places were quite interesting, and I took more than a few photos of of the whole trip.

I will be posting a couple of entries specific to the Strand and Max Brenner. (very cool places indeed)

Oh yea, this weekend I decided I really needed to lose about 10 pounds and I decided to do my two day fast in order to get my food consumption under control. (did I ever write about this somewhere...I mean the way I diet and the various steps I take to get under control?)

Anyways....it would seem that doing this fast on a weekend where on Saturday we went to a great restaurant in Brooklyn for dinner, and then Max Brenner for lunch on Sunday would be extremely difficult...but for some reason it is easier to do. I think it is mainly true because I am not running a normal routine, I am relaxed....no stresses of work or home...and I have plenty of opportunity to sleep. (to make up for the tired condition the diet puts me in) Perhaps I will write more specifics about the way I diet and excersize.

Anyways...it was a fantastic weekend. (hey...I took Monday off, so it isn't done yet!)

Current Mood: in the sun!