My work cat

Yes, I'm allergic to cats, but the ones at my office haven't bothered me yet. Of the two that have free rein of the apartment, only Maxie seems to like me.

One way NYC is better

This morning was another example of how NYC is better came up the morning. Last night Mr. D took the turkey breast for tonight's dinner in a brine. As I was putting together my lunch today, I asked Mr. D if I needed to do anything aside from dumping the brine out to make sure it was ready (if we had left it in, it would have been too salty).
"Just rinse it off before you put it back in the bowl."
I didn't think about the turkey again until both of us had left and I was 2 blocks away - when I realize I hadn't taken it out of the brine. Since I wasn't on the subway yet, it wasn't too hard to turn around and do it, and I was only a few minutes behind schedule. Had we been back in Austin, I would have been on Mopac in 2 minutes, well past the point of no return, before I had realized I needed to go back.

Sent from my iPhone

Afternoon at the Met

Mr. D and I met up after he went in to work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We had a chance to see the bamboo exhibit, but not take the excursion up through it - see the group of people?

Afternoon

Enjoying the last of the afternoon sun with Sasha and Mr. D walking along the pier (after not enjoying the Texas game).

Why do I never take pictures?

Last night we went to a Rice Alumni event on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, so I was able to catch up with some people I hadn't seen in a few months. Being on the floor of the Stock Exchange was very cool. Every once in a while, the group of us would realize we weren't talking anymore - we were busy staring at our surroundings. Very cool. I should have had someone take our picture, but one of our other friends had just had his picture taken, so I didn't want to draw the process out.

Anyway, it was a bit of a hustle to get there (small urgent matter at work had me leaving a few minutes late, then home to let the dog out, then back on the subway, so I was about 20 minutes late all said and done), and I realized I should throw on a jacket when they sent an email about a red carpet three hours before the event. Luckily no pictures were taken, it was just to show us where the security scanners were. Once we got in there was quite the spread for a Rice event, they even had a carving station. Oh, and the founder of the company that got listed, the whole reason for the event got up and made a speech. A not very fun speech. Honestly i feel bad that no one was really paying attention, but the venue is not really conducive to speech giving because there's a big trading stall in the middle of the floor in front of the podium and behind that was where they had the bar and some appetizers set up. Poor planning.

Leaves

Hi Houston friends - see the mysterious orange leaves :)

Saturday Errands

This morning we headed out for coffee and took Sasha to the dog park - which is pretty standard fare for a weekend morning. Mr. D had decided that he wanted to make duck confit, and luckily, he realized while we were out that he needed some olive oil. Trader Joe's is fairly close, and much cheaper than Whole Foods, so we went there.

To get to Trader Joe's we have to go out of Madison Square Park on the south side, and Sasha always gets confused when we do that - she always tries to go inside Home Depot, and if we don't go in there, she tries to go in Best Buy - silly dog. We finally get to Trader Joe's, but obviously we can't go in there with the dog, so I waited outside.

I was planning on making an apple pie, so I looked up the recipe on my iPhone and emailed Mr. D the apples I needed. A bit later he came out, with only one kind of apple, olive oil, pomegranates and two pieces of frozen fish - he picked those up just because they were "only $10." Silly boy - if I had done that he would have called me cheap.

Now we're back home and I'm getting ready for an impromptu baby shower, then meeting Mr. D at Hill Country for a UT watch party catered by the Law Alumni group - whoo hoo! Then I have the apartment all to myself tonight while Mr. D goes to a men-only dinner party at R&J's house (J is out of town). More on this later...

Commuting

Ok - so I don't really commute, but in my new job, my boss lets me go out and meet with the candidates who we are introducing by myself. As a result of all the rain last month and a few errands midtown, I now know how to ride the bus. Today I'm meeting a client and a candidate in Stamford, so I'm on the Metro-North line. It's so much more fun to go on work trips when you can play on your iPhone the whole time because you don't have to drive!

Sent from my iPhone

Wedding Weekend

We've spend a good deal of the last 36 hours traveling, and now it looks like we're going to be spending more. Two of Mr. D's coworkers had their wedding in Charlottesville, VA on Friday. We flew out yesterday morning to Richmond, then drove the rest of the way to Charlottesville and met up with another of Mr. D's coworkers and her boyfriend (K&S) and the four of us went and toured Monticello. K & S were pretty hilarious, and kept cracking Canadian jokes (they are both Canadian) during the tour.

The wedding was gorgeous. The weather was perfect, and the happy couple were married just as the sunset behind the mountains at a vineyard. They had a great DJ, and everyone was dancing the night away - I even tricked Mr. D into slow-dancing with me several times. Mayhaps we had a bit too much to drink, as the couple hired a bus to take us to and from the vineyard, and both of us were a bit hungover this morning.

We rented our car for exactly one day, so had to be at the airport half an hour early to return the car, which we did exactly 2 minutes ahead of schedule. Then we went inside to print our boarding passes and realized that our flight was delayed for two hours. Yargh. So here we sit, instead of getting home by three, we won't get there until 5:30 or 6:00.

Sidenote: Those of us who were invited (only 8 of their coworkers (plus the partners) were invited) discussed the fact that the people who weren't invited to the wedding were complaining at work after the bride and groom left for Charlottesville. People. Seriously. The people who were invited were the ones that go out with each other for drinks after work. Not, as put it, the people you run into at the bar because they left first and didn't ask the rest of them. Now, I am all for being inclusive with wedding invitations, but, when you find out that you are not invited to something, you should not complain. No one was trying to hurt feelings, but there are always budgetary and space constraints. The couple was a member of two departments, and it's clear that they can't invite everyone from both departments without adding 50 people plus +1's to the guest list. Anyway, that's my two cents.

You think?

Mr. D and I were just online buying a wedding gift for the wedding we're going to this weekend (procrastinate much?). We were at the online store that starts with Williams and ends with Sonoma. After checking out the registry, which took days, because it wasn't working (and no, Mr. D, it would not be an appropriate thing to bring up with the bride the day before she leaves for the wedding).

As I may be likely to do, I clicked on the sale page. The third item: the SPRING cookie wreath. Shockingly, it was on sale. How can they still sell this? Do you really want to eat something knowing that 6 months later it can still be eaten? Gross.

Randomness

Some things I thought about this week, but was too lazy to post. Blah.

Rain in New York is the most annoying thing in the world. People forget how to walk and that the umbrella makes them wider than they used to be. For some reason, most people don't "get" that you can close your umbrella under the scaffolding.

More annoying rain problems: my subway station entrance floods. Like walk down to the platform and have to step into a 8 ft by 8 ft by 4 inches deep puddle.

I love the clean apartment. We gave everything except the bedroom a total overhaul yesterday. Everything was spotless - J&R were coming over for dinner and J and I made ravioli and pasta while the boys sat and played video games. J&R do not have a video game player - I have a feeling they might be getting one soon...