Hello!

Wow! That was a long break! I left on July 30 for a little over a week-long vacay in Texas.  I flew into Houston, stayed the night in Galveston, went to Austin for a night, went to Abilene for 4 nights, back to Austin for 1 night, and then to Galveston for 2 nights before coming back to NYC.  Phew!

But I had so much fun! I won't bore you with all the details.  But you all should know that my 2 1/2-year-old twin niece and nephew have to be the cutest, sweetest, smartest toddlers in the world.  Hands down. I had so much fun with them! They are talking, talking, talking, and they are getting to an age where they recognize me and are interested in me.  All I heard was "Aunt Jaffy, watch this!"  "Jaffty, this" and "Jaffy, that." (We won't go into why I am called Jaffy but I don't mind it).  I loved every minute.  I can't believe how smart they are.  My nephew knows the names of a million different animals including a caribou, hippopotamus, shark, and dolphin (to name 4 of about 50!)  He loves ocean animals and talks about dolphins, sharks, and Shamu all the time.  And he runs back and forth going "I superfast!"  My niece is little miss pretty princess. She has tons of hair that curls perfectly at the ends, and she loves to clean and help and take care of her babydolls by feeding them, wrapping them in blankets, and cleaning them. She is one sassy cookie...which reminds me, her name is Sawyer Kate but they both call her Sawyer Cake.  She informed her brother, "I not Sawyer Cake.  I Sawyer Cookie."  Where do they come up with this stuff? They know their colors.  And they sing lots of different songs (sometimes singing=yelling).   They play with each other and fight with each other. They swim.  They can run in circles for hours in the living room with no endpoint in sight (although I was told by my nephew that they were in fact running in a square and not a circle...silly Jaffy).  They are potty training right now and are doing pretty well (with a lot of patience from their mommy), although Mimi's floor was well used at times. I will leave it at that. I really could go on and on about them.  Just know that they are adorable and made their Aunt Jaffy very happy.

I also did a lot of shopping, and I pretty much wore T-shirts and jeans and no make-up for a week (forget this dress stuff).  I know it must seem weird that I shopped more in Texas given that I live in one of the biggest shopping capitals of the world, but it is just sometimes a little easier to shop when you have a car and a wide range of affordable stores (think Walmart, Target, Ikea, etc).  This did prove problematic at the airport when my large suitcase was 6.5 lbs over the 50 lbs weight limit.  I had to shove 6 lbs of stuff into my already overflowing carry on that I bought at Garden Ridge just to carry all my crap.  It took me no less than 10 minutes to zip up my carry-on while approaching security in the airport.

I bought a lot of things for my new apartment including some fabrics and things for DIY projects.  I love that kind of stuff.  I am having to invest in a new sewing machine since I sold mine when I moved. I can't wait until it comes in.  I have keys to the new apartment already.  Once I get a bed and air conditioner in that puppy, I will likely be spending a little more time in the new place.  Craigslist browsing has become a bit of obsession, as has decorating magazines.  I love the Do It Yourself magazine and website.  They have tons of feasible, affordable (and cute!) ideas that are actually obtainable to the normal (and monetarily challenged) folk such as myself at present.  I am just so excited about getting my apartment in order.  I measured allthe dimensions of the rooms today so I would know what I can fit. 

Speaking of Craigslist browsing, I wandered up into Harlem for the first time today to pick up a rug.  It was a different kind of experience.  I don't mean any of the following in an offensive way by any means, but I just felt a little out of my comfort zone.  Let's just say the Starbucks located at the corner of streets named Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X has a somewhat different atmosphere than the one I frequent at E 85th and 1st Avenue in the Upper East Side.  There were a lot of interesting sights and sounds, including a very pretty park.  I am not sure if I will spending much time up there, but it lent for a new experience for the afternoon.

I was happy to see my kitties when I got back, and I am pretty sure they were happy to see me.  This does not make it okay for them to walk all over me in the middle of the night, scratch the furniture and wake me up, or plop their furry little selves on top of my computer keyboard, but we will soon be fixing all that. 

Oh yes, we will.