home again, home again

after almost two weeks away from small town, va, i am finally home again.  and although it's never too thrilling to have to return to work after time at the beach, i am so happy to be back in my own house and my own bed, snugglings with both of my boys {of the furry and slightly less furry variety}.  i am so behind on all of your lives! i had almost 500 unread posts in my reader this morning.  i'm slowly but surely trying to work my way through them, so just bare with me!

my week at the beach with the fam was wonderful and relaxing.  worked on my tan, ate yummy seafood, plowed through several books and a massive stack of magazines, and enjoyed some QT with the p-units and my sister. topsail has been our family beach for more than a decade, and i can't wait to go back again next summer {hopefully with a slightly bigger house and the boys in tow}. 

as soon as i got home from the beach, i had to completely repack my bag and be in the car again the next morning so the boy and i could drive up to connecticut.  we spent a wonderful evening on the long island sound with a bunch of his college buddies. the next morning we drove to long island, where he headed to work and i hopped on the train to the city to spend the day with my bestie.  first off, i heard some outrageous li accents on the train.  i literally had to shove my fist in my mouth to keep from laughing out loud.  people: there is an 'r' at the end of 'october'.  OCTOBER.  not AWKTOBUH.  i know, i know, i'm sure i sound like a little country mouse to them, but call me biased, i think a southern accent is waaaaay nicer.

wonderful day in nyc with bestie, but i have a major gripe.  we went to norma's for brunch after both hearing amazing things about it.  biggest. rip-off. EVER.  i travel to nyc frequently for work, so i am familiar with the obscene food prices there.  bestie and i are also major foodies and don't bat an eye to drop some serious dough on a meal that's worth it {see trip to vegas september 08 where we ate at both joel robuchon and the now-closed daniel boulud brasserie in a less than 24 hour timespan. and had to hitchhike home.  not really, but i had no money for a long time.}.  but this meal?  WAS NOT WORTH IT.  i had the blueberry pancakes.  they were tasty.  but so are the blueberry pancakes my mom makes. and the ones at ihop.  and those do not cost 25 freaking dollars.  bestie got the pb + chocolate waffle sandwich and almost barfed on the table it was so disgusting.  she managed to choke down two or three bites before saying uncle.  luckily my three pancakes were each the size of dinner plates so i was happy to share.  the ONLY part of the meal worth the exorbitant price was the $9 fresh-squeezed OJ.  also, the tables were thisclosetoeachother.  you could literally pick food off of your fellow diners' plates and hear every word of every one's conversation.  we had three or four different waiters attending our table, and none of them were actually very attentive.  moral of the story:  if you're looking for food a le parker meridien, stick with burger joint.

the boy and i spent the rest of the evening having rooftop cocktails at the UES apartment of one of his former teammates and his gf and then headed out to bars with their group of friends.  headed to the midwest the next morning for work, and finally ended up back here early last evening.  we're headed to my hometown tonight for a quick dinner with my parents.  he's not yet seen our home or met my parents' dog yet, so a big night!

hope y'all have had wonderful weeks and i'm looking forward to catching up!