last weekend...

It was a mixed bag of emotions here in the Big Apple this past weekend: adventures and fun with the beau, busyness and exhaustion from all the running around, and a difficult goodbye with a dear friend who is no longer "officially" a New Yorker.

We started out the weekend with a birthday/farewell party for Anna at the 79th Street Boat Basin (a very cool place to host a party, FYI). The Boat Basin is on the Upper West Side, right on the water, with beautiful views and beautiful boats (the beau and I like to play a fun game called, "Which Boat Should We Buy?"). It was a great time of honoring the birthday girl on her last weekend in New York and spending time with good friends.



Saturday we woke up (late) to the most lovely, mild weather you can imagine, which is SO not the norm for August in New York. The beau and I enjoyed a leisurely UES brunch before hitting the pavement for a long and full day of fun in the sun. South Street Seaport was first on our list, which is a bit touristy but fun to check out. We headed to the half-price ticket booth and bought theater tickets for a Sunday show, then wandered about the seaport, taking pictures and enjoying the views.



Next we headed to the Brooklyn Bridge, which I have never walked across in the summertime on the Most Perfect Day Ever (meaning I have never had to share the Bridge with quite so many people before). It was almost too crowded to enjoy (and there is always that ONE PERSON who decides it's a good idea to stop right in the middle of the walkway to take a picture, causing a HUGE traffic jam behind them. COME ON, people!). But the bridge is such a stunning piece of architecture and the views are so spectacular, it is totally worth it -- even with the crowds.



We spent the afternoon in DUMBO walking around Brooklyn Bridge Park and grabbing a late lunch, then headed up to Brooklyn Heights where we wandered down tree-lined streets and daydreamed about living in one of those beautiful, old brownstones. The evening was capped off with a stroll along the Promenade and a breathtaking sunset over Manhattan.



Sunday we were up at the crack of dawn, but for a good (and sad) cause....it was time to help our friend move out of her Harlem apartment. Anna is off to share her beautiful heart and friendship with the good people of SC -- lucky ducks. I'm excited for her and this new journey, but will miss her (and all of our New York adventures) terribly.


{anna & i: on an adventure in 2006}

After the moving and sad good-byes, the beau and I headed home to get ourselves cleaned up and ready for the Broadway show we had purchased tickets for the day before. We caught a matinee of Legally Blonde (which was highly entertaining!) before taking the beau to Penn station where his D.C. bound train awaited him -- always my LEAST favorite part of the weekend. :(

Like I said, a mixed bag...it left me tired and happy and full to the brim of love for all the wonderful people in my life and this great city that I call Home. For more weekend photos, feel free to peruse my flickr page.

Adding to the List...

After a serious dry spell in New York Celebrity Sightings, I now have a new one to add to the list (and it's a big one, ladies and gents):

Who: Katie Holmes and Baby Suri
When: Earlier tonight, around 9:30
Where: Coming out of Make, a paint-your-own pottery place in my neighborhood. Before they came out, we noticed that the windows were covered with paper and the door was guarded by two body guards (probably to keep out the crazy paparazzi who were slinking around like a pack of wolves outside the store -- which is what tipped us off that *something* was about to happen). Mother and daughter walked from the store, to their SUV, stopping briefly to pose for pictures. And that was that. The paparazzi were big jerks and practically hit the poor kid in the head with their clunky cameras while elbowing each other for The Perfect Shot. All I could think about was how miserable it would be to live like that -- to have to deal with that circus every time you wanted to do something "normal." Ridiculous.
NY Celebrity sightings to date: (7) Katie/Suri, Natalie Portman, Geraldo, Star Jones, Dave Chappelle, Diane Sawyer, Celia Weston.

Flying through the air with the greatest of ease...

Yep, that's a trapeze. And YEP, that really is ME flying through the air! Thanks to the Trapeze School of New York and a good friend who is always up for *unique* city adventures, I had my first brush with circus life and the aerial arts. I flew high above the New York skyline by my hands and knees, flipping (not so gracefully) into the bouncy safety net below.

The initial go up was actually the least scary, simply because I had NO idea what I was getting myself into! After the second and third time up, however, my adrenaline and nerves kicked into full gear, and I couldn't stop my knees from knocking and my hands from trembling as I reached out for that metal bar. There was a deep breath, there was a call for prep ("READY!" at which point you bend your knees), and then a loud "HEP!" which basically means JUMP! This was the part where my heart leaped out of my body and I squeezed out a quick prayer -- something like, "please Lord don't let me die on the trapeze," and then juuuuump.....!!

And ::suddenly:: I was flying. Effortlessly. Weightless. And yes it's true, "with the greatest of ease!" It only lasted a minute or so and there were instructions being called out the whole time ("KNEES UP! HANDS OFF! REEEACH! HANDS BACK ON!!" etc...). Somehow my body responded and actually did everything it was told, all while sailing 20 feet above the ground.

All of those trips up the ladder were preparing us for for something bigger and greater, though -- the final run -- The Catch. The Catch meant letting go of the bar, hanging only by your knees, then reaching out to the trapeze artist flying towards you who was waiting to catch you and carry you across the twinkly New York sky. By your arms. Words to describe my mental state prior to The Catch? Terror. Doubt. Hyperventilation. Even though everyone before me successfully accomplished The Catch, I feared that I would somehow mess it up. Or freeze with fear. Or plummet to my death. But somehow, standing up on that platform, knees knockin' and heart POUNDING, I heard the calls and I prepped and I jumped and I swung and I *LET GO* ... and then suddenly there were arms there, STRONG ARMS, grabbing onto me with confidence and easy strength. My body was lifted from the bar and I experienced the glorious feeling of flying through the air, safe in the arms of a professional, and for those few moments there was just QUIET and PEACE and excitement and joy and so many other feelings! And then, RELEASE. Which was so sweet b/c it was combined with this amazing sense of accomplishment! I DID it! I flew!

Since that night, I've been thinking about things like "flying" and "letting go" and my life right now. And about how there are so many things I want to do and so many dreams I feel like I'm *supposed* to accomplish, but many of them involve taking a risk and letting go of the bar. Which is so scary. And my knees knock and my heart pounds and questions surface like "but how will I pay the bills?" and "what makes me think I could do THAT?" ... But then I think back to those times in life when I have taken a leap of faith ... when I let go of the bar and really REACHED ... and I see that those times were the most amazing ones. And no matter how big the risk was or how scared I felt, there were always arms waiting to catch me. Strong, secure, safe and loving arms. Not once did those arms allow me to plummet to my death or to my embarrassment or to my self-destruction. In fact, those arms gave me the ride of my life. My job is to take the risk. To JUMP. The rest is left in very capable hands -- strong hands that will grip and never let go, that are just waiting to catch me and carry me through the next phase.

Thinking back to that moment of lying in the safety net, after it was all over, out of breath and staring up at the lights of the sky and city, I realized that I would never have experienced that magical, adventure-filled experience had I not been willing to ignore my fears and just JUMP. The magic happened when I closed my eyes and stepped off the platform.

A little life lesson from me to me. Thanks.