Guess Where I'm Going??? :)

After much hemming & hawing, due to the amount of other trips I have in September, I finally broke down today after reading Stephanie's post... and booked my flight and hotel to the B.O.O.B.S. conference in Chicago!!

Part of me was hesitating to go because I'm nearly three years post-surgery. I don't have many new things to report on the band front, and I'm in the maintenance phase, and it's been going smoothly. But, part of me recognizes just how much support I have received -- and continue to benefit from -- through my blog, and it's important to me to take an active part in our community. Plus, if I could do or say anything during the weekend that might help one other bandster, I'll be giving back a small part of all of the wonderful things that you all have given to me.

Anyway, I can't wait to see all of you, and to meet those of you who I only know on-line so far. Really, really looking forward to it. :)

Much Ado About Nothing

Happily, we're two-for-two on the natural disaster front here in NYC. The earthquake was pretty much a non-event, and the Hurricane Irene turned out not to do much, either. Fine with me! I'd rather have all that hype for nothing... than to have it for something awful.

My dad and step-mom escaped back home a day early, missing the hurricane. However, my mother had a trip to Boston planned with her boyfriend for last weekend and a few days this week. So, she came in on the Friday to see me before meeting him here and driving to Mass. Her boyfriend's flight wound up being cancelled though, so mom and I were here together for the hurricane, which added to my fun considerably!

The "real" danger of the hurricane.... a fully stocked kitchen and the most delicious blackberry and blueberry crumble I've ever made!

We were basically stuck in the house for two whole days, so we watched a lot of movies, did some cooking, played some Scrabble and just enjoyed one another's company. I have to admit -- I would have been bored out of my mind if my mom wasn't here, so I'm grateful that it all worked out like this!

And yes, the crumble is gone. . . every last morsel. . . (But my scale is fine, shockingly. Thank goodness I made it to spin on Saturday and we went for walks the other two days. NYC was like a ghost town, with all the stores and restaurants closed!)

I hope that all of you who were in the earthquake and hurricane zones fared well and that you didn't suffer any damage or power outages! Do bad things happen (or in this case, "kinda happen") in threes? What's next? Locusts??

Earthquake!!

Wow! It was so weird to feel the earthquake yesterday! I was in my office (on a high floor in a high rise.. the one that sways when it's windy...) and suddenly felt my chair bounce up and down. It was doing a light boing-boing-boing.... Then, I realized -- that's not my chair! It's the WHOLE BUILDING!! It stopped pretty quickly, and I went out into the hallway. My colleagues were all kind of excited and a little concerned, and my firm told everyone to go home for the day. (Of course, I couldn't really leave because I was on a deadline... but I figured that I would be safer in the office than in the subway, so I stayed put and was completely fine.) Still, it was a little freaky and interesting! I'm just glad there wasn't any damage in NYC, and hope elsewhere fared as well, too. Must check out the news today.

Oh.. and with everyone asking "Did you feel it?!?" yesterday, I got Markey Mark stuck in my head! "Yeaaaah... Do you feel it baby?? I can too!" LOL

NJ Weekend Family Fun

Last week, my dad and stepmom were in town for a visit. They spent three nights in the city with me, and then we all went to the beach in New Jersey to visit with my aunt, uncle and cousins who live there. Both parts of the trip were a lot of fun! They did sight-seeing during the day and at night, we either had dinner together or.. on one of the nights, went to see Cirque du Soleil, which was actually pretty incredible!

Steve had been out in Amagansett all week for a vacation arranged months ago, but he volunteered to give up the final weekend there so that he could get to meet and spend time with my dad and his wife -- so so nice. We all drove out to the beach together on Friday, and had a seriously fantastic time catching up with the family out there. Happily (and unsurprisingly), Steve hit it off really well with everyone! By the end of the weekend, he'd been invited to join my uncle and cousin in a sailboat race, and they and their team came in first place. :)

My adorable boyfriend.... I cut myself out of this photo because it was terrible of me... that's my hair on the left!

Here is my dad, enjoying a margarita at a waterside restaurantMy step-mom and aunt, having a little gossip session on the boat...
Sitting with Steve at the front of the boat

There were a few band-related things worth noting about the weekend. First, I hadn't seen my aunt, uncle and cousins since I got banded. So, I was down 80 or so pounds from my last visit, four years ago (I'm not sure what I weighed then, since I was in scale-avoidance mode). Thank goodness for Facebook... my cousin's wife had seen my photos through the last few years, and showed a few to the family before I got there, so it wasn't a big surprise to see how I looked. Actually, they didn't make a big deal about it at all. I think people just don't know what the right thing to say is, and would rather not say anything than risk saying the wrong thing.

Second, my uncle has a huge family, and several of his siblings and their children have homes in the area. They are a great bunch, and I've gotten to know them through the years. We actually ran into two of the uncles when we were at the beach. I was wearing my Lilly Pulitzer bikini and actually was feeling really embarassed to have so little on when I saw them for the first time. Not that I was inappropriately dressed (it was the beach, after all). It was more the feeling of showing up 80 pounds lighter, in a bikini. I just felt a little weird for the first 20 seconds, and then it was fine.

Third, I actually enjoyed going to the beach with the family and wasn't dreading having to be in a bathing suit! That really added to my fun and has been a constant bonus for the last two summers. :)

Mini-Bandster Reunion!

Last week, Sarah was in town with her adorable, very well-behaved, cutie pie daughter, Lucia! Jen and I were able to meet up with her, along with my friend Marjorie, for dinner before her return to D.C. The ladies are all doing very well and are looking good! :)

This just reminds me of how lucky I've been to meet such warm, nice, interesting and incredible people through my blog. I'm not sure that I'm going to make it to Chicago this year, but even if I don't, I'll look forward to more mini-reunions like this here in NYC and elsewhere.

Saratoga Springs Spectating

Last weekend, for the first time in my life, I went to a horse race! Steve and I went up to Saratoga Springs, NY, because a friend's cousin had a horse in one of the races this weekend. Saratoga is absolutely beautiful, and it was an incredible treat to be able to see the races through the eyes of friends who are in that business, and to get to watch a race that we felt some personal connection to, aside from the small bets we placed.

We were able to watch the races from our friend's private box in the clubhouse, and also got to have an incredible brunch at a private club near the track, where we hobnobbed with other horse owners and their guests. It was really a very different experience than I imagined going to the races would be, and I did manage to control myself from channeling Eliza Doolittle and yelling "Dover, move your bloomin' arse!!!!"

With Steve at our B&B in Saratoga before dinner on Friday night.

I don't know if I've ever mentioned it before, but I'm a huge bath-taker. I take baths as often as -- if not more than -- I take showers. I've just always loved them, ever since I was a kid. In our B&B, at the end of the hall, I saw an open door and... through it, saw this incredible bathroom with a ginormous tub. I was dying to get in there for a bath! In fact, we even asked the owners if I could use it, but it turned out to be part of another room and guests were about to check in to it. What a bummer! Also, we found out that the bath had been especially made for Lillian Russell, who had stayed at the house with Diamond Jim Brady in the late 1800s or early 1900s.

Le tub!

Here we are at the races... I'm wearing a dress by Milly that I got from R--e-n-t t-h--e R-un--wa--y. That site is actually working out pretty well for me!