This was a very social weekend! On Friday I took the train into NYC in the morning. I was in my car when I got a text about our house shaking…I didn’t feel it (driving) but this little earthquake became a topic of conversation the entire day…and a reason that my train was slightly delayed. I guess Amtrak had to check all the tracks so we went slow.
But I’d built in a little extra time so it was OK. I walked over to the Empire State Building where I visited a studio for a podcast + video interview (more on that when it’s out). Then I walked up to the Lexington Hotel (48th & Lex) and checked in, did some calls, and met my new friend Amanda in the lobby. We’d met at the Best Laid Plans Live retreat in November, and she’d helped orchestrate a little NYC get-together for the weekend.
The two of us rode Metro North up to Bronxville (itself giving me all sorts of memories of taking the train from Grand Central north when I did a stint at Reader’s Digest decades ago…), where we met up with Gillian (see her TBT in Real Life video! She also has a great new newsletter that is part of Emily Oster’s Parent Data empire.) and a friend of hers for dinner at Casa Bronxville. Gillian then drove us over to the New York Botanical Garden for their “Orchid Nights” show.
I love botanical gardens, and the orchids did not disappoint. It was also fun to see lots of flowers without kids racing me along! We oohed and awed and took pictures and then Amanda and I Ubered back to the hotel. I crashed at 10 p.m.
In the morning I slept in until 8 a.m. — kind of crazy to think I slept 10 hours. The previous week had been rough in terms of my 4-year-old not sleeping well…I got coffee, did a little planning, and then we met for brunch at Cafe Luxembourg. Brunch is another thing that doesn’t really happen with little kids… We walked across Central Park, which is absolutely beautiful if chilly right now, and then used Gillian’s membership to get into the Met.
We spent most of our time at their fantastic Harlem Renaissance exhibit — I wasn’t familiar with Laura Wheeler Waring’s work but now I’ve been looking up more of her paintings. We also took in some of the “biggest hits” of the Met (Monet, Rodin, etc…) before I headed back to Penn Station and took the train home. Saturday evening was relatively low key except for a grocery shopping trip for the next day (my husband wound up going to the grocery store 3 times on Saturday and I did once — we are off our game in terms of planning meals…and now that we have a store 4 minutes from us if we’re missing something we just go…).
On Sunday the 16-year-old and I sang in church, we got Starbucks and then headed home to prep for having some friends over. One of my college friends has orchestrated a rather big trip in May for some of us ladies and our daughters, so we wanted the girls to get together before hand so they could get to know each other. We grilled and enjoyed the yard and this morning we are having the fun party aftermath of lots of extra food. One person brought a box of Panera pastries/bagels/rolls so breakfast this morning was way more exciting than it usually is.
Now it is on to the week! I don’t have big eclipse plans because I need to take a kid to a small medical procedure (nothing big – don’t worry) and it wound up scheduled at this time. Oh well. Even as the universe does amazing things the mundanities of life continue….
It was such a fun weekend with you! The Harlem Renaissance exhibit really was fantastic. I am plotting a way to head back on a weekday and enjoy it again when it is less crowded.
@Gillian – it was great! So glad we could get together.
And I’m happy to orchestrate another NYC weekend so we can explore other neighborhoods and exhibits.
@Amanda – yay!
Your weekend sounds amazing! Quite remarkable how much you managed to fit in, that checks a lot of boxes: “you” time, time with family, one-on-ones with kids. The fruits of a lot of planning, no doubt…but worth it! Would love to hear more about the mother-daughter getaway. I’ve been thinking of doing the same!
I love your work and have found it inspirational as I transitioned into working parenthood and now then balancing the greater responsibilities of work leadership with parenting. So it’s especially thrilling to see that you came to the Orchid Night, as my team organizes all exhibitions & public programs at NYBG. Than you for the visit–and the shout out!
@Joanna- how fun! The Orchid Night show was wonderful – your team did a great job.