NYC Trip Report

Hi all,


I have been a total blog-slacker since before Rich and I went to the spa a few weeks back. It's just that I am still honestly not caught up with work and I just have not had time to do vacation pictures etc. However, so that I don't get even more behind, I will fill you in on my weekend in NYC and then get back to my spa trip at a later date.


This weekend was my friend Kristy's baby shower and since it's winter and the VT house is closed, it was a good excuse to have a girly weekend and see friends that I only typically get to see during Vermont season... or rarely at all. I told my friend Stacy I'd stay with her since she lives in Greenwich CT and I have never met her youngest son and have only met her oldest once and it was an excuse to spend QT with Stacy T and also see my friend Nancy who lives a town or so away in Darien.

It always takes one of these weekends to remind me how much I loved my college years and how much I miss all my friends that I never get to see in New York. Moving up to Rochester shortly after my mom died caused me to get careless about keeping in touch, as I spent my first year here depressed and in transition and put all my effort into my new living arrangement and going through the grieving process. In the four years here, I have managed to disconnect much more than I would have liked. I rarely chat on the phone these days, and when work is crazy, my emails get fewer and farther between. Weekends like these make me reminiscint of how damn funny my friends are and how much I treasure that really deep hearty belly laugh. I had the hearty belly giggles a lot this weekend and the rest of the time was good quality time with old friends.

Friday I got in to Stacy's and we had a chit chat catch up session for a few hours before I was reminded that she lives in a ranch and I was guaranteed to be woken up by loud children in the wee hours of the morning. Um. She kept that promise. 5:50AM and incorporated into my dream was a loud piercing broken record of "momma momma momma momma momma" which resonated throughout the house and did not rest until Stacy was up and full force into mommy-dom. I spent Saturday morning taking in the sights of delightful and loving Norton family anarchy: Waffle maker oozing with bisquick en route to becoming waffles with strawberries and whipped cream, Emma and Justin running around the house in circles chasing eachother, diapers being changed, sippy cups being filled, mom being climbed onto, toys being dumped onto the rug, and my favorite (only cause he was okay) event of the morning when Justin went to chase and jump onto Stacy where upon she ducked and moved out of the way to be funny, sending him flying through the air into the little rocking chair which flipped forward and knocked him to the ground. That's my girl making the baby cry for a good ten minutes. The Norton kids have fire engine red hair and these little mini-Stacy faces.. enough to make you wanna mush their cheeks. I had to stop myself. So far, Justin's just a baby and Emma's too timid to be a real Thornley. I cant wait to see her grow up to be like her mom. Here are the two kiddies.


After breakfast Stacy drove me to see Nancy... who has a 2 and a half year old and 8 month old twins. I spent four hours in the throws of more adorable baby-filled chaos... this time the Fernandez family which consists of Cesar, Nancy, and three non-potty trained kiddies.. one with bluer eyes than the next (and might I add that little Georgia was "made" during Rich and my wedding weekend. I stand proud.)


Sadly, after spending time with Nancy, I was again regretful at how little we speak and how much I adore her. We vowed to put in more phone time going forward. Phone time will have to do because the Fernandez fam is moving down to Atlanta, where Nancy grew up. My little debutante friend is going back to her hometown... but not without a promise to visit Vermont this summer. We had a great visit... and it was great to see Nancy in mommy-mode as well, which required me to literally follow her around the house as she fed and changed diapers and cleaned and chased Georgia, etc. Here is the Fernandez fam minus two cute twins that were sleeping during picture time.


The week before I left, I sent out a random email to those of my friends that still live in the city and a few in NJ and Connecticut to see if anyone was around to have dinner on Saturday and we ended up with a reservation for 14 (thanks to Conway who spent much of Friday afternoon trying to find a restaurant that would take a reservation for 14 on a Saturday night). Stacy and I drove in from CT and met everyone for drinks at a bit after 8 and then dinner at 9. It was really fun. There were friends from college, friends from old jobs, friends from camp twenty years ago, friends from the Cha that moved down to the city, friends that I met through other friends, and my bro and sis in law, Jeremy and Pee Wee. Kudos to Kristy for schlepping into the city with Tash with a very pregnant belly.. she's a trooper. She endured a late night and an uncomfortable chair. Yummy food, lots of laughs, and an all around good time was had by all, and Stacy snapped her fingers and like the schedule-Nazi that she is, had me in the car and en route back to Connecticut so we could get to sleep and start "momma momma momma" all over again Sunday morning. Here are some pics:


Sunday morning came early and we departed after breakfast for Kristy's baby shower, during which we reminisced about fun Lehigh moments and experienced more belly laughs. After a marathon of gift-opening by the cute little pregger gal, Conway chauffered me to the airport where I waited two hours for my plane ride home. Here are two pics from Kristy's shower. The rest are in Kristy's camera as I was nominated official picture taker for the event.

All in all, it was a great weekend complete with reminiscing, giggles, catch up, hugs, fun, questions about why I havent been knocked up yet, etc... Stacy, you rock for driving me around and taking care of me. Hope I see everyone again soon.