Natals Rants and Raves

I've been ranting and raving again.  This month's topic: potty chairs.  (Can you believe Daniel has started potty training?  I can't!)  So anyway, that milestone reminded me that I had some things to say about our variety of potty seats.

Check out my reviews of Safety 1st seats here, BabyBjörn seats here, and updated comments on The Family Seat here.

http://natalsrantsandraves.blogspot.com/

New York, New York

At the beginning of this week I got back from 5 days in New York City with Nathan's mom and sisters.  Just the girls; no kids or husbands.  We had so much fun!!  Here's the rundown of our trip:

Tuesday:  Gathering.  The western Nashites flew all day to arrive in New York in the late afternoon.  My flight from Raleigh arrived about 6:00, and my shuttle pulled into the hotel in Midtown/Manhattan just in time for our dinner reservations at San Martin, a fantastic little Italian Restaurant our concierge recommended.  It was a late meal, so afterwards we just went back to the hotel and turned in for the night.

Wednesday:  In the morning we acquainted ourselves with the subway system on our way to the Manhattan LDS temple, where we spent pretty much all morning.  Then we wandered down to Times Square for lunch and our first show, Blithe Spirit, starring Angela Lansbury and Rupert Everett.  It was a fun and witty show; we really enjoyed it.

  

After the show we did a little shopping before our dinner reservations at the French Restaurant Bistro Moderne.  It was like something off of the Food Network.  We were glad we were in dresses when we walked in.  Off to the next and my favorite show: Wicked.  Wow.  

  

Thursday: We got up VERY early to make the 8:30 ferry to Liberty and Ellis Islands.  We went to Liberty Island first.  It was cool to go up in the statue; we were excited when we heard on the news the next morning that visitors can go all the way up to the crown starting July 4 this summer.  

  

That night we went to Bobby Van's Steakhouse.  Waiter was very friendly.  Perhaps a bit too much, truth be told.  It was a bit weird.  He tried to warn me away from my selected entree, which I didn't hear but wish I had.  Mine wasn't very good, but everyone else enjoyed theirs.  Dessert made up for my disappointment, however.  Our show for the evening was The Little Mermaid (YouTube highlights here).  I thought it was cute, and I was totally blown away by Flounder and highly entertained by Scuttle, Flotsam and Jetsam.  I think I enjoy it more in hindsight than I did at the performance.

Friday:  After three early mornings and late nights, plus everyone else being on Pacific time, we were all pretty wiped out.  So we slept in...because we could.  Sometimes that's the best part of vacation.  Later we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Our favorite part was the recreated rooms of a Baroque French hotel. I also really liked this fella:

   

Just down the street from the Met were a bunch of street artists/vendors.  Sarah stopped to look at one particular artist's work and she, Bethany, and I ended up each buying one of his paintings.  We even turned around halfway through Central Park and went back to get second prints.  I can't wait to get mine framed and hung.  That afternoon we enjoyed more down time.  Bethany exercised, Sarah napped, I think Marianne read, and I decided to take advantage of a Washington Mutual across the street.  We still bank with WaMu/Chase, but I'm in the process of switching banks because neither WaMu nor Chase has any branches in North Carolina.  It's been a pain.  So I took care of closing a bunch of accounts and switching stuff to our new bank.  (When the teller asked why I was closing accounts and I told her there wasn't a branch within 1000 miles of where I lived, she kinda raised an eyebrow with a look that said "What do you think this is?"  Ah, New Yorkers.)  Meanwhile I also learned through email that my gym had closed overnight, so I was on the phone with one of my friends who was also a member trying to figure out recourses for my prepaid membership and training contracts.  Later in the afternoon, Bethany, Sarah, and I wandered uptown a few blocks to explore Bloomingdales and Dylan's Candy Bar before dinner.  That night we ate at another little Italian restaurant.  Sorry--I don't remember the name at all.  At first glance on the menu we weren't particularly impressed, but upon closer inspection--and taste--it redeemed itself well.  Then on to our next show: Guys and Dolls.  What a fun surprise to get there and see that it starred Oliver Platt and Lauren Graham!  I've never seen any rendition of Guys and Dolls before, theater or film.  It was an enjoyable performance. 

 

Saturday:  We met up with my brother Sean, his wife Jenny and daughter Anne Elyse, who live in Connecticut, and my childhood next-door neighbor/practically sister Keely, who lives in Queens/Astoria, for brunch at a little restaurant called Good Enough to Eat.  Yum!  Then we all headed over to the American Museum of Natural History.  That museum is the setting for the movie Night at the Museum.  I must say it looks totally different inside.  But we still had fun.  Then we headed over to 5th Avenue to explore some famous stores.  In truth, our objective was to get Jenny into Tiffany's so Sean could surprise her with a bracelet he'd bought as her graduation gift (graduating Memorial Day with a Masters in Nursing at Yale).  She was certainly surprised!  From Tiffany's our group split up; Mom Nash, Sarah, and Bethany went off to do their own exploring while I stayed with Sean, Jenny, and Keely.  They took me past St. Patrick's and Rockefeller Center. 

    

We also stopped by American Girl Place for Anne Elyse.  Sean thought one of the dresses might look good on him, LOL.

Everyone met up again back at the hotel.  Keely had to go grade term papers, but Sean, Jenny, and Annie joined us for our last New York dinner.  We decided to revisit San Martin because we liked it so much the first night.  Then we said farewell to them and headed off to our final show: 9 to 5.  Marianne had seen the movie and thought it was really cute, but the show had a lot of raw content, so we opted to leave at intermission and did some more shopping around Times Square.  Then we had our final big bang in the Big Apple: dessert at Serendipity3.  MMMMMMMM, yummy!  I'm so bummed that we didn't think about taking a picture in front of this famous restaurant.  We were so tired by this point!  I thought I was going to fall asleep just waiting for the guy to come take our order.  So you get internet pictures.  Sorry.

 

We thought we might swing by the next morning to take a picture in front of the restaurant but...

Sunday: Another morning to sleep in, very, VERY late (10:00!!!).  We then had to hustle to get packed, check out of our hotel, and catch our shuttle to the airport.  Once there we had to wait around for hours.  And I had to wait even longer because my plane was under maintenance.  Then an hour on the tarmac.  I was originally scheduled to land at 7 pm, so Nathan was going to keep the boys up and bring them to come get me, but with my delays he put them to bed and asked my friend to stay at our house while he picked me up (thanks Jennifer).  

So there's my trip.  Fun as it was, I was glad to get home!  Many thanks to Mom Nash for sponsoring such a fun trip, and to Mom Taylor for watching my boys!!

Natalie


"No matter what you've done for yourself or for humanity, if you can't look back on having given love and attention to your own family, what have you really accomplished?"
- Elbert Hubbard