Monday.

We had thunderstorms most of yesterday & all through last night. Thunderstorms in the city are part really cool, part terrifying. The cracks of lightning echo off of the buildings (cool). When we lived on the 29th floor, we'd see buildings struck by lightning (terrifying). Either way, it's all very amplified. Very dramatic.

Mike checked the weather this morning & informed me that the humidity was 98% - with more thunderstorms. Awesome.

That might explain why I didn't leave the apartment until 2:30pm. Grey skies, rumbling thunder, a sticky 90 degree day, with rain (!).

I looked out the window before I left & saw a few rain drops. I grabbed an umbrella & ran out the door, in my flip flops, because I thought maybe things had cleared up & it would be that kind of day. I even had sunglasses on my head. I went around the corner & dropped off some drycleaning. I walked two more blocks & picked up a pair of shoes I had dropped off to be repaired. Enter flashes of lightning & booming crashes of thunder. The skies opened up & it started to rain harder than I've seen in a very long time.

I ran the block & a half home, ran up into my apartment, dried myself off with a towel, put on my wellies & grabbed Mike's biggest & most offensive umbrella -offensive because carrying a golf umbrella that takes up half of a NYC sidewalk really just isn't very considerate, & I say bad words in my brain about people who carry such things. Anyway. Doorman Ken wished me luck as I sprinted out the door, & I ran up the 10 blocks to my hair appointment. It finally stopped raining, right as I got there. Lovely.

2 hours later, immediately post blow-dry (as I'm paying):

POURING rain. Again. Absolutely pouring rain. I would have loved to have taken a photo of it because it was just that unbelievable, but my camera (which was safe & dry at home) would have faced a certain death. There were 14-inch puddles at every corner. People were soaking wet. There was just no way that I was going to walk home, or even get a cab to take me home. Luckily - right in front of me - Two Little Red Hens. So I went in, got a probably-600-calories piece of berry bundt cake & ate it all by myself until the rain stopped.

My perfectly blow-dried hair was ruined. I was soaking wet from the waist down after having been outside for 17 seconds. I deserved it. The nice girls working there understood & said that calories just don't count when it's raining that hard.

(Sidenote: As I was killing time & chatting with the previously mentioned nice girls, I asked what they do with leftover cupcakes, pies & cookies at the end of every day. Good news - they donate them all to an Upper East Side church that has a daily soup kitchen. Good news.)

I'm home now. It's raining again.

A funny, totally unrelated story - We were in Mike's parent's ward yesterday for sacrament meeting. Our entire row was quite irreverent & erupted into giggles during the sacrament. Two words: Cinnamon bread. It was awesome. I think that should be a new rule for sacrament bread. None of this whole wheat or white bread business. The cinnamon bread was amazing. I said the closing prayer & almost thanked Heavenly Father for it, because clearly someone was watching over us. Someone even said they had a raisin, so it must have been Cinnamon-Raisin Bread. Whatever it was, it was delicious & such a welcomed surprise.

(Mike's dad checked the handbook when we got home & there is absolutely nothing that says you can't use cinnamon bread. If we're ever asked, that's what I'm bringing. As a matter of fact, I might just volunteer.)