West to East.

This west to east coast thing is hard. There are three very precious hours of sleep that I really would have liked to have had last night.

I finished The Elegance of the Hedgehog on my flight home Friday night. I almost cried, except that I was sitting next to a man who didn't look very nice & it would have just been uncomfortable. So I held it in, but my heart cried. I hated the first 50 pages of the book, & then I fell face-first in love. I'm going to re-read those pages that I obviously mistook as being pretentious & forcefully unique.

I'm home now, just for a few days. I'm happy to be back in New York.

My doorman greeted my taxi last night & helped me with my bags. I think he was drunk (my doorman, not the taxi driver) - sweating profusely & slurring his words. I guess it was pretty humid, & almost midnight. But still. Suspicious.

I walked out of my apartment this morning & it smelled like hash browns & dog poop. It kind of made me happy, even though the cabin smelled like fresh rain the morning that I left.

After running around barefoot for a week, I got a much needed pedicure. My toes are now watermelon.

Friend Erin & I reunited this afternoon for some coconut Pinkberry (with mango on top). Then Mike, sister Cara & I had lunch at Hummus Kitchen on 2nd Avenue. Everything is vegetarian, fresh & amazing. The falafel, especially. And the couscous. Even better - nothing on the menu is over $10. I think. We'll be eating there often. Next time I'm getting their Greek mint lemonade.

The Whiting Family Tree (sans Dan, who is in Colorado) met up for a late-afternoon session at the temple. It's so quiet there. Afterwards, we walked up 10 blocks & had dinner at Patsy's. I slipped away to pick up a bag of cookies from Levain. Tomorrow, I will eat vegetables. Lots of vegetables.

We're in New Canaan tonight. I'm sitting on the big fluffy couch in the living room (that just demands you sleep on it come Sunday afternoon), & Mike is watching Rocky with his siblings. Have I mentioned I don't like movies with tension?

I kept 500 or so photos from my 10 days (!!) at the lake. I feel sort of like I did when I got back from Costa Rica. Like, How do I even do this? I could separate them all into categories & subcategories, I could put cute text on some of them (which I like to do, sometimes), I could arrange things in a chronological order... But that would take forever. So, in no particular order, with a few captions here & there, even though I kind of hate cheesy captions - are a few (a few.) of my favorites from last week.

Bird houses. Made by the little ones, the week prior. On the craft table.

Haidyn. Loves the beach. Is sort of scared of the dock. Hates the boat.

Wood pile. I chased a squirrel into it & waited for him to emerge so I could snap a picture, but the little guy just sat there & squeaked.

What huckleberry picking looks like (+ many, many bug bites). I'm no longer eating bananas at the lake. Apparently the potassium attracts our little six-legged, blood-sucking enemies.

What sheds look like.

An impromptu game of Chubby Bunny.

Dad won.

Avery was a close second. Lexi was pathetic. I told her we'll train for next time.

The likely-over-photographed bear. But he's my favorite.

Danner likes to swim.

Haidyn likes to swing.

Mom & Dad like to sit on Dad's beach. Actually, my dad rarely sits, which is why I had to snap this. Normally he's bringing down 80-pound bags of sand down to the beach (which is continually growing), spreading bark, changing light bulbs, or building something &/or fixing something.

Friend Janae's little girl. Miss Abigail.

Quincy.

Reese. Likes long walks on the beach. Or at least continuous circles in the living room. Don't even think about sitting down.

After a boat ride that didn't go so well. Go back!! Go back!! It made a not-cuddly girl very, very clingy all of a sudden. Loved it.

Huckleberry lemonade.

Pretty mom + me on the one day that I actually wore makeup & blow-dried my hair (for church on Sunday).

At stack of our vintage life jackets - some over 30 years old. They're finally being donated.

But not before we snapped this.

And this.

Kera. Me. Janae.

I'm obviously posing to make my legs look better. Gross.

The sky started to look like this (which means we battened down the hatches on the boat, cleaned up the beach & ran for the cabin).

Kera & Janae did this, amidst the lightning & rain.

Post-jump.

Perfect weather every day - except Thursday. I love, love storms at the lake. I'm hoping for more next time.

Napping Dad + his loyal friend. Danner literally wouldn't leave his side. They're good friends.

Dad's lamp collection. They're pretty.