L is for Lloyds.

We got a sitter & went out with Jill & Sean their last night in the city. We had big plans of going to Cascabel (1 block away), & decided to hop in a cab & go down to the Lower East Side at the last minute instead. An excellent decision! The Meatball Shop is probably one of our favorite casual places to go in the city, but it is so, so very inconvenient to get there via subway (+ lots of walking). They also look at babies (& pregnant women) like they are aliens, so we haven't had too many chances to go there lately.

The Desert Truck was a mere 10 minutes walk away, so we went for some bread pudding afterwards - the best bread pudding you've ever, ever had, promise. Tara gave me the Throwdown Cookbook for Christmas last year & it includes The Desert Truck's recipe, & I must make it very soon. Or maybe I should never make it. 

Afterwards, we came home & watched the Glee season finale, & then later Jill & I laughed so hard that I cried (in part because I tried on her new bra over my shirt only to realize that Sean was in the room & maybe that was a little awkward. Oh well! We're all good friends!).  

I've said it before & I'll say it again. Friends shouldn't be allowed to move away. 

Mike said, Make a serious face! I failed.

And then he did something silly.

32 Photos from when Elizabeth & Ryan visited.

Sometimes I feel like if I don't blog it, then it didn't really happen - like the universe will just suck up all of the undocumented or unphotographed memories & take them away forever. I've said this all before, & of course this is just part of the slightly obsessive part of my personality, but I'm okay with it. Someday, when I get my act together, I'll have some semblance of a printed record of my life.

Elizabeth & Ryan were here last weekend (a week ago - I'm behind). They've never been to New York & we were so happy to have them come & see what our life is like here. It's always kind of fun when people come to the city for the first time, although there's added pressure because there are expectations to be met, etc. Luckily, they were easy guests & lots of fun, & Quinn was so happy having them around (I especially loved that Elizabeth was such a giant help with him). They were also extremely understanding with my broken toes / constant cough & aching back. Elizabeth made me a special honey / lemon tea at least a half dozen times, gave me back rubs & introduced me to the Netti Pot which made a significant difference in my ability to breathe. I credit her for keeping me alive, & am happy that she was around (although I likely would have gotten out more had my body not been a complete disaster).

I got out of the apartment on Saturday & pushed through to do as much with them as I could - & we had a fun day! We went down to the Lower East Side + The Meatball Shop for lunch (we haven't been since I was 38 weeks pregnant), & did what responsible parents do & let our baby dance on the bar. Afterwards, we toured the city by car & then went across the Brooklyn Bridge for some photos at Bubby's & photos in the park. We capped off the day with a trip to The Bronx for a quick baseball game. It ended up being a bit abbreviated (3 innings!) given that it turns out that 56,000 people cheering in Yankee Stadium is a little bit scary for a seven & a half month old baby. See photos below of the evolution from Wow! This is fun! to Hmm. Not sure I'm loving this any more. Despite it being a rather expensive three innings, we were happy to at least have made an appearance, & Quinn has now seen his first hometown game. 

We drove home through Harlem & stopped for a photo of one of Mike's favorite spots - the Crack is Wack wall at the appropriately named playground. Funny.

The last two photos - I just love this boy, & I think they capture just how sweet he really is. When he's 16 & screams & yells at me & tells me he hates me, I'm going to take a deep breath, look at these photos & remember.

Also. This goes without saying, but these are probably amongst the grossest photos ever taken of me. An entire day of gross photos! Amazing. I guess it's just the way it goes, because Saturday happened (& was appropriately documented), & it was a wonderful day, but wow I wish I would have reconsidered both my hair & my wardrobe decisions. Neither were helping me out at all (stripes are not always a good thing). I had it in my brain for a 24-hour period that I needed to grow my bangs out. We have a beach vacation coming up, time at Priest Lake, & a humid NYC summer, & bangs are sometimes tricky! Obviously, this is a really trivial thing, but my forehead has been covered for several years now, & it's a big decision, people! Anyway. After seeing the photos, I quickly decided that I just desperately need a haircut (scheduled with Reagan, check) so that I will hopefully no longer look like a homeless person or a polygamist. I also need to do something about looking 14 weeks pregnant, still. It's never a good thing when you have an almost-8-month-old & people say things to you like, Wow! You're really starting to slim down & barely have a belly left! Um. Thank you?

To do list: Daily abs, starting Monday.

Meatball Shop + Hello 38 Weeks (!!).

We've been wanting to try The Meatball Shop for weeks, but let's face it - the Lower East Side is just a pain to get to, & having a car was the perfect time to go. Now that we know it's worth the inconvenience of a long walk + a long subway ride, we'll definitely go back. The wait at the restauraunt was - as expected - way longer than we wanted to tolerate, so we opted for takeout instead. We waited on a bench in the middle of Bowery & then ate our food. So amazing! Really, really delicious. We love Unique Eats for teaching us about places like this in the city.

We drove up to the East Village afterwards & tracked down The Dessert Truck. Their bread pudding? It might be my favorite dessert in the city. 

38 Weeks! That means that we have 21 days to go. Hopefully only two Sundays left at church. A few more doctor's appointments + Bouchon Bakery macaroons. It means that the organic milk that we bought at Costco yesterday will not expire until Baby Boy is over a month old. !!

I'm (relatively) comfortable! I'm happy! I'm feeling strong. I'm sleeping much better this week than I was last week (phew). I have to pee every 1/2 teaspoon every 27 minutes, but this means that Baby Boy's head is finally down & where it should be (phew!). I'm ready to be finished growing a baby, but I'm counting my lucky stars, too. I've had a healthy + normal pregnancy & I'm really grateful for that. I've had plenty of plenty of hard days (& 20 solid weeks of constant nausea), & I don't necessarily want to do it again any time soon, but I'm alive! Surviving! Healthy! Almost a mother! I'm excited. And proud, really. I've survived the hottest summer in NYC history. That alone deserves a pat on the back, I think.

I grateful that I can still wear cute shoes, too! Call me superficial. I don't care. As petty as this might be, the small things make a difference when you're apparently working hard to catch up to your husband in weight, & cute feet make me happy - especially on those days when I walk around feeling like a spectacle.

Currently looking forward to: Mike not going to work tomorrow. The row boats at Central Park in the morning (for the first time in 5 1/2 years, what?!). Taking family photos tomorrow evening. My doctor's appointment on Tuesday (I want some stats!). My NYC baby shower on Saturday thrown by my really amazing friends. Vampire Weekend next week! Some fun nights out planned with friends + Mike. Baby Boy's baby announcements that are coming together (the proof is proofed! the envelopes are ordered! we just need a baby + stats + a photo to include). Getting back all of our photos from the maternity shoot that we did last week. Cooler temperatures, finally. Finishing up a few nesting projects.

PS, this dress was quite a bit longer last summer. Imagine that.

Food, food, food.

We just finished up a sensible dinner of grilled chicken, peas & a mushroom risotto (a recent random find at Trader Joe's - yum). Meat + vegetable + starch. It felt good to get back to something basic. 

See, the last 24 hours have been uncharacteristically busy. With food. And well, this week has been busy in general, but in a good way because it's been filled with friends (& friends + food often go hand in hand) - & friends make me happy. I met Ruth & Caitlin (visiting her NYC friends from her home in SLC) for breakfast yesterday morning at Le Pain Quotidien. I had mint lemonade & a fresh brioche. Corinne, Kelsey, Kidia & I met for a late lunch (brunch?) at Clinton Street Baking Company in the Lower East Side later in the day. Blueberry pancakes, of course - & those generally allow me to forgo food for the rest of the day quite happily. But then dinner? A small gathering of friends at La Esquina to celebrate Caitlin being in town, in the basement. See, La Esquina actually has three restaurants on the corner of Lispenard & Kenmare. First, the taqueria upstairs that we frequent often. Cheap tacos, elote & soda. You eat at the counter if you can find a spot, but it's always tight. Casual. Quick. Cheap. Then, there's the cafe just around the corner. Same menu, but there are servers & you get to sit at an actual table if you want something a little less casual. 

But downstairs? The brasserie. It's a totally difference scene (not one that I frequent often). It's celebrity-happy (John Mayer was there behaving badly the other night). It's almost impossible to get a reasonable reservation. And the access? It's actually funny. You get there by going into the taco stand, & then after getting approval from a bouncer + his walkie, you're allowed to go through a door (that says "employees only" - looks like a bathroom door) down a set of stairs into the basement. Next - you walk through the kitchen. And then into the restaurant. The first time I went there was in 2005. I was working at McKinsey at the time & asked one of my colleagues for a recommendation for a restaurant to take my dad to during his upcoming visit. He recommended La Esquina, saying it was his favorite spot in the city & that we just had to go. He was in his early 30's & single & living a very different lifestyle that mine - I should have taken that into consideration. But I made a reservation (for 11pm! It's a tough place to get into), & we went - totally naive as to what we were getting into. The food (tapas) was amazing, but the atmosphere was not quite what we were expecting. It looked a bit like a brothel. Dark, moody, & at 11pm - the music was blasting, the floor was jammed with sweaty bodies & it had the feeling of a club more than a restaurant. Suffice it to say, we were yelling at each other throughout dinner, & my dad was probably the oldest person in the restaurant by 20 years. We thought the whole thing was hilarious, but I remember feeling so totally intimidated (& young). Wesley Snipes - in his pre-felon days - was sitting at the table next to us, surrounded by a half dozen very drunk & almost naked women. It was quite the spectacle. But this time was a nice change of pace. The food was equally good, but our early reservation allowed for a more mellow atmosphere & a lovely dinner catching up with friends.

Anyway. I digress. 

The point is, food. I've been doing a lot of food. 

And then this morning! I met friend Amy for cinnamon rolls at Two Little Red Hens. Because they're that good, & I don't see Amy nearly often enough (she's a full time graduate student - can't wait until she graduates in May & can play!). 

Oh. And I may have had lunch with Jill at Whole Foods. Sushi. Yum. That's reasonably sensible, right? 

So tonight - A nap, & then dinner at home. It felt good to cook, & to utilize what was in my fridge / freezer / cupboards. Next, we're watching This is It. Maybe I'll learn how to moonwalk next Wednesday. 

Give me some skinny jeans & call me a hipster, because I'm going back to the LES.

The Lower East Side is a total pain to get to from the Upper East Side. It's just not that easy, but Sugar Sweet Sunshine is in the Lower East Side, & Sarah Jane has been telling me about this little bakery for years now. Years. Corinne mentioned it the other day too, & I just knew I had to get down there. On Thursday, Corinne, Kelsey, Suzi & I made the trek & reaped the rewards. This little place is good. Like, maybe just maybe my-very-favorite good. I need to back & sample a few more, but my pistachio cupcake (a reasonable $1.50) was just amazing, & the Pumpkin Eggnog Pudding (seasonal) is worth the trip alone. It's a cute little place too, & I liked being able to sit & chat on their retro couches with really fun wallpaper.

Afterwards, we spent a bit of time in Economy Candy. It was a throwback to all of my Halloween candy of the 80's, & the place was just saturated with the smell of sugar. Candy cigarettes, Pez, Charleston Chew, Bazooka gum, Pop Rocks... They had it all, & it was cheap. I came away with a few massive lollipops that I'm sure I'll do something with.

We stopped for lunch right around the corner at Creperie (I guess we were doing things a little bit out of order that day). Crepes happen to be one of my very favorite foods, & this place was yummy. Tiny, but really good. Ada stole the show however by having her first blowout as a baby, requiring the two of us to strip her down naked on a bench in the LES. If you know Corinne, this is just really funny because the LES is just about the edgiest edgiest in the city, & apparently Ada is just an edgy baby. Anyway. Ada was naked, & people may have stared, but probably because she's just so cute with those big rolls. Ada is a cute baby.

I really like that we were in an amazing bakery, a ridiculous candy shop, & a French creperie (& maybe a shoe store) all within a block or two of each other. This is why I like (love.) New York.

Photos, photos, photos.

*Post edit: Friend Suzi brought home a box of four cupcakes & just reported back to me. She & her husband hated all four of them. As in, thought that they were gross. That's sort of devastating to me. I had the pumpkin pudding & the pistachio cupcake. Both were amazing, but I guess that's all that I can vouch for. I'm giving it one more shot, but now I'm nervous.