Fun in NYC!

After leaving the mountains, I spent a wonderful night in Denver - a quick bit of shopping at the restyled Casual Male XL (formerly Casual Male Big & Tall - I'm told Big & Tall made people feel bad so they didn't shop there), and attendance of not one but TWO movies - what decadence! I saw "The DaVinci Code" (I wish they had webcams so you could watch the faces of the few Christian fundamentalists who actually dare to see the movie - I'd love to watch them squirm at its "heresy"!), followed by the latest X-Men film. I really liked DaVinci, but felt indifferent about X-Men (despite it's phenomenal performance at the box office this holiday weekend). Got up at the crack of dawn and left for NYC yesterday.

Arrived in NYC, checked into the W Hotel in Times Square - a very hip and sylish place, to be sure. I was upgraded to a corner room with two views of the city - very cool. I then went out for sushi with my friend Margaret and went back to her apartment for some sorbet and watched the last-ever episode of Will & Grace on her Tivo. I thought it was OK, but in their desire to satisfy fans with a neatly wrapped-up ending (which is good), it got a little disjointed and didn't flow as smoothly as most of their episodes do - their writing is usually VERY tight. They took a lot of liberties with this last episode, which I guess is OK. Margaret's apartment was worth the 5-flight stair climb to see it, it was small but really nicely decorated.

Then went out for margarita's followed by Thai with my dear friend Mike from colleage. He's doing so well, has a fabulous boyfriend (wasn't in town but Wilbert and I met him at Christmas), is on his way to a fabulous career in psychiatry, and is buying a brownstone in Brooklyn (you're forgiven, darling). Is always so nice to see him - he's one of my favorite people and I think he always will be. Love you, Jennifur!

Today was all about shopping - first Rochester Big & Tall where I fed my Ralph Lauren addiction with five lovely, brightly-colored button down shirts, then to the new Apple store on 5th Ave. where I got something fabulous for Wilbert that I can't yet talk about because it's a surprise! :-) Then lunch with my cousin Key, who is very smart and very sweet and is marrying a very cute 1/2 Russian boy next month! Congrats, hon! I was sorry to have missed her sister Ashley who also lives in the city and works for Wilbert's and my favorite company, Aveda.

Now sitting at JFK ready to fly home. It's been a very fun trip, but I have missed Wilbert and the kitties a lot and am ready to be at home for a while. Unfortunately, I'll be on the road again pretty quickly - Prague, Copenhagen and Athens all in the month of June. No rest for the wicked! Might sound disingenous to complain about having to go to such fabulous places, but believe me, it gets old after a while.

The Wedding Party

It was a windy but beautiful day for my sister's wedding. My brother and I took over 1000 pictures, but here's a good one of the bride and groom and both families. It was a fantastic weekend and it was great to meet Mel & Heidi's friends and family; they were all really great people.

Goin' to the Chapel...

I'm in Colorado this weekend for my sister's wedding (this afternoon!). It's her second marriage, and it's to a great guy, Mel, she met about two years ago. I've met him 2 or 3 times and he seems a'ight! And they'll be moving to Boston soon with my little niece Merrick, where I'm hoping they'll be very happy together (and at least temporarily concentrating both my siblings in one city!). It's taken Heidi a while to find happiness in life after one false start, and I'm confident she's found "the real deal" now. It was especially nice meeting Mel's family last night, and to have my whole family here as well. It's rare we see each other more than once a year!

Here's to you, Heidi & Mel (and Mer!)! May you have a long life full of happiness and love together!

(Above: The happy couple with friends from Boston)

The Beaver Creek Creek.

A bit of old Colorado, updated for tourism purposes.

Colorado snow in late May! Bizarre for someone from a country that's mostly below sea level! :-)

The gorgous patio right outside the reception room for my sister's wedding. Weather looks to be upper 30's (C) / 80's (F) and gorgeous today!

The gazebo where my sister will be married today, on a mountain in Cordillera, Colorado.

Dad, the bride to be and me looking like a squished banana. :-)

Some of Heidi's friends and Mel's family from the wedding party at lunch in Beaver Creek Villiage.

The happy bride and groom to be at the family dinner on the night before the wedding.

The Next Generation

It's a bit after the fact, but this is a very special photo that was taken at Christmas time of my siblings (black sweater and pink sweater) and our partners. It's the first time that the three of us were ever present with all three partners, representing a pretty major milestone in our lives. It took us all a while to get there (wonder what that's all about - a topic for another blog entry!), but we're finally all happily partnered, living together and/or about to be married. I'm happy we all made it this far (not everyone does), but think it's a testament to my parents having taught us that relationship is never easy, but that it's worth the hard work required to make it work. So here's to Christopher & Wilbert, Heidi & Mel (and Merrick!) and Josh & Lorie!

My Man the National Knitting Spokesmodel!

Wilbert on a national Dutch TV show promoting knitting in a segment about knitting for men. Wilbert is the guy on the right. He's taken a very active role in promoting knitting in Holland as a hip, trendy and relaxing passtime, and he's the "go to guy" for knitting info and trends. I'm really proud of him!