New York, The Sequel

In a previous post I prattled on about the first half of my recent trip to NY but left you wondering what would happen next? Hope y'all didn't lose too much sleep pondering if I got any sleep under 47 pounds of blankets. The answer is yes, yes I did.
Such a wonderful (and toasty!) good night's sleep did I get that the next day found me throwing shapes in front of the family Christmas tree before heading over....
...to see my father-in-law and eat half his Godiva chocolates (He insisted!! I swear!!) And from there it was only a hop, skip and a jump to....
...Pattie McGee's place where giant roosters named Victor morph into...
...grinning T-Rex's named Victor.
And once, for 2.7 seconds, the creature known as Derek stood still. Photographic evidence above.

Mama Pattie is 6 months pregnant with creature number three and she is positively glowing (pardon the cliché.) For real people, she looked 10 years younger than me which pissed me off b/c we were BORN ON THE SAME DAY! But I love her so much I forgave her instantly. At which point she fed me a delicious dinner and made me drink some cabernet (I think she wanted the vicarious pleasure of a lil' wine buzz.) Next time, my dear Pattie, we will drink a glass together and marvel at your third bundle of sweetness. It was a great overnight visit and I am already eager to see you & Vic and the adorable creatures again.

I had to cut my time with the Pattie and family a lil' short due to the impending blizzard. That and the fact that Maryanne needed me to come over and bake six thousand cookies. And that brings us through days 6 and 7.

Day 8 finds us at the house of the hosts with the most, Eileen and Jack. Once again I failed to take many good photos (What can I say? I'm too busy living in the moment!!)

But I did manage to get Eileen in her Snuggie (that's not actually a Snuggie but something better, as it has a long pocket at the bottom for your feet, which Eileen kindly demonstrated)

The real fun was watching tiny Eileen get into this thing.
Only other photo? Helen lounging by the fire daintily sipping her "mini." In days of yore, my Dad would fix himself a manhattan each evening after work, always offering my mother one. She rarely took him up on it, but when she did it was always with a "make mine a mini." And thus the "mini" entered the family lexicon. Helen's all about having a mini (red wine, no bourbon for this lady) If you're ever hanging out with Helen, do yourself a favor and encourage her to pursue mini #2. Always hilarious Helen can you make you wet your pants when she is a lil' tipsy. My favorite part is watching her crack herself up.

Alas, on this night she was responsible and stuck to just the one. But we all managed to have lots of fun with good company, delicious food, a warm fire and did I mention the good company? Ya know, bosom of my family and all that jazz.

Staying at Eileen & Jack's beautiful home is so nice and comfortable. They may not give you 32 pounds of bedding but you do get a huge-ass bedroom complete with not one but TWO seating areas. In truth I would treasure my time with them even if they lived in a shack, these two are a magic, feel-good pair. Eileen and I spent hours just chatting over our tea and coffee, something I could do all day long. Oldest and youngest of the clan, solving the world's problems, one by one. Mmm, good day.

But we must move on because the worlds best bossy little boy and his birthday boy brother are waiting for us.

King-for-a-day, Luke ate his hand picked birthday menu of spaghetti and meatballs with gusto.

Luke posing with "the best present I ever got in MY LIFE." A stereo with turntable, tape deck, cd player, ipod port and THE ABILITY TO RECORD from all of these onto a cd. The kid was beside himself. Switching from one source of music to another every five minutes, having the whole workings mastered in mere minutes, rocking his little musical heart out. A delight to behold.
Jake found his fun in a different way: bossing me around. Taking a break only to boss around others on the phone. It was a pleasure being bossed.

Oh lordy - I just realized I left out a whole night of fun! Between klotching with Eileen over coffee and being bossed around by Jake, a handful of us girls went and saw Julia and Emmet play in the East Village. Casey, Eileen, Collyflower, Mrynn & myself trained it over there and met up with our favorite musicians as well as cousin Kristin & Beau George (not to be confused with Boy George.) Turkish food for dinner then an amazing (and all too brief) set by Julia & her Hooligans.
Do us both and favor and stop reading right now and check them out. http://www.juliahaltigan.com/
Go to albums and have a little listen. Even if you've been there before, go again, lots of updated versions. Nothing I write can do a better job of showing you how amazing, unique and talented they are. I burst with pride. And now I will leave you because you have some listening to do.

-k.

p.s. And the NY trip STILL isn't over! Yay!! I promise to wrap it all up in a third post sometime soon.