While my adorable kid sister, Megan, holds down the Furniss fort in northern Utah, my parents are eager to be sure she gets to spend lots of time with family. Which means graciously shipping her out east for the occasional sisters weekend. Yeah, we'll take that bullet. Right, Megs? :)
Megan visited NYC last year with our parents, so Megan Takes Manhattan Part II was a markedly more laid-back tour of the city. A perfect fit for my delightfully laid-back sis.
The first morning, Megan spent an hour+ kicking my booty around the gym. Megan is majoring in human movement studies (formerly exercise science) and just finished a corporate wellness internship with Verizon - and I tell you what, this gal knows her stuff. I thought I was in decent shape. But the look on my face when I realized I had two more sets of plyos and sprints probably screamed less "let's do this!" and more "you're going to have to scrape me off the floor when I give up, pass out and let the treadmill run its course."
One of the best parts of Megan's trip was introducing her to and spending time with a few of our dear friends. We met up with Tamara and Brian and their kids for a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and Grimaldi's in the park. The group hit the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory afterward, and little T enjoyed it the way ice cream was meant to be enjoyed.
(Best part: the chocolate mark on her forehead from the rim of the cup.)
The Smedley's aren't just good friends - they're also good luck. They kindly joined us for the lottery to win Wicked tickets, and after the Wicked Lotto Guy (aka - the guy who gets off being withholding - reference, anyone?) made little T cry insisting she had to write her own name in order to enter the lottery (she can - but it is TOUGH to perform under pressure!), we came out victorious. In the words of the guy next to us who won before we did, "what!" You read correctly - not so much a question as much as a statement of incredulousness.
Sunday was our staple Chelsea Market, High Line and West Village routine and the most delicious broiled veggies and pasta salad you can even imagine. Could have also been that it was Fast Sunday and we were all famished.
We spent Labor Day laboring 8 miles up and down the Hudson River Parkway. Megan admitted she's not one for running distances and as we started out, she bolted off at a pretty decent clip. I gave pause for a pitying inward thought, "oh, megs..." - knowing she probably wasn't used to pacing herself for longer runs and figuring she'd run out of steam soon. Nope. Not so much. The little rockstar kept a killer pace for 8 miles with umph left for a sprint toward the end. What gives?
We met up with Noah and another great friend, Jeff, for a Yankees game in the blazing sun. You would have thought we'd handpicked the folks sitting next to us to give Megan the gen-u-ine New Yorker experience. It was not so - but we did get a few good laughs out of their, ahem, zealous support of the team.
Labor Day was also significant for another reason. And it was only appropriate that Megan be there to share it with me. Three months ago, Megan came home from work telling tales of the 5C Challenge - essentially, no sugar until Labor Day. Noah shot a sidelong glance in my direction and wisely remarked, "you could never do that." He beat me by just a breath as I started to say, "I could never do that." Which is precisely why I needed to do that. So for three months I said goodbye to all things artificially delicious with a big circle on the calendar around the date September 6.
We blew it in style. We warmed up on Red Vines and gummy worms during the Yankees game and some pre-dinner chocolate toffee almonds from Whole Foods. We enjoyed dinner at Gigino's in Tribeca (delicious in its own right, but this is about the sweets) before meeting up with Danielle and Matt for pie at Bubby's. Oooh, baby.
The sugar was literally coursing through my veins by night's end. But I am not ashamed to admit we hit Magnolia for pumpkin cheese cake between rounds at H&M, Daffy's and Century 21 the next day. Girls need their shopping fuel, right?
Excuse the poor composition of this shot. I couldn't leave out this cute picture of Megan. It's not her fault the gal behind the lens put a globe on her head.
We adore this sweet, funny, smart, fun, motivated girl. Loved your visit, Megs! Thanks for making it happen, Mom and Dad!
5 comments:
thank you for the arrested development reference... and for attending a yankees game. because i've resigned myself to live vicariously through you when it comes to all things nyc in general, and especially concerning yankees baseball. looks like fun was had by all. (btw, all that talk about exercising made me tired... so much so that i think i'll count reading about it as my exercise quota for the week. hehee.)
Three months without sugar??? I just finished up going one month without, and I was amazed I did even that much. You are INSPIRING!
this sounds amazing. way to make the most of the weekend---including getting in an 8 mile run. you're my inspiration as hostess and sister.
LOVE getting together with sisters. She is an amazing person with an amazing family!
I like Noah's Ireland shirt. That's where I went on my mission. :)
Post a Comment