Open, Open

The hat's about to make its third appearance on this blog in what will feel like as many weeks. I assure you I actually wore it over something like 5 weeks. But hey - when you spend a whole $10 on a hat in Chinatown, you want to make sure you get your Alexander Hamilton's worth. That, and it's been a few shakes too long since I had my hair done. People are beginning to ask when I put the dark in my hair.

All that to say... my hat and I joined our dear friend Kimber for - oh, you know - the US Open Women's Final. I know! This hat of mine has really great friends.

Kimber's uncle kindly gave her tickets to several games, and in a rapid succession of ufortunately/fortunately, wherein Kimber's husband Brett had to work (unfortunately) and I did not (fortunately), I happily accepted the invite.

It did make this the second Saturday night in a row that I ditched Noah for great tickets (Wicked lotto tickets the weekend before with Megan), but it meant Noah was able to catch up with our good friend, Jake, to go see some manly movie I would have refused to see (so manly, in fact, I have forgotten what it was).

I'd never been to a professional tennis match before, so this was a fun first. It was amazing to see really great tennis up close. It's so impressive to see a strategy on the court with the actual talent to execute on that strategy. Placing shots with such precision and control is how I win tennis games in my dreams - I win them in real life with dumb luck and the fact Noah's first serve is powerful, but rather unreliable.

Since it was the championship game, we also got to hang around for the trophy presentation, Clijsters' cute little girl on the court and Mary Carillo's slightly awkward interview with Zvonareva. "So. You didn't win..."

The real highlight of the evening was getting to spend time with this sweet gal. Kimber and I randomly decided to go on a run together one Saturday afternoon and we were fast friends from there. It's not hard to enjoy time spent with this beautiful, bright, driven girl - except that it can make your head hurt trying to figure out how she's managed to fit so much living and so many accomplishments into so few years.

And let us not forget the singing of our national anthem from none other than Chaka Khan. I admit I didn't even realize this is who Chaka Khan was. Of course I've heard the name (you don't get a Cold Stone grab-and-go creation named after you without a little name recognition), but it wasn't until a) she sang that I realized she was a singer and b) I decided to include this photo that I looked her up and learned she's the one responsible for "I'm Every Woman."

Oh yeah, totally stuck in my head now. And I couldn't resist getting it stuck in yours, too.

There Is Only This.

It's a good thing we got those iPhones. After riding in a car that belongs to Cromars to go to a place Cromars had researched to participate in an activity Cromars had to coach us through all while using the Cromar's equipment, it hit us - we're not sure what we bring to the table when it comes to this relationship.

Until it came time to find a place for dinner at Noah's UrbanSpoon app saved the day.

I know what you're thinking - Noah's phone. So is Allison just dead weight? You said it.

Speaking of dead weight, this month's adventure with the Cromars was rock climbing in the Peters Kill area of Minnewaska State Park.

I'm relieved to admit my rock climbing skills are a little more impressive than my ice climbing skills. And my bow hunting skills are far superior to my computer hacking skills.

The most quote-worthy moment of the day came when Kevin was midway through his first climb. We weren't into the whole warm-up-on-a-wussy-climb idea (who am I kidding? I would have been a-okay with a warm-up-on-a-wussy-climb idea), so it was pretty challenging. He hit a point where you had to ask yourself, "where WILL he go from here?" and Lauren encouragingly reminded him he didn't have to expend all his energy on this first ascent. To which Kevin replied in strained tones, "there is only this." Well said.

It was an absolutely gorgeous September afternoon with the greatest company. Thanks, as always, Cromars!

Smiths: A Pictorial

Summer seems to have gotten away from us. If I hadn’t unburied my box of scarves from the back of the closet this afternoon, I may not believe it’s already October. But back when the sun was kissing our cheeks and the heat and humidity were so oppressive even capris and tees felt like we were wearing thermal underwear, we were the lucky hosts to three and ¾ of our very favorite people.

We had a wonderfully low-key weekend with the Smiths, watching the World Cup USA vs. Ghana game under the Manhattan Bridge, hitting up the park and finding the best ways to get wet, spending time out on the roof deck and, of course, a trip to Shake Shack for a little something sweet.

I’ve been waiting to blog about their visit, because Jon and Melissa’s photography is so stunning, I knew a post without it would hardly do it justice. Even between the newest addition to their beautiful family and weekly gigs (the duo recently launched their own photography business and some very, very lucky couples and families have been spending their weekends with the pair), sweet Melissa edited and sent these photos from their weekend. Every time we hang out with these two, I end up with a new Facebook profile picture. Is there any higher compliment?

And because a picture is worth a thousand words and I happen to have a lot of great ones from these talented photogs, “what’s say we” just let the pictures do the talking…

This picture makes me laugh a little, because this makes us laugh almost every day. Some art museum? Vegas hotel? No - just the ceiling of our lobby. Subtle, understated... When Ashley and her girls visited last winter, Abbey gazed cautiously at a relief of several cherubs (not pictured here and not always noticed when competing with the ceiling) and said, "those aren't like any kids I've ever seen."