Saturday

Today we spent the morning cleaning the apartment and doing laundry.  Even though it's expensive to use the machines in the apartment building, it's nice to be able to do 4 loads at once.  Then we relaxed for awhile, but we got bored.  We realized that if we were home, we would have headed to the Glockenspiel for a beer, so we decided to ride our bikes over to Zeppelin Hall Biergarten, just a couple of miles away in Jersey City.  The place is HUGE, but at 4:00 on a Saturday afternoon, it was quite busy.  We enjoyed sitting outside.  (Even though it was 85 degrees, there was shade and a nice breeze.)  We headed home after a couple of beers and made baked bean hot dish (a taste of Minnesota) and watched Chicago on DVD.

Marvelous Meal in Manhattan

Market Table

We spent the day in Manhattan.  First we went to the Museum of Art and Design, which is located on Columbus Circle.  We really enjoyed the museum -- they had an exhibit of a wide variety of miniatures that was entertaining, and a gorgeous gift shop.  We also went into Time Warner Center -- basically just a glitzy, chrome-and-glass shopping center.  Then we took the subway down to the Village to use one of the gift certificates I received as a retirement gift from my friends at Ramsey County.  Market Table is known for using fresh, in-season, and locally-grown (when possible) ingredients in their offerings.  Mark ordered the skate (in picture foreground) and I ordered the chicken.  We also ordered Prosecco cocktails.  The meal was absolutely marvelous!!!!  After our meal, we wandered through the Village, over to Washington Square Park (renovated with beautiful gardens), then to the Union Square Green Market.  John works near Union Square, so we called to see if he could meet us for a beer, which he did.  By then it had started raining, so it was a great tavern weather.  Then we trudged through the rain to Whole Foods to pick up goodies for dinner, and then headed back to New Jersey.  A very fun day.

Happy Half-Birthday, Julia!

Julia turned six months old this week.  I love the way her hair is so fuzzy.  Want to see more videos of this darling child?  Here's the link.  

Independence Day

Watched the 4th of July Fireworks on the walkway in front of our apartment building.  Macy's sponsored the fireworks, and they had six barges positioned along the Hudson River.  The crowd in our area was composed almost entirely of people from India and China -- gave the event a very international flavor.

Suitable

DannyBoy Getting Fitted at TeddyBoy

Daniel knows several people who got suits from TeddyBoy, a men's clothing shop on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.  Dan, Natalie, Mark and I went to the shop to buy a suit for Dan to wear at his wedding in September.  It was unlike any place I've ever been.  Basically they asked when the wedding was and how much we wanted to spend.  They gave us a small book of fabric swatches to choose from.  Dan gave them some idea of what he wanted.  They took measurements.  And we paid cash up front for the suit, sight unseen.  I was hoping we could see a sample, or at least sketch, but they make the suits individually.  Dan will have several more fittings.  This seemed like a very "New York" moment -- buying a suit based on a 4x4" square of fabric!