Book Club Brunch

Today was fun. I met up with the book club that I joined (but until this morning hadn't had a chance to attend) for brunch. My friend Megan started the book club and I've been reading the books but have always been busy with work when they have met. But today I wasn't busy, and it was great. We went to Sarabeth's (a delicious restaurant near Central Park) and ate wonderful food (Apple-Cinnamon French Toast with banana. Yum!) and chatted. Then Megan, Jessie and I did a little shopping (I bought a great cardigan at H&M). After that I went to Bloomingdales then Filene's Basement and wandered around a little more. It was a pretty great day.

Madeleines Math Test

Problem: Queen Arlene has a problem. She wants to divide her land among her three children. She wants her oldest daughter to get 1/2 of the land and her younger daughters to each get 1/3 of the land. Can she do it? Explain your answer.

Mads answer: No because it is not fair for the older sister to get more than the younger sisters.

How Little Girls Play Basketball

• Everyone runs to whichever end of the court is appropriate
• The ball is dribbled (a little awkwardly)
• The ball is passed to one of the little girls
• Every single member of the team then puts her arms up and yells the name of whomever has possession of the ball, over and over again
• The girl that has the ball stops, looks around (for at least...oh I don't know...thirty seconds maybe), and passes the ball to whomever is yelling her name the best
• At this point, the routine is either repeated, or the ball is hurled towards the basket
• They do it all over again

It is maybe the cutest thing you'll ever see. I love to watch it, just cause its so darn entertaining!

"Maddy! Maddy! Maddy! Here Maddy! Over here Maddy! Pass it to me...Maddy!"

Another Day In The City

Yesterday I went to the city again. It was fun, the weather was beautiful, I wandered around for a while then met up with Sadie and some of her friends. We went to the Museum of Sex which was interesting, then to dinner at Blue Smoke, which was just alright (it would have better if I wasn't a vegetarian and didn't have to wait for two hours for a table at a BBQ restaurant...and if the service didn't suck...) but my favorite part of the day was when I (for the first time ever) hailed a cab in New York City. I'm not sure why that was so exciting to me...all I did was stand on the street with my arm in the air, but it was very cool. It was a pretty fun day.

Love From Kinley

Grandma Jean and Kinley made this video for me about a month ago with Grandma Jeans phone so they could send it to my phone. I love that she calls me "Aunt Chelle" and I love that "Aunt" sounds more like "Amp" ...sigh...I miss my girl...

Sleepy Hollow

One of the things on my "list of things to do while I'm living back east" is to visit Sleepy Hollow, New York. It was a beautiful weekend and I had no plans so on Sunday that is what I did. I found on itunes a pod cast of someone reading the legend (which, by the way, was written by Washington Irving in 1820) and I listened to it on my way to see where the legend of the Headless Horseman came from. It was a pretty great day. My first stop was the Old Dutch Church (where Ichabod Crane sought refuge from the Headless Horseman) and the Old Dutch Burying Ground (where legend says the Horseman was buried and came from each night)

Besides it being kind of cool that this is an important chunk of the story, It was also really beautiful there. It was so cool to see the headstones that were dated in the 1700 and 1800's. I found it interesting that most of the stones (at least the ones you could still read) said the persons name, the year they died and their age at death in years and days (e.g. lived to be 47 years and 17 days old)

After that I went to the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, which surrounds the Old Dutch Burying ground and didn't exist at the time the story was written. The Bridge in the picture above is the Headless Horseman Bridge, which is within the newer cemetery.

I also went to Washington Irvings (the author) grave

This was really cool too. Its a monument and some of the solders of the the Civil War.

The last stop of my day was in Tarrytown (right next to Sleepy Hollow) for a tour of Lyndhurst. A beautiful mansion that was built in 1838, and was lived in until 1961. They have restored it, and it still has the original furnishings and art work in it, which was pretty cool to see.

This is the view of the Hudson River and the Tappan Zee Bridge that you can see from the mansion.

I, just like Eric Clapton, Have a Rock & Roll Heart Too!

I just got back from the Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck concert at Madison Square Garden. I can't even explain how amazing it was! AMAZING!! Here are a few photos from the evening.

Jeff Beck played for about an hour, then Eric Clapton played for about an hour, then they played together for about an hour. It was such a great show.