For Sanity's Sake: memorial day

Sorry - no "Motherhood Mondays" this week. It had a fight with "Bits of My Weekend" and the latter won. For more mommy ponderings, tune in next week! (Same bat-time. Same bat-channel.)

I sincerely hope you enjoyed the long weekend! We really tackled ours head first - so there are quite a few pictures to share. I'm just AWFUL at being brief and concise. Particularly after jam-packed weekends. Maybe I just feel the need to process what I did so I can begin my week a bit more sane. So here's a peek into my processing.

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Phew! Memorial Day weekend - Vini. Vidi. Vici. For reals.

Early Saturday morning we loaded the girls up in the car and dared to travel to ....

We went in right when it opened, we loaded our cart with a new bunkbed, 2 mattresses, a bookshelf, cute storage boxes, new "everyday" dishes, and a good handful of impulse buys. We were ready to check out in 1 1/2 hours! So we rewarded ourselves with freshly baked....

yum.

We did A LOT this weekend. But here's something that didn't get done. ::sigh::

We didn't get to assembling the new stuff from IKEA because Adam spent the afternoon prepping for Sunday. Then we took the train down to the:

(that's M86, crosstown bus that brought us to our friend's apartment in the Upper Eastside)

We had a great BBQ in their back patio (that's like a backyard but...um...no grass, smaller than most suburban master-bathrooms and just a little bit of sunshine.)

yum.

The 5 Amigas and Jed hanging out on the couch.

Then Sunday I went to this place to hear this really good-looking guy talk about wisdom. Sheesh. He was gorgeous. (;-) )

The weather was too gorgeous to eat lunch inside. So we went to the benches by the American Museum of Natural History.

Qara - striking a pose by the Nobel Prize Winner monument. Maybe her name will be on there one day....?

Then CONSTRUCTION BEGAN!

Here's the before...

He started to put it together...

About 2 hours later, Qara and Elasia thought they should help:

It would still be another 4 hours before just the bed was finished. ::shakes fist at IKEA:: But you know what? Here's a picture of reason #35,576 why I love my husband. He organizes the dowels, nuts and screws in take-out plates.

I know. It's hard to fnd a guy like that.

Sorry to be mean, but the "after" pictures are going to be in a later post. Suffice it to say the girls slept in their new beds...um...at 10:00 PM. ha ha.

Memorial Day.

On my way home from the gym this morning I saw one of my favorite trees in our neighborhood and look what it had!!

Mulberries! Yep. In the 'hood. I live in an awesome neighborhood. I was even able to get a whole Starbucks Tall cup's worth!

Then it was time for ANOTHER barbecue! Yep. We like grilled meat a bunch in this family. (and grilled veggies...gotta stay well-rounded) This time our BBQ was in the beautiful Maggie's Garden.

yum.

I was trying to get a picture of the ...I know there's a word for this thing...(10 points for whoever knows it) The wooden structure with grape vines crawling up it that provides a beautiful shady place to eat. ??gah, that's going to drive me crazy....??