During Matt's spring break we had the pleasure of a visit from one of my very best friends, Lisa Russell & her husband Scott (who is also a very dear friend). Here we are in the garden of the Home restaurant in the West Village. Me & 2 of my very best friends! 
The Saturday before Easter we went down to Central Park for the Easter Eggstravaganza. There was a big easter egg hunt, which we found out upon our arrival had been cancelled. So we stuck around for the puppet show put on by the Swedish Marrionette Theater and then attempted to do a few other things at the fair, only to realize the lines were incredibly long and neither we nor Lexi had the patience to wait. So we ended up riding the carousel and heading home for naps.
Lexi received her first bonafide musical instrument- Matt gave one of his harmonicas to Lexi. Here they are having a little jam session. We got some good video of it, too.
Yesterday Matt entered the building with full hands, a wound-up Lexi, and another man. I had left to go to Costco with friend Jessica. When Matt got up to the apartment, he couldn't find his keys anywhere even after re-tracing his steps. So either he dropped them down the elevator shaft (through the space between the elevator & the door) or he left them in the outside door to our building where they got swiped. Due to traffic in New Jersey and congestion at Costco, I was gone for 2 hours. Matt waited with Lexi in our lobby, bummed an empanada off Enrique at the bodega, and kept Lexi happy (which was a task since it was past her naptime!). When I got home, we decided to try and keep Lexi up for another hour or so and then put her to bed early. In the meantime, we had to pay our Super a little extra so he would tend to our needs right away by replacing the cylinder lock on our door. As one of the few white tenants in the building, we were nervous that whoever may have swiped the keys would know right where we live and clean us out... we put a movie on while Matt ran to the hardware store and I assisted the super & she was OUT by the end of the first 5 minutes.
The cold and rainy weather today was appropriate for our farewell to our car... we are officially New Yorkers now, relying on mass transit to get around. We posted our car on Craig's List (a sort of online garage sale) and it sold in 2 days! I wasn't expecting it to go so quickly (maybe we should have asked for more money!), so I wasn't really emotionally prepared to say goodbye to the first car I bought with my own money right after my mission. It's been a good car, but more of a liability than an asset here in the city, so we are actually glad to see it go.
A few weeks ago, Pepsi had a big promotion day in Manhattan to promote the new Diet Dew drink (Mountain Dew). Grandma Susan came to the city to hand out lots of free samples and other paraphenalia, and then got to meet Shaun White (aka. The Flying Tomato) who won gold in snowboarding at the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics. She is standing on Shaun's right.
We recently went out to dinner with Grandma Susan at a delicious Indian place near her house. The server delivered the check to the table, and Lexi was all set to sign...
Yesterday we had some unbelieveably gorgeous weather, so I took Lexi down to Bryant Park with my friends (and hers) Jessica & Julia. We rode on the small carousel they have there, and when the ride ended all Lexi could say was "More!"
We went out to eat with Carolyn Forbes last night and the guy at the restaurant gave Lexi a temporary tattoo... let's hope that's the only kind she ever wants!
Today Lexi & I took a trip up to Purchase, NY to visit Grandma Susan in her element... at Pepsi's Headquarters. We had lunch in the delicious cafeteria and walked on the beautiful grounds. We were also able to meet lots of grandma's associates and her boss, Bevan. Lexi loved her time with Bevan... they spent a while coloring on his whiteboard and then erasing. He also gave her a pom-pom which she can't put down. Later in the afternoon when we were home, I found her sitting on the couch watching "Clifford" holding her pom-pom from Bevan. She wants to take it everywhere we go! During lunch, Lexi spilled a large amount of orange juice on her shirt, so Grandma bought her a new one at the gift shop. She was so excited to have a "new Pepsi shirt!" (in her words).
While putting my makeup on one morning, I was interrupted and left the mascara on the bathroom sink ledge. When I came back, I found Lexi with the top off, and a lovely smattering of mascara on her *eyelashes*. They start younger and younger nowadays, don't they?
On Friday afternoon I got an unexpected phone call from a dear friend from my Provo days... Emily Christensen was in Albany visiting her sister & bro-in-law with her mom and they were contemplating a day trip to NYC. The 4 of them came down today and we had a fun time- eating pizza at Grimaldi's, chocolate at Jacques Torres, walking the Brooklyn Bridge, Ground Zero, Times Square, Rockefeller Center, 5th Ave, Central Park & the Temple. A fast & furious tour of some of the city's highlights... and quality time with good people. Thanks for calling us, Em! I miss you!
Thursday Jonny Addams came to spend the day with us. Since I was hosting a book club that evening, we decided to make some buttermilk brownies together. I forgot to take a picture mid-project, so this is the aftermath of our baking adventure. Lexi & Jonny had the most fun banging their spatulas on the counter, the bowl, the mixer... anything that would make noise! Neither of them wanted to eat the finished product, though. That's okay! More for me!! ;)
For all those crime/investigation TV show fans out there... this photo is for you. Today we were up at the church and noticed the entire street was lined with trailers and then saw the film crews right next to our church. Turns out Law & Order was taping today. As we made our way down to the subway to go home, I got a glimpse of Dennis Farina who plays Detective Fontana on the show. Being the star-struck New Yorker I am, I had to get a photo... but then I realized I didn't have my camera. My wonderful friend Heather Jones came to the rescue lending us hers and downloading the picture for your viewing pleasure. Thanks, Heather!!
A couple of weeks ago we took a trip downtown to the Central Park Zoo with Lexi's friend Desi and my friend Heather (his mom) and new baby sister, Zoe. This zoo is great because it's small and doable in a couple of hours. It also has a children's zoo where the kids can feed the animals and climb on lots of stuff. Lexi loves the penguins and here she is with a sea lion just before the feeding show we got to watch.
As soon as we let the kids out of the strollers, Desi wanted to hold Lexi's hand and she obliged. They walked all the way into the rain forest exhibit hand-in-hand and I just about died! It was so cute! Lots more zoo pictures: click here.
This past weekend, Matt & I took a much needed "vacation" to beautiful Boston. It was quite chilly, but we expected that since it is March. The sun was shining brightly, though, and when the wind wasn't blowing it was quite pleasant. We loved just exploring the neighborhoods and seeing some of the significany sights of the Revolutionary Period of our country's history. We left Alexis with my mother, and she did well for the most part. Grandma Susan said Lexi missed us a little bit, but overall was in good spirits until we talked to her on the phone on our way home- good thing we were only an hour away!
Just a note on all the business sign pictures: "In the old days" people would send their servants down to Charles Street to do the shopping. Since many (if not most) of the servants could neither read nor write, the shop owner's put pictures on their signs so people would know what particular business was in each store. To this day the businesses continue that tradition. I loved the signs so much I had to take some photos...
Lexi has an obsession with chapstick. She calls it "Lips" and whenever someone gives her a stick of it, she seriously spends 5 minutes at a time just applying it to her lips. So when we looked back at Lexi in her carseat, we were not too surprised to see that she had thoroughly slathered her lips (and beyond!) with chapstick.