New York! It’s been SO long!

I started working for Shake Shack at the end of October – Makai’s birthday was my first day, actually! Right away I was asked to go to New York for a big meeting. It was my first in-person meeting since the pandemic began! Also, the Shake Shack headquarters turned out to be just a few blocks from my old apartment in The Village, so each morning I took a walk around the old neighborhood! A good thing about New York is that they’re requiring proof of vaccination to get into anything – work, restaurants, events, etc! Unfortunately, none of my friends could meet up for dinner on this trip, but there will be more!

After checking into the Four Points Soho (only $100/night! and only $200 airfare!)

I went directly to my old haunt, Joe’s pizza. Sooooooo good.

There’s a Shake Shack restaurant on the ground floor of the building where the headquarters is. I passed by it on the way back to the hotel.

The next morning I got ready for work. I used a hair dryer! And makeup!

I went for a walk around my old neighborhood. I saw my old apartment:

Around the corner is Father Demo Square, which seems to have gotten an overhaul. I’ve spent so many hours sitting here and people watching or reading books or meeting someone.

I tried to get coffee at Grey Dog, my favorite cafe, but they weren’t open yet! I stumbled upon Bluestone Lane and it was great!

While sitting and eating my croissant and drinking my coffee I saw this Simpsons mural. Makai and Dallas have been watching The Simpsons together, which is kind of funny.

The Shake Shack common area and kitchen is so gorgeous. I love all the plants!

We spent all day in a big meeting whiteboarding and talking IN PERSON. It was a bit surreal. Ben

 

Fedi was getting tickets for the Knicks vs. Bucks at Madison Square Garden. I’m not a big basketball fan, but if you’re going to see the Knicks, you should see them at The Garden! Also, for a while at Isobar, Madison Square Garden was my client. I went to meetings in the building, but had never been inside the arena! So, I went… along with Alora, Brandi, Tara and Adam.

Regular stuff that is normal in New York that you forget about.BAGEL CART!

BODEGA CAT!

BODEGA FLOWERS!

CELLAR DOORS!

STREET VENDORS!

In the airport on the way home. Shake Shack mask.

 

Kauai Cousins: Makai, Grace + Niko 6.28 – 7.18

Aunty Caroline took Grace, Niko and Makai to Kauai. Grace said that Niko cried for 1,000 hours on the flight!

Grandpa and Grandma Crowell taught Grace and Makai to golf at home and at Kukuiolono Golf Course.

They celebrated 4th of July with sparklers.

There was also a ton of fun with water balloons.

Grandpa and Grandma don’t really go to the beach much, but one day Grandma, Caroline, Grace and Niko went shopping in Lihue and Grandpa took Makai to Kekaha to go swimming.

Makai Facetimed us every day, but mostly because he wanted to see KC!

Niko pulled this potato out of the cupboard and chewed on it for a week!

Makai and Gracie developed a sibling-like relationship with all of the fun and fighting that goes with that!

Grace and Makai separated for by grandpa for dinner at Pietro’s Pizza and Pasta in Poipu. Too much arguing, not enough eating!

Some down time.

On July 15, Uncle Jose arrived. He hung out with everyone for a few days. Supposedly Salt Pond was overrun with homeless camps and it had just gotten cleaned out, so Jose and Caroline took all the kids to Salt Pond. Jose, Caroline and Niko then flew back to Arizona, leaving Grace to stay with Makai and Grandma and Grandpa. They had dinner at Wranglers because there were no openings at Eating House 1849 until the end of August!!

Cross Stitch

 

When we started quarantine this year in March I started to cross stitch for something to do. This was a craft and hobby that I’d done before, but not for something like 20 years or more. I picked a coronavirus-related pattern and bought a supply kit off of Amazon and got to it.

I finished my first project in April and framed it. It’s hanging in our downstairs guest bathroom.

I started a second project. It seemed fun and easy and appropriate since I was working at Pizza Hut. Romi saw a photo of this project and said he liked it and I should start an Etsy shop. I surprised him by making him one. So I made this same project twice.

In May I started working on some snowflake patterns. I thought this material was going to be more of a red color, but I used it anyway.
I started cross stitching swear words! LOL. I made two of the simplified patterns for friends – Matt and Mayur – and the more elaborate pattern with flowers for myself. I finished these in June.

The pandemic wasn’t the only hard thing this year. Politics were crazy. Trump is a terrible human being. Not he’s a bad president. He is a bad person. I thought often of Obama and the hope he instilled in everyone and YES WE CAN. And even if you disagreed with his politics, he is a GOOD person and tried his best. I started cross stitching this HOPE portrait of Obama. I haven’t finished it yet.

October. Some Halloween projects.

Didn’t quite finish this one:

November: Switched from Halloween work to Christmas projects. The beading was fun!

Dumpster fire!

Making this for a gift for Makai.

December: Getting ready for Christmas! I stitched some of these earlier in the year, but just now figuring out how to make them into ornaments.
This is a series of snowflake ornaments I made. I liked the intricate look of 16 or 18 pt aida, but it was hard to work with.

I improvised with the seed beads because I hate doing french knots. I think this turned out good! These were fun to make.

I think I made 6 of these total! One for myself and 5 to give away!

This was cute, but the instructions were incomplete and it required a lot of extra things like special thread for the beard and the little snowflake metal ornaments. It was way too fussy and not worth it.

 

Quick Get Away to New Buffalo, Michigan

Just about everyone we know goes to Michigan for long weekends in the summer or short drives to the beach or a break from the city, but I have never been there for this sort of thing. Dallas surprised me by asking if I wanted to go as a last minute get away for his birthday. We decided to go to New Buffalo, since it was only about an hour drive from our house.

The house we chose was small and cozy and eccentrically decorated. I loved the location being on a quiet street but walking distance to downtown and the lake. And it was pet friendly.

Another big selling point was a jungle gym in the yard and three cool swings! There were also boards nailed to the tree so you could climb it.  It was chilly, but we still made good use of them every day.

For his birthday, Dallas only wanted to rest. So he did. Makai and I went exploring. It was cold and we still had to be careful because of the virus, but we made the best of it. We went to David’s Deli and Coffee for a latte and a hot chocolate. They had a takeout window and it worked out great. We then walked to the lake to check it out. There was a playground at the lakefront and Makai had fun on it. It was sooooo long since he’d been on a playground, since all of them in Chicago in Chicago are closed.

For Dallas’s birthday dinner we got takeout from Beer Church Brewing. We loved the pizza and the beer! We didn’t go inside the building, just picked up our order from a window, but it looked pretty cool. It is actually a former church!

Makai wanted to go on the swings as much as possible.

Makai liked his hot chocolate from David’s so much we got it every day!

The neighbor told Dallas about a park nearby and so we walked over. There was a big playground and a big hill that KC ran up and down and Makai rolled down. KC also learned how to dig holes. A lot of them!

We went back to Beer Church and got more beer!