Remember this post?Well today was an even better day than I could have imagined!I took the 10:40 train into Penn Station and then took a cab over to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

I met Jillian right inside the door and we immediately took off walking through the fabulous art and talking a mile a minute! Art, politics, life, the universe and everything! We started with the Dutch paintings, the religious iconography, and wound our way through Italian, French and Spanish painters. We visited my favorite painting ever, ran to the bathroom over in the Asian Art wing, enjoyed the heck out of the “Dangerous Liaisons” exhibit and the sculpture gardens and then finished our day at the Temple of Dendur.

We left the museum and took a cab downtown to the Blue Water Grill and had lunch which was absolutely outstanding! We walked further downtown and met Jillian’s husband on the street (they’ve been married two years and I’d never met him before, can you imagine???)We stopped for drinks at the SOHO Grand Hotel and then wound our way down to Canal Street for some fabulous shopping!

We went to Jillian’s apartment which is on Greenwich and Jay and it was even more beautiful than I’d imagined! We sat down and talked and talked and talked and drank some champagne. Before I knew it, it was time for dinner, so we walked over to Zutto and drank wine and Saki and ate a ton of sushi. It was absolutely delicious!!

Jillian took the subway with me up to Penn Station and waited for my train with me. We hugged and kissed and promised that it wouldn’t be another four years before we actually saw each other again and I took the train back to my mother’s. Honestly, I swear, this was one of the top ten days of my entire life. NYC, sushi, champagne, great art, wonderful shopping and conversation like you can only have with a sister of your soul. What more could I possibly ask for?

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What a weekend! Friday afternoon I had lunch with a very good friend. He’s a priest from Ireland who visits every summer. Since I haven’t been in NY for six summers I haven’t seen him. He baptized my daughter, I’ve known him for 16 years and I absolutely adore him. I picked him up at the rectory around noon and we went to a favorite restaurant. We took up their table for 2 and a half hours and we had the most wonderful time.Fr. Paddy is a very bright man, he’s a scholar who teaches theology and philosophy at two universities in Dublin. We argued about religion, philosophy, American government, the DaVinci code, Mary Magdalene, and the apostle Peter. We discussed literature, art and politics. It was the most stimulating conversation I’ve had in YEARS! I just love talking to him and it was so good to see him. We got looks from the secretary at the rectory and laughed about it all through lunch. And lunch by the way was delicious!Friday night I went out for drinks with all the people I grew up with. I got home at 4:30 am and I can’t tell you what a wonderful time I had. We met at a pub in Oceanside and had a few drinks there and then my friend Joe had the idea to go see a friend of ours who was tending bar at a place we all used to go to quite a bit. Well, let me tell you that was the best idea ever! When everyone finally showed up (some of these people are notorious for being late) there was about 10 minutes of awkward conversation and sort of feeling each other out, but after that it was like it was 20 years ago. We picked up right where we all left off and I just kept hugging everyone. I wanted to take them all home with me, I swear! It’s so good to see these people.Saturday night a smaller group of us got together at one of the friend’s house. This time we brought our kids and it was wonderful to see that our kids got along as well as we did! There was much gossiping and reminiscing and it was just amazing to hang out with these people. It’s as if I never left.Weekends like this really make me want to stay here as long as possible. And I have to say that I think it’s imperative that I spend every summer in New York!

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We went to see The Lion King on Wednesday and it was absolutely terrific! The costumes and the set design was everything you’ve heard and more. We had such a great time. Took the train into Penn Station and walked to the theater. The weather was perfect and I just love walking around the city. I really do miss that.  Today I’m having lunch with an old friend and tonight I’m meeting my high school friends for drinks.I’ll take pictures of the shoes I bought later, they’re beautiful!!!!!

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Oh! And here’s pictures of the fabulous fireworks show last weekend, the 10th. Rockville Centre’s 111th anniversary and the kids with Uncle Dale!

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So my step sister’s engagement party is over and it was lovely! We had a “get to know the families” BBQ on Friday night. The families included a step-brother that I’d never met. Well, actually I sort of knew him when we were kids from the neighborhood and we had lots of fun reminiscing about all the crazy people who used to live here. Saturday afternoon we had a lovely party at a restaurant, and Saturday night we had about 100 people back to the house for another party.My friend Dale showed up at about 9:00 and at about 10:00 Dale and I took off to go dancing after I put the kids to bed. We went to a place that we used to do some serious damage in and there was actually someone sitting at the bar, that we had left there 20 years ago. Unbelievable…. But we had a fabulous time!Everyone is now recovering and I’m making plans with all of my friends. I’m really not in any hurry to go home… Jimmy’s off the week after Labor Day and if my mother and I can keep it together I might stay till then. Wish me luck.

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