airport

Thanks to my lovely cousin, Dominic, who is a very savvy New Yorker, Kevin and I found an airport shuttle that took us all the way from the Upper East Side to JFK for only $15 a person. We were picked up at Molly and Patrick's apartment at 9:15 this morning and were at the airport by 9:45; SO much more convenient than taking the subway!

Our flight doesn't leave until 1:50 pm, so we've got a bit of time to kill here at our gate. Kev is working on a Sudoku puzzle (I got him addicted on the flight over here), and I'm working up the motivation to get some homework done (if I can resist watching the latest episode of The Office online).


We had a great time on our NY trip - seeing Jarom, the Shulmans, Molly, Patrick, Dominic, Kate, Leo, Alison, and John, hiking in Ithaca, hanging out at the Chapter House, eating great food, taking a trip to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, exploring Battery Park, finding cool art in Central Park, luxuriating at the Hudson Hotel, sitting on the steps of the Met eating a NY hotdog, walking miles and miles around the city - it was wonderful! I'll post pictures sometime later this week.

some good advice for uncertain times

Yipes! Woke up this morning to the news that WaMu has failed, and while I am not normally someone who a) pays very close attention to financial news, or b) panics about money and starts making a list of all her assets (turns out, ha, there aren't many), I did get a bit jittery and anxiously started to talk about the need for us to "really tighten our belts," and how it wouldn't be a bad idea for us to start concocting a worst-case-scenario plan. Really beautiful timing - talking about cutting back while lounging in our luxurious room at a fancy-schmancy hotel in Manhattan. Nice.

I tried to lighten the mood by joking to Kevin that we should take a walk down to Wall Street and get a picture of ourselves next to the famous bull, with really sad looks on our faces. I changed my mind when I imagined some desperate, half-crazed, banker making a run for me and tackling me down to the ground while yelling "THAAAAAAAT'S NOT FUNNY!"

In all seriousness, though, these are precarious times and although I'm not sure what the coming days will bring, I have a pretty good idea that (after this vacation) the Shevlins will be just like a couple of little Minnesota squirrels saving up and putting it all away for the long winter ahead.

Some good advice for these uncertain times.

manhattan

Arrived in NYC about an hour ago after a relatively quick and easy drive from Ithaca (easy for me since I slept most of the way), checked into the awesome Hudson Hotel on West 58th St. (yeah for Priceline), and we are now getting ready to cab it over to Molly and Patrick's neighborhood for dinner. I am so excited to be in my second favorite city (sorry New Yorkers, SF has my heart), and can't wait to get out the door and wander around!

Beautiful photo from here.

just like old times

We're in Ithaca! We left Minneapolis at around 8:15 yesterday morning, had a brief layover at JFK, and landed in Syracuse just before 3 pm. It was so lovely driving into town - the fall colors are just beginning to change and I had a sudden flood of sentimental memories from our two years in Ithaca. After checking into our hotel downtown, we met our good friend Jarom on campus (he was also here for a corporate briefing at the B-school), and then Kev got ready for his presentation. He did a great job and was so relieved to have it over with. Has he convinced a Cornellian or two to join us in the Midwest? Perhaps!

This morning we slept in, had a delicious late breakfast at Ithaca Bakery - Kev got the brie and ham sandwich, his favorite, and I got the College Town BLT - delicious! After lunch we decided to drive along Lake Cayuga to Taughannock State Park and did the 25-minute hike along the gorge to Taughannock Falls. GORGES! It was so beautiful and Kev and I realized just how lucky we were to have lived in this beautiful place and have this type of scenery at our fingertips. On our walk we started day-dreaming about renewing our vows someday at Taughannock Falls. We planned an entire event in about twenty minutes (if only planning our wedding had been as easy). Who knows? In eight years we could be back at the falls celebrating 10 years of marriage.

Now, we're relaxing at the hotel and getting ready to walk around downtown and pay a visit to the Shulman family (whom I used to nanny for). Kieran was only 6 months old and Kayla only 4 when I first met them, and they are now 3 and almost 7 years old...whoa! Later we'll head over to Sticky Rice (our old favorite Thai/Laotian place), and then maybe we'll catch a movie at Fall Creek and end the night with beers and darts at our favorite Ithaca bar, the Chapter House. So fun!

Lovely photo of Taughannock Falls from here.