Family Business: Part I

  

Mom & Brother in Time Square

Monteil & Diddy

  Thursday morning, Mom and Monteil arrived. I had Thursday and Friday off of work so that I could spend as much time with them as possible. I'd decided early on that we'd try to get all of the touristy stuff out of the way on Thursday in hopes of avoiding as many crowds as possible. My mom had been to the city once before when she accompanied me for a career workshop I went to last November, but this was my brother's first time. Naturally, he had his own little list of things and places that he wanted to see. So Thursday we started with the basics: Time Square, Central Park, Columbus Circle, Financial District, skyline, etc...all that stuff. We rode the subway a lot, so they were able to experience all of the craziness that is the New York Subway system. Thank god we did ride the subway a lot because my mom's high-maintenance self was not up for doing too much walking. Often times, like when we were here before, I had to kind of trick her to milk her for as many blocks as I could. "Don't worry mom, we're almost there," ten blocks later, "only a little further." Haha, but she did well.

     So we walked around Time Square and made our way towards Columbus Circle and the Upper West Side. We stopped for Pizza before lolly-gagging through Central Park. The park is so gigantic that I feel like it's nearly impossible to navigate through. Fun Fact: Did you know that Central Park accounts for approximately 6% of all of Manhattan? So, we did that and continued down 5th Ave past all of the Pradas and Guccis. Most importantly, we passed Harry Winston. I'd been down 5th Ave before, but I guess I never paid attention, but oh my gosh. In the window, there were some of THEE most beeeeauuutiful diamond rings I've ever seen. And it was then that I decided, undoubtedly, if I am to be expected to marry someone and share the rest of my life with them...it will come at a cost no less than the finest of Harry Winston's most recent collection. Emerald Cut. Anyway, then we headed way downtown to the Financial District and I took them on the Staten Island Ferry. Mom loved that because we were able to sit most of the time, and it was a pretty warm day, so the breeze felt great. So we road over to Staten Island and then headed right back.

      By the time we finished on the Ferry, we were all pretty tired, so we headed back to Brooklyn and chilled there for the remainder of the night. We'd also planned to wake up early to go to Coney Island the next day, so we were able to restore our energy for that.

     Friday morning, we got a bit later of a start than originally planned, but were still able to make the most of the day. We took the subway to Coney Island, and it was a gorgeously sunny and warm day. As I am a firm believer than I am vitamin D-deprived in comparison to summers spent in the Midwest, I really just wanted to lay out and get my extra dark on. But they weren't really in agreeance--so they sat under the umbrella. There were people walking around on the beach selling "nutcrackers," and we had no idea what they were. So, I inquired; vodka (or a variety of liquors) and juice. Monteil and I figured it'd be a good idea to start drinking, so we bought some. We'd each get 2, and my mom would have 1. We did this like 3 times, but I only recall the first 2.