It was crazy to think that I�d be on a vacation in NYC after living there for 9 years, and while still having an apartment there. But it happened. It was pretty fun, but also weird. I am not a fan of feeling like a visitor at home. Or feeling like home doesn�t �exist� anymore.

More fun, less downers!

When we got into town Mike was already hot in the middle of a sci-fi original pictures marathon on the sci-fi channel (thank you jetBlue!). As we landed at JFK we went over the rocky water. I have never seen waves like that near the airport, but it appeared that the hurricane was to blame. It was gray and rainy as we got into our cab and I LOVED it. I know the weather in California is awesome and everything, but I miss rain and drizzle and rainy days where you stay inside and watch movies all day, with naps sprinkled in between. We got home and basically lazily lounged and ate bagels (thank you, bagel store!) and finished watching �Larvae!� and then settled into the very hilarious �Raptor Island.�

That night was Will Hines� birthday bash at his apartment. We were to bring something for the �grab bag� so we quickly whipped up an awesome mix cd before running out. The party was fun but I am generally allergic to Will�s place (thank you, cats!) so I don�t think I was too pretty for the shindig, what will all the face dripping and red hives. I was able to make it for about 4 hours though, so it was okay. We won a mix cd from the grab bag made by a girl who was significantly pregnant. Lots of girl ballads on that cd. I was just happy that we got something that someone had put effort into instead of one of the many �I�m just getting rid of some crap from my apartment� �gifts� people had thrown in. Ptolemy had me pretend to grab a number so that I could then pretend that I won a framed picture of Will�s grandpa in the grab bag. That bit went for a while. Someone else put his prized original artwork in the grab bag and another person put his favorite graphic novel in. I was not allowed to keep the photo.

The next day Mike complained of brain damage. And, no, I am not kidding. I think alcohol mixes weirdly with his medicine, because he only had 1 beer and he was in pain for 2 days afterwards with a foggy head and liver pain. He literally told me that he felt like he had hurt his brain. We managed to go to Dumont for brunch anyway. This may be our favorite place. I can�t even remember all the birthday dinners etc... that we�ve had there. Delish! Then Mike went to a lame coffee shop to work lamely on his script while I took a long train ride to LaGuardia to pick up Sarah. I was in the mood for a long ride and it did not disappoint. And now I am sick of the NYC subway again, as it should be. Sarah�s duct taped luggage arrived and we were off to Brooklyn.

Sunday night was rainy so we just took it easy and ordered in some Planet Thai (thank you, delivery!) and watched dvds. It was the most relaxing night we had I think.

Monday Mike�s brain was still hurting but we awoke and went to Teddy�s for brunch with Ann and Sarah. So, so delicious. By the way, when thinking of being home, I basically planned out all the things I wanted to eat while there. I am a GENIUS. Mike went to Film Forum to see the Buster Keaton Movies which we were going to do that night, but things changed so he treated himself while I walked around the neighborhood with Ann and Sarah. We took particular pause at the dog park while we ogled stranger�s dogs and felt sad and lonely for not having any of our own. It was a beautiful day. Then I picked up a birthday cake at Settepani for Mike�s grandma (kim, it was their delicious carrot cake!). The lady kind of messed up the lettering but gave me a tip to serve the cake in the dark and put candles on it.

Monday night was Mike�s family celebrating his birthday early and his grandma�s birthday late (his grandma is 90, I think). It was fun! Mike got an awesome new digital camera (the new version of mine) so now we have a tiny elph family. Lucky duck. We then promptly spent the rest of our time taking pictures of everything and ignoring each other completely.

Monday night Mike went out with his friends and my friend Kelly arrived in NYC. Welcome, Kelly! Sarah and I, because we are jerks, knew she was reading in her car waiting for us to get home, so we snuck up behind her car and then jumped out and screamed and pounded the windows. She screamed so loudly. It kind of ruled. Mike was out until like 3am and we had lazy time and girl talk in his absence. I think it was Monday night that Sarah realized that she does not have a return ticket home and will be living in NYC now. That is always an interesting revelation

Tuesday was a big day for our 5 year old friend Lillie. First day of kindergarten! And Mike and I got to be the ones to pick her up. So exciting! It was so crowded at the school and all of the parents were crowding in (which was hilarious since we went on Wednesday and it was almost ALL babysitters) and the teacher was trying to meet all the parents. Mike handed his camera up to me (no worries, many pics will follow once we upload them) because he was getting lost in the sea of parents in the hall and then all these dads were like �camera! camera!� and started handing their cameras up. It was fairly hilarious. Then I went in to Lillie and told her Mike was in the hall and she took off. Aww, kids can be heartbreaking. Mike was in the waiting area by then so she ran up to him and he picked her up and took her to the hallway. I can�t remember what else we did, only that we saw Brandon and Karen�s new place and then went to Katz�s for dinner with Pete and Mike�s parents. Also delicious!

Wednesday was a blur of picking Bain up at school, going up to grand central with Mike for the airport shuttle and then taking a long walk down to the L train. I love walking around NYC. It�s one of my favorite things to do. Mike really should have stayed all week. He thought I was crazy for booking a whole week, but time flies when you have so much to do and so many people to see. I think he learned his lesson though and next time he�ll plan better. Ann called to see if we wanted to have dinner and then watch the Runway (I think I added on the Runway, but it was Wednesday so it had to happen). Dumont it was! MM mmm delicious. I had corn chowder and roasted chicken and it painfully tasty. Everyone else got burgers, which are also really good there. Tough decision! The Runway was good, as always, so it was a night well spent.

Thursday I was supposed to have lunch with Glenn but we are lame and missed each other and then both left. I did see the large US Open set up in Rockafeller Center and ended up eating a snack there while watching Navratalova�s last ladies doubles match on a huge screen tv with fake tennis stadium seats. Then I met Sarah after her (hilarious?) day signing up at temp agencies. One devil-woman told her to show more skin and wear some lipstick and rouge if she wants to get ahead in this town. Seriously! She said that! If I wasn�t so busy laughing, I�d be busy being appalled. Luckily, the other one came through for her and by Friday she had a full time job starting Monday! Hooray for Sarah.

Rich hosted a trivial pursuit party way out in Astoria on Thursday night. My team (red couch!) ruled all and was amazing at everything. True story. The night went later than expected, and because I am not used to being home, I forgot that our train stopped running at midnight, d�oh! Rich is a sweet guy though and he drove us home in his very nice car with Sirius radio jamming out the Reggae hits.

Friday was grocery shopping, lunch with the R* guys, and then meeting Glenn up at Sony. Meeting Glenn always rules because he gives me lots of cds. Oh, and he�s funny and nice and all that. But, really, more the free stuff. Gimme gimme. This time it was Roy Orbison re-releases, the new Beyonce and the new (special edition!) Bob Dylan. Free stuff is one of my favorite parts of life.

And then it was..... LADIES NIGHT! That�s right, my apartment was overflowing with the ladies. Super fun. The only downer was that Michelle didn�t make it and Laura (who just emailed the day before that she�d be there) forgot and just stayed at home or something. Still good though. It lasted until 4:40am and I was pretty tipsy on sangria. Kim and I schooled the young ones in shout about movies. True story. I woke up the next day still a bit tipsy. That is not so classy, especially for a total lady like myself.

I mainly watched the US Open and lounged around, pretending I was going to shower and leave. Haha, nice try, self! It never happened. I did go out at 6 to tag along with Scott�s birthday dinner at CraftSteak. It was very very delicious, but pretty (read: VERY) pricey. I love food, and making food, and eating food. But there is a part of me that wonders how amazing food would have to be to be worth tons of money. I mean, I�ve had super delicious meals at Baja Fresh.

I was supposed to see the kids again before leaving but it did not work out. Dang! I was too late. So I hung out with Sarah and procrastinated on packing. It was weird to be packing to leave. And extra weird to leave Sarah there by herself. When I called my car service at 5:15am it was weird saying bye to her. I wonder if she was freaking out. In the car on the way to the airport I got pretty teary eyed at the prospect of leaving again. I�m not sure why exactly. The most I have figured out is that I came out here with some plans in mind, and none have really happened, so maybe I am feeling a bit useless out here. Or, just that I am not doing anything out here that I couldn�t do in New York. And that it's weird to be so spread out but not really be settled anywhere. I also miss my friends. That part was easy to figure out.

And on a final note, it�s official, I am allergic to Los Angeles. For the 4th time (out of 10 times?) I have had a horrible allergic reaction upon arriving in LA. But the weather is good, right? That�s what everyone says about living out here. �It totally sucks.... but the weather is good!� or �I came out here to be an actress but am now working the pole at �The Cave�... but the weather is good!� and on and on and on.

On that note, time to hole up inside an office and miss out on this good weather some more while I pump my face full of allergy medicine. Fun!

(This took me two days to write out and is very long. Hopefully it�s not too terribly dull.)