IT'D BE A SHAME TO MISS NEW YORK IN THE SPRING

today was really rather funny.

first you should know, these trees and i are not getting along too well. i'm a sneezing mess but let's not dwell on it. somehow i peeled myself off the couch and pulled on some proper clothes, stuffed my toddler in his stroller, that sort of thing. adventures aren't going to have themselves, you know.

and then it was so soupy out. my hair went pfffft and that's when you learn what you're really made of, when the hair you've just carefully brushed into place goes all rogue on you. i blame the weather for this next part, too: stupidly i spent nine dollars this morning on a bottle of green juice from organic avenue. i drank it really fast (while pulling all my most attractive faces, seriously, yuck), and then i suddenly turned into a freaking superhero. holy the what, kale juice! i am telling you i was unstoppable. 

so anyway.

i went on to have a very you've got mail-y type afternoon. 

we passed barney greengrass while running errands so we stopped in for a bagel (this is where birdie and kathleen have the discussion about the "book district" and the "vice versa" and also that very crunchy sounding tuna sandwich or whatever that was).

i bought an enormous bouquet of lilacs plus two peonies because they were on sale at a corner deli and i'm no fool (they're not daisies but i feel impulse flower purchases of all types are a very kathleen kelly thing to do)

once errands were accomplished we went to riverside park for an afternoon playground date and got to walk past that sweet little flower garden at 91st street.

and then by sheer accident we walked down 89th street on our way home. 89th being where they filmed the exterior shots of kathleen's apartment (i am pathetic and/or awesome for knowing this stuff).

to make things even nuttier, i remembered on the way home that some of brandon's shirts needed to be picked up from the dry cleaners. and this is where we come full circle, because our dry cleaner dude used to be on columbus avenue but recently moved into the space that used to be cafe sonatina, which before that used to be maya's cheese shop, which before that used to be . . . the shop around the corner. no i am NOT kidding you and that is why i'm willing to walk eight blocks out of my way to still use our old neighborhood dry cleaner dude.

sometimes i am such a cliché of myself. but today i was real happy to have them. even in this big old city where it can sometimes feel like it's me against the world, and where i sometimes feel so off my game, i have somehow made these little pockets of "me" here and there. little pockets that remind me that this big place is mine, too. 

i think it's important to have little pockets like that, where ever we may live.

a few photos from our afternoon at the park. my kid is a giant.