As I mentioned a few days ago, we were on vacation for a week in a half in New York. We spent some time in the city and then headed out to the Hamptons where we were lucky enough to stay at a friends’ vacation house.

The kids had the most fun riding the subway and climbing on rocks in Central Park. We took a pedicab tour of the park, which was super fun if a little cheesy. This is our tour guide, Vitaly:

We took the kids to the top of the Empire State Building, too. We pulled out all the stops and went to the 102nd floor, not just the 86th.

At one point, we were walking through a little square and saw some street dancers. I wanted to stay and watch, but for some reason the 9 year old was very nervous about it. Before it even started, he kept saying, “I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to see it.” But we stayed anyway, and these guys were really good. Towards the end, the leader of the group came up to my two boys, looked at the 9 year old and said, “Can you raise your hand?” Obediently, he did, and the guy shouted, “Yes! We have a volunteer!” I thought my son was going to pass out with embarrassment. Luckily all he had to do was stand in a line with some of the other dancers, and the lead dancer took a running jump and did a flip OVER the lineup of the group of them. It was really impressive. The 9 year old was so mad at me for making us stay. Secretly, I think he loved it, but on the surface he kept up his drama of annoyance.

We took the kids to a Broadway show one afternoon, and we took a taxi to get there. Not quite as exciting as the subway, but they still liked it. Taxi TV! No seatbelts!

Now, you know I wouldn’t go to NYC without making as much of a tour as possible of craft stores. I slipped away here and there when I could, although I did drag the fam with me to one place. First stop was Toho Shoji, a store that stocks tons and tons of the Japanese Toho seed beads and lots of other stuff. I bought some ball chain in different colors.

It was bead heaven.

Less than a block later was M & J Trimming, which I’ve ordered from before but had never visited. They have tons and tons of trim; ribbon, feathers, spikes, lace, whatever.

It is truly floor to ceiling ribbons. I didn’t get anything here, though; I think I was too overwhelmed.

I also stopped at Purl Soho. I love their blog the Purl Bee.

I ended up buying the yarn for their Bamboo Wedding Shawl:

Isn’t that gorgeous? I haven’t knitted in a while so hopefully it’ll come out ok. I’ve been practicing to renew my skills before I start in.

Another day, when we were all together, we stumbled on the Lion Brand Yarn Studio, which is sort of the headquarters of the brand. I loved this display in the front window:

They also had these crazy hats on display. They were apparently an art installation, not like, serious hats.

This tunic was really beautiful, made with mohair and silk.

This is what the 9 year old thinks of being in a yarn store.

After our time in Manhattan, we headed out to Sag Harbor and the other Hamptons.

The Hamptons are almost too charming for their own good. We basically spent our time at the various beaches and eating lobster.

The bay beach in Sag Harbor. Skipping rocks.

Main Beach in East Hampton

I love that shot.

We went out to Montauk to visit a beach there and tour the lighthouse. On the way, we had to stop at Lunch for… lunch. We thought about stopping there on the way back for dinner, but the 9 year old could not deal with the cognitive dissonance of eating dinner at Lunch.

Why yes, that is my LOBSTER for lunch.

The lighthouse was amazing and so interesting. It was commissioned by George Washington in 1796. That’s cool.

The house we stayed in was an old whaler’s cottage. Much of it was original, and it was so cute. I loved this old scale in the kitchen.

We went to dinner one night on the bay at this place called Beacon. I ordered a drink and then proceeded to take a picture of it and post it on Instagram. The 9 year old said to me, “Mommy, why did you take a picture of your champagne?” To which I replied, “It’s a Bellini.”

Those are the highlights, peeps. While on the beaches, I collected a metric bumload of rocks with visions of myriad projects in my head. Certainly, you will see said rocks and projects on these pages soon.

I thought I’d just pop in and direct you to the post I put up today for Apartment Therapy. I spent a ton of time on it, collecting some fun ideas for taking family photos, and I thought you all might like it. You can see it here.

See you soon!

I just got back from walking the dog, and I’m now musing about the rules involved. But first, I must digress.

I’ve been meaning to get off my duff for weeks and months to get myself in shape. It is so hard to overcome inertia, especially when said inertia involves things like chocolate croissants and sangria and mac and cheese and jelly beans. But you know what finally got the ball rolling for me? This post from Suburban Matron. And I signed up for My Fitness Pal, so I have people to talk to about it.

My goal is to get my body healthy, really, and to lose some weight along the way and build some muscle. My short term goal is to train for our family camp triathlon in July. We go to family camp every year, and last year I did the triathlon, and I came in LAST. Granted, one person dropped out, but still. The term “triathlon” is even a bit of a misnomer, since it’s only a 100 yard swim, 3 mile bike, and 1 mile run. It barely qualifies. But it is at something like 7000 ft elevation, and the run is practically all uphill, and yadda yadda I wasn’t a total embarrassment but I did come in dead last.

Pre-race. The swim is in the lake. I'm on the far right.

See that lady kind of hiding in the back in the blue bathing suit? That deceptively sexy cut-out bathing suit that reads, “Who me? I just hope I can finish this silly race. Hee hee!” That lady kicked our asses. She won for the women, and while she seemed all non-threatening when it came down to it she was like super athlete.

Post race. I'm 5 from the left.

Now post race, you can see super lady (#508) wearing the HAT OF VICTORY. The men’s and women’s winners each got a hat.

So, my goal this year isn’t even to move up in rankings. I don’t even care if I come in last again, because these are actually some pretty athletic people. I just don’t want to feel like I’m dying doing it. The run nearly killed me; after the swim (I can’t swim properly) and the bike, the run was honestly straight uphill, and I really did feel like I was going to pass out. So this year, I just want to be comfortable without making a completely poor showing.

So I’m starting my training with walking the dog. Gotta start somewhere, right? I leashed Caesar up and headed out.

Basking in the sun.

Along the way we met two different people also walking dogs, and each had very different reactions. The first was a woman who was walking a relatively large dog that looked like some kind of pit bull mix. She was leaving a wide berth between us, so I followed suit. Of course, as we got closer the dogs looked at each other, and Caesar is always curious about other dogs and likes to play with them, so he perked up and wagged his tail, and her dog did the same. But she kind of freaked OUT. She yanked the collar really hard and screamed, “DAISY!” Which I thought was kind of an inappropriate name for a dog that she clearly thinks is so vicious. I quickly tightened up on Caesar and moved forward, and we averted any kind of dog-related disaster. I’m sure she knows her dog and all dogs are different (and go to Heaven, of course), but DAMN.

Later, we passed an Australian shepherd. As we approached, we both slowed a bit and let the dogs smell each other. After a brief encounter, we both walked away. It was totally calm and friendly and normal.

So I wondered. What’s the etiquette here? If you have an aggressive dog, then I suppose it’s clear you stay away and keep a short leash. Literally. But what if your dog is normal and friendly, like Caesar? Do you let him walk up to another dog and sniff? I usually do. Although I suppose it’s also a subtle game of reading the other owner. Clearly I wasn’t letting Caesar approach the crazy lady with her dog, based on her reaction. Do you ask first: “is it ok if my dog smells your dog?”

I leave it to you, dear readers, to enlighten me. What are the politics of dog interaction while out for a neighborhood stroll?