Easter

Tulips from Chels's fam

Tulips I bought from Union Square

Dina and Lola

I had a great Easter Sunday.  My work BFF Dina invited me to have dinner with her and her family at her sister's place on the UES.  Allow me to talk about Dina for a second.  We sit about a foot away from each other at work, 9 hours a day, 5 days a week.  We've gotten to know each other very well.  I absolutely adore her.  I would be lost on the trading floor without her.  She's always so helpful in anything that I ask her, doesn't lose her patience with me, etc etc.

On the other hand, Dina is the poster child for jaded New Yorker.  She cusses like a sailor, tells it like it is, gets annoyed at people when they're idiots, will openly talk about babies that are ugly, and actually utters the phrase "fuggedabowdit" (except it actually sounds really natural).  You really can't appreciate Dina in all her glory without meeting her.  

That being said, if you bring up Lola, her pekingese (or any dog for that matter) she turns into absolute mush, it's like the anti-Dina.  She talks baby talk, gets a high pitched voice, and scrunches up her face.  It's the funniest thing, hence, the photo op.  This was my first time meeting Lola, and I had to capture the moment.

Easter was a feast at Dina's sister's.  It was Dina, her sister Christy (or Bubba, as she calls her) and husband John Wolfgang, John's son and future daughter-in-law, Dina's brother John, her mom Elsie, and of course Lola.  The dinner was seriously amazing.  I felt like I was back at home with my mom's delicious cooking.  Bubba and John's apartment is so nice.  It's one of the only "grown up" apartments I've been in in the city.  It was a three bedroom, three bathroom.  I was so impressed.  It had beautiful artwork, and was just all around decorated so well.  It was like those apartments you see on sitcoms based in New York and think, "Yeah, like you could actually afford that working at a coffee shop."  Anyway, it's hard to imagine or appreciate (with my horrible recap) if you don't live here.

One of my favorite parts of the experience was sitting at the dining table, looking at all the photos.  There was Christy and John in front of the Egyptian pyramids, then Christy and John in front of the Eiffel Tower, then Christy and John in black tie, posed with a chimpanzee.  I asked where that was taken and Christy said, "Oh, that was a charity event we went to."  I couldn't help but say, "Wow, you are like, such a real housewife of New York City."

After dinner I headed over to Curtis's apartment where there was another gathering (I'd gotten the invite after I'd accepted the invite at Dina's.)  There was a group hanging out and the dessert Amber made looked absolutely amazing, but I was so stuffed (and so sleepy) I couldn't have more than a bite of the blackberry peach cobler.

All in all, it was a great day.