My civil duty...

On Monday I made my first ever appearance for jury duty! I dragged myself to the Kings County courthouse arriving at 8:45 am, exactly on time. I entered the jury pool room with about 60-75 other potential jurors and we waited and waited and waited.

Finally some guy (he never really said who he was) entered the room. He put on a video about the history of trials, which started with the very logical method of "If they float they're guilty, if they sink they're innocent" and ended with our current system of trial by jury.

After the video the guy gave us a short spiel of the procedures, which mainly consisted of "unless I ask you, please do not approach the counter". And then we waited and waited and waited.

Right before lunch about 18 people were pulled into a separate room. Then we had about and hour and a half to eat. When we got back I took a short nap :)

Finally the guy announced that our "torture" was over and he'd see us "in about 8 years".

Glad to have that out of the way. Although it would have been rather exciting to be chosen for a trial.

Liberty

We were graced with yet another Schneider this weekend. Liberty "Libby" Schneider came out to visit her brother Mac,

and course that means she got Marni and I as well.

Libby had been here before, but this time seeing the city through adult eyes. We started off meeting up for a little pizza (of course) in Mac's neighborhood, then off to Times Square to take in the bright lights of the big city. The night was capped off by the release of Harry Potter: The Deathly Hollows.

M had reserved her copy to pick up after midnight on Friday, but ended up getting there too late (they closed again at 1am). However, luckily on our way to the subway we found a little convenience store/book shop that had several copies at discounted price right there. Marni has taken to reading the other six books again (fourth or fifth time probably) before she starts the finale. She's got two more books to go.

Saturday we woke up and joined Mac and Libby in Central Park where we had a relaxing day taking in the Strawberry Fields portion of the park, and sitting near the John Lennon Memorial.


We then headed to Chinatown for a bit of shopping, and Soho for an afternoon snack as we made our dinner plans. We decided to try the east village thai restaurant called Holy Basil. It was quite good and we had a great time in the dark and mysterious restaurant.

We then retired to Decibel, the sake bar, where we enjoyed a couple of bottles and many many many servings of edamamme.

Meanwhile...

While Jared, Jasper, and Mac were liv'in it up in NYC. I was hard at work in MSP, well at least for the first 4 days I was there. My mom and sister Jenna, did a lot of running around with me. We went dress shopping, looked at reception/ceremony venues and had a food tasting (YUM). I still haven't bought a dress yet, but I have one in mind :)
Jared and I have also pretty much decided our reception/ceremony venues, but will do an official post about it later.

After my 4 days of hard work, my family and I went up to our cabin on Mink Lake. We were joined by Katie, Jason, and Tyler LaMott. Tyler is about 10 months now and Megan is 13 months. It was really fun to see them together. However, there was some biting, hogging of toys, and crying involved.



Megan has already discovered the telephone and will adamantly chat away. But only if there isn't a real person on the line. She's also holding a toy MP3 player and enjoys pushing buttons on my digital camera. Already an electonics freak!

Megan is growing up too fast. She loves to rock her baby dolls and 'dress-up' with her hat and purse.




Below is Megan with my grandma Lois. Gram really loves having her great grandkids at the lake.


On Wednesday night, to celebrate Independence Day, Justin put on a great fireworks show. And Jason brought his ATV and had great time riding around in the woods. The boys also ran into a bit of trouble when they tried to go fishing. Neither of them were very good at getting the boat motor started. In fact, while Jason had tried to get it going he drifted off and Justin had to paddle out in the canoe to deliver some oars so Jason could row back!

Of course when my dad gave the motor a try of course started immediately :)
Well hope your 4th was fun! Mine was :)

Marni Out, Jasper In

Two months ago Marni decided to go to Minneapolis on June 29 to start a 9 day vacation at home with her family. Two days ago, my best friend Jasper decided to start a 3 day vacation to NYC. Interestingly enough, Marni's travels and Jasper's travels ended up sharing more than just their day of departure. Upon waiting in the airport for her flight to Minneapolis, who steps off the plane coming from Minneapolis but Jasper! They hug. They chat. They don't take a picture...so I have nothing to post.

So unfortunately Marni's travels home means she was to miss out on the fun that would ensue due to Jasper's travel to NYC. And here is how it went...

Jasper arrived Friday around 7 and took a cab to my office on 22nd street. There I give him a tour of my office and we await Mac to join us. As fast we can thereafter...we find a Chipotle for dinner! We then head to the West Village, drop off our bags, and grab a pitcher of Sangria.

We'd figured we might not hit midtown later in the weekend, so after the Sangria we went straight to Times Square, so Jasper could see it in its nighttime glory.

We then head over to Mac's office on 57th Street, and while on the way, we figure we'll stop at the Apple Store (it's about 1am at this point, and the Apple Store is 24hrs) to check out the newly released iPhone. It was a little heavy, and a little grimy.

The next morning we planned a little walking tour. We hit up the World Trade Center, Statue of Liberty...

...Canal Street (to buy some "designer" purses as gifts)...

...a bit of Soho, and back to the West Village to relax before our evening plans.

After picking up Mac's girlfriend Crystal at Penn Station, and a brief bit of unfinished work at my office, we headed to dinner at Freeman's Alley on the lower east side. We ate late...and closed the place down.

But the night did not end. We hung out in the East Village for a couple more hours, and then headed home via cab. Mac and I have sort of made a ritual out of our late night hunger. After our nights events we typically retire to his neighborhood where we promptly grab a slice of pizza at one of the many late night pizza joints. Here we are at The Pizzeria.

I was smart and I packed clothes for the weekend and brought them with me to work on Friday anticipating that I might stay at Mac's (rather than going back to Brooklyn each night). It worked great on Friday, but with Crystal's arrival on Saturday, it left us with very little space in Mac's NYU Law School dorm.

Yes, you are seeing that correctly. There is a mattress on top of a desk where Crystal is sleeping.

Sunday we got up bright and early. Yep, started the day at 1pm. After a little Thai food for breakfast, we headed to City Hall where we started our trek across the Brooklyn Bridge.

The walk was nice, and not too busy.

We then toured my neighborhood and showed Jasper the small little apartment where Marni and I live.

The night wrapped up with a little more gift shopping for the family back home (Jasper's wife Kim and son Jack), some baseball on TV, and of course one last slice of pizza (this time at Pizza Box).

Though short, we made the most of a weekend for sure. It was great to have Jasper come visit, and spend his first time in NYC with Mac and I. We look forward to our next adventure, wherever that may be...

PS-My camera is starting to act weird. Turning everything pink and green. I had to treat some of these photos to make them presentable. It looks a little artsy, but not half bad. I think I am now in the market for a new digital camera.