One of the highlights of summer in New York is an evening at the Cantor Roof Garden at the Met. When we learned a good friend would be in town and that she had Friday afternoon plans to visit the Alexander McQueen exhibit, we knew a trip uptown was in order. We met up with her (and ended up running into other friends as well) before heading across the park to the uptown location of one of our favorite dinner spots, Fatty Crab.
It was hard to compare Caro’s steel sculptures with the sheer scale and beauty of the past two years’ exhibitions (Maelstrom and the Starn brothers), but in truth the real show has always been the city and the surrounding sky. Just being up there above the tree line of Central Park is incredible.
Not to sound gross (I promise I do shower regularly), but I’ve relied on dry shampoo for years to keep greasy roots at bay and, in a pinch, rush off to work without washing my hair. My mom first shared this trick with me when1970s-era Psssssssst! was a common drugstore find–and suggested baby powder as an alternative. The risk, however, is that you end up looking dusty (as bad as tell-tale orange streaks with fake tan).
I can imagine dry shampoo might come in especially handy with a new baby (rumor has it that short-cuts in personal grooming become paramount), so I thought I’d share my personal favorite of the brands out there: Oscar Blandi Pronto
(the powder, not the spray). I’ve also heard great things about Klorane. Do you have any favorite short-cut confessions?
With temperatures nearing the 90s, Monday seemed like a great day for the beach! And we’ve been wanting to return to Sandy Hook–possibly one of our favorite day trips from the city, especially thanks to the amazing ferry trip one takes to get there from Manhattan. (Here are some photos from our first visit.)
I had investigated water temperatures for the Central Atlantic coast and learned that Sandy Hook might be our best chance for comfortable waters (estimated at 75 degrees). What I didn’t know was whether we would find the trip worthwhile if we drove rather than cruised over there, a choice we made based on the holiday ferry schedule (non-ideal) and the off-chance that I could go into labor and we’d be stuck waiting for a boat off the beach (unlikely, but who knows?).
Verdict? It was still awesome! Take the ferry if you can, but regardless this is a great destination.
By the way, 75 degrees is still quite cool–as in bracing, struggle-to-get-in, best-to-run-and-jump cool–but the water felt wonderful once we were in. I admit I inched my way. (There was no way I was running and doing a belly flop at 37 weeks pregnant; wearing a bikini with a basketball-shaped belly made me stand out enough!)
