On Sunday, we had another celebration, Helen's birthday brunch at Artisanal. Jesse and Thom gave Helen art for her birthday too, a beautiful picture of the Brooklyn Bridge embroidered with one piece of black thread.
This was NOT followed by great theater as planned (the stagehands strike started the previous morning and shut down Broadway), but by an afternoon of wandering the magnificent Central Park and then warming up with cold beers at Dive 75, a neighborhood bar near the park. 
Wonderful friends and family, wonderful city. Thank you so much to everyone who joined us in celebration -- Barbara, Steve, Judy, Billie, Jesse, Thom, Helen, Eleanor, Susan, Paul, Jerry, Marjorie, Val, Tony, Meryl, Alec, Susan, Heather, Steve, Matthew, Melissa. And thanks to Barbara & Steve for some of the photos.
My mother does not like Florida. So even though it was not a great winter in NY, it was tough to convince her to come down here. She finally arrived in February for a few days of theater, spa, cuddling with the boys and Daisy, trying to pretend the birds aren't around, and playing Wii Sports. And hanging with Mark and me.
Then we settled in for some amazingly crispy and delicious pizza, and this huge calzone, at Lucali.
And watched her walk back to the office before heading down to the lower east side for a bit of shopping.
Love how New Yorkers enjoy their parks. Central Park is spectacular.
Prospect Park is nice too, and we enjoyed a picnic by the lake one day.
Another day we went to MoMA to see Home Delivery, interesting show about prefabs.
Our last night in the city, Mark and I met up with Jesse and Thom for dinner at La Paloma in the Village for some good Mexican food.
