Neighborhood just got better

A year after we moved to New York the 2008 financial crisis hit and many stores in our neighborhood went out of business.   It has been exciting to see many of the empty store fronts return with viable businesses and what is more viable than a bakery?!  This little bakery is just one block from the house and sits next door to the Pinkberry which sits alongside the Starbucks, which sits next to the vegetarian place, which sits next to a small pizza place that makes a pretty good slice of white, which sits next to McDonalds.  Not fine dining, but a few choices when you want something easy and quick.  We actually don't frequent the McDonalds anymore.  We took Henry there and he threw up all night.  Seems like a pretty good reason never to return.  I stopped in for the "soft opening" of the Paris Baguette and was hoping for a baguette.  Turns out it is mostly croissants, turnovers, sliced breads, and sandwiches.  Maybe with the "hard opening" they will have the baguettes as long as your arm that you can slather with butter and eat all by yourself.

I'm back

I didn't really go anywhere, but I wanted to start blogging again.  My intent when I first started blogging was to capture all of the wonderful events and happenings in the city.  And that worked for a long time, but real life kind took over and while I hate to admit it,  happenings in the city didn't seem quite as unique to me anymore.  It was hard to know what to blog about.  I also didn't blog about one of the most important things to me and that is my family, unless they came to New York and we did New York things.  This new attempt at blogging will be less about just New York things and more about my real life.
Since moving to New York some pretty remarkable things have happened to our family.  Our youngest daughter got married and seven more grandchildren have been added to the mix with one more coming to us in July.   We have had four graduations, three from graduate school and one undergraduate.  One family moved from Charlotte to Denver, another family from Ann Arbor to Seattle, another family moved from Salt Lake City to Austin, and still another family recently moved from Austin to Portland.  That means we have children living in some of the greatest cities in the country---Denver, Portland, Seattle and Austin.
It has been my goal to visit every family, every quarter.  This means that sometimes a family will come to New York and sometimes I will fly out to see them.   I have managed to keep up the schedule and it has helped create wonderful memories with the grand children.
While we have been true to our pledge to do something every month that you can only do in New York, it has actually become more difficult as we have allowed "real life" determine our schedules.  Sometimes our unique New York thing might be as simple as walking to Levain bakery for a chocolate chip walnut cookie, or walking across a new path in Central Park, or finding a one of a kind shop in SoHo.  I think I have mentioned it before, but we have magnificent city views from our apartment and everyday, depending on the weather, how the sunlight hits a building, or how full the moon is, or how hard the wind is blowing, something unique can be seen on a daily basis by just looking out the windows.  Sometimes balloons float by and we are 29 stories above ground.
Let the 2014 blogging begin!