More chandie love

courtesy of Grand Central Station...

Off to New York

So I'm off to the Gild Hall Hotel... I'm already in love.

June!

May was quite a month... And even though it has felt like summer for weeks, when the calendar switches to June, you know it's for reals.

Just a quick rewind, since we had such an amazing time in Lake Geneva. We've been going there for over five years, but somehow never made it to the Grand Geneva. It was perfect! We hiked, we swam, we (almost) went horseback riding (we decided at the last minute it was way too hot), which sounds like an old Tampax commercial (apropos since AF decided to show on the drive up :( ).

It is a lovely prairie style resort (think Frank Lloyd Wright), which made it all that much more surprising to learn that it was originally built as one of the two Playboy resorts (of all things) when Hef hung his hat in Chicago. It even has its very own airport and ski "mountain". After several decades hosting a who's who, it's been a more family friendly place now for about as long. I could live there, seriously.

more chandie love...

I was pretty excited to have had lost about ten pounds over the last several months, yay me. Well now some of that has been replaced by our trip to their dinner buffet, where I managed to eat my weight in crab legs and shrimp cocktail. Wish I could blame it on the awesome live jazz, or my first glass of wine in ages. Just a thought, a buffet may not be a good idea when you go from being jacked on hormones to bleeding like you've been gored at Pamplona.

the perfect terrace to enjoy the full moon (+one day)

They even had great shopping. How often can you say that about a resort? The clothing store was almost all Lilly, with several items that I bought in recent seasons (on sale, of course), and had even brought with me. Felt like I was walking through my own closet. I really liked this super cute silk dress, but at $370, I fought the urge to try it on.



Of course, I can't find them anywhere, but the chaise loungers by the pool Ibiza by Smith & Hawken were AMAZING.

It was super relaxing, think hammocks and Adirondack chairs everywhere, a mojito at the tiki bar, a super friendly Wisconsin staff, and the weather was so perfect. All for $69/night (ty Travelzoo!) We can't wait to go back!

Blast from the Past...

Elysian Lobby Chandie (love!)

S and I had a lovely time in the city last weekend, as I wrote about here.

Funny thing though, when we went to the Elysian for dessert and caps, we ran into an old friend of mine, who is the GM at their restaurant, Ria.

B is my age and was the GM at North Pond Restaurant when I was a hostess there (& lived across the street) in 2003. I was working in consulting by day and hostessing every night to pay for having moved back to Boston in 2002 to work in non-profit development (oh the joyful first few years out of college). We got along very well (he’s a political junkie like me, and a former Hill staffer), but our main connection, besides him being my boss, was that he was the childhood best friend and roommate of my boyfriend at the time (who besides being an actor, was also the bartender at NP). So incestuous and stereotypical, I know.

I left NP later in 2003 to go to law school (which I ended up changing my mind about, unfortunately only after having taken the LSAT). He left at the same time to go to grad school in Madison. A (the bf) and I dated well into 2004, when I realized I needed to get my shit together, we took “a break”, I went from contractor to FT at the consulting firm, and I had a disastrous long distance relationship with a guy I met at my 5 year college reunion. Anywho, so things with the bf didn’t end the way he wanted and the last time I saw either of them (after spending ridiculous amounts of time w/them at work and at their coach house) was around the time I met S. So it was a little strange to introduce him to my husband, though it has been six years...

But he was very gracious and I will likely reach out to him (at some point) to see how A is doing and for help finding S’s brother V a job in the industry when we eventually get him a visa to come over from Dubai (where he manages catering at the Le Meridien Hotel).

CD1...

After another hellish week (incl. a UTI), S and I had a wonderful day yesterday. I succumbed and tested in the morning, had an acupuncture appt. (she gave me herbs, more on this later), then we had lunch at Mitsuwa. We went into the city for the afternoon, did a little shopping, went to the AI, and had a nice dinner at Sayat Nova.

I slept poorly as I always do when AF is coming, and this morning, she was here... So month #1 w/o septum was a FAIL. I'm actually doing okay considering... I'm making good use of the rest of my 800 mg ibuprofen from my surgery, they make such a huge difference. Good thing, because I have a lot to do today.

This was our last chance to make a 2010 baby. So now we are looking ahead to 2011. Silver lining is it's time to start planning vacations, since we will have our vacation time to ourselves.