We're back and just over a week later the jet lag is starting to subside. I have a totally made-up, non-fact based theory that for each hour of time change you need one to two days of adjustment – it sounds logical, right? Austria and Croatia were amazing and I have a ton of pictures to go through and recommendations to share from places to check out, as well as a few things we (re)learned from our travels. More on that later this week, so stay tuned…

Right now it seems that New York is fully embracing spring at last. Hallelujah! What a difference a 10 days makes! We took a taxi out to JFK on the day we left and I noticed as we drove down Columbus Avenue that the trees were just beginning to show a pale haze of green. When we returned the cherry blossoms were in full bloom and the parks are equally full of daffodils and tourists.

Coincidentally, we had some friends from Texas visiting for the weekend and the city gave us two glorious days of sunshine - woot! I love having guests, both for the quality catching-up time and for the excuse to be a tourist in my own city. It’s cool to see familiar places through the eyes of someone who doesn’t hang out there everyday, and it’s fun to try out new places I might not seek out on my own.

Over the course of the two days our friends were here we spent hours wandering through Central Park taking pictures, went waaaay downtown to see the very moving 9/11 Memorial, had dinner in the Village at Minetta Tavern (delicious), and celebrated Easter Sunday with our church family on the UES. All in all, great times with some of our favorite people.

I hope that you had a wonderful Easter weekend too and that spring has found it’s way to your neighborhood!