This second week went by fast. Too fast. Our friend, Adam, came to stay with us. He had work in the city so the timing was perfect. The weather once again was glorious with a weekend rainy exception. I’d say this week we did a good job blending living and living it up. Larry worked from home. Adam worked out in the city. I did the usual cleaning, cooking, shopping, and laundry during the week. The simple things that make for a happy home, no matter where the home is and that allow us to spend our weekends not worrying about chores. Still not sure what we will do today, besides preparing for our upcoming week and reflecting on the past few days, but for now I’m going to follow last week’s format for this weekly update.

Personal wellness: This was a great week in this category. I’m going to start with personal connections because that feeds my soul and keeps me happy. I think I do a fairly good job staying in touch with the kids and my folks, and I’m even reliable on group friend chats over social media, but this week I had two spontaneous catch ups that filled my heart. On Tuesday I was completely surprised to run into a friend from Germany on the street. I was grateful we could take an hour to catch up over coffee. That same evening I got a chance to video chat for an hour with another dear friend out in Seattle. Plus with Adam here — a friend we’ve had for decades — it felt like a lovely connected week.

Oh! And Larry and I went to Warby Parker on 5th and got new glasses. I think that falls into this category too.

More typical for this category, I had some nice successes in my physical well being. I got to the gym every day. I even swam my best time yet, which meant a lot for me, especially since I am still very much out of condition since my summer surgeries (seriously wheezing and huffing after every two laps. Pitiful). Started strength training (assisted pull ups and dips, pull downs, chest press, and leg press), and folded in cardio in between. Plus still tracking double digit miles in walking every day.

Food and drink: All that exercise is necessary because the food here is too good to pass up. This week gave us so much pleasure in this department and from all ranges of the scale, from our typical food prepared at home, to some of the delicious offerings of this city. We went to Beauty and Essex and had an incredible destination meal. We had street tacos that haunted my dreams and made me do my first repeat meal. Seriously, the nopal (grilled cactus) tacos at Los Tacos No. 1 were simply perfect. We had top notch take out from Phoshime, an asian restaurant literally three doors down from our apartment (possibly very dangerous!). We grabbed a drink at the most elaborately decorated German restaurant. We went for a late night visit to Katz deli and shared the world’s most delicious pastrami sandwich. Yes, I chose this week to selectively break my pescatarian/vegetarian eating patterns, and I do not regret it one second. I do not think I will resume being a full time carnivore, but as my dietary choices were for health more than ethics, I will make selective exceptions. Katz pastrami might actually be what I would choose for a last meal. Like, even while writing this, I am salivating and actively having to stop myself from finding my way there again. Right. Change topics quick, Kim.

Cultural opportunities: This week I attended The Cottage and Gutenberg! on Broadway. Larry and I also stopped in to the Public Library and marveled at its Treasures Room. It is definitely worth a revisit! I wandered down to the UN headquarters, tho I did not tour it this week. We got our first live music event too. We went to the Bowery Ballroom and saw Bridget Kearney (of Lake Street Dive fame) and Margaret Glaspy. Live music brings a special level of joy for Larry, and I am always happy to come along for the ride, especially when the artists are so fricking talented. It was terrific. We have a few more shows on deck next month. This week I sought out more public statues and street art. There is just so much to see in every direction.

Personal expression: I am trying to take photos every day. I am even trying to post daily on the @empty_nest_wanderings instagram. I am not reading nearly as much as I want to, and my writing is sporadic, but pleasurable when it happens. It seems I still am a bit scattered, but maybe I’ll get more focused. Or maybe not. Maybe I would focus better at Katz…

Situational familiarity/architecture/wanderings: This week I spent more time using the Metro. There is a very handy shuttle that runs from Grand Central to Time Square. And anytime we want to get uptown or downtown it is quicker to use public transit. The system here is massive and complicated, but I am starting to get the hang of it. I also feel like I am getting increasingly comfortable with my neighborhood, and I’m starting to pop into shops that seem interesting. This week, because I was varying my timing, I had a chance to get into some shops that had been closed. There are two Indian stores that are overwhelmingly full of every spice, herb, seasoning, dried good you could ever seek. The first one I went into was smaller but so tidy and so impeccably organized. The shopkeeper was delightful. Told me he’d been there since 1972. He insisted on giving me sample dates as it was my first time in his shop. And as I walked home in the morning sun, eating those sweet, delicious fruits, I was so acutely aware of how happy I am.