Ms. Bear’s NYC Adventure: Jimmy Carter and Jersey Boys

NYC Adventure NYC AdventureWell, someone in our family sure had an exciting spring break! Hint: I watched lots of Hallmark movies, so you know it wasn’t me! It was…Ms. Bear!! She embarked on a whirlwind NYC adventure that included Jimmy Carter, Jersey Boys…and a Jake Gyllenhaal sighting! #Jealous

As usual, she was more than game to write about her trip, so I’ll just let her cuteness do the talking! Take it away, Ms. Bear… xoxo

P.S. Thanks to Mona for snapping some of these great photos!!

Anyone who knows me (and some who don’t, thanks to the power of social media) knows that this has been a really tough year for me. It all started in the fall with a sad rift in a family relationship. I was still reeling from this (and still am, frankly) when I had my first abnormal mammogram in 22 years!. Oh, it’s just a false positive, I told myself. I do pride myself on my positive attitude, so it just seemed natural to me to brush it off. There was another mammogram, a biopsy and finally, two lumpectomies, which, fortunately, were not cancer…but weren’t innocent either! Add several weeks of recovery and a very stressful school year, plus two failed attempts at drugs that could lessen my chances of breast cancer and something strange happened to me! Not only did I lose my positive attitude, but I kind of lost a bit of myself too.

I found myself operating on auto-pilot; the colors of the world seemed a bit off. It snuck up so insidiously, though, that I didn’t even realize it. I thought I was just so tired from everything I had been through, and that could have been true. But, it took me a bit of time away from my usual schedule to find the happy part of me again.

Last weekend, I found myself on a jet plane bound for NYC. When I left, I felt that the trip might be too much for me, especially with the way I was feeling. But, low and behold, nothing could have been farther from the truth!

NYC Adventure NYC Adventure NYC AdventureOh, the things we did! Visiting with my niece Mona and my sister Elaine is always so much fun. Mona’s dog Howie has been joined by a new pup, Maya, and a little canine therapy was so helpful. We watched a couple movies. We slept a lot and went out and ate good food. My sister was so happy to finally have eaten at Morton’s Steakhouse, a New York institution! And man, that steak melted in your mouth! We even saw Jake Gyllenhaal in Central Park and he even stopped to see Howie! Howie is the cutest and regularly turns heads on the sidewalks of Manhattan!

NYC Adventure NYC AdventureThere were two things I did that were nothing short of magnificent! I met Jimmy Carter at his book signing for his new book Faith: A Journey For All. That book was just what I needed to read. And, Jimmy Carter is as kind and as gentle a man as I always imagined him to be. Also, I met an editor friend of Melissa’s right there in the line! Talk about a small world!

NYC AdventureAnd, the pièce de résistance (using some of that French from my summer travels….lol) was front-row seats to Jersey Boys. Oh, man, I couldn’t believe the majesty of a Broadway show. You could see the sweat and spit flying off those poor, sweaty actors!

So, all in all, I learned a very valuable lesson. Next time I am feeling down, I am not going to just melt into my recliner and tell myself that I must just be tired. I’m going to shake things up a bit, even if it is just getting up and going out and getting an ice cream cone. These last few months have been kind of a dark time for me (not that I am not extremely thankful that I don’t have cancer right now, because I am sooooo thankful for that!), and I have learned that life may change on a dime and sometimes we just have to go ahead and change right along with it.

NYC AdventureAnd, the next time YOU might be feeling down, put on some Frankie Valli and get up and dance! As I said when coming out of Jersey Boys….”Oh, What a Night!” and what a night it was when I visited New York City. May spring bring you an “aha” moment also! Enjoy!

Ms. Bear’s Big Apple Adventure!

Another July has come and gone, and that means that I have taken another one of my annual trips out to NYC to visit family. It is always such a good time and I look forward to it all year long!!

This year was a little different though, as my niece, Mona, had taken a pretty serious tumble while training for a triathlon. So, this year we had a low key visit and tried to help Mona out as much as we could. Plus, we wanted her to rest and not run us all over the city as she usually does! We still had a wonderful time and I even stayed a day longer than I usually do!

I managed to squeeze in a visit with my DC and NJ nieces and nephews too. We had Subway catered….see, we really did take it easy!
We went to several nice restaurants. We had lunch at Tavern in the Green, in Central Park. Then I took a long, extremely hot walk through the park!

We also ate at Parm again…they have great food. We went to a wine bar in the late afternoon one day too. I had a couple hours in Times Square when Mona was at the doctors.

Oh, and we also got to eat lunch at the Yale Club and I visited Grand Central Station for the first time too!

It was a great family time. Life is so fast-moving that it’s important to take some time to have quality family time….as Mikey, the Life Cereal boy, would say…”Try it, you’ll like it!”

I sure did!

P.S. Ms. Bear takes NYC in 2013, 2014 and 2015… 🙂

Ms. Bear Takes NYC…

Ms. Bear takes New York…sounds like a certain reality show, doesn’t it? Well, if you know anything about Melissa, then you know that she and I have a very odd fascination with anything Kardashian. Since they have had TV shows “taking” Miami and the Hamptons, I thought I would call this third annual installment of my summer travels…

“Ms. Bear Takes NYC!“

Poor Janelle had to get up before dawn (which she does every day anyway, but she really HATES taking me to the airport!). It was smooth sailing on the highway and on the plane — on time and smooth. When I got to the Big Apple, I walked right out into a waiting cab. The driver was so nice and gave me a travelogue on the way. We also chatted about the controversy of Uber taking over business from the yellow cabs. What a swell guy!

When I got to my niece Mona’s new co-op, my sister Elaine was already there, so we headed straight out to lunch. They took me to a fancy place and it was just so much fun to be there again. Then when we went back to Mona’s house, I baked up a batch of my mom’s cookies for the rest of our weekend company.

Saturday morning found us going to Zumba, where the most memorable part of the trip occurred! We got on the elevator (it’s a humongous health club!), and I do realize the irony of taking the elevator when you are there to work out…haha. There were six other people on there with us, when all of a sudden, the elevator stopped and the doors wouldn’t open. We pressed the button for the fire department, but nothing happened! We then pressed the emergency bell, which proceeded to ring loud and clear — really loud and clear! We used someone’s cell phone to get a hold of the front desk. The New Yorkers were adamant about getting the fire department to help us….they are very trusting of the FDNY since September 11th. It’s an interesting sociological study of human behavior when something goes very wrong, that’s for sure! After 30 minutes, we were rescued by those strapping firemen and we proceeded to Zumba….better late than never! That taught me a lesson to always take my cell phone with me when I workout. Only one person had theirs with them!

We had a lovely family time on Saturday night, with good food, wonderful family and lots of love and laughter.

Then, on Sunday, I was lucky enough to see my sister-in-law (Brian’s sister), who came in from Pennsylvania.

If you read Melissa’s blog regularly, you know that we lost Brian 12 years ago. That experience makes us very aware of the importance of family, and the past weekend was so special because it was filled with my family, from both sides!

Now next year, we just have to convince Melissa to go with me! What do you say, readers?? Think we can do it????

Ms. Bear’s Mini Guide to NYC Dining

Hello again for another installment of Ms. Bear’s Kitchen! Before I went to NYC last week, Melissa told me to take pictures of all my food and talk about the culinary experience one can have in NYC. Most of the time, I remembered to photograph my meals, except on the rare occasions that we were starving or that a fantastic looking dessert came…then I forgot all about taking a picture…LOL! So, here is a rundown on some of the restaurants and meals I had while on the Upper West Side of New York! There is a lesson to be learned from my culinary adventures, which I will share with you at the end!

The first day I got in, we went to Shake Shack, which is one of my favorite places! Their food is remarkable. Unfortunately, the calories are right on the menu, so there is that bit of a shock, which we got over quickly! We had cheeseburgers, fries and ice cream, washed down with Diet Coke! We were pretty full that night, so we had cheese, bread and salami from a little deli around the corner from my niece Mona’s. We also had a nice bottle of imported beer to wash it down!

The next day started with bagels and fruit in Central Park while walking Howie, Mona’s dog — he is so cute that he has been stopped and petted by Martha Stuart herself! For lunch, we went to Lenny’s, a nice NY deli, and had sandwiches and salads. Funny story….my salad was super expensive because I didn’t know they charged for each separate ingredient! They also charge for pop refills, just a good thing to know if you ever go there!

Mona made great steaks for dinner that night!

The third day, we went out to a restaurant called Boulud Sud. It was Restaurant Week, and there were lots of specials at the high-end restaurants. Imagine my surprise when my tuna appetizer was raw! We had a phenomenal dessert there too.

The last day we met my sister-in-law, Barb, and went to Sarabeth’s. We had a lovely lunch of soup, salad and dessert. Then we went to the famous Zabars deli and stocked up on black and white cookies — a NY tradition!

I learned a couple of lessons on my foodie trip. First, I am really a plain eater, nothing fancy for me! When we got to the tollway oasis on the way home, I had a slice of pizza and a salad and was very happy! Second, it wasn’t the food that made this trip so special, even though it was delicious — it was being with my family and sharing good times.

And, lastly, if you ever go to NYC, make sure you go to Shake Shack, Magnolia Bakery (cupcakes, cupcakes and more cupcakes!) and visit some of the great delis and street-side fruit stands that they have there. Most of all, enjoy the company you are with.
Until next time…..