Hula-Hooping in NYC!

Despite my stuffy, icky nose and upper respiratory junkiness, coupled with overwhelming fatigue (being post call didn't help), we escaped to NYC this weekend to see some friends - Jennifer Gwen and Seth James. We had a great time... I just kept falling asleep at the dinner table - nothing against the company, which was fab-u-lo-so. :)

We spent most of the day on Saturday in Central Park, romping around and seeing all that there is to see in the ginormous green territory of the Big Apple. We found a guy teaching people to hula-hoop, while he played his bongo drums, so we joined in. Check out some of the photos. I'll try to post more when I have more energy!

Aren't they so adorable! Or maybe they found a great photographer!?!?

The girls are back in town!

It's been a great, L-O-N-G weekend! Not only did we have an extra day off, but also we had a very special visit from Cristy and Amber. Cristy's in the States on a brief break from her work in Malawi, and Amber came from NYC, having just gotten back from a summer in Kenya. Plus, I took today off, I'm on call tomorrow night (so post-call on Thursday), and we're heading camping on Friday! I didn't take any time off all summer, so I was ready for a little break! And a good break it has been, indeed!

We had a fab get-together on Sunday night with lots of friends and a feast-ful of food.

One of the best moments was having a bunch of us girls together (5) on a bed, which crashed to the ground when I shifted my weight to the same side that everyone else was already sitting on - oops! Fortunately no toes were smashed!
Stephanie, Heidi, Cristy, Amber, Acacia (dog-type) and I went on a great hike on the horseshoe trail on Monday morning. Only three of us were hacking! Somehow we decided that Amber had TB, Heidi had Pertussis (whooping cough), and I had some other strange communicable disease, maybe Hanta virus or something... that's what happens when you get a bunch of doctors together for some fun!

On the way home from hiking we stopped to get some fresh produce for dinner on Monday night - I was doing my best to pick out the best sweet corn in the bunch!

In the afternoon, we went to the Long's Park summer arts and crafts festival, where Amber bought a beautiful, wool rug, then was trying her skills as a Kenyan woman, carrying her load on her head!

Having my girlfriends around has been wonderful - I love having friends that you can go without seeing for months on end (sometimes even if they live in the same town - dreadful - sigh), and you can pick up right where you left off the last time you saw them! What a JOY!