Autumn in New York

I was lucky enough to have 2 abstracts accepted for presentation at the Fall Voice Conference again this year. Last year the conference took us to San Francisco, this year, it was New York. Turns out, it was the same weekend we were in New York last year to see Book of Mormon.

Given that this was an anniversary of sorts (Tilly's first flight), I went back to my photos from a year ago. Not only was the weather gorgeous then, but we snapped a good photo of Tilly in the airport both times.

2011, 6 months old, with Daddy in the airport

2012, 18 mo old, with Daddy and HINES WARD in the airport. Yep, THAT Hines Ward. Unfortunately, they joined me in the city, so I wasn't on the flight. I love how she's looking at him.

I stayed the first 2 days with my girlfriend, Nikki. Oh, yeah, and she has a Tony Award.

The conference was great and I felt professionally fulfilled through my attendance (AND someone cited a paper of mine in their presentation- woohoo! next level!). But, really, the best part was catching up with my old college friends.

This always happens. 4 ever. Since 1999. I talked, ate, and drank more in these 5 days than I have the last 5 months.

The last day of the conference the weather was cool and beautiful. I played hooky and spent the day with Reggie and Tilly. We brunched, played in central park, then went out for Cuban food with friends and ended the evening many bottles of wine and very in love with life. (And of course, we had a Tilly and her friends photo shoot).

City girl having city girl brunch. Not shown: Mimosa (kidding)

I love the park with the city views in the background

Ready, Set, Go!

skinny jeans, obvi

Fall day in Central Park

When the family joined me, we moved uptown to my friend Bridgette's (and fellow cloth-diaper family!) house. They were (sadly) out of town, but kind enough to let us stay in their place, which meant Tilly had a nursery to sleep in! We had to capture our version of baby Mabel's monthly photos and pose Tilly by Mabel's monthly carrot (their version of our elephant photos)

One of the best things about my reconnecting with friends, is Tilly's reconnecting and falling in love with our friends again.

1 year ago

now!

then

now!

love!

she loves airplanes and was really excited to be at the airport and on a plane. We splurged and got her her own seat so she was able to spread out her crayons, books, toys, and snacks.

Two post-scripts are necessary, because we were traveling by plane, we used disposable instead of cloth diapers. FAIL once again! Tilly went down for a nap and after 30 minutes, woke up with a dirty diaper...and pants and sheets. So there we were, washing another baby's sheets because of the damn disposables. Really, how do people use these things? Yes, I am a cloth diaper snob. Unabashed.

And 2nd- We returned home and I realized that Mathilda had outgrown- well outgrown- her shoes again. Sigh. I had the kid walking through New York City in too small shoes. Always a step behind I am...