Sgwotts & The City - October 23th - October 25th

The weekend was a flurry of activity – all good, but I wish it was longer – we did manage to pack a bunch of fun into 2 days and no one was worse for the wear!

After running around Connecticut Larry and I wanted to be in New Jersey before the explosion of traffic hit since it was Friday night – oddly enough, we managed to zip down into the city I think in little over an hour – not the case for the other side of the highway…

Since we arrived early Larry and I decided to see a movie, “Couples Retreat”, which we both got a kick out of. The nice thing was our timing was perfect, because as soon as the movie ended we just had enough time to meet Scott and Gwen (the “Sgwotts”) at their favorite Italian restaurant, La Veccia Napoli (www.lavecchianapoli.com), which we were going to surprise Gwen at for a belated 40th birthday surprise.

La Veccia Napoli was just perfect and I can see why Scott and Gwen love it – the owner Mimo, was so nice and his wife is the chef, who made these phenomenal dishes. My litmus test lately with Italian restaurants is ordering linguini in clam sauce – this place did not disappoint – yummm!

After dinner we headed to the “Sgwotts” and met Buck/Bear the cat for the first time – what a cutie – although, yet again, the cats always seem to like Larry over me – what gives???

I think I was a little worse for the wear with having wine that night, so I can’t recall if we actually did our usual Dominoes game. However, I do remember a comfy bed, so I think that’s where my night ended.

On Saturday were going to head to China Town in NYC to buy some purses – I’d been chomping at the bit to do this for sometime, so I was pretty giddy that morning. Unfortunately, it was pretty crappy that day because it was drizzling, so that put a slight damper on things.

We went to breakfast at the great diner in Hoboken, NJ, which is my new favorite area. We were in this area that is being completely redeveloped with lofts, shops and restaurants and just looked like the place to live if you gave up your first born!

I love NYC. Love it. Love everything about it. So anytime I’m there, I’m just happy as a clam.

When we went to China Town, which I haven’t been to probably since I was little, it was already raining pretty hard, which didn’t making the purse purchasing process very easy. The funny thing was, and I’m not exaggerating, everyone, and I mean everyone, said to us as we were walking buy “Gucci? Prada? Louis Vitton?” It was hysterical!

The four of us managed to probably hit about a hundred shops, back room included, and I walked away in a state of euphoria with my two “Gucci” purses in tow, this time a little worse for wear because my negotiating skills were pitiful, but hey, I’m a newbie at this!

We probably would have stayed late in the city if the weather was nice, but I think we all felt that being soaked and walking around the city wasn’t that particularly fun. So we stopped at a bar Larry and Scott like to got to, St. Mark’s Place, and then headed to La Palapa for dinner (www.lapalapa.com) – love this place. We’ve been to it before and it’s just really cozy and has great food, particularly the “guac!”

After stuffing ourselves with delicious Mexican fare and fabulous wine, we headed home to play Dominoes – always fun, as you can see – unless of course Scott or Gwen beat Larry or Jill!

One thing I wanted to point out is a sculpture Larry did years ago and gave to Scott – isn’t it great? I wish my better half would create some more of these – I love it!



The next day we all went to breakfast at the local diner and then Lar and I headed out some we could make our half-way point stop in Youngstown, OH.

What a great trip – looking forward to coming out east again in the spring!