The weekend before a conference

As most of you know, I produce training conferences for the government and military. This requires me to be in the VA/DC area for 3 to 4 days at a time in order to actually meet the speakers I've invited, network with the delegates, and make sure that the conference itself is running smoothly.

I'm actually at one of my conferences right now, but before I tell you how it's been so far, let me start from Saturday.

Saturday is usually a lazy day for Javi and I. We stay in, sleep in, and watch whatever we haven't watched on the DVR. But the Saturday before a conference always has to be activity-filled. So this time, Javi and I began the day by venturing out to our favorite brunch place. We had toast and jam and other good stuff that felt like homemade cooking (only without me having to worry about the 'cooking' part).

After brunch, we decided to check out a futon place in the upper west side to see if it was wise to buy one for our guests who are to sleep over at our new apartment. Here's a tip for everyone: no matter how good it looks online, always, always check it out in person! The futon looked decent enough to me on the store's website, but when I saw it at the store, I was majorly disappointed!

It looks pretty decent here, right??? Ah well. It was also a little too small anyway. An airbed has more space than this one, too, so it obviously wasn't meant to be bought by Javi and I. (And believe, me, an airbed that costs about $30 is pretty darn comfortable!)

As we stepped out of the store, feeling a little relieved to not have to shell out another $300 for our new apartment, we came across a bicycle store. Uh-oh! So much for saving that futon money! Well, the truth is, one of the main reasons why I was so happy to be able to move to that new apartment is because I love biking. I'm not a pro, mind you, but I grew up with the freedom to ride my bike around our neighborhood and to and from my friend's house every day. And I've been longing for the opportunity to have that freedom again since I moved to Manila back in 1990!

So now that Javi and I can safely bike around town (especially since NYC has dedicated bike paths during the summer), we believe that bikes are a great investment. If you think about it - how much do you spend on gym membership every month? I'd rather cancel my gym membership, buy a reasonably-priced bike, and enjoy the real outside air instead of breathing stuffy gym air that, if you think about it, is actually everyone's evaporated sweat. Gross, right?

Anyway, onto the bikes!

Javi and I are considering foldable bikes for transportability. At first I was skeptical about it, but then I saw a guy on the getting off the train from NY to DC last Sunday, and was impressed by how he casually stepped off the train with his foldable bike in hand, popped everything into place, and started riding it off into the distance. Pretty cool.

Economically, though, I'd much rather go for the Schwinn Cruiser:
It was pretty warm that Saturday, so although we wanted to walk from the 90's to the Union Sq. area (we love walking around that much on a good day), we absolutely couldn't. So we decided to just take a bus in order to kill two birds with one stone: get to a train that would take us back home, and enjoy the rest of the city without passing out from dehydration.

Javs and I took the bus up to Bryant Park, where we decided to stop and enjoy an ice cream at the park. People were reading, men and women were sunbathing (this was when Javi and I pretended not to be married to each other. ;), kids were on the marry-go-round - it was just a nice, relaxing environment.

But before long, we felt way too warm again, so we decided to look around for an interesting shop to go into. Thankfully enough, we did! Kinokuniya is a Japanese bookstore that began reaching out to its client base in Rock Center. Recently, they opened this branch near Bryant Park, which includes art books ranging from Ancient Greek Art to Contemporary Fantasy Art.

I found a book that I thought my brother in law would be interested in (he does 3D Animation) and was so excited to show Javi, that I ended up dropping this 7lb. book on my foot! Normally, in these instances, I psychologically train myself from thinking that I'm hurt, but when the corner of a heavy book drops on the vein of your foot, there's no way you can tell your brain to think that you're fine! Nooooo way!

So that pretty much ended the day for me and Javs... my arm around him to support me, as we slowly limped off into the sunset ;)

Wow! That was just Saturday!
I definitely need to write some more SOON! :)