My Week with Trey

We had a special treat for Thanksgiving.  My multi-named little brother came to visit us in the big city for a whole week.

You may know him as W or Stovall, but to me he'll always be Trey.  The whole name thing came up several times this weekend.  I am actively working to stop introducing him to new people as Trey, and use Stovall instead.  It was really hard to remember!   I also learned that when saying Stovall, one must be very clear.  People would look back at me and say "Snowball?" Considering it was our first vacation or time off without Mom and Dad around, there was bound to be a learning curve.

We celebrated his arrival Wednesday night with a trip to Old Town Bar, the Macy's Parade balloon inflation, an improve comedy show, and greasy burgers.  

Turns out that going to see the balloons for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade being blown up the night before is an annual tradition for New Yorkers.  We went a little later, closer to 10 PM, so the balloons on display were pretty much blown up.  Some were under netting.  It was fun seeing them up close.  They are crazy big!  It only takes up about a city block and the crowd is all moving one way together.  I'd hardly call it crowded according to NY standards though.  All in all, totally worth the subway ride to the Upper West Side.  

Looking like siblings. Trey was advertising the Citadel all week.

Go, go web.  Or something like that.

Trey and his Pokemon.  It's like the '90s all over again.

Kermit must have overdone it.

The crowds and Shane's mane.

Of course Trey needed to experience a late night Shake Shack burger.

Guest accommodations for anyone who wants to visit NYC.  Fair warning - I'm taking this photo from our bed.

It was too easy not to.

Most of my family and friends know my best friend Nicole was recently diagnosed with colon cancer at the age of 31.  It was obviously a huge blow to her, her family, and me.  I'm still struggling to understand how she could be this sick when our lives mirrored each other for so much of our early 20s.  Still struggling with all of it.

In any case, in trying to make myself useful and because she HAS to get better I sent her links to the sites and documentaries that have been teaching me about food therapy.  Nicole embraced them and purchased her first juicer.  You can imagine how happy that makes me!  When she asked me for some of my juice recipes, I had the grand idea to make her a How To Juicing video.  Special thanks to Trey for operating the iPhone and snarky commentary.  

It actually ended up being our Thanksgiving dinner.  Don't worry Mom, the next night we feasted at our favorite restaurant, La Esquina.  And Trey had 4 beef tacos.

Stills from the video.

Drinking chocolate.  Mmm, mmm, good.  

Real men stand on the subway.

After our feast, we continued showing Trey our favorite places in Soho.  Then he showed us one of his favorite past times - karaoke.  We even found a perfect little Japanese karaoke bar only a short walk from our apartment.  

Perhaps my favorite memory of the weekend was Trey belting out Journey in the totally empty karaoke bar when suddenly a dozen people all walk in together and join him.  It was like a scene in a romantic comedy.  And anyone who knows Trey understands that he was all about leading the crowd in Don't Stop Believing.  I would pay money to relive those 4 mins.  

Like Daddy, I learned Trey makes friends wherever he goes.  Meet Yoshi.  Really.

On Saturday, we rented a car and drove about an hour and 45 mins north to our friends' lake house.  What she described as a lake cottage was anything but.  They had gutted this house and spent the last 5 years completely redoing it.  Windows, floors, additions, chef ready kitchen - it was all beautifully designed.  They each had an office / creative space and plenty of bedrooms.  I can really see why so many NYC folks have second homes now.  It was the perfect retreat.  

We thought it was just a day trip for dinner with a view, but she had our beds ready to go.  After some steak, red wine, and homemade ice cream it wasn't too hard to convince us to stay over.  

Apples to Apples by a roaring wood burning fire.  Not sure it gets better on a cold night.

Did I mention our friends had a couple cute kids?  Trey was a super babysitter.  I have a whole video of him reading with her in one hand and a glass of red wine in the other.  Email me if you want to see it.

Morning peace.  So happy we stayed.

We did a bunch of other NY things over the next fews days.  We walked all over the city, went to Redeemer Church held at First Bapist, dined in Little Italy and Chinatown.  Trey even bought tickets for all 3 of us to go hear Rush Limbaugh at Town Hall.  That was a real trip.  It was rainy buckets and there were about 7 protesters with a bullhorn.  Although I'm not a ditto head, it was refreshing to be in a huge auditorium filled conservatives.

My first time in Little Italy, too.

I'm so glad my favorite brother came for a whole week.  Feels like I got to know him all over again.  And we both agree Mom and Dad should get a new dog.