Why not start the week before Easter with a snowstorm and a perfectly cold day to stay inside and color some eggs and bake some holiday sugar cookies? I must have been feeling all the crafty bugs, because last Sunday I decided that this would be the final chance to do that Eastery stuff before leaving for NC on Thursday for a long weekend. The egg dyeing went well and I only stole one egg to do myself. Using the tie dye kit, I made something both girls were impressed with--no small feat. Later I let them help mix up the cookie dough before we chilled it for a couple of hours. After Nacho left for work, we rolled it out and baked the assorted Easter shaped sweets: eggs, bunnies, flowers and butterflies. The evening was quickly ticking by but still we had icing to make and cookies to decorate. By 7:30 p.m. they were satisfied with their cookie painting sufficiently to wrap it up and get them in bed after a quick dash outside in the snow to walk Soula's dog, Effie. I returned to a mess of colors of hardened icing and way too many cookies to finish. By 10 p.m. as I sat alone finishing the job, I was wondering what on earth possessed me to start it in the first place. Oh yeah. Easter pastel dreaminess. Go figure.
After a few warmer days mid-week and one Broadway daytime date (Michelle Williams and Jeff Daniels in Blackbird at discounted prices--excellent!), we were ready to pack our bags for a flight down to Raleigh on Thursday late morning. The girls hadn't seen Grandma and Grandpa since the beach house last September, so it was a much needed visit. Luckily Stacey didn't mind hosting again and we all crammed in the house that first night to celebrate Jordan's 22nd birthday with a sushi dinner, planet gazing at Jupiter and a wild game of Yahtzee. All good stuff and definitely a sign that we were in the right place. Nacho could only stay with us for Friday before heading home on Saturday to catch a late evening flight to London. But we did a little shopping with Grandma before Nacho took the girls to a couple of parks as I finished up Easter prep with Mia and mom. It was a pretty typical suburban day with outings to Target, a Bed Bath & Beyond, and Food Lion but all of it enjoyable. Small doses of that car-wielding lifestyle are fun for a few days and I definitely embraced it. But it was funny how by Day 3 Elisa wanted to know where we were going and what we were going to do. The house with the yard wasn't cutting it. Nacho and I have definitely had our discussions about moving out of NYC, and trips like this always bring up some of those same thoughts and emotions. But for now, we're here with family, hanging out close in relative peace and I'm catching up on laundry for myself and Mia like a mad thing. Throw in some more candy and we'll have ourselves a real celebration.
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