THE KAHNS

We had such a great time celebrating Katie and Noah's marriage with both them and their wonderful friends and family. We look forward to all the adventures the four of us will share. Congratulations again!

VAMOS A LA PLAYA

We're off early tomorrow morning to join the gang already partying at Playa Fiesta in PV. Rehearsal is Wednesday morning, zip-line adventures are Thursday, the wedding of the year is on Friday...oh, then there's relaxing on Saturday. Whew. I was hoping there was going to be some time for relaxing. While I'm gone, have yourselves a happy week and I'll leave you with the knowledge that Adrian and I are 95% sure we ate lunch next to Abigail Breslin (supporting actress Oscar nominee for Little Miss Sunshine - youngest nominated ever), her older brother who's also in movies, and their manager mother. It's not getting a "CS" since we're not 100% sure, but it was still really cool. Who knew the cellar cafe at Macy's Herald Square was such a happening spot?

KIDS TODAY

On Tuesday night at the Nets game, Adrian and I were in line at the concessions stand when we noticed a young girl, probably aged nine or ten, who was standing sort of half in and half out of the line. We assumed she was with the people in front of us, but just wanted to wait on the side. And yet, she kept shuffling back and forth like she was trying to decide if she wanted to be in line or not. We never asked her if she was in line which might have changed things - we were just intent on getting our food and going. We didn't take too much notice until we saw her finally grab a tray and place a chicken tenders and fries basket on it. She then kept looking around, still shifting around back and forth, and we assumed she was trying to get someone's attention to get a pretzel too. We then grabbed our stuff and when we turned to pay we saw her slip through the crowd without paying. We couldn't believe it. At first, we were stunned into silence, but then we spent the first fifteen minutes of the game analyzing the whole thing. Was she one of those kids who was possibly starving and didn't have the money to pay (not that this would make her stealing okay)? How does a kid get to the point where they think that's okay - especially now that we think she knew exactly what she was doing? We speculated on what she would have done if we'd called out to her as we saw her walk away. Would she have dropped the food? Would she have paid for it? Was whoever she was with going to mention that she had food or would they assume she paid for it? It was disappointing to see and yet we see this type of behavior from kids all around us. On the way to the same game, we saw a kid slap his ticket into the bus driver's hand and then stare him down when the bus driver made a point to visually glare at him. Again, who taught that kid it was okay to do that? No one, right. These kids are the ones without positive role models. Without discipline and guidance. Do they know about karma? Or will they find out about it in jail?

ALL CAPS

At 12:13 a.m. this morning, Adrian gave me the second card he's ever given me in our entire relationship. (For years and years, I never had a single thing with his handwriting on it except for a haiku story he once wrote on Mio Vicino business cards one night while waiting for me to get off of work.) To say I was shocked would be an understatement. First of all, Adrian and I don't do holidays - we've never bought birthday or Christmas or just because gifts for each other, let alone exchange cards on Valentine's Day. Then there's the fact that we're always together, so I had no idea when he snuck off to get this card. I came to find out that while I was at a laser hair-removal appointment yesterday, he waited for me in a card store. The card is so perfect too because it's something I would have picked out (it's really cute and modern) and yet to know Adrian did makes it that much sweeter. As Adrian points out in the card, this is our eighth Valentine's Day together - so here's to lucky number 8 and love all around.

(Mom - Adrian was wondering what he was supposed to buy me with $5...guess he figured it out! Thanks!)

A DAY

Woke up. Checked email. Nhu called; chatted with her. Worked out at the gym. Stopped at the diner on the way home for lunch. Showered. Shortened the straps on my bridesmaid dress. Went over tax papers with Adrian. Watched a couple of episodes of "Grey's Anatomy: Season 3" from iTunes and abc.com. Read last week's "New York" magazine; did crossword. Watched a few DVR-ed shows. Had a snack. Texted Katie. Went out to get Adrian pizza; I got Tasti D-Lite (Rice Pudding - the only eatable flavor). Watched "Heroes." Read from "The Ruins" by Scott Smith - my scary bedtime story. Went to sleep.

IT'S WHY WE'RE HERE

One of my favorite things about living in New York is reading or hearing about something that is quintessential to the city and then rather than seeking it out intentionally, stumbling upon it and having it be just as great as it was supposed to be. I recently read in my "New York" magazine about how hot chocolate was taking over the city now that it's finally getting cold. The magazine ranked the best hot chocolates throughout the city, but all nine offerings came from spots far from us. However, today while running errands we came across The City Bakery, which was ranked as number one. While the article specifically warned that all the hot chocolates they ranked were grown-up counterparts to what you knew (in their words, a "...rich indulgence known as drinking chocolate"), I still wasn't prepared for what I got. First I was asked if I wanted a four-ounce shot or a regular cup, and I thought who drinks just a shot of hot chocolate? Then I was asked if I wanted to add a homemade marshmallow to my regular cup, and I thought what's another million calories on top of a billion? I watched while they filled my cup with a ladle from what looked like a huge soup pot - and then I took my hot chocolate over to Adrian, who was eating the bakery's Indian apple pie, and took my first sip. D-i-v-i-n-e. It was literally like a melted chocolate bar had been placed in my mouth. Even Adrian, who isn't a big sweets person (the apple pie is fruit, he would say) thought it was amazing. Except that it's so good and so filling, it's quite hard to drink a whole cup. I see now why a four-ounce shot is offered and I will go that route next time I'm in the area.

IT'S FOR A PIECE OF THE PIE

When Adrian and I play Trivial Pursuit against each other, we tend to be very strict when it comes to what constitutes a correct answer. Usually, if your pie-holder isn't on one of the six important spaces and you answer a question sort of right, you're free to roll again. However, if you're on one of the piece of the pie spaces, and you answer "Huckleberry Finn" when the correct answer is "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" you're not getting a piece or rolling again. I believe I won twice in one game recently when Adrian didn't accept as my final answer "The Iditarod Dog Sled Race" because the card read "The Iditarod Sled Dog Race." I couldn't believe it. The good thing was that I won eventually and was able to give the smackdown to Adrian's answer of "nuclear waste" when it was "radioactive waste." And I'm humbled to see that even Trivial Pursuit has the incorrect name for the dog sled race - it's copyrighted as "The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race."

DRIVING ME NUTS

I'm not sure if other people have this problem, but there are phrases or words I use in my daily vocabulary that I would like to change but just can't seem to. For example, I'm so over using the word awesome. I think that now that I'm in my 30s, I shouldn't use such a cheesy-sounding exclamation when I'm happy. There have got to be better alternatives - but what? Wonderful (too grandma-ish); Great (not powerful enough); Brilliant (love it, but I'm not British so it can sound too affected). So I resort to awesome and hope no one thinks less of my intelligence for it.

In other turns of phrases, I've been saying driving me nuts a lot lately - it helps when you have an in-law that does just this. I'm not sure when I switched from driving me crazy; I'm not even a fan of the other one and yet I must say it at least once a day. And right after I'm finished saying it and banging my head on any nearby surface, I immediately think - "I really need to come up with a better expression." It almost makes me more frustrated than the in-law, but not quite.

In other words... A pirate walks into a bar with a captain's wheel crammed down the front of his pants. The bartender says "Why do you got a captain's wheel crammed down the front of your pants?" And the pirate answers, "Arrr! It's driving me nuts!" (Credit: Ben Folds)