Waiting to Get There. Usually on the A/C/E in Chelsea, New York City.

I picked out a pair of shimmery golden pants to wear to Michelle and David's big birthday party in Providence, RI. You might question my fashion choice — you might wonder, “weren’t you worried about having shinier pants than the birthday girl?”  Had you actually asked, I would have chuckled very breezily. No way. Zero concerns. When you know someone for almost thirty years, you gain a very solid understanding of what she’s likely to break out for her birthday party. My hope was to fit in with the general theme.  Good news! Tom said my golden pants performed very well. Michelle has other friends with similar perceptiveness. There was a lot of shimmer in that ballroom for a Saturday night in March. Michelle herself wore an amazing blue sequined jumpsuit. Super sparkly. This morning at brunch, I said to Michelle that the color was understated. She said, “Yes, because sequins can be understated.”  Speaking of pants, when Tom and I were walking over to the b...

Last week, I was in Stockholm for a grand total of 3.5 days for my class reunion. Sara had suggested I stay my first night at the Radisson Blu, which she said was right where I'd get off the ArlandaExpress terminal in the central Stockholm train station (T-Centralen) and therefore super convenient.  But when I got off the ArlandaExpress train, which was high speed, quiet and clean -- everything New York trains can't seem to manage in their wildest dreams -- when I got off the train and looked at Google Maps, the Radisson Blu seemed kind of distant. Seemed like I need to walk down the main drag and then go around the bottom of the station or something. I set off.  And fifteen minutes later, had walked in a giant circle ending up about 20 feet from where I was before, right out front the Radisson Blu. I'm going to blame it on jet lag. The Radisson Blu was basically in T-Centralen.   I went up to my room, dropped off my suitcase and headed back down to T-Ce...

There’s a lot to do in Stockholm. You can go see the Vasa Ship from 1623. You can totter around Gamla Stan , a beautifully preserved medieval part of town where Stockholm was founded in 1252. You can visit Fotografiska or head out to Drottningholm palace .  Meanwhile, I visited the laundry room on the University of Stockholm campus: the laundry room ("tvättstuga") for University of Stockholm Lappis students Eva insisted we drop in to revisit the old tvättstuga. She had met her future husband by one of the washing machines. So that mostly explains it.  I totally forgot about the super Swedish part where you have to sign up on a sign up sheet to use a washing machine.  If you didn’t plan really far ahead, you’d be there in the middle of the night with your underwear turned inside out.  Between the hours of 1am - 6am, the trättstuga is first-come-first-served for everyone with dirty laundry and impaired calendar skills.  After inspecting th...

I purchased a new tote bag that I'm sort of enamored with. So I decided I needed to go out and run enough errands to justify its purchase. I made a mental list and headed out of the building, east on 17th street. Nearing the corner of 6th Avenue, I heard a very loud crash. Across the road, I saw a CitiBike lying on its side, behind a blue Prius kind of car. A guy, who looked completely uninjured, walked over and picked up the bike. Then he said, "Sorry!" A guy gets out of the Prius and he's yelling before his seatbelt is off. The whole back window of the Prius was shattered. I didn't understand. The shattered window was way above the handlebars of the bike. How does a window higher than a bike get smashed by a bike? The whole thing seemed implausible. I kept on walking. I donated a pair of shoes and two skirts to charity. The tote bag performed very well. Then I continued over to the Japanese grocery store between 12th and 13th Street. I have been on...