Friday, May 14, 2010

Mother's Day Weekend with Michelle, David and Mr. Monk...and cookies!

David and I spent Mother's Day weekend visiting with our daughter Michelle and a short visit with my niece and her husband and our grandniece, and my Sis and BIL. Michelle lives on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River but works in New York City. We traveled back and forth between the 2 places about 100 times during the weekend. We arrived at my Sister's (in New Jersey) last Thursday afternoon and took in a softball game that my grandniece was playing in. On Friday morning, Michelle took the train from Jersey City to my sister's town and we picked her up and headed for this place...my mecca....


I can never go to visit my sister without going to HomeGoods. We have Marshalls and T.J.Maxx here in Pittsburgh but not HomeGoods. I just wander up and down every aisle and drool over the displays...

The colors are divine!

everything is so interesting!

Who wouldn't want to scoop up all of this?
The tiered wire basket (the big one in the middle) on the top shelf was $29.99 and identical to the one I purchased in Leesburg, VA last year for $69.99. Who knew I'd see it here?

This is my niece, Wendi, casually shopping with St. Frances under her arm.

Our kind and patient driver and Michelle in the back seat of Cleleste with all of our bags! The shopping center where HomeGoods is located has a Panera, a Starbucks and a Dunkin' Donuts....places a husband can hang out while waiting for a wife and daughter!
After we shopped and had luch we zoomed to Jersey City for the rest of our weekend fun.
Our treat for Mother's Day and Father's Day from Michelle, was to go into the city and see Lend Me A Tenor on Broadway. The play starred Tony Shalhoub (Monk), Justin Bartha (from The Hangover) and Anthony LaPaglia (Without A Trace).


As soon as the play was over I flew out the side door to be right in the front at the stage entrance.
 (where the actors depart from the theater)
I had my playbill and my pen ready...
waiting...waiting...waiting....I handed my camera to David who was behind me...waiting...waiting...
after about 20 minutes the actors started to filter out the door. Justin Bartha came over to me and signed...

(That's me with the pink rose)
Brooke Adams (Tony Shalhoub's real-life wife) was very friendly
 talking and chatting all the way down the line of fans....


and then suddenly, the door opened and out came the man I came to see!


When he came to me and started to sign my playbill, I leaned forward and said,
"I miss you at 9 o'clock on Fridays"
He laughed and replied, "Well, I'm here now."
"I know, thank God for syndication!" I said.
He laughed again.
 Total time of encounter-mmmm 30 seconds? I can die a happy woman!
Monk was my favorite TV show for 8 seasons.

After the play we hopped on a subway and rode to
Greenwich Village to eat wonderful pizza...then back on the subway to the PATH train to Hoboken
where we got off, walked 3 blocks and went here....



Carlo's...of Cake Boss fame (The Learning Channel) Bakery
is in Hoboken...2 stops train stops from where Michelle lives.
We got there around 6:30 PM on Saturday night and we were #92 at the door.
The cases were filled with cupcakes, cannolis and cookies of every kind.



We decided on an assortment of cookies...they were boxed and wrapped with string...

We walked back to the train station, hopped on the train and rode on to Michelle's.
I don't know why I never took a picture of the cookies we bought...oh wait, yes I do...
Man, they were good!
What a wonderful Mother's Day weekend we had!
Thank you to Michelle for planning our meals and activities....
and to my sweet and generous David, who has the patience of a saint!
The whole time we were away he was dealing with a bad case of
bronchitis that wiped him out completely by the time we got back to Pittsburgh on Monday.
I love you both.
xoxo

19 comments:

Unknown said...

WOW!!!! What a wonderful weekend for you and your family!!!!! Incredible photos!!!! You had a Mother's Day marathon weekend! :)

Mimi Sue said...

A dream weekend for sure. Love Homegoods too. Great stuff and great prices. Glad your Mother's day was pretty perfect. Mimi

People Who Know Me Would Say: said...

Holy Cow! That's one divine little trip and Celeste was even topless!

You made me giggle when you said you ran over to the stage entrance door. I've done that before!!

Home Goods and a bakery too??? I'm green with envy.

Unknown said...

Oh Joyce, This was a most wonderful post! Imagine being able to go into the city and the city is NYC! Fantastic! I felt the suspense growing myself waiting at the stage door. My husband and I love Monk, too. Sadly he isn't in reruns here. Every now and then if I am up really late I love catching him in Wings - loved that show. Thanks for sharing your adventures in the big city with us. Happy Mother's Day for sure! E

vivian said...

awww! sounds like a delightful weekend.. and your husband is a good boy!!! So what will you plan for fathers day??
hugs
vivian

Cinnamonstitch said...

I stumbled across your blog today, and I am so happy I did, I relived your little vacation, wishing I was along for the ride, Beautiful, Thank you for sharing, Come by and visit sometime
CYnthia

Elyse said...

oh my gosh, how fun!!!

did you know that tony shalhoub's summer home is on the cover of country living? brooke talks all about making/finding things for their home. how nice that they were so sweet and chatty.

any cookies left? yum!

xo
elyse

Home and Heart said...

Is it wrong to be jealous and happy for someone at the same time??!!! I LOVE Monk! Lucky girl! I haven't even watched the last episode yet! If I don't see it, it ain't over!! Thank you for the fun!!!

M.L. @ The House of Whimsy said...

Oh My Goodness, Joyce!!! You're a party animal!! I'm SO GLAD you shared the whole adventure with us. I took my time reading and looking. I almost felt like I was there.
And as for Mr. Monk...Sara and I are HUGE fans, too! We own 3 or 4 seasons on DVD now. Plus we get reruns every Sat. and Sun. here. My favorite is when Mr. Monk flies on a jet. Oh the FUN!!!
I hope the hubby is up and around soon. And tell Barb "hi" for me next time you speak to her.
xo,
Mary Lou

Suzy said...

Joyce~
I just came across your blog and found it delightful! Sounds like you had a wonderful visit with family and I'll be back.(I'm from the "burgh" too!)

marie said...

Joyce! What a wonderfu weekend ~ I'm so glad it included a trip to your mecca! HomeGoods is one of my happy places too! Love that green display!
Your trip to Broadway sounds awesome! What a sweet treat from Michelle! The pictures of you and Tony are super ~ love his smile and I can just hear your conversation with him. What a memory!!
Then pizza and that wonderful bakery! Oh my goodness! Great post Joyce...hope David is feeling better!!

mimi said...

Oh my goodness Joyce when you told me all about your vacation I knew you had a wonderful time but when I see it in pictures----WOW!!!! I love the pictures of you and Monk. David is a wonderful photographer. I agree with Maria--you can almost see on his face how your conversation went :) Oh and the COOKIES yum!! I don't know how you got out of there with only one box. I am so glad that you had such a wonderful time with Michelle and that your Mother's Day was so special.
xoxo
Mimi~

LaurieStar said...

Wow, Joyce! What an awesome story! And I love all the pictures! My son loves Cake Boss - I'll have to tell him! :)

The Polka Dot Closet said...

Joyce, thank you for stopping by, you have a lovely blog, I would love some of Carlos cookies, that is one of my favorite shows. I bet their bakery is booming now ith the show!

Carol

Jane said...

My goodness...what a wonderful, fun-filled Mother's Day! I really enjoyed reading about all the activities you managed to fit into your day.
It's nice to read that the celebrities took the time to chat and sign autographs, and I'm glad you got to meet Monk!
Jane

Unknown said...

You had the best Mother's Day girl! When I went to Florida I made sure my dad took us to Panera and Dunkin' Donuts cause we don't have them here..LOL!

Hugs!
Sandy

GardenOfDaisies said...

OMG! I just had to stop and stare for the longest time at that picture with all the shades of green dishware. That is soooo me! I have never been in a Home Goods store and I can see now what I have been missing!

Nan said...

Oh my gosh you met Tony. He seems like the nicest man. I have no TV but a friend told me of his series and I do get Netflix and have watched every single show it's been so fun. I also notice I have a couple Monk issues myself and now think that it's not so bad after all. Take Care Nan

Heidi Ann said...

How completely delightful that you got to not only see Tony Shalhoub in a play, but also meet him!! I love, love, LOVED Monk, too!
I have never been to a HomeGoods store, it looks FABULOUS!
And that Bake Shop?? Ooh - don't even get me started on how yummy all of that looks!
I really enjoyed reading this post.

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