I was in New York for the weekend, which is part of how I got so much reading done. Lots of travel time, time in airports, and time in hotels. It was one of my better trips to NY, which is not a city I love.

The reason for my trip was Anna’s wedding shower & bachelorette party. I got into Manhattan on Saturday morning and met up with Anna and her friend Mary for brunch. Then Anna and I went on The Great Fabric Hunt.

If you look at me, you probably can’t tell that I’m pregnant. But I have reached the stage where my clothes are starting to not fit. Including the bridesmaid’s dress.

So we went looking matching fabric, with the intent of having gussets inserted into the dress, to make it bigger. We found a decent match at the 3rd or 4th fabric store; hopefully I won’t have trouble finding a tailor to make the alterations. We also bought new ribbon to match the trim.

Then we went back to change for the festivities. The shower was at Kathy’s apartment, which was bedecked in pink cloth and ribbons, and featured pink cupcakes, cosmopolitans, and a pink throne for Anna. The shower theme was lingerie, and Anna was forced to guess who sent which items. All my funny/trashy picks were erroneously attributed to Anna’s friend Jennie Sue, who, in fact, won the "porn star" award with her gift of furry, sequined panties. She also supplied glow in the dark clip-on earrings in the shape of penises, and fuchsia anal beads — which Anna wore as a bracelet.

Mary is a film student at UCLA, and made an amazing video montage of pictures of Anna and of Anna & Jason, including both cute and embarrassing photos, and wonderfully cheesy special effects. The video was the highlight of the shower. (Can you believe it topped the earrings?)

Around 7, we headed out to meet up with the bachelor party for a drink, and then it was dinner time — at LAST. (Have I mentioned that I am hungry ALL the time?) We went to the craziest Indian restaurant I’ve ever encountered. It was about 10×30 feet, and contained approximately 15,000 Christmas lights, which hang to head level while the diners sit. The food was amazing, and incredibly cheap.

Dinner finally wrapped up around 11, which is past my bedtime these days. So I headed back to my hotel room where I read for about 15 minutes and then crashed. Unfortunately, Lil Smudge did not enjoy the Indian food as much as I did, and I woke up with the worst heartburn I can remember. I was up from 2:30 until almost 5 am.

I woke up again around 9:30 and went in search of tea and a bagel, and discovered that I was half a block from the Gay Pride Parade route, although the parade didn’t start until noon. Still, given the bachelorettes’ plans, I figured I would have an hour or so to watch it, and I was right. More dykes on bikes and gay police officers than you can shake a stick at! Unfortunately, I let myself get a little dehydrated, and it took until this morning for me to feel fully back to "normal."

I had brunch again with Anna and Mary, before heading back to the airport and home. Unfortunately, my flight was delayed and I didn’t wind up home until late late late. Last night, I made up for it by going to bed at about 8:15 pm and sleeping through until 6 or so.