What a month. I can’t believe I lived through this month and am here to write about it. After a whirlwind of emotions, travel, and packing/unpacking we are now back here in New York City. As I write this post to the window to my right I’m overlooking Lincoln Center and much of Midtown including a glimpse of the Empire State Building. How this is my life I’ll never comprehend. But once I got done pinching myself and rocking out to jazz on my Sonos I’m here to recap the crazy month that was April of 2021.

RECAP OF THE MONTH

It’s hard to imagine as I sit here writing this a few days into May that we started the month of April in Newport Beach having dinner at one of the staples of the area, Five Crowns. It’s really one of the few restaurants that Jenn and I have eaten at since the pandemic started and would be the last one we ate at in Newport before going back to New York. We had a lovely meal on their patio very distanced from anyone else. I started with their classic salad and Jenn the lobster bisque. We split their infamous prime rib (something we don’t eat as often as we used to) and finished with Jenn’s favorite chocolate lava cake. I remember when we left after dinner realizing that it was the literal calm before the storm.

The next day was one of my favorite days of the year, Passover. It’s the one holiday outside of Christmas that Jenn and I make a point to fly out for, and given we were still in California this year it made it even easier. We stopped by Amy and Ryan’s house (my parent’s old house) and enjoyed a beautiful charcuterie board and got to visit with Gracelyn (I call her Gracey) and my Grandma and Ron. From there we drove over to Jake’s place dropped off some items for his place that he purchased from us (it’s looking great) and then to my parents in Menifee for the Passover cedar. It’s been a long time since we’ve been around this many people at once (15 people) but with most there vaccinated Jenn and I were willing to take the risk as this would also be the last time we’d see everyone before leaving for New York.

The next day was Easter. We spent the majority of the day packing up the last remaining boxes in our apartment and watching church online. We did meet Jenn’s Dad and Joan that evening at The Montage for drinks and dinner at Harvest at The Ranch at Laguna Beach. It was a stunning evening and a great meal to a beautiful send-off. I remember driving home that evening from dinner thinking how crazy it was that we were leaving for a second time.

And like that the 10th of April had arrived. Jake and Kyle showed up bright and early on that Friday morning to pick up the remaining items that Jake had purchased from us and the movers arrived shortly after they did. We were left at lunch with an empty apartment, a full Mercedes GLC, and our last In & Out meal (that sounds delicious right now). The next week was a whirlwind from saying goodbye to my siblings (minus Ally/Tim) at Vaca in Costa Mesa to driving across the country to New York City. I wrote up an entire recap of that journey and so as not to repeat it I will say this, with a few weeks passed I can say that it was one of my favorite times with Jenn in the nearly 18 years we’ve been together. I don’t recall a time where we were more disconnected from the rest of the world and just enjoyed being with each other, in a car for 7-9 hours a day. It didn’t hurt that Frasier was a complete rockstar the entire drive and handled the change better than we could have ever imagined.

When we arrived in New York City we quickly unpacked the 20+ boxes that were waiting for us. That same evening both Jenn and I got our first Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at the Javits Center and enjoyed our favorite Indian meal, Bengal Tiger. Over the next week, we had two new TVs arrive (thank you, Jenn), several boxes from West Elm, and CB2. Our movers arrived a full week after we arrived in New York City (April 23) and dropped off our stuff within a few hours. We spent much of Friday into Saturday morning unpacking and setting up our apartment. We had the TVs mounted on Saturday and got to enjoy the Oscars on Sunday night. Jenn would not be happy if I “forgot” to mention that she not only won our Oscar ballot this year but absolutely destroyed me.

The remaining two weeks of April were just us getting used to being back. We walked Frasier to Central Park a few times which he immediately picked right back up and adored. Almost every night we would take Frasier to Riverside Park for his nightly walks and Lincoln Center on the, particularly cold nights. The biggest shocker for Jenn and me was the fact that Frasier is now eating his breakfast and dinner without prompting. It used to be an ordeal to trick him to eat his food in Newport Beach, but from the first day back in New York he eats all his food with no hassle. He seems to be very happy to be back.

When the month came to a close we were just starting to get accustomed to being back in New York. Jenn continued to decorate and we have begun to get into a new routine. On Jake’s 30th birthday along with virtually celebrating his big day, Jenn got some big news of her own. She was promoted after exactly a year to Senior Director which was both unexpected and completely well deserved. I’ve never seen Jenn work harder or more impressively than she has in the last year. Jenn’s an amazingly talented leader and visionary and her hard work have continued to pay off. I continue to be a very proud and inspired husband.

And that ended our first month back in New York. We still have a bit of work to do to finish our new apartment but what I can say for now is it’s the most beautiful place we’ve ever lived in hands down. The views are spectacular, the layout makes it feel bigger than anywhere we've lived and Jenn’s decorating game has never been stronger. I can’t wait to show off the finished product next month, but until then thank you April for being one of the best months since the pandemic started.

TV WE WATCHED

We actually didn’t watch a ton of TV this month. We were too busy driving nearly 3,000 miles and moving across the country to get any major binge sessions in. Not to mention we were down to one TV on the ground for the first week and a half we were in New York. But the show we did enjoy the most this month was the odd, zany, and completely addicting Search Party. A show that started on TBS and moved to HBO Max was by far the best thing we watched all month.

BOOKS I READ (OR LISTENED TO)

This was far and away the worst month of reading I’ve had in 2021. A Study in Scarlet the first Sherlock Holmes novel was the only one that Jenn and I listened to on our drive and it was super fun to see where the character started. Outside of that novel, the other three novels I read this month were nothing to write home about. Hopefully, May changes that!

MOVIES WE WATCHED

We did not watch a single movie from start to finish in April. We did watch Wedding Crashers and The Internship on our road trip but only watched bits and pieces of them. I hope to have some more movies to report back on next month.

THEATER WE SAW

Although we still don’t have a return to broadway set in stone yet, we are excited that it’s sounding like we will be back in a theater sooner rather than later.

GAMES I'VE BEEN PLAYING

The game I’ve put the most time into since being back here in New York has been MLB The Show 21 a game that I tend to play for a month or two every year and then fall off. I expect that to be the case this year as well but its good to be back for now.

2021 GOAL TRACKING

Goal #1: Read 45 Books: I've read 17 books and on track to hit my goal.

Goal #2: Keep Weight Under 140: I've yet to go over 140lbs

Goal #3: 12 Monthly Recaps: 4 for 4.

Goal #4: Create 6 travel books: China Trip complete, 1 down 5 to go.

A Look Back - April 2021