I cannot believe that we’ve already reached the end of summer. It feels like just yesterday we arrived in New York at the start of spring. In some ways, it sort of is hard to imagine it getting cold again. Before it does though we had a jam-packed August with birthdays, travel, and Manhattan adventures.

RECAP OF THE MONTH

The start of every August post begins with both Jenn and my birthdays. This year was no different and we arrived back in New York City from our pre-birthday weekend getaway to Washington DC (already fully recapped). We had such an incredible time with great food and some nice sightseeing. It felt great to be out and about again. We tried our best to celebrate over that weekend so when our birthdays arrived (on a Monday/Tuesday) we didn’t do a lot to celebrate. Jenn did decorate our apartment in stunning fashion with birthday decor that she surprised me in after walking Frasier in the morning. On Jenn’s birthday, we made a morning trek to Central Park where we let Frasier run wild while we enjoyed the beautiful morning.

Unfortunately, I had to go to my first work offsite in years on Jenn’s birthday in Armonk. It’s the first time I’ve met any of my new colleagues in person and we spent three days in meetings at our facility in Armonk, New York. It was a long couple of days but it was pretty nice to have a driver pick me up and take me home at the start and end of the offsite. Jenn celebrated on her own at a local wine bar and we talked as soon as my dinner ended but it was really tough not being home for all of her birthday.

It was only a week later that I left for four nights to Iceland with Jake while Jenn’s dad came to visit her, here in New York. I had planned to go to California but when talking to Jake earlier in the year we realized that for the same price I could fly to Iceland and so we planned a brother trip just the two of us to Iceland. I have a full separate post on our trip to Iceland but needless to say we had a phenomenal time. We were lucky to have great weather and were able to drive all over the beautiful country and got to see some of its most notorious landmarks. Jenn and her dad from all accounts had a spectacular time together eating at some of the best restaurants in the city (Abaita, Rezdora, and Gramercy Tavern) and had a memorable visit to the Hamptons.

As incredible as it was to be in Iceland it was even better to be back home. Jenn and I did not miss a beat and were out a few days later. It still feels a bit foreign to go out and do things again but we have done such a better job of it in August. On the 21st we went to MoMa for the first time in two years. We both had missed it so much and it was so nice to be back. We’ve also started to bring our headphones with us so we can enjoy some of the audio tours for art pieces that really speak to us.

Jenn had previously gone to Connecticut to meet up with her colleagues for lunch and said we should take a day trip up since we still have our car. We did just that towards the end of August and had such a nice day. We drove and walked around a few towns, took Frasier to a beautiful park, and took in the neighboring state. My initial impression was that it was a bit more rural than I had imagined but beautiful with absolutely massive houses at every corner.

We were so inspired and happy to be back at MoMa that the following weekend we made the walk across to the east side back to The Met Museum for the first time in two years as well. This is both Jenn and my favorite museum in the city and I am almost positive we’ve only seen 50% of it. We actually spent the majority of our visit this time in their latest exhibit, The Medici Portraits & Politics (1512-1570), and enjoyed their audio guides to the new showing. Outside of the joy of being back in the museum, one of my favorite memories of the month was the walk to and from the museum enjoying some street performers and one of the most beautiful days of the summer.

The month came to a close with our favorite months in the city arriving and the US Open just getting underway. August was a treasure of a month and it makes me even more excited to see where the rest of the year goes from here.

TV WE WATCHED

Two of my new favorite shows were ones that we watched in August, Schmgadoon and The White Lotus. The first is a brief show of a couple who hits a rough patch and goes to a retreat for some help. On a walk, they land in a town called Schmigadoon which is like a 1940’s musical. It is beautiful, fun, and some of the tunes are actually quite good. It’s just such a bright fun show that plays in a genre that Jenn and I have started to love that it just hit really well. The other show, The White Lotus is just pure HBO comedy gold. Jenn and I had such a great time with this show that we didn’t want it to end.

Of course, Ted Lasso continues to be one of the best shows on TV and we picked up watching the last season of The Amazing Race (pre-pandemic) which always makes us happy.

BOOKS I READ (OR LISTENED TO)

I’ve been in GamersRead a book club/podcast for almost 5 years and the majority of the books are pretty bad including Just One Damned Thing After Another a book I begrudgingly finished in August. Luckily the other two books I read this month were fantastic. Oathbringer the third book in the Stormlight Archive continues to be a series that I really enjoy albeit these books are really long. This one is 1250 pages and although I have always enjoyed these books that commitment is always hard to give a book, luckily so far they have all paid off.

The best book I read this month (and maybe this year) was Anxious People by Fredrik Backman. I adored this book. It deals with anxiety, sadness, loneliness, and life in a beautiful and at times poetic way. It plays with perception a bit and offers enough humor that I could not put it down.

MOVIES WE WATCHED

It’s hard to say anything overly positive about either movie we watched this month. The Suicide Squad was one of the worst movies I’ve seen in a long time. Reminiscence was fine, not great, not bad, completely forgettable. in fact I watched it two weeks ago and remember very little of it.

THEATER WE SAW

We sadly did not see any theater this month and probably won’t next month. But we did book theater tickets and so this section will soon be filled.

GAMES I'VE BEEN PLAYING

Two new games this month. Twelve Minutes was a fun quick game that I got fully engrossed in on a Saturday morning. Sort of a terrible ending storywise but I enjoyed the journey. The other new game was Madden NFL 22 the first Madden game in probably two decades that I didn’t review but had I would have been one of the stronger reviews I’d given a Madden game in a few years.