I know that yoga is all the rage now.

Yoga has lots of beneficial effects - it improves flexibility, it regulates breathing and reduces blood pressure, it makes you feel young.

But I have always preferred Pilates.

Pilates, named after its developer Dr. Joseph Pilates, is a form of exercise combining elements of yoga and gymnastics.

I enjoy Pilates because the exercises strengthen my muscles and flexibility, and there isn't any of that spiritual aspect that I know a lot of people love about yoga, but that, frankly, doesn't resonate with me.

I'm so into Pilates, that I've incorporated Pilates exercises into my martial arts.

I'm so into Pilates, that sometimes I find myself doing Pilates at my desk at work.

I'm so into Pilates, that while reciting the Nicene Creed at mass last Sunday, I accidentally chanted, "He was crucified under Pontius Pilates." Woops!

I think I'm supposed to go to confession for that. Or at least feel a great deal of Catholic guilt.

Which I'll then calm down about, by doing some Pilates.

This weekend the Husband and I swam against the tide.

Instead of going away for Labor Day Weekend, we stayed in New York City and became tourists in our own town.

On Sunday we started off by meeting some friends in downtown Manhattan, to watch the change ringing at Trinity Church. A completely overwhelming and unique event.

Then we wandered into the churchyard, a really lovely oasis in the midst of Wall Street.

We saw Alexander Hamilton's grave. He's buried there:

We all learned in history class all about how he was killed in a duel by Aaron Burr.

Hamilton may have gotten the better end of the deal, as he's now lying in this beautiful churchyard, and after killing Hamilton, Aaron Burr ended up dying penniless and friendless on Staten Island. A sad end indeed!

Then we wandered south and saw the Sphere, which was partially smashed in on 9/11 and is now a memorial of sorts to that tragic day:

Then we stumbled into a little festival celebrating the Netherlands! The first thing we saw was a huge windmill:

There was a little street with the cutest booths and shops:

Including this one that sold the most delicious food ever - fried dough with powdered sugar, yum!

I loved this display of happy Dutch children:

Then we wandered further downtown and found the Battery Park Labyrinth, another 9/11 memorial space:

We wandered through it and ended the afternoon with some contemplation and reflection.

It was a good long weekend!

Thanks for the support, everyone! It meant a lot to me.

Everything turned out fine; in the end, the partner got involved and he worked something out with the client.

He also reassured me that I'd handled everything fine, and that the client was out of line. That was the thing I cared the most about - keeping the partner happy. So overall, it was a good learning experience for me.

So over the weekend the Husband and I had out of town guests, so we did some spring cleaning in anticipation of their arrival.

The Husband dug out his collection of old cars he played with in childhood.

He was showing me all of them, explaining what make and model each car was, how he got each one, and the significance of each in his childhood.

He even showed me some Transformers.

It was interesting, seeing how the design of cars has changed since the 70s and 80s.

Will our kids be playing with hybrid toy cars?

I'm already imagining it - Toyota Prius Hotwheels!

So here's a summary of my trip, juxtaposed with things my relatives said to me throughout the entirety of it:

So why don't you have a baby yet? What? You've been married for over a year, and you aren't pregnant?

Try some of this:

Try this dish; you'll like it:

And that's how much we'll be smiling, during our trip, too. Well, after we get over the jet lag.

I'll be back in 2 weeks. I promise to behave and come back with good stories and photos.

I was away from my computer for a few days because the Husband and I had houseguests.

And it's always stressful with out of town guests in a tiny, cramped Manhattan apartment.

Of course I love my friends, but there's always just not quite enough room around here.

There's no privacy, because people are always underfoot.

There's no good time to sit at one's computer and blog one's innermost, private thoughts, because the guests are always walking by!

There's no good alone time in the bathroom, pooping and reading a newspaper.

There's no good alone time in front of the tv, channel surfing and watching lame shows with names like 29 Kids and Counting and When Circus Animals Attack! and Plastic Surgeries Gone Terribly, Terribly Wrong without having to explain one's poor reality tv choices.

We did get out of the house for a Mets game.

But to our chagrin, and in keeping with the entire month of June here in New York, the game was rained out.

So we went home, back to our cramped apartment.

Here's a photo I took of the big tarp they put over the baseball field to keep it dry.