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.

To get over our blahs about the Star Trek movie, the Husband and I took a trip to Philadelphia this weekend and visited the Star Trek Exhibit at the Franklin Institute.

So much fun! We got to see old uniforms from the show, the actual bridge from the set, historical facts and figures on the main characters, and models of the previous versions of the Starship Enterprise.

We followed up our museum trip with a walk around lovely downtown Philadelphia:

This was followed by a concert at the Kimmel Center, home of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and a late dinner in an Italian restaurant - Delicious fried zucchini:

And the best linguine with clams I've EVER HAD, even in my several trips to Italy:

Now the bad taste in my mouth from that movie has been replaced with the delicious clammy-ness of this dish!

Over the weekend I saw the new Star Trek movie.

The Husband and I are huge fans of Star Trek. Plus, we had heard good things, so we were really excited.

SPOILER ALERT: so if you haven't seen it, don't read any further!

Well, we HATED IT.

Apparently any Hollywood producer can just take the name of an old tv series, and rewrite everything (without regard for the characters' personalities) and call it their own.

They took out everything interesting about Star Trek - the characters' personality tics, the quasi-scientific mumbo jumbo, the interesting stories - and make it into one big, bad, dumb action movie.

This could have been any action movie about anything; the story was that lame.

And how were these incongruities explained?

Oh, right, it was because of time travel...silly me!!

Yes, time travel will lobotomize all of our characters and make them completely different people, and wipe out everything they've ever done!

The highlight of the movie was Leonard Nimoy's appearance. The guy who played Spock as a young man was disappointing.

Spock's delivery is supposed to be unemotional, not dripping with sarcasm. Did his acting coach not teach him that?

And what was up with Spock hooking up with Uhura? WHAT??

And couldn't they have gotten an actual Japanese guy to play Sulu?

Humph.

This coming weekend is a long weekend that we Americans spend in observance of Memorial Day.

Amidst all of the barbecues and the beach parties and drinking and carousing, it's easy to forget the true meaning of Memorial Day - that is, to honor our fallen veterans, and remember the price they paid for us to enjoy this long weekend that marks the beginning of summer.

Senator Daniel Inouye is one many war veterans who advocate a return of the observance of Memorial Day to the fixed date of May 30.

Among war veterans, politicans and all-around good people, Senator Inouye is one of my personal heroes.

Here's a video of him talking about some of the shocking prejudice he dealt with after he came back from World War II a decorated veteran, having lost his right arm in battle fighting for the United States.

It's important for me personally to remember that I love the United States, warts and all, and I'm proud to be an American.

Wherever you are this weekend, take a minute to life up your beer glass to those American heroes who fought and died for us, and those who continue to fight and die for us in this time of war.

It is very new and fancy. There are endless food options and more luxury boxes and exclusive areas for the corporate fat cats.

For us regular people, though, the seating leaves much be desired.

The seats are cramped, and the rows are really long. So if you're in the middle of a row, you're constantly inconveniencing other people by stepping over them on your way to the aisles to go to the bathroom, get food, etc.

It made me miss Shea Stadium. And angry that perfectly good stadiums are being demolished and unnecessary new stadiums springing up to line the pockets of corporations at taxpayers' expense.

But since Shea is gone, and we have Citi Field now, I have to accept reality. So I took the opportunity to walk around and explore the new stadium.

This was the strangest shop I saw:

It's hard to see from the photo, but the store is called "Touch: by Alyssa Milano."

I guess it was meant to appeal to women whose boyfriends and husbands drag them to baseball games.

Rather than spend $48 on a cheap looking sundress with the Mets logo on it, I opted for two orders of sausage and peppers for $14.50.

Nothing like getting screwed once as a taxpayer, and twice as a hungry baseball fan.

At least the Mets won!

Hope everyone had a happy Easter!

I sure did. The Sister and I dyed Easter eggs, for the first time since childhood. See, here they are:

We got the Paas Tie Dye Easter egg kit. Aren't they all cool and psychedelic?

I just went to the Paas website and realized that they have about ONE HUNDRED different types of kits.

Which prompts this tirade from this old woman who hasn't dyed Easter eggs since the late 1980s..

One thing didn't change from childhood, though. We peeled the eggs tonight after dying them, and we sure had some freaky stained-looking deviled eggs for dinner.

While leaving work tonight, I had a celebrity sighting - Jimmy Fallon walked right in front of me.He was dressed very nicely, in a hurry, on his way out of the building and jumping into a limo.

I've always thought he was cute.

But tonight, he looked strange, weirdly pale and slightly androgynous.

In fact, he looked just like the guy from Stone Temple Pilots.

After thinking about this, I've concluded that I shouldn't be so hard on those celebrities.

It can't be fun to be scrutinized every time you're seen anywhere.

And in New York City, where you're never alone, it's even worse!

How would I feel if everytime I went outside, people judged my appearance?

Yeah, it's a pretty old tie!

The last time the Husband wore it, he was 5 years old and giving his first music recital.

It's not even a real necktie; it has a little clip on the back to stick onto a little boy's shirt.

Hahahahaha.

We've agreed that we'll save it for any sons we may have.

They'll probably hate us for it; it's so 70s!!

I'm really shocked by the sudden death of Natasha Richardson tonight in New York City.

I'm shocked and sad for so many reasons.

Maybe because she's my neighbor! Her apartment is right around the corner from mine.

Maybe because I've always admired her as an actress and thought she was beautiful and lovely. Who didn't want to have her as their fabulous, elegant mother after watching her in The Parent Trap?

Maybe because the first time I went skiing was also in Canada at Mount Tremblant.

And I also had a private ski lesson with an instructor, and went on the bunny slope, the same bunny slope she was on.

And I also fell several times, and bit the snow, and wiped out, and landed on my face and laughed it off, just as she did.

And my instructor was also attentive and kind and helped me up each time, and told me I could stop if I wanted to, just as hers did.

But unlike her, I walked away just fine and enjoyed the rest of my college spring break.

I know it was just one of those awful, horrible and unpredictable things. That's what makes it all so tragic.

My thoughts and prayers are with her family. Especially two boys who have lost their mother.

I haven't been getting much sleep for the past few nights.

The reason? I rented the miniseries Shogun.

I remember watching it on tv in reruns when I was a kid. But it came out on DVD not long ago.

So I rented the 5-disc set last week, and started watching it over the weekend.

I've been hooked. I can't sleep, and I can't stop thinking about the Bushido and ritual suicide.

I can't wait to be done with this movie so I can go out for sushi.

Ok, so I understand the woman with the kids, the person with the cane, and the person in the wheelchair.

But what's with Invasion of the Body Snatchers in the picture second from the left?

Freaky!

Obviously if your body has been taken over by parasitic aliens, it's supremely important that you be allowed to get onto the bus before everyone else.

Last night I engaged in an activity that is common among New Yorkers, but which I had never done before.

I went to a New York Knicks game!

Yes, a client gave me and the Husband some really amazing tickets.

I don't follow professional basketball, but the Husband has informed me that the Knicks have been up and down this season. There were some coaching issues, drama with certain players, etc.

So he said, "Don't be surprised if the Knicks get up ahead and then blow the lead and end up losing the game. They do that sometimes. They break our hearts."

Our seats were really good. Here's a photo I took while we were there:

There were actually a couple of celebrities sitting on the courtside, but I think I was still too far away to get them in camera clearly enough.

Too bad! Otherwise I could sell the photo to a tabloid and make tons of money!

Oh, well. It was a fun game, and the Knicks won!

Honestly, who can work in these poor, wretched Dickensian conditions?

I say just for working as hard as we all have, we're all entitled to a snow day!!

Who wants to skip work with me and go make snow angels?

As many people know, Mardi Gras marks the last day of festivities before Ash Wednesday, which signifies the beginning of Lent.

Lent is a time of prayer and fasting and self-reflection for us Catholics. We're usually called upon during this time to give something up, as self-denial is good for us.

This year, I'm giving up several things for Lent. One of them is cursing.

You may laugh, but this will be quite a hardship for me.

I started cursing a lot when I first became a lawyer. Something about the high-pressure work environment just brings out the worst in me.

So because it's my last day of being able to do it for a while, I need to get the following out of my system:

This morning my %$#@ alarm didn't go off, but the %$#& construction next door to me was so ^%$* loud that I woke up at &$#!% 7 a.m. anyway. Then the &%$# subway was running late, making me 15 ^%$ minutes late for a &$#% meeting my *&%^#*% boss had called out of the blue without %$#%#& telling me about it. Then after another 3 hours spent calling #%^&# clients, I finally got to go home, but I just missed a (&^#!% subway and had to walk home in the @$&!!# rain and &^% 20 degree weather. What the ^$#@*?