We were pretty spoiled, this weekend, with visits from some of our good friends. Friday night, our good friends the Truscotts stopped through on their way moving out west. We are really bummed to see them move so far away from us. They have a new baby, which Piper was extremely curious about (above).

It was really good to see them, and we feel spoiled that they made a stop here on their epic road trip.

Some of Reagan’s close friends from high school, Terrah and Anthony were also in town over the weekend.

Piper didn’t waste any time snuggling up with Terrah. She was pretty interested in her jewelry, as well. It was really fun to have two such great visits with the PJ, this weekend.

Even though Piper was still running a low grade fever on Sunday, we could tell that for the most part she was in a good mood. Hopefully by next weekend, she will be completely over the little bug that has been irritating her.

Check out the rest of the photos, over here.

This week, I earned a B+. I missed a 4 mile run at the beginning of the week. But I almost made up for it, by going extra distance on Thursday, and today. Plus, the 17 and change that I ran today was my furthest run so far, in 2010. I was pretty pleased with my pace, also– even though I really started tapering off at the end. Another reason that I gave myself such a good grade, even after missing a run, is because it has been unbearably hot. Not just hot for running. It is the kind of heat that it uncomfortable to even be outside in. As a result, I have been sweating like CRAZY. People say “sweating buckets.” I probably could literally fill a small bucket with the amount of sweat that I exuded during the hot runs this week. It is one of those things where, when I’m cooling down (such a relative term) at the end of a run, and start to breathe through my nose, again, I have that same smell in my nose that I get the first time my head comes above water after jumping in a lake. Anyway, today’s weather was much more doable. I went in the evening . It was low 80′s and overcast. Total miles for the week are just under 44. Only 17 weeks to go! Hahahaha

PS, I started breaking in some new sneaks this week. Excited about them.

This piece was done in Berlin, earlier this year. I saw several different photo-sets of the work. These were my favorite. I borrowed them from the Just.Ekosystem.org blog. The artist is Mentalgassi. You can check out some of his latest work over on the Mentalgassi blog. I’m a total sucker for these perspective pieces. Maybe because I feel like you have to be so clever to pull them off, well. A couple more looks, below.

I’ve been feeling a bit un-inspired this week. I would like to blame it on the weather. It has been ultra hot, the last few days. The shot above is looking from my office building, across to Jersey City on Wednesday evening. Super hazy and gross. I kind of wish that I would have had my good camera with me, to get the full effect. Anyway, my mood has kind of been sluggish and hazy as well. I’m hoping that all of the smog is blown out to sea, soon. Hopefully my moodiness will go with it.

Nixon and the Beastie Boys join hands and give us the “Beastie Boys Time Teller P.” I’m eating up all of the cool stuff that I have been seeing from the Bread and Butter show in Berlin. Pardon all of the puns in the preceding sentences.

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For the 4th of July, we visited PJ in the morning, then walked across the GW Bridge to NJ, for a picnic at a Revolutionary War site. Above is a shot of Reagan on the GW Bridge, standing beneath the “largest free-flying American flag in the world; 90 feet (27 m) long and 60 feet (18 m) wide, the flag weighs 450 pounds (200 kg),” according to Wikipedia. The shot above doesn’t really allow for proper reference.

The shot below is looking back at NYC from the historic Ft. Lee battery.

Here is a shot of the flag after dark, from the Manhattan side. The shot below gives a better idea of how large the flag actually is.

And finally,  another one of these shots. This time, with the towers lit up for the holiday.

I apologize in advance for including so many photos in a single post.

After our Saturday morning run, we trekked out to Coney Island. This was our third (and hopefully final) visit to Coney Island this summer.

We rode the Wonder Wheel (we do, every time we go to CI). We also did the Cyclone, which is the old rickety roller coaster, that they are always threatening to shut down. I actually filmed the whole thing, maybe I’ll post it later.

The sky was extremely clear and blue, all day long. It was hot, and it really felt like summer.

The beach was totally packed, despite a shark warning. Hahahah. No one was bitten this weekend, except a guy on a boat who caught an 8 foot blue shark that bit him when he was trying to release it.

Even though we have a thousand shots of Reagan and the parachute drop. I liked this angle from the pier, instead of the usual boardwalk shot.

After lunch, we went to visit Piper, who was sleeping exactly like this, when we arrived. At cute as it was, it turns out that she wasn’t feeling very well. She has had a bit of a fever for the past couple of days. Her lungs are clear though. So, hopefully it isn’t anything serious.

There are a few more Coney Shots over here.

This week, I earned a B-. I slept in on Thursday and ended up missing a 4 mile run because I also had to work late. Not only that, but my runs at the beginning of the week were really only half hearted. I didn’t push myself at all. I was just kind of going through the motions, until Wednesday. But my run this morning kind of redeemed it a bit. I felt great the whole time, and I had a great pace. My total mileage this week was only 35.44. It would have been a smaller mileage week, anyway, but missing that run didn’t help. I only have about 150 more miles to reach the 500 mark, this year. So I should hit that in about 3 more weeks. That’s kind of exciting.

I’m not sure why it is, but the three-day-weekends always seem to go the quickest, even with the extended time away from work. Even so, I am pretty excited for the upcoming holiday weekend. Since Monday is a bank holiday, the firm is also closed. We are still trying to finagle Reagan’s work situation for Monday. On tap for the weekend:

1. Dress Piper up like a fire cracker. Ok, not really, but it doesn’t sound that far fetched, right? For real though, we have some good visits planned out.
2. Saturday morning, team group run in Central Park, early-early. Seriously looking forward to this one.
3. Picnic/watch fireworks.
4. Watch the GP Race in Catalunya.
5. Bike ride?
6. Relax.

Wait. What was number 6, again? Hahahahah. Oh man. That is going to be nice. To wrap up this post, here are a couple of my fav images from the latter half of this week. The image at the top was from the new Rapha Cycle Club that opened on Bowery, Thursday.

^–Looking East, on Bond St.

^—“Shred” Exhibit at the Rubenstein Gallery, about an hour before the doors opened. Tif, they have a Swoon piece on display there. Here is a link to it.

^—Walking South on Lafayette

I have been using the same ghetto “fogless” shaving mirror, basically since I started shaving as a tween. That mirror and I have been through a lot together. But these days, it is so covered in hard water deposits and scratches, that it barely reflects anymore. The fogless mirror is a pretty amazing invention. Who would have thought that it could be improved upon? I was pretty excited when I saw the “Reflect” mirror+showerhead combo yesterday. Apparently they won’t be available until later this month. But, man, they are pretty awesome looking. I want one pretty bad.

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