Today marks one year, one month, and one day since Jared and I celebrated our wedding. I never officially wrote a blog post about it, much of which remains a vivid memory. It was a truly wonderful day, and a great weekend of love and laughter. Jared and I were overwhelmed by the support we received from our family and friends, and were so happy to see so many people enjoying one another's company, eating, drinking, dancing, and being merry throughout our wedding day. We look back at our fabulous wedding pictures frequently, and while there were things that went slightly awry over the course of the weekend, we wouldn't change a thing. (Though I think many people would have had the AC at St. Sylvester's put on earlier in the day!)
Our first year of marriage was pretty great. The day after our wedding we departed for Greece, where we spent two weeks soaking up the Mediterranean sun. July rolled into August, and we took a quick trip to Boston, to help celebrate Archer's 1st Birthday with the Vuono's and Verdi's, before Jared spent a week in San Francisco for work. Our summer included some highlights: an AWESOME wedding dinner at Blue Hill NYC, compliments of a few of Jared's former Thumb Labs clients, a day at the US Open, where we saw Serena Williams win the women's title, and an afternoon at the Hampton Classic with Olivia, keeping up the 20-plus year tradition. Leaving Jared for a couple evenings, I headed out to Jones Beach to see John Mayer in concert with Katie D. and Katie W., always a great time, and then upstate for Brigid's Bachelorette Party, a fun, grown-up gal slumber party. As September arrived so did Brigid's SURPRISE Bridal Shower. And what a surprise it was. Kudos to all involved who helped pull it off!
In October we celebrated our birthday's with a Menghini and Verdi family dinner at my parents house, and then two fabulous bday dinners out: my 28th at WD-50 and Jared's 29th at Blue Ribbon Sushi Itzakaya, where Jared's keen eye spotted Matt Stone (of Southpark fame) at the table behind us. The month also included a bunch of work travel for Jared and I: Jared upstate for the yearly Bechance retreat and me down to Atlanta for the annual NAEHYC (National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth) Conference. I made a day trip to New Hampshire to do bridesmaid dress shopping for Annalisa (who got engaged in the winter) and had a nice afternoon visiting with her, Jess, Erica, Aunt Jenny, Kelly, and Bryn. We moved into November, and failed to vote in the NYC Mayoral election and were indifferent to Mayor DeBlasio’s victory; we’ll see where he takes the city. Mid-month we were saddened at the passing of Robert Eisenberg. He was such a staple in the Menghini household, good friends with my parents, very kind to my grandparents before their passing, and always with a friendly greeting, smile or word of encouragement for Patrice, Biv (Olivia) and myself through the years we knew him. (I will never forget his whisper of encouragement as my Dad walked me down the aisle at my wedding.) We had a quiet Thanksgiving dinner with the Menghini's, and spent the rest of the weekend celebrating Brigid Martin and Jeff Motta’s Wedding with the Martin and Motta crews, which was a BLAST. Our crazy photo booth pictures from the festivities still adorn our fridge.
As we moved into the holiday season, things got crazy. December is a hectic time of year at Homes for the Homeless, which makes me nutty. We had some time to relax though, and spent an evening at St. Paul the Apostle for Fordham University's Lessons and Carols and dinner at Eataly (which had been on our go-to list for while.) We also saw Handel's Messiah at the New York Philharmonic (a super score from Gilt.) We celebrated Verdi Christmas the weekend before the holiday, and Christmas Day was a bit of whirlwind: breakfast, Mass, and gifts at the Menghini's, Christmas dinner at the Gillece's, and then Christmas Night at the Mack's. Christmas 2013 marked the first year in more than 60 years that the Rita Dwyer Christmas Night activities did not take place on Fourth Street. Aunt Rita was in the hospital the week leading up to Christmas, and it was determined that the tradition needed to evolve. Christmas at the Mack's was great though, and included a visit from Santa Claus, which helped with the transition. We then headed to Vermont for a few days, got in a day of skiing (just me, in case anyone reading thought Jared might have skied.). We headed back to the city to spend the New Year with the Beickert's (Ryan and Danielle, and Bob) and company, happy to ring in 2014 with good friends.
The beginning of 2014 was on the quieter side, with...nothing but snow! It snowed and snowed, and snowed and snowed, and then, when we thought it was done snowing, it snowed some more!! We were pretty sure our car was going to be buried in until Cinco De Mayo. New York City street cleaning was suspended for 22 days (read about it here) in part because people could NOT get there cars out, and there was NO place to put ALL OF THE SNOW. I am not complaining though, it was one of the best winters on record, polar vortex, freezing cold apartment temperatures, and all. We took a day trip to Boston for Sebastien’s 3rd Birthday, and our only other January highlight was dinner at Superfine in Dumbo and taking in Wolf of Wall Street at BAM Rose Cinemas (Jared loved it, I hated it) on one of said polar vortex evenings. Lots of snow meant lots of skiing, including a day trip to Windham Mountain with Pattie Rose as February got underway. Mid-February the Anderson (Dwyer) Family lost one of its giants: my Uncle Vinny. I have so many memories of his whistle to coordinate family reunion field games and group photos, and some of my first vivid childhood memories of him and his wife, my Aunt Edna, and their vacation house in Long Eddy (upstate New York.) It was there that I went to a cider mill for the first time. It is always nice to see our Kalagher cousins, but a shame for it to occur under such circumstances. February also included a great Valentine’s Day dinner at our Valentine's Day standby, Ocean Grill. This was followed the tradition of me buying Jared a practical gift (a new pillow) and him giving me something far superior: tickets to see All The Way {the Lyndon Johnson bio-play (??)} with Bryan Cranston the next night. The play was excellent and right up our alley: politics, history, humor, and Walter White all in one. In February we also helped celebrate Aunt Winnie’s 65th Birthday at an awesome surprise party. With much of the Anderson Family in attendance, it made for a fun Saturday evening. We also partook in NYC Restaurant Week dinner with Danielle and Ryan at David Burke Fishtail, and had a great dinner with lots of laughs.
March remained cold, but was fun none-the-less. With the girls - Katie D., Katie W. and co. - I saw The Avett Brothers and Old Crowe Medicine Show at Barclays Center, while Jared was in San Fran on another business trip. I headed up to Vermont later in the month for a few more Okemo Mountain ski days with Olivia, my mom and Aunt Sheila. I headed south too, for the American Camp Association Conference in Atlantic City.….mostly to keep my colleague Andrea company. I learned a bunch too though. April saw more travel for work: to Verona, NY for the NYS Association for the Education of Young Children Conference. But shortly after Jared and I enjoyed some time off, with five days in Arizona visiting Mindi and Rich, and the Arizona sun. We took a day trip up north to Sedona and Flagstaff, spent an afternoon with Jared’s Grandma Mary, went horseback riding, celebrated Easter with mass and a great brunch out, and more. When we returned Jared attended Greg’s Bachelor party, complete with a Yankee game, food and beer - doesn't get much better than that.
A couple of weekends later we kicked off May and were happy to celebrate Greg and Angie’s wedding. It started with a great rehearsal dinner at a Park Slope's Palo Santo (which we had been wanting to try for ages) and then a beautiful wedding ceremony and reception at Thalassa Restaurant in Tribeca. It was a lovely afternoon, and we had a really nice time at the ceremony and reception, visiting with Tim, Bob, Phil, and Rob, enjoying the wonderful food, and relaxed but elegant and celebratory atmosphere they created for their day. Maureen hosted a family get-together so the Anderson clan at-large could visit with Chris, who was in town from Park City, which was a fun afternoon. A few weekends later we had Mother’s Day Dinner at Uncle Danny and Denise’s house with the Menghini’s (minus Patrice) and the Gillece’s (minus Sean) plus my Grandma. Ever the Italian, Denise made a ton of great food and sent us home with two days worth of leftovers. Towards the end of the month we were saddened to hear of the passing of, and attending the funeral for, Shelly Miller, the father of Jared’s Uncle Greg. It was held here in New York, where Shelly and his wife Carol had lived before moving to Arizona. We had spent several Thanksgiving’s with Shelly when in Arizona, and he was a very friendly and kind man, and we were sad to see the Miller’s under the circumstances. A few weeks later we spent a Saturday on Long Island with the Verdi’s and Vuono’s for a visit and to celebrate Ashlyn’s birthday. We rang in Memorial Day at a very, very crowded Jones Beach, and a few days later we were thrilled to offer our happiest congratulations to Ashlyn and Ben, who got engaged!
June saw more travel for Jared, who began the month with a week-long trip back to San Francisco for the Apple World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC.) (Also, a week is a LONG TIME to be away from your hubby.) Olivia, Sean, and I braved the madness at Belmont Park and were wildly disappointed with California Chrome's Triple Crown loss on that fateful June afternoon. My mom and I attended Nicole Tasso’s baby shower, who is expecting her first little one, in July. Father’s Day was a quiet one, with a Menghini-5 breakfast and yard work. In the middle of the month, we honored all of the Anderson Family members who have served in the armed forces, as well as my Grandpa, Pardo Menghini, whose names were all added to the Eisenhower Park Wall of Honor. It was a short ceremony before they unveiled the new names, and we all enjoyed a picnic lunch at Aunt Rita’s house afterwards. At the end of the month The Menghini-5 celebrated Olivia’s graduation from Patchogue-Medford High School, with the Thursday night ceremony and dinner out, while Jared attended an Adobe conference in Sausalito, CA. A bigger graduation party was held for Olivia that Saturday, with extended family and friends. We departed that same evening for an 11-day trip to Spain, to celebrate our busy first year of marriage.
After returning, refreshed and FULL OF TAPAS and PINXTOS, life continued ever onward. Mid-July we received the sad news that my Aunt Edna (Uncle Vinny’s wife) had passed away, and again we celebrated her life (a Daughter of the American Revolution and a Columbia University graduate in a time when it was a rarity) and her funeral with the Kalagher Family, and of course the extended Dwyers and Anderson. We attended the annual Jefftival celebration at the Motta’s upstate, and had a fun evening with Brigid and Jeff. The following weekend we were back on LI for Ryan and Danielle’s joint graduation party, where we also got to visit with Bob and James Doutney (who I tried desperately to convince that bull-fighting was crazy.) The weekend after that was Ashlyn and Ben’s engagement party, which was a fantastic afternoon, officially kicking off their engagement. We had a great time eating lots of Italian antipasto and dessert, enjoying drinks, and visiting Jared’s extended Verdi and Behren’s family, and family friends. (And we snuck in a visit with Lisa, Katie and Tim over beers at HopTron Brewtique the night before.) We ended July with dinner out with Mindi and Rich, who were in the city for the day, at Boqueria Tapas Bar in SoHo.
And now it’s August 6, and we are looking forward to another busy and exciting month. A bunch of other great things happened over the last year, many of which I cannot remember the specifics of but included the following ladies Brigid, Katie D., Katie W., Danielle and Diana, and any variety of meals and drinks, as well as movies/pizza/evening coffee-date walks/Prospect Park runs and exploration with JV. And I’m not going to even try to track of all of the fun Adobe events that Jared partakes in. Check back soon to see what’s new after our most resent year, month, and day.
