Jersey and Queens

This past weekend was nothing short of amazing. I had an incredible time catching up with family, celebrating my cousins wedding, and enjoying the cool fall weather that has already crept into the tri-state area. While we were away, Florida had it's first "cold" front with temperatures in the 60's meanwhile we were enjoying the 40's on a balcony overlooking all five boroughs. I don't think we missed anything, except Mordechai.

We spent some time in New Jersey enjoying a bottle of wine over dinner with my family and enjoying drinks with a friend's family. We walked through a local park enjoying the moms running by with strollers after school and young teens that made picnics in the woods, taking photos together. We stumbled upon a family of deer deeper in the woods and enjoyed crossing the river that runs through the park. The leaves crunched under my feet and they were all different colors, it was beautiful. We don't get that in Florida and it makes me so nostalgic for home (New York). 

We took a train, the subway, and a bus to get to our hotel for the evening of my cousins wedding in Queens. Other family members were staying at the hotel so we continually ran into one person after another in the lobby and in the restaurant. Soon enough it was time to change into our evening wear for the ceremony at a Greek church, and the reception in a building that overlooks some monuments from the 1964 World's Fair in NYC. We could see the ruins of the observatory (they were in the Men In Black movie) and the wedding party took photos at the Unisphere. We enjoyed a cocktail hour that put our Florida dinner receptions to shame with Greek and Brazilian appetizers, towers of vegetables and cheese, beef and lamb under heat lamps, and a suckling pig (S enjoyed a crispy ear). The spread went on for days while an old man in the corner made awesome caipirinhas. Even over the loud music, he heard our drinks every time.

Not only was my cousin beautiful with her hair and makeup done and in a gorgeous dress, but from beginning to end it was all just so much fun and smiles all around. My favorite part by far was when my cousin surprised her husband (!) with a grooms cake - a custom he didn't even know about. The grooms cake was topped with a skull and had Misfits lyrics all over it, an homage to the grooms love of punk rock. During the cake cutting, the DJ played Misfits' We Are 138 and the groom stabbed the cake. Inside, appropriately, red velvet.