Project Oasis at the Halfway Point

Husband is off work this week, and DuckyBoy is at his grandparents ... at Grandma's request, I might add.

So when we were casting about thinking of what to do on our vacation, the usual things came up: places like Puerto Rico (which, given the current hurricanes blowing through that region, we're really glad we didn't opt for), London (which I love), and the like.

One day, Husband called from work and said he had the perfect plan for our vacation: "Project oasis." he said.

"I'm in!" I said, loving the sound of it. "What is it?"

Brilliant mind that he is, it's rearranging, organizing, sorting, and otherwise making our apartment into the oasis-to-come-home-to that a home should be. We never really did that when we moved here; at the time, we were both kind of crazy in our own ways. He was still trying to move up the ranks at Big Bad Corporate Bank and I felt all alone dealing with baby DuckyBoy, who was starting to veer from the behaviors the baby books told me to expect, yet didn't seem delayed in any significant way.

So, here we are. And we're having a blast.

Monday we sorted and rearranged the shop/pantry, then took a boatload of stuff to the Salvation Army, bought a new smooth-tilting tripod at B&H Photo, and treated ourselves to dinner at Metrazur. For $44 you get appetizer, entree, dessert And a bottle of wine. What a deal! And everything was really good, too. Plus you're overlooking the waiting room at Grand Central Station.

I had a Groupon-type coupon from Open Table for the restaurant, which is why we were going to that particular place. I bought the coupon deal (spend $25 for $50 off your meal) because the place is a no-brainer for us: Created by Aureole chef Charlie Palmer, the menu had things I knew we'd like, excellent value price fix, fun location, on and on.

Husband says the best moment of the day was when, after fielding several questions from him-on-the-couch about what for him was a mystery restaurant (including, "Has Adam Platt reviewed it?), I finally said, "I'll lookm, but this is the last question I'm answering about Metrazur. You can come with me, or I'll go with someone else some other time."

He bust out laughing, got up and went to his computer, and he looked it up himself ... and immediately knew why I was so sure of myself. He loved that I, as he put it, stood up for myself. And we had a great laugh!

Tuesday, we tackled our bedroom. We treated ourselves to egg sandwiches and juice via delivery from the diner, then moved the 3 large Ikea wardrobes from our room to the playroom/other room/ room-to-be-named-later. Which meant dis- and re-assembling them. And we did it without a single argument, which is huge. We did realize that no design decisions were really involved, which is when feelings get involved and our tempers rise. But, still. Anything involving both of us and tools has traditionally caused at least one tiff.

Then we went to Ikea and sized our cabinets for the pantry, double-checked the pieces we want for the bedroom, and ate at The Family restaurant, mainly because we haven't been there in, oh, forever, and it's one of the reasons we live in Forest Hills. Happily, it hasn't changed much in the year or so. (I was a little worried because recently a sign appeared in the window, "Cool off with a margarita, sangria, or daquiri," which is usually a sign of desperation when a restaurant starts touting drinks completely unrelated to their cuisine.)

Today, we tackle the many boxes in the bedroom and ... [insert gasp] ... do some more planning of the office/living room before we move the myriad heavy things around. We had eggs with our leftover veal Valdostana from Da Family, and we're ready to go!