Park Day

After a well deserved sleep-in (I was actually up quite early on Saturday - too early), on Sunday morning I decided it was time for an early lunch and I made my famous vegan wrap -- this time, instead of slices of avocado, onions, and tomatoes, I just made some guacamole to spread on with the hummus! Yes, it was awesome.

Central Park (OK, not Summer)

Then I decided that it was time for some activity, so we went for a bike ride in Central Park. It was a crowded day in the park, but the weather was not as bad the previous week. Although dodging traffic on pot-holed roads in Manhattan was not in his training, my cousin handled himself quite well - he represented his home town of Venice, CA with aplomb.

Sheep's Meadow

It was great to cruise around the park on our bikes, and then for some "culture" we popped into the Boat House (often a stomping ground for the "wetter" and "less healthy" me over the years). I sipped my water and told old tales of the old me trudging through life unhealthily - to remind myself not to visit again. Then for more people watching we rode over to Sheep's Meadow were tons of people were laying out as if at the beach. It was so great to be outside, in the sun, being active and enjoying natural surroundings -- in fact one woman (obviously European) caught our nature-loving eye as we passed when she flipped over on her towel to lay on her back and nothing but the sunshine was covering her recently purchased chest. By coincidence, we both needed to tie our shoes at that moment...and my cousin was wearing slip-on Vans sneakers.

After hiking our bikes up my 4th floor walk-up, I jumped online to get a good deal on Yankees-Red Sox tickets for that evening's game. Getting pretty good seats online at a great rate we hoped on the subway up to the stadium. The new Yankee Stadium is certainly beautiful, the team: best in baseball, but the food selection is still abysmal. Now, most certainly a baseball game must have peanuts, hot dogs, and cracker jacks - if they did away with that I would be the first one on the protest line! However, give me just a little something that is remotely healthy. In our section there was nothing. Not one single salad, or chicken sandwich, or anything that was not either fried, or living under a heat lamp for the last 8 hours. All I was able to get were some peanuts and a water for the game. They had nothing healthy, or even quasi-healthy! It is just a shame, but it is really stupid - they would sell a huge amount of healthy food guaranteed!

Additionally, this was my first baseball game since going vegan (and now moderately vegan). Add since I promised myself a booze-less weekend, I wont lie to you, the urge and desire to have a beer was immense! But I fought through it successfully and watched the Yankees put on a great show beating the Red Sox handily! However, I noticed that when you are only drinking water at a Yankee game those drunk, obnoxious losers from somewhere outside Manhattan (sorry my elitism showing through) are not merely annoying as other times, but downright insufferable!

More drunk idiots on the train home and I was reminded how much happier it is to live a cleaner life - no drunkeness, no box of cracker jack sitting at the bottom of my belly, and no regrets.