The one when we all went to Hearth...

Our first morning in Brooklyn was nice. It was actually warmer there than it was in Dallas the day before. We were packed for every climate on earth, and we were almost disappointed that we'd violated the luggage weight limit at the airport for nothing.



The first thing we did was head over to Amy's (where the New Year's party would be in a few days) to meet her for lunch.



Here are the four of us on the bus we caught on Union street. While trying to make sure that everyone would be in the picture (I'm just holding the camera out in front) I completely forgot to smile. At least now you know of a possible expression that I might make when I'm thinking.

This is the door to Amy's. It is seriously a fortress. You must go through a heavy iron gate and two locked doors in order to get inside. Here, Erin and LL struggle to remember the password.

It's amazing how much happier people can be once they've eaten. LL, Amy, Erin and Emily are all doing this Sex and the City style pose...some more exhuberantly than others. After this, we went ice-skating in Prospect Park. It was the first time I'd ever tried it and it was really, really fun. It reminded me a little of skiing, where you need to keep your legs loose so that you can give with the irregularities in the ice. Anyway, I picked it up okay, but I wasn't brave enough to take any pictures while doing it.

Eventually, we all got ready and went to dinner at Hearth where Jordan and Emily work. It is a really good restaurant. And since we know the chef (that being Jordan) we got to have lots of extras thrown in. It was one of the best dining experiences we've ever had, complete with lots of friends.

Here are LL and I, somewhere mid-meal. I'm not sure at this point if we are completely stuffed, or if we are just stuffed. We ate a lot. So did everyone else.

Nisha ate all five desserts. You can see Bryan's hands attempting to take one of them. He would not succeed.

Here is the whole gang! Amy, Nisha, Clay, LL, Emily, Jordan, Erin, Bryan, Wade and Andy.

Lastly, we have this lovely photo of Erin and Pee-wee Herman. It seems that Paul Reubens (that's P-W's real name) likes eating at Hearth and he sent the restaurant a Christmas card, personally signed and everything. So here is Erin holding said card. LL and I are not cool enough to be on PW's mailing list. We're OK with it, really.