End of the Deep Freeze

New Yorkers are so funny. In the end, I guess it isn't even just New Yorkers, but any human being who, after countless days of 32 degrees or below, thinks that the one 48 degree day warrants shorts, short sleeves, no coats, etc. I saw soooo many people today wearing any combination of the aforementioned clothing items and I had to smile. I actually am wearing a skirt today and I wore my spring coat, so I am no better than the others. I decided after sweating on the overheated bus yesterday morning in my down coat that I was not going to repeat that experience again.

Yesterday was Mardi Gras, otherwise known to us German speakers as Carneval (Fasching). My German meet-up group had a Fasching party last Thursday night and we were instructed to show up in costume. I didn't have anything, so I stopped into Ricky's, this crazy beauty product store that also has a wide variety of costumes, t-shirts with random sayings and cowboy hats. I found a mask obviously left over from Halloween (see the giant spider on it?), but decided to buy it anyway, as it was definitely the best one of the lot. Kerstin accompanied me to the party sporting her own purple and black wig and some tinsel, to which she later added a feathered mask and a set of Jaegermeister beads she won in a contest. It was particularly cold that night and was the day after our little "snow storm", so the party wasn't as packed as it had promised to be. We still had a fine time though.