Escape to Massachusetts.

The father and I in Massachusetts

The extended weekend in Massachusetts rejuvenated my growing weariness. Work ragged on my nerves and I worked late many days last week. As soon as my father pulled up to the train station to carry us to the 'country,' I instantly calmed. My mother had flown to Panama earlier in the week and so I figured my dad may want some company for Superbowl weekend.

We ate well (and by well I mean lots of ice cream cake) and watched many, MANY movies. Like father, like daughter I suppose. We saw the surprisingly adorable Warm Bodies on Saturday and ventured to get scared but really only disappointed by Mama on Sunday. There were also several DVDs watched on his new 70-inch HD television. I laughed along though I was bit underwhelmed by Seven Psychopaths, but I was shocked to find that I really loved End of Watch - a lot. It wasn't perfect, but I'd venture to say it was the best movie we watched over the weekend.

Since I've had a mild obsession with Kevin Spacey since high school, and one of my favorite directors is David Fincher, I've been anticipating Netflix's first original series House of Cards for some time. Good thing Netflix released all the episodes this weekend! The three of us knocked out six episodes, and I can't wait to continue - Spacey's always so good! I've been saying it for decades now! I also love any show that features a newspaper newsroom.

On Sunday my brother joined us, and his friend arrived to haul out my dad's huge, old tv. It was a mighty journey to behold these four guys get the tv from the house to the truck bed.

My aunt and uncle from Rhode Island arrived for the spectacle of the Superbowl on the giant television! It was truly beautiful to behold football on that tv. And yet, I didn't care too much either way who won. I was mostly enjoying the wonderful company and doing a lot of math to weight the chances of my pool numbers winning me $1000 (spoiler alert: they didn't).

Monday morning found my dad driving us back to the train station, which is always no fun! I wish we could have stayed in the relaxing atmosphere (with a rambunctious dog, though - the infamous Buddy), but alas we had to get back to New York. I had to stop into work for an hour, but I was soon back at home with Pee Wee.

And because this is New York, we already had a friend asking us to hang out. I met up with friends Jaime and Lisa at the Bowery Electric for a Bronx show and ran into many other friends, which always happens. We didn't stay for much of the show since I was tired, but it was fun to catch up and Jaime also had that thing that is somewhat of a holy grail in the city: a car. She drove me to Manhattan and back to Brooklyn in the warm heat, which ruled in comparison to the chilling walk to the subway I would have had.

Last night I caught up with Beca at a local neighborhood eatery and then Jaime invited Jesse and I to a fancy cocktail place called Apotheke in Chinatown. And woah! That's a great place for a fancy cocktail! Great atmosphere, live music, and the craziest cocktail menu I've ever seen. I opted for something called the Bees Knees which was listed under the health and beauty section and mentioned 'immunity,' so y'know, drinking a cocktail and thinking I'm not only being healthy but preventing disease really appealed to my senses. GOOD THING IT WAS ALSO THE MOST DELICIOUS THING I'VE EVER TASTED.

Also, in Chinatown it's located on the corner of the street where the final stand-off in last summer's Premium Rush takes place. Yes, I recognized that. Yes, I saw that movie in the theaters. You try to keep me away from Joseph Gordon-Levitt!

Tonight, finally: respite. And perhaps some more Kevin Spacey...