avon walk wrap up.

Yes, I know you've been waiting to hear all about it. It is embarrassing that it has taken me a whole week to write about a great weekend. Yet alone everything that has happened since. But it has been crazy. Too much work and not enough time. Plus catching up on home stuff. I have about an hour to write and a iPad on probation. The time is now.

I am in the laundromat, drying towels. My dryer broke about a month ago, maybe more and the expense to repair it is greater than the cost of a new one. I will get a new one, but am waiting till at least November when I can not hang anything out. So I grabbed the iPad and here I am. Typing and eating fried rice from the Chinese restaurant next door. (not recommended activity.)

Where to start? I guess at the beginning.

Friday, Sharon and I met Bonnie at her office about 12:30. She had to work in the morning. I packed at eleven. Why? My online class monopolized my morning. I posted that I was doing the walk and I would check in as I could. That I had not abandoned them. I did it Tuesday. Wednesday they started posting like it w the end of the world. The work was piling up. it was crazy.

We piled all the stuff in Bonnie's car, and headed to Saladworks for lunch. Then we hit the road. I read out loud the "Let's walk" eight page instructions for the weekend. I was the only one to download it.

it was the first time Bonnie has driven into the city and it went remarkable smooth. Ring around the Lincoln Tunnel hadn't even started yet!

The host hotel was the Sheraton Times Square. Upon arrival we asked where to park and were directed to the deck with the tightest corner to maneuver. The man took Bonnie's keys and the car and directed to the hotel. We checked in and found our tiny room. It was the size of a NYC apartment There was just enough room for the dresser, two full size beds and a desk. if anyone remembers my bedroom on Seneca Street it gives you a sense of the type of space we had.

The room was on the 22nd floor. I wanted to walk the steps, but never did.

We changed and went to register and go to the expo. When we arrived at the conference suite,  we met Bonnie's walker buddy Tara, and grabbed a flyer for a lecture on nutrition and cancer. The speak was Leslie Bonci, the dietician from the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The expo room was long and skinny and packed with people. Last year it was spacious. You registered in the middle, and shopped along the sides and the two ends. Avon had a store on one end, Reebok on the other. We walked, shopped and talked and met lots of nice people. Sharon had a crew meeting at five, so Bonnie and I took our purchases up to our room and then went down to the lecture. Appetizers at 5:30, lecture at 6. The crew meeting was supposed to end at six, so we got food, and put our stuff down at three seats and I went up to get Sharon. She wasn't ready—she had a meeting after the meeting. I told her where to come and there would be Starbucks coffee and good cheese waiting. She never found us. She waited in the hotel lobby for us.

The nutritionist from the Steelers was great. Lots of good practical advice, and funny as heck. Then of course came the oncologist sponsor, and a happy patient. Boring. But we got a cookbook and some great food. Not a bad way to spend the evening.

We found Sharon and headed off into the streets looking for food. We found an Irish Pub and looking at the menu Bonnie found some gluten free items. The staff was wearing Avon breast cancer ribbons and the special of the night was the breast cancer awareness cosmo. Five bucks for a mixed drink in NYC. And the glass was full. Bonnie and I got one, Sharon had ice tea and we toasted the walk. Everyone came by and wished us well. It was pretty obvious what were doing. The owner of the bar had a thick accent.

Food was delicious and Bonnie even found food she could eat.

We finished the night by walking in Times Square and shopping at a tacky tourist store. It had been so long since I did either. I was surprised that it is actually fun. We went to bed about 10. We needed to be on the bus at 5:15 am.

So the iPad is down to 26% battery. I guess I need to wrap this up and continue it later. I have to run ML and Bob to Newark in an hour, so it might not be until tonight.