The entire month of April felt like twenty-four hours. It flew, even faster than most months seem to fly these days.
April is usually the month when I start coming to life after a long winter of hibernation. This April, however? Still winter. More cold days than warm ones, meaning I stayed indoors more than I’d like to admit. I did venture around the neighborhood one day, taking in all the blooming tulips. It brings me pure joy. I love a tulip.
There was sadly a freeze that night, and the next day I walked by the saddest batch of yellow tulips I’d ever seen. They were wilted, and the once-yellow color had been completely sucked out of them. They looked ill and sad.
The sad tulips are kind of symbolic of how I felt this past month. Just a little tired and over it, the antithesis of how I usually am come April. I’ve been jumping back into working on my health again, and that involves many facets I don’t have the capacity to delve into today. When you’ve been trying to feel better for six years, it’s safe to say you’re tired—depleted, even. Then April 2026 came around and said, ‘You think you know tired? I’ll show you tired.’ And that she did! It was still a great month overall, just with some much-needed extra downtime added in.
Brooklyn Heights Blooms
I’m very fortunate to live in a neighborhood that looks and feels like a movie set. It is actually used as a movie set pretty frequently, so that tracks. Come spring, the already picture-perfect streets get even more beautiful with all the blooming flowers and trees. It’s magical.
Thankfully, I snapped a ton of photos on the aforementioned pretty day before the freeze. Each year, I get a little feeling of hope knowing it’s tulip time. It’s crazy to look at pictures from early April and how they contrast with the end of the month. Everything is fully bloomed now, and it still blows my mind each year! Science, huh?
Out to Eat
We dined at some of our staples this month and added one new-to-us spot to the rotation. You can read more about my favorite NYC restaurants here!
Harry’s. We love Harry’s. It’s become one of those special spots for us, and I’ll always love it because we dined here before we officially moved in 2024. From the food to the atmosphere, it’s the perfect steakhouse. This month, we went for Easter brunch after Mass. I had the omelette, and it was delightful. Even more delightful is that you get unlimited pours of sparkling wine with your entree during brunch.
Swoony’s. A favorite of ours. They’re famous for their burger, which Joe loves. Swoony’s has a perfect menu full of items you’d want to order. I love their deviled eggs and the chicken. Their chocolate mousse dessert is a must!
Blue Ribbon Brasserie. Another favorite I’d been craving! Blue Ribbon is a staple for incredible American fare done right. They’re famous for their fried chicken, which is what I always order. I love the vibe here. It just feels so classic, and I always enjoy my time there.
Le Gratin. I’d been wanting to try Le Gratin, one of Daniel Boulud’s restaurants, for a while. Joe and I did a weeknight meal here, and we both agreed it was one of our favorite NYC meals to date. I had the oeuf mimosa (a double order, of course) and the roast chicken. The garlic jus that came with the chicken was pure magic. It was salty and rich, and I did my best to ration it to ensure every bite of chicken was drenched in it. It was only right to get dessert, which was creme caramel. No notes!
A Stylish Stroll
Joe and I were headed to the Wall Street Whole Foods one day, and I convinced him to take a quick detour to Printemps (it helps that they’re in the same building). Printemps is a luxury French department store that opened its Financial District doors last year.
The store not only offers beautiful, unique brands, but the place itself is a work of art. You feel inspired walking through the building. It’s so refreshing to see interesting design choices, and how it makes for an enjoyable shopping (or browsing) experience.
I hadn’t been to Printemps since last year, so it was nice to get that creative jolt from looking at all the beauty and color. I have a permanent smile plastered to my face every time I’m in Printemps. I highly recommend a glass of champagne at Salon Vert or Red Room Bar, one of their chic in-store bars.
Printemps has a gorgeous furniture display on the first level of the store from the brand The Falls. It’s when I learned you can, in fact, develop emotional feelings toward furniture. That’s what happened when I was stopped in my tracks by this beautiful ottoman and sectional pieces. I promised them that one day they’ll be coming home with me.
Also, as if these pieces aren’t colorful enough, please look at the mirror on the left side of this picture to see an explosion of colorful circles. Yes, the perfect thing to sit on does exist.
New Sketch Season
We had our first sketch show of the new season in April. The venue is technically no longer Second City, but now the Brooklyn Improv. We had a great show, and now we’re in the thick of prepping for our May show.
My finished sketch was about a group of nail polish executives naming their new colors. I’ve been toying with posting some of my scripts on my blog, so maybe I’ll share them one day.
Proud Wife Moment
Joe ran his fourth Boston Marathon in April! That’s amazing in its own right, but he PR’d this year with a time of 2:44:10! It was even better than he was hoping for, which was so exciting after all the hard work he put in. His training plan meant that he ran every single day since January, usually at 5:30 a.m. I’m still hoping a fraction of that discipline will one day rub off on me.
A Bummer of a Sporting Event
This night was funny because it was so absurd. FC Cincinnati was playing NYCFC here in New York, so we got tickets. NYCFC currently plays at the Mets and Yankees stadiums, which are baseball stadiums, while their new facility is being built.
This was our third time watching a soccer game in a baseball stadium, and the third time that the vibes were very weird. I’m a sports lover, and one of the things I miss most about Cincinnati is not being able to go to games. So, of course, it’s great to see my teams when they come through NYC.
We were at the game a few weeks ago, and surrounded by a sea of NYCFC fans, which is to be expected. I spotted a few FC Cincinnati fans in other sections, and my Midwest brain immediately thinks I somehow know them even though I probably don’t.
Anyway, it was so cold that none of our FC gear was even showing, so we blended into the crowd. There was a Dutch boy, probably around ten years old, sitting directly behind us, and he was the worst. He was ripping on our team (which is fine, it’s a sports game), but he also started ripping on Ohio. “Imagine having to play for Ohio,” he kept saying. Apparently, using Ohio as a derogatory word has reached international heights!
It sounds silly, but the kid was saying other insane things that I won’t write here, the entire game. It was so bad that we couldn’t even focus on the game. We were getting obliterated by NYCFC until we finally got our elusive goal. Yay! Joe and I high-fived and gave a few claps. Very mild stuff. This crazy little kid started cussing us out!
“Go the f*** back to Ohio! Why the f*** are you even in New York?” It was truly insane and was not a one-off thing. I didn’t take a fifty-minute subway to the Bronx to be verbally accosted by a bratty kid.
The craziest part was that an adult was sitting next to him the whole time! I don’t know if it was his dad or someone else, but he didn’t give a single reprimand to the kid the entire time. The most beautiful bout of karma arrived at the end of the game, when our Ohio boys scored multiple goals to tie the match. A tie has never felt like such a win (and in the MLS, a tie awards each team one point in the standings). It was incredible, and it shut our little friend up real quick. I feel bad that he’s not from Ohio, because maybe he would have learned about Midwest kindness!
I’m hoping the weirdness can be chalked up to watching a soccer game in a baseball stadium. Maybe that makes the energy weird, blending two totally different sports? Playing a soccer game on a baseball field? That’s what I keep telling myself, because I really want to watch my teams when they come to town! I know Philly fans have a pretty bad rap, but I’d never heard much about NYC sports fans.
I think my next test will be watching the Reds, a baseball team, to really test this theory.
Thankfully, I went home that night with multiple sketch ideas from the absurdity. So technically, it felt like another win!
On The Fashion Front
Things on the fashion front weren’t very fashionable this month. When it’s still cold in April, I’m at the point where I’m over trying to dress cute while staying warm. I will wear the same sweater repeatedly in protest that it’s not warm enough, and hope my day for spring fashion is around the corner.
I did sport one cute outfit for our Le Gratin date night. I took one measly picture to document the milestone. I wore my vintage star brooch, and this time I pinned it to my actual blazer. If you read my February recap, you may remember that I suffered a devastating loss of an accessory: a vintage brooch I had purchased only a few hours earlier. I was not about to let that happen again. No way.
I asked Joe to take a picture of me at dinner, which I rarely ask, but I was feeling cute. Nothing humbles you quicker than a picture where you look absolutely atrocious when you think you look great. I gasped when he handed my phone back to me.
Between having my desperate-for-a-wash hair pulled back in an unflattering ponytail and my brother’s old, oversized blazer with shoulder pads, I looked like David Byrne of The Talking Heads in his big suit. Honestly, David wore it better.
Speaking of fashion, I’ve been saving a ton of great spring pieces to my ShopMy if you’re looking for some shopping inspiration! And fear not, there isn’t a shoulder-padded blazer in sight, so you’re safe.
Coachella Parody
I’m really trying to film more this year, and not just say “I’m really trying to film more this year.” Most of the pieces I write involve multiple characters, so it’s hard to do completely on my own. I’ve been aiming to write more solo pieces that I can easily film from my apartment. As a perfectionist, it’s hard to create things that aren’t “perfect” to me, but the social media landscape has changed so much that I keep trying to tell myself nobody cares anymore!
Now that I’ve presented that unnecessary dissertation, I filmed a super quick sketch in April. I love topical comedy and keeping current with internet culture and media. Thankfully, most of what takes place on the internet these days is ripe for parody and satire, making my job fun and easy.
April’s internet buzz involved hordes of influencers making videos begging a brand, any brand, to send them to Coachella for free. I watched a video on it and was completely entranced (and mortified). It seems like shame left the building five years ago and is never coming back.
A lot of these people emphasized that they would work with any brand, saying anything they ask in exchange for a comped ticket to a music festival that’s become purely about bragging about attending said festival. This was my inspiration to imagine an influencer going to Coachella on behalf of Preparation H and having to speak to the healing wonders of hemorrhoid ointment.
I also saw a sad, dystopian video from Coachella of Sabrina Carpenter bringing out Madonna to perform. The crowd did not know who Madonna is, and instead of taking in the show, it was a sea of thousands of people holding up their phones the entire time. I tried to sprinkle that into the sketch as well.
Just as the angry Dutch boy gave me a goldmine of material, so does the current news cycle. And for that I am grateful.
