{"id":372,"date":"2015-06-23T01:29:45","date_gmt":"2015-06-23T01:29:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/?p=372"},"modified":"2015-06-23T01:29:45","modified_gmt":"2015-06-23T01:29:45","slug":"catching-up-with-a-dear-friend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/?p=372","title":{"rendered":"Catching Up With A Dear Friend"},"content":{"rendered":"<body><p><\/p>Friday, I headed out to New Jersey for a night out with my Ohio-based friend Marilyn, her daughter Karen and son in law Russ. Marilyn was in town for her grandson\u2019s high school graduation, so we were celebrating.\n<div id=\"attachment_373\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/20150619_192221.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-373\" class=\"wp-image-373 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/20150619_192221.jpg?resize=640%2C360\" alt=\"20150619_192221\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/20150619_192221.jpg?resize=1024%2C576 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/20150619_192221.jpg?resize=300%2C168 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/20150619_192221.jpg?w=1280 1280w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/20150619_192221.jpg?w=1920 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-373\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marilyn and me<\/p><\/div>\n<p>We went to dinner at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ursinorestaurant.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Ursino<\/a>, a fabulous restaurant located on the campus of Kean University. Featuring a farm to table menu and picture perfect views of fountains and greenery, Ursino is a truly delightful experience. Both the food and service are fantastic.<\/p>\n<p>Over a delicious meal (kale salad, halibut and angel food cake, yum!), we talked about European travel, how romantic relationships develop and city versus suburban life.<\/p>\n<p>As the evening progressed, I couldn\u2019t help thinking about how much has changed for me since I last saw Marilyn <a href=\"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/?p=144\" target=\"_blank\">in September<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>At the time, I was very much at a crossroads, considering a move out of New York and feeling pretty down. Now, I can\u2019t imagine leaving my beloved hometown \u2014 and it has given me so much since I recommitted to staying here.<\/p>\n<p>Work remains a tremendous joy, as I enjoy juggling three hotels and my new title of Complex Marketing Manager. Family and friends nearby continue to nourish my spirit. And I\u2019m nearing the completion of my home makeover. With summer officially here, it truly feels like a new season on several fronts.<\/p>\n<p>Aren\u2019t new beginnings just wonderful?<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Friday, I headed out to New Jersey for a night out with my Ohio-based friend Marilyn, her daughter Karen and son in law Russ. Marilyn was in town for her grandson\u2019s high school graduation, so we were celebrating&#8230;. <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/?p=372\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[31,75],"tags":[124,123],"class_list":["post-372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catching-up-with-old-friends","category-new-beginnings","tag-new-jersey","tag-ursino"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4J0fq-60","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=372"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":374,"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372\/revisions\/374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}