Halloween Festivities

Oh how I love Halloween! Scary movies, ghost stories, costumes, candy... what can be better than that!

Nick took me out to lunch on Friday since Dr. Airan was out. It was really nice to get out of the office for a little while. We went to Via Quadronnon around the corner. It is this cute, tiny restaurant that serves the freshest food! I am in love with their Caprese open faced sandwich. Bread, basil, tomatoes, fresh mozzarella. Delicious!

Afterwords Nick and I had some of the richest hot chocolate I have ever had. I love hot chocolate but I prefer the lesser intense versions. It was just too much chocolate for me. However, it did warm me up. On the way back to the office we noticed quite a lot of paparazzi and film equipment. We moved a little closer and realized filming of Gossip Girl was taking place. Yes, I do watch the show. Unfortunately I didn't see any main characters but did catch a scene being filmed. It would have been great to see one of the main characters though... maybe next time!


Always filming something on the streets of NYC...

Later that night we went to the Garage with Nick's Block 2 NYU group. The restaurant had a really nice vibe to it. They had a band playing in the background (drums and all)! It was a little loud but not too bad. They even decorated for Halloween which I loved! The food was so-so. I had the Asian inspired salmon and Nick had the lobster ravioli. Nick's was way better than mine. I have definitely had better.


The band

After dinner we went down the street for some dessert... crepes! It was such a cute cafe. I imagined Nick and I were back on the streets of Pairs. Oh memories! I had the apple and cinnamon and Nick had the banana and nutella. Add a side of hot chocolate and it was the perfect end to the evening.


Delicious!

We got home just in time to see the Rangers lose the World Series. Sad. They had it in Game 6 and just lost it. That's now 2 years they haven't won... hopefully third time is a charm.

Saturday was an anomaly. Everyone in the city kept hearing about the "snowstorm" that was going to hit. I didn't believe it... or I didn't want to believe it. I mean, it's not even November yet! It's just not right.

I woke up around 8am and it was pretty gray and misty outside. About an hour or so later the snow started to fall. And I don't mean it started to fall lightly... they were really large flakes coming down hard. Add in the 40+ gusts and it was practically a winter wonderland! I had to run some errands (yes, I know...I should have stayed snuggled up in my apartment) so I bundled up and braved the weather. It was quite cold... the wind was the worst part though. Luckily I didn't have too far to go so I wasn't out too long.


The view from our apartment... I know it doesn't look like a lot of snow but it was.

Nick and I relaxed the rest of the day until we had to get ready for a Halloween party we were attending. We decided it would be nice to bring some party favors. We found this awesome Halloween desert we could bring. And it was easy... bonus! All we needed was some brownie mix, cookies, icing, candy corn, oreos, and gummy worms (our addition). All of that created this...


These were quite the hit!

The party was great and some people had really interesting costumes. Nick went as Where's Waldo and I was a black cat... basically I was in all black with cat ears. Simple and cheap! The party was great. A lot of drinking, snacks, and crazy costumes!


Where's Waldo and a Black Cat... who knew they would look so good together!

Sunday was a beautiful day. You would have never known it snowed for the entire day yesterday! We didn't do anything at all. I'm sure you have guessed a theme... Sunday is our day to relax and do absolutely nothing!

Monday = Halloween!!

Some lovely and very tasty Halloween cupcakes!



On the way home from work I walked past this townhouse (4 story) that was completely decked out. I mean, every inch of the townhouse was decorated. It was great. The sun was just setting and a few trick-or-treaters were out. There was a group of boys all dressed in NY Yankees gear sitting on the steps in front of the house. One little boy didn't even want to go up there because he was too scared. It was so cute!



The owners of the town house even decorated the lower area...


Yep, that zombie on the ground actually crawled all over the place!

Nick and I grabbed some dinner and watched The Walking Dead. If you haven't seen the show... it's amazing. I am hooked! It comes on Sunday night's at 9pm on AMC. Check it out!

Happy Halloween!

Relaxation

This weekend was filled with absolutely nothing! You just need that sometimes.

After getting off work on Friday I stopped by the store and picked up some items for dinner. Nick and I decided on cayenne pepper chicken with avocado salsa (we had made it before and it has quickly become one of our favorites) with rice and salad. It was delicious. For dessert I made a new recipe that I found on Pinterest. It was apple slices coated with cinnamon and then wrapped in crescent rolls. Of course, anytime I eat anything apple I have to have vanilla ice cream. There's just something missing if you don't! They turned out pretty good... next time I might try them without the skin.

Saturday Nick went for a short bike ride while I watched TV. Yeah, I should have been at the gym but I felt no motivation whatsoever! Nick and I did run a few errands when he got back. We went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to get a few items we needed. We were in desperate need of new pillows. You just don't sleep well if you don't have a good pillow. Nick normally doesn't like to shop but I knew exactly what we needed so it didn't take long.

Afterwords we grabbed lunch at a sushi place around the corner. While we were there we decided to cook again. We stopped by the store and picked up the items we need as well as a pumpkin. I really wanted to carve a pumpkin!

The pumpkin design and carving was a team effort. Nick drew the outline and I carved! He had no interest in removing all the seeds... I, however, thought it was quite fun. Our pumpkin turned out pretty well... quite scary!


Super scary!

I made chili and fries for dinner. It was my first time making chili and I think it turned out pretty good. It was quite tasty! We made dessert again and of course I got the recipe from Pinterest. No real title for the recipe... it was marshmallows dipped in butter, then coated in cinnamon, and then wrapped in crescent rolls (I know, sounds familiar). I loved them! Add a little vanilla ice cream and you have a winner!


So good!

We watched the Texas Tech and OU football game. I only watched a little bit of it. Since it started late due to a weather delay the game didn't finish until 2am (eastern time). I kind of wish I had stayed up because.... WE WON! IN OKLAHOMA! Pretty amazing!


The score is blurry but we won!

Sunday was another day of doing absolutely nothing! I watched TV, read, cleaned a little bit. It was perfect!

Anniversary + Sleepy Hollow

Thursday

Today was our 4 year wedding anniversary. It's amazing how much faster time goes by when you get older. A year is gone in a blink of an eye. Celebrating 4 years together is big but not quite as big as our 10 year celebration in August. We decided to just do dinner at Tao.

Tao's interior was really cool. I liked the colors and the interior design. I do think the bar could have been bigger. It was packed. It must be a hot spot to go to after work for drinks. Nick and I felt like sardines. We were able to find a small couch in the corner while we waited on our table. Perfect people watching! Tao is also very trendy... maybe too trendy. I think Nick and I were some of the youngest people there. There were a lot of older business men and middle aged woman. You could see all of the women eyes wandering around the bar... just looking for the "perfect" guy. It was quite fun to watch.


Buddha!

We loved the food! We were terribly hungry by the time we sat so we ordered edamame and lobster wontons for an appetizer. Delicious! We also ordered a shrimp tempura roll... probably the best I have had since being in the city. Nick had the Chilean sea bass and I had the filet mignon for the main course. And our favorite part... desert. Probably the best part. Nick, of course, had the molten chocolate cake and I had the apple blossom with vanilla ice cream. Hands down my favorite desert.. you can never go wrong with apple anything!


Yum!

A great way to celebrate our anniversary!

Friday

Not too much happened today.... oh, wait. I got the NEW iPhone 4S!!! Was this a surprise. Yes, it was. Nick was pretty sneaky this time. He had always planned to get the phone with it came to Sprint. And he was due for an upgrade. I had to wait until November to upgrade mine. Nick was not going to pay extra to upgrade a month early.

Was he bragging for a full week? You bet. It was getting to be quite annoying too. So it was no surprised he answered the door with his new phone when I got home. He had a huge smile on his face. I was really excited for him. Plus, I knew I would play with it.

Well, I was in for a surprise. We are sitting on the couch and he reaches behind me and pulls out another iPhone box. I was a little confused at first. I couldn't figure out why they would give him two boxes. But then he said Happy Anniversary! I was ecstatic... my very own iPhone!


So pretty!

What did I do the rest of the night? Yep, played with my new phone!

Saturday

This was a GREAT day. So much fun! I had organized a trip to Sleepy Hollow with a group of friends.

Sleepy Hollow is of course the setting for The Headless Horseman. The town pretty much goes all out the month of October for Halloween. Their two main attractions is the Horseman's Hollow (haunted house) and Blaze (4,000 hand carved pumpkin walk-through). Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE anything to do with Halloween... ghosts, scary stories, decorations, etc. I love it all.

Steve, Amber, Joel, Jen, Nick, and me all traveled 30 minutes up the Hudson River to Sleepy Hollow. We rented a car... well, a Dodge minivan. Yes, we rocked the minivan. It was so nice to be getting out of the city for the day. It was also nice to be back in a car with a radio. It's funny how easily you forget what its like.

We stopped in Tarrytown for lunch at the Bridge View Tavern. It was right on the Hudson so we had some great views. Lunch was pretty good. I ordered a shrimp po boy. If there is ever a po boy on the menu I always seem to order it. Must be the cajun in me! Nick had the pulled pork, I think. All in all a good spot lunch!


Joel and Steve with their rather large Bloody Marys!


The town's decorations


Jen and Amber

Once we finished with lunch we started sight-seeing. We first wanted to see the Rockefeller estate. But when we got there we were told the only tour we could take was the 4:30pm. That didn't work since we had to be at the haunted house at 6:30. I was not happy. I did not see anything on their website about booking in advance. Not one word... otherwise we would have booked tickets in advance.

So instead we went to the see the Union Church of Pocantico Hills church. It had beautiful stained glass windows. We decided not to go inside and see it... but we poked our heads in for a quick glimpse. After that we headed to Sleepy Hollow cemetery.







The colors were just starting to change... some of the trees had gorgeous, beautiful colors


Nick said, "You really want a picture in a cemetery?" My response: Of course!

There is something so mysterious about old cementaries. It has a specific feeling. And in a way really beautiful. There were some really old gravestones in there. Most notably was Washington Irving's grave. Such an important person to Sleepy Hollow. There was actually a whole area dedicated to Washington Irving's family. We walked around for a bit and then were off to our next spot.



Washington Irving's grave

Next we went to Lyndhurst. It's a historic site of the National Trust. It is this mansion that was designed with gothic revival style. The first phase of the mansion was built in 1842. Additions were added as the years went by. We did a tour and it was pretty interesting. I love history. A place like Lyndhurst is a small glimpse of life 200 years ago. The tour guide was pretty funny too. She would give a fact pertaining to the house or owners and then take a very long pause. And then give another fact followed by a long pause. It was somewhat disconnected.


View from Lyndhurst

After the tour we roamed the grounds. One particular part had hundreds of scarecrows. It's actually an art project for the children in town. They basically create their own scarecrow and then it's staked into the ground. Some of them were pretty creative. Jen, Amber, and I decided to become part of the art as well...


We fit right in!

And then of course the guys had to get in on the fun...



Next we headed to dinner before our nighttime activities started. We ate at a Greek place... I really need to expand my palate. I ordered a ceaser salad and mozzarella sticks. Not really Greek! Of course we had to get desert! We went to Main Street Bakery and had some yummy sweets. What did I have? I'm sure you can guess... apple pie with vanilla ice cream.


Delicious!

Next up, the Horseman's Hollow! I absolutely love haunted houses. It's such a rush to be scared! This haunted house was all outside and the design was so impressive. Everything was really good. The actors were amazing. I think it could have been a little scarier. Maybe more people jumping out at you... Also, a big downside was the picture taking. People would stop and take pictures of the actors/sites. It sort of took away from the experience. When the person in front of you is stopping every 2 minutes to take a photo it gets a little annoying. Overall though a really fun experience.

Our last stop on our Halloween festivities was the Blaze. This is an event that you walk through and look at hand carved pumpkins. This isn't your average pumpkin carving... these are some serious pumpkins. It was so impressive. They created things I didn't even think you could create with pumpkins.

While we were waiting to start we were treated to a firework show. We had no idea where they came from or who was putting them on. It was perfect timing. We arrived right as they started going off.



All of us got some hot chocolate or apple cider and some cinnamon donuts. Yes, you can never eat too many deserts.


Our group! (plus an extra woman to the right)

Finally it was our turn to experience the Blaze. I will let the pictures say it all...






The spider web was massive!




Black cats carved into pumpkins with the moon in the background. Couldn't get more Halloween than that!


Yes, that is a dinosaur. And yes, those are all real hand carved pumpkins.

Sunday

Nothing. A day of relaxation!

Such a great weekend with some great friends. I love Halloween!

A Beautiful NYC Weekend

This past weekend was gorgeous. Absolutely beautiful.

It was still slightly cool on Friday so Nick and I just relaxed and stayed in on Friday night. Nick did have a very nice Friday though. He didn't have school... yeah, this whole graduate school thing is really tough! Oh, and even better... he ordered the new iPhone 4s. Now, this is big. Huge. Our phones suck, though I tend to believe mine sucks more than his (even though it's the same phone). We were so excited to learn that the iPhone would be coming to Sprint. I was ecstatic... I couldn't wait! Well, Nick informed me that I wouldn't be eligible for an upgrade until November but that he was going to go ahead and order his (since he was eligible).

Let's just say I was no longer excited.... I was jealous. I'm still jealous. And I know jealousy is a really bad trait but I can't help it. I realize that it's only another three weeks but that seems like a lifetime. I am ready to join the iPhone world!

Saturday was so pretty. Nick went for an early ride on the bike (70 miles!). I became infatuated with this new website: Pinterest. I am sure you have heard of it... I love it. It's such a great idea. You can connect with friends or people you don't even know and share things you like. There is so many great recipes, design suggestions, crafts, etc. I highly recommend signing up!

Once Nick got back we decided to eat lunch at PJ Clark's. It's one of our favorite burger places and we hadn't been in a while. It's actually one of the first places we ate during our first trip up here. Mouthwatering burgers and amazing shoe-string fries. Delicious!



We headed to the park after that to relax and enjoy the beautiful weather. I got slightly sidetracked though. We were close to a holiday store that I go to every year so I couldn't pass up the opportunity. It's called the Christmas Cottage and I absolutely adore it. It was one of the first stores I found when we first moved here. Those first few months were pretty tough but that store made me feel really happy. I love browsing all the holiday decorations. I mean, who doesn't love the holidays?! I, of course, purchased a few items and then we were on our way to the park.


Christmas Cottage!


My purchases... aren't they cute!

The park was packed. I'm pretty sure all the native New Yorkers realized this weather isn't going to last and it's not going to be too long before it turns freezing cold! It was just really nice to lay on the blanket and soak up the sun!



Sunday was a light day. We didn't do too much... We grabbed lunch at Cascabel Taqueria. It was our second time there and we really liked it the first time. Well, let's just say the second time didn't quite live up to the first time. The guacamole came out brown... definitely not the color its suppose to be. Even our waitress said that it didn't look right. The manager actually came out and brought us another one. She informed us they started carrying new avacodoes from Chili and when they add the salsa part it turns it brown. That may be... but it didn't make it look any more appetizing. I had the shrimp tacos and Nick and the carne asada tacos. Nick loved his but I hated mine. The shrimp were dry and there was just no flavor at all.

So, to fix the awful meal I had we went to our local frozen yogurt spot. It's kind of become a tradition... we go there every time we are in the neighborhood. I guess it's a good thing it's 20 blocks away otherwise we would be there all the time!


Ohsogood!

I decided to make dinner that night and took a recipe from Pinterest that I had found earlier. Mini pizzas made from the muffin/cupcake pan. Awesome idea. And the recipe was healthy... whole wheat wraps for the crust and turkey pepperonis... 66 calories a pizza. Not bad. The pizzas came out really good. I would only tweak the sauce next time... add a little less. I made a salad to go with it and Nick and I had one tasty, homemade meal!


Pretty!

Beautiful weather, great food, and quality time with Nick... a pretty great weekend!

Fall Is Here

It's that time again... sweaters, leggings, boots, scarfs. Fall is here. I use to love the summer months but as I've gotten older I don't think there is a more better time than Fall. The crisp days and the changing of colors. Lovely.

I'm going to wrap up a few things that happened this past weekend and week...

Last Friday night Nick and I went to dinner at Death and Co. close to St. Mark's Square. It was such a nice evening. The place didn't look like much on the outside. It was just a wood door with a woman standing out front. We weren't sure we were even in the right spot. It felt very secretive. You couldn't even go into the restaurant. The woman put our name on the list and said she would call our cell when a table was available. So Nick and I wandered around St. Mark's Square until she called.

About 15 minutes later she called and said the table was ready. We headed back and were lead into the restaurant. It was incredibly small. Very dark and cozy. It was pretty loud... which I thought was unusual since it was so small. I ordered a glass of wine and Nick had some specialty drink - think margarita with a heavy smoke taste. Actually pretty tasty. We ordered some to die for mac-and-cheese. It had quite the presentation... the mac-and-cheese came out on individual spoons. Next we had some filet mignon and their very well known fries. It was mouthwatering! Nick and I then decided to treat ourselves to a bottle of champagne (we weren't even celebrating anything)! We each got our own desert. I had strawberry shortcake and of course he had the chocolate cake. It was a wonderful date night!

Nick had a class from 9-5 on Saturday. I decided to enjoy the weather and shop around a bit and then relaxed the rest of the day. We had a dinner party at Sven and Amanda's place later that night. I met Nick over there... let's just say that he is way better at directions than I am. I got on the right subway but totally turned the wrong way coming out. I was lost. It took me forever to figure out where I was. They live in the financial district so there are a lot of small intersecting streets. Not fun. Luckily I found Nick and he was able to get us to the apartment.

Dinner was great! There were about seven couples there and it was just nice to relax and mingle. Lots of wine!! Sven and Amanda cooked up a amazing duck pasta... yummy! And we had chocolate cupcakes and cake for desert. Nick helped himself to two servings of desert!

This Wednesday we had a Partner's Club happy hour at West 3rd Common. It's such a great committee. We met up with some old friends and were introduced to some first years who were just starting the recruiting process. I am so glad Nick doesn't have to go threw that again. That first semester was tough... for him and me. We mingled for a little while and the headed to dinner at Aroma Wine Bar.

Aroma Wine Bar is this really quaint, intimate Italian restaurant. We sat in the very back corner and had candles all around us. Very romantic. We ordered some wine and had some great food. A wonderful Wednesday night!

This weekend we are suppose to have some beautiful weather. We plan to get out and enjoy it and watch some football! Big games this weekend in Texas!