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!
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