Catch Up

It's been a little crazy! I haven't had any time to do blog posts. So I'm playing catch up with this post...

Thursday 11/10/11

It's time for mom and Alicia's visit! I can't even tell you how excited I was to have them come out. I hadn't seen mom since May.... way too long! She was supposed to arrive around 1pm. That didn't quite happen. It was more like 6pm. The city had some fog that morning which put a stop to any arriving flights into LGA. It made for a long day. But she made it!

We had dinner reservations at Balthazar at 6:30. We had to rush to make it there. I pretty much told the cab driver to drive as quick as he could. He then proceeded to tell us that he would not drive in any way that would get him a ticket, hit someone, or get in accident. Awesome. We get the one conservative cab driver in the city.

Dinner at Balthazar was really good. I think I had the BEST salmon EVER! I mean it was phenomenal. I seriously considered asking the waiter to get the recipe for me. Amazing! Everyone else had a great meal too.

Alicia was due in around 1am that night. Her train was an hour late so she didn't arrive until 2am. Let me tell you... that is the latest I have stayed up in years. This was Alicia's first time to the city and she was arriving into Penn Station. We offered to meet her there but she said she would grab a cab to the apartment. I was a little nervous... I mean I don't know if I would feel comfortable arriving to Penn station at 2am and then proceeded to navigate a city I knew nothing about. But she made it!

We chatted for a little bit and then settled in for the night... we had a very busy 3 days coming up!

Friday 11-11-11-11
We slept in a little on Friday. Nick had a NYU event he had to attend until noon so mom, Alicia, and me were on our own for a bit. We stopped by Starbucks for a little pick-me-up breakfast and then I showed them where I worked. It was nice for mom to get to see where I work... I practically call her everyday after work while I'm walking home. She now knows what I'm talking about.

Next we headed into Central Park. The park was absolutely beautiful. The colors were amazing! We walked around a bit and took quite a few different photos. It was just too pretty to pass up.




Look at that skyline!

Nick called and he was done with his event so we met up with him and headed to Luke's Lobster. Every visitor of ours is treated to Luke's Lobster. It's just so good!

We headed to Bryant Park next. They actually already had their holiday shops up. It put us in the holiday spirit... the shops, hot chocolate, ice skating. All that was missing was the big Christmas tree. It will be there soon enough. We walked around for a bit and then started to make our way back to the apartment with a few stops in between.


Ice skating rink at Bryant Park


Bite size cupcakes... yum!



No visit to NYC is complete without visiting Times Square! I realized why I never come to this area. People, people, people! You can hardly walk on the sidewalk without getting jabbed in the stomach. Not my idea of fun... but Alicia had to see it. There is nothing like seeing Times Square for the first time.



We made our way up to Rockefeller Center and saw the tree getting ready to be lit. It wasn't that pretty. Mom and Alicia thought it should be bigger... Nick and I were like, "It's huge!" Of course it will look different once all the lights are on.


I know, it doesn't look like much... but it will!

While we were hanging out at the ice rink we were treated to an unexpected event.... There was this couple that were skating on the rink by themselves. Everyone else was off the rink. We couldn't figure out why this couple was so special. They continued skating for a little bit and then stopped in the middle. The guy then proceed to get down on one knee and propose!!! How special is that. I'm glad she said yes to because there were a couple hundred people watching!


What a special moment!

We made our way back to the apartment to get ready for dinner at the Hurricane Club. One of my favorite restaurants in the city. Another must eat at restaurant for our visitors. Mom and Alicia loved it!

Saturday 11-12-11

Nick had some school work to do on Saturday so it was a girls day. We had brunch at Friend of a Farmer. Love this place. It reminds me of home... a great Southern, homey feel to it. And the food is great.

We caught the subway to Canal street. We were off to Chinatown and Little Italy. Touristy, yes. But a must for a first time visitor. We didn't spend a lot of time there ... just walked through, really. Mom and Alicia did buy some knockoff sunglasses and we were practically turning down women whispering, "Louie, Prada, Coach handbags" to us.


Streets of New York City

We made our way through SoHo and into Washington Square Park to show Alicia Nick's school. We took a little break in the park and watched some of the street performers. Oh, not only street performers but many protestors protesting whatever they wanted to protest.


Washington Square Park

After that we caught the subway to Herald Square. A trip to Macy's is a must. Boy, was it crowded. But not as crowded as it will be in the next few weeks. Alicia treated herself to a nice Coach handbag and even better it was on sale! You can't pass up a good sale!


Macy's!


Decorations inside Macy's

We headed home to get ready for our dinner reservations and our Broadway show, Wicked. We had dinner at Basso 56 down in the theater district. It wasn't my favorite Italian restaurant but not the worst either. All of us were really excited to see Wicked. Mom, Nick, and I had seen it when the show came to Dallas. It's just such a classic Broadway show that I thought it would be the best one for Alicia to see. And it did not disappoint. It was even better than I remember. Love that show!


Inside the Gershwin theater

Sunday 11-13-11

We grabbed breakfast at EJ's Luncheonette. Mom's favorite and one of mine too. Amazing french toast... which we all ordered! Nick had another meeting for about an hour so the girls headed to Bloomingdale's and H&M. Surprisingly, H&M did not have much success this time. Every time mom comes here we go there and she leaves with a few items. Not this time though.

Nick called and said he was done with his meeting so we decided to meet him at the beginning of the Brooklyn Bridge. Nick and I have only walked halfway and then turned around. We decided to go all the way and eat at Grimaldi's pizza. Apparently one of the best pizza places around. The walk was really nice...about 30 minutes in total. We got to Grimaldi's and the line was fairly long. We all took a bet on how long it would take... Nick won at 25 minutes! The pizza was very tasty. Probably in my top 3 of favorite pizza places in the city.


Alicia and Mom on the Brooklyn Bridge


Pizza!



We took a subway back into the city to Ground Zero. We had reserved tickets to see the memorial site. It was a somber feeling. The memorial was beautiful. It's really hard to believe it has been 10 years since that awful day. It makes you thankful for your life and the men and women who are serving to protect that life for you.


Beautiful.

By this time all of us were exhausted. It had been a busy but awesome 3 days! I had an amazing time with mom and Alicia. I couldn't have asked for anything more!!!

Now the countdown begins for Christmas... a little over a month and we will be home!

Wednesday Night Concert

Last night Nick and I went to the 3 Doors Down and Theory of a Deadman concert! It was so very fun!

I met up with Nick after work at Brio, our neighborhood Italian restaurant. Nick had been on a long bike ride earlier so he was in desperate need of some carbs. Pasta it was!

The concert was at The Hammerstein Ballroom. It was actually a really nice venue. It almost had a feel of where you would see a ballet... at least the design of the building was similar. We bought tickets late so we were in the general admission area (standing room only). Oh man, my feet were already tired from working.



The first intro band was Pop Evil. I've never heard of them before and probably won't listen to them again. Not my favorite.

Theory of a Deadman was really good. Nick and I didn't know too many of their songs but they played really well. And the lead singer was quite funny.



Then came the main act... 3 Doors Down. Loved them! This band goes back to when Nick and I first started dating. So a lot of the songs had special meaning for us. The acoustics were great, the lead singer was amazing, everything was just perfect.





Amazing Wednesday night!

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!