Flat Bailey

This week in the mail we had a visit from Flat Bailey. Bailey is my cousin and at school they are reading Flat Stanley. It is a story about a boy who accidently gets flattened by his bulletin board and travels to California by mail. So Bailey flatened himself and came for a visit in NYC. Now he is on his way to Maryland to visit Brian's parents. Thanks for the visit Flat Bailey.

Winter's Eve

Monday night was Winter's Eve on the upper west side. Winter's Eve went from Lincoln Center to Columbus Circle. It started with the tree lighting at Lincoln Square. There were 10 blocks of food booths, entertainment, and shopping. We had such a good time eating turkey stew, mini burgers, coffee cake, and pasta. The Big Apple Circus band was playing on one block and Kevin Bacon's band on another. The Columbus Circle shops had a star light show with snow falling from the sky, you can see it in the background of the toy soldier stilt walkers. Christmas time is so much fun in New York City because there are so many fun events to attend.

Das Boot

Last weekend we went to this restaurant on the upper east side called Heidelberg with a fellow intern and a bunch of his friends. Brian has wanted to go there ever since we walked by it one day about 3 months ago. If you ave seen the movie BeerFest then you know what a Das Boot is. For those of you who are like what is she talking about, it is a glass boot that holds 2 liters of beer. Heidelberg is a German restaurant that serves the 2 liter boots. They only have a certain amout of them so you have to give a cash deposit of $60 when you order in case you break or steal the boot. We had a great time eating brats and drinking boots.

ts.

Foster is Back

Foster went to Maryland to spend sometime with his Grandparents for the past month. He started to get really nervous when we went outside so we thought he needed a vacation from the city. The vet said everything with Foster is fine but he may just need breaks from the city noise every once in a while. Good thing his Grandparents love him so much (they really want to keep him but will settle for frequent visits.) We love Foster so much and we are glad we have our cuddle dog back.

Even Foster loves Christmas, after all he was a Christmas Present

With his Grandma at Thanksgiving

Christmas Decorating

We always decorate the weekend after Thanksgiving for Christmas and break out the Christmas music. I love Christmas decorations and I have several boxes and bins of decorations. I was sad thinking that we would not be able to decorate this year so Mrs. Schulz said that she would bring some of our decorations to us that we stored in her basement. Normally it takes us the whole weekend to decorate but this year we finished in 3 hours. Here are some photos of the most decked out apartment in NYC.

Happy Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year we went to Philly and Brian's mom hosted dinner at his Grandma's house. It was a wonderful meal; Brian's dad made the stuffing, I did the sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes and Mrs. Schulz cooked the big bird and the other sides. Everything was so delicious. It was great to see Brian's Grandma and all his family that lives in Philly. Andrew also came intown but we missed Stephen. Stephen is living the bachelor life in Lake Tahoe; hopefully we will get out there to visit him durring ski season. The only bummer for the boys about Grandma's house was that we only had one good TV channel so no football. We did get the Macy's parade but then watched movies the rest of the day. I was so thankful that Brian had the day off; we really got lucky this year that Brian does not have to work on Christmas either.

We missed all our family in Louisville. I especially missed celebrating Lindsey's birthday. We usually have a cake at Thanksgiving for her birthday because it is so close to Thanksgiving. I hope you had a great birthday Lindsey Loo, Happy 18th. Next year we might do turkey day in NYC so that we can go to the parade and then shop in New York on Black Friday, if you can't find great gifts in NYC then good luck. We hope all our friends and family had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

In the Holiday Spirit

I know I have been away from the blog lately because we have been so busy.  I am going to try and catch you up starting from the weekend before Thanksgiving.  Brian and I were getting excited about the holidays and we decided to go out shopping.  We went to the holiday shops at Bryant Park.  It was so cold but we had a great time looking at all the stuff. Then we went to Rockefeller Center and you can kind of see in the picture that they were putting up the Christmas tree so it had scaffolding around it. I can't wait to see it all lit up. It was a great weekend and it made us super excited for Christmas time.

Cafes and Coffee Shops

I just wanted to share something that makes my day. I love all the little cafes and coffee shops in NYC. I walked to a new one on Tuesday that is 2 blocks from where I nanny called The Outpost. I have to tell you it has the best coffees and food. There are not many places that can beat Starbucks Soy Mocha Latte, but on Tuesday at The Outpost I had a latte with dark chocolate and melted marshmallow. It was so delicious so I went back the next two days for another. I also had lunch there one day and it gave me a new idea for a twist on chili that I wanted to share. It was veggie chili with noodles and goat cheese on top. The goat cheese was so creamy and a wonderful twist to just regular cheese. So next time you cook up a big pot of chili put goat cheese on top and I promise you will love it. With all the cold weather hot coffees and chili always makes for a cozy meal. Hope everyone is staying warm.

Happy Birthday Y'all

One think I miss most about home is going out and celebrating all of our friends' Birthdays. This week three of our best friends are now one year wiser. Our friends are so amazing and so much fun to hang out with.  Whitney's and Matt's birthday are only two days apart so they usually have a "Birthday Bonanza." I would post pictures from the past two years but it seems I always forget my camera at this event. We wish we could be there to celebrate. Happy Birthday to...

BRIAN

MATT

WHITNEY

VOTE!

Thank goodness it is finely here. I got a lot of ugly looks today as I sported my McCain/Palin button. When I left my apartment this morning at 7:00am there was a line that wraped around my entire block and I could not see the end of it. I wanted to show you my cute shirt that I made at the Gap. They have shirts there that say "Vote For _______________." and you fill in the blank with whatever you want. At the Gap on 5th Ave. they had voter booths set up as shirt decorating stations and there were all kinds of materials to embellish your tee. I think it was a great idea on Gap's part. They made a hip, artistic experience for the young voters to get them excited about voting and made money at the same time. Got to love marketing. Mine says Vote for True Love.  I also made one and sent it to Megan. If you watched Oprah today her entire audience was wearing shirts that they made also.

New York City Marathon

Sunday was the New York City Marathon. I got to go with the children I was watching and it was so much fun. We got there just in time to see the first place woman and man running at the one mile to go marker. It was so awesome to be so close right there. The music was pumping and there were so many people there cheering on the runners. I wish I would have had my camera because it was such a beautiful day.

Brian really wants to run it so he is going to start applying now because if you apply three years in a row and don't get in then you automatically get in the next year. He applied one year before in college with Jon Lloyd but neither of them made it in. Jon did eventually run it two years ago but Brian still wants to. He also wants me to join him and I reminded him of how I tried to train for the mini marathon in Louisville and I only made it to the 6 or 7 mile point before I quit. I don't think I could add 20 more miles on top of that. But he insists I could, so maybe I will train with him to start and try to do a mini again. To be nice Brian did say if I run it he will run at my pace so we can cross the finish line together. All he wants to do is finish and then after we can get massages and pedicures. I always tell him how wonderful pedicures are but he will never go with me.

I do remember the first ever race I did was a 5K. I ran with Nikki Durst for Jennie Burke's mom for the brest cancer cure. It was an amazing feeling when we finished and I would encourage anyone to run a race sometime in their life no matter what the distance is because it really is a spirit lifter. Congratualations to all you runners out there who finished the marathon.

Happy Belated Halloween!

Halloween was not too much different in the city than it was at home. In our building if you put an orange door hanger on the handle then that ment you were passing out candy. I bought 3 good sized bags of candy and started passing out around 5:45 pm. By 7:00pm I was completely out of candy, well except for the 10 or so pieces I kept for myself. I did not expect to have so many trick-or-treaters. But the timing worked out well because Elaina, Sylvia, and their new roomate Megan came over and we took Elaina out. She was dressed as Princess Bell. Elaina is very shy around strangers and she would not say trick-or-treat eventhough she practice for 30 minutes beforehand. She did say thank you everytime so maybe next year we will get the first part down. We went one block over to 87th street. They had the street closed off and all the brownstones were decked out with decorations. One even had a very spooky haunted house. It `was kind of like a block party and we had a lot of fun. Brian was working in the ER untill midnight so I thought he would have some great stories for me but all he got was one plastic sword through someones eye. Brian said the crazy stuff probably would come in around 2 or 3 am. I normally dress up but I didn't have a huge closet of stuff you only use on Halloween to chose from this year so I found this shirt for $5.00 at Target and at least I felt festive. Hope everyone had fun trick-or-treating.

A fun filled weekend with Aunt Marianne

This weekend my Aunt Marianne was in town visiting her son Stephen and her granddaughter Elaina and Sylvia.  I had the weekend off but Brian had to work so I tagged along with them.  On Friday night they came over to see my apartment and we went to meet some of the people Stephen works with on the set of Law & Order: CI.  On Saturday we spent most of the day strolling through Central Park. It is absolutely beautiful this time of year, but I can't wait until the leaves change a little more and the park is filled with Autumn colors. Saturday night Marianne bought us all tickets to see a new musical 13. The show was great. The entire cast was kids around the age of 13 and they were super talented. Remember when you were in middle school and everyday was the most important day of your life and every problem seemed like the end of the world.  This musical really transported you back in time to remember how hard it was to be 13.  After the musical we went to stand outside of the theater next to us where All My Sons is playing and we saw Katie Holmes & Diane Wiest coming out. On Sunday we all went out to dinner after church, I was so glad Brian was off work so he could go along with us.  Thanks so much Aunt Marianne for treating us all weekend and it was so much fun to see you.

A visit from the Austin Family

Last week Whitney and Waller Austin came for a visit.  For those of you who don't know Whitney, she is one of my best friend Megan's big sister.

Here we are at Megan's Bachelorette Party this summer

When Megan and I were in middle school we used to drive Whitney crazy.  We always followed her and her friends around, we wore her clothes and made her drive us around.  But now we can all hang out and fun together, too bad Megan could not be here but she is coming for a visit to celebrate the new year.  

Anyways, Waller is Whitney's husband and he has an amazing talent. He paints these awesome portraits on canvas from photographs.  He was invited to a benefit for the American Folk Art Museum in Manhattan so Waller took the opportunity and made some connections in the art community so he can sell his work and get commissions to create new pieces.

Check him out at: www.walleraustin.com

While they were visiting it was nice to talk with other people who were Republicans especially since the only thing on TV these days is election news.  Whitney was so amazed how much everyone in New York City seems to hate McCain and loves Obama. Everywhere you go there are huge Obama signs and buttons for sale on every street corner.  When we were at one of the street fairs the week prior there were people marching for McCain but the boos were so loud you could not even hear what the marchers were saying.  Whitney was so excited one day when she came home sporting a McCain button.  I said where in the world did you find that? I have been looking for McCain buttons since I saw hers and I have not seen one.  Here is a picture of Whitney wearing her Mac is Back button.

Weekend Update

I have been away from my blog for a while because I just didn't think I had anything that interesting to write about and everywhere we go I keep forgetting to bring my camera.  This weekend was fun though because Brian was off.  On Saturday we went to a tailgate put on by the Ortho Department for the Columbia Football game.  The food was so delicious they had the best baked beans we have ever had and you know they do say that those beans are good for the heart. Most people probably didn't even know that Columbia has a football team. There are about three times as many people at Male High School football games as there are at Columbia football games.  But we had a great time and it was the most beautiful day.  

On Sunday the Upper West Side was home to three street fairs.  So we went to the farmers market to get our produce for the week and then went to all the street fairs.  I love the smells of all the food they cook and looking at the neat crafts.  One thing that Brian and I do that is pretty funny is ask how much things are that we know we can't afford, but we pretend like we are interested in buying them any way.  Then when we walk away we are like can you believe that they wanted $400 for a mirror with tin tiles around it, but deep down if we had the money we probably would have bought it. I did get a few neat little things for Christmas presents. Those are the best places to get gifts because you can always find really unique things.  After going to three street fairs Brian said that he was done for the year on the street fairs.  I said OK, but in November we can start to go to the Holiday Fairs.  He looked at me and sighed.  This is why I really hope we meet some great friends soon so Brian will have a sports buddy and I will have a shopping buddy.  Or I could wait 'till Nikki comes for a visit and we could go to all the Holiday fairs in one weekend.

Anyway, here are a few pictures from the past couple of weeks.

On My Birthday after the show

Same night hanging out with my friend Vanessa

The next night I found these flowers laying on the street outside of the Blue Donkey Bar

Some friends at the Central Park Zoo

In Maryland last weekend

Foster living up to his middle name "Beckham"

Happy Birthday to Me & Foster!

Foster and I share the same Birthday. I think that's pretty cool. Today he is 2 and I am 25.  I thought I would use a Jennie Burke writing style and make a list. Here are 25 things I love about my birthday and about my life at 25.

1. September is the best month to have birthday because it is Fall, my favorite season.

2. All the new shows always premiere on my b-day week.

3. I am a Libra.

4. I love that my birthday is on an even number day the 26th, this must be a Libra thing trying to find balance in the universe.

5. I share my b-day with my dog.

6.  I live in an awesome city that has the most delicious desert shops, if only I could decide which one I want to go to tonight.

7. I am going to see Spring Awakening tonight with my hubby, I love Broadway great surprise babe.

8. I have a wonderful husband who is off all weekend for my birthday.

9. Getting presents and mail are two of my favorite things and when you live away all of your presents come in the mail.

10. I think you are a true adult at age 25 because you can vote, drink, drive, (not simultaneously) should have a real job, and are financially independent (well except every time we call mom & dad for a bail out or to go to dinner.)

11. I take that back maybe next year I will be a true adult.

12. I have the best friends in the world.

13. I got a batch of chocolate chip cookies in the mail from my best friend.

14. A bunch of people wrote on my facebook wall. (this one is funny since I hardly ever get on facebook, but today I did.)

15. Since it is fall I usually get a new jacket and jeans from someone for my b-day. 

16. I adore jackets, Brian got me a new North Face fall jacket for another present.

17. My sister wanted to be the first one to wish me a happy birthday so she called me before she went to school at 6:50 am, and she was.

18. My other best friend sang happy birthday to me on my voice mail. 

19. I really like my job, getting to be around children all day is such a treat.

20. I am going to wear a cute dress tonight with cowboy boots. Why? Because I live in NY and not Louisville, people won't look at me like I am strange.

21. There are beautiful colors in the park to look at with all the changing leaves.

22. It is a rainy day, but lately I have been loving my curly locks hair.

23. My parents have taken care of me for almost half of their lives and I love them very much. Thank you for making me who I am at 25.

24. I am glad that I am not 30 yet and had to think of 5 more things to write.

25. Today is my Birthday, Happy Birthday to me.

Thank You!

I just wanted to say thank you to all of our wonderful friends and family who have been there for us over this difficult past month.  Thank you for all the cards and flowers they really do help to know that our friends are praying for us and thinking about us since we are so far away from home. There are not many people who can stay such good friends when your are hundreds of miles apart, but this not the case with our special group of friends. I wanted to send an extra special we love you and miss you to the: Dursts, Fowlers, Gardners, Scotts, Lloyds, Bachmans, Lauren, Tiffany, and Jennifer.  We can't wait to see y'all at Christmas time. 

WAKE UP...That Boy

Last week and for the next two weeks I have been hanging out with my second cousin Elaina. She is my cousin Stephen's little girl.  She is so much fun to hang out with and she has the most wonderful laugh that is so contagious.  Right now Brian is on an ortho rotation and is on call every Monday and Wednesday night.  Lately the hospital has been very busy and he only get about 2 to 3 hours of broken sleep. When he gets home on Tuesday and Thursday around 2:00pm he likes to take a nap, as you can imagine.  Elaina is 2.5 and she does not like to take naps so much because she is never tired, yeah right.  When you first meet Elaina she comes off as rather shy but once she gets to know you she is the complete opposite.  Even though she knows Brian's name she insists on calling him "that boy." When Brian got home from work on Tuesday he was very tired and laid down to take a nap but every time he closed his eyes Elaina would yell, "WAKE UP!"  She kept saying, "Tell that boy to WAKE UP!" We were laughing so hard and at that point I think Brian was slap happy so I tried to get Elaina to go down to the play room with me.  But of course she wanted that boy to go with us.  So we all went down to the play room and that boy snuck off and went back to bed.  Soon after Elaina said, "Where is that boy go?" So we had to go back up stairs and find him.  Brian was greeted with, "There is that boy, WAKE UP!" So much for his nap, but we had a fun day and our bed time was 8:00 pm that night. I guess this is what we can look forward to one day. We love Elaina and we are so glad that Stephen, Sylvia, and Elaina live in NYC now so that we will get to see them all the time.  

Elaina at the Park

Elaina Waking up That Boy

Eating Lunch