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"