Busy Busy Me

The reason I was so behind on my Blog this week and for the past two months, not to mention some of my friends may have noticed a lack of phone calls from me, is because I had a crazy week/couple of months. This week I started my new full time position with a family that I use to just help out on nights and weekends. I am sad that I don't get to watch Wyatt anymore, but I really needed to work full time. I am really excited about the new little ones I get take care of now; Clementine is 19 months and Field is 6 weeks. Nikki and I will have lots to talk about because her children are almost the same age and sex. My new hours are 8-6 so this week has been busy.

On top of that back in August I decided that I really wanted to go back to school. I was thinking about a masters in education for a while but that just seemed like an easy option for me because I do like working with children and I would have a nice schedule, but that wasn't ultimately what I would choose to do if I could go back for anything. So I thought about it A LOT and Brian and I talked it over and over and over and I decided that I wanted to go to law school for several reasons. So I took a Kaplan course and have been studying for hours everyday and this morning I took the LSAT. I hope I don't have to take it over again because I have been very stressed and completely consumed by this test. I am going to still work for a little over a year and a half to save and then I am applying for starting in the Fall 2011 term. The reason I didn't really tell everyone about my plans was because I wanted the least amount of pressure on me and it was nice to talk about things other than the test when I did have time to chat. My plans from here include school research, applications, personal statements... And I am going to try to work with Clementine's dad or one of his colleagues on a project since he is a professor at a law school. Wish my score good luck.

Black Friday Window Shopping

On Black Friday Pat and I went out shopping. We didn't go out too early and it was just a nice leisurely shopping day. I was almost finished with my shopping by that point and Pat didn't have too much to get either. We did make a point to go and see all the holiday windows at the major department stores. Bergdorf Goodman had the best windows that were inspired by Alice in Wonderland, I think it was from the original book and I am not as familiar with that version. Bloomingdales also had a really pretty shoe factory window. When we went home we ate pizza and wings for dinner, I think we were the only people not eating leftovers. At night we all went out to the holiday shops at Bryant Park and then over to see the big tree in Rockefeller Center and watch the ice skaters. On the way home we picked up a Christmas tree for the apartment. I think it was one of the best Black Fridays ever.

Look at the shoe tree and chandelier

Alice going down the rabbit hole

The Queen

Alice going through the mirror

At the Bryant Park Shops

Decorating the Tree

Happy Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we celebrated in New York with Brian's parents. Since there were only four of us planning an entire Thanksgiving meal for only four people is quite a challenge because every dish is so large, my kitchen is not all that big and we still wanted to have all the different sides that usually accompany dinner on turkey day. This may seem like cheating but it was a great solution; the company we order our groceries from offered pre-made sides that were 4-6 servings and it worked out great. We did bake the turkey and I made a pumpkin pie. We also used our china for the first time ever and we have been married for almost 4 years, we are going to try to use it more than we have in the past. We were so thankful to spend Thanksgiving with Brian's parents and have yummy food. Although we did miss the rest of our family, we thankfully will get to see everyone at Christmas time in just a few short weeks.

Macy's Day Parade Preview

Today Brian's parents came into the city for the Thanksgiving weekend. Tonight we went to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon preview. It was a really fun and cool way to see the balloons without actually getting up early and going to the parade. The balloons were tied down so some of them were a little difficult to see but they were so big and it really got me in the Thanksgiving spirit. We even saw Mayor Bloomberg filming a segment for the news. Enjoy the preview and look for these guys tomorrow morning marching down the streets of NY.

Golden Weekend

This weekend was so nice because Brian had what they call a "golden weekend." That is where you are on call on Thursday night and then have Friday-Sunday off. On Friday we went to see New Moon and then met up with his friends from work to celebrate Kevin's Birthday. Kevin is in Brian's year of interns. We started at this dive bar called The Blue Donkey. I'm not sure why we went here because it is such a dive, but it was empty and we had a big group of people so there was plenty of room and we could actually hear each other speak. Later we went to another place called Prohibition and they had the best Michael Jackson cover band. If you weren't looking at the band you might have thought you were at a MJ concert. They also brought out the most delicious warm chocolate brownie with ice cream for Kevin's birthday. It was a pretty fun night. The rest of the weekend we watched sports (football and the upsetting MLS Cup soccer game), went to church, relaxed, and cleaned for Thanksgiving. It was a great weekend and I can't wait until Brian always has his weekends off.

This is Kevin the Birthday Boy & his girlfriend Lauren

I think Bob was a little tired in this picture

Foster Update

Last Friday Brian was off so we took the day and went to visit Foster. He was in Philly with Brian's mom at his grandmas house since Brian's dad has been out of town with work for two weeks. We have been missing Foster a lot so this was a good chance to get some much needed cuddle time in. Brian's mom was also very nice to bring our Christmas decorations to us that we keep stored in her basement, otherwise there would be no decorations in the Schulz apartment, a very sad thought. Here are some photos of the best dog ever.

Such a baby

He loves to smile and pose for the camera

Look who is in the NYC Marathon

Last Sunday while Megan was in town the NYC Marathon was going on. This year we had awesome front row seats. At about mile 15 the runners turn from the Queensborough Bridge and onto First Avenue. Since our apartment overlooks First Avenue we had a great view. We were able to see the first place men and women run through and then rest of the pack. But once we were ready to go out for the day it was a dilemma to figure out how we were going to cross the marathon. So we decided to join the runners. Maybe next year we will be cheering on Brian.

The Lead Women

The Lead Men

The Pack

Here We Come

Go Yankees!

Last night we had a lot of fun celebrating the Yankees, World Series Champions. We were at a sports bar with several of Brian's co-residents. Everyone was so hype and crazy after they won. They were playing great NY music and everyone in the bar was chanting Yankees or Jeter or A-Rod etc.. all night. It's fun when you get to celebrate in the city of the Champions. Brian and his friends were especially excited since their department and hospital are the team doctors for the Yankees.

The table behind ours were true Yankees fans

for life and they all had these tattoos on their backs

Halloween in NYC

Halloween in NYC is an experience. On any normal given day you really don't know what you could come across in the city so just imagine what Halloween is like. On Halloween we went on a guided haunted walking tour. It was raining for half of the tour so I don't have any pictures of us but I do have pictures of some great costumes that we came across. One thing that I don't understand is why girls have to dress up so provocatively. I can't tell you how many risk-ay policeman, firefighters, devils, nurses, etc... PUT SOME CLOTHES ON is what I wanted to say to them. You can still be cute when you wear clothes. Anyways that was my one issue with Halloween. We had a good time and tried to get scared but most of the time we just ended up laughing.

Here is our Single Lady this guy was hilarious

I know the picture is dark but he is holding up his ring

Lloyd Christmas he even had orange shoes on

and a Leprechaun

Stevenson Girls Visit

This past weekend was so much fun. Megan, Whitney and Donna came for a long weekend visit. We did so much including: shopping, a street fair, Halloween haunted tour, eating out, Broadway show, watching the marathon, Central Park, Chinatown and probably more. I was so glad I got to spend time with Megan especially since she is going to have a baby at the end of February and the next time she comes to visit we will have a little one with us. We found a couple of cute little things for the baby including an I Love NY onesie. It felt like when we were in college again because we always had Donna and Whitney come for visits. Its was a great girls weekend and you guys can come back any time.

At the Street Fair

At Otto Restaurant Mario Batali's restaurant

and we saw him there in his famous orange Crocks

It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

Brunch at Tavern on the Green

In Times Square after seeing West Side Story

Sunday Bike Ride

On Sunday it was so beautiful so we went on a long bike ride around Central Park. The leaves changing were so pretty and the weather was in the mid 60s. We stopped at the end to take a few pictures of the colorful leaves but we realized the only place we stopped had the least amount of changed leaves. Oh well it was still an awesome relaxing day. To end the night we watched the Yankees game with some friends. I knew it was going to be a Phillies vs. Yankees World Series. The man in my house sure is a happy boy.

Applewood Orchards

Today we headed an hour north of the city to take in a little fall farm fun. It was raining off and on all day but we didn't let the freezing rain stop us and since the weather was so bad there was hardly anyone there. We went with my cousin Stephen, his girlfriend Sylvia, and their daughter Elaina. We picked apples in the apple orchard, did wine tastings at the winery, pet animals, rode on a tractor, and had lunch at Syder Barn Tavern in the country town. What you would call a typical city day. Elaina was cute because she was amazed at how many trees there were and all the colors of the leaves, because besides Central Park there aren't really many big parks in the city and before that she lived in Florida and they only have palm trees. It was really a great day and we have a lot of apples. Maybe next year it won't be so wet.

These were the apple picking rules, which we did break a few but no one kicked us out

The night before we enjoyed an evening out at our favorite sports bar ESPN Zone to watch the Yankees game. They won but it was a really long 14 inning game that went to 1:00am. Why are baseball games so long sometimes? Brian is very excited because there is a god chance that his two favorite teams will be in the World Series: Yankees vs. Phillies maybe? We will be cheering them both on.