Fall Bucket List

I have posted several entries about how much I love fall. I saw the cutest Fall Bucket List on another blog and I had to share it. It makes me feel like a kid to think about doing all the fun things on this list . Some tasks may be a bit challenging since I do live in the city but that's never stopped me before. Today the kids and I made leaf art. On the way home from school we gathered leaves to do crayon rubbings and then we looked at pictures and tried to identify the varieties of leaves we collected, it was a lot of fun. The only thing I would add to this list is chili, beer and football (usually all at the same time.)

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My Birthday

Happy Birthday to ME today! I'm the ripe old age of 28. I have two years left to be in my 20s so I better make them good, so that's exactly what we did this weekend to celebrate. Brian came home from Baltimore (he only has 3 weeks left, yeah) and he had a great weekend planed for us. Saturday we had lunch at a really yummy burrito place and hung out with friends durring the day. Saturday night we went to Morimoto's for dinner in the meatpacking district. I think it was on the top 5 list of the best meals I have ever had. I am so pumped about my present too. Brian gave me tickets to the last show of Taylor Swift's concert in Madison Square Garden in November, I can't wait. Tonight Diana is taking me out to dinner because my husband is gone on my actual birthday so its going to be a fun girls night. I also had a yummy cake from two little people I love in addition to such a wonderful day thanks to all of my friends and family who sent me birthday wishes.

TGF...

Thank Goodness For Crafting. Since Brian has been away I have been filling all my spare time crafting away. I have caught up on 8 months of scrap-booking ( I still have 14 months to go to be to present day), and I finally took out my sewing machine again. I have been working on creating enough outfits and small goods to do a craft show in late October. I plan to have 15 dresses, 40 onesies (mostly boy designs), 12 girls tees, 3 tea cozies, 12 crayon rolls, 4 crayon/art aprons, and 2 tutus completed to sell. I have cut all the patterns for everything listed but now it's time to sew! I hope this is a success because my plan is to get a new embroidery machine with my profits, and I really want this machine. I don't have any pictures yet but once everything is sewn I'll post a few pics. I'll also post more about the details of the show closer to the date. Happy crafting.

Part 5: Goodbye

Goodbyes are always the hardest part but after 9 days my mommy had to go back home. I sure have missed her since she has been gone. We had an awesome and exhausting time together. Thanks Mom for everything and I hope you come back soon (Thanksgiving :)?)

Dinner the last night at a favorite spot

The Boat Basin

Hitting up a street fair the last day

My Mom is all about a good deal,

and you better believe she bargained with them on this delicious popcorn.

Part 4: The Circle Line

Ever since my mom visted last year she has been wanting to go on the Circle Line. The Circle Line is a boat that takes tours around the NY harbor. We chose to the the sunset city lights tour and gave our legs a break from all the walking. It was the perfect night and we had beautiful weather and amazing views of the city.

As the sun was setting you can see a reflection of the sun on the buildings. This is the Empire State Building.

Lady Liberty

I love this picture I can't belive I took this with my small little digital camera.

I wish I would have taken our nice camera.

City Night Lights

The building in the back that is lit up red, white and blue is One World Trade Center. Upon compeion it will the Manhattans tallest skyscraper at 1,776 feet tall. It will have an observation deck on the 100th and 101st floors. There are several green and security features in the design of the building. It is costing $3.3 billion to build making it the most expensive office building in America.

Part 3: Shopping and Dropping

While my mom was here we did exorberant amounts of shooping and walking and by the end of he day we were dropping. We walked so much that I really needed a foot massage everynight. But it was all worth it because we had such a great time. Here are a few highlights.

At Fashion's Night Out with our shoe deals

The Allice in Wonderland sculpture in Central Park

Earlier in the week we had brunch at Allice's Tea Cup

My mom loves these statue performers

The Central Park Castle

TGF...

Thank Goodness For A Good Book. I am not the fastest reader by any means unlike Nikki and Megan who can finish books in one day, but I love a great read. I wanted to take a look back at a post from January and look at the progress I've made and how much I have detoured from my 2011 reading list. (I meant to do this mid year but 3 months later here we go.) If it's highlighted I read it and I'm going to add the additional reads to the bottom. If anyone has any suggestions or great books they have come across I would love to hear from you. I would also love to be in a book club but I don't have that many friends here. If anyone is interested in doing a Skype book club time let me know :)

January: Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls (Awesome book but make sure you read the Glass Castle first, Nikki I sent this home with my mom for you)

February: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

March: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

April: Are You There Vodka? It's Me Chelsea by Chelsea Handler (Hilarious everything she writes is so funny and when you are reading it you are shocked she actually published his, It's things you may think but would never say)

May: The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson

June: The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest by Stieg Larsson

July: Little Bee by Chris Cleave (Good book but a little dark and it contains disturbing children subjects)

August: Room by Emma Donoghue

September: Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld

October: Radical by David Platt

November: Kite Runner by Kahled Hosseini

December: Perfection by Julie Metz

Also read:

A Collection of One Night Stands by Chelsea Handler (FUNNY!)

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (Top five reads this year for me but I heard his most recent book Outliers is the best one so that's on my list)

Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks (Thanks Elizabeth great read)

Posh by Lucy Jackson

Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin (If you want a quick lighthearted read with no substance these two books are great entertainment. I would read this one first)

Something Blue by Emily Giffin

Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen

Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay (Top five book this year on my list, just finished and it was so good. There are some disturbing things that happen to children but they are all based on true events during the holocaust. Trust me it's worth it.)

1984 by George Orwell

New List:

The Elegance of The Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery (in progress)

Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld

Room by Emma Donoghue

Radical by David Platt

Kite Runner by Kahled Hosseini

Perfection by Julie Metz

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell