A Belated Big Apple Post

Why, hello there! I hope you all had a great holiday and are gearing up for New Year's Eve! I am personally looking forward to the many good things that 2011 will bring!

I am off work this week to enjoy some family time in Pittsburgh with my side of the family and to get some things organized for the upcoming move in a few weeks. When going through some photos, I realized that I never posted about the fall getaway that J and I took to NYC for our second anniversary! This marked our second road trip to the Big Apple in our 2 years of marriage (see the first one here), but we love the city and are always planning our next trip back there.

We were extremely lucky weather-wise. It was in the 50's and 60's for most of the trip- rare in mid-November! We stayed in the northern Times Square area and found it was a great location for us this time.

Crap iPhone pic but you get the idea. 

Our first night in the city, we set out on foot to explore and take in all of the madness that is Times Square before checking out "In the Heights." It was part West Side Story and part Rent (less heavy), and we loved it! Jordin Sparks from American Idol was the female lead, and it was fun to see her perform in person.

We set out early the next day to explore the Upper West Side. In all of the trips I've taken to New York, I hadn't been able to explore this neighborhood much and I really enjoyed it! We started off the morning with brunch at Cafe Lalo (those of you that have seen "You've Got Mail" will remember it as the place where Kathleen waits with the book and the rose for her internet friend to arrive, only to be greeted by mean Joe Fox). It was the cutest little place to spend a Sunday morning and drink a yummy mocha.

Picture Tom Hanks hanging on the fence- "She has to be!!!"

DEE-LISH!

After brunch we took our time walking through the neighborhoods and came across a Crumbs bakery. I had it on my list to try Magnolia, but after hearing so much about Crumbs we had to give it a try. I could not believe my eyes when we saw those huge cupcakes in the case! We each got one to enjoy a little later.

My selection- a coffee toffee concoction!

We hoofed it over to Central Park West, checked out the Dakota and the Strawberry Fields memorial to John Lennon.

The gorgeous weather invited us to take our time in the Park. We walked around for a few hours and ended up in Sheep's Meadow. GORGEOUS Fall day and some great photo opps...

And my favorite shot of the day:

On the way back to our hotel we went to check out West Elm for some goodies for the new house, and accidentally stumbled onto the set of a movie they were filming called "Tower Heist," an action/comedy about some Madoff-type scandal. Ben Stiller was on set filming- it was fun to watch for a few minutes! Here is the only shot I could get:

After a full day we headed back to the hotel to refresh before heading out to see another show. This time we saw Mary Poppins and it was delightful. We got half price tickets at the TKTS booth in Times Square, and it was well worth it. We both liked it much more than we expected! The best part about this night was the phone call I got on the way into the theater letting me know that we had scored two of these tickets for the next day:

YAY! I'm a fan of the show (although I pathetically fall asleep before it's on anymore) and it was such a fun way to spend our actual anniversary! Turns out it was Sweeps Week, so they did a lot to prep the audience to be energetic. We got to see Dave interview Emma Watson (Hermione!), Scott Caan and Rascal Flatts. A great lineup!

We spent the rest of our day shopping on Fifth and wandering around the Upper East Side. I made J take me to the Alice in Wonderland statue so my butt could be in the same spot as R-Patz's butt. See?

Photo found here.

I heart you, Edward! : )

For our anniversary dinner, we booked a reservation at Nougatine at the recommendation of this lovely lady from her trip to NYC and it was fantastic. If I hadn't neglected to bring my camera and appear like a total tourist, I would have photographed our meal to share with you. The best part was the candle-lit molten chocolate cake that the chef brought out for us in honor of our anniversary- a nice touch! I would definitely recommend this place to anyone looking for a great and reasonably priced meal in the city.

We ended the night with a walk down to Rockefeller Center to see the tree. Just a few weeks later and we'd have seen it in all it's glory, but it was still fun to see the work in progress.

So much to do there in so little time. We had to leave the next morning with lots that we didn't have time to do, but can't wait to get back! If you have any tips for our next trip to NYC, please share them with me!

It's Amore!

Love is in the air- it's Valentine's Day weekend! Valentine's Day was always so much fun as a kid. I loved decorating a shoe box with sequins, felt, doilies, glitter and whatever else we had laying around the house for our party at school, and going to grandma's to get a big heart shaped box of chocolates from my Grampy. It's still fun thinking back to those days!

Last year was our first Valentine's Day as a married couple, and we wanted to make it fun! With our first "married couple" Valentine's Day falling on a Saturday, I got to cross something off my bucket list when the mister came home from work and surprised me with a spur of the moment trip to New York City for the weekend.

Here is a little hint:



Sleepless in Seattle! For almost 17 years (already?!), I've wanted to go to the top of the Empire State Building on Valentine's Day. While I'll admit that I originally got the idea from "Sleepless in Seattle," it was this movie that made me really want to do it.



If you've never seen "An Affair to Remember" go rent it/Netflix queue it now! It's such a classic.

Anyway, early afternoon we got on the elevator and rode our way all the way to the top. I was so, so happy! Here's our pic. from the screen when we were waiting in line to ride up:

We spent about a half hour with hundreds of other tourists checking out Manhattan in the freezing cold, but it was amazing! Now I can say that I've done it on Valentine's Day. We spent the rest of the day walking around the city just taking it all in. We stopped by J's alma mater and the little pub in the Village where we met on our first real date.

We tried to go to Serendipity just to add to the romantic movie goodness, but there was a loooong wait, so we went shopping at Bloomingdale's instead. Fair trade, if you ask me. It was such a perfect weekend!

This year will be a little more low key, but fun. I'll, of course, be watching "Sleepless in Seattle," "An Affair to Remember," and maybe sneak in a Sunday matinee of the new flick "Valentine's Day" too. Other than that the weekend will include some of this, a little of this, and a whole lotta this because we love it! Looking forward to it all! Hope you all have something fun to do this weekend. Any special plans or traditions you'd like to share? Give me a shout out below!


Happy Valentine's Day!

"I see you."

Image via Avatarmovie.com

And you should see Avatar. J and I saw it last weekend in 3D, and it was just amazing. I didn't have much interest in it when it first hit theaters in December, but wanted to see what all of the hype was about. I was amazed at the level of detail in every scene. Although it has some weaknesses in the plot, I am sure it will get it's due recognition come March 7th. Visual effects? Not even a contest. I thought Zoe Saldana was great, and I cannot get over the imagination and creativity of James Cameron. Go see it if you haven't already, and you'll see just what I mean.

I've been bitten.

Image link here.

It's rather serious, I'm afraid. You see, I started reading this book last weekend and it's official. I've been bitten by the Twilight bug. I'm obsessed. My sister lent me "Twilight" and "New Moon" over Thanksgiving weekend, and once I picked up the first book this past Friday in the waiting room at a doctor's office it was all over. Ironic that I should start reading a vampire book while getting my bloodwork done. Ha! I am already counting down the hours until I can go home to read more. Don't you love when a good book grabs you like that?

Anyway, my sister will now take full credit for my crush on Edward Cullen. She was the one that got me to read the Harry Potter series back in the day, so she knows my taste in wizards and vampires I guess.

I plan on buying the DVD because I know I'll love it and will want to watch it again. I haven't yet seen the movies, but am already picturing Edward as Robert Pattinson (who I thought would always be Cedric Diggory to me). Hopefully I can catch up in time to see New Moon while it's still in theaters.

Anyone else a fan of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series?

Cause ya gotta have Faith!

When I was a kid, I really liked listening to music. I didn't have too many of my own records or even tapes as I got a little older, so I would get my fix at my grandma's house. My aunt who lives with my grandma had an awesome collection of 80's/90's music- Michael Jackson, Bon Jovi, George Michael, etc. I vividly recall being in my aunt's room, putting some tapes into the boombox, and singing and dancing my heart out to "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go." Happy times.

My husband's best friend, the best man from our wedding is a HUGE George Michael fan. Seriously. Member of the GM Fan club and everything. He called to tell us about a special one time George Michael: Live in London theater event that was playing across the country last night. The show last night was footage from the last stop on GM's 25 Live tour in London. We got to see it on the big screen at a tiny little theater just minutes from our house that was recently restored. Here is the trailer.



All I have to say is, George has still got it! It was a great show in the theater, and reminded me of how great he was in person. J and I went with best man and his wife to see George in Philly when his 25 Live tour came to the states. It was off the hook- seriously one of the top 5 concerts I have been to in my life. George Michael has some very loyal fans and the crowd was great. There were moments when it felt like a gay dance club in that arena and I loved every minute it! Everyone danced their asses off and it was such a happy crowd with tons of energy! He did lots of old favorites and some newer stuff too. "Faith," "Father Figure," "Amazing," etc. I was on such a concert high for days after that show, and it all came back to me last night. Even though it wasn't an actual live concert, people danced in their seats, sang at the top of their lungs, clapped, etc. It was so much fun! I realized after we got home that the last two movies I saw were concert-type movies- GM's "Live in London" and Michael Jackson's "This is It." I felt the urge to sing and dance during "This is It" but held myself back- last night we made up for it. Good times. I heart you George. The DVD release of this show comes out Tuesday and is GM's first live footage to ever be released on video. I highly recommend you check it out if you're even a little bit of a fan- so much fun!

Cause you gotta have faith-a, faith-a, FAITH-A! Baby!...

What about you? Any music from childhood that still really gets you going?