Labor Day sans the labor

It's been a few weeks since I've had one of those "bum around the city with no real agenda weekends" and this long weekend was a welcome opportunity to do just that! With no plans to speak of I was prepared to get a whole lot of nothing accomplished.

What better way to kick off this weekend of leisure then a stroll through South Street Seaport to find a nice place to have dinner on Friday night. Jon and I quickly learned it was not so easy making a decision with so many delicious looking options, but went for some sushi at Suteishi. Our seats came complete with a nice view of the Brooklyn Bridge!

Brooklyn Bridge!

Jon and I went to the Cubs vs Mets game at the new Citi Field out in Queens on Saturday. The sun was in full force, and so was I sporting my newly acquired Cubs shirt! I was shocked to see that almost half the people at the ball park were wearing Cubs gear as well (see dad, safety in numbers). All the support seemed to do the trick since they won 5-3!

Perfect cloudless day!

Chi-town Pride!

We had hot dogs, chicken fingers, french fries and beer

(Is anyone really shocked?)

Apparently this weekend my inner sports fanatic (I wasn't even aware I had one) was really over enthused and wanted to make sure I got my fill of viewing pleasure. Saturday night a bunch of us went to the Village Pourhouse to watch the season opener between VT & Alabama. The only way to describe viewing football games at that place is a cross between college frat party meets spanish bull run.

I wonder what just happened, that guy

 in the background looks appalled!

Packed in like sardines!

Sunday was a day for relaxation complete with brunch at a place that had a "bacon bar". No joke...bacon heaven! Not that my life revolves around food, maybe a little, but Jon was having a craving for some shrimp scampi so we decided to go to Chelsea Market to get some fresh seafood to fulfill this hankering!

While we were there we walked into the T Salon and I found a book I'm pretty sure they'd have to consider re-titling if they met me. :)

"37 House Plants Even You Can't Kill"

Monday was a bonus day! A little brunch, a  little gym time, a little dinner makes for the perfect end to a fantastic weekend!

2009 "First's"

I don't know about everyone else, but it seems like 2009 is flying by (I'm experiencing déjà vu because I'm pretty sure I said the same thing about 2008, 2007, etc.).....it's New Year's Eve and then before you know it, it's Halloween or Thanksgiving again. Even so, I'm impressed that this year, at 25 (not that I'm saying 25 is old), I have still had a pretty substantial list of "first" time experiences:

• First wedding I've attended
• First baptism I've attended
• First time I've tried yoga
• First time I've lived alone
• First time I've missed a flight (sorry Curtis)
• First time a date has tried to take me to a gay bar (thank you Jon)

There are even more, but these are the one's that stick out in my mind the most! This weekend Jon and I experienced a "second" for me, we attended his friends Mike and Michelle's wedding in Hoboken, NJ. The rain held out and it ended up being a great weekend!

It's been a really exciting year and I'm so pumped for everything else the fall and winter have to offer including:

• Reunion with my college ladies for IU Homecoming!
• My trip to London & Paris w/Jon (and getting to see all our friends in London!)
• Thanksgiving gorge fest 2009
• Boulder and Vail with the fam for Curtis' college graduation! (now I feel old)
• Intramural football league...hopefully this year I'll have less bruises
• Sweaters! (Kathy I'm sure you'll be relieved to hear I'll be expanding my collection)
• Pumpkin patches, apple picking, & Christmas tree's!

So many fun things to look forward to!

Beach Bums, Surf & Turf, and Mini Golf!

This past weekend I took a few days off from work and Jon and I went down to the New Jersey beaches for my first "shore" experience. I have to admit when we first talked about this mini vacay, flashes of over greased muscle men and ladies with skin darker then my Michael Kors bag immediately came to mind. I learned these stereotypes exsist, but there's so much more!

We stayed in a cute town called Spring Lake and, despite threatening weather reports due to Hurricane Bill, we managed to luck out and had beautiful beach conditions!

Pretty tree in the neighborhood

The beach, only a block and a half away!

We ate at Black Trumpet our first night and indulged in some surf and turf. I forget what the specials were called or exactly everything that went into them so I created my own names:

"Lobster Amazingness"

"Bigger Then My Face Steak"

For those of you that know me, I have a tendency to get overly excited when eating and at times lose all sense of limitations. I feel bad for Jon, because right now he more than anyone else has to endure the endless "I'm stuffed" or "I'm so full" comments. I'm happy to report this meal was no exception (what else could you expect from a "bigger then my face steak"?)!

It was nice spending Friday and Saturday in the sun (with plenty of SPF!) considering I spend most of the summer inside wearing sweaters or freezing from the intense a/c levels!

Fresh wind blown look....compliments of Bill

We went to the Jenkins Boardwalk for a trip down memory lane for Jon and decided to participate in a little friendly competition. We got there just as the sky's started to look threatening, but decided to try to squeeze in a round of mini golf. At the beginning it was a close game, but I soon fell behind due to a few sneaky holes (those little hills can be very deceiving). With only a few more holes left I was able to close the gap, and for a little bit it even looked like I might make a victorious come back, especially when Jon got stuck in a "rock trap" (I didn't know they had those)...sadly though I couldn't pull through and Jon won! (for now)

After such a grueling game we snacked on cheesessteaks, quesadillas and beers (we are gross), while we waited for the rain to pass.

Mini Golf Champion!

Before the storm...

after...

It was a similar regime on Saturday, except the water was closed to swimmers due to strong undertow's and we went to Edgar's Pub for dinner and drinks, which was the final stop to complete my authentic Jersey shore experience.

This was such a nice getaway from city life and a super fun first shore experience!

Early Morning Yoga

This morning I decided to be good and get up early (6:30am) to go to yoga. I haven't been in mooonths, partially because it's the summer, mostly because I charish that extra hour of sleep in the morning! I actually followed through, I didn't hit snooze, I got there on time, but on my way to the class I looked down and noticed this...

...two different shoes!

To my credit they look really similar and they are the same brand....regardless, this is why I don't get up at 6:30am!

Pittsburgh Trip!

This past weekend Jon and I went to Pittsburgh to celebrate the grand opening of the Rivers Casino with my parents (a project my dad has been working on for the last year!) This was my first trip to "The City of Bridges" and it was pretty awesome! ( Just like Michigan is the state of 1,000 lakes, this name is well deserved, there is an inordinatly large number of bridges in Pittsburgh.)

Pittsburgh at night from Mt. Washington!

Friday night we hit up the casino for a few hours, which looks amazing! Everything about this casino screams luxury, as well as this-is-a-gorgeous-place-to-be-losing-some-serious-dough-at!

I had a hand at gambling, and let's just say I was relieved to know the proceeds that night went to charity.

Saturday we drove an hour and a half to Mill Run, PA for a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater house. I have no words for how beautiful it was...thankfully I've heard that a picture is worth a thousand of them, so I'll let these do the talking:

Fallingwater House by Frank Lloyd Wright 

Saturday night we did a nice Italian dinner at Lidia's in the Strip District and later went to the Pittsburgh Pirates vs. St. Louis Cardinals game. While the game wasn't the most eventful, the Skyblast show afterwards, which was a combination of fireworks and live music was great! O.A.R was the featured band, which was a nice surprise, except unfortunately the lead singer had lost his voice. Luckly his bandmates and the audience were able to pick up where he couldn't! Probably one of the best fireworks shows I've ever seen! (If you'd of seen my mom's face it would have said it all.)

The most amazing fireworks ever!

The one "must do" for Jon in Pittsburgh was to try this place called Primanti Brothers (it came up in every conversation that had to do with Pittsburgh in the weeks leading up to this trip). A Pittsburgh food staple where they serve a handfull of french fries and a handful of coleslaw on their sandwiches. We got a cheesesteak and tuna to try 2 different varieites of this local traditional. 

So many sandwiches to choose from!

Yum! I've secretly been dreaming 

about these sandwiches since I left!

It's fair to say nobody went hungry this weekend!

Chi-town Visitor!

On top of all the crazy moving shenanigans I had going on this weekend, my friend Cynthia was in town for a quick visit before she escapes to the polar opposite side of the country for grad school! This has become a very familiar trend with my friends, moving as far away as possible from me, one I'm not fond of!

We were able to take in some of New York's most exciting and unique sites! From midtown to downtown, back uptown and then a jaunt on the east side only after hitting up the west side, we covered a lot of ground (and 2 boroughs) in 4 days!

Central Park

Chinatown for Soup Dumplings!

Walking the Brooklyn Bridge on a gorgeous day,

thank goodness it didn't rain all weekend!

Washington Square Park

Drinks & Five Guys burgers at Bleeker Heights Tavern

Chicago Pride!!

My first trip to Chelsea Market! (I have a feeling this will be the first of many visits, lots of fresh seafood, bread, produce, cupcakes!)

Even though it was such a busy weekend, I did not do nearly as good a job as C did in documenting the events. For a better sampling of pictures/summary from this weekend, check out her blog at http://dreamer825.blogspot.com!

5 Floors No More!

This Friday marked the official end of a year long battle between 5 gloriously long flights of stairs and my lazy lady tendencies. Here’s a list of things I will miss about my old apt/neighborhood, and a list of “personality quirks” about the place that I may or may not be missing.

Things I will miss about my old apt:

1. All the amazing restaurants in the area.
2. Running in central park.
3. Walking to work.
4. The extra space provided with a 2-bedroom.

Things I might miss about my old apt:

1. Running up the 5 flights of stairs in hopes that it would make them seem shorter.
2. The crazy temperature control issues in my room…the right combination of hot and cold was never accomplished.
3. The occasional random mosquito bite in the middle of the night.

I’m sure there are more to each of the lists, but these are the few that come to mind first. I’m working on putting the new pad together and will hopefully post some pictures soon (I can’t debut the new apt with boxes everywhere)!

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A little something I learned about NYC apartments:

The first time I looked for an apartment in NY I learned that “affordable” and “good location” are rarely in the same sentence. My second apartment hunting experience taught me that the 4+ floor walk-up experience seems to be some sort of right-of-passage, and that living in Manhattan means that you will have this luxury at some point. And my most recent apartment search surprised me by proving that even Manhattan real estate is not recession proof.