Crazy Nite...

so - this kinda is what the night felt like :)

and this....now, in 25 years i have never had a good picture, like this one, of tay


scott is quite the task master - he was in the middle of taking pictures of others, then sensed i was taking a picture of him and he posed just in time for my camera

nun0 - the birthday boy :)

Tay and marka at joe's shanghai

so the night went like this: the girls met at my apartment around 6 and started trucking down to joe's in a taxi - only our taxi driver was so irritated with this biker that he kept honking and moving behind him, until the biker finally dropped his pants (while he's riding the bike) and mooned us and then proceed to demonstrate a particular "bird" to us - now i, of course, couldn't actually see this, because the driver's head was blocking it -but everyone else in the taxi did - it made the ride go by much quicker

then, we kept getting bumped down the list at joe's and ended up waiting for like an hour or something for a table - they kept blaming me because i was irritating the hostess - everytime she walked outside to yell a number - i would yell in an echo kind of voice - ninety one! - which was our number :) for the first time i actually got seated at a big table with two other families and the family next to me kept getting this fantastic food and everytime - "what is that?" - "oh, it looks sooooo good" - and they were very nice and humored my curiosity -

we leave joe's and catch another taxi - one with a death wish, he was going like 60 miles an hour down this neighborhood street with lines of cars on both sides - we get to chika licious (yes, again) to find a sign on the door "closed due to mechanical errors" what the heck!!!! i have been bragging about this place for ever to tay and there it was "CLOSED" my heart sank :( so...

we bought three bottles of wine and went to nuno's birthday party - he's portuguese and very fun! - as we settle into the party and grab glasses of white wine sangria (yummyy!!!) we look and over and there they are - the people from joe's shanghai that kept answering all my food questions - i mean what a freaking small world - in NYC of ALL places...so, we hung out until around 11:30 and then called it a nite...

nite nite everyone!

Noteworthy

so - the last few days have been interesting and tiring and exciting and depressing all in one...yesterday we saw macauly culkin - we walked by 3 times just to make sure it was him and it was - do you know that he is 29? he's all grown up and kinda cute :)

i lost my camera - yes! i lost my camera :( i had some good shots on there too :( but i bought a new one - love that i can get a nikon coolpix with 10 megapixles for $100 - i mean remember when they were ridiculously expensive?

then, we SCORED on the Gap's underwear, yes i am saying this out loud :) they had take an additional 30% off marked down drawers :) so we've bought 14 pairs of underwear for around $20 - can you say SCORE!!!!! we kept looking for Gap's to see how many we could find that we liked

today we were strolling through the west village and we came across The Doughnut Pub - YUMMY!!!! i got a cherry muffin and jen got a cherry tart and the place had this little marble bar you could sit at and eat - how cute is that?


last night when were walking we came across some little shops and we came across Jill Anderson's shop - OMG!!!! she is the most sensational designer - she only makes a numbered amount of each line and she makes them in her studio a few blocks away - I love her stuff!!!!

what else? walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, and more walk :) we have walked so much and we don't even really notice it...there's just so much to see here that we don't want to stop want to stop and miss out on anything....

but tomorrow is super exciting! we have two premium gold club seats to a rangers game :) that makes me happy!!! i love hockey!!!

Double Decker

OMG!!! finally we got on a double decker tour bus and can i say that it was worth every penny - now, keep in mind it was 40 degrees out, windy and raining on and off - but it is the best way to see the city (and brooklyn) without spending a week on foot and pick out what you want to see and then go back to see it - AND we went over the manhattan bridge - SCARY!!! we were on the top of the bus and there was only a like 4 foot railing on the right side of the bridge, it totally felt like we were going to just drop off into the river

it was a three hour tour...three hour tour...the weather starting getting rough...the tiny bus was tossed - :) it was a three hour tour and we got to all the great sites and the sad site of ground zero and the thought of what happened on september 11th - was really sad

but the happy ending was cheesecake at Roxy's yummy!!!!! jen has been talking about it since she got here - i'm glad i listened to her and went :)

pictures to follow...i'm having issues downloading them right now :(

anyhoo - tomorrow is a BIG day for us...we will see much of manhattan - wish us luck!

A turn for the better :)

first of all let me begin by saying that it's 40 degrees outside and 7 miles out of the city it is SNOWING!!!!! how crazy is that?

o originally we were suppose to go to dinner and do the double decker tour bus - THEN b/c of the weather we decided to eat dinner and go see whip it - THEN we ended going to dinner with Scott (my friend that lives here) and going to chikalicious for dessert and wine and then jen and scott got massages - how wackadoo is that!!! i love it here and the night can take you where IT wants to...

so, at chikalicious its this dessert bar - but not your ordinary dessert bar, it's this tiny chic place - when you walk in the door you can either sit at one of the 10 stools at the bar (where you can watch them make everything from scratch) or you can sit at one of the two table - the place is tiny - but as tiny as it is - is as freaking fantastic as it tastes!!!!

We had sooooo much fun!!!! i don't think we ever stopped laughing - here's to good friends :)

Jenny's Here!!!

so, what a Jenny entrance to NYC - we went to dinner and she was trying to put her hair up and suddenly smelt the stinch of burning hair - YES!!! jenny caught her hair on fire!!!! then we wanted to take one of the double decker tour buses and walked something like 20 blocks, took a taxi to times square - to find out that the last bus departed at 9 pm - boo tour buses

anyhoo - totally excited she is here YEAH!!!!

FUN! FUN! FUN!

OMG!!!! i have had the best past few days :) well, first of all i did nothing during the week last week - then i went out to queens on friday and came back with zachary on saturday - here comes the fun part - i had a robiola pizza, mmmm....what is robiola you say? it's like cream cheese smashed between two foccacia bread's with truffle oil and then cooked in a fire brick oven - OMG!!!! to die for and the restaurant, da ciro's, had the most amazing tiramisu - i don't even like it, but here it was YUMMMMYYY!!!!

THEN, saturday evening we went to joe's shanghai, OMG!!!!! has anyone ever had soup dumplings? they are phenomenal!!!! they are little soups in the dumplings - mmmmm, we waited over an hour and it was well worth it...and then picked up some concord grapes in chinatown - i love them!

THEN today we went to coney island - it was soooo nice...walked up and down the boardwalk, went to the aquarium, then we took the wrong train back and there was contruction on the track and then we had to get off the train and walk through brooklyn and catch another train and then walk like 8 blocks - all with my three year old, 35 pound son, who is scared of the train and i HAD to carry him the whole time - up and down each set of 200 stairs (alright, maybe not 200) but i actually didn't mind carrying him because he was holding on for dear life and wouldn't take his arms off from around my neck and really, how long is he going to "need" me for something - so i enjoyed the moment and tried to meditate out the pain - because my arms are now like JELLO :)

anyhoo - i love the last few days - OH! and i saw some steve madden boots that i WILL be coming back with :)

nite nite

Chines Food - from riches to rags

omg!!! so yesterday, my friend squeezed me into his schedule between work and the Pink concert - for food, of course :) so, we decided to stroll up the street until we found something tasty - this, to most people, would leave much room for error - but not to our schnozes...

we came across the China Grill - oh my gosh!!! (it deserves the full spelling) it was FABULOUS!!!!! it was the most expensive chinese food i've ever had, but the most scrumptous! they have this fixed price dinner that you share (it's not listed on the website) but we got 4 appetizers 2 entrees 3 sides and 3 deserts - holy smokes!! i was full after the appetizers - my two favorites were the lobster pancakes and the banana in a box, no not timberlake kind either ;) but they had hardened caramel as the "box" and bananas with this caramel/cinnamon filling that was to die for - with every bite an mmm... came out of our mouths - right scott?

that was my feast for yesterday and then tonight i was suppose to go out to dinner with one of my co-workers but he worked too late and had to cancel -so i went online and randomly picked a chinese restaurant to order in - the Homes Kitchen - not too shabby - for $20 i got cheese puffs, egg roll (which is HUGE!) hot and sour soup and general tso's chicken - so far so good - the only bad point so far is the wonton skin on the cheese puffs got a little chewy - but the filling was good enough to make up for it - and NO i'm going to eat it all tonight, i don't think...

MIss my bubs :(

the hardest part about seeing zachary was having to leave him today to come back into the city - man was that hard - i told him that i had to leave to go to work and he told me "ina go to work too mommy" uh, break my heart and then when i was two steps down the stairs he came running out wanting another "chiss" - my bubs - he makes me really happy - love him to bits - i kinda can't wait til this assignment is over so i can see him every day :(

then, the more i think about it the more the realize - although, I LOVE MANHATTAN and I LOVE THE PEOPLE and I LOVE THE VARIETY and I LOVE THE LIFE HERE - i couldn't move here until zachary is older - his education here would be lacking much compared to houston - seriously :( - with that said, moving here would be quite a selfish move on my part and i couldn't do that to bubs - but at least i get this fantastic experience for now, right? plus, they might send me back up after my surgery so i would be here for thanksgiving and christmas :) i'm just waiting to see what the decision is...

nite nite!

NYC taking over me

well - i didn't post yestday b/c i went out for sushi to sapporo east - which is sooooo yummy - and THEN went to soho house! yes, the soho house from sex in the city - my friend scott - his friend nuno is a member - it's an exclusive club and you can only get it with a member - yes, i felt special :) - it was so fun! i love that club - very laid back and comfy - and we drank a great bottle of cote du rhone french wine - mmmm....and the elevators have leather upholstered walls - and the bathroom attendant turns on the faucet for you and puts the paper towel over your hands to dry off - it was way fun!!!

i am definetely growing accustomed to this town :)

i'm spending the weekend in queens with my mom and bubs - yea! i miss him so much!!!

i'm walking so much here that my hips are getting smaller but i'm eating so much that my waist is growing - maybe, i will look like a burrito by the time i get out of here :(

OH!!! and i was in line at starbuck and met lacey who is also from texas - austin - and we are suppose to get together sometime - how random is that? i thought that was funny :)

nite nite

NYC mornings

so, my favorite thing to do is sleep with the blinds open so the natural sunlight will "ease" me out of my sleep - not so much here :( i mean, it does get brighter, but i don't actually get "sunlight" - quite an adjustment for me - but i like to lay in bed and the watch the reflections of the sun on the buildings (and its kinda neat to see the different rooftops and what amenities they each have - tehehe)

so last night, i was on the phone with my friend jenny - and i saw this bird swoop by - ya, know i didn't think anything of it, other than "what the heck is a big bird flying around up here for" - so i continued chatting on the phone and realized the bird was still flying around - IN CIRCLES - maybe the poor guy didn't have anywhere to land? who knows, but he flew circles over park avenue for like 30 minutes - i fell asleep watching him so maybe it was longer :) and every now and then he would swoop really close to my window...

have a good day!