newlyweds in the city

new blog [letters & loops]

2011-02-28T19:07:00.000-05:00

I have started a new blog for my cards & yarn crafts called letters & loops. I am working on a logo / branding for the new blog and an Etsy shop and hope to have merchandise in the shop soon! I plan on maintaining this blog still, but I will put all craft related stuff on the new site. It's up and running now, but I don't have any content on it. Check back soon!!

I need your help!

2011-01-26T15:40:00.000-05:00

I have been putting it off for too long now, but I really need to get an Etsy shop up. What's been keeping me from actually doing it is the fact that I couldn't think of a name that I LOVED. So after mulling this over for long enough now, I have come up with two names that I think would represent the bulk of what I would be selling - cards & knitted / crocheted things [at least for the near future], drum roll please...

"Letters & Loops"
I like this one because of the "faux" alliteration and it rolls off your tongue nicely.
[OR]
"Loops & Swoops"
Nice and catchy, sort of rhymy...

Each name has a component that represents a product that I would feature in my shop, it should be self - explanatory [if it's not then I have a problem & I need to rethink these...]

I would appreciate your feedback, so drop me a line either on here or via email [melis.jensen@gmail.com] with your thoughts. Here are a few pictures of the type of things I will be selling for your consideration to help you make your decision.

Thanks for your help!!

p.s. - This is not to discount the invaluable input that I have already received from all of my friends & family on this subject, I just thought this was a good way to get a larger sampling of what everyone thought at once. :)

Gingerbread

2010-11-24T16:58:00.000-05:00

This was my first solo attempt at making cake balls. I wanted to make something festive and easy to enjoy on Thanksgiving, so I chose a boxed gingerbread cake mix. You bake the cake normally and let it fully cool and then break up the cake (with your hands) and mix in about 3/4 of a container of frosting.

All mixed up and rolled with cream cheese frosting, ready to go into the freezer for about 45 minutes to set up.

I speared the cake balls on a wooden skewer before dipping them in melted white chocolate that I colored with green food coloring. After they were all coated in green I popped them back in the fridge for a little bit and then topped them off with more white chocolate and red sugar! I wasn't able to coat the cake as evenly as I would have liked, but I think the mini muffin liners complete the look.

Still here...

2010-11-20T14:39:00.000-05:00

I know it's been quite a while since I updated you all... October was VERY busy! Nicks parents came for a visit the second weekend for the U of A v. Oregon State football game. They brought 2 other couples with them too. Unfortunately, the Wildcats lost, but I was kind of happy that the out of towners got a win. And the game didn't disappoint either, it was back and forth the whole game and wasn't decided until the final seconds! We had a great time visiting with everyone and had AMAZING weather too, did lots of outside activities and even took my M-I-L to a ZUMBA class. We also made two trips up to Phoenix, once for a Lewis & Roca retreat and then for an investment club meeting. We had to movee out of our place by the middle of October, so during our last trip to Phoenix we rented a Uhaul and picked up all of our stuff [that friends and family so graciously stored for over a year!] that was scattered in various places all over Mesa / Scottsdale. Which included getting all of our wedding gifts!! FINALLY!! We even made a pit stop in Tucson and cleaned out our storage unit too!!!

I seriously felt like it was Christmas unpacking all of the Crate & Barrel gift boxes!! I had to stop myself at one point to make sure Nick had a chance to take part in the fun... :) And now I feel like we have our own Crate & Barrel store in our kitchen! Between unpacking all of the gifts and buying new stuff to fill our home up with, I feel like the Return Queen! I have been at the Super Target so many times first thing in the morning, I am surprised they don't know me yet!!

So now we are all unpacked and settled in our new house. I am busy trying to get it decorated for the holidays, but that's going slowly... We will be getting a Christmas tree [fake, much to Nicks dismay] in the coming weeks! I can't wait!!! It will be the first Christmas we will get to decorate for as a married couple!! Last year in New York our studio was so teeny and we were gone in AZ for 3 weeks so the most I did was make Nick an advent calendar. [Which I need to get working on!]

I have been busy crafting away! My friend Brittney's brother is in the military overseas and she thought it would be nice if a bunch of us sent him and his troop Christmas cards. Here are a few pictures of the cards I made to wish them a happy holiday!

I have been working on designing our Christmas cards too. My mom gave me a great scrapbooking book that has a ton of craft projects for the holidays which has given me lots of ideas!

My good friend Alice had a baby boy earlier this year so I made him a blanket, this was my first crocheted project! Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of Sweet Baby James with it, but here is a picture I took while I was working on it. It's more contemporary looking than most of the other blankets I have done in the past. You crochet each band and then zig zag stitch it to the next strip.

The thing I am obsessed with now is knitting cowls! My first one was a mobious cowl which I knitted on circular needles that has a half twist in it. And I just finished another one that is super chunky and can be worn around your neck bunched up or pulled partially over your head. [I will post pictures soon!]

swap party

2010-10-07T14:24:00.000-04:00

Yesterday Nate Berkus did a segment on his show about swap parties! I love this idea! It's green, economical, and you get the chance to get something new that a friend would otherwise throw away. Plan a get together with your girlfriends and have each person bring 5 items that they don't want any longer and take turns auctioning off your pieces. To get started pass out $150 of monopoly money to each person, this is what they will use to bid on items. The first person displays their item and gives a little background on the piece they brought, then they pick a starting point to start the bidding off. Then move on to the next person, and you get the idea, until everyone has gotten rid of their stuff.

A couple of guidelines:
1. If you are re-gifting something, make sure that the person who gave it to you first will NOT be attending the party.
2. Themed swap parties, kids stuff, books, ex gifts, etc...
3. For a clothing swap, try to invite similarly sized people.
4. Make sure that all items are gently used and clean before they are brought.

I love, LOVE, LOVE this idea!!! I think I will be organizing one of these for the Christmas holiday! Friends beware!!

Here is a link to Real Simple's article on how - to organize your own swap party!!

sneak peak

2010-08-26T20:35:00.001-04:00

Here is a little preview of what I have been working on the past few days to sell in my shop on Etsy or elsewhere... I built myself a little light box to improve the quality of the photographs, but I still have a lot to learn. I have been brainstorming trying to come up with a creative name, but am not excited about anything I have come up with just yet. So if you have any ideas about what you see here or my design aesthetic please feel free to share!!

clothes pin decorated with handmade paper flower

handmade paper flower with rhinestone center

thank you card with clothes pin attached

paisley card with flowers and clothes pin attached

clothes pins with handmade flowers

handmade flowers and clothespins

miss you card

I have many more cards "stockpiled" to put up for sale as soon as I figure out a business name. And a new blog to follow too focusing on all my crafting projects!

Summer 2010

2010-08-19T15:46:00.000-04:00

Ok folks, I know it's been a while since I have updated this here blog! We are enjoying our new home in Tucson. Nick has settled in to his job at Lewis & Roca and is LOVING it. There are quite a few people that Nick attended law school with at U of A that are still in Tucson, so it's been great getting to see them again and that has made the transition easier.

Since it's been a while, I decided that I would catch up with one entry with all that we've been up to!

At the beginning of June we had the pleasure of attending our friends Ed & Sacha's wedding at Tlaquepaque (where we were married last year!). It was so nice to be up there and enjoy the setting and all that Tlaquepaque has to offer and not have all of the stress from our wedding, but it definitely brought back so many wonderful memories!! Our friends Shane & Karyn were at the wedding too and it was great to be able to hang out with them, we had a couple of late nights catching up and a day trip to Slide Rock.

Rachel and her friend Mandi have an annual clam bake over the 4th of July which they started last year. We were so bummed that we were unable to go last year because of all the things going on (bar exam, wedding preparations, etc...), but we were able to make it out this year! I was so excited to see the girls and baby Caleb again. Rachel and Brian bought a giant flat screen tv and PS3 right before the holiday so Nick and Brian pretty much spent the weekend vegging out on the couch playing video games, they were in heaven!!! On the 4th, we woke up early and went over to Mandi's house to meet everyone and walk over to the Huntington Beach parade. Mandi is an interior designer too and makes invitations, needless to say her house is super cute and she always has everything planned down to the tiniest detail. She made a basket of muffins to take to the parade for us to devour while we waited for the parade to start. After the parade we went back to Mandi's house and were joined by some other families for the clam bake! They had pools, slip & slides, and games all set up for the kids! We ate outside and basked in the crisp California air and munch on great food all day! In the evening we made s'mores and camped out on the front yard ready to see the fireworks!!! Such a great holiday, but our time always seems to go TOO quick when we are with the Keranens!

On August 8th we celebrated our first wedding anniversary! The night before we went out to dinner at Janos at La Paloma in the foothills nearby. We both opted to do the taste of San Francisco that the chef was featuring which included a tapas offering with 10 bite size entrees / appetizers to sample!! Kind of funny, the other two couples sitting in our section were celebrating anniversaries too, 3 & 30 years!! Then the next day we barbecued burgers with a creamy blue cheese sauce, wine from our wedding, and our wedding cake! I was nervous about eating the year old cake, but it was yummy and we didn't get sick! :)

The second weekend of August we went to Denver, Colorado for one of Nicks law school buddies weddings. I had never been to Denver and was pleasantly surprised!!! The downtown area has been revitalized and kept up very well. There is a free shuttle that runs down 16th street that makes it easy to get around. I loved walking around and looking at all of the architecture!! Most of the law school clan made it out for the wedding, so thankful to have the wedding to unite everyone after a year! And maybe we will get to do it again sometime next year as another couple got engaged that weekend!! Our last day there we went to a local bar and had lunch on the patio and then walked around by the Rockies stadium and sat on a bench to people watch while the game let out and then we went to a rooftop bar.

That's all for now!!

I have been working on making some cards to put in my new etsy shop, stay tuned for more information on that... :)

Goodbye New York

2010-06-07T16:15:00.000-04:00

Our last few weeks in New York were very busy. Between Nick having finals, saying our goodbyes, and trying to fit in the last minute things we wanted to do & see before we left there wasn't much time!!!
Lindsay came in for one last visit.
Kim got tickets to a Yankee game.
We saw Denzel Washington in Fences on Broadway. (On a side note, before the performance we saw Kevin Sorbo and after the performance we saw Zach Braff - well I saw them, Nick was too busy admiring their modelesque dates!) :)
We went to the rooftop bar 230 5th Ave to sip champagne and celebrate Nicks graduation. Notice the Empire State Building behind us lit up in NYU's colors to honor all of the graduates! Nick had to get a picture with the cheesy stuffed cheetah in the lobby! :)
Had to take a picture of all of the books Nick has accumulated in the last 9 months, and I don't even think this was all of them!
Went to the top of the Empire State Bldg. on our last night in the city after we saw Promises Promises!

Could not think of a better way to start our first year of marriage! We will miss the city terribly but are very thankful for all of the wonderful memories we have!!

Babs' Trip to NYC

2010-06-07T15:52:00.000-04:00

At the end of April my mom came to visit us in NYC. She has been wanting to visit the Big Apple for decades and with Nick and I living there it was the perfect opportunity for her!

She arrived at Newark airport one evening and Nick and I took the train out to NJ to pick her up. Although flying into Newark is typically cheaper, it requires taking many modes of transportation to get to and from, you ride the subway to Penn Station and then take a train out to the airport. On the way back from picking up my mom we ended up taking the train, subway and finally a taxi to get to her hotel in Tribeca!

Our first day out we decided to take a Greyline Bus tour so she could see the sights of the city and get a comprehensive overview of the layout. We got a package that had 4 different bus loops and included tickets on the water taxi to Liberty & Ellis Islands, the Empire State Building, and tickets to the South Street Seaport Museum. We only made it on 2 bus loops, the Uptown & Downtown trips, but it was well worth it. I would definitely recommend these to anyone visiting, you get the local flavor of the area from your guide and each person has different stories to tell.

The second day we did a lot of walking and went to 2 different yarn shops that were close by. One was the Lionbrand studio by Union Square & the other was Purl that has a bunch of specialty yarn. Lionbrand has a weekly newsletter that goes out that my mom and I subscribe to so it was fun for her being able to see the actual studio space that she hears about so often! Their yarn is mass produced and sold in stores all over the country (and is very economically priced!). Purl on the other hand is more of a specialty shop that has more exclusive brands that are for the most part more expensive. We also stopped by Filene's Basement at Union Square and did some shopping!!! I had never been in this store, but have heard about it for a long time.

The next couple of days were rainy so we stuck close to the hotel. We did venture out to have brunch with an old friend from California, my best friends oldest sister, Gwen. We met up in the Meatpacking district at a restaurant called Pastis (which is owned by the same people who do Balthazar). It was so yummy!!! We got this amazing bread basket that was filled with pastries & bread!! That fed us breakfast for days!

We had to take in a Broadway show too! So on Saturday night we did it up right, we all got dressed up, had dinner at a seafood restaurant in the theatre district and went to see the Lion King. The costumes were amazing and the kids who played Simba and Nala were incredible!!! Can't believe how inventive the costume designers were at making people look like all of the animals!!!

On the last full day my mom and I took the boat out to Liberty & Ellis Island. My grandfather had been carrying around this code to trace back our family that had arrived in the US through Ellis Island so we were hoping to get some more information. Unfortunately the code is not valid or at least that's what they told us, so we were a little disappointed. This has however spiked my curiosity and I have been researching like crazy trying to get some more information on my ancestors. :)

We were sad to see my mom leave, but knew that we would be seeing her soon when we got back to AZ. So thankful she was able to come out and see NY while we were there!!!

lights, camera, ACTION

2010-05-04T22:30:00.001-04:00

A few weeks ago my friend Briana & I went to see a Regis & Kelly taping. Having tried this once before with my old roommate Michele, I knew we had to be up early to get in the stand by line (we didn’t have tickets)! So we got up at 5A!! and met up for breakfast before heading over to the ABC studios. Upon arriving at the studio a little before 7a we could see a large line had already formed. Not knowing exactly where to go we got in the first line we saw and I noticed that the people ahead of us had tickets printed out, so I asked them if they had tickets or if they were in the standby line. Turns out they had tickets already! BOO!!! So we repositioned ourselves with all of the other non-ticket holders in the standby line. :( While we were waiting in our line, a street vendor that had been working this corner for years came over to greet the line and tell us where to look for the arriving guests & Regis as we were waiting. He also mentioned that the studio was small, so if we didn’t have tickets we might not get in & he said if that was the case, we should have over to Martha Stewarts studio because it was bigger and they often pull guests from the standby line. So Briana and I were thinking either way we would get to see a taping that day. As soon as we got to the front of our line, a couple to our left(who had tickets) told us they were a party of 2 and had 2 extra tickets and asked if we would like to join them? SCORE!!! Their names were Richard & Mary (I think!) and they had come into the city for the day on a bus from Pennsylvania. We had chatted with them in line and passed the 2 hour time frame nicely while waiting to be escorted onto the set.

The guests for the day were Chris Rock & the latest cast offs from Dancing with the Stars, Edyta & Aiden. During the commercials Regis & Kelly interacted with the audience & posed for pictures. Needless to say Kelly was as cute & put together as ever and Regis was charming in a grandfatherly kind of way. At the end of the show the dancers were teaching Regis & Kelly some moves and Regis had to explain to Edeyta that he couldn’t do a particular combo because of his hip. :) I was a little bit surprised at how pompous Michael Gelman (producer) acted, but I guess that’s what showbiz does to some people. That day they were also taping another segment with Nathan Lane co-hosting with Tracy Morgan as the guest. Nathan Lane was hilarious! And so was Tracy Morgan, but I was disappointed to hear (from Briana) that Tracy’s stand up routine was not as funny. BOO!!

Briana & I with our adopted parents for the day. :)

The set, much smaller than I was anticipating.

Briana & I

Chris Rock

Tracy Morgan

After the Regis & Kelly taping we decided we should extend our star filled cheap day so we headed over to Chelsea to check out the Martha Stewart situation. It turns out the guy at Regis & Kelly had the times mixed up and we were a little early for the afternoon taping, so we went and got pedicures before grabbing some food and returning the studio. On our way back to the studio we noticed two familiar faces standing in the standby line (our adopted parents had had the same plan as we did!). We sat on the studio’s stoop and noshed on our sandwiches as we waited to hear if we would be allowed into the taping. We got lucky and made it into this taping too!

Once in the studio you are escorted into a “holding” room where the producer preps you all and talks about what will be going on in the show that day. We were fortunate enough to get: to taste some YUMMY coconut cookies that Martha made with her guest Maury Rubin (owner of the Birdbath Bakery here in NYC), a gift card to a clothing line called “skin” (although I am not sure how much the $50 will actually buy!), and should be getting in the mail any day now a pair of pearl earrings!!! The show is set to air this Friday, so set your DVR’s!!! I was shocked at how much bigger Martha’s set was compared to Regis & Kelly’s. The audience rows were very generous leaving enough room for guests to walk between the rows with ease! LOVED all of the plates on display in the kitchen, it was all white and coordinated perfectly!!! I can only hope to be so organized one day… I DO realize that that’s what all of the production staff is there for, to make it all look pretty and effortless.

Cali trip, March 23 – 30

2010-04-11T11:53:00.001-04:00

At the end of March my best friend, Rachel, and her husband flew me out to California to help out with the kids when Rachel delivered their third child (a son this time!) Caleb. Since Rachel’s previous two children have born early, we all thought that by my trip out there Caleb would have been born. We were all WRONG!!!

While waiting for the little guy to make his arrival we kept busy! Rachel and I took the girls to the Long Beach Aquarium one afternoon. The girls loved looking (and touching) at all of the wildlife in the water. We watched Rachel’s nieces one afternoon at her parents house in Long Beach. We picked up her oldest niece, Gracie, at school, which happens to be where Rachel and I went to elementary school too. It was very strange being on the campus again, don’t think I have been back since we left in the 80’s. Nothing has changed, they still have my favorite piece of playground equipment – the rings!!! I LOVED these things, so bummed that they didn’t have them in AZ!! But I guess that probably had something to do with the fact that it is 100 degrees out and the metal rings would be on fire! We made multiple trips to the park to play and try to jiggle baby Caleb out!!! And I got to see an old friend, who was coincidentally pregnant too! We consumed lots of yummy food, including banana pudding (I found the recipe on-line for Magnolia’s in NYC), bbq hot dogs/hamburgers/sausage.

making fish faces at the aquarium

Paige contemplating whether or not to touch the stingray

Dress up in princess dresses was a daily occurrence!

Trying to fly princess kites, the second picture was taken just before the kite plummeted down and landed on the roof of their house. :)

Almost everyday Rachel and I would scour the internet for a “natural” way to induce labor! And nothing worked! She had been having contractions consistently since before I arrived, but they weren’t doing their job. :) Sunday afternoon we all went swimming before bbq-ing for dinner. And lo and behold that night was the she went into full blown labor! Thankfully Rachel’s mom (Trudi) came over to the house and stayed with the girls so I could go to the hospital and be present for Caleb’s birth. I got there about 2:15a and he was born at 3:35a!! Words can’t describe what an amazing experience this was, definitely one of the most awesome to date!!! It still seems surreal! Can’t thank Rachel & Brian enough for letting me share such an intimate time with them! So thankful that everything worked out! Only wish I could have stayed longer to help out!

Happy Birthday Caleb!!

baby hats & booties

2010-04-11T11:05:00.001-04:00

In search of the perfect hat pattern, I decided I needed to try knitting in the round with double pointed needles. So I set off for the Lion Brand yarn store with a list of necessities. Here are some of the pieces I have made so far. I was very pleased with how the hats came out and they used so little yarn that I could probably make 3 hats out of each skein. I wanted to make some booties to match the hats, but I couldn’t find a pattern that I LOVED, so I started looking for a crochet one and found one on Lion Brand’s web-site (surprise!!).

a look at the work in progress – when knitting with double pointed needles you distribute your stitches between 3 or 4 needles (depending on the size of your project) and you use another needle to transfer your stitches to as you are working in the round.

green hat with rolled brim

blue & white striped hat with ribbed brim

green - first pair of booties

need to start sewing

2010-04-06T10:28:00.000-04:00

LOVE this mini quilt!!! Might be my first Tucson craft project...

http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/?p=6241

may have to make these

2010-04-06T10:20:00.002-04:00

http://madebythemamamonster.blogspot.com/2010/03/supplies-felt-wool-or-eco-your-choice.html

love this!

2010-04-06T09:56:00.002-04:00

tutorial found here: http://giverslog.com/?p=6600

turning the BIG 3-0 in the BIG APPLE

2010-03-20T18:34:00.001-04:00

Two weeks ago I turned 30! Although I had not been dreading this milestone as much as some friends have, I was bummed that I was in NYC and away from some of closest friends & family. So to help me cope, Nick made me a video montage of all of my friends & family to wish me a happy birthday! I had breakfast & coffee in bed and enjoyed the show.

Isn’t my husband the greatest?!?! AND a BIG thanks to all of my friends & family too for sending me your birthday greetings! LOVE you all! (Don’t kill me Mom!!)

Later in the day, I went to the airport to pick up my old roommate, Michele. She came into town for the week, I was so thankful to have her here to celebrate! We hung out that afternoon and then rallied to get ready for my birthday dinner. Nick had class that evening, so Michele & I got ready and headed into Soho to find a restaurant and then Nick met up with us when he was done. We settled on Diva, which had a great atmosphere and a storefront that opened up to the street. The food was so-so, but the company was great!!! During dinner, Nick presented me with my present – birthstone earrings (aquamarine), they have this neat setting that looks more like the stones are set inside of a crown. He got them at (Doyle & Doyle) a local jeweler here in NYC. A fantastic memento for my 30th and our time here in the city! After dinner we came home and had cupcakes from Crumbs bake shop! Yummy!!!

The rest of the week consisted of ramming around the city with Michele. We went to the Lincoln Exhibit at the NY Historical Society, waited in line at Regis & Kelly (didn’t get in – you have to get tickets 12 months in advance, so we waited in the standby line, the guest co-host was Jerry Seinfeld & Donald Trump was the guest – we NEVER had a chance!), went to Magnolia Bakery for cupcakes & banana pudding (I am hooked to the pudding!!), cooked dinner at her swanky quarters in Columbus Circle, shopped, got our hair done, and lots more!

Friday morning we went to the TKTS booth on South Street to get tickets to a Broadway show. It was raining and mucky out, but there were still enough people already assembled in line. Our schedules were flexible & we thought we could either see a Friday night show or a Saturday afternoon matinee and got tickets for Saturdays matinee of:

Saturday turned out to be quite eventful!! It was POURING down rain out all day. I met Michele in Times Square for lunch before Mary Poppins at Applebee’s. Can’t believe we ate at a chain, but the weather was so horrible and it was right next to the theatre, it was just easy! We went over to the drug store to get candy to take into the show and met Nick outside the theatre. The play was AMAZING!!! My favorite scene was “Step in Time”, it was a tap dance routine and one of the guys walked up the wall, across the ceiling, and down the other side of the stage all the while tap dancing! We got a picture of Michele & I by the Mary Poppins sign as we were leaving, but I don’t have it yet.

On Saturday night Nick organized a birthday dinner at Buddakan in the ubercool Meatpacking district . Our table was downstairs and off to the left of the room pictured immediately below (This is the table that Carrie & Big sat at for their rehearsal dinner in the Sex & the City movie.)

our group: Michele, Nick, Missy, Jordan, Maria, Lindsay, & Kim

After dinner we went across the street to a hotel that had a bar downstairs to hang out.

So thankful that Kim & Lindsay were here!!! LOVE you girls! :)

My college friend Katy now lives in the city so she came out!

Old roomies! I LOVE this girl!!

Nick was commenting that on my profile picture for FB that it was basically a picture of him with me in it. So I had Michele take a few shots of just me! :)

I wasn’t as good about taking pictures as I should be. More of our friends that went to Law School with Nick at U of A also came out, but I didn’t get pictures!

On Sunday morning Kim, Lindsay, Michele, Nick, & I had brunch at the Bowery Bar in the East Village. We went with Kim there a few weeks ago and it was so yummy!!! I got the bacon, avocado, lettuce, and tomato (don’t really like tomatoes usually on sandwiches but with avocado and bacon you can’t go wrong!!!).

Thanks to my hubby for organizing everything and making sure I had a great birthday!!! Love you!!

three LONG weeks

2010-03-05T16:00:00.001-05:00

So last Friday we bottled our first batch of beer (a Golden Lager) into liter bottles & have been waiting for them to carbonate. All week the bottles have been resting atop of our “armoire” & at least 6 times a day Nick will go over and squeeze them to check their progress. Today we put two of the bottles in the fridge to enjoy tonight with dinner! I will let you know how they turn out.

I think a drink might be necessary as I am ripping out my 10+ rows of knitting tonight / this afternoon. I decided that I would try a different pattern on this baby blanket for Caleb. I have been SO concentrated on making sure I knit the right stitches & purl the right stitches that I guess I must have done one too many rows because the pattern is off. Now to the normal “untrained” eye it might be undetectable, but I know it’s there & it’s going to drive me nuts. The pattern is a basket weave and you knit & purl in series of 4 stitches in each row and then after 5 rows you knit an entire row, apparently it’s this entire knit row that I screwed up on because normally this row would be on the back *wrong* side of the blanket but in one section it’s on the front *right* side. UGH!!! I might have to switch over to Paige’s blanket for a little while and take a break. Wish me luck!

snowicane feb 2010

2010-02-27T10:51:00.001-05:00

This week NYC got slammed with what weathercasters were calling a “snowicane” for the majority of the week. It started on Thursday morning with a wintery mix of snow & rain which continued for most of the day. I have been helping a friend out with errands and paperwork and had scheduled to go over Thursday morning to do some work. She lives in the West Village less than a mile from our building (and not conveniently located near any subway stops – UGH!) so I have been walking over, which proved to be not so fun. I bundled up, put on my rain boots, grabbed the umbrella and headed out. It wouldn’t have been so bad if the weather would have made up it’s mind whether it wanted to snow or rain, but instead it did both! Yuck!!! Luckily all of my work was inside and I didn’t have to run around in it. I walked back home and ate lunch before going to volunteer that afternoon. With the weather not cooperating, I took the subway in to volunteer and was hoping by the time I was done that the rain would be done so the snow could stick. This proved to be the case and by 4p the snow was starting to accumulate on the ground so I took the opportunity to walk home. At the time this seemed like a good idea, I could walk home leisurely and snap pictures of the freshly fallen powder. :) But halfway home I thought my fingers were going to fall off, I was having trouble taking pictures with numb phalanges that couldn’t feel the trigger on my camera. I did manage to snap these…

The storm continued to gain strength and threw the night dumped about 12” of snow in Manhattan. Nick and I stayed inside for most of the day on Friday but I was able to convince him to take a walk with me to Washington Square Park and through our neighborhood.

arch at Washington Sq. Park, Nick making a snowball

Nick making a snowman, another snowman

in the park

Christopher St. in the West Village (LOVE the look of the arching trees!!!) Would take a picture of every street that looks like this!!!

We are supposed to have a few snow showers continuing through the weekend, but the worst is over. February set a record for most snowfall in a month, breaking the previous one set back in the 1890’s!!! In the city we got between 18 & 24”.

There might be another storm headed our way this coming week, fingers crossed!!!

purl

2010-02-27T10:04:00.001-05:00

Over Christmas I started a blanket for Rachel’s daughter Paige. I decided that since I would be making a blanket for their newest addition, Caleb, and had already made one for Layla 4 years ago, I didn’t want Paige to be left out!

This pattern is all purl stitches. Each row you decrease a number of stitches by purling two stitches together and then increase by that same number of stitches by doing a yarn over, the result is this gorgeous twisted lacy pattern. Perfect for a little girl! I am knitting 3 different yarns together once, all are delicate & very soft: one is a pink variegated yarn that I have used before in my baby blankets (it comes in this huge skein, about 600 yards, and I can usually get at least 2 blankets out of it), the next is a light pink & white yarn, and lastly a super soft white one.

the yarn

the blanket

So far it’s about 2 feet long, I want to take it out when I visit at the end of March which means I need to get cracking (I keep getting sidetracked though with other projects) :)

want to make this scarf

2010-02-24T19:50:00.000-05:00

directions can be found here: http://www.purlbee.com/easy-hand-knit-scarf/

Valentines Weekend

2010-02-18T22:21:00.001-05:00

We had a leisurely four day weekend, since Nick doesn’t have classes on Fridays and Monday was Presidents Day. We spent most of the weekend just hanging out.

We have been trying to go to the Museum of Natural History since we arrived in August, but every time we set off in that direction we get sidetracked. On Saturday we attempted again! We made a pit stop for lunch, tried to stop at the Shake Shack that is famous for their yummy shakes, but the line was too long. So we walked around the neighborhood & stopped at the Chirping Chicken. I got a burger which was so-so and Nick the roasted chicken which was delectable! After lunch we headed over to the Museum and the line was snaking around about 1/4 of the foyer so we decided to postpone the trip once again. Since we were so close to Central Park we walked through the park. Wednesday was the big blizzard so the park was covered by a blanket of snow still – it was BEAUTIFUL!!!

We had about $400 in gift cards at Macy’s, so we stopped there on our way back home from Central Park. Up until this point every time we have visited the store we have left empty handed! :( This time we purposely went in with two things on our list: 1. a winter coat for Nick so he can look like he belongs here (he has been sporting his windbreaker & freezing!!), and 2. an immersion blender. Since it was a holiday weekend, they were having MAJOR sales, Nick’s jacket was 60% off and the blender was marked down to $50 from $70. I think we did pretty good!! Armed with our new kitchen toy, we went home to find a delish soup recipe – creamy broccoli cheese! We ventured back out into the cold one last time to get some supplies for our Valentine dinner (the next night) & to pick up some wine! :) The best of shopping, since we didn’t have to spend our own money!

On Sunday morning I made crepes with caramelized apples & honey for breakfast. For lunch we met up with Kim in the East Village at B Bar & Grill. Nick let me choose what we he made for dinner on Valentines Day – for something different I chose lamb. He slow roasted lamb shanks in the slow cooker with tomatoes, garlic, and onions and made polenta to go with it. I made individual molten chocolate lava cakes for dessert. Everything turned out so tasty!!!

While we were waiting for the lamb to finish cooking in the crock pot I gave Nick his gift – Mr. Beer home brewing kit. He loved it!! We got everything ready while we were waiting for our meal and have our first batch fermenting!! Now we have to wait 3 weeks until it’s ready, in about a week we can test it and dispense it into bottles but then we need to wait another two weeks for it to carbonate. Nick has already asked me about 40 times if his beer is ready yet!? :) Nick got me some chocolate covered strawberries (MY FAVORITE) and a box of chocolates from Dean & Deluca! I am trying to savor them, but my sweet tooth is getting the best of me I am afraid!

I bought some brown paper and stamped out my own wrapping paper for Nick’s present.

6 months

2010-02-16T21:13:00.001-05:00

Hard to believe last Monday Nick and I have been married for 6 months already. *Truthfully, it had slipped my mind what the day actually was.* I don’t know where the time has gone! Doesn’t seem possible. Maybe it’s because of the change in location or how different life is now, I don’t know.

Nick surprised me with taking me to dinner to “One if by Land, Two if by Sea”. This is a saying made famous by Paul Revere click here for the story (as you remember from my previous post, Nick is obsessed with American history), so this was very fitting. We have walked by this restaurant before when we’ve been out walking in our neighborhood, it’s located in the West Village. The ambiance inside was rustic & very romantic! Just to the left of the door is a grand piano with a pianist playing classical music that guides you in to the bar area where a fire is roaring. The tables are cozy and stained glass colors the walls and leads your eye up to the vaulted ceiling.

We decided that this would sort of be our Valentine celebration since I don’t like paying an inflated price for a meal on Valentine’s. It was also “restaurant week” in NYC, so they had a prix fixe menu developed for a discounted price. You had a selection of appetizers, main course, and dessert. We both got the duck tureen (me not knowing what it REALLY was) for our appetizer. I made this decision from process of elimination – I didn’t want the bean soup & I hate micro green salads so this was the only thing that sounded remotely appetizing to me. When it arrived it looked amazing, a little brick of pressed duck meat accompanied by a pear chutney, but my tureen had about 1/4” of a waxy white coating top it. I glanced at Nicks and noticed that I couldn’t see this on his, so I asked about it and he said do you know what it is? I said no & that I should probably wait to find out until I was done eating it. I tried to eat that top layer, but was finding it hard to digest -it had this greasy texture to it. So I finally just flipped the brick over and ate from the bottom up, leaving the white top on my plate. Apparently this waxy layer was duck fat and it’s coveted for being delicious! I was not impressed! :) For our main course selections: I had the cheese ravioli (this was by far the best I had EVER tasted) & Nick had red snapper, and then for dessert I had the chocolate cake & Nick the crème brulee (for a change – this is my favorite dessert).

Typically I eat about half of what’s on my plate at a restaurant (and Nick will usually finish my scraps before we leave), but I LOVED the portion size at One if by Land – it was perfect for me! I cleaned my plate!

Such a great night! So thankful for such a thoughtful husband! xoxo

snow day 2.10.10

2010-02-16T20:35:00.001-05:00

Last Wednesday we had our first big blizzard of 2010. I was so excited! Tuesday night I kept waiting for the snow to start falling, I woke up multiple times during the night to peer out the window to see if the storm had started. After spending all day inside at 2p I got all bundled up and went out on a walk through our neighborhood and Washington Square Park.

view from the window of our apartment in the morning

walking on the east side of Washington Square Park

tree in Washington Sq. Park / tree outside of the NYU Stern Business School

Washington Square Park

I am so bummed, last week when I started this entry I had so many pictures included and then my computer crashed and I lost the entry. Today when Nick and I were working on clearing off files of my computer I guess I deleted most of the pictures I took from the storm. So this is all I have. :(

Boston weekend 2.5.10

2010-02-16T14:51:00.002-05:00

The first weekend in February we went with Kim on an impromptu road trip to Boston to see Lindsay. Friday morning Kim called and said she was renting a car to drive out to Boston (and to dodge the blizzard that was *supposed* to hit the city over the weekend) & wanted to see if Nick and I wanted to tag along. We thought it was the perfect opportunity for a Jensen sibling weekend & to get out to Boston without having to ride the lovely Fung Wah. And we were excited to see Lindsay since we didn't get to see her over the Christmas holiday.

We got out of the city early in the afternoon to avoid the rush hour mess and were to Boston for dinner. We ordered Chinese take out from a nearby joint and Lindsay and I walked to the store to pick up some wine. We had good intentions to go out that night, but out lack of motivation got the best of us (and we laid on the couch and watched the Hangover (and by WE I mean Nick & I, Lindsay and Kim were zonked out before 9p)).

We had planned on coming back to the city on Saturday morning, but after a late breakfast and going to see Lindsay at work, we reconsidered. After discussing some ideas of what to do with our afternoon, Lindsay suggested that we go to Plymouth Rock. It took some coaxing on Nicks behalf (he is really into American History), but he convinced Kim to drive us out there. By the time we got out to the rock, it was snowing and was so cold that we couldn't stand to be out of the car. We ended up walking around for 10 minutes and then getting back into the heated car and driving around to find a place to get chowder!

After lunch we headed back to Boston and did some shopping in the Back Bay neighborhood, an upscale residential area that has a row of retail shops. We went to the mall and Nick got a book on The Mayflower (so thankful he has some reading material - for days he was complaining that he had nothing to read after he left his book in AZ over Christmas break).

We grabbed dinner at a brewery and headed back to Lindsays to have some wine & watch tv. Once again we planned on going out, but the cold kept us bundled up in blankets on the couch all evening! Not that any of us were complaining. We left to come back to the city early on Sunday morning and we (I) were pleasantly surprised that it looked like that we didn't miss the big snow storm! It hit on Wednesday!!

playing catch up

2010-02-16T14:51:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I last posted, but it's not all my fault... My laptop is short on space, so everything has been taking more time than anticipated & I had an entire entry written last Wednesday with pictures of the snow day and I keep getting a strange message when I try to post it. So I am going back to the old way, and trying to enter my blogs in the blogger program provided. So bear with me, I hope this works. :) Here it goes!

baby it’s cold outside

2010-02-03T11:33:00.001-05:00

We got a light dusting of snow overnight and woke up with a few inches covering our street.

view from the elevator lobby on our floor looking out at Mercer St.

view from the Courtyard

so we are having this for dinner…

hearts

2010-01-17T16:20:00.001-05:00

Found the pattern to make cute little hearts on Martha Stewarts web-site for Knitted Catnip Delight. I think I might knit some up and make magnets. Our sad little fridge feels naked after I took down the Christmas Advent calendar…

Christmas cards

2010-01-17T12:12:00.001-05:00

Here are a few of the Christmas cards that we sent out this year. I didn’t take pictures of them all because I was getting irritated at the quality of the pictures that my camera took… Arg!

crochet

2010-01-17T11:56:00.001-05:00

Years ago my Grandma Merriman taught me how to crochet one summer when we went back to Illinois to visit. I made a snow white scarf using the double crochet stitch (I think) & to this day I still have & wear this scarf on a regular basis. I have such great memories of sitting on my grandparents couch under the huge picture window with my grandma sitting next to me saying “I can hear the yarn squeak, you’re holding it too tight!” I have tried multiple times since then to pick it back up and failed… Every time becoming more & more frustrated. And again this year, I had been seeing these cute floral necklaces being sold by the street vendors in the city, so I thought I would try to make them as Christmas gifts for friends, but the flowers proved to be trickier than I thought, and I got discouraged with them.

Since both my mom and I knit, she thought it would be fun for us to learn to crochet too, I kept trying to tell her of my past disappointments, but finally she broke me down. :) As a Christmas present, my in-laws sent me some new yarn, hooks, and a couple how-to books, so armed with all of my utensils, one night I set off. I started just crocheting some squares with a thick black yarn that I had laying around that would be easy to see what I was stitching. Success!! I think my favorite stitch right now is the half double crochet, that’s how I made this scarf.

LOVE the yarn (Thanks Gaynelle!!)

Then while at home, I decided to try the flowers again!

I bought some Ruffles yarn while at the Lion Brand Yarn Studio here in the city and had been waiting to experiment with it. In the store they had a display of a rose necklace using this product & I was dying to try to make it! Here is one of the flowers I made. I made 4 big ones and 2 little ones. I just LOVE them! I have so many ideas for what to do with them.

1. String them together and make a necklace.

2. Put them on a pin or clip to embellish a shirt, purse, headband, scarf, hat, etc…

3. Use a bow on a present.

OH, the possibilities are endless…

They only make this yarn in black, white, and black / white mixture, so you don’t have too many color options, but you can brighten the flowers up by adding a pop of color to the center (maybe a rhinestone, button, or a crocheted sphere) in an accent color. Can’t wait to play around with these!

NYE 2009

2010-01-01T17:21:00.000-05:00

Last night we had the pleasure of attending our good friends Scott & Brittney's wedding in Tempe. Seven years ago last night Nick and I met each other thanks to a mutual friend of ours, Lauren. We could not think of a better way to celebrate our love and new marriage than with our closest friends watching them pledge their lives to one another!! Love you guys!!!

Nick, me, Alice, and Jim

Alice & I

Right before midnight

Happy New Year

The newleweds enjoying the fireworks!

The boys enjoying champagne & cigars to celebrate.

Me & the bride (Britt)

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…

2009-12-13T11:19:00.001-05:00

Last Thursday we FINALLY went to see the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center! It was a particularly chilly night and as usual I checked the weather before we left. The forecast was cool, but there wasn’t any sign of rain / snow in sight. We rode the subway straight to the Rockefeller building and headed outside. And there she was in all her GLORY!!! The 76 foot tall Norway Spruce is: 40+ feet in diameter, strewn with 5 miles of LED lights (more than 300,000 individual bulbs), weighing over 10 tons, and boasting a Swarovski crystal star on top. She is a beauty!

We started off across the rink (away from the tree) and then went north a bit to watch the snow flake light show on the Saks Fifth Ave building. All along the facade of the building they have hung snowflakes that are programmed to light up and “dance” (a la the Bellagio fountains in Las Vegas) to Christmas music. Very cool!! I was snapping pictures, along with EVEYONE else, the whole way. My stupid camera ran out of batteries though, so I didn’t get as many as planned… We took some on Nick’s i-phone, one will be in our Christmas card *hopefully*. And then as if a scene from a movie, we were watching the snowflake show looking up in awe at the twinkling lights and it started SNOWING!!! I couldn’t believe it! We had planned on getting hot chocolate at Dean & Deluca but I didn’t want to go inside now and miss out on the snow. We decided to take refuge in the warm store after all and get a refreshment. When we went back outside the snow had stopped, so we meandered back to the tree to get a better look up close. We took turns taking pictures of each other with our phones & I got a great shot to use as the wallpaper on my phone. By then, it was time to get home and into comfy pj’s to watch the newest installment of the Office on t.v. What a perfect night!!! Could not have dreamed of a better experience.

LOVE these

2009-12-13T10:26:00.001-05:00

http://adaanddarcy.blogspot.com/2009/12/pom-pom-beauty.html

Wonder how hard they are to make? There are step-by-step instruction on the web-site. I was going to try to make crocheted floral necklaces for all of my friends for Christmas, but that didn’t turn out so well… While I can pick up the crochet stitches OK, I am having trouble forming them to look like flowers. I wonder if I can alter these to be small enough for a necklace? Maybe this will have to be a project for my mom & I in AZ! :)

crafty (happy) girl

2009-12-07T17:55:00.001-05:00

Nick has taken to the library which means that I was left to myself for the day. So I sat with my cup of coffee & bagel at my desk and continued to craft away on the holiday cards we will be sending out, while catching up on my favorite shows on hulu. :) I did take a break however to have lunch with my man & then go into volunteer (at Room to Grow) in the afternoon. I LOVE it there!

I am so thrilled with how the cards are turning out, and am even MORE excited that I have some festive decorations strung up above my desk. I made a sort of clothes line out of some yarn (I have a plethora of that laying around…) and have dangled all of the completed cards off of it for the time being (until we send them out). And then I plan to hang cards that we receive on it also.

I ran out of supplies from my Michaels run last week so I decided to venture over to Kate’s Paperie (www.katespaperie.com) in SoHo to restock. I could get lost in this store! They have everything dealing with stationary & gift wrapping you could ever want (at a very EXPENSIVE price). :) It’s very easy to get sidetracked here & I didn’t do a very good job at staying on task… I ended up buying two different sticker type tapes to assemble the cards together, one of which I use all the time and another I decided to give a try for something different. Unfortunately the new product I am NOT a fan of at all, the profile is a little bit too high so it lifts the paper off of the card more than I would like. And my old standby tape,turned out to be something different – because I was so enamored with all of the glitz and glitter around me, I must have picked up the wrong thing. So back to Michaels I go tomorrow!!! Which you won’t find me complaining about. :) I got a 25% coupon anyway last week when I was there so I HAVE to go to use it, right? :) I will post pics soon of the cards / display.

trying to redeem myself…

2009-12-06T22:14:00.001-05:00

I have been baking (high calorie, bad for your body, but taste SO YUMMY) treats for months now. A couple of weeks ago, while I was getting ready to make another batch of goodness (pumpkin scones), Nick said “can you make bran muffins?” BARF!! He twisted my arm :) , & reluctantly I agreed to after Thanksgiving. Maybe I will like them. Well, this week is after Thanksgiving so… in an effort to make myself feel better for all of the stuffing, pie, sweet potatoes, & turkey I ate last week (and all of the turkey, artichoke dip, mashed potatoes, and did I mention PEANUT BUTTER BALLS?!?! I will scarf over Christmas) I relented and decided that I would make the muffins this week. Maybe I will like them? How bad can they be? They sell them at Starbucks?

I had been putting off doing a huge grocery trip for weeks now, just getting by with picking up a few things here and there as necessary from the local store right across the street. The more I procrastinated about this the fewer our food options were. And I was literally going to that store “right around the corner” AT LEAST once a day. :) For a while I was doing good & going to Trader Joe’s once a week and stocking up. Problem is that the Trader Joe’s is a mile away, which I don’t mind walking to and from, but I usually go by myself (Nick is usually in class) and that limits how much I can carry home. And there are “special” days (Wednesday & Thursday) that TJ’s is less busy (and by that I mean the line only wraps around about 1/4 of the store as opposed to 7/8) & the last few weeks those days have been horrible weather-wise. So today, I made a GINORMOUS list of items (including all of the ingredients for the aforementioned Bran Muffins) that will hopefully tide us over until we go to AZ for Christmas & was EVEN able to convince Nick to go with me.

We opted to go to the store that was a couple blocks from our building since they have better prices & there were two of us so carrying our loot back wouldn’t be so bad. After stepping outside we realized that it was MUCH colder than it looked from our apartment window. The weather out here is so deceiving. I am used to basically one or two (maybe three) different climate changes in AZ (and they REALLY aren’t even changes by definition if you look at the temperature swings in other parts of the country), all of which you can pretty much select your outfit by looking out the window. In AZ you can assume that if the sun is shining you will be comfortable in shorts / jeans & a t-shirt for 95% of the year. On the 5 days it actually rains in AZ, you can put on a sweatshirt and call it a day! In NYC the same can not be said… I had 3 layers on and was still cold to the bone. I will say that I think my blood has thickened in the 4 months we’ve been here, but I am still not used to 40 degrees!

After we returned from our shopping trip, I was so cold that I decided to make the muffins TODAY because the heat from the stove would warm up our little studio. I guess this is one of the benefits of living in less than 500 square feet! :) In an effort to make the muffins more appealing (to me), I added an apple to sweeten them up. There is only 2 tablespoons of sugar in these things!!! Not so sure it worked, the apple did nothing for disgusting sight of the batter, and they didn’t smell as good as red velvet cupcakes. Our little home was nice & toasty though! Nick might not have any competition / help in polishing these off. :) We’ll see…

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-12-03T12:27:00.001-05:00

Last week Nicks family came to NYC to celebrate Thanksgiving. It was 5 fun-filled family days in Manhattan. Paul & Gaynelle arrived on Tuesday afternoon and Kim rented a car to pick them up at the airport.

Tuesday night we had dinner at Butter right around the corner from our place with Paul, Gaynelle, Kim, & her boyfriend Sean. Dinner was amazing & very relaxing, the perfect setting to catch up!

Wednesday was a wet one, but it didn’t keep us inside. Nicks parents met us at our place & got the grand tour of our studio! It didn’t take long!! And then we showed them around our neighborhood, we went to the Law School, and Washington Square Park before we headed down to the Financial District to meet up with Kim for lunch. After lunch we browsed around by the water & walked around the shops on the pier while Kim finished up her day and came to meet us to go to Ground Zero. Not much to see as the site is under construction, can’t believe it’s been over 8 years! Standing there looking up into the sky it’s hard to imagine how far the twin towers “towered” over the rest of the buildings, it still gives me chills thinking about that day. We also stopped by the New York Stock Exchange & walked down Wall Street on our way to SoHo for some afternoon shopping. The boys went off to find a pub for a drink & Kim, Gaynelle, and I set off peruse the street vendors for jewelry. That evening we went to watch the floats being blown up for the Parade the next day and then headed back to Kim’s apartment for dinner, help her make the pies for Thanksgiving, and hang out until Lindsay arrived from Boston via the Lucky Star bus.

Nicks “Random walk down Wall St.” for his Investment Group

Nicks favorite float – The smurf

Thursday morning we met at Kim’s apartment and headed down 50th St. to 7th Avenue where the parade was going on. Since we were on a side street the crowd wasn’t as bad & we still had a spectacular view of all of the floats! Growing up watching the parade on tv you don’t really get a feel for how big the floats REALLY are, some of them were the size of neighboring buildings!!! On our way back to Kim’s place we stopped by Rockefeller Plaza to watch the ice skaters and snap a few photos. The tree was up, but obviously not lit. (I think Nick and I are going to stop by and take pictures in front of the tree tonight on our way to Kim’s place to watch the Civil War game.) Once home, Kim got to work cooking our feast! I tried to help, but she kept telling me no! :) Kim’s Icelandic friends from college, Bjarney & Elizabet, came over & watched football, drank wine, and grazed on appetizers all afternoon until the turkey was done around 5:30. Kim put together an amazing spread that was delicious! We ate & sat around the dinner table for a couple of hours until we were all so STUFFED we couldn’t move!

outside the ice rink at Rockefeller Center

On Friday Kim got reservations at the Boat House in Central Park for lunch. We walked down 5th Ave and got to enjoy all of the holiday decorations and store windows before heading into the park. The Boat House has a rustic feel with a large fire place, hearth, & leather club chairs in the waiting area complete with garland & pine cones strung across the mantle. Our table overlooked the lake with boats lined up on the far side, at one point a couple took one out on the lake for a row! After lunch we spent the rest of the afternoon in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This place is so big I get overwhelmed with it all, it was my third time there (two times since we’ve lived here) and after about 3 hours I am exhausted! Such a great place!!! We were all groggy after walking around the museum so we decided we needed a sweet treat to revive us! We headed to Crumbs for cupcakes & then on to a sports bar to watch football, basketball, and have some nachos!! After our backwards dinner, we headed back to Kim’s to play Cranium. We spent the next few hours acting, sketching, & rolling on the ground laughing at / with each other!! It was great!!!

Lindsay left early Saturday morning, and we went with Kim, Paul, & Gaynelle to shop at Bryant Park! Gaynelle got a customized ornament from a shop of a Christmas tree with all of our names on it to commemorate the holiday! (I have been looking for an ornament too to celebrate our first Christmas as a married couple & living in New York, but I haven’t found one that I LOVE just yet!) We hung out until Nicks parents need to go to the airport that afternoon!

Nick & I were sad to see them all go home! I had a wonderful holiday hanging out with my new family! It was perfect & I couldn’t have wished for a better time! I am so thankful!!!! Next up is Arizona to spend Christmas with my side of the family!

Boston Nov. 6th – 8th

2009-12-03T11:17:00.001-05:00

I know I am all out of sequence here, but I wanted to post pictures form our trip to Boston to see Lindsay in November. I need to be better about blogging more regularly and then this wouldn’t happen… :)

We rode the Fung Wah bus out & it was an experience… Fifteen bucks per person each way is a bargain, but it is not luxurious in any way!!! I think next time we will be taking the “Bolt” bus.

church in Lexington / Concord

Old North Church in Boston with Paul Revere Statue

Paul Revere Statue

Plaque on Paul Revere Statue

Lindsay & I in the courtyard of the Old North Church

tree at Baylor College, I LOVE the red leaves – I picked up a few and plan on decoupaging myself a bookmark (I know I am not in kindergarten, but I just love the colors!)

Nick & I under this ginourmous tree in Lexington / Concord

crafting

2009-12-03T10:52:00.001-05:00

Nick and I have been talking about what we were going to do for Christmas cards this year, I wanted to do a photo card with a picture from our wedding (I mean, you only get married once & we should celebrate that!) & he thought that this would be too expected. So we decided that I would scrapbook cards instead. Only problem is, I left ALL of my supplies in AZ!!! A trip to a craft store was in order… But I had searched before for & had no luck. So…

On a side note, I was watching Martha Stewart on Monday this week and she made an advent calendar on one segment. Nick walked in the door from class as they were completing the calendar and said he always loved these & that we had to have one. So I added this to my list of things to buy at the aforementioned craft store… Also in this episode Martha went to the BRAND NEW Michaels Craft store in NYC just up on the NW side of Central Park to surprise customers in the store taking her holiday crafting classes. So problem solved!! There is a crafting haven for me after all! but this could be dangerous… :)

my inspiration

Martha used metal tins with clear fronts from Ikea & glittered discs with numbers on them. I DID NOT want to hassle with glitter, because lets be honest – the end result is pretty & sparkly but once you use it it winds up EVERYWHERE & when you think you’ve scrubbed your hands and rid yourself of it ALL you find traces of it in your hair, on your keyboard, etc. WEEKS later! So I opted to go a different direction. Since I was already buying scrapbooking paper for cards, I decided to use that for the calendar too. For the tins, I had to get creative because I wasn’t going to trek all the way to Ikea in Brooklyn for one thing, so having just got married & spending UNGODLY amounts of time (& money) in stores like Michaels in their “wedding” aisle, I knew that they sold favor tins that looked just like the ones Martha used. I bought a set of these, they were smaller in diameter (which will present a challenge in filling them), but will work! I also picked up a magnet roll to affix to the tins so we can display the calendar on our fridge! Armed with my 3 bags of goodies I set off toward home to start a day long crafting experience!

our advent calendar

close ups of a couple of days

I filled each day with one of Nick’s favorite (bite sized) candies, homemade treats, & some have little love notes in them too. The first day was Reese’s Pieces and when Nick opened it up he was thrilled, but told me that I was starting off with a bang, and that I should have began with something less “exciting”, like a gum drop, & work my way up to the Reese’s Pieces on the last day. (I will remember this for the future when we have kids!) I didn’t want to buy 25 different bags of candy because I would end up eating it ALL!!!

After the holiday I was planning on using the tins to hold / display spices, I even think we can write the spice on the plastic “window” with a dry erase marker and change it if we need to. I will have to test this out though.

Posts to come of the Christmas card progress… :)

knitting away…

2009-11-24T12:15:00.001-05:00

I started knitting a few years ago when an old roommate taught me. Thanks KRISTA!!! Since then I think I have taught just about everyone I have lived with, my mom, and the now the girl I volunteer for at Room to Grow. It is such a neat hobby! You can virtually do it anywhere, it only requires a couple of supplies, and it’s a great conversation starter!!!

A few weeks ago I finished the first of MANY baby projects for one of my BEST friends, Melyssa, & her baby boy. I got a late start on this because of the chaos that has been my life the last few months, but I ended up finishing it before his birth. Yay!!! I knitted a matching beenie for him too, hopefully it will fit. I think this is my 7th baby blanket with roughly the same pattern & I am looking to switch it up a little bit for the next one…

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I have been working on a scarf for Nick made out of the yarns we picked up on the Aran islands on our honeymoon. I wanted to get this done by Thanksgiving, but I am not sure I am going to make it. I am not quite half way done, so I better get a move on. :)

Three weekends ago we took the bus (Fung Wah) into Boston to see Lindsay. The ride was 4+ hours so I took a new knitting project along with to occupy my time. Unfortunately in the hubbub of rushing to catch an earlier bus, I left all of my knitting & snacks below the bus on the way out there, so I whipped this up on our way back to NYC. I have tried numerous hats for myself over the years and they have all been just OK, UNTIL this one -

I think I will call this the “fung wah”

I found a pattern on Lion Brand’s web-site & I LOVE IT!!! Now I want to make one in every color…

grandma strom

2009-11-23T10:09:00.001-05:00

One of my favorite memories as a kid was getting together with my grandmother to make potato pancakes. It was a traditional meal that her family brought over to the US from Czechoslovakia (I think?) In the beginning, my mom, sister, & I used go to over to my grandparents house for an afternoon and cook up a storm. My grandfather never liked the smell of the house during our party, so in the later years, he brought my grandma to our house to stink it up. It was always the same, she would come in tow with a large metal bowl full of mashed potatoes she had made the night before, her cast iron pan, rolling pin, and rolling mat. They would enter the house and my grandpa would announce “Meals on Wheels has arrived”! So cute!!! My grandmother would roll out the mashed potato mixture on a lightly floured mat so thin you could almost see through them, then they would go into the hot pan with a little butter and cook for only a couple minutes on each side until they started to bubble and brown, once removed – we stacked them on a plate with a pat of butter in between each pancake. (I should mention that my sister had her own little thing going on on the side, she liked to make “mini” pancakes and cook them along side the larger ones. Not sure at what point this started but it was cute!) This would continue until all of the potatoes were gone and we had a towering stack! We would each snag one here and there and start tearing off pieces to enjoy. When we were all done, we would all sit down & eat together. I am not sure why, but these pancakes were the most scrumptious meal!

This tradition continued at least once a year until my grandmother passed almost 10 years ago. Since then, I have tried numerous times to recreate these and every time had the same disappointing result. And this time all the way across the country in my little dorm kitchen was no exception. I can’t seem to roll the pancakes thin enough without them breaking apart… I got SO frustrated this time, I put an egg into part of the mixture to hopefully bind everything together. This helped, but they did not end up looking like I had remembered & they had to cook longer because they were thicker. I still had a batch of some that I managed to roll as thin as I could (with a glass cup because I didn’t want to buy a rolling pin), these were the best ones & tasted the most like what I remembered. The whole process took about 2 hours and I still didn’t achieve the end result I wanted. Not sure why I keep hoping for a different result when the process is the same! I am convinced that there is something that I am missing.

Even though they weren’t what I was hoping for, they were still edible and Nick and I devoured all of them…

my mess, on the plate are my attempt at rolling out the original pancakes

in the pan, they are very small and thick

John Mayer

2009-11-15T23:31:00.001-05:00

As many of you know I am a SERIOUS John Mayer fan. He is playing two concerts in NYC while we are here, the first of which is already sold out! I was planning on trying to get tickets to the second one in February at Madison Square Garden tomorrow & then I was notified that he will be giving a secret show tomorrow night in Brooklyn for free. The idea of these “secret shows” is weird to me… Apparently they happen all of the time, artists will notify fans via email, blog, or in this case , Face Book of their secret show (which are usually free?). Anyway, I was ecstatic when I saw the post on Face Book late last week! Hopefully I will be there in time and get tickets. Wish me luck!!! I will keep you posted.

We have had a lot going on this last month & I have not been blogging, but rest assured posts to come of my knitting projects, cooking adventures, and our weekend trip to Boston will be coming soon. Stay tuned.

broadway…

2009-11-15T23:22:00.001-05:00

One of the best things about Nick being a student at NYU is that we get amazing discounts to Broadway shows. So far we’ve been to see Avenue Q, Oleanna (with Bill Pullman & Julia Stiles) and tonight was “next to normal”! It was fantastic!!!! but very emotional… It was about a woman (& her family) who became bi-polar after the death of her 8th month son 17 years ago. She & her husband got married because she was pregnant with her son and then he ended up dying of an intestinal blockage. Her son, Gabe, is present throughout the play and toys with his moms mind through song. The actor who played Gabe was PHENOMINAL!!! He stole the show! The couple had another child after the death of Gabe, a daughter, and she is deprived of her mothers love / attention / devotion / and so on because her mom is too self-absorbed with grieving for her son. The play chronicals her struggle with treatment & how it tears their family apart. By the end of it, I was in tears bawling (as was most of the audience)!!! It is my favorite play so far! As we were leaving, I told Nick that the next play he picked had to be a little bit more lighthearted, I can’t take the sobbing… This weekend we are going to see Carrie Fischers autobiographical one-woman show “Wishful Drinking” about her adventures in Hollywood, substance abuse, & mental illness. It’s supposed to be funny, but we’ll see…

We have been going to shows on weeknights and are usually rushed because Nick has class most nights, so we end up running to catch the play! Since it was a lazy Sunday & we didn’t have to be crammed for time we made sure we left early and got uptown in plenty of time & walked around the surrounding streets where other plays were showing. We walked by the Theatre where Jude Law is playing in Hamlet and there were barricades up and people congregating so not knowing what was going on, but thought it was important, we decided to stick around… AND we saw JUDE LAW!!! He came out of the theatre and signed some autographs and got into a black Escalade and was driven away. Pretty cool!!! If I can figure out how to post the video I will! :)

the best night

2009-10-23T10:30:00.001-04:00

Last night while Nick was in class I made my FAVORITE dinner, roasted chicken! I was a little nervous because although we’ve been making this dish for years, Nick is always the one to prepare the bird and get it in the over. I usually chop the veggies. :) It always looks so disgusting when he’s taking out the insides of the bird, but luckily they package it all up for you in a neat little plastic bag. And then the fun part came – smoothering the chicken with butter, GARLIC (yay!!), salt & pepper, and stuffing it with lemons. I was unsure of the direction the bird should sit, breats up or down, in the end I put them down. Apparently there isn’t a wrong way, some people like the breasts down because then they are more tender and juicy, Nick usually does it the other way (& I think this is the way I prefer because then the skin on the breasts is nice and crispy!) If you can’t tell, I like white meat! It turned out so YUMMY as always, I think it’s pretty hard to screw up! I bought a cheap bottle of white wine from Trader Joe’s to enjoy with the meal too.

After dinner we watched the Yankee’s game & the Office! I was ready to just stay in and relax for the rest of the evening when Nick announced we were going out on an adventure! I was less than THRILLED… I gave him a hard time the entire time I was getting ready wanting to know where we were going. And he refused to tell me, saying things like “I think you will like the place”, “we are going to meet some of your friends” (which I ONLY have one here!), “maybe we’re going to see a person or something you like”. And I’m supposed to be excited about going out?!?! Mind you, if I tried to spring this on him it would NOT fly! He would refuse to get dressed unless he knew exactly where we were going!! Anyway, we get out the door and on the subway (RELUCTANTLY) to go uptown! We exit the 6 train at 59th St and head west (I have no clue where we are, and he says (in true Nick fashion) “there’s a 20% chance that we might be lost”!!) Ugh!! We are walking down this cute street with sparkling lights and big white balloons tied to all of the storefronts & railings and come upon SERENDIPITY!! I had sent Nick an email earlier in the week raving about their famous FROZEN hot chocolate. Let me just say it was AMAZING!!!! I had the original and Nick had the peanut butter one (my fave, but it was kind of rich), the glasses were huge and we felt like we were going to have to be rolled out the door! The kitschy interior and the Tiffany-esque lamps only added to the experience. Definitely a must see when you are in the city!! (Thanks Alice!)

So, hopefully next time Nick tries to surprise me I will go with the flow a *little* better! :) Thanks for the treat Nick!

lucky

2009-10-21T17:56:00.001-04:00

wedding “video” from our photographer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GqOvBMn474

Unnecessary? hmmm…

2009-10-13T16:43:00.001-04:00

Today I was g-chatting with my sister trying to find a good winter coat and got TOTALLY sidetracked… She turned me onto this indie clothing web-site Mod Cloth! While I don’t NEED a new dress right at this second, our good friends Scott & Brittney are getting married on New Years Eve in Tempe, AZ & think one of these LOVLIES would be perfect!

Paris at Dusk

Precious Dress in Opal

Champagne Toast Dress

The Bow Must Go On Dress

Which would you choose? :)

Nick passed the Bar

2009-10-13T16:41:00.001-04:00

Its been 2 1/2 LONG months of waiting, but Friday Nick received word that he passed the Arizona State Bar Exam!!! Whoo HOO!! I am so proud of him! It’s really not surprising that he passed, but with all of the things we have had going on leading up to the Bar and even post exam, it really is a wonder we have survived! :)

Here is a re-cap for all of you: Nick graduated Law School at U of A at the middle of May, he had to be out of his house in Tucson by the end of May. So he packed up his stuff and put it all in a storage unit in Tucson since that’s where we will be moving in June of next year. Then he drove up to Phoenix & attended his Bachelor Party (and I my Bachelorette) in Lake Havasu over Memorial Day weekend. After that he drove up to the Northwest to stay with his parents over the summer to buckle down and study hard for the Bar! I flew up to visit him for a couple of weeks & Nicks best man, Scott, & his fiancé Brittney came up for a weekend of wine tasting & socializing. The week after the 4th of July we drove back down the west coast and stopped to stay the night in San Jose with one of Nicks groomsmen, Ed. When we returned to AZ it was time to start packing up all of my stuff and rent a U-Haul to take it all down to the storage facility in Tucson! My friend Karla came over to help me start putting my life away in boxes & pack for a honeymoon to a mystery destination! At the end of July, one week before the wedding!, Nick spent two days in Tucson sitting for the Exam. (My roommates & I made dinner for Nick and surprised him with party hats, noisemakers, & champagne when he got back from the test!) And he still had a final section to take THE DAY BEFORE THE WEDDING in Phoenix. Are you tired yet? I don’t know how we did it all! And didn’t kill each other! :)

With all of this going on I don’t know if I would have been disciplined enough to study & stay focused, but somehow Nick finds the strength, dedication, & determination to do it! Truly amazing! Love you!!!

welcome to fall

2009-10-07T18:52:00.001-04:00

The trees are starting to turn here in the city! Here are a couple of pictures from my walk home from volunteering. I am so THANKFUL that we live close enough and the weather has been ABSOLUTELY gorgeous & I can walk the mile to volunteer 3 afternoons a week. I usually weave in and out of our neighborhood by campus and then travel up 5th Avenue which is quite a treat for the eyes & ears, its lined with every MAJOR clothing store & designers shop imaginable!

Office along 5th Ave.

across the street from Washington Square Park

another shot looking down Waverly across from Washington Sq.

red velvet delight…

2009-10-06T15:39:00.001-04:00

Since moving to NYC and NOT having a wedding to plan anymore, I have a lot of free time on my hands now. I am enjoying cooking more because Nick is in class and doesn’t have as much time to do it. I also have been baking a LOT!! So far I have made blueberry muffins, mini drop sugar cookies, and now red velvet cupcakes from SCRATCH! A few weeks ago Nick asked me to make them and I had planned it for last week, but my mom sent us a package with a bag of kisses in it & we (mostly ME!) ate the whole bag inside of 3 days! Guess it’s a good thing I’ve been walking EVERYWHERE in the city, huh?!

I looked on-line and in my Joy of Cooking book to find a recipe, I finally settled on this one from Paula Deen because it had more of the ingredients that I already had at home. The Joy of Cooking one had some specialty things like cake flour, which I am sure would have made them better, but I am trying to conserve money here! I halved the recipe, so we don’t have as many to eat! :) They are frosted with cream cheese frosting & I made a pink sugar to sprinkler on some of them too! Now all that’s left is for Nick to get home from class & try them out!!

studio

2009-09-29T21:42:00.001-04:00

here are a few shots of the inside of our newlywed digs…

hallway at entry

looking from kitchen toward Nick’s desk

looking from bed to the kitchen

kitchen

bathroom

Our space is small (less than 500 sq. ft.), but it doesn’t feel so bad! Other than the "*teeny tiny* kitchen, it suits us well! Check back with us in May and see if we still feel the same way! I think by the time we get back to AZ we will be thrilled to have more space to rattle around in!! :)

primping for the wedding…

2009-09-29T13:04:00.001-04:00

some of my favorite shots while we were getting ready.

1. The spread of makeup necessities!

2. Champagne!!

3. The boys celebrating…

4. All of my girls! (l-r: Beth, Lauren, Rachel, me, Melyssa, Shelli, & Alice, and down front Miss Paige & Layla)

5. My FAB bouquet! LOVE this shot!

6. Someone was thoughtful enough to take a picture of all of our dresses hanging up. So Cute!!

7. Me with the CUTEST flower girls! Layla was so excited!!

8. I LOVED my hair!! Coif courtesy of Emily – she did an AWESOME job!

9. Nick looking dapper getting ready!!

10. Nick putting the finishing touches on his ensemble!

11. My shoes! Even though I doctored these puppies up with foam strips so that they wouldn’t kill my feet (a lesson I learned at Rachel’s wedding), I still had them off before the reception even started!

Chelsea love

2009-09-23T18:56:00.001-04:00

Last weekend we wandered into the Chelsea neighborhood to do some exploring… And let me just say I am in LOVE!!! This area is so cute, it is a designers delight! The architectural details are thoughtful, the spaces are hip, and if you love to people watch – this is your place!

1, 2, 3, & 5. Chelsea Marketplace, home to Food Network studios and about a million food stores & bakeries! Yum! I had to take a picture of the GIANT Nutella (#5) we saw in an Italian grocery store, who needs $70 worth of Nutella? Alice? :)

4. A random building.

6. Walkway that meanders above ground throughout the area. This particular section where the glass is, is a a sort of amphitheatre section for people to sit and watch what’s going on on the street.

7. Detail on the walkway of how it integrates with the vegetation.

8. Another random building… I liked the materials used and how the building elements interact with each other.

9. Outside seating area at The Standard Grill & Bar, LOVE the light fixtures and how they break up the space between the walkway above and tables below. On the other side of this building was an open air outside bar that is defined by the restaurant on one side, adjacent building & the walkway above. One look at this space and it DRAWS you in. (I don’t have a picture – this is about the time when Nick was calling me the “paparazzi”! for taking SO many pictures, so I reluctantly stopped snapping them for about 10 minutes. I need to go back!!!)

10. Outside of The Standard there was a public seating area with yellow picnic tables. I thought it was *visually* interesting & somewhat strange that they covered the bollards with knitted “socks”.

11. Building by architect Frank Ghery!

Pre-wedding festivities…

2009-09-20T20:55:00.001-04:00

Our wedding weekend was full of many fun events leading up to the BIG DAY… (see collage below, thanks Brittney & Lauren for sharing your pictures with me!) And as you would expect, the experience was not without some unwelcome surprises too! :)

Nick and I arrived separately on Friday to Los Abrigados Resort & Spa. I rode up with one of my Bridesmaids, Beth, along with her daughter & sisters. It was nice to get some girl time in with them, I have known them for about 20 years and have seen her sisters grow up right before my eyes. And Nick had to take a portion of the BAR exam back down in Phoenix so he drove up by himself after he was finished.

When we checked in we were told that at that time the resort didn’t have any hot water. No big deal! Right? I thought that they would have it figured out within 24 hours and I could shower and get ready for the wedding no problem! I got ready for the rehearsal with Rachel (my MOH) & we headed over to Tlaquepaque to meet with my coordinator to go over the schedule for the wedding. Everyone met at the Plaza de Campanas at Tlaquepaque to do a quick run through of the ceremony & then we were off to the rehearsal dinner at Los Abrigados. After a FABULOUS Mexican feast, being introduced to all of the family, and some embarrassing stories we were all ready to have a low key night cap and get to bed somewhat early. I invited the girls back to my room to relax & chat, while the boys went back to Nicks room to hang out and smoke cigars to celebrate the ending of his bachelorhood! As the night was winding down & I was walking the girls out, I noticed that the walkway outside of my room had water flowing down it, didn’t think too much of it… In the middle of the night I woke up *bleary eyed* to use the restroom and noticed that the water pressure in the faucet was low, still didn’t give it much thought… Then I woke up in the morning and went to turn on the faucet and all I got was a little spit of water & a lot of air, I knew we had a problem! Apparently the road construction nearby had caused a water line to break & the entire resort now had NO WATER!!! Except for a select few suites that were on another system entirely, which is where they put the BRIDE up for the day… :) THANKFULLY!!!

1. Nick & I practicing walking back down the aisle at the rehearsal. The bouquet is a collection of all of the gift wrap & ribbons from gifts at the shower Jill Dutchess threw for me over Christmas in the Northwest. Thanks Lindsay for assembling it all!!!

2. Bridal party standing in their spots for the ceremony.

3. Nick and I *pretending* to say our vows.

4. Our adorable flower girls, Layla & Paige, playing on the steps at Tlaquepaque.

5. The boys hanging out keeping Nick company the night before the wedding.

6. My sister, Shelli, & I with our grandmother from Illinois! She is 92 and made the journey for the wedding, thanks to my Uncle Alan & Aunt Joy, who accompanied her & made this possible!!!

7. Nick with his sisters (Lindsay & Kim). They made t- shirts to commemorate the event - the front had a picture of Nick from grade school & said “Can you handle this?” and then on the back they put their favorite Nick quotes from childhood. They surprised Nick with these at the rehearsal dinner. They were a BIG hit – I think they even took a few orders from friends who wanted one!! :)

8. Getting acquainted, waiting for the rehearsal to get started…

9. Nick and I at the rehearsal dinner.

10. Nick playing chess the morning of the wedding. Our hotel (Los Abrigados) had an AMAZING area for kids (of all ages) with a life size chess board.

11. Nicks dad Paul *graciously* made me a kit to survive being married to Nick. Included in the kit were: nerf balls for when Nick is sitting on the couch ENGULFED in the tv & not paying attention to me, wall clips to hold Nicks keys - since he is NOTORIOUS for misplacing them (among OTHER things), air fresheners for the car & home for when Nick stinks up the place, ear plugs for when Nick snores, … (I know I am forgetting a couple of them)…

12. m & n open! Paul organized a mini-golf tournament for everyone the morning of the wedding. They all had fun getting out & enjoying the FANTASTIC weather!

Even with all of the hiccups we had to endure, the weekend (and more importantly the wedding!) went off without a hitch BEAUTIFULLY!

stay tuned for more photos from the wedding…

adventures!

2009-09-14T21:10:00.001-04:00

It all started last week when we were uptown and HAPPENED on the filming of Sex & the City 2… After that I came home and did a quick internet search to see if I could find their filming schedule, well it seems that there are people out there that plan their ENTIRE vacations around a movies production schedule (I am not that BAD!). So I made Nick go back uptown with me the next day, Wednesday, to stand around for hours outside of the Plaza Hotel and watch while not too much transpired. They literally spend HOURS setting up a scene with the actors stand-ins, get the lighting & angles right, and then bring in the real actors to film. We are talking about shooting for maybe 30 seconds & then they do it all over again, & again, & AGAIN! I also found out that the apartment that Carrie called home is not too far from our place, so I dragged Nick for a photo op last week too! :) It looked like they were painting the inside of the building, so I am guessing that they are setting up for some footage there too… Do you think I’m obsessed? :)

Today on our way out to try to see Barack Obama we walked by another location for them shooting, apparently the Coffee Shop that the girls were always at is right around the corner from our building… We were in a hurry to try to see the Presidents speech, so we didn’t stay long, but this locale is definitely better than the uptown one, not as many tourists & a smaller street make it so you have a better vantage point. Hope they shoot more here!

The President spoke down in the Financial District. We tried to get as close as we could but everywhere we turned there were Secret Service & NYPD out in full force! In the bottom picture, look at the shorter building in the distance on the left-hand side, the little things you see on top of the roof are SNIPERS!

When we moved here I had NO IDEA this city was going to be so CAPTIVATING! I am LOVING it! You never know what or WHO you will see. I am looking forward to seeing what the next few months will bring!

catching up…

2009-09-14T19:12:00.001-04:00

Nick’s old law school roommate, Mike, came into town for a week, so we did a lot of sight seeing & touristy things.

terrace on the top of the Met

Time Square

Coney Island – Nathan’s Hot Dogs (Nick and I both agreed this was one place we NEVER needed to go back to.) Sorry to any of you who come visit, this will not be on the list of things to do! Too many freaks out there!!!

A friend of Nick & Mike’s is living in Brooklyn so one night we took the subway over to eat at Grimaldi’s Pizza & then walked back over to Manhattan via the Brooklyn Bridge. This was my FAVORITE thing we have done since coming to NYC, that was until we happened on the filming of Sex & the City 2 on Tuesday (more on this later…)

Nick had class on Tuesday afternoon, so Mike and I went uptown to to explore one last time before he left on Wednesday. We went to the Guggenheim but only 2 floors were open due to installation of a bunch of exhibits on the remaining 3 or 4 floors, so it only took us about 15 minutes to see all there was to see there! Disappointed at our luck, we decided to walk through Central Park some, but we were both not very excited about that either. So we decided to take a cab uptown and walk around Rockefeller Center. While in the cab on 5th Ave., Mike noticed hoards of people packed onto the sidewalk and looking over at Bergdorf Goodmans, he thought there must be something going on - I looked over and saw SARAH JESSICA PARKER & realized they were filming Sex & the City 2!!! Mike asked, “do you want to get out and watch?” – uh duh?!?! “YES!!!!!!” I can’t figure out how to post the video here, but I have it… (Mike – I stole your pictures from FB, they turned out better than mine!)

Home Sweet Home…

2009-09-10T15:23:00.001-04:00

Here is the exterior of our homestead for the next 10 months. We are on the 10th floor and have a corner unit so we have lots of natural light filtering in (maybe that’s why it doesn’t feel so small) & great views of the city!! :)

bright lights BIG CITY

2009-09-02T18:07:00.001-04:00

Two days after returning from our honeymoon to Ireland, we flew back to New York city to start the next chapter of our newly married life… We moved into campus housing & are adjusting to our 475 SF studio! I am still getting used to washing dishes & not having 2 dishwashers to choose from in the kitchen… :) Nick and I each have a desk & bookcase to ourselves, along with a (small) kitchen table with 2 chairs, & two lounge chairs around a coffee table. Not too bad for a studio, we were expecting MUCH more crammed quarters! :)

One of the priorities when we got into town was a trip to Ikea, since our boxes were being shipped and were going to take a few days we knew we needed some necessities to hold us over! We got the bare essentials & dragged them back through the subway to our studio… Then the following Wednesday our boxes arrived & our little place started to feel more like home!

They say this is the city that NEVER sleeps, but I am shocked at the number of people that are out and about at ALL times of the day & night. It’s kind of nice because you know you are never alone, only problem being is that some of those people that are out – you probably don’t want to associate with! :)

One of our favorite things to do is just go walking around & explore new neighborhoods! Nick has been wanting to check out a Farmers Market so today we went down to Union Square, its within walking distance to our place & has a good selection of local herbs, plants, & produce. Everything looked so scrumptious! We bought a box of heirloom tomatoes & fresh basil to make Caprese salad, yum yum! And on our way back we stopped at Murray’s Cheese shop (the place is stacked with hundreds of meats & cheeses & has a deli counter that runs the entire length of the store – it smells WONDERFUL!) to buy fresh mozzarella for our salad!

I am especially enjoying all of the time we are spending with Nick’s sister, Kim. Last night she took me out to go to Costco (much needed) and pick up a tv (can’t believe we’ve been living without a tv for almost 2 weeks, now I can watch the Today Show every morning again!!)

On the agenda for this week & weekend… Nick’s roommate from law school is coming into town & Lindsay (Nick’s other sister) is driving in from Boston to spend the day with us & go to brunch on Sunday. Can’t wait to see them both & catch up! I will post more pics next week!

Happy Hump Day!!

honeymoon… (part 2)

2009-09-02T16:34:00.001-04:00

Our second stop was in Adare at the Adare Manor just outside of Limerick. The Manor boasts 800+ acres of land with beautiful gardens & a championship golf course (Nick wants to go back and bring his clubs!) The first night we ventured into town and walked around, scoped out all of the restaurants & bars. I loved the thatched roofs & planters EVERYWHERE! Not something you see in AZ!! :) We had our first “traditional” Irish Breakfast while here which consisted of: bacon (that wasn’t crunchy like American bacon), sausages, fried eggs, white pudding, brown pudding, toast, potatoes & fried tomatoes along side of a pot of tea & coffee and an assortment of pastries! Can you say Yum – O!?!

The second day in Adare we drove to Bunratty’s Castle (the most complete medieval park in Ireland) & Folk Park, about an hour away. While there we discovered the story of Meade, a liquor that was crafted by Irish Monks out of white wine & honey for medicinal purposes. Irish tradition is to give Meade to married couples right after being wed, following the the ceremony the couple is given enough Meade to last for one full moon… this is where we get the term “honeymoon”. We though it only fitting to buy a bottle of this to commemorate our honeymoon in Ireland! :)

Here is one of many action shots I tried to take while we were driving through the countryside! :) Notice how NOT wide the roads were… There were a couple of times Nick and I were afraid for our lives, while we slowed down to a slow crawl and bushes and trees were brushing my side of the car - oncoming traffic wasn’t fazed a bit by the lack of space…

Our third day in Adare (which by the way was the worst weather-wise) we trekked out to the Aran Islands, 3 little islands off the west coast of Ireland. The Islands are said to be “the place that time forgot”. Our destination was Inishmore, a 12 square mile island where the Irish culture is still rich & they still speak Gaelic. We underestimated how long of a drive it was to get to the ferry that would take us over to the island, so we ended up having to run like mad in the frigid rain with the wind blowing in our faces to catch the ferry… Then once on the ferry the water was so CHOPPY that Nick and I were afraid the ferry would capsize! Finally, 50 minutes later, we arrived safely to the shores of Inishmore. We decided to board a local tour bus and to see around the island. Our guide did speak English, but we decided that it was probably his 2nd language… :) He took us around the island, through villages, and dropped us off at the cliffs of Dún Aenghusa, where we took about a 20 minute hike up a path made of rocks & cobble stone to overlook the Atlantic Ocean 100 meters below!!! The views & were awe-inspiring & the drop was AMAZING!!!

Our final stop was in the sea-side town of Kinsale where we stayed at the Trident Hotel for 2 nights. We ate some amazing food while staying here! We had dinner one night at the “Fishy Fishy Cafe” which has been recognized by Food & Wine Magazine & Michelin for their local seafood. We had high expectations & fishy fishy didn’t disappoint, I had the lump crab bake with breadcrumbs on top and Nick had the mussels! We were in heaven!! The Irish LOVE to eat!!!

Our last day in Ireland we drove up from Kinsale back up to Dublin & stopped at the Waterford Crystal Factory (in Waterford, Ireland) to pick up gifts for our parents! This place was INCREDIBLE!!! Nick and I spent almost 2 hours looking around trying to pick out what to get!!!

Thanks to Nick’s mom who talked him out of making the wedding cake and helping Nick plan this FABULOUS surprise honeymoon for us! And to all of our family & friends who traveled to Sedona to share in our special day! We love you all!!! Can’t wait to share the next chapter of our lives with you! :)

honeymoon in Ireland... (part 1)

2009-08-24T12:54:00.000-04:00

The monday after our wedding we left for our honeymoon in Ireland, which was a surprise to me because Nick and his mother planned the whole thing & didn't let me in on any of the details... We left Phoenix in the morning and flew to Newark, NJ for our connecting flight to Dublin. We arrived in Dublin at 10a local time. Our first adventure was taking the bus to our hotel!

Our first stop was the Westbury hotel in Dublin - which was BEAUTIFUL! We were upgraded to a suite and it was amazing!! We were greeted with champagne & a basket full of fruit...

Since the day was just getting started we decided we should stay up and explore, even though we had just flown 12 hours! :) So we went out into Dublin:

relaxed and took a cat nap by the water fountain at the local park

people watched with a coffee on the steps at Trinity College

stopped for a drink at Peter's Pub

And when we got back to our hotel... our bed had been turned down and we had chocolates waiting for us!! I could get used to this! :)

On Tuesday we took the bus back to the airport and picked up our rental car to drive to Adare Manor just outside of Limerick!!! I was a little bit scared because they drive on the opposite side of the street, but Nick did great! Only a few mishaps... We quickly learned that it was easier to just follow the road signs for our destination than to try to hassel with Google mapping it! And we got a laugh every time Nick tried to signal a turn & instead flipped on the windshield wipers! :)

Stay tuned, more to come...

we're back...

2009-08-19T18:17:00.000-04:00

After a week long honeymoon in Ireland, Nick and I are back and getting ready for the big move to NYC! Hopefully I can be consistant and post so everyone can keep up with us and our adventures! Stay tuned for pictures of the wedding, honeymoon, and new studio apartment!