Happy Holidays!

In case I don't get anything interesting posted before Christmas - just wanted to wish everyone Happy Holidays!
Please enjoy this very authentic photo of Nessie and us at Loch Ness! If I were the fancy type, I would have made this into our Christmas card!

Cheers!!

UK Trip Highlights -Part 1, London

OK, so finally, here it is! I am going to break this out by location. It is just highlights - and I will do my best to include links where appropriate.

If you haven't already - check out our trip pictures that were in my previous post. Also, check out Doug's blog for his review of our hotels.

The first leg of our trip we were in London. We were there for a little over 2 days, which obviously is not enough time. However, we did our best to squeeze in as much sightseeing as possible while still leaving room for many pub visits!
We were fortunate enough to get a suggested itinerary from a woman Doug works with who used to live in London. Since we didn't really have a chance to come up with our own plan, we thought it would be wise to follow hers. So, that is basically what we did.

On our first day, we walked to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the Guards. Now, I am sure all the stomping and arm swinging means something to someone, but after about 30 min straining to see it through a giant crowd, we had enough. The marching band was cool and we did see the Queen, which was very exciting! She drove right past us, but of course I didn't have my camera ready and have only a picture of the back of her car.

We then walked through St. James Park, which was beautiful! Then proceeded down to see Big Ben. We stopped for a tasty lunch at Walkers Wine and Ale. We had a few pints and some Cottage Pie for me and a sandwich and some crisps for Doug.

We then went for the audio tour of Westminster Abbey. It was really cool to see the old tombs and memorials. It was also very interesting to learn all of the famous people who are buried there. In additional to all the royalty, many famous authors, poets, and scientist are there as well; like Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin. I would definitely recommend the audio tour, it makes for an easy flow to your tour.

We then walked for like 400 miles back to our hotel, where we wised up and took a taxi to Soho for our evening festivities. We went to a few local bars, walked around some "red light" type establishments and found some dinner at Totenham's (couldn't' find a link, but it wasn't really link-worthy anyway). We went on the Underground back to the hotel.

The next day, we took the tube to London Tower and spend most of the morning there. We saw the crown jewels and learned all the interesting history (and torture) that went on there. We then walked across the Tower Bridge, which is getting a new paint job! We were lucky to have really lovely weather for the most part, so walking all over the city was quite pleasant. We stopped at Pret a Manger (which we now have in NYC!) for a sandwich and continued on walking through the Southwark area and over to Borough Market. As tasty as my sandwich at Pret was, it was unfortunate because there was so many yummy looking things at the market. Nevertheless, it was lovely to walk through and see all the interesting veggies and food and such. We kept on walking and went past Shakespeare's Globe and then went to the Tate Modern. That is an awesome museum, I know everyone knows that. But, now I can say it, too! We pretty much ran through there and walked over the river on the Millennium pedestrian bridge and took the tube back to the hotel. Our hotel was in a Middle-Eastern type neighborhood, so we wanted to take advantage and eat near there. So, we had dinner at a Lebanese place called Maroush. Now that I look it up online, it appears to be a chain, but it was pretty good. I got some type of lamb something or other that Doug made me feel bad about every time we went by a sheep on the train to Scotland (which, there are quite a few of on the way!).

The next day we were heading to Edinburgh. We took a taxi to Kings Cross station to get the train. While at Kings Cross, I had to go on the hunt for Platform 9 3/4. And, to my surprise, they had one! Of course it wasn't like it was in the movie, but I was still excited. I even had a woman take my picture there and then say I was a "silly grown woman". Well, perhaps she had a point, but still...

We did get on our train and make it to Edinburgh. The train was a little less posh than it was in my head, as most things sadly are. It took a long time and smelled a little bad, but the scenery was breathtaking! And, lots of sheep!

I will hopefully post our Edinburgh adventures shortly.

Trip Pictures

I have very good intentions to write a blog about our trip: where we went, what we did, what we ate, etc. But, I am thinking it might take me a while to get that done. So, in the meantime, here are some of our travel pictures.
They are broken out by place, so please browse at your leisure!

London

Edinburgh

Inverness

Select Artistic Photos (taken by Doug)

We had a wonderful time and are ready to start planning the next trip!!

Blogging Break!

Not that I am that diligent at the blogging - but you will not be hearing from me for the next 2 weeks. Very early tomorrow morning, we are off for our big UK vacation! We will be in London for a few days, then off to Edinburgh, and then to Inverness.
So, when we return I will post some (hopefully) wonderful photos and trip highlights!
You all behave yourselves till I get back!!
Cheerio!

In case anyone doubted Betty White's awesomeness!

This is so funny!

Doug's Birthday Weekend!

I don't know when birthdays turned into "birthday weekends" in our house.. but it sure makes them more fun! Doug just celebrated his birthday this past weekend and we had some fun birthday adventures.

We went to Roc for dinner on Friday night. It was very tasty food, but I must admit we had some spotty service and also got a pretty crappy table. Given the amount of restaurants in the city to go to, I doubt we will be back there.

Then on Saturday, we went to the Skycraper Museum. There was cool stuff in there, including an arial comparison between NYC and Hong Kong. It was interesting to see how similar they were (from space, I guess). Then we walked all over downtown, from the west side almost all the way over to the east side. It was a beautiful fall day, perfect for strolling. We actually walked by "ground zero" to see the state (or non-state) of building going on. We stopped by St. Paul's Chapel which is right next to the WTC site. They have a really awesome old graveyard if you are into such things. Shockingly, I am into such things. We took some pictures!




This is a tree stump of a really old tree that was damaged on 9/11. The church sustained no damage on that day - not even one broken window. They say all the big, old trees protected the chapel. Looks like this tree really took one for the team!


You can see in the background of this photo is the WTC site, so it was really close.


Then we had to go home and get ready to go back to see Phantom of the Opera. I have to be honest, I didn't think I would really like it that much. But, as it turns out, I thought it was a fabulous production. Much better than Cats (haha)!! The music was awesome and the costumes and sets were great. I have to say I found the phantom to be kinda a cry-baby wuss. But, maybe I am being too hard on a horribly disfigured guy who lives underground beneath a theater. Oh well!

Then when we left that theater, I made poor Doug hang out outside the theater next door which had Equus playing. So, we (and hundreds of other fools) waited for like 45 min to see Daniel Radcliffe leave. For you people who don't know who he is, its Harry Potter! So, we finally did get to see him with much difficulty, but it was exciting nonetheless!

Then on Sunday we just hung out in Brooklyn and relaxed. We had grand plans for bagels in Central Park, but the weather was crappy, so we just stayed around home.

I think that concludes another birthday weekend report. We shouldn't have any more for quite a while, I guess.

Talk to you all soon!

Jenn and John's Wedding!

Well, we finally got Jenn married off! And the wedding was nothing short of beautiful, the groom was handsome, and the bride was stunning! Sadly, the weather didn't fully cooperate and the outside festivities had to be moved inside, but all was well, as the inside was lovely too! It was a busy couple days for me leading up to the event, but I know it was a busy couple months for John and Jenn. But, they get to fly off to Italy in just a few short days for their honeymoon.

Below are some picts of the event - although I think most of my blog readers were probably there.

The rehearsal dinner was at Atomic Billiards. It was a ton of fun and everyone seemed to enjoy challenging each other to pool and shuffleboard. Even the bride got in the action:



Here are some photos we had from the main event. These are just from my camera, so they aren't the best. Perhaps I will switch them out or add more when the real photos are available!






(mmmmmm, cupcakes!)

But, all this wedding business got me thinking about what it takes to have a successful, enduring relationship. Not necessarily "marriage", of course. But a long, happy relationship. Not that I proclaim to be an expert on the subject, but I am no novice either! So, I was thinking it might be fun to have you relationship experts out there send some advice to the newlyweds!

If I had to come up with 2 things that I feel are paramount in the building of a strong foundation, they would be:
Support and Compromise.

These may seem obvious, however I think sometimes it is quite a challenge to do them.

So, I invite you to add comments of your own about this - suggestions, advice, helpful tid-bits you have learned over the years, etc...

(Although, it may just be a ploy to get people to write comments..)

Writing About Nothing...

So, not too much to say. No new restaurant this week. Well, that's not entirely true. We went to a sushi restaurant near Little Italy (yeah, I know...). But, it was sushi - ricey, fishy, and tasty.

I have been on a relentless hunt to find a dress to wear to Jenn & John's wedding. I have one, but I am just not sold. I am willing myself to believe there is something better out there and I just need to go to Bloomingdales enough times and I will find it. Like its a prize or something. But, seriously, shopping shopping shopping! Wish me luck!

Here is a picture of the spotlights they have at ground zero. We took it from the end of our street.



Sorry, I felt bad for not blogging anything in a while. Thought if I started typing, I might come up with some more to say.
Ahhh, guess not!

Hey, tomorrow's Friday! Whoo hoo!

Wednesday Night Dinner Night

Last night we went to Blaue Gans (warning: you will have to navigate to that restaurant since this link leads you to a stupid flash site). We were a day late on our Tuesday night dinner, and just picked this place on the fly. It is a German Bistro in Tribeca that had great atmosphere and very attentive service. The walls are also covered in vintage posters (one of which I had in my bedroom growing up!) They had your standard assortments of Wrstel and Schnitzels, plus a bunch of lovely daily specials "fresh from the farmer's market". I got the hanger steak special with asparagus and fingerling potatos. Doug went with the Hungarian Beef Goulash with Fresh Herbed Sple.





It was a very enjoyable restaurant that I would totally go back to - if there weren't like a million more to try! But, even still...

Tuesday Night Dinner (8/19)

We actually have been going out to dinner on Tuesday nights. The reason you don't know about it is because our restaurant choices have not been very bloggable. You know how it is, you are in a certain part of town because that is where the Bloomies is or whatever and then you just go to the first place you see because you didn't have the time to do the investigation necessary to find somewhere memorable (and you're just downright hungry).
But we are putting forth a renewed effort to go to better Tuesday restaurants and it started last night.
We went to Flatbush Farm in Brooklyn. We have walked past this previously and noted how cute it looked, but saw some bad reviews. But, we figured we would just go see for ourselves (and I am sure glad we did). We ate out on the back patio which was perfect because the weather last night felt more like the beginning of fall. It was breezy and just plain gorgeous!





If you check out their website you will see that their food is organic and from local purveyors (Kingston got a shout out)! Doug got the vegetarian special: Cranberry and Bean Stew with Heirloom and fried green tomotoes. And I got Striped Bass with corn succotash and fava beans. They were both delicious! Doug has proclaimed this is favorite restaurant in NY so far! And we discussed all the people we know who would enjoy it, too. So, people, get your asses up here and let us take you out to dinner!

Sascha's Day Out!

So, because we are completely lack dog owners, this was Sascha's first time to go to Prospect Park during off-leash hours. Since they end at 9am, it is a little hard for me to get inspired to be leaving the house that early. However, now that I have seen the indescribable doggy pandemonium, we will have to go back often. Since I just don't have the words to describe this, Doug made a video:



It looks like Sascha is dancing there at the end! As fun as this video is, it still doesn't capture the sheer expanse of dogs there were. I swear the whole borough's population of dogs were out there running around. It was a great time for all!

Of course on our way home, she decided to lay down in a mud puddle and get completely filthed up. Then we had to give her a bath, which was just pure torture for the poor animal. You know, clean water is poison to her... only muddy or green and stinky water is acceptable!

And since it seems Pumpkin never gets any blog time, here is a picture I took today. She got some window time today she seemed to enjoy. Doesn't she look cute?



Hope you are all well!

Field Trip to Queens

Last weekend we went to Flushing Meadows Park to take a look at the old World's Fair remnants. It was much cooler than I expected. Doug had really wanted to go for a while, and I was a little yawn about it. But I must say, it was pretty neat. Here are some pictures:









To see what the above structure looked like once up a time, click here.
As you can see, it really hasn't been kept up very well. I hope I don't look that bad when I am 44 years old!!

Fantabulous Birthday (and then some)!

Sorry, again I have been slacking off at the blogging! But now I have accumulated many things to write about. So, I think I am going to write about last weekend's events this weekend. And hopefully I can write about this weekend's events in a few days.

First of all, last Monday (7/14) we saw the NY Philharmonic play in Prospect Park. It is part of their free summer concerts. It was followed by some fireworks. Seems I just can't get enough free music and fireworks! We had a decent spread this time - no doritos in sight! A bottle of wine and everything!

Then Jenn came to visit for the weekend to celebrate our birthdays. On Saturday we went to the Met and looked at some really old stuff -like tombs, coffins and mummies and tons of other stuff! Some of it dating back to 4th century BC.
There is also an exhibit on the roof with a few sculptures by Jeff Koons. Not only do you get too see this really cool exhibit, but you also have an awesome view of the park and the city. Rather breathtaking! Below is Jenn with "Ballon Dog" (yellow).



There was also an exhibit we saw called "Superheros: Fashion and Fantasy", which was a really interesting view of superhero costumes and its relationship to fashion.

Then on Sunday we went to the Flea and then stopped at Moes. I have blogged about both of those places before, so I won't bore you with excessive details. After a few beers at Moes, we stopped at the Black Sheep Pub for some more. We were a big hit there! 2 birthday girls in a bar that had a total of like 4 people in it! And on Monday for my birthday we did some shopping in Manhattan and had lunch at a restaurant in Little Italy. (It was Italian ;-) I got linguine and clam sauce. It was Yummy (with a capital Y)!! Then we went to the Pickle Guys. I got a bunch of sour, half sour, and horseradish pickles that came right out of the barrel. Now that is what I call a Birthday treat!
Then sadly Jenn had to go home and I was on my way to meet Doug for dinner. We went to The Old Homestead Steakhouse for a big steak dinner and that is exactly what we had! We got the Porter House for 2. I can't remember the last time I had that much beef at once and it was fantastic! I am pretty sure I met my beef quota for the next 6 months.



Then after dinner, we finally stopped to see the Waterfalls! They were actually cooler than I expected, but I think seeing them at night is the key.



And then we were super fancy and got a cab home.
It was a really nice birthday! And I got a new camera, so I should be posting more pictures!

I am seriously going to try to be better about this blogging business. I know I say that at the end of every post.. but this time I mean it!

Happy 4th of July!

Well, the days of parties on the roof at 16th St are long behind us. So we find ourselves trying to figure out what to do to occupy our 4th of July. Doug was invited to a party by someone at work, but we decided to stay home and relax and make our hot dogs and hamburgers at the apartment. It was definitely low key, which is a big change from our parties of the past! We missed all the excitment, but watching HGTV all day ain't all that bad either.

Always in persuit of beating the system and outsmarting the crowds, Doug figured out a potential fireworks viewing site that didn't involve getting anywhere early or smushing next to strangers. Usually when he figures someplace like that out, it ends up you can't see the fireworks from that spot (hence the no crowds). But, he did it this year! Our crowd-free oasis was on the platform of the F train at Smith and 9th Street. For those of you unfamiliar, it is a spot where the train is above ground and on elevated tracks. And it is only 2 stops away for our house. We were not the only people there, but it was not crowded at all and, surprisingly, you could see the fireworks display quite well!

Doug make a compliation of some movies he took with the camera, which you can see below:



Enjoy!
Hope you had a good 4th!!!

The difference between a big and small foyer...

It really makes all the difference to your ill behaved pet. So, if you aren't getting it, let me give you a visual...
If you have a very small foyer, when you open the door you see immediately what your ill behaved pet has done while you were out. Therefore, they do not get the approximate 5 minutes of petting and love before you get the slap in the face of recycling and trash all over the living room. Then it is just too late to take it back.

That is just my observation of the day...

The Red Arrows are coming! The Red Arrows are coming!

Today, we went to the Promenade in Brooklyn Heights to check out a mini air show. It was quick and distant, but still worth the trip (especially since we stopped for beers after)!
The Red Arrows are the British Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team and this was their first-ever aerial display in New York City.



They made several passes over the Statue of Liberty. Apparently they were best seen from Staten Island, but weren't going there!

Tomorrow, the Waterfalls start! I am definitely going to have to check this out, because I am just not getting it yet. They are going to be around until October, so there is plenty of time. I will post pictures when we see them!

Just short and sweet tonight cause I am tired! More soon...

Free Opera...Alright!

Perhaps the only way we would see an Opera - when it is free and next to our house! Yes, the Metropolitan Opera had a free performance in Prospect Park last Friday night. If we were more prepared, we could have had a proper picnic. But alas... prepared we were not. We did come armed with Doritos and Italian subs, ya' know, to class up the opera!



The headliners were Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna, apparently famous opera people. It was a very pleasant evening and we feel a little bit more cultured now!

On July 14th, The NY Philharmonic will be playing there. I will be more prepared for that and will definitely be packing some wine! There will also be some fireworks after that. I love me some fireworks!

Hot DC weekend

I just got back last night from a very busy weekend in DC. I must apologize to those of you I meant to meet up with and didn't. Time flew by and ultimately, I ran out of it.
I ran in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure with Jenn on Saturday. Even though it was 1000 degrees and I haven't run since like 1995, I made it without passing out.



It was, as it usually is, a good experience. Although, 3 days later, my legs are still sore!

I am enjoying the heat wave here in NY; it is fantastic! I know it is bad everywhere, so I am not going to complain. I will be glad when the temperature returns to normal tomorrow! Our street smells like hot garbage and pee! Mmmmmm!

Not sure how the "dinner-in-Manhattan" is going to pan out tonight. It might happen, it might not. I doubt we will go anywhere too great (as its too hot to put on real clothes), but I will let you know!

Hope you keep cool!!

We saw Tower Bridge (from Brooklyn)!

Jenn & John came up to visit over this past long weekend. The weather could not have been more beautiful and we were able to take full advantage of it! On Sat., we went to DUMBO and Brooklyn Heights. There we got ice cream and checked out The Telectroscope. It was really awesome! You looked into the telescope and you could see people doing the same thing... but in England. You could even see Tower Bridge in the background. I tried to turn some knobs on it to see if maybe we could see The Golden Gate Bridge next, but learned quickly that I was not allowed to touch the knobs! Oh well - couldn't help myself!



This is what it looks like from on top of the Brooklyn Bridge:



On our way to the Brooklyn Bridge, we happened upon this cute sculpture by Tom Otterness. There are quite a number of these around NYC, but this is the first one that we have seen. We hope to go on a sculpture hunt one of these weekends!



Then we walked over the Brooklyn Bridge- who happens to be celebrating it's 150th Birthday! Happy Birthday Brooklyn Bridge!
Then we cruised on over to South Street Seaport and checked that out for a bit. All of that made us very thirsty...



On Sunday, we went to MoMA with our fancy membership cards that get us in for free (compliments of Jenn & John). It was quite crowded, but fun just the same! Saw some of the old favorites: Warhol, Rothko, etc. They also had a number of more interactive exhibits that were pretty cool, too. Of course, there were some visitors that felt all the art was interactive and just couldn't stop themselves from trying to touch them. Please tell me what is up with that? Who thinks to themselves,"Picasso totally would have wanted my grubby hands all over his painting!" Who? And before you say anything, touching the Telectroscope knobs are different! And there was no sign...

After all that walking and art viewing, we needed some food! We tried a "Modern Korean" restaurant nearby, Moim. It was quite tasty and the interior was lovely.

And yesterday, we went to meet some of John's friends in Prospect Park. We hung out there for a while enjoying the sunshine and then it was time to say good bye to Jenn and John, as they needed to get the bus back to DC. Boo hoo!

Here is a "Dinner-in-Manhattan" update for those of you who are following: Last Tuesday we went out in SOHO. We went to a "dive bar" called Milady's. They weren't kidding about the "dive" part. I had chicken fingers and french fries... so you see why I didn't mention this last week. But, we abandoned that place and went to Half Pint to procrastinate going home. Yeah, so beer and chicken fingers - not too noteworthy. This week I think we are skipping it due to our previous big weekend. Besides, we now have a table and chairs (both at the same time!). So, we are currently enjoying that. But, I am sure I will get bored of it soon and we will be back to eating out!



Well, I think that is it for now. I will try to do better with more frequent posts. I have been a bit of a slacker lately!
Take care!

(And I now realize London Bridge and Tower Bridge are different! Duh! But even Wikipedia says "Tower Bridge is sometimes mistakenly referred to as London Bridge, which is actually the next bridge upstream." So, I am not alone in my ignorance!)

Dinner-in-Manhattan night!

We had our fancy night out at davidburke & donatella last night to celebrate Doug's new job. My first impression, I must admit, was not that great. I really felt we were getting the notorious Open Table seating, as the tables were so packed together they have to actually move the table to get you in your seat. And, I was sitting on the crack between where one bench stopped and another began.
However, it was easy to overlook this first impression once we could experience the excellent service and food. We got the 5-course tasting menu. I have never had one before, and it was a lot of fun and soooo filling!

These were our courses:

1. some type of fish carpaccio


2. fried softshell crab sushi roll


3. halibut (with "happy" sauce)


4. lamb loin with crayfish ragout


5. dessert - which included way too many tasty treats: a whole plate of chocolate banana flavored items, a custard type thing, and a cheesecake lollipop tree with bubble gum flavored whipped cream for dipping (yeah, you read that right!)

This is the lollipop tree. I had to take this with my phone and it was really dark. But, I think you can get the idea.

I think we both agreed that our favorite dish was the halibut. I mean, it has Happy sauce, how could it not be the favorite! And we got to take the lollipops we couldn't eat home. So, now I have a treat for today! This restaurant was really good and I would definitely recommend it, although I know to ask for a specific seating section in the future.

Now we are getting ready for a big weekend of cleaning! We are going to a "recycling event" on Sunday to unload tons of computers and clothes that never should have made the trip up. Then, hopefully once that is gone, Sascha won't have to back up the hallway anymore as she should have room to turn around.

Hope you have a good weekend! Talk to you soon!

Another fun-filled weekend...

Hi again! We had our first visitor last weekend! Jenn came up for a few days and we did our best to keep her entertained and show her the new hood. Luckily, even though Friday was rainy and gross, the weekend shaped up to be quite nice.

We went to the Brooklyn Museum to see the Takashi Murakami exhibit. It was fantastic!

Here is Jenn and Doug outside the museum.



This was a piece that Doug and I had actually seen a while ago in Rockefeller Center. Of course, I had no idea what or who's it was at the time.



We didn't have too much time to explore the rest of the museum, but then again, I don't want to do everything all at once. Gotta save some stuff for later!

After the museum, we also visited the Botanical Garden. It seems like it was a great time to go, as the wisteria, azalea, lilacs, and peonies were all in bloom!



Here we are, immersed in the lovely!


Look how pretty peony Jenn is!



We also found a fantastic sushi restaurant, which is a relief. You just never know how you are going to manage when you are without good sushi for an extended period of time.

So, we have moved our Tuesday-dinner-in-Manhattan night this week to Thursday. We are going to davidburke & donatella. Let's hope it is a lovely as it looks!

Oh, and last night we stopped at Beer Table on our way to the movies. Then, we never made it to the movies! Although we didn't drink too much there, it wasn't a quick run in for a beer kind of place. It was very intimate and has very unusual beers. I had the Brasserie Dupont Bio Forêt, which was very tasty. And Doug had the cask beer: George Gale's Prize Old Ale 2006. It is certainly a place that should be revisited when we have more time. I can think of a few of you blog-readers who would really enjoy this place! So... come and visit! And we can go!

I guess that sums up the recent events here. I hope you are all doing well and look forward to hearing from you. I will let you how the restaurant is tomorrow!

Take care!

Flee to the Flea!

Even though we are still unpacking boxes, we made time this weekend to do some local exploration. It started with a hearty diner breakfast. Mmmm, pancakes and bacon at Donuts!



Then we walked to Fort Greene which is where the Brooklyn Flea is. It ended up to be a beautiful day and the flea market had tons of cool stuff. Here I am checking out the wares - that's not totally staged or anything! ;-)



We found several cool artists that we need to go back and buy stuff from. We also got some good ideas of things we need for our new apartment. One thing we absolutely DO NOT need is this horrifying glass!



I almost had to run away at the sight of this. For one thing (in case you don't know already) ET is terrifying and disgusting and I swear lived in my attic for several years in the 80's. Plus, they wanted 8 bucks for that crap! Pleeeeeze! Yuck, it pains me to even post it....

Then, on our long walk back, we decided we needed to refuel (and drink away the rehashed ET nightmares). So, we stopped by Moe's for a few beers. As you can see from some of the "artwork" on the wall, they make no secret of the establishment's political views.



(B & J - Doug and I took these especially for you!)

That about sums up our fun Sunday about town.

Oh, on Friday night we went to The Gate, a bar fairly close to our house. It seems like a regular bar until you see that there are dogs everywhere! Not only do they let dogs (seemingly of any size) in, we also witnessed some sitting right on the table. Now, I have surprisingly low standards when it comes to cleanliness of bars, but that is just gross, right? Despite that and their blatant health code violations, we will definitely return! Perhaps we will stick Sascha on a table and take a picture!! That would be great!

Talk to you soon!

Ready for the weekend!

I am sorry that I don't think I have anything too interesting to report. However, I didn't want to get in the habit of not writing if that is the case. So, you will all just have to suffer through a blog of idle chit-chat!

I still can't post more pictures of our place, because it sadly looks no different that the last picture. I am so looking forward to this weekend to try to make some progress. Last weekend I was in DC - getting the condo ready, helping Jenn shop for wedding dresses, and seeing Linnea (finally) and Brenda. It was an exciting and fun, but exhausting weekend.

Last night we went to Macy's (the big one!) and then found a cute little Italian restaurant in Murray Hill to have dinner. Tuesdays are going to be our dinner-in-Manhattan night, so I will keep you posted if we find any great restaurants. Last night was Fagiolini. It was cute and tasty! And a bottle of Chianti was definitely in order after that shopping trip!

Both Sascha and Pumpkin have adjusted to their new surroundings well. I just need some adjustment to having Sascha following me around all day. She is at my heels at my every move. It is so very cute and sad at the same time. Poor Sascha...

Well, I guess that is about it. Again I apologize for the severe lameness of this post. This weekend I hope to do some fun things and plan to tell you all about them!

In the meantime, I will post this picture. I took this the other day at the park, it is apparently the leash-free section. I would need a wide-angle lens to truly capture the doggie mayhem! Sascha was a bit intimidated with this whole scene, so we just stayed on the outskirts. But, if you examine this photo closely, I think there is a dog taking a crap! Gotta love those action shots!



On that note... later!

Prospect Park Outing (#1)

Sascha and I went on an expedition to Prospect Park yesterday afternoon. It was such a beautiful day, it seemed like a shame to be inside all day. So, we walked around a bit, Sascha found some mysterious items to eat in the woods (always a treat) and then she went bizzerk and chewed up her leash till it broke! She had to walk home with her leash tied in a knot; ghetto-style like the classy girl she is!
All in all, it was a very calming walk. 

Above is a picture of the B with a sculpture by Steve Tobin. 

She really has a tough life, this one!
We are lucky to be getting a second spring here. We got to watch all the flowers bloom in DC and then again here. You really can't have too many springs, I always say. What? You never heard me say that?!?


"Squirrel Zoo"

Where dogs go to watch the squirrels in their natural habitat.


Going to the park yesterday was obviously not an original idea. Nevertheless, we had a great time and got some good pictures. I will find some more interesting subjects next time.

Gotta get me some sauce!

Well, these pictures just illustrate this fine lesson: Where there is a will, there is a way.  If you want clam sauce bad enough and you can't remember what box you packed the can opener, any array of tools can chew a hole through a can.

Yum!  Clam sauce!

Finally...

Okay, so I may be a bit distracted as I am watching the Caps in overtime against the Flyers (yuck!).  But, the big news of the day is that I found the wire for the camera!  It was in the hall closet in a box we use for car stuff.  Of course, where else would it be? So, as promised, here are some chronological pictures of our move.  We aren't all the way done yet, but you can see some progress. Once everything looks up to my spiffy standards, I will post some more.


UPDATE: Have I told you how much I hate the Flyers?? Well... how much time do you have... UGH!!!!!

We made it!

Well,  I am probably going to die a few months (possibly years) sooner than I should, but we arrived and are all moved in!  I can not tell you how horrendous the trip up here was; well, maybe I will try...

So, we needed to be here at 11:00 am on Thursday because we had movers scheduled to be here to help us and were banking on parking the truck on the street right at the end of street cleaning time.  Yes, I know it was a stupid plan filled with potential disaster!  And disaster did not disappoint!  We left on time, but ended up in a bit of traffic in Baltimore and then realized north of Baltimore that 95 was closed due to an accident.  Doug detoured with the truck but I stayed in the traffic with the hopes it would reopen soon.  Of course it didn't, but Doug successfully detoured which was all that mattered.  Anyway, long story short, he ended up getting here at 11:40, had to park in front of a fire hydrant and we paid the movers for an extra hour.  All things considered, it turned out just fine.  But the stress to get here was enough to kill ya'!

So, we now have unpacked a bunch of boxes and still have a bunch to go.  But I am happy to report that the zebra rug looks awesome!  Just as I knew it would! I took some pictures of the boxes stacked up, but can't upload them as I can't seem to find where the wire to do that is.  Perhaps tomorrow I will stumble upon that box.  

We have been out exploring the new hood and I have to say that it is pretty fantastic.  Of course, today was the most beautiful spring day.  Sascha is certainly enjoying the park, all the new smells, and barking at all the neighbors as they come and go.  Good thing, there are a bunch more dogs in the building that bark much more than her. Pumpkin made the trip in the car with minimal meowing and found the house full of boxes to be an adventure.  I  think she is disappointed that they have all dispersed, but found refuge in her normal spot... the end of the bed!  Apparently, exploration is overrated! 

Well, that is where I am at right now.  Thought I would let you all know we made it and are alive and well.  I will post the picts when I find the cord.  Till then - hope all is well with you and I will talk to you soon!  Miss you already!!

My first blog post!

Well, here it is!  I am getting my blog on so I am prepared to keep you all up to date on our activities.  The plan is to add cool pictures and events so you won't seem so far away.  

Let's hope I have fun things to tell you about!  No one likes a boring blog!