Monday, December 11, 2006
BRANGELINA
Tonight I saw THE biggest celeb couple (well, maybe tied with TomKat)!! Yes, I saw Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. I just happened upon the World Premiere for her new movie, "The Good Shepard." All the other people, including Matt Damon, Robert DeNiro, and Liam Neeson came in the SUV's and got out and went straight for the red carpet and cameramen and we could hardly see them. But, not Brad and Angie! They came strolling up the street like ordinary people (although they hardly looked ordinary)! They came right over to the fans and walked along us smiling and waving so we could take pictures. It was still tough to get a picture, so mine's kind of blurry. They were absolutely gorgeous...both of them. Matt Damon, cute, but ordinary. Brad Pitt, HOT! Angelina..wow! I already saw pics online and they do not do them justice. They are truly beautiful people.
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Niagara Falls
This past weekend I got to travel to Niagara Falls with my friend, Kristen, and her mom. This was one of the places on my list to visit while I'm living in the New York and I was excited when I discovered Kristen also had an interest in going there! We rented a car and left mid-afternoon on Friday and it took us well over an hour to go less than a mile from my apartment to the Lincoln Tunnel that would take us out of the city! I'm glad I don't drive here all the time! Unfortunately, most of our drive that night was in the dark, so we didn't see too much. There were a lot of storms in the area, but we only saw hard rain for a few minutes. However, I drove in the most windy conditions I've ever witnessed-- I kept feeling the car being jerked all over and got pretty scared at one point!! We didn't make it to Niagara until really late and pretty much went straight to bed!
We stayed at a hotel on the American side of the falls, in walking distance of the Rainbow Bridge that you can walk across to get into Canada. That's where we headed first thing on Saturday morning. We spent the entire day in Canada seeing the views from way up high to down low and up close!! You can see my pictures and a narrative of everything we saw and did here.
It was an amazing day! I loved the falls-- they were so beautiful and peaceful, but also very strong and powerful.
Sunday, we got up early to begin the drive back to NYC so Kristen and her mom could catch their flight back home. The drive back was very pretty through up-state New York and Pennsylvania.
It was a quick weekend trip, but so worth it. We had a great time!
We stayed at a hotel on the American side of the falls, in walking distance of the Rainbow Bridge that you can walk across to get into Canada. That's where we headed first thing on Saturday morning. We spent the entire day in Canada seeing the views from way up high to down low and up close!! You can see my pictures and a narrative of everything we saw and did here.
It was an amazing day! I loved the falls-- they were so beautiful and peaceful, but also very strong and powerful.
Sunday, we got up early to begin the drive back to NYC so Kristen and her mom could catch their flight back home. The drive back was very pretty through up-state New York and Pennsylvania.
It was a quick weekend trip, but so worth it. We had a great time!
Monday, December 04, 2006
I hear there's been quite a snowstorm back in the mid-west. I wish it had hit a week earlier so my family could have been snowed-in there for a few days. They had over 15 inches of snow and shut down all the highways in my hometown of Columbia, MO. Crazy! Even in Dallas they had a slight wintry-mix. My family said it wasn't very much though. As I heard the weather stories from Missouri and Texas, I kept thinking about the Artic Blast of 2005. That was last December when there was a little ice storm in Dallas. Before the weather even hit the metro-plex, people began to panic and leave work early and all the major channels went to "Artic Blast 2005" coverage and canceled Oprah, Dr. Phil, etc.... Dallas never gets any kind of harsh weather, so the weathermen have to make the most of these situations. So funny!
Up here in NYC, it still has not even flurried. In fact, on Thursday, it was almost 70 degrees out! Not what I expected living up here! However, I did go to Niagara Falls this weekend and managed to see about 5 snowflakes there. I'm working on getting my pics together so I can tell you about that trip, but it was amazing!
My friend Kristen & her mom were in town and went with me to Niagara. Prior to going to Niagara, I got to join them on a Holiday Decorations tour around Rockefeller Center and we also went to see A Chorus Line on Broadway! The decorations tour wasn't quite what we expected, but it was neat to get out and begin seeing some of the lights and store deocations around town. I had been wanting to see A Chorus Line and really had high expectations for it, but was a little disappointed. It was a little slow for me. The dancing was really, really good, though.
Up here in NYC, it still has not even flurried. In fact, on Thursday, it was almost 70 degrees out! Not what I expected living up here! However, I did go to Niagara Falls this weekend and managed to see about 5 snowflakes there. I'm working on getting my pics together so I can tell you about that trip, but it was amazing!
My friend Kristen & her mom were in town and went with me to Niagara. Prior to going to Niagara, I got to join them on a Holiday Decorations tour around Rockefeller Center and we also went to see A Chorus Line on Broadway! The decorations tour wasn't quite what we expected, but it was neat to get out and begin seeing some of the lights and store deocations around town. I had been wanting to see A Chorus Line and really had high expectations for it, but was a little disappointed. It was a little slow for me. The dancing was really, really good, though.
The rink @ Rockefeller Center
The famous Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree!
Cute Nutcrackers outside an office building
Cute little brownstone that is now a restaurant.
Cartier tied up like a gift!
Christmas Tree at the NYC Palace Hotel
These big red balls are outside my NHL
office building, which I just learned is
actually part of the whole Rockefeller
Center complex.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
My Never-Ending Thanksgiving Weekend
Thanksgiving was a great weekend. It seemed to go on forever and that’s always nice! You can see pictures from the weekend here!
Brooke and her mom arrived on Wednesday evening and we headed directly to the Upper West Side where the balloons for the parade were being inflated. It was cold, crowded, and starting to drizzle, but it was still fun to see some of the balloons! They were on 2 streets, but we just walked down one of the two streets. The most exciting part was when we walked by The Beresford—my mom had told me before that a lot of celebrities live there. Sure enough, Jerry Seinfeld was standing right outside the door! We all got a good glimpse of him. I’m not sure what he was doing, but my guess is that he was waiting for his car to pull up to the curb to take him somewhere. Brooke’s mom suggested Italian for dinner so I took them to a place in my neighborhood called Pietrasanta. I knew they had Pumpkin Ravioli and I thought that was a good fit for Thanksgiving! Brooke got that and it was really good! Her mom and I tried other things, but we were all very happy with the food! Afterwards, we walked around Rockefeller Center some. I had not seen it since they’d put all the Christmas decorations up and it looks so pretty! We also saw Sak’s and it has blue snowflake lights all over the building and every so often, they play Christmas music and the snowflake lights do a dance to it. It was really cool! I was originally going to stay at the hotel w/ them, but their room got messed up and they had only 1 bed and my place is less than 10 minutes away, so I ended up just going home for the night and that worked out well.
Thursday was the parade, of course! Unfortunately, it was a miserable day for the parade. It was raining and only got up to about 37 degrees. Brooke was a trooper and went downstairs at 5:45am to save us a curb spot! I got there around 6:45 and she was already soaked and so was the quilt she was hoping we could sit on. I went on a search for crates to sit on, but ended up walking home and getting 3 little stools we have. So, Brooke, her mom, and I sat lined up on the curb on our stools under our umbrellas until the parade finally started coming by around 9:30. We did have a good view, though! We lasted for probably 3/4ths of the parade and were too cold and decided to call it quits. We went upstairs to their hotel room and watched the rest on TV just like the rest of America! It was much more enjoyable there. It took me a LONG time to warm up! I’m glad I got to see the parade in person, but it would have been so much better if the weather had been nice.
For lunch, we went to a family-style Italian restaurant called Tony’s Di Napoli. Brooke’s aunt was in town because she’s a dance coach and a group of her girls were in the parade. So, we had lunch with Brooke’s aunt, cousin, and all these high school girls and their mothers. It was really enjoyable and our food was good. They had a Thanksgiving meal that day, but we opted for the Italian menu. Pretty much everyone there was from Waco and the lady sitting next to me (one of the dancer’s mom’s) was so nice to talk to!
After lunch, I had to head home and to the airport. The airports were so empty that night and I had 3 seats to myself on the plane! I was exhausted by that point and slept all the way to St. Louis. Then, I had a 2 hour drive to Columbia, so I didn’t get in until after midnight. It was GREAT to see my family and Bob & Miriam Perry (who we stayed with and are long-time family friends)!
I also got to see some of my friends from high school while I was there. On Friday morning, my mom, Miriam and I went to my friend Courtney’s parent’s house to visit her family. Courtney is two years younger than me, but we grew up taking piano lessons from Miriam and going to church together. She also went to Baylor and still lives in Waco. She had a baby boy in the spring so I got to see him for the first time. Very, very cute baby! It was good to see her family after so long, too! Her mom was my junior high school business teacher—one of my favorite classes and teachers!
For lunch that day, I met 4 longtime girlfriends, Kelly, Maggie, Jessica, and Jill, for lunch at Shakespeare’s. In my opinion, Shakespeare’s is the best pizza in the entire world. I can’t make a trip to Columbia without having some! The company was nice too! We all went to Jr. high and High School together and everyone but Kelly went to elementary school together, too. And Jill and I started going to church together when we were 2 or 3 and preschool when we were 4. Actually, I think my first two memories are of Jill—she broke her leg when we were 4 and I guess I was traumatized or intrigued by it because both my first 2 memories revolve around her leg. Basically, I’ve known these girls for a long time! Jill and Kelly live in Columbia now and it was nice that Maggie and Jessica were home from Chicago and Austin so we could all catch-up!
Beth & Brian went out Friday night so I got to give Ryder his bath and put him to bed. I was trying to find his jammies and turned around and he had found his dad’s hat and put it on—so cute! This weekend was also the first time I got to see him walking!
On Saturday, I got to go to the MU football game and sit in a box. My sister’s friend works for coke so she got us all tickets in their box. It was a lot of fun. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect for football. Ryder loved it the game! And Mizzou dominated KU. Jill’s family has a box a few doors down from the coke box, so we got to visit with her and her mom and see Jill’s baby girl, Sydney, who I hadn’t seen in a year—too many cute babies this weekend!
My mom and I did some shopping later on Saturday—Columbia has several newer boutique type stores that were very cute! I was impressed with the new additions!
Beth, Brian, my dad, and I went to the good ol’ Columbia mall on Saturday as well. Beth wanted an Orange Julius—she worked there in high school and The Perry’s own it, so they’re a favorite drink of hers. We also let Ryder try out the carousel and he loved it! He rode it twice and cried when we left.
That evening, my family went to some friend’s house to visit. It was fun! They had been to New York recently (I was out of town) and they had a couple of places I hadn’t heard of that I have now added to my list of places to go!
My family left early on Sunday—I would have as well, but the flights were SO much cheaper on Monday, so I waited. Sunday morning, I tried out a newer church in Columbia called The Crossing. I’d heard about it several times and wanted to check it out. I enjoyed the teaching and the music. There were a lot of people there—mostly young people. I wish they’d had something like that when I lived there—seemed like a good place to be involved!
Sunday afternoon was slow and lazy. I felt like I’d already done everything there is to do in Columbia! It is such a nice town and so pretty, but I’m not sure I could go back to living somewhere so slow-paced. I find myself a little bit antsy and bored. But, Miriam had taped Grey’s and we hadn’t watched it yet so we did that. Then, we started getting out her Christmas decorations! That night, I went and had dinner with my friend Kelly and her husband Greg. He did all the cooking and it was really good! I also got to tour her house, which they had just barely moved into last time I’d seen it. I also got to see her wedding pictures from the last time I was in Columbia a year ago.
Monday morning, I was off to St. Louis. I left early enough so that I could hit a mall—specifically a mall with a Chick-fil-a! Got lunch, did some shopping and driving around St. Louis and then caught my flight back home!
It was a great long weekend!
Brooke and her mom arrived on Wednesday evening and we headed directly to the Upper West Side where the balloons for the parade were being inflated. It was cold, crowded, and starting to drizzle, but it was still fun to see some of the balloons! They were on 2 streets, but we just walked down one of the two streets. The most exciting part was when we walked by The Beresford—my mom had told me before that a lot of celebrities live there. Sure enough, Jerry Seinfeld was standing right outside the door! We all got a good glimpse of him. I’m not sure what he was doing, but my guess is that he was waiting for his car to pull up to the curb to take him somewhere. Brooke’s mom suggested Italian for dinner so I took them to a place in my neighborhood called Pietrasanta. I knew they had Pumpkin Ravioli and I thought that was a good fit for Thanksgiving! Brooke got that and it was really good! Her mom and I tried other things, but we were all very happy with the food! Afterwards, we walked around Rockefeller Center some. I had not seen it since they’d put all the Christmas decorations up and it looks so pretty! We also saw Sak’s and it has blue snowflake lights all over the building and every so often, they play Christmas music and the snowflake lights do a dance to it. It was really cool! I was originally going to stay at the hotel w/ them, but their room got messed up and they had only 1 bed and my place is less than 10 minutes away, so I ended up just going home for the night and that worked out well.
Thursday was the parade, of course! Unfortunately, it was a miserable day for the parade. It was raining and only got up to about 37 degrees. Brooke was a trooper and went downstairs at 5:45am to save us a curb spot! I got there around 6:45 and she was already soaked and so was the quilt she was hoping we could sit on. I went on a search for crates to sit on, but ended up walking home and getting 3 little stools we have. So, Brooke, her mom, and I sat lined up on the curb on our stools under our umbrellas until the parade finally started coming by around 9:30. We did have a good view, though! We lasted for probably 3/4ths of the parade and were too cold and decided to call it quits. We went upstairs to their hotel room and watched the rest on TV just like the rest of America! It was much more enjoyable there. It took me a LONG time to warm up! I’m glad I got to see the parade in person, but it would have been so much better if the weather had been nice.
For lunch, we went to a family-style Italian restaurant called Tony’s Di Napoli. Brooke’s aunt was in town because she’s a dance coach and a group of her girls were in the parade. So, we had lunch with Brooke’s aunt, cousin, and all these high school girls and their mothers. It was really enjoyable and our food was good. They had a Thanksgiving meal that day, but we opted for the Italian menu. Pretty much everyone there was from Waco and the lady sitting next to me (one of the dancer’s mom’s) was so nice to talk to!
After lunch, I had to head home and to the airport. The airports were so empty that night and I had 3 seats to myself on the plane! I was exhausted by that point and slept all the way to St. Louis. Then, I had a 2 hour drive to Columbia, so I didn’t get in until after midnight. It was GREAT to see my family and Bob & Miriam Perry (who we stayed with and are long-time family friends)!
I also got to see some of my friends from high school while I was there. On Friday morning, my mom, Miriam and I went to my friend Courtney’s parent’s house to visit her family. Courtney is two years younger than me, but we grew up taking piano lessons from Miriam and going to church together. She also went to Baylor and still lives in Waco. She had a baby boy in the spring so I got to see him for the first time. Very, very cute baby! It was good to see her family after so long, too! Her mom was my junior high school business teacher—one of my favorite classes and teachers!
For lunch that day, I met 4 longtime girlfriends, Kelly, Maggie, Jessica, and Jill, for lunch at Shakespeare’s. In my opinion, Shakespeare’s is the best pizza in the entire world. I can’t make a trip to Columbia without having some! The company was nice too! We all went to Jr. high and High School together and everyone but Kelly went to elementary school together, too. And Jill and I started going to church together when we were 2 or 3 and preschool when we were 4. Actually, I think my first two memories are of Jill—she broke her leg when we were 4 and I guess I was traumatized or intrigued by it because both my first 2 memories revolve around her leg. Basically, I’ve known these girls for a long time! Jill and Kelly live in Columbia now and it was nice that Maggie and Jessica were home from Chicago and Austin so we could all catch-up!
Beth & Brian went out Friday night so I got to give Ryder his bath and put him to bed. I was trying to find his jammies and turned around and he had found his dad’s hat and put it on—so cute! This weekend was also the first time I got to see him walking!
On Saturday, I got to go to the MU football game and sit in a box. My sister’s friend works for coke so she got us all tickets in their box. It was a lot of fun. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect for football. Ryder loved it the game! And Mizzou dominated KU. Jill’s family has a box a few doors down from the coke box, so we got to visit with her and her mom and see Jill’s baby girl, Sydney, who I hadn’t seen in a year—too many cute babies this weekend!
My mom and I did some shopping later on Saturday—Columbia has several newer boutique type stores that were very cute! I was impressed with the new additions!
Beth, Brian, my dad, and I went to the good ol’ Columbia mall on Saturday as well. Beth wanted an Orange Julius—she worked there in high school and The Perry’s own it, so they’re a favorite drink of hers. We also let Ryder try out the carousel and he loved it! He rode it twice and cried when we left.
That evening, my family went to some friend’s house to visit. It was fun! They had been to New York recently (I was out of town) and they had a couple of places I hadn’t heard of that I have now added to my list of places to go!
My family left early on Sunday—I would have as well, but the flights were SO much cheaper on Monday, so I waited. Sunday morning, I tried out a newer church in Columbia called The Crossing. I’d heard about it several times and wanted to check it out. I enjoyed the teaching and the music. There were a lot of people there—mostly young people. I wish they’d had something like that when I lived there—seemed like a good place to be involved!
Sunday afternoon was slow and lazy. I felt like I’d already done everything there is to do in Columbia! It is such a nice town and so pretty, but I’m not sure I could go back to living somewhere so slow-paced. I find myself a little bit antsy and bored. But, Miriam had taped Grey’s and we hadn’t watched it yet so we did that. Then, we started getting out her Christmas decorations! That night, I went and had dinner with my friend Kelly and her husband Greg. He did all the cooking and it was really good! I also got to tour her house, which they had just barely moved into last time I’d seen it. I also got to see her wedding pictures from the last time I was in Columbia a year ago.
Monday morning, I was off to St. Louis. I left early enough so that I could hit a mall—specifically a mall with a Chick-fil-a! Got lunch, did some shopping and driving around St. Louis and then caught my flight back home!
It was a great long weekend!
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Thanksgiving's here!
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and here in New York it’s the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade! I can’t wait! My friend Brooke and her mom are coming in today for the weekend. They have a hotel on the parade route and I am going to stay with them there tonight, so that should be awesome for tomorrow morning!
Late tomorrow, I’m off to Missouri. My family is spending Thanksgiving there with close family friends. I’ll miss the big Thanksgiving feast, but will get to spend the rest of the weekend with everyone and I’m looking forward to it (and mom said she’d try to save me some of my favorite potato casserole)! I’ll also get to see a few friends from high school which is always fun.
I’ve been working as a contractor at the NHL for 8 days now. It has gone pretty well. It’s been pretty slow, but okay and really has gotten better every day. I think I will like the people I’m working for/with, but the office is generally VERY quiet and I’m afraid that could make me crazy some days. They’ve been really nice and pretty much have told me it will turn into a full-time permanent job in a couple of weeks (unless something unexpected comes up). They’ve been willing to work with me on my vacations I already had planned for Thanksgiving and Christmas and a short trip to Niagara Falls next week, so that is really nice.
Otherwise, you may remember me mentioning a position at a company that owns private schools. Well, I was supposed to have an interview there over 2 weeks ago, but it was cancelled at the very last minute. I followed-up on it several times, with little response, so I finally decided to just give up on it. But, they called finally. They wanted me to meet them at noon today, but I didn’t think it was a good idea to take off from the NHL—I need to be on my best behavior here so I don’t miss out on the full-time opportunity. So, it looks like the school company is willing to meet me next Tuesday evening. I’m a little turned-off by them at this point, but I am going to go and check it out—maybe there is a reason for their flakiness over the past few weeks. We'll see and I'll keep ya updated until I'm locked-in somewhere.
Late tomorrow, I’m off to Missouri. My family is spending Thanksgiving there with close family friends. I’ll miss the big Thanksgiving feast, but will get to spend the rest of the weekend with everyone and I’m looking forward to it (and mom said she’d try to save me some of my favorite potato casserole)! I’ll also get to see a few friends from high school which is always fun.
I’ve been working as a contractor at the NHL for 8 days now. It has gone pretty well. It’s been pretty slow, but okay and really has gotten better every day. I think I will like the people I’m working for/with, but the office is generally VERY quiet and I’m afraid that could make me crazy some days. They’ve been really nice and pretty much have told me it will turn into a full-time permanent job in a couple of weeks (unless something unexpected comes up). They’ve been willing to work with me on my vacations I already had planned for Thanksgiving and Christmas and a short trip to Niagara Falls next week, so that is really nice.
Otherwise, you may remember me mentioning a position at a company that owns private schools. Well, I was supposed to have an interview there over 2 weeks ago, but it was cancelled at the very last minute. I followed-up on it several times, with little response, so I finally decided to just give up on it. But, they called finally. They wanted me to meet them at noon today, but I didn’t think it was a good idea to take off from the NHL—I need to be on my best behavior here so I don’t miss out on the full-time opportunity. So, it looks like the school company is willing to meet me next Tuesday evening. I’m a little turned-off by them at this point, but I am going to go and check it out—maybe there is a reason for their flakiness over the past few weeks. We'll see and I'll keep ya updated until I'm locked-in somewhere.
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Lion's and Tigers and....Reindeer???
Tonight I went to the Bronx Zoo for their Holiday Lights special. I've been working on putting together an extensive list of all the things I need to see/do in the City during the Holiday season. When I saw that the Holiday Lights festival at the zoo was starting this weekend, I decided to get a head-start! It actually didn't turn out to be very impressive, but it was okay and seems like a nice zoo. It did start getting me in the Christmas mood as has walking around the city lately. Places are already getting all decked out for the Holidays! Anyway, here are some pics from the zoo!
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Choclate Lover and Diana DeGarmo fan!
On Friday, I went to The Chocolate Show. Wow! So much delicious chocolate. Basically, it's just a place for chocolate vendors to come and display and sell their stuff. But, every vendor has samples!! I don't think I've ever eaten so much chocolate! Granted, most of the samples were tiny, but with the number of vendors there, they added up quickly! I tried some different things like Green Tea infused chocolate. One of my favorite things was this piece of chocolate filled with a cinnamon/carmel mixture- it was great! I also tried some delicious dessert wines. One place even had bananas with chocolate fondue- yum! There were also two theatres with cooking demonstrations. I went to one with Alexandra Guarnaschelli, the chef at Butter. She was awesome!! A great speaker and really funny-- definitely kept me entertained. They had asked her to cook something savory since everyone else was doing sweet things (it was the chocolate show)! So, she did Duck with Cocoa. We all got to try some and it was amazing. Her pastry chef made little chocolate cakes filled with a carmel sauce-- also very good. I went to Butter in Sept. with my high school friends and we weren't too impressed, but after this show with Alexandra, I became so endeared to her, I may have to try it again! I also saw a show with Martin Howard- the pastry chef from Brasserie 8 1/2. He was not nearly as entertaining. He does a show called "The Chocolatinas" and he is dressed in drag and it was all very horrible. I thought it might be entertaining, but I decided that he has no personality so he dresses in drag to make up for that, but then just comes off looking both boring and stupid. He made this chocolate briocche stuff..didn't compare to the food made by Butter! Check out pictures from the chocolate feast here!
Saturday, I spent the day with my old co-workers Joy & Kristin, as well as two other girls, Carlie and Kelli. All really fun gals! We did some shopping and then went over to Broadway hoping to score lottery tickets for Wicked. We didn't get any there, so then we tried for Spelling Bee and thought for sure we'd get those because there weren't many people there, but again we got none. So, we ended up getting standing-room-only tickets to Hairspray. It was really, really good and we only had to pay $20! I'd seen it in Dallas and liked it, but Broadway is Broadway! Diana DeGarmo (runner-up on a previous American Idol) was in it. I'm a huge fan of hers now! She was a great actress and has an amazingly powerful voice. Standing wasn't bad, but at intermission, Kristin, Kelli and I got some seats of someone who had never shown up and that was much better!
Saturday, I spent the day with my old co-workers Joy & Kristin, as well as two other girls, Carlie and Kelli. All really fun gals! We did some shopping and then went over to Broadway hoping to score lottery tickets for Wicked. We didn't get any there, so then we tried for Spelling Bee and thought for sure we'd get those because there weren't many people there, but again we got none. So, we ended up getting standing-room-only tickets to Hairspray. It was really, really good and we only had to pay $20! I'd seen it in Dallas and liked it, but Broadway is Broadway! Diana DeGarmo (runner-up on a previous American Idol) was in it. I'm a huge fan of hers now! She was a great actress and has an amazingly powerful voice. Standing wasn't bad, but at intermission, Kristin, Kelli and I got some seats of someone who had never shown up and that was much better!
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