Friday, May 20, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Raise your hand...
...if you knew I wasn't going to blog one day after that last post as promised...guilty as charged. In my defense, I've been sick ever since Friday and trust me, I'm doing you a favor by not elaborating.
Anyway, I do want to recap the rest of our trip to Chi-town, so here goes. On Saturday we went to an afternoon Chicago Cubs game, which was really fun and actually an exciting game. I had never been to Wrigley Field, so that was really great. Then, the game ended in a walk-off run for the Cubs to win it! Here are some photos:
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| From Drop Box |
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| From Drop Box |
And this hotdog:
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| From Drop Box |
Unfortunately, it rained all day on Saturday. Luckily, for the game, we sat under an awning, so we stayed dry and it didn't rain hard enough to delay the game. After the game, we went back to Hilary's place and spent most of the night drinking, chatting, and watching TV. Taylor and I made Mint Juleps and watched the Kentucky Derby then Hilary made us some DELICIOUS lasagna which we enjoyed with a couple bottles of wine before heading to bed early.
Sunday morning was Rachel's baptism. We got up and got to the church bright and early. Unfortunately, they don't allow cameras in the church so we don't have any photos of the actual baptism. It was absolutely adorable, though. They had 6 babies baptized on Mother's Day. Rachel was so good, she didn't even cry when the strange man (the Pastor) held her and sprinkled her with water 3 times (though she did get more dubious with each drop)!
After church we all met back at Scott and Tracy's house where I got to see my good buddy, Bailey, their dog. Bailey and I have always gotten along really well, except for the time he tried to attack my Goddaughter!
Just kidding! No Goddaughters were harmed in the making of these photos.
Here's a video of Bailey entertaining Rachel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaLKLwUTV4s
Those were taken in January. Now, Rachel is almost 9 months old. Here are a few photos from the luncheon on Sunday.
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| From Drop Box |
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| From Drop Box |
Adorable! We love her and can't wait to see her again in a week when Tracy, Scott, and Rachel come to New York for Memorial Day!
Friday, May 13, 2011
Good times in the Windy City
Last weekend, Taylor and I took a nice trip to Chicago for our Goddaughter's (God-daughter? God daughter? I'm not sure how to write it) baptism. We left Thursday night and arrived in Chicago about an hour late due to poor weather over Midway airport.
The awesome bar, where they were watching 1980s episodes of Three's Company
Action Shot!
We arrived at our brother and sister-in-law's apartment on the North side of Chicago in an area called Lincoln Square. It was Cinco de Mayo and we hadn't eaten, so Taylor and I decided to go out to a Mexican place we had discovered near Hilary and Alex's place on our last trip to Chicago for the marathon. Garcia's was crowded, but not overwhelmingly so, and it was delicious! We shared a margarita, a meal and some guacamole, and didn't finish eating until 11:30pm.
Mini backstory here. Taylor and I have been in a bowling league for the past 2 months. We play every Tuesday evening at the bowling alley in the Port Authority Bus Terminal (that's right, a bowling alley in the bus station). The way the league works, you play 4 bowling game regardless of how many people you have on your team, and since our team has always had more than 4 people, we've never really played our own game. Taylor and I had a lighthearted (or maybe not lighthearted?) bet going about who would win a head-to-head competition. And here, we resume our story...
So, as we walked back from our Cinco de Mayo festivities, we spotted a sign on the side of a non-descript building that said "Bowling" and then a sign that looked like one you would put up for a yard sale that simply said "Open Bowling." We looked in the door under the sign and it just lead to a set of carpeted stairs to an upstairs doorway. The sign on the door said that the place was open until 2am, so we headed up! We walked into the bar area of the most adorable old-timey scene I've ever seen. There were about 3 older people at the bar watching TVs showing ESPN and Three's Company. The man behind the counter greeted us with a fantastic Chicago accent and asked if we would like to bowl. We told him yes and he gave us some worn-out bowling shoes, turned on lane number 12 (that's right, they had to turn the lane because there were only about 6 other people there, so no sense wasting electricity), and handed us the paper and pencil for scoring (no electronic scoring here!). We played 2 games, which I ended up wining by about 11 points total. Here are a couple photos of the lanes:
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| From Drop Box |
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| From Drop Box |
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| From Drop Box |
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| From Drop Box |
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| From Drop Box |
After the games, we headed back to Hilary's and went to bed. We actually went back to the lanes on Sunday before our flight back to New York, which is actually when the above photos were taken. We were the ONLY people there that time. And, for the record, Taylor beat me by about 20 points total.
Friday morning, I did some work before we went to get lunch with Tracy and Scott, Rachel's (our Goddaughter) parents and good friends and Tracy's mom and dad (Grandma and Grandpa). It turned out the restaurant was right next to Oprah:
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| From Drop Box |
and then I snapped this adorable photo of Rachel before we went out separate ways.
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| From Drop Box |
We spent Friday afternoon relaxing before heading to the official "Bulls Bar" to watch the Bulls game. It was really fun, the Bulls won, and we got to see the Luv a Bulls, the Bulls cheerleaders (one of which, of course, was named Carissa). After the game, Tracy and Scott - free of Rachel thanks to grandparent babysitters - came to pick us up and we all went out for dessert at a delicious little spot called Hot Chocolate.
Ok, these 2 days have taken a while to recap, so I'm going to break here and I'll finish the rest tomorrow. Stay tuned!
Thursday, May 05, 2011
My latest (and most ridiculous) endeavor
I am fortunate enough to work in the heart of New York City, right next to Madison Square Park, Union Square, and the Flatiron Building, where this photo was taken:
Last week, they erected a 40 foot tall statue of a boys elongated face in the middle of Madison Square Park. The statue's name is Echo.
Having recently acquired (via the Amazon App Store's daily free App, which I highly recommend for Android!) a photo-shop type tool for my phone called PicSay, I obviously could not resist the urge to get creative with Echo with the following result. Enjoy!
Monday, May 02, 2011
Push Ups for America!
Just a quick update, I am officially up to 3 consecutive push-ups! I just heard the news about Osama Bin Laden and almost busted out 4, but alas, my weak core muscles can overcome even extreme adrenaline.
We traveled to Boston this weekend and I'll blog about that this week, but just wanted to provide an update!!
GO U.S.A.!!!
We traveled to Boston this weekend and I'll blog about that this week, but just wanted to provide an update!!
GO U.S.A.!!!
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Still working hard!
It's been 2 weeks since my last post and I owe you an update. Unfortunately, I haven't checked another one off my list, but I have been working hard on my list. Here are the 2 that I'm inching toward now:
Read the top ten novels on a list (thinking this one)
I decided to start at the top and read To Kill a Mockingbird first. I had read the book in high school, but had very little recollection of it. It's a relatively short read and in my opinion a little disjointed, but overall a great book with some really great themes.
Next, I read Pride and Prejudice. I really enjoyed this book. Jane Austen's writing style was so different from anything else I have ever read, that it definitely took some getting used to, but it's very readable and I really enjoyed the story. I also loved learning about the characters I knew by name but didn't really know because I hadn't read the book. Heck, our friends Kim and Will named their dog Darcy after Mr. Darcy!
be able to do 10 push-ups
My whole life, I've had really poor upper body strength. I've always managed to keep my abs somewhat strong and have run several marathons and therefore have decent leg strength, but my arms have always been really weak. When I was making my list, I figured I should include something that would force me to work on my upper body strength. I started out by seeing how many push-ups I could do. The answer is: zero. That's right, I could do zero push-ups when I put this item on my list.
A few weeks ago, Taylor and I finally caved and bought a membership to the New York Sports Club gym on our block. Because this is New York, real estate is ridiculous, so gym memberships are $80/month PER PERSON.
For the past few weeks, I've been doing lots of arm, back and chest exercises, mostly on my own, but I've only managed to increase my push-up count to a whopping 1. :(
So, this past week a trainer at the gym approached me and asked me if I had had my "free assessment" since joining the gym. Basically, they offer you a free session with a trainer in hopes of getting you hooked and paying for sessions every week. I figured it couldn't hurt to take him up on his offer, so Saturday morning I met with Jamar at 11am.
The session was good. He determined, much like I had self-diagnosed, that my abs and legs are in decent shape, but my core and my upper body really need work. He took me through probably 20 different exercises targeting my arms and core. I think I did pretty well and I have to admit that it was nice to have someone to push you, but boy did I ache when I woke up this morning!!!
Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be using Jamar's services. At $94 for a 1-hour session (they recommend 2 sessions/week, of course), it's a little steep. I did however learn some good tips and tricks for strengthening what I need to do be able to do pushups. Now if only I could get my count up to 2...
Read the top ten novels on a list (thinking this one)
I decided to start at the top and read To Kill a Mockingbird first. I had read the book in high school, but had very little recollection of it. It's a relatively short read and in my opinion a little disjointed, but overall a great book with some really great themes.
Next, I read Pride and Prejudice. I really enjoyed this book. Jane Austen's writing style was so different from anything else I have ever read, that it definitely took some getting used to, but it's very readable and I really enjoyed the story. I also loved learning about the characters I knew by name but didn't really know because I hadn't read the book. Heck, our friends Kim and Will named their dog Darcy after Mr. Darcy!
be able to do 10 push-ups
My whole life, I've had really poor upper body strength. I've always managed to keep my abs somewhat strong and have run several marathons and therefore have decent leg strength, but my arms have always been really weak. When I was making my list, I figured I should include something that would force me to work on my upper body strength. I started out by seeing how many push-ups I could do. The answer is: zero. That's right, I could do zero push-ups when I put this item on my list.
A few weeks ago, Taylor and I finally caved and bought a membership to the New York Sports Club gym on our block. Because this is New York, real estate is ridiculous, so gym memberships are $80/month PER PERSON.
For the past few weeks, I've been doing lots of arm, back and chest exercises, mostly on my own, but I've only managed to increase my push-up count to a whopping 1. :(
So, this past week a trainer at the gym approached me and asked me if I had had my "free assessment" since joining the gym. Basically, they offer you a free session with a trainer in hopes of getting you hooked and paying for sessions every week. I figured it couldn't hurt to take him up on his offer, so Saturday morning I met with Jamar at 11am.
The session was good. He determined, much like I had self-diagnosed, that my abs and legs are in decent shape, but my core and my upper body really need work. He took me through probably 20 different exercises targeting my arms and core. I think I did pretty well and I have to admit that it was nice to have someone to push you, but boy did I ache when I woke up this morning!!!
Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be using Jamar's services. At $94 for a 1-hour session (they recommend 2 sessions/week, of course), it's a little steep. I did however learn some good tips and tricks for strengthening what I need to do be able to do pushups. Now if only I could get my count up to 2...
Sunday, April 03, 2011
Mom and T come to NYC!!
In what my mom and I figured out was mom's 9th trip to New York City since I moved here in July 2006 (it was Taryn's 4th, still a respectable number!), my mom and sister and I had a great weekend in New York City last weekend, despite chilly temperatures and windy conditions.
They arrived on Thursday morning at 9am, and I waited for them at our apartment so that I could let them in. They had to get up at 4:45am to make their flight from Detroit, so mom and T were pretty tired by the time they got here. I left right away for work, and they spent the day wandering around the Upper East Side and taking a much-needed nap.
Thursday night Taylor and I met them at Blockhead's Burritos after work for our classic 2-margarita dinner. Mom and Taylor look like they are having a little more fun, what do you think??
Thursday night we had a blast after 2 margaritas (like it's hard!). We headed back to our apartment, watched music videos, played some skip-bo, and had a good old time!
On Friday, I took the day off work to spend time with mom and T.
We started out with pedicures, the one thing that's cheaper in New York than it is everywhere else:
After pedis, we headed downtown to the meatpacking district. We checked out The High Line, a former elevated roadway that's been converted into a really great park. Here's a photo of mom and T in this one area where you are actually over the roadway:
Despite the pretty weather, it was COLD!
Then, we headed to The House of Bumble, the headquarters of a company whose hair products Taryn's salon in Perrysburg carries. They have this amazing space with a delicious little cafe where we got lunch and a great view of the city. Here are some shots!
The Salon space:
The view of the Hudson River:
After the House of Bumble, we headed to Soho where we got a little chocolate fix at Marie Belle, a beautiful little chocolate shop with $2.50, 1" X 1" chocolates. They are screen-printed with artwork made by the husband of the shop's owner. Check it out:
After shopping for a little while in Soho, we headed home for a nap and to get ready for an exciting evening!
Friday night, we went out to dinner at a restaurant called ONieals, which is famous for being the place where they filmed (ie. "playing") the bar Scout in Sex and the City. The meal was fantastic and we had some really great servers (from Ohio of course) too! Here's a great shot of the three of us at dinner:
After dinner, we had some top secret plans that I had been keeping a surprise. I had given them some hints, but even as we approached the entrance to this famed NYC spot, they still didn't get where we were, not that I blame them!
From the outside, it looks like a hot dog shop called "Eat Me"
Even from the inside, that's exactly what it looks like!
But then you notice that there's a phone booth in the corner. And when you pick it up, the hostess of a bar is on the other line.
And if you have a reservation...that white door behind you opens and...you can walk through into the bar!
They bar on the other side is this really tiny, fancy looking bar, with $15 (yes, that's 1-5 DOLLARS, as in a ten and a five...) drinks with ingredients we've never heard of. The bar is called "Please Don't Tell (PDT for short)" and is a play on the 1920's speakeasy.
We had a great time! After a couple drinks at PDT, we stopped by another New York institution, Artichoke Pizza, for a slice of their famous spinach and artichoke pizza (it's basically like the dip on a slice of pizza, delicious!) before heading home.
Mom liked the pizza...
Whew! We were busy, in case you can't tell! On to Saturday!!
On Saturday, we slept in a bit, had brunch at 11:30, and then went to Chinatown. I didn't take many photos in Chinatown on account of the fact that it's so crowded that if you stop walking to take a photo, you get run over! So...suffice to say there were lots of Chinese people, tourists, and fake purses in Chinatown. My mom got a pair of earmuffs, Taryn got a purse, and I got one of my favorite NYC treats, a Tara Bubble Tea from the Thai bakery on Canal street. YUM.
After Chinatown, we did some shopping, checked out the South Street Seaport, and then stopped by a really cute little wine bar called Bin 220 for a glass (ok 2) of wine. Here's a photo of us there:
They had the best Sangria I have had in the city, highly recommend it! After some wine, we walked (stumbled?) across the Brooklyn Bridge to Grimaldi's Pizza, a famous pizza place in Brooklyn. In all of their trips to New York, mom and T had never been on the Brooklyn Bridge!!
We ended up having to wait about an hour in line for pizza, but it was worth it (after the fact):
YUM! After dinner, we headed back to our apartment, grabbing some wine and Crumbs cupcakes along the way. We spent the rest of the night drinking wine, playing games, and eating cupcakes. The next morning, mom and T left bright and early to make it back to Toledo. I miss them already, but we had a great weekend!!
They arrived on Thursday morning at 9am, and I waited for them at our apartment so that I could let them in. They had to get up at 4:45am to make their flight from Detroit, so mom and T were pretty tired by the time they got here. I left right away for work, and they spent the day wandering around the Upper East Side and taking a much-needed nap.
Thursday night Taylor and I met them at Blockhead's Burritos after work for our classic 2-margarita dinner. Mom and Taylor look like they are having a little more fun, what do you think??
Thursday night we had a blast after 2 margaritas (like it's hard!). We headed back to our apartment, watched music videos, played some skip-bo, and had a good old time!On Friday, I took the day off work to spend time with mom and T.
We started out with pedicures, the one thing that's cheaper in New York than it is everywhere else:
After pedis, we headed downtown to the meatpacking district. We checked out The High Line, a former elevated roadway that's been converted into a really great park. Here's a photo of mom and T in this one area where you are actually over the roadway: |
| From Mom and Taryn come to NYC 2011 |
Despite the pretty weather, it was COLD!
Then, we headed to The House of Bumble, the headquarters of a company whose hair products Taryn's salon in Perrysburg carries. They have this amazing space with a delicious little cafe where we got lunch and a great view of the city. Here are some shots!
The Salon space:
 |
| From Mom and Taryn come to NYC 2011 |
The view of the Hudson River:
 |
| From Mom and Taryn come to NYC 2011 |
 |
| From Mom and Taryn come to NYC 2011 |
After shopping for a little while in Soho, we headed home for a nap and to get ready for an exciting evening!
Friday night, we went out to dinner at a restaurant called ONieals, which is famous for being the place where they filmed (ie. "playing") the bar Scout in Sex and the City. The meal was fantastic and we had some really great servers (from Ohio of course) too! Here's a great shot of the three of us at dinner:
 |
| From Mom and Taryn come to NYC 2011 |
After dinner, we had some top secret plans that I had been keeping a surprise. I had given them some hints, but even as we approached the entrance to this famed NYC spot, they still didn't get where we were, not that I blame them!
From the outside, it looks like a hot dog shop called "Eat Me"
 |
| From Mom and Taryn come to NYC 2011 |
Even from the inside, that's exactly what it looks like!
 |
| From Mom and Taryn come to NYC 2011 |
But then you notice that there's a phone booth in the corner. And when you pick it up, the hostess of a bar is on the other line.
 |
| From Mom and Taryn come to NYC 2011 |
And if you have a reservation...that white door behind you opens and...you can walk through into the bar!
 |
| From Mom and Taryn come to NYC 2011 |
We had a great time! After a couple drinks at PDT, we stopped by another New York institution, Artichoke Pizza, for a slice of their famous spinach and artichoke pizza (it's basically like the dip on a slice of pizza, delicious!) before heading home. |
| From Mom and Taryn come to NYC 2011 |
Mom liked the pizza...
Whew! We were busy, in case you can't tell! On to Saturday!!
On Saturday, we slept in a bit, had brunch at 11:30, and then went to Chinatown. I didn't take many photos in Chinatown on account of the fact that it's so crowded that if you stop walking to take a photo, you get run over! So...suffice to say there were lots of Chinese people, tourists, and fake purses in Chinatown. My mom got a pair of earmuffs, Taryn got a purse, and I got one of my favorite NYC treats, a Tara Bubble Tea from the Thai bakery on Canal street. YUM.
After Chinatown, we did some shopping, checked out the South Street Seaport, and then stopped by a really cute little wine bar called Bin 220 for a glass (ok 2) of wine. Here's a photo of us there:
They had the best Sangria I have had in the city, highly recommend it! After some wine, we walked (stumbled?) across the Brooklyn Bridge to Grimaldi's Pizza, a famous pizza place in Brooklyn. In all of their trips to New York, mom and T had never been on the Brooklyn Bridge!!
 |
| From Mom and Taryn come to NYC 2011 |
 |
| From Mom and Taryn come to NYC 2011 |
We ended up having to wait about an hour in line for pizza, but it was worth it (after the fact):
YUM! After dinner, we headed back to our apartment, grabbing some wine and Crumbs cupcakes along the way. We spent the rest of the night drinking wine, playing games, and eating cupcakes. The next morning, mom and T left bright and early to make it back to Toledo. I miss them already, but we had a great weekend!!
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