NYC Day 2

Day 2 Began at 9 am. We got to sleep in. I dont think either of us wanted to get out of bed. We spent the night at Jason's mom's place in Creskill, NJ only 20 minutes from the city.

She prepared a FEAST of food. I am not sure how I missed a photo of it but it was a Jewish girl/guy's dream. It was a true combo of my mom and mother in law and their breakfasts. Yum.

Our bellies were full and we headed into the city for a BUSY day.

We split up guys and girls so that we could all do what we wanted to do.

Girls shop. Guys drink beer and drink more beer.

The guys took our brand new video camera and captur

ed some of their ridiculousness which as you can imagine had to be heavily edited.

while we went shopping and set off fraud protection on our credit cards...which then triggered a call to the guys cells phones...even better, busted!

Naomi and I sitting in a bus stop...even though we never took the bus. Ha!

Radio City Music Hall

We stopped a Bloomingdales and snagged some cute shoes, pictured below and then headed to Bergdorf Goodman's for a delicious salad lunch.

Around 5 PM we met up with the boys in China Town.

They were a sight to be seen after spending all afternoon at different brewery's and bars throughout the city.

We headed to Brooklyn via the subway for dinner at Peter Luger's.

The menu consists of steak, steak and more steak.

You order steak.

Period.

We ordered Steak for 6.

One plate was medium rare, the other medium.

In addition we ordered hashbrowns, steamed broccoli, creamed spinach and a baked potato.

Philip and Jeff got WAY TOO INTO THE STEAK

They were literally drooling over it.

I refuse to post the video.

Then the server's came out and sang happy birthday.

Jeff turned 30 the day after our we returned from the trip and I had turned 30 earlier in the week...lots of celebrating!

They brought out a bowl of their famous whipped cream...called Shlag.

We also ordered a ice cream fudge sundae that was amazing and we all dug in and shared.

and then things started to get gross...

After dinner we rolled ourselves out of the restaurant and headed back into the city to Time Square where we went to see JB Smoove from Curb Your Enthusiasm at Caroline's Comedy Club.

It was below average. Too much cursing and not enough funny. Oh well!

We were exhausted after the show and decided to head back to Creskill for a good nights rest before Day 3. We didn't get to bed till 1 am which is way past our bed time! What an awesome day with friends in the BIG APPLE!

Shabbat Shalom!

I only have eyes for you...

NYC Day 1

April 1, 2011 we boarded a plane at 6 AM to head to NYC!

We had plans to meet up with friends later that day for the weekend, but we decided to go up early to celebrate our 5 year anniversary and visit with some family.

Philip has never really had an opportunity to experience NYC as a tourist so we decided to tackle "NYC in One Day" revised.

We arrived at the Laguardia airport at 7 am. We headed to my cousins apartment to drop off our luggage with her doorman (so we didnt have to shlep it all over the city)

We bundled up (it was raining, snowing and windy and in the 30's).

We ended up running into my cousin on the street and said a quick hello and went on our merry way.

We were headed to Rockefellar center!

Rockefellar center had the tinniest most narrow escalator!

And Philip looked so darn cute I couldn't resist!

The ice skating rink at Rockefellar Center was still being used in April!

The full view of Rockfellar!

Even though it was freezing the flowers were already in bloom at Rockefellar

The timing was just right for us to catch the taping of The Today show with Kathie Lee and Hoda! We even got on TV several times! Amanda and Asher were at home watching us!

Our next stop was Ground Zero and the National Hall Museum

It is amazing to see the rebuild at Ground Zero.

How can you not love that hat...hahaah?!?

We stopped at the Federal Hall National Memorial

We got to see the stone that George Washington took oath on!

And touch the railing that he held on to during his address

Philip was in history heaven.

It's important to note that we got lost and turned around several times trying to get to this memorial. At one point we walked in a complete circle. I was less than impressed since it was cold and raining, but we laughed together!

We had scheduled to meet my Aunty Betsy at the Russian Tea Room for lunch.

I had not seen her in what felt like forever so this was a special treat for us all.

The Russian Tea Room is a sight to be seen. It is the most gaudy place I have been to in a long time, but well worth the visit!

Aunt Boots and Philip started off the meal with a flight of Vodka Shots!

The menu was full of Russian Delights so we all decided to try something new.

Philip ate Borscht and actually liked it.

He had never even eaten beets before!

I had a wild mushroom and goat cheese crepe. It was delicious!

Did I mention the place was Gaudy?

They sold the little Russian Dolls in the "gift shop"

Loving on my Aunt Boots.

I wish she lived closer to us!

The Russian Team Room is known for this tree...

You have to have someone escort you up to the "ballroom" to see it and they only turn on a spotlight for you. Weird huh? The eggs that dangle from the tree branches are worth 20k-40k EACH! Yes you read that right!?!?!?

They are also known for this Bear.

Inside the Bear is a fish tank full of goldfish.

Again.. no light, just a spotlight.

So weird.

and YES that is Philip punching the bear in the crotch!?!?!

After we said goodbye to my Aunt Betsy we headed out into the rain and on a walk through Central Park. If you have ever been to Central Park you know that the squirrels come eerily close to you. I was inches away from this squirrel. Crazy creatures!

We caught another couple taking photos of themselves in Central Park with this view so we offered to photograph them together in exchange for our very own photo together.

Our first photo together on our 5th Anniversary!

Our walk through Central Park was intentional. We were going to the Metropolitian Museum of Art. After a lovely hike we arrived at our destination...I am not sure at this point I realized how much MORE walking we would be doing at the museum. It was HUGE!

We made it through approximately 1/2 of the exhibits. I ended up finding a cozy bench in the middle of several sculptures where I stretched my aching hip and propped up my sore feet.

Im pretty sure we walked well over 10 miles by this point.

Did I mention that Philip was in HEAVEN?

After we finished up at the museum we headed back to my cousins so we could spend some time with the kids before bed time and rest our feetsies.

We got to kiss this sweet face..

and play with this big boy...

(that is my cousin Robin...not me)

Our Cousin Amy who also lives in the City came in to visit while we were there!

I cant stand her cuteness. She is such a little city girl.

Jordana stands in front of the window looking out into the city!

Spencer made me about 10 ice cream cones.

Make believe of course!

Around 8 pm our buddy Jason arrived and his mom came by and scooped us all up in her car.

Off to Cresskill NJ we went for Chinese food and a weekend full of friends and lots of laughter....

Swimming #1 - FAIL

1, 2, 3 Weeeee

Us. 3. You + Me = He.

I can't even begin to tell you how challenging it was to get a photo of the three of us that was remotely decent and one that we were semi smiling.

It was VERY windy...and cold.

You would think by our outfits it was warm...but indeed it was not.

My toes were FREEZING.

Amanda had to wake Asher from his marathon nap to meet up with us.

He despises being woken up.

He was a grump!

However, we cherish this photo and our family of 3.

Photo of MY Day

If Asher had it his way, he would be holding our hands every day, every step of the way!

A World of a Difference

I received this email from my boss today:

I wanted you to know that I am very proud about the advances that you make every day and the way that you handle yourself professionally. I can see many good things happening within your responsibility and I would ask that you keep it up because I think it will pay off in a positive way! Thank you for your hard work and clear direction you provide.

Nice job!!!!!

----------------
What a world of a difference from one year ago, where I had not received a compliment of this nature or thank you EVER in my 3 years of employment.

Although I am traveling A LOT. I am still thoroughly loving and enjoying every day at my job. It is amazing to feel needed, wanted and respected by my employer.
Another awesome part of my job is that anytime I am traveling for work... I am working. As in ON THE CLOCK! Even if that means taking the red eye home and working an 18 hour day. All of those hours accumulate and I can either get paid on them in that pay period, a later pay period or bank them to use as flex time at a later point. How awesome is that?

Since I started I have been to:
Raleigh, Nashville, Knoxville, Richmond, Hampton Roads, Virginia Beach, Columbia, SC, Atlanta, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, Jacksonville, Denver, and California x2...with plans of 2 California trips in the next 2 months

Got to love the USAIRWAYS miles :)

Five Year Anniversary!

Happy 5th Anniversary to US!

We traveled to NYC for a 4 day couples weekend and

we will be heading to Europe later this year to celebrate some more....

pictures to come...

(photo credit to: Bamboo Studios)...
more photos of that too follow too!