3 Years to 30

Seth celebrated his 27th birthday yesterday. Our morning was spent sleeping, as well as the beginning of our afternoon, as a result from being out late the previous evening. Friday, after shopping in Union Square for Seth's birthday present (clothes), we headed to Westchester to have dinner and play games with my teaching partner and her boyfriend. The evening was great fun. It makes me wish we didn't live so far away. :)

After we were finally up and around, Seth spent a while on the phone, getting all the birthday wishes from the family. While he did this, I made him a chocolate and peanut butter chip cookie cake, which we'll be enjoying for the next few days. (The recipe was good, but not quite what we both wanted. Anyone have a good cookie cake recipe? It would make S Very happy!)

Dinner was at Seth's Favorite restaurant, Ginza (Japanese Hibachi), eating one of his favorite things, fried rice. After dinner, we trekked up to the movie theater, only to find the movie we planned to see sold out. Our change of plans didn't sound exciting to Bric, so he dodged out, as we put on our 3-D glasses and headed in to see Bolt. :) The movie was a 3-D watching first for both Seth and I, and despite being completely surrounded by people under 10, we both enjoyed ourselves!

In Love

... with my husband and These Flowers! I have let a few weeks' flowers wilt away without a picture, including the Beautiful Red Roses he got me a couple weeks ago. :( These white flowers were wonderful though. I wished I'd known these flowers before our wedding, because they would have been a perfect fit. Beautiful, white, and fragrant. Speaking of our wedding, today marks 5 months of marriage :)

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Thanksgiving morning at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Although Seth didn't really know much about what the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was all about, he agreed to wake up early and head to the city for our Thanksgiving Day morning. I remember spending many Thanksgiving mornings watching bits and pieces of the parade on TV before we'd head to spend lunch and the afternoon with the family. My mom would have it on, and we'd see the large balloons as they floated between the skyscrapers. We'd see all the people crowded on the sides of the streets in the cold November morning. The marching bands would be performing and dancers dancing.

We showed up after the parade had started to a very crowded parade route. I was happy with a back row seat, because all I really wanted to see were the giant balloon characters as they floated by. We were there for about an hour, crowded on the street at the corner of 52nd and Broadway, edging our way up as close as possible. Seth mentioned wanting to go earlier next time so we could attempt to stake out some better spots. I'd be all about it!

Enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday. Seth and I are on our way to Bric's to finish preparing our feast and to enjoy the afternoon and evening eating, watching movies, sipping on cider and wine, and maybe playing a few games.

As we came above ground, we could hear the marching band music. This was the first balloon that we saw. It was exciting, I was finally seeing the Real thing!

SpongeBob Balloon

Sesame Street

Ronald McDonald's balloon was huge.

Rock Climbers, check out the ones hanging upside down.

It keeps going and going and going.

Dora the Explorer. One child near us informed his mother that he was closing his eyes for this one because he did not like Dora!

To infinity and beyond! I loved the Buzz balloon... so did all the children around us as they were perched on their parents' shoulders oooing and ahhing.!!!

Hello Kitty

Pink Castle

Pirate ship - We thought of our nephew on this one! He would have loved it!

Pirate Balloon

Kermit the Frog was the last balloon we saw. Seth was slowly convincing me to walk further away from the parade and head home. He thought he had me out, but I demanded that we wait for just one more! I'm so happy we did. Kermit was a classic I was waiting for!

First Pies

I made my first pies all by myself tonight! They weren't completely from scratch, one apple pie and one blueberry. I got a little help with the crust. I'm not sure how successful they are in the taste area, but we'll know tomorrow when we enjoy our Thanksgiving feast.

I have to say, I've been very excited for Thanksgiving. We are keeping it "low key" and staying in Brooklyn. (Minus our trip to the city to see the parade!!!) Although it will only be 3 for the feast (going to Bric's), we are going all out... Ham (no turkey, not ready for that step - plus I'm not a big fan of turkey meat), stuffing, green bean casserole (a must for the husband), yams, mashed potatoes, rolls, cranberries, apply cider, wine, pies, cream corn. It will be the first time I've ever done much for Thanksgiving dinner... so far it's been fun, and because I spent time preparing for tomorrow, we only have a few more things to do before our feast tomorrow afternoon. :)

Blue Lights in Central Park

From the Roof

Another picture from the weekend. This is a view from our roof looking Northeast. I Love Park Slope.

A Wonderful Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend. Nothing too spectacular happened. Mostly just hung out. It was nice to hang out with Stephanie, not once, but twice :) I hope she loves Brooklyn a little more, but I think our next hang out is too be in her new neighborhood on the Lower East Side. We also caught up with another friend and enjoyed our roof for a while, until the wind picked up and the rain started coming down. The rest of our lazy Saturday afternoon was spent chilling inside, until our friends headed off to the City and Seth and I settled in with our delivered pizza and multiple episodes of The Shield. (Onto Season 4 now. Love it and recommend it to anyone!)

My favorite part of the weekend was hanging out with my husband. We lounged around all day Sunday, ate leftovers and snacked on the too-sweet brownies I made (overloaded with chocolate and caramel)... In the evening, we met Bric for a movie at the theater. Our walk home was filled with a discussion about our Thanksgiving plans, a holiday that I am insanely excited for this year... Our plans include the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (despite Bric's mentioning of X-ing that out... It's set!) and a feast at Bric's (that is, if he gets his oven hooked up and working... Don't worry, we do have a backup plan... just in case...) I do need to call the Mothers and get some tips for preparing and planning for the feast. I might also need some recipes. :)

Broken Window

Our window has been broken for quite a while. Over a month. I've talked to the landlord about it 2 times and the super about it 2 times. The parts were ordered... blah blah blah. Yet, the stupid thing is still falling open and cold air is welcoming it's way right in. We had it rigged to stay closed... a string holding it shut from the top and pieces of cardboard shoved in the sides. It wasn't enough today. The thing keeps falling open with the wind gusts... falling almost on our TV. When I called the super (the 5th phone call I've made at this point), he actually answered. He said, O I just got the pieces and I should be around this... (week... not soon enough) I cut him off and told him it needed to be fixed today. What are we supposed to do? The window isn't staying closed... wouldn't be a big deal if it were summer... but it's 45 degrees out, and I'm not going to just leave my window hanging open. You'd think we paid nothing for rent for the quality of service we get around here. We wish we paid nothing.

13 for Brunch

I spend my weekdays looking forward to Saturday brunch. Usually it's a small get-together and almost always takes place at a French place a couple corners down, A.O.C. Bistro. They have the best french toast (as I'm sure I've mentioned before). Today, it was quite an event... 13 in all. Here's part of our group (minus V and me) getting ready to disperse after 2 hours of chatting, laughing, french toast eating, coffee drinking brunch fun. :)

NY Times: Iraq War Ends

Check out the Times that went out today. Turns out it was a big hoax... but a brilliant one. Wonder if any of this news predicted and dreamed about will come true by the July 4, 2009 date? Here's a response from the Real NY Times concerning this hoax paper and website.

Find a Phone, Call Me

Water on the Keyboard

Sadly, but not surprisingly, I'm suffering from a cold. Unfortunately it kept me up two hours later last night. It also drives Seth crazy, as he continues to tell me I have the most Annoying cough in the World (wonder if I can get a spot in the world records for that?). After a coughing attack late last night, my loving husband grabbed a glass of water for me. It ended up being set right in front of my computer keyboard, on the desk full of papers and other random items of importance.

As the early morning alarm started ringing and reminding me of another day to come, I stumbled down the ladder of our bunk to shut the alarm off... yet on the way, I knocked over the half full glass of water, right onto my keyboard, camera, phone, and papers. Lovely. I'm sure just as lovely for my husband who was woken by my cries of "joy". But as you can tell, my keyboard dried during the day and is in working condition tonight. :)

If you have the chance and haven't seen the clips about Extreme Makeover hanging out in the town of my high school alma mater, you should check it out. My heart and thoughts have been with Chapman for the last months, especially with the teachers... I cannot believe or imagine what they have done and gone through to provide the students of the Chapman School District with the education they deserve, despite the devastation that wrecked the town in the middle of June (tornado for all those who don't know). Unfortunately, my distance has kept me from doing anything to help, other than send encouraging words and thoughts their way. When I was on the site, the clips were on the upper right hand side. Can't wait to see this air... I can't believe they are there helping that amazing town.

Stairway in Sleepy Hollow

My Day Off

Seth told me about how he and his brother agreed it was unfair that I get the day off today for Veteran's Day. I would gladly trade them jobs and show them that, indeed, it is not unfair. I needed this day off. Days off are what keeps teachers from losing their minds. 

I slept in this morning - instead of getting up between 5 and 5:30 a.m. I was up at 7:30 a.m. :) Still early, but it sure makes a difference! I walked Seth to work and enjoyed a nice warm cup of coffee at the Lyceum before he jumped on the subway. He suggested we go to the Bagel shop, but I refused. That is the only place I can go on normal work days because no other places are open. Although their coffee is delicious, it has a strong kick of energy that I was trying to avoid on my relaxing day off. 

Just before lunch I headed into Union Square to do some shopping and see if I could find Seth some jeans. Poor guy runs out of clean clothes so fast these days! For his birthday, I've agreed to help replenish his wardrobe. (I'm also trying to get rid of his ugly t-shirts... the ones he wore all through college and should have left behind!) 

Lunch was nice, Thai food instead of my normal peanut butter and honey sandwich or left overs. Bric joined us. We discussed some of our Thanksgiving plans, which are still not set because someone (Bric) doesn't have their oven hooked up yet. Just over two weeks away, and I cannot wait. I'm looking forward to the Thanksgiving Day parade (if we can all convince ourselves to crawl out of bed early and head out into the cold), our feast, and the long weekend with my husband. 

Central Park in the Fall

On Sunday, Seth and I finally made it to Central Park to see the fall. It was a crisp fall day as we entered the park and bought a (horrible) coffee and hot chocolate to warm our hands. Despite our not-so-satisfying drinks, the park filled us with the satisfaction we were looking for. The trees were beautiful and the park was calming and relaxing. It reminded me how lucky I am to be living in New York City, despite how unhappy I feel about my job.

Love the Bethesda Fountain. I cannot help but stop every time I'm in Central Park. We only meant to take a quick look and move on, but of course, we lingered for a while, took pictures, and enjoyed an awesome street performance. 

Seth gets credit for this picture. It's one of the flowers spotting the water in the fountain. 

I love what the fall colors do to the backdrop of the fountain. Unfortunately the trees along my favorite walkway, the Mall, have already lost their leaves. It was not as pretty as the Bethesda Fountain and Terrace. 

Our last stop before we headed for the subway was Strawberry Fields. Our ears were treated to a sweet surprise of music by the Beatles. I always love walking through Strawberry Fields. It's a peaceful place and the music added to my enjoyment. We wished we could have stayed longer, but the weather was cooling down and the sky was growing dark. 

Can't wait to see Central Park in the snow. I've seen it in the Dead of the winter, but this year, I want to see it with a fresh blanket of snow. Wonder how much convincing I'll have to do to get Seth out in the cold in the middle of winter. :)

Tall Trees

People Watching Watching People

I have a favorite path through Central Park. My trips there always include the Mall and the fountain at the end. On the weekends, I've had the chance to watch bits and pieces of this hilarious street performance that takes place at the bottom of the west stairway leading to the fountain. Even though today was my third time of seeing it, Seth and I still stopped and watched the end of it. This was my view as I headed into the crowd to find a spot for the show.

Bethesda Fountain

President Obama

Some Park Sloper must be excited about our new President-Elect. Whoever it is climbed the pole and added a tag to the street name! :)

Rescue Me

When I came above ground from the subway on Friday, the streets were lined with trailers and other large vehicles for filming... The lady at the coffee shop told me they were filming Rescue Me down the street. For those of you who watch TV know it's a television drama dealing with fire fighters... Crazy to have filmings taking place in my neighborhood. I should have walked back and taken a look around, but I was on my way to get some health insurance paperwork faxed at Staples (paperwork that the school should have faxed, but I was not in the mood to be treated like crap by the school secretaries).

Wall of Moss

From our trip North of the city - Sleepy Hollow... wish I were wondering the cemetery now.

I am a Human Pillow... Again

I'm wondering how I could let this happen again! Sleeping Creepster somehow ended up sitting next to me for a second evening commute home again! The post about the first time is here. As he was falling on me and crowding me into the window, I began jabbing my elbow into him enough to make him realize he should Stop. At one of the stops, he comes to enough to turn his body so he's sitting sideways on the seat and leaning against the back of the seat rather than me. Good Plan, I think to myself... until he starts leaning back on me. I can't even believe he slept through my elbow jabs... the ones jabbing right into his back... but he did... This Sleeping Creepster kept falling further and further back, pushing me closer and closer to the window and closer to claustrophobia.

I'm watching for this guy from now on, and I will make sure Not to let him sit by me. He really pissed me off today, especially when I was trying to get out of the corner to get off at my stop. He pissed me off enough that I had to pull out the "F*ing people" comment under my breath as I yanked myself out from where I was lodged. That's a first... I guess maybe NY is rubbing off on me. (Sorry for the language readers, but that's how much he pissed me off today.)

Flea Market

Love Flea Markets. I stopped by the local one a few avenues up this last weekend. Thought this was an interesting thing to have sitting out. I didn't touch it, nor would I touch the towels under it. I would expect to see something like this back home, not in a flea market in the middle of Brooklyn.

The Clothes Line I Wish I Had

Subway Rider

I love the subways (most of the time). They sometimes have a mind of their own, like the other day when the D turned to an F... and became Very slow. Or... when 3 B's came before the D decided to show up. They provide me with many opportunities though... like time to grade papers, which I can do for the whole hour commute I have from between home and work. Or the opportunity to see some great dancers... like today, when I saw some of the best "subway performers" I've seen to date. (Involving a young child with major talent)... I even donated money (granted it was less than a dollar), but I have made it a point to only donate to the ones that are the Best. Subways also provide me with an opportunity to completely space out. I turn up my iPod music and will disappear from this world, only existing in my mind with No clue of what is going on in the outside world. I also love subways because I get the opportunity to people watch. Sometimes I'll be the only people watcher on the subway... Other times, I share the space with other wondering eyes, trying not to make that awkward eye contact with my fellow watcher.

The other thing I've noticed and started enjoying about my morning commute is meeting up with the people I commute with, the regulars who hit up the subway at the same time as I do. I see them almost daily, but I don't know them. I won't know them. They just join me as we jump on the train and head to the city for yet another work day. They join me in peering out the window as the sun starts to wake up the city and reflects the beautiful morning colors across the windows of the skyscrapers in downtown Manhattan. Ahh, yes, I do love the subway, especially the one that crosses over the Manhattan Bridge.

Expressing Feelings

Check out the sign on the left side of the building...

Water for the Runners

One more shot from the weekend Marathon. The street was lined with tables full of water and Gatorade. Are we surprised it's Poland Spring Water?