Today we went into the city for a Rangers-Dallas game. We had great seats--center ice. It was my first NHL game and I had a blast! The rangers lost, but the score was 3-2 so at least we got to see a couple goals (and a fight)!
Before the game we took advantage of the perfect sunny weather (but it was cold) and we wandered around the city. What a great weekend!
Hi Everyone! We hope all of you are having as great of a day as we are! We started ours early by hopping on the train and heading to the city to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was great! Very crowded... apparently much more so than recent Thanksgivings since today the temp was 70 at Parade time! Normally its in the 40's. The weather brought the people out! We walked up to 42nd and cut down to Broadway (the parade route) and then slowly inched our way closer and closer to the front of the crowd snapping pics of the floats and bands and balloons all the way.
It was such a great feeling to be there and to have experienced it in person. As I said, it was crowded, but thats NY and thats what you expect. It couldn't have been a better NY holiday experience!
Tom and I recalled that last year on Thanksgiving we watched the parade on tv with the not the faintest idea that we would attend the very next year. You never know what experiences will come your way!
I posted some of the pics in the Photo's link at the top of the blog.
After the parade we headed home and Diana, yes me, started the Turkey dinner with all the trimmings (I know my close friends and family are picking themselves up from the floor right now after fainting with amazement that I would be cooking) but truth be told... I love preparing Thanksgiving dinner and I finally have a reason to use our double ovens!! Of course this year its just Tom and I... but there is no reason we can't have the full on dinner (with lots of leftovers). :-)
Tom is upgrading the lighting system in the house right now (which he loves) and resting his muscles from spending 8 cramped hours in the engine of the boat yesterday fine tuning things.
We are very thankful for so many things, to be in an area we love, the experiences we are able to partake in, our health, our jobs--and we are also very thankful for all of our family and friends and we are thinking of you especially on this day! :-)
we were excited about snow yesterday... but that wasn't snow! this morning around 4am it started to snow and didn't stop until like 3pm. In total we had about 7". Its begun to melt but unlike Seattle---not because of rain, it just started warming up.
It supposed to be 60 on Thanksgiving!
We didn't think the dogs would take to the snow and we were wrong. They LOVED it. With camera in hand to catch the "must-have" pictures , Tom and I let them outside. After tip toe-ing through for about 25 seconds as if they were on hot coals, they got comfortable and then darted off into the woods. It looked cute.
at first.
but crazy, the snow seemed to affect their ability to hear and they just kept running ignoring my bribes of treats and "lets find daddy" (their favorite thing).
Being from Seattle, I of course had no snow boots and in the time it'd take me to find my waterproof hiking boots I knew the dogs would be long gone--so I had to improvise with the closest thing to me---socks and flipflops. As I was putting them on I knew this was a terrible idea... but what could I do?? No need to elaborate on the details, but the outcome is the dogs are home and Tom had to rub my toes for 6 minutes to get the feeling back in them.
The snow is a very welcome thing for us--especially after finding out that the development here plows the streets, sidewalks, our driveway and walkway going to our front door. Deal!!!
This is early snow for the NY area compared to last year. Last winter the first snowfall didn't come until January.
Have a good short week everyone!!!
Its been snowing all day today and we love it! Nothing sticking too much but I am sure we'll get our share of that later in the season. Many of the trees are still full of their fall color leaves so seeing some snow on them is a nice sight. This picture is from this morning when the snow just had started to fall.
Diana had a nice time in Seattle. Went to a great concert (Ben Harper) got to spend time with many of my friends and family--but there is never enough time. I am not sure when I will be back there. With the holidays approaching probably not until Jan or early Feb.
We are having a nice relaxing weekend getting some indoor projects done and spending a little time at the mall before Black Friday. We have nearly all of our Christmas shopping done! Yay!
**NEW photos have been posted in the Summer Fall album (click photos at top of blog, under our name)
I'm in Seattle again this week for work. After a quick Mexican lunch with my cousins Chad and Ryan yesterday, its been pretty much non-stop work. I am meeting up with some girlfriends tonight and I can't wait!!
Tom is back at home with dog duty and also very busy at work and aside from that... not too much to report. We did spend last Saturday at the boat getting it all scrubbed down and cleaned for winterizing. We can't wait to take it out!
We are looking forward to Thanksgiving--and plan to head to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!!!! (Tom is so great!) With the train its really easy to get there and back. I also am going to cook the big dinner! It will be tough not being with family--this will be the first year--but we are looking forward to some quiet time too.
Before I sign off I have to post these pics of Frank. We took the dogs to the park on Sunday and there was a family of 4 deer just hanging out. Frank and Ollie are not like normal "big" dogs that would notice the deer instantly--in fact, it took them minutes before they realized they were no more than 80 ft from them.
Frank got brave and decided to check things out from a closer distance. The one deer that didn't dart away from Frank's fierce demeanor just sort of stood there looking at him, and then continued chewing on the grass. Frank obviously took that as a sign of disrespect so he went closer and continued his rage! Tom managed to snap a few pics but then we frantically called him away as deer are known to be kickers--and Frank is not the large dog he thinks he is. Ollie just ran back and forth between us and about 50 ft from the deer not sure what to do but bark and be her crazy self. :-)I couldn't stop laughing... it was quite the spectacle.
Last night Tom and I met up with our friends Todd and Kyla who were in NY from Seattle to run the NY Marathon. It was so good to see them. Todd and Diana have worked together for years at T-Mobile and I consider him one of my closest friends. His wife Kyla has become a great friend too--we chatted all night on many topics!
I mentioned in an earlier entry that we were going to eat at a top restaurant in the city--but I didn't know how "top" it was until I investigated it a bit more yesterday. Turns out that this restaurant, Babbo, is a Mario Batali restaurant (famed Chef featured all over the place on the Food Network) and its apparently his "favorite" of the ones he runs and it shows...It was ranked #17 out of the top 50 restaurants in the country for 2006. Pretty swanky! Todd found out that normally you must make reservations a month in advance... so I am not exactly sure how I was able to hook us up a day in advance... :-)
Babbo is in the heart of Greenwich Village which is a very cool area and Tom and I enjoyed our walk from midtown to the restaurant as it was another great fall night--the streets were full of activity.
Dinner was incredible. The setting of the restaurant was intimate--or crowded---depending on your mood elevator that day... but we didn't feel cramped at all.
The service was amazing and the food was Italian eclectic... no spaghetti and meatballs on this menu.
We had some wonderful vintage Italian wine, appetizers (including grilled octopus, loin, pig tongue, beef cheek ravioli and my favorite----mint love letters (pasta in envelope shapes filled with rosemary, lamb and mint). Our main courses were presented in a very artful fashion and Todd even had the chance to "meet and greet" his Branzino before it was prepared...
We were there nearly 4 hours, but the time flew by and when it was time to leave and catch the train--the time spent with them felt far too short. It was definitely a night to add to the "fond memory" category.
With day light savings time ending--- its hitting home that winter is closing in. Christmas is in less than 2 months!! (However here you'd still not really know it---beautiful sunny weekend and up near 60).
We have been keeping busy. Friday after work we headed to the Shore to check on the boat. Hurricane Noel was supposed to hit us and we wanted to make sure our "vacation home" was secured. We grabbed the dogs and piled in the car. It was pretty windy there, but nothing too bad (thank goodness). Tom tied the boat down a bit more and we decided to hang out on the boat for a while. We had dinner and watched a dvd (Babel was the movie and it was excellent. It did get a bit long---and was a bit tragic---but so good. Of course it starred some people that currenly reside in NY that I still have not seen in person... Brad Pitt... but, I digress...)
It was so fun hanging out on the boat and the dogs loved it. They ran from bow to stern again and again and while Tom was out braving the elements securing the boat, Frank waited right at the top stair for him (until a seagull would come close then he would run to me for protection).
Saturday morning Tom went back down to the boat and decided to get it pulled out of the water due to the storm (see pic).
It took quite a few guys to help get the boat manuevered in the Marina due to the currents and wind, but they got her out for the winter. (pic). The storm never really hit the NY area on a measureable scale, but better safe than sorry.
We finally got our bedroom furniture Yay! Ordered in mid August and just delivered Saturday. It is so beautiful and very much worth the wait. I think we are two boxes of books and cd's away from being fully moved in.
I tell Tom all the time how much I love it here--the house, the east coast, everything! We both love it!
Tomorrow we are meeting my good friend Todd and his wife Kyla. They came out to run the NYC Marathon today and are in the city for a few days this week. We managed to get reservations at one of the top Italian restaurants in the city and do not ask me how---total luck!!! :-)
I have attachd a pic of the dogs after a long hard week... :-)
Today is our nephew Zane's 3rd birthday! Happy Birthday Zaney!
