Tom and Diana: East Coast Life

We trained into the city last night to see the famous "Christmas Spectacular" show at Radio City Music Hall. This show is of course famous for the Rockettes which are in nearly every number. It was what we thought it would be--- cute and something we had to do at least once---but I think we were both surprised at how much we enjoyed it! The dancers were great, the back-drops for each scene were amazing and they really focused on how New York is such a magical place to be at this time of year.

"Snow" fell in the auditorium, they had a live Nativity scene (camels. sheep, mules) and of course Santa narrated.We left feeling very much in the holiday spirit. We wandered over (more like pushed our way through--tons of people out) to Rockefeller center and saw the tree in all its glory. It was breathtaking from each angle. I am not sure if it was really the tree that looked so great--or that our mood made it and everything else in the city seem perfect. We had dinner at an Irish Pub just blocks away from Times Square and then we headed back to the train. We mentioned quite a few times how much Tom's nieces (and not just the little ones Kristen :-)) would love this show. We hope they can all come out next year!

Today we finished up some Christmas shopping (Tom got me a beautiful red pea coat and when I brought it home he liked it too :-)) and Tom finished changing out every single doorknob, hinge, etc on our doors throughout the house.
We got brave and went to Costco too. That was crazy!!!!! What were we thinking?

Only about a week before we head for Belize so we are getting ready for that and enjoying the remaining days of the season out here. We had about 4 " of snow on Thursday and its still around--very cold so no melting. We had a chance to get about 2-3 feet of snow tomorrow--but it seems instead we'll just get a bunch of freezing rain. Not nearly as exciting. :-(

Have a great weekend and we are loving the Christmas Cards everyone is sending! Thanks! Makes us feel like we are with some family at this time.

pics: tree at Rockefeller, st Patrick's(amazing to see in person), and some from the show at Radio City!

I took the day off and went into the city today to play tourist. People say that there is no place like NY at Christmas and those people are right. It is amazing. People everywhere were bundled up (it was very cold today---20's, but perfectly sunny) and it seemed like every 5th person I saw was a tourist. The pace was the same as it always is there--hectic, but today it seemed not as stressful of a hectic rush. My goal today was to wander around toward Central Park and to stop and see all the Department Store windows decorated for the holidays. I saw Macy's, Lord and Taylor's, Barney's, Bergdorfs and Saks. Each had full blocks (NY city blocks are much longer than "regular" blocks) of windows decorated with different themes. Bergdorfs had a Green theme, L & T had the "5 senses of Christmas", SAKS had multiple snowman windows, but my favorite was Macy's. Each window was focused on Santa and his journey throughout the world. Old school TV monitors were set up that broadcast the window watchers periodically and flashed if they were 'naughty or nice'. Each window at most of the stores was fully animated and so fun to watch.

After, during and before I experienced the windows, I witnessed all of the other decorations around the city. Its hard to avoid-- the decorations are everywhere! I loaded some in the photos tab if you want to take a look.

I did a little art shopping today too at Bryant Park. They have an ice skating rink with better views of the city than at Rockefeller and a large Holiday Market with many shops. We are buying some paintings and photos of NY scenes mainly. I also bought a very cool stocking hat (or as Tom would call it, a 'Toque' (Canadian is still a new language to me) :-)) and a NY skyline ornament for our tree.

It was a great day. I would have loved for Tom or one of my friends or family to be there with me... but I do enjoy wandering the city alone. I think I could go everyday and never run out of things to see.

pics: skating at Bryant Park, window (above view) of Rockefeller Center, santa decoration, window at Macy's

NY got its 1st snowfall for the year (see pic from Central Park).

Today the Christmas music we have been listening to since Thanksgiving finally got to us and we went Christmas Tree shopping. We agreed that this year we'd go with an artificial tree. Our reasons were simple: By doing so we'd save a real tree, sort of (our attempt at going green in the recycle-less NE), we'd get years of use out of it and the savings each year on what we'd spend on a real tree would add up. Plus-- the artificials look so real these days.
So we went to Home Depot and they had quite the selection. We decided on a 9.5ft pre-lit. It was beautiful!
As Tom went to pull it out and saw that the box was longer than our car he hesitated for a split second. As I offered to get a cart something shiny caught our eye... no it wasn't one of the twinkling pre-lit lights, but the hardware holding the tree together deep near the trunk. We instantly looked at each other and realized 'oohhhh yeeeeaaaahhhh, we have to put it together'. We looked a bit closer at the mechanical trunk (which seemed far more elaborate than any other artificial tree either of us had ever seen before) and decided that the building of this tree (and the predictable unpleasant unassemble after the holidays) would add a bit too much stress to such a joyous season...so we quickly headed to the outside nursery thankful for our realization and reminding each other how fun it will be to put lights on the tree ourselves.

We got the tree home and got it up and decorated! We had a great time! Christmas music in the background, the dogs sneaking drinks from the tree stand (for those of you who are familiar with the movie a Christmas Story, we are calling the dogs the Bumpus hounds)---we already know it will be a great holiday!! :-) Its cold here--cold and clear! Its not supposed to get over 35 all week. Its so great to see so much sun in the fall/winter. Something we were NOT used to in Seattle.

Just a little factoid about people out here... they go all out for the holiday decorations. We first witnessed this at Halloween and we wondered then what Christmas would be like. Today we saw a few houses that would rival Clark W Grizwald for sure. Extra large inflatable decorations (Santa's, snowmen, nativity sets with EVERY character etc) seem to be the big draw... which we don't totally understand, but hey, we are new here, so who knows----maybe next year we'll have a couple inflatables.
Kidding, totally. We will not.
:-)

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!

today diana went into the city to see my good friend Matt who is visiting NY. He now lives in Seattle, but went to grad school at Columbia in NY so he knows the city very well. We only hung out for a few hours, but it was great to see him. We walked thru Central Park (right by the Dakota, where John Lennon was shot--see memorial pic) and thru Strawberry Fields and other parts of the park on our way to a VERY authentic pizza place West of the Park called Patsy's. I think its official: Central Park is my favorite part of the city. I love walking through and feeling away from the city, but glancing up and seeing the beautiful skyline buildings pop up thru the trees. Today was 65 and sunny again and its hard to find a complaint with a day like this in the city.
After I got home Tom and I went to pick out some new lights for the kitchen and hallway and he is installing them as we speak (what a handy guy!)

Today after we saw Melissa off at the airport we headed to the NY Jets game vs the Bills. The Jets and Giants , although NY by name---play in NJ at a shared stadium (known as Giants stadium---not really fair...) Anyway--- its an old stadium, but the tickets were great and the it was a perfect fall football game: not a cloud in the sky and about 60. The view of the city from the Stadium was amazing.

Tom installed a couple lights in the house this evening while the dogs and I played. Now we are relaxing and I can't imagine wanting to do or be anywhere else than at home. Busy last few days!!

Today, Saturday, Melissa and I took a step back in time and went to Lancaster County, PA to see the Amish. We had been wanting to for a while but being on the West Coast its a pretty far trip. Its only a 2 1/2 hour drive from our house but we stopped at a few places on the way and back so it was a pretty full day.

The Pennsylvania Dutch Colonies were great! A bit more toursity than we imagined... which was disappointing, but we got off the main drag and went into the back roads where the lifestyle we expected to see including horse-drawn buggy's were much more common (see pic). In Bird-in-Hand, PA we stopped at an Amish farm ran by Amos and Sadie. We visited with Sadie as I purchased some homeade apple butter and hand made pot-holders. We visited a bit and then were on our way. I wish we could have stayed longer and visited more.

On our way home we spotted a road sign in southern PA with exit information to Valley Forge. We didn't realize it was n PA and thought we'd see how far out we'd have to go to see it. It was only 4 miles out so of course we went. It was beautiful. We saw the Valley where all the soilders camped and waited out the Winter during the American Revolution. The pic attached is the monument for the only grave marker that was discovered out of all the deaths that occured in the Valley that winter.
We saw George Washington's headquarters and drove under the 1st covered bridge in the country.

It was a beautiful day--sunny and 70--so that made it all the better!

Tom spent the day at the Shore working on the boat! He loved that of course! It poured rain this am--but got sunny for him!

One of my best friends, Melissa from Seattle, came to visit Wed night and is staying thru Sunday afternoon. Since she got here we have been going non-stop--barely stopping for sleep. Well-thats not true. We both love to sleep in so we did ok there.

Wednesday night she and I hit up the favorite East Coast department store, Century 21. They have designer fashions at a discount and we took full advantage of that discount---both scored beautiful leather jackets. We also tried on a $4K, yes $4K, skirt by Valentino that both of us found hideous...but since it was marked down to a mere $669 we thought we'd try it just in case it was the perfect fit.. ha.

Tom met us for dinner at one of our fav Italian restaurants, Pazo Pazo in Morristown, which has the best risotto ever, and we had so much fun!

On Thursday Melissa and I caught the train to the city and our adventure really began. After finding our very cool boutique hotel near Times Square, we headed to the 'half price same-day ticket sale office' for Broadway plays. As we closed in on the very long line, we were approached on the street by an honest looking young guy that had GREAT tickets for the hottest play in NY right now: Young Frankenstein. Both of us, used to negotiation as it is our profession, began basically breaking down the entire ticket right there making sure the price we were working with was valid. As we glanced to the ticket line, which didn't open until 3pm and it was already 1 30 and the line was long, we weighed our options: 1) we wait in line for probably 3 hours at a minimum to get hopefully good seats so some Broadway play for around $80 each, or 2) we risk the small amount of money he was asking for the hippest play in town and figure we are taking a risk (even theough the tickets looked very real and we negotiated the heck out of them) and the money is worth the chance for us to have 3 hours of our life back in the city as tourists...
So we did it. We bought them.
(You have to keep reading to find out if it was a go or no-go...)

After our gamble, we headed uptown towards Central Park. We shopped at some "designer fashion for less" stores, stopped at Bryant Park, window shopped at stores that we would max our credit cards out at with one purchase, ate lunch from a hot dog vendor at Rockefeller Center (checked out the skating rink that was open for skating!), took a self guided tour of the most beautiful church in America--St Patricks Cathederal and then finally made it up to Central Park.
Central Park is so beautiful! We walked and walked--yet in all only made it through about 1/3 of the park. We passed "The Pond", the "Ball fields", the skating rink and beautiful bridges. We took a break at the 'Tavern on the Green' and then got our hurt feet back on the road to head to the Metropolitan Museam of Art.

As we stopped at the "Lake" in the park, Melissa had a great idea to hire a rickshaw! The best $20 we ever spent! We rested our feet and risked our lives a bit as we traveled the wrong way on many of the NY roads dodging taxis. But it was exciting!
The MET was AMAZING! They had many exhibits but the Egyption exhibiit was the latest and greatest and----it was. We loved looking at the artifacts and then found our way to the Roman and Greek sections which were equally as great in my opinon. We will definetly go back there.

We were getting close to theater time (or not) so we needed to get back to the hotel fast. The best way: the subway. It was rush hour and the subway was everything you'd expect a NY subway to be at rush hour, but we pushed and shoved our way with the best of them and we made it back to the hotel with time to spare for a quick drink and snack at the nearby Hilton Hotel. (We had to take the Service elevator to the bar... but thats another story).
As we approached our theater for the 8 show time, we were a bit nervous, and preparing ourselves for possible disappointment---but as we cleared the ticket taker---we knew we were golden!
The play was one of the best we each had ever seen----it was amazing! We loved every second! What a deal!
I can't possibly say enough about this play--so, just go see it if you have a chance.

After the play we hailed a taxi back to the hotel and were ready to power down until we realized that it was only midnight and the Empire State Building was open until 2am, so of course we headed there for a late night viewing of NY. WOW! It was cold--and a bit windy, but so beautiful! What a day!!

Our second day in the city was filled more with shopping (soho, chinatown, Macy's-the World's biggest store) and some great time spent in Little Italy including lunch at the 1st Pizzaria in America and some spots where they filmed the Godfather. We went into a very authentic italian cheese shop, which was probably Melissa's favorite part of the trip (see pic) and a bakery with world famous canolli's.
It started to rain just as we got our cupcakes at Magnolia bakery (which made the taxi hailing especially fun as we were both drenched and standing in the middle of the street trying to hail a cab--but it was great!)

We got home at around 8 and Tom greeted us at the train station! Nice to see him of course! :-)
GREAT DAY.

We spent all day at the Shore cleaning the boat. It was 80 degrees and a perfect day! Tom scrubbed the outside and I worked on the inside. We still have some work to do, but we'll do most in the spring.

Here are a couple pics and I think you will be thinking the same as we are... THIS is late October??

Just when we thought fall was here... I think I got a sunburn today. It was mid 70's today--and supposed to be up to 80 by Monday. We LOVE it and have been enjoying it! Last night we went into Manhattan for a charity dinner with T-Mobile. Tom's team raised 220K for a charity called City Year, that assists schools in the neediest parts of NYC. PS149 was the school chosen and it was a great feeing to hear the principal and the city year voulenteers speak about the results of the contributions.
It was fun--I saw some of the Suppliers I work with and met some of Tom's new team. Made 2 new potential friends which is always a bonus! :-)

Today we went down to the Marina we chose for our boat (beginning in the Spring). Its in Brick, NJ and it is a beautiful area. The slip we have is perfect with no boats in front--so a clear shot to "park" as well as to view the sunsets.
We met our marina neighbor John who--get this-- has two mini-dachshunds! We met them and they are the same size and coloring as Frank and Ollie! He gave us some good recomendations on doggie life vests.

Tomorrow we are headed back to Neptune, NJ where the boat currently is, to clean it up some to get ready for winter storage. In Brick next winter, we may just keep it in the water year round instead of taking the boat to Florida, but we haven't decided yet. Its quite a community at the Marina in Brick----get togethers etc. We are looking forward to it.
I also plan to lay out a bit after cleaning up the boat--since the temp will be 80!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-)

Other than that-- its a pretty mellow weekend for us. Just getting the last few boxes unpacked and relaxing a bit. I need to post pictures--I will soon.

** pics are of the woods just off our front yard and one of the living room (excuse the dog paraphernalia)

Well... almost all moved in. All day Friday, Saturday and Sunday we unpacked, organized, built stuff, shopped etc which all ended up adding up to two very happy people (minus the sore muscles/backs) and two very happy dogs!

We love it here! Its the perfect size for us and so private (the woods in the pic are just 30 feet away from our front door) but close to some really nice shops (Starbucks, Gap, Banana, etc).

We really only have a few things left to do. Tom is building up his "man space" (shop) that is in a finished room off of the garage and I am getting my yoga/workout space all set up as well. We still have to hang pictures and new lights in some spots, and put together our offices, but that's about it. Tom got the BBQ all set up on Saturday so we grilled the last two nights. We really missed that while living in the apartment.

We have even decided that we really like the blue paint in the dining room--it goes well with our dark furniture. Of course the kitchen needs paint as does our bedroom. The bedroom is a sky blue color and far too, I don't know, "cartoon-like" for a Master. We aren't exactly excited about painting--we had our fill at our old house... but we'll see.

I do miss Morristown and the walking everywhere, but here, the gym at the clubhouse is SO nice that it inspires me to workout! Also-- we have the woods to hike in and Tom found a great trail to take the dogs on. (Those shops are within walking distance too, much to Tom's dismay)! :-)Besides, we are only a few minutes drive to Morristown, Madison and many other townships if we choose to drive there and then walk (which we have already talked about doing!)

Our friend Melissa is coming out next week and I can hardly wait. My cousin Malea is planning a trip in Feb! We can't wait to show people around our new area!

More pics to come later...

We just took possession of the new house today at noon and already we have made excellent progress on the removal of some of the ugliest wall paper you will ever see. We spent 2 hours tonight pulling it off and it wasn't that bad. The majority came off quite easily. We'll finish the rest tomorrow--but will wait a bit to paint. One project at a time. :-)

Being back in Seattle has reminded me that many of the common sights here, seen on a daily basis, just don't exist back east at the same level. For instance, the Save Darfur/Save Tibet/Save A Tree bumper stickers on 3 out of every 5 cars, fleece on nearly ever person you see (which I love and I am preserving this fashion statement back east), constant reminders to recycle and of course a Starbucks on pretty much every street. It doesn't make it better out here, but I do appreciate, and somewhat miss, the laid back, environmentally conscious, free-spirit attitude that is the general aura of Seattle.

Today has been a great Seattle day. It poured rain and hail this morning, and then the sun came out for a really nice (but chilly) afternoon/evening. I spent the day in the Green Lake area, and then had a really fun visit with my cousins that live on Capital Hill. I closed out the day by stopping at the most famous hamburger place in Seattle--Dicks-- for a quick bite to take me back to my UW days. My trip overall has been nice. I miss Tom--this is a long time to be apart, but I have had a lot of time to visit friends and family. Aside from today, the weather has been awful which makes me SO happy that we do not live here anymore. Tom and I really enjoy the change of everything in the east. Its funny--- I feel so much pride talking about NJ/NY to my friends here---but I am very quick to tell anyone back in NJ that even seem semi-interested, that I am from Seattle. I will always be proud of being from Seattle, even if it does rain a lot here.
:-)

Diana is in Seattle this week and is happy to see everyone, but ITS COLD HERE. I had to break out the sweaters and buy a pair of boots. I had dinner with my folks and tonight am going out with the girls for some fun and gossip!

Tom is enjoying the 70's and 80's that NJ/NY is still seeing. I hope its still warm when I get back. It was tough to leave there on Sunday: there was a street fair going on that day right in Morristown. I love that kind of stuff--oh well, next year.

Some developments as of late:
(For those that don't want to hear mushy romantic stuff, skip to the next section), Tom is so sweet! I love him so much! He scored me an unlocked iphone! He knows I have been wanting one since they came out and he worked some magic. I was so happy! After a few technical bumps in the road, caused by me, it is working great and is an amazing device!

We met some great friends! Tom knew Bill and Suzanne Diaz from when he lived here a while back. We went to dinner with them last weekend and had a great time! Suzanne and I are going to look into yoga and I am looking forward to hopping the train with her for some adventures in NY.

Finally... and perhaps the biggest and best news... we bought a boat!!!!!!!
We have had our eye on this boat for a few weeks and we thought it had sold. The deal ended up going sour so we had another chance and we got it!
Its a 40ft Silverton Motor Yacht (1996) with hardly any hours on it. It is in immaculate shape inside and out. We'll redecorate a bit and there are a couple of technical things Tom is going to replace. It has two cabins, 2 heads, a hide-a-bed, full kitchen, tv's, a/c and heat, a big deck and plenty of spots to lay out in the sun! :-)


We wanted a boat that we could relax on and entertain on and this is the perfect one!
We'll keep it in NJ for the winter and through next sumnmer. We'll decide next winter if we'll move it to Florida or not.
We are very excited and already can't wait to start working on it to make it our own. I am on the hunt for life vests for Frank and Ollie. :-)
I will attach some pics to the photo tab, but here are a couple.