NYC - Day 1

We arrived in NYC on Wednesday, September 9th and hit the ground running. First stop, was obviously our hotel:

We weren't able to check-in when we arrived, so we dropped off our bags and headed out! We walked towards Fifth Avenue and stumbled upon this site:

Cynthia Nixon was filming a scene for "Sex and the City 2" outside of Bergdorf Goodmans. We knew they were doing some filming while we were there, but never expected to see it! There were tons of people standing around watching and snapping photos and there were also tons of staffers around trying to move the crowd along. It was quite a production!

By this time, we were pretty hungry, so we stopped at the Carnegie Deli.

Carnegie is known for their GIGANTIC sandwiches and their authentic NYC cheesecake! And, if you want to know what I mean my giant, take a look at this:

This was the pastrami sandwich that we split! The cheesecake was to die for and we are considering ordering one every year for our birthdays! So good!

After lunch, we headed back towards our hotel and walked back down Fifth Avenue towards the Plaza Hotel (the hotel where "Home Alone" was filmed).

Later that evening, we headed out to the Bronx for a Yankees game. They happened to be playing Tampa Bay that night and it was the night that Derek Jeter tied Lou Gehrig's career hits. This was a fun night and one of Brandon's favorite parts of the trip!

It was a late game, so we got back to the hotel pretty late and we set the alarm for 5:00 a.m. for our TV debut! We had to get our beauty sleep!

On a side note, if you take a close look at the shoes I am wearing at the Yankees game, they were the death of me and of the trip! On this night, I got a good set of blisters and they caused me (and Brandon) great aggravation for the remainder of the trip!

Back to the Daily Grind!

Well, we are officially back from vacation and exhausted! We arrived in Wichita around 4:00 yesterday afternoon and didn't receive our luggage until around 10:00 last night. So, needless to say, we have a lot of laundry, grocery shopping and cleaning to do this week! We have looked through our pictures, but have not downloaded all of them yet, so I'll be posting about our trip a little at a time through out the week. However, if you want to catch up on a few snippets from the trip, check out my Twitter page where I was able to post a few of the highlights!

Domestic Haven

I posted a new recipe over on my "domestic" blog! Check it out!

Let's Hope This Isn't Long-Term

Brandon has a lot of really great qualities, but one area that could use some improvement is his memory or listening ability (or a combination of both). For example, he will ask me ask me about plans for the weekend (or any event) and I will fill him in, explaining all of the important details and we'll go on. Then, the next day or even the next hour in some instances, he will ask me the same question and not be able to recall anything from the previous conversation about the same topic.

Fast forward to this week. I've been coughing with a sore throat, using the Neti Pot, taking Tylenol Cold, blowing my nose, etc. Last night, I asked Brandon to stop by Dillons on his way home to get me some nighttime medicine so I could sleep and he did. Then today, I was talking to him on the phone and my co-worker came to my office to ask what sounded good for lunch and we decided on pizza, to which Brandon replied "Pizza? Are you sure that will be okay on your stomach?" I paused for a minute, hoping he would recall the events of the past few days and then said something along the lines of "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" and then politely reminded him that I was not sick to my stomach and yes, pizza would be fine!

Friends, let's hope this memory loss is not long-term. If so, I'm in for a long ride!!!

LONG Overdue

I turned 26 last week and I've been meaning to blog about it ever since, but I've got to tell you, we've been crazy busy! We had a busy birthday weekend, then we had something going on pretty much every night last week and then we left for the lake on Thursday and didn't return until last night. So, I will start with my birthday weekend:

On Friday night, we went to Newton to celebrate with Ashley and Pam. All three of our birthdays fall within a week of each other. We had a bbq and played a little "yard golf" in Justin and Ashley's back yard. We had hoped to continue the game in years to come, but later found out that some of the "holes" didn't necessarily reside on their property...Oops!

On Saturday, Brandon and I got up early and went to Panera for breakfast. It was a nice treat to just sit and talk for a while. After breakfast, we went to the grocery store to buy supplies for an afternoon picnic at Buffalo Park.

After our picnic, we came home and laid around the house and then we got ready for dinner at Bone Fish Grill.

Brandon insisted that we dress up, so I wore a new dress that I had purchased the week before during my birthday shopping trip! Our dinner was amazing - we've only been to Bone Fish a couple of times and have been completely satisfied every single time!

After dinner, we headed downtown to meet some friends for a couple of drinks. This was supposed to be a surprise, but I somehow managed to work it out of Brandon :) In theory, I like surprises, but really I would rather know what is going on so I can manage expectations! We had a fun night out and I was so glad he planned ahead and arranged for friends to meet us!

Finally, on Sunday (my actual birthday), Brandon organized a family bbq with my aunts and my dad (my mom was out of town). He did all of the planning and even made me a birthday cake!

Later that evening, Brandon's parents came back through town and took us out for ice cream - the perfect ending to a perfect weekend!

Brandon gets major points this year because he really put a lot of thought into the planning of the weekend. Even though birthdays aren't a big deal to him, he knows that I really like to "live it up" on my birthday!

So, here is to another year! I hope this year is a exciting and fun as the past year. I already know it is off to a great start, so it can only get better!

Road Trippin'

Tonight, Coleman had an unveiling of their new Road Trip grill, designed by Paul Jr. from OCC.

Apparently, Paul Jr. has branched out of the Chopper business and formed Paul Jr. Designs (his website isn't up yet, so his Twitter account will have to do). He is partnering with different companies to re-design existing products and Coleman was his first "client" (click here to view a video of Paul Jr. talking about the grill). He took this grill...

...and turned it into this:

I can't say I was star-struck or anything, but it was fun to see him and be there for the event. We don't watch their show too often, but we may have to tune in soon to see how they developed the grill and to see if they air anything from tonight - maybe we'll get on TV (ha ha!). Here are a few other pics from the evening:

Brandon kept mentioning that Paul's girlfriend doesn't look as pretty on TV as she does in real life...

And sadly, we didn't get any pictures of the real star, my friend Ali, who helped organize and run the event! Sorry Ali :(

Five Day Challenge

For the past year or so, Brandon's grandma has been making a special hand cream with her friends at church. Almost every time we go to GC to visit, she brings me a small container of the lotion and every time, I politely accept. However, I haven't ever really used the hand cream. I'm not sure why I haven't used it, but I just put it in the closet and use what I already have.

Well, a few months ago, Brandon's mom, sister and I were discussing the lotion and his mom was telling us how well it works and that she really does like it, especially on her heels (I hope I'm not divulging too much here!). So, this past weekend, Brandon and I were in GC and his grandma brought me over a small container. Pam and I exchanged a smile and I proceeded to place the lotion in my purse. Later that day, Pam and I were again discussing the lotion and she told me I should really just try it and I might be amazed at the results.

So, starting this past Sunday, I have decided to apply the lotion to my dry feet (I walk around barefoot pretty much all of the time) before I go to bed each night for five days, just to see how well the lotion works. Once the five days are up I will re-evaluate the state of my dry feet and make a final decision. If it actually works, I will pull out my stashed away containers and make them a part of my bedtime routine. And, if I don't see that much of a difference, I will continue to collect the small containers and re-gift them to Pam! But, if I can make a prediction, I'm going to predict that I won't be re-gifting anytime soon!

4th of July Fun

We spent th 4th of July at Tablerock, like we do every year. We celebrate with my mom's sister and her family since they have a house there, too. This is really the only time the whole family is together since we don't see them at Christmas time anymore.

Brandon and I arrived late Wednesday evening and got up early on Thursday and hit the lake with my parents and Matt and Tara and Eva.

The boys (Matt and Brandon) and my cousins jumped off the cliffs and swung on the rope swing at the bridge. I decided to stay in the boat and take pictures!

The crazy guy diving - that would by my husband!!!

Friday morning was a bit rainy, so we didn't spend as much time on the lake as we would have liked. We waited on the first part of the rain by swimming in a cove and just playing around. Todd really got my mom by jumping off the boat and pretty much dunking her in the water.

We were finally able to do a little tubing and knee-boarding and then it was time to head in.

Friday night, we had a shrimp boil and it was really fun and pretty tasty, but we didn't get any pictures. It was a fun change from the normal "lake food".

Saturday morning was our annual blueberry picking trip. The little girls loved picking the berries, but didn't last very long. And, I think Eva ate more than she picked. The picking wasn't as good as it has been in the past, but Brandon and I still came home with four pounds!

Once we got back home, Todd and Natalie and Brandon and I decided to head out on the lake for a little while before the big 4th of July BBQ and fireworks. We had a good time, but I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!

Yes, Brandon is a little crazy on the knee board!!!

We came home and got cleaned up and took our annual family pictures!

This year, instead of putting on our own fireworks show, we walked down the hill to the shore where some of the other families in the area were shooting off fireworks and just watched their show. It was better than any we could have done and we were just able to sit and enjoy it.

Needless to say, it was another great 4th of July, and now, it is time to get back into the groove of everyday life.