Wrap It Up Already!!!

Ugh...I am totally slacking with the blog I know. So I am going to just try to wrap up the last couple weeks of December real quick!

After my dear sweet sister left, I had one week to myself and then prepared for more visitors. First my girlfriend Laura stopped by in route to Jacksonville from Rome, Italy. She flew in to NY on Wednesday, December 10th. Once she arrived we hung out at my house, then went into the city for drinks. The next day we woke up semi-early and ventured out into the city in the rain. Laura applied to some colleges here for Law school so we went to Columbia and NYU to look at the campuses. The schools were beautiful, we had a nice time walking around and checking everything out. We then headed over to Time Square, took some pictures and then we were off to our next stop, Central Park. We had a lovely time walking through the park in the pouring rain and again snapping more pictures. I believe we were the only people in the park that day. So after our Central Park photo op we headed to FAO Schwarz. Laura and I roamed the toy store like we were little children and even made virtual Barbies of ourselves.













While Laura and I were roaming the city that day, my mother and aunt Linda were on their way to NY from Jacksonville. When they arrived in NY, we had them meet us up at FAO. We hung there for a while and watched the BIG piano show. While we were watching, my aunt notice the famous t.v. chef Emeril who was also watching the piano show with his son. Once we were done at FAO, we headed back to my house so Laura could hope back on the big white bird and headed to her final destination Jacksonville. It was a fun 24 hours and I was glad to see her even if it was for a short amount of time. So once we sent Laura on her way, my mother, aunt and I all went to dinner at a cute little restaurant in Brooklyn called Olea. It was just a short rainy cab ride from my house, the restaurant wasn't crowded so it was a nice cozy calm place to have dinner. We all enjoyed our food, and then went home to sleep. The next day I had to work early, so my mother and aunt road the double decker bus tour and roamed the city. When I got off work I met them up and we went to Rosa Mexicano uptown. After dinner we went to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular starting the Rockets. The show was really good and really got me in the Christmas spirit. Saturday we woke up and had brunch at the Coffee Shop diner in Union Square. After brunch we did a little shopping in Century 21 and then it was time for me to head back to work. While I was at work moms and Linda went to see the Broadway show Boeing Boeing. Sunday was their last day, so I took them to one of my favorite breakfast spots, Tiny Cup cafe. We had a nice breakfast full of laughter and tears, then it was time to send them off once again.

2008-12-16 mom and first real snow

For the rest of the month I focused on work and decorating the apartment. I had a nice Christmas Eve with Gabe and worked all day Christmas. So thats the end of the year wrap up!

Thanksgiving Weekend Recap!

Its the beginning of the new year and its been a while since I have really updated the blog. Things have been crazy as always here with work, having visitors, and the holidays. In the next week or so I am going to try to get up to date with the last events of 2008.

Thanksgiving day I woke up early and went to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with Gabe. We watched most of the parade and had a really good time. It was fun to see all of the giant floats in person, especially after watching the parade on t.v. for as long as I can remember.

Later that evening my sister Amy came up to spend the weekend with me. I had to work most of the time she was here, but when I was off we really made the best of it. We shopped and ate ALOT! The first night she came in I had to work, so she went uptown and checked out the Christmas decorations near Rockefeller. The next day was Black Friday, so we went shopping in the city and ended up finding some great deals. You will see in our pictures that we ate at several little pastry and sandwich shops around SOHO. Later that day I took Amy to my favorite happy hour spot, Verlaine, for some Lychee Martinis. The Lychees were delicious as always and the bartender kept them flowing and he even threw in a complementary Tequila shot. Next thing you know we are quite tipsy and shoe shopping in Macy's. After our long and crazy day, we decided to stay in Brooklyn and have a Thai dinner at SEA. The dinner was really good and the restaurant was very cute. After dinner we went to Public Assembly and Bembe for some drinks and dancing. The next day we went into the city and had a yummy Mexican Brunch at Mercadito and then went out for more shopping. That evening I had to work again, so Amy met up with her good friend Jen. When I got out of work we all met up and went to a couple little bars on the Lower East Side. Her last day here we met Jen and a group of friends at the Good restaurant...it was good! Afterwards, Amy, Jen and I went and did a little more shopping before I had to go to work again. The next day Amy hopped on the big white bird back to Jacksonville.

As always it was great to see a familiar face here in NY. Amy and I had a really fun visit and Im looking forward to her next trip up here!

Walking in a Winter Wonderland....

In the past month there have been a couple of light snows here and there. It would snow for a couple of hours and melt before I could even enjoy it. Friday, December 19th I came to work wearing heels and had no idea there was even a chance of snow. Around 10:00 a.m. the snow started coming down really fast. Before long the awnings and the streets were covered and workers were shoveling snow. It was a beautiful sight to see. Luckly I had a another pair of shoes in my locker and didn't have to wear my heels home :) Three days later it has been snowing on and off and there is still snow on the ground. It is really starting to feel like Christmas here in New York, I love it!

And the list goes on....

Here are a few of my recent celeb sightings...enjoy!

Jennifer Coolidge

Taylor Momsen (Gossip Girl)

Emeril Lagassee

R.W. McQuarters (NY Giants 25)

Juliet Lewis

Jerome Bettis "The Bus"

Joel and Benji Madden

Shiny Toy Guns

Out And About in NYC!

Now that I have settled into the new apartment, I have been trying to get out of the house and take advantage of some fun things to do here in wonderful New York.

A couple of weeks ago I was given the opportunity to see Cirque Du Soleil: Wintuk for free through a concierge program. I went with some of my co-workers. The show was cute, it was based more for children, but the stunts they did in the show were still pretty entertaining!



One Tuesday I took advantage of free Tuesdays at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. I was simply amazed at how beautiful the garden was. Being from sunny palm tree filled Florida, I have never had the chance to see changing leaves in the fall. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw all of the bright yellow, orange, and red leaves on the trees. The park was filled with several different gardens throughout the park, as well as greenhouses, gift shops, and a cafe. I really enjoyed myself there and cant wait to go back soon!

Brooklyn Botanical Gardens

This week I had a friend in town. We went ice skating in Rockefeller Center and saw the Off-Broadway show Fuerza Bruta. The ice skating was a lot of fun! It was beautiful skating as the sun went down. All of the trees were lit up and the flags were waiving in the wind around Rockefeller Center, I felt like I was in a movie. I was shocked that I didn't fall at all!





Fuerza Bruta was such a great show! It is a hour long standing show, you are constantly moving around and you look up the entire time. There really isn't a story line, its more just extreme visual effects and sounds.

Celebrity Sightings!!!

Over the past two weeks I have had the honor of seeing two amazingly hot celebs around the streets of New York. I am all about celebrity gossip and what not, so this was so exciting for me!

First was Tyson Bekford just two days before Halloween on the corner of Essex and Allen street in the Lower East Side. My co-worker and I were in her car sitting at the light. We look over and see him. She says "That's Tyson Bekford!" and I say "No its not! Oh wait yes it is!!" So as we are sitting there gushing over the fact that we are staring at super hot Tyson Bekford, he looks at us starts smiling and raising his eyebrows at us AND then he grabs his jacket proceeds to dance for us right on the corner of the street! We were completely star struck at that moment so I didn't get any pics, but wow what a sighting!



My second sighting was yesterday before work. I was walking around SOHO with a friend. He points out Brook Shields who was across the street. I see her and then a few feet behind her is a paparazzi. She then started running from him. So we kept our distance and trailed behind them. We went around a full block. She attempted to hail a cab several times. Finally she got a cab and jumped in. The pap caught up to her and so did we. He started talking to her through the window, she was all smiles, I think she was just asking him not to take her picture. So while they were chatting it up, I managed to get a few pics ;) Enjoy!

Victory!

Thank you America for realizing what needed to be done and voting for the best man for the job, Obama! History was made yesterday, we elected our first African American President and more than 3.5 million NEW voters went out and got there voices heard! America needs a change and change is here for sure!

Last night at work we were glued to CNN.com, MSN.com, and NYDailyNews.com, we kept watch on the state-by-state results and it soon became clear that Obama was had the majority vote. When I got out of work at 11:00 p.m., people were packed in bars screaming, others were cheering in the streets, and cars were honking horns non-stop. It was amazing, I had never seen anything like it. I made my way back to Brooklyn and walked to some bars in the Fort Greene area. The streets were packed with Obama supporters celebrating in the streets. I had a constant smile on my face and chills running up and down my body. This was such an amazing experience and I am proud to be apart of such a historical time in US history.

Here are some pics and videos that I took last night, enjoy!

Movin On Up...

To a bigger and better apartment! Yesterday Dave and I made the move to our new (to us) brownstone apartment in Brooklyn. For me it will be a move to a much safer neighborhood, since the area I was in was a little sketch in the first place. We started moving at 8:00 a.m. and didn't get done with everything until late evening. The apartment is huge! I was really surprised as to how large my bedroom is and it even has a great walk-in closet. Its almost two of my old bedroom, so I am plenty comfortable. We were even surprised to find out that we have rooftop access from our apartment AND that our back windows as well as our rooftop have a slightly obstructed view of the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building. There are just a few tree limbs in the way, but when the city is lit up at night, you can see the beautiful buildings.

Right now our big apartment is lacking furniture and is filled with boxes that still need to be unpacked. I am even hoping to paint my room soon, maybe this week if I can find the time and the energy. Of course I will be posting pictures of the apartment as soon as I can get it all together.