Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our friends and family. We missed you all during this holiday weekend. We had considered going up to Boston where my brother Aaron and his wife Caroline live. We just decided with work and travel schedules that we'd save our travel time for a different time...perhaps Christmas. So we planned to stay in NY, go the Thanksgiving Day Parade and cook ourselves a Thanksgiving dinner.

The parade starts at 9AM. And on a holday and day off, we were not all that thrilled about getting up early to find a place to stand. Especially since many people begin arriving as early as 6:30 for a spot. So we left at 8:30 and decided we'd take our chances. We took the train to 72nd street and Central Park...roughly the beginning of the parade. Naturally we found it difficult to nudge our way into the crowd. This was the best view we could get...



So we figured we'd just try walking down the length of the parade and see if we could get lucky on another street. We made it down to Columbus Circle, about a third of the way down the parade. The area was gated off and you had to have a ticket to get in to sit on the bleachers. We were out of luck...until...this guy approached us...



"hey, we've got two extra tickets," he said, "do you want them?" Now in NY usually that means you are about to be mugged, asked to pay some ridiculous price, or offered something "smokeable". But it seems holiday cheer was in the air. I hesitantly accepted the tickets and we made our way into the bleacher section where we had a front row seat for the entire duration of the parade. I later walked up to the guy and thanked him again, as by now, we had realized there was no catch to the deal.

The parade was fun and the floats and balloons were cool. Here is a rundown of what we saw...

Super Grover...



I nearly got trampled by Sponge Bob...



Chicken Little...



Charlie Brown...



Ronnie McD...



Mr. Potato Head...



...and his nose trailing behind...



Some celebrities of course turned out as well. Marni got to see her girlhood hero, Cincinatti Reds great, Johnny Bench...



On the NFL float was Franco Harris and Marcus Allen...



American Idol winner Carrie Underwood...



and the Beach Boys.



There were lots of marching bands, which were actually pretty impressive.



We headed home at the end of the parade after Santa Claus made his way down Central Park West signaling the end of the festivities. We made a brief stop at the grocery store on the way home, and then it was onto the second half our day...relaxing and cooking. We put in the first Harry Potter movie to watch in the background as M started to construct the apple pie. I cleaned up a little and made us a little lunch.
We spoke to many of you throughout the day, which made us feel much more at home, despite the miles between us all. We continued to watch all three Harry Potter movies throughout the evening until dinner was ready. Our Thanksgiving dinner menu consisted of Roasted Cornish Game Hens, Creamy Gorganzola Polenta, Cranberry Sauce, Butternut Squash, and Apple Pie. Here's how it all turned out:







It was delicious. We had a little bit of polenta and cranberry sauce, and a lot of pie left, but otherwise we devoured everything. It was great.

We decided at dinner that we were thankful for the success so far of our new adventure here in NY, and for all of the support of you all. So with that, Happy Thanksgiving to you all, we miss and will talk to you soon!

Winter's Coming

The winter season has reached many of you back home. But this weekend was the first sign of it in New York. It didn't stop us from getting out though on our days off. Saturday we got up and headed to the Upper West Side which is home to the North Face store in NY. I am in the market for a thin but very protective winter jacket. If I get one, I'm sure you'll see many pictures of me in it on here. We then ventured to Bloomingdales to do some shopping and across the street to Nine West where M bought a pair of shoes (that she thinks she is going to return). On our way there though it was chilly enough to where we needed a warm drink. Of course we found a Starbucks that did the trick. On our walk to Bloomingdales we happened across Bryant Park where we promised to come back for some ice skating during the winter.



We also decided to walk a few blocks out of our way to see the United Nations building. It was cool, but wasn't all that impressive. Probably cooler in the summer when the fountain is in full water-fountainy-ness.



Here's the reverse of the above pic of M. The Chrysler Building (my favorite) is the tall one poking out.



I had been singing the praises of Katz's Deli ever since my parents visited and we had lunch there. So I promised M I'd take her there.



Sounds romantic...until you realize our romantic dinner was had over a pastrami sandwhich and plateful of pickles.



MMMMMM it was good though.

After dinner we headed home. Had some wine. And watched Hotel Rwanda and Finding Neverland (we just restarted our Netflix subscription).

Baby Jack and Baby Tree

Here is a picture of Jasper and Kim's baby Jack wearing the FDNY shirt J got him. Isn't he cute! Look at his little teeth!



Here is a picture of our mini X-mas tree. It might be a bit premature to be putting up a tree before Thanksgiving, but we couldn't resist. As you can see it needs some repair. J promised to stop by the Home Depot to get replacement bulbs.



The weather has been strangely warm. It has been so warm that even I could run around in short sleeves. It is hard to believe that winter is actually approaching! We are expecting a storm though and the temperature is expected to drop.

Slow Week

Not much to report this past week. My parents visit last weekend wore us out. We're still recovering from the hiking.

The weather has remained nice, although I hear it is to get rainy again soon. That's ok. It keeps us inside and relaxed. And not out spending all our money! Although I sense a Korean BBQ meal again in our near future (shhhh maybe I'll surprise M).

Tonight M had the day off and I came home to a really good chicken-cobb-salady-sort of-thing. So I offered to get us dessert. We went to a little bakery-desserty-sort-of-place and I got a litte chocolate mouse cup and M got a piece of chocolate cake. We hung out on the promenade and ate our dessert then headed home.



Had we realized we were in the type of city where major movie premieres happen, we probably would have gone and stood outside the red carpet at the Harry Potter NY premiere. But alas, instead we forgot. We do plan to attend the movie soon though as M is quite excited...right M?...she said "righty-o chief".

Fun Finds

FINALLY! It's my turn.
J is such a computer hog.

Well since he's written about the most recent events I don't have much to say. So I thought I'd tack up some interesting pics.

When riding ths subway your viewing options are limited. It's either look at the other weirdos on the train or stare at the ads. Luckily I always find the following at quite amusing.



So, on Halloween night our street was swarming with trick or treaters. It was really fun to see them running from house to house. J saw that our street was listed as "Halloween Heaven" in the Brooklyn Paper, because thousands of kids flock to our one block long street to experience the festive atmosphere. Below is our favorite carving.



As some of you may know I am a big pug fan. Luckily New York is full of little (and big) puppies, giving me more opportunities to see the cute smooshed faced doggies in person. Here is a picture of one we saw and petted in Madison Square Park. We also saw one tonight and it ran up to me! J said it looked a lot like the one we saw in the pic. So I've convinced myself that they were in fact the same dog and upon recognizing me he ran to me to be reunited.



Well that's all I've got.

M

We had visitors!

We had our first guests in town this weekend. Well my cousin Mark came into town a couple of weeks ago, but that was for work. This time, my parents flew from Chicago only to visit us, and gain a new perspective on the city (it had been almost 20 years). After checking into the hotel downtown, we walked across the bridge to Brooklyn to head to our apartment.



For the rest of the day we toured Brooklyn. We only had half the day since they arrived at noon, so we took them to Park Slope and Prospect Park, and then back to the apartment and walked along the Brooklyn Heights Promenade to view the Manhattan skyline before going to dinner.

Sunday was the day of New York Marathon, so we did our own version of the race and got up early and started our tour of Manhattan. We didn't really have an agenda, we just new we're go to walk around since my parents had had only limited impressions of New York from their previous 3 visits. So we started downtown at Wall Street and headed up to the World Trade Center site. It's very powerful and hard to grasp. Here are my parents and M at the NY Stock Exchange.



We headed north into Tribeca. Here's my dad as we watch a Maybeline commercial being filmed.



We also came across the movie Super Ex-Girlfriend with Luke Wilson and Uma Thurman being filmed in Soho. It was a busy filming weekend.

I wore everyone out pretty good with all the walking. Lots of breaks along the way were necessary...



...but lunch at the Shake Shack took a long time and provided us a good rest.



and little stops at places like Paley Park were a good retreat...



And my mom being the Today Show fan that she is, asked that we visit Rockefeller Center.



It was a great weekend for me. M had a good time but is tired. And I don't know if my parents will ever visit again for fear that I will make them walk to the Catskills. I think they'll come back though ;)

So, I guess that just means you will have to come visit us next...we're waiting...

The Freaks Come Out at Night

In NY it's always difficult to tell the real weirdos from those who are cleverly disguising themselves as perfectly sane and rational human beings. But Monday was a day where this task is particularly difficult, if possible at all.

The most popular costume roaming the street during Monday's Halloween festivities was probably "Ali G" for the guys and simply a pair of rear wings for the females. Our favorite however, was a guy clearly dressed as "Pedro" from Napoleon Dynamite. Wish I had a picture...

Sixth avenue hosts an annual Halloween parade through NY so we decided to check it out. The streets were packed with people hoping to catch a glimpse of the oversized skeletons and birds on stilts (according to local authorities, in reference to the birds that are carrying the avian flu).



If you couldn't see from the street (or were too short like M) you found the nearest phone booth to stand in.



Otherwise, the night was uneventful but fun. For the big rough city that it is, lots of kids were still out trick or treating as they would anywhere. It was nice to see.