Biking Around Roosevelt Island

Last month we made the trek down to Astoria, Queens to go visit Matt & Nohra and stay over Matt's apartment for the night. Aside from the traffic to get down there it was an absolutely fantastic time. We had a great time checking out the local beer garden and playing some uno, talk about flashback!

On Saturday Norha took me for a bike ride around Roosevelt Island. Unfortunately the weather was terrible and it rained on our parade, literally, but I'm still glad we got to go and check it out. I'd love to go back again on a more beautiful day, it really was a great ride. Here's a couple quick pictures that we managed to sneak in on our ride before it rained on us. Oh and the best part, we got pickles, Nohra's favorite!!

Cinderella on Broadway

Hmm I realized I still had this post in my draft folder and I should probably finish it at some point. I really have not been keeping up with my writing lately. Life has just gotten so busy lately with going back to work and I definitely have not been spending time by my computer, which is actually a good thing. I do plan to keep writing, as much as I can anyway and certainly when important things come up. Anyway I digress, back to the post at hand. Earlier this year, Mom and I went to go see Cinderellaon Broadway and it was incredible, we had such an amazing day. Here is a little bit about our day in the city and the show...

In My Own Little Corner

I'm as mild and as meek as a mouse

When I hear a command I obey.

But I know of a spot in my house 

where no one can stand in my way.

In my own little corner in my own little chair

I can be whatever I want to be.

On the wings of my fancy I can fly anywhere

and the world will open its arms to me.

I'm a young Egyptian princess or a milkmaid

I'm the greatest prima donna in Milan

I'm an heiress who has always had her silk made

By her own flock of silkworms in Japan

I'm a girl men go mad for love's a game I can play 

with cool and confident kind of air.

Just as long as I stay in my own little corner

All alone in my own little chair.

I can be whatever I want to be.

I'm a thief in Calcutta I'm a queen in Peru.

I'm a mermaid dancing upon the sea

I'm a huntress on an African safari... it's a dangerous type of sport and yet it's fun

In the night I sally forth to seek my quarry

And I find I forgot to bring my gun.

I am lost in the jungle all alone and unarmed when I meet a lioness in her lair

Then I'm glad to be back in my own little corner,

All alone in my own little chair.

I can hear those lyrics in my head over and over, humming along to them. I can remember watching the video with Leslie Ann Warnen over and over with my Mom, singing along together. Such fun memories! We were so excited when we heard the show was coming to Broadway! There was no way we were missing that show. I surprised Mom with "tickets" for Christmas! 

We decided to make a day of it when we went in to see the show. Although March in the city isn't the warmest time of the year to be walking around we tried our best and thankfully it wasn't too cold. Mom wanted to start the day off down by Bloomingdales. Having not been to Bloomingdales in quite some time, or actually ever, I was shocked at just how upper class and unaffordable the store it. In any case we walked around and took in the sites.

After that though we were dying for a quick bite to eat and something small since we knew we wanted to go out to a bigger dinner not too far after. We tired a couple of places in the area but they were all packed and not quite what we were looking for. No thanks to Yelp we ended up at the Macaron Cafe not too far away, thinking we could get a cup of coffee and a little sweet treat. Well let me just say that the macaron's at Macaron Cafe were terrible. They were pretty awful, can you imagine at their namesake place the quintessential cookies were awful. I would never recommend this place to any one. We had our snack and quickly moved on and up to midtown before the show. 

Although I scored a great dress at Macy's in between, our dinner was not much to write home about either. We ended up at this french place right near the theater called Maison. The best part was that we got there at just the right time and beat the dinner/theater rush. Like I said that was the best part. The meal itself was nothing to really write home about. We started off with their cheese selection but it was nothing like the French place I went to for book club. For dinner we ended up splitting a hamburger and a crepe, it was good, but again just not the best. In any case you can't beat the company and we were looking forward to the main event of the evening!

I have to say the show more than made up for any lack luster snacks and dinner that we had throughout the day. The show was more than amazing. The songs, the scenery  the sining, the talent. All of it was amazing. I can't think of another word to describe it. It was pretty wild how they got her costume to change so quickly. But we absolutely loved the show and was the best part of our day. And I'm so happy that I got to see it with my mom. After all seeing Cinderella with you Mom is every little girl's dream! 

Idina at Carnegie Hall

The last time my Mom and I went to go see Idina Menzel was at Lincoln Center with the NY Philharmonic back in 2011. We had the best time going to see her then and of course we had the best time going to see her again, this time at Carnegie Hall. This concert was actually supposed to be back in October, it was originally scheduled for the day that Hurricane Sandy hit the NY/NJ area pretty hard, then they rescheduled for a couple weeks later, which turned out to be the night before my first day of work but because the NY/NJ transit was hit so hard from the storm and things weren't back up and fully functioning they pushed the concert out to January, which worked out well for us and of course it was well worth the wait. 

This time it was me, Mom and Barbra, who is also a huge Idina Menzel fan as well. We all met in the city for the concert. I drove in from our house and was amazed at my ability to parallel park in a super tight spot right in midtown on the first try, just have to throw that in there. After a little dinner we were ready for the main event. I'd never been to Carnegie Hall before but it was beautiful. Here's some pictures of the concert hall and me before the show. 

 

The show itself was absolutely wonderful, she is such a talented woman, it's such a gift she has to be able to sing like that. We enjoyed the show from start to finish. She sang a few songs from Wicked which are probably our favorite, she always sings "For Good" acoustic. She opened though with "The Wizard and I," which was amazing.  And she sang some other Broadway show songs from Rent, which are always a lot of fun, I love "Take me or Leave Me," which I hadn't heard her sing live before (at least that I remember anyway). She sang "Don't Rain on My Parade," which how could you not love her singing that song. And she is just so funny, she was joking the entire time, cracking jokes about being from Long Island, which was hysterical. It was such a wonderful concert to see her live, I'm sure this won't be the last time we go see her in concert that's for sure!!!

Christmas in NY

Christmas in NY is one of my favorite parts about living in the tri-state area. I love Christmas time in the city, there is just something about it. This year we were invited to a Holiday party at a colleague of Mike's apartment in the city. Him and his partner have a beautiful apartment right in the midtown area, close to Columbus Circle. After some traffic, and waiting on trains we finally arrived at the party and it was wonderful! We had so much fun catching up with everyone!

When it was time to go home around 9:30, I convinced Mike, without too much arm twisting, he agreed to go check out the tree for our annual pilgrimage. It wasn't too far of a walk from the apartment,  and we got to walk past some of my favorite city highlights, from Radio City to the "Giant Christmas Balls & Lights."Even better was that it was a pretty mild night in the city and it really wasn't too cold, guess we can blame that on global warming.

We made our way over to the tree and got in a decent spot and managed to get a picture taken. We actually didn't have the camera with us and just used our phones to take all the pictures this year. I was so happy to get a nice picture of us in front of the tree. I think it was clutch being able to go on a random weeknight around 10 pm to avoid all the crows, because let me tell you that is never fun. This way also leads to a happy and smiling Mike as well! I think this is my favorite tree picture yet!!!

My absolutle favorite part - Our Annual Tree Picture! <3 p="p">

Tree Pictures!

I love that I have a picture of us in front of "the tree" almost every year since we've been together. There was one year (2009) I guess we didn't make it into the city that year or if we did I don't have a picture, which is highly unlikely. But aside from that year I have a picture of us from every year in front of the tree. Some of the pictures aren't the best of us but I still love having a picture from every year to compare. It's hard to believe the first picture is from seven years ago already. 

I can remember all of our trips to the city for Christmas, some were definitely more crowded than others. I know I was lucky to get the picture in from 2006 for example. I remember it being so crowded that year and Mike did not do well with all the crowds. The other funny thing too is our jackets. I am pretty sure that is the same jacket Mike is wearing in the first picture and the most current and several years in between. And there I am in my North Face jacket as well in several of the pictures and I still have the jacket that I'm wearing in the first year picture, although it's become my gym coat now. I'm sure we'll prob be wearing the same coats next year too, haha. 

Can't wait to post pictures from the next seven years to add to the collection! 

2012 - After work quick stop! 

2011 - Mom, Dad, Steph & Nick and us all went last year!

 2010 - We went with John & Amy and Michelle & Chris

2009

I couldn't find any pictures and it's not on the blog

I guess we didn't go that year, what a bummer! 

2008 - City Day-o-fun with Carmen and Dawn! We skated and saw Santa!

2007 - It was so warm this year we had no jackets on!

2006 - It was so crowded this year, that much I remember!

2005 - Our original tree picture - still love this one! 

Bronx Bombers

In my mind there's nothing better than a baseball game to capture my idea of a perfect summer night. So when my Brother invited us to go to a Yankee game with him and his friends, of course we were interested. Ironically I had been trying to persuade Mike to go to that same game, but he didn't accept my invitation, only Matthews.

Mike and I got there really early, in an attempt to beat out the traffic driving in from NJ, so we had plenty of time to walk around and take in the sights, as well as get me a new Yankee Stadium Hard Rock Cafe pin to add to my collection! I made Mike take my picture next to the giant Yankee baseball hat as well. While we walked around I took inventory on what my food options were for the evening, not going to lie, they were pretty limited. I have to say I think Citifield takes the cake in my mind for being the nicer baseball stadium in the area.

Matthew and his friends finally arrived, I think somewhere in the 3rd inning or so and then the fun began. Matthews best friend, also, Matt, was home from London on vacation and brought his adorable British girlfriend Sophie, and was giving her the grand tour of NYC, which included going to a Yankee game. They indulged in purchasing a foam finger as well for the occasion which as you can see provided great entertainment value. 

All in all we had a great time minus the Yankees losing that particular game, that part wasn't cool, but it was still a fun, but expensive time. One thing I will note is that it is not cheap to go to a Yankee game, not that anything is cheap these days. I think in the end for the 2 of us we ended up spending close to $150 for the night and that was with sitting in the bleacher section! I can't believe how expensive it is to go to a baseball game these days and this was being pretty moderate in our spending. Here's our costs broke down for the evening, I thought it would be fun to write it down so in 5 years from now I'll probably be saying this was a great deal! 

George Washington Bridge Toll - $12 

Parking - $35 

Bleacher Tickets (2) - $40 

Round of 2 beers - $12

One hotdog and one sausage sandwich - $14

Round of 3 beers - $33 

I can't even imagine going with a family of four, good thing there's only 2 of us right now, but it was definitely worth it!