NYC what is it about you?

Alan has a couple of guy friends that are just as big of sports fans as he is, and they're always doing fun guy things -- Yankees game, Red Sox game, Golfing, Baseball Hall of Fame, just to name a few. They're always feeling a titch guilty when they go, so they've been encouraging their wives to go for a girls weekend out.

Well O.K. --
Twist our ARMS.
NYC here we come!

I went with some of my good girl friends, Jaime and Panda, and we had a blast! Panda has a cousin who lives there and we were able to use them for our Bed and Breakfast/Tour guide.

Jaime drove us THROUGH Manhattan to get us to the apartment. She even got honked at and given the Bird, so we knew she did GREAT!
Upon arrival, we hit AND CONQUERED the NY Subway system by ourselves, (after multiple lesson from my husband about how it works) and made it down to Battery park to catch our ferry ride to Miss Liberty.
(btw, Thanks to Panda for most of these pictures. My camera died a few pictures into our trip)

We walked around and caught up with Caleb, Panda's cousin-in-law, who was so great and took us all around the city.

Rockefeller Ice Skating Rink
Times Square


Caleb made us reservations at one of their favorite restaurants, an amazing Cuban restaurant, where we listened to a live Cuban band and ate DELISH food. We were also able to meet up with Panda's cousin, Patty Sue, who was just as great as her hubby.


After dinner, we were pooped and headed back to the apartment for a good ol' slumber PARTY! and Yes we fell asleep giggling just like we were twelve years old.
The next morning we were given a little tour around Patty Sue's Apartment (they live on the 22nd floor with views that look over the river to Manhattan. I woke up at 3 in the morning and looked out at the city the WASN'T sleeping. I was mesmerized and didn't want to go back to sleep!!!!), while Caleb went and stood in line for an hour and half to get us more-than-HALF-OFF Broadway tickets to see Mary Poppins. Is that so sweet, or what???


We ate at a great bakery across from Bryant Park and then just walked around.
We stopped at the NYC Library. So Beautiful.


Central Park


Chillin' Relaxin' Actin' all cool


That's not awkward at all when you can hold a conversation over the bathroom stalls.

Can you find the ANGEL MORONI?
We made it just in time to see our show and it was so GREAT. The story was a little different than Disney, the music was great, and the special effects included Mary Poppins soaring in the the sky multiple times- once over the audience, and Bert walking up the side of the wall, over the ceiling and down the other side. So cool! It was so much fun to see!

A huge thanks to our guides. I felt like I was saying good bye to family when we left. They were so sweet to us and made our little "girls weekend out" PERFECTION!

Leaves are Falling all around, on the roof top, on the ground. . .

I just LOVE when the seasons change, especially when they change to Spring and Autumn.
Fall makes me happy. I love the colors, the smells and the temperatures. My friend Laura, (who is such a great writer), suggested that maybe I should post about my Fall decor outside my door. Thanks for the little shove, Laura! :)


I made this wreath for my door. I just love orange.

The other week, I drove past an Amish home that was selling all kinds of GREAT items: pumpkins, guards, mini pumpkins, corn stalks, and handmade crates, just to name a few. I stopped to pick a few up. If only I had my camera then. It was just beautiful. I spent every last dollar I had in my purse (not that I carry a lot around), including a few quarters, to pay for everything. :)

I've wanted to make a pumpkin topiary for years, after seeing it in a magazine.
All the mums in my garden have been super ugly all year, until they bloomed. Now they add a lot of color to the yard.
I'm still deciding if I want to keep them around for next year, or just pull them out.
Our lamp post.

Hope you're enjoying the season!

The National Apple Harvest Festival

Last Saturday we didn't have much planned, it was a beautiful fall day, and so we decided to go to the National Apple Harvest Festival. We've never been, but Alan's co-worker had suggested it, so we looked it up online and headed out.

We drove about an hour to the middle of nowhere, and enjoyed beautiful views like this.


We parked and had to be bussed over to the festival.
We learned that this festival was A LOT bigger than we thought.
We HAD to watch the CLARK COUNTY CLOGGERS!!!
So small-town-America!!
We thought it was hilarious and great, all at the same time.

And of course, the infamous guy dressed up as a LARGE APPLE!


Marcus didn't think he was so cool. Jackson thought he was awesome!

We enjoyed DELICIOUS FOOD! For lunch we ate this pork BBQ (pictured below). We also enjoyed warm applesauce that they made right in front of us. Fresh apple cider. Apple fritters. (if you don't know what an apple fritter is, just imagine funnel cake meets apples. ooh yes. It's as good as it sounds) and we came home with Alan's favorite, apple dumplings.
The only reason you go to these things is the food, right????
Petting zoo that Marcus did NOT want to leave. HE LOVED THE ANIMALS.
Crafts for the kiddos.
Great entertainment. This bluegrass band was great.
We had a happy/perfect Fall day.

P.S. This was a machine that peeled and cored the apples for the apple sauce, or you could just buy the peeled/cored apple.

R & A Dinner

Friday night was Alan's annual work dinner. It's a super duper dinner, where Alan wears a tux, I wear a nice dress/gown, and all of the clients of Alan's work are invited for a 4 course meal and entertainment. It's a fun date night that we get to have, and I enjoy (most of the time) meeting all of Alan's clients and seeing his co-workers.
I'm totally not into hair or make-up and never know what to do w/ myself, so this year, I asked my fabulous friend, Panda to help me out. She did so great and mostly, it was fun to hang out all afternoon. :)

I arrived at her house and she had her TOOLS all set up.
I think I own about 1/3 of the makeup that Panda has. I'm pathetic.



The BEFORE picture.
U-G-L-Y
AFTER.
BEAUTIFUL.
Thank you so much for giving up your afternoon for me, P!
I wore dress that I wore a couple of years ago: brown, simple, floor length, and Alan, as always, looked HOT in his TUX! We had a fun night.

Fall Swap

I joined the Fall swap (check out my friend Laura's blog to READ ALL ABOUT IT) and had lots of fun picking out some presents for a stranger/new friend, May. I sent my package out last week, and on Saturday, a fun package came for me. Yea! I HEART MAIL!

This is what I received!
Some fun, fall decor to put around my home.

Thanks so much, May! The candy is delish, and I love seeing something new on my shelf!!!

U2

Alan and I went to the U2 concert last week and it was totally a blast! Our good friends, the Barnums (we owe you big time!) watched our kids from 9 A.M. until 3 A.M. the next morning while we went to the concert.
We went early (in line by 11) and got the wrist bands and numbers on our wrist. 281, 282.

And there we sat until the afternoon.
We called family, read books and enjoyed the sunshine!

The concert was at FedEx stadium (home of Washington Redskins).
There is the stadium behind Alan.

WE FINALLY MADE IT INSIDE!
We ran straight to the front of the stage and were 3 bodies from the front and center stage.
So CLOSE!

The opening band was MUSE.
Done w/ Muse and setting up for U2. Getting a little tired of standing. . .

Yeah! Here is U2. It was so awesome. I totally underestimated the excitement I would feel.
Alan is the big U2 fan. I like their music, but just their well known stuff, but the concert was totally amazing. It really helped me be a bigger fan.
Bono is a super star and it was awesome to be so close.

The songs they played:
Breathe, Magnificent, Get On Your Boots, Mysterious Ways, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / Stand By Me (snippet), Elevation, Your Blue Room, Beautiful Day / Blackbird (snippet), New Year's Day, Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of, The Unforgettable Fire, Mofo (snippet) / , City Of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight / Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough (snippet), Sunday Bloody Sunday, MLK, Walk On
encores: One / Amazing Grace (snippet), Where The Streets Have No Name, Ultra Violet (Light My Way), With Or Without You, Moment of Surrender

THE EDGE














It was such a great night and so fun to share it with Alan, my BFF.

Big Boys!

I finally finished the boys room.

I knew we were going to be getting them a bunk bed, so I was waiting for that to put up the decor. I got vinyl from my friend Annie (THANKS!) and I think everything turned out pretty darn cute!

There are also white balls, but you can't see those in the picture. After we got the bunk bed set up, we put Marcus to sleep the first night in the bottom, and I thought for sure it would be a long night (his first night in a big boy bed), but he didn't move a muscle! His eyes were huge, and he hardly turned his head to say good night to me as I was leaving. He still rarely gets out of his bed by himself and yells at me to come get him out, like he's in is crib or something. Silly boy.

Jackson did great on the top. He's a pro at climbing the ladder and going to bed.

This is Alan's Mom's old dresser. It was dark brown w/ broken handles. I put a few coats of paint on it, new handles and it's a brand new dresser!

The book shelf under the window was a wooden shelf that we got from some friends. It was old, rickety and totally leaning to one side. I screwed in some braces and a couple coats of paint and wallah-- a brand new STURDY bookshelf.

Picture courtesy of Jackson. My grin is NOT cheesy at all.