South Street Seaport Village

Seeing how the temperatures had risen to 30 degrees , we headed outdoors and explored a part of Manhattan we hadn't seen before. South Street Seaport Village is downtown, on the East River. It has a great view of the Brooklyn Bridge from the pier, as you can see in the picture. There are 5 old boats moored on Pier 16---schooners, tugboats, and cargo ships.


I cannot take credit for this photo---I got if off the Seaport Museum website. Maybe we'll actually see this boat sail when the weather is warmer. The NYC Water Taxis also leave from Pier 16---they can take people to the Statue of Liberty, among other places. There are also lots of restaurants and retail stores at Seaport Village. I am sure it gets pretty crowded there in the summertime. Tomorrow we are off to have brunch with my friend Ellen from Seattle, who is in town with her husband. Their son goes to Columbia, so they come to NYC every so often to see him. I am hoping to take Ethan up to the campus and take some photos there too.

Luna's New Friends

Luna discovered a surprise on the fire escape this morning.....two pigeons close enough for her to touch. If only that glass wasn't there!

Justin Timberlake at MSG

Last week, K and I went to the Justin Timberlake concert at Madison Square Garden. We were surrounded by screaming, teenage girls who were dressed like they in their 20's. I feel old just saying that, but it's true. High school fashion sure has changed in 10 years. But back to the concert---it was an awesome show. He played old songs and new, even threw in an old N Sync song too. His performance definately exceeded my expectations. Here's K and I in the stands; security said cameras weren't allowed into the concert so I had to resort to the cell phone camera. (The stage photo is from the internet). And Madison Sq Gdn is an interesting building. I was expecting to see a stadium like key arena or the rose garden, but instead we saw what looked like an office building from the outside and a HUGE arena on the inside.

The First Family Visit

Kathleen was in town for the past week, during the coldest temps of the winter. It's not too fun to walk around and see the sights when every part of your body needs to be protected from the wind and cold air. We did some shopping, ate a lot of good food and did a little bit of exploring. I think next time she comes it will be in the spring or fall, when the temps are perfect. Kathleen, you left just in time!---there is a snow storm predicted to hit NYC tomorrow. The first big snowfall of the year....we'll see if it happens or not.

On Kathleen's last night we ventured into Times Square to go to the movies. It's a dream come true, two GIGANTIC movie theaters right across the street from one another! (Each one has 25 theaters and shows all kinds of movies). We've seen Pan's Labrinth and Marie Antoinette there, and on Saturday we saw Little Children.

Of course we just had to get our haircut while Kathleen was in town! :) We went to a beauty supply store in Manhattan and bought clippers to cut Ethan's hair. K taught me how to cut, although I am sure the first time I try, it will take me hours.

Here we are at our neighborhood subway stop---the F train, 7th Avenue. If you ever come visit us, this is one thing you'll need to remember if you go out exploring while we are at work. :) Kathleen, you missed a crazy sight on the subway after we dropped you off at the airport....I'll tell you about it sometime.

In a few days, Kathleen is moving to San Fran. We wish her the best and hope she finds a job and a nice place to live soon. Will we be seeing a SanFranThomas blog coming soon? :)

Danica's here!

Danica arrived on Thursday, in town for work and also for a mini-vacation. She works for a company that sells ribbon, gift boxes, wrapping paper, etc to various stores and companies. Her company is participating in the the New York Gift Trade Show this week and I got to see firsthand how much work it takes to set up a booth. It was a fun day and I learned all about ribbon! I want to buy some to use on my cards--it's beautiful and so colorful.

The show ends on Thursday and we'll begin the real New York adventure then. We are going to explore neighborhoods like Soho and Chelsea and maybe even see some famous people. NY Fashion Week starts in a few days and apparently, lots of celebs are in town. Kathleen arrives on Saturday, so we can all explore the city together.

The two of us at Grand Army Plaza in Park Slope. It was so cold out, Ethan had to take this photo super quickly so his bare hands wouldn't freeze to death.

First Snowfall

Luna in awe of the 1/2 inch of snow on the fire escape.

This past week we had our first snowfall and the coldest temperatures in two years. Imagine waking up in the morning and discovering it's nine degrees outside. Friday was a "wear long underwear under your clothes" type of day. And an "I wish I had a ski mask" day as well. The wind chaps your cheeks and takes your breath away.

Our first visitors

Ethan's brother, Matt and his wife Courtney, came to the Big Apple over MLK weekend. They tried out our new humongous air mattress that barely fits in our living room. (Kathleen and Danica, your turn is next!) It was a fun weekend full of football, walking, and lots of eating. We tried out a Mexican place near NYU which turned out to be really good. They served lots of spicy dishes, which Ethan of course LOVED. :)

We watched the big game and unfortunately, I was the one who suffered the major disappointment of it all. But now that Ethan's team is having their turn in the Super Bowl this year...Go Bears!

Matt and Courtney and the view from the Brooklyn Promenade. Great place to see Manhattan.

The E & E Rivalry

It all comes down to this Sunday. Elin's Seahawks vs. Ethan's Bears. We went through it once already this season and we all know how that ended. This photo was taken before that terrible game. We are both ready for round two....and since I am the one who types this blog, I have the right to say.....GO SEAHAWKS!!! :)

A New York Birthday

I turned the big 2-9 this week. Ethan surprised me with tickets to my first Broadway show! We saw Wicked at the Gershwin Theater. It was a fun show--Ana Gasteyer from SNL played Elphaba. Ethan and I both read the book last year, so we could tell that there was a lot left out of the show---and a lot was changed. The ending was completely different and the plot was more "kid-friendly". After the show, we went to Union Square and explored a bit before heading home to watch the Seahawks-Cowboys game. I wore my jersey for good luck and it actually worked! What a crazy game that was.

Elin has a job!

As of January 3rd, Elin will be a full-time employee at Columbia University. She will be working as an assistant to the Finance Director in the Grad School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. The job is relatively similar to jobs she's done at SPU---paying invoices, filing, updating budget spreadsheets.... It feels great to have two incomes again!

Christmas in Virginia

Richmond

Ethan and I spent two days in Richmond with his brother Matt, sister-in-law Courtney and Peyton, his nephew. Uncle "Ethey" had fun getting tackled and throwing the ball around with Peyton and Aunt "Kaylie" had fun playing woo-woo (trains).

We saw some Christmas light displays near their neighborhood. One of the houses has been showcased on the TLC channel as one of the most decorated in America. There are lights covering everything and the electric bill is almost $3000 from Nov-Dec.

Roanoke

Our first Christmas as a married couple was a good one. It was hard for me to be away from my family for the first time ever but being with the Via's was the next best thing. They made me feel right at home. Marcia cooked an awesome Xmas dinner---Ethan requested a turkey dinner and he got it!

Fixated on the train in Polar Express.

The Big Tree

Christmas at Rockefeller Plaza

About few days before Christmas, Ethan and I visited "The Rock" to see the holiday sights. We braved the crowd, saw the gigantic tree and watched people ice skate. We would have joined them, but the mile long line changed our minds. Maybe after the holidays....

St. Patrick's Cathedral

We walked farther down 5th Ave, just past Rockefeller Plaza and came across this huge cathedral. It's odd to see such an old building surrounded by skyscrapers. We were able to go inside St. Pats and see how nicely it was decorated for Christmas.

Prospect Park

Here is the park, only two blocks away from our apartment. It looks alot prettier in the spring I'm sure, but you get the gist. It's a big park, not as big as Central Park, but good enough for us Seattle folks who love the outdoors. Surrounded by neighborhoods, businesses and subway tunnels is this park, which includes the Brooklyn Zoo, the Botanic Gardens and even an ice skating rink.

This is the historic Prospect Park Boathouse. It's a neat old building and supposedly gets very busy during the warmer months. Back in the 1920's, you could rent wooden rowboats and float around the lake. The Audubon Center and Park Visitor Center are located in the boathouse. We saw a couple of men fishing at the lake, although they didn't seem to be catching anything.

Thanksgiving in Jersey

We travelled over to Flemington, New Jersey for Thanksgiving with Ethan's cousin, Joel and his wife, Tracy. We stayed with them until Saturday. There was a big group over for dinner, over 20 in all. Joel and Tracy have 3 kids, one of Tracy's sister's has 3 and one of her brother's has 2. So it was similar to a Thomas gathering with lots of kids around. We had a fun time, with tons of good food! Here is Ethan playing with Joel's youngest, Maeve. She just turned 2.

The day after Thanksgiving, we were on a mission to sell Ethan's car. Joel helped us find some dealer's to take it to and we visited 2 before we found one that was interested in buying. We ended up at the local Honda dealer. The used car buyer test-drove the car, and looked it over before giving us a price that was very close to what Ethan aiming for. Ethan filled out the paperwork that evening and now we are officially carless. Here's Ethan, saying goodbye to Black Beauty. :)

Painting Day

Everything I learned while on SPU's Paint Crew came in handy once again. Ethan and I took a trip to Lowe's and shopped for paint colors. We got "Oatbran" for a couple walls in the living room and "Morning Fog" for the bedroom. It's amazing what a little bit of color on the walls can do!

Boxes, Boxes, and More Boxes

The movers came a week ago and unloaded our belongings. We were left with the fun task of unpacking all the boxes and finding places for everything. Here is what we learned about professional movers: They hate stairs, they can carry twice their weight, and they love packing paper! We found out that last one as we unpacked. When the movers drove away, we were started opening boxes---only to find that every item was wrapped in multiple sheets of packing paper.

It was like an exaggerated Christmas---I unwrapped a microwave popcorn packet, rubberbands from the junk drawer, Ethan opened juggling balls---each individually wrapped. It felt like a giant waste of paper---good thing NYC is a huge fan of recycling!

We had a near disaster---our couch barely fit into the living room, and I mean BARELY. The movers got it through the front door, which is pretty much all they cared about. The rest was up to us. Ethan and I were determined not to have a couch in the kitchen, so we got out the tools and went to work. Ethan worked on taking the short wooden legs off (they were the cause of the problem). After much hard work trying to remove stripped screws, the legs were off and we were ready to bring the couch through the hallway to the living room. We literally had to shove it past the door jamb, but we got it through with only a few scrapes on the wood. Success!

Days 7-10

Day Seven: Naperville, Illinois

We had a short drive day today, a 2.5 hour trip to Naperville (which is west of Chicago). We stayed with Jim and Amy in their nice, new house. Jim was transferred to the Chicago office in May and told us what it's been like, adjusting to a new city and job.

They took us to a nice dinner at Walter Payton's Round House, yes, THE Walter Payton, Ethan's most favorite sports star. The restaurant had a one room museum dedicated to #34 and what better place than that to use as the backdrop to our Day 7 photo. :) (The restaurant is in Aurora, IL, where my mom, grandparents, aunts and uncle went to college. )

Day Eight: Youngstown, Ohio

460 miles later, we stopped for the night in Youngstown. We crossed through Indiana and almost made it through Ohio but needed to stop for the night. It was a long day and we were dead tired, so we ordered pizza in our hotel room, watched Grey's Anatomy and took our day 8 photo.Day 9: Grove City, Pennsylvania and Flemington, New Jersey

We drove through Grove City, PA today, which is Ethan's mom's college town. We stopped at the Grove City College campus and took some photos. Marcia, these are for you. :) Here we are in front of her dorm.

Here is the chapel, along with the inside. It was being decorated for the holidays.

We headed out to New Jersey for our last night of hotel living. We stayed at a Holiday Inn in Clinton, NJ. It was quite a place---it seemed like a town hangout, there was a nightclub/bar in the lobby! We skipped that and went to Ethan's cousin Joel's house in Flemington for dinner. He and his wife Tracy have a great farmhouse with lots of outdoor space for their 3 kids to make use of. Ethan and I are heading there for Thanksgiving and staying until Saturday morning.

Day Ten: Brooklyn, NY

Crossing the Verrazano Bridge from Staten Island to Brooklyn.

We finally made it! After 10 days of driving and staying in hotels, we are finally inside our apartment. Granted, we are sleeping on the floor in sleeping bags but we made it to our destination in one piece. No speeding tickets, no accidents, no flat tires! It was a fun road trip and we saw many things we had never seen before---national monuments, mountain ranges, historic towns, and pick-up trucks full of deer.

I had never seen a hunter's deer carcass before, but after driving through the Midwest, I have seen my share. Just one of the observations I made during my ten days on the road... :)

Luna did a great job on the road trip. Thanks to the drugs the vet gave us, she slept most of the day and had fun exploring each hotel room we stayed in. However, when we got to our apartment, she freaked out a little and started a new routine of hiding under the covers of the sleeping bag. Hardwood flooring and and empty apartment make a loud, echo-ey combo and Luna didn't like that very much. The first night, she spent part of the night curled in a ball at the end of my sleeping bag, with me in it. I had my very own foot warmer.

More to come later about the movers delivering our stuff and the unpacking process...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Road Trip...Part Three

Day Six: Madison, WI

We drove from Sioux Falls, South Dakota to Madison today. We crossed the Mississippi River on our way into Wisconsin! It was a long day but we were glad to see some familiar faces. Ben and Cara took us to a great Mexican place for dinner and we had frozen custard for dessert. A Wisconsin treat--- almost like gelato but probably twice as bad for you. :)

We stopped at the state capitol building, which is just down the street from Ben and Cara's apartment. Madison is a great college town and reminds me of Bellingham.