the long way around...

resistance is futile...

it's all natalie's fault, {not that i'm not totally enjoying myself and my newest obsession find, facebook} but, i'm just saying that girl, she is trouble. 

and that's exactly why i love her so! 

girl time

i got in some much needed girl time last night with lori and natalie.  we braved the crowds and headed over to the cheesecake factory for dinner and $1.50 cheesecake.  how can you pass up that deal?  apparently we weren't the only ones who thought that since shortly after we arrived they were quoting a 3 hour wait time!  seriously!   3 hours!

{we got lucky though and got a table after a waiting a little more than an hour} 

we had a minor car issue on the way home {i'll let natalie tell the story}.  BIG thanks to craig for coming to our rescue. 

thanks girls for a fun night!  what would i do without you?

driving a house

today i have a loaner car while mine is in for service.  while, i'm SO grateful to get extra special treatment from my dealer (thank you lori and ray!), i'm slightly nervous to be tasked with driving a car that costs as much as a house!  who's the patron saint of travelers again?  i need him/her on my side today!

What i'm watching

a lot of people say that there's nothing to watch on tv during the summer....well, i'm here to respectfully disagree. 

i'm currenlty hooked on: big brother 10, army wives, so you think you can dance, project runway, and hopkins. 

what are you watching?  i've still got a few time slots open.  enable me! what am i missing!

ETA: also, the closer... how could i forget the closer?  thank you. 

day three in nyc

ok, are you ready for this?  day three started out with an unexpected visit to a local emergency room.  the details are still a bit foggy but, best as i can recall here's what happened.....

after grabbing breakfast at this cute diner about a block from our hotel, ming and i set off to meet up with some friends and catch the tour bus.

ming and i had just had a discussion about which shoes i should wear and i even debated going back to the hotel to change shoes but, in the end decided against it. 

quick aside: a word about the shoes.  everyone kept telling me that i needed to get a pair of really good walking shoes for the trip.  after much persuasion, i picked up these beauties at the walking company.  i use the word beauty with much sarcasm.  i mean, really. could these shoes be any uglier? and velcro? come on.  i feel like i should be wearing a pair of knee high stockings rolled down around my ankles with these.  ugh.  anyway, i digress.  i decide to sacrifice comfort for fashion and buy said shoes.  i even wore them to work the day before to test them out and see how they felt.  so far, so good. well,  after two days and lots of walking, my feet were holding up pretty well although i had developed a monster blister on my right heel.  we happened to pass by an aerosoles store and i stopped in and grabbed a cute pair of black slides (sorry i couldn't find a photo online but, they were WAY better, trust me).  i worn them that night and my feet were much happier.   the next morning, i decided to wear the 'walking shoes' again and i even outifitted them with a piece of moleskin where the blisters were to make them comfy. 

so, as we are crossing broadway, it happens.  i trip and my shoe gets caught on a piece of broken asphalt and i'm going down. falling fast and hard.  you know how when something like this happens, everything seems to slow way down?  all i can remember thinking is, ' i can't believe i'm falling...' and next thing i know i'm eating pavement.  for some reason, i didn't put my hands out (maybe because it was really crowded?) and my nose broke my fall.  ming helped me to my feet and got me out of the intersection (he was afraid i was going to get run over!) and i felt a little trickle from my nose.  i looked at one of the girls in our group and said something like, 'is it bad?' just as i got the words out of my mouth, my nose started to bleed hemorrhage.  at that very same moment, an ambulance was passing by and a kind stranger flagged it down for me.  meet benny.  he saved my life  stopped the bleeding.

{interesting tidbit about benny: he's going to be on the "biggest loser" this september.  he was super nice so if you see him, cheer him on!} 

we arrive at the hospital for a quick exam and some x-rays. 

and good news! it's not broken!  seriously, how lucky did i get? not a break, or even a scratch, just this lovely bruise {which you acutally can't even see in this photo it's really just swollen here; the bruise developed a few hours later.}  ming thinks that i look cute even with a swollen 'marsha brady' nose and captures the moment.  {is he smitten or what?}

i get discharged and we grab a cab back to the hotel so i can rest a bit.  after a few hours and a mega dose of ibuprofen i am ready to head back out into the city. 

we kept it low key and hit the MOMA and checked out a few exhibits. outside the mueseum there were all these artists selling their wares.  i bought a really cool watercolor print and some fork art.  a quick hop over to central park and then it was time for dinner. 

after dinner, we saw our third and final show, phantom.  which was amazing and something that i've always dreamed of seeing.    i don't have too many photos, post accident since my nose was really swollen and sore, it was hard to look through the viewfinder.   

such a crazy story... and who else do you know, other than me, that this sort of thing would happen to?  after telling a good friend of mine the story back home, she quipped, 'when you do something, you really do it, don't you?' 

i suppose she's right. 

Happy Anniversary...

 

natalie and craig!

i can't believe it's been a whole year since you tied the knot. 

here's to many, many more years of love and happiness!  you guys are my heroes!

just because, no reason in particular

how wonderfully sweet and thoughtful is my guy?  he sent these to me @ work a couple of days ago just because.  not only does he get major bonus points for sending flowers for no reason in particular but, he also knows the value of sending them to the office when all the girls will ooooh and aaahhhh over them. 

am i a lucky girl, or what?

More NYC

day 2 in the big apple....

headed deep into chinatown on a quest for counterfeit purses.... ming's trying to get the inside scoop for us... we followed the man on the left for blocks and blocks to an undisclosed location...what a fun adventure!

next stop.... little italy!

beautiful pashminas that a street vendor was selling.... i wish i would have bought more than one ...

these signs were posted all over the city... kinda funny, huh?

rockafeller center...

the railing around the 'top of the rock'

an afternoon snack... another 'have to' when in the city... and finally... another show!

 

Happy Birthday Dave!

happy birthday my friend!  i'm so proud of the man you've become! 

can you find me? 

 here i am! {sitting right beside dave in fact.}

a quick aside...

the saturday before i left for vacation, natalie and i spent the day with angela and olivia.  angela was so sweet to host us and even prepared a yummy brunch for us to enjoy.  she made this delicious coffecake that i had to get the receipe for and then promptly made the very next day.

  

it was so much fun to hang with the cool girls for the afternoon!  we don't get to spend as much time together as we used to so, when days like this one come along it's really special.

i can't believe how big olivia is getting!  she'll be a year old next month!  i think she gets cuter everytime i see her.