Mark's 30th Birthday Dinner

On Saturday of Mark's birthday weekend, the boys starting off their weekend like this:

Playing Video Games

Video games were followed by this:

That was a Friendly's Jubilee Roll.

The boys really could have played video games all day (it was Lego Indiana Jones if you must know) but I had made dinner reservations in New York City and planned for a few of our friends to meet us there (unbeknownst to Mark).  The restaurant we went to was in the theater district and it was called Trattoria Trecolore.  I would say that food was good but not great.  I would go there again if we were in the area and needed a place to eat but I wouldn't go out of my way to eat there again.  We had great company though and had a great time.

 

After dinner we walked up toward Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas tree.  This year I actually saw the tree the day they put it up, but it was not yet decorated.  If you've never seen the tree in person, it definitely looks nicer and more majestic on TV, but it's also cool to see in person.  

We finished the night by having a drink at an Irish pub called The Long Room.  It ended up being the same place we had lunch when my dad and brother were visiting!  We had so much fun and thanks to all our friends for helping us celebrate!

Black Friday in NYC

Mark had to work on Black Friday, so I decided to take up my friends' offer to come in and hang out in NYC that day.  It was an unusually warm and beautiful day!  We walked around the city and in central park and had some good eats.  So nice to have a chill day hanging out with friends!

Central Park Skating Rink

Another NYC weekend--Day 2

This post is summing up the weekend that my dad and brother were here two weeks ago.  I had a really good time with them and we did a lot of things together!  I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving!  

On my family's last full day here, we had tickets to see the play "The Mountaintop" on Broadway.  The play stars Samuel L. Jackson as MLK and Angela Basset as a hotel maid...that's it.  Just the two of them.  It was awesome--Both of the actors were amazing!  The play takes place in a hotel room the night before MLK was shot.  It's definitely worth seeing.

I haven't gone to see a Broadway show in a long time--there's nothing out that particularly appeals to me, except for the Book of Mormon, but I don't want to pay a gajillion dollars to go see it.  I think "The Mountaintop" might be my 15th Broadway show that I've seen?  I'm not sure...I lost count somewhere along the way, but I think it's somewhere around 15.

After the show, we went to the heart of Times Square where they were having a Super Mario exhibit thingy.  It looked really neat!

My dad also wanted to get some gyros, so we stopped by a few food carts.

In the above picture, we bought some hats for my cousin's kids--I was just being silly and put one of them on.  They were soft and warm!
We had dinner at a pub and then got some slices of Junior's cheesecake before we left the city.  Mark and I got a slice of blueberry cheesecake and red velvet cake and my brother got pumpkin swirl cheesecake.  They were all delicious!

Another NYC weekend--Day 1

When my dad and brother were visiting, we went into NYC on Friday and Saturday.  On Friday, Mark had to work, so we took the train into the City.  We stopped and had lunch in Chinatown and then we went to see Ground Zero and the Freedom Towers.  I thought we could go to the new memorial they have there but it turns out you need to reserve tickets online in advance!  You can't buy the tickets there.  So that was a disappointment. 

From Ground Zero, we went to Rockefeller Center.  They just put up that tree that day (without lights or anything) so I was glad they were able to see it.  Good timing!  We also went into the Lego store that was just off the plaza.  Inside, they had a Lego display of Rockefeller center--it was pretty neat. 

After Rockefeller Center we went to Times Square, walked around for a little bit, then went into the Hard Rock Cafe for a drink and a small bite to eat.

It was a long day!  We finally made it back to Lyndhurst at about 7:30 PM and then Mark joined us for sushi at a restaurant not far from where we live.

All in all, we saw a lot of things and it was a good day!

Hudson River Dinner Cruise

The start of another week.  I can't believe next week is already Thanksgiving!  I had a really fun weekend--my dad and brother were visiting from Houston.  I cooked an early Thanksgiving dinner and we also spent some time in NYC.  They left yesterday afternoon and I miss them already!  I haven't had time to upload the pictures and blog about the weekend, but those posts will be  coming soon.  In the meantime, here's a post I wrote a little while ago:

Mark's company had their holiday party early this year, like really early, like in October.  Actually, it was nice to have it that early since November and December are usually so busy anyway.  They usually have their holiday party at a nice country club, but this year they decided to do something different.  They invited the employees and significant others on a dinner cruise on the Hudson River.  The boat left from Weehawken, NJ and it went south along the Hudson River, right past the Statue of Liberty.  Unfortunately, I didn't even think to bring my SLR camera, so my pictures came out super blurry.  (Point and shoot cameras don't take night time shots so well).  I think this was a great idea for a party and hopefully they will do it in future years. 

NYC skyline

NYC skyline and Empire State Building

Upper and Lower West Side Story**

Our weekend fun with TJ and Michele continues...

On Labor Day, we took TJ and Michele into New York City.  I recommend going to the city on a holiday because street parking is free and there is a good amount of it available.  Since we were planning to travel to several parts of Manhattan, we decided to park not too far outside the Lincoln Tunnel, so we made it in and out of the city pretty quickly.  We basically used the subways to travel from the far north to the far south side of Manhattan.  We pretty much stayed on the west side of town, thus the title of this post.

Mark and TJ on the Subway

 Our first stops were Times Square and then Ground Zero.  After that, we went to the High Line Park.

Mark and TJ at the High Line

This was the second time Mark and I have been to the High Line and of course, we had to visit La NewYorkina.  If you live in or close to the city, you have to try these popsicles!  They are so delicious, fresh, and refreshing.  Instead of tasting like sugar, they taste like the actual flavor you choose.  Last time I got cucumber-lime, this time I got coconut.  The vendor has this salty chili powder that you can sprinkle on your popsicle--I know it sounds weird, but it really brings out the flavor of the popsicle.  I forgot to take a picture of mine, plus I wanted to eat it right away because it was really hot outside, so the above picture is from the vendor's website. 

From the High Line, I saw this random billboard--I think it makes a good point:

We walked most of the park, had lunch at an Irish pub, then went to Central Park.  I proposed the idea of a pedicab ride because I think it's a good thing for tourists to do and an efficient way to see a large part of the park.  I've done the tour from the south part of the park twice, so I wanted to see if they had pedicab tours of the north part of the park.  We took the subway all the way to the north end of the park and found out there are no pedicab drivers there.  Boo.  Well at least now I know.  Pedicabs are only available at the South End and essentially, all the tours are the same.  So I did the tour for a third time, but it was still fun.  Not quite sure if I would do it a fourth time.

If anyone is planning on doing this, know that you should pay $20 per person.  They'll try to sell you higher prices and give you reasons why they can't do it for $20, but I've found that they'll all do it for $20 a person if you stick to your guns.  One time I tried to bargain to $15 a person but it doesn't seem like any of them will do it for that price.   

This is the last post summarizing our Labor Day weekend.  We are so grateful TJ and Michele came to visit us and it was wonderful to spend time with them!  Mark and I have been blessed with several life-long friends and we are thankful to have them in our lives!

**Mark helped me come up with the title of this post so I must give him credit for creativity.  Other options he came up with were Monday in the Park with Tony, Start Spreadin' the News, On the Town, and My Kind of Town.