Friday the 13th - Spooky Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Chris! 

How spooky that his birthday is Friday the 13th this year :) 

We celebrated with his family last weekend, and I'm headed up to NYC this weekend.

Looking forward to a sunshine filled weekend. I'm thinking a picnic in Central Park with some vino may be in order. We will see!

Hope you all are as excited about your weekend as Lucy was for this cupcake!

Spring in NYC

This weekend I tried to spend every minute possible outside. Luckily, I knocked out a majority of my school work on Friday and Sunday morning and was able to play for a bit. 

We went to Central Park for a picnic on Sunday afternoon. It was ridiculously crowded, but we found a spot to spread our blankets.

  Chris got a chance to play with his new helicopter, but had trouble controlling it. I guess with so many people, the signal from his phone ran into too much interference. The second he got it up in the air, he gained a horde of small followers. 4 or 5 children under the age of 6 ran around, following him and the helicopter everywhere they went. It saved him from having to retrieve it every time it crashed. I went over close enough to hear what he was saying to them, and it made me laugh out loud. He was using words like "signal reception" and "elevation". They probably had no idea what he was talking about, but their eyes got so big and he had their full attention because his toy was so cool!

Sunday night, I made a bunch of lasagna. We bought ingredients from Eataly and made it with spinach and spicy sausage. It was delicious! I was nervous because it was the first time I had ever made it without a recipe. Turned out pretty well though!

Gorgeous

Gorgeous afternoon in Fells. I escaped the office for a bit to grab lunch. Got to eat outside and soak up the sun. If I could spend every afternoon outdoors in weather like this, my life would be infinitely happier. Although it's technically still winter, I believe Spring had mercy on me and arrived a bit early. I'm hoping New York will be this pleasant over the weekend. Chris was travelling, so I haven't seen him in three weeks. To say I'm excited to venture north would be a major understatement. I will be locked indoors for a solid portion of the weekend with some lovely take home final exams, but I'm sure  he'll persuade me to spend some outside time at the park. Let's be honest, we all know it won't take much persuading at all! 

I just recently rediscovered this song and have it on repeat today. I always seem to have a song of the moment, am a bit ADD. Do you ever do that? If so, what's your song of the moment?

I Don't Run

Isn't this elephant adorable? Chris thought I had lost my mind when I insisted we stop so I could take a picture of it. Whenever I visit him in NY, we end up walking all over the city. I love that we can ramble all over and never run out of new things to see. 

The UN Building

Do you know that couple? The super cute one, they exercise together? The girl, she's tiny and has a headband that matches her spandex. Every step she takes looks effortless and it's obvious, she's never sweat a day in her life? 

I'm not that girl. 

Saturday, we went on a run along the east river path (read: Chris ran, I jogged, stumbled, walked and wheezed). What  possessed me to attempt this - I still don't know! 

We did luck out with balmy weather! 

Let's be honest though, if the temperature had not hovered around 60, there's no way he would have persuaded me to try out this running nonsense.

Along with, or perhaps despite Chris' new role as personal trainer from hell, the view provided enough motivation to keep me moving.  With the sun shining brightly, a slight breeze coming off the water, the sound of seagulls cawing and Chris yelling "DON'T STOP MOVING, KEEP GOING", I almost believed spring was here! 

Sunday morning's walk to get breakfast quickly reminded me that it is in fact January. It was nice to get a bit of respite from my recent hibernation, however short it was.    

Sunday, we wandered through Tudor City and had the temperature not plummeted I would have taken pictures of the distinctive architecture. We'll have to go back the next time I visit!

Chris took me out to dinner with some of his co-workers at Alta on Saturday night (by the way, Alta's food and sangria are amazing!), so I decided on Sunday that it was my turn to treat him to dinner. I made a delicious Chicken Parm and served it over pasta with sides of garlic bread and salad with homemade dressing and croutons. It may not have been our lowest calorie meal, but after the running I felt like we earned it! 

And on that note, don't you think he owes it to me to try out yoga now? Especially since he's planning on making me do this running thing again! Even more especially because I still cannot walk properly two days later?!?!

All in all, we had a great weekend together.

 Is it bad that, this morning, in my bleary state on the 4:40am train, all I could do was console myself with the fact that Miami is only 5 days away? 

I know I should try to live in the present, but recently I find myself living for our weekends more and more. 

Maybe when school starts up again it will force me to focus more on the day to day. 

Hope you all had lovely weekends. Happy Monday! 

What Goes Up Must Come Down

Delay upon delay tripped up my arrival.  However, I've now successfully ruled out every means of travel other than the train - against which I have arbitrarily discriminated to my own disservice. 

My last bus adventure culminated in 2 hours standing in a torrential downpour in heels with entirely too much luggage. My air travel, on this occasion, did provide an opportunity to befriend an elderly British lady as we sat on the runway for 45 minutes waiting for our 30 minute flight. We bonded over the delay and lack of available refreshments. 

Upon my arrival, I was delightfully spoiled with a delicious meal. 

I would have never thought cucumber and dill would blend so well with shrimp over orzo. The flavors were so light and fresh! So good - I will definitely snag the recipe and share it soon.  

We went traipsing through the crazy pre-Halloween snow to find the New Museum this weekend. 

The wind was insanely fierce but we dressed warmly and enjoyed the beauty of the crazy weather. 

The lines were millions of miles long so we abandoned our attempt at the slide. 

We went to Eataly, feasted on prosciutto & fresh mozzarella, and tasted delicious red wine. 

 Doesn't this make you want to abandon American life for a villa in Tuscany? When I went to Tuscany, my dad kidnapped me from the group for a day. We had been touring museum after museum and as wonderful as they are, you stop absorbing the beauty after the 25th one. Luckily, I wasn't in my teenage funk on this particular day and let him take me to the Verrazano Vineyards (the same family that the bridge was named after supposedly). We spent the day touring the vineyards and eating amazing Italian food paired perfectly with their wines. It was the best introduction to wine tasting I could ever have requested. 

One of the best parts of  great food and wine in my opinion is the culture associated with it. I love the thought of food and wine as the main event. The table should be a place to leisurely sample many tastes and enjoy fabulous conversation with great people. 

As much as I love my home, it was so sad leaving to come back. I wish I could have made the weekend last just a bit longer. I feel like I blinked and it was over.  Did get to catch the last bit of the Ravens game (30 to 27 us!) in the airport though and arrived in Baltimore safely after stadium traffic subsided. Back to another week of real life! 

New York

Headed to Manhattan for the weekend. Looking forward to checking out the New Museum after Joanna's review. 

What are your Halloween plans? Is anyone doing anything spectacular? What is your costume this year?

Halloween makes me miss all of the costume parties we had in school. Here are some of my select favs:

Nerds & Geeks Party - note the inhaler tied around the neck.

Space Cowboy and 80s Prom Queen

Doublemint Twins

Have a fabulous weekend! Enjoy the festivities!!