Red Pencils and Running Shoes

Or… not.  But since the wedding was on a Friday, Robert and I decided to make a fancy weekend out of our trip to Manhattan.  We started our Saturday by having brunch with the happy couple and my future mother-in-law.  Robert, his mom, and I walked to the Waldorf-Astoria where the newlyweds spent the night.  I couldn’t help but snap a few pictures of the beautiful, historic hotel.

Beautiful, right?!  From the Waldorf, we caught a cab and ventured to Sarabeth’s by Central Park… where we saw Kevin Jonas and his wife!  But since they were there, the table forbid me from taking a picture of the restaurant… and the Jo-Bro.  They didn’t want to make a big deal out of it or something… psssh.  But trust me when I say that 1) Kevin Jonas’ wife is beautiful and 2) Sarabeth’s is SO cute, and so delicious.  Definitely a great place for brunch in NYC!

From brunch, we all went our separate ways for a while.  Robert and I relocated to the Flatiron district to the Marcel at Gramercy; a boutique hotel by Gramercy Park.  Check out our cute room!  Apparently the Marcel hosts resident artists during the year, and all of the rooms are unique!  I loved it.  There was also a great rooftop deck and lounge with a great view.  I could have spent all day up there!

PLUS the hotel was right down the street from a little place I’d been dying to try…  Pinkberry!  I convinced Robert to stop in, and we both got originals.  I think I squealed when I discovered I could top my frozen yogurt with CAP’N CRUNCH!!!  I devoured the whole thing.  Robert wasn’t as big of a fan.  Probably because he didn’t add Cap’n Crunch  

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring this new (to me!) part of the city. 

Before we knew it, it was time for dinner.  We had this dinner planned for weeks – it was 95% of the reason we wanted to stay another night in NYC!  Since Robert and I are huge (HUGE!) Food Network fans, we have wanted to go to Bobby Flay’s Bar Americain since forever.  We got all dressed up, collected the new bride (her groom was sending off his irish relatives!) and headed out.

The restaurant was so cool!  We sat upstairs, and got to watch all the swanky action below.  And the food… the food really was amazing.  We were expecting to be underwhelmed, but I was honestly blown away.  I started with the Chopped Asparagus Salad, which was light and lemony.  I wish it had a few more pieces of asparagus, but the rest of the ingredients more than made up for it.  I also had a few pieces of a grilled pizza with bacon and garlic.   And when I say bacon, I mean BACON.  Not that crispy breakfast type, but thick, salty morsels of deliciousness.  My mouth is watering while I type it!  I would go back tomorrow, just for that pizza!  Robert tried the Bar Americain take on a Philly Cheesesteak (yes, we were in New York… I gave him a free pass!)  It was a steak smothered in grilled onions and a provolone cheese sauce.  It was divine!   I highly recommend Bar Americain – please go and eat that pizza!

We finished off the night in Robert’s sister’s Manhattan apartment.  We had such fun gossiping and laughing and talking about her wedding.  And her apartment is so cute, I could have stayed there all night! 

It was a great day in the city, and a perfect follow-up to the wedding. 

What would be your perfect day in Manhattan?

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Once upon a time, a beautiful young lady went to Ireland to visit a friend.  This friend took it upon herself to introduce the beautiful young lady to a handsome Irish fellow – and they fell in love.  As months went past, the beautiful young lady saved her pennies to visit her handsome Irish fellow, and in turn he would come to the states and visit her.  Eventually they decided that it was time for the handsome Irish fellow to move to the united states with the beautiful young lady, and soon later they were engaged!

As the year went past, there were several celebrations for the beautiful couple.

But none were quite as amazing as the wedding between the beautiful young lady and the handsome Irish fellow…

The wedding was on June 4, 2010 at the Loeb Boathouse in Central Park, and I can’t imagine a more picturesque location!

The food was amazing (think: seared tuna and filet mignon!)  and the DJ was terrific.  He kept us dancing all night… in fact I’m hoping to book him for our wedding!  And with plenty off family  and friends to celebrate with, there couldn’t have been a more perfect evening!

In the end, all anyone could talk about was how perfect the beautiful young lady and the handsome Irish fellow were for each other.  I couldn’t be more happy for them, and am so excited for my future sister-in-law!  I’ve never seen such a beautiful bride!  Congratulations!

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So I’ve been pretty busy lately and while busy = more to write about, it usually also means writers block.  In the case of this post, busy also meant that I never had time to get the pictures from my mom.  But alas, here we are, and I am trying to get back to a normal-ish schedule.

Anyway, I don’t know if you know this, but I am the oldest of 15 cousins on my Mom’s side.  (No cousins on my dad’s side!)  Even though I am only about a year and a half older than the next cousins, I look at them all as my little chickies!  Thus, when I was invited to my cousin’s graduation from… WEST POINT… I welled up with pride and immediately made plans to trek to NY.  On top of that, we found out that Obama was making the commencement speech, and I got really excited.  I mean – who cares about political orientation? Whether you voted for him or not, how often do you get to see the President make a speech?!

On that note… time for some pics!

Mom, Robert, and I stayed with my grandfather (GP for short), and traveled about an hour to get to Michie Stadium.  There was traffic everywhere!  If I were a local, I’d book vacation during graduation week every year

When we walked into the stadium, I was so excited to see this sign!  You can bet your bottom that I tweeted the whole time

The stadium was pretty full, even an hour prior to the ceremony.  All the underclassmen lined the top sections in a flood of white.

Finally it was time for the cadets to march into the stadium.  I admired their sweet marching skills   Every graduate and cadet from West Point are a part of the infinite continuum called the Long Grey Line.  Everything at West Point is so steeped in tradition!  I loved it.

After all the students, faculty, and military marched into the stadium, it was time for El Presidente.  We’d heard rumors that he was being transported by helicopter, and sure enough, 10 minutes after the cadets marched, the Obama-rama parachuted down from a helicopter to the main podium.

Ok, or maybe he just marched in too.  But it would have been awesome if he dropped from the sky!    He gave a great speech too – he even absolved all the underclassmen of any minor infractions!  He was great and personable, and really supported the graduates.  He also mentioned that the number one cadet and the valedictorian were both female – for the first time in history!  Girl power!  Here is a link to his speech.

Anyway, all of the honors graduates received their diploma from the President.  How cool is that?!  I wish I’d received my diploma from the President!

Here’s my cousin getting his diploma – I was so proud!  West Point is a tough place, but I know he made the best of it

After the graduation ceremony, we stopped for pictures, and then headed to his commissioning into the Army. 

I love touring college campuses, so I had to snap some pictures on the way to Trophy Point!

My uncle was in the Army as well, and got to issue the oath to Mark.

And there were some sweet moments too.  My littlest cousins never knew my uncle when he was in the Army, and it was so cool to see their reaction to him in his uniform.  They were amazed!  And the very youngest says to his brother “Wow, Mark, I’ve never seen you wear that uniform before!”  And Mark goes “I know – I’ve never worn this uniform before!”  And you could tell how excited they both were.  It was the cutest thing ever

Of course I insisted on taking a picture with my “little” cousin:

(ps can we take a minute to discuss this “million dollar view”?!  could you imagine walking past that on your way to class?!)

After the festivities, it was time to truly celebrate!  My uncle’s friend donated their house for party purposes, and we all gathered ‘round to toast to Mark.  It was the first time in ages that every single cousin was at the same party!

I am so grateful for my family – I love that we all get together to celebrate the good times with each other!  I am so proud of Mark, and I wish him all the luck in the world.

Do you have any family members in the military?  My dad was in the Navy, and of course my uncle and now cousin are in the Army… and my younger cousin is about to join Mark in the Army!  Hoo-rah!

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Alternate Title:  How to have fun without going to the beach

Hello friends!  I was thinking the other day that I talked a lot about surviving the rough times at work, but I hardly spend any time discussing the perks of working for the Big 4 Firms.  This past weekend was a prime example.  You see, as many workplaces get off for Martin Luther King day or Presidents Day, we don’t – in fact we probably work a 12 hour day that day.  To thank us for our efforts during busy season, the firm gives us 4-day weekends for the three major summer holidays… and my god is it wonderful!

To kick off the long weekend, I spent Friday [finally] getting back into the wedding swing of things.  I had three meetings with photographers, and in between I spent some quality time with some cute coffee houses.  The first was right in my neighborhood… I couldn’t believe I’d never been to Milkboy Coffee before!  After my appointment with Lindsay, I stuck around for a grilled veggie sandwich and a mint-hibiscus iced tea.  It hit the spot!  I spent a lot of my high school years lingering around coffee houses, and I know this would have been the hot spot back then.  I felt like I was merging two versions of myself… the HS coffee house self, and the foodie self.  The menu even has a seitan cheesesteak, and although I wimped out from trying it this time… I will be back

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After that meeting, I headed into Northern Liberties to meet with Dollface Studio.  I’d never been to that part of the city before, and once I got past the mild ghetto-ness of the area, I opened my eyes and found my new favorite place:  The Random Tea Room.

I grabbed a comfy seat and settled in with a Bourbon Vanilla Honeybush tea and a cinnamon scone.  I was in heaven!  Maybe one day I’ll open up such a wonderful oasis

Saturday we bummed around the house, and I got some cleaning done.  We headed out later to a BBQ at a good friend’s new house.  They recently moved really close to us… it’s going to be a good summer!  No pictures to report, but trust me – Kelly out did herself with the BBQ food   We finished out the night watching the flyers lose – woo hooo!

Sunday is when we really turned the weekend up a notch.  I may or may not have slept til noon… (I may or may not have had a few Coronas on Saturday )  But I woke up to the grand aroma of Strawberry Pancakes courtesy of the fiancee!  Later in the afternoon we went for a lovely five mile bike ride (approx 45 min!) and returned home to get all dressed up.

Our destination?!  The Waterworks Restaurant and Lounge.  I have been dying to go to the Waterworks since I moved to Philadelphia, and when I saw a Groupon for the restaurant, I jumped at the chance!  I had heard that WW is BYOB on Sundays, so fiancee and I grabbed a bottle and headed out.

First we took some pictures – of course

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I have to admit though, our dinner was sub-par. Once we announced that we had a Groupon, our server  changed his tone immediately.  The meal was set up in prix-fixe style, so we were to be served a salad, sorbet, and entree, and dessert.  We also wanted to try the grilled octopus, and supplement our entree with some mashed potatoes.  The server was happy to oblige (keep that in mind!).  But it wasn’t all bad.  Although I wasn’t a fan of the octopus, Robert loved it.  And our Waterworks salad was AMAZING.  But we had to beg for bread in between, and after the salad… we didn’t get our sorbet.  And when we got our chicken, it was plated with asparagus and MASHED POTATOES.  Which would have been great to know when we ordered an additional side of potatoes (for $8 I might add!)  But as all this was going down, so was the sun… and it made it all worth it.

Dessert was good too – a duo of chocolate flourless torte, and chocolate mousse.  It helped to quell our dissatisfaction about dinner.  That is… until we got the check, and we realized that our waiter had charged us for a salad instead of including it in our prix fixe.  And when we went to ask him about it, he was no where to be found!  Thankfully we flagged down a helpful waiter, and he took care of it for us (although he couldn’t find our waiter either!).  Anyway, we really tried not to let our poor service get the better of us.  While we were disappointed about our miserable service, we made the best of it with… more pictures!

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After we danced around Kelly Drive, we hit the hay.  We had a huge day planned for Monday – complete with a picnic lunch, a blues festival and….

Our favorite local winery was hosting a wine tasting and blues festival all weekend, and as blues music and wine are two of our favorite things, we didn’t want to miss it!  For $25, we got to hear two bands, have a taste of 10 wines, and keep that cutie wine glass above.  Did someone say worth it?!

(Yes, definitely worth it!)  Among our favorites were the Proprietor’s Reserve – a blend of red wine grapes (this wine has been a favorite of ours for a LONG time!), the Merican – another blend of red wine grapes with hints of cherry jam and chocolate, the Sunset Blush (a refreshing rose), and the Naked Chardonnay. 

It paired wonderfully with gelato   OH and why naked you ask?  Why not?!  Haha OR maybe it’s because it’s aged in stainless  steel barrels instead of the oak barrels.  This made a huge difference to me… and might have been the first Chardonnay that I actually liked! I might have even bought a bottle to take home!

Anyway, this afternoon at Chaddsford  Winery was perfect.   Where else could you relax with wine, music, and beautiful scenery?  It was the perfect end to the long weekend.

What did you do with your memorial day weekend?!

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