Trekking around the City

The other day we were trekking around the city the other day, heading back to the Apple store, when we saw the FAO Schwartz store. Of course we had to stop in and take a tour, even though we didn't have any pressing toy shopping needs (otherwise the entire piano scene in Big would have been wasted). The ground floor is actually a little underwhelming: there are board games and stuffed animals, along with a candy store.
The true amazement hits when you go up the escalator to the second floor, where the wonderment starts, as off to the left, you see the Hogwarts store, where you can buy your own Gryffindor scarf or hat, which I jokingly threatened to do for my husband. The store seems to go on forever, there is a LEGO section (be still my dorky child heart), complete with giant LEGO sculptures, right next to the DUPLO and Playskool sections (which the husband had never heard of), which brought back tons of memories.
Through another doorway was the board game room, which contained every which board game ever known to man, including twenty-something versions of Monopoly. The next room was an even bigger trip down memory lane, as it was "the room with all the little plastic figurines." Probably not the actual title, but descriptive nonetheless. Now, I don't mean the little plastic figurines of farm animals that you could buy in the grocery store, but the somewhat higher quality, slightly bendable ones that came from somewhere else, apparently FAO Schwartz (and after some internet searching for photos, Target). What did we see on the shelves but these:
I couldn't believe that they still sell Smurf toys, and now I know that FAO Schwartz has them, and so does Target. Seeing them brought back so many memories. I loved the Smurfs, we even took Smurf vitamins at one point (my mom stopped when she realized that we didn't actually want to eat blue vitamins - I only wanted purple Gargamels).

Aren't We Cute

This morning I had one of those moments where you are just utterly content. Mine happened this morning as i was walking M out to the subway station with the dog. It works out well, I don't have a job yet, and the dog needs to be taken out, so her morning walk is over to the subway station at Penn Station, around the block and back. This morning was a little brisk, so I walked out in a pair of jeans, a shirt, and my favorite red trench coat. We walked across the street and the dog managed to stop to go to the bathroom only once and did not pull on her leash like something released from the zoo.
When we got to the top of the stairs to the station, M turned and gave me a kiss goodbye, which he does every morning. This morning however, one of the train porters started hooting at us and shouted "It must be love, I see you two every morning!" at which point I blushed.
Okay, you can stop being sick now. I just thought I would share one of life's simple pleasures.

I Have New Hair!

Yay to new hair! After months of growing out my hair for the wedding, it has finally been cut into something that does not resemble a knot and necessitate a ponytail (I guess it didn't have to be in a ponytail, but I lived in Austin, and long hair is hot, and hate that sticky feeling on the back of my neck).
I contemplated getting my hair cut while we were away on the honeymoon, how dramatic would it have been to have it cut off while we were in Greece. Now, obviously, once I arrived in Greece, I had no inclination to find a hairstylist, nor did I think it was necessarily nice to abandon my new husband while I went and got a haircut.
Once we were back in Houston, I tried to get my sister to hook me up with her hairstylist, but that didn't work out. I did not want to use my mom's because, frankly, she has some odd hairstylists, that can give weird hairstyles to people who are not my mom.
Then, I contemplated having my hair cut by the woman who cuts my husband hair in his home town, until he got out of the chair and looked like he had been given a buzz cut.
Since we got to town, I've been trying to deal with the daunting task of finding a hairstylist in the Big Apple that doesn't require an Amex Black card as collateral. Luckily I found an ad on facebook that sent me to a website called Lifebooker.com, where you can book your appointments online, see reviews and get discounts for your appointments. This is where I found a hair salon that would cut my hair for only $65, and do a great job. Yay me!

Ode to the Meatball

Oh, this long, extended weekend (how weird is it that half of New York shuts down for Columbus Day, which we stopped acknowledging long ago in Texas?), the hubby and I ate some really good food, sort of by accident (a really extravagant accident).
Saturday night, we ventured out with R & J, our couple-friends (who actually lived in the same building by design in Austin, and again here in NYC) to Gramercy Tavern for a night of good food and good friends. We went for a late dinner (left the apt at 8:30), and wound up not being seated (in the no reservations front room) at 9:30, which meant that I was ravenously hungry by the time we sat down with our menus. One item on the menu piqued my interest immediately - a stuffed meatball. I had seen Rachel Ray make a Gorgonzola "stuffed" meatball (more of a wrap-a-round) earlier in the week, so I was primed for the stuffed meatball at Gramercy. Oh, deliciousness! A meatball the size of a baseball was delivered to the table, and such a meatball I have never tasted. The meat was ground so fine, but not so fine as to be a ball of nothingness, and the spices were almost precisely interspersed in the meatball. The meatball was presented cut in half, and in the center was an ooey-gooey flow of cheese. Yummmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Yesterday, the hubby and I were out walking around Central Park (no, I couldn't convince him to row me around in a boat - because the water was scummy, uh huh), then we went tot the Apple store in an attempt to hook up his laptop to the television for optimal instant Netflix viewing (didn't work), when R & J emailed on the hubby's work pda to see what we were up to. A few minutes later, they were crossing 5th Avenue through the Columbus Day Parade to meet up with us for lunch. The hubby found out that Aquavit had a prix fixe lunch, so made a reservation and, lo and behold, one of the entrees was Swedish meatballs. I expected the plate would be smaller, with three or four meatballs, luckily (?) the plate came piled high with eight giant, tender meatballs. Thank goodness my hubby was so generous as to offer to eat one, after stealing the first one.

P.S. - curious to see what kinds of ads pop up on this post, and what kind of people, searching for meatballs wind up on the site.

A Weekend Together

Finally, the hubby and I get to do something together over the weekend where we can leave a 5 block radius of the apartment. The past few weekends have had work emails come in with a "stand by" message, so we've had to hang out to see if he goes in (no, he's not a doctor or a fireman, he's a lawyer). On the agenda so far are watching the Red River Rivalry, heading down to Chelsea Market, where I will get to show him around, then we're going to dinner with R & J. Tomorrow is up in the air, but a joint trip to the dog park might be in order, and perhaps a stroll along 5th Avenue. We still have to plan Monday, because, apparently, the city of New York actually celebrates Columbus Day, so the hubby won't have to go into work (unless there's some sort of legal crisis).

Things I Miss About Texas

1. Shorts (especially at Christmas-time)
2. Produce (why are the onions half the size here?)
3. Driving (but not paying for gas)
4. Fewer crazy people on the streets (maybe there are just as many in Austin, but they don't curse at you)
5. Sweaters are always on sale (because - when would we wear them?)
6. Grass, and trees (that's my dog's input)
7. Tex-Mex food
8. Wine Wednesday's
9. Beer for less than $6.00
10. Big grocery stores
11. Not worrying about stepping in puddles
12. Air not permeated by exhaust

There are obviously other things that I miss about Texas, most notably the people I care about that live there, but it should be obvious that I miss them. If not, and you're one of those people, I miss you.

I'm in Love

I'm in love with my new jeans. The jean situation has been coming to a head over the last week. My favorite/best fitting pair of jeans has been heading down the path to being ousted for a while. There is a weird bleach "dot" on the right thigh, below the pocket, which hasn't bothered me, but at one point bothered my husband, but he forgot that it existed when I listed it as one of the reasons for getting new jeans.

Other than that, the jeans are becoming rather worn, to the point where they were once a little thinner than other denim, now they are paper thin, and I would freeze my tush off once it starts getting officially cold. In conjunction with the paper thinness, the color has started to wear out of them, so while they were once a more "formal" dark blue, they have officially passed into "casual" blue.

(from here)

My friend J and I went over to Chelsea Market the other day, where we happened upon a sample sale, where they were selling jeans - lovely jeans from seven, true religion, william rast (yes, justin timberlake's line), and a few other people. Not wanting to pass up our first sample sale, we popped in and tried on a pair or two each. After finding a pair that looked delightful, I wandered around with the $105 jeans in my hand, debating whether or not I should buy them. I eventually decided that, while I could probably spend more on this pair of jeans, they still needed altering, and once I get a job, I could always get another pair.
Cut to Saturday morning, and when my hubby asks what I would want to do for the day, I answer - get a new pair of jeans. His face falls when I add that I want to look at Old Navy. He does not yet understand that I was raised by a very cheap person, so I have issues wrapping my head around expensive clothes, while he tends to avoid buying anything inexpensive, because it means that whatever it is must be crap.

Anyway, I pulled 5 or 6 pairs off of the racks at Old Navy while the hubs wandered down to the basement, where the men's clothing section was (there are 4 levels to this Old Navy). For the first time ever, I think, the first pair of jeans I tried on was the winner. They fit so perfectly that I did not need to try on another pair. The lucky jeans are the "Flirt" cut, in dark blue, and they have flap pockets, and the teensiest bit of stretch.

(Here's the link)

PS - I'm a bit confused by the online description: "Throw them a curve when it comes to your choice in denim. Arched yoke with flap pockets in the back flatters your curves. Slightly higher rise in the rear keeps all your bases covered." What exactly are my "bases" and why would they want to pop out of the top of my jeans? Isn't the problem that they usually pop out the bottom, giving you two cheeks, as Stacy and Clinton would so readily point out?

Old Married Club

I dedicate this post to a-bla, because I too am an old married. You know, the kind of person who is perfectly content sitting at home on a week night, or even a weekend night. I mean, it's nice, though occasionally one party will need to tell the other party that they have to put the laptop and random surfing away and just sit with the other person.

This recently came to light when my brother (in med school) and two of his friends I actually cringed when the guy behind us at the stadium recommended a place that was "a crowded frat party," especially when the guys practically cheered. Now, Stan's is exactly the place that I did go to in Houston before Astros games, and it is nice to just go to a place where you can grab a beer (although $6 for a Bud Light is getting old quick), but a loud, body-to-body frat party just doesn't hold the same appeal as it used to. Yes, it was fun after I found a spot where I could stand AND breathe, and the music was pretty good, but I don't know if I would ever actually desire to go there.

The past weekend was much more my speed. Friday was a bit dicey for planning things, since the hubby was at work late and thought he might have to go back in, so just a quick dinner at home. Saturday, we were invited to a "Pig Party" at our friend's brother's apartment, which involved meeting some really nice people, a lot of ribs, and some really delicious pies. The kind of night that goes by quickly because you're having a good time.

Settling In

It's been a while since I've posted, mostly because we've been moving in. We got in to NYC on Sunday night (more about that fiasco on another day), and have been unpacking and finishing out apartment.

Monday was mostly about waiting for the movers to get here. At our new building, they are extremely anal about reserving the service elevator, and we had told the moving company that we had the 10-1 slot which, of course, meant that they didn't show up until 11:30. Then we started surveying the damage they had done. Both of the bookcases had holes in the back - I mean, they're IKEA, but a little care would have helped. I could have overlooked the bookcases had our coffee table not been scratched up all over the top (and that's not IKEA - it's a table that was passed from my brother-in-law's parents to my brother-in-law to me). While the movers were unloading everything, my MIL and I taped off the trim and the walls, because we wanted to paint. Luckily, only the bookcases, the coffee table, and our simple human trashcan were damaged by the movers.

The movers wrapped up around 1:45, so we called down to my FIL, who had been sitting/standing down by the truck on the back street. Yes the whole time (from 10-2). He's afraid of heights (a lot more than anyone thought or he had mentioned), so he couldn't bring himself to even get in the elevator. Anyway, we all wanted to get lunch and my husband had his sights set on 'wich craft, Tom Colicchio's sandwich place, which he had seen on the food network, and it looked like fun because you ordered from a computer screen then brought to the table.

Unfortunately, the one we found was 10 blocks away (bad for my FIL's bad back), and was just in the lobby of an Equinox gym, so there wasn't anywhere to sit down (even worse for my FIL's back). We started the walk back to the apartment, and stopped at a little park to sit down and eat the delicious fare. After we got back to the apartment, we parted ways with the in-laws (at the truck) and went upstairs to get painting. We managed to finish off the bedroom before we started digging into some boxes.

Later, we met up with J&R (R came from work considerably later) at Les Halles for a delicious dinner (meant to be enjoyed with the in-laws, but they had to leave early for lack of truck parking in NYC). After wrapping up with a delicious dessert, we headed back to the apartment, and realized that what we really needed were lamps.

NYC

I will write about moving in, but it seems rather inappropriate to do so today. I feel like I'm intruding on New York today. I wasn't here seven years ago, so I don't feel the same way about it as people who were here then must feel now. What happened was more distant for me - when my roommate woke me up, I couldn't even comprehend what she was saying. We spent the day watching the news in disbelief in our dorm room. I still don't even know how to comprehend how people in New York must have felt.