Google+ Hangout with Montee

I am sure many of you have heard about Google+ but wondered what it's advantages are over Facebook. Well, here is one...Google Hangout. Google Hangout basically allows you to video conference with up to 10 people.

Pat and I always wonder what Montee does at home all day by himself. So this morning, Pat set up the Google Hangout on my computer at home to investigate. Once we got to work we both joined the google hangout group, even though I don't have a camera on my screen I am still able to chat and hear what is going on.

A few minutes into watching our apartment, and chatting about how scary it would be to watch someone walk into our apartment, Pat saw Montee walk by and called his name. Montee responded and came and watched the computer screen and set up camp on our ottoman and just watched Pat, probably really confused at what was going on.

I know what you are thinking...this reminds you of Angela on "The Office", who is the crazy cat lady who has a webcam of her cats and watches them while she is at work. Why yes! Yes ARE those crazy cat people and we are totally embracing it.

The Hamptons

Chris and Kimmy Crosby are so in love

Yesterday we spent the day in the Hamptons, and it was a blast. We left really early in the morning, to try to make the most of the day. Kimmy and Chris Crosby were nice enough to let us mooch a ride off of them, since they have a car. We had a very enjoyable, traffic free ride into Long Island, getting to know each other through our "how did you meet" stories in detail.

Three hours later we meet up with the rest of the gang, the Simmons and the Wheelers, who camped there the night before on the hottest night of the year (way to be adventurous!). We met up in town where we stumbled upon a antique rummage sale where Pat scored an "awesome" leather fanny pack for $5 (I was able talk the guy down because the sales guy knew how much I didn't want Pat to have it) and where I bought a $5 antique seltzer bottle (who knows what I am going to do with it, but I couldn't resist).

Because of the heat, we decided to head to the beach. Because it was so hard to find parking, the drivers of the cars dropped us off to set up out beach site, while they tried to find parking. One and half hours later, they finally found spots! Yikes, I guess you can guess that we were not the only ones trying to cool off in the ocean.

The rest of the afternoon we spent playing in the ocean and laying in the beach. Pat is not much of a beach goer because he gets really bored by just sitting in the sun. He brought our badminton set to try to entertain himself; however, after a half an hour of trying to set it up, a lady walked straight into it, knocking it over. That was the end of that.

Despite the badminton incident, Pat really enjoyed himself at the beach because of the massive waves. These waves were the biggest that I have ever experienced, some of them seemed to be at least 10 feet tall. Ever since I was a kid I have been terrified of waves. When I was around 6 or 7 a wave overtook me, causing me to be tossed me around underwater, disorienting me so I didn't know which way was up. Ever since this experience, I have never ventured too far or too long in the ocean. However, twenty years later, I tried to convince myself that these waves could actually be fun and this time would be different.

Surprisingly, it was really fun, but not much different. I, along with many others of our clan, got ROCKED by these waves. I don't know how many waves I face-planted or how many people I flashed when my boob popped out of my suit (Ryan graciously denies he saw anything...even though I know otherwise! hahaha) But despite all the fails, we all had a blast in the ocean that we had to retreat to quite often due to the overpowering heat.

I was so impressed with Candace and Ellis, they both handled the day so well

You can tell how much Pat really enjoyed the waves

Once everyone was sufficiently exhausted from the waves, heat and sun, including baby Ellis, the Wheelers three month old baby, we packed up and headed into town for some dinner. We had an amazing meal at a great burger joint, where we got complimentary shakes and appetizers due to our wait and waiter error.

As if the night couldn't get any better, after dinner we had a beach bonfire and treated ourselves to some s'mores for dessert. This COULD have been my favorite part of the day. The beach was perfect with millions of stars twinkling above, a cool constant ocean breeze, the sound of waves crashing just beyond the camp fires light, and....ghost stories. We scared ourselves silly, correction--the girls got scared silly, as we told ghost stories, some of which were the scariest I have ever heard and will most definitely haunt me the next time Pat works late.

The day was a complete success that left us totally exhausted from all the adventures that we enjoyed. Before this trip, we did not know the Simmons, Wheelers or Crosbys all that well. We have always wanted to get to know them better, and are so glad that we had this day to spend with them so we were able to find out, even more so, how amazing they all were.

Can you say: "HOT"?

Yes, it is 4:30pm here in NYC right now, and it feels like 108 degrees outside. Have I told you how much I love the heat, but hate humidity? Yes, I know I have gone on many rants regarding this subject, so I wont indulge myself any further.

It sufficeth me to say that every time I go outside I feel like I am going to have a panic attack because there is so much water in the air that I feel like I can't get enough oxygen.

Long Island City

Saturday, Pat and I took the motorcycle over to Long Island City. Long Island City is the westernmost part of the borough of Queens and I love it.

Although LIC (Long Island City) is really close to where we live, we have just never explored the area. We heard about a good thrift store out there, so this gave us the motivation we needed to get out of our normal Manhattan routine.

After eating breakfast at a Mexican Restaurant, kiddy-corner to our apartment, we headed out to the great borough of Queens. We were disappointed, with the supposed "great" thrift store, but our trip was not in vane as I saw a Panera Bread. I LOVE Panera, mainly due to their soup bread bowls. It was so nice to be out of Manhattan and be in a restaurant that actually had space so I didn't have to be nudged up to a total stranger while I ate my meal. I didn't have to worry about eating really fast because other people needed a place to sit. Pat and spent a few hours there, just relaxing, talking, and eating. Pat kept on asking if I wanted to leave and I kept saying "Just a little bit longer."  I was in heaven.

After Panera, we explored the area on the motorcycle and ended up on a waterfront park. The park is a recent addition and is absolutely stunning. It is by far Pat's and my favorite place in all of NYC. With it's grass, trees, hammocks, plenty of seating, and a gorgeous view of the Manhattan skyline, Pat and I really enjoyed ourselves. 

When we got home it felt like we got back from a relaxing retreat. The only way I can explain how it felt was: it was as if we could breathe.

Can you tell that we need a vacation?

Rich for a Day

I work at a hedge fund, and let me tell you, there is a lot of money in this business. I am definitely forcing my kids to go into finance when they get older, so they can take care of me and buy me lots of nice things.

My company has different events throughout the year, and they are always extravagant and something I have never done or ever would never be able to do. Every year, my company hosts an all day outing during a normal work day. This is the first outing I have been to, and I was blown away.

It was held at a country club on Long Island that one of my co-workers belongs to. At the club, there were tennis courts, putting greens, driving ranges, and croquet courts scattered throughout, with a mansion, built in 1910, used as it's main club house. At first I was a little put off because there was a strict dress code, which caused me to have to buy an all white tennis outfit, along with white tennis shoes. Also, when I was not wearing my tennis whites, there was a dress code of blouses or collared shirts, Bermuda length shorts, and no jeans. Having never been to place with such a strict dress code (BYU's not even THAT bad! ha) I thought the day would be really uptight and I would feel really out of my element. However, the dress code made everyone look so nice and I felt really yuppie, which surprisingly I really liked. haha

Prior to the day we signed up for the activities we wanted to participate in, as there were lessons for each sport.

I had an hour and a half tennis lesson from a REAL Tennis Pro, and by golly, I was really good! It made me wish I could have lessons like this all the time, perhaps I would be a tennis genius! You never know! I really enjoyed playing a sport again. It brought be back to my junior high and high school days. I didn't realize how much I actually enjoy these types of activities.

After our tennis lesson it was then time for our croquet lesson. The last time I played croquet I believe I was 5 years old and played with a set my family had in our backyard. I obviously didn't know the rules at that age or the technique of hitting. It was a lot of fun to learn the strategy behind the sport and to once age feel very yuppie and like I should be speaking with a rich old lady English accent.

Once we had our fill of croquet, we headed to the other country club location, located right on the ocean. We took showers and got ready for the evening's activities and the amazing dinner. As we sat on the deck, enjoying a steal drum Caribbean band, bottomless appetizers and an open bar (not too exciting for me as a sipped on my water the whole time), it was almost too perfect. The band even got a few of us engaged in a little healthy limbo competition, which I gladly participated in.

Then. Comes. Dinner.
Holy Moly. I couldn't believe the food. I had my first full lobster, which I had to have a lesson on how to appropriately eat. And who would have known that the meat inside the claws are the best! So delicious.

This day was definitely a day of "firsts." I felt like royalty the whole day, and got a taste of "the rich life," and really liked it.

The Cat Toilet Training Begins!

So I love cats, but I hate cat hair and cat litter. I solved the first problem by getting a Sphynx, but now I am about to attempt to solve the second problem by toilet training Montee.

Prior to getting Montee, I knew I wanted to do this. I saw a few Youtube videos of cats going potty in the toilet and just thought it was the best idea. Then I was watching my favorite show, Shark Tank, and saw a young entrepreneur who invented a product that helped train cats how to go potty in the toilet. Her product is called CitiKitty, and I was sold.

I just received CitiKitty in the mail yesterday and started the process the same night. I have heard mixed reviews on how well this product works and I am really scared about the whole process. A guy at Pat's work tried it and his cats started peeing on the couch! HEAVEN forbid that happens!!

I tried to do internet research on peoples experiences, but there really wasn't much out there. I had so many questions about the whole process, but I couldn't find any answers. So, with Pat working a lot of hours recently, which leaves me with a lot more time to waste, I decided to start a blog documenting the process, to help potential-crazy-cat-toilet-trainers. hahahahahahhahahah I KNOW! So DORKY.

The blog is called The CitiKitty Experiment. I HOPE this is only a month long project which ends with a completed blog and a toilet trained cat. However, this blog could also document the epic failure along with a pee drenched couch. yuck. Lets hope for the prior.


So far Montee has used the CitiKitty once, but it didn't come naturally or easily (you can see the video here) Here is a video of me preparing the bathroom. Montee is used to us keeping the toilet seat down, and well....just skip the video to about 1:00 to see what happened. Poor Montee.

E.T. Phone Home

Yes, we are becoming, if we haven't already become, those weird cat people. Since we don't have kids, our cat has become the outlet for all the attention and love that people would normally devote to a child. OH WELL! It is what it is.

I have been really been enjoying having Montee (except for the fact that he bites my nose really hard when I lay in bed). He is more dog like, than cat like, which I love. The personality traits of hairless or Sphynx cats, are amazing. I wonder why more people don't have them. They are super affectionate, playful, easy going, intelligent and they don't shed! What more could you ask for (for him not to bite my nose)?

Montee, looking very much like E.T. after his bath.

At Pat's work they have a "Cat Wall" where people pin up pictures of their cats. Being around a hairless cat all the time, I forget what a "normal" cat looks like. However, when I saw this wall in person, Montee's "unique look" -- or as some hairless cat haters would say, his "ugliness" -- really stood out.

Front Row Seats to the Nation's Largest Firework Show

Happy Independence Day everyone! Us American's are all so blessed to be able to live in such a great country, where we are free. I am truly proud to be an American.

Yesterday, we celebrated our nation's independence by watching the nation's largest firework show, put on by Macy's, on the Hudson River. The show featured more than 40,000 shells exploding at a rate of more than 1,500 per minute. We were lucky enough to have amazing seats to the show because Pat's work is located very close to the Hudson River. It is the one time of the year that is actually pays off for Pat to work there, because it is located so far from the subway and any other businesses. If Manhattan had a boondocks, his work would be right in the middle of it.

Pat's work has an amazing roof deck; however, during the 4th of July, they close it down for safety reasons. Last year, we watched the fireworks from the 10th floor, which still had a great view. But this year, we snuck out onto the roof (not the roof deck) which didn't have any security. It has been a while since I snuck into anything, so it was fun to feel like a teenager again.

We enjoyed the nights fireworks with our good friends, Johnny and Joanna, and Raquel and Nathan. We felt really lucky to have such a great view of such a great show and to spend our Independence day with such great company.

I have magical hair that makes my face disappear! Take that Harry Potter!

All pictures are all courtesy of Joanna and her new camera! Thanks Joanna!