Totally awesome birthday that was all about ME

This past Wednesday was my birthday, and it was awesome. I am usually not a "birthday" person, in the regards that I never really WANT something, mainly because if I ever want something I usually just buy it and don't wait until my birthday. I also am not a person that absolutely LOVES getting gifts, like Pat. Don't get me wrong, getting gifts is awesome but I don't seem to get the same "high" out of it as Pat does. Also, since being married getting a gift from Pat means that the money is coming out of OUR bank account, so basically I am buying myself a gift, and that just isn't that fun.

Anyways, even though the above is all true, this year my birthday was super special for me and I long for another day just like it.

I decided to take the day off of work because last year I worked on my birthday and that was just no fun at all. Just knowing that I had a day off from work in the middle of the week gave me something to look forward to. Regardless if it was my birthday or not having a day off from work is always a treat.

So as expected I was able to sleep in a little on Wednesday morning, but as unexpected Pat was able to sleep in with me and go to breakfast with me. Recently, I have been really craving these bagels from the bagel place that LOADS on the cream cheese, so that is where we went and it was awesome.

From there Pat had to go to work and I decided to go see a movie by myself. I don't know if this was the first time I have seen a movie by myself, but it is so fun! I went to a 12pm showing of the chick-flick "The Lucky One" with Zac Effron and enjoyed eating my Red Vines as I watched the movie with about 5 other people. It made me wonder what the situation of these people were. Why were they watching a movie at 12pm on a Wednesday by themselves? Was it their birthday too? Whatever the reason, these people had it all figured out, because seeing movie by myself was liberating and super enjoyable. This definitively wont be the last time I do it and I am definitely not going to wait until my next birthday either!

After the movie, I came home and took a nap. A. Two. Hour. Nap.

When I woke up it was time for me to enjoy my present from Pat--a prenatal massage. I have had plenty of massages in my time, mostly from and with my friend Meghan during our college years; however, a prenatal massage was my first (obviously). I have been wanting a massage ever since I got one as gift from my sisters for my birthday last year, but I was a little bummed because I knew laying on my stomach for that long would be super uncomfortable. However, I found this place really close to where we live and that I am going to be able to go to on a regular basis during my pregnancy because a lot of it will be covered by my insurance, which is awesome.

After the massage I went straight to California Pizza Kitchen to meet Pat for dinner. It is always the restaurant I choose for any special occasion. So of course, with all the restaurants in NYC, I chose CPK. haha I am so cultured! As always, it was so great. At dinner Pat said that this whole "gift" thing has to change. What he meant by this was me not telling him something I wanted that I could unwrap. You see, the way Pat feels loved and show his love is by giving gifts. So, the fact that he wasn't able to give me a gift that he could see me unwrap made him feel like he wasn't showing his love for me on my birthday. I had to explain to him that I don't work that way and also that I got the massage. Plus, my Christmas gift (the $3K camera and lens) AND my $1,000 cat for my last birthday can last me a few gifts for the next few years.

The rest of the night was filled with American Idol, listening to birthday wishes on my voice-mail, reading Birthday wishes on my Facebook and by text and falling asleep to a good book.

Now, if this doesn't sound like the perfect birthday, I don't know what does!!!!!!!

The Cloisters

 

I was planning on this Saturday being a rainy day indoors; however, the weatherman got it totally wrong because I couldn't imagine a more perfectly beautiful day. Typically when we don't have anything planned for the weekend we don't end up doing much; however, on Saturday Pat had the great idea to go up to the tip of the island and visit the Cloisters. The Cloisters is a section of the Metropolitan Museum of Art which was constructed in the 1930s to represent medieval architecture. 

It was such a unique and interesting place where I felt I was transported into another time as I walked the massive stone halls. It made me long to live in a day where detail and beauty were not lost to making things cheap and quickly. 

We really enjoyed ourselves taking our time throughout the day meandering through the museum and enjoying all the different faucets NYC has to offer. 

Momma comes to town

At the beginning of the month my momma came into town for a few days just to see me! It was her first time visiting me here at NYC and it was so great to have her here. Typically when we have visitors it is "go-go-go" because there is so much to see and so much to do. However, when my mom came it was the most relaxing week I have had in a long time. I took a whole week off from work and was able to just hang out and enjoy my mom's company.

Of course we did stuff, like go tot he 9/11 memorial, went to a few of my baby doctors appointments, went to China town, went to the Macy's Flower Show, at NYC bagels, and ate lots and lots of good NYC food.

One day, as we were strolling by Radio City Music Hall with nothing really important to do for the rest of the day, we heard a lady yelling "Free Oprah tickets!" I passed by not thinking anything of it because I am so used to people yelling things in NYC and trying to get you to stop and talk to them. However, just as I passed the lady it registered that she was yelling "Oprah"  and my mom is a HUGE Oprah fan. We actually stopped and talked to the lady and she assured us that she was indeed giving out free tickets to see Oprah Winfrey, right now.

My mom just couldn't believe it. She kept saying " Oprah? Here?" "Free? Like free, free?" and "Oprah Winfrey?" It was all true. Oprah was on tour taping one of her new shows on lifestyle and how to have a better life. They were giving out tickets to that afternoons tapings for free. So just like that, we took the tickets and headed in to see Oprah.

I had never been in Radio Music Hall before so I was excited about that. And my mom had never seen Oprah, so she was excited about that. It was interesting and fun to see the "behind the scenes" of a taping and to see Oprah with "the people." It was a fun three hours that we hadn't planned, but were just in the right place at the right time...and I was with the right person--MY MOMMA.

The whole week was great as we relaxed and just enjoyed each other company. It made me excited for October when the baby is born and my mom can come and stay with me again.

Until October Momma!

Spoiled Kitty

I haven't mentioned much about Montee lately, but he is still up to his quirky antics and had his one year birthday in March. His new thing lately is constantly wanting to take a bath. When he was a kitten he LOVED playing in the bath tub, however, in his teenage years he was being rebellious and didn't want anything to do with water. However, I am so glad that he has gotten back to his roots and now enjoys his bath at least a few times a week.


Almost everyday we hear him meowing in the bathroom (he hardly ever meows). When we go in to check on him he is sitting in the tub begging us to turn on the water. When we do fill up the tub for him, he just enjoys walking around and sitting in the warm water for a half an hour or so. 

This past week, Pat made up a bubble bath for Montee. What a spoiled kitty.

Dining in the Dark

How much would you pay to sit in the dark for 2 hours? That is the question we had to ask ourselves when we decided to try out the new restaurant, Dans le Noir? with our friends Nate and Ashley.

I had seen variations of this restaurant on TV years back, where the guests eat their entire meal in pitch black having a totally unique and different dining experience. The idea intrigued me, so when I stumbled upon the opening of this restaurant a few months back I knew this was an experience I had to have.

We actually scheduled our reservations months in advance for a February sitting; however, time after time the restaurant kept rescheduling due to permit issues. Finally, on Saturday, March 17th we were able to have our dining in the dark experience.

We arrived at the restaurant, where the entrance and seating area is a dim lit bar. From here we were able to select our dinner options by choosing a category of food, such as vegetarian, meat lovers, chef's special, and fish. That is all the control we had, the rest would be a surprise.

After we selected our meal type we gathered with the group of people we would be sitting near while we dined. They did make sure that you would be seated next to or across from our loved ones, however, the table was long with many people sitting at it. How long? I don 't know. How many people? I don't know because it couldn't see.

Once our group gathered we were greeted by our waitress who was blind. She explained how we were going to be led into the dining area in a line while each person held onto the shoulder of the person in front of them. As we entered the dining area, complete blackness quickly consumed us, this is when I started to freak out. I didn't realize how dark it would be and my heart started to pound and my mind began to race. I felt in a sense claustrophobic by the complete darkness. Never in my life have I been in a situation where there is no light and/or where I did not have the control to make the light appear.

My eyes continuously tried to adjust trying to make out any shape or forms, but failed to do so. At this point I really didn't know if I was going to be able to go through with the experience. I kept repeating "Is anyone else freaking out?!" Only to find that I was the only one having issues with the loss of my sight. Determined to make it through, I closed my eyes hoping to find comfort and surprisingly it helped...a LOT. I kept my eyes closed for about 20 minutes as I tried to talk myself down from having a total freak out session and I succeeded!

As we sat at our table we were able to feel our place setting: plate center, knife at 3 o'clock , fork at 9 o'clock, spoon at 12 o'clock. A pitcher of water was passed down the table as the waitress explained that in order not to spill you had to place one finger in the glass as you pour. Once your finger feels the water you know to stop pouring. Surprisingly, it worked.

As the appetizers arrived the waitress made sure to announce herself and explain everything she was doing as she handed you the dish. I found much comfort in this and made a mental note to myself of how I would act if I ever came in contact with a blind person. Now came the hard part--eating. I never really thought about how hard it would be to eat with a fork without using your fingers. At first I kept poking at where I thought my food was and trying to place the fork in my mouth, only to discover it was empty. I did this several times before I gave up and started pushing the food on my fork with my fingers.

I never realized how eating is such a visual experience for me. I realized that so many times I probably enjoyed a meal a lot more than I should simply by the way it looked. I came to this realization as I ate my appetizer and was totally disgusted because it was vegetables. I thought I liked vegetables, but that night I quickly discovered that is definitely not the case. Perhaps I was jaded by their colors or knowing as I put it in my mouth that it was good for me. I don't know, but I definitely couldn't eat them. I also was frustrated by not being able to pick and chose which vegetable I wanted to eat. Usually I go for the carrots or corn, and stay far away from the string beans or other items I can't identify, but here, I had no such luxury.

The main course and dessert followed suit as we all tried to decipher what we were eating--surprising not a very easy task.

By evenings end I was getting more and more used to not being able to see; however, I never grew comfortable with it. I was very relieved once we were done and were able to leave the pitch black room. When we reentered the dim lit bar, it was no longer dimly lit but rather we had to look downwards towards the floor as our eyes adjusted to the now "bright" lights.

Now that we were able to see each others faces, we felt the need to revisit conversations we spoke about over dinner because in a sense it didn't seem real since we were not able to see each others facial expressions and reactions.

We were also now able to see a menu with pictures of the food we just ate. It looked so elegant and I think I would have enjoyed it much more if I had been able to see it.

However, as they handed us the bill now came the moment of truth, which brings me back to my first question: How much would you pay to sit in the dark for 2 hours? After the experience was all said and done I am not quite sure it was worth the hefty price tag of $60 a person, but I think it is definitely something you gotta do once. I rationalized it a million ways to make me feel better about dropping that kinda of cash, but if I walked away with anything that night it was a new found appreciation and gratitude for my sight, and I guess a lesson in gratitude is priceless.

9/11 Memorial

While Jodi and Jordan were here I was able to go with them to the 9/11 memorial that opened this last Fall. Pat have had tried multiple times to go and see it but we things always came up. It was such a heart wrenching and breath taking experience all at one. 

The fountains were built in the footprints of the old towers and are outlined with the names of the individuals who died in a tower, a plane or at the Pentagon. 

It was hard because as you passed by thousands of names, I tried not to think of them as just "names" because I knew there were families and loved ones associated with each person. It was hard to imagine the tragedy that took place in that very place a little over 10 years ago. 

Although I don't like subjecting myself to sad things, this is definitely a "must do" when you come to New York.

Fun at the Park and Dave

It ain't no trip to NYC if you don't visit Central Park, especially on a busy Sunday afternoon when the weather is great. It is inevitable, it the weather is nice, Central Park will be hoppin' and there will be some stellar people watching. 

Another day that Jodi and Jordan were here we attempted to go see the David Letterman show. We called early and got standby tickets and were really excited because our numbers were 8,9, & 10. They said we had a really good shot of getting it. It must have been really crowded that day because Will Farrell was going to be the guest but we will were confident we would get in until they took the last guest #7 (the person RIGHT before us) and said they had no more seats!! What are the chances!?

But it wasn't all bad, Jodi and Jordan got to go see it the following day and this cool black man in this vintage car was blasting Frank Sinatra while we waited in line.

Oh, and one day when Jodi and Jordan were here we saw Ben Stiller. Isn't New York awesome?

The Accomplice

Hello blogging world. It has been oh so long. I have been the worst at documenting events and blogging since I have been pregnant. Pregnancy has really wiped me out! I feel lucky because I didn't really have morning sickness, in the sense of throwing up an what not, but I did feel extremely fatigued and nauseous all the time if I didn't ever hour on the hour. Food has never been such a good friend. However, when I say fatigued I mean the most draining exhausting feeling you have ever felt. I was not expecting this. I mean, I know that you body is creating a human being, but no one ever really told me about how tired I would be. It was too the point where even watching TV was too much effort. I was going to bed at 7pm and would have to take a break after taking a shower. 

Anyways, just the thought of blogging would make me nauseous, but I am glad that I am slowly getting out of this phase and I am able to think about it with minor nausea. 

Anyways, let us go back to almost exactly a month ago when my sister, Jodi, and brother-in-law, Jordan, came to visit us once more. It is so fun living in a "destination" city because we are able to visit friends an family in the comfort of our own home. 

The first day they arrived we were on the move, first with a little "entertainment" I heard about from a co-worker called "The Accomplice." I really don't know how to describe this experience except for the fake that I have never done anything like it. 

Basically we met on a corner in the West Village with about 6 other people besides us. From there our "tour" guide met us and the experience started. However, the tour guide was only with us for about 15 minutes until she left us on our own suddenly (all about of the plan) leaving us to figure out our next stop with a clue she gave us. From there we were led on a 2 hour scavenger hunt/tour/mystery/detective experience where we met actors on the street (but we didn't know if they were actors or just passerby-ers) and were led to a series of different places and clues throughout the West Village to solve a mystery. 

The website explains it a bit better but still doesn't give much info: 

Part game, part theater, part tour. Using the sprawling backdrop of the city as its stage, utilizing elements of improv theater and scavenger hunt, Accomplice will make you laugh, think, and experience the city in a whole new way.

The Accomplice sites, naturally, are kept secret - it's all part of the fun. "Not enough information," you say? Trust us—the fun is in the surprises.

I didn't take many pictures because you have to be so involved in order to solve the mystery. We had a great group. I didn't think I would like being with strangers but it was actually really fun to get to know them.  

We worked up quite an appetite throughout our adventure, and since we were in the area we went to one of my favorite (and Jordan's) restaurants in the city, Katz Deli. And of course we had to keep up with our tradition and take a picture with the Dietch Wall when we passed by! (see also, here, here and here)

If you didn't get one...

I sent these announcements out to our families about a month ago. 

For those of you who didn't get one...