August Breakdown

I have been a stranger to my blog as of late because we/I have been just so busy. Also, since being pregnant I have lost all motivation for all things I used to enjoy, reading, cleaning, blogging, picture taking, among others. Dr. Laura (my BFF) says it's hormones, and I hope she is right because I miss the old Lindsay. 

During the month of August we had three sets of visitors: Pat's brother, David, Pat's friend, Ben, and his wife Patty, and Pat's mission bud "Fernusky". We love having visitors because it forces us to enjoy the city that we live in. Something that we often forget to do when we get caught up in our daily routines. 

When Pat's brother was here he did a lot of exploring of the city no his own when Pat and I were working. However, we were able to spend some good quality time with him on the weekend and during the evenings. One day we headed over to my favorite restaurant in the city- Katz's Deli.  

And of course while we were on our way there we had to take a picture with the Dietch Wall (1, 2, 3)

Here is a little story about Pat:
One Saturday we were going grocery shopping, because we were going to feed the missionaries that night. While I was picking out the needed ingredients for the dinner I lost track of Pat. When I called him up to see where he was at, I suddenly saw him at the sea food section being handed a lobster. While still on the phone with him, as we were out of hearing distance otherwise, I said "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" He laughed looking around, not knowing where I was, and proceeded to tell me was going to save a lobster.

Apparently, Pat got a little side tracked when he walked by the lobsters in the sea food section. He started watching them, sitting on ice, waiting for their deaths. As he was watching and feeling sorry for them, the deli worker asked him if he needed anything. Without thinking he said "I will take one lobster."

Pat's plan was to take the lobster home and then go throw him in the East River (and yes, although the East River is called a river, it actually is not and is salt water), freeing him and giving him a second chance at life. At this point all I could do was smile and go along with his plan because who can't love Pat for his tender heart. (1, 2)

However, sadly, Pinchy (as Pat called him) didn't survive the trek home. We tried to revive him by putting him in a bucket of water but it seemed that we were a little too late (By the way, I was totally grossed out this whole time by the lobster and refused to even look at it). Yet,  we decided that Pinchy could not go to waste and that he death would not be in vain as we feed him to the missionaries that evening. RIP Pinchy.

It seemed that much of this month Pat had many adventures, while I was either resting at home, learning calligraphy, or at doctors appointments. However, thanks to i-phones, he was able to record some of his activities so I felt like I was almost there. 

I guess first and foremost, Pat got a new grill this month. This has been a two month process that has been very painful for him--poor guy--but hopefully it was all worth it in the end. When Pat was a teenager he knocked out two of his two front teeth while riding a jet ski. Because the work he had done so long ago was so out dated, our insurance would cover most of the cost for him to get the work done, so I thought this would be the best time to do it. 

Even though Pat is not convinced it was worth all the work and money, I told him he was super lucky to have such a nice smile and didn't have to go through the process of braces. He doesn't agree, but anyone who had braces would side with me. 

"The transformation is complete"

Two cool pictures Pat took with Instagram of the Chrysler building. 

We will miss living in a city that offers such good photo ops. 

One of the reasons I haven't seen much of Pat this month was due to the fact that Pat was shooting his first commercial. I think it was a really great learning experience for him and one that, in the end, I think he enjoyed. 

Pat has been in to raptors, or birds of prey, ever since shooting his Dorito's commercial, back in the day. So when his friend, Chad, told him about the raptor show, coming to NYC, he knew he had to go and that it would be awesome. Well, his high expectations were met head on and he enjoyed a day full of large and majestic birds. This is one picture he took, that I couldn't believe was real:  

Pat's missionary bud, Fernusky, came into town just for a few days and was nice enough to let Pat in on some of his hook ups, one of which were tickets to the U.S. Open. I wasn't able to go because I had a doctors appointment that I couldn't cancel, but it looked like so much fun even though I know NOTHING about tennis, except for that one time I was rich for a day and was able to be trained by a tennis pro--no biggy.

All in all it was a great month; however, after writing this post it looks like it was a better month for Pat as he had most of the adventures!

Weekend Wrap Up (aka Me Venting about NYC)

This weekend was a good and not so good weekend. Nothing great happened and nothing horrible happened except for the norm.

The Good:
- On Friday we had a surprise birthday party for our friend Amanda. She turned the ripe old age of 22 and was not too surprised by the surprise (I guess her husband needs to work on his surprising skills).
-We got a bunch of errands done of Saturday: grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning, and picking up a crib for the babes.
-Pat didn't have early morning church meetings.

The Not-So-Good:
By the end of Saturday I determined that it was a "I hate NYC day." I have these days every so often, sprinkled among the "I love NYC days". It was just one of those days where you are faced with the everyday challenges that NYC poses. Some of these challenges include:

Grocery Shopping: This task has never been fun for me, but grocery shopping in the city, is just pure torcher. Finding the items you need (Fairway, although large for NYC, ain't no Walmart), navigating the crowds and isles, swallowing the ridiculous city prices, and getting your bags home without a car are just some of the reasons why we never have food in our apartment.

Shipments: I bet if you never lived in the city you never thought about how difficult it is when you receive a large shipment to your home. I recently ordered a few ottomans online and my dear friend, Maribeth, was so nice to let me ship them to her doorman apartment. Even though her apartment is only 5 blocks away it's not exactly fun to lug two 20lbs awkward sized ottomans that far in 90 degree humid weather.

Laundry: I loathe laundromats. Even though we live above a laundromat, meaning I just have to walk downstairs to do my laundry, it's still the bane of my existence. First, out of the 30+ washing machines in "our" laundromat, only 4 work, while the others either are taped up with duct tape or have a sign that says "Not working." This means if there are two people doing their laundry all the washing machines are taken! Second, when you have to pay for you laundry every time you do it, you want to make sure your getting the most bang for your buck. That means I don't do small loads here and there throughout the week, but rather, doing laundry is an EVENT where I end up lugging 2 1/2 Ikea bags full of clothes up and down two flights of stars while pregnant.

Furniture Shopping: I found a great crib on Craigslist that I was able to get my hands on. The crib was located in Dumbo, Brooklyn, only about 8 miles away. However, 8 miles in the city is actually pretty far so in order to pick the crib up we had to schedule a ZipCar (A program that we have a yearly membership to for the several times it is needed) for an hour and half, which we sill knew would be cutting it close. Luckily, everything went smoothly and by the time we dropped the car back off we had 10 minutes to spare.

Space: With the soon to be arrival of Baby Koelling I have started my baby supplies shopping, hoping to get everything squared away and set up before the fatigue of the 3rd trimester sets in. The thought of this has been stressing me out as there is absolutely no room for anything new in our 450 sq/ft one bedroom apartment. Yet, I decided to embrace the organizational challenge and tried to not let it cause me anxiety. However, once I got our new crib the suppressed anxiety resurfaced as I realized that our apartment is going to feel a lot more cramp for the next year.

Of course living in NYC has its perks, but those perks usually don't come with the everyday tasks that need to be done. By the end of the weekend, I told Pat that next year we are moving back West.

Beekeeping in NYC

This past weekend I fulfilled one of my childhood dreams of beekeeping. My only wish is that it wasn't so short lived and I had a place to have a beehive of my own. 

For the past couple of years I have been trying to find a place where I could take classes on beekeeping or at least just experience beekeeping in some way. I couldn't find anything! Finally, on one such occasion I stumbled upon a once-a-year beekeeping workshop right here in the Bronx! I couldn't believe it. I found it on the internet in January, but the registration wasn't until March. The anticipation pretty much killed me. We were able to register with our friends, Nate and Ashely (fellow animal and I guess insect lovers), and I couldn't wait until we were finally able to charm the bees. 

We were actually scheduled for the beekeeping workshop last weekend, but due to bad weather the class was postponed a week. But alas, the wait was well worth it, as all four of us were able to learn all about bees and the miracle of how honey is made. 

The workshop was at the most beautiful private park, Wave Hill,  in the Bronx right next the Hudson River. I hope we can go back and explore this area more, as it was such a vacation from city life, and was only a 20 minute drive. 

In anticipating the registration for this class, I was scared that it would quickly sell out as they only allowed 12 people in the class. However, when we went the class only had 8 people, including us, which made more a more personal and interactive experience. 

Our instructor was great, as he really loved bees and beekeeping. He really inspired me to one day have my own beehive. 

Ashley

Nate

Pat

Lindsay

The smoke that was used to "calm" the bees. We actually learned the reason
why smoke calms bees is because they think there is a fire so they start eating
all the honey to preserve it and then get all sluggish from over eating.
Hahaha silly bees!

These bee canals that you see really excited our instructor. Apparently this means that the bee colony is divided
and another Queen bee was prepared and there was going to be a take over of the hive. 

Fresh honey

 

The day was absolutely perfect and so much fun. I learned so much about beekeeping even though a lot of it went over my head. I now have a huge respect for bees and will no longer fear them. I think it is absolutely miraculous how they are able to make honey and hope some day to enjoy the process first hand!

Sleepy Weekend

Unlike last weekend, this past weekend was more relaxed. I took some pictures and realized the only pictures I took were of Montee and/or Pat sleeping. I just found these moments precious and wanted to remember them.

The boys taking a Sunday nap

Everyday when I come home from work this is what I find:
Montee sleeping like a person in our bed.

In not so good news, Montee had another seizure yesterday while we were at work. We knew because we found vomit and urine in the right proximity to each other. The test results came back from the last time and we still don't know what is wrong. Hopefully we will find out soon.

But to end on a good note, last night I saw the Broadway show "Once." It is up for 11 Tony's so I knew I had to see it before the tickets were sold out for years and the price sky rocketed. It was such a unique experience and one that I loved and to follow in my love for seeing movies alone I took it one more step and saw this Broadway show alone after work. I just found out about the play on Sunday so I went online on Monday and bought myself a ticket. Pat's not one for musicals so there was no sense in wasting the money on him, and I didn't want to feel bad about inviting someone to spend so much money to see it with me and then for it not to be that good. By going alone, I didn't have to worry about anyone else, all I had to do was enjoy the show!

I knew I would love the show even before it started. As you arrived the bar was right on stage, so you could go up and get a drink while standing right next to the 13 actors who were in the performance. The show was more play like than an elaborate Broadway musical production. The stage never changed but rather the viewer used their imagination as they went through the story line. But most of all, the music was incredible. It was totally up my alley in the type of music I like: Folk/soft rock/dance around the apartment fun.

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. 

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.

Lake Placid

As Pat said, since Winter didn't come to us this year, we decided to go to Winter. This last long weekend for Presidents Day, I planned a very last minute get-a-way to Lake Placid, about 5 hours north of Manhattan.

We left on Saturday morning and rented a car from Laguardia Airport. From leaving our apartment, getting our rental car, to getting out of the city took about 2-3 hours. We weren't really intimidated by the long drive since we were just really excited about being in a car. It was a nice drive, but as we got closer the Lake Placid we realized that we probably were very ill prepared for the elements. We weren't expecting any snow, as a few days earlier I called and they said they didn't have any. However, this definitely was not the case. We ended up being fine, but did have a hard time staying out in the cold for long periods of time.

We managed to find a hotel that allowed pets, so believe it or not, we took Montee along! We thought he would enjoy the trip a lot more than he actually did, but for being a cat he did surprisingly well.

While we were there there just happened to be a bobsledding competition, since Lake Placid held the 1980 Olympics. It was really fun to be right up close to the blobsledders, even though we only saw them for a split second as they zoomed passed us at 80 miles per hour. It became a kinda of game for us to try to see if we could capture them in a picture--it only works about a third of the time.

Later on that day we went on a little hike to a 700 foot frozen waterfall that had these wooden walk ways and bridges. It was really nice to be out in nature and just take things slow. 

After our hike they had all the supplies to make s'mores. It was a nice little treat and I will NEVER turn down a s'more.

Lake Placid is a very quaint town. It had your touch of the modern with retail stores on main street, but it also kept its history with all the mom and pop shops. It was fun to see so many people engaging in winter activities, such as ice skating on the frozen lake, skiing, and even dog sledding.

All in all, it was really good to be spontaneous and to get out of the city for a day or two. As is anything when it comes to city living, it was a lot of work and money to actually get out city, but we were glad we did it. I think we need to keep life exciting and splurge every once and while to maintain happiness and sanity.