In the Christmas Spirit

Last weekend I finally got into the Christmas spirit. We had snow on Saturday. It started in the afternoon and went into the evening. We normally never get snow this early in the year. We did get our tree from the fire department. It is a beautiful tree but I think it is one they cut early. It is dropping needles very fast. I would love to put ribbon on it but with me not working at home any more to keep an eye on the dogs I have a feeling they would destroy it. It was snowing when we picked up our tree too! I finished all of my Christmas shopping last weekend. I had my surgery yesterday and can’t drive for probably the rest of the month.

Tony's return from the Toys for Tots ride

Our early snow fall

I found some beautiful table decorations at World Market. I bought charges for my table and really neat wine glasses. I had $10 off a $30 purchase and 25% off my total order. I already had the place mats and napkins so it did not cost much to update my Christmas decorations for the dining room. I also bought really cute snowman salt and pepper shakers from Hallmark for only 33 cents after my coupon! They were originally $12! I even bought Christmas cards and stamps. Now just need to send them out. We still do not have our outdoor Christmas decorations out. Tony will do that this weekend.

Table decorations.

My surgery did go well but I am having problems sleeping. The percocet they gave me keeps me up and wired. I think I only slept for five hours last night. I would have started making Christmas candy at 1 AM if my food processor would not wake up Tony. I just hope my sleeping schedule gets back on track before work on Monday.

Our tree

Thought for the Day

It is a sad day when the day comes you need acme cream and wrinkle cream. Wrinkles and zits...how attractive.

ARUBA!

Our vacation planning is coming together for next year. Just a little over a month away and Tony and I will be visiting his cousins in Arizona. We just made reservations for our 10 year anniversary in Aruba. I really wanted to go to Europe but Aruba is so much cheaper. Maybe next time. I love that Tony and I are able to travel so much and get to experience different parts of the world. Planning these trips in advance gives us something to look forward to and make all our hard work worth every bit.

Starting to feel like Christmas

The Christmas spirit may be just around the corner for me. Snow may be coming our way Saturday night. A little early for NC but that is OK. Maybe seeing some snow may help me. Today we woke up and it was only about 28 degrees out. Freezing cold. Highs in the 50's...yeah...it is winter here and I hate it. Bring on the sunshine.

Gifts started arriving in the mail yesterday. The bad thing is between Tony and I we have no idea whose is whose. It is almost tempting just to throw them under the tree still in their packages and then we just randomly pickup gifts Christmas morning. This year I am not going to go nuts with buying the dogs gifts. They have plenty of toys piled up around the house to last them a long time.

Bah-Humbug

This year I am just not in the Christmas spirit. Neither is Tony. It still does not feel like winter in NC since the leaves are not completely off our trees. We both are exhausted from all the work that was going on in our house the last month. While most people in our neighborhood have their Christmas decorations outside, Tony and I still have our fall decorations out.

The fire department by my house sells Christmas trees every year. They are beautiful trees from the NC mountains. Last year we did not buy from the firehouse. Tony wanted to buy cheap trees from the local grocery store. We bought two, one for upstairs and one downstairs. These trees were the ugliest things I ever saw. No shape to them and gaps everywhere. Seems like the local grocery store received all the reject trees some drunken redneck cut down in the back yard. This year we will buy from the firehouse regardless of what he says. Of course just yesterday he mentioned a nice tree his coworker bought at Walmart…I don’t think so. However with my bah-humbug attitude I am tempted to just go in my attic and grab one of my 4 foot outdoor lighted trees and just decorate that thing in my living room.

In one week I have my knee surgery which just adds to me not wanting to do anything for Christmas. Christmas cookies? Forget it. My ass is large enough and not being able to move around for a good month will just add to it.

At least most of my Christmas shopping is done but that does not come without irritation. I am trying to stick to a strict budget this year but that does not seem to happen. People ask for gifts over our budget and others are very difficult to buy for.

Let’s talk Christmas cards. Back in the day they were a great idea. Today…what a fricken waste of money. I do not mind receiving the Christmas letters from people since Tony and I live so far away but it goes over the line when the Christmas letter is in 7 pt font and I need a f’ing magnifying glass to read it. Can you believe the cost of Christmas cards now and stamps! Sending out 40 cards can cost you about $60. This year it is on my f--- it list. I may just send them to the people that send them to me as they come in and leave it at that.

Now to the ugly decorations people put out. Who the hell invented those ridiculous blow up decorations. Lets waste a ton of electricity on a fan that blows up a 6 foot tall snow man. That is real attractive. Why can’t people do simple and elegant? Sure a jumbo sized frosty is amusing to kids but do you need to put it in the front yard? Too bad I can’t get away with taking a BB gun to it.

Maybe I am just cranky because it seems Christmas starts earlier each year. The local mall by me puts up their Christmas decorations before Halloween. Can’t we just get through Thanksgiving before I see Santa? Well, lets hope I am in the spirit by this weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tony and I had a great Thanksgiving with our close friends. We are so lucky to have people we consider family in NC. Well Thanksgiving is our first start to the holiday eating season also called putting on the winter weight. Pounds gain...0...good job.

We did not do Black Friday. First time in a long time we did not get up early to go shopping. It was nice to relax this past weekend. I can't even remember the last time Tony and I had a four day weekend and just stayed home. We always travel somewhere. My Christmas shopping is almost done. Scored big at Kohl's and Macy's over the weekend.

Thought for the day....

Why do female mannequins have nipples? Even the males look like a Ken doll so why do the females have more detail?

Patio

I promised pictures of the patio a long time ago. Finally here they are.

The patio used to be 10x10 and now is 14x22.

Just need to add the covered roof now.

Can you believe there used to be a shed here?

The trees need to rebound since they back side was blocked by the shed.

This is really pretty in the summer when the flowers are blooming.

It's Finally Done

Our flooring is finally complete! We still have a of cleaning to do in the other rooms and a few more decorations but for the most part it is done!


I can't believe this is my fireplace. Tony did an amazing job.


The brown walls are starting to grow on me. I need to buy green pillows and get rid of the brown ones.


The dinning room chairs look better against the brown walls.



I love my bedroom rugs from Target. They are so soft. The headboard is from World Market. I might get rid of my Euro Pillows since they cover it.


I have a fireplace that goes under the picture. Still need to put that back in the room.

Tis the Season for Flannel

Yes it is only in the 60’s right now in North Carolina but after living here for over five years now 60 degree weather is cold to me. So much so that on a sunny day of 68 degrees I decided that was the day to get out my flannel PJ’s.

Flannel PJ’s must be a husband’s worst nightmare. There is nothing sexy about them and to make matters worse for Tony he says I look like my mother in him. Hmm…maybe they are the new excuse now for “having a headache”. Now when sex is out of the question I put on my flannel PJ’s and he gets a vision of my mom…total mood killer for him. I don’t have to make any excuses verbally because the PJ’s speak for themselves. I am sure Tony’s favorite flannel PJ’s I own are the pink and purple set with schnauzers all over them. Even I will admit it they make me look like a whacked out mental patient. But hey, they are comfortable and warm in the winter time.

I bought Tony some flannel PJ’s one year envisioning us cozied up on our flannels and watching movies on the couch with hot chocolate in our hands. I’ve never seen him in the shirt. I think there is something about matching tops and bottoms for sleeping in that men do not like. Unless they are completely metro sexual and the PJ’s are made by Ralph Lauren.

House is Starting to Come Together

The hardwood floors are complete in the living room, dinning room, and the main hallway. We just have left the bedroom and another hallway. I can't believe it is all coming together. I think my camera has some water spots in it from when I took it snorkeling. I may have to send it in for warranty work. The stabilizer also does not seem to be working.

Surgery

I am going to have surgery on December 8th for my knee. It will not be for a tear like the doctor's originally thought in the beginning of all of this. I have damaged cartilage in my knee and they are going to scrap it clean. My doctor said in 90% of people this heals on its own but I am that 10% that needs surgery for it to be fixed. No more going back and forth on this anymore. It is finally going to happen. I can’t wait to feel normal again.

Progress

Tony and I went into this past weekend thinking we were going to have our floors fully installed. Boy were we wrong! We did not even get maybe a quarter of the way through. Saturday was an entire day of prep work that included painting, base board installation, and a few other things. Sunday is when we finally started to put down the flooring. Tony was a little glue happy in the beginning so we were fighting the glue coming up between the seams but we were able to get it under control. My body is so sore from all the squatting and bending over. We did not finish the clean up until around 10:30 and then I still needed to wash all of the glue and other garbage off of me. My clean up took over an hour! The clue was caked onto my feet. Never did I think I would use the orange goop as a method to pedicure my feet. I scrubbed for nearly and hour on my feet and they still are not all the way clean. I have a rash on my skin were glue was in contact. I am so glad I wore gloves on my hands. I finally feel asleep around midnight only to get up a few hours later for work. I have no idea how Tony and I are going to even want to put down more flooring tonight. I probably am going to fall asleep as soon as I get home.

Yes that is all we got done in one day.

Making Progress

My builder came yesterday to fix the cracks in my foundation and replace the cracked tiles. We got all new tiles in the laundry room and they replaced the cracked ones in the kitchen. They come back Saturday morning to grout and put the membrane down over the cracks they sealed in the living room and bedroom. Tony finished tiling the fireplace and we just need to hang the mantel. The living room painting is complete. The tile work built up so much dust! I have a lot of cleaning a head of me once this all is over with. Right down to the curtains, windows, and pictures. Tomorrow Tony starts the hardwood floor installation!


New tile in laundry room minus the grout


Our upstairs mess.


Tony's beautiful work on the fireplace

My Messy House!

I can’t wait to get my house back in order. This place is such a disaster. Tony tore up the carpet in our bedroom and we found the worst cracks yet. I am glad we are getting all of this taken care of by the builder. We are sleeping upstairs in our spare bedroom for probably the next week and a half until our new floors are down. It is kind of fun to mix things up a bit in our house but long for the day my life is no longer tossed around.



I can tell the stress of all the things that need to get done is wearing at Tony. Probably more so since football is on. I help out as much as I can but the truth is this shit is a man’s job. I try to want to do everything and be strong woman but this shit is for the men. I was painting base board thinking to myself this would be a great thing to pay the neighbor kid to do. But I know Tony would refuse. Then I thought to myself this would be the perfect job to screw up so he never asks me to help out again. Score for the women. You all know what I am talking about. Men always purposely strew things up so we never ask them to help again. With how they do the laundry, the dishes, vacuum, you name it. Somewhere along the way your man purposely did something so horribly wrong for the purpose of you never asking him to do it again. As tempting as it was to do a crappy paint job on the base board I did not since I would be the one looking at it when it is all done. Although the thought did put a smile on my face.



Tony painted our living room and dining room brown from the green we had. I am not sure I like it. Our furniture is brown, floor is brown, rugs are brown, and the last thing we need is more brown. When I told Tony I do not think our pictures will match he replies with “We can go to Kirkland’s and pick up some new pictures. They have a lot of those with brown tones.” My response: “Just what we need is more brown.” Our plan is to put chair rail up and paint the bottom part white but in the meantime I am not going to like it very much. Especially if we put our pictures down there and they clash horribly. Last thing I want to spend money on right now is new pictures. I do like the color but not sure it is right for our house.

Election Day

I turn on CNN anxiously awaiting the first poll results to come in.

Tony: “This is just as exciting as the super bowl.”
Me: “I know!”
Tony: “I was kidding.”

Wow am I a political dork.

Praying Mantis

This was only the second praying mantis that I saw since living in NC. Smaller than the last one. He was just sitting still hanging out by my flowers.

Our Labor Intensive Halloween

We started tearing up our hardwood flooring this past weekend. Friday we went to Lowes to pick up supplies and tile for our fireplace. Saturday Tony gave it pretty hard with tearing up the flooring. He worked from about 7:30 AM to 9 PM. I did my grocery shopping that morning and had every intention on helping him when I came home but a flu bug hit me when I was in Walmart. I thought I was not going to make it out of there before throwing up. Perfect timing to get sick. Once I returned home I laid down for a while and slept as best as I could with the noise. I tried helping Tony out as much as I could by throwing wood in the back of the truck, sweeping up small pieces of wood, and scrapping glue but this is a job that really is a man’s job.

The tile that will go on our fire place. Matches our kitchen.

Tony’s back kept locking up and I knew this was not going to be good if he kept doing this on his own. I suggested we hire our dog sitter. Tony wanted nothing to do with that at first. I finally convinced him he needed help so I hired Sean to help on Sunday. Tony reminds me of my dad when he wants to do everything himself and cannot admit he needs help. I learned over the years that whenever Tony takes forever to complete a project or does not want help I just start calling him Bob. He always used to make fun of how my dad never finishes anything when we first were together. Over the years I noticed Tony starting to become just like him so in those cases his name becomes Bob and then he starts to get things done.

Tony hard at work.

I could tell Tony was going to be in incredible pain on Sunday if I did not do something about it. I gave him anti-inflammatory medication and had him sit in the jet tub after he was done working. He said he felt like a kid but I knew he was enjoying the king treatment. Nothing like seeing your man take a bubble bath while reading a Harely Davidson catalog. It worked. The only thing that was sore on him Sunday was his hands from the blisters.

Sunday Sean and Tony worked really hard to get just about the rest flooring ripped up. Now we just have the hallway and part of the dining room left. We still have to scrape up the glue yet which is a pain the butt job. Tony is renting a machine today to help with the rest of the flooring. He was going to get it over the weekend but the place was closed.

Sydney was a pumpkin and Oscar a spider

We took the dogs around the neighborhood for Halloween dressed in their costumes. We did not have any trick or treaters. Next year I am not buying any candy. Lights will be out.

Jack was a bee

My Crazy Life

Our friends from WI, Joe and Kelly were visiting us last Wednesday though Monday. It is so nice to have friends from up north come and visit. Unfortunately I was not able to take any time off of work. My boss is a slave driver and all I do is update spreadsheets and send out follow up emails…boring. But that is a whole other story in itself.

I like when company visits because it give me an opportunity to cook nice meals. Although by Saturday I had enough of cooking. I was exhausted. Tony and I had a party Friday night and invited some of our closest friends over for a couple’s night. I tried out some of my new Tastefully Simple recipes. The crab rangoons were a huge hit.

Tomorrow Tony and I are going to start demoing our flooring. We ended up getting $5442 from insurance towards new flooring. Since Tony and I are doing the labor we have enough money to replace our existing hardwood with bamboo and also put it in our bedroom. I am so excited for my new flooring to be completed. It is going to be beautiful. I already bought the rugs for my bedroom. I saw them at Target last week and then over the weekend they went on sale. Score!

My builder is going to pay for the new tiles they need to install where the flooring cracked. I am glad they came through for us. My carpet was torn up on two walls in my bedroom as part of the washing machine leak for drying out the walls. While it was pulled up I found another crack in my flooring! Frustrating but glad it was caught.

I Road the Bull

Last Saturday my friends and I went out for what we thought was dinner and a movie. It turned into dinner and dancing. It has been a long time since we all hung out since Dave and Misty had Evan. Misty and I road the mechanical bull at City Limits Saloon. They make it look so much easier in the movies. My first time up I fell right off. We were all laughing. We danced the rest of the night and I do not think we go home until some time after 1 AM. We had such a wonderful time. We all felt so old in the dance club but we did not care. It was fun to just let loose for once in a while and not care what any one thinks. I am also very surprised I was able to get my friends into a country bar. I can't even remember the last time the six of us hung out.

The wine I had at dinner was cheapest Pinot Nior on the menu and it was $7.50 a glass. I had two classes. Those assholes at Bone Fish Grill sold me two buck chuck for $7.50 a glass. That shit was terrible and I woke up with a horrible headache. I just felt sick all day but at least I had fun.

Sunday Tony's aunt and uncle surprised us with a visit. They live in Florida and were on their way back down from Washington D.C. after visiting a college campus with their son. It was a nice surprise.

Never Do a Load of Laundry When Away

Friday night I came home to one of the many worst nightmares a home owner could have. I put a load of laundry in the washing machine before I left in the morning. When I came home 10 hours later I found my hose came undone on my washing machine and water poured from my laundry room, down my hallway, and around the corner into my living room. What a mess! The water was already soaked in the hardwood flooring by the time I came home. I cleaned up the mess that was left and called my insurance agent to see what my deductible is. Luckily for me my deductible is only $500 and my rates will not go up with this claim. I waited a day to see if the wood would dry ok before filing. The top of my engineer hardwood was already starting to peel so I called Saturday morning and filed the claim.

Today the emergency hardwood restoration people came to my house. They wanted to immediately pull up the flooring to get rid of the moisture since the hardwood cannot be repaired. I refused since our friends are coming on into town on Wednesday and we did not have new hardwood picked out. There is also no way I am going to have my hardwood torn up with the chance of my dogs stepping on splinters. Right now there are high powered fans in my lower level drying out the walls and flooring to stop mold. They even had to rip up the carpeting in my bedroom to dry it out.

Tony and I went to Lumber Liquidators after they left and picked out our new flooring. We are going to buy medium color bamboo flooring and they have it in stock. Now I just have to wait for the money to be transferred from All State to my account. We are going to pay to have the hardwood torn up and then install it in our own to save money. We are going to use the money for the installation to pay for our upgraded flooring. We are hoping there may be a chance there is enough money left to buy new flooring for our bedroom but if not we can do that some other time.

Even though I can see the bright side of this it is all just at a very inconvenient time. I am also in the process of having my tile replaced in my kitchen and laundry room because my slab is in three pieces. We are fighting with the home builder on the cost of the tile. They are willing to pay to repair the crack under warranty but since Tony installed the tile they do not want to pay for the tile. It is not a huge deal for the laundry room but we do not want to rip up our entire kitchen. We put in expensive slate tile. Our home builder thinks it is ok to just replace the cracked tiles but matching the grout is going to be near impossible and the membrane they have to put down will affect height.

I have quite the mess on my hands for the next month or two while all of this is fixed.

Breaking Out of My Shell

I had such a great time at a Tastefully Simple party yesterday. I knew it was going to be a great show when one of the neighbors kept bringing over bottles of wine. The show was only a $245 show but I had the absolute best time. The girls were funny and really helped me relax. During the show I was trying to describe Nana's Apple Cake with the Creamy Caramel Sauce. I blurted out it is better than sex and they all laughed. I stayed after the show with a few girls and enjoyed a glass of wine and chatted. I love how being a consultant is helping me come out of my shell. For my friends that know me very well they know it took a long time to break down my walls so I would let them into my life. It should not be that difficult for me to let people into my life but with everything I have been through it is. Hopefully as I continue to do TS shows it will help me be more outgoing.

NYC Day 4

Our last day in NYC we spent the morning doing some final walking around the city. We did not have to leave for the airport until 1 PM so we had plenty of time. We wanted to go up top on the Empire State Building but they charged $20 a person. I really did not want to pay that much to have the shit scared out of me. We walked down 5th Avenue again and of course there was another fricken parade going on. I really wanted to go into the NY Public Library but every time Tony and I stopped there it was closed.

Outside the NY Public Library

We never made it to lower Manhattan. If we visit NYC again I would like to stay on the lower side rather than Midtown. Times Square really is over rated and I love the beauty of the villages. With all the eating we did I did not put on a pound with all the walking we did. I really do not know how New Yorkers can be fat unless they take a cab or the subway everywhere they go. It was nice to do something different than our usual beach trips. Our next trip is coming up in January to Phoenix to visit Tony’s cousins. I can’t wait to see them.

Bryant Park

Statue outside the NY Public Library

NYC Day 3

Sunday we headed to Central Park. Our hotel was about 20 blocks away so we took the metro knowing we would be going on a long walk. We also did not have a ton of time since our show was at 3:00. Central Park is so incredible. I do not know how anyone can even see everything in there in one day. We did not even make it half way through. Central Park stretches about 50 blocks by 4 city blocks. I love the beauty of central park. There are so many trails off the main paths but you have to be careful for the occasional homeless person.


Tony and Me at the entrance of Central Park

We walked back to our hotel from Central Park. All the way from 76th street to 37th street. On our way down Tony found the Harley Davidson store. Since he saw an ad for it all he talked about was going to this store to get a shirt. After the store we saw a pizza place to go to for lunch. It was some of the most disgusting pizza I’ve ever had in my life. This was not NY pizza. This was shitty imitation. What a disappointment. I can’t even describe the sounds my stomach made after that.


Central Park



Harley Davidson Store

We headed back to our hotel down 5th avenue. Just our luck… a parade was going on and the paths were filled with people. I hate parades. Same shit every time. Marching bands, beauty queens, ugly floats, politicians, and screaming children. After a few blocks we went over one to get away from that mess.

Once we got back to the hotel we freshened up and took off to the show. We saw Promises, Promises with Sean Hayes and Kristen Chenoweth. It was a musical comedy and was very good. I really enjoyed the show. Tony was disappointed we were in the nose bleeds and it was a matinee but those tickets still cost me about $75 a person with all the fees.

After the show we were ready to make sure our last night in NYC was fabulous. We took the train down to the Meat Packing District to find a nice restaurant to eat at. We ended up at Pastis which is one of the best French Restaurants in the city. It was AMAZING! We ate outside on the patio in the back corner next to these very snotty French women. They sent everything they had back because it was not done just right and in the meantime Tony and I are screaming with goodness from all the flavors in the food. I hope the cook spit in their food. Anyway, for our appetizer we had Warm Goat Cheese Petatou which is goat cheese on top of a warm potato salad. This was so incredible. For dinner Tony had the Macaroni Gratin w/Bacon and I had the Homemade Spinach and Herb Ravioli. No one does Mac and Cheese like the French. With drinks and tip the meal was around $110 and worth every penny. We left Pastis and head out of the Meat Packing District, through the West Village, and into Union Square. Union Square seemed like a hangout for young people so we continued from 14th Street back up to our hotel…on 37th. Keep in mind we had just walked Central Park earlier that day. Once we hit about 23rd Tony insisted we talk the Metro back to the hotel even though it was not much further. We did and my feet were thanking me. I was not moving very fast at that point.

We made it back to the hotel and rested for a bit. It was only about 8:30 and this is not how I wanted to end our last night in NYC. We left the hotel and found an Irish pub only a couple of blocks away. Our bartender was an actual Irish man which never happens. We had a few drinks, chocolate cake, and then headed back to the hotel. I stopped at a souvenir store to pick up a few more items. I found some black and white city coasters that will look great in my family room and I picked up Tony’s highlight of the trip. A lighter in the shape of a woman’s body and the boobs and thong light up when you open the lighter. Simple things really make guys happy.


Tony with his new lighter

We stopped at a 24hr convenient store by the hotel to get a few snacks. Tony made a new friend with a statue outside of the store. The shot of Jack Daniels the bartender gave him must have kicked in by this time.


Tony with his new friend

NYC Day 2

Saturday Morning we both were a bit exhausted from all the walking we did. We took the metro down to Little Italy to eat a Lombardi’s Pizza for lunch. We arrive around 10:30 so we walked around some. I thought we were going in the direction of Little Italy but really we covered all of SoHo by the time Tony realized where I was trying to go. We headed back towards Little Italy and it still was a bit too early for lunch so we headed onto China Town. Which China Town is just about all of Little Italy now. Lombardi’s Pizza was AMAZING! I googled them before we went to NYC because I wanted to make sure we had the best pizza in the whole city. They had fresh mozzarella on top of the pizza. Tony had Italian sausage on his side and I just had cheese. Unfortunately they did not offer pineapple as a topping. That is the only thing I like on my pizza. Lombardi’s is the first registered pizzeria in the United States and was registered in 1905 and started in 1897.

Lombardi's Pizza

We took the metro back uptown so we could get ready for the Soprano’s tour. Before the tour we were able to meet Joseph Gannascoli who played Vito on the Soprano’s. We had our picture taken with him, bought his book that is being made into a movie, and Tony bought some cigars. And it only cost us 60 extra fricken dollars. Worth it though. Unfortunately the tour took us to New Jersey. Now I understand all the jokes about Governor Patterson making fun of New Jersey. What a shit hole coming from the New York side. The tour was supposed to be a 4 hour tour but it turned into 5 hours with the NY traffic. We stopped at a few of the places scenes were filmed at even the Bada Bing. Never in my life did I think I would be in a strip club. I do have to say there was a sigh of relief when we went into the club and the girls had tops on and they were not Tony’s type. They looked about 18 years old and there was nothing to them. The A-cups must be the show during the day. If they were curvy girls with big boobs and butt then I probably would have felt a little shelf conscious. I was expecting a scene from Show Girls with Demi Moore and saw anything but that. Not even 15 seconds after I left to go to the bathroom one of the strippers was trying to make conversation with Tony in hopes we would want a lap dance. I saw it happen even before I got into the bathroom. I looked over, laughed to myself, and thought “good luck with that.” I came back during mid conversation. I heard Tony say “my wife and I...” as he put his arm around me. The stripper looked away ignored a question I asked and was gone in seconds onto the next person.

Tony with the Tony Soprano double.

Inside the restaruant were the last scene of the series was filmed.

Me with Vito

For dinner Saturday night we ended up at a small Chinese restaurant near Times Square. Not the dark quiet restaurant I was hoping for but I was starving and it was way too late to venture very far for dinner. The food was mediocre. There is an amazing Asian restaurant where I live and this did not even compare.

Skyway Dinner where Chris was shot at on the Sopranos

Shot of Manhattan from New Jersey. Shithole!

NYC Day 1

We arrived at the hotel at about 9:45 AM on Friday. They let us check in early and we still had enough time for the free breakfast buffet. I had on my skinny jeans, a white button up, and tall boots for our first venture out into the city. Those tall boots did not last very long. For those of you that think New Yorkers really wear fancy high heels to walk around the city you are mistaken. I was mistaken. Maybe if they were my comfortable summer high heels I could have made it but not in boots. I quickly went to sneakers. Not very stylish but my feet were thanking me. About those smoking hot outfits I bought for NYC...didn't even wear them since they involved heels. Jeans and T-shirts were just fine on this trip. In just a short time we managed to walk to Times Square, Broadway, Radio City Music Hall, Late Show with David Letterman, and 5th Avenue. Times Square is overrated. We ate lunch at the brewery inside of the Empire State Building. I actually ordered a beer but a small one. The menu said it had a French toast taste to it so I could not resist and had to try it. I did not taste any French toast but managed to take it down. Probably the first beer I’ve ordered in nearly 6 years.



Tony's beer and my beer


Me outside of Radio City Music Hall


My boots that did not last very long

Now what is a trip to NYC without 5th Avenue shopping. I lost the weight I wanted to before we left. I felt great rocking my size four jeans and then it happens…models appear in the city. I felt like a short fat woman compared to them. Talk about a knock to my self esteem. Inside some of the stores there were skirts that maybe would have fit one of my thighs. When I was in NYC seven years ago I was 30 pounds lighter than what I was this go around.


Lion statue outside the NY Public Library

In the afternoon we did the Sex and the City Tour. I did this tour back in 2003. It was much better then. They changed a lot of the locations up and not to more interesting ones. What I liked most about the Sex and the City tour was going through SoHo, the Meat Packing District, and the West Village. I knew these were places I wanted to come back to later. The only thing that was the same from 2003 was the stop at the Pleasure Chest. Seeing O’Neil’s was pretty neat. That is where Aidan’s bar is on Sex and the City but they call it Scout. The tour lasted for 3.5 hours. About 3.4 hours too long for Tony but he was a good sport about it. For dinner that night we found an Irish pub near the Chrysler Building. One thing I hate about Midtown Manhattan is that it is very hard to find small restaurants off the side streets that are not very expensive and are not chains. I am sure Tony was getting really annoyed with me for all the walking I made him do to find a small restaurant off the path.



Tony outside of O'Neil's

Sneaky

The bank I work at is very conservative...so much so the TV's are on Fox News. When no one is looking I change the channel to CNN. HAHA!

Up Coming Travels

I am so excited about my trip to New York City. I already put together some great outfits from clothes already in my closet plush a few new items I bought a few weeks back. I am going to look like a New Yorker. I was doing a fashion show for Tony yesterday. I think the part he enjoyed the most was catching me stuck in a dress with it above my head and nothing on below. I bought booties which are the latest fashion trend but I just cannot seem to find the right outfit to wear them with. I am also really short and they make legs look even shorter. I am going to bring them with to NYC and maybe I will find something to go with them or get the confidence to wear them with of my dresses.

Yesterday was Tony’s birthday. We celebrated on Saturday with dinner at our favorite Asian restaurant, Red Bowl. I wore one of my new dresses for NYC. It is a short dress with ¾ length sleeves that is white, green, and black. I had on some funky Michael Kors shoes I bought from TJ Maxx. Tony said I looked like a super model and then he said when we get home I am going to change into my white running shorts. We both laughed. They are not attractive at all but they are comfortable. For his gifts he ordered a new seat and handle bars for his Harley. I bought him a nice Jack Daniels zippo for when he has cigar night with the guys. I still made him dinner last night. We did not do a cake since we both want to keep our weight off for NYC but I did find Dove Chocolate wrappers in the garbage so he must have still had something sweet for his birthday. This is the first year we did not have a cake for his birthday.

Yesterday I bought plane tickets to Arizona for January. I love having mini vacation planned out every few months. It gives us something to look forward to. Our trip to Arizona will be cheap. We are staying with Tony’s cousin and the tickets only cost us $86 each after we used some travel vouchers.

Sunday I had a Tastefully Simple party and had nearly $800 in sales! I am so glad this business is taking off. I still am not very comfortable meeting new people but I am getting there.