Christmas in California

I think one of the main reasons Philip wanted to go to California for Christmas to visit his brother, Andrew and his girlfriend Cari was so that he could drive Andrew's new Harley Davidson. The first chance he could...Philip took the Harley for a spin around the block. I even rode on the back while Andrew was driving. It was my first time on a motorcycle and it was actually pretty fun. I thought I would be a lot more scared, but Andrew drove very safe, and I actually enjoyed it! Here's a photo of Philip on Andrew's Harley "living the dream."

Andrew and Cari moved to Fresno last year when Andrew was transfered there with Kiewit to build a power plant. They have a very nice apartment and we had a such a great time spending Christmas with them. Unfortunately Cari recently fractured her wrist while snow boarding so fortunately, she could stay home during the day with Philip and me while Andrew had to work.

On Christmas Eve we celebrated the way the Strom family does by having fondue for dinner and then we got slinky's to open that night! Here's a photo of Andrew and Philip making the fondue. Andrew and Philip's grandma always gave the boys a slinky every year, so Cari got us some and we played with them down the stairs! And on Christmas Day we woke up to a delicious breakfast that Cari made for us and then opened up presents! Throughout the day we played cards and some Wii. It was a fun time and such a great Christmas!

Here's a photo of Philip and me by the tree and one of him opening a gift Christmas morning. He's also wearing the Bears jersey that he had just opened as a gift.

On the day after Christmas Philip and I met my Aunt Char for lunch. My Aunt, Uncle Joe and cousin Jason all live in Bakersfield, CA, which is only an hour and a half away from Frenso, so we decided to meet halfway in the middle and meet for lunch in this cute little town called Vesalia. It was great to see my Aunt Char and for her to meet Philip as well. Here's a photo of us outside of the cafe we ate for lunch.

Overall, we had a WONDERFUL time in California for Christmas!

My Sister Kari and Mark Visit!

My sister Kari and my brother-in-law Mark came to visit me and Philip the weekend before Christmas. They were excited for a weekend away from their two-year-old, Cameron, and they love New York City. It was really great to have them visit us cause they'd already been to New York before and they knew exactly what they wanted to do - and introduced Philip and me to some great places that we hadn't heard about or tried before! They arrived here on Friday night and went and saw an improv comedy show at the Upright Citizens Brigade since Philip and I both had our company holiday parties that night - so we met up with Kari and Mark afterward.


On Saturday the four of us explored New York City, walking down Fifth Avenue and eating at the famous Carnegie Deli! Here's a photo of all of us at Carnegie Deli.

Nobu Night! - On Saturday night Kari and Mark took us to their very favorite restaurant and now ours - Nobu 57. They had eaten at Nobu before in NYC and in another city and they love it. It was my birthday present from my sister to take Philip and I there for dinner - and it was the best birthday gift ever! For those of you who have never heard of Nobu, it is a fusion sushi restaurant where many celebrities dine. It's hard to describe why the food is so good...but it is just melts in your mouth. I definitely recommend it, but it helps to go with people that have gone there before and know what to order. It was such a nice dinner! Thank you Kari and Mark!

And to end the night we headed to McSorley's, the oldest tavern in New York City. They only serve two beers there - light or dark (I prefer the dark) and for 1 beer you get two beer mugs. It's awesome. The place is so old that Abraham Lincoln used to go there. And they didn't let women in until 1970. This was another place that Mark had heard about and introduced to us! Here's a photo of Kari, Mark and Philip double-fisting at McSorleys!

On Sunday we decided to go to Chinatown and then to the MTA Transit Museum, which was really cool. The museum was in an abandoned subway in Brooklyn and our guided tour explained how the subways were built, what they looked like and how much the rate has gone up - used to be less than a nickel to ride and now it's $2.00! Did you know the MTA brings in $9 million day from passengers?! That;s a lot of subway riders! The museum was fun and we all learned a lot. And that night we ordered in some New York style pizza and Kari and Mark decided to check out Rockefeller Center and the tree. On Monday they had lunch with me at Hess and then they had to go back home to Denver.

It was so great to have Kari and Mark visit us. We hope they will come again soon!

J! E! T! S! Jets! Jets! Jets!

On Sunday, Philip and I had the opportunity to go to our first NFL game - the Jets vs Bills! We got tickets from our friend Chris, who has a friend with season tickets. We took the bus shuttle from Port Authority and tailgated before the game with Chris and his friend William and then headed to the game! We had awesome tickets near the end-zone in the 12th row! And the game was a good one - Jets won and had some great plays in the 4th Quarter!

Here's some photos of us at the game.

SantaCon 2008!

On Saturday Philip and I and a bunch of our friends decided to go to our first ever SantaCon! SantaCon is where hundreds, probably thousands of people dress up in Santa suits or elves costumes, Santa's helpers, etc and roam the city. It starts at 10am on Saturday and you meet at different areas of the city including several bars, the steps of the US Post Office, Grand Central, South Street Seaport and the Staten Island Ferry. It was absolutely hilarious. It's hard to describe what it actually was...kind of a mix of a street parade, bar crawl, Santa convention. The pictures pretty much tell the story the best. Enjoy and Merry Christmas from all the Santas!

We got Philip and his friends Santa suits from Walgreens for $14.99 so they weren't the sturdiest, but fit in perfectly for SantaCon!

Click below to see more photos and video from the day:

Photos and Videos from Philip's Camera

Photos from Danny's Camera

Here's some video from the day!

My Mom's Visit to NYC!

My mom just came to visit me for my birthday for her first trip to New York City! I was so excited to have my mom here so I could show her around and so she could see where Philip and I live, where I work and all the neat places to see here in the city that she sees on TV all the time. My mom was quite the trooper and came by herself and on the two days that I had to work, my mom explored the city. She took the double decker bus tour, NBC tour, Circle Line boat cruise, went to Top of the Rock and had lunch two days with me at our beautiful dining cafe at Hess. The photo on the right is us at Rockefeller Plaza in front of the Christmas tree. This is right near where I work. On the left is a photo she got at the Top of the Rock. And here's a photo of me at Hess in the newly renovated dining area, which is on the 42nd floor and has a beautiful view!

For my mom's birthday which was in November, I got her tickets to see a Broadway Show and we went and saw the musical Spring Awakening. It was a really good show with awesome music and singing, but it was a little bit edgy (there was a bit of nudity :)). We had a great night and started with a delicious dinner at Hell's Kitchen before the show. While my mom was here, I also wanted to go to the American Girl Doll store with her since I have five American Girl dolls and my mom loves dolls too - so we had to check out all four floors and somehow managed to leave without buying anything. Here's us at the store. We also had to go to the largest toy store in the world - FAO Schwartz and of course do some window shopping! Here's a photo of me and my mom in front of Sak's windows.

However, with all the shopping and sight seeing we did I think my mom's favorite NYC experience had to be shopping in Chinatown and getting some fake designer purses. It was insane! You wouldn't believe how many women were in this small little room with all these purses working deals with the Chinese salespeople. It was pretty funny. This is definitely an experience everyone must have when visiting New York City.

It was really great having my mom visit. I think she had a really fun time and it was so nice having her here to see where we live! Thanks again for visiting mom!

Flag Football Saturday

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Philip's friend, Ken, asked if we wanted to play flag football with him and his friends for their Thanksgiving tradition. Ken grew up in Queens and has been traveling through his job with Kiewit. Now he is back in Queens and is renting an apartment just blocks from his parent's place. So all of his good friends are back home and we have become friends with them too! It was such a fun day in the park playing several games of flag football. I had never really played flag football before and at the end of the day, I really got the hang of it. I even scored a touchdown! Here are some photos from the day!

A Lovely Thanksgiving at Susan's

After the parade, Philip and I went to my friend Susan's house for our Thanksgiving meal. It was such a nice gathering of 12 of us including Susan, her two daughters, her two nieces, her niece's boyfriend, and a couple women from her church and three friends she invited from the James Lenox House, a retirement home. It was such a lovely time.
Pictured in the kitchen on the left is: Chad, Susan's two nieces, Susan's daughter Abby and Susan.

Susan's oldest daughter, Sabina, had decided to plan the meal for Thanksgiving and she made all this amazing food with the help of her sister and mom. On the menu included stuffed mushrooms (the size of large muffins!), a huge turkey, Susan's famous sweet potatoes, vegetable root salad, pumpkin pie, cranberry apple pie, and so much more! It was delicious.
Photo on left is sisters Abby and Sabina.

Philip and I had a great time and had much to be thankful for this year. This was our first Thanksgiving away from our families, but we had the next best thing.


Photo on right is of Abby, Wesley (the dog), Sarah and Susan.

At dinner we all said what we were thankful for and celebrated friends and family and the delicious food!

One of the guests from the James Lenox House was Helen and she was 98 years old. Helen has lived in Manhattan her entire life. We couldn't believe how sharp she was! As were were talking to her we found out that Helen had gone to Elementary School in the school that is still across the street from me and Philip's apartment. What a small world!

Oh, and we couldn't forget about Wesley, Susan's beautiful 10-year-old Vizsla dog. He was hanging out by the fire to stay warm. :)

It was such a lovely day and Philip and I have much to be thankful for!