New Years Eve at Times Square!

For New Years Eve we actually were able to go to Times Square and see the ball drop! My friend Courtney who went to UNL with me now lives in Connecticut, real close to NYC and she works for a special event company and had special passes for anyone that wanted to help out at Times Square and pass out Pepsi scarves and beach balls. So we decided to sign up and see Times Square up close without having to stand outside all day. It was awesome! All four us (Cari, Andrew, Philip and me) all went to dinner first at a sushi restaurant close to our place and then we came home and changed into our cold weather gear and headed to this hotel close to Times Square where our group was getting ready and grabbing all of their Pepsi stuff to hand out to the crowds. Here's some photos of all Pepsi'd out! The photo on the left is of me and my friend Courtney who hooked us up with the special passes.

So once we had all of our Pepsi stuff, we headed down to Times Square and they escorted us to this building where we had to wait until they were ready for us. We were actually in the building that is right under the ball! At first we were sad we were missing out on all the fun outside, but then once we went outside we were glad we had been inside for so long because it was absolutely FREEZING out! Luckily we didn't get outside until 11pm so were we SO LUCKY! I couldn't believe how cold it was and most people had been outside for hours (we asked this one group of girls and they had been there for 16 hours - since 8am - crazy!) So once we got outside into the "special area" where the celebrities walked through and the media, police, etc. (On the left is a photo of Ryan Seacrest!) we started handing out all of our Pepsi scarves. Everyone loved them. Then, at 11:50pm we had to throw out all these beach balls during the Pepsi commercial. It was pretty cool. Balls were everyone and it was suppose to represent "carbonation".

Once we were done with our Pepsi gig, we just walked to the crowd in front of the ball and counted down with everyone and rang in the New Year with a million other people! HAPPY NEW YEAR! There was all this confetti and it was so exciting. I loved it! I want to do it again but I don't know if we'll ever have such a great opportunity as we did this year. It was so cool. Everyone says you should do Times Square once in your life - and I agree - it really was awesome! Here's a phoot of Cari and Andrew in front of the ball on the left. And below is a video from the night.

After Times Square, we walked to Grand Central to warm up because we were so cold and on walk we saw Taylor Swift who actually waved at Philip and Lionel Richie. We really added to our celebrity sightings that night!

So once we got to Grand Central we headed to the Lower East Side and ended up at this bar called Puck Fair. It was fun and we found a great table right next to the bar so we could order food and drinks real easily. We stayed there the rest of the night and got home around 4am! It was definitely a good New Years! Philip had such a great time he didn't even notice this balloon that was stuck to his coat. :) See photo below...

I hope you all had a very HAPPY NEW YEAR too!

Our Trip to San Francisco!

On the Saturday after Christmas before we were to head back to New York, all four of us drove from Fresno to San Francisco for the day. The drive was beautiful!

Before we entered the city we decided to check out Muir Woods. It was a long and steep drive up the mountain, but when we came to Muir Woods...the view was absolutely breathtaking. The trees went on forever and were huge. It was pretty cool. Here's some photos us in Muir Woods.

After Muir Woods, we were heading toward the famous Golden Gate bridge. Before we drove across we stopped at a look-out point and saw the amazing view of the bridge and took some photos.

Once we got into San Francisco, I really wanted to go down the famous Lombard Street that is extremely steep and curvy. I can't believe people actually live on this road. We had to wait about 30 minutes to actually drive our car down the road, but it was worth it. I still can't believe how hilly the streets are in San Francisco!

After all of our sight seeing, we checked into our hotel and then headed to the Fisherman's Wharf at Pier 39. There were lots of fun stores to check out and some comedy/entertaining acts all over. We also watched the barking sea lions for awhile and then decided to get dinner reservations at a seafood restaurant right on the Wharf. We sat by the window overlooking the
bay and Alcatrez. It was beautiful. And since we were at a seafood restaurant we all ordered seafood and everyone but me ordered crab legs...so they had to wear bibs! Here's a photos of us at the restaurant.

After dinner, we went out for some drinks and had a great time playing American Shuffleboard at the bar. And the next day, we were headed back to New York - for a full day of traveling. :(

We had such a wonderful time in California for Christmas and it was so great to see Andrew and Cari and to be their first visitors! But it won't be long till we see them again...they were coming to NYC in just two days to celebrate New Years with us!

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!