Memorial Day Weekend in the Hamptons

On Memorial Day weekend and another weekend this summer we had the chance to go Amagansett, which is just east of the Hamptons, the second to last stop on the LIRR (Long Island Railroad) which is how we get there. We took off on Friday afternoon and walked from the train station to "The Shack". Our friend, Kenta, has had a share at The Shake for a couple summers now and he invited us one weekend along with our friends Kevin and Nick, who work with Philip. Their place is probably the last house in Amagansett that hasn't been renovated or torn down...and you can tell. It is definitely not winter proof and I shared a room (which used to be a garage) with four guys. But the place is awesome! It's literally 100 feet from the beach and is a great party house. Every day Kenta would prepare an amazing breakfast or dinner that he would serve on a surfboard (as pictured on the left) and we would all hang out in the front yard near the fire pit.

On Saturday there was a free concert in Amagansett Square so we all decided to go. There were a lot of families there, but we had a lot fun decorating Kevin with paper cups when he decided to take a little snooze. It was pretty funny. While we were watching the concert, Alec Baldwin (from 30 Rock) walks in with his wife and daughter. I guess he lives in the area...so that was pretty cool celebrity sighting!

That night we went to the local bar - The Talk House and heard a reggae band. They were awesome! The photo above is of Kenta and Philip at the bar.

It was cloudy most of the weekend except we had a great beach day on Sunday and on Monday. Here's a photos of Kenta with his sword - this guy is meant for the beach!

We had a great time that weekend. Everyone that lives in New York always tells us that you have to get away during the summers and now I completely agree! I had no worries and was really able to escape the busy city. It was such a fun and relaxing weekend - we look forward to our next visit!

Walking Saturday...Kiewit to Central Park to Las Ramblas!

We had a full day planned for Saturday since it was the last true day Philip's parents and brother would be here visiting. We started out with brunch at the Union Square Coffee Bar, which is one of our favorite areas of the city. We all had a great big breakfast and headed out for our busy day ahead. We jumped on the Express subway and headed up to Philip's Willis Avenue Bridge jobsite so his parents could see where he works and the progress they've made on the bridge. It's always an interesting walk from the subway to the job since it's a walk through Harlem - probably not the best thing for his mom to see. But his job is amazing and extremely complicated. Just walking around the jobsite is nearly a mile and it's crazy all of the different projects going on. The photo on the right with Philip's mom is of us on the bridge with a crane in the backgroung. On the left is a photo of the Willis Avenue bridge in the background.


After seeing the entire jobsite we walked back to 125th Street and jumped on a bus that took us to 90th Street, where we started our walk to Central Park. It ended up being a beautiful day and we walked a lot through Central Park showing Philip's parents our favorite spots - such as the Central Park Reservoir which we run around all the time. Here's a photo of Philip's family overlooking the reservoir.


We kept walking and headed to the Central Park Boathouse for a little hydration break. We were lucky and found a table outside where they only served wine and cheese & fruit platters, which was perfect! It was such a nice time for us to relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery. This was our first time going to the Boathouse and we will definitely be going back! Here's a photo of Philip and his mom at the Boathouse.


After our walking tour we all went back to our apartment to hang out before we got ready for dinner. I think everyone needed a little break from walking all day. :)

For dinner we went to my very favorite restaurant, Las Rambas, the tiny tapas place in Greenwich Village with the absolute best service and delicious food! And again they went above and beyond! When we first arrived, we grabbed a sensor that they would buzz when our table was ready. Since the streets are so narrow in this area of town, we headed across the street to this little bar as we waited. Here's a couple photos of Dave, Philip and I having a drink waiting to meet up with his parents. And then all of a sudden our buzzer went off a little earlier than expected and I couldn't even finish my drink. So when we went to the restaurant the hostess accidently buzzed us and felt horrible. I just barely mentioned that maybe my drink was still there in the bar, and before I finished my sentence, the hostess ran out of the Las Ramblas and told me to follow her and walked up to the bartender and told him that she was buying whatever drink I wanted. Can you believe that?! I still can't. They are SO NICE at this place. Needless to say we were all impressed, and not only with their service. The food that night was AMAZING as always. I already can't wait to go back! Here's a photo of us outside the restaurant that, of course, our wonderful hostess took for us.

After dinner, we headed to McSorley's, but it was a bit overcrowded so we didn't stay long. Philip's parents ended up heading home and Dave, Philip and I met some of Philip's work friends who were out.

The next morning we had to say goodbye to Ken, Sue and Dave and we were sad to see them go. It had been such a great visit - but it went too fast! Luckily we know they are already planning another visit! :)

Jersey Boys & Upright Citizens Brigade

On Thursday Philip and I had to go to work, but this was a great day for Sue, Ken and Dave to explore the city. They met me for lunch at my office, which is near Rockefeller Center, and we ate in the beautiful Hess dining cafe. Then they took off for the NYC City Sights bus tour. Philip and I always recommend for our first-time visitors to take a bus tour because you can see the entire city with the best view and in a short amount of time. Here's a photo of Dave on top with the rain coat they gave to everyone. It was a little rainy that day. Philip's family has a love for horses, and while they were on the bus tour they took a good photo of this mounted police officer in the middle of Times Square.



That night I was really excited since we had gotten tickets to see Jersey Boys! My mom had seen the musical in Chicago with my aunt and they both loved it and thought that it would be a good one for Philip's parents to see. So Philip bought his family tickets and they experienced their first musical on Broadway! It was such an awesome show - the story and music was of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. We knew all the music, such as "Oh, What a Night", "Sherry, Baby", "Walk Like a Man", and so many more favorites! I loved it and I think everyone really enjoyed it. It was another great evening.




On Friday, Philip's parents and Dave went on the bus tour again and then we met them afterwork at the oldest and famous pizzeria, Lombardi's. It's a thin crust coal oven pizza and really was the best pizza that Philip and I have had in New York City. Usually there is a long line, but we were lucky and got in right away. Afterward we headed to the Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Club to watch some improv comedy. But because we had some extra time we decided to have a drink at the Trailer Park bar since it's a couple blocks from the comedy place. And while we were standing there...Philip ran into a friend, Mike, who he knew from Preston, Iowa! We couldn't believe it! Preston is a town of 900 and we ran into one of his friends who now lives in Jersey City and happened to be at the exact same bar (out of thousands!) as we were. Philip's mom took a photo and we couldn't wait to tell Grandma about this one. What were the odds?! Here's a couple photos of us standing in front of the actual trailer that was inside the bar.




After a couple drinks we went over to the Upright Citizens Brigade to watch a very funny improv show. Many people who have made it big on Saturday Night Live started at UCB. I heard that sometimes Amy Pollar shows up unexpectedly to do a show! It's definitely not a fancy place, but they have some very talented comedians and a fun crowd. Plus, PBR's are only $2!

Philip's Parents and Dave Visit!

This was Philip's parents first visit to New York City, so we were really excited to host a fun visit for them! We have been living here almost a year and have now figured out our favorite restaturants and activities to do with our guests. His parents, Ken and Sue, and his youngest brother, Dave, were visiting for five days and we couldn't wait to show them around and spend some time with them. We hadn't seen his parents since October when we surprised Sue for her birthday.

When they arrived on Wednesday, we showed them our apartment and our neighborhood and then headed to the Carnegie Deli for dinner. Carnegie Deli has the most ridiculous size portions and so we all shared pastrami and rueben sandwiches. It was a lot of meat! Here's a photo of us after our meal.

Since we were already on Broadway we decided to walk off some of our dinner and walked to Times Square, which is always a must-see! Time Square is near 42nd & Broadway and is constantly awake 24 hours a day. There is actually a law that every business, retail store, restaurant, etc in Times Square must have a certain amount of bling on the outside of their building. It makes sense and it's pretty unbelievable. Everyone who lives in New York, avoids Times Square because of all the people, but it is always fun to go there - you never know what you're going to see! We had a great time just walking around and we found some nice tourists from Kansas to take our photo.

After Time Square we decided to walk to Rockefeller Center and we found a wonderful spot to stop for a drink and enjoy the moment - which was at the Rink Bar at Rockefeller (formerly the ice skating rink) but a bar & restaurant in the summer. We sat outside and enjoyed the beautiful weather and wonderful company. It was a really nice evening and a great way for Philip's family to start their vacation. Here's a photo of us a the Rink Bar.

Taste of Nebraska in NYC!

Ever since I moved here I have been hearing about this Taste of Nebraska event coming to NYC. I decided to join the committee last fall when the event was scheduled for October, but we thankfully decided to move it to the spring and hosted the event on Saturday, May 9th. Being on the Committee, I was one of the "lucky" volunteers to pick up the food that was delivered to NYC at the drop-off location near LaGuardia airport. I took a half-day on Friday and Kiersten, Kim, Courtney, another volunteer, and me all drove to pick up the boxes and boxes of food! We had 3 cars, but we filled them all so Kiersten and I had to stay behind and called a taxi to pick us up and the remaining food. Here's a photo of us waiting for the taxi with the last of the Rotella's bread boxes.

Speaking of food - we had a lot of it and it all came from Nebraska! We had shipped 1200 mini Runzas, 120 Valentino's pizzas, 20 dozen Miller & Paine cinnamon rolls, 25 dessert pizzas, 600 Verdigre Bakery kolaches and "N" cookies, 50 lbs of UNL Dairy cubed cheese, 100 Fairbury hotdogs, tons of Rotella's bread and UNL Dairy ice cream! It was crazy. The event took place on Saturday from 3:30-7pm and the Irish Rogue, the watchsite of the Husker games in NYC.

Included in the $50 admission was unlimited beer, wine and soda - which is definitely a good deal here in NYC! About 200 Nebraskans showed up and we had a great time. There were lots of silent auction items and a general store featuring all items from Nebraska. Everyone loved it! People were going crazy buying Dorothy Lynch salad dressing and James Arthur wine.

And the food was delicious! I forgot how much I missed Runzas! Well, the good thing is I won't have to wait too long to eat one as we had SO MUCH extra food that our entire committee took home dozens of frozen Runzas and Valentino's pizza. We still have about 40 mini Runzas in our freezer and two pizzas! I think I need to plan a "Mini-Taste of Nebraska" at our apartment. :)

One of our newest Committee members, Marsha, is a clothes designer and she made shirts at our event. I was wearing one of her shirts that has the screen print of an airplane with the words "Nebraska, Enjoy flying over us!" They were a hot selling item! Here's a photo on the right of Courtney, me and Marsha all wearing the shirts. At the end of the night we started selling the frozen pizzas and frozen Runzas. We started out with $20 a pizza, then it came down to $10 and then make a deal! On the left is a photo of Kiersten selling the pizzas at the Registration Table. We probably had 50 leftover!

On the right is a photo of Philip, me and Kim, another Committee member enjoying the open bar.

Overall, the event was a HUGE success and it was fun having all of my friends on the committee! We are looking forward to hosting the event again in two years!

New Jersey Marathon - Philip's Race!

Two weeks after the Boston Marathon, Philip ran the New Jersey Marathon in Long Branch, New Jersey. He had chose this marathon because it's close to New York (2 hour train ride) and it was only two weeks after Boston so we could train together. I ran the Half Marathon too so we ran the first 13.1 miles together.

Long Branch is a beautiful beach town along the New Jersey coast. I hope to go back to the area again just to hang out on the beach, especially since it rained the entire race! It didn't hold back Philip from having a good time, though. He finished with a record time 3:35:09 beating my best time, which was his goal of course! :)

I had a fast half too finishing at 1:41.29. Philip went out really fast and strong for the first half (a little too fast) and started to hit the wall at mile 16. But he held up the rest of the

race and did awesome! The photo above on the left is of Philip just near the finish. You can see the coast behind him.

It was a great marathon but the rain was a bummer, especially at the end of the race. Philip could barely walk because he was so sore and it was pouring outside. The walk seemed to take forever from the race finish to the train station. We stopped to have some lunch at this pizza place and then headed home. We were tired and Philip was so sore. I think it took him a full week to feel "back to normal" again.

Here's Philip with his medal smiling through the pain. :)

The Boston Marathon - Race Day!

Race Day was finally here! I left the hotel at 6am to meet Susan at the bus pick-up. Every runner takes a yellow school bus to the start of the race in Hopkinton, MA. The race has a late start with my wave at 10am, but we still needed to board the buses at 7:15am. Susan and I sat together chatting with the other women we met on the bus exchanging race stories and sharing our excitement and nervousment for the race ahead of us. The drive took about an hour and as we were traveling out there I just kept thinking..."We're going to run this all the way back to Boston? - that's a long way!" When we arrived in Hopkinton the first thing we did was get in line for the porta potty. We had 2 1/2 hours before the race start. After we got out of the porta potty line we started looking for Meg, one of the twins who was running the race, and her nephew. We finally found them but decided we better go back in the hour-long porta potty line before the race started. So back in line we were again.

Finally, the time had come for us to get lined up for the start! Everyone was divided by different wave times, but I decided to stay with Susan's wave so we could run the first part of the race together. The day was cold and I wasn't sure what I should wear. I ended up running in my skirt and a long sleeve shirt. And right at 10am - we took off!

The run was beautiful and the crowds were in full force. I've never been to race with such wonderful crowds. I felt good throughout the entire race and was impressed with how well Susan was running too. My favorite part of the race was at Wellesley College near mile 13, where the all-women campus is out in surges screaming the runners on. You can actually hear the cheering a mile away. Everyone always talks about the Wellesley girls, but I had no idea how loud they would actually be and how much I would need and love their encouragement. When we passed the girls - they all had signs that said "Kiss Me!" and a lot of male runners actually did! It was pretty funny. I was very entertained.


Susan and I ran together until about mile 16 when I suddenly had a burst of energy and took off ready to conquer the Boston hills. The first of the hills was probably the worst cause it seemed to never end and once I reached Heartbreak Hill it wasn't so bad because I was so excited to be there knowing I was at mile 21 with only 5 miles of downhill left! There was lots of energy and huge crowds as I arrived closer to Boston.

I think I had a smile on my face the entire race and truly enjoyed every mile of it. It was such an honor for me to run Boston and I was so thankful to be there, especially with my good friend Susan and with the support of Philip cheering me on. I felt very lucky that day.

I finished the race in 3:51:15 feeling great! Above is my favorite photo of Philip and me after the race. Soon after we found Susan who had a great time coming in a little over 4 hours and placing 26th place in her division - Amazing!

After the race we all walked over to Marie's apartment for the post-marathon party. We had champagne, wine, and lots of food! It was such a great way to celebrate our accomplishment. Here's a photo of Susan and me after the race showing off race bibs and happy to be done! Marie had a special cake made for Susan and we all enjoyed it at the party.


Our Boston weekend had been perfect...maybe too perfect. :) Philip and I decided to take the $15 Chinatown bus home from Boston since Susan was staying an extra night. Everything was going great until our bus broke down in the middle of the Interstate in the pouring rain an hour away from New York City. We waited two hours for a new bus and didn't get home until 2am. I guess that's what you get for a $15 bus ride. But the trip home did not ruin our Boston experience - we had an amazing time and I can't wait to go back and run the Boston Marathon again!!!