A Fall Inspired Sunday

yesterday was cold, wet and dark. bummer, considering we had two amazing days during the work week. the rain pounded the gray sidewalk for hours, the sky rumbled and roared with thunderstorms as the lightning fought back with a bright crackle and flash. the pups pouted at the entry to our building because they didn't want to face the storm.

we spent the day on canal street with jason's friend ellen who is in town for her class reunion. we had lunch in china town and a yummy dessert in little italy. best cannoli in NYC...FOUND! walked the streets shopping and chatting.

today was glorious, the reason everyone brags about NYC fall weather. finally we got a taste. the sky glistened a crystal blue, the trees glowed a golden yellow in the warm sunlight and the squirrels scurried around central park with excitement in their step.

we walked around central park for a few hours and covered about 4 miles with the pups. they didn't seem to mind for a second about the distance, (we usually have to drag them down the block) they devoured the fall smells as jason and i would stop and try to capture the beauty of the season. i've decided, i will post pictures of central park in every season. it truly is a bit of heaven in a very hectic city.

all of these fall colors inspired me to deck out our mantel in some festive fall colors. our fall halloween inspired mantel.

this weekend starts week four in NY. and i definitely have moments that i am so ready to be back in CA. poor jason has to deal with my moments of tears and frustration. it has just been very hectic with EVERYTHING being brand new. we have booked our flights to come home for thanksgiving and i am so excited!!

New York

two weeks have passed since we arrived in NYC. we are pretty settled in our apartment. most everything has found a home, our furniture that we ordered has arrived (we still have a few more things to buy), the pups are here and adjusting and we have a full week of work under our belts.

so, what have those two weeks looked like? here is a little taste!

we arrived late on a Saturday & had to hunt down sheets, blankets and...pillows.
shoot...what were we thinking?!? we decided to buy new pillows when we arrived in new york. challenging when it is midnight! oops! so, this is how we slept!

time to get down to business. there were boxes EVERYWHERE.

trash.boxes.bubble wrap took over our little apartment. i say little because when you add stuff...it shrinks. quickly. and we really got rid of so much stuff.

are you understanding how many boxes were yet??

empty boxes. phew. making progress.
excuse the quality of this one, it's courtesy of my iPhone.

oh that's right...we forgot about our bedroom.
wait. there is hope. a clean kitchen!
and just a tease of our apartment! a full tour will come...soon.

time to get the pups. let me tell you this was an adventure. we took the train (subway) to jason's work in the bronx, walked a mile, picked up an interesting van from classic & headed toward long island in 5pm peak Friday traffic. round trip journey 6 hours! to go 60 miles!

skyline from the bridge above. uh, it's nice to get out of the city.
and actually see the sky!

yay. they're here! traumatized. but here.
fun fact provided by my cousin.
shannon elizabeth's (american pie actress) dog flew on our flight!

we enjoyed an afternoon lunch in little italy.
and are hunting down the best cannoli in NY for a very special someone.

nyc pumpkin patch.

abigail & sebastian's first walk in central park.

luckily, this was before the temps dropped and the sky began to storm.
how cute are they?

jason treated me to the sytycd tour! ridiculous. i enjoyed every moment of it. it is incredible to see dancers like these live & in person!
Kayla not winning still just irritates us...she is incredible!
but, after going to the tour it's clear. girls hate on how freaking gorgeous, talented & amazing she is. people hardly even cheer for her!
COME on!! :)

moving on.
the lesson we learned...don't go to shows outside the city without a car. painful.
but, definitely treat ourselves to this tour next season again.

last night, we headed to yankee stadium for game 2 of the yankees/angels series!
WOW. what a game! 46 degrees. rain. extra innings. and a yankees' win. bummer.

jason and i were dying to see
50,000 drunk, cold, yankees fans leave the stadium with their heads hanging low.

luckily, our seat was covered, just barely. two rows in front of us were getting hit.
but...it was flippin' cold!! our drink got colder as the night went on.

ahhh...never too cold for ice cream!
jason could have killed someone with his vanilla ice cream. it was that hard!

the rain has arrived. and the dogs are geared. not loving it but geared.
so, you don't see many bassets in the city...at all. people Ooooo and Aaahhhh them every time we take them out. We kind of wondered why...today answered that question...

because they get soaking wet from chest to tail on their bellies. mud. water. leaves. anything and everything attaches itself to their undersides. so much for yummy pumpkin spice smelling pups.

so that's all for now. we will be back soon. maybe with a tour of a completed room. or an irresistible spot in NY that will make you jump on the next flight out here! :)
Lots of love to all!

Hawaii - Part 3

after a little encouragement from the hubs, basically him saying,"uh, you need to catch up, you're way behind!" i'm back!

can you say i have been busy unpacking?!? yep, that's right we are in New York! and yes, still unpacking! i truly dislike bubble wrap & tape right now!

excuse the sidebar, let's get down to the last bit of Hawaii. maybe i haven't finished blogging Hawaii yet because i am hanging on to those warm glorious days on a tropical island.

i believe i mentioned before that we rented the van for two days! well, one of the days we ended our day of driving down at waimea bay. in the winter, this bay produces some of the largest waves in the world but in the summer it is as flat as a lake! waimea has these large rocks, roughly 25' high that people were jumping off of. justin & i had a little bet going that i wouldn't do it. here's the thing, i am afraid of heights...like really afraid of heights BUT i am also way to competitive to let him be right! it was A.MAZ.ING jumping off those rocks! such a fun afternoon! ah, pics? not so much...linds & kristen have some video/pics of it, so if linds posts it i will borrow some from her blog! :)

i love this picture of justin & laney! he is such a good daddy!
we had yummy burgers this night for dinner.

the other afternoon that we had the car we went to some lagoons! it was super relaxing, the weather was ridiculous & the water was calm & warm.

this picture of laney is irresistible! she made a sweet little friend at the beach this day!

our last full day in hawaii started before dawn for jason, kristen, danny & me (the flood's were not able to join us because laney had to be 3, so sad!). we were up and gone by 5:15am! why in the heck would we rise so early on vacation? well, after a little resistance from my honey, but me knowing he would LOVE me for it after we booked our excursion to go swim with dolphins & snorkel. now, this is not your typical swimming with dolphins experience. which, i still want to do. but, this was getting in the ocean and watching dolphins pass by as they cared for their young, played & chattered to each other. it was spectacular! hearing them talk & then seeing 20-30 dolphins swim past you...priceless!

it was windy...so danny helped secure the hair!

each picture gradually gets brighter as the sun rises higher into the sky. it really is a shame that i'm not a morning person. mornings are magical!

do you see them?!?

you would think that no snorkeling after that could top the dolphins. which i don't know if it topped the dolphins but it was the icing on my overly sugared sweet cake! it was honestly the BEST snorkeling adventure i have ever been on. we saw beautiful fish, sharks, spotted eagle rays and....

we are awake now!!

i love this one! danny with a BIG cheese under water!

TURTLES! not one turtle, not two turtles but 10-12 turtles all in one spot. there is a place called the "turtle cleaning station!" they come to get cleaned by little fish. the most amazing part was the turtles have to surface every so often & some of them come up right next to you!

do you see the small fish at the turtles neck? they are working hard!

the afternoon was spent resting & relaxing! we meet up in the early evening & wandered the streets of waikiki. jason spotted this guy with parrots, so we grabbed a quick photo!

linds & justin had scouted a beach side restaurant earlier in the day & it ended up being the best dinner (in my opinion) of the trip. they sat us in a private dinning room, the decor was killer (i realize i am one of the only people that cared about this!), the food was yummy & the waiter was awesome! such a special way to end a great trip!

laney was crashed out!

for dessert...even though we were all STUFFED! we enjoyed a smore pizza!
yes, it was as good as it looks!

heading to the airport!

such a nice way to end our summer! our lives quickly got hectic when we got back to LA. but, this trip was so special & even more special now as i sit 3,000 miles away from these incredible people that we are lucky enough to call friends!