What we saw in NY

Besides Times Square and the other places I have blogged about so far we also introduced Sam and Denise to a few other NY sites.

I love how when you are walking down 5th Ave, or many other NY streets, amongst all the glimmer and glam there is still the historic and beautiful architecture.


One of those is Trinity Church. Some of you may recognize the name. I love this church well... because it is featured in National Treasure! "Heere at the Wall" Where Broadway (which used to be called Heere) and wall street meet! It is were the Templar Treasure was hidden!(I know it was only a movie!) Megan and I had a good time laughing and running up to see it. We felt so famous!





We also walked along Central Park.


Sam and a Statue


This day the city had shut down 6th ave and were having a street fair. As much as we wanted to stay and look around, after getting our snacks we head for Canal street for our shopping adventure.




Sam and Denise

What we ate in NY

I am sorry it has taken so long to get this adventure blogged out!

We had so much fun eating in NY. In general we would buy a couple meals or just a few appetizers and share them amongst us all. Our fist day we went to Roxy's Deli on Broadway. Luckily when we walked in we saw how huge the sandwiches were. We finally decided on one sandwich, fries, soup, fried mac and cheese and a hot dog. Then the waiter brought out the pickles and coleslaw. Oh my! The Pickles were so good. I laughed so hard about the fact that we were in NY City and raving about pickles!


Our Roxy's spread




Corned-beef sandwich (1/4 of it!)

Another memorable spot was this little place in China Town called The Dumpling House home of the "excellent dumplings". This taste I will not forget anytime soon. Denise decided she was on the hunt for some good ones around here. I wish her luck since I have never tasted Chinese food this good (and I am not even very fond of dumplings!)




For our last dinner in NY we wandered into Little Italy. The streets were blocked off so people could just walk around and enjoy each others company. We stopped at a little place to just have drinks and chat but ended up with a pie and full tummies!

Where We Stayed in NY

We got to stay at two great hotels in NY. Both of them were Marriott Hotels. One of them overlooked Times Square and the other had a view of The Statue of Liberty and Ground Zero (depending on which side you stayed on). I felt so luxurious at these hotels. Right before I fell asleep the first night my last words were, "These sheets feel so soft!"


A view from our floor looking down inside the hotel. We were a bit high!



Our Times Square View!


Our Times Square view at night. I loved to watch all the cabs!


Lobby ceiling at the West Street Marriott.


Our Statue of Liberty view.



Megan and Sam having a relaxing time!

NY Transportation

To get to NY and back we were lucky to have free round trip train tickets! Thanks Dave! We left from the Baltimore Penn Station and arrived at the NY Penn Station!


(Baltimore Penn Station Ceiling)


Most of the time we hoofed it around town. We did get a treat compliments of Lisa of a Pedicab ride from Central Park back to the Hotel. It was so cool. I kept going from saying, "Man I feel like a real tourist today", to, "I feel famous... hello peasant people walking along". When we reached the hotel the naked cowboy was outside so our driver turned around so we could cat call and take pictures. Good times! We did take a couple of cab rides. One from when we transferred hotels and the other when we had to get back to Penn to go home. The first one was not that bad, a nice driver that actually used his turn signal. Our second one though... his name might have been "Smiling Carlee", but his ride was everything but smiling. If you stereotyped what you though cab rides would be and then notched it up by 5, you would have his driving skills. Poor Denise had a little melt down after getting out of his cab. I just did my best not to look out the window. At least I could check that up for a real NY experience!

"What Happens in NY Stays in NY"

This was our theme for last weekend. Not that any of us even dreamed of doing things that would be inappropriate to repeat, it was just fun saying it. Lisa and Megan Gallagher, and Denise and Samantha Bowers, and I took of early Friday morning for a full fun packed weekend in NY City. This was Samantha and Denise's first time going there. I love going with new people. The excitement is so new to them! Every time I have gone I have gone with different people. This has made each one of my experiences different and still exciting!

Sheep and Wool Festival

Yep, you heard right. I found out about the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival and decided I HAD to check it out. There were more people there than the county fair! I saw booths from county 4-H groups to booths from local and not so local vendors. It was crazy, something I had definitely not been to before. I kept having little flashbacks of Darilyn and her sheep growing up. A couple times while I was watching kids fit their sheep for show I wanted to grab the clippers and help them out a bit. It was cool that I could still name alot of the breeds though!

Oh Sooooo Tasty!

I picked these up on a particularly snacky day with the thought, "what the heck?" Little did I know how good they would be. I had to use extreme control to keep myself from eating the whole bag!

8 Months to a Better Me!

Soooooo...... This past month had been a huge downfall in the Oh so healthy eating schedule. Not that I have gone totally crazy, I just could not keep up with my stress eating. Cause that's what I do when I get stressed, I eat!

One thing I have done better though is the exercise. I found this great route. I start from my house, hit some trails that spit me up out by 108, and cross 108 into Centennial Park. I do one lap around the park and then trace my path back home.



The total route is about 3.2 miles. I can add mileage or shorten the route depending on my time and shin splints!

To help with the motivation I purchased some new shoes and an Ipod shuffle. This way I can clip and go, listening to some upbeat jams!

Curry, Curry!

Today I had something very tasty!

I like to cook my fish outside on the grill. I fold it into foil pockets to steam cook it. This way I can throw the fish in there still frozen and not worry about scorchin' it.

Today I put my fish in its pouch and thought.... how can I spice this up? While purusing my spice basket I found my curry powders. I chose my Bangkok blend and sprinkled a good dose on the fish, sealed up my pocket, and threw it on the grill.

While this was cooking I began thinking how can I make this better. Mangos!!! I chopped up some mango and watermelon mixed in a little sour cream and a dash of my Punjabi curry powder.

When the fish and the fruit mixed together with the different curry tastes.... WOW! Sooooooo Good!

Reconnecting

In randomly googling for a former teacher of mine I came across some info on some friends from Jr. High/High school. After looking at their myspace page I decided what the heck, I'll give it a try. And look who I found....








This is Gusti. Formerly Gusti Rogers, now Gusti
Darling. Yes Darling, just like in Peter Pan. I wonder if she has ever
had any rooms painted up like Neverland? Or done a family photo with her and her husband as Peter and Wendy and the kids like the Lost Boys (kids).

Anyways. We became friends my freshman year in High School. We both had sisters
who were Seniors that were already friends, which made it obvious that we should be friends! She moved off to Ricks College right after High School and met her love
Anthony. Now she is in West Valley Utah with a great little family! I
have to say, I was happy to find her. It is always good to reconnect.