NYC Recap

Remember when I said I went to NYC, but didn't recap it yet, yeah I'm a little behind.  But it's a good day to play catch-up.  I thought I would do a recap.  It's definitely long and there are tons of photos (you've been warned)!

Friday
We got up Friday morning and headed to the Today show.  I was really excited but was rather disappointed when we got there.  I thought that we would be able to see the hosts, but we only saw Matt once.  Apparently everyone else was in different cities for the episode.  James Taylor and Carole King sang 2 songs for the summer concert series.

 

 Following the show, we stopped by Rockefellar center which is just across the street.  We went in the NBC store and they have some great shirts in there that we thought were funny.

 We headed down 5th Avenue to the Apple store and the FAO Schwartz where we enjoyed many of the displays that they had in there.  I could spend hours in there looking at everything.

(This guy is made out of M&M's!)

We then headed to Central Park.  We walked around and took lots of pictures and took everything in.  There were a couple of different areas where we saw people outside taping for something, not sure what.   We would walk for a while and then find a bench and sit down and just enjoy the weather and the surroundings.  It was warm but quite comfortable for the most part.

We got some great pictures of the NY skyline

Unfortunately this is the only picture I got of the 2 of us and it's really dark.  I haven't been able to lighten it up and make it look nice.  My photo skills need work!

 After we left Central Park, we stopped by St. Patrick's Cathedral, which reminds me a lot of the Cathedral where KC and I got married.  It was gorgeous!

 Afterwards we headed back to our hotel for a bit of a rest, but not before a walk through Times Square.  Our hotel was a block and a half away, so we walked through Times Square a lot!

After a short rest it was time to head to the ballpark.  Yankees and Mets were playing at 7:05!!   The new stadium was great, but the Yanks lost.  :-(  We decided to grab some dinner here  We did see some interesting fights in the outfield where we were sitting.  Of course they won when we weren't there.  Oh well, such is life.

After a fun-filled day we were exhausted and headed home to bed. 

Saturday:
We were tired from the night before (we got up early to go to the show too), so we slept in a little bit later than anticipated, but who cares, we were on vacation!

We started off the day with some pizza and watching some soccer at a place near Times Square.

We took a walk to the Macy's on 34th.  We visited every floor (but bought nothing).  It was fun and would be awesome to see when it's all decorated for Christmas I think.

Afterwards we started walking to the Chelsea market.  Checking out stores and places along the way.

We walked around the Chelsea Marketplace, checked out some of the stores and got a delicious Oreo cupcake!

(I love this picture of KC, cracks me up!)

After the Marketplace we headed down to the WTC site.

The financial district where everyone wanted their picture with the bull,

We walked by the Empire State building and the soccer player Jack Dempsey's bar.

Then we headed to Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty.  We decided not go on a ferry ride though because we were meeting up with my cousin and her husband for dinner.

 We enjoyed dinner at a great sushi place called Amber Sushi in the Upper East side with my cousin and her husband.  We went down the street a little and sat at a nice little bar and had a few bars.  It was great to catch up with them.

Sunday
We got up and headed to Times Square to wait in the TKTS line for tickets to a show.  I was hoping to see The Lion King but those tickets never go on sale, so we decided that there were plenty of others we wanted to see anyways.  I waited in line while KC went to the McDonalds to grab us a quick breakfast.  While he was inside and covered, I stood outside and go soaked by the rain shower that rolled through briefly.  We got tickets to see Rock of Ages. 

We wandered around Times Square some more, taking pictures.

Headed into the M&M store where we got some M&Ms.  Including the pretzel ones, which were awesome!

 Then we headed to the Toys R Us and walked around.  You'd think we were kids or something but the toy stores were so much fun to walk through.

 After the stores we headed to the show.  We saw Rock of Ages with Constantine, the guy from American Idol.  We had so much fun.  Unfortunately no pictures in the theatre, but it was a great stage.  They were walking down the aisles selling beer in the middle of the show.  Lots of 80's music and fake 'lighters' to wave in the air during some songs, but for a fun afternoon.  I would recommend it to anyone who goes.  We sat about 9 rows back for about $140 total give you an idea of the benefit of the TKTS booth, vs. regular price.

After the show we headed down the Intrepid and through the Hell's Kitchen district.  Once there we sat at a table and just enjoyed the weather and then River.  It was quite nice.

Afterwards, we walked back through Hells Kitchen and found a restaurant through the Yelp App called Becco.  It was a super cute little restaurant and we almost walked right by it.  It is definitely on my list of places to go to if/when we go back to NYC.  The food and the service was great!

Monday
We got up and packed our bags.  Checked out and dropped our bags at the concierge service.  We had a few hours before our flight (or so we thought) so we were going to go to Top of the Rock.  We sat in the park and enjoyed breakfast and figured out my mistake.  Then we headed to Top of the Rock and enjoyed it, it was really cool.  The view was fantastic!

Central Park

Empire State Building

Times Square

Statue of Liberty

All around the city!

 KC wanted to see the Brooklyn Bridge so we decided to head there and to the South Seaport area.  Unfortunately I had been planning for an afternoon in an airport/on the plane so I was wearing jeans and that was not comfortable for all the walking.  We wanted to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge but I knew that it was just too hot for me.  We walked around and checked out a few shops and the seaport as well.

After walking around we decided to go sit in one of the restaurants for a drink and a snack and to watch one of the World Cup games. 

We decided to head back to the hotel a little earlier then needed before our flight but at that point we were exhausted.  We made it to the hotel to get our bags and then went to the airport. 

For transportation around the city we either walked or hit up the Subway.  Once we finally found a map it was a breeze.  We were quite successful navigating the subway with only one mistake (we went in a stairwell for a train that went one way and we wanted to go the other).  It was easy to get from the airport to the hotel and back which I was very nervous about.  And if you have an iPhone, there's an App called HopStop that will help you get where ever you want to go, walking, subway or bus.

Besides my flight blunder, it was a great trip and we enjoyed every minute of it.  The summer is so busy for us that sometimes it feels like we don't spend much time just the two of us, so this was a good trip to start the summer off for us. 

2nd Sewing Project

My first project was the pillow I made while M was here.  I headed out to the store last weekend for some fabric to start another project or 2.  I have all the pieces cut to make the market tote, but I'm struggle (with making things the right size), so I decided to put it on the back burner for a little and try something smaller.

I opted for a book cover for my Kindle.  I'm using the same fabric as the tote, so don't be surprised when you see it down the road.  I followed this tutorial from Handmade Mommy.

 I started with these two fabrics and put the right sides together:

I traced around the edge of the Kindle cover that I have.

I cut about a 1/2" border around my cut lines

I missed taking pictures of the middle pieces, so head over to Handmade Mommy for those.  For instructions: I took the inner piece and cut it in half.  I folded it so that 1/3 of the 'front' was folded over and pinned it.  I then pinned them to the front piece.

I sewed along the lines that I had drawn on the fabric.

I'm a freak, so I ironed it out again.

I clipped the corners to make it easier to slide on and ironed the seams a little as well. After turning it inside out, it looked like this:

I slide it over the existing cover and this is what I got:

For a new project, I'm happy with the way that it turned out.  I did learn a few things in the process:

• When they tell you to stay away from stripes, they're serious.  I couldn't resist, I loved this fabric, but as you can tell it's not exactly straight.  Oh well.
• The fabric is a little see-through on my black cover, so I should have tried some interfacing or a heavier fabric for the top piece.

I can't wait to start go back and work on the tote.  Let me know if you have any other suggestions for a newbie sewer!

* All photos from personal collection.  Tutorial from Handmade Mommy.

Great weekend!

We had a great long weekend.  I don't think I could have asked for anything more (except for if I had taken pictures to share).

Friday I got out of work a little early, finished sealing the envelopes to my Luau invitations and waited for KC to get home.  We popped by the mailbox to send them out, and then headed out to the mall.  I finally got my iPhone charger fixed and got a new shirt at Old Navy.  We finished the night by meeting a friend for sushi for dinner and then just hanging around the house.

Saturday, I felt like a social butterfly.  We got up early and headed out to play paintball.  I will admit I was scared that I was going to end up with big welts on my but I didn't get hit on any body parts (only the mask and paintball gun), so I made out pretty well.  The girls only played about 5 games or so and then sat out (it got really busy) and the guys played 5 or so more games afterwards.  After getting lunch with these friends we said our goodbyes and met-up with my sister and another friend for a little pool time.  It was a really nice day, not too hot so a few hours by the pool was rather relaxing.  After a quick shower we met up with another friend for dinner at the Irregardless Cafe and it was delicious.  I love salmon and wish I cooked it more at home.  It is one of my favorite meals to get when we are out.  After dinner and some drinks at a downtown pub with a great view of the city we met back up with the first set of friends for a few more drinks.  I felt like we were all over the place.  It was a late night and I may have consumed 1 too many beverages but it was definitely a fun day.

Sunday we visited the Duke Forest for a short hike.  I have some pictures at home of Maya during the hike, maybe I'll add them in later.

 ETA:  here's a cute picture of KC and Miss Maya during our hike.

This was followed by an awesome lunch of a DQ blizzard - yum!  After some groceries we headed over to a friends to cook some dinner and hang out.  Turns out we didn't miss the fireworks afterall.  His house was situated so that we could see the fireworks people were setting off in other neighborhoods at their houses, it was kinda fun.

Monday brought us another hike, and then lots of cleaning so we can get ready for the next 3 weeks of craziness July brings us.  Last night we watched "It's Complicated" and laughed the entire time, what a great movie!

After all the cleaning and laundry it was definitely apparent that it's time to go through my closet and get rid of some clothes.  Ugh, not fun, buuuut that should mean I get to replace some too right?

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Luau Shower Invitations

We will be hosting a couples shower in a few weeks and I finally finished the invitations Thursday night.  I had posted about some Stampin' Up supplies that I had intended on using but time just go away from me to have them ordered, etc.  I had some things starred in my Google Reader so I went back to check them out.  I had these three invitations saved and I was on a mission.

First up was to find some fabric.  KC agreed to go to Joanns with me and helped me pick out some fabric for the invitations.  Picked up some adhesive and I was ready to get to work.  I wanted to use some old paper I had from our wedding that we weren't going to use, so I cut it in 4 (4.25 x 5.5).  I then cut fabric about an inch wider all around (6.25 x 7.5) and then ironed it.

Armed with spray adhesive, I attached the base sheet to the fabric.  I've never used spray adhesive before but I quickly found out that it is sticky and gets everywhere! I advise that you cover your table or whatever with newspaper if you're going to use it.   (If you're wondering how to get adhesive off your kitchen table, try Orange-Glo - not that I'd know or anything :-) - Just don't ask me how to get it off your hands, it's still here 2 days later! )

I then cut the corners out of the fabric.  The adhesive was so sticky, I decided to do that before I glued one set of sides down.

I sprayed the long sides down first.  Then folded the corners in and then folded the edges up.  I find it easier to do things in an assembly line so this felt like it took forever!

Here's the final product of the backing piece after the edged are folded up.

And here's the back of the invitation.

I decided I couldn't find an image I liked for the front and that's where the other invitations came into play.  I started cutting out flowers from the fabric and then adhered them to the fronts.  A glue stick worked great for this.  Unfortunately I then ran out of fabric and had to fend off the old ladies at Joanns the next Sunday, but it was worth it.  I adhered the front with the spray adhesive again, it seemed to be the best option for the surface area it needed to cover. 

Here's the final product.  So sad that I had to blur it out, but I love the way that they turned out.  Even better that they are all different and no 2 look the same.  I did about 40 invitations, they took about 4 nights to do (1 - cutting, 2 - gluing the backs, 1 - gluing the fronts).  Overall it was worth it and I really hope they like them and the shower!

I wanted to share the other shower invitations I did for the bride's shower with her family, because they were a labor of love as well.

 I cut out all 50+ dresses by hand!  It was quite the task.  Next time I will not volunteer to do both sets of invitations!

Finally Friday!

It's finally Friday and I am definitely looking forward to the long weekend!

I saw the trailer for Eat, Pray, Love when I went to see Eclipse and now I must read the book, like ASAP, before the movie comes out!  I love Julia Roberts!

Have you checked out Catalog Living yet?  Definitely funny!

I just discovered this amazing scrapbook room and really need to figure out how I can get one of my own!

I finally finished my invitations for the shower we are throwing in August, I can't wait to share them with you (hopefully tomorrow).

I'm supposed to go play paintball tomorrow, but after reading the Pioneer Woman's post, I'm kind scared at what I'll look like when we're done.

I'm still working on that Market tote, and will hopefully finish this weekend.  I started too many projects at once and had to back-off and work on one at a time.

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I hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend!