NYC

Last weekend, I went to New York City with my friend Jackie. We arrived early Saturday morning and set out for Rockefeller Center and Times Square. Unfortunately, it was raining/snowing the whole day but that didn’t stop us from sightseeing! We also learned quite a bit about how to be aggressive with your umbrella. Pretty much if you didn’t fight back against the crowd, your umbrella would be swept away from you.

We managed to get tickets to see the Rockettes! We were on the top mezzanine, but I thoroughly enjoyed the show! Here are a few of my favorite parts of the show.

The first time the Rockettes came out:

The Soldiers falling down:

Dancing Santa Clauses:

NYC Bus

Nativity Scene- I loved that they even had this in the show. Most folks stay away from anything Jesus related in order to be a little more PC. So it really made my day to have Christmas represented! They even had live camels and sheep on the stage! Fun!

After the show we grabbed a quick dinner and then headed back to the hotel since we had been awake since 3am!!

On Sunday we set out to see as much as we could. Our first stop was The Plaza Hotel:

Right across from The Plaza is the Apple Store….

and F & O Schwarz….

…where I saw these awesome Edward & Bella Barbie dolls. (Did anyone else crack up as much as me when Jim gave Kelly the poster of Edward last night on the Office. Loved it!)

Then for lunch we dropped into Serendipity! We had a two hour wait so we spent most of it walking in Central Park and Bloomingdale’s.

Serendipity was decorated so cute for Christmas! I’ve heard the food there isn’t that great, but we really enjoyed it…

The menu was gigantic and we were seated next to the heater which was a good thing for about 5 minutes..,then we started stripping off all of our layers. I think I was wearing 4 shirts.

And of course we ended our meal with Frozen Hot Chocolates! Yum!

After lunch we saw the skating rink in Central Park….

And then heading to see Grand Central Station, The Chrysler Building and finally ended up at the Empire State Building where we waited 2 hours to get to the top! It was FREEZING up there so we were only able to stay on top for about 15 minutes. It was truly a gorgeous view but too cold for us! Here you can see all the bright lights of Times Square and the skating rink at Rockefeller! You can also barely see the top of the Christmas tree as well.

After eating a delicious dinner at Mercer Kitchen we headed back to our hotel and crashed for then night.

On Monday, our first order of business was to see the Statue of Liberty. We thought about taking a ferry out to it, but we couldn’t get tickets to go inside it and the line was pretty crazy. A person can only handle so many long lines, so we skipped the ferry and just saw it from afar.

Then we visited Ground Zero and then headed back to Rockefeller to take a few more pics! We bought these matching hats at Century 21.

After Rockefeller, we wondered around Saks 5th Ave, Tiffanys and a ton of other shops. We also visited Crumbs. Their cupcakes were AMAZING….

And then we ate a hotdog in Times Square…

..and then I felt like I was going to throw up. I think it was eating a huge cupcake and then eating a hotdog that didn’t sit to well, haha.

At this point, we were out of time and had to head to the airport. I love NYC and can’t wait to go back!

The Channel Islands

This past weekend, Normer and I headed out to California to go camping with Sean and Erin. We flew into Orange County and then had a two hour drive to Ventura (north of LA). From Ventura, we caught a boat to take us out to the island of Santa Cruz. It was about an hour boat ride to the Channel Islands National Park. This was our first view:

There are two campgrounds on the island of Santa Cruz. Ours was about a 1/2 mile hike in. The other site was a back country campground that is way too far for me to walk carrying a pack. We set up camp and then headed out on the trails to check out the island.

It was gorgeous! We felt like we were in Greece and not just off the coast of California!

View of Anacapa island in the distance.

Me and Normer

Normer slipped over the edge and was hanging on for dear life.

Just kidding! Both Normer and Sean were always pushing how close they could get to the edge. Freaked us girls out!!

The wind was ridiculous and it made it quite chilly!

We hiked over to this one lookout to get a good view of the sunset. For some reason, Erin is always hiding in all my pictures!

Up next: Sunset View on the Channel Islands

Dog Campaigning

Ya’ll. I am so excited. I love animals. I always have…but there is a major problem, I’m severely allergic to all animals. Cats, dogs, horses…anything furry and I’m allergic.

This weekend I went to visit my very fun friend Becca. She lives just outside of Denver and I love to go visit her whenever I can. We had such a fun weekend of sewing, baking, and catching up. But hold on, more on those fun times in a second.

I have finally found a dog that I’m not allergic to. You don’t know how HUGE this is for me. Becca and her husband, Jake, have a Miniature Poodle. His name is Tank. He is the most adorable dog and I AM NOT ALLERGIC TO HIM. Did you hear that? I’M NOT ALLERGIC TO HIM!!

I mean, look at this cuteness:

I have spent my whole life with this scenario: Touch an animal and then immediately go scrub down my arms so I don’t break out or start sneezing.

Now look at this picture:

There I am….holding a dog. HOLDING a dog. I’m not sneezing, I’m not itching. I’m smiling while holding a dog. What a concept.

Now,  the only problem with this is that we live in a small condo on the 4th floor and there is no end in sight of when we might be able to move. We are stuck here for awhile. Yet, now that I know I am able to have a dog in my house, I have dog fever. Probably worse than baby fever. Ok, maybe not that bad, but it’s bad.

I want a little “Tank” of my own. But the husband is resisting. And he is resisting for practical reasons of which I totally understand. But come on, how can you resist this?

How could you deny that cute little face, Normer? Hmm???

Ok, back to the fun weekend in Denver. Becca is an amazing cook. She has been to culinary school and worked in a bakery. I think I gained 10 pounds from all the baked goods I ate this weekend. I got to Denver Saturday morning and the very first thing we did when I arrived was play Settlers. Ha, Becca and Jake are my kind of people. The next thing we did was bake a delectable White Strawberry filled Layer Cake with one of Becca’s friends.

Later that night we went up on one of the mountains to visit a house that Becca and Jake are remodeling. It was absolutely gorgeous with fantastic views. How would you like to wake up to this everyday?

After grilling some yummy chicken kabobs and watching the sunset, we made smores over the fire. What a fun night!
On Sunday, I woke up extra early and was able to go running with my new friend Eve. Eve is great friends with my close friend Jackie. I met her through Jackie’s wedding and she just happens to live in Denver. She took me running on a beautiful trail with mountain views. Then Eve and I meet Becca for a breakfast at a cute little coffee shop. After breakfast, Becca and I headed back home to start sewing. We worked on napkins, purses and I even appliqued on a onesie. Here is Becca with her napkin:

And after all that sewing, we had to make a cake. So we made Pioneer Woman’s Apple Cake.

Yum-O. It would have been a lot better if we had let the butter brown more, but we got too impatient. After the apple cake, we were quite exhausted so we called it a night!

I had such a fun weekend in Denver. Thanks Becca and Jake for having me over!

Oh, and one more thing…I’m dog campaigning. Here is my first official act on this official campaign trail.

Normer, I want us to get a poodle. All of my life, I have had to cast aside my affection and love for animals because of my stupid allergies. I have always wanted a dog. A little dog of my own to love and cherish.  For 28 long years, I have suffered because of my allergies. But not anymore. Now, with your help, we can put away those painful memories and fulfill my heart’s desires. Oh, my sweet husband, won’t you let us get a little puppy?

Want to join me on this campaign? Feel free to write a comment on here telling Normer why we should get a dog.

Madrid Day 2

For our second day in Madrid, we didn’t have any definite plans of what to do. So we decided to walk around in the Parque Del Buen Retiro. It was a huge park with tons of paths, gardens, ponds, and tons of people walking around.

One of the first things we saw were these guys in kayaks playing some game with a volleyball. They would use their paddles to throw the ball into a net.

Monument to Alfonso XII

Yes, that is a bunny on a leash.

A very interesting curved tree. And just a side note, it was hot, hot, hot in Madrid.

After the walk in the park we headed back towards our hotel to find some lunch and then got some gelato to cool off!!

The very famous Bear and Tree Statue

After lunch, we decided to take a little side trip up to El Escorial to see the Monastery there.

The week before we left for Spain, I fell down during a run and banged up my knee pretty badly. I had to walk around Madrid with this HUGE bandage on my knee. I got a lot of stares from all the locals, but whatever! Normer grabbed this shot of me while we were waiting in the train station for our trip.

El Escorial is about 28 miles north of Madrid. The monastery there was built in the 1560’s. A majority of the Spanish Kings are buried there, from Charles I (who died in 1556) through to Alfonso XIII (died 1931) through Philip II, Philip III, Philip IV, Charles II, Louis I, Charles III, Charles IV, Ferdinand VII, Isabel II, and Alfonso XII.

We weren’t able to go in since it was closed but the outside was gorgeous!

This is my favorite picture.

I still can’t get over how huge this place is!

We walked around the town of El Escorial and it was quite charming.

Loved these restaurante signs.

Fall colors were everywhere!

Now, I have no idea what these next pictures are about. We stumbled upon this scene:

Here’s another view:

Yes, those statues on the right are shooting at the people on the left. And those are corpses laying on the ground. Like I said, I don’t know what to think about this. I really don’t. Quite different huh?

So, moving on….After getting very lost and having to take a taxi back to the train station, we finally made it back to Madrid and called it a night.
Madrid wasn’t our favorite place that we’ve been to, but we enjoyed the sights while we were there!

Madrid

Normer and I spent a weekend in Madrid last week. Our hotel was across from Plaza Major so that was our first stop.

Beautiful Spain!

I’ve seen a lot of street performers before but I think this guy wins the award for being pretty freaking creative.

In front of the royal palace.

I love the Spanish architecture.

Normer next to the Prado Museum.

After walking around for hours, we ate a late dinner (Spanish style) and then called it a night! More of Spain up next!

Boston in a Day!

This past Saturday, Normer and I flew to Boston for the day. We arrived around 10am and hopped on the T. We got off at the start of the Freedom Trail. The Freedom Trail is a 2.5 mile walk through most of Boston’s most historic sites. You just follow the red bricks throughout the city. We didn’t buy the $6 guidebook for the trail so we pretty much had no idea what we were looking at throughout the day…but we still enjoyed it! We also forgot the camera, so iPhone pics will have to do!! We think this is the graveyard where Paul Revere was buried…but we weren’t totally sure.

Normer and Ben Franklin.

Me in Boston!

We ate lunch at the Quincy Market. There were a ton of restaurants to choose from!

Paul Revere on his horse with the Old North Church Steeple behind him.

The view of Boston from the Charleston Navy Yard.

We had just enough time to stop by Harvard before we caught the last flight out.

We almost got to spend an extra day in Boston because the flight was full, but thankfully we got on and made it home by 9pm that night!

Amsterdam Day 2

For our second day in Amsterdam, we decided to rent bicycles and ride out into the country. Amsterdam is a not a very large city. You can easily ride your bike for about 20 minutes and be out in the country. The weather decided to be very uncooperative this day and it rained pretty much the entire time we were on bikes. Ugh. We also got very, very lost trying to follow a bike tour. We didn’t have very specific directions and man- we probably biked an hour and a half out of our way. But we did eventually find the right path and got to see a few very old windmills.

I am soaking, soaking wet in this picture. I knew that it was going to rain on us and I didn’t know what to do with my hair for the day. Ya know, I have to have good looking hair for our pictures. So I decided to go with pigtails. They are my hairstyle of choice when I go skiing, go to amusement parks or if I know I’m going to get rained on.

Another old windmill. Once we got back to the city, we returned our bikes and decided to do some more walking tours. Here, I am sitting in the middle of Dam Square with the Royal Palace behind me; just doing a little reading to prepare for our walking tour. Here is the other side of Dam Square. This is where the city of Amsterdam got its start in 1250. Fishermen built up the banks of the Amstel River with a dam and called the village Amstel-damme. We did a walking tour through Jordaan, Anne Frank’s  neighborhood. It was my favorite part of Amsterdam- the architecture was unbelievable. We were able to see this red house which is labeled the skinniest house in all of Amsterdam. The house is really not this tiny, just an entry way to a larger house behind it. Real Estate is very expensive along this canal and the owners were taxed by the amount of street frontage. So that accounts for the small front!I still can’t go over the amount of bicycles we saw or how many bridges there were.

The view in Jordaan. I’ve heard of a two person tandem bike- but a four person? This is the Westerkerk Tower. Rembrandt is buried underneath this church. The church also has a bell that rings every 15 minutes- it’s the same bell that Anne Frank would hear while she was stuck inside her house.

I love the canals!

Here is the Anne Frank house. We didn’t go in. The line was way too long for us! You can however see some of the paddle boats that we rented!

We saw a lot of house boats along the canals. Many of the were decked out with beautiful flowers.

I love this blue house. It looks like it is one of those fake houses on a movie set from this angle.

It’s not! There is the other side!

I guess when there are millions of bikes in a city, it becomes necessary to do something to make yours stick out- just so you can find it again. I really wanted to take this pink bike for a spin!After our walk we had a great dinner at a Brazilian restaurant and then called it a night! We barely woke up in time for our flight and started our long journey home.

Amsterdam Day 1

We arrived in Amsterdam last Wednesday and after a short nap in our hotel, we headed out to explore. I was able to pick up Rick Steeves’ Guide to Amsterdam before we left and I’m so glad I did. He really has the best walking tours! The first walking tour took us through the Central area of Amsterdam. This picture below is taken in the courtyard of Begihnhof. These houses have sheltered women since 1346. These women removed themselves from the world at large to dedicate their lives to God.

Our walking tour also pointed out some very interesting shops in Amsterdam. They are called Smart Shops. I’m not sure why they are called this, who knows? These stores sell drugs….and no we aren’t talking advil here.

Here’s a peek inside the display window. According to the card, the mushrooms on the left give you a medium strong visual trip. One of the mushrooms even advertised that you would get a trip to space. Um, no thank you!

This wasn’t part of the walking tour but Normer and I were quite mesmerized by it. I guess they have things like this here in the states but wow, you can put in a coin and get out a warm burger! Wow!

After our walking tour we found a place that rents paddle boats. There are many beautiful canals all through Amsterdam and we figured this would be a great way to view the city. And after about 4 hours of walking, it sure felt good to sit down!

Normer accused me of not pulling my weight in the paddle boat. It’s not true, Normer, not true.

So beautiful- we went under so many bridges!

After our hour long boat ride, we decided to head up to the Red Light District and do a walking tour there. This is not the area that you want to be out in at night. Unless you want to see a lot of prostitutes. We went during the early afternoon  and checked out this area nicknamed “Little Venice”.

The interesting thing about Amsterdam is that it is built on reclaimed land from the sea. The Dutch built dikes and built up their beaches to keep the water back. Then the dammed up a river and created all of these canals that you see today in Amsterdam. Since all of the buildings are built on a sandbar pretty much, they have wooden pilings underneath them that go down hundreds of feet. Some of the buildings are not starting to lean because the wooden pilings have shifted. If you look closely you can see that this brick building with the shutters is leaning over towards the street. Pretty crazy!

More Amsterdam coming up next!

Zion National Park Day II

We woke up Sunday morning to this…

 Not a bad morning huh? Keri was slaving away over the Jet Boil to fix us a breakfast of yummy oatmeal.

The plan for the day was to hike up The Narrows. It is a very strenous hike where you go up a river in a canyon. The canyon can be very narrow at times so you basically keep crossing the river from shore to shore. Somtimes the river can be shallow but other times it can be over your waist. Sometimes there are even flash floods and you don’t have much warning that they are coming.  I was very, very nervous about this hike and was not looking forward to it!
We did rent some pretty sexy pants and shoes for this excursion. Here are the guys:

And here are the ladies!

After getting all suited up we hopped on the bus and headed up to the trail head. It was after 2 different stops that our bus driver conveniently told us that The Narrows was closed for the day.  If the river is flowing too fast or there are signs of flash flooding, the trail will shut down for 24 hours. I can’t tell you how happy I was. I was not looking forward to walking around in those pants all day PLUS having NO bathroom at all.  We hopped off the bus and then took the next bus back down to our camp site to take our gear back. We decided to hike two different trails that day. The first was Observation Point. We hiked the 1-2 miles in and enjoyed the great view.

We decided to eat lunch up at the top. We brought the Jet Boil and our freeze dried food with us so it was really easy to cook lunch. I was actually pretty impressed with our food on the trip. Here is our lunch spot with the glorious view.

This is the only group picture we took with everyone:

Haha, I just realized we all match. Black shorts with Grey and Red shirts. We were very coordinated!
After lunch, we hiked back down and then headed to the Emerald Pool Trail. This was a little longer trail with three different pools to pass by. I really wasn’t that impressed with these so called Emerald pools… they were a little muddy looking to me.
Here’s a pic we took at the top pool.

After the Emerald Pools we went into town to get stuff for Smores and enjoyed a quiet night by the fire.

We had to get up very early the next day to make our drive back to Salt Lake City for our flight so we went to bed pretty early. I enjoyed camping so much that Normer and I are planning another camping trip in August. Can’t wait!

Zion National Park

A few weekends ago, Normer and I traveled to Utah with our fun friends Keri and Brian. Keri works for Delta so they travel the world as much as we do.  I would have posted pictures of our trip sooner but I lost all of our pictures when my computer crashed. I still have the pics, I just can’t access them until I buy another Mac. But you are in luck because Keri and Brian were kind enough to give us their pictures. And they are gorgeous, so enjoy!

We left for Utah on Friday afternoon. The plan was to fly  into Salt Lake City and then catch a second flight to St. George. Then we would have just a 45 minute drive to the park. Unfortunately, the flights to St. George were pretty full and we were afraid of getting stuck without a way to get back to Salt Lake. We then decided to skip the second flight and just drive all the way to St. George. It was a 4 hour drive so not too bad. We finally arrived at our hotel around midnight and got some much needed rest.

The next morning we got up and headed out to the park.  I was quite nervous about the whole weekend because I am not a camper. I have only camped out twice in my life. The first time was in Maryland where it rained in our tent at night and the next day I was sunburnt so bad that I had sun poisoning. Oh, and the wild horses that lived at our campsite ate all of our food. Sounds like fun huh? The second time was here in Georgia where I almost froze to death. So you can see how I might have some apprehensions about camping.

Normer, Brian and myself at the entrance to the park. Man, do I need some sun on those white legs of mine!!

Our plan for the day was to hike up Angel’s Landing and then set up camp later that day. Angel’s Landing was quite an insane hike. The beginning was nice and easy but as we got several miles in, it was steep with narrow paths. Sometimes there were 1000 foot drops just inches from my toes.

See that ridgeline behind Brian? That is the final part of the trail. Keri and I decided to sit out on that final part. I was quite content looking at the view from where we were. Brian and Normer continued on and got some pretty good pics of the trail. Nothing like climbing up on a chain:

 

The view from the top!

I love how small the road is way down below.

 

I like this part of the trail much, much better!

After the hike we set up our tents with a gorgeous view of the mountains.

We managed to squeeze our tent, two sleeping bags, food, clothes and an air mattress in just our carry on bags. We slept pretty comfortably that night with the air mattress. Camping isn’t so bad afterall.

Up Next: More hiking complete with cute hiking outfits….