"The Windy Apple" - Homer Simpson

Rich and I just got back from New York City. We had so much fun!! We got a hotel right by the Ed Sullivan theater (it was pretty dumpy and small, but we LOVED the location).

This was our first day there. These are genuine smiles because the lady who took our picture was holding the camera toward her at first so we could see her up close face on the camera's screen. We still laugh about that.

We made a visit to the public library that day. We tried to spend a lot of time inside, since it was yucky outside because of the rain. I love this library... it's so beautiful inside. There is a ton to see here.





We won tickets to the David Letterman show! It was one of the most enjoyable things we did there. Steve Martin was his guest and made us laugh out loud.

This is ground zero.
We saw the Statue of Liberty from a distance.


I LOVE a good hot dog, and the ones sold on the streets of NYC are one of the best I've had. DELICOUS!

We visited this old church across from ground zero, that the firefighters used as a refuge after 9/11. It has all these old headstones in front of the church. SPOOKY!


We checked out Wall Street. Not very exciting, but the buildings sure are tall. :)


Here's the Brooklyn Bridge. Very pretty.

We made a stop at Grand Central Station.


It's a lot bigger than I imagined.

We stood in line for tickets to West Side Story in Times Square. While waiting, I asked Rich who that was a statue of in the background and he joked, "Me."

See the resemblance?

The curtain before West Side Story began. I loved this musical. The dancing was incredible, as well as the songs.

The NYC marathon was held today (Sunday) but we missed it since we left the city on Saturday. We did get to see all the preparations for it though and that was pretty cool. Here I am pretending to run at the finish line (I am SUPER grateful that I'm not really running it. Boo to running!!)

Rich in Central Park.

These are American Elms, in case you were wondering. You should plant them in your front yard. :)

Here is where we sat for a little snack. We got roasted almonds (So good!) and listened to a band play. You can see the people gathered off to the left of the photo.

Ah, Autumn!

Can you see those rowers in the water? That gave us a good idea...

This was a lot of fun! I was so nice to just sit and let Rich row us around the lake. Thanks, Rich! :)



We then ate at the best restaurant of our trip. It was a french restaurant in Central Park. I don't remember the name of it, but oh, boy... yum!! Rich got a tuna sandwich... the best tuna sandwich I've ever tasted, too.

And I got the hummus platter. YUM!

This was my view in the restaurant. It was really small, but I loved how they decorated with pumpkins.

Here we are, outside of Macy's. I can't wait to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and see this part of New York again!

Here's the Empire State building. It's very tall.

Rockefeller Center. We sat here and watched the ice skaters for a little minute. Everything is so festive there, this time of year!

They even wrap up their buildings!

Here we are lounging in our hotel lounge.


The swanky lobby. We really enjoyed our hotel, even though it was super loud. It felt like our home away from home for a few days.

Here we are in the Subway, waiting to go to Penn station, where we would then take the train over to Long Island for our final night.

The train ride over to Long Island.

What better way to end our trip than by eating McDonald's in bed, watching Dumb and Dumber? It was like icing on the cake! :)

Las Vegas

Last weekend, Rich and I made a little trip down to Vegas for a half marathon. It was SOOO nice being back down there. The race was really hard, but we got to see great sights, and run through 6 tunnels used by trains to carry supplies to the Hoover Dam when it was being built. Rich did really, really well and made a new personal record (and he took 8th overall!). I also made a personal record (being as it was my first half marathon) that I look forward to beating someday. :) His cousins came down and raced also and they all did extremely well. They took 2, 3, and 6th overall. I am so impressed by how fast these guys run!


Here are a few pictures before the race began...


Can you see Frankenstein? The race was on 10/30/10 so there were some fun Halloween costumes.


Beautiful Lake Mead.

My friend, Megan, took these photos. She looked like paparazzi following me in her car with her nice camera sticking out of the window. She has been the unofficial photographer for a lot of our events. What a nice gal!

After the race, we got cleaned up and ate sushi at this great place in the Mandalay Bay. Oh, how I love good sushi!

Then we meandered over to Town Square, which is a shopping center, and I made a stop at my favorite H&M and we watched a movie. Then we were hungry again, so we ate at a favorite in the Venitian, called The Grand Lux.

These are twice baked potatoes, wrapped in rice paper with melted cheese and bacon on top. Then to top it off, you dip them in sour cream.


After running that far, you really don't feel guilty eating delicious garbage like this.


We then went over to look at the fountains at the Bellagio and the gardens. I never get tired of seeing this.

The gardens were decked out with GINORMOUS pumpkins and all things fall. It was quite pretty.


See what I mean about the pumpkins? Some of them weighed over 800 lbs!

Additions and Events

So, one day, Rich and I were watching Planet Earth and there was a lion on it. We made a comment about how cats are pretty. The next day, we got our own. It was a VERY spontaneous decision. Her name started out as Sawyer, but when we realized she was a girl, we changed it to Rousseau. None of our nieces or nephew could pronounce this, so now, she's Rue.

This was the day we got her. She just played and played.



This is how she normally is... ready to pounce. She and Rocco get along well, as long as he's in the mood to play.

These are the nightstands Rich made for our super tall bed. He cut out the wood, measured, glued, nailed, and hammered until they were perfect. And I love them!

He put so much detail into them, he even has the doors swinging the opposite way for each side of the bed. I'm so proud of him! It was such a successful first project. I can't wait for what's to come of his new hobby!

They are equal height to our bed, which is super nice since our old ones were so short.

This summer, we've gone to the farmer's market several times and I just love all the people, produce and crafts that are there.

This breakfast was so yummy! Coconut milk and pancakes. MMMM!!

Pretty peppers.

We also made a trip to the state fair. We went last year when we were just dating. It brought back some good memories. :)

Now I'm looking so forward to Halloween... One of my favorite holidays!