march, and april, and may...agh!

wow. i cannot believe it's already JUNE!!! i'm going to have to look back at the calendar (and facebook) to remember all the things i've been up to these last 3 (eek!) months. 


here we go!


march ~

• i had a couple meetings in miami at the beginning of the month so i decided to make a nice long weekend out of it and spent a couple days by the pool at the fontainebleau. it was so nice to get some sun after the lllllllooooooonnnnngggg and brutal north east winter. 
• i got to go to one of the big east championship basketball games at msg to watch the darling of the tournament, kemba walker. our seats were practically courtside and for any of you who have been to msg, it's a pretty amazing place to watch a game. 
• then, jenna and brooke came to visit over st. partick's day. we had such a fun weekend - toured the city on the hop on/hop off bus, bar hopped, laughed, met fun people and just enjoyed the city. i can't wait for them to come back!
• toward the end of the month, jen flew out for an impromptu trip. we rented a car and drove to dc to be with our sweet friend. we got lucky and also got to experience the cherry blossom festival, which was so amazing. it was a long car ride and a taxing weekend but i'm glad we did it.

april ~

• april brought some slightly better weather here in the city, allowing me some much needed city exploration. i walked across the brooklyn bridge which was pretty awesome. my favorite part was all the locks that lined the fences. i learned that they're called love padlocks. how can it not make you smile? i also found a couple other fun places - the chelsea market and eataly. one of these days, i'll buy all the groceries for 1 amazing italian dinner at eataly...i can dream, right? and sadly (maybe not so sadly), i discovered tasti d'lite - THE best frozen yogurt shop right by my place. yum yum. 
• for easter, i got to fly home for a VERY quick trip...literally on the ground for 30 hours but surprisingly, i was able to squeeze a lot into the weekend. lots of rocco time; lunch with my folks at the ram on ruston way; mani/pedi with mom, jess, cindy and hailey; drinks with melissa, molly and gina at salty's - it was a beautiful day in the pnw;  dinner with mom, dad, lynn and shelly; easter church service and brunch with the whole family and more rocco time! it was so nice to be with everyone!!
• april also brought the NFL Draft - the 2nd most crazy event for us. things leading up to the draft were quite busy (and we won't even mention that my computer crashed and our emails were down - ugh). we supplied 10,000 fan bags for the 3 day event. a very rewarding (read stressful) event for me personally and professionally. (side note - i was so bummed that jake locker didn't attend the draft! while i completely understand not wanting to be there if he didn't know if he was going day 1 or 2, but i was really hoping to snap an 'after' shot). 
• the rest of the weekend brought fun times with out of town friends - yankees game and then the NFL Players Association Draft party at cipriani, which is a super swanky restaurant/banquette facility in wall street, amongst other locations in the city. such an amazing weekend!

may ~

• my may started off with a bang. we hosted a suite night at the mets game. citi field is amazing (the mets, not so much). my mind is constantly blown when we can just leave work, jump on a subway and end up at a cool place like a ball park, all within an hour. we even had shake shack delivered to our suite. anyone who's been to a shake shack in nyc will absolutely appreciate this - right daddy (wink, wink)?
• spent a fun afternoon in hoboken with my lovely friend felicia. we went wine tasting and then watched the kentucky derby at a cool waterfront bar with a great view of nyc. 
• THEN - the big weekend was finally here. my mom, dad and brother came to the city to celebrate our 31st birthday. upon their arrival, my brother got news that his truck was stolen back in tacoma. based on advise he received from the precinct back in gig harbor, we made our way to a police station near my apartment. needless to say, the help we received was more like not-helpful but it still makes for a good story. we walked, ate, rode the hop on/hop off bus, laughed, watched the justin bieber movie (YUP!!! i said it!!) walked some more, rode the subway, went to ground zero, walked through central park, enjoyed some shake shack, traveled to the top of the rock and walked some more. we had a fabulous dinner to celebrate our 31st at banc cafe.  on sunday, we enjoyed a dinner cruise on the hudson and east rivers, where we dined, danced and laughed - yes, they played 'love shack'. it was definitely the highlight of the weekend! it was so great to have my family in my new home. 
• since then, i've just been enjoying the city with friends (in and out of town), did some washington wine tasting, been sitting in the SUN on my rooftop deck, working out, working (yes, i still LOVE my job!), and went to mcqueen's savage beauty exhibit at the met (weird but fashionably cool).

here are some other tidbits:

• celeb sightings - so far, only 1 that i know of. jeremy sisto out for sunday brunch at the diner in the meatpacking district.
• notable restaurants i've sampled - del friscos (amazing steak and lobster!), dos caminos (multiple locations - GREAT guac!), pastis (you'll recognize the red awning from snl and satc - the food is worth EVERY penny!), the spice market (featured on bethenny ever after), the gansevoort (great rooftop bar but you pay for the view), vezzo, southern hospitality, and brother jimmy's (best bbq on earth!). i'm sure there are others but that's all i can think of right now. let's just say that i'm not starving.

now just gearing up for a fun filled, sunny and HOT june. looking forward to bbq'ing (one of the things i miss about the space of seattle), a couple more baseball games, and a concert on governor's island (i could not be more excited about it!!). 


i can't believe i've been here for 6 months. and yes, to answer the burning questions - i love it. i'm not in any hurry to move home. in fact, i've just extended my contract here through the end of the 2012 season (which means february 2013!). lots more to learn and plenty more growing to do. 

ok, i'm spent. there's a snapshot of my last 3 months. i've been trying to add photos but blogger and i are fighting - she's clearly mad that i've been ignoring her for the last 3 months. i'll try to put some up but in the meantime, head over to my fb page.