Our Holiday Home

I realized last week that I've been showing you pictures of Christmas decorations all over the city. We've just loved seeing them all, so we've been having a great time. But, I realized that I have not shared any pictures of our own Christmas decorations! So, today I'm going to share with you some pictures of our own home decorated for Christmas!

Welcome to the W. Holiday Home! This is our wreath on our front door. My mom made this for me several years ago.

Our dining room, with a new Christmas tablecloth and the Advent wreath I made. We're kind of excited that this will be the first year since I made it years ago that we'll still be in town on Christmas day to actually light the Christmas candle! Also, you can see our "Happy Holidays" snowman banner hanging on the back of the front door.

Our pretty Christmas towels in the kitchen. (This is the scene of the crime where Eric will be making our Christmas lasagna, a tradition in his family! He already started on the homemade sauce yesterday. It smelled delicious. I'm pretty psyched about that lasagna.)

Our hallway, with mistletoe on the ceiling and Christmas cards hung down the wall.

Angel figurine and Christmas towels in the bathroom.

And finally, the main event! The living room. Let's look at this one a little closer, shall we?

Our Christmas Tree, with a new tree skirt this year! Our ornament collection has really been growing since we first got this tree three years ago. When we first got it, it was mainly decorated with store-bought ornament sets. Now it's much more eclectic as we've added more personal ornaments over the years. Eric and I exchange ornaments every Christmas, which is one reason that has happened. Plus we've gotten ornaments as gifts from other people, brought ornaments back from our trips to the Caymans, etc. I love it.

This is probably my favorite part of our decorated apartment. The stockings are also new this year, replacing old dollar-store stockings we bought back in Gainesville. Eric is the red stocking, I'm the green, and Achilles is clearly the paw. In this picture, you can also see my Willow Tree Nativity Set. Here's a closer look:

It was a gift from my mom. She gave us the main pieces last year, and this year she gave us the wisemen. She's going to keep adding to it until we have the complete set. It's one of my most favorite decorations. I love nativity sets. I have two others in the apartment:

This one was a gift from my dad a few years ago. I think it's just beautiful. We have it on the top shelf of the bookshelf in our living room.

This one was also a gift from my mom. Isn't it adorable? They're so cute! And there's a light in it that shines out on the Baby Jesus, aww. This one is on a little side table next to the Christmas tree.

Another shot of our living room, but the other side, including our bowl o' ornaments on the coffee table.

A closer view of our ornament bowl. I was testing out the "macro" setting on our new camera. Turned out pretty well, yes?

And last but not least, a picture of Achilles enjoying the holiday cheer!

That's our holiday home!

A (Very Cold) Day Downtown

Before I officially begin the planned substance of this post, I would just like to point out that this is my 100th post! I can't believe I've rambled on about our lives for 100 posts-worth...and even more impressively, you've continued reading. I had no idea how this blogging experiment would turn out, but I am so glad it has come along so well. I really enjoy it, and I love hearing feedback from you and knowing that you're reading it. I hope it helps you feel like you're a part of our everyday lives. It makes me happy to share, both to keep everyone up-to-date with what's happening for us, but also for my own diary-type purposes. So, thanks for sticking with me for this long! I hope you'll continue reading as I continue writing.

Anyway...we had a very fun but very cold day yesterday. We started out with a subway ride downtown to the Brooklyn Bridge. We had been meaning to get down there to walk across the bridge to check it out, to see if it was something cool that should be incorporated into our visitor tours. The verdict: yes, it is.

So, we got down there and started our walk. Honestly, we picked a pretty lousy day to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. When we left the house at 2:00 in the afternoon, weather.com told us that the current temperature was 22 degrees, but the "feels like" was 15 degrees. That's not a lot of degrees. Especially when you're walking across a bridge. Plus, thanks to the snow-turned-freezing-rain yesterday, the bridge was ICY. Parts were coated with more snow, so not too bad, but other parts were very slick. So it was a bit treacherous. But still very cool! Definitely a fun experience, with great views. Apparently there is also a really great ice cream place on the Brooklyn side of the bridge (although we didn't stop today, we weren't exactly in an ice cream mood after our ice walk), so that will make a nice little afternoon with our out-of-town guests. Who wants to be first?

On the Brooklyn Bridge! Please note, I'm sporting my new rainboots with pink fleece liners from Target. Love me some Target.

Hooray bridge!

Artsy bridge shot

We made it to the middle of the bridge! Yay!

View of Manhattan

Statue of Liberty

Eric and the City

Me and Manhattan

After we walked back over to the Manhattan side of the bridge, we wandered around the area a little more. City Hall is down there, and there's a very nice little park in front of it. Unfortunately, the park was closed, so we couldn't get in. But, we still wandered around and took some pictures of the snowy scenery.

Snowy subway

City Hall

Cool lamp post

There were several of sculptures like this all over the park, and I thought they were cool-looking. To me, they look like dripped candle wax. The colors really stood out against the snow! Apparently it's an exhibition of the work of Robert Melee, on display until April. This one is called "It Alone."

From there, we started walking over towards Wall Street and on our way we ran into South Street Seaport, which is a very cool little area with shops and restaurants right on the water. They had a huge Christmas tree, and while we were there the Big Apple Chorus even gave a performance.

South Street Seaport

South Street Seaport Christmas Tree

Ship at South Street Seaport

The Big Apple Chorus

 

VIDEO: The Big Apple Chorus singing the Beach Boys' "Little St. Nick"

When we left South Street Seaport, we stopped for lunch at Chipotle and took some time to sit and thaw out. It was SO COLD. After we warmed up a bit, we headed back out and finally made our way to Wall Street. As you may recall in my post about my dad's visit, there was a huge Christmas tree in front of the Stock Exchange, and the flag that usually covers the columns on the front of the building had been replaced with Christmas lights to make a flag. Since then we've been wanting to get out there in the evening to see it all lit up. So, we did! Very impressive.

The Christmas Stock Exchange

Close-up of the light flag

Don't freeze, Eric!

From there we walked down to Battery Park to see if there were any other Christmas happenings. Sure enough, we found the Bull to be all Christmas-ed up, and another little holiday market set up. Love those holiday markets!

Eric on Wall Street

The Wall Street Christmas Bull

After Battery Park we had planned to head back uptown to Bryant Park for a little more Christmas shopping at that holiday market, but by this time we had been out in the cold for 4 hours and were just chilled to the bone. So, we called it a day and went on home. Poor, cold Eric's face was so red!

It was such a nice little day! Hope you all enjoyed your Saturday, as well.

More NYC Randomness

Before I get to my latest installment of Random Sights Around New York, first I'd like to share that I officially have all my GRE scores! And I did very well! On the general test, I was in the 90th percentile on the Verbal and Writing sections, and 69th percentile on the Math section. And on the Psychology test, I scored a 700, which puts me in the 82nd percentile and is better than I was scoring on my practice tests, so I am very pleased. I worked so hard studying for these tests, so it's reassuring to know that my efforts were worthwhile. I also got word that the school received all of my application materials and are now reviewing everything. I have no idea when I'll find out if I got in or not, but I'm optimistic and I hope it will be soon!

And now, on to some more fun stuff. I just have a few pictures to share with you in this installment, but they are pretty random. Enjoy:

This is the Naked Cowboy (in the white briefs and boots), and apparently on this day he had a little Naked Friend with him. The Naked Cowboy hangs out in Times Square. He's pretty random the first time you see him, but after you've seen him a couple times, he loses his shock value and all you want is the tourists to stop gawking and get out of your way. At least, that's how it went for me. But, he gets a mention in this post because I took this picture on the day of our first substantial snowfall. So, I find the Naked Cowboy to be crazy. Sure, it's all well and good to hang out in Times Square in your underwear in July, but in December on a snowy day? Pure craziness. That's pneumonia waiting to happen.

This is quite possibly the most frightening and dangerous part of living in New York City. McDonald's delivery??? You mean all I have to do is a dial a phone and the McDonald's comes right to me? Well then, hello Mr. Gluttony and Mr. Sloth, make yourselves right at home here on my couch. Yikes! (Note, especially to my mother: I have never ordered McDonald's delivery, nor do I have any plans to do so in the future. I am simply discussing what COULD happen to someone less walking-inclined. Although I enjoy a nice ordered-in dinner on occasion, I generally walk to get my food instead. So don't worry, Mom. I'm not binging on ordered-in double cheeseburgers.)

This is my last picture for today, and I find it to be excessively random. Eric took this one on his way to work the other day. CAMELS! Standing on the street in New York City! That's ridiculous. Although, Eric said they were standing by Radio City Music Hall, so I assume they are the camels that star in the Nativity Scene of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. So, I get it. But still...camels are one thing you probably would not expect to see as you walk around the Big Apple.

I hope you all are having a nice weekend, and your holiday preparations are coming together nicely. Eric and I are going out on the town this afternoon for some shopping and exploring, which I am very much looking forward to.

Stay tuned...I have lots more things up my blog-posting sleeve for this week!

Firm Festivities

Last night was Eric's firm's Christmas party at the St. Regis Hotel. I met him at his office around 6:00pm and we walked over to the party with our friend Jose from there. The party was really nice. Of course, the venue was beautiful, the drinks flowed freely, and the food was yummy. It was also really nice to get to meet some of the people I hear Eric talk about all the time.

Party spot

In front of a fireplace in the banquet room

Eric and the other first-year associate guys: Jose and Jesse

Enjoying ourselves!

Today, it's snowing like crazy! We're supposed to get snow/wintry mix all weekend. I'm holding out hope that we'll have a white Christmas this year. It would be Eric's first ever, and my first in a long time. I figure if we don't get to be in Florida with our families for the holiday, at least we could have some snow!

Snowy afternoon, looking out our living room window

I was hoping the snowy downpour would get Eric out of work early today, so we can get our weekend underway, but no such luck. Actually, he has a pretty fun afternoon in store for him, I think. His firm sort of "adopted" a few kindergarten and first grade classes from a school in the Bronx, and attorneys/staff at the firm each took a child's "letter to Santa" and bought gifts for that child. On Wednesday they wrapped all the gifts, and today a few people from the firm (Eric included) are going to the school to help deliver the gifts.

Eric and I actually took two letters, one from a little kindergarten boy and one from a kindergarten girl. Despite the inescapable crowds at Toys 'R Us in Times Square, we had a blast shopping for them (our only other shopping option really was FAO Schwartz, which would not have been less crowded. Such is life when you have to shop in tourist locations). We bought the little girl some dolls and a whole bunch of kitchen set stuff, like pots and pans and dishes and play food. For the boy, we bought a remote-controlled car and a really awesome huge foam dinosaur. Although this is probably not what you're supposed to do, we couldn't resist playing with the dinosaur with a Achilles a little bit before taking it in to be wrapped. I mean, the thing was bigger than him. How could we NOT see what he thought of it?

Forcing him to be courageous: we put a treat in the dinosaur's mouth. This is a great picture for size comparison.

"Why is this thing hovering over my treat pieces?" Note: the flat ears equal nervousness in this situation.
(Also, please excuse the messy, unmade bed. It was late at night on a weekend. Honest.)

"Is that thing EATING my treats? Why, this won't do. I might have to take action."

"I will brave the jaws of this beast to retrieve my treat!"

Happy weekend everyone!

Close Encounters of the Tebow Kind

As promised, I'd like to tell you about a very exciting moment in our Gator lives...we have officially been in the presence of Superman!

Last weekend was the Heisman Award Ceremony at the Nokia Theater in Times Square. Eric and I decided that this would be a perfect time to try to catch a glimpse of Tim Tebow, live and in the flesh. Eric researched and researched online to try to find information about Heisman weekend - when were the candidates arriving? Where would they be staying? Were they going to be signing autographs anywhere? Where would they be sightseeing? What time would the arrive at the theater for the ceremony? Etc., etc. However, this is one event in NYC that seem to be trying to avoid a crowd. There was virtually NO information to be found. ANYWHERE. Nothing was advertised. We were only able to find out that there was a pre-reception at the Nokia Theater before the award ceremony began at 8:00p.m. on Saturday.

So, we left the house around 2:00 on Saturday afternoon. We have been guilty of severely underestimating the early arrival of crowds at other NYC events, and we did not want to be scooped this time. Of course, that early in the day, there was NOTHING going on at the Nokia theater. No barricades set up, nothing on the marquis, no sign of any big event. So, we spent the next few hours basically wandering Times Square and surrounding areas, stopping back by every so often to make sure we hadn't missed anything.

Holy cow, was Times Square crowded. It was pretty unpleasant. It was also very cold, which didn't help. We tried to go into Toys 'R Us for some shopping, but it was about as crowded in there as it was at the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, so we left immediately. We tried to go to the Hard Rock Cafe for drinks to kill some time, but the wait time was an hour and a half. We did wander out to 6th Avenue and took a couple more Christmas decorations pictures, and we saw a group of carolers on the street. So that was nice. But after a while, we just needed to get in out of the cold, so we stopped into a McDonalds to get something to eat and just sit in a warm building to kill some time.

Christmas lights on 6th Avenue

VIDEO: Carolers on 6th Avenue

Around 5:00 we went back over to the theater and things were starting to look promising. There were a couple other people in Gators apparel hanging around, along with a very friendly Texas fan named David, who we talked to for a while. Barricades were being brought out, and official-looking guys in suits were roaming around. Over the course of the next half hour, more fans started to show up, but by the end of things there were probably about 20 people total, so you can tell how un-advertised the whole thing was. And the Gator Nation was certainly represented - I would say that of the 20 or so fans, 16 of them were Gators.

Hopefully waiting in front of the Nokia Theater

All of a sudden I heard a commotion and some of the Gators saying, "It's Urban Meyer! Urban Meyer!" at the front of the building. So, I dashed around there, camera all ready to go. Sure enough, there was the Florida Gators head coach headed in to the building, so I snapped his picture! He went right inside, so there wasn't much time. But now we were really excited!

It's Urban Meyer!

In anticipation of Tebow arriving, I decided to brave the cold and unbutton my coat to show off my Tebow jersey underneath. To do so I needed to remove my gloves, but as I pulled them off, I forgot that I had the camera strap around my wrist. And so, the camera hit the ground. Hard. And would not turn on. THE CAMERA WOULD NOT TURN ON! Mere moments before Tebow was supposed to arrive!

And arrive he did, along with Colt McCoy and Sam Bradford, the other finalists. They posed at the end of a walkway for pictures, then walked down the walkway and into the theater. We had brought our Gators helmet in the hopes that Tebow would sign it, but no luck. And the camera STILL WOULD NOT TURN ON. I tried my best to get a picture of him with my cell phone camera, but without much success. This is the best I could do:

There he is! With Colt McCoy on the left and Sam Bradford on the right

Tebow! Look this way!

In just a few seconds, it was over. But still a very cool experience! We did talk some of the other Gator fans after the event, and a couple of them got some really good pictures that they promised to email to us, so we're hoping that really comes through. That's actually the reason I didn't post about this immediately after it happened...I've been hoping to have better pictures to share with you. But, we still haven't heard from the girl who got the pictures, and I couldn't wait any longer. If the pictures ever show up, I'll be sure to share them!

And that was our close encounter with Tim Tebow! Go Gators!

In other news, please send good thoughts and healing vibes my sister's way today. She had an appointment at 8:00 this morning to have her wisdom teeth removed, and she was pretty nervous about it. I know she'll be fine, but think good thoughts for her for an easy procedure and speedy recovery! Get well soon, Heather!

UPDATE: (12/23/08)

We got the pictures from our fellow Gator fan! There were a couple pretty good ones in the batch she sent, but apparently the lighting was just bad so they're still a little fuzzy. But, here they are! These might at least give you a better idea of how close we were to him.

A much closer view of my very far away cell phone pic: Colt McCoy, Tim Tebow and Sam Bradford

Tebow, look up!

So there ya have it! Go Gators!