Looking forward to my next 30 years...

In 2007 my brother, sister in law, Paige, and myself came to New York to celebrate my 28th birthday.  I didn't know this, but at the time Kristi thought it was my 30th Birthday, otherwise this trip may not have happened. She was shocked to find out we went to New York for a birthday as insignificant as 28, ha. This was my first trip to the city and it definitely sold me.  We did the standard touristy things, had a great meal at WD-50 (complete with birthday cupcake, thank you), saw Fuerzabruta, and witnessed the late hours of something we had never heard of, Santacon.  One evening as we exited the train in Astor Place we saw ~100 people dressed in Santa Suits, clearly inebriated, running around spraying silly string on anything they could and singing carols.  I looked at everyone and said something to the effect of we should have done that.  Here is a picture of my brother and I in 2007 spinning the Astor Place Cube after it had been ‘tagged'.

Cut to 2009 and since we are now living here, I realized it was the perfect way to celebrate my 30th birthday. Partly to show that 30 year olds can still hang and also because why the heck not? Our day started with bagels and drinks at 10:30 while following Santacon on twitter to see where they were.  By the time we met up with everyone (11:30 am) people had already taken it too far, others were getting started, and Harmon Killebrew didn't realize he was about to be in for a long day.

A few pictures from the day…

 

the starting group waiting on the train to debauchery 

 

first bar stop well into Harmon Killebrew 

 

Santacon brought the worst out in Jesus 

 

for some reason there were 'spandex santas' climbing outside one stop

"happy birthday baby"

July 20th was Paige's birthday, but unfortunately due to all the chaos surrounding us I wasn't able to plan much of a date night. Well, before I lose all points I had planned an early birthday surprise to take her to see Twelfth Night in Central Park with Anne Hathaway. I knew Paige wanted to see it and a friend of ours (Vitris) went and gave rave reviews. Alas we had just signed our lease the day prior so Paige opted to postpone date night and be productive for our apartment - the time was well spent going to Ikea, Target, Costco, Home Depot, etc in a rented U-haul cargo van. She is a smart one!

So we cooked dinner (first time here), drank wine, and watched t.v. which sent a peaceful wave of normalcy over us for a night. It was lovely, and I hope she enjoyed it as much as I did. She deserved a night with her mind off things.

ar

surprises, bull rides, and puppies

Last weekend was Paige's birthday. We have been so incredibly stressed with her long hours, finding a place to live, and me finding a job that we haven't had many opportunities to sit back and enjoy the fact that we made it here. I wanted to do everything I could to make the time enjoyable for her.

During our going away party our friend Priscilla decided she wanted to fly up and surprise Paige for her 25th birthday. They are really close and have celebrated their last few birthdays together seeing that they are only a week apart. The issue here is that she wanted to surprise Paige. I'm not good at surprises so Priscilla was on my ass to make sure I didn't blow this one. Somehow I didn't. She arrived Friday (17th) before Paige got home from work and hid in the bedroom. I gave Paige a card from Priscilla as if it had arrived in the mail, and as she finished reading it Pris came out and the surprise was complete. Paige gasped and then began crying, it was definitely a reward worthy of holding in the secret.

Priscilla with one of Paige's closest friends from high school, Limor

Friday night we went to a mexican restaurant near us, Arriba Arriba, which was quite tasty and the ladies found plenty of eye candy. We then went to a few bars around us in an effort to explore the neighborhood. Saturday night we went to a bar called Mason Dixon which is on the Lower East Side after a stop over at our downstairs neighbor's patio. They have a patio that is out of this world so it was a fun way of getting to know them and their friends. Sunday morning we got up a little haggard and made our way to brunch in the UWS at Good Enough to Eat. We had heard many positive reviews and upon seeing the line outside we had high hopes for what was to come. I was not impressed and don't feel the need to return. I don't believe they seasoned anything properly and each dish left you needing more flavor. Afterwards we went to my cousin's place to see their new golden retriever pup Jackson. He was adorable!

Successful weekend for the books.

ar