Testaccio

Jen's getting adjusted to her new job. The place is very unorganized so she's got her work cut out for her. It did give us an excuse to celebrate, though, which we did at Testaccio Restorante just a few blocks from home. We tried three kinds of gnocchi, seafood shooter things, and a chocolate hazelnut dessert. They also made pretty much the best Sangria we've had. D-lish.

My client Betty Lou from the Safety Harbor Spa will be in the city tomorrow and around for about a week! She's the first one from the spa to visit us and we'll at least get to do dinner this weekend. My own family hasn't even made it up! Ehem.

Hey, Where Are All the Stawberries?

Jen planned our last big outing, a walking tour of Central Park. We visited so many cool sites, most of which I had no idea existed like Strawberry Fields and the Imagine Mosaic (we got lost lookin’ for this one), Cleopatra’s Needle (1500 BC), and my favorite, Belvedere Castle. Designed as a Victorian fantasy building, it looks like something from Disneyworld and offers great views of Turtle Pond below. It will be amazing to see in the winter! inserted by Jen. There was so much to see that we couldn’t get the whole thing in before I had to go into work. Next time I’d like to go take pictures at The Mall, the famously photographed long walkway that’s flanked by rows of Elm trees and park benches.


Today we visited a new church in the city called Morning Star. We really liked it and plan to visit again. No worries, we still like our “home” church in Long Island City but like to visit other churches too. After church we strolled through a street fair and a Broadway flea market before making a four hour trip to the Brooklyn Target, ugh! We didn’t spend much time at the flea market because I didn’t realize it was actually a flea market full of Broadway show paraphernalia (and gays), I thought it was just a flea market on Broadway! The trip to Target was four hours because the G doesn’t run on weekends so we had to take a shuttle bus to where the G was running, then ride the G to our stop, then walk…phew! Come to find out there’s a stop on another line in the same shopping center as the Target. Needless to say the ride home was much quicker. The trip there was so lengthy we had to stop to eat before we even went in the Target. The service was soooo slow and the waiter brought us the wrong check. We stopped a manager and explained and she said she’d take care of it. When she brought the credit card slip to sign, we noticed we’d been charged for a dessert we didn’t order! Why is everything so complicated for us and why didn’t we get that dessert?

The biggest news is the job that Jen starts TOMORROW! It’s about time… j/k. She was offered a job in Midtown as an Administrative Asst. at a security company (event security). She’s a little nervous but glad to have something to do OUTSIDE of the apartment. Pup (who got a new purple collar today, so people will know she’s a girl!) will sure miss her being around though : (

MCNY

Maybe we just haven't visited the right one, but we don't think we're really museum people. We are interested, though, in the history of NYC so today we visited The Museum of the City of New York. It's on the border of East Harlem/Upper East Side, an area that seemed a little sketchy on our walk there from the 6 train. Jen actually asked me if we were still in Manhattan. After having our bag checked and paying admission we realized that much of the museum was under construction. The sections that were open included a weird Asian influence exhibit, furniture and home interiors prior to 1906 (what happened to post 1906?), and a women of fashion exhibit that Jen was a little dissapointed with. Other than a really cool, 3-screen video presentation about the city's growth over the past couple hundred years, we wouldn't recommend it.

The ride home was interesting. After moving from one end of the car to the other to avoid a smelly, overly-madeup crazy lady, a man very aggressively asked Jen, "What are you lookin' at? What are you lookin' at me for?" Jen told him she, in fact, was not looking at him and he winked at her. He then started yelling, "Speak English! I said speak English," to a quaint pair of Asian ladies who were conversing between themselves. After a few minutes he moved on to a Spanish couple, saying the same thing and calling them Spicks. We switched cars at the next stop.

Nuthin Much

Bed bugs seem to be everywhere in NYC. In homes, retail stores, and movie theaters especially. A few days ago we faced our fear and went to see Easy A in Astoria. I was surprised at how funny it was and would recommend it. We then visited the Panera Bread across from the theater which we realized we really miss.

Jen's finally over her cold and without the leftover "kennel cough." She might have an interview today too!

Pup got a shampoo and blow-dry this morning and was quite excited afterward.

I hope to get some weight training, a class, and a run around the city in this evening. As business begins to pick up again work has left me with little energy to exercise... or blog!

Proposals and Porn Stars

Kendra, a retired Bunny and ex-girlfriend of Hugh Heffner, has a new reality show. She's been staying at the hotel above our restaurant and did some filming around the property. Saturday morning I got to talk to her and her friends a little while she was having breakfast before filming out on the patio, and then later took their room service order. Danny, the food runner that was on that day, was filmed delivering the food to their room and signed a waiver to appear on the show. If you ever see the show, which I believe is titled Kendra, look for Danny and Bourbon St.!

On my way home from the gym this morning, Top Chef was doing some filming in Grand Central and passing out free desserts. People were going crazy over it and it was delicious!  They're also filming for the new show The Good Wife in LIC today.  It stars Juliana Margulies.

During my first full day off in 6 days, yesterday we went to Central Park with Pup (pic). We let her off the leash to roam the wild, like God intended.  At one point she ran up to a girl who was reading then got really excited and ran up to another girl who was tanning.  Then she just started running around in circles.  She had fun! While there we also got to witness a guy propose to his girlfriend. He hired a photographer to capture the moment.  We also passed three brides getting pics taken by the lake. We then headed home for artichokes (pic) which were delicious and home-made pizza. How did I live without authentic Italian food for so long?

Jen's sick so pray for a quick recovery!  She took cough medicine last night and passed out around 9:30!

Diversity

There's nothing that exciting going on right now, I've just been working alot this past week. Last night was so slow at work and Jen was so bored at home that she came to the restaurant to hang out. She had a Hurricane, watched the VMA's with us, and helped me with my closeout.

Here's a pic from a night out with some coworkers. The countries represented here (other than the US) are Ireland, Egypt, the Middle East, and Haiti. NYC has some serious diversity.

We're excited the weather is finally feeling fall-like here. It's beautiful most days and then drops into the 60's at night.

Vintage Rexrode

I usually avoid nights out with the crazies I work with, but Friday was Carl and Sam's last day at the restuarant before returning to Ireland. I did have a lot of fun but I hated sleeping my Saturday away after getting in around five in the morning.  Poor Jen was supposed to meet me out but I didn't get cut until after 1 so she was, "All dressed up with no where to go."  She started getting ready around 9:45 because she was so excited.  She said she felt like such a loser when she ended up taking all her make-up off and just going to bed.
Saturday night we went to the East Village with friends for Indian food and dessert at 16 Handles (again ha). 16 flavors of frozen yogurt + tons of toppings all by the ounce = awesome.

Sunday I worked setup at church before heading to real work at night. I hate foreigners, and that thought pretty much sums up how my night went.

The weather on Labor Day was so perfect that we spent the whole day outside. We had a picnic at the park with the neighbors and Good's. As much as we use it, the park alone is reason enough to live in LIC. These pics of us were taken using a vintage photo app on Kara's iphone. I've always liked vintage cameras and photograghy and would go nuts if it was mine.

Today was another day off for both of us (tough lives, I know). We took a yoga class this afternoon and finally found a rug for our living room at Crate & Barrel so that Pup doesn't bust her a$$ everytime she jumps on and off the couch.

Hoboken

As you may have noticed, things we plan don’t go as planned. It reminds me of that saying, ”I plan and God laughs.” Well, it’s a good thing God gave us a sense of humor because I think we would otherwise cry.

Tuesday was the first day that Jen and I had off together in a couple weeks because of her temp job and I’ve been wanting to take a trip out of the state. Possibly to Connecticut. The heat wave made it hard to do too much outdoors so New Jersey was a closer, safer bet. We had heard a lot of good things about Hoboken, just across the Hudson River from Manhattan.

We first had to put our sense of humor to use when we wandered around Penn Station with Pup, through crowds of travelers, looking for the NJ Path train. It turns out it’s over a block away, outside the station in the middle of Herald Square. How random! Once we realized where it was, getting home was a lot easier and quicker!

I felt pretty prepared with my NYC Not For Tourists Guide and a Frommer’s list of places to go in Hoboken. The first planned stop was an Italian deli which was non-existent. No biggy, we had French instead at Elysian (pic). The next stop was the Hoboken Historical Museum which we soon learned didn’t open until 2 (it was close to noon). Okay, next on the list was a neighborhood chocolate shop. Nevermind, closed for renovations maybe? (pic). I really wanted to visit Frank Sinatra’s childhood home and dragged the girls eight blocks to see it. I wish I was kidding, but we got there to find that it’s now a parking lot with a star shaped plaque in the ground in front of it. (pic) This is the point where we could either laugh or cry. I felt like I was going crazy! You would think Frommer’s would be up to date on this stuff. We ended our adventure with a little dessert at a place with super friendly staff (sarcasm) and a walk to Carlos’ where Cake Boss is filmed. The line was over a block long which automatically makes it overrated. We made sure to get a pic for Jen’s sister though.

The day would have been more enjoyable without the heat and humidity, but we had a good time anyway. Poor Pup almost died of heat exhaustion…but she’s ok now.