Look Ma...I's a Grownup!

Sam and I finally rose above and beyond typical college/poor person life. Once we moved to New York, we came with only 6 suitcases, which contained our clothes, a bathroom scale and one frying pan! Since we figured it was only a temporary living situation, we decided that we would furnish our apartment with really cheap furniture. After sleeping on an Aero bed for a week, we caved and bought a futon. After sleeping on the futon in the living room for 2 1/2 months, we bought a bed. The real reason that we purchased the bed was because my parents were coming to visit for Thanksgiving and would need a place to sleep. Since I couldn't picture the four of us sharing the futon, we bought the cheapest(!) bed we could find. The bed sucks, and we both agreed that the futon sucked, but luckily we never had people over and we were only using them as places to rest our bodies.

When we realized that we might be staying in New York longer than planned and eventually moved to Brooklyn, we began to purchase nicer furnishings that would make us feel cozy. We caved and bought a TV, and bought a nice rug, a couple of ottomans, some shelves, etc. So we've had this really cute apartment in Park Slope with a shitty futon creating the biggest eye sore that Brooklyn has ever seen. Sure, it was great for people who were visiting us, and of course it was fine to spill things on, sweat on and let the cats scratch, but it sure wasn't pretty.

After begging my husband for what seemed like months, I casually dragged him to a few furniture stores a couple of weeks ago. He was down for getting a new couch, but we both had some criteria for the new place to sit. It had to be pretty, it had to fit in the apartment, it had to be inexpensive, but most of all, it had to be able to fold out for guests to sleep on. We found our match!

So, I give you...The jack-knife sofa! She's a beauty. With vinyl armrests (that the cats LOVE to scratch, unfortunately!), storage underneath, room for pillows and a design that totally pulls together our living room, we have finally found a comfy place to rest our butts!



It was wonderful to bid the futon farewell! My cousin took the frame and we gingerly tossed the mattress outside to be picked up by the sanitation department! We finally feel like adults! And we're finally ready to have friends over...

Lifestyle Changes...

Not to be outdone by all of our friends who like to eat healthy (that's right Ellen, this goes out to you!), we have decided to change our eating habits. We started on September 5th and until the end of the month we're detoxing our bodies by only eating fruits, vegetables, 2 servings of whole grains (regular oatmeal or brown rice), 2 servings of dairy (low-fat yogurt, milk or cottage cheese), and only water. Yes kids, that's right. That means that we have completely cut out juice, coffee, diet drinks, and, wait for it..., alcohol!!! In October, we will begin adding in lean chicken & fish along with a little more dairy.

Our days have consisted of the following:

Breakfast:
Regular oatmeal with a touch of milk and one splenda
OR
cottage cheese with pineapple
OR
low-fat lemon yogurt

Snack:
diced peaches
OR
grapes
OR
apple
OR
banana (not me, that would be Sam -- I detest bananas!)

Lunch:
carrots w/low-fat ranch dip (2 Tbsps)
OR
salad w/low-fat, low-cal dressing

Snack:
See above

Dinner:
baked asparagus
OR
baked zucchini with baked tomatoes, baked tofu (tomato & basil) and parmesan cheese
OR
sauteed squash & mushrooms with brown rice (cooked in beef broth)
OR
vegetable soup
OR
well, the possibilities are endless.

As of today, it's almost been two weeks and the results are wonderful! Sam and I have both lost over 10 pounds and counting. This morning's breakfast was yummy: egg whites with spinach and mushrooms with a tall glass of milk!

Sam and I are enjoying exercising our culinary skills and creativity. We definitely miss alcohol and I miss anything with sugar!!! Work has been a challenge with the food too. Everyone always bring in sweets and they just sit out. I've had to avoid an ice cream cake, swiss chocolate, salt-water taffy, chocolate covered espresso beans, various pastries, Russian chocolate pastry things, Italian cookies, candy bars for sale, etc. I'm doing okay though. My energy is phenomenal. In fact, Sam and I are walking to Borough Hall today (downtown Brooklyn) for the Brooklyn Book Festival. It's about a 30-minute walk and I can't wait! Will continue to keep the blog posted with our progress.

Love and healthy eating to you all!

Okay, This is the Last One Tonight, I Swear...

I know, I know, you're all getting sick of my super-mega-blog-a-thon, or whatever I called it earlier. I swear, this is the last one for the night. I'm just trying to get caught up from the past couple of weeks. But I'm done. Just wanted to leave you guys with some really cute pictures of the kitties.

So here they are: Blue in the sink and Lucky checking him out.

R-Rated Weekend!

Get your minds out of the gutter, dirties! Last minute, Sam and I decided to take a trip to Boston for a triple-R weekend (okay, quadruple R). Re-kindle, Re-Connect, Refresh, Romance weekend, that is. We've never been to Boston (at least I haven't) and thought it would be a fun place to take the Red Rocket.

We drove in on Saturday morning, took the trip through NY, Connecticut and into Boston. What a truly beautiful drive amid the green trees and rolling mountains. We stocked up on goodies for the five-hour drive. We arrived at our hotel by 4:15pm, relaxed a bit and then hit Quincy Market for dinner. We went to Durgin Park for old-time Yankee food.





We had Boston Baked Beans, New England Clam Chowder, Yankee Pot Roast and Boston Cream Pie! With bellies full, we walked around Fenuille Hall and Quincy Market and then headed over to Cheers!





We were disappointed that everyone did not, in fact, know our names. But we sidled up to the bar for a few beers. Sam "stole" his beer glass (in true Marie fashion) and we headed back to the hotel.



Sunday morning we had a very disappointing breakfast and then checked out, packed the car and went to Harvard. We got to "Pahk the cah in Hahvad yahd" and sightsee Harvard Square. It was pretty cool to see the gates of Harvard, and I even bought myself a Harvard t-shirt. We had lunch at Fire & Ice, an inventive restaurant where you pick your food choices and let them grill it before your eyes.

After we dried off from the rain, we hopped into the Red Rocket for our trip back to Brooklyn. This time Sam drove and did a fantastic job. We arrived home and finished our quadruple-R weekend by relaxing at home and enjoying Labor Day!

Man, I LOVE Brooklyn!

To top off my mom's trip, we decided that a jaunt across the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan was a must do. It's hard to believe that after two years of living in NYC, this is the first time that I've crossed the bridge (First time for me, Sam already crossed it with his friends a couple of weeks ago -- but kept it from me). We took a walk through downtown Brooklyn to reach the foot of the bridge.



What an amazing bridge, it's my absolute favorite. It has so much meaning to me. It's a staple of NYC. It's old and beautiful and was hand-made by so many hard-working men (and women!). Crossing it was a great milestone.



What a gorgeous view of Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty, the Manhattan Bridge and of course, the Verrezzano Bridge. It's quite a journey over that sucker, but it was worth it. What a fun walk! And finally, it wasn't raining!

Introducing....Rhylan Arianna

It's a Girl!! You may remember several months ago when I reported that my bestest friend was pregnant. If not, feel free to head back to the November archives and read up! Anyway, I am pleased to report that on August 29th @ 1:49pm, weighing in at 8 pounds, 1 ounce and an astounding 20 inches long, Rhylan Arianna came into this world.



Congrats to Amanda and Chris. She's beautiful, angelic, precious and will bring you lots of joy in the coming years.


Rhylan and her brother, Rookie!

And I just thought I would add, I told you it would be a girl! I win!

A (Rainy) Day at the Open!

In addition to coming to visit me and the hubby, my mom really came to head down to Flushing Meadows to see the U.S. Open! When I started playing tennis at the age of 7, my dream was to be good enough to make it into the open. Sadly, I never was that great and stopped playing in high school, but dammit, I could still get tickets to see the tennis greats. When we moved to NYC, I was so excited at the thought of going to the U.S. Open. I've watched it on TV for years and years and never imagined that I could actually go there. I finally made it there two years ago and got to watch Andy Roddick and Serena Williams play (other people, not each other). After I was able to attend the open, my made it a goal to be able to attend the open too.


The View from Arthur Ashe Stadium

Unfortunately, she picked the shittiest day to get tickets. We packed a lunchbag with fluffernutter sandwiches, got the camera ready and headed out. It poured on our way to the subway, but we looked damn cute in rain jackets. It was raining when we got off the 7 train. It was raining when we made our way into Arthur Ashe stadium. And then a bright spot -- it cleared up long enough for Mauresmo (#1 in the WORLD people!) to play five games of the match. And then it rained again -- are you seeing a pattern?


The "fan crew" drying the court

So, the day was completely rained out and the tennis was cancelled. But we had such a great time! How, you ask? Aside from not being able to see any tennis, my mom was able to meet her all-time tennis hero. We were able to meet Jimmy Connors, our left-handed hero from the 70's and 80's. What a nice guy!


Mom and Jimmy Connors

So, even though the day was a wash (ha!), we were able to exchange our tickets for NEXT YEAR! So, I guess we'll just try again...


Mom at the Open

We're Not Gonna Pay...Rent!

Okay kids, prepare yourselves for the super-mega-recap-a-thon! So much has gone on in the past two weeks, and I feel that it's necessary to give each major thing it's own post. So, here goes!!!


Mom and I in Times Square

Saturday, August 26th, my mom came in town for a few days and the first thing we had to do was see a Broadway show. So I gathered together my super-awesome friends, Rebekah, Jennifer and James and we headed down to Times Square for some fun! The show was amazing, we had fantastic seats and it was neat to experience the "first times" for my mom and Bekah.


The Theater

We had dinner at the Roxy Deli, filled ourselves with pastrami and headed over to the Niederlander Theater. For those of you that don't know, I'm a huge fan of this show. This was the 5th time I had seen it, the 3rd time for Sam, 2nd for Jen and James, and I already that it was a first for my mom and Bek...


Jen, Bek and Me

What a great cast! This show just gets better and better...I recommend it to anyone.


Sam chillin' in Times Square (I LOVE this picture!)