Karyl & Katie take NYC 2011

The weekend before Christmas, Mom came down for the long weekend to experience Christmas in New York City.  There is nothing like Christmas in the city- just like everything New York, it's over the top and over-decorated, but thankfully, seeing as Christmas is my favorite time of the year, it really gets you in the mood.  We went a different route this year trying out new things and seeing New York in a non-touristy sense.  I mean you can only take crowds of people for so long- I think we actually only spent about 10 minutes total in Rockefeller Center, we just had bigger and better things to do!  Here is a recap in pictures of our weekend!

On Friday, Mom arrived early afternoon and we decided to get all of the really touristy things over that day seeing as it wasn't the weekend.  We started off at Columbus Circle and checked out the Christmas Market, trekked over to the Plaza Hotel and down 5th Avenue to get a glimpse of all the decorated stores.  After that we went to go see the tree and then headed down to Bryant Park and the NY Public Library.  From there we went through Times Square, got dinner in Hell's Kitchen at Southern Hospitality and then on a whim we ended up going to see Mamma Mia! It was an action packed and fun day!

The hanging stars in the Shops at Columbus Circle.  They are actually really big and change colors- at night they do a light show.  They are really pretty!

Tiffany's giant wreath on 5th Avenue!  This year the Tiffany windows had  a carousel theme to them! It was gorgeous!

Us with our giant shopping bags at Rockefeller Center!

In front of the Tree!

Gigantic Lights on 6th Ave

Us with the lights!!!

Hanging out at Bryant Park.  They have the Christmas shops here and the skating rink and the tree, but this year, there was an outdoor lounge with fireplace and heat lamps.  I pretended like I was far from the city in an exotic location like Aspen.  If you tried really hard you could almost not hear the sirens and the honking of horns!

Enjoying a brew at the lounge in Bryant Park!

Had to take a break from the walking and the shopping and sitting under the heat lamps gave us a chance to warm up! Cheers!

The tree in Bryant Park- in my opinion, this one is way prettier than the Rockefeller Center tree.  The blue lights are really pretty, in my opinion.

Time Square at night!

On Saturday, we woke up early and headed down to Union Square.  Before that we walked down 5th Ave and got some Christmas Shopping done.  We ate a quick lunch and then went to check out the Farmer's Market, Christmas shops outdoors and The Strand (a huge bookstore known for it's "miles and miles" of books!"  After that, we hopped on the L train, rode a few stops and "POOF," we were in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  We went to check out the Brooklyn Brewery- went on a quick tour of their new huge facility and had a beer!  After that we went back to Manhattan, trekked down to the West Village and I took Mom for dessert at Rocco's.  We had chocolate peppermint lattes- Mom had a fruit tart and I had a sfogliatella (a traditional Italian pastry stuffed with ricotta cheese.) On the way home we picked up a bottle of wine, ordered a pizza, changed into our pajamas and watched Christmas Movies all night!

Fresh Cranberries in Union Square

Brand New Mural outside of the new Brooklyn Brewery space

Enjoying my Winter Ale! Brooklyn Brewery is my absolute favorite!

Inside the Brewery

Outside of Rocco's Bakery!

Mom left on Sunday afternoon after we relaxed all morning and had lunch.  We had a great weekend- it's always a ton of fun when Mom comes to visit!

Katz's Deli

Once upon a time, back in 1888, on New York's Lower East Side, a Russian immigrant established a deli.  Today, they are known for their massive pastrami sandwiches, old school European eats, oh and that famous scene in When Harry Met Sally.

I trekked to the Lower East Side with my roommate and literally ate an entire pastrami sandwich by myself.  I mean it was about a pound of pastrami, all to myself, but who's counting right?

Katz's Deli

Inside the famous deli!

Arielle, myself, and the sandwich... yum!

Outside the famous deli

We were looking around for the famous table from the movie, to of course see Where Harry Met Sally... we figured out we were right underneath it. 

Known as the best

I am definitely my father's daughter... between the picture taking and the pastrami eating, I made Dad proud.  I ate every last bite of that sandwich... and then some.  I mean what's a pastrami sandwich without homemade pickles?!

the seasons are changing....

The end of summer always, always brings fall... leaves change, pumpkins become the new "it" vegetable to bake with, cook with, and have fun with, apples and cider are a plenty, and the weather gets that perfect chill to it.  I wanted to recap my start of fall with you.. a lot has happened, and because I've been so busy with my new job and training, I apologize for not keeping you more up to date...

So let's start at the beginning...

Back at the end of summer, Arielle and I got tickets to go see Jimmy Fallon live in Rockefeller Center!  It was amazing- we were literally in the front row and got to see Al Roker, and Lenny Kravitz.  I even shook his hand at the end of the show when he came around to say thank you to everyone!! He is absolutely hysterical, and now I even watch his show!

I went to Fashion's Night Out again this year with a bunch of friends.  This is a picture of my friend Kevin and I drinking champagne in the Michael Kor's store on 5th Ave.  Fashion's Night Out is a great time to just go out and experience things you wouldn't necessarily experience in New York City.  I saw Kate Walsh, spotted Khris Humpries that same day, and got lots of free champagne and treats from the various stores we visited!

Arielle, her family, and I took a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge and at the end we had Sicilian Pizza at Ignazio's.  It was definitely not as good as Grimaldi's, but it was pretty delicious.  And I love the Brooklyn Bridge, so I definitely can't complain!

We had Ice Cream at the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory.  It's located directly under the Brooklyn Bridge and it is so yummy!

Coca-Cola Bottles!

The Bridge from the Brooklyn side

View of the Manhattan Bridge from downtown Brooklyn Heights/Dumbo.

Arielle and I on the bridge!

the walkway on the bridge

Brooklyn Bridge!

A few weeks later I got to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge again!  This time I did so with my good friends Kate & Michaela and their family!  We did a 3 mile walk for the National Eating Disorder Association to raise awareness for these terrible diseases.

Team Michaela's Sidekicks!

Leave it to us to start a kick-line at the end of the walk... Sinatra's New York song came on, so we kick-lined it in front of the entire crowd- Let's go Michaela's Sidekicks!

last glimpse of summer colors before the fall sets in...

The Memorial getting there!! This was taken just a couple of weeks ago and it looks amazing! I'm going to the Memorial this Saturday with my Dad so I'l be sure to post pictures from the inside!

Occupy Wall Street is in full swing as you can see... don't get me started on it....

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society hosted it's Light the Night Walk just a couple of weeks ago.  I worked the registration table checking people in, but it was a beautiful experience.  Our special events committee puts three walks on and this one is the biggest of the three. The red balloons are for those who are supporting the cause, gold is for those in honor of someone who has passed from blood cancer, and white is for those who are currently undergoing treatment or for our survivors!  The walk brought in 6,000 walkers and raised over $1.7 million!  It was an amazing night for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and our mission!

We had a yard sale at my house last weekend to raise money for my Miami Marathon!  Proud to say we raised over $600- all going to blood cancer research!  I took some pictures around the house with my new camera lens that I got from my birthday.  This is the sun on the side of our house- no it was not for sale.

Records- and The Boss!

mickey mouse tie

Mom, Dad and I went to the Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular last weekend at the Roger Williams Park Zoo.  The pumpkin carvings were amazing! I loved the faces!  There were over 5,000 faces.. my only suggestion- go later when all the screaming children have gone to bed and people get less pushy!  

pumpkins- we made sure it was a very pumpkin filled weekend... pumpkin cream cheese on bagels, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkins for carving, pumpkins for seeing, pumpkins for collecting, pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins....

On Monday, Mom Dad and I stopped in at the Scituate Art Festival.  These glass blown pumpkins caught my eye...

And so did the waves...

View of the church in town from the graveyard behind it... Very old historic graveyard, very beautiful tombstones.

I was, in fact, so inspired by the Spectacular that I wanted to carve my own pumpkins.  So this weekend went like this for me- Friday I watched Hocus Pocus.  Saturday I got up and ran 6 miles with the Miami Team and then went out to brunch!  Saturday afternoon I went to the Union Square Farmer's Market where I bought my pumpkins, apples, apple cider, fresh broccoli and heirloom tomatoes.  I came home, made Broccoli Cheddar soup and had a caprese salad with my tomatoes!  Sunday morning I got up and went for a run, bought some new running sneakers (highly suggest the Nike Lunarglides), and came home to watch the Pats and carved my pumpkins.  Some weekends are just the absolute best when you have them all to yourself!

Needless to say, fall has been busy, busy already!  I'm in full swing with my new job- I'm coordinating the Manhattan Half Marathon for the winter season and running the Miami Marathon.  I'm getting to meet everyone and my co workers are just amazing people!  I absolutely have never been happier- I wake up and am so excited to get to the office, it truly doesn't even feel like work.  And I am loving training for the marathon- can't wait to run those 26.2 miles again!

In other news, this week is all training and then Dad comes to visit on Friday!  Can't wait!! I'll keep you up to date with all the fun things I have planned for the rest of October!! Enjoy the pictures!

A Weekend in Delaware & The Showdown!

I know, I know... It's been forever since I have written in my blog, but let me tell you, between the promotion and longer hours, the endless amount of laundry I have, and now the triathlon training and fundraising, I'm slacking.  So I apologize; but I come bearing good news- I have an update on what I did last weekend!!

I was able to go to Delaware with my mom to visit my brother!  We had a ton of fun!!  My mom got in on Saturday and we drove down to the University of Delaware to spend the night with my brother!  We hung out all day walking through town and ate at Klondike Kate's that night! It was great to spend time with my brother and hang out with him on campus!  On Sunday we went to the Lacrosse game and watched UDel win in overtime!  It was a beautiful day, and because of the weather, all I wanted to do was take pictures and sit outside!  Here's a recap of the weekend in pictures!!

getting ready for st. patty's day!

we stopped for some delicious gelatto! 

i liked it because it's irish :]

where we ate dinner on saturday night!

i have an obsession with red bikes...

this tree reminds me of the lion king!

UD

coffee at Brew Ha Ha!

getting coffee sunday morning!

The Field House!

Delaware Lax

On Sunday, we drove back to NYC!  Mom and I went to Eataly in the Flatiron District and had an Italian feast while we watched the Oscars.  Not my favorite Oscars to this date, but definitely was fun being able to watch with my mom!

On Monday, we explored NYC some more.  We traveled down to NYU and walked around, then walked to the West Side, had lunch at Chelsea Market, did some wine shopping in Union Square and then headed over to Madison Square Garden for the BNP Paribas Showdown!  I got mom tickets to this event for Christmas and we were able to see John McEnroe play Ivan Lendl and our favorite, Andre Agassi play Pete Sampras.  For me, it was like a dream come true, and for my Mom, well let's just say she was reliving Agassi's career!  It was an amazing time and I loved Madison Square Garden! Check out the pictures!  The tennis ones are courtesy of USTA- I couldn't bring in my good camera, and mine were a little fuzzy!

Washington Square

Greenwich Village

Mom in Chelsea Market!

The Garden

The Showdown- Epic

MSG a little empty

mom and I after the matches!

agassi!

pete and andre

i love this.

lendl, agassi, mcenroe, sampras

msg

As you can see, we had a ton of fun, and even though Andre lost, it was amazing being able to see him and Pete play again.  We had a great weekend- packed with tons of exciting things as usual... when you live in the city there is never a dull moment!! Hope you enjoyed the pictures!!

Now back to training for this triathlon!