Apartment Photos: Bedroom

In honor of my refusal to take a shower today (dry skin and hair just need a break sometimes!) I've decided to post a couple photos of our bedroom. We are hoping to get some new more spring-like bedding soon, but this is the stuff we received as wedding gifts.

Also, the window looks out over 30th Road, our fire escape and a lovely little tree which, when not blocked by our air conditioner, is a much nicer view then the brick walls we see from the rest of the windows.



Oops I thought I had more photos that included the adorable hamper and our one bedside table (Dear Ikea, why don't you have it in stock so we can get another?). That's the hallway between the living room and bedroom, with my closet on the right and the bathroom on the left. By now you should be getting the concept of the beautiful lay out of this apartment that allows me to sleep through coffee being ground in the morning.

Weekend in Michigan

Last weekend Sean and I enjoyed a typical weekend in Michigan, complete with dinner in Ann Arbor, bowling, board game playing, bags of coffee from Mom, and a shamrock shake!

Adorable nephews...they almost make you want to have a baby, until you spend the plane ride home with two of them crying and kicking the back of your seat.

Living/Dining Room

Our apartment really only has 3 rooms (5 if you count the little entryway and bathroom, but I don't). After the kitchen and bedroom, the middle room becomes a catch all and it's where we have our couch, tv, and table. It is actually pretty big by some NYC standards. And it has 3 windows that look out onto our fellow building residents apartments, which is always fun.

Apartment Photos: Entry and bathroom

When we first moved in to our apartment in Astoria, Queens, we were excited to have a newly renovated place but a little disappointed by the unstained doors and un-allowed to paint white walls. After a few months of buying items here and there and finally putting away the moving boxes, our apartment started to feel like a home. It's a lot bigger than we could have found in NYC and the layout is great.

Today I'm only going to post photos of the entry way and bathroom. There are more to come, but I haven't found the kitchen clean enough to yet with camera in hand....and uploading photos to blogger takes a while.





We have a place to hang our coats, thanks Ikea!
And note the shoes lined up neatly, as they always are.




What I didn't capture in a photo is the tiny ledge on the tiny window in the bathroom, perfect for holding soap and shampoo. Also, the golden towel rods and fancy toilet paper dispenser, or the fact that the cabinet doors are uneven. Love NYC apartment renovations.

The weekend

My weekend was pretty fabulous, here are some possible weekends why:

On Saturday, Sean and I's federal tax refund was deposited. We decided to spend some of it on presents for ourselves, to replace items we have had for five years. Sean got a new ipod, I got a new bathrobe. (I know, you're thinking, wow Ruth those are not equal in price. No they're not, but you'd be surprised how much a Ralph Lauren bathrobe costs...)

We watched some epic-good movies, Toy Story 3 and the King's Speech. And Knotting Hill, top romantic comedy in my eyes.

On Saturday night, we had dinner at Vesta (http://www.vestavino.com/), a wonderful Italian restaurant a few blocks away from our apartment, that emphasizes local ingredients and free range, hormone free meat. They have a roasted garlic soup that is sooo good. Sean enjoyed his pile-o-meat and I had fluke with cabbage and chickpeas. Then we had the house special Little Baby Jesus Cake for dessert with macchiatos. Even with all these delicious parts of the meal, the best thing at Vesta is the wine on tap that they have specially made upstate. Vesta is a tiny restaurant, and after seeing many many people come in a be turned away, we will always make a reservation. Someday soon I will write about the original artwork that graces the walls of Vesta's bathrooms.

Today we went to Mass on the Upper East Side, then met an old friend of Sean's and his fiancee for brunch. The plan was to go to Alice's Tea Cup (http://alicesteacup.com/) an over the top restaurant with an Alice in Wonderland theme that allows little girls (and boys?) to wear sparkly fairy wings when they visit. Apparently it's "girly" but the food it great. Must be, cause there was a four hour wait for brunch. I don't know about you, but in four hours, it's time for me to eat dinner! We went to a place around the corner with good coffee and had a nice time catching up. On our way out, we stopped back at Alice's to get scones to go. They were excellent, and came in a bright pink bag. Fitting.

Tonight we made a batch of hummus and garlic soup to eat for lunch. And we're listening to Josh Ritter, who I have officially convinced Sean to love.

MSU did not miss out on March Madness!

All reasons to be happily relaxing on Sunday night.

6 months ago, today...

I wish I could say we were doing something romantic to mark this faux-anniversary, but instead it's likely we will be spending our evening at the Red Cross chaperoning 50 High School students at a movie night. This is my job. Sean's coming for the free pizza.

After only 6 months, I'm sure I don't have a lot of wise or interesting thoughts about marriage. It's wonderful, but complicated. There is a lot of arguing about money and chores. There is a lot of "what do you want for dinner?" "I don't know what do you want for dinner" "No, tell me what you really want for dinner!". One of the best parts about being married in NYC has to be always having someone to tell about every little annoying thing that happened on the subway, and they have to listen, and be sympathetic to "someone punched me in the arm today, literally" or "WHY can't they just wait until everyone else gets off the train before getting on!?".

Dear Husband,

I love you. You are the best at cleaning the bathroom and dance parties and making me buy new clothes.

Sincerely,

Wife

Best Burgers

Most delicious burgers, fries and shakes in Astoria: http://www.bareburger.com/

They also have great salads and craft beer. Everything is organic and grass feed, but the veggie burger is great too. We eat here or order food from here (cause of course they deliver!) at least twice a month.

Tonight we went with Jocelyn and Cory and Jocelyn's sister Hayley who is visiting. I didn't think about it until this afternoont that it IS Ash Wednesday and as the good Catholics we are....we should not be having meat on Ash Wednesday. Sean didn't buy into this, but I reminded him that following many of these Catholic traditions is important to me and asked if he was willing to not eat meat on Friday's during Lent with me? (haha because I usually don't eat meat anyways). He said wellll I guess so if I can have Bareburger tonight. Fine.

Sean, anticipating his pain about the future Fridays, chose the "Bareburger Supreme" which has bacon, cheese, onion rings, fries and special sauce on it. It was huge. Then he finished all the fries when everyone else was done. Then he insisted we split a milk-shake (chocolate peanut butter deliciousness). Then his stomach hurt. I said you know when I reminded you we're supposed to fast and not eat meat on Ash Wednesday, I guess you took that to mean EAT AS MUCH AS YOU CAN. He reminded me that he is sacraficing having pepperoni pizza this Friday.

We all have to make tough choices sometimes.

NASDAQ Opening Bell Ceremony

This morning I got to go with a group of American Red Cross Staff and Volunteers to the NASDAQ Opening Bell Ceremony that our CEO was speaking at because March is Red Cross Month. They needed volunteers to go at the last minute and I wasn't that excited about it because I had to get up earlier than usual to go, but it ended up being pretty cool. The staff there asked us if we wanted to take photos at the podium while we were waiting for it to start...they didn't tell us that those photos would then be projected on screens and buildings all over Times Square. It was quite a way to start the work week!

First post

I have been meaning to start a blog for months. Now that I find myself separated by a few states from most of my family and friends, it's difficult to stay in touch and almost impossible to share little details about life. Hopefully this will be an easy way to share photos and stories. This blog will be mostly written by me, but probably often about Sean. Which he is really excited about.

It has taken me FOREVER to think of a blog name, which was the major reason for putting off starting one. I got some interesting suggestions (bagels in bed? Thanks, Kevin) and settled on this one, which is the title of a great song that will work for now.

Check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KZtAHGRwWs

Now...I made a bargain that Sean would go get groceries while I swept the floors in preparation for their weekly mopping (weekly, haha that's a joke). It's raining. I think I got the better end of the deal but I better start before he comes home soaking wet with 5 huge bags in tow.