farewell week recap

Hello from Kansas City! We're not in Dallas just yet - we don't have access to our place until the 29th so we stopped off to hang with our families for a few days before we drive down to Dallas. We made it here Sunday night and missed all Juno-related snow issues, thankfully. But I'll admit, I did have a little bit of Juno FOMO yesterday.  

We had one spectacular last week in New York City. We started to call it our Farewell Tour since we had something just about every single night. It was a great way to see tons of our friends (and eat some great meals). Here are (quite a lot of) photos of our last week in the city...

Two Saturdays ago we had a fun morning doing a little goodbye surprise (you'll see photos of it soon, I promise).  After several hours in the freezing cold we stopped for brunch in the meatpacking district.

That night we had a big group dinner with some friends at Fedora. It came together last minute, but ended up working out perfectly. I called Fedora meekly on a Thursday asking if they had a private space available for ten people that coming Saturday (a notion that completely absurd). Thankfully, it worked out and it turned out better than I expected. Highly recommend their private dining room in the basement. We had great service, great food, and the private space made for a much more intimate experience.

The following Sunday we met my boss, her husband and darling daughter for brunch at Marta - a new place that I'm so sad we just discovered! It's so close to our apartment. I mean our old apartment. Yikes. Anyway, carbonara pizza for the win!

After brunch, we decided to tackle some of the drawers and spaces in our place that have been collecting the most random of our possessions over the past five years. Since we didn't have to pack (Al's new company paid for packers and movers), this was the extent of our physical work for the move (so lucky). We found some seriously great things - a first generation i-pod, 6,000 lip sticks, tons of old Lily toys, FLOPPY DISKS, my stash of Taco Bell sauce, and way too many expired foods. I'm thinking we should have been doing this exercise once a year...

^^ Not pictured: a first generation i-pod. I had to persuade Al to throw it out. He claimed we might want it as a "back up".

^^ "Guys, this bag better not be the trash bag. I need all these toys."

^^ The winner of the expired food awards. Food coloring from October 2011. 

^^ Threw out all but the essentials in our fridge.

^^ The great lipstick sort. Moses parted The Red Sea. I parted the lipstick pile. Can you guess which side was keep and which side as trash?

Sunday night we met our friends Matt and Megan for a delicious dinner at Dell'anima. I forgot how much I love that place. We ended the night with an after dinner liqueur they introduced me to and now I'm hooked - Amaro Nonino. Oh it's so yummy. Can't wait to sip an Amaro Nonino in Mexico in October at Matt and Megan's wedding! 

We had Monday off for MLK day and finished the clean-out process and called around and did the ol' cancel cable/power and change address routine. So many different people you have to notify about a new address. You'd think there'd be a site that you could enter the information once and it would change it on your bank, credit cards, post office, catalogs, voter registration, etc. 

Monday night we had dinner with our friends Ryan, Laura, and Patrick at The Smile. It was good to get the group together. Ryan and I work together and also went to KU together, and he's engaged to Laura who went to law school with Al and Patrick. How's that for a circle of friends? Another great goodbye meal. The Smile is darling, btw!

Tuesday my team at work threw me a little goodbye celebration. It was so nice to have all my friends from work from different groups stop by for a going away drink. And Al made an appearance too! We miiiiight have over-ordered on the appetizers a bit. So typical for my team (we are known for our eating habits...and our excellent work product, of course). 

Lily was so over us and our weeknight plans. She's used to us coming home after work to be with her. Not a fan of the farewell tour. 

And after some seriously intense work days (writing down a training manual for your future replacement is so daunting), it was Friday and the packers and movers were at our place and it all started to feel real. 

^^ Going to miss this view, for sure. 

We sort of forgot that we didn't have overhead lights in our apartment except for the kitchen. And with the lamps all packed up it made for some early dark evenings sitting around in our place. The future tenants wanted a few pieces of our furniture which worked out well so that we could seep on our couch for a few nights before we left. So we pushed the couch as close to the kitchen as possible for some light and hunkered down for the night (and watched The Wire). 

And then it was time - our last night in the city. We asked our friends to meet us at Anfora for a going away celebration. So many people turned out. It was really perfect and a very bittersweet night recalling old times and saying so long. 

^^ Hardest part was saying goodbye to my dearest and closest friend, Jolie. There were some tears for sure. Love you Jo Jo!

^^ Couldn't imagine doing any of this life stuff without Al. I feel like with him we could do anything and live anywhere. Love you, Al.

Sunday was our last day in the city. We spent it walking around to some of our favorite places and having one last meal at Friedmans with Jolie and Sean (we just couldn't say goodbye for real on Saturday night).

^^ One last carry home. Can't wait for the stares we'll get doing this in Dallas.

^^ One last play in the dog park for Miss Mayo

All packed up and ready to go. We definitely both had tears in our eyes (and mine streaming down my cheeks) when we walked out of our building for the last time. So much life was lived inside those walls.

And then we took our one-way tickets (!) and headed for Kansas City. What a great last week in the greatest city in the world. We love you New York and all of our friends.  See you very soon, I'm sure!

We're hitting the road for Dallas tomorrow (we hope - we were just informed that our moving truck didn't make it out before the snow storm - ughhhh).  See you soon new home!

weekend recap

Happy Monday! How was your weekend? Ours was relatively uneventful, which I didn't seem to mind since it felt like the last calm weekend before the crazy schedule of the holidays officially begins. Movies at home, some holiday shopping, and a very productive Sunday. Here are a few photos...

Friday we got crazy and tried a new pizza place (yes, this constitutes an exciting Friday night for us...sad).  Good news, although a little on the greasy side, Pizza Suprema is very good and very authentic. And they only have once size - gigantic, which is roughly the size of a standard New York City counter top. To go with our jumbo slices, we finally watched This Is Where I Leave You which is now on apple TV for rent. Move is good, but the book is far better. It's just hard to build those sort of character relationships that the book has in only 2.5 hours.

Saturday was rainy. All day. Not just sprinkling, but downpour the majority of the day. It was perfect for a lazy morning around the house and a long workout at the gym. Around 5 we decided to venture out in the rain to do some holiday shopping / see some holiday windows. Even in the pouring rain, New York is still so beautiful at Christmastime.  

(not pictured - the LIVE windows at Barneys that have real humans in them! There was a big crowd of European tourists in front of us and I couldn't manage a snap. But go check it out - twice an hour the windows come to life!)

^^ I love the selection of NYC-themed ornaments at Bloomingdales. 

For dinner I had a fun surprise for Al. We've been unofficially trying the best burgers in the city (Minetta Tavern, Shake Shack, Corner Bistro), but we hadn't yet tried the burger at The Burger Joint hidden inside The Parker Meridian Hotel. The only indication of the spot is a neon burger sign with an arrow. I love hidden little gems like this. Although, the 15 minute line kind of killed the secret hideout feeling. :) Either way, we were able to get table and ordered fairly quickly. The burgers were fantastic, the fries were better. It's a fast setting - in, sit, eat, out. Ideal for post-shopping hunger. We had plans to grab a drink at The King Cole Bar in the St. Regis afterwards, but we were soaked and tired so headed home for more movies.

^^ Messy, but tasty.

^^ You know what kills your Holiday spirit? Kramer vs. Kramer. My gosh that movie is so sad!!  We had never seen it before and couldn't figure out why people kept telling us to watch it.  So sad.  But fun to see how young Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep are. 

Thankfully, by Sunday the rain had cleared and it certainly perked up our productivity. I whipped together a quiche for breakfast (recipe coming on Thursday), roasted veggies and grilled chicken for lunches, worked on finalizing the gift guides for this week, went to the grocery store, and even brushed Miss Mayo's teeth. Whew! 

^^ Healthy lunch prep. Squash is having a serious moment in our house right now.

^^  Brusha brusha brusha.

Supper was Noah's Clam Chowder with a side of burnt crostini. I'd say more often than not I forget I have bread under the broiler. (Side note about that soup recipe:  It is so freaking good. I'm totally aware that it is full of processed foods and I fully intend to make a from-scratch version one of these days, but when you're short on time and want an easy supper it's nice to throw some cans of soup together and toss it in the oven.)

^^ BAH!  Every time!

All that and I didn't even take a nap! But I did get napped on by the world's snuggiest french bulldog.

And here she is all serious-like wishing you a quick and easy week!  

Hope you had a lovely weekend! Make sure to check back tomorrow for my 'for the hostess' holiday gift guide! 

weekend recap

Oh hello!  Thanks for bearing with me last week in my absence.  Our big event at work went well and the best part is that it's over for another whole year. We had a pretty low-key weekend - lots of resting.  Here are a few photos...

Friday night I pretty much crashed. It was thai take out, a glass of wine, and the couch. I couldn't even muster up enough energy to go to our local go-to Friday night spot, Friedman's. Lily was okay with this plan.

Having gone to bed at 9pm Friday night, I was up early Saturday. These two on the other hand weren't with me on my early rising.

I headed out for my hair appointment - no cut this time, just a freshening of my highlights. Going to the salon is one of my favorite things ever, and it is even lovelier with this view from inside their brownstone in the West Village.

After a golden touch to my locks, I had to shop a little for a few specific items. I tell you, when you know what you want and are trying to get in and out quickly, it seems that all of New York is also in the store milling about getting in the way. Seriously, for just buying a scarf, a top, and some make up, I was gone 3 hours and spent most of that time waiting in lines to try on/check out. Remind me to do all my holiday shopping online this year. Woof. No pretty pictures because I was busy surviving the hell that is the Zara fitting room, but here's what I purchased if you're curious...

• Blanket Scarf from Zara
• Top from Zara
• Bare Minerals from Sephora (I haven't used since college, but I'm loving it again for weekday wear!)
• Dior Eyeliner from Sephora
• Distressed Jeans from Madewell (probs didn't need these...)

Dinner Saturday night was with our good friends Daniel and Sara at one of our favorites - Pagani. Again no photos because we were having such a grand time (I was off my game with the photos this weekend...weird). Side not about Pagani, they offered gluten free pasta so if you're g-free you should def check it out.

Image via Pagani

Sunday I did one of those wake up and start tidying the house turned into all out cleaning, organizing, and putting stuff away. It felt good to have everything back in its place and clean. We even cleaned Miss Mayo.

And then she helped me with some computer work. Seriously, this is how I type when I'm working from the couch. She has to be as close to me as possible. 

And then...big surprise...we napped.

#sundaysarefornaps

We opted to not buy groceries this week - we both have stuff after work each night. So I scrounged through the fridge and found enough ingredients to whip up calzones for dinner. They didn't turn out half bad. And we have left overs for lunch this week. 

And let's close with a cute face shall we?  It'll help you through your Monday.

Hope you had a relaxing weekend!