New York City!

My trip to NYC...

I booked my ticket months ago for a weekend getaway to NYC to visit Darra. I didn't have a job or even a license then. I decided to go Fri - Mon and as luck would have it my new job worked out perfectly (I only work T-Th). So I left from SFO on Friday morning at about 10am and got into JFK at about 8pm (gotta love the time change). I almost made a stupid mistake and followed a guy that claimed he was a taxi driver but relized my oops as we past the cab line and were heading into the parking lot (yikes!). I then said 'peace out' to him and got in the cab line. I arrived at Darra's apt at about 9. We were hungry and decided to go to the conviently located (literally 1 min walk) Park Slope Ale House for some drinks and food. It was a great spot and a great time catching up with Darra. With her (not so much mine :) ) busy schedule it has been hard to talk as much as we would like.

Saturday we got up surprisingly early (7:30am) and left for Manhattan to meet Anna for some shopping. After a bit of confusion as to which H&M to meet at (there are many in a small area), we finnaly got together. We shopped and then decided to get some luch and go to Central Park. On the way we walked through Time's Square.

After Central Park, we took the train to SoHo for some more shopping. At about 5pm we were getting tired and decided to head our seperate ways and go home with the promise to call if we did anything that night. We got home around 6 and two hours later after a good nap, Darra and I decided that some slices of pizza and a movie sounded better than getting all gussied up and going out.

Sunday we got up at a good hour again. Rain was predicted for the day so we planned on doing some things inside. We rode the train into Manhattan and saw a play called Spring Awakening at 2pm. It won the Tony for best musical last year and did not dissapoint.

After we meet Anna for lunch/ early dinner at the Coffee Shop. The food was good but they definitely wanted us in and out fast. We then all took the train back to Brooklyn and went to a comedy show. We had heard that it was good but must have hit it on an off night because we (and everyone else) barely laughted and were glad that it only cost $7.

Monday was a relaxing day for me. Darra had to work sort of. She took a personal development day so we could go out Sunday night but still had to "be productive" on Monday. That consisted of 5 hours on public transportation and probably 2 hours of "personal development." Anna was able to call in sick and take the day off so she met me in Brooklyn. We got lunch and then had our nails done. Then we went to some random stores such as Borders and Rite Aid. It was really great to see Anna again for the day and I will be eternally jealous of her beautiful nails (should have taken a pic).

Overall I had an amazing time in NYC. I REALLY miss Darra and Anna. It was so awesome to see them and be with them again!!! Also the fact that it rained was amazing! I really miss the rain and the way it smells. Cali is wierd and never rains. I also loved Brooklyn. The brownstones were beautiful and the maple tree lined streets were very refreshing to my midwest spirit.

New York

I (Court) went to New York City this past weekend to vist two of my college roommates. It was an amazing weekend! I will post later with details and pictures but for now...

I saw this really cool poster and it reminded me of the weekend. We took the train everywhere.

Poster made by: dkim and they are from Brooklyn.

It's hot!

Today and yesterday, it has been over 100 degrees out here! We don't have air conditioning, so it has been very toasty in our apartment. While at a stop sign, I took this picture of my car's dashboard for some proof of our crazy weather. 102 degrees at 7 pm...

New Christian Music

In the past couple of weeks, we picked up 2 new CDs: Shawn McDonald's "Roots" and United's "I Heart Revolution". We were pretty excited about both of them because we are big fans of both groups.

Unfortunately, Shawn McDonald's CD has disappointed a bit. His best CDs have definitely been his live ones (Live in Seattle was amazing and Scattered Pieces was also great), but even his studio CDs have some great songs. What normally shines about his music are his great voice and his honest lyrics but neither seemed to be particularly on display in the CD. The one exception is the first track Clarity, which I really like, even though it is a bit too Easy Listening at times for me. Clips of some of the tracks are over at Shawn McDonald's website, www.shawnmcdonaldmusic.com.

What is truly a treat is the new United CD. Their last CD, All of the Above was different from all of their other CDs in that it was their first studio CD. It had some awesome songs, but it had way less energy to it than their previous live ones. Well, this disc has brought the energy back big time and is great to listen to. It is a double CD with 30 songs performed live from their last tour. The tracks are mostly old with a few new ones, but none of the new tracks particularly stand one; the highlights are all old tracks performed live once again. The fast songs (One Way, All Day, and My Future Decided, among a few others) all have an energy that just gets you pumped for Jesus! I would highly encourage you to check this CD out. I picked it up for $14 as an online music download at amazon.com (here's a link).

Fun weekend + random notes

We had a really fun weekend and are sitting down and watching some Dancing With the Stars, so I figured I would update the blog with what we've been doing lately. Friday night we went out with another couple to Comedy Sportz in San Jose and it was a good time. We went to a Gordon Biersch restaurant beforehand and got some good food and then headed over. The premise is that there are two teams of 3 that face off against each other in different humorous minigames and whichever one makes the audience laughs more wins. In one minigame, the audience provided a few multi-syllable words while 1 player was out of the room. When the person came back into the room, his teammates had to act out each syllable of the word while in the middle of conversation until the person figured out what word it was. For example, one word was gelatinous so they acted out gel, latin, and bus and the person realized the word. I had actually seen this thing too when growing up in Milwaukee, so it was cool to see it again after so many years.

Saturday night we had another great night when a couple that we know came over for dinner. We made fondue and they brought over their hibachi grill and made chicken and flank steak. It was all delicious and it was really fun getting to know them better. After that, we played some Scattergories and Courtnay dominated like usual (although I did finally beat her once!). Then we played some Mario Kart Wii together and had a great time.

Speaking of Mario Kart, if you have it and want to play online with us, let us know! We will give you our online code to play with us over the internet.

And finally, Netflilx sent us some coupons for 1-month free trials for friends (the normal free trial is only 14 days long). So if you want one, just let us know and we'll send it to you.

Finally...

Adam keeps bugging me telling me that I really need to post something to the blog. But I keep telling him that I don't really have anything to post about. I haven't taken any pictures and we haven't gone to or done anything interesting. Oh well. I guess there is a couple new things in our lives...

First, my job. I have officially worked for 2 weeks. This past week and next week are/ were busy! I work Tues- Sat and then Mon-Thurs. I am temping in a different office the extra days. I normally only work 3 days a week. But it has been good. I like what I am doing and am glad to finally be productive.

Second, we are going to be moving. Adam and I thought that when our lease is up the end of June that we would move to San Francisco. Well, we have changed our minds. We decided that with my new job in Sunnyvale and the price of gas it would be better to stay in the area. Plus we have finally started to make some friends. We really didn't want to move an hour away to a place were we knew no one just because it might be a cool area. But we definitely are going to be moving out of where we are now. We just really don't like Sunnyvale. It is very, very boring. We are looking into Saratoga, Los Gatos, and Los Altos. All smaller towns with nice downtown areas and close to the mountains. Ideally we would find a small cottage or guest house on a nice piece of property with some nice trees. And MOST important is that we could get a cat!! I really can't wait to get a cat.

And that kind of brings me to another point... Lately Adam and I have both been going a little pet crazy. Me for a cat and Adam for a dog. I like dogs I just don't think that it would work for us to get one now. But every time we see a dog, Adam can't stop talking about how "cute" it is and "look at it" and "oh, it reminds me of Rex." I had a missing Pepper moment this past week where I put my foot down off the couch and hit Adam's back pack and instantly thought I had almost stepped on Pepper. It is weird how memories come back like that.

Ok so I finally posted. Yea!