I first want to apologize to my disappointed readers for not having posted anything in over a month! I promise to not make that a habit and will try to make this blog a little more interesting! I actually have lots to blog about, so I'm finally devoting time to getting this down...and you will need to devote some time to read it!
After much thought and conversation, Josh and I finally decided on a name for our baby boy. His name will be James Robert! Josh wanted a J name, and there are several James's in my family, so we both agreed that was the perfect name for him. Robert is Scottish like my dad's side of the family.
Last week, Josh and I went to New York City for a trip that he earned with his work. We had a wonderful time, but it was definitely not a relaxing vacation. There is so much to see and do there, so we tried our best to get as much in a possible. Here's a run down of the trip to my friends who keep asking me what we did, and I keep putting them off saying I'll blog about it!! (sorry again!) Wednesday the 7th, we arrived in the Big Apple in the late afternoon (it was already dark), and headed down to Soho for dinner at a great restaurant with all of the people who won the same trip. Thursday was probably the most relaxing day of the trip. This was the only day that Josh had meetings (from 8-11am), so I got to sleep in and recover a little from traveling. We stayed at a hotel on the south side of central park, so everywhere we went was a beautiful 15-20 minute walk. Needless to say, I got in good shape and was sore from head to toe. That afternoon, we ventured out into the city for some good pizza. NYC has the best (ok, second best only to Chicago, Dad...if you're reading this) pizza in the country, so I had been craving this for weeks. We had gotten two recommendations to go to John's Pizzaria in Times Square. We got a little overwhelmed trying to find it, and when we did, it was closed for a private party! We ended up going to a random hole in the wall type pizza place that was pretty good. From that point we explored the city and met up my cousin and her husband, who came up from Rhode Island to spend a day and a half with us there! We were very excited that they were able to do that. The 4 of us went to my family's favorite restaurant in NYC, Carmine's. When we got there at 4:45, they told us that the waiting list was already closed because it was packed and booked up for the whole evening. They told us we could wait and eat in the bar, so we sadly sat down, wishing we had made reservations...apparently way in advance! Good fortune came our way, though, when they guy walked around asking if anyone wanted to get on the waiting list! We jumped on it, and got a table around 5:45!! It was even better than I remember and worth every penny. After dinner, we headed over to see The Producers on Broadway, which was pretty good! No Phantom of the Opera, but it was very entertaining. Friday we woke up to 6-8 inches of the most beautiful snow I've ever seen! We had booked a 5 and 1/2 hour tour for that morning and walked all the way to Times Square (me holding tightly on to Josh's arm so I wouldn't fall), hoping that it wasn't canceled. Luckily, just as everything does in the North, it still went on like it was nothing! We got to see lots of great sites on this tour, including most of the main sites to see in NYC. You'll have to look at my pics to see. After that, we went to Macy's to do the tradional Christmas shopping. It's pretty impressive with 8 or 9 floors! Friday night, the 4 of us went to dinner at a great pub called Pig in the Whistle, and then we went to see The Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall. That was very good and is a must do for everyone at Christmastime! After that we said good-bye to my cous and her husband. Saturday was a very fun day filled with shopping. We went to FAO Schwartz and had so much fun buying James some toys and such. We also took the Subway down to the trendier part of NYC, Soho (got its name from south of houston street...pronounced How-ston there oddly enough) and Chinatown, where I bargained for a few items. We ate the traditional hot dog and hot pretzel from the street vendor for dinner, which for some reason tastes better in NYC than anywhere else, and then headed back up for shower and change for the big Dinner Cruise around the tip of Manhattan with all of the people on the trip with us. That was amazing, and I couldn't quite capture it in pictures, but it was the most beautiful view of Manhattan I'd ever seen! Sunday we only had until 1pm before we had to head to the airport, so we went on a Carriage Ride in Central Park, which was gorgeous and still covered with snow, and then headed over to Rockefeller Center for lunch. That was then end of our very enjoyable and very exhausting trip!
The other exciting news is that we finally got a new (to me) car! It's actually used, but we've been searching for a good deal on a used car that's in really good condition and finally found the right one for us in Dallas! It'll make a great Mommy-mobile...much safer and more convenient than my old car. I'll have to say, though, I got quite emotional when we got in my car yesterday and headed up to Dallas to make the trade. On The Road Again by Willie Nelson was playing on my ipod, and I got choked up thinking about all of the places this car has taken me in the past 9 years! It took me from high school to college to my newlywed years, and it was very good to me...hardly ever giving me any problems! Josh laughed at me as we cleaned out the remaining things in hidden places, because I had about 15 tapes that I hadn't listened to since high school. He asked me if I wanted him to throw them away, and I couldn't believe he would even suggest such a thing! =) I am not a pack rat, but music is a big part of my life, and I spent a lot of time making those tapes! I wasn't too sad though, when we finally got the keys and drove off in my very first SUV! I will take pictures and post them very soon. Y'all were getting on to me for not blgging, and now I've given you all an ear-full...or eye-full I guess.
