Weekend Trip to NYC

I've only been to New York 2 other times for very short periods of time. And I've always wanted to go with Damaris to visit Andrea so this trip was great. We did the lesser of the touritst-y things, which was fun and possible due to having a local as a friend :D (you're the best Andrea!). I felt like we did a lot for only being there 3 days, but I could already go back and explore more of NYC! 

I finally tasted the famous banana pudding from Magnolia's. It's as good as people say it is. It has turned me into a banana pudding fan. 

We strolled through Central Park during Andrea's lunch break. 

Blaine wasn't in town yet and Bruce wanted to take a nap, so us girls went to 5th Ave and then to Laudree's for some macarons. It was my first time tasting macaroons and I loved it! 

Blaine finally joined us for dinner at the Artichoke Pizza, a delicious pizza shop in the financial district. And we had, you guessed it, the artichoke pizza. Best pizza I've had in a while and pizza connoisseurs, Bruce & Blaine agreed. 

We stayed at the lovely and central-to-everything Park Central thanks to Andrea! 

On Saturday we went to Coney Island, rode some rides, and ate yummy food on their boardwalk.  

Love them

We went to the original Nathan's. 

And rode some sketchy rides. We all made it out safely even though the ride did get stuck at the end. It was fun though! 

Blaine volunteered to sit out and be our photographer. 

He did a great job! 

Afterwards, we went to Brooklyn Bridge Park to eat some cupcakes we picked up at Georgetown Cupcakes Soho.
They were delicious. Best frosting ever. They were so good that half the box was gone in seconds - hence the horrible picture. 

At night we went to watch the longest-running musical ever. We had front row seats. It was a ton of fun. It was a little old-school but we expected that. The fable was great, the music was funny, and the whole thing was entertaining. Even the boys liked it. 

On our last day. We were able to use Blaine's company rental during our trip. It was convenient and saved my poor feet from acquiring more blisters!  

At Flight Club. A fancy sneaker consignment shop. Blaine and Bruce were gawking at some shoes there!

We went to Macy's and, surprisingly, the girls came out empty-handed while Bruce and Blaine did more of the shopping. 

Then we had lunch at Katz. 

Pastrami galore. So good.  

Even though we were stuffed, we went to Little Italy for gelato at Ferrara. Again, it was amazing.

Love her! 

So that was pretty much our trip! We stayed up a lot later than we usually do and ate pizza way too many times. We woke up early and ate bagels everyday. But I'm sure we laughed off all those calories. It was a much needed break! We're so used to having time off and going away during the weekends. But with real jobs, it doesn't happen quite as often as we'd like! My bosses are extremely nice and flexible, but Blaine doesn't get a lot of time off. But the good thing about Blaine's job is that his flight for weekend trips like these are paid for. So it all works out. Even though its hard having him gone, this job has its perks. We're definitely blessed! I hope we get to go back to NYC soon!

P.S. 

I think Blaine ended up liking NYC a little bit more this time around :) Its growing on him! Thanks for the trip, hun!

August

August came and went, and September is already here. I can't believe how fast this year is going by! August was a great month, being that Blaine started his territory work. This means that he gets to be home 2 weeks out of the month instead of traveling every week. It's still hard having him gone half of the month but having him home for more than 3 days at a time has been SO nice. The week Blaine's home, he works at home at least 1 day out of the week. This is awesome since I don't work until the afternoon and we can hang out while he's working. He took a break from work the other day and we went to the dog park with Rue. It was pretty nice! He also enjoys working in his pjs a lot :)

So here's what happened in August! 

Blaine went to his company retreat in California, then to Naples and to Exeter New Hampshire during his travels. During his retreat, he went to the Pageant of the Masters. He said it was really cool. I've always wanted to go! If you don't know what it is, check it out. I force Blaine to take "selfies" and send them to me. He's a good guy...

Must be nice to work in shorts & flip-flops! 

They had a lot of activities on the beach during the retreat.

And they had a softball tournament with personalized shirts and fitted caps.

Our friends Daylin (the only other Daylin I know) and Donald were married. At their wedding, we had the chance to hang out with Michele who was a bridesmaid, the Hoffmanns who were in town for the wedding and Kristin and Kathy. It was so good to see all of them and of course, the wedding was tons of fun. She's Venezuelan and he's from Boston although he's originally from Ghana. It was a culturally diverse wedding which we loved very very much.

Blaine flew into Boston when he went to his install in Exeter. So he made some time to visit the Dawson fam in Massachusetts. He was able to meet up with Brian for lunch and hung out with Kim, the twins, and Tucker the rest of the day. He was also lucky enough to be there for the twins birthday dinner and to watch a Redskins preseason game with them. They turned 4! Uncle Blaine had as much fun visiting them as the kids did having him there. 

My favorite twins - Aston & Chase

After Blaine's work week in NH, he flew me up to New York for a weekend trip! We met Bruce and Damaris up there and were able to hang out with Andrea before she moves to Los Angeles. We had so much fun. Bruce and Damaris were going to NYC anyway and Blaine was only a couple of hours away so he surprised me with this quick trip. He's not a huge fan of New York so this was really nice of him :) I'll write more of our trip in another post! 

Bruce graduated from nursing school! We are so proud of him! Nursing school has been tough to say the least. With his EMT job, studying and clinicals, Bruce hasn't been around very often or getting much sleep! So this is a big accomplishment! We are so glad that he's done (for now)! He was even chosen to speak at his pinning ceremony :) Congrats Brucey! 

Much to my dismay, we didn't get that cozy, cute house in Miami Springs. We prayed about it a lot and as badly as I wanted it, we decided it wasn't the right house or the right time. So right now we're continuously looking for a small home/rental - whichever feels right. I'm really anxious to have our own place already so my patience is definitely being tested. I hope we can be in our own place sooner than later! 

We've discovered a new burger place that we love. It's called BurgerFi. We loved it so much that we went twice in one week and had the same exact thing - their breakfast burger. They have salt and vinegar fries similar to Thrashers so that won us over big time. We'll definitely be returning soon! And we've gone out to eat a lot on the weeks Blaine is in town to make up for the weeks that he's not here! 

Brio - so good!

My favorite dessert @ Flannigans 

We bring Mami along on our double dates :)

Rock Burger

BurgerFi

My job is still awesome. I've been out of the office for 2 months now. I see kids usually in the afternoon. I see kids with small articulation disorders to severely autistic nonverbal school-age children. It's definitely challenging, but it is so rewarding. Even though it's only part-time, I feel that its a very emotionally draining job. I see very disabled children and sometimes its very sad. There are hard days where they kick, scream, scratch, poop, pee, bite, spit - you name it. I've even had a cute girl say "I hate speech! I'm going to pass out! This sucks!" at the top of her lungs. Some days its funny, others days its not. Sometimes its discouraging when you work on the same thing for 2 months and the child isn't even speaking, as is the case with several nonverbals that I work with. But then you have a breakthrough moment and its all worth it. 

Twins sisters I do therapy with. They're a handful. You never know what to expect!  

Also, I still love my co-workers. They're all so sweet, hardworking, and intelligent therapists! I love learning from them and feel privileged to work in such a great company. For our team building activity, we did a Vixen workout - a current trendy workout that requires a lot of popping! I wouldn't go again but it did make me sweat and laugh a ton. Few people can say that they can dance like Beyonce in front of their bosses and have fun doing so! 

Doing our "Vixen" pose! Only a few of us are here.