October 2013

Friday, October 3rd: I shared drinks with the ladies of our Connect Group at the Flatiron Lounge.  We were of course proud that as married women we were successful in staying out until midnight!  What is funny is on the same day Clay went to drinks with his coworker Chris after work and he said they walked in and right out because this place was too girly and romantic.  Yep.  :)

Saturday, October 4th: We had our Connect Group leader, Leslie, over for dinner and to watch the start of that evening's Auburn game.  Her husband had gone to Scotland to photograph a wedding and we thought it'd be nice to host her since she was alone at home all week.  She was impressed by Clay's spread of fall veggie soup, scallops, and bruschetta.  I then went to my coworker's birthday at the famous Campbell Apartment in Grand Central before heading to Club Macundo cigar lounge in the Upper East Side.

I later posted a print of this picture in my coworker's cube so she can remember her birthday night of whiskey and cigars, and to celebrate her love of Mr. Duke.

Thursday, October 16th through Sunday, October 18th was Hillsong's USA Conference at Madison Square Garden.  We heard from Hillsong's founder Brian Houston, NYC pastor Carl Lentz, Hillsong pastor and A21 founder Christine Caine, and Seattle City Church's pastor Judah Smith.  It was an amazing experience having such great people of faith speak and bless our lives with refreshing words.  We also made the decision to sponsor a little boy in India named Hari through Compassion International at Conference. After Saturday's session we joined our Connect Group to celebrate Linda's birthday for dinner and then headed to an 80's club in SoHo called Pyramid Club.  We're going to Las Vegas in January with Linda and her husband Joe.

Hari

During a large urban development real estate conference in NYC I was able to go to the 54th floor of the 7 World Trade Center to set up a presentation.  It was neat because the tower is just bare bones of concrete but the view up Manhattan was amazing.  This photo doesn't do it justice.

Friday, October 25th: Clay and I attended an event called Whiskey Washback at the Bowery Hotel on Houston in Soho.  Different distributors were passing out samples of whisky while local restaurants provided foods such as chili and cornbread, mini bbq sandwiches and ribs, oysters and ceviche, and chocolate truffles made with whiskey.  There was a great live band and everyone was able to keep making rounds trying different whiskies and snacking their way around the room.  We're already looking forward to next year!

Saturday, October 26th:  We took a family trip, Mr. Duke included, up to the Hudson River Valley to see the leaves change.  We had breakfast at Art Cafe in Nyack where we've stopped each time we've rented a car.  We then headed across to Sleepy Hallow but realized it was going to be TOO crazy with Halloween activities so then stopped at Croton Point Park where Mr. Duke ran around off-leash and protected his Bird while he napped on a bench.  Duke wouldn't walk off without Clay.  We then made a quick stop to Cold Spring before having a late lunch at Texas Round Up BBQ where we eat each time we're in this area.

For Halloween I carved a pumpkin to look like Mr. Duke!

Scotland: September 12th-19th 2014

Clay and I spent a little over a week exploring the Highlands of Scotland from September 12th-19th.  Upon landing we drove 6 hours north to Tongue (1 night), the next day we passed through Durness on our way to Lochinver (2 nights), then we stopped at Ullapool (1 night), Dufftown (2 nights), and then to Edinburgh (1 night), and back to Glasgow (1 night) before returning home.

Highlights of our trip, in chronological order, include:

Castle Varrich in Tongue

Cocoa Mountain chocolate store in Balnakeil Craft Village, near Durness, where former military base buildings have been re-purposed into residences and small shops for artisans.  We also stopped at Lotte Glob's beautiful ceramic studio overlooking a loch.  

Smoo Cave in Durness:

White sand beaches near Durness;

In Lochinver we took a fly fishing lesson with Stewart of Assynt Fly Fishing.

After our fly fishing lesson we drove the Drumbeg Loop where we saw additional gorgeous beaches and stopped at the Little Soap and Candle Company.

On our way back to our B&B we had a delicious dinner at Kylesku Hotel where they focus on locally grown/raised/caught ingredients.  This was our favorite meal of the trip.

The next afternoon we walked up the majority of Stach Pollaidh between Lochinver and Ullapool.

That night we stayed in Ullapool at coziest bed and breakfast with an amazing view from the bed and breakfast table.

Ullapool in the distance

breakfast in our room, same view from bed

It took awhile driving from the west coast of Scotland to the east from Ullapool to Dufftown in the Speyside region of the country.  Dufftown, because it has 7 main distilleries, is known as the whisky making capital of the world.  

Before checking into that night's accommodation we visited the Speyside Cooperage where we were able to see casks being made by hand.  All barrels are casks but not all casks are barrels, barrel being a specific size of cask.  Wood is imported from America and the barrels are assembled by hand, after being used they are returned and reassembled and repaired.

                      

The next morning around Dufftown we visited the ruins of Balvenie Castle and the occupied and functioning estate of Ballindalloch Castle.  

That afternoon we tour Aberlour Distillery with a nosing and tasting session at the end.

This much will make you legally too drunk to drive.

Bird in his Heaven.

That evening we joined the Dufftown Distillery Walk taking us 5 miles around town while we learned the history of the local area and the local distilleries.

The next morning we had a falconry lesson at Huntly Falcony Centre where we were able to handle owls, hawks, and falcons and learn the process of how to train them.  Our course was just the two of us with a trainer for 3 hours, you can hear her Scottish accent in the videos.

                       

                       

                       

Our final stop was a few hours in Edinburgh the day after the vote for independence.  We walked from Edinburgh Castle down the Royal Mile to the Palace of Holyroodhouse which sits across the street from the Scottish Parliament.  #DelightedToBeUnited 

Top: Edinburgh Castle & Palace of Holyroodhouse
Middle: Media village covering the referendum
Bottom: Scots voting, Scottish Parliament

We truly enjoyed our time here and were amazed about how it hardly seemed real 2 days later when we were back at home with Mr. Duke preparing for another workday in New York City!  Amazing memories were made!

July 2014: Weekends full of family and friends

The Fourth of July in New York (Friday) was an overcast day due to a passing hurricane and Clay and I spent the entire day inside reorganizing, purging, and deep cleaning.  Saturday morning we met up with Joanie and shared breakfast at the Standard Hotel’s Grill before walking north on the High Line then walking back down to Chelsea Market (the former Nabisco factory turned food hall) at street level before having lunch at The Gansevoort Hotel.  Joanie then went back to her hotel to meet up with Mary while we went back to Chelsea Market to see 2 couples (+1 new baby) from Sydney!  We then joined Joanie and Mary for an Italian dinner at Amaranth Restaurant in the Upper East Side near their hotel.  The next day I was able to attend the last running of 'The Realistic Joneses' (play featuring Toni Collette) with Joanie, Mary, and Da.

The weekend of August 11th Clay was in East Hampton with Joanie, Mary, and Da walking on the beach, eating seafood, and trying out our new inflatable kayak.  Meanwhile I was in the City with my college girlfriend from 705, Lauren.  Friday I showed her my office and the Hudson Yards room, then we walked Mr. Duke to Gracie Mansion (NYC's official mayor's residence) and had dinner at Candle Cafe, my favorite vegan restaurant, before grabbing some 16 Handles FroYo (frozen yogurt) and staying up late watching National Geographic documentaries 'The '90's The Last Great Decade.'  On Saturday Mr. Duke Pug and I showed Lauren the 82nd Street NYC Greenmarket where I compost our weekly food scrapes before watching more documentaries on decades.  That evening we walked the High Line and grabbed a taco and ice cream in Chelsea Market before having dinner at La Bottega in Meatpacking and heading to my favorite UES local bar, Penrose, to catch up with a Winthrop University friend for late drinks.  On Sunday we slept in and watched some more tv before shopping summer sales in Rockefeller Center and walking the Brooklyn Bridge which included stopping at  the only full West Elm Market before she caught an Uber to the airport.  

Right after Lauren left I raced to Broadway at Times Square to see a friend from our Hillsong NYC Connect Group star as the leading female in 'Holler if you Hear Me,' a musical based on the music of Tupac.

The next Saturday Clay and I met with others from Hillsong NYC to volunteer at The Father’s Heart, a charity that helps New Yorkers with a food pantry, soup kitchen, food stamps, legal help, GED and ESL classes, etc.  Their motto is “To declare and demonstrate God’s love through practical expressions of compassion.” This ministry is very well organized, in the morning volunteers are split into groups and given the smallest of tasks so minimal training is needing and you can just start cranking out work when the doors open.  Within an hour and a half we served 732 individuals.  Guests who would like breakfast sit down and are served a hot meal of pancakes, bacon, fried eggs, and coffee and juice; they are continuously served plates until they want no more.  Then they go through a line to receive their bags of food that contain 9 meals.  Clay was in the kitchen helping fry eggs and I was at the door greeting and saying goodbye to people while also registering those that were new to the food pantry and needed id cards made.  A number of people were deformed or had disorders, many who I tried to register had no identification and no permanent address other than the homeless shelter where they were staying.  It was a very grounding and incredible experience and we felt just as blessed as those who walked through the doors.  Afterwards I had a Ladies Lunch with the women of our married couples Connect Group  and that night Clay went out with the husbands to a bar with vintage arcade games.

The last weekend of July Clay and Gina visited but they get their own post!

June 2014: East Hampton, Westport, and Denver

The first weekend in June was spent in East Hampton with Mary and Joanie.  Clay helped Mary around the house with some outdoor work and we dined at both the East Hampton Grill and Lobster Roll and enjoyed paddle boarding and walks on the beach.

The second Saturday in June I visited a friend from work in her hometown of Westport, CT.  It was a fun day trip outside of the City via the Metro-North Railroad from Grand Central Station.  We had brunch before seeing her apartment and downtown South Norwalk then headed to Terrain, an amazing home and garden decor store, before some time spent at the beach.  We then met up with her boyfriend for dinner before I returned to the City.  It was a relaxing fun day in the suburbs.  

The next weekend we took our good friends from our Hillsong Connect Group out to Mary's.  They are currently ~14 weeks pregnant and are moving back south in September.  They really enjoyed relaxing by the bay and the husbands spent all weekend stacking rocks.  The wife loved naps on Mary's couch with all the sunny windows and said it was the best sleep she's had since becoming pregnant.

The last weekend in June was my annual 705 reunion, this year in Denver where Abby lives.  After picking me up from the airport Abby, Amy, Cara, Lauren and I stopped by Abby's apartment before heading to Red Rocks, a natural amphitheater between two large [red] natural rock formations.  We then lunched at Gaia Bistro and visited the Art District and before taking a tour of Stranahan's Whiskey Distillery and tasting.  We then stopped for groceries at Trader Joe's before heading to our arts and crafts bungalow we rented in the Congress Park neighborhood where Abby cooked us an awesome dinner of brown rice pasta, broccoli, zucchini,  tomato, and salmon.  After dinner we walked through our beautiful historic neighborhood to Liks, an ice cream parlor that's been around over 30 years, before walking a longer way home to view more beautiful homes.

Saturday morning we were up at 4:30 am and picked up Abby's larger dog, Simba, from her apartment before heading an hour outside the city to hike Mount Bierstadt, a 14er, that rises over 14,000 feet above sea level.  The landscape was gorgeous and we made it over halfway to the summit before turning around because I was feeling dizzy from the elevation and the weather was turning uncomfortably cold.  We returned to our house to shower before heading to The Source, an awesome artisan food market in an old factory building.  On the way home we stopped by Little Man Ice Cream and drove through downtown Denver to see all the major buildings for arts and government.  We spent the rest of the late afternoon and evening at the house which had an awesome backyard for hanging out and we walked to Trader Joe's for a light dinner of crackers,  grapes, and cheese before I Uber-ed it to the airport for a 12:30 am flight early Sunday morning.  It was a short trip but so awesome to see 4 of my 705ers and catch up on life while experiencing all the natural, historical, and culinary delights of Denver.

May 2014 & Cece's Memorial Day Weekend in NYC

April snows and showers certainly brought out May flowers in our local park where I walk Mr. Duke every Saturday morning:

The first Saturday in May we visited the Conservatory Garden in Central Park and walked home through Spanish Harlem finding a great lunch spot along the way:

Clay made an awesome Cinco de Seis dinner:

The third weekend in May we went to East Hampton, a great place for rest and relaxation:

Another meal highlight was this fish dinner with The Best Tomato White Wine Sauce:

Clay also started perfecting his short rib recipe this month:

Cece was supposed to arrive Thursday evening of Memorial Day Weekend but her flight was delayed then cancelled due to the weather.  She unfortunately missed an amazing surf'n'turf dinner:

Friday of Memorial Day weekend we visited the 9/11 Memorial, it was really hard being there but the memorial itself was nicely done.  The Freedom Tower, spire included, is 1,776 feet tall which is the year the Declaration of Independence was signed.  We took the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty before swinging by the Financial District to see The Bull, stock exchange, and Federation Hall on the way home.

Saturday of Memorial Day weekend we rented a car and drove out to spend a day in the Hudson River Valley.  We did the Walkway over the Hudson which is the longest (and tallest?) elevated pedestrian bridge in the world, drove through the beautiful mountains of West Point's training areas, ate authentic Texas BBQ and had some great homemade ice cream in Cold Spring.

Sunday of Memorial Day weekend after attending Hillsong Cece and Rachael took the Circle Line boat tour around the entire island of Manhattan.  The photos below are of the Intrepid, Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, and Battery Park.

It was a gorgeous day to be out on the water:

On Memorial Day we spent a few hours walking through Central Park's Ramble, 38 acres of woodland hiking around 79th Street.  Cece flew home on Tuesday-- it was a great weekend with beautiful weather and we were so happy to spend everyday outside.

The last Friday in May we attended the American Symphony Orchestra's "Forged from Fire" at Carnegie Hall which was based on Germany's occupation of other countries around WWI.

The last Saturday in May we visited the Museum of Modern Art and saw works from van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso, Dali, and Warhol.  

What a great month!  We hope to visit a few more parks, memorials, and museums this summer while the weather is nice for being outside.  Our entire month of June weekends is already filled but please stay tuned!