sean and megan's website

Parents' Easter Visit

2010-04-10T14:04:00.010-04:00

As we hadn't seen my parents since we were last in Chicago in October (oops!), they were kind enough to fly over to visit us for Easter weekend. Luckily it was amazing weather which helped us have a great and relaxing visit. They came in on Saturday afternoon and stayed through Monday morning. While we found time to relax and chat throughout the weekend, we also had our fare share of activities. We went to see an off Broadway show, Fuerzabruta, in Union Square on Saturday night after having a great tapas dinner. Mom described the show as unusual but was smiling throughout, and Dad said he'd never seen anything like that and couldn't wait to tell his theater geek friends!

After Mom and Dad came back from Easter Mass on Sunday at the church next door, we watched some great tennis and then headed out to see St. Patrick's Cathedral on 5th Ave. The weather was amazing and the street was closed to cars so it was really great to stroll up to the Apple Store (no, NOT for an iTampon, i mean iPad - but there were a lot of excited idiots buying the silly thing), before going for a walk in the park. Some pics of the day are below.

we all know how to sit on the subway

st. pats on easter sunday

parents hanging out on 5th ave

she can obviously tie balloons, i still don't think i can

3 amigos

cutest easter couple award (70+ age group) goes to these two central parkers

one way to get the dogs to look at the camera in synch - attach leashes to post and walk away :)

We had a great Easter dinner with Ryan and the 4 of us down in TriBeCa at one of our favorite places, The Harrison, and wow were we all stuffed thereafter.

Was so nice to see my parents again and have them visit. Thanks for making the trip here (and feeding & (de)hydrating us too!). Luv ya!

The week before Easter, Aunt Maura was here during her spring break to visit Ryan. They were both nice enough to invite us to a dinner at our fave Spice Market down in the Meatpacking District. Super good food as always and great to catch up with Aunt Mo and Ry over dinner and drinks. Thanks again for dinner and (de)hydrating us too - great to see you!

aunt mo and sean deep in conversation

ryan thinking about the paper he has to write - wine always helps the process

cool windows with projected people that went through various scenes

Cooking with Kins, Jewel Crafting, Doggies and NYC Photos

2010-03-20T09:53:00.013-04:00

As the title implies, I'm incorporating quite a number of topics in to this long overdue post. While we've done a lot since we've been back from Singapore, like survive yet another snow storm, I have completely neglected the blog.

Jumping back to last weekend (since I can't really remember anything we did before then as I don't have pictures), Kins was in NY and was kind enough to spend the day with us on Saturday. As many of you know, the kitchen (and by the kitchen I mean the stove and anything else used to cook) and I (this includes Sean and I) don't really go together, but Kins was willing to try and extremely patient in trying to help change that! She was successful on me, Sean claimed something like our kitchen is only big enough for two so he stayed away, but he is still really good at the dishes! Unfortunately it poured the entire day but we managed to still do brunch, make it to the whole foods and an Asian market in Chinatown and back to our apartment for our cooking lesson. On the menu - vegetarian curry and fish and veggie soup with mee sua. Kins kept telling us that cooking can be easy and that its best to cook some of these dishes in larger quantity, freeze them and then open a serving here and there throughout the week to have a home cooked meal. Although we doubted her, needless to say, she was right! Thanks so much for the lesson Kins and I'm really hoping my next batch of these dishes turns out well!

Kins and I getting the veggies in order.

fish and veg soup with mee sua noodles - YUM

best dishwasher in town

heaps of leftovers (which are all gone by now!)

We also saw Kins one last time before she headed back to Singapore for dinner on Tuesday night. It was so nice to hang with her, catch up and eat (and make) some good food! THANKS Kins - hope you come back soon!! :)

Kins and Sean, Times Square

While in Singapore, one of the things Auntie Xiangyi got me hooked on was jewelry making. I had originally wanted to find beads and embellishments for t-shirts and since she has been making jewelry for a few months now, she also was willing to give me a lesson on earring jewelry making, which I turned out to LOVE. Ever since, I've been trying to make lots of new earrings and experiment with different styles - super fun (if you like that sort of thing). Thanks for the introduction and new hobby Auntie XY!

jewel crafting as sean likes to call it
(this is what it is called in his fave video game WoW)

a few i made last weekend (most of which have been sent to you, mom)

This week has been the beginning of beautiful weather for NYers. Unfortunately we didn't get to enjoy it much this week but last night decided we couldn't resist from taking the dogs for a long walk to enjoy the 60s+ weather we're having - yay! Decided to take a few night shots with the new camera. Below are those that turned out pretty OK (most did not :)).

sean and his dog babies

sean sake kikko climbing rocks

E&Y

north east corner of the block on which we live

over the (hudson) river and through the water is...jersey

Will certainly be enjoying the beautiful weather today and also celebrating the 10th anniversary of my late sweet and loving maternal Grandma's death. Miss and LUV YA!

Gong Xi Fa Chai - Chinese New Year 2010

2010-02-23T20:06:00.037-05:00

A week ago Thursday we were off to Singapore to ring in the Lunar New Year with Sean's family. It had been two years since we were back last (Chinese New Year 2008) and we were so excited to arrive. We flew through London this year, which turned out to be a great route. We lucked out and missed the snow storm here that paralyzed many of the airports in the northeast and arrived ahead of schedule in Singapore on Saturday morning - yay!

we made it!

on the drive from the airport
just your average building, except for the freaking boat on top (yes this is intentional)
the brand new soon to open marina bay sands casino - singapore

On the drive back from the airport, we stopped by mrs. wong's friends place where a market, set up just for the new year, was bustling. From decorations to fruits to fish, they were selling just about everything you might need for your new year's celebrations.

After we headed back to the house, showered and visited with some of the family that was around, it was off to visit Sentosa, a small island off of Singapore, that has undergone some major development over the last 2 years. From the addition of Universal Studios, the Resorts World Casino (opened on Chinese New Year), multiple hotels and residences, it was hardly recognizable. We enjoyed a leisurely tour around before heading off for a drink at one of the new hotels followed by dinner at home (if we remember correctly).

spinning the globe (or at least acting like it)

the wongs in front of the grope worthy statues outside of one of the hotels (i forget which one)

strike a pose there's nothing to it - vogue

the uber grand entrance to the casino - lights, videos, soundtrack-like music

after the escalator it's just a walk down a little hallway (or a HUGE one) to the casino
think the ceilings are high enough?

After a great day on Sentosa and some execellent food, it was out to meet up with some of Sean's buddies at a new bar. Amazingly we were able to stay awake until midnight when a great fireworks show began over the river to ring in the Year of the Tiger.

On New Year's Day (Sunday), a bunch of family came to visit the house in the morning. Afterward, we were off for our rounds of visits. I think we went to 4 or 5 houses and ate at every place. Amazingly we somehow avoided a food and jet lag induced coma for the entire day. It may not sound like much, but it was quite a feat!

the wongs + the adorable sasha and ella
(dana, mr. wong, sasha, ella, mrs. wong, sean)

the ong and coates family
(ella, xian, jenn, ling, jo, sasha, jason, ping)

the girls
(liwen, mrs. wong, sasha, ling, ella, ping and megan)

visiting nai nai
(sean, mrs. wong, auntie huan yi, kaier, noeleen, dana, nai nai, zhong yi, megan, mr. wong)

Day 2 (Monday) of the New Year, Sean's Mom hosted an open-house for colleagues, family and friends. After a busy day 1, it was great to see lots of people while getting to relax at the house for most of the day.

the lovely sukamto sisters (who grew up across the street from sean et al) paid the house a visit too
(xian, dana, katiana, karissa, sean)

On Tuesday, we went to visit Orchard Road (Singapore's Michigan Ave), which has changed pretty dramatically since we were last there. We took a nice stroll before meeting Auntie Asha (a family friend of the Wong's whose father knew Mrs. Wong's father in their early business years) who treated us to a great Vietnamese lunch at her brother's new restaurant in one of the many new malls along Orchard Rd.

petting the lions

smiling and stuffed after a great lunch - thx auntie asha!
(sean, mr. wong, noeleen, mrs. wong, auntie asha, sean, megan)

We (st)rolled and shopped our way back to the car after lunch when Sean spotted a PS3 driving game to put his e-driving to the test...and he failed. Before he embarrassingly walked away, Mr. Wong gave Sean some fatherly advice - stick to the real road, Son.

sean experiencing defeat behind the wheel

One of the many highlights of the trip was the purchase an amazing new camera and lens. After reading reviews, blogs, etc for the past few months, we decided to go have a look at the bugger and well, it was love at first sight. Sean and I had a bit too much fun playing around with it and even subjected ourselves to be the first guinea pigs. Wow it is so much fun!

this is sean kalani sien loong wong

mkk

Mrs. Wong and Dana were back to work on Wednesday so Sean's Dad set up some things for us to do. First up was a lunch date with Auntie Linda, a long-time friend of Mr. Wong. She kindly treated us to a great lunch at Straits Kitchen, an all you can eat nice restaurant that serves a huge variety of local food. Needless to say, we were total pigs and enjoyed multiple rounds of multiple cuisines.

Auntie Linda and Mr. Wong

gimme gimme curry

juice - yes please

During the week we enjoyed various lunches, met up with more friends and family including some of my colleagues who we hadn't seen since they were in NY two summers ago, swam, played tennis, visited botanic, got haircuts and the list goes on.

But another highlight was seeing the adorable Sasha and Ella (who wasn't yet born the last time we were back), and their fun parents Ping and Jason. They were kind enough to bring their little ones over on Friday and Saturday after returning back from vacation so we all could hang - thx guys! Sean built lots of quadro and lego towers with them, swam in the pool and played on their slide. In between playing, we both snapped lots of photos. Although it was nearly impossible to choose what pics to post, below are just a select few of the cutie pies. They both have such fun personalities and warmed up to us super quickly. I can't wait to see how they've changed when we see them again - hopefully soon!

ella bella as many call her

sasha takes on the slide (with her sister on her back)

happy little ella
eh eh eh under my umbrella ella ella eh eh eh (name that song)

Although it took us a week to finally meet up, I was soooo happy to meet up with our good friend Karen who we first met while still in college. She and her boyfriend came over before we headed off to one of our favorite lunches - yong tau foo. It was so great to catch up even though we only had a few hours and also get the opportunity to meet her boyfriend Justin who definitely gets 2 thumbs up!

karen!! and her bf justin

The place we went to for lunch just so happens to be in the same mall where Sean's favorite chicken rice is sold, which we had to pick up for him to enjoy for dinner. After that we could both successfully say we ate all of the local food we desired (although second and third rounds would have been more than welcomed had we had more time).

one of sean's (and many singaporeans') favorite meals

We concluded that even with many restaurants being closed for the new year, we can pretty easily eat our way through Singapore in about a week :)

As we were leaving late that night, we spent the rest of the afternoon at the house hanging out with Po Po and the family before the dinner party that night began at about 7.

sean and his cute po po - she is one sweet grandma

We were off to the airport around 9 and waived goodbye to Singapore and the Wong's...for now. We also decided we will do everything in our power to make sure we do not go another two year's without a visit - it was far too long!

saying goodbye at the airport
the 4 wongs

Flights were smooth, and we were back to cold and gloomy New York by Sunday afternoon. Thanks again for everything - was a great and memorable trip!

Panamanamanama - Mike and Maylin's AMAZING Wedding CelebrationS

2010-01-30T08:48:00.051-05:00

A week ago Wednesday, Sean and I headed to Panama City, Panama to celebrate the wedding of our great friend's Mike and Maylin. Sean met Mike in college, I met Mike in college and through Mike we met each other as well as Maylin. Maylin was born and raised in Panama, Mike in a suburb on Chicago not far from where I lived, and they have recently moved back to Panama after a number of years in Chicago to make it their home.

It was soooo nice to defrost for the 4 days we were there as the weather was 90F and sunny everyday. In between the amazing celebrations, of which there were many over multiple days, we got to swim and continue catching up with lots of friends from Northwestern we hadn't seen since graduation.

Sleep was about the least important component of this trip, good company and booze were among the top, so the pictures that follow are only the G and PG rated ones. Let's just say you had to be there to appreciate the (many) other pics...

We arrived late Wed night and Mike and May and her brother Arturo were super kind and picked us up from the airport along with a few others who were on our same flight.

Panama City am view

On Thursday morning, they arranged for a bus tour of Panama City to show us some of the local monuments, parks and old city before a gigantic and amazing lunch at a place called Casablanca.

a little stand outside the market

buddies reunite

sean climbing rocks to no surprise

can't remember what this place was called but it was cool

$1 coconut and Freddie and Ray

hello fish - we ate you - you tasted goooood

part of the Thursday tour group

After the tour we got to hang out by the pool until it was time to get ready for the kids only party at the rooftop deck of their new apartment building.

the other fish that we didn't eat

The welcome party was great - music was fantastic, drinks were free flowing, food was super tasty and the company great too. It was here that we learned that there is no such thing as six degrees of separation - its far less, more like 2 - as we met my sister's sister-in-law Emily, boyfriend's cousin Ellen, one of my cousin Ryan's friend's friend, Alex - all who we had never met and had no clue were going to the same wedding until a couple of weeks before.

It was a dangerous setting with a pool wide open where of course Mike and his now brother-in-law ended up later in the night (see pic below), but such a fun time.

and this was just the dessert table

Maylin's side of the family

bromance

Our picture together from the night - yes this was towards the end - no I have no clue what we're doing :)

The really cool night view - a bit like LSD in Chicago (except warm year round).

The next day we all met for breakfast and headed on a bus tour once again, this time to the Panama Canal. While it certainly sounds sexier than it looks in person, it's something one has to do when in Panama. Let's just put it this way, Sean and the rest of the groomsmen had to go get fitted for tuxes, which got them to the canal for the last 10 or so minutes only. They saw it all except for the ship we got to see go through, which actually takes quite awhile. From making the two sides water level equal, the max speed of a boat going through = 5mph, we had plenty to see and the weather and company were great!

this was the coolest part for me - seeing how different the water levels actually are at the start. We were also trying to guess why the mini waterfall in the center of the photo exists - my guess, a leak - still not sure what the correct answer is.

the ship waiting for the water levels to become even on each side so the gates can open

yay - the water is level on both sides so the gates can finally open!

and the boat has finally passed through!!

David shaking hands with the mannequin in the canal museum

Then it was off to lunch, then a market, followed by some more relaxation before getting ready for the Chinese tea ceremony that evening.

at the YMCA we think they called it - a little different from the type we have here. its actually a market with lots of local goods.

My very basic understanding (likely 2% correct) of the Chinese Tea ceremony is that it is a way in which the younger generation shows respect to the older generation(s) on their wedding day. The couple getting married serve tea to their elders who, in return, offer the couple ang pow (money and gifts) to begin their life together and wish them well.

the wedding party

Mike, Maylin and her parents

Maylin receiving ang pow from her Grandma

Maylin thanking her brother for the watches he gave to Mike and Maylin

this time with Mike's Mom, who gave Maylin a beautiful necklace

Our table for the night during the duck course. And Mr. Wong, you'll be happy to hear all of the ang mo's really like the skin!

Once again, following the celebration there was more partying to be had - yet another great night.

The next day, Sean was up early to take photos all around the city with the wedding party while I got to relax. We met up in the early evening before heading over to Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Carmen (Church of our Lady of Mount Caramel) for the (Catholic - figured you'd like that, Grandpa) wedding mass. The mass was just shy of an hour and luckily in English, but really so beautiful. You can see some pictures of the church during the day that I found here.

a handsome Sean in his tux

me and my super comfy red dress.
(had to run back up to the room to get their card and since the elevators were soooo slow, why not snap a pic.)

a beautiful Maylin walking down the aisle with her Dad.

after the mass I even got to take a picture with Sean :)

The reception was really unbelievable - not a detail was overlooked. From the perfect music to fireworks following their first dance it was really a magical night for M&M and their hundreds of guests. After enjoying the cocktail and hors d'oeuvres in the great outdoors, we moved in to the beautiful ballroom where we enjoyed we can't even remember how many courses, lots of Moet, a ton of dancing and more Moet. The evening ended with a handful of us left when the lights went on and the music stopped at 6am :). We had to get back to the room to drink water, pack, drink more water, sleep a little, keep drinking water, shower...you get the point. We said goodbye to everyone around 10 for breakfast before a small group of us headed to the airport around 11. The rest were headed to the beach for some relaxation (and more partying so we hear :)).

cocktail hour, complete with fireworks, sushi and more, where everyone gathered after the wedding ceremony before entering...

...this - the unbelievably appointed ballroom. i swear multiple of the flower arrangements were taller than me!

6am and the wedding was over :( but wow do we have a LOT of memories!

CONGRATS to the beautiful couple and THANK YOU!!

Wong P-Unit Visit

2010-01-16T11:02:00.021-05:00

A week ago Thursday Sean's parents were in town for a visit and for Mrs. Wong to attend her annual retail conference. Although I didn't take many photos, trust me when I say we did do quite a lot. During the day, Mrs. Wong was at the conference, Sean and I at work and Mr. Wong would tour the city by foot shopping along his route of the day. We met up every night for dinner, some by ourselves, some with groups of friends, which all turned out to be great.

On Saturday, we made the obligatory trip to Woodbury Commons (outlet mall) for a day of shopping and had quite a bit of success.

Sunday started the conference for Mrs. Wong while the rest of us met up with Mars, Boo and Damon for surprise birthday brunch with Mars. We went to this place that has great baked eggs and a relaxed atmosphere - definitely enjoyed.

the 12 year old and his tea

sean and his dad

mr. wong and the birthday boy

boo and damon

mars attempting self portrait of mars and momma - pretty good i'd say

mars and his new bday backpack

the gang after heading to addidas post brunch

After a relaxing afternoon, it was out to Bond 45 for an Italian dinner in Times Square with the Wong's before heading to see Billy Elliot. It was a great show, excellent acting and tons of kids who were really good too. Would highly recommend seeing if you're in NY or its touring in your home city and you don't mind hearing lots of miner language with a northern English accent.

finally a pic of the wong's with son 2

sean and i outside billy

Monday night was a great dinner with Wong family friends Samit and Gene at a place called Soba Totto not far from Sean's work. Unfortunately was too engaged in a great conversation to even think about taking a picture (hard to believe I know), but have some great memories from the night.

Tuesday we headed to a favorite we frequent (once again thanks to Boo's recommendation), Nyonya, that has now moved across the street. Their new place is super nice - very modern looking compared to their former tiki room looking place - and they've changed the menu to add some great new things too. Ryan was able to join us on his way back in to the city from the airport too - yet another great dinner where we walked away stuffed.

mr., mrs., sean and the cousins at nyonya

Below are a couple of the pics on the walls at Nyonya Mrs. Wong wanted a copy of.

nyonya's new wall art 1

nyonya's new wall art 2

The Wong's last night was Wednesday, when we got a group together to go to Korean BBQ down the street from our apt. Turned out to be a great setting for a large group consisting of Wongs + Son 2 + Val (cousin) and her friend, Shuen (family friend and cousin of our good friend Dawn), Boo, Mars, Ryan, Sean and I. Although we were a bit crammed at the restaurant to take a pic, we headed for some yogurt (yes it is still cold here but we got yogurt anyway), and got to snap a group shot there.

the korean bbq dinner gang

The Wong's left Thursday morning and are now in LA for a visit with Auntie Dewi, Uncle Hans and lots of other friends. Was so nice to see them, THANK YOU so much for all of the great meals, and best part of all was that when saying goodbye, it was easy as ever knowing we'll see them in less than a month in Singapore - woohoo!

After being fried from lots of evening dinners and work being super busy for both of us, we were pretty boring and decided to pick up a fisheye lens to play around with last night. Below is one pic that just sorta shows the effect. Pretty sure Sean correctly stated that we'll be taking lots of fisheye photos during our upcoming trips so don't worry, plenty more to come!

fisheye subjects

While its been sooo nice to have so many visitors come through and spoil us, we'd be lying if we didn't admit how nice it is to have NOTHING to do today. Certainly we have ongoing to do lists, and some errands are likely in store, but no plans whatsoever. As a result, Sean is reading some WoW forums while I back up pictures from the last few years (and blog).

On that note, total nerd picture and comment, but I think its pretty cool that you can move ~85GBs in about an hour. I generally love technology - this is one of those days.

And what's a post without dog photos. Here's our little monsters tired and ready to KO on the bed last night.

little kikko

little sake

We are headed to Panama on Wednesday for the wedding of our good friends Mike and Maylin. Mike and Sean are good buddies from NU and Sean will be standing up in the wedding. Really excited to attend and even more excited to defrost in 90+ degree weather for a few days. Pics of the wedding to come!

the remainder of 2009, welcoming 2010

2010-01-03T09:08:00.047-05:00

For the past two weeks, Sean's brother Dana, who we hadn't seen since last Christmas, and his girlfriend Noeleen, who we had never met, came for a visit to snowy and cold New York. Dana hadn't been here for a couple of years and this was Noeleen's first visit to NYC so we had a lot to see, shop and eat while they were here.

They arrived late Sunday night and after a nightmare wait in the immigration line and for their baggage, we went for dinner in Korean Town (right outside of our building) as it was freezing and snowing and they have restaurants still open at 2am!

In an effort to try to help them minimize their jetlag, Sean and I took off of work on Monday and drove up to Woodbury Commons for some pre-Christmas shopping. Sean's colleague Margarita was also off of work so decided to come along and while we all were fairly successful that day, Margarita was by far the most successful of us all with her many purchases!

Woodbury Commons with some fresh snow on the ground.

Margarita and I found some kettle corn along our shopping path - yum!

Sean had found us a tasty Japanese restaurant up there called Gasho, which we all very much needed after hours of shopping. The portions were huge, the food pretty good but best of all we got to sit at the nice warm grill!

I was amazed that Noeleen and Dana were able to be so awake the whole day but by the time we got home, they were certainly ready to crash :).

Dana and Noeleen were really hoping to get some skiing in this trip after a long hiatus and Sean and I were very happy to hear their request so we once again headed up to our favorite southern Vermont slopes - Mount Snow - for some Christmas skiing. We left after work on Christmas Eve when traffic was not bad at all and in about 4 hours, we were there. Thanks to Sean for all of the driving and Dana for navigating while Noeleen and I took some naps and played with the dogs.

Skiing on Christmas Day was beautiful - not too cold, sunny, blue skies and not nearly as crowded as many other winter holidays! While Dana and Noeleen went to get warmed up on the greens, Sean and I paid some of our favorite blue trails a visit.

Sean at the top of the mountain.

Dana and Noeleen testing out the gear

We booked an early dinner at a restaurant literally 1 minute away from the inn where we stayed which had a great menu and great food. Shortly after we were seated, another family sat at the table that was right next to ours. The guy happened to overhear our conversation and recognized all of the Singlish (Singapore Engrish) being spoken and asked to confirm that all (except me) were from Singapore. Turns out he was too - what are the odds?? His wife was from China, they had a cute little daughter and both worked in the city as well - such a small world!

Christmas Dinner at Two Tannery Road

The dogs also enjoyed the trip getting to go outside 2x per day and play in the inns huge fenced in back yard covered in snow. Although the inn keepers had 2 black labs (Kikko is scared of big dogs), they eventually warmed up and got to play lots together.

And they got pretty worn out (yes that is Sake under Sean's green t-shirt).

Sean and his doggies on Christmas Day.

Megan and Kikko and Sake's head on Christmas Day.

and there they are, soooooooo tired

After amazing conditions on Christmas day, we woke to much colder, blizzard like conditions the day after. But we were there to ski and that we did. Noeleen and Dana started out the morning themselves once again while Sean and I went to find some freshly groomed trails. We met for lunch at the top of the mountain to find the side of it looking like this:

We were freezing and warmed up inside for quite a bit and enjoyed the remainder of the day on the slopes.

Lots of fresh snow

Taking a break to rest up our legs and enjoy the sights along one of the trails!

Consistent with the trip, day 3 proved to be different conditions, but unfortunately ones that made much of the mountain closed due to higher temperatures, rain and ice. So we decided to get a refund and head home early (with a stop at Costco along the way).

One of the unintentional Christmas gifts I received this year occurred by surprise as we were leaving Vermont. We were driving (in the wrong direction) when Noeleen and I, sitting in the back, started to hear something dragging. Turned out it was one of Sean's GIGANTIC and extremely LOUD mufflers (if case you didn't pick up on it, I cannot stand those things but can't complain since it is Sean's car). Luckily, since we were headed in the wrong direction, as we turned around and heard the metal on the road Sean pulled over in to some sort of snowmobile repair like shop where two of the workers had a look and determined that the exhaust system was fine (phew), just the muffler had rusted through. Within 5 minutes they had the thing torn off and we were ready to drive home. The good of it means time for a new (and hopefully quieter) one, the bad of it means time to buy a new one and for my snickering, we all got to hear an even louder exhaust for the four hour drive home.

The problem (yes its dragging on the ground)

Our creative attempt at a fix...

...until we met the people who could show us what was really wrong

The always difficult decision of what to do for New Year's turned out great this year. We eneded up booking for the four of us at Spice Market - a restaurant Sean and I both really like but hadn't been to since Clarine and Colin visited quite awhile ago. They were having a NYE dinner special which consisted of a four-course meal, champagne toast, nye party favors and a DJ (who started out pretty good and ended our night with the not surprising "Empire State of Mind" to ring in the new year). Food was great, company even better and one of the best parts was waking up the next morning not hung over! :)

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year (with boys' hat)!

Happy New Year (with girls' headband)!

Since we couldn't get everyone together on New Year's Eve, we decided to plan a New Year's Day dinner with Ben, Austin, Ryan and the four of us. Pretty sure Dana hadn't seen Austin and Ben since high school and he had never met Ryan so was a great time to get together over yet again, tons of food. While it was tough to find an open restaurant with seating for a larger party, we ended up being successful with a tapas place not far from our house that we visited for a friend's birthday earlier in the year - Sala One Nine.

L to R - Ryan, Noeleen, Dana, Austin

Ben and Sean starting the pose of the night.

Trying to recreate Ben's pose.

And again, this time with Ryan and I.

After dinner we were on to Spin NYC - a table tennis club not far from the restaurant and our house. To no surprise it was pretty empty so we got to have a table for a couple of hours. While the boys reminisced about their multiple matches in high school, Sean and Dana got to play once again but all were under Ben's rules (presumably from high school) - if you lose, you face the wall while your opponent tries (key word here) to whack you with a ball. Most of us faced the wall at least once that night but drinks plus having not played in a long time left no one walking away saying "that's gonna leave a mark" [name that movie, Dana and Noeleen]!

The start of the wall shots

2x Wong

Noeleen and the wall :(

Ry Guy showing us only one eye

Sean as Forrest Gump - a paddle for each hand

Yesterday, we utilized what time Dana and Noeleen had before heading to the airport to meet up with Boo, Damon and Mars for lunch and, you guessed it, go shopping. If you can believe it, none of us took a picture of Boo, Damon, Mars, Dana and Noeleen perhaps because when outside, just the thought of having any skin showing was too painful to endure or because inside the small but excellent restaurant, the smallest movement could have resulted in the knock out of other patrons or restaurant staff, so unfortunately, no pictures :(.

As for the shopping - we went to the Meatpacking District where a lot of designers (some known, some unknown but should be known) had hugely discounted items. Needless to say, we were once again very successful!

Oh and Mr. Wong - while walking along, your son's spotted the below and snapped a picture for you - pretty in line with your mantra, huh? :)

"Never pay full price" Mr. Vince(nt) Wong (too many occasions to note just one).

Dana and Noeleen headed to the airport about 8:30 last night bound for Singapore via China. It was so great having them here, so nice to finally meet Noeleen and great to see Dana after a full year. Luckily the goodbyes were not too sad as we have once again been spoiled with a trip from the Wong's back to Singapore for Chinese New Year in February of this year (THANK YOU!!!). It will be two full years since our last visit and we're pretty sure we won't recognize the place. As a result, very excited to get reacquainted in just over a month!

Our next set of visitors are Sean's parents, who arrive this Thursday for the week. Very much looking fwd to seeing them!

A very happy new year to everyone and we hope to see you all in 2010! xoxo, sm

Thanksgiving and the rest of November

2009-12-05T11:03:00.035-05:00

The week of Thanksgiving, my Mom's Sister Reenie / Laureen / Aunt Reen came to visit NYC, Ryan, Sean and I with her two adorable puppies Mick and Dolan. It was so great to finally get to spend some quality time with her - something I hadn't really done with the exception of family gatherings here and there - seeing as though I used to virtually live at her house when she was my employer. She drove in from Chicago with her two extremely well behaved puppies and stayed on the west side not too far from where we live. Although we were working, we were able to make time to catch up over food, drinks, dogs, shopping and more drinks. We strolled 5th Ave shops and introduced Aunt Reen and her good taste to the only Takashimaya on this side of the pond - a store I'm pretty sure she'll never forget.

Aunt Reen, Mick, Dolan, Megan and Sake eating Aunt Reen's earring

Ryan with Mick and Dolan on the comfy bed

Sean with our monsters who are stacked on top of eachother on the couch - they are soooo weird!

One of the highlights was getting to celebrate Thanksgiving with Aunt Reen, Ryan, Sean and her dear friend and Staci, Staci's husband John and their adorable little daughter Sophie at Tavern on the Green (THANK YOU!!!). Although it wasn't the traditional home cooked food, or food smuggled from Singapore (like last year), it was a very fun and memorable Thanksgiving (see pics below and you'll understand why)!!!

We started out with cocktails at Aunt Reen's where she turned her bathtub in to a bar, took some photos and then headed up central park to enjoy the scenery before Thanksgiving dinner.

Aunt Reen, Mick, Dolan and Megan

Same shot with Ryan and the Santa dog toy

The bathtub bar :)

We started out in the bar (huge surprise, I know) at Tavern on the Green as we were told that the drinks are more impressive than the food (true statement), met up with Staci, John and Sophie and then moved on to our entertaining dinner, complete with a visit from Santa (the scary Jewish version) and a guitarist who at one point was playing Puff the Magic Dragon.

Tavern on the Green sign with bike taxi

Pretty Aunt Reen

S&M

Ryan wishing his sister Sharon a Happy Thanksgiving

Santa and Aunt Reen

After the meal was over, it was still early in the night so we once again headed back to the bathtub bar at Aunt Reen's via a Hummer limo, which first stopped by to pick up Kikko and Sake so they could see their puppy cousins one last time before they were headed back to Chicago the next day.

Sean thinking "haha - are we seriously going for a ride in this thing??"

Staci cracking up while taking a photo too

Sophie and her balloons playing with the broken monitor

Sophie and I hanging out looking at Times Square and the Geico add from Aunt Reen's room

It was so great to have Aunt Reen here and thanks so much again from all of us for the fun and memorable week - love and miss you!

After all of the eating the week entailed, Sean and his friend Ben decided it would be a good idea to pay our favorite rock climbing gym, New Rock in New Rochelle, NY, a visit. We went nice and early on Sunday and didn't catch any traffic going out of the city (not the case on the way back) and were able to climb for a few hours. The 3rd musketeer Austin, also one of Sean and Ben's best buddies from high school, was able to join too, but while we were top rope climbing, I didn't have my camera out in an effort to keep it chalk free so the below pics are just of Ben and Sean bouldering.

Sean and his successful bouldering problem:

scoping out the route beginning finally getting a good hold

the feet come off but he's able to stay on feet back on - phew and able to finish the route!

Ben also did some great routes but I wasn't quick enough to snap away but got the below :)

Toast :)

After a great time at the gym it was off to our favorite Mitsuwa Japanese market in Jersey where we enjoyed the food court and loaded up on noodles, candy and sake.

I also forgot to post pics of the tasty homemade pizza Ryan made for us a few weeks back. He had been wanting to cook for us as a thank you for letting him stay here when he was looking for a place. Since we don't cook much at all, we were very excited and happy to have Ryan cook for us :) - thanks again, cuz!

Ry-guy the pizza maker

The pretty pizzas

And the below picture is proof why you want Ryan and not Sean cooking

2 types of noodles, 2 eggs, leftover steak (the idea of Chris), a smile and a dog

Normally Sean's dish wouldn't involve Steak, but we met up with our great friend Chris from Northwestern, who was in town one last time to say goodbye to people at work. Chris has recently moved back to Taiwan where he's from so we won't be seeing him nearly as often anymore :( but was so nice of him to plan a lunch with us. Really hope we will get to see him next time we're in Asia!

Sean and Chris after eating lots of steak

So that's what's been happening around here recently. We are really looking fwd to seeing Dana and Noeleen in a few weeks and celebrating the holidays with them.

Weddings weddings and Becky and Dan's B-Day Visit

2009-11-14T09:56:00.028-05:00

I'm once again going to smash a lot in to one post as I'm once again way far behind on blogging. [Warning: pity party begins here] Work has been kicking my a$$ and taking up more time than ever so haven't made the time to blog given that my schedule goes a bit like this - get up (earlier than normal), work work work work, come home (later than normal) to say hi to Sean, pet the dogs, sleep and repeat - fml. So on this hazy, damp and cold day, I've decided to smash all updates into one post not knowing when I'll get the chance to blog again :(.

So, now that the pity party is over, let's begin. Rewind to about a month ago and we were once again back in Chicago for the finale to the 2009 wedding season. Our neighbor growing up - Jill - got married on Friday night to Mr. David Good which was an absolute blast. They were married at this cute little house in the woods (well kinda - it was the suburbs of Chicago - but there were funky animals around and lots of tall grass and trees so it felt a bit like the woods), followed by a really fun reception at a hall not far from the parents' house. We got to see lots of the family friends as well as Jill's sister Traci's kids, who were baby and toddler when we moved away and I can't believe that they are walking talking little cuties already. A few pics from wedding #1 below.

Mr. and Mrs. Good and Beck and I

Jill's brother-in-law with his daughter Grace watching Auntie Jill and Uncle David dance their first dance.

Photos like these always make me happy that I'm behind the camera and not in front :P

and yet another one - this time of the parents dancing

Then on Saturday, it was wedding numero duo of the weekend - this time for my cousin Tim's (former partner in crime as kids) wedding to his beautiful bride Mandy. They were married at a church (where we forgot to bring the camera) in the town where I grew up with a reception at a beautiful hall about an hour away. We got to see all of the family - 1st cousins, 2nd cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents - which is always great [Warning debbie downer comment: especially during a year where we will not be around for the holidays :( wah wah]. Had a great time drinking (yes this was an absolute requirement seeing as though in between weddings all time was dedicated to work), dancing and catching up with everyone.

Sean and I with Grandma and Grandpa

All of the Kunzweiler cousins with Grandma and Grandpa

Sean and I with ugly wallpaper and ugly carpeting (must figure out how to edit that out).

Tim (the groom) and I

What has now become tradition - a pic of Chris and Sean at every wedding :) - and it's always a good one.

The beginning of what we're referring to as "visitor season" began last weekend when Becky and Dan came to town for their first time back since they moved back to Chicago about 2 years ago. The occasion was Becky's (nearing 30th) birthday. Was a blast to have them around again and take a weekend off to enjoy some good food, nightlife and company. They arrived late late on Thursday and had the day on Friday while Sean and I were at work to shop. Friday night the four of us enjoyed some wine here before heading out to Becky's birthday dinner. We went to a restaurant I really enjoyed about 2 years ago but hadn't been back since called The Harrison, located in Tribeca. Luckily, it was just as good (or so I thought) as I had recalled.

Wine from the year I graduated high school

Blowing out and eating her birthday candle

After enjoying a great meal, we needed to do something on our feet and going to a place Sean had been wanting to visit for quite some time turned out to be a great idea. The place is called Spin and its a ping pong / table tennis (whatever you may call it) bar / lounge where you can play and/or watch tournaments going on (that was a lot of //////// in that sentence!). Just so happened that Susan Sarandon is a huge fan and happened to be one of the spectators that night - random and funny. Ryan was able to meet up with us there and so we all watched and poked fun at some of the center court matches while we waited for our table and were thoroughly entertained and amazed at how good some of these people are.

Really good player with Suzie in the background.

Sean testing out his new paddle

Ryan showing us his skills

Dan and Sean playing a match

After getting home reasonably late we slept in on Saturday and enjoyed a lazy morning. Once we were ready to head out, we deided to visit the Chelsea Market for lunch. It's not far from our house and has some great food at reasonable prices and is all set in this cool warehouse style building. We walked around, ate some lunch, Becky and I got cupcakes, and then headed over to a recently opened park called High Line on the westside.

One of the first pictures where Sean is not smiling

A shot of the market

Becky imitating her leprechaun friend

After the Chelsea Market, we headed to the High Line whose history goes like this: "The High Line was built in the 1930s, as part of a massive public-private infrastructure project called the West Side Improvement. It lifted freight traffic 30 feet in the air, removing dangerous trains from the streets of Manhattan's largest industrial district. No trains have run on the High Line since 1980. Friends of the High Line, a community-based non-profit group, formed in 1999 when the historic structure was under threat of demolition. Friends of the High Line works in partnership with the City of New York to preserve and maintain the structure as an elevated public park. " It's a really nice place to walk and get a view of the city from a few floors up. Once it is complete, it will run between the West Village and 34th street - currently it is completed from the West Village to 20th street, so almost there!

Walking up a few flights to get to the park.

A view of the park

After High Line we wanted to show Beck and Dan this cool sports complex not far away called Chelsea Piers where there's a gym, rock wall, gymnastics, batting cages, bowling, golf, and the list goes one. Unfortunately it was pretty crowded and our idea to hit baseballs or bowl didn't happen, but still nice to walk there and see some other people in the batting cages, golfing, working for CBS sports or something like that and the like.

We didn't have too much time as we had dinner number two at one of our favorite restaurants you've likely heard mentioned here about 120498724357 times - Basta Pasta. We had never been with Becky and Dan and them hearing about it 120498724357 times, they asked if we could go there (our answer to that request could never be no!). So we met up with Ryan as well as Beck and Dan's friend from high school Chris, who is currently doing his residency here, and his wife Kristen for some good food. After a great meal, we were off to a wine bar Ryan suggested that he and Aunt Maura really enjoyed during her visit.

The infamous wheel at basta pasta

The gang sans photographer Sean :( outside of Bar Veloce

(lft to rt) Dan, Becky, Megan, Ryan, Chris, Kristen

It had been quite awhile since we've had visitors so was really nice to start of the "season" once again. Next up is Aunt Reenie and her two puppies Mick and Dolan, who will be visiting for Thanksgiving, followed by Dana (Sean's brother) and his girlfriend Noeleen who will be here for Christmas and New Years, and will close with a visit from Sean's parents in January. Yay!

Fall is here

2009-10-11T21:05:00.011-04:00

This was really one of the first fall weekends we've had. The cooler temps have been around for a bit now, but apple picking and seeing leaves turn really made it feel like fall :/ While I don't mind a change of seasons, most of you know I am not very fond of cold temperatures, which unfortunately, probably aren't too far off.

We started off the weekend with a visit to the gym and some errands on Sat before meeting up with Ryan and Aunt Maura, who was visiting Ry and his new city for the weekend. It was great to visit over dinner, although I definitely dominated the conversation with lots of stories from Kenya (sorry about that). They treated us to a great tapas dinner (THANK YOU!!!) before they were headed off to see the Lion King.

Aunt Mo, Ry and Meg

Awe - cousins

On Sunday we decided to head up north to the Hudson Valley to do some apple picking at Masker Orchards. We took a not so common route (shorter distance than the highway) to get there and ended up missing the final turn a few times before locating the place (because the street wasn't marked) and decided to take the common toll road route home, which was loaded with traffic, but concluded the trip was definitely worth it. We each ate about 238245687 apples while we were there (they were on the house) and picked another 879908345762 (not on the house but cheaper and better tasting than the market). The weather was so beautiful and it was nice to be out in the fresh air.

Lots of pretty leaves (and ugly telephone poles)

Lake on the drive up to the orchard

Sean and his buddies

Likely some of the casualties that got eaten while we were there.

I was even able to reach a few (the kids had gotten most of the low hanging fruit - about all I'm tall enough to pick)

Sean and the doggies and the beautiful landscape

Next weekend we are headed back to Chicago for a weekend of weddings. On Friday, our neighbor Jill is getting married and on Saturday my cousin Tim and soon to be cousin Mandy will tie the knot - can't wait to celebrate!

Hakuna matata - our Kenyan adventure

2009-10-04T21:22:00.021-04:00

"Its an adventure, not a vacation" was the common line my Mom said that could not have been more true while we enjoyed our time together in Kenya this past week. Jet lag is starting to set in and I'm getting quite tired but wanted to post a few (ok more like 10 or so) of my fave photos (so far) from the adventure.

I just arrived back this morning and my Mom is staying on until later this week. It was such an amazing trip, am so happy to have gotten to spend some time with my Mom, experience Kenya for the first time together and we were so lucky to have such amazing tour guides / hosts / body guards, etc. A huge asante sana to George and his entire family and Tom for making our stay so fun filled, memorable and safe. I will definitely be posting more details about our daily schedule and activities, but it will have to wait until I find a bit more time. For now, enjoy!

The amazing crowd who welcomed us to Kenya first at the airport and then at the hotel

Mom, Margaret, Sarah and Regina walking around Nairobi's city center

Mom while walking around Nairobi

at the Giraffe Center getting slimed while feeding them

George feeding a greedy monkey peanuts at city park

Mom and George at DePaul Centre

George outside of his family's dairy and grains shop in Kariobangi

Margaret and her oldest son, George (aka Komo) outside of her shop in Kariobangi, Nairobi. A name change of the store is currently being contimplated - George is suggesting Walmart :)

Maureen is toooo cute, even when sitting in the classroom!

New pencils from the USA

Outside of Maureen and Alex's school - Nyota Daycare Educational Center.
All of the students LOVED having their picture taken. They also loved repeatedly saying "How are you, how are you, how are you"

One of the many amazing closeups we got of Zebras (and other animals) in Nairobi's National Park

Crossing the Equator while touring cities around Nairobi
(L to R - George (Komo), Maureen, Jody, Alex, Regina (George's sister-in-law) and George)

Holding him back from flying away - George and Megan while touring the Rift Valley

More views of the Rift Valley. We were told this "deck" was safe, and while none of us fell, I'm still not certain it's really all that safe :)

Mom and Tom in front of Tom's mansion in the Westlands section of Nairobi

Visiting George's middle nephew John at his boarding school in Thika, Kenya. (R to L - Tom, Jody, John, Megan)

Maureen, Jody, Alex walking home from school. Pretty sure this is my favorite picture from the trip.

Happy Birthday!

2009-09-20T09:28:00.005-04:00

After working all weekend last weekend and having busy weeks this week, it was really nice to step out and celebrate Sean's birthday this past Thursday. Can you believe he's 27? We went to The Stanton Social on the lower east side (thanks for the recommendation, Sundas!) - a place that serves a ton of different cuisines all in tapas style small plates. The food was fantastic but they really need to learn how to turn down the music (and this is coming from someone who likes loud music) so that you don't have to scream to talk to people next to you.

6 of us went to dinner - Sean, Ben (high school buddy whose house we were at not long ago when we went to the beach in CT), Ryan (my cousin who recently moved here), Dawn (good friend of ours from SG), and Sundas (one of Sean's many great colleagues) - and then more (Margy, Becky and Amanda - all colleagues) joined at the bars after we stuffed our faces. All in all a great night!

Unfortunately I only brought my point and shoot camera because I was too lazy to lug around my bigger camera all day and forgot to check to see if it had any charge before leaving home that morning. Much to my surprise and disappointment, it was dead, so it was the iPhone camera to the kinda-rescue it was (thanks again for snapping these, Sundas).

Sean and his birthday cupcake

making a wish

Sean headed off on Friday night to LA to see another high school buddy, Dave. Dave is becoming a fantastic trance dj and was spinning at a club this weekend so Sean decided to go and support his friend. I'm fairly certain he has gotten no sleep (he is smsing me right now as he is on his way to the airport and its 9:40am here, minus three for the time change to there and I'm sure they closed the club, likely at about 4).

I stayed home with the monsters as I had tons of errands to run and lots of packing to do before my Mom and I head out next Saturday for our first visit to Africa. We are headed to Nairobi, Kenya, where I'll stay for a week, Mom a bit longer than me, to see where George is from, visit his family, and finally see Tom's work in person. Should be a very eye opening trip and am excited to get to spend some time with my Mom! Expect lots of pics to come from that trip.

About to go run the dogs to the dog park, then to tennis with Ryan, but before signing off, I have to also wish a Happy Birthday to Sharon and my Dad, who both turned a year older this week too!!

US Open 2009

2009-09-06T11:31:00.018-04:00

Yesterday was our third year at the open since we moved to NY. This time, rather than going during the week to see the headliners playing the evening matches in Arthur Ashe, we decided to get grounds passes for a weekend day. While we correctly anticipated massive crowds, we didn't expect to see such amazing matches being played everywhere on the grounds.

Sean checking out one of the sidecourts

On another side court

[WARNING - SPOILER ALERT] While the tickets we had didn't allow us in to Arthur Ashe to watch Federer drop the first set to Hewitt to eventually win the match (no surprise), see the young American Oudin beat Sharapova (huge surprise) or see Andy Roddick unable to take the win over fellow American Isner (also a surprise upset) with their match concluding after 9pm (and they were in the day session), we did get to see amazing tennis next door from Louis Armstrong. We arrived early enough around 10:30am to score amazing seats about 10 rows behind the box seats off of the court. Not only did we see amazing tennis, we also had beautiful weather - 80 and sunny!

First match up beginning at 11 was #4 Djokovic vs an American we had never heard of, Jesse Witten. Witten played his heart out taking the first set from Djoko in a tie break. While he hung in there for all 4 sets, Djoko unfortunately (Sean and I don't care much for him) finished off the next three sets to take the match. Luckily he had to work for the win, which made it very fun to watch. We also happened to be sitting near Witten's fans (we were thinking they were perhaps school buddies) so it was really cool to see the mostly American stadium rooting for their countryman, who happened to the unknown underdog of the match.

Match #1 of the day on Louis Armstrong

Witten showing off his big serve

Djoko and his amazing defensive game

Next up was the Spaniard Verdasco (#10) versus the German Haas (#20) which proved to also be a better match than we had anticipated. While I was hoping Haas would be able to win (he is one of the few, if only, good looking male tennis pros), he played exactly as Sean had predicted, inconsistent. So after a long 5 sets Verdasco came out the winner of the match.

Match #2 on Louis Armstrong finally taking the court around 3pm

Haas taking the court

Verdasco waving hi to the crowd as he takes the court

Changeover

After seeing just these two matches, it was already 6pm so we headed out to get some dinner, watch the Roddick, Isner match from outside Arthur Ashe and walk the grounds. Sean spotted the "Smash Zone" where you could clock your serve, return balls set to a certain speed and play other games, all for free, so we waited in the shortest line of the day for him to test his serve. He made it up to 98mph, but we're fairly certain the radar was a bit goofy. Yeah yeah, excuses, excuses, but there was one guy who we're fairly certainly was 110 at least and his was showing up in the 60-70 range so we think it had something to do with where you hit the ball that made for the most accurate read. Anyway, free fun nonetheless.

Sean trying to get out a >100mph serve

just looked up and saw he was 2mph short - damn

Once again it was a great visit to see our favorite sport live!

Sean and the globe

We would like to introduce to you Mr. Dan and Mrs. Becky Markowski

2009-09-03T22:04:00.029-04:00

This past weekend, Sean and I headed back to Chicago to watch Becky and Dan say I do. While I always enjoy going home and seeing family and friends, I must say this weekend was the highlight of all the trips. It was just so amazing and fun to see my one and only sister, looking beautiful and happy as ever, marry the guy of her dreams. It's also pretty cool to now officially have a brother - thanks for saying yes, Dan! So, without further adiu, seanmegan.blogspot.com would like to introduce to you, the new Mr. and Mrs. Markowski.

there were too many good photos to choose from (they both pose like models), but really loved this shot

The weekend started out with a rehearsal of the ceremony on Friday, followed by a great dinner before the big day.

arriving at the mansion

heading in to the mansion

Beck, Dad and Mom practicing the walk down the aisle

Beck and Dan practicing the yay we did it walk down the aisle

After all the practicing was over, it was time to enjoy some dinner and drinks before getting some much needed sleep (haha yeah right, that didn't really happen) before the big day.

Mr. Markowski giving a funny toast

Cute Grandma and Grandpa K.

Cute Grandpa C. and Mom

Photographer extraordinaire Sean

Aunt Mo (Godmother), Bride, Sister, Mom

groomsmen in their soccer jerseys

the (original 4 members) Dave Kunzweiler family

The Markowski's with their daughter-in-law (and soon to be son-in-law)

On Saturday, we got our day started nice and early with breakfast followed by hair and makeup before it was time for pictures, the ceremony and the reception, all of which turned out to be beautiful and fun. I'll let the few pictures below do the talking, but know that we (of course) have a ton more pics that I'll be posting to a site at a later date (will share that link here when it is completed). Enjoy and congrats again Beck and Dan!

Seeing eachother for the first time on their wedding day

my job for the day - don't let the dress get too dirty but don't flash the world

yet another great shot at photo location #1

the 4 of us all dolled up

Becky and her ladies

the party bus on the way to the wedding

Beck arriving at the mansion

at last, an opportunity for me to steal the camera out of his hands and take a pic of the handsome man behind the camera all dolled up :)

And for all who stayed the night near the reception hall, there was a breakfast the morning after. Some strolled in early, some left early and some never showed, but Becky and Dan wished they would have slept a bit more.

they were happy - just tired - and really wanting to get on their honeymoon! don't kill me for posting this, beck

enjoying brunch

more of the morning after brunch gang

Beck and Dan are off enjoying (I'm assuming they are enjoying as we haven't heard from them :)) their honeymoon in Kauai and Maui for the next two weeks but I can't wait to reminisce about the day with them once they are back. Such a fun weekend, thanks to everyone and congrats again to Beck and Dan!

Sweet home Chicago
a cool photo Sean took from the airport looking at the Chicago skyline - he's got a good eye!

Ryan lives in NY and Sharon helped him get there

2009-09-03T21:28:00.005-04:00

The weekend before last, my cousins Ryan and Sharon made the drive out to NY from Chicago to move Ry in to his new apt for the year. Although Sean and I weren't able to help them move stuff when they got here on Sunday due to major traffic delays getting in to the city (sorry again guys), we did get to see them on Monday night for dinner, drinks and some wedding speech writing. Good thing this dinner occurred because it is where the wedding speech delivery method was decided upon - I owe you Shar, Ry and Sean!

Sean playing DJ with some potential music selections for the speech. Sake of course was helping too.

Then on Tuesday, we all got together again for a nice dinner at one of our favorite places Basta Pasta (thanks again for the intro to this place Boo), where we've taken lots of people to introduce them to Italian Japanese fusion. Luckily, it was a hit with Shar and Ry and we all left fat and happy!

Sharon, Megan and Ryan @ dinner

On Wednesday, Sharon and I, who by chance happened to pick the same flight on the same day from NY to Chicago (bear in mind this isn't as easy as it sounds - 3 airports to choose from, multiple airlines, and at least 1 flight per hour all day), got to head to the airport together to head back to Chicago. I wish I could bring Sharon to the airport with me every time I go because she makes delays (ours was an hour this time around) seem like nothing - we just chatted right on through it. Was so great to see Sharon here in NY and so happy to have Ry here who we are hoping to see and play some tennis with this weekend - yay.

Oh and to complete the whole what's the chance you'll run in to your cousins at the airport chronicles, Sean spotted Dave (brother of Sharon Ry and Tim) as we were waiting in the security line at O'Hare last weekend, (as we were headed back to NY and Dave to LA) who happened to be flying the same airline albeit in the opposite direction, with a flight leaving 5 mins after ours. We all had about 30 mins to spare at the airport so got to sit and chat with him before we were headed to our respective coasts. We thought it was pretty cool :)

Dave, Megan - O'Hare

August happenings

2009-08-16T15:26:00.021-04:00

I'm covering the last few weeks in one post (yet again) - surprise surprise - so apologies if things seem a bit out of order. We've had a good amount of things going on in addition to work being pretty busy and both of us having a few moments of being under the weather. So, to get to the point...

A week ago Friday our buddy from Northwestern, Chris, was in town for work and made the time to meet up with us for dinner. It was so nice to see him again and enjoy one of our favorite Japanese restaurants in the city that Chris happened to introduce us to. You've seen Chris on the blog many times before, typically with his girlfriend Jenny too, as he used to come to town quite often, but Jenny has since moved to France so his trips have been much less frequent. :(

As always we ordered like pigs and even felt the need to top off an amazing meal with green tea tiramisu which was AMAZING. None of us had ever had it before but something tells me next time we're back here, we'll be ordering it up again!

buddies Chris and Sean

Chris and Megan outside Aburiya Kinnosuke

A week ago, my cousin Ryan, who was here just a couple of weeks ago, was back for another visit to find an apartment for the school year. Luckily, this trip was a huge success and he found a really nice place near Columbia right off of Central Park! Always nice to see him and I'm sure it will be happening more often when he moves in about a week. Last visit, we introduced Ry to some of our favorite restaurants in the city. He claims to have walked away impressed so the pressure was on to not disappoint this time around. Once again, he says it was a success so I am relieved.

We introduced Ry to red mango - good frozen yogurt with fruit toppings - and brought him to Nyonya, the Malaysian restaurant Boo and Damon introduced to us when we first moved here that we've ordered from and gone to many times since.

Ry Guy and Megan outside Red Mango in Ktown

Since I order us Nyonya all the time (as they will deliver to my work and I can bring it home from there), I have gotten to know the really kind delivery men who work there. One recently got a hot new bike with a motor that I think is super cool. He has offered me a ride to the subway from work before, but I've never taken him up on it, but I did take the opportunity to take a seat on it at the restaurant before he was off for another delivery. Pretty sure Sean thought it was pretty cool too :).

Sean and fancy red bike

Sitting on the back seat of the bike

As you may know from previous posts, Sean and I have been getting back in to recreational tennis. As it's not really possible for us to play during the week because of work and the courts being far away and closing at 8, Sean found us 4 weeks of tennis lessons at Hunter College on the east side of Manhattan that we started last Monday. There are two indoor courts in the B4 level of the college that are really nice. We get to play for the hour along with 16 or so other participants. Despite there being quite a number of people, they are really good at doing drills that keep you moving the whole class (thus why I only have the below pics). We both enjoyed and are looking forward to tomorrow's class too!

a partial view of the gym

the new gear

Yesterday Sean drove Margarita, Becky and I all out Ben's parents' house to meet up and head out to the beach in Westport, CT. It was a really beautiful day (although rained for about 10 minutes while we were there) and the beach was super nice. After we spent the afternoon relaxing at the beach, we went back to Ben's house where he already had the fish (thank you - yum!) and chicken marinating and we all helped prep the rest of the meal. It was a tasty spread once again (Ben has never let us down with his cooking), great company and a really relaxing day. Thanks so much for having us out, Ben and thanks to your parents too!

Sean, Margarita and Becky are out there somewhere - just not sure where - but its a nice view of the beach.

happy Sean after a swim

Austin and Tao's back on beach

Sean and pixie stick gigantica

Food prep - Ben, Becky and Margarita

chef and host extraordinaire Ben

grill masters team Elissa, Tao, Margarita but sans Ben

Waiting for Ben to come up with a toast :)

pinky swear

And here's a couple of the funny poses we've caught Kikko and Sake in on camera for this month.

Kikko sleeping half on her brother.

Sake ready to take a snooze

and last but not least, tomorrow is my Mom's birthday so HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, MOM!!!

We'll miss you G2

2009-08-11T21:29:00.008-04:00

Different types of fun - Bachelorette Party and the NYC Triathlon

2009-07-26T19:13:00.038-04:00

I would argue that there is most definitely a juxtaposition in the types of fun I'm about to describe below, but, I would also be willing to argue that they are both indeed fun.

On Friday after work, I headed to LaGuardia to head home to Chicago while Sean was walking from work to a hotel convention center to do his first NYC Triathlon orientation. While I was flying the friendly skies after only a 1 hour delay on the runway, Sean was meeting other race participants and hunting out any last minute gadgets that may help him. I arrived only 10 minutes late to rainy but pleasant Chicago where my Dad picked me up and we headed home to Mom (thanks Dad!).

On Saturday morning, we were up bright and early as I wanted to get a visit in with my Grandma and Grandpa and my Dad, who was headed out to Dan's bachelor party, which began with a Cubs game - the only part he and Dan's Dad attended. My Mom and I also headed out to my Grandpa's for a visit and dropped by to see my late Grandma at the cemetery as her birthday is coming up this Friday. It's always great to see the Grandparents and is certainly something I try to do each time I'm home. So happy it was possible this time given such a short trip.

Grandma Kunzweiler and I after a yummy breakfast

Happy Birthday, Grandma

After our stop to see Grandma it was off to the hotel where we had just enough time to get ready for the party. We met up with Beck, did our makeup, had a champagne toast with some of her friends before heading over to set up for the party at Carnivale.

Mom and Beck getting ready for the party

Carly, Beck and Erin pre-party at the hotel

Most people came around 5:30 / 6 and we started the evening off with appetizers, drinks (of course) and a personal shower for Beck. She got tons of stuff, some risque, some not, so I put a happy medium pic below :).

I think the comment was something like "hahaha what's the point?" - Beck and Emily

Following the shower it was time for dinner, more drinks, dessert, more drinks and lots of laughs. We had party favors - champagne glasses with some stuff written on them - which you had to earn by introducing yourself and giving a toast to Beck. Dan's Mom's was hilarious (apparently she knew last that Dan and Becky were dating, but at the end, had to say thanks for taking him off the market :)) and of course she was a very animated presenter!

Beck's soon to be Mother-in-law giving a funny and memorable toast

We also had a couple of photos I had (very poorly) created and my Mom blew them up on a poster for people to drawn on and sign. As a result, I am only showing a pic of "Becky Moss and Dan Costanza" at the beginning of the night.

Becky and Dan on other people's bodies

After tons of food and 108 drinks in total, the 26 of us were off to the bars with the group. I won't show any pics beyond our time at Carnivale, though, in an effort to keep this post rated "not for everyone" as opposed to "not for anyone and completely embarrassing".

Mom and her girls

Beck and the college buddies - (l to r) Carly, Erin, Becky, Laura, Laura, Blythe

Sisters (l to r), Aunt Maura, Aunt Michelle, Aunt Reen, Mom

Friends - Ann, Jen, Lindsay, Katie

Aunt Reen with her girls - Sharon and I

Becky and Katie

Laura and Blythe

Sharon and I - miss her soooo much!!

After a great night of celebrations for the bachelorette, Beck and I got back to the hotel in one piece just after 2:30 and stayed up a bit to chit chat before going to bed...at least for Becky. I planned an aggressive schedule needing to catch a 6:55am flight out that I was really hoping would get me in to NY in time to see Sean cross the finish line of his first NYC Triathlon. And despite all our doubts that this hope would actually become reality, I experienced 0 delays, a line-less taxi-stand, no traffic on the FDR and a taxi driver who knew right where to drop me. After getting to the a point in the run where the participants had 1/3 of a mile to go and I had a great view up front and the best part, I saw Sean!!!! (after waiting for no more than 3 minutes - can you believe it? ) I hardly could but managed to squeak out a "Sean - yay Sean - GO Sean" and remembered to get out the camera to snap a few pics.

Waiting for Sean, wondering if I'd see him, but cheering on everyone

More athletes just about finished

It's Sean!!! This is about where I screamed Sean - yay - GOOOOOO Sean. 1/3 mi to go turn

killing the run

and to the finish he goes

running fast!

After seeing him at this point I jogged my way to the finish line with my suitcase and found a place to squeeze close to the fence at a point where the athletes passed after receiving their medals and were officially done. I am still in a bit of shock and thanking some high power for letting us get to meet up - was sooo cool for me and Sean said it came at the perfect time. He did AMAZINGLY well, despite having to, for the first time, figure out how to train while working full time for this race he had a total time of 2:34:37!!! He came in 89 out of 370 people in his age group - the 25 to 29 M division - and had his times break down like this: Swim 19:46, Transition 1 5:39, Bike 1:18:24 (avg 19m/hr despite lots of rolling hills and wind), Transition 2 1:59, Run 48:50 (for a 10K!!! - amazing in my mind). Congrats again, Sean!!!

Just crossed the finished

Finished with medal to prove it!

Sean's # - 5040

Age on the left calf (once I learned this I couldn't stop trying to guess people's ages and then validate them by checking out their calves while walking around the grounds and to get Sean's stuff).

Walking on a closed off 72nd street to pick up Sean's bike and gear.

Red Transition Zone - where Sean's bike and gear got to live for a couple of days

Ready to head to the subway, go home, shower, eat and sleep!

I'm so proud of Sean, think he is amazing and also think there will be many more triathlons in his future. Can't wait to cheer him on in the swim and bike next time too!!

July weekends

2009-07-19T10:57:00.029-04:00

Following the amazing vacation many of you read about in our last post, we have been keeping going with lots of activities this summer. The weekend of July 4th my cousin Ryan came to visit in hopes to find a neighborhood and perhaps an apartment where he will live for the next year. Ryan is starting a masters program at NYU for the year and we can't wait for him to move to the big apple too. Although he was unsuccessful in finding an apt (it's a bit early for the NYC rental market) he found many neighborhoods that he thinks could suit him well. Hopefully come August he'll find a place in no time - can't wait!!

While Ryan was here we ate lots, watched tons of Wimbledon - yay Federer and Roddick too - played tennis, and did lots of walking around the various neighborhoods in Manhattan. Ryan also took some tours of Brooklyn and Queens to see if they may suit him, but hopefully Manhattan will be available for September move in!

16 handles - make your own ridiculous ice cream sundae - yum

on a mission - looking at an apt sublet ad at the japanese supermarket we like to frequent

Ry guy and Sean in the subway

Sean has been training very hard for the triathlon coming up one week from today. Unfortunately I may not get to see him compete (still kicking myself for this) as I planned my sister's Bachelorette party for the night before...in Chicago. I'm really looking forward to the party and can't wait to see all the ladies and I've booked a very early flight back to NY on Sunday morning so hoping I can make it to the finish line to see Sean. Good thing I have the below picture, otherwise I wouldn't get to see him in his wetsuit, which will hopefully protect him from the nastiness in the Hudson River (yes the same river the plane successfully landed in earlier this year, the river they find dead bodies in on Law and Order and apparently a river with jellyfish too - eek). We are welcoming all the rain this week wants to bring to hopefully dilute the river prior to the tri!

Sean in wetsuit - hope it keeps him from contracting some dunno what disease from the Hudson...oh and warm too!

We've also been getting back in to tennis and got new rackets that we are very pleased with. We've been getting out 1-2x per week (on the weekends) to play on the public courts. Typically you get to sign up for a court for a one hr time slot and last week, we got there for the 6pm slot and were able to sign up for a 7-8 slot at the same time as well. So Sean took some of the extra time to work on his serve. Since I can't really return it, I decided to take some pics for his coach (aka his Dad) to see. Enjoy Mr. Wong!

check out that form

pointing at the ball just like coaches teach you

fully extended arm while making contact

the finish (it was an ace, of course!)

On Friday, we headed up to Litchfield, Connecticut - about a 2 hr drive from NYC - to meet up with my old colleague Dara, her husband Dave, Dara's sister Ashley, who also watched our dogs when we headed back to Singapore the last time, and Ashley's boyfriend Britt, which wasn't far from the race track Lime Rock, where we were headed on Saturday for the day for the American Le Mans Series Northeast Grand Prix.

We stayed at this little cottage like inn place that Dara had found last year when she and Dave attended the race, where we got a cabin all to ourselves that had three rooms so luckily the dogs didn't bother anyone, except Sean and I the whole night! We met up on Friday at the hotel before heading off to a super tasty dinner at this little restaurant in town. It reminded us of some of the amazing yet super small restaurants that we used to go to near Becky and Dan's old place in NY - thanks for planning, as always, Dara!

Welcome to the Toll Gate Inn where Kikko and Sake will greet you if you'd like

The schoolhouse complete with three rooms where the 6 of us + 2 dogs stayed.

On Saturday morning we were off to the track about 9:30. They had many smaller races that ran throughout the day before the highlight race of the day, the American Le Mans Grand Prix, kicked off. It was sponsored by BMW, which meant Sean, Dave, Britt and I drooled the whole way to the lawn where we sat as we passed beautiful and supped up BMWs, in addition to seeing a ton of other amazing cars too. Dara and Ash were more interested in the beer tent than the cars for some reason :). Despite some thoughts for rain earlier in the week, we had beautiful hot and sunny weather the whole day.

Welcome!

The gang with the cooler that tipped over - (r to l) Britt, Ashley, Dave, Dara, Megan, Monsters x2

Our view for the race that day

Yes I'm wearing flat shoes, yes this car is super short, yes this car is super fast, yes Sean wanted to drive this car - Skip Barber's Lotus Exige

Too bad there was no raffle for this one - 2009 M3 made for the track

Sean drooling (I was too - just undocumented behind the camera)

The dogs did really well and enjoyed LOTS of grass too. They didn't seem to be phased by the heat although drank lots of water and the loud sounds of the cars didn't bother them either. They slept like babies last night and are super tired and lazy dogs today, but so glad they got to enjoy a bit of the country!

Kikko's spot for much of the day - in the shade but a great view of the track too

Sake hanging out on Sean's lap watching the race

We've definitely had some great weekends recently and are looking forward to more. Wish Sean good luck for the tri next week and I'm looking fwd to my sister's bachelorette party next Saturday night at Carnivale in Chicago - yay. More updates to come following those two events. Hope everyone is doing well!

Cruising the Mediterranean

2009-07-11T20:00:00.006-04:00

CAUTION: LOOOOOOOOOONG POST!!

I always feel like I start out by saying I've been too slow to post updates, but this time it is far too true. We arrived back in NY on 14 June and I realized today that the 14 July isn't that far off - eek - quite some lag. So, at last, a few photos from each port on an amazing trip aboard the Crystal Serenity to celebrate the big 60 for Sean's Mom. Even with all of the positive hype about Crystal Cruise from Sean before we left, my first trip aboard was nothing short of amazing - from all you can eat sashimi to acupuncture with Auntie Cynthia to paddle tennis on deck 13 to some of the most beautiful cities we've seen in Europe and to such great company - we had such an amazing and relaxing holiday. And don't worry, we definitely concluded that we are very spoiled! It was hard to select photos from each port as we once again took thousands of photos, so I will likely put together a dvd that includes more photos, but that will have to wait until we have a bit more time.

So, to begin, the group (of 16):

Front (left to right): Auntie Penny, Mrs. Wong, Auntie Xyangi, Auntie Dewi, Auntie Akiko, Megan, Clarine, Auntie Cynthia, Auntie Serene, Linda
Back (left to right): Uncle Yuen, Mr. Wong, Sean, Uncle Ping-Sim, Colin, Uncle Hans

The itinerary was amazing and for the sake of trying not to forget (bound to happen) where all we went, I'll document it here.

We spent 3 days in Lisbon, Portugal before boarding the ship to sail out

Sean and I really enjoyed our time in Lisbon, but concluded that three days was plenty of time to see nearly all of the tourist sites there are in the city. It's a much older city that doesn't seem to have undergone some of the transformations or updatings that other European cities have - so old beauty and charm were surely present here.

street train in Lisbon

gate in Lisbon leading to the Sea

and from there it went like this:

Cadiz, Spain
(where we visited Seville for the day)

To quote Clarine - we saw Seville on speed! We got to port and off the ship around 9am, took a two hour drive to Seville from Cadiz and then powered our way through the major sites allotting about 10-20 minutes for each, as we had to be back to the ship by 5 (keep in mind it was a two hour ride back). So we tried to forgo lunch but were starved by the time we were to get on the bus to head back to the ship, a starbucks happened to be across the street, and we may have raided their shelves of all the sandwiches and salads they had and passed them all around the bus on the way back to the ship. Although we took a lot of photos, I can't really tell you what many of them are so, but it was a very pretty city - enjoy!

welcome to Seville

birds eyes view from the beautiful Catedral de Santa María de la Sede - third largest church in the world

inside some other tourist attraction but i've forgotten which one

day at sea
cruising the Strait of Gibraltar (where we waved to Morocco / the continent of Africa for George and his family)

Days at sea were a lot less boring than what I envisioned. They really put on quite a program for the day and have activities that could cater to anyone's interests. From ballroom dancing (Auntie Penny and I attended) to piano (where many of the group went), to a full gym, to huge themed lunch buffets, to lectures on the cruise's theme - photography - the day flew by but was incredibly relaxing!

Ridiculous at Sea lunch buffet complete with ice sculptures

Playing paddle tennis

The Wong's on the first formal night

Uncle Vince and Auntie Ser on the first formal night

Hi PC, this is why I'm a Mac

Barcelona, Spain

Wow - such a beautiful and unique city with amazing architecture! Luckily we had a longer amount of time in port for Barcelona and we used every minute we had. We took a tourist bus on various routes for the day that brought us to many sites. While we only got off for some of the main ones due to time, we did take the bus past the 92 Olympic grounds, beautiful parks and lots of unique buildings.

Gaudi's dream - still another 20 years in the making - the Sagrada Familia

typical street in Barcelona

Sean on the rooftop of Gaudi's Batllo House

staring at a cool fountain in Gaudí's Batllo House

i'm definitely still a vegetarian (actually i've learned i'm a pescatarian) - at the really cool market called Mercat de Sant Josep/ La Boqueriain Barcelona (it included fruits, ice cream, juice, etc too)

Sean's favorite mime, mostly because it was green and looks like a WoW character

my favorite mime on Las Rambles

not sure he's famous in spain, but we love watching house and also enjoy tonic with our gin or vodka

day at sea
cruising the Mediterranean Sea - another relaxing day on the ship

7:30am Chi Gong with Mr. Wong leading the class

another huge lunch buffet spread - this time an asian theme - the one cuisine they weren't too good at cooking

sailing by some coastal towns

the Wong's at Silk Road (japanese restaurant on board)

after yet another a very satisfying meal

Sorrento, Italy
(visited the island of Capri)

We arrived in Sorrento relatively early in the morning and caught a hydrafoil to the island of Capri (about 30 minutes from Sorrento) so that we could visit the blue grotto and see the town. Although the blue grotto took a really long time, it was very worth it and a fun experience. It did, however, force us to skip hopping over to Pompeii to see the ruins, which Auntie Ser, Clarine and Colin really enjoyed. Next time!

sean with the boats

admiring the scenery from the boat that took us to the blue grotto

cruising to the blue grotto

inside the blue grotto

kinda looks like a european hawaii

beautiful, don't you think?

enjoying acupuncture to help with my silly sun rash on the arms - thanks again Auntie Cynthia!

Deck 12 and 13 - Sean took some beautiful photos from the deck at night, this being one

this being another - beautiful sunset through the paddle tennis courts

Taromina (Sicily), Italy
climbed Mt. Edna

The next day we arrived in Sicily, Italy at a small and amazingly beautiful town. As there isn't much to do, Auntie Ser was able to book us a tour and hike up Mt Edna, an active volcano about a 30 minute drive from town. It was a beautiful day which made for an amazing view the higher we climbed.

View from the ship of the town of Taromina and Mt Edna in the background

at the top of Mt Edna where you could really see the smoke coming from the volcano

she'll be coming down the mountain when she comes - Mrs. Wong

view of the shore from the ship

typical street in town - such a beautiful town!

looking out at the ship in the sea from the shore

day at sea - cruising the Adriatic Sea

Another day at sea, this time facials were involved :), and another very over the top lunch spread for the gala lunch. There was a unicorn ice sculpture, and these cute little penguins made of egg, olives and lots of other edible ingredients. We got a tour of the main galley, and best of all, the night was topped off with a surprise birthday dinner for Mrs. Wong at Prego, the amazing Italian restaurant on board. We all had a great time!!

the unicorn

the bread station

Sean and Mr. Wong biking in the gym

a view of the kitchen for the main dining room during the tour they offered that day

The Birthday Girl with husband and son

Auntie Ser, Uncle Yuen and Megan at the Birthday dinner

A dance for the Wongs!

all of the lovely ladies - (l to r) Auntie Penny, Linda, Mrs. Wong, Auntie Cynthia, Auntie Xyangi,

Kotor, Montenegro

We were the guinea pigs for this port as Crystal had never docked there before. It was, for Sean and I, one of the most surprising ports, mainly because of how beautiful it was. Sailing in and out in perfect weather was really spectacular. As for the city of Kotor, it was old, small, extremely poor, but surrounded by such beautiful landscape. We did a much more difficult hike than we had anticipated that led to the top of one of the mountain and gave us a great view of the city, but it was quite a sweaty effort for all!!

Sailing in to Kotor

Typical street - Megan, Mrs. Wong, Auntie Ser

Sean as we were about halfway up the hike

Clarine and Colin about 3/4 of the way up the hike

WARNING - this blog is no longer rated e for everyone, the below picture may be harmful to your eyes - but I couldn't resist posting it and Sean couldn't resist taking it :p

luckily we weren't behind this the whole way up! it was hot...and i mean freaking hot, but what makes one think this is appropriate? ewwwe

check out that park job! Sean tried to budge the ship, but it was kinda heavy i guess

i love this pic of Auntie Ser (she didn't know I snapped it i don't think) enjoying the beautiful sail out from Kotor

on the sail out the captain took us for an up close and personal view of beautiful St. George Island

That night, there was lots of dancing going on as a group performed all Beatles songs in one of the clubs on the ship. Lots of people were up dancing, even from our group, but Uncle Hans and Auntie Penny were certainly wearing their dancing shoes!

So cute - Auntie Penny and Uncle Hans having a blast on the dance floor

Dubrovnik, Croatia

The next day we arrived in yet another beautiful place where we had, yet again, amazing weather. Dubrovnik was a bit like Kotor in that it is an old yet beautiful city on the sea, but not nearly as run down and definitely more developed for tourists. They also had an elevated walk around the city you could do, and then we headed to the beach so Sean could finally swim in the ocean.

Sean and the laundry while walking the wall around the city

another view from walking around the city's wall

Sean excited to go jump in the water

he swam for about 45 mins - brrr

later we got to play some paddle tennis

Mr. Wong doing his sun salutations in formal attire

sean and megan with sunset

taking a fake shower out near the pool on our walk to dinner

Trieste, Italy

The second to last stop of the trip was in Trieste, Italy. While the city was pretty unimpressive (with the exception of the amazing gelato), only because most of the cities we had seen prior were sooo beautiful and this was somewhat ordinary / typical European, we took a side trip to this amazing and gigantic cave. We walked down for about 20 minutes to get to the bottom of the cave and then worked out way up, which really made us realize just how huge the Gratta Gigantica, I think it was called, is.

Walking down in the cave

Sean in cave

Sean Megan at bottom of cave

Climbing back up

View of the town and the ship on our way back from the cave

Venice, Italy (for the night)

What a place for a last stop on an amazing trip! Venice was amazing, so unique and just beautiful. We started out by taking a water taxi to Murano where they do the glass blowing, then took a taxi back to Venice and began our walking tour around the city. We spent the night on the ship in Venice and then headed out very early the next morning to make it back on Sunday to get back to work on Monday.

Sailing in to Venice

Murano

Typical view in Venice

Enjoying more gelato - thanks Linda

on St. Mark's Square in front of the Church

Apologies again for the length of this post if indeed you made it through, but there were just too many pictures to pic from from having made so many stops. Certainly an amazing vacation! Happy 60th Mrs. Wong!

Behind in posting yet again

2009-05-24T09:00:00.013-04:00

I have been really bad about posting frequently so once again am catching up for the last few weeks all at once. We've been enjoying being outside more as the weather is finally turning nice (at times) so have not been on the computer nearly as much. Enough excuses, on to what's been going on with us.

Sean has been getting in to hard core training mode for the NYC Triathlon coming up in July. He has been enjoying bike rides and runs in central park and on the west side highway, while I've carried on with my indoor gym regiment (although not training for the tri).

Sean dusting off his bike after a ride up to and around central park.

Two weeks ago, we got to meet up with Auntie Mag for dinner on Sunday one last time before she departed NY. While we would have loved to have been with our Mom's, as it happened to be Mother's Day, it was nice to be with a Mom and Auntie Mag seemed happy to be with kids too. We decided to give a restaurant near her hotel a try that we've heard of before, but never been. It's an American Chinese fusion place called Tao that was pretty tasty, but had a couple of flaws - 1) pretty salty food and 2) (see pic below)

The most gigantic Buddha statue any of us have ever seen.

Auntie Mag was funny about it and said that she couldn't imagine some people weren't bothered by it, as it would be like having a gigantic cross with Jesus on it looking over you while you eat and drink :). Once we overcame that though, we definitely had an enjoyable dinner and walk home. It was really great to spend some time with Auntie Mag while she was in town and thanks very much for all of the tasty dinners!!

Auntie Mag, Sean and Megan

Auntie Mag's Happy Mother's Day fortune cookie, complete with quasi-fortune and yummy fruit!

At the New York Palace Hotel before saying goodbye.

Last weekend, I got to be reunited with one of my best friends from high school, who moved back home to Canada soon thereafter. We hadn't seen each other in 7 plus years and were both were so excited to finally catch up again. It was so fun to have a night of picking up where we left off, and good thing the friends she was in town with and Sean had a nice conversation going as we didn't stop talking the whole night :). We enjoyed a great meal at Basta Pasta, which is a very well done Japanese Italian fusion restaurant near our house. We followed up dinner with a walk through Times Square, where they hadn't yet visited (which is quite impressive and super crowded at night), and then drinks in Soho at a Vodka bar. It was a great night and I was sooo happy to get to see Christina again and have her finally meet Sean! Below are some pics from the night (all pre-Vodka bar in an effort to keep the site rated G :)).

High school buddies - Christina and Megan

Christina, Erin and Megan

Times Square Sat night

On Friday, we caught up with Katiana and had dinner together at this great Japanese restaurant on the upper west side to congratulate her on her graduation from the Fashion Institute. She is headed back to Singapore for a couple of months today so wanted to see her before she headed home. She knows of all the tasty chic food places in NY and this was no exception. We all enjoyed the Chef's sushi omakase that Gari Sushi had to offer, which was fantastic. While their fish quality is excellent, they are not known for their traditional sushi and sashimi, which Sean and I normally prefer. The chef here, however, likes to add things like tofu paste to tuna, radish to otoro, baked tomato and garlic to salmon, etc., which turned out to be super delicious, so was happy we were (mildly) adventurous and gave it a try. Congrats again Katiana and thanks for introducing us to yet another great restaurant!!

Sean, Katiana and Megan at Gari Sushi

Last night we had a great Korean bbq dinner to welcome Dawn back home from Singapore along with a couple of her friends. It was a great time with lots of food, including ice cream after dinner (yay our weather is finally warming), but of course dummy me forgot to take a photo. Next time!

And what's a post with out a few funny pics of the dogs. We are hoping they will be good for their dog sitters while we are gone and perhaps even entertain them a bit too.

Kikko enjoying a nap on the floor

Sake resting with his tongue out of his mouth.

We are headed off to Lisbon on Friday and will be there for a long weekend before boarding the ship on 2. June and sailing the Mediterranean to lots of other destinations. Will try to post here and there during the trip but not sure how available and expensive internet will be, so if you don't hear from us then, we are back on 14 June and will be posting as quickly as we can once we are back. Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the long weekend (for those in the US)!!

Early May

2009-05-09T10:54:00.014-04:00

What I walked in the bedroom this morning to find :)

These dogs are soooo funny and really try their best to politely wake you. While they lick me to wake up and feed them on the weekends, then tend to let Sean sleep by doing this. Not sure what I'm doing wrong, but thought it was so cute! And yes, Kikko is on Sean's pillow (taking up about 7/8 of it) and yes, Sake is under the covers!

Jumping back to last weekend - we had a nice trip to the short hills mall in NJ with Dawn to hunt for a dress for an event she attended last Wednesday back in Singapore and also for some dresses for me for the various weddings and wedding related events and the cruise this summer. Luckily, we were both very successful, however a couple dresses of mine need some altering, which we are off to do shortly. And Sean was successful too, buying the dogs a new toy they love - an Uglydoll named Winkolina.

Last Wednesday, it was one of Sean's colleague's birthdays - Becky, who we luckily see quite often (outside of work that is)!! We went to a great tapas restaurant in Chelsea and enjoyed all of the company, great food and sangria. Happy Birthday Becky!

Becky's Birthday dinner - with half the table looking at the camera!

Becky and Sean

Birthday girl and Megan

Becky blowing out the candles (that you for some reason can't see - I swear they are there!)

While we were enjoying dinner, it must have rained so we were happy to have missed that, but it made for some cool views of the city that night on our walk home. I didn't have our super awesome camera so took the below on my old little crappy one. Just thought it was a neat way to see the empire state building.

a wet, foggy evening view of the empire state building and amazingly, an empty street

On Thursday morning, I had received an email at work alerting us to the filming of Law & Order Criminal Intent happening the next couple of mornings. But before getting the email, I had seen a tow truck with burned cars on it (they were old crappy cars though so I didn't cry) and lots of police Officers, police and fire vehicles, etc., but when I saw all of the trailers, I was relieved to know it was just filming going on. I was very excited to hear, however, that it was one of my all time favorite shows. I didn't know the names of the cast that I saw - chick with blond hair who is a lead detective and her partner, the creepy guy detective - they had big groups of people around them so rather than add to that fiasco, I decided to enjoy the set. I just missed the opportunity to get a photo of a fake dead body on a stretcher (some of you are probably happy about that - I was kinda bummed), but did catch the below shots while walking to the subway, albeit in a bit of a rush, as we had to get up to midtown east to meet with Auntie Mag for dinner.

Cleaning up the set

Cool NYPD vehicle they use in Law & Order

Shot of the set from down the street

That night, we got to meet up with Auntie Mag, who was in from Singapore after a holiday in Paris and then on to visit her son in Boston. It was great to see her and enjoy a tasty Japanese dinner followed by some drinks and blues music - thank you Auntie Mag!! We are hoping to see her again next week before she heads back home so will post more pictures once that happens!

Auntie Mag and Sean at BB Kings

3 more weeks until the cruise and we have a public holiday in there too - cannot wait!!

Wedding showers and Birthdays

2009-04-29T20:06:00.029-04:00

Last weekend was a boys weekend for Sean here in NY and a girls weekend for me, back in Chicago. Sean got to stay back and celebrate the birthdays' of his high school buddies, Ben and Austin, while I got to go to wedding showers for Beck and Dan. Naturally, Sean forgot to take pics so I don't have any to post of their festivities, which I'm pretty sure consisted of drinking, gaming, eating, drinking, all while having fun. Happy Birthday Austin and Ben!!

Of course I can't leave home without a camera, and this trip was no different. I flew out right from work on Friday night and got in to Chicago with no trouble (minus my overly talkative ex-con (yes he revealed this to me mid flight) neighbor) to be greeted by Beck at the airport. We headed back to Beck and Dan's, enjoyed some good wine before heading to dinner.

Don't shoot me for this, Beck, but your expressions in this pictures are pretty hilarious

We met up at dinner with Erin, one of Beck's best friends from college and had a delicious french dinner - thank you!!! Was a very nice night.

On Saturday, Beck and I headed out, and in true Kunzweiler fashion got lost on the way, to shower 1 of 2 for the weekend, which was hosted by the Kunzweiler Aunts. It was such a nice venue, great company, good food and was also the result of a massive amount of gifts for Beck and Dan. They've picked out some really nice things (dishes, cooking stuff, etc) and was nice to see them in person! Here's some pics from Saturday's shower.

Girlies mingling

Beck and Kylie

Just in case you didn't know, this party is all about her (the one pointing to herself :)), let yourself be reminded by this picture.

Opening the slideshow from Kitty (in the background), which was a fantastic montage of Beck and Dan from kids to engaged couple!

Mountain of gifts

the Bridesmaids

Funny times at the bridal shower

Lots of laughter - it was a good time!

I was lucky enough that when the shower ended, my Mom and I drove back to the house where George was hanging. I hadn't seen him in quite some time and since he will be graduating and moving to Iowa in June, I was especially happy to have gotten to spend some time with him too. We all headed down to a little bbq get together at Beck and Dan's place for some evening fun but luckily got to head home in time to get some much needed sleep!

George and Mom

Brother and Sister from different mothers and fathers :)

On Sunday, it was round 2 of showers, this time at Aunt Maura and Sharon's place. The house looked amazing and the food, all homemade, was sooo delicious. Once again it was great to see lots of people and of course the family. Beck and Dan got another heap of presents, which really turned their second bedroom in to a crate and barrel / williams sonoma looking warehouse. It really was such a nice time and I was so happy to have been home to celebrate with my one and only sister :)!

Beck and her soon to be sister-in-law, Emily

Sharon grilling the salmon, which was sooo delicious

Eva is too cute - I love taking pictures of her

cute Mom and cute daughter

Mom and her loud and funny highschool friends

Aunt Maura (the hostess extraordinaire) and Kylie

Cahills - Aunt Reen, Aunt Michelle, Katelyn

Our beautiful Grandma - would you believe she's more than a day over 75?

Beck with the beautiful blanket our Mom is knitting for she and Dan

And even though I've already included pics of Eva above, I couldn't resist taking a ton of pics of her towards the end of the party - below are a few of my faves.

Playing with the silicon brush (that was given up by Aunt Kathy all for Sean - he's been trying to figure out a use for one of these to validate the purchase for awhile...and green happens to be his favorite color, lime green that is)

bouncing around laughing with her Great Aunt Michelle

such a darling

Sean and I have been working like dogs (unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, not like our dogs), but of course are very lucky and appreciative to have jobs, but tonight, we got lucky and got a chance to get home before 10 and enjoy some relaxation together...at least for dinner. Now I'm blogging and he's gaming - surprise surprise :). We are very much looking forward to our upcoming vacation at the end of May with the Wong's et al, but hopefully will have some interesting things to post before then. Hope everyone is doing well!

Surprise - Engagement Party, Easter, Etc.

2009-04-18T17:20:00.015-04:00

Two weeks ago, we had our first spring-like day on a weekend and were luckily able to enjoy it by spending most of Saturday outside at the park. We hadn't been to Central Park since last summer, so we were very excited to finally have a non-freezing cold day at the park. We didn't do much - walk around, lie in the grass, read books - but it certainly was a great day!

Kikko busy looking around the park.

Sake posing in the park.

Sean and Sake lazing at the park.

Enjoying our first semi-spring day in Central Park.

Jumping back to last weekend, when Sean, the dogs and I decided to make a surprise visit only my Dad knew about, to attend Becky and Dan's engagement party and also join the family for Easter. Amazingly, none of us ruined the surprise, which turned out perfect! As we hadn't been back since Christmas and Sean won't be back until the wedding in August, it turned out to be the perfect weekend to visit, getting to see nearly all of the family.

On Saturday, Becky and Dan hosted an engagement party for all of their Aunts and Uncles (and siblings). It was a great way for both sides of the family to meet and also see Beck and Dan's condo. The party turned out to be a blast and was absolutely the perfect setting for us to surprise them (we even made Becky let out a little scream when she saw us). Later in the night, Sean's buddy from NU, Mike, and his fiance Mei, whose wedding we'll be attending in January, were nice enough to drop by so we could see and catch up with them!! A select few pics from the very fun night.

Cutting the cake (and sharing the frosting) practice

Sean and Beck

The Kunzweiler attendees

Toast from the Dads

Cheers

Beck and Uncle Steve doing some gift opening

the kids - Dave, Emily, Dan, Beck, Sean, Megan

Beck, Sean, Emily

Beck, Aunt Reen, Aunt Kath

Beck, Uncle Dan, Mom

Mei Lin, Mike, Sean

Sean, Beck, Megan, Mei, Mike, Mom

On Sunday morning, we headed out to Aunt Reen's for Easter day and enjoyed a TON of good food, seeing all the little ones, and of course amazing hospitality. The weather cooperated and turned out being beautiful - just nice enough to sit outside and not be cold, so the dogs got to enjoy and tire themselves out outside with Sean, which made them little angels on the plane ride home - we were happy about that! :)

Ryan (who is moving to NY to pursue his masters - yay - congrats!!), Grandpa, Megan

Grandpa and Sean

Kikko and Sake enjoying being outdoors (with no other dogs around).

Aunt Kath and Uncle Steve were very kind and brought Mason and Ben, the newest little baby in the family, over to Aunt Reen's too, so we all could see how big and cute Mason is getting and how little and adorable Ben is. Thanks so much for making the trip out - was so nice to see Mason again and meet Ben and see you guys too!

Beck and baby Ben

am I doing this right?

Megan and Mason

Beck and Mason

Ben @ 3 weeks

Grandpa and a sleeping Ben

We also got to see little Eva, who is now walking! She is so cute, has hilarious facial expressions (tried to catch them on camera but she moves fast!), and really loved playing with Sake (not sure that feeling was mutual once he got tired, but she helped tire him out for the ride home!). Oh, and we got to see her parents, Grandma and Aunt and Uncle too, which was a huge treat!

Eva - sooo cute!

Running around outside

Eva and Grandma

Eva cuddling with Sake.

Eva trying to play with a very tired Sake.

Sean, Sake in the backyard.

Yesterday was a beautiful day and they had been calling for it all week. So after we slept in and lazed a bit in the morning, we walked up to central park with the dogs, Sean went for a run, we had a little picnic lunch (not nearly as elaborate as some people in the park complete with table, chairs and wine) and just enjoyed being outside for all of the afternoon.

Sake enjoying Sean's spiderman ice cream.

The Month of March

2009-03-31T21:41:00.021-04:00

So today is the last day of March (in fact there's only about an hour left) and I realized I haven't posted a thing yet this month - bad bad Megan. So, naturally I'm likely leaving lots out (unless I have a photo, I probably won't recall it), but enjoy a handful of photos from some of the fun things we've done this month, despite the lingering gloomy and cold weather.

A few weeks ago, we went to watch Watchmen, thanks to Boo who was able to get us tickets, on opening night and while I hadn't read the graphic novel, it was still a decently enjoyable movie. I don't think I enjoyed it quite as much as Sean and Mars but I didn't fall asleep :). Before the movie we all met up for a tasty Vietnamese dinner where towards the end, Mars decided to make lots of funny faces (below pic). I tried to get a photo of Sean and his cousin Zippy to document their meeting (first time in 10+ years), but Zippy denied my camera :(. Either way was great to meet up with her and see her a few times during her stay in NY.

A couple of weeks ago we had Mars for a sleep over. We picked him up from his warhammer game where he got a very cool new game piece that took up lots of his time over the weekend between putting it together and painting it. But we did make time for lots of other activities.

Sean doing some cleaning, namely of the dogs' furrari.

Dog pile on Megan

We also were lucky to get an invite to go over to Dawn's on the Upper West Side for a delicious lunch followed by a great walk in Central Park with the dogs. Dawn has a beautiful Golden Retriever named Bui who was very sweet and allowed our little monsters into his house and to walk with him for the afternoon.

Dawn and Mars

Bui trying to get a taste

Mars after his satisfying lunch.

Dawn and the wonderful spread she prepared for all of us.

Sean and Sake

Mars self portrait - he really is a very good photographer!

Mars successfully fitting under Dawn's table.

We took a good 2-3 hour walk in the park since the weather wasn't quite as freezing as it has been - finally. Dawn took us on this cool nature path that goes past a pond, some nice trees and lots of branches that Mars collected to let Bui destroy. We all had a great time and were pretty pooped after a nice long day. Big thanks to Dawn for having us over!!

Mars conquers the boulder

Sean walking the three dogs - actually Sean walking Bui, Bui walking Kikko and Sake

Dawn smiling, Bui snifing rocks, Kikko trying to climb rocks, Sean standing on rock, Mars trying to not fall in water, Sake likely drinking water.

Dawn, Mars and Bui

Mars's photo of us through the bench.

Last weekend, one of my friends from work celebrated her birthday at a great tapas restaurant in the east village. A great mix of people came and we really enjoyed our night. Happy birthday, Caroline!!

Birthday Girl Caroline and Chris

Happy Birthday Caroline!

Half of the table, unfortunately it was too tough to get the other half

We were also able to catch up with an old colleague of ours, Lorraine, who I used to sit next to, and it was very nice to finally see her again. I really miss seeing her every day and chit chatting throughout the day so it was nice to catch up!

Buddies - Lorraine, Caroline and I

Hope everyone is doing well!

Ski Trip to Bromley Mt, VT

2009-02-22T19:45:00.019-05:00

On Friday, we jumped in the car to make the four hour drive up to Vermont for our first ski trip of the year. This year, Sean's high school friend Ben was the planner extraordinaire and found a group of 12 of us a great house in unbelievably close proximity to great slopes at Bromley Mountain.

Skiing down Bromley Mountain, Day 1

Another view of the mountain

The place we called home for the weekend

Some of the group was able to take Friday off and have 3 days of skiing, but Sean and I and a few others had just Sat and Sun, which turned out to be nothing to complain about. Conditions were amazing, so much so that we skied as much as our (weak) legs could handle so two days was plenty.

Sean getting ready to hit the slopes

Margarita and Lauren getting ready to head out

After a full day of skiing on Sat, Ben had a dinner menu planned and made us all a home cooked meal. Thanks, Ben!

Sean very satisfied with his dinner, Corey in the background perhaps going for seconds.

We were lucky enough that the house was pet friendly so the dogs got to enjoy a weekend trip to snowy Vermont. Sean of course had them out running often as we were on a very secluded street and didn't see any people or cars pass by the house. Naturally, they loved the freedom to run around and Kikko especially enjoyed eating all of the snow.

Sake running like a mad man

Sake licking the snow off of his face

Kikko investigating the area

and her favorite, eating snow

We woke super early on Sunday morning to make sure we were one of the first to the slopes to enjoy the fresh powder. As we were taking our gear out to the car, we saw that it had snowed quite a bit all night and was continuing to do so throughout the day, which made conditions amazing. It was great that there was no ice, but visibility in the morning was awful - total white out - but incredibly fun nevertheless!

Sean and Megan very excited to take our first run of the day

Becky on the fresh powder

Sean on his favorite run - Upper Twister to Lower Twister

Megan - apparently this needs to be noted as I was told I was rather unrecognizable with no skin showing.

Pics of the runs early in the morning.

So much fun

Rewind

2009-02-19T21:19:00.009-05:00

Apologies for the hiatus since our last post, but in the midst of busy work schedules and trying to stick to our gym routine, we have found the time to fit in lots of fun things too, just haven't posted about them yet...so here goes.

Jump back to 10 Jan, when we met up at Mars's favorite brunch spot for his first ever surprise birthday party - he turned 11. Well done with the surprise, Boo! It was so cute to see him so surprised, so much so that he was wondering if people were going to come out through the vents and surprise him too :). He even got the softest sweater from Damon's sister and brother-in-law that he immediately put on and wore the rest of the brunch.

Happy 11 year old in cool soft sweater.

He even got a special chocolate cake, complete with candle, and was kind enough to share with all of us.

Buddies

Fast forward to early Feb when my best friend Ryan and his girlfriend Monica came up from Philly to visit NYC. We were lucky enough to have a great Korean dinner and drinks with them while just hanging out and catching up. Since we last saw them, Ryan ran his first marathon. He's always been amazingly fit, but certainly trained in record time - congrats, Ry!

Kikko and Sake LOVE Monica!

Monica, Megan, Ryan

And now on to two weekends ago, when we were invited to a pool party for the 30th birthday of one of Sean's clients. It was hosted at a cool boutique hotel venue, and yes there was a (small) pool with swim up bar, located right in times square. We met up with a couple of Sean's managers and enjoyed a few hours at the party, although not in the pool :). Despite lots of drinks, Sean was still able to notice that "some of the girls were a bit too naked" - sooo funny.

The Sean's of BBR

People braving the pool

Last weekend was very productive - and it ought to have been considering we had a 3-day weekend. We started out with some yummy mexican food with Ben, Margy (Sean's colleague), her roommate Julie and the new dude (Margy's interest Barack, yes, like the President), and we may have enjoyed their margaritas and mojitos too.

Sean finally got to change his car battery. After leaving the car unused in the freezing winter for probably a month or two it wasn't always starting so to play it safe, we decided to get a new battery at costco. In true recession fashion, Sean was also determined to change it himself, which turned out to be not nearly as complicated as I had thought, but I'm still glad it was Sean and not me doing the hard part - I just assisted with handing him the tools he needed. And the most amazing part - the car started after the battery was replaced - yippee! We then treated ourselves to lunch at our favorite Japanese market - Mitsuwa (a Japanese grocery store) - for an unbelievably romantic Valentine's Day. :)

Dr. Sean resuscitating his car

I'm sure there's some things I'm missing, but this is what I have pictures of and I'm noticing that lately, I only really remember things that I've documented with photos.

We're heading off skiing with a group this weekend to Vermont. We both can't wait as it will be our first time out this season. Expect some skiing photos soon, but now I need to pack.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Our Holiday Travels

2009-01-04T21:29:00.010-05:00

After waiting roughly 10 months for a vacation, our latest trip turned out to be absolutely amazing (and well worth the wait).

We started out with an early Christmas at my parents in Illinois. We opened gifts with the 6 of us and followed up with a family brunch before Sean and I were off to the airport.

An early Christmas photo with the family.

It will certainly take some time for us to post all of the details about the trip (hopefully we can compile something in the next month or so), but we didn't want to leave you all hanging for too long so below are just a few of the 10,000 or so photos the group took during an amazing journey aboard the Corinthian II from Ushuaia, Argentina on to the beautiful white continent of Antarctica.

Below are some scenic shots of the cruise and finally one of the group (sans Auntie Irene) from an amazing two week journey.

Ushuaia, Argentina and the Corinthian II.

The sun setting as we sail off from port.

One of the many amazing tabular icebergs we saw along the way.

More beautiful ice formations.

The cute and funny little penguins.

A beautiful continent.

The group wishing everyone a Merry Christmas from Antarctica.

Thanksgiving 2008 and Holiday Gatherings

2008-12-04T19:53:00.008-05:00

We had a really great and relaxing Thanksgiving this year. Unfortunately, we weren't able to be with our immediate families, but it certainly was really nice to have the invite over to Auntie Geok Min and Uncle Han Shih's place to celebrate with their family during their visit to NY. Auntie Geok Min also went so far as to bring in some delicious Singaporean food (yong tau foo) that tasted soooooo good - thank you again so much! We celebrated with their three kids too, Shuen, who is currently studying at NYU, Rong who is attending Sean's former secondary school in Singapore, and little Thalia who is too cute and funny. Aside from Shuen, they all had just arrived from Singapore so were still quite jet lagged which meant as it got later they were more and more awake, so we stayed for quite some time - even long enough for Sean to play a game or two of poker with Rong and Thalia.

Chatting while dinner is cooking.

Auntie Geok Min working on the Turkey

The table with delicious yong tau foo in the middle, yummm

Sean and I both had to work on Friday, but it was a much shorter and quiet than average day so we met up in the later afternoon and did some walking around the city. While window shopping, since it was so unbelievably crowded, we walked past Barnes and Noble couldn't believe the the lines in front of and along side the store (see pic below). People were camped out on the streets, which Sean later figured out was the result of the Jonas Brothers being in town...yippee skippy...which explains why there were tons of young girls and their parents.

On Saturday we met up with Sean's high school buddies, Ben and Austin, and Ben's new gf Beth. We enjoyed a lots of Korean bbqfollowed by the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, which we all really liked. It's always great to hang out with them!

Then on Sunday, we were invited over to Boo and Damon's for a party with some of their friends, where they cooked a super tasty meal - Shepherds Pie (they even made me a special vegetarian one complete with protein supplement that was awesome), Yams with marshmallows, green beans, salad (I'm sure I'm forgetting something) - and all of the guests brought something too - mostly a ton of delicious desserts. After dinner, we all moved in to begin the gaming. They had an 8 player Wii game and naturally Sean and I gravitated to the computers for some World of Warcraft.

The game stop

Sean playing WoW

Boo and Damon pooped in the hammock after being amazing hosts.

It was a great week and weekend where we got to do lots but also relax lots too. Unfortunately Sean has been sick since about Sunday but is finally on the mend. He's had a bad cough and a congested snotty nose but hopefully this means he won't be sick on the cruise. Speaking of which, we are getting soooo excited. Two more weeks and we will be in route to Chicago, then Buenos Aires and then to visit the world's largest desert - cannot wait!!

Great weekend with the Parents :)

2008-11-23T18:09:00.012-05:00

We were very lucky that my parents decided to spontaneously get away for the weekend and their destination of choice was NY. We all needed to not only have fun, but also relax a bit and that is just what we did!

They arrived on Friday night just before Sean and I were home from work (sorry you guys had to wait to get in), which also meant just in time for dinner. We headed out for some Korean bbq at a great place right in the neighborhood. We were all pretty stuffed after dinner so decided to head home and relax that night and enjoyed the movie Ironman, which is a fantastic movie if you haven't yet seen it!

Then on Saturday, we had tickets to go for a tour of Radio City Music hall at 11am. We had debated seeing the Christmas show but decided we probably wouldn't like it much so luckily there was a tour instead.

We had some time to kill after picking up our tickets a bit early so headed over to Rockefeller center where they are starting decorate and put up the HUGE Christmas tree.

Mom and Dad at Rockefeller Plaza

Mom and Dad outside of the NBC studio where the Today Show is filmed.

The tour was really interesting - took us through places of the Hall one would never see if not on the tour - and even let us see a bit of the Christmas show. We also got quite a lot of history about the hall and learned just how huge it actually is. This place can hold nearly 6,000 people - its no wonder that they give special awards to shows who have 10+ or so sold out shows.

Mom, Dad and me in front of the tour entrance.

Everything about the Hall was very grand and also restored to its original decor, most of which was focused on having musical instruments in the carpet, walls painted with designs, lots of gold, and massive sized lights.

The main hall.

A view of the Hall and the orchestra playing at the Christmas show. This shows just how huge the hall really is.

One of the most beautiful rooms was what we think was called the Roxy Suite where lots of parties and gatherings took place. Not only did it have some very pretty decorations, but it also had unbelievably tall ceilings ~20ft or so. Sean figured that we could turn it in to two floors if it were our apartment :).

The four of us in the famous suite where lots of gatherings took place. It was really beautiful!

We even got to hear from and do a little Q&A with a Rockette, who had been with the troop for 6 years. One of the interesting facts we learned was that I can't be a Rockette since their is a height requirement - 5'6" - 5'10 1/2" - oh well - I can't kick to eye level either :). My Mom forced Dad to take a pic with her and although he forgot to do the rockette pose (hand on hip, bend one knee with weight only on the toe), he did show us his pose after the photo.

Dad and the Rockette of 6 yrs.

Dad was, however, successful in replicating the pose of the most photographed statue at Radio City, whose name I completely forget.

Dad posing like the most frequently photographed statue at the Hall.

After the tour we headed down to Union square to shop around the Farmer's Market and then get what we couldn't find at the Grocery Store nearby. Mom cooked us all a delicious homemade dinner of baked pasta with cheese, homemade sauce, Sean's favorite - homemade meat balls - and garlic bread. We accompanied it with a tasty wine and finished off the night with yet another movie, this time Wall E. Sean had been wanting to see this movie for a long time so was very satisfied to finally see it.

Today, Sunday, we had a leisurely breakfast (thanks for cooking Dad) and then headed to Chinatown to get some tea, sweets from the bakers and enjoy some Malaysian food. Unfortunately Mom and Dad had to leave at 3.30, but they luckily got to the airport with no traffic and should hopefully be home at a reasonable time tonight.

Thanks so much for coming - was so great to see you both!!

We are really looking forward to heading back to Chicago to see the family (quickly) before we head off and finally see the Wong's for the cruise to Antarctica - sooo excited!

We hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy the short week!