One Word Answer Tag

I haven't done a tag in a long time.

1. Where is your cell phone? bag
2. Where is your significant other? school
3. Your hair? frizzy
4. Your mother? friend
5. Your father? funny
6. Your favorite thing? life
7. Your dream last night? clothes
8. Your dream/goal? happy
9. The room you're in? office
10. Your hobby? crafts
11. Your fear? bridges
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? closer
13. Where were you last night? couch
14. What you're not? hungry
15. One of your wish-list items? boots
16. Where you grew up? taylorsville
17. The last thing you did? read
18. What are you wearing? navy
19. Your TV? off
20. Your pet? nope
21. Your computer? works
22. Your mood? ready
23. Missing someone? family
24. Your car? parked
25. Something you're not wearing? watch
26. Favorite store? target
27. Your summer? busy
28. Love someone? lots
29. Your favorite color? lime
30. When is the last time you laughed? morning
31. Last time you cried? week

Matthew's Bedroom

I have kind of finished decorating Matthew's bedroom. I painted the striped picture on the wall and the oatmeal canister bookends, and I sewed his crib quilt. I think it turned out pretty cute!

I still need to hang some pictures, get a chair, and buy a few more organizational things. And I think a nice yellow color on the walls would look wonderful!

Mom & Dad Visit

We had a wonderful time with my parents here! They just left today - and I miss them so much already! It is a little lonely here without them...

Wow, we did a lot of stuff. I will try to share, without sharing too much. Here are some pictures, in no particular order...

bike shop in Lower East Side --- wheat growing exhibit in the Financial District

yummy gelato on Bleeker Street --- Wall Street

new stroller --- rose garden at Brooklyn Botanical Gardens

Brooklyn Botanic Gardens --- Brooklyn Bridge

best pizza we had --- Brooklyn Bridge

Times Square --- outside Central Park

Central Park --- lots of walking

Museum of Modern Art

"Legally Blonde" on Broadway --- subway musician

Hudson River --- M&M store in Times Square

waiting for the subway at the airport --- lots of walking

good pizza --- Matthew's first dentist appt.

We kept ourselves pretty busy. And I think we are all sore from so much walking. It was great to be able to show my parents what our life is like here in Brooklyn. I think they liked it here - and we hope they will come back soon!

Visitors!

My mom and dad are coming to visit tomorrow!
I am SO EXCITED!
They will be here for a week,
and we have lots of fun things planned...

Friends, Books & Appliances

• We got to go to dinner last weekend with the Macfarlanes and the Dansies! It was so much fun to see Brian & Rachel while they were in town, and we love that Jimmy & Jen live close and can share all their advice with us for living in NYC! We ate at SouthWestNY and the view of New Jersey was spectacular.

• We got our washer & dryer on Friday! I am SO excited about it! Matthew wishes he could reach some of the knobs and buttons on it.

• I read Bellwether this week. I feel like I haven't read a book for so long! I really, really liked it, and recommend it to anyone! Don't be intimidated by the crazy sci-fi cover, it was really interesting and well written and not strange at all. I hope to read a few more of her books.

Online Grocery Shopping

How cool is this - I do my grocery shopping online! And they deliver it right to my door!

Grocery shopping is a whole different world here in NYC. There are only small stores, and you can't even take the cart out of the store. There are no parking lots. You basically only want to buy what you can carry home. I have had a hard time getting used to going to the store every couple days! FreshDirect is an online grocery store where you can buy pretty much anything you need. It is a little more expensive (because there are no store brands/generic choices) and there is a $5 delivery fee - but I think it is totally worth it! I plan on doing one large FreshDirect order per month, and then going to the local stores when we run out of stuff.

I bet you all wish you could do your grocery shopping online, eh?

Busy

Here is a quick update:

• Joseph has been really busy with school. He leaves at 7:00 am and usually gets home around 6:30 pm. Then he studies for a couple hours at night and most of the day on Saturday. There is just so much information that they go over in class every single day. He has lots of quizzes and assignments, too. He has been good staying on top of it, and I try to be supportive and not tempt him to play instead of study! Joseph has enjoyed the classes so far, and has taught us the correct way to brush our teeth, what causes cavities, and what every single bone in our skulls is.

• Matthew and I spend a lot of our time going on walks. We walk to the library quite often (1 mile away), the closest park (7 blocks away), the grocery store (2 blocks away) and sometimes we venture to Old Navy and Target (1.8 miles away). I'm getting good exercise! Matthew is really helpful with doing the dishes and cooking :). He likes to read his books, go up and down the stairs, watch movies with dogs in them, and run around anywhere he can. He still isn't saying any words... but he understands us quite well.

• We have still been wrapping up all the moving business, such as address changes, health/car insurance stuff, and lots of other stuff I can't think of right now. There is always someone to call or somewhere to run an errand to. It keeps me busy at home.

• Some fun things we have done recently are: two trips to the Coney Island beach, the West Indian American Carnival Parade, farmers markets, and trying out some local restaurants. I haven't actually been into Manhattan for a couple weeks! We are going to meet up with Jen & Jimmy Macfarlane and Brian & Rachel Dansie tomorrow - so it will be fun to see those guys!

• We are definitely keeping busy and there is always something for us to do at home or somewhere to go. We are doing really well and we really like it here!

Downstairs Pictures

Here are some pictures of our downstairs. There is a great area for ironing/laundry at the bottom of the stairs. Hopefully we will get a washer & dryer this week. We just got the office put together yesterday. It will be a good place for Joseph to study. Matthew is still without a crib, but that is next on the list!

43 days later...

We FINALLY got internet service at our house yesterday. Ridiculous!

So, there will be some posts coming shortly. BTW, I am not going to have that other private blog I tricked you with a few weeks ago. Sorry for the confusion! I've just been trying to figure out how I want to manage blogging. Stay tuned to this blog for any and all updates!

Our Apartment

Here are a few pictures of the main level of our apartment. Things still aren't all done and unpacked, but we are getting settled in pretty good. I'll show pics of downstairs once we get it put together a little more.

First Week in New York