so I am always one to love every technical gadget there is (even before I knew Tom, but of course now its worse); however, I am not often the first to know of said gadgets, so this entry may be old news to many of you...
Skype is awesome!! Its a free software program that allows you to see/talk/webcam with another over your computer FOR FREE. Even if your computer doesn't come with a webcam, just buy an after market one for less than $50!
Just the other night Tom and I visited with my aunt Jan in Hawaii and the broadcast was perfect, with no delay or "strobe light" effect with movement. Of course, Skype could be a real pain for example if you are feeling sick and looking awful in your pajamas on the couch, but aside from that, to quote my aunt "its like we're the Jetson's". She is so right!
Question: What is better than perfect weather, wandering through street festivals, hanging in Greenwich, visiting Museums, wheeling and dealing on purses, eating fab sushi and living the beach life?
Answer: Not much--especially when you do all of the above and more in NYC.
Kristen, Tom's niece, made her first trip ever to the Atlantic side of the country and she loved it. She is from Texas and is going into her Junior year at UT Austin. NY was a smidgen different from Texas. :-)
Tom let us loose on the city and we did things right! Here is a summary:
We got a great deal at a super modern swanky hotel in Soho, visited Chinatown (Kristen learned the haggling ropes very quickly), hung out at the weekly San Genero festival in Little Italy, visited the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) and saw some Andy Warhol's and a visiting exhibition of Salvador Dali (We both really like him--but he is one weird guy), spent hours in Greenwich Village where Kristen wants to live (don't we all...), pet many a dogs in Central Park, had a street hot-dog, people and billboard watched in Times Square, marveled at the amazing St Patrick's, visited the World Trade Center site and the church across the street that miraculously was left standing after the attack (and now acts also as a museum of sorts for the 9/11 heroes), and took in the wonder of it all from 70 stories in the air at Rockefeller Center (as well as below the city on our subway travels).
We also spent 2 nights at the boat which Kristen loved. Lisa and I showed her the boardwalk and we tried some NJ specialties like fried Oreos and Pork rolls. Tom captained us all to Silver Bay (Lisa, John and their dogs joined us) and we had so much fun!
We didn't want Kristen to leave and we hope she does move to Greenwich! :-)
I am already sending her graduate school applications for NYU! :-)
Hopefully we will see her up here again soon. She was a perfect guest!
Its been a busy summer for us with visitors and we've loved every bit! We have a break now until mid-September and we are looking forward to some boat time and a trip to a Notre Dame game in Sept in South Bend, IN with our friends Doug and Gretchen.
Have a good week everyone!
*pics: Kristen at the top of the rock with central park in the distance; Kristen and Di at the moma exhibit of a suit; Kristen showing Salvador some love; Lisa and Kristen at our fave surf shop at the shore; the crowded shore beach; Kris and the subway; a Picasso painting at moma; Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe at moma.
Hi Everyone! Back to the work week for us here, but we had a little mini vacation this weekend at the Shore. We went down Friday afternoon and headed out to Tyson Shoal for Aquapalooza! (You may recall the famous summer concert festival in the 90's [which amazingly is still surviving] called Lallapalooza--similar name, but different scene). There are tons of boats that go and many all tie up together (think SeaFair for you Seattle people). There is a barge with a band, huge blow-up slides and rafts etc.
We tied up with John and Lisa and about 4 other boats and had a great time. The weaterh was in the 90's and the breeze, not to mention the swimming, kept things tolerable. It was a nice time and we met some new friends via John and Lisa so thats always a good thing. All 4 dogs loved it of course! Everyone thought they were so cute as they jumped from floatie to floatie. Frank managed to fall in with a slight mis-step on the swim platform, but "mom" jumped into "save" him! :-) He can swim, but how scary for him to fall in!? He's a tiny dog!!!!
I forgot my camera so no pics to post, but Lisa did see the band take a shot of 4 of us girls grooving to the music while on our floaties so maybe that will pop up on a website somewhere!
Have a good Monday!
...these 'jibjab' videos are hilarious! Turn up your sound and hit the play button!
last night as I walked downtown to class a few things caught my attention...
1) the warm temps. Its been great here--walking in ny on a summer night is hard to beat.
2) the absolutely inexpensive Bon Jovi tickets (playing at Madison Square Garden) that the scalpers tempted me with. Damn class and my desire to write!!!!!!--why do I have to be responsible and attend class when I could be at Bon Jovi!!??
3) The attached picture outside of a Soho cafe.
Happy Tuesday and we hope you are enjoying the summer as much as we are!
this has been a whirlwind vacation for tom's folks jack and bev. As with most of our guests, the time we spend with them is jam-packed with activities, but this time we were at a whole new level!
We drove to Washington DC and toured around the capital. Neither Jack nor I had ever been and all four of us enjoyed it very much. It was in the high 80's and sunny which we loved. Tom and Jack hit the Air and Space Museum for a few hours while Bev and I hit the major hotspots including the Folger Shakespeare Library (largest amount of Shakespeare books in the World), the Library of Congress (Bev had never been here either). We saw the final rough draft of the Declaration of Independence complete with the hand written edits of the authors and Thomas Jefferson's library. After the Library, we headed to the Smithsonian Art Museum and the artwork we saw there rivals anything we've seen in Europe. I am attaching a few pics of some of what we saw there.
After dining over the Potomac River and spending the night at a boutique hotel on Pennsylvania Ave in the very cool Georgetown area we all headed to the White House, the war memorials (the Korean War Memorial is amazing with the lifesize soldier statues, the WWII and Vietnam Memorials and finally the Lincoln Memorial. We knew it would be huge, but it was bigger than I ever thought it would be.
Arlington Cemetery was also a stop on our tour and it was truly unforgettable to see the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown solider. The landscape is beautiful there and it was an honor to see JFK and Bobby Kennedy's final resting spot.
Yesterday we spent time at the boat which was a welcome event after the running around we'd been doing. The dogs enjoyed the visit with grand-dad and grand-mum and Tom and I talked them into taking Frank and Ollie for a week as they do with their other "grandkids". :-) We also (yes there is more) went to a show in the city on Friday night. Bev and Jack got the whole train/times square/ taxi cab experience and we saw 39 Steps. It was SO funny. We highly recommend it if you are in the area.
It was a great visit and we of course were sad to see them go. Hopefully they can come back out around Christmas to see NY during that beautiful time or for antoehr trip to DC. There is so much more of the Smithsonian to see...
pics: tom di and abe; abe up close; the korean war statues with the lincoln memorial in the background; van gogh portrait; tom in front of the andy warhol soup cans; us 4 at the w.h.; bev at the library of congress; diana with diana the goddess of the hunt painting; monet painting; the white house; jfk's flame and he and jackie kennedy's grave-sites; tom & the folks in georgetown and jack and ollie relaxing.
**As always, click on the pic to enlarge.
hey everyone-- Tom and I had a great time with Grant! It went by so fast! We spent most of the time at the shore on the boat and showing him around the boardwalk and coast. We headed out with John and Lisa and tied up the boats in an area called Barnaget Bay for the 4th. The Bay side is really shallow so after dropping anchor, swimming around there and relaxing, we took the dingy onto the shore and then walked across a boardwalk thru a state park and instantly we are on the beach and the Atlantic Ocean. The dogs love the beach and they run all over! Ollie especially loves the water and with her low clearance which equals a great sense of balance, we are going to try and get her on a surf board one of these days--with her life jacket on of course! We built a fire on the beach and just had a great time.
Yesterday, Grant and i went into the city. The temps were in the low 80's so it wasn't too bad to tour amongst all that cement. We hit the usual spots but also went into a few places/areas I had not seen before too. We did come across the San Genero Festival again in Little Italy and that was his favorite part of the entire day. Very Godfather-esq. We also saw a New York icon that you hear about, but don't always see: the naked cowboy. He is a riot and of course I got my picture snapped with him.
Tom and I are enjoying some quiet time at home, but its a short amount of time--- his parents come into town in a couple days and we have ourselves some sightseeing to do! We'll make it to Washington DC on this trip which I am really excited about as I have never been.
Here are some pics:
lisa, diana and grant relaxing "floatie style"; tom relaxing; the boats with john on the back; grant in front of the baseball card mirage--see babe ruth's face? those are all baseball cards at the espn zone; grant on the subway platform; a cat chillin' in greenwich; diana and the naked cowboy (the "pg shot"; 4th of july beach bon fire; city shot; grant in a crowded little italy and finally ollie relaxing.
a few days early! Its been a great week here! Hot temps and a short work week! Tonight my brother Grant is coming into town from Seattle! I can't wait!! We already have each day planned so all he has to do is sit back and relax! We'll spend a few days at the boat and then Sunday is our city day! Grant has never been out here so he has a lot to see! Tom asked if i get tired of the touring around the city--and the answer is one I don't even have to think about: NO! I love it!! :-)
Have a happy and safe 4th and we'll post to you later!
ps: here are a few more pics from Jean's visit. at the shore; tom cleaning the boat with the high tech method of "on the floatie" and some of Times Square. Also-- the pups, of course.