My Excuse

So remember when I was talking about organizing our filing cabinet? Yeah, well . .. THIS is why it isn't getting done. (Or at least I will keep telling myself that).

Aly!

Got to spend some time with Bibi, Aly, & Brian over the weekend!

I just love Aly's expression in this one! She is too cute!

She was having so much fun playing in the leaves!

This one is my favorite! She was not too fond of picture taking at first, but she was loving it as soon as we started! She kept wanting to do the "leaves one" again and again and again!! And she kept saying "Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!!"

Smile!

Someone once told me that I am too happy and smile too much. This is what I think about that . . .

A smile is nature's best antidote for discouragement.
It brings rest to the weary,
Sunshine to those who are frowning,
And hope to those who are hopeless and defeated.
A smile is so valuable that it can't be bought,
Begged, borrowed, or taken away against your will.
You have to be willing to give a smile away
Before it can do anyone else any good.
So if someone is too tired or grumpy to flash you a smile,
Let him have one of yours anyway.
Nobody needs a smile as much
As the person who has none to give.

Dale Carnegie

American Author and Motivational Speaker

(thanks to my mommy for sending the quote my way!)

Pumpkins?!

I had a pretty hefty weekend to do list (hefty for me) . .let me tell you what I actually accomplished . .

• Pumpkins!! FAIL! :-( Anybody know of anywhere in Erie/Edinboro area that has good, inexpensive pumpkins for sale?
  
• Corn Maze! FAIL! I decided I was too cold and it was probably very muddy. Hopefully this weekend!
  
• Maple Museum (time permitting) FAIL! Didn't get back from the open houses until 5pm and that is when it closes. :-/
  
• Organizing our filing cabinet Success!! Well . . I started to . . still a lot left to do.
  
• Decorating for fall/halloween Success!! We don't have too much, but what we do have, it is out! (Still need to do the pumpkins though!)
• Taking pictures for my photography class Success!! Kinda . . . some of them I am using are from prior pictures I took, but they do the same thing!
  
• Going to a couple open houses Success!! . . .Kinda. No Shane & Staci houses found. :-(
  
• Babysitting MAJR (black lab pup) Success!! He was a good boy! He went for some rides with us, went running in our back yard for some of my photography pics, and I put some music on and he was dancing with us!
  
• Watch the Steelers beat the Browns (knock on wood) Success!!Although it was still a scary game, they pulled it out!
  
• Kristen reminded me that I should have put "Watch PSU beat Minnesota" . . so here it is. Success!!
  
• Freak out when it snows and try to go outside and catch the snowflakes on my tongue Success!! Well, . . . it didn't snow this weekend, but if it did, I probably would have done this. I freaked out when it snowed Thursday night (was it Thursday?), but was too cold to go outside.

Last photography class tonight! Sniff, sniff!

Remembering Grandpa

My daddy sent this to me. It was one of my grandpa's good friends (Dick Albreski). They used to play the accordion together. It just made me think of how much fun my grandpa was and how much life he added to everyone around him. He even had a mini-accordion for me so I could try to learn. Man do I miss him. Everyday.

I love you Grandpa.

Exciting Weekend Ahead!

Things To Do This Weekend:

• Pumpkins!! (Shane and I have yet to carve our own pumpkins . . . I am really determined to make him do it this year :-P . . . anyone have any tips for pumpkin carving success?)
• Corn Maze!
• Maple Museum (time permitting)
  
• Organizing our filing cabinet
• Decorating for fall/halloween
• Taking pictures for my photography class
• Going to a couple open houses
• Babysitting MAJR (black lab pup)
• Watch the Steelers beat the Browns (knock on wood)
  
• Freak out when it snows and try to go outside and catch the snowflakes on my tongue
  

NYC : Vaca Over!

Well, you got to see and "hear" about our anniversary trip to NYC.
(Day 1, Day 2, & Day 3)
We had a blast, but we were definitely ready to go back home (our feet and legs needed to rest).


NYC was a lot different than my original perceptions:
Positives:

• I hate to say it, and I don't know if it is from the tv shows and movies I watch or what, but I was very nervous to go because I was scared of getting mugged or shot or whatever. (That's terrible. I know.) But after being there a day, I actually felt very comfortable and safe.
  
• We were there for about 3 days and saw a TON, but now I know there are still a MILLION things that we didn't see or do. NYC is filled with endless activities.
  
• NYC is the "city that never sleeps", and at night it is definitely hoppin! But if you get up fairly early, it's so cool because there are very few people out (everyone else probably were just getting to bed for the "night") so you get to enjoy the "peaceful" side of NYC for a couple hours.
• Diversity! I was just so excited to see so much diversity in one city! On our subway rides there were people of all ethnicities. It was just so cool to experience such a melting pot!
• I guess I also had the misperception that New Yorkers were a little snobby and rude (Terrible again. I know.). . . besides the crazy taxi cab drivers that will run you over and constantly honk, everyone was super nice and always helped us out when we asked them questions.
  

Negatives:

• NYC has a huuuuugggeee hype that goes with it. And don't get me wrong, NYC was definitely awesome and one of my favorite places to visit. It has so much history, so much character, so much variety. . . .but I feel like in my mind I had it as this magical place where you step into a different world where everywhere you turn you see someone famous. I was expecting the (NBC) studios to be these grand, huge studios (TV has a way of projecting more than what is really there). I was thinking there would be a ton of people outside the TRL studio or the Today Studio (and maybe we just didn't get the timing right). It was still cool, just not as cool as mind had imagined it. I guess I'm just bummed we didn't see any famous people. :-(
  

This picture captures my two favs of NYC. Central Park and the "Top of the Rock"! Central Park was amazing. More than I ever thought it would be! And getting to be able to see the entire city from so high up is just amazing to me. I literally started crying when I was looking out. It was so breathtaking and unreal!

It was so great to take a nice getaway with the hubs and explore an awesome city together!

Peahen Bryce!

Took some Halloween pictures of my beautiful niece, Bryce, as a peahen (female "Peacocks" are really called "Peahens")! Here is one of my favorites!

NYC : Day 3!

Day 3! Another very eventful day!


We were on the hunt for some breakfast and ran right into Magnolia Bakery!

It was so awesome because we really wanted to go there anyway and they were open that early so we decided it was a sign and had cuppies and choco milk for breakfast!

Then off to our NBC Studio Tour! This was Shane's favorite part of the trip. He's a big tv fan.

Those were our guides. I think that one guy was getting mad b/c I was taking a lot of pics.

Our official tickets! Too bad we didn't get to keep the cool plastic case!

Yep so the tour started there and as far as pictures go . . . ended there. . . no pics allowed! Totes bummer! We didn't get to see anyone famous, but we did get to go to the Nightly News Studio, the Jimmy Fallon Studio, and the SNL Studio though!

Don't know if you can see the sign, but it says "Don't even THINK of parking here"! Ha! I love the NYC signs! Maybe that's why no one follows them . . . . because people just laugh at them.

St. Patrick's Cathedral! So pretty and so many people visiting!

I mean really, how gorgeous is this!?

Loved the pillars and lighting here so I made Shaney take a pic outside the church!

The Trump Tower! I loved the trees coming out of it! Then we headed down 5th avenue to look at all the stores we couldn't even afford to go in . . . .

We saw Tiffany and Prada and Louis Vuitton and Versace and Rolex! And there was a HUUUUUUUGEEEEE line outside of A&F . . . . am I missing something?!

The infamous Apple store! We walked down and quickly walked right back out . . . it was PACKED!

So on our way to Northern Manhattan to try to find "Monk's Cafe" from Seinfeld, we might have went a little bit out of our way . . . we couldn't figure out what the difference between the black and white dots on the subway maps meant . . . but quickly determined it was the difference between the express (white) and local (black) stops. We took the express train which completely bypassed our stop, so we had to find our way back. And I swear these signs weren't on the subway that we got on in the first place.

But alas! We found it! :-)

Then we headed to mid-central park to check out the reservoir! It was sooo beautiful and so blue!

And meandered down to the "Great Lawn" . . . aka . . NYC's beach! Everyone was laying out in their suits!

This is gross I know. I did, however, successfully walk the entire trip in NYC in flip flops without getting any blisters .. . just some really dirrrrrty feet that got cleaned and wiped down very often.

Our last attempt to try to find some good NYC pizza . . . .

It was yummy, but I still don't think it beats out John's Wildwood Pizza (in Edinboro)!

I was so excited because they set up all these fun shops RIGHT outside our hotel! They had cute purses, scarfs, t-shirts, and other fun stuff!

Only cross the street when the signs tell you . . . . or get hit by a taxi.

These guys were out a little early, and were running from the cops, hiding behind cars. I thought it was quite humorous. I wanted to get a purse so bad, but was too scared I'd get arrested or something and I take a long time to make a decision, which really isn't possible with this kind of transaction, so I stuck to our vendors on our street.

Every night was garbage night in NYC . .. and lots of it!

They were setting up for the MTV Music Awards that would be held there the week after we were there!

Tickets to the Top! . . To the "Top of the Rock" (GE Building). We decided to go before the sun went down so we could get some "day" pics and some "night" pics.

Sunset!

Times Square area! Can you see the ball?!

Empire state and NYC!

Central Park! It was so cool to see how much we walked around NYC! And how freaking cool does that look? HUUUUGE park in a HUUUUUGE city!



More city!

Little later at night with the orange moon!

Empire State and NYC and Brooklyn Bridge later at night!

Sooooo many lights!!!

Oh and we stopped at Magnolia Bakery on the way home to pick up our snack for the night and breakfast the next morning!

Oktoberfest!

Dan & Marissa are still in Germany and loving every minute of it! Here they are at Oktoberfest! I told them to video tape themselves doing a German dance in their outfits (like National Lampoons European Vacation . . . minus the fighting)! Hopefully they send one so I can post it for you guys!