Black Friday

So stores like Old Navy opened up at 3am this morning. I think Kohls was open at 4am. The Toys R Us in Times Square opened their doors at midnight! I was not at Old Navy, Kohls, or Toys R Us this morning. I was sound asleep and warm in my bed! Having worked so many Black Fridays from my years as a Meijer employee I will never voluntarily partake in the Black Friday festivities... EVER!!!

Instead I spent the first half of today in a Dayquil coma. Yes... after months of drifting in and out of potentially being sick I woke up this morning with a headache, congestion, and quite the lovely cough. But after a nice hot shower and cuddling with the hubby in front of a NCIS marathon for a few hours we got to work. We are moving in 4 days and the house just isn't going to pack itself. I'm proud to say we got the Dining Room and most of the Living Room pretty much done today. I still want to try and bang out some of the kitchen but we are almost out of boxes. We're waiting for another shipment to arrive by tomorrow.

Next weekend I'm hoping we can get to the PX up at West Point and get our new Christmas Tree to put up. I normally put my stuff out Thanksgiving weekend so I'm chomping at the bit a little right now.

AND... only 92 days until our VACATION! My brother is getting married in Key West in March. Since Freddy and I never really had a honeymoon we are planning on going out a week before and have ourselves a little vacation. It has been a while since I've taken a real vaction where I wasn't checking work email so I'm kind of excited. Plus my baby brother is getting married!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

~AKO

Putty Time!

Taking a break from all the packing fun we were having today, we discovered we had a couple of little helpers...















I was also playing with the settings on my camera :)

~AKO

Month in Review....

Or something like that... I feel like the last three weeks has completely bowled me right over. Hence my lack of posting. So, since my last post a few things have transpired...

My very good friends Nicci and Adam were married on November 1 in a very awesome Halloween themed wedding. Nicci was one of my roommates for years when I first moved to the city. So we spent the weekend in the Chicago area.




The Centerpieces



The Bride and her Bridesmaids



And me and my hubby




I think I mentioned in a previous post that we were moving to New Jersey in a few weeks. So we've started the fun process of packing and purging. On the weekends we have been painting and cleaning the new apartment. I will be sooooo happy when it is all said and done. Normally I put out my Christmas decor on Thanksgiving weekend but since we are moving shortly after I won't be able to put them out until December.

And this year, for the first time since I moved out here, I was able to see the NYC Veterans Day parade. The New York National Guard marched in the parade this year. I took the day off to watch my hubby march in the parade with his unit.







If you can't tell Freddy is second from the right :)

~AKO

One Year Ago...

One year ago today we awoke to a gray and rainy day. But that didn't matter because we were doing this...





I can't believe it has been a year already! Happy 1 Year Anniversary to the most caring, thoughtful, and loving man in my life. I have no regrets...even if the Army has already messed up our plans :)

~AKO

It's Beginning to Look... er... FEEL A Lot Like...

CHRISTMAS! It is frickin' cold! Mid-October and we're in the middle of winter temperatures. First we get no Summer and now Autumn has passed us by. Before you know it, the city is going to look like this...





And my house will look like this... although we will be in a different appartment by Christmas. I hope I'll be able to get everything up those first couple of days so we can enjoy our Christmas decor.







And, for good measure, my Christmas Kitties :)







68 more shopping days until Christmas!

~AKO

Jersey Bound... And Other Stuff...

Wow! I can't believe it has been two weeks since I last post. Who knew time could get away from you like that. Anyway, now that I've recovered from Game 163 (baseball fans will know what that means) I have moved on to the ALCS. The New York Yankees are in the ALCS for the first time in 5 years. They swept the Twins last week, with in true Yankee fasion a few nail biting moments. On the other side of the division, the California Angels swept the Boston Red Sox. So now it is the Yankees and the Angels doing battle for the American League title. The Yankees are currently up by 1 game, with game 2 scheduled for tonight. We are supposed to get our second Noreastern any minute now so it is likely the game will be postponed.

In other topics... my job is kicking my ass right now :( I'm hoping once we get into our year end freeze next month that things will quiet down a bit. Right now everyone is trying to get everything in before the freeze. I'm really looking forward to enjoying the holiday season this year.

And, we are jumping the Hudson River to New Jersey! Yep... that's right folks we are moving to Jersey City. We'll still be renting but we will be in a little bit safer and quieter neighborhood. I'll feel a little better as well being home by myself when Freddy is away at drill or training. December 1 is moving day so I'll be without my beloved Internet for a while... The good thing is that we'll be closer to the city so we will be able to go out like we used to. Right now it takes us so long to get home to our house in Brooklyn that we rarely go into the city aside from work.

So... that being said... I need to go start boxing stuff :)

~AKO

There's Always Next Year...

The Tigers got beat tonight by the Twins in 12 innings 6-5 to end their season. It was an exciting game with a few lead changes. It was broadcast on TBS so I was lucky enough to be able to watch it.

So, I leave you with my homage to the 2009 Detroit Tigers...





The Twins face the Yankees tomorrow in the ALDS in New York. Go Yankees! If we're lucky we may even see another Yankees/Red Sox battle for the American League title.

~AKO

Time is Running Out

So, my friend Nicci is getting married November 1 and I am one of her bridesmaids.


So, I'll be wearing this dress ...



And these shoes in red...




Starting today I got back on this to try and tone up a little before the wedding...





And here is my support structure while I'm working my WII Fit and WII Active...





I'm toying with posting my progress but we'll see how that goes first >:p

~AKO

Beautiful Fall, Sunny Day

This morning I actually broke out some of our wedding gifts and made the hubby breakfast. I was going to break out the waffle maker but we opted for pancakes instead. I really wanted to play with our new griddle but there is no room to use it in our current kitchen :( so I had to use a frying pan. The batter dispenser was sooooo much easier than trying to pour it out of the bowl or use the spoon. I also learned that our tortilla warmer also makes a good pancake warmer!

Before we even got out of bed, Freddy was asking if I wanted to go into the city so I knew he really wanted to go somewhere today. Plus the weather was a beautiful fall day... blue sky, cool breeze, sunny. After breakfast we decided to go to the New York Aquarium since neither of us had been there before.





From the parking lot you can see the Cyclone, which has been a staple at Coney Island for years. There has been a lot of controversy over the closing of Astroland. I have no idea why it was so hazy at 3:00 in the afternoon on a sunny day.





The Aquarium was much smaller than I expected, but here are some of my favorite stops from the day.


The Sergeant Major fish... you know who got excited about this one :)



The Shark Tank



The Sting Rays



The Jellyfish



The Caimon... he totally wanted to come home with me!



Los Penguinos




After the Aquarium we took a walk down the Coney Island boardwalk where I was able to take some nice photos.







The biggest seagull I've ever seen! You should have seen him in person! He was huge!





And, of course, my hubby... surprisingly not wearing his combat boots.





~AKO

Hello to October!!!

October has always been one of my favorite months, if not THE favorite month. The air has officially turned into that rainy day, fresh air smell. The leaves are turning all sorts of pretty shades of red, orange, and yellow. MLB post season makes for some exciting television. Halloween decorations... nuff said there. And now, one more thing, our anniversary is in October. Yep... on October 25th we will have been married for one year. 21 days and we are no longer considered newlyweds.

So how can one not love the month of October? I put up my Halloween decor today and found that I have accumulated so much stuff that I couldn't put it all out! So I had to make the difficult decision to pick and choose what went out this year and what had to stay packed away.

Of course I had a little helper...





I'll be posting some pictures of my decor in a few weeks but here is one of the first ones. I was playing around a bit with the light and my new camera. I am very slowly moving to some of the manual functionality.





Happy October!!

~AKO

Tigers Baby!!!!

This is getting nerve racking!!! Yesterday the Tigers split a day/night double header with the Twins. With their win over the Twins today, the Tigers now lead the AL Central division by 3 games. If they win tomorrow they can clinch the division.

Go Tigers!!!

And... The Lions snapped a 19 game losing streak last Sunday...

~AKO

Holy Crap!

The last day of September is next week! Holy Crap!! Where did 2009 go??? A month from yesterday I've been married for a whole year! HOLY CRAP!!!!

Anyway... so I realized I typoed some information in my last post. The Yankees magic number of 1 was to clinch a playoff spot, which they did this week. If they sweep the Red Sox this weekend they can clinch the AL East.

Like true form the Tigers got beat by the White Sox last night. The Twins beat the Royals so they are still 2 games behind for the AL Central. If the Tigers don't take the AL Central they most likely don't have a chance at the AL Wild Card since there is no way they can catch the Red Sox or the Yankees.



In National League news it looks like the St. Louis Cardinals are close to clinching a playoff spot as well.

BTW... Football season start a couple weeks ago. All the Lions need to do this year is win 1 game to improve on last season. 0-2 after the second week...

AND... next weekend I put up my Halloween decorations!!! I'll have photos :)

~AKO

12 Days....

Until post season! The Detroit Tigers just have to get through one more 4 game series against the Minnesota Twins and two more 3 game series against the Chicago White Sox. There is some concern since, for some reason, the Tigers are pretty close to incapable of beating the Sox. Both the Tigers and the Twins won tonight keeping the Tigers 2 1/2 games ahead in the AL Central. Anything can happen and every game counts in the last two weeks of regular season play!

In other news, the magic number for the New York Yankees is 1. A Yankees win or Texas Rangers loss will clinch the AL East for the Yankees.

~AKO

Dear So and So... Seriously... Enough Already!

Dear Clients,

No I will not call you right now and I will not respond to your questions today when you send an email at 4:00 in the afternoon. Remember I've got other things to do as well and cannot drop everything to work on your problem. AND I will not be escalating your non-production issue request.

Regards,
Your Project Manager's Boss

~~~~~~~~~~

Dear House,

Please proceed with your cleaning. I've done enough and would appreciate that you finish the job yourself.

Thanks,
Tired House Renter

~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Homies on the Corner,

Really? Are you that deaf that you need to play your music that loud? I can hear it so I'm assuming you can hear it too. I hope you are enjoying my afternoon with Garth, Alan, Jodee, Carrie, Madonna, and NKOTB. And, yes, I'm the one who called the cops!

*sigh*
Dialing 311 in Brooklyn

~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Detroit Tigers,

Please get your act together! It is really getting old when you blow it in the last two weeks of the season... every year! There is no reason why you shouldn't clinch the AL Central Division this year. You've now lost 3 in a row and MUST beat the Twins today to stay in it!

Sincerely,
Nervous Tiger fan in NY

~~~~~~~~~~

Dear C-Lo,

Yes, you are cute and furry :)

Love,
Mommy





~AKO

Wordless Wednesday

In keeping with my spider post theme :) I found in my archive a photo from 2001 when they had spiders in Rockefeller Center.





~AKO

So Close...

We are sooooo close to my favorite decorating holiday! This holiday is even above Christmas! HALLOWEEN!!!!! Freddy has drill this week so I will be left unattended. It is only a month and a half away. It's not too early to put out my Halloween decor... is it? No one around here is going to tell me no :)

In celebration of the greatest holiday of the year, I would like to introduce you to my new friend who has built himself a house on our front porch.





~AKO

9/11

As I went through my daily routine today of documentation, conference calls, trouble shooting, emails, etc at work today, it was impossible to not remember that day 8 years ago when the lives of the entire nation changed forever. That day that I remember as clearly as if it were yesterday...

Pre-9/11
8 years ago, I was a naive 25 year old living in Manhattan. Still a fresh faced Midwestern transplant who had only lived in the big city for 10 months. In July 2001, my mom and sister had just come out for a visit. It was the first time my mom had visited me in the city. In September 2001, my two roommates and I had just found a nice apartment in Washington Heights and were slowly finding ourselves with new jobs. I was working in the corporate office of a popular retail store full time. Their office was on 38th Street in the shadow of the Empire State Building. On August 20, 2001, to earn some extra money, I started working part time in the evenings with a payment processing company. Their office was on Dey Street, which was across the street from the World Trade Center. When arriving to my evening job, I would exit from the Cortland Street subway station, which brought you into the lobby of one of the World Trade Center towers. There was a cool Halloween store near the exit that I wanted to peruse in the coming weeks. On September 10, 2001, I was offered and accepted a full time position with the payment processing company. I left work at 11:00 pm...

September 11, 2001
It was a Tuesday and a beautiful fall day. The temperature was comfortable, the sun was out, and not a cloud in the sky. Around 8:50am, I exited the subway on 42nd Street and 6th Avenue. As I walked down 6th Avenue, a thought popped into my head... the next time my mom comes out to visit I should take her to the World Trade Center.

By the time I got to my desk on the 8th floor, it was just after 9:00 am and the second plane had already hit the south tower. Of course this was the topic of conversation for everyone. I had a little radio on my desk so I turned on the news station to try and follow what was going on. Not long after we heard about the plane that hit the Pentagon. I immediately started to try and call my family in Michigan to let them know I was ok. The first person I could get a hold of was my sister. She was at work in a retail store and they hadn't heard what happened yet. I quickly told her what I knew and for her to let people know that I was ok. I was then finally able to contact my mom. One of her co-workers had a child who worked at the Pentagon so they were both trying to figure out what was going on. I assured my mom that I was ok and to let everyone, who had been calling my mom all morning, know that I was safe.

Like so many of the companies in the WTC towers, my company told us to stay in our offices. After both of the towers fell, my thoughts turned to my co-workers at my second job. Their office was across the street. Were they ok?

Eventually I was able to get a hold of one of my roommates, Michelle, who worked 4 blocks north by Grand Central Station. My third roommate, Nicci, was scheduled to work a second shift at a bookstore that day and safe at home. By this time Manhattan was on lockdown. No one was entering or leaving the city by any type of vehicle. This included the subway, which had stopped running.

Since we lived over 140 blocks north, we decided we might as well start walking toward home. We had some friends who lived on the way that we stopped to make sure were also ok. When we got up to 102nd Street, we heard the subway running again and were able to take the train the rest of the way home. It wasn't until we were able to watch the news reports on TV that evening that we really realized the extent of the damage and loss. I did not lose anyone, but I know many people who did lose a friend and/or family members.

The Days and Weeks Following
The rest of that week was a blur. My company closed their offices on Wednesday. On Thursday, we were evacuated around noon because of a bomb scare. On Friday my company closed their offices again. The next week I finally heard from my other employer. They had been able to relocate to a temporary disaster recovery location in Englewood Cliffs, NJ. A few weeks later I started working there full time as planned.

The city was very jumpy for a while. A box truck was stopped and search on the George Washington Bridge because there was a suspected bomb threat. Two months later, a plane destined for the Dominican Republic crashed in Rockaway, Queens shortly after take off from JFK airport. Manhattan immediately went on lockdown again.

It only took 6 months for the crews to remove all of the debris from Ground Zero. In 2002 we moved back into our Dey Street office. New York got back to normal... with the exception of a big hole in everyone's minds and hearts.

8 Years Later
Today, I am 33 and still with that payment processing company. Although we've gone through some changes over the years and are now a part of a publicly traded corporation. We've relocated to the East side by the Brooklyn Bridge. I am now married and live in Brooklyn. Two of my grandparents have passed away. Friends have married and had babies. I have more of an awareness about me. But that day will always stay the same. The day that changed our nation forever. The day that started the journey of so many men and women sent overseas to defend our freedom.

I was there that day. I was proud to be an American before 9/11 and I am still proud to be an American today.




God bless the U.S.A and keep our troops safe!




My thoughts and prayers are with all 9/11 survivors and their families and friends.

~AKO

The Pennant Race is On!

We've officially entered the most exciting time of the year for us Baseball fans. There are only 4 weeks left in the regular season which means the race for the pennant has begun! Now, living in New York, I unofficially root for the Yankees. I know... I know... the team everyone loves to hate! BUT, being a true Michigander, my official team has always been, and will always be, the Detroit Tigers. I even told people I was a Tiger fan that year they lost 119 games in 2003... one game away from have the worst record in MLB history. That record belongs to the 1962 New York Mets, who lost 120 games that season. But, if you really want to get technical, the worst record in baseball history belongs to the 1899 Cleveland Spiders (now the Cleveland Indians) who lost 134 games. But I digress...

As of today, the Tigers are in first place in the American League Central Division. Their current record is 75-61 and they are only 7 games ahead of the 2nd place Minnesota Twins. The magic number to clinch the AL Central division has not been release yet but you can bet I'll be watching for it! Of course, there is still plenty of baseball left in the season.

The Yankees are in a similar position over in the AL East Division. They are currently in first place with a record of 87-50. The Boston Red Sox are only 7.5 games behind so anything is possible!

With that, I will leave you with some baseball memories I have collected over the past few years.


Comerica Park - Home of the Detroit Tigers







St. Louis Cardinals vs. Detroit Tigers in the 2006 World Series



My little Tiger!



The Hubby at a Mets Game... it was a little chilly :)



The New York Mets at Shea Stadium



A hot dog and a beer... what more do you need at the ballgame?



The new Yankee Stadium






~AKO