Reflections

Looking back 2010 has been one roller coaster of a year. The year began with Joe in VA and all of the turmoil that came along with that. I can say that I learned a lot from the experience, and I know that in some way it made us a stronger couple, but I also think it did damage to the relationship as well. It definitely kicked us right out of the honeymoon phase and right into a much more complicated situation that I am still not sure we've recovered from. I go into 2011 on the fence about our relationship as I still wonder if in the long run we want the same things. I am looking to settle down, have companionship, and stability and someone to share my life with. With his job, and the travel, I am not sure he will ever be able to be that guy. He tells me that he is moving out of his parents house when he returns from Mexico in January, we'll see if it actually happens. For now I am taking a "wait and see" approach. I figure, when its time to make a move one way or the other.. I'll know what to do. What I learned this year, is that love is complicated, and sometimes loving someone, and them loving you back, isn't enough.

This year I traveled to some pretty great places. In May, Toni, Meg, and I went to South Beach, Miami. I enjoyed the trip very much. Miami had wonderful food and shopping and beautiful beaches. It was expensive, but something I wanted to do for awhile now so I am glad we could finally do it. It was also nice to spend some girl time with my best friends as I feel that has become an increasingly rare thing as we get busy with our boyfriends, jobs, and the pressures of being an adult. In June, I went to Hiltonhead, SC with my family and Joe. It was wonderful spending some family time like we did when I was young. It was nice that Joe could spend some extended time getting to know my family, since they live far away. I hope that despite the distance between my family members on a daily basis, we will always stay close.
This year was filled with many weekend trips as well, including NYC, the shore, Baltimore, and Washington, DC. and home to boat and ski in Rochester. I am blessed to have been able to see many of the wonderful places this world has to offer and look forward to continuing to travel and see new places and expand my horizons.

This June marked the one year of being a homeowner! To date, I have owned the house for 18 months. Owning has been both challenging and rewarding. This year I began the year by painting the kitchen. Middle of the year, I got a new door on my roof deck and fixed a leak in my bathroom ceiling. I am ending the year with a new kitchen table, and some new Pier 1 decorations in my family room. While I find myself learning as I go, I feel that owning a house has taught me that if I ever need to live sans a hubby, I will be ok! Its a learning process, fixing things around the house. And, when all else fails, call the repair guy. I am unsure how the remainder of my time in Manayunk will unfold once my roommates move out in June, which is my biggest worry these days. Ya know, really doing it ALONE. But, I am hoping by then life will reveal to me what I am supposed to do. I am just trying to take one day at a time...

One of my biggest downfalls is that I worry a lot about the future; so much sometimes that I forget to enjoy the moment. 2010 has been filled with many wonderful moments which through this blog I will be able to keep in mind if and when life gets hard. Sometimes its easy to focus on what we don't have, instead of what we do. In 2011 my goal is to worry less about the future, and enjoy the moment with the confidence that life doesn't throw at you what you cant handle and everything will work out in the end. Thank you to my family, friends, and boyfriend for a wonderful year. Best wishes everyone for a happy/healthy 2011.

Nic

This, That, and Another thing..

Well I am happy to report that on Friday Allie & I's tree won the office tree decorating contest. We received a $20 gift card to Dunkin Donuts awarded by the CEO.

On Saturday Joe came over, after he got back from Paduca, late Friday night. We exchanged gifts and went out to dinner @ Bone Fish Grill with Sara and Steve for a nice holiday meal. When we got back, we had every intention of going out to the bar, but we were all so full and tired that we decided to stay in and we got caught up watching the Titanic movie.. hahaha.

On Sunday, I wanted to bake some cookies to give out to a few of my coworkers, friends, and future in-laws (hahah I mean Joes parents). So I set out to the grocery store to buy the ingredients. I went to 3 supermarkets before I gave up on finding sprinkles. Everyone in the Philly area must have been baking cookies. I ended up going to a local bakery and bardering with them to give me a container full of sprinkles.. hahah. I made chocolate covered almond candies and coconut cookie bars. Everything came out good, but I am really not a fan of baking, as in it stresses me out. I am an amazing cook, but for some reason, a terrible baker. Oh well, luckily the recipes were easy enough that they were almost too easy to screw up. But, there was a few times I almost threw in the towel. Later that evening we went out to dinner with Joes family and went back to his house to exchange gifts with them. They got me a beautiful COACH scarf, which I really like.

Today is my last day of work. I head back to Rochester for the holidays tomorrow. I hope this finds you doing things that are full of Christmas cheer. Wishing you the best this season has to offer. xoxo.

Merry Christmas.

The Office Christmas Tree Contest

Allie and I entered the office Christmas Tree decorating contest. Our theme is "PHILLIEz Navidad" and is centered around everything great about Philadelphia including the "R6" Septa train running around the bottom. What do you think... are we gonna win?

100 Days To Bikini Ready

I realized today that I leave for Aruba in exactly 100 days. Now I've never been one to be obsessed with my body, I pretty much eat what I want when I want it. But then again, I've never been the girl with the rock hard abs either. I dont think I cared much when I went on vacation with my girlfriends, but something about this trip being with Joe has sparked my desire to look HOT in my bikini. Plus, I think working towards something always gives you better motivation when you hit the gym. Now that its cold outside and all the summer fun has come and gone, I have decided to go back on my crusade to hit the gym hard for the next 100 days.

Lets be honest I usually dont stick with my gym plans, but I talked to my mom about it and she made a great point, you have to act like going to the gym is not a choice, its something you have to do much like showing up for work on time. Maybe changing my mentality about it will help... but that remains to be seen. So wish me luck ladies and gentleman on my 100 day crusade to bikini ready.

Maybe as I get more into this I'll post weight loss results, but until I figure out if I can stick with this I dont want to embarrass myself! hahah.

xoxo

Its Christmas Time in the City...

Last week one of Joe's friends invited us to go with them to NYC to see the Christmas tree on Saturday. Conveniently, I was scheduled to work in North Jersey at the end of last week so Joe and I decided to make a weekend out of it and get a hotel for Friday night and then meet up with his friends on Saturday. We were very lucky, because one of my college roommates works for Marriott and was able to get us a sweet Marriott in Mid-town for half price (still pretty expensive though $250 - gotta love NYC at Christmas time.)
On Friday, I met Joe at the Hamilton NJ Transit station and we took the train into the city. We went to the hotel and checked in and were given a room on the 22nd floor. We were very excited as we rode the elevator to almost the top of the bldg. that we would have a pretty sweet view of the city. However, upon getting up to our room and opening up the window shades -brick wall!! boooo.. how they would have charged $500 to face a brick wall is beyond me.
Anyways, after we checked in we went down to little Italy and ate at Angelo's of Mulberry St. The food was very good and afterwords Joe and I went to a little stand and polished off 3 canoli's! So good. Little Italy was decorated really cute for the holidays.
The next day we met up with the group and did many fun things. We went to FAO Schwartz, Times Square, and Bryant Park. At Bryant Park we ate at this restaurant called Celsius which is only open during the Christmas season overlooking the skating rink. You sit outside, and each table has its own heat lamps. It was so fun, and the food and drinks were great. I would definitely recommend checking it out. Here is a picture of Joe and I at Celsius.

Next, the group headed over to the Christmas tree. To say it was a mad house would be an understatement. People everywhere! The tree was very beautiful, I had never seen it before. After the tree, we went to dinner at a restaurant called Cafe Tasia which served Asian Fusion food near Astoria. For $10 you got an appetizer, dinner and a glass of wine. Cant beat that.
After dinner, we were all beat from all of the crowds and we decided to head back to Philly. Upon arriving home Joe said I should sit on the couch for a minute. I sat down, and he proceeded to tell me that his company is sending him to Paducah, KT today for the next two weeks. UGH.. way to ruin a good weekend. By the time he gets back I will already be in Rochester for Christmas and wont see him until after he gets back from a family vacation after the New Year. That kinda sucks, but I guess that is the society we are living in today. We have to do what we have to do for our jobs. I just wish it wasn't so close to the holidays....

Oh I'm a lucky man, to count on both hands, the ones I love:

Hello Hello,

I just got back from Rochester this morning from the Thanksgiving holiday. I had a wonderful time catching up with my family and slowing down the pace of life for awhile. My mother, being the excellent cook that she is, made a wonderful meal. It was also nice to see my grandparents while I was home and catch up with friends and old neighbors. This year, I have so much to be thankful for in no particular order:

1. A family who is healthy & happy

2. Grandparents still living

3. A boyfriend who loves me (most days. :) ) and who is now with me more often.

4. Friends I can rely on when things get hard

5. Two great roomates

6. A beautful house

7. A Job

8. Traveling - Hilton Head, Miami, the Shore, Alexandria, Atlantic City, NYC, Baltimore

Some days I catch myself missing my life in Rochester, but then I read above, and I realize how truely blessed I have been this year. I couldnt ask for more.

I hope this finds you all having a wonderful Holiday season. Make sure to count your blessings.

Sips & Bites

A few weeks back, I was feeling sort of depressed so I decided to see if I could conjure up a group of girls to do something fun. I had come across a wine class called "girls night out" at this place called Pinot Boutique in Old City Philadelphia. After trying hard to wrangle up some girlfriends, and realizing that everyone was too busy, I put it on hold.

A few days later my friend "A" came across a groupon for a discount on the wine classes I had been looking at, so we decided to buy it, even if it was just the two of us. Since the "Girls Night Out" class had already came and went, we decided to attend a class called "Sips & Bites with Vintage" Last night we left work around 5 & took the train to old city for the class. This specific class was given at a wine bar called Vintage , and not at the wine boutique itself, because it focused on not only wine tasting, but wine and food pairings. We arrived at Vintage and were seated with the other people taking the class. We were given a 4 course tasting (very small taste) menu each pared with a different wine.

First Course: Parsnip Soup paired with a Parradox Reserve Chardonnay. (excellent)
Second Course: Marcilliac - Marisots (red table wine) paired with salted beet and goat cheese salad (also good)
Third course: Santa Isabelle - Malbec paired with Braised short ribs (stellar short ribs &wine)
Dessert: Rosenblum Chateau la Paws - Ode de Bone paired with a pumpkin creme fresh.

All and all the food was great! Since it was only a tasting menu, we stayed after and ordered a couple more things from the wine bar because by that point it was 8pm and we were starving fro all our "tastes". On our way back to the train station, "A" and I were walking down Chestnut street and saw about 5 police cars lined up with some taxi's . She commented that she wondered what happened? When I looked over, all the cop cars and the taxi's were "NYPD" and "NY Taxi". We then realized that we had walked onto a movie set. They were using a store front in Philly to simulate NYC. When we arrived, they were filming a shooting scene complete with flashing police car lights and fake gun shot noises. We watched a few takes, it was pretty fun!

All and all, I am so glad we went, I can always count on "A" to be up for doing things with me. It is something I really admire about her. She never had any drama, and anything you suggest, she is more then willing to give it a shot. I wish I could say the same for the 11 other girls I invited but did not respond. I will definitely do this again soon, its nice to get out on a weeknight and break up the work week.

xoxo until next time.