NYC part one

I know, I know, this post is SOOOOOOO long overdue...life has been insane since getting back from New York, as I've been busy trying to unpack and organize my new abode. And since i took about a billion pictures in NYC, the thought of blogging and picking which pics I wanted to post has been somewhat daunting....hence my procrastination and avoidance. Until now!!!! I am finally getting 'er done! So, what follows is a 2-part post, just because even though I have been selective in which pics I've chosen to post, there are still a lot, because we did and saw a TON. These pics aren't totally in the order of the way we saw the city, mainly because I still never know what order blogger will post things when you upload pics, so try as I might to put some order to my post, it's not always successful!! So here we go!!!



Pammer and I both flew into JFK Sunday late afternoon, me from Buffalo, she from Seattle. We flew in within about 20 mins of each other, so the plan was for Pammer to come meet me at my baggage carousel. Well, Pammer got in just about right on schedule. I landed a bit late but then was lucky enough (sarcasm) to have my plane sit on the tarmac for 90 mins. because of airplane gridlock...how fun!! Pammer and I sent a few text messages so we knew all was good, and I finally got off the plane, met up with her, got my bags, and we got a cab to our "guest house"...more on that later....



Anyway, we were also fortunate (sarcasm again) to experience NYC in the midst of a heat wave. Sunday night we hardly slept b/c of no AC in our room, but the next day we spoke to the lady who owned the house and we got the AC in our room...yipee!! The week got better from there as our little AC unit was used to the max! (to give you an idea, the temps in first few days of the week were anywhere from 35-40C with humidity...ewwww...but I think we were just thankful it didn't rain the whole trip!)



Ok i'd better move along...so Monday-day was just plain hot, and i almost got heat stroke, so we didn't do much during the day. But in the evening, wedid a double decker bus tour - we actually bought a pass for the week, for the "hop on hop off" tours, which gave us the chance to do a variety of tours, hop off at whatever stop we wanted, check stuff out, and when ready, just wait for the next bus to come by and hop back on. It was great!



So here's a shot of the NY skyline, as we drove across the Manhatten bridge.

This is a cool looking building that you see in pics of NY quite often. I don't really even know what it is, but it looks neat!
Taxi city!!! Driving is crazy, I would never even think of attempting to drive in that city! I will let the cabbies to their thing!

This is a cool tile mosaic in "our" subway station - we stayed only 4 blocks from the "116th St" Subway station, which made transportation a breeze -- we are subway pros now!!

Here I am going into our "guest house". We had a room in this house (those are our windows and AC unit!!!) and the lady who owns the house lives upstairs. I think she also rents rooms on the top floor of her house too (it's a common 3-level brownstone, a pretty cool house) We chose a room that had our own kitchen and bathroom. Oh yes, and perhaps I should mention that we didn't really realize that our place was in HARLEM until the taxi was driving us there....a wee bit of fear the first night but after that it was all good. We got used to being the minority and having everyone stare at us (hi we're tourists, oh yes and the only caucasian people around here) and it really wasn't that bad!!!
Times Square at night...a totally different look than in the daytime...lights everywhere, people everywhere, it's a busy busy place!!!
Our adventure to Tiffany and CO where Pammer bought some wine glasses and felt like a star carrying around her Tiffany's bag for the rest of the day!

the MET (Metropolitan Museum of Art)...a fine, AC'd place to spend some time on a hot day!

the Empire State building...my biggest disappointment of the whole trip. We went at night because i wanted to take some pics of the city-scape and by the time we got to the top, there was a sudden rain and wind storm that blew in and they closed the observation deck, so we couldn't even go outside!!! I was not a happy camper. and they didn't even give us our money back. boooo

Here I am in Starbucks...but not just any Starbucks...the Trump Tower Starbucks!! And surprisingly, the coffee was priced just the same as anywhere else!
And a view of The Donald's building

Well those are some highlights from the first couple of days...let's carry on to part two shall we?

NYC part deux

Alrighty...let's carry on, shall we? Well it's now Wednesday, Pammer and I get 1/2 price tickets to 'A Chorus Line', a show we really know nothing about, but what the heck, let's go see it. And then when walking down Broadway later, suddenly realize that our show has a lot more to offer than we thought....in the likes of Mario Lopez! (you've seen the teaser pic, I know, but here are a few pics leading up to that momentous event)

I'm practicing my dance moves with him
a little bit of pectorals never hurt anyone....right??!!

We visited Ground Zero. There's actually not that much to see at the site itself; there's a lot of construction going on, as they've started rebuilding, and so everything is fenced off and you just see a bunch of cranes. However, in the church across the street there's a memorial. It was in this church that all the firemen, police, ambulance etc. ate and slept while helping out after 9-11. The cool thing was that once people had finished helping out, they left their badges behind, creating this great display.

This is the street corner of our Harlem dwelling. It's quite lovely, once you make friends with the burly black men who live down the street...lol
The other Broadway play we saw: Chicago! It was fantastic!
Pammer having a pensive moment looking over at the Brooklyn Bridge

Brooklyn Bridge, from the Brooklyn side, so that skyline belongs to Manhatten
Seriously my favorite signs. They're hilarious!!
The Statue of Liberty! Pammer and I took a 75 minute harbour cruise (thrown in for 'free' with our hop-on-hop-off bus tour ticket) that went out past Lady Liberty and back
Ok these pics are really out of order, sorry...here we are back on the Brookly Bridge as we walked across

My signature type of shot, the sunglasses reflection (also when I got in trouble by the park police for taking pictures that were "too artistic - you need a permit for things like that"...yeah...ok...) Anyway, that's the Manhatten bridge in my glasses, and the Brooklyn bridge in the backdrop
Rockefellar Plaza, home of the NBC gift shop, other important things and a wicked observation deck, which, because of the bad expedition to the Empire State building, I was willing to fork over some more money to get to the top of this building...I was going to see some high city views if it killed me!!!!

Radio City Music Hall, just across the street from the Rockefellar building
Pammer and I, "Top-of-the-Rock"
The view, looking north. Isn't it perty??!! I love the big greenspace of Central Park

A view off the other direction, featuring the Empire State building

And there you have it......an overview of the NYC adventure!!! It was fantastic, fun, hot and busy, but we had a great time!!!

...and a little teaser from NYC...

there are definitely multiple posts about my trip to New York coming, but it will take some time to decided what pics I want to post...as I have over 400 to choose from...tee hee!! But for now, here is a little teaser of our "CELEB-meeting" -- yes, that really is Mario Lopez, who you may remember from such hit shows as Saved by the Bell and Dancing with the Stars...and who has also added "Broadway star" to his resume....pammer and I may or may not have stalked him to his chauffered car after seeing him perform in "A Chorus Line"...

A few wedding pics

Well I'm back from holidays (and am ready to go away again...holidays soooo beat working...!!). I had a FABULOUS time, both at the wedding and in New York. Here are a few pics I took on wedding day (as I tried to stay out of the way of the photographer....!!!) as we sweltered away in 30+C heat...you can find a few more pics on Facebook too.

Here was the sign at the church where my bro got married
And here is my family (minus me, because i'm taking pictures)

I handed my camera off to my dad for a bit, as we had to take some pics of the whole wedding party. Like I mentioned in my last post, I got to be the "best woman" and stand up on my bro's side during the ceremony, which was pretty cool.

Bride and Groom out for a stroll
Cute picture up on a scenic bridge

Again, out for a leisurely stroll
And enjoying a laugh on the bench...how cute!

So there you go, a few highlights from the wedding....we had a great time, despite the heat. Everything went really well, I think we all had fun at both the ceremony and dancing the night away at the reception!!!!

FYI...it's been busy...

hey peeps...just a brief interlude to tell you what's been going on, where I am, and where i'm going....sorry no pics in this post but there will be many pics to come!! Suffice to say it's been a bit of a whirlwind lately...lots going on!!

I moved into my new condo last weekend...well, my boxes moved in and i will be sleeping there within the next couple of weeks. I painted the bedroom ceilings, got new carpet and am getting some tiling done on the bathroom floors.

I am on holidays right now, currently in Ontario - i flew in yesterday. I'm here for my wedding party duties in my brother's wedding, which is tomorrow. I get to actually stand up for him, on his side, and be his "best woman", hold the rings and sign the important documents...should be good times!!! I got a pedicure today, and i'm hoping i don't melt away in this 30C heat....

Then more fun happens, as Sunday afternoon I head down to Buffalo and catch a flight to New York City. Pammer is flying out from Seattle, we will attempt to find each other in JFK Airport and then we are spending a fun filled week being tourists in the big apple!!!! yahoo!!!!

Once all the fun is over, i get to come back to BC, to my new place, and start unpacking and decorating. Whew, i'm tired just thinking about it! Anyway, as you can now tell, there will be many pics to come, but in the meantime, i have put a few pics of my new place on Facebook, so please check them out there.