Save the Last Dance for Me!

#87: Go dancing at least 3 times a year

This weekend's dance-fest courtesy of Katie & Brian's Wedding!


Justin once again won over a new crowd of people with his dancing skills (or shall I say his inhibitions to dance the night away and truly feel the music). A great time was had by all!

Anniversary Dinner!

#11: Try a new restaurant every month

What better reason to try a new restaurant than an Anniversary! Yesterday marked 7 (yes SEVEN) years since the day Justin and I first met. Yes, that's right. We met at a frat party. (Less sketchy is the fact that my best friend at the time was J's frat brother and Justin just moved in to the room next door to him). So 7 years later, we celebrated with an insanely delicious dinner at Pylos in the east village.

Where we sat:


We started out with some really delish greek wine which was a sweet dry wine. We ordered Pitakia Kaisarias (savory phyllo pastries filled with the spiced, cured beef pasturma, fresh tomatoes and mild kasseri cheese) and eggplant and zucchini chips with tzatziki, then I had the Moussaka and Justin had a really amazing chicken dish (organic boned chicken farci with raisins, rosemary, thyme and greek kasseri cheese, served with zucchini, eggplant, and potato). For dessert we did more phyllo dough stuffed with custard and topped with the most amazing honey. Wonderful meal, loved the restaurant, and definitely want to go back!

1 for 4 in Mets Wins This Summer

#7 Go to at least 3 Mets games each summer
Pics from Mets game #3 (Aug 2nd with J's mom and sis) and game #4 (rescheduled birthday Mets game for my dad with the rest of the fam).


J with his mom and sis!


My fam at the Apple!

Oops! I forgot to blog!

Wow, #54 sure is slacking on this list (Blog all 101 things as I accomplish them). I can't believe I've actually missed the month of August completely - what a horrible blogger I am!! It's just that, work and life got super super busy in August and I kept the blog open at work just in case I'd have a moment to recap some wonderful accomplishment, but there it sat! So I hope you don't mind if I write a bunch of August posts and pretend that I wrote tham in August....right?? Multiple posts feel somehow better than forcing you through a really really long August recap!!!

AC BABY!

#25 Go to Atlantic City / #87 Go dancing at least 3 times a year

Check off that first Travel 101Thing! Woo!!! My friend Katie had her Bachelorette Party this weekend and we headed down to AC for the festivities! It was a really fun time, mostly involving drinking, and we went to a 70s-80s themed club Sat night to dance our asses off. Good times were had by all!


AC!


Me with the Bride-to-Be

Getting Beyond my Reader's Block

#2 Read 1 new book every 2 months
So when I wrote my 101 List, I was fresh off reading 3 of the 4 books out in a Fantasy Series (which will end up being 7 books) that Justin had me and our group of friends all start reading. It's a really good read with an exciting and interesting story (it's even being made into an HBO show sometime soon). Anyway, the first 3 books were really wonderful and a quick read once I got into it, but then I got to book 4, which is a lot slower and introduces new characters and is just not quite as good as the previous books. I've read like 2/3rds of it, but it just become something I didn't NEED to read and therefore I wasn't picking it up before bed like I had been for the prior months. So because I wasn't finishing this book, I wasn't able to start any new books, which I really wanted to!

Fast forward to this summer, when we went to a birthday party for one of Justin's best friends from high school and saw his old friends that he hadn't seen in years. Well, one of the girls is now a novelist of tween books! As soon as we heard this, I immediately added it to my queue in the library and finally got it a couple weeks ago! Well, it was the cutest, most fun book - we both just adored it. It could be the next Gossip Girl as far as I'm concerned, it's super clever with tons of humor and pop culture references and I'm not ashamed to say that I'm a fan of this tween series - I can't wait for the next book to come out!!

Cupcake Crawls Should Not Happen in August

#13 Taste cupcakes from at least 10 new places (with Lawrence and Rachel from CupcakeRankings.com)
#14 Go to brunch once every 2 months

We wanted to squeeze in one last Cupcake Crawl before Lawrence left for DC, so we scheduled one for his last Sunday in NYC. We went down to the Tribeca/Wall Street Area for brunch at Kitchenette (followed by cupcakes there, at Soda Shop, and Tribeca Treats). We then decided to sit in this cute little area with a fountain, benches, and lots of tourists. Unfortunately, it was like a thousand degrees and it definitely did not go along with eating cupcakes. And worse, the cupcakes were pretty dismal anyway.


Rachel and Justin at Kitchenette


Delicious brunch


The cupcake display


Me and Lawrence before testing our first cupcake


Soda Shoppe Cupcakes


Tribeca Treats Cupcakes

Fore!

#3 Have Justin teach me how to golf
Ok, so I suppose I shouldn't count this as COMPLETE til I actually know how to play golf...but I wasn't that specific was I??? So a few weeks ago, J and I went with his family to his Grandma's house in the Poconos, which is on a golf course. The men went out to play golf all day (27 holes total). I went with the women to the flea market (where I happened to get a couple lovely necklaces) and then joined Justin for the last 9 holes. I actually did it! I hit the ball and everything! Gonna post some pictures to prove it...

Hot is an Understatement...

#29 Go to Hot Yoga with Katie

One of the biggest accomplishments as far as I'm concerned off of the 101 List! After about a year of asking me to come to Hot Yoga, I finally buckled, made a commitment (there was drinking involved) and stuck to it!! Crazy!

So my experience wasn't horrible. It was really hard! I was worried about the heat and how I would be able to handle it. I mean, it is HOT. Beyond hot. You are COVERED in sweat, dripping, slippery sweat. There's nothing you can even do about it. The yoga poses at least at first, weren't as daunting (thank you Wii Fit Yoga!) but after about 45 minutes, I started to get a little light-headed/dizzy and had to sit out a few of the poses. But I did stay in the room and for that I am very proud! Plus Katie told me that I did really well for a newbie!!

As much as I (sort of) liked the whole experience, the idea of spending an hour and a half multiple times a week doing yoga in a hot and very smelly (there was no acclimating) room that isn't even close to my apartment just doesn't seem to make sense. I will say that my Indian dinner that night was insanely good tho :)

Home is Where the Grill Is

#46 Get an indoor grill/grill plate
#98 Move into a 1-bedroom apartment with Justin #46 Get an indoor grill/grill plate

Ok, so Justin and I didn't move in to a 1-bedroom....BUT, we moved into a LARGER studio with a TERRACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Which is sort of like having another room. So...CHECK! WOOO!!!!!! We just moved and love love love our apartment. It's so cute and big and pretty. Moving was hectic, but it all worked out in the end and now we're sooooooooo happy. And our terrace is insane!!!!!!!! Who needs an indoor grill suckas!!!! I got me the REAL DEAL!!!!!!!!!!!

Please enjoy these pics of our new humble abode...


The Bedroom


The Living Room


Posing on the terrace with our view of the Chrysler Building


Justin grilling on the terrace