Moving Blues

So as most of you know, Marc and I are in the process of packing up and heading out of our favorite new city, NYC. We are still in search of the right new job for Marc and our lease it up, so moving out of the city and waiting to find out what's next felt like the right move for the time being.

Friday we start our treck across the U.S. as we're heading down to Annapolis, MD to spend some time with Dad Magnone and then we'll hop in a car and drive on down to Merritt Island, FL to hang a little with Mom Magnone, Wally and crew. We're hoping we get to see Little One AKA Drew a bit while we're in FL as well. =) After that, who knows - maybe we'll turn west and head to Texas or....who knows where we'll end up!

Juggling through this week has been a challenge which we'll continue to go through until we drive away on Friday...we are SO SAD to be leaving but excited to find out where the path will lead.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and support over the last few weeks and year, for that matter. I'll post an update on Friday, hopefully, highlighting our last get-together here in town and our departure from The Big Apple.

For now, here's a couple of shots of our teeny apartment + dogs + boxes = one big mess! =)

Just a quick note - Maddie and Dexter wander around in circles all day and night and give us 'those looks' like 'what in the world is going on around here?' I think they are actually as tired as we are, hence the last picture above...so cute.

Andrew's Christening Day

Sunday was Andrew's big day in church - his christening day in St. Pete! Of course we were all in attendance and the ceremony was really sweet - he's such a good baby!

Marc and I got to stand at the front as Godparents with Leslie and Bill - it was such a great moment...might have been a tear or two but I kep my composure pretty well, although it was really hard - I was so happy! =)

After the ceremony at the church, we had a big party back at Les and Bill's to celebrate. Mom Magnone made the best Eggplant Parmigian and Lasagna to go along with snacks of all kinds... We ate and ate and ate some more while visiting and playing with little Andrew...

Moe and Marc chillin' in the kitchen - surprise-surprise, Marc's cell is in his hand... =)

Les had these little M&M's made for the big day - so cute!

Andrew and Poppi - just hangin' - isn't his outfit so cute!?

I love Andrew's face in the picture above with Bill's Mom...doesn't he look like he's up to something? =)

Andrew and his Godparents

Us with the happy baby and parents

And here's our family shot - thankfully a photographer was also taking pictures - I hope Bill's eyes are open in the other pics!

We had such a blast in Tampa - we always do. Can't wait to go down next time and see the little munchkin - hopefully our next visit will be warmer! We love you Les, Bill and Drew - thanks for being so special and important in our lives every single day - you guys rock! =)

Tampa Time

We're in Tampa this weekend, enjoying time with our new little nephew - he's so cute! Just a precious little baby boy...perfect in every way. He's so sweet - talks and laughs and hugs...he's great! And do you know the best part? We get to be his Godparents! =) I'll post pictures after our big day in church tomorrow - but until then, here are some good ones of our family time together since we got here.

We were just getting into Tampa in the picture above

And look at our sweet surprise...Mama Les showed up with Baby Andrew to meet his aunt and uncle for the first time!

Precious little cargo - on the way home from the airport - look at his cute baseball shoes!

Aunt Jenn and Drew - just hangin'...

Aunt Jenn and Uncle Marc

We went on date night Thursday evening while Mom and Dad Magnone stayed with Andrew...how do you like the way Marc's wearing his shirt? That was just for Leslie... =)

Friday we hung out all day with the baby and THEN we went to see G Love and Special Sauce with Les and Bill - so much fun!

Love these silly shots - above is me and Bill sporting our classy drinks and below is Marc and Matt, goofing off, as usual...

Saturday it was back to baby time - isn't he soooo cute? Don't you think he looks a little like Marc?

Love this picture of Marc and Andrew - watching the North Carolina game together =)

OK, that's all for now - will update tomorrow after we've been officially inducted into the role of Godparents! Hope everyone's having a great weekend.

Valentine's 2009

Marc and I had a great Valentine's Day weekend. I got home a little early on Friday and he had flowers ALL OVER THE HOUSE. It was so awesome! All of you know how much I love flowers so it was the perfect gift - he also had a Dillon Panthers t-shirt for me - LOVE IT. I'm a big Friday Night Lights fan and you should be do - if you're not watching, please START NOW...they need more viewers so they don't cancel our fav show! He also got me a heart-shaped Billy's Bakery cake...OMG, so good...there really are no words to describe it. I was also totally surprised by flowers from Dad - 2 dozen tulips and new red vase to go into my collection - also some candies in a cute heart-shaped keepsake box. So sweet... Dad Magnone also sent flowers that were beautiful with another vase that will go well in my collection - it has a little red heart on it, love it!

So as you can tell, I was totally spoiled for my Valentine's Day...didn't expect anything and got so much. I definitely felt special - made my whole weekend.

My Valentine's gifts from Marc

Flowers from my Dad - thanks Dad - I love you so much!

Flowers from Dad Magnone - thank you, love you too!

Saturday evening we went out to dinner at Red Cat with Jess and Byron and ate some delicious pork chops - yum. THEN - here's the most fun part - we went to this place called PLEASE DON'T TELL. It's a bar on in the East Village located inside a hot dog restaurant.... There's a phone booth in the restaurant you walk into and pick up the phone and BOOM - the door on the other side opens.... Have to have reservations and we were lucky enough to get in - so much fun. The drinks left a little to be desired but the atmosphere rocked and what a great story to tell. After a couple of drinks Byron and Marc had a quick hot dog and we headed home.

Red Cat in Chelsea

The NY Crew

Phone booth going into Please Don't Tell

Menu

Byron and Jess

Marc and Jenn

My FAB new shoes - saws Cara's brag bit and though I'd have one too! =)

Marc and B toasting their hot dogs to end our evening!

Thanks to everyone for such a great Valentine's Day - I hope you all know how much you mean to me and that you are all my valentine's. =)

Catching Up

Lots has been going on over the past few weeks - I've been completely slammed at work which isn't a bad thing! I'm really enjoying my new job but am also remembering what it really means to work day in and day out and actually accomplish things along the way. I'm exhausted by the time I get home - and all I want to do is sleep. For example, on Friday of this past week, I woke up at 6am - took a train to Secaucus, New Jersey where my manager picked me up - we drove to Norwalk, Connecticut for one meeting and then to Rye Brook, New York for another meeting - then he dropped me back off in Secaucus, New Jersey for me to take the train back into NYC Penn Station... Yes, you read that correctly, I was in three states in one day and home before 6pm that evening...kinda cool, especially for this Texas girl...never knew states in the Northeast were so accessible in so little time. OH the things that I'm learning... =)

Well, since last I wrote, several important things have happened. For instance, the STEELERS won the Super Bowl - sooo awesome. We had a Super Bowl party here and enjoyed hanging out with Ed, Jess and Byron... As for me, I celebrated in my Steelers gear for about a week but have come down off my high-horse and re-claimed my Cowboys. Lord knows they need help but I'm a fan 'til the end and it's a brand new year people - let's hope this time around things are different...I'm already praying about this. =)

Let's see - also very important - our neighbors from Houston, Scott and Josh, came to visit and we had so much fun! We hit up some of the typical NYC spots but also did some new things like we went to Fig and Olive, this awesome restaurant in the Meatpacking District and THEN went to Hogs and Heifers...some of you might remember this bar from a little movie called Coyote Ugly. It was AWESOME... We then rounded out our evening at G - a predominantly gay club in Chelsea where we met up with Byron and Jess and danced our booties off.... It was totally different than anything we've done in awhile and it was also, totally AWESOME...as I've already mentioned. My favorite part of the evening was at Hogs and Heifers when Scott noticed that the bartenders' belt buckle displayed the Alamo...so for the rest of the evening, we shouted 'Remember the Alamo' in an effort to display our Texas heritage. Although I'm absolutely positive no one in NYC knew what in the world we were talking about, we did and that's really all that mattered as we shouted 'Remember the Alamo' to strangers walking down the street. Yes - it was one of those nights - we had a blast. Here's some pics from Scott and Josh's visit!

We had dinner at Tello's - our local fav - on Friday night and then headed to Times Square... This was Josh's first time in NYC so we had to take him to the best tourist spot in the city asap.

Below is the New Year's Eve Ball - it's a permanent fixture in Times Square moving forward which is kinda cool.

Of course we had to take the guys to Little Italy and the best pizzeria ever - Lombardi's - we chowed down and then headed to Pinkberry for dessert after strolling through SoHo and shopping a bit on Saturday.

So - about Pinkberry - Marc's been wanting to go FOREVER even though he wasn't sure what it was going to be like. Jess has been warning him that it's not just frozen yogurt - it's REAL frozen yogurt, with live culture and all... Anyway, after pizza we decided to go try it out so here's Marc with his Pinkberry. =) I'm not a fan but he thought it was alright - at least we can say we tried it!

Below is our night out at G - what a great shot of the crew!

I'll post again soon with Valentine's Day recaps, fun pup pictures and an update on our 'status' here in NYC. Until then - have a fantastic week!