Excited About Getting In Shape

Yesterday I joined a gym. I'm really excited about it. And today I went to the nearest Sports Authority store and spent way too much money on things for the gym...ie shoes, workout clothes, gym bag... Then this afternoon, I actually went to the gym! Its kind of silly how excited I am about exercising, but I am. And when I get excited about something, I try to blog about it. So here I am. Yay for feeling good about ourselves!

Yum, Sushi!!

On Tuesday night I got together with some friends that I've made out here in Connecticut (April, Sadie, and Chef Patrick) (by the way, Patrick actually is a chef, that's not just a quirky nickname or something...ok, on with the story) and had a delicious meal. I learned how to make sushi!! We all went over to Patricks house and he taught us how to make sushi (mine might have been considered fake sushi since I am vegetarian and don't eat fish...therefore it had no fish in it. I call it sushi anyway!) and tempera (sweet potatoes and asparagus) and April taught us (I'm sure Chef Patrick already knew how...I dunno) how to make Won Tons (I don't know how to spell that so if its wrong, just pretend it isn't...thanks!). It was tons and tons of fun and so yummy! We mentioned that sushi night should be a new tradition and we should do it once a month, cause it was such a great night. mmmmm.....sushi.....

Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera with me so I only got a few not very great shots on my phone, but here they are. It was so great!

New Jersey

Guess what blogging world...I've been to New Jersey before! My employer, Dorothy and I needed to go to a cute little town by the South Jersey shore called Margate to make sure the house her and her siblings own was ready for the new renter to move in. So on Thursday morning we left Connecticut, crossed the George Washington bridge (which was so cool! You can see Manhattan from it) got onto the New Jersey Turnpike (which was also cool cause I've heard about it) and from there took the Garden State Parkway to the quaint little town of Margate. I was telling Dorothy on the approx. 3 hour drive down there that I was expecting to see the stereotypical New Jersey with the men in wife beater tank tops and lots of greased hair and gold chains and the women with huge ratted up curly hair, and she told me that does actually exist but its more typical of North Jersey, and we were headed to South Jersey which is the nicer and more upper class area of Jersey. It was so beautiful! I expected to hate the Atlantic because I love the Pacific so, so much and how could something be as wonderful as it is...I was wrong. The Atlantic is so different than the Pacific, it's darker and more foreboding, but its beautiful in its own way. I really loved it! Ok, I think that's about enough ranting...I'm a little afraid to read this back to myself cause I just started typing and didn't really pay attention to what I was babbling on and on about...and I DID babble! sorry about that!! Lets see some pictures!!

Wow. I'm weird! Here we go:

Here I am in front of the Atlantic Ocean!

And Look!! That is Atlantic City in the background...wait, I think you can see it a little better after dark...

Look!! There's Atlantic City in the background...well, maybe you can see it better in this picture in the light...ignore the people in the picture, I didn't know them...

Look! You can see Atlantic City in the background!! ...ok, the point is I got to see Atlantic City (from a distance...but not a huge distance). It's...um...well, it's not Vegas, but kinda cool just the same.

Here I am on the deck of some guy named Louis who was trying to hit on me...he was nice enough but I wasn't interested so I didn't drink the beer he offered at least 700 times or go to the pool party he and his friends were going to have. But I DID let him use my camera to take my picture cause its hard always doing self portraits.

This is Lucy. The giant elephant shaped building in Margate. Yup, you read that right. Its a building, shaped like an elephant. It used to be a hotel. Now its a museum I think...funny, huh?!

We stopped on our way home Friday morning to pick Alex and his friend up cause they had been down there at a friends house all week. They were nice enough to help Cleo get into the proper Jersey Shore attire. She looks good, right?

New York City

Today I went to New York City for the first time since I've lived here. I went with my friend April, and a group of her friends who were all really nice. It started out as a group of 9 girls, but we were all moving at a different pace so we ended up splitting up and I went with April and Sadie to hang out and see the city. We had lots of fun. It was Sadies first time ever being to the city and it was fun to see it through her eyes. The first thing I did was to get a bagel at Hot and Crusty in Grand Central Station. YUM!

And I discovered something wonderful today...there is ANOTHER Hot and Crusty! Its a full bakery! One day I will go in! Note to self: its on the corner of 104th and Broadway.

Then we went to the meat packing district and walked along The High Line (which is an old abandoned train line that is about one story up and they turned it into a little walking path/garden area. It looks out over the Hudson River and its really cute and fun).

After that it was just the three of us and we went to get lunch at this place that April knew of. I forget the name of it, but it was SO good! On our way to the lunch spot we turned down a street that was all blocked off from traffic and it had all kinds of booths set up selling things. I bought a new dress that is really cute!

Then we went back to Time Square so that we could wander around and have fun and take all that excitement in. It was pretty cool to spend the day feeling like I could be leisurely and relaxed because if there is something I want to do in the city that I didn't get a chance to do...I can just come back, cause I live out here now. Wow! It was a really great day!!

For My Bathroom

Um...before you read this little post you should be warned that I'm stupidly excited, and it's a really silly thing to be excited about but I am. There. you were warned. Yesterday, I went to Bed, Bath & Beyond and got some stuff for my bathroom. Before there was a rack that hung over the shower head but it was kind of small and rusty. So I got...

...a new one. I warned you that it was a silly thing to be excited about. But wait! That's not all. Since the organizer hanging from the shower head was too small to fit everything, the rest of the shampoo and shower stuff went on the floor, which was annoying to me. So for the stuff that was residing on the floor of the shower I got...

...a shelf! Not just any shelf, a cool suction cuppy shelf that sticks to the wall. Cool huh?! Man I'm lame! :)

The Maritime Aquarium

Friday was a rainy day here in Connecticut which means our plans for Madeline to go to swim practice and then golf and tennis camp got canceled. Bummer, right? WRONG! Since we couldn't do that, Dorothy suggested we go to the aquarium instead. So Mad called her friend Nicki from across the street, and the three of us (Alex is still playing in the Hamptons) went to the aquarium. It was so much fun. We saw lots of sea life, it is an aquarium that focuses on things that are found in and around the Long Island Sound (which is nearer to us than the Atlantic is). We saw seals and sharks and sea turtles and penguins and lots of different fish. We got to touch a cow nose ray. They have a whole area with all different kinds of frogs and toads. I thought the blue poison frog thing (I forget his real name, but it was something about being poisonous...and he was blue...and a frog...) was really cool. He was so pretty! They have a IMAX theater inside the building so later in the afternoon we went and watched a film called Deep Sea. Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet narrated it and it was really interesting and way cool to see the amazing picture and 3D effects. After that we got ourselves a treat (Ice cream. Yum!) and wandered around a little more then came home. We all had a really good time!

Nicki and Madeline being silly and cute

Mad and Nicki watching the seals swim around

Mad and I hanging out at the Aquarium

Me, Mad, Nicki, and a turtle shell

This is that poisonous frog I mentioned above. I googled him and found out that he's called a Blue Poison Dart Frog. He's pretty isn't he?!

Can You Hear Me Now?

So when I moved to Connecticut I found out that my phone is really stupid. It didn't get service anywhere! So on Thursday I went to the Verizon Wireless store and spent way too much money and bought myself a new phone. I LOVE IT! I bought the En V Touch, and its great. The best part is that now I can call my loved ones who are so very far away, and half the conversation isn't "sorry, you cut out. What did you say?"