Our friends who are watching our puppy while we're on vacation are so sweet! My friend wrote us an email from our puppy's point of view and sent us pictures. So, the name Batman is not nearly as cute as Wasabi and our puppy definitely needs a cute name. We've only heard one other name that we like but it didn't seem fitting for our puppy. Any suggestions are welcomed. Oh, let me know if this picture actually shows.
Hilton Head is really one of my favorite places to vacation
Aug. 6th, 2007 @ 11:38 pm
One of my favorite vacation moments is walking across the boardwalk past the swimming pool to the beach. Everyone is donning a bikini, tankini or a one piece. Everyone is happy. Splashes and laughter fill the air as kids take turns dunking each other. I walk past various sunbathers reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on the beach. After laying out my towel, Nemo and I immediately made a beeline for the ocean.
The water felt cold at first in the debilatating sun but soon felt perfect. There is something to be said about waves crashing along the shore. It just makes me want to dive right into them. Having the boogie board with me changed that a bit as I pondered how I was supposed to ride the waves in. Unfortunately there weren't many big waves so I soon grew bored and started to find ways to balance myself on my boogie board. I guess this resulted in a comical show of clumsiness because Nemo looked at me strangely the whole time. But then the waves started to roll in yet none of them carried me very far. Silly me. It turns out that I was supposed to jump in front of the wave to ride in in front of it instead of on top of it. Ha, no wonder I wasn't going anywhere!
My parents are having fun fishing and crabbing again. They leave at the crack of dawn near 6am and arrive home with their day's catches by noon. After going with them yesterday morning and being completely worn out by 11am, I skipped going today. It really wouldn't be so bad if crabbing didn't involve 4-5 hours of baking in the sun and getting dirty. Sometimes I think they might have more fun fishing without the "kids" there. We were ready to leave while my parents still waited patiently for crab. This morning they went out without us and came back with thirty-some blue crabs, bunch of fish and a family of sting rays!!! My sister and I freak out and told them about the fatal run in Steve Irwin had with a sting ray. That didn't seem to faze my parents much. They're going to give me a heart attack. I know it.
Just curious. What if everybody who watches American Idol donates $1 to help the Charity Projects Entertainment Fund? It's such a small amount but think of how many people watch AI. I'm doing it right now. Care to join?
St. Patrick's Day is a holiday that Nemo looks forward to every year so this year, I agreed to be the dessie and go wherever he desired. This was on the condition that he goes shopping with me to buy a St. Patty's Day outfit. I do not own any clothing resembling the SPD green due to an ingrained sense of repulsion toward that color. You see, my junior high school colors were yellow and green. Ick, I shiver when I think of that.
Saturday rolls around and after checking out his ex-roomie's new & empty crib, we head over to Byrne's Pub in search of bag pipes. There was a long line out the door and it was no deception to the crowd inside. The place was packed wall-to-wall with people and barely any elbow room. Even after establishing myself in a spot, people kept pushing me back and forth whenever they walked by. Needless to say, I was not a fan. I did get an enormous amount of compliments on my outfit though. Well, actually my boots. They were gray with red stripes and people took them to be Buckeye boots. I have never had so many men tell me how awesome my boots were and asked me where I got them! After an hour of Irish music, the bag pipers showed up and really rocked the house. I saw Nemo jumping up and down in the sea of fans because he was so excited.
The excitement roused up an appetite among our group and we all went to eat dinner at Barley's Smokehouse. I enjoyed some of the most scrumptious wings ever. Seriously, if you are in Columbus and have not had wings from Barley's...I insist that you stop reading right now and drive yourself there to get some. Try the Gates of Hell flavor.
Frogbear was the our next destination where a private party was hosted by one of Nemo's friends. It was a completely different atmosphere where instead of non-existent elbow room, we had our own private room, several leather couches to plant ourselves in, our own bartender and the owner of the place coming to check on us. He even spent a few minutes with me complimenting my outfit and boots. I didn't know who he was, turned to my friends and asked "Who IS that guy??" OOops! Sunday wasn't exactly a day of recovery. I had volunteered to greet at church that morning which involves getting there early, setting up the front table, chairs, greeting church goers, etc. None of those tasks were difficult, it was just the "getting to church early after St. Patrick's Day" part.
I managed to finally finish my taxes and e-filed my federal and state returns. This year, I was sent a 1099-MISC for the money from modeling that I didn't know what to do with. What a pain that was to read through and incorporate into my taxes.
I paid $42 to fill up my tank today. I am once again reminded that I had passed on buying an SUV because they were gas guzzlers only to purchase my car now which gets the same mileage as an SUV and takes only premium gas. Ouch! What a double whammie. You would think that the fact that the vehicle is the size of a small boat would've given me some inclination to how many MPGs it would get.
I made a video to show my friend Nemo's tank because she is interested in getting a saltwater tank set up. So...why not share?
(Sound will greatly enhance this video experience)
I can't sleep. I was planning on going to bed early tonight but then Nemo gave me some distressing news. It doesn't seem like we can continue our ongoing committment to serve the soup kitchen at Open Shelter any longer. Our friend, D, had been organizing it for some time now but with that responsibility is the stress of not getting enough volunteers together for it and then wind up feeling like you're the only one doing it. The problem is that ever since the Open Shelter lost their building, they only have a small window of time where the homeless can go for food. The church that has lent them this space also have their own activities in the evening so dinner has to be served by 5:30PM and everyone out of there by 6:30PM. That makes it really difficult for people who work to be able to get there at 4:30PM when most of the help is needed. I felt bad that I couldn't go today since I was still super busy at by 4PM. When 8PM rolled around and I haven't left the building, that was like confirmation for me that there was no way I could've gone to volunteer today.
Hearing about how sad the people who ran the shelter were when they heard that we may no longer be able to serve really made me sad. Nemo told me about how they said that they would really miss us, took turns shaking the volunteer's hands and expressed their hope that we would change our minds. I've heard that my church plan to do another ministry closer to the church. That's nice but I personally feel like I have already established a relationship with the people of the Open Shelter. Their compassion to help the homeless with no expectations of return for themselves was what kept us returning to help month after month. Nemo said that he might take it on and I told him that I would help whenever I could get out early to. The fact that we're both so sad about this should tell us something.
I know people always say pray about those things that trouble you. Look to God for the answers. That is such a difficult thing for me to do. I want to immediately start accessing the situation and find a solution for it.
I should be doing my taxes right now but all I want to do is reminiscent about this past ski trip. Seven friends and I went up to Snowshoe again over the weekend and it was one of the most fun ski trips ever! Despite not getting to the mountain till the AM, everybody woke up bright and early the next morning to take advantage of the 40+ sunny weather. My friends were all beginner to intermediate skiers and even our beginner ski bunny was fearless that day.
Whenever I try to explain to non-skiers about the beauty of skiing, I see their glazed, polite smiles and just stop. There are no words to describe the breath-taking beauty of being atop a mountain with snow surrounding you. Trees covered in a white blanket of snow with limbs that appear encrusted in jewels. The adrenaline rush you get as you approach the edge of a hill. The feeling of trepidation when the tips of your skis are poised right over the edge with nowhere to go but down. The thoughts of "Oh sh!t, can I climb back up this thing?" Then you take the plunge and learn to revel in the wind whipping through your hair. I love it. I was so proud of the girls that I was with. They all either overcame their fear or else faced it head on as we tackled one blue trail after another. At one point, the girls and guys parted ways to have our own fun. The guys raced down this monstrously steep run called the Widowmaker while the girls took on its neighbor, J Hook. We skied pretty quickly to the bottom of the run to see the guys on the lift for their second run. So we try to pick them out of all the skiers coming down the hill when I see this psycho bomb the hill making a beeline for the bottom. "Gosh, I hope no one is dating that crazy guy flying down the hill!" Guess what? It was Nemo.
Afterwards, Nemo prepared a lavish feast of a medley of porterhouse, delmonico, ny strip steaks and homemade mashed potatoes for us. Followed by wine and a vicious game of Taboo later where the girls demolished the guys. My sister had to be the highlight of the night. When the games started, she had parked herself on the couch claiming fatigue and a little bit of tipsiness. We had to practically beg her to play Taboo with us and she would only participate from the couch by yelling out answers. When the guys narrowed our 10 point lead to only 5, my sister suddenly plops herself in a seat at the head of the table with sheer determination to win. Gone was the tired, sleepy girl and in place was an unrecognizable fierce lion as she constantly keeps in hand the Taboo cards, buzzer or timer. During one of the rounds when the guys missed a point from running out of time, she suddenly bursts out in this maniacal cackle for 5 minutes! The girls won all three games of Taboo.
The drive back was sparked with moments of hilarity also from funny conversation to caveman techniques of communication due to lack of cell phone signals. At one point when we drove past our friends, a sign was put up against the window that said, "Sean has to pee!" So our friend made a response in a sign to post back to them. "Sucks to be Sean." It was one of most fun times of skiing with friends and I can't wait to go out West with this group. Whistler, Colorado, Utah, anywhere out West - here we come!
***
Filing my taxes is a pain in the butt. I'm missing half the forms I need for my big deductions and I just realized that freetaxusa.com does not work in you have a 1099-MISC. I got one of those for the modeling I did which counts as self-employment which means more taxes to pay. How annoying.
Are many of you familiar with energy pills? Particularly one called Redline? I have decided that I should never ever take that pill. Again.
After a long tiring day at the annual Arnold Classic over the weekend, I decided to try one of these energy pills that I got as a sample from the Arnold Classic. I wouldn't have even thought about it if not for the Tennis & Fitness challenge that I had signed up for earlier in the week. OMG, I was like the energizer bunny on speed. I did the best out of everyone in the fitness challenge and also exasperated my cold. Give all the credit to Redline.
So whoever said that spring was right around the corner jinxed us. I walked out this morning into a snow storm. But you've gotta turn lemons to lemonade right? This is the only reason why I don't hate the winters.
(Sound will greatly enhance this video experience)
Over the weekend, Nemo and I went home to see my family in Hamilton, OH. There really isn't much to do in a small town like Hamilton and the only reason why I like going back is to see my family and friends. As Nemo and I drove into the town Friday night, I looked around to see if there had been many changes since I left 5 years ago and realized that I could count them on both hands. Compared to Hamilton, Columbus would be like New York City. Hard to believe huh?
The lack of activities really didn't matter though since visits to see my friends would usually occur at their house because they have children. It's still strange sometimes to think that these girls who I used to drink and party with till all hours of the morning now have started their own families. Christy has a three year old girl, 16 month boy with one more baby on the way and Tina has a two year old girl. This past Saturday was the first time that their children met to play together. It was adorable to see the two girls get along and play together. It was even more hilarious when one of them asked the other one to go to the restroom together. Who would've ever guessed the trend of going to the restroom together started at such a young age??? While it was great to catch up with Christy and Tina about the ongoings in their life, I couldn't help but feel a little disconnected when they talked about their experiences with raising kids. Then again, I listen to all the things they talk about dealing with and am reminded that I am so not ready to settle down with children of my own! So I was content with just spoiling their's. I was asked to play Ring around the Roses, read baby books and be a chair for one of the little girls while she ate her cereal. Too freaking cute.
While I know that I could never spend my life in a small town, I can understand the charms of it. Every time I go to visit, I leave all my stresses behind. Its lack of selection makes life so much simpler. Choice is great but too many choices can sometimes can convolute the things that really matter to us. How are we supposed to know what we really want when there are too many things to choose from and we don't have enough time to choose it all? I would love for them to move to Columbus but for Tina and Christy, Hamilton provides to them what they need to be happy. Still, how cool would it be if our kids could've grown up together? Too bad I don't have kids yet.
...
The rest of the time was spent hanging out with my parents and my sister. My mother is hilarious when she plays the Nintendo Wii. H-i-l-a-r-i-o-u-s! Seriously, if her and I were to get in a fist fight, she would just take my head clean off. The rest of the time was spent helping out at the restaurant. Nemo and I would go to work with them and help with sidework while we just chat away about anything. One of the things Nemo has learned is to make crab rangoons and we must have made a weeks worth in probably four hours. Nemo also managed to convince my mother to teach him Chinese which we should've warned her about because now he knows how to say "big big demon", "fart" and "nut". If you think that's impressive, you should hear his Korean.
Your Birthdate: November 18
You are a cohesive force - able to bring many people together for a common cause. You tend to excel in work situations, but you also facilitate a lot of social gatherings too. Beyond being a good leader, you are good at inspiring others. You also keep your powerful emotions in check - you know when to emote and when to repress.
Your strength: Emotional maturity beyond your years
Your weakness: Wearing yourself down with too many responsibilities
I saw an amazing deal on magazines on slickdeals.net which has always been a trustworthy sites when it comes to deals. There was an amazing magazine deal on there and so I bought several subscriptions. Months went by and I still hadn't seen any of my magazines yet. I went write them each time and get the same response. That there was an issue with my order that they will track down and that my order would get submitted shortly. So I did a search for them online and saw several complaints about them. Do not ever order anything from them. Now if only I can remember which credit card I had used for my order so that I can go cancel it. Who knows what those shady bastards would do with my credit card info.
I've decided that refraining from eating really unhealthy foods that I enjoy is detrimental to my appetite. After an extremely long day of work in addition to an extremely long week of work, Nemo and I were jumping on the road for a drive. Roadtrips always make me crave McDonald's and it had been a while since I had it despite having two of them within 5 minutes of where I live. I ordered the fish filet sandwich with extra tartar sauce (only way I'd eat it) and extra tartar sauce in a side container for my fries. Skipped the diet soda and had their orange drink which I love and still haven't really figured out what it is. The minute the food was in my hands, I started dragging fry after fry through the tartar sauce savouring each and every one. When I was finished with the fries, I dumped the remaining tartar sauce onto my sandwich and devoured it in minutes. Twenty minutes later, I wanted to puke my brains out. I don't even know how to describe the sensation that excess amounts of tartar sauce will cause but it was not good. I never want to go near a McDonald's again.
Friday evening was spent stuffing myself at a delicious southern style rehearsal dinner. Nemo ate so much that he gave himself food coma and a stomachache. There was also cake served because the groom’s birthday was the night before his wedding. Good friends, good food – what a way to start the weekend.
Afterwards, I went to help my friend create centerpieces for the wedding. What we originally thought wouldn’t be much work took us into the wee hours of the night and we didn’t finish until 3AM. I was so tired driving home that I completely and very slowly ran a blinking red light. It could’ve been considered a rolling stop and there were no cars around. If there were, I probably would’ve been more careful. Eeks, sleep deprived people should not be driving.
The next day was just as busy but it was all worth it for the wedding for a good friend of mine. Over the last year, we’ve become closer through tennis and dinners in our smaller small group meetings. I’ve seen in her some of the most wonderful qualities that many people should strive for. The wedding was beautiful with touches of the Philippines and the reception was a complete tearjerker. The matron of honor had prepared one of the most touching poems I’d ever heard and even the bride’s father was at a loss for words when it was his turn. What an honor it was to share in such beautiful moments.
Then the party really started after a yummy dinner. Gawd, I didn't even realize how quickly I had wolfed down my dinner! Every time someone told me that they thought I've lost weight, I tell them that I had just gained it all back that night. Eeks!
Today I got this overwhelming urge to drive home and see my parents. Perhaps it was the lunch I packed today which consisted of chicken fried rice and sweet breaded pork chops they had sent back with my roommate to Columbus for me. But I just had this thought that I really missed them and wanted to go home to see them.
I've been playing with video lately and have been examining footage from past church retreats for a promotional video for this year's retreat. When my friend heard that I was going to make one, he immediately offered to help me with the music. Huh? What's wrong with Fergie or Shakira?! I guess I'm supposed to use Christian music. Hmmm, what should I do? Maybe I should pray about it. :P
The beginning of 2007 didn't really feel like the beginning of a new year. Truth is the last months of 2006 have begun to feel really monotonous. So I am super excited to have discovered the fun of making videos. With the successful evolution of YouTube in 2006, I can't believe I'm just now starting to use it.
Lesson learned: I didn't realize how painful of an experience my video of beach volleyball was to my male friends until I started to show them and one by one, they walked away halfway through the video. "No offense but I can't watch this anymore. There are too many men in speedos for me," a friend protested. Ooops, hehe.
There are too many videos from vacation for me to pick apart so I'll just throw up a little quickie I made of the other night. This is all new to me so if you have any feedback, I would love to hear it. Thanks in advance!
(Sound will greatly enhance this video experience)
Here's one of my first tries editing some of the videos I took from vacation. Can you find Nemo? Hope you enjoy watching it as much as I did making it!
(Sound will greatly enhance this video experience)
So many things happened in December and I still have yet to jot down the memories from it all. I definitely can't forget to one of the most amazing weddings I went to when my friends Kyle and Grace got married. What an elegant and beautiful wedding! The bride who is a gorgeous person on the inside and out shone in radiance when she appeared between the double doors in the back of the church. Her father stood next to her as he readied himself to give away this precious gift but I honestly couldn't recall any of his expressions because I couldn't take my eyes off the bride. I wasn't the only one as the groom stood tall and proud at the altar. The groom glowed and I can't remember the last time I saw a man look as happy as he did.
Despite that December flew by like a big blur or that Christmas krept up this season, this Christmas rocked. The festivities started when the weekend began. Before I could kick off my shoes after getting home from work, it was time to meet up with friends for dinner. My sister and her boyfriend was trying to decide if they were going to join us and I noticed that he was all dressed up. Giggling, I asked "Why are you dressed up? What are you going to do? PROPOSE?"
Oops! Guess what? After a humorous dinner at Olive Garden with us, the two lovebirds got engaged later that night!! Awww!! This Christmas was nice where Nemo and I didn't have a two hour drive on the road just so that we could spend time with both our families. My parents & brother drove up to Columbus and Christmas was one big gourmet feast at my sister & husband's. The kitchen was in serious chaos while we all scurried around helping out however we can. I never thought cooking could be so fun!
Babies have a way of stealing the show. Parents who have babies talk about how exhausting they are and I never quite understood that since my exposure to babies have always been limited to a two hour timespan at the most. This Xmas, I was around them all day and for reasons I couldn't explain, I was exhausted by the end of the night. It wasn't like I changed any diapers or was left alone with them at any time. Little moments of making faces, playing hide-n-seek, and holding a baby left me way more exhausted than five straight hours of tennis ever could. Ever moment was worth it though.
It's funny. I came back to Columbus after an amazing vacation in NYC that totally reminded me that I wanted to live there. The gears were already starting to spin. Then I get a weekend like the past weekend that reminded me what I would have to leave behind. Oh. What am I going to do?
Continuation of NYC
Two hours of sleep later, I was awake and ready to hit the streets. 9 other girls had the same idea and our spacious apartment in Jersey City provided us with two bathrooms which allowed us to all efficiency get ready simultaneously. I even remember taking a shower with the door unlocked so the girls could get ready in the bathroom. Chelsea market was our first destination for breakfast followed by strolling the streets of Fifth Avenue. The Food Network shows were taped there and my sister got super excited at the thought of seeing Rachel Ray. Pshaw. Now if it was Leonardo.....
This was actually my first deliberate visit to Fifth Avenue for window shopping and I was impressed. There is an entire street up there of just jewelery and diamond stores!! Bling bling! There were diamonds everywhere and I saw some so big that it put the one in Titanic to shame. (This is before watching Blood Diamond. If you do not want to feel like an a-hole for wanting a big diamond, don't watch that movie) After walking for some time, we saw the tree at Rockfeller Center. Wait, did I saw tree? I meant that forest of a tree. It seriously looked like someone took three of the largest pine trees they could find, meshed them together in one and stuck it in the middle of RC. It was so big that I just started to gravitate towards it just to see if the dang thing was real!
Many of the girls wanted New York style pizza and so we went to John's Pizzeria near Times Square for lunch. Other than a half an hour wait, service was very fast and efficient. The pizza was phenomenal and the girls easily put away four large pizzas in one breath.
Please don't talk to us while we're eating.
More shopping ensued after lunch and we walked all up and down SOHO and into Chinatown. Some of us went to get massages to rejuvenate us for the second half of the day while the rest of the girls got bubble tea. I was delighted that my friends walked out of the massage with stunned and dazed expressions on their faces because it was the best massage ever! We headed back to Times Square, RC and Macy's to see the Christmas displays at nighttime. Macy's has an incredible display that just rolls on like the energizer bunny which was what my sisters, the bachelorette and I felt like after our massages. Dinner was at a place in Korea Town and then we went to Duet for karaoke.
Didn't get back to the hotel till middle of the night where we gave naughty gifts to the bachelorette. She had to unwrap the gifts blindfolded and try to guess what the gifts were. A pillow fight or two might have followed. Kidding.
While we're on this topic, I went to an amazing wedding over the weekend but that'll have to wait for another day...
When I first arrived in NYC, my friends there told me "Welcome Home." When I called Nemo to tell him that I landed safely, he asked "How does it feel to be home?" My little jaunt there had awakened my desire to move there again. The people, the food, the places to go, the things to do. The list goes on and on.
A couple of days before the weekend, the weather reached record highs around 70 degrees and was amazing for shopping in the city. Then the weather turned ugly on Friday. Two hours before my friends were supposed to arrive on Friday night, they called to say that their flight had been cancelled. I was so upset that I didn’t even know what to say. Our bachelorette, my sisters, and friends were all in that group too and I couldn’t accept how awful that would be if they couldn't make it up for the weekend. After negotiating for another flight for over an hour, the girls were about to get their luggage and go home for the night. That’s when they found a flight that left at 11pm that night. Finally, 2:30AM in the morning and they all arrived safely at our hotel in Jersey City. 3:30AM rolls around and we were trying to decide what we were going to do. Half the girls were exhausted and wanted to rest for the full day we had planned on Saturday. Another half of the girls wanted to soak up as much as they can while in the city. Guess which half I was in?
By dawn, we were slap happy. And this was just the beginning...
Dec. 5th, 2006 @ 01:03 am
Nemo had surprised me with tickets to the Broadway show "Twelve Angry Men" as part of my birthday present. My ignorance assumed that Twelve Angry Men would be a musical since it was on Broadway and I insisted to Nemo that it was. This caused a lot of head scratching on his part because unlike me, he saw the play in high school. Before the show, we dined at Confluence Park downtown which provided a gorgeous view of the river and our skyline. After ordering a disappointing crab-stuffed tilapia dish last week, I decided to stay away from fish and ordered the Peppercorn Delmonico instead. You can't go wrong with steak right? Eh....it was only alright. For a piece of meat drenched in sauce, it oddly had a very bland flavor to it. The decor was gorgeous though and it made for a nice romantic evening before my trip to NYC tomorrow.
Twelve Angry Men did not turn out to be a musical. I guess that's a good thing. My doubts began when twelve white males walked into the room. Unless there were some falsettos in the group, I wasn't sure how it would prevent from sounding somewhat monotonous. Despite it not being a musical, Twelve Angry Men is an excellent play about twelve jurors from different walks of life and their deliberation over a murder trial. It must have been a ground-breaking story when Reginald Rose first published it back in the 1950's. I really felt the raw anger, anguish and confusion of the superb actors in this one. Each juror had a story behind them that affected the way they voted in this case which was slowly revealed. I don't normally watch plays but this one made me think that I might want to start attending more of them.
Rewind to Turkey Day Nemo woke up at 3AM Thanksgiving day to cook his famously delicious turkey for my family for Thanksgiving. Ever since he had first made it for my family two years ago, my parents would rave about it as November gets closer each year. If you know my parents, there are very few foods they ever rave about. Particularly American food. He puts a ton of effort into the bird and would baste it every 30-45 minutes for six straight hours resulting in the juiciest tasty turkey I had ever had. We were spending Thanksgiving at Nemo's aunts so we brought the turkey over to my parents first before heading over to his family's. I had a couple of slices and OMG. There was not a single dry bite in that bird and the sweet & salty flavor just resonated throughout the turkey. Delish!
The secret to holding this adorable baby is that you must be uncomfortable. Every time I would sit down, she would start crying. Here she is holding the little bunny I bought for her.
I finally found a restful position for both of us. Of course that's when she immediately falls asleep while my arms go numb.
Last weekend was that dreaded time of the year again that I'm reminded that time hasn't stopped ticking no matter how young my body feels. By sheer luck, my birthday ended up being on the same day that the TomKat wedding occurred as well as the OSU v. Michigan game. My, aren't I lucky?
Friday night was the celebration and I met up with my friends at Brownstone on Main in downtown. It's a southern style restaurant located in a hip four-story brick building. The creole spices that peppered the entrees and offerings of collard greens as a side dish was my first inkling that my friends and I were going to enjoy some soul food. Nemo ordered the blackened ribeye which was delicious and my sea scallops were alright. I couldn't tell if they were prepared well or not or if my taste buds only registered foods on the flavor heavy end of the scale. The fried catfish fillet was probably one of the more popular dishes ordered that night but my favorite was still the blackened ribeye.
Then the party moved over to BOMA. I had wanted to come to this new bar ever since I first heard about the concept nearly a year ago. Situated on Broad St. is a renovated church that is now BOMA, an art museum, restaurant, bar and club neatly rolled up in one. I can not even begin to describe how big this place is. It's a two story building and both floors have great rooms in it with lofts of their own. Art pieces decorate all the walls throughout the place and BOMA started getting really packed as the night went on. Supposedly there were quite a few celebrities around that night who were in town for the game but I was too busy dancing to see any of them.
Upstairs bar/lounge area with my lovely sisters
Enjoying the art and people watching upstairs
Downstairs - comfy leather couches around a fireplace of candles
melancholy
Nemo had surprised me with tickets to the Broadway show "Twelve Angry Men" as part of my birthday present. My ignorance assumed that Twelve Angry Men would be a musical since it was on Broadway and I insisted to Nemo that it was. This caused a lot of head scratching on his part because unlike me, he saw the play in high school. Before the show, we dined at Confluence Park downtown which provided a gorgeous view of the river and our skyline. After ordering a disappointing crab-stuffed tilapia dish last week, I decided to stay away from fish and ordered the Peppercorn Delmonico instead. You can't go wrong with steak right? Eh....it was only alright. For a piece of meat drenched in sauce, it oddly had a very bland flavor to it. The decor was gorgeous though and it made for a nice romantic evening before my trip to NYC tomorrow. 
