New Year's Eve...New York Style

Oh, you were probably expecting something about Times Square and the Big Apple dropping after reading that title, right? Not quite.....

Our apartment on this New Year's Eve

I have spent New Year's Eve in Spain, Venezuela, El Salvador, California, Illinois, North and South Carolina. I have been absolutely surrounded by explosions and fireworks for hours on end in Central and South America and in the midst of millions of people in Madrid (it was very Times Square-ish), but never had such a wild and crazy night such as digging out of snow to hit up Walmart on New Year's Eve!

from this angle you can see the snow that fell this past week

Since babysitters are out of the question and since Walmart is basically the biggest attraction in town anyway, we went to get some groceries and walk a few laps around the store to get some exercise. We are putting Suzy to bed soon and are making a gourmet meal at home instead of going out- shrimp and scallop scampi over linguine for dinner and fresh cherries (probably dipped in chocolate) for dessert. Really the idea of snuggling up on the couch to a good (hopefully) movie is much more inviting than being surrounded by millions of people! 

May this 2013 be happy for you all! 

Merry Christmas!!!

Add caption

detail oriented gal.

Today Suz and I were doodling on her white board that we found at a thrift store this weekend. I started drawing those stars, and she said: "No don't draw too many Wal-mart stars Mom"

The girl's got a point....they do look just like Walmart stars.

Just more proof that my life now kinda revolves around Walmart.

Shhhh...don't tell anyone in Pasadena! We're gonna get kicked out of town! ;-)

Elvis' bday

One of the best parts of Elvis' bday was that we were able to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner together as a family. On a weekday! Love that. 

We looked and looked for a fun place to go for dinner last night, and were pleasantly surprised when we found a cute place about 20 minutes away in the town of Cuba, NY...home of world-famous cheese! My kinda town. 

Anyway, this bistro was described online as "artsy, eclectic, delicious, creative", etc and even said they had live music! We were really excited. 

So we roll into town, looking for the place. Since downtown was only one block long, it was pretty easy to find it. 

And to see that it was soo closed. On a Friday night. Great. 

The only other restaurant in town was next door, and so we took a chance at the "Kopper Keg"

It was one of those places that when we walked in the door, every head turned and stared at us. We were most obviously the new people in town. 

It was one of those places where you share the table with someone else, and everyone says "Hey there neighbor" as they walk past the table (well, not to us). 

The homestyle cooking was actually pretty good, and it was quite the experience. Not the fancy artsy bistro, but fun indeed. 

i took this picture

suzy took this one...you can see the lady in the background checking us out.

We also checked out the world-famous cheese shop and ate lots of samples. 

As we were leaving town, we saw Santa randomly wandering down the street. We slowed down beside him, and he said, "you got any kids in there?" and to be honest, it kinda freaked me out at first. But then I hopped out with her and took our picture (I wasn't about to let him hold her). Then he continued on his way, walking down the road. Weird. 

Birthday part 2 was this morning...we went to a maple syrup farm for pancake breakfast. They even had live reindeer in the parking lot!

seeing how they make syrup

One of the funniest things was that a waitress came up to us and asked us if we were at The Kopper Keg last night (keep in mind this is a different town). Apparently we made an impression!

suzy took this picture too

on the maple farm...it was very educational, showing how the native americans made syrup

After brunch, we stopped along the way home at any place that looked interesting. Suzy's favorite place was this playground at the edge of a river. We were excited b/c we have seen very few public playgrounds in the area (we are so spoiled by Pasadena's abundance of parks)

Then, Suzy begged to go to Wal-mart. 

This is our life now I guess. 

feliz cumpleanos Elvis!!

I know that everyone says that their husband is the best, the most handsome, the sweetest, the funniest, etc. 

But, I'm pretty sure mine really is.  

I'm really not exaggerating when I say he's the most amazing. Ever.  

Here's to 29 years full of love, service, and faith.....and to many many more to be spent together!!

the good, bad, and ugly of NY

update: thanks Staci for pointing out that i put maple syrup in the wrong list. it is definitely part of the GOOD! i was just checking to see if anyone was paying attention =) ps no offense to anyone who reads this blog and wears camouflage. It just seems a bit out of control here. =)

The Good:

1. Living simply. Our apartment has one love seat, one rocking chair, one Formica-top table and 4 vintage vinyl chairs. And one bed. It's nice not having a lot of stuff around.
2. Elvis' work is about 8 minutes away, meaning he gets to come home for lunch everyday. This is such a treasure to eat lunch and dinner together, especially after him working 2nd shift this past year.
3. There is actually an Old Navy in town. And Big Lots. We're set.
4. It snowed 2 days ago but none stuck. Meaning we got to see if but didnt have to deal with the nasty consequences.
5. Suzy sleeps in a closet (we made sure the door will never close...don't worry!) which means she has no windows, and thus sleeps in much later.
6. Niagara Falls is just 1.5 hours away. We hope to go after Christmas.
7. The library has an awesome kids section, complete with sofas for the kids, dress-up area, puzzles, toy kitchen/grill, crafts, etc etc etc. We went to a Christmas party at the library last night and it was actually really nice.
8. Our 3 ft tall tree. We made almost all the ornaments for it and Suzy loves it b/c she can reach every branch.
9. St. Bonaventure University is just down the road. Thomas Merton used to teach there, which is pretty cool. Apparently they have a history of good basketball as well.
10. Fresh maple syrup. Made right here. We are going to the place they make it on Saturday, which is great b/c Suzy only wants to eat pancakes every single day.

The Bad:

the chair. so bad it's almost awesome. 

1. It's typically too cold to walk outside, which is our favorite exercise. But we have started salsa dancing at night in the living room after Suzy goes to bed.
2. The pizza. We love pizza and ironically enough, we are really missing our California NY-style pizza place, "Mama's". Isn't this NY???
3.  Our '70s style apartment. The powder blue tiled bathroom with the swirly pastel wallpaper is pretty rough. But the gold velvet upholstered rocking chair is so bad it's almost good again.
4. No kids around. Where are all the kids in NY???
5. We really miss pupusas, fish tacos....really just authentic tacos in general. Not much diversity around here.
6. There are no sidewalks in town which makes walking really hard.
7. There is no Wells Fargo anywhere within 100 miles, nor is there Kaiser Permanente, our health insurance. Both of those have given us major headaches.
8. We are really missing our community, as we always have lots of interaction on a daily basis. No interaction here.


The Ugly:

1. We have YET to see another Hispanic in town. Not a single one. This is extremely sad for us and pretty unbelievable actually. Not much other diversity either. Haven't heard any other languages spoken, which is a huge change from LA.
2. The camouflage. On men, women, babies, trucks, etc.


Luckily, the list of good is longer than the ugly.

first days in NY

Here are some pictures from our first couple of days in NY...yesterday was a fun day of exploring nearby towns and downtown Olean, and today was definitely an indoor all day kind of day, so Suz and I made lots and LOTS of salt dough ornaments for our tiny 3 ft tall tree. 

All bundled up and ready for the cold!

There are these painted squirrels all around town

loving all the Christmas decorations

Found this fun outdoor cafe yesterday in a nearby ski resort town

decorating tons of ornaments

our tree this year is definitely a Suzy tree: full of homemade dough ornaments and pink, sparkly bows =)

we also made special ornaments for all the places we have called home: NC, ES, CA, and now NY!

our northeast adventure

Well, I finished up my final exams this week, packed up all the wintery clothes I could find, and bright and early Saturday morning Suzy and I will be on our way to New York to join Elvis for a couple of months! We will be in Olean, NY, a tiiiiiny little town about an hour and a half south of Buffalo, surrounded by forests.  There is a little university in the town and Thomas Merton used to teach there, so I am actually really interested in checking that out!  Other than that, there is a Wal-Mart, and a Big Lots. And that's about it. Should be a fun adventure! Please pray for me and Suzy's trip on Saturday and for a good transition to our temporary home there.

Suzy's bday fiesta

This past Saturday we celebrated suzy's bday with an ice cream sundae party! What a blessing to have so many people that love Suzy and wanted to celebrate her life with us after just living here for a year.

The rain held off and we were able to have the party outside (thanks Brian and Kel for loaning us your yard!). Per Suzy's request, we had bubbles, toys outside, ice cream, face painting, reggae music, and a pinata- which we affectionately called the "Pacifist Pinata" because there was no violence involved, just the pulling of strings =)

Suzy's birthday

Tomorrow we will be having Suzy's bday party, but I wanted to share some pictures from her big day on Tuesday. It was a really fun and special day that centered around things that she loves. It was such a gift for all of us to be home together that day with no work, no school. 

We took Suzy to Griffith Park, the largest urban park in all of US (even larger than Central Park in NY!) She went pony riding and rode a train around the park. There is a merry-go-round there too but it was closed =(

I'm pretty sure the balloons were her favorite gift! 

Opening up her doll from Abuelita

pony riding

I thought for sure we would be walking beside her, but they just let the kids go by themselves! she loved it. 

bday kisses

we also rode a little train 

we went to another park also looking for a merry-go-round, but found a nice lake with ducks instead

out for fro-yo with bff Gabi

we had dinner at her fave pizza place...the girl ate 2 whole slices by herself and 2 garlic breads!

Suzy took these next two pictures of her gifts...the first one is a see saw that Nana and Granddaddy sent her (that i put together all by myself!)

the hello kitty suitcase was a find from a yard sale =) and the cute cat house was a gift from Elvis' brother from ES

feliz cumpleanos suzy!!!

 Happy 3rd birthday to our silly, sweet, smart, imaginative, and hilarious Suzy Noemi!  You fill our lives with beauty, music, and joy!