The Crazy Week

This past week has been a bit wild. I was chatting with my sister about my week today on the phone and realized even more how fully it was and how totally legit it was that I was so exhausted from it all. Haha. Anyway....

So, on Sunday of last week, the Boatwright Family arrived! Yay! Tara and Luther are some good friends from the Bay Area and they have a 10-month-old baby, Ruth. It was a ton of fun to be around them for a few days. Since the main goals were to have a relaxed visit, to catch up with each other, and maybe do a few touristy things away from big crowds, we really had a very chill visit. The fun included some Upper East Side fun at FAO Schwartz, Central Park, NY Pizza @ Gotham's (our new fav), a fun bike ride involving Red Mango, lots of home cookin', and Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island...just to name a few of the fun things. Nathan took a day off so that he could hang out for an extra day with us. Sweet! They left on Wednesday. I miss them already!! I posted some pix of the fun below.

On Thursday we then had our first dinner with friends that we made while in NY! Yes, we were excited. Seriously. Haha. Anyway, it took me a while to figure out what to make because I had so many ideas and yeah. So, I made chicken with a Morrocan spice rub, brown rice, and corn on the cob with honeydew melon and ice cream sandwiches for dessert! It was a great time of chatting and getting to know e/o a little better. I think we impressed them with our NJ Views. Yeah, Jersey! Turns out that one of the guys, Chris, has a sister 16 years older than him just like me and my little Christopher! So great!

Friday proved to be a complicated but fun day. After my gym time, I headed to Newark Airport to pick up on of Nathan's childhood friends who scheduled a long enough layover on her trip back to Spain for us to all enjoy dinner together. After a PATH ride, a NJ Transit Train, and the AirTrain, I was finally at the terminal. His friend Neus and her sister joined me and we headed to Union Square for a quick stop at Whole Foods (they love American chocolate chip muffins for some reason) and then dinner at Max Brenner's Cafe (a restaurant that my friend Heather introduced me to in July). It's definitely a great place to bring out of town guests! Neus and her sister LOVED it. Pix below of our fabulous desserts, etc.

Today was very chill. Relax, relax, relax. Gym time, Sox vs. Yanks game on TV, and a yum yum shrimp scampi dinner.

Hope all is well with all of you, my blog followers. Leave some comments and let me know you're there! Tomorrow brings more fun....dinner with our friend Janet's parents! Yay!

Luther's response to having his first NY Pizza.

Ruth on the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

Boatwright Family!

Nathan and I with our Chocolate & Banana Pizza dessert!

Hardening chocolate!

Neus and her sister pre-eating the yummy dessert. So pretty! (the ladies AND the dessert!)

See, Neus...I didn't put this on facebook....haha... Yum!

After the dessert...nothing left! Catalonians love chocolate! Energy!

First Minor League Visit: the Staten Island Yankees

Tonight was a Stanford Young Alumni event at the Staten Island Yankees. The SI Yanks are one of the Yankees feeder teams, so even though it was totally WRONG to step foot in that stadium, we decided it was a NY experience and we'd cheer for the Auburn DoubleDays (a Blue Jays feeder team). It ended up being kinda hilarious. We first took the SI ferry to get there and then found the group section. Turns out only about 10 people from the group showed up and we had to akwardly figure out who was with Stanford and who wasn't. (for some reason we all kinda thought there'd be some Stanford Alumni Rep with a nerdy sign or something...not quite.) Haha. Here are a few things I learned about minor league games (to be fair, it's really just about the Yanks minors):

1) Attendance: Very Low. It might have been "sold out" but half the stadium was empty and it was a TINY stadium.

2) Games: Lots. And by games, I mean games in between EVERY inning. There was a Lemonheads competition to see which baby had the best pucker after drinking lemon juice; there was a family race where the families had to walk together on long skiis; there was a "Tired" out race where two guys ran around the bases wearing inflatable tires (3 of them) around their bodies; there was a 70's dance off between two guys; the mascots traded off doing dances; there was the obligatory race on the screen b/t the ferry boats (I picked green...but orange one...eek!); etc. I'm not exaggerating here.

3) Food: Bizzare. They have two huge all you can eat sections but they only involve hamburgers, hot dogs, grilled chicken, and crazy long lines. Turns out that half the stadium buys an all you can eat ticket. I say bizzare just because that was the majority of available food, and they ran out of ketchup (a sin!).

4) Bathrooms: Few. I didn't even end up using one. (shocker!)

5) Action: Very little.

Okay, enough of that. All in all, it was fun and seriously, the last inning was awesome when the DoubleDays almost came back to win it....and then didn't. The fireworks show at the end was AMAZING! A legit show! Here are a couple pix from our phones.







Here's a little video of the fireworks...and my slightly embarrassing dancing:

River Cruise w/ Arup

Last night was really fun. Nathan and I have gone to a couple mixer things in the city with a couple different groups, and last night was really the first fun one. It was with an engineering group that a bunch of Arup ppl are part of so it was a boat full of engineers. Yeah, before you judge, engineers can really knock the drinks back. So hilarious. Like really. They even brought booze in their bags. Outta control. (smart, though. cheaper.) The cruise was called the BMW cruise because the yacht went up the East River under the Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg Bridges. It then turned around and went up to the Statue of Liberty, up the Hudson a bit, and then back to the dock. All in all, it was a decent cruise and the weather actually got better later in the evening. I got to meet a couple of Nate's co-workers that I think are really cool. One of them took some pix that included me and Nate. Not necessarily the best shots but shows some of the fun.

Just getting on the yacht.

The boat started moving so we took dinner to the table.

My new friend, Wendy! She's so cute! That's Manhattan in the background.

Nate & I (kinda an awkward shot) with Lady Liberty.

An attempt at doing a Asian tourist shot. Also slightly awk.

La Paz, Bolivia: April

I figure since I'm back in the blogging routine, I should do updates of the months that I missed on the blog. I'm not going to backdate b/c at this point, that might be a bit silly. So, here's a brief Bolivia update.

Easter weekend, Nathan and I met up with my parents, sister Abigail, and my brother Christopher in Miami, FL to head down to Bolivia, South America. Ten years ago this November, my family of six traveled down to Bolivia together to adopt my little brother. He was born in March 1999 and was being cared for in a Spanish orphanage until we arrived and got custody of him in November 1999. That was my junior year of high school, and it's hard to believe that was already 10 years ago! Eeeeek! (Side Note: My mom and Abigail actually stayed in Bolivia for 5 weeks because of the laws surrounding adoption! My dad and Natalie were there for 4 weeks. Emily and I were there for 10 days.)

Anyway, this trip was the first time my brother had been back to his country since we adopted him and flew back to California. He was thrilled to be going back and seeing all the things we told him about his whole life. The plan was to do tourism, visit a couple organizations that we are involved in supporting. It was pretty awesome to be able to go back. I first went to La Paz, Bolivia in 1998 on a mission trip with a small organization, working in an orphanage and doing outreach to the homeless and street children. How cool that 11 years after that I'm back with my family and my husband to celebrate my brother's life!

I had a great time bonding with my family, touring around La Paz and its outskirts (Lake Titicaca, the La Paz Zoo, etc.), seeing one of the Compassion International locations and my family's sponsored child, getting to know Kaya International and their work (and the awesome boys that they've rescued from the streets), and in general just Bolivia culture. The sad story is my video camera got stolen during the trip, and also Abigail left before the trip was completely over...we missed her. =(

Here are a few pix of the trip. They're a bit out of order, so bear with me:

Me & Chris

Christopher after an Easter Egg Hunt that I brought with me (in my carry on!) for Easter AM

La Paz, Bolivia

Christopher playing with a baby that's now in "his" room at the Children's home.

This woman was overjoyed to see Chris & started crying at this point. She worked at the Children's Home when Christopher was there 10 years ago.

Some kids from Kaya, rescued from the streets of La Paz. Christopher is certainly a Bolivian, eh?

Some indigenous women, or Cholas. The hats they were are wearing are characteristic of the Bolivian people. These Cholas are selling goods in a big market called the Cholas Market.

Christopher with a little boy in the Children's Home.

Christopher playing with Luis, a boy from La Paz that my family sponsors through Compassion.

Lake Titicaca with a view of Peru in the background.

Abigail and Chris at the Lake.

Dinner with some of the Kaya kids. Please note the huge, genuine smile (hard to get in a posing photo with him) on Christopher's face. This is the sign of a happy kid: playing with Bolivians his age, soccer after dinner, and teaching the kids how to play Yahtzee! Especially the soccer part. Haha!

A view of the gorgeous Mt. Illimani taken from the airplane home at sunrise. The indigenous have a lot of beliefs surrounding this mountain.

For more pictures, check out our Phanfare Site (if you don't have the password, just ask me for it)! The Bolivian album posted is Chris' Perspective; he was the photographer.

Weekend Fun, Chase Style

Nathan and I really enjoyed this past weekend. We try to do at least one fun adventure a weekend if we can. Of course, it's us, so we aren't always doing the typical "tourist" or "NYer" kind of thing. By that I mean, we're not big foodies (trying to save the $$) and we're not big shoppers (same reason). So, I work hard to find things to do that are free and fun. This weekend was no exception.

After sleeping in on Saturday, we decided to head to the beach. We didn't want to go to the major tourist section of Coney Island, so instead we stayed on the more local part of the beach called Brighton Beach. It was packed, but not too overwhelming. We were surrounded by Eastern Europeans. I didn't hear any English speakers for over an hour of being there. So crazy! I loved it. I packed a lunch and snacks for us (in a cooler that Nathan found for free. Haha!). Nate went out and got a couple towels because we only had bath ones. Anyway, all in all, after about a 30 minute subway ride, we were on the shore, soaking in the sun. Yay! Here are a couple pix of us on the beach.




Then, we came home and Nathan offered to cook for me. After deciding that we both were in the mood for something different than the usual, Nathan headed to Whole Foods to buy ingredients to make pulled pork tacos...AKA carnitas of some kind. When he got back, we looked more closely at the recipe realizing that it actually called for cooking the pork for TWO HOURS. We made it anyway (tried to play RISK while waiting for different things to be ready), eating at midnight. It was the best meal we ever made. So good. Seriously spicey (thanks to the Chipotle chili's in the meat). We're Definitely making it again. Oh, and Nathan made a mango guacamole that was so good. Here's a picture of the meal complete with the black bean side.



We woke up early after the crazy dinner fun to go on a bike ride around the island of Manhattan. We've wanted to do this ride for a while, but didn't set aside the time for it. I reserved my bike with the Downtown Alliance for Sunday morning because all the other slots were full. So, we biked for 4 hours and went about 28 miles. It was an adventure for sure since a bunch of the NYC Greenway isn't finished yet so we had to go on random city streets and such. Anyway, it was a lot of fun, especially rounding the top of the island and going down the West side finally. Below is a picture of Nathan when we were by the new Yankees stadium. What a fun weekend!

Hannah Visits

So, I'm well aware that I'm the worst blogger on the planet and haven't updated this blog in forever, but I gotta start somewhere. I'll back-blog soon I hope, but for now, all you crazy fans, you can just pick up with me here....

Hannah, Nathan's sister, visited this week for a couple days. We did a bunch of fun random things and I took a few photos. We sort of took half on mine and half on hers so in the end, I feel like I have a very incomplete set of pix. You can see them on the sidebar to the right. (Hannah, maybe you can upload to my phanfare site!) Anyway.... Here's how it went....

Hannah goes to grad school in Hartford for Physical Therapy, so she's not far. In fact, Metro North from New Haven is only 2 hours away and at $28/roundtrip feels like a steal for NY. Heehee. We met up in Grand Central and walked around heading up towards Central Park via 5th Ave. Wow, NY has basically all the crazy designer shops and flagship stores for the giant posh stores (Tiffany's, Bloomingdales, Louis Vuitton, etc). We popped into a couple of them just to stare at the fashionable people buying fashionable things. For instance, we went into Juicy. That was hilarious. Most things were hideous, but some stuff was really cute. Hannah posed for me in this awesome outfit. Brooke, you like??

Yeah, that was hot. Anyway, we also went into the gigantic Disney store, which obviously I loved, and wandered around the 3 floors of 'happiest place on earth' gear. I meant to buy a key chain but I got distracted. I also wanted to buy my sister Abigail this really cute little stuffed animal of Stitch b/c we went and saw the movie together when she was like 12 or something...and we both cried... OHANA!! k anyway...... We found this really great little deli/restaurant place that was really delish and not very expensive. Two good sized sandwiches and two diet cokes for $11 with tax. Sweet! We finally made it to Central Park were we walked through the zoo (maybe one day I'll pay to go in and see the penguins), and decided to sunbathe next to the pond with all the little sailboats. On our way back to the Subway to go home, we bought fresh mangoes and cherries from a vendor and headed back. Phew! Oh, we also decided to go to this really cute place called the Soda Shop for milkshakes (Nate met us there) b/c we were craving them. I have no pictures from the park or anything...oops!

The next day was really fun. I mean really. We reserved free bikes for the day to explore the Greenway in South Manhattan. Dude, it was awesome. The sun was out, Fleet Week (a new thing for me) is happening in the city, and the South Seaport was full of people. I was somewhat surprised because it was a Friday and it's still May! Anyway, we biked along the Greenway and decided to bike over the Brooklyn Bridge. So crazy. It was hot and humid, so we (and by we I mean me) look a little damp.

A view of Brooklyn from the only flat part of the bridge. (sorry for the butt shot, Hannah!)

A view of Downtown and there's Pier 17 on the bottom left.
I live on the other side of the tall buildings.

A fun shot of one of the bridge piers.

Us on the hot bikes. Not the most flattering, but you get the idea.

After the ride, we grabbed lunch and checked out the Pier 17 mall. Some good stores there. I'll probably go back. Next stop, the Fulton Street Market, which opened that day. It's open through the summer and it was pretty cute. Small, but good stuff. We ended up buying some fresh mozzarella (made that morning) and fresh bread (baked that morning). Yummmmm.... We headed home to pack up Hannah's stuff and then it was off to pizza before running (literally) to get her on the train home.

What fun. Let's do it again!

Zip Car

Yesterday, for Ikea: Round II, I used my first Zipcar! Well, it wasn't quite the experience I hoped for or heard about. I think it has something to do with the fact that it was a pickup truck and everyone in NY that uses those seems to forget that it's a shared vehicle. Oh well. It was still useful and cheaper than renting a car for the day. I think it's going to be really fun to do mini-adventures in Jersey (yes, i just said adventures and Jersey in the same sentence....I actually do have a story about getting lost in Jersey after Rebekah and Steve's wedding....I'll save it for another time), and other fun places. Here's how it went down yesterday:

I set up the time to pick it up and ended up having to take a taxi to get there b/c the bus was the fastest way to get to the location...which would have made me late. (Okay, so I was a bit behind schedule....I think everyone knows this about me. Argh, maybe NY will be a new leaf?) Anyway, so I got the truck and headed to Ikea with Nathan. Thanks to the fact that no one else signed up for little "Teramoto" I was able to extend my reservation by like 2 hours via the phone. It was taking MUCH longer to do the Ikea stuff than it should have. Plus, it started to rain. Thankfully we bought a tarp at Home Depot just in case. We loaded up the back of the truck, and as luck would have it, a NJ cop was watching us place the tarp. He was giving us tips about the tarp and then showed me his badge and informed me that "his guys would definitely pull me over" if I didn't tie up the tarp better. Argh. Very annoying and not helpful. K...moving on...

We got back to our apartment and unloaded all the stuff. Then, I had to find my way back to where the car's garage was.....yeah, I thought I could remember. This is the fun part about living in a new place. You never know when you'll make a wrong turn and end up somewhere TOTALLY NOT what you were looking for. In Manhattan, it's more like, you never know when you'll make a wrong turn and end up on a bridge to get off Manhattan. No worries, I didn't end up on a bridge. I did, however, make many wrong turns and finally found my way to the garage after I pulled over and looked at a map. (those things are really helpful, you know?) That was only the beginning...

The garage operator had no clue where the subway was and my map had me a little turned around (the subway stations aren't listed on the NFT book maps, just in the back on a Subway map that doesn't show all streets). I ended up walking down canal street and after 2 blocks, I realized I was walking the wrong way. I turned around and started heading in the correct direction. Turns out that I was basically at the beginning of Chinatown. I walked past the Chinatown buses for all sorts of cities: NY to VA Beach; NY to Boston; NY to I'm not sure where; etc. I also discovered that the best ripped off watches, bags, clothes of any kind, and Gucci is found just as you exit Chinatown. Oh, and I stumbled into Little Italy, too, which was cool and I can't wait to take Kristin there. (here, that, friend?) After walking....12 blocks, I saw the Subway...finally. I of course made a stop in the corner Starbucks, and then walked a block to the correct Subway entrance and made it home.

So, I guess this story was more about how I got lost in Chinatown than it was about Zip Car. In the end, the lesson of the day was to reserve a car close to the Subway, not necessarily close to my house.

First "Real" NY Pizza Adventure

Nathan & I figured it was about time that we started trying our search for our favorite NY Pizza. First stop: Mardi Gras Pizza. Ironically, it's one of the highest rated pizza joints in our part of Manhattan and it's actually a Mexican place. In fact, not only can you order their awesome pizza, you can get burritos, tacos, pasta, sandwiches, hamburgers, and fries. It's practically a one-stop-shop for American favorites.

Here's Nathan with his Eggplant Pizza and Goat Cheese:

This pizza was very delish. Crispy, crunchy crust and not overwhelmed with too much sauce. Yummy!

the move.

Sorry for all the crazy blogging but I had to link to Nathan's blog so you can read about our move from...well...I guess from CA, but you know what I mean.

Marathon Shopping

Nathan and I decided that we would rent a car and head to Jersey to do most of our shopping because the sales tax is much lower in some of the counties and it would be IMPOSSIBLE to get everything home on the subway....so, after renting an SUV at 9am (for only $85!) we drove through the Holland Tunnel and started our adventure....dude, it was insanity. If anyone knows me well, they know that I hit my shopping wall at about 2 hours...

9:45am--Arrive at Home Depot which has only 3.5% sales tax!! We bought paint and painting materials. Our bedroom is going to be Arizona, which is basically a yellow-orange and very bright....I know, I know. Could be wild, but hey! It's paint! The living/dining room is going to be Contemplation, which is much more green-blue than this online swatch can show.

10:45am--Head to IKEA in Elizabeth, NJ, which is also famous for the 3.5% sales tax....so much so that they even post it on their official IKEA Elizabeth Site! We spent a full six hours year and only paused for 2 bathroom breaks and lunch. Thank God for the IKEA cafeteria, you know? Anyway, we are fully set with all the things we need....except for the pieces that were back ordered that we'll be returning to get at a later date and all the things we're realizing we need....eep!

5:30pm--Headed to the Short Hills Shopping Mall to buy our very first desktop computer as a married couple. Well, first computer bought as a married couple, period. Yay for educational discounts at Apple and free printers. We're now fully equipped with a machine that won't overheat or randomly decide not to work or whatever. My laptop has 0% memory left and is so full that our external hard drive can't manage it. Poopsmith! Anyway, none of that.

6:30pm--Eat at Joe's Bar & Grill for great burgers....then we were on our way home.

That was a marathon day and it was finished off with our search for a parking spot near our building that involved a wrong turn taking us through the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, me asking a cop how to get back to Manhattan for free (b/c the tunnel cost us $5!), and us finally getting a spot from someone who basically sold us his spot for the night.

The end.

Home Hunting

I was tempted to call this post "house hunting" but I knew that it might lead to the misconception that we're actually buying a house...which in fact, is not the case. (though, that might be fun!) If you know me well, than you know that I always refer to the place that I live as my "house" or "home" even if it's just a small apartment. So, anyway, that is what is underway at the Chase house....serious home hunting!

Nate leaves in the morning, actually a few hours from now, for New York to scope out the various apartment listings we've found online and meet with a broker. I'm excited about a couple of the places, especially one in Brooklyn. I'll know for sure by Tuesday! I'll update that soon.

This is all happening so quickly now! Eeek!

It's official...the Chase's are going back East!

Yes, it's true! After almost a year of job searching (but an intense few months), Nathan has landed a sweet position with a company called Arup in New York City (map below for the curious ones). People have been asking a million questions about the move and the answer to most of that is "we don't know!" What we do know is that the move will take place the end of March--signing a lease for April 1st. I've told my work I'm leaving so that's all set too. I'm super sad about that, by the way, because things have been so great there. I guess it's better to leave on a high note than on a low one, though, right?

So, there you go. I'll be planning on doing lots of moving updates, etc, through my blog so keep checking back! And for fellow Sox fanatics....don't you worry. As I have said many times, what do Sox fans do in New York City???? Cheer for the Mets! Haha....




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Holiday Ice Rink: Union Square San Francisco

This weekend, Nathan, Gloria and I drove into the city to skate outdoors in Union Square.

Dude, it really was the perfect evening. No traffic on the way. Parked easily. Got to cut the entire line with our online tickets (which they weren't supposed to do but they did it for us!). Skating was to a great mix of music, not the annoying stuff at the Easy Street Rink in Simi. Well, probably most things beat that horrible rink, but I had to make the point. I love skating outside, especially at night! Yay! Anyway, the backdrop couldn't have been better: Macy's display, Union Square Christmas Tree, Tiffany's, Sax Fifth Avenue, etc. Here are some fun pix. We ended the night with dinner on top of Macy's. So great.


Nathan and I after trying to take a million skating action shots that failed.


If you look closely, Hotel Huntington is in the left background...It's where we stayed on our first anniversary. Great place.


Glor and I on the ice.


Yay for family!


Glor and I from the top of the Macy's Department store.