connecticut trip, part 2

after we spent some time in new haven, it was time to head out to mystic, ct and have some mystic pizza. luckily, mystic was only 1 hr away from new haven and the kid didn't have to be in the car seat for that long.



if you've never been to mystic, ct, you really need to. it is one of the most charming places that you will ever see. we didn't know that mystic was gonna be such a cute place until we got there. we were just expecting to eat the pizza and see the seaport and leave but we couldn't. the houses were cute, the streets were cute, the shops were cute, the inns were cute, everything was cute.

after we drove around a little, we finally got to mystic pizza. there were scenes of the movie everywhere in the restaurant. it was cool.



i don't know about you but i love the thicker crust pizzas and that's what they had. we order the house special (pepperoni, meatball, sausage, green peppers, onions, & mushrooms) and the seafood delight (shrimp, clams, scallops, garlic, oregano & parsley). seafood delight sounds nasty but it wasn't. it was so damn good. i would definitely get it again. 2 thumbs up, baby!

there was an inn that we stopped at after we ate called inn at mystic. omg! this place was amazing. can we have our kau family vacation there? :)

after we left mystic, we decided to stop by mohegan sun casino. i have to say that i was pretty impressed. i could totally see this casino rolling w/ the big boys in vegas. we decided before hand that i was only gonna bet $40 on the wheel of fortune slots and then leave. what was cool about this casino was that there was a non-smoking gambling area that they sectioned off. i played there and lost my 40 bucks in like 15 min. oh well. it was still fun.

overall, the trip was a 9. jonah was a little trooper and barely cried at all on our whole trip. love it! would definitely do it again.

connecticut trip, part 1

thanks to tim's work, we were able to snag a rental car for a day so we decided that we had to go somewhere. somewhere that wasn't too far b/c of the kid (he hates being strapped in the car seat) and somewhere where we haven't been before or i should say, somewhere that i haven't been before. so we decide to head out to CT to see yale and eat at mystic pizza.



on our way to mystic, there was soooo much traffic for some reason. the drive should have taken 1 hr/45 min just to get to new haven, but it took us 2 1/2 hours. that part was pretty bad but thankfully the kid slept majority of the time so we didn't have to deal w/ traffic and a crying baby.

our original plan was to get to mystic, have lunch there, then, head to new haven and check out the yale campus but it didn't turn out that way.

when we got to the new haven area, our friend, jen called us. she was also in new haven w/ her mom visiting her smart ass sister, nadine. it was such perfect timing. at that time, jonah was waking up so we decided to pull over and stop at new haven first. we visited for awhile and then we went to go eat at this buffalo wings place near the campus. omg!!! i never ate such hot chicken wings before (mary, you would love it) but it was damn good. we also had some fries and they were some best fries that i ever had.



after we ate, we walked around campus a little. i really loved the yale campus and the surrounding area. there were some parts that were under construction but you could just picture back in the day when there were horse drawn carriages galloping around. it really is a beautiful campus.

bugaboo ROCKS!

early this year we bought a used bugaboo frog. the previous owner kept it in pretty good shape but w/ a toddler, you're gonna have stains and normal wear and tear.

1st, there was a cardboard part on the toddler seat that was broken. we called the company and bam! they send over a brand new toddler seat. no charge.

2nd, the straps that keep the kid in place doesn't fit. we called the company and bam! they send us new straps. no charge.

3rd, the brake starts to loosen up. we called the company and bam! they send us a whole new frame. no charge. we have to send back the old one so they also send us the shipping label so there's no charge on that either. we just have to have the ups guy pick it up.

now we practically have a new bugaboo. the only thing that is not new are the tires. we're not sure if we should call them about it. i think we may be getting too greedy. :)

bugaboo kicks ass. great customer service. love them. if you're in the market for a new stroller, we highly recommend this one. it's well worth the cash.

Peace Love and Gap

i don't know what it is about this commercial but everytime it's on, jonah stops dead in his tracks and watches it. it's pretty funny.

sample sale

well, i finally went to a ny sample sale this week. i've never heard of a sample sale until i came here to nyc. i kept hearing about them and about how good they were but i never knew when and where they were.

my friend, galit is BIG shopper and she told me about this one and it was supposedly a huge winter kids sample sale w/ all these big european brands. brands that i've never heard of so we decided to check it out.

when we get there, there's a long line just to get into the building. i couldn't believe it. then, we hear that there are no babies and no strollers allowed which meant that only one of us could go in while the other one stayed w/ the kids. so galit went in first to scope it out and see if it was worth the wait. while i'm waiting, i see all these women coming out w/ tons and tons of bags.

then, galit comes out and i go up. omg! i only went to one floor and it was sheer chaos. i thought century 21 was bad. this didn't compare. there was clothes everywhere and there was no sense of order. the workers tried to arrange the clothes by age but it didn't help. the other shoppers were throwing the clothes everywhere. there was clothes on the floor, on the racks and in boxes. going through the racks was insane. it was just too much.

i ended up getting 2 things for jonah. the prices were ok but i thought it was still kinda pricey. i don't know if all sample sales are like this one but if they are, i don't know if i want to go to another one.

sophie and jonah

love it!


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my 2 main men

i just love this picture of tim and jonah. it makes me smile. i love that they both have the same expression on their face.

i'm in!

need i say more? :)

i'm never washing my hand again

today has been one of the best days ever since i moved to nyc. now i could die a happy woman.

well, it happened. i got to meet THE EDGE!!!! in fact, i got to see the whole band and they were so damn close. it was unbelieveable and so exciting. i still can't believe that i actually touched the edge and that he was right in front of me. he has a face of an angel. i just wish i wasn't so nervous than i could have said something better than can i shake your hand. what a dork i am.

here's what happened. after we find out that we weren't gonna get wristbands to meet the band, i decided that i wanted and had to stay. this was gonna be my only chance to meet them. thank goodness that tim took the day off so he could take jonah home and i could hang out. luckily, i meet this girl (raquel) in line and we pretty much hung out together.

at first, we waited in the front of barnes and noble b/c all the media was there and we thought that since the media was there that they had to come in through the front. we waited in the hot sun for a couple of hours. then, i decided to check (just in case) if there was a back entrance to the store. what do you know, there was. it was the employee entrance. there were barricades there and some security so we decide to move to the back. thank God, we did b/c they finally showed up around 110p. here are some pics and 2 videos of their entrance.



















the big bald guy is bono's bodyguard. he was so nice, too. he was talking to all of us. when the security people tried to put up double barriers in front of the fans, he told them to take it away b/c bono doesn't like that and that bono would want to be close to his fans. how awesome is that? btw, i think the guy in the background w/ the sunglasses was eric bana. it funny to see that he was waiting, too.


after we get our book signed, raquel and i decide to stay until they leave. that way we could focus on getting pictures w/ them since they already signed our book. what was 2 more hours anyways. this is when i actually got to touch the edge and take a picture w/ adam clayton. raquel was able to take a picture w/ the edge and i tried to scoot in there, too but i don't know if i came out. she's gonna send me the picture. we'll see. here's the video of their exit and when i got to touch my man.







all the guys were so nice but bono stuck around the longest to talk to his fans and take pictures. such a cool dude. it was such a long day but it was soooo worth it. i'll never forget this day for the rest of my life.














btw, adam clayton is such a little hottie. i think he's my next favorite. :)

Tim Gunn ROCKS!

well, we got to finally meet the man himself, mr. tim gunn. he was just like i thought he would be. tim gunn is one classy and gracious guy. here's what went down.

we got to the emmett mccarthy's (season 2 designer) shop around 130p and waited in this line that seemed forever but in reality it didn't really take that long. i think the anticipation of seeing and meeting tim gunn just made it worse. anyways, the line didn't seem to take that long b/c while we were waiting, we saw alison (my tim could die a happy man now), nick, raymundo, emmett, malan and kane. click here to see some pics. everyone that we met from PR was so cool and so nice. i loved meeting each of them.

so after waiting in this line, we finally get to the garden where tim gunn was at. he was only going to be there until 3 and it was already 305p by the time we got to the front of the line. well, what do you know, after getting all the way to the front, there was this one girl ahead of us and then they stopped the signing. ughhhh! we were soooo disappointed but i was thinking that at least we got to see him up close. ;)

after he leaves, we decide to take off. when we get out to the front, we see that tim hasn't left yet b/c he was waiting for his car. so while he's waiting, people are approaching him to take pictures and sign more autographs. we thought that this would be the best time to get that picture that we wanted and meet the man of the hour. well, after signing autographs and taking pictures for 3 hrs in the garden and him being late for his next appnt, he was still so nice and gracious enough to take a picture w/ us and that's when we snapped this one.



LOVE IT! i'm more in love w/ tim gunn than ever. :)

mi familia

my time in bellevue, washington is coming to an end. i've been here for a week and half now and i'll be leaving this thursday. it's been great being w/ my sister and her fam, my gma and my mom. it was rough at times w/ just me and jonah but w/ the help of my fam, it's been good. the sad thing about us leaving is that i have no idea when the next time i'll be seeing everybody. it's finally hitting me now. i'm sad just thinking about it. i just love my family so much and i can't wait to see them again.

1st night meeting gma. we arrived at my sister's house at 1am which is 4a ET. jonah was up and in a great mood. such a great kid. :)


gma w/ the grandkids - tals, ells and jones


talia just took to jonah. such a sweet picture.


great gma. jonah just loves her. he smiles at her whenever she smiles. love it!


1st time on sand. he was very mesmerized.

it's a beautiful day

today was a GORGEOUS day. i mean gorgeous. it was in the low 80s w/ a nice little breeze. i'm so glad we got to get out early to enjoy the day. it was an absolute perfect new york summer day. i wish it was like this all summer.

picture from outside of our apt. this picture really doesn't give it justice.

scary

we finally bought some new books for jonah like the very hungry catepillar, cat in the hat and curious george. there's this one other book that tim said was a classic but i've never read or heard of the book. it's called the giving tree by shel silverstein.



so i read the book and i totally love it. such a good message. then, i flip over the book and there's a picture of the author. omg! this guy, shel silverstein is the scariest man that i've ever seen. i can't believe this guy wrote this book. why couldn't he have taken a better picture? check him out below. DAAAAMMMMNNNN.

like father, like son

today i finally realized that jonah looks exactly like tim. before i thought that he had some of my features but today when i saw this picture, forget it, it's all tim. is there anything that's me?

how you doin'?

meet luke everyone. he has the best accent. i could listen to him talk ALL DAY. i wish we got him talking for a longer period of time so you could get the full effect of his accent.

amy ruth's

tonight i ate some soul food for the very first time. omg!!! it was soooo good. below is a pic of what i got. the name of the dish was called the al sharpton which is chicken and waffles and on the side i got some collard greens. the al sharpton sounds very basic and it was but sooooo friggin good. at first, i was thinking, what! chicken and waffles? what kind of combo is that but when i had it, wow. i also loved the collard greens.

so if you're ever in nyc you have to try this place in harlem called amy ruth's on 116th. love it!

The Acostas are here!!!

the acostas are finally here in town. when we first met them last year, jonah was in my belly and now they were able to meet him in person. read about how we first met on tim's blog.

the acostas are such a cool family. i love the way gloria and jose have raised their kids. you could tell that gina and jose jr respect and love spending time w/ their parents. they are a great example of a fun-loving family, Mexican-style, which we hope to have...

tonight we went to carmine's for dinner and then walked around from times square, hopped on a subway to astor place for some beard papa's, then to the village and then to union square. we had a great time catching up.

i can't wait to hang out w/ them again.

project runway, baby!

PROJECT RUNWAY HAS BEGUN!!! YEY!!!

just finished watching the 1st episode of project runway and man, is this a great show. it's definitely the best reality show yet. i used to watch and love survivor and apprentice but after a couple of seasons, they just lost it. this is the 3rd season for PR and it's only the 1st episode but i know i'm already hooked.

great show and i'll say it again...tim gunn kicks ass.

like my new hairdo?

so we finally shaved jonah's head. i never really thought his hair was that bad until i saw the before shot. now i'm glad that we shaved it but now i think he kinda looks like wooly willy, don't you think?

update on my little man

so we went to the doctor today and she concluded that jonah has a little cold. she said that there's nothing to worry about. she gave us some warning signs if the symptoms getting worse but so far, so good. thank God.

my little love jones is a trooper. even though he's going through all this crap, it seems like nothing is wrong. he still has no problem smiling at us. i just love him so much.

this is a picture of his eyes when it was at its worse (last week). doesn't he look miserable?

summer shows

usually, i hate it when the regular season ends b/c that means there's nothing on tv over the summer and we have to wait until september or even october for the new shows to start BUT....not this summer. :) there are 2 shows in particular that i can't wait to start.

1. rock star on cbs, starts tomorrow at 8pm. i can't wait. i watched last season w/ inxs and it was great. pulled me right in. this time, it's tommy lee, jason newsted and gilby clarke that'll be looking for a lead singer for their new group.

i really didn't care for tommy lee until i watched his reality show, tommy lee goes to college. now that was a great reality show. it totally made me fall in love w/ him. he has the best little personality. i know now why pamela kept going back.

2. project runway on bravo, starts july 12. this will be the 3rd season. the last 2 seasons were great and the 3rd season should be good, too. love tim gunn.

so the shows that i'll be watching this summer are:
1. rock star, supernova
2. project runway
3. so you think you could dance
4. real world/road rules challenge, fresh meat

do you see a pattern?

EXHAUSTION

my poor little love jones is exhausted from our trip to cali. i feel so bad.

since we've been back, he's gotten and has:

1. eye mucus
2. runny nose
3. dry cough
4. diarrhea

we're going to the doctor on wednesday to see how we could help him.

hannah's wedding

my cousin, hannah got married this last weekend. the wedding was at the biltmore hotel in downtown l.a. and it was really beautiful. hannah was beautiful. check out some pics.

hannah and her dad (my uncle jimmy)




talia (my niecey) and caden


my uncle david and the happy couple


my bro and my sis

part 2 of our crazy weekend

after a 5 1/2 hour flight, we are here in the city of angels. yuck. :( sorry for those of you in l.a. but man, we miss nyc already.

when we got to lax, we went straight to get the rental car which took FOREVER. this would be jonah's first for a lot of things to come on this trip - 1st plane ride, 1st car ride, 1st time meeting tim's side of fam, 1st time meeting my side of fam...it's endless.

so after we got our rental, we head for one of my favorite restaurants in cali - OK CAFE in alhambra. i love their wonton noodle and soup and spanish coffee there. so cheap and good. we found a place similar to it in nyc but it's not the same. this was one thing that i was dying for when we got here. so when we get there, we found out that ok cafe turned into dj cafe. WHAT! i was so pissed. i couldn't believe it.

we went in there anyways to see if the menu would be the same, at least but no luck. everything was different. they didn't even have wonton noodle and soup. it totally sucked so we just left and went to garden cafe. i got my fix of wonton noodle and soup and spanish coffee but it so was not the same.

part 1 of our crazy weekend

well, we made it here to sunny california. i think we exhausted the little man. on sunday, we had to wake up butt early b/c we had to catch a 7am flight which meant that we had to leave our apt at 4am.

usually, jonah wakes up at around 8a for his 1st feeding so i thought he would be totally pissed when i had to wake him up at 345a to get him ready but when i woke him up, he had a huge smile on his face. i just love my kid. he's definitely one of those kids that's not all cranky when he wakes up. i love that.

so we leave the apt at 4a and got to the airport at like 5a. we're thinking that's great, we have 2 hours, plenty of time. no problem. at this point, jonah is still up and in a good mood. when we get to the airport, this is where the nightmare begins.

when we get to the delta station agent to check in, they had the hardest time getting our ticket. 1 1/2 hours later, they finally get us all checked in which means that we only have 15 minutes to get to the gate and the station agent tells us that the gate is really far and we need to haul buns. so here we are w/ jonah running like a mad woman to our gate but we made it just in the nick of time. i think i must have lost 10 lbs from all the running and the stress. during that whole time, jonah was a little angel.

The Winning Hat

thanks everybody for your votes. here are the hats that we'll be bringing to palm springs.

I need your vote

we'll be going to palm springs later on this month and i need to find the right hat for jonah. when i went shopping w/ the ladies yesterday i saw a couple of possiblilities.

ok - here's the question:

which hat do you think that i should buy for jonah?


#1 - cargo sun hat


#2 - gecko bucket hat


#3 - fish bucket hat

More Friends

today was a milestone for me. i've been w/ tim for 12 years and during that time, the friends that i made were usually tim's friends or my co-workers. today was special for me b/c thanks to jonah, i'm beginning to make my own friends.

from left to right: galit and maya; claudia and audrey; laurian and adina; me and jonah


galit is a makeup artist w/ a 5 1/2 month old daughter, maya.
claudia is a graphic designer w/ a 6 month old daughter, audrey
laurian is an architect w/ a 5 1/2 month old daughter, adina.

we all met at hampton chutney on the UWS for lunch. since jonah is the youngest one out of the 3 girls, it was great to hear all the mothers talk about their experiences. i'm learning so much from them. then, we were off to do some shopping. so much fun. i really had a good day.

To my love monkey

Happy Anniversary, my love.

7 years, baby. I LOVE YOU!