Wedding Bells Are Gonna Chime

To continue with the theme of the week, I give you my friend Marisol's wedding.  Marisol is one of my favorite people.  This is obvious considering I braved the drive through Midtown Manhattan and through Queens to attend her lovely wedding.  If you've never driven through Midtown...DON'T.  I'm convinced the drive cut at least 2 years off my life. But, she flew out to snowy Chicago on a moment's notice for mine, so I'll say we're even. 

She married a wonderful man who really is perfect for her in every way.  It's obvious that he adores her, and I am so happy that they found each other. 

Now, enough of the mushy stuff, and onto the pics!

Stunning

Oh yeah--those are bobble heads. 

My favorite part was that during the ceremony, they used a laptop to update their facebook statuses..stati..(what the heck is the plural of status anyway).  Because, let's face it, nothing is official until it's facebook official.

Now, I know I'm a bad blogger since I didn't get pics of the centerpieces, or the extensive dessert table, or 1 of the 3 different pasta stations during the cocktail hour.  But hopefully through the shots above you can see how full of love the day was, and not chastise me too much. 

As far as weddings go, this one is pretty far up there.  Amazing food (seriously: 3 pasta stations, 2 carving stations, Asian food, seafood, chicken, fruit, veggies, AND passed appetizers.  And that was just the cocktail hour).  The centerpieces were lovely (take my word for it) and the signature cocktails : The Haitian Sensation, and the Dacocarican were yummy and tropical and made me wish I went with them to Puerto Rico for their honeymoon.

New York Weekend Part 2: Blast from the Past

This was definitely a blast from the past weekend!  I got to reminisce about time in college, visit my college roommate (Hi, Morgan!), and go to an AWESOME 80s PROM!

The whole reason I went up to NYC in the first place was for my good friend and mentor's bachelorette party.  Marisol is the whole reason I work in Student Affairs, and she is someone who continues to push me to be better at what I do and to seek out new opportunities for growth.  She asked me over the weekend if when I was her intern I ever thought one day I'd be at her bachelorette party.  No.  No I did not.  But I am SO glad we have such a nice friendship, and I'm so happy to be part of this new phase in her life. 

Now, onto the fun stuff.  We started the night at Vamos, and if you know me at all you know that I LOOOOVE me some margaritas.  So I was in heaven!

Blood Orange 'rita

We played some funny games at the restaurant, and Marisol received some risque items including pop rocks, and a funny shaped shot glass... (sorry kids, we're keeping this PG this morning).

And then we were off to the Awesome 80s Prom!  Legwarmers, side pony tails, and blue eyeshadow as far as the eye could see!  It was amazing, and if you're ever in NYC it is definitely a fun alternative to the usual touristy stuff. 

Student Council Pres "Melissa"! with the Football Captain, "Beef", and the girl with headgear and a Cabbage Patch Doll

Is Marisol gorgeous or what?!  Her sash says "Most Likely to get Married"

A special guest performance by Madonna Miranda

The Wanneget High Mascot: The Beaver  (maybe not so PG?)

The night was fantastic and I'm sure Marisol had a good time.  No swinging from the chandeliers, but just enough crazy fun!

And even in New York there is Philly love, I found these all over Penn station:

I headed back to New Jersey to spend the night with one of my favorite girls and probably the only person I could ever live with aside from Sean.  We had some wine, and a good long talk and then went to brunch the next day.  It was great to catch up--I love girl talk!

All in all a fabulous weekend. 

New York Weekend Part 1

This past weekend, I went up to NYC for my good friend's bachelorette party.  I did my undergrad in New Jersey, just a short train ride outside the city so visiting is always very fun and nostalgic for me.  Although I spent a lot of time in Manhattan during those 4 years, I didn't stray much from the Time Square, Rockefeller Center, Central Park loop.  So when I realized that our first stop for the party was down in the Grammercy Park area, I decided to take an early train and walk down from Penn Station.

The weather was gorgeous and I was able to stroll my way through the city.  Although, I definitely stuck out like a sore thumb since New Yorkers  A.) Don't take picture of random buildings/homes/shops   B.) They don't wear super cute yellow flowers in their hair :) black is still the new black over there, and   C.) They DEFINITELY.  DON'T.  STROLL. 

But anyway, here are some of the pics I took on my journey.  If I ever move to NYC (Sean will kill me) I would move to this area.  It actually felt like a neighborhood: cute, quaint, and only a little bit shady which for New York is a pretty big step up. 

I loved this corner building!

 These were taken inside Peoria Emporium...hot pink everywhere?? Yes Please!





A giant giraffe with a fur shrug...Why? Why Not!



Genius makeshift curtain

Super fluffy couch...it might clash with our decor though :(

Love the horse hitch decoration on this house



Gargoyles were crawling all over...creepy!



Later today I'll be sharing a fun project!  And tomorrow will be NYC Part 2!

Yummy Monday

Happy Monday everyone!

How was your weekend?  I had a great one filled with surprises, good friends, and...legwarmers?!  But more on that later this week.  First, I thought I'd start this week by reliving some of the yumtastic food Sean and I have eaten recently.

Sean and I are pretty adventurous eaters, and love to try new things.  Ethiopian food is just about at the top of our absolutelyfavoritemealsever list, and so while it's not new to us, it might be new to some of you!

Ethiopian food features lots of meats and lentils that can get pretty spicy, all served on a large platter of thin, spongy injera bread.  There's no silverware to be found, and instead you tear pieces of the bread off  and scoop the food into your mouth that way.  Although I can be a germ-a-phobe at times, I push that aside for the sake of this meal.  It's messy, it's filling, and you better like whoever you're eating with because you are definitely getting their cooties. 

Our favorite Ethiopian restaurant is Abyssinia.  The food there is out of this world, and it is totally worth it to put up with the S-------L--------O--------W service.  And that's saying a lot considering my serious lack of patience when it comes to things like food.  It's also a hole in the wall for sure--but don't let the facade keep you out.  If you go on Friday night it is PACKED with people from the neighborhood, and college kids.  Here is a pic of what we ate the other night:


Abyssinia

Now, admittedly it doesn't v look very appetizing but trust me--if you've never had Ethiopian you need to try it, like, yesterday.


Sean and also discovered what we believe is the best pizza in Philly, and it was totally on a whim!  We recently got droids (love!) and the apps are fantastic.  We decided to use the Urban Spoon app to figure out a place to eat.  Well, the stars aligned and we ended up at The Dock Street Brewery.   Since we moved to Philly we haven't been able to find great pizza and this has officially ended our search.  The fire oven pizza was about as close to perfect as a pizza can get.  I got the "La Cocca" which I guess means "Deliciously runny egg on top of a a perfect trifecta of sauce, cheese, and crust." 

Not only was the pizza great, but for an appetizer we had panko crusted fresh mozzarella (clearly we're a couple who loves our dairy...).  The cheese was crisp and perfectly fried and had that amazing salty/sweet taste only good quality fresh mozz can have.  I'm drooling over here.
So now that I've got you all salivating, get back to work will you??!! It's Monday for Pete's Sake!
But come back tomorrow when I'll talk about my trip to NYC for  my lovely friend's bachelorette party!