Chicago The Musical!

This past weekend we celebrated by 53rd birthday a little early and all I wanted was to go to the city to catch a broadway show and eat at one of my favorite overrated restaurants with my favorite photo booth! It has become tradition to see a show and since my birthday is on a weekday celebrated this past Saturday. After being on broadway for so many years we finally saw Chicago and it was so good. I was bummed that Alyssa Milano wasn't performing that day due to a stomach virus but hope to see her perform in it before her last performance on November 10th. It was a simple and fun evening. The weather was perfect and it always feels great to be back in my city but at times am grateful to have the opportunity to have both worlds. Living outside the city is a blessing at times because of the hustle but my love for New York will NEVER go away. No matter how noisy it gets I will always come back to her. Anyway, after the show we ate at the smith where I Jon had the yummiest burger and I had pasta with hot fudge brownie sundae for dessert. It was a perfect celebration and so thankful to have a hubby who makes me feel good inside and out! Okay I hope that didn't sound kinky! Y'all know what I mean!

Celebrating Forty Three in New York City.

Ever since I moved to Jersey six years ago Maggie & I have attempted to keep our yearly tradition of attending the temple on or around our birthday week. It took a while for us to make this goal, and even though there have been a  year or two since my moving up here that we skipped & had lunch locally instead we always got back on our feet, and reminded ourselves to just go! This year our birthdays fell on a week where the temple in our district was closed for cleaning. Well...luckily we have the Manhattan Temple (which in my opinion should be our temple district because it's a lot closer) to serve in, and have fun afterwards in this magical city we Texan gals have grown to love. 

Attending the temple in New York is always so interesting. Interesting because once you enter through the doors all the sounds of the city dissipate, and the only sound you hear are the voices of the people that are inside the temple, and the beating of your own heart....and then all you feel is peace.  

Once we stepped foot outside the temple the noise returned, and it was okay. We love this city! We walked around the upper west side, snooped inside a couple of shops, filled our stomachs with lunch at The Smith restaurant, and after walking a few more blocks down Columbus avenue we  parked ourselves on a brownstone stoop and enjoyed our delicious cookies from one of the best bakeries in town...Levain Bakery! 

Because we were enjoying the city so much I didn't take too many pictures. However, I did manage to capture the beauty of the temple from a few different angles...

^^^ Beautiful shot of the Angel Moroni at the top of the Manhattan temple ^^^

and some photos of the yummy lunch I had...

 ^^^ If you plan on ordering the hamburger make sure you come hungry because it's a good size burger! I didn't get to finish it all.  ^^^

^^^ The hot potato chips, and blue cheese dressing was soooooo good! My husband was jealous when I told him about it, because anything blue cheese is his favorite!! ^^^

Can't forget to document these delicious cookies as well...

Days like this are always at the top of my "life list". They are categorized under "the best days of my life".  Attending the temple with my one of my very best friends is the next best thing to attending it with my husband. I thought a lot about my hubby while inside the temple as well as my family members, but at the same time am grateful to have gone with my dear friend, and to have a girls day out! We all need those don't we? It was so much fun, and we both said to ourselves the next time we go we may just have to spend an entire weekend here so that we don't rush ourselves driving back to Jersey. Knowing this girl for 23 years seems surreal because on some days it feels as if I met her yesterday. I never thought that I would end up living in the same area as Maggie, and because of her I was taught of all the do's and don'ts of Jersey (I also learned a lot of them on my own too!) 

Thank you Maggie for all that you did for me on my special day, and for driving us into the city we love! You truly are a gem in my life!

Here's to 43 years, and to looking forward to many more trips like this! 

19 years and counting.

December has got to be one of the most exhausting months of the year (at least for us) for the mere fact of celebrating three very special occasions. 

Our anniversary, Jon's birthday, and Christmas. Especially with Jon driving for UPS five days a week, it seems that all he wants to do these days is take a long winters nap. But he doesn't. And no matter how many times I tell him to rest, he won't. Because he loves meeeee....We are sleep deprived, but after 19 years we keep smiling. We keep keep having trials, and disagreements, but at the end of the day we laugh, and keep it together. 

No matter where we have celebrated our anniversary dinner whether it be a simple meal at our daughters fundraiser, or a very nice restaurant every year has been precious. This year we celebrated our anniversary in NYC, and it was surreal. Surreal because this was the very first time that we have gone without the kids. Alone. Sans bambino baby. Surreal because we were celebrating a special occasion in one of the worlds most magical cities. 

We ate dinner at one of our "new" favorite restaurants, and we had so much fun. I think finding the photo booth downstairs (as i was heading toward the restroom) was the highlight of our evening. We felt like little kids again acting goofy, and laughing as each photo was being taken. I hope when our kids look at that photo that they will think of things like love, hope, and faith. Because those are the three things that have kept our marriage going. I am so happy that we have made it this far, and it's not going to stop there. 

Reflecting back on our wedding day brings a huge smile on my face knowing that I am still with the man of my dreams. Nineteen years...not quite a milestone, but it's still a pretty big deal to me. I'm sure when we hit the 20 year mark it will be huge!

Happy anniversary to us!!