One Night in Central Park

Saturday, June 11, after leaving the Belmont Stakes we went to Braden's work to pick up my luggage and check into our hotel. Meg and Braden were "going to get us reservations somewhere" so we could eat dinner together before they went home for the night.
After checking in we caught a cab to Central Park. I didn't think there were restaurants in Central Park but Mike assured me there was a great one at the boat house and that's where we were going.
I have to admit that I was scared. Central Park is in the middle of NYC but once you walk into the park, the noises of the city disappear. I watch too many Law and Order/CSI shows not to be thinking that someone was going to jump out and murder us. It was completely dark by the time we got there.
We get to the Bow Bridge, this beautiful bridge that is in countless romantic movies I've seen and Mike calls his brother Braden and tells him where we are but can't remember how to get where we are going and to please meet us here.


Mike said that they might be a minute so we walked across the bridge and found somewhere to wait until they could meet us. This is where we waited. Suddenly there is a noise from the water. There was a remote control boat coming from under the bridge with glow sticks attached. I asked Mike if that's what it was because it seemed so odd that someone would play with a remote control boat in the dark, but thought nothing of it until it started in our direction. I was terrified. You have to remember that I suffer from mild paranoia anyway, I thought it was a bomb. You can see in the picture below that there is a little piece of fencing in the water right off the shore and the boat ran straight into it, right by where we were standing. At this point I'm ready to run for my life. Then of all things, Mike picks up the boat and starts fiddling with it. Then he takes something off of it and walks toward me and gets down on one knee.
I was in shock. I wish I had been more calm and could've committed what he said to memory but it's all a blur. I do remember saying yes though. And just like that Mike and I are engaged!
As of now, the wedding is planned to be in Cancun, December 2012 with close family and friends.


This is the Bow bridge in daylight.



Look at this bad boy. It is a lot bigger than it looks in this picture. The bow of the boat is where the ring box was taped. Mike assured me later that he had tried out the boat before and made sure that it was not going to sink, and did in fact insure my ring prior to putting it on a boat in the water.
Apparently, Braden and Meg weren't getting us reservations, they were hidden in the park setting this all up. It was so exciting.
I can't even imagine how much planning this took to execute. Mike did such a good job, he totally caught me by surprise. I was expecting to get purposed to like you see in movies, like a ring in a champagne glass or sticking out of a dessert or something but this surpassed anything I could've imagined.

We have been looking at rings for a few months and Mike made me rate them on a scale of like 1 to 3 of the ones I like the most. Then he designed one based on my favorites. It's like he took all the rings I loved and combined them into one ring:





This is the ring from the side, it has so much detail with all the tiny diamonds on it so it sparkles from any angle. The flat bottom is called a European shank, it is weighted in the bottom of the ring so it will stay upright on my finger. I love it.



Sorry, i know this pic is blurry but this is one of my favorite parts of my ring, he put our birthstones on the inside of the band. It's so thoughtful and creative.
Mike, you are so amazing, I love you!

Way Back East

Two weeks ago Mike and I ventured east for a little vacation with his family. Mike and his parents flew out Wednesday and due to work and school I stayed home a few extra days and flew out Friday night. We stayed with Mike's brother and sister-in-law in Connecticut. I didn't get in until about 11pm eastern time but went straight to bed when we got there because we were planning on getting up early to go to the Belmont Stakes Horse Race the next day. The plan was to leave the house at like 830am which would be 630am Utah time.
Saturday:
I was grateful to have been woken up early by Mike's adorable niece who was screeching pretty early in the morning (Eve apparently has only one volume, which isn't terribly quiet). So I got up about 630 eastern time to get in a quick shower before we had to leave.
On a side note, with all the humidity that goes on in that climate I never actually felt fresh. It was like the minute I got out of the shower and dried off I was instantly sweating. I wonder it you get used to that over time?
Anyway, the plan was to catch a train to somewhere, get on another train that lead to New York City which is conveniently only about 60-90 mins from the Stamford, the city in Connecticut where we were staying. Mike and I planned to stay the night in the city so we made a quick stop into Braden's work in NYC and dropped off my suit case and headed to yet another train that would lead us to Belmont Park. I can recall maybe (but not for sure) going to maybe 1 horse race in my life, and if that is correct it must have been in Wyoming. That being said, I knew nothing about horse races, nor how to bet on them. So with program in hand, Mike taught me everything he knew about horse races. We bet on almost every race up until the big race, only a dollar or two per race, me always betting on one horse to win and Mike usually going for trifecta. I think my winnings for the day equaled $2.75, and even then I was probably down at least $10. It was a fun experience though, reading about the horses, learning where to look for their placings in previous races and speeds, which jocky would be riding them etc. Mike bet bigger on the big race and ended up winning like $200 or something, so we ended up winning back all of our losses and then some.
Now, there are TONS of people at this race, Mike said even less than usual though because it was rainy and cold. But after the big race most people leave, which means that you have to run your tail off to make it to the train in time to get a seat or even any room on the train back to the city. It was mayhem, but somehow we made it.


At Belmont Park


Braden and Meg


Belmont park, can you see all the standing water on the track, it rained all day!


The gates


I think this was the big race, my camera doesnt take great fast-action shots..


Grand Central Station. I never really realized how big this place is. It is crazy when you are trying to get on a train, you buy your ticket at a kiosk, then you have to find the track it's on (which is confusing when there are a million to chose from! thank goodness Mike and his family knew what they were doing and where they were going because I was lost!)

Saturday night:
After we made it back to NYC we went to Braden's work and picked up my luggage and went to check in to our hotel while Meg and Braden went to find us somewhere to eat and get our name on the list, which we expected to be a long wait. Mike's parents stayed to cash in our winning ticket and caught the next train out of Belmont park and went to back to Braden and Meg's house to pick up Eve and spend more time with her (Eve is their only grandchild and was born after they moved from Utah, so they don't get to see her much).
We planned to stay in Yotel, a new hotel that Mike told me are usually connected to airports because they are very compact rooms that people often use to stay in when they have long layovers or flight cancellations but this one was in Times Square and it was their opening weekend so we got a killer deal.


Yotel!

Here are some pics of the room:

The bed in bed mode


The bed in couch mode


This is a pic taken of the mirror over the bed to show the tv and storage compartments on the wall.


The light even changes to look like this if you wanted dimmer (cooler) lighting


This is the rest of the room, the bathroom. If you want any privacy in this half of the room you get a curtain..


Here is the curtain/bathroom door.


This is the sliding glass door to the toilet and shower.


this is the shower/toilet door open


There was no enclosure to the shower so water inevitably got all over, so after we showered in the morning and water covered the floor, it made it tricky to use the toilet..





The sink and cubbies on the wall for storage.


This is the check-in/check-out area, it was ALOT faster than so many hotels i've been to in the past.


This is the luggage yobot. It stores your luggage for you. Sadly it wasn't in use while we were there. Having it be the opening weekend, they were missing a few things also. There were no hand towels or tissue in the room. The only soap was in a dispenser and seemed like the same soap for hands and body, no shampoo or lotion like you usually get at hotels (I usually bring my own anyway and realize that it does create alot of waste to have samples in the rooms like that but it still seemed odd).

Sunday:
Check out time was ~1030 so we got our butts out of bed, got ready and explored the city.
I was exhausted by this time because we had been walking so much the day before (often times running to get on trains) and still being on Utah time. I didnt think 2 hours would make such a difference but going to bed on Utah time but having to get up on east coast time was starting to wear on me. It was nice this morning though because we really didnt have much we had to do other than catch our show (Avenue Q) which started at 3. So we roamed around the city. Got some brunch and went back to Central Park (future posts will better explain this).



Times Square. Just like I remembered it from when I was younger and also how it is portrayed on tv, crazy busy. There were people everywhere!
There was also a Puerto Rican pride parade happening, which just made things that much more crazy.

Mike got me tickets to a Broadway show, my first ever. Avenue Q was hilarious! A bit crude, but even that more funny because at least half the characters are puppets. It was like Sesame Street for adults. After the show we caught a subway to Grand Central Station, then another train to another station, then finally a train back to Braden and Meg's house. All the different subways and trains are confusing to me. I was so grateful that Mike was leading the way because we would have never made it to the trains we needed to if I was in the lead. We made it back in time to have dinner and hang out with Mike's family for a little bit.

Monday:
Mike let me sleep in, I felt bad because I held up everyone for lunch but they didnt really seem to mind, and it was so nice to catch up on some sleep. We attempted to grab lunch with Braden and Eve (Meg had to work) but with horrible traffic and our fear of not making it to the airport in time to catch our flight (since we were driving to Newark airport instead of taking the train) we had to ditch that idea and just went straight to the airport. Fortunately we made it in time to grab a quick bite to eat before getting to our terminal and getting on our plane home.

It was such a nice little trip. It seemed to go by so fast. It's always good to get to see Braden, Meg and Eve. We see them 1-2 times a year at the most since they moved back east about a year and a half ago. We've only got to see Eve twice which is sad, she doesn't even really know us. I do hope to see them more in the future though. And we are looking forward to their trip our here next month!

Meet Zoey!

We (I) have been wanting another dog for a while but I always had reservations:
*I always worried that Ando would like me less if he had another dog to play with
*It would add extra cost with vet costs and food etc.
*Less time to spend with Ando and the new dog due to school
As time passed and my worries got the best of me, we just kept living with Ando being an only child. Then a friend of facebook posted that she needed a new home for her miniature pinscher. I knew right away that this was our new dog! Mike and the roommates agreed, so Mike and I drove up to Idaho to pick her up from my friend's house and brought her home.
This is my sweet baby Zoey


She's so cute and little and she gets cold alot, so she burrows to keep warm. I have several beds for the dogs that have heating pads in them so they can stay warm, and I make sure to put blankets in them so Zoey can dig down in them and get cozy.


Zoey is 3 years old, just like Ando and they love playing together. Ando doesn't seem to love me any less but now has a buddy to play with. I love they they have each other and aren't lonely. Lately Zoey has been being bad and having LOTS of accidents in the house, so we are on a "retraining" period as if she were a puppy and relearning that she's to go potty outside. It's frustrating that she was so good in the first 3 months we had her and now its different, but I have faith that consistency and positive reinforcement will lead her back to being good all of the time. She is sweet and lovable so you can't really stay mad at her for long at all, but I try to be tough so she knows I'm the boss :)