I suppose I should run a vacuum through here and get the royal pull-out couch ready.
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It was bound to happen at some point. We’ve been in this “relationship” for over 2 years now. We are having our first disagreement. You love Houston, and well, I hate it. You couldn’t pay me to live here Rob. Okay. OKAY. If it’s with you, in a mansion in Piney Point, I could maybe be swayed. But only for you. So far, I’ve been honked at 3 times, given one dirty look and had my camera stolen. Where is the southern hospitality people!? The traffic is horrendous. To get anywhere is a 30 minute+ drive that is full of rage. I’d describe this city as one giant office park surrounded by a mess of tangled freeways. It’s like LA’s ugly stepsister, but with no mountains or beaches. You’ve got tons of freeways, traffic and smog mixed in with a few flashy houses, cars and people – but Houston’s version of flashy is which truck is the biggest and most blinged out. On 3 separate occasions I’ve seen these trucks with rims on their wheels that look like huge spikes that stick out towards your car like they could stab you if you got too close. Every time we’d get on the highway to go anywhere we’d say “time to go to battle.”
The nail in the coffin though was on our last night when we got into this cab:
Yep. Time to leave.
So I left New York today after having stayed with Karen for a week. I’m sure she’s tired of me using her living room as a bedroom. It was great visiting friends and family and NYC – I will miss you, but not your cold gray weather. Brrrr!
One of my favorite parts of the trip was a speakeasy my friend KT took me to on Saturday called PDT short for “Please Don’t Tell.” It’s a secret bar within a hot dog shop. You have to walk into the hot dog place, then go into the phone booth inside and dial a number on the phone. Then a wall in the phone booth opens up and a woman takes you inside a dark candlelit bar with cute bartenders that serve yummy strong cocktails. You can even order hotdogs from the place next door and they slide them through a cubby hole into the bar.
I love speakeasies! I’m sad San Francisco only has one 
I will definitely have to go to more when I go back to New York.
Tags: Criff Dogs, new york, PDT, Please don't tell
Flying to New York today to check out Karen’s new apartment and do some good ole New York sightseeing. I’m excited!!
{Columbus Circle via From Me to You}
Tags: columbus circle, New York City
When I was shlepping my Adidas bag across Seattle this weekend, I thought about how much more glamorous I’d look if I had one of these babies:
{images from Polyvore, JCrew and Urban Outfitters}
Jeff and I are going skiing this weekend. If there was ever a time to start praying, now would be that time. I’m a TERRIBLE skier. I don’t know if it’s because I’m pigeon toed and knock kneed, or if it’s because it was just never in my cards to be a good skier….but I am awful. Naturally, Jeff is an amazing skier, (along with all of our friends that we’re going with), leaving me at the bottom of the mountain taking lessons with 5 and 6 year olds and skiing the bunny slope alone. It could be worse though, at least I can do the bunny slope. Small accomplishments. Anyway, so here’s to this year’s ski trip not ending up like last year’s, and maybe I can harness my inner Shaun White.
Or maybe I should tuck away some airplane bottles in the ski pants, get totally wasted and throw myself down the green slopes? I honestly don’t think it would change anything about my skiing ability, believe me.
Also known as Newport, Rhode Island. We’re back! Sorry for the delay in posting this, but what a great weekend we had! It was definitely a nice little get-away weekend and the perfect break from being in the city. I tried my best to escape all things having to do with the Super Bowl and I succeeded for the most part. Newport(onians?) don’t seem to really care about football (muffy, bring me my brandy and get the yacht ready). I didn’t see a single football related shirt or hat anywhere, and there were no conversations about the big game to be heard. Yes! Sadly, however, every single radio station played that “Black and Yellow” song on repeat the whole way up I-95. Ugh. ZipCar covers us if we get in a car accident, but I don’t think we’d be covered if I ripped the entire stereo console out of the car and chucked it out the window. So we rode in radio silence the whole way home. Regardless, it was a lovely weekend filled with beautiful sights, belly-expanding food (mmm mmm good!), and the wonderful smell of the sea 
A beautiful view to wake up to in the morning, and touring the Breakers Mansion!
Being tourists in downtown Newport. The most adorable place in the world. And our very grown-up purchase: 2 oil paintings from a local Newport artist.
The cottage we stayed in at the Castle Hill Inn, it was so cute!
The main house at Castle Hill Inn.
Is this even real? I mean come on. What kind of people live here?
Tags: Breakers Mansion, Castle Hill Inn, Newport, Rhode Island, Super Bowl
We’re hopping in the ZipCar and on our way! Be sure to look out for some pics from the trip on Sunday or Monday. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for good weather, great food, and that the entire Pittsburgh Steelers football team comes down with the stomach flu rendering them unable to play, causing the Jets to have to quickly take their place. In which case, we’ll arrange for a last minute flight out of Newport to Dallas, where we’ll watch the Jets bring home a Super Bowl victory.
And yes, I also thought I had the ability to fly up until about the 2nd grade when an unfortunate run-in with a TV chair brought that dream crashing to the ground….literally. Sigh, go Packers.
Tags: Newport, Rhode Island, Super Bowl, The Breakers
Tags: Hawaii, new york, San Francisco, Snow, weather
That’s what Jeff and I plan to be now that football season is over (sad sigh). Living in NYC, we have easy access to so many awesome places that we’ve never visited in the northeast; either by car or train. Jeff gave me a Fodor’s Travel Book about the Northeast for Christmas, and I’ve been busy perusing its pages. Our first stop? Newport, Rhode Island. And this was kind of a spur of the moment decision. Due to my depression and heartbreak over the Jets not making the Super Bowl, I angrily announced yesterday at dinner that I was so upset, I didn’t even want to watch the stupid Super Bowl (insert two year old temper tantrum here). I just wanted to get away from it.
Much to my surprise, Jeff said OK! I was shocked, but I have a feeling that the crocodile tears that he saw pouring down my face as the Jets/Steelers game came to a conclusion may have persuaded him a tad. I was a mess. I even called him crying from the bathroom at work on Monday, (annnnnd I need to get a grip). Never the less, we’ll be hopping in a ZipCar and heading up 95 North to Newport, Rhode Island for Super Bowl weekend. Most of the details haven’t been finalized, but I’ll be sure to update you on them as they come along. All I know is that we’re definitely going to tour The Breakers and Marble House, and eat some yummy seafood. And since we’re visiting during the off-season, there are some amazing rates on hotels. SCORE!
I cant wait to take some awesome pictures. How pretty is this?
But in all honesty, all I care about is getting as far away as possible from any talk of the Super Bowl, the city of Pittsburgh, Terrible Towels, and Ben Roethlisberger.
Tags: Marble House, Newport, Rhode Island, The Breakers, Travel, Zipcar
