Happy Birthday Princess!!!

Happy Birthday beautiful girl!  I am so proud to be your Mommy and so amazed by you every day.  Who would have thought that you would complete our family so well?  Every day I thank God that he gave me the strength to hold on to you until it was safe for you to join us in this world.  I prayed every day during my last trimester that you would hang inside my belly a little bit longer.  My prayers were answered and you were born so healthy and so perfect.  You amazed my doctors and amaze me every day.  I can't wait to see what kind of girl you grow up to be.

Happy Birth-day Em

One of my favorite pics of the 2 kiddos

Em's first birthday pic

My pretty girl all grown up

Happy Birthday sweet Emily!!!

Taking NYC by Storm....Part 2

So where did I leave off?  Oh yeah, we just got back to the hotel to check in on Friday.  So after we checked in and made ourselves at home in our hotel room...aka I unpacked everything while the Hubs laid in the bed....we headed out to finish up our first day of NYC adventure.  First we hit up Times Square.  That place has such an energy about it!  So many people, so many lights.  It was awesome!!!


I'm in Times Square!!!



I had no idea the NYE ball stayed up and lit all year long



Yes that's the Naked Cowboy!!!

Yes Please!!!

I wanted to make sure we knew where the theater was ahead of time so we headed off to find New World Stages.  Come to find out, it was only 10 blocks from our hotel which meant a very short walk on Saturday night.

Can you tell I'm excited?!?

After I relished in the lights of the theater for a few seconds, we headed off to find dinner.  We wanted to hit up Shake Shack....supposedly they have amazing burgers there (we never ended up eating there because there were lines out the door every time we stopped by) but ended up at Charley O's instead.  We had a great dinner.  Ironically enough, this placed had the best sweet tea either of us had ever had.  Who would have thought that the best sweet tea would be in the North???  Then of course we ended dinner with an amazing piece of NY cheesecake....to die for!!!  We wandered around a little more and ended up by Radio City Music Hall and Rockefeller Center.  I had been told that Top of the Rock (the top of Rockefeller Center) has the best views of the city so we decided to head to the top and check it out.  Boy were they right!  The most amazing views are definitely found here!  I even think it's better than the Empire State Building views!!!  I truly fell in love with the city when I took in the view from up here.



I mean, honestly, how can anything look better than this?!? And what a great view of Central Park!!!



Me with Central Park behind me



I know I've said this already but this is my favorite picture from the trip

Me, the Hubs and the Empire State Building....what a backdrop for a picture!!!

If you are ever in NYC, you have to go to Top of the Rock!  Truly worth the price of admission.  I think I would go there every time I was having a bad day if I could.  It's that beautiful and awe inspiring.  The pictures don't begin to do the view justice.  It's just amazing to see all the builidings and then Central Park, a huge, beautiful green space, in the middle of all the concrete.  Truly amazing.

So we started back home rather early.  We had been up since 3am, walking around the entire city for HOURS.  To say we were exhausted would be an understatement.  So we were in bed by like 9pm....losers I know.....

Next up....Saturday's adventures through Central Park, shopping, and the most important....RENT!!!!!

How fun are all the lights?!?!  Not a bad way to walk home

Taking NYC by Storm...Part 1

Let me just tell you.....going back to work after 6 glorious days off is a pain.  I just can't get into the swing.  Oh well.  Have to suck it up for my clinic tomorrow. 
Enough of my complaining....on to the important stuff...NYC recap!!!

So I'll start with our adventures on Friday.  We got up at the butt crack of dawn (3am) so we could get to the airport and through security in time for our 6am flight.  And in true Jessica fashion, we had to start the day off with a pic:

Can you tell how excited I am?!? Not even tired after 3 hours of sleep and a 3am wake up call

 We had a great flight although I couldn't get comfortable and couldn't sleep.  Grabbed our bags and survived the cab ride into Manhattan.  Let me just tell you....the minute I got a peek at the skyline I was in love. And not just a little bit of love.  Like big, huge puffy heart love.  We got to our hotel, checked our bags in since our room wasn't ready and hit the town.  Did you know that NYC is a comic book headquarter?  DC's main office is there and I guess one of the best comic book stores in the world is right in the city and 2 blocks from our hotel.  So of course we stopped in.  That should show the Hubs how much I love him.  In my ultimate city and we stop at a silly comic book store first.  That's love!

The Hubs's personal heaven.  My own personal hell :)

Next we ventured to the subway.  We managed to figure out which subway route would get us to the World Trade Center area and jumped on for our first subway ride.  It wasn't as scary as I imagined it being.  The subway stop dropped us right out front of the WTC Memorial construction.  It was unbelievable to be in the same area where something so horrible took place.  I can't begin to imagine what it was like in the months following September 11th. 

The tallest tower constructed

The second tower being constructed

 After taking in the emotions, we headed off towards Battery Park. We found the coolest piece of art, took a pic with it, and thought we were headed in the right direction.


It looks like a giant balloon animal thingy!!!



 Well after about 20 blocks (or what felt like 20 blocks) we realized that we had walked in the completely wrong direction!  It was quite funny actually.  We almost walked back to the WTC area.  Definitely not towards Battery Park.  But it was ok.  This is what our vacation was about.  Wandering around the city and enjoying every minute.  So once we started in the right direction, we found the Brooklyn Bridge, Battery Park, and the Statue of Liberty very quickly. 

This is when he realized we definitely walked in the wrong direction

Me and the Brooklyn Bridge

I love this pic of the Hubs!!!

She is just breathtaking!!!

Thats how far away she is.  I am so thankful for a good zoom!!!

 I really liked the Battery Park area. There was a great breeze and great views.  So we headed off on a mission to find the bull in the Wall Street area.  It's only fitting that a USF girl in the Big City take a pic with it!!!

GO BULLS!!!!!

 After all of this exploring, we were pretty hungry and excited to get our first taste of NYC.  What did we choose???

I have never had pizza so good in my life!!! NYC pizza is truly the best!

 After stuffing our guts with oh so yummy pizza (we had 3 pieces between the 2 of us), we headed back to the subway to check into our hotel. 

I think this is where I'll leave off. Sorry for the long, picture filled post but we did so much that I'm having trouble editing my excitement!!! 

Up next.....Friday night in Time Square and Rockefeller Center!!!

 

Football Linkup!!!

The Hubs's most favorite time of the year is coming up.....College Football Season.  While we disagree on teams (he's a die hard Gator fan...boo...), we both enjoy a good game.  I'm so excited that Lindsey at Running Down a Dream came up with her Football Link Up party!  We're not NFL fans like she is (we actually don't watch the NFL at all) but we do support our Alma Maters on Saturdays! 
I am a proud alum of the University of South Florida.  USF is just starting to make a name for itself in the NCAA world (we've only had a football team since 1997).  Unfortunately we don't have a stadium on campus but we do get to play in Raymond James where the Bucs play.  Maybe one day we'll have an on-campus stadium!

Here's a style recap from my years at USF football games.  I don't have too many from my early years at USF.  That was the pre-digital camera age.....does that date me???

My first USF game in 2000

Homecoming Game 2002

Homecoming Steering Committee on the field Homecoming 2003

USF vs West Virginia 2007

Me and my bro tailgating for the WV game 2007

The Hubs loving the Bulls (and wearing a USF shirt...the only time he wore one)

My parents and their USF kiddos at the UCF game 2007

Me and some of my girlfriends

USF vs Cincy 2009 (first game after having Emmy)

All dolled up in our USF dresses!!!  USF vs UF 2010

USF vs UF 2010

Can't wait for the season to start!!!

We're Back

The Hubs and I are back from our AMAZING vacation to New York City.  He is very excited about this.  I'm only excited to be home to see the kiddos.  The Hubs could have left me in NYC forever and I'd be happy.  Now I'm trying to convince him that we need to move there (It's not going that well for me).

We did so much in our 4 days that it would be the longest post in the history of blogging if I did it all in one post so I'll break it up.  Look for recaps all this week!!!  And be prepared for picture overload!!!

I have to share with you one of my favorite pictures from our trip



View of Lower Manhattan from Top of the Rock (Rockefeller Center)

I want to thank the wonderful Meghan, aka Mrs. W, from My Life as a Lawyer's Wife, for being my style consultant for the trip.  Thank you so much for all of your wardrobe suggestions and overall NYC suggestions!!!  I'm bummed we didn't run into each other though!!! 
I can't wait to go back!  But right now, I can't wait to see the kids!!!

Excited is an understatement

It's finally here.  Our trip that we've been planning since March has snuck up on us and is staring us in the face!  I am beyond excited for this trip (as I'm sure you have been able to tell).  I'm excited to finally be in NYC, a city I always imagined myself living in one day.  I'm excited to be able to experience it with the Hubs.  There aren't too many places that he's never been to so I'm excited that we'll get to share the experience together.  I'm super excited to see RENT!!!  I can't begin to describe how excited I am for that.  I know there will be tears (happy ones). 

All this excitement comes with a But......

I've never been away from the kiddos for this long.  4 nights and 5 full days away from the most important people in my life (the Hubs obviously is important too).  I think it's going to be harder on me than it will be on them.  Noah's excited to hang out with Grandma and PaPa, then Nonno and Nonna.  I don't know if he'll even miss us.  Emmy will probably end up missing me (or at least I hope).  She's the ultimate Momma's girl so I'm praying it won't be too hard on her or our parents.  I hope I don't drive myself nuts over being away from them.  I'm going to worry.  I'm going to be sad.  I'm going to be checking in all the time.  But most of all, I'm going to miss not tucking the kiddos into bed each night. 

I know I'll be able to do this and I know that the kids will be just fine.  It's just weird to think that Noah's almost 5 and I haven't been away from him for more than 2 nights in his entire life.  Same with Emmy in her short 2 years.  I'm going to miss seeing these faces:

With all of that said......

I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!

WILW

I'm linking up with Jamie again this week for What I'm Loving Wednesday.  Drum roll please................

I'm loving that in 1 day, 4 hours and 23 minutes (at the time of writing this) the Hubs and I will be waking up to head to the airport for NYC!!!!!

I'm loving the Hubs, my parents, my brothers/girlfriends, my in-laws and my grandparents in law for getting me my amazing camera

I'm loving that I will be in all my glory on Saturday night for this:

I'm loving that I get to spend 4 full days, alone with the Hubs (no kids!!!  Although I'm going to miss them terribly) exploring NYC!!!!!

One of the first pics with the Hubs (and its my favorite one!!!) taken way back in 2004...when we were babies

Hope everyone has a great rest of the week!!  I'm going to be back tomorrow night but then I'll be happily being a tourist until Monday night.  Don't miss me too much!!!  I'll be back on Tuesday with LOADS of pictures and stories!!!