New York City: Day 2

After getting home around 2 am from Cori's birthday party, we crashed out! The plan for the next morning was for the Grisi's to come up to the city and we would explore NYC together. We were SO exhausted &  jet-lagged, that ended up sleeping way longer than planned. Once we finally managed to get up & ready the 9 of us headed out on what ended up being the busiest day of the entire trip. We did & saw SO much in those 14 or so hours.

First we went for breakfast.... Crumbs Bake Shop :)

I know what you're thinking... cupcakes for breakfast?? Oh yes it is true. We (I) couldn't wait till after we ate real food to get my hands on these delicious cupcakes that I had heard so much about. So we left the hotel & headed straight to Crumbs for truly the best cupcakes I have ever had.

We left Crumbs & headed to Bryant Park to ice skate... that didn't actually happen but it was a good thought :)

My mom & Cori decided to climb up to this light post for a photo op. What they didn't think out was the dismount which ended up being the most amusing thing! Cori scraped up her shin, my mom nearly peed her pants from laughter, both had to be caught as the leapt off, it was hysterical!

Next we ventured to Canal St. to do a little shoppin :)

Canal St. was intense. People were everywhere trying to get you to buy their purses, watches, or perfume. It was extremely overwhelming but we got the purses & watches that we needed & then happily went on our way to Little Italy for dinner.

We had dinner at Da Nico's. This place was SO good! There's nothing like east coast Italian food. I had gnocchi (noodles stuffed with potato) for dinner. I've been lucky enough to have this dish in both Italy & NY's Little Italy, & I must say that Little Italy's version was a little bit better. We all walked out of there unbelievably stuffed.

The next stop of the day was St. Patrick's Cathedral...

We each lit a candle in the beautiful cathedral. The architecture was truly breath-taking.

From St. Patrick's we went to Rockefeller Center to see the massive Christmas tree & ice skating rink

The last & final stop of the day was back to the Marriott Hotel's bar to meet up with some old family friends & have a few drinks :)

& right around midnight our day with the Grisi's ended. We had an absolute blast with our Jersey family :)

New York City: Day 1

My mom, grandma, and I ventured to the big apple a few weeks ago to celebrate my 21st birthday, a gift from my grandparents. To sum up our trip in one word would be to call it perfect. We couldn't have gone at a better time or had better weather. If you haven't experienced New York at Christmas time then you must plan a trip as quickly as possible... it's Beautiful! There's no way to describe the many events that happened during our 6 day getaway but I will do my best to share my experience of the city that truly NEVER sleeps! This will be the first post of many :)

Day 1
To start off our trip right, my mom and I nearly missed our redeye out of Cali. The security line was easily 200 people deep and took us 45 minutes to just get up to the scanners. We ran to our terminal, shoved our bags in the overhead compartments (which were already jammed pack beacuse it was a full flight), and took our seats with minutes to spare... no lie, minutes! And to make our rushed start even better, there were several screaming babies on the flight so I got a total of about 30 minutes of sleep.

We landed in Newerk at 6 am east coast time and my mom's cousin cheryl picked us and took us to her house in Jersey City beacuse its not possible to check-in to a hotel at 6 am in case you didn't know!
We had SO much fun with Cheryl, Jimmy, & the Baby (Little Jimmy). I don't think I have ever laughed as hard as I did with them. So many random hysterical events in such a short span of time. One being my mom, cheryl, and me driving around Jersey City at 6:30 in the morning trying to find a coffee truck to get pork roll, egg, and cheese sandwiches... we were successful!

The coffee truck we got our breakfast from

Some pictures of Jersey City...

Me and a HUGE clock

the view of NYC from across the Hudson River

My mom and Jimmy

Me, the baby, and my mom.... it was just a little windy

After a few hours rest, some food, and a shower, my mom and I headed to meet out with my Grandma at the hotel.

The PATH train to NYC with all of our luggage... yet another hilarious event. At this point I was not as knowledgable of the subway systems as I soon became, needless to say we ended up taking the wrong PATH train into NYC. We wanted to go into Times Square but we actually went to the World Trade Center (the COMPLETE opposite side where we should've been) :/ opps!

We did eventually make it to the Marriott and had big plans for that night so we just walked around Times Square for a little while and then headed back to the train station so we could head to Jackson, New Jersey (my hometown) to surprise my mom's best friend Cori at her birthday party :)

Times Square

Macy's

Off to Jersey we go again :)

My mom, Julie, Cori, Jessie, and me at Cori's birthday party :) It was so nice to see my friends and family while in Jersey seeing how I hadn't been back to visit in close to 10 years! Definitely made me realize that I need to go visit WAY more often.

After a long night of celebrating we headed back up to the city to get some rest for day 2... our best friends were coming up in the morning to continue the reunion :)

on the subway back

It's 2 am in this picture.... notice the lights are as bright as ever, cars & taxis still fill the streets, and people are still roaming around! The real city that never sleeps :)

Look who's 21!

That's right people, I am officially 21! I can easily say that this birthday was the absolute best one I have ever had. Thank you to all of the people who made my day perfect :)

My big 21st fell on a Monday this year which made celebrating a little difficult. Sunday night at midnight my mom and I headed to Pechanga to purchase my 1st drink. 

 I decided on a Lemon Drop to start the night. We had a really good time and even won a little bit of money gambling!

On Monday (my actual birthday), all the neighbors headed to Pechanga to celebrate :)

Wednesday brought on my Long Beach celebration with my lovely fam from my old sorority. We had several stops planned for the day with the first being the CSULB bar on campus, the Nugget. After class I met them up at the Nugget and was greeted with 3 girls wearing matching shirts with my face on them, posters, and of course birthday decorations for me to wear.

Must Salute Absolut!

  

My Big Sis and I at the Nugget.

My beautiful car that they had decorated for me :)

 We left the Nugget to head to our 2nd stop at Yankee Doodle for dinner. We played shuffle board, watched the World Series game, and had some very yummy food...

 3rd stop was Murphy's Pub to begin our passports. This pub serves 70 different beers from all over the world. 

 Every time you have one from the list you get a stamp in your passport.

4th stop was Legends where we met up with some of my friends from work.

Our 5th and final stop of the night was at Panama Joes to dance the night away :) 

We had SO much fun and like I said, it was the best birthday anyone could have :) I love my family!

Jimmy Buffett 2010

The Via Saltioville gang ventured to the Jimmy Buffett concert last month for my mom's 45th birthday. Three jam packed cars filled with over 20 people, tons of hawaiian decorations, and even more "beverages" made the way to the Verizon Amphitheater for the concert. We had an absolute blast! Attending his concert has become an ongoing tradition amongst the neighbors... one we plan to continue for many years :)

The "mommas" of the block.

 Family Photo :)

 The birthday girl & her cut out friends. Bobby & Janis weren't able to make it to the concert so we decided to make sure they were there in some form. 

 Happy Birthday Mom!