Thanksgiving parade

Thanksgiving dinner

Thanksgiving

Well I just kind of skipped over thanksgiving without telling about how it went. We were able to actually get tickets to sit in the stands for the Macy's parade so that was really cool. I have seen the parade several times in person and have seen the balloons fill up several times as well, but let we tell you nothing compares to being able to sit and really enjoy the parade. It was nice to not have to worry about being crushed by the masses of people that are there or about not being able to see anything except for the balloons. We were in great seats and it was really really cool, I will put a few pics of the parade. We then just made our way back to our apartment were we began the preparations for the big meal. For all those city people that enjoy going to a restaurant to have a thanksgiving meal, boy you are crazy. I always went to my grandmas or my mom made a big meal for thanksgiving, there is something special when you can make it yourself and it really means something. It was just Caroline and I, but it sure was fun and we had a really good time getting it all ready. We were even able to break out our fine china for the first time which was really cool as well. In the end is was a fantastic meal, the food was amazing and the leftovers are still being consumed. Ill put a pic of the spread that we had. So overall Thanksgiving was a great holiday spent here in our home with my wonderful wife, how can you beat that right?

Life

Well it is already past Thanksgiving and on the way to Christmas, time flys by really fast these days. It has been awhile since either one of us has written on here. Caroline is loving her new job at Macy's, and is doing very well. We just got a new addition to our family on Sunday. No not a child we are still not crazy enough to have one of those, but we are crazy enough to buy another dog. For all of those who really know us, we love pugs and I have always wanted to have 2 pugs one that is a fawn color which we have and another one that is black which we just got. I have always wanted to have Yoda and Vader and so we now we finally have our little star wars family and if we do get another one in the future it will be a Brussels Griffon that we will name Chewbacca. Yeah I kind of like Star Wars. It is fun to have them. Well life out here in Queens is great I was so tired of living in the Canyons of the financial district and in Manhattan that is is really nice to get out and to see the suburbs of New York. Our apartment is great all of the comforts of home. We have been able to furnish it up really nice and it feels so much more like and actual family home rather than just a space that we are occupying for a year. The holiday season is really nice it is such a fun time of year to set up your tree and to really decorate the place for Christmas. Stockings are up, the tree is decorated, the nativity is out and all of the sweet smells of cinnamon and pine are filling the air. What a great time of year.
It has been rather busy here in the apartment over the last month with friends and family visiting from Montreal. It has been great to actually have people over and not to worry where they are going to stay and if I have enough cushions for them to sleep on. That mixed in with all of the sports that have been going on over the last month on the weekends it is crazy. With all of the games that are on I need another TV to watch them all (the 2nd TV is coming soon).
Well as for me I am still looking for a job, I have been looking since may so that is a bit rough. It is really hard to keep going and going to interviews and hearing the same thing time and time again...sorry we went with the other guy who had a little more experience than you.... It is hard to get up the faith and the belief that it will really happen and that I will finally get hired. But other than being unemployed life is good. Not any thing else to complain about really I guess, just not having a job. That's about all I can think of right now.

GMAT

I finally took my appointment to take the GMAT test (for graduate business school) this Friday October 12. I'm really scared; I've been putting this off for more than 4 months. I took a series of prep class from february through april and since then I just couldn't get myself to set up a time to take the test. I kept saying that I wasn't ready, well I'll never be ready so I might as well do it now. I hope I won't be too dissapointed with my score. I can always take it again, but it costs $250 every time, so after 2 or 3 times it becomes a little expensive.
I'll study hard until friday and do my best.

New apartment...New furniture

A few days after moving in our new apartment, we went shopping for furniture. We bought a sleeper sofa and a reclining chair set, a dining table and chairs and a new king size mattress. Our mattress is being delivered tonight, so I'm really excited to test it out and say bye bye to the full size bed! Our sofa and recliner are being delivered on wednesday, so after that our living room / dining room will be all done; we'll just have to hang all our frames on the walls. We will post pictures as soon as everything is finished.

New apartment

Well we finally got everything all moved in and settled down a bit yesterday. It was an extremely long day, but at least it is all over now. The new place is great and the space is very nice. I actually forgot what it was like to live in a real apartment that is meant to be lived in not just slept in. We are both really sore from all of the lifting and all of the bending down. I guess one of the really neat things was that this morning I could actually see the sun rise something that I have not seen for the last 2 years due to the lack of windows in our apartment, it was oh so nice. We will post some pictures of the place as soon as we get it all sorted out.

I have a job!

Today I was offered a job as the Assistant Planner for Macy's East. For those who don't know what that means, basically the Planner looks at past record of sales and advises the buyer on what sold and what didn't sell and how much money the buyer can spend. The Assistant Planner does the allocations, so I would decide how much of what the buyer bought goes to each store, again looking back at the previous years numbers.
I'm super excited, it's something I wanted to do when I graduated and I always wanted to work for what used to be Federated, now Macy's Inc.
I start on October 15 and I can't wait.

Blog Blog Blog

I've been blogging a lot in the past two days, I wanted to kind of give a background and put it up to date before I give people the link. I hope I don't get too addicted to this!

Mets game

Tonight we went to the Mets baseball game with poeple from church. It was fun to be there but the game was terrible, the Mets lost by I think like 9 points. We went with a friend of ours (Natalie) from college, so it was nice to catch up with her.

New apartment

Well today we officially signed our lease for our new apartment in Elmhurst, Queens.
We hope to have lots of visitor eventhough we will be outside Manhattan!
Our move date is October 1st.
It will be very different, both Jr and I have always lived in Manhattan for the last 6 years.
A new experience I guess.

Summer outings in or around New York

When we didn't get out of New York State, we tried to still go out and do some things. We went to the Red Bull soccer game when David Backham was playing in New York, we went to a Yankees game, we went to pick apple upstate, we went to the Woodbury Outlet... and a bunch of other fun stuff like that!

Super hot David Beckham

Giant Stadium full of people who came to see David Beckham

Yankees game

Apple picking

Alyson, Jr.'s sister

mmmmm

Summer trips outside New York

So this past summer we tried to get out of the city as much as we could. There comes a point when the island of Manhattan is just suffocating. We couldn't leave the country until I got my green card approved (August 14) so in May we went to Florida for a few days during Memorial day weekend. In July we went boating with my family in Burlington, Vermont. Then after my green card was approved, we went to Montreal and Quebec City. Jr and I had been to Quebec City together before but it was during the winter and the coldest week of the winter, so it was nice to go back in the summer and actually be able to get out of the car without getting icicle in our nose.

FLORIDA

Versace's mansion on Ocean Drive in Miami

Jr. on the beach

Caroline on the beach!

Jr.'s sunburn after not putting on sunscreen the first day in the sun

Caroline in the process of putting on sunscreen

BURLINGTON

Putting the boat out in Burlington

Yoda getting his life vest on

Boating!

QUEBEC CITY

Small street in Old Quebec City

Jr. shooting a canon

Old Quebec City

Jr. eating a beaver tail, his favorite treat in Canada

Chateau Frontenac at night

Montmorrency waterfall

Full view of the waterfall, which is actually taller than the Niagara Falls

Wedding reception - Burlington, Vermont

February 24, 2007