End of Week Recap

Hello there! It has been almost two months since I last posted. What can I say, life has been a bit hectic lately.

Rather than picking things up next week, I thought I would provide an end of week recap. I am feeling inspired lately, I just hope I have the time to start blogging again.

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Earlier this week, Jaime and I celebrated our two year anniversary!  I cannot believe it has been two years since our wedding. Also, this February marks our seven year dating anniversary. Where does the time go?!

Since our anniversary falls on Labor Day weekend, we were lucky enough to have a few days off to relax and celebrate.  

Neither of us had to work on Friday, so we  kicked-off the weekend early and headed to dinner on Thursday (very rare for us). It was also partially to celebrate my new job. (Additional details coming in a later post.)

We headed to Mary's Fishcamp. A restaurant so close to our apartment, it's crazy we haven't been there yet. It is a quaint little spot on our favorite street in New York. Not only was the food delicious, the service was great! It is pleasantly surprising when you find a fun neighborhood restaurant where the servers are so friendly.

Before ordering their signature lobster roll (the picture didn't turn out, sorry), we ordered fried oysters.  I don't know if it was the dipping sauce or that they were fried, but these were the best fried oysters I've had.

Friday, we decided to head to Long Branch Beach for the day. It was a little further than we typically like to go, but definitely worth it. It was a quaint little town with a great beach.

Even the train ride there had a great view!

We decided to have lunch at Avenue since it was on the beach and had great views! 

This is how I would like to kick-off every weekend. The weather could not have been more perfect.

I didn't even ask him to pose for this shot. He generally doesn't like looking at the camera anyway though.  :)

It was a perfect day to wear my Baldwin Denim KC hat.

If that wasn't enough, we knocked another restaurant off our list and headed to Carbone for our anniversary dinner. This place had a very old New York vibe. You felt as if you were in Goodfellas. Even our waiter seemed to be playing a part.

Sorry, I didn't take many shots of the food since we were stuffing our faces.  However, I did get this shot of Jaime dishing up our Ribeye. We were stuffed at this point, but loved every minute of it.

Oh, and I don't know what they do to their corn, but it was amazing!!  If you go and it's on the menu you, order it. You will not be disappointed. I could have just eaten that alone.

All in all, it was a fantastic anniversary weekend! Exactly what I needed in preparation for the crazy weeks to come.

Happy anniversary to my husband! It has been an amazing two years.

I hope everyone had a great summer!

xx,

KMH

Weekend Roundup: Fourth of July!

I hope everyone had a great Fourth of July weekend!  There were some serious thunderstorms on Thursday and Friday evening.  

It didn't keep us from venturing out for an impromptu date night at Jeffery's Grocery.  This is a restaurant that 's extremely close to our apartment and we had yet to visit.  While the food was good, the service was average and the hostess was incredibly rude.  That can ruin an experience.

The weather put a slight damper on our Fourth of July plans, but that didn't stop us from venturing over to our friend's place in Jersey City for a delicious homemade dinner and fireworks.

(Steak salad recipe coming soon.)

Yum!

Even though we didn't make it to the pool on Friday, we were determined to sit outside most of the day Saturday.  Mission accomplished.

It felt so good to be outside almost all day.

We were craving a Nebraska favorite, Valentino's Pizza, on Saturday night.  I know, very random.  For those of you that don't know, Valentino's is a pizza chain in the Midwest, more specifically Nebraska.  We are probably one of the best pizza cities in the world and this is what I crave.  Why does no one offer hamburger as a topping?!

(This pizza recipe coming soon as well.)

Overall, it was a very successful long weekend.  Now, back to the grind before a bachelorette/bridal shower this weekend.

Have a great week!

xx,

KMH

Weekend Recap!

What a great weekend!  We decided to celebrate my birthday on Friday night.  I hate when your birthday falls on a Monday.  You can't go out and celebrate as you normally would.

Since I knew we were doing dinner and drinks on Friday, I was smart enough to cancel my Barry's class for Saturday morning.  Thank goodness.  Saturday morning/early afternoon was spent sitting on the couch doing nothing.  I take that back, I did get up to go get a 60 minute massage.  Then came back and continued doing nothing.  This is very rare.

Anyway, this year's birthday dinner was spent at Gramercy Tavern.  The setting is slight more classic than restaurants we typically go to, but it was super cozy.  Especially on a rainy Saturday night.

There was a more casual bar area upfront that we'll definitely be trying sometime in the near future.  It seemed like a great place to grab a drink and a small bite.

We opted for the traditional pre-fixed menu which included some amazing dishes.

After dinner we dropped by ABC Kitchen for a quick nightcap.  

Needless to say, we're getting old and headed home after one additional drink.  This place is a lot bigger inside than I thought it would be.

Most restaurants that offer a pre-fixed menu give you something to go such as chocolates or macaroons.  Gramercy Tavern took it one step further and provided us with a oat muffin which ended up tasting like coffee cake.  It was delightful.  Even more delightful since I didn't have to cook breakfast on Saturday morning.

After a full-day of recuperating, we had a friend's housewarming party Saturday evening.  Great time, with great friends in what I must say is a gorgeous apartment.

Definitely was a slow starting Sunday as well.  We both had a little too much fun.

On our walk over though, I did get this amazing shot of the sunset.  It was a perfect Saturday night.

We have a short week ahead, thank goodness!  It is officially wedding season.  :)

xx,

KMH

Weekend Recap!

Happy Monday!  I was able to enjoy my first summer Friday of the season this week.  For those of you who aren't familiar, summer Fridays are when the office closes a little early.  Ours closes at 3:00 pm.

Friday night was spent on the couch with Thai food.  Perfection.  Saturday was a little more eventful.  My normal Barry's class turned interesting when the instructor drank some girls water after she was drinking too much and then he dumped it all over himself.  You won't get it unless you've been to a class, but it was pretty funny.

While Jaime went to Belmont, I ventured to Belle Mead, NJ for my managers engagement party.  It could not have been a more perfect evening for an outdoor event.

Here are a few girls from the team.  We've all started to dress somewhat alike.

BBQ + champagne = heaven.

Tequila shots were a must before we left.

As if I hadn't had enough BBQ, we decided to drop by the Big Apple BBQ for a couple sandwiches.

I had to snap a shot of the Flatiron building on our way.  I don't know why I'm so obsessed.  I think it happened after we watched a documentary on it.

We ended up just getting a pulled pork sandwich from a NY restaurant, Dinosaur BBQ.  It was still SO GOOD!

Gorgeous day, again!

We stopped by Eately on our walk home in an attempt to find some ingredients for dinner.  I love a fresh meat counter...

And gorgeous veggies.

Jaime's always on the hunt for some good cherries.  

Hopefully this week goes by fast because we have yet another busy weekend ahead of us.

xx,

KMH

What's the review?

Does anyone else rely on reviews when purchasing something, anything, and then never contribute to the reviews themselves?  I am totally guilty of this and I have to become better about writing reviews after both good and bad experiences.

We review comments pertaining to restaurants we want to visit, hotels we want to stay at, clothes we want to buy, events we want to go to, etc.  Yet I never take the time to write a review in either the positive or negative.  That all has to change!

What sites do we review the most?  For restaurant reviews we typically checkout Yelp, hotel reviews, Trip Advisor and products, Amazon.  

So what's my mid-year resolution?  Write reviews.  I can't help but think others will find them helpful, regardless of what they say, since I read theirs for guidance when making a decision.

First things first, I must write a negative review for Pounds and Ounces a few weeks ago.  While I was a bit dramatic with my disappointment, it was a terrible restaurant!  Not only was the food average, the service was terrible and they weren’t even that busy.  The manager put our check down before we were all even done eating.  I find this to be terribly rude (man I sound old).  

However, I did get to spend time with this pretty lady during her surprise visit to NYC.  That was the only good thing about Pounds and Ounces.

  

What sites do you heavily rely on for reviews?

xx,

KMH

Weekend Recap!

Happy Monday!  I’m back!  After taking quite the hiatus, I think I’m finally ready to pick things up again.  I tell you what, it’s hard producing content on a regular basis.  And with work and my personal life being so crazy lately, I haven’t had any time to write anything, edit photos or brainstorm new ideas.  Forget about it.  Even though things haven’t necessarily died down, I’m feeling the need to release some semi-creative energy.  So here we go!

This weekend my little brother was in town visiting.  He hasn't been to NY since I moved here.  Can you believe it?!  We had a fantastic time showing him around and relaxing, the perfect combination.

We started Friday off with cocktails at our place and then dinner at Otto.  Otto is always a great go to when guests are in town.  Great food and great prices, can't beat that.  Of course we stopped in Washington Square Park on our way home.

Saturday we of course needed some bagels to kick off the day (duh) and then headed to the 9/11 Memorial Museum.  If you are in NY and can purchase tickets to this memorial, go!  I will warn you , it is very overwhelming and you should expect to spend 2-4 hours there.

No trip to New York is complete without a trip to Shake Shack.  It is a must!

Saturday, we had plans to go to a new Mexican place on 6th avenue, Horchata.  However, we ended up grilling our friend's place.  Who doesn't want to spend the evening grilling?  It was delicious.  Especially the steak we marinated in honey, soy sauce, jalapenos and garlic.  Amazing.

Nice shot of me and my baby bro.

Jaime loves a good close-up.  Can you tell?  I still thought it was cute.  Not of me so much, but it is of Jaime.  I ended up having to pin my hair back because of the darn rain, hence the awesome hairdo.

For lunch on Saturday (it was really brunch but Jaime doesn't like brunch, so we'll call it lunch), we stopped by Cafe Habana before doing some shopping around Soho.  They have a restaurant you can sit-down in and then a to-go window you can quickly order from and inhale.  We went with the inhale and go option to allow us more shopping time.  Whatever you do, get the corn.

I'll end with this photo.  My brother took it while we were riding down to the 9/11 Memorial Museum.  Pretty typical of our weekend commutes.  Clearly I'm in deep conversation.

Cheers to a short week, hopefully!  We are looking forward to additional visitors this summer, along with some traveling.  Is anyone else feeling slightly overwhelmed by how busy the summer is panning out to be?  I can't believe it's already June.  Oh well, it should all be a lot of fun!

xx,

KMH