Real World

My oh my does life move fast.  In the past few months I have done so much.

I've done a bit of traveling, starting with a cruise to the Bahamas, Aruba, & Curacao in January.

Me, Brie & Christine on board before leaving port.

It was my first cruise and CERTAINLY not my last.  It was a lot of fun and was great to be in the Caribbean sun in the middle of New England's winter.

Upon returning to New England wicked tan, I chose to spend time at home, opting to hold off starting my job for 6 months.  Not even a month later, this awesome (sarcasm) snowstorm named Nemo came through, dumping over 2 feet of snow.  Normally, I wouldn't care, but this being the first serious snowstorm that I was home for, and my brother no longer living at home, I became my dad's right hand man for snow removal.  It was much more difficult that I ever could have imagined, but it also was more snow that man dad ever tried to snow blow at once.  It literally was over the top of the snowblower.

Just casual snowblowing.

The rest of winter was rather uneventful.  Then, in April my parents and I went on a trip for my graduation to Arizona (Phoenix, Sedona, and the Grand Canyon) and Las Vegas.

Every moment of the trip was memorable.  To start, we met one of my dad's clients.  This man is a holocaust survivor and hearing his story from him (as opposed to a textbook) was so remarkable.  It was a little too long ago for me to perfectly quote, but what he experienced is more than any human ever should.  Yet, he is so proud to now be an American and lives each day happy to be in the greatest country on Earth.  While many people complain about anything and everything in their life, he doesn't let it effect him and lives each day to the fullest.

The whole group at dinner.

Being a family of avid sports fans, we went to an Arizona Diamondbacks game and the following day did a tour of the stadium.  It is quite a remarkably stadium, everywhere you looked there was something interesting.  From the rightfield pool, to the retractable roof and AC, to the tire by the dugout so players no longer take their frustration out on the toilet.  It was also rather surprising that you could see so much of the stadium on the tour, where as at Fenway, it takes the same amount of time, but you only see a fraction of the stadium.

In the dugout.

We then left Phoenix and drove to Sedona, which is one of the most beautiful and photogenic places I have been.  Everywhere you look there are red rock formations many with walking/hiking trails.  Although we didn't follow any of the trails, we went to a park where great pictures can be taken of cathedral rock.  Ideally, I would have loved to stay longer taking more pictures of the rocks with the sun setting on them, but you can only do so much when you are on a vacation and trying to see many places.

Cathedral Rock

There was also a bit of wind when we were here, but normally, the water in front of the rock would be perfectly still and the rock formation would be reflected.  Oh well, I guess I'll have to go back to Sedona!!  While in Sedona we also decided to go on a Pink Jeep Tour.  Specifically, we chose the Diamondback Gulch tour.  It was absolutely amazing.  We were the only people on the tour and that made it much easier to ask if we could stop to take more pictures.  After doing some light driving, we then go to experience the true range of their custom jeeps.  Not only was it necessary to be buckled in, you truly needed to hold on as the jeep drove down steep inclines that were practically vertical.  

In the jeep preparing for a steep decline.

Big Dan had some bright white hands from holding on so tight!

After a fun day and a half in Sedona, we drove to the Grand Canyon, and again, what a beautiful sight!  We went on another Pink Jeep Tour because with our limited time frame there was no way to see more of the Canyon than on the tour.  We did a sunset tour and sadly, it got extremely windy so we had to move away from the edge where there are some of the most magnificent views.  None the less, it was an experience I will never forget, and a place I will most certainly visit again!

Me, Mom and Dad at the Grand Canyon

Dad, Mom and me in front of the entrance to the park

The last leg of our trip was to Las Vegas.  While I'm sure I would have had a much different experience with friends as opposed to my parents, it was still fun and exciting to be in Vegas.  Aside from a little gambling, we did one of our favorite city excursions - double decker bus tours.  Having travelled a lot in the past year, we have now done the double decker bus tour in London, NYC and Vegas.  It is a great way to see a lot of the city, and hear the local perspective on it.  It also allows you to park your car in one place, and allow someone else to do the driving, affording everyone the opportunity to experience the area without the hassle of attempting to navigate.

The three of us on the wrap around balcony at our hotel

View of the strip

From Vegas, we also took a road trip to see the Hoover Dam.  It is an insane creation!!!

With the dam behind me.

On top of the dam, with the bridge in the distance.

In all, this trip was absolutely amazing.  I would love to return to any and all of them at some point in my life as I'm sure the experience would be different, but equally fantastic.

NYC Week 6!

So, it's been a while since I should have posted this but again, better late than never!!

This past 6 weeks have absolutely flown by and I can't believe my time in NYC is coming to a close.  I try my hardest to enjoy every moment that I have here in the city and this week was no exception.  Outside of working roughly 8:30-5 plus the one hour (or more) commute, during the week I don't have the energy to do much more than a little shopping or exploring, and dinner. This week, as always, there were some notable events.

On Wednesday night, at the tree lighting at Rockefeller Center occurred.  Unfortunately, when I got there a little before 7pm (the event officially started then with a number of performers) the place was filled with people.  The sidewalks were packed, the crowd must have been in the thousands.  I would have loved to have gotten there sooner, however work comes first and the commute after work didn't get me back to Manhattan until 6:30, I grabbed a bite to eat and suddenly the event was about to start.  I couldn't even get close enough to see the tree so in the end I gave up and decided to go back to my apartment and be warm while watching the event on TV.  It was a great show to watch with performers including Cee Lo Green, Mariah Carey and the Rockettes, and while it would have been amazing to be there, it was nice to be able to sit in the warmth of my apartment, away from the mass of people and relax.

Heather and I at the Bryant Park Christmas Tree

Friday, I wasn't feeling great so I spent the day working on our project report from home and trying to relax my body so as to not get sick.  Friday night one of my best friends, Heather, came to visit and explore the city.  We went to this little Italian restaurant near my apartment where I ate some delicious spinach and cheese ravioli with pesto sauce.  It was the perfect size meal and best of all it was reasonably priced.  We then went to Bryant Park, where we saw a Christmas tree, the Empire State Building and Macy*s.  It was (I hope) a great start to seeing NYC without being overwhelming.

Saturday on the other hand, I packed full of all the things she just HAD to see in NYC.  We started with breakfast at Pershing Square, aka the busiest and best breakfast place in New York City.  It certainly lived up the the 'busy' aspect with every table filled and a line that never went away.  And while the food was great, I doubt it is the BEST in the city.

Angel Mo - Swarovski Crystal

After Pershing Square, we went to Rockefeller Center to see the ice rink and Christmas tree.  It was great to see people starting to get in the Christmas spirit!  Across the street from the tree is a small Swarovski Crystal store (the star at the top of the tree is Swarovski). While most of the ornaments and decorations were traditional, there were some, such as Angel Mo in the picture, that were... a little more unique! Apparently, there is a whole collection of Mos that are created a few times a year. From there we went to 53^rd Street between Madison and 5^th Avenue where there is a segment of the Berlin Wall (the same segment that I first saw about a month ago with my dad.  We also went to Central Park and stopped by Serendipity 3, which is known for their Frozen Hot Chocolate, but the wait was between an hour and an hour and a half so we didn’t stay and instead went to a small cafe to grab a bite to eat.  We decided at this point to take a small break and get a little warmer back at my apartment. 

After a little while, we took the subway to the Wall St area where we took pictures with the “Charging Bull.”  The line to see the bull was probably 20-30 people long and went along the right side of it.  However, all too often, a group would walk along the left side to cut the line and get a picture with the bull.  It was irritating to see people doing this so once we got close enough to the front, we made sure these individuals were made aware of the line that was formed on our side.  All of the people seemed utterly shocked by this and apparently “didn’t realize” there was a line. 

Ummm, HELLO!!! No, I just like standing in a line of 30 people and looking at this side of the bull. DUHHH.

Anyways, after that we went to see the New York Stock Exchange, where they were in the process of setting up a Christmas Tree in the middle of the road and Federal Hall, the place where George Washington was inaugurated as the first president of the United States of America.  As if this wasn’t enough, we then went to Tiffany & Co. and browsed all of the sparkly pieces of jewelry.  Upon attempting to exit, the doorman began to chat us up.  He asked us how we liked Tiffany's, and being a college student with no current income, I responded that it was on the upper-end of my price range.  The conversation lasted for fairly long, with occasional interruptions of him saying "Hello, welcome to Tiffany's" and "Have a nice day!" to customers walking in and out.  At the end of our conversation, he suggested that Heather and I apply for part-time jobs at Tiffany's particulary because of the great discounts employees receive.  Maybe I will!

Eventually we were able to leave and make our way to the Ground Zero memorial.  It was a great moment to reflect on how lucky we each are for another hour and even minute on Earth.  

With a few other stops, we eventually went to see the Rockettes!  Neither of us had seen them before but it is suck a New York holiday thing to do, so it was impossible to pass up!  

Early the next morning, Heather headed back to Worcester and I tried to catch up on sleep.


The next day was quite interesting, as I'll write about next!!

Macy*s Thanksgiving Day Parade

Okay, so I know I said I'd post this the other day, but well, I didn't.  SORRY.. sucks to suck.  Anyways, last week was Thanksgiving and each year Macy*s hosts the Thanksgiving Day Parade in NYC.  I had watched it a few times on TV but being in New York, it was something I just HAD to experience myself!

Macy*s Balloon Inflation

So, the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving I went to 79th St at Columbus where the parade balloons are inflated. It's a great opportunity to see the balloons before hand and up close and personal!  It was incredibly crowded but again, there are a lot of "once-in-a-lifetime" (or a long time) experiences that I just cannot miss out on while I'm here in NYC.  The balloons were humongous and I could not imagine the process of inflating them.  For instance, this is the instructions to inflate SpongeBob SquarePants:

SpongeBob SquarePants inflation orders

The event wrapped around the American Museum of Natural History with the balloons located on 77th and 81st.  There was only one way in but likely 4 ways out.  In all, it was great to be able to get pictures with the balloons before the parade and see what the magic is all about. :)

Me with the Macy*s stars that lead the parade.

The next morning was the parade! It started at 9:00 at 77th and Central Park West.  It then traveled south to 59th Street, over to 6th Avenue then down to 34th Street where it finished in front of Macy*s.  I decided to go to 59th Street between 7th and 8th Avenue so that I would see the parade end and be able to get to Grand Central before the masses of people that were closer to Macy*s.  In order to get a front row seat (and no, there were no actual seats, just a spot to sit on the ground) I woke up at 5:00am and was at my spot around 5:45am.  It was one of the last available places to sit up front and pretty soon the whole sidewalk was filling up.  Here are some of the highlights from the parade:

First there was this Cop Clown that decided to put on a show when he saw my camera.

Sunrise morning of the parade

Crowd that formed before the parade

First balloons of the parade: 2 yellow Macy*s stars and Hello Kitty

US women's gymnastic team aka the Fierce Five

Fairy Clown

Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus and an elf

2 red Macy*s stars to end the parade

My front row spot for the entire parade

There were a lot more balloons, performers and clowns but with the lack of sun in the area that I was, not only was it FREEZING, but the pictures were not always the best quality.

It was fun to be there, talk with the people nearby (a family from Brooklyn and a family from Missouri) and most importantly, see the parade.  However, I probably would never do it again, that is, at least until I have kids.

xoxo, Caitlin

NYC Week 4 & 5

Whoops!!! I've been so busy I've sort of forgotten to make time to post updates!  Despite the lack of updates, the past two weeks have been so full of excitement.


To start, I finally went out on the weekend! I haven't really had the urge to go out in a while but for some reason I was finally excited to go and it was a great night!  The place we went was called Highline Ballroom (HLB for short) and it was full of men in suits.  Sadly the night ended in a less than stellar way with me leaving my license and credit card in a cab.  Could have been worse but sucks all the same.

Waiting to get into the club

The next day, I explored some of the financial district making stops outside of the New York Stock Exchange, Federal Hall, and the Wall Street bull to name a few.  As a numbers person, I was so intrigued to see so many people taking pictures with the bull!  It was not quite something I expected probably because I don't think that many people are interested in numbers, Wall Street, etc.

The Wall Street Bull

The rest of the week was full of work and a little shopping here or there until Thursday.  Thursday night I took a train from work to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.  I met my uncle there and we saw the Boston Celtics (my favorite team) play the Brooklyn Nets.  It was exciting to finally see my team play outside of Boston and I was so amazed to see so many Celtics fans there!! Despite the 97-102 loss, it was a fabulous experience and I was proud to be wearing my Paul Pierce jersey.

View of the Nets vs. Celtics from our seats

The next day I headed home to do my laundry go to a family birthday party.  The party was a blast, the food was delicious and it was great to have most of my cousins together before Thanksgiving.  Upon returning to NYC, Monday and Tuesday were relaxing.  I enjoyed walking by some of the 5th Avenue window displays and a little shopping in Bryant Park but the week became very exciting on Wednesday night!

You'll have to see tomorrow's post to hear all about Wednesday night and Thursday when I saw the Macy*s parade balloon inflation and the parade itself!

Until then, xoxo

NYC Week 3!

Sunday I decided to be the laziest. I laid in bed for way too long watching Law & Order SVU.  I finally made it outside the apartment and explored a little more of the city with two other students from school. In a city like New York, there's so much to see every way you turn so it was great to be able to see more. I also tried out a new wide-angle lens on my camera which has since taken some great shots.

We started by Grand Central where we saw Pershing Square.  I will HAVE to try this breakfast spot sometime during the next few weeks!

Pershing Square - The busiest and best breakfast in New York

We then headed towards the United Nations where we say some damage from the Hurricane.  Next to the UN there is this beauty of a globe.

Globe at the United Nations

A city like New York also inspires some deep thoughts on occasion.  Seeing all the cars speed past at night was one of those moments.  No matter what's going on in your life, the world keeps moving so try to keep up!

Gotta keep moving cause the world never stops

Monday was just a typical day.  We finally were able to return to work and really get moving on our project.  After a full day back in the office, I was too tired to do anything else.  

However Tuesday was Election Day!!! I hade voted a month ago with an absentee ballot since I wouldn't be in my hometown all day but I was super excited to find out the results!  Once polling sites began closing across the country, I headed out with a few friends to see the city and most importantly go to Rockefeller Center, which was lit up as "Democracy Plaza" for the night.

Empire State Building

The first thing we spotted was the Empire State Building specially lit up for the night.  Normally when the Empire State Building lights up, there are three horizontal layers of lights.  However, they made it SUPER special this night but doing three vertical stripes!

We then walked North to get to Rockefeller Center and on our way saw the New York Public Library.  With the lens I bought on Sunday, I snapped this picture.  I'm absolutely in LOVE with the lens!

New York Public Library

After seeing those two beauties, we finally made our way to Rockefeller Center.  It was absolutely beautiful.  It looked so patriotic but it also showed the deep divide in this wonderful country of ours.

The photo on the left shows the plaza as a whole while the photo on the right shows the Rockefeller Center tower.

The crowd would cheer each time a state had enough data to project a winner and it was as though there was a bar graph on the building.  Each candidate had something like a window cleaner cart with their name and the current point estimate on it.  As they were projected the winner of a state, the number on their cart would be updated and the cart would raise to show the relative position of the candidate compared to the needed total and the opponent.  The picture below is of the moment that Obama was projected the winner of the presidency and the cart was raised. 

Obama reaches 270

It was a moment that I can't quite explain.  With this being the first presidential election I could vote in, I felt accomplished (strangely, I mean what did I really accomplish? I filled out a ballot? Great job! You can fill in a bubble!), excited, but potentially most important, nervous.  While the majority of the people were cheering (New York City being a fairly democratic area) I knew that around the world, country, state and city the reactions would not be quite the same.  No matter who ultimately was elected, the country would be divided and it really is going to take some great effort to get people to compromise and do what's right to get America back to where it should be.  Where we are now is not one or two people's fault. We all must take accountability.  If you don't have the money, don't spend it.  It's basic accounting for each citizen AND for the country.

Okay, my rant is over now. 

Oh, and Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were all lazy again.

<3 have a fabulous weekend!

Back to NYC!

The power is back on!!!! That being said, I returned to the city Saturday with my dad.  After dropping my stuff at the apartment, we explored more of the city.  On our walk to Central Park we saw a segment of the Berlin Wall.  It was placed inconspicuously between 2 buildings with only a little seating area.  It's crazy to be able to walk around and see the old right next to the new.

A segment of the Berlin Wall in NYC.

Bethesda Fountain

After checking the wall out, we continued to walk to Central Park where we saw the zoo.  What craziness! A zoo, in the middle of the park?  I mean maybe it's not that crazy but it's amazing how much there is to do at Central Park.  Every corner you turn there is something new to see!  As we kept walking we found this fountain area.  My dad (who knows way to many random facts) claimed a lot of movies have used this as a filming location.  I was hesitant to believe him until I googled it and found that Enchanted (a movie I've never seen) filmed a large choreographed dance scene here.

Bethesda Fountain in Enchanted

After the fountain we kept walking to where I really wanted to go to, Strawberry Fields.  In a world of so much hate, it's nice to remember people like John Lennon who encouraged people to accept one another for who they are and to imagine the world living as one.

Imagine mosaic

Around the mosaic people were playing music and just enjoying the chilly afternoon.  We then wandered across the street to see The Dakota, the apartment building that John Lennon lived in.  We finally decided to start making our way back to my apartment.  On the way we went by where the New York Marathon finish line was supposed to be.  Originally, the marathon was planned to be the next day (Sunday November 4) however because of Hurricane Sandy, it was cancelled.

New York Marathon finish line

While it is completely understandable for the marathon to be cancelled in order to get the necessary supplies to those in need, I had been so pumped to see the marathon finish! Just over 6 months ago, when I was finishing my Junior year project in London, I saw the finish to the Virgin London Marathon.  It's awe-inspiring to see people finish running 26.2 miles with the biggest smile on their face!  Despite the pain in their muscles they are so thrilled to have finish that it can block the pain!

LASTLY, as we walked back to my apartment we spotted this gem!  It's the building that was on the news for hours because in the middle of Hurricane Sandy the crane on the top collapsed.  While it didn't fall, it was even more terrifying as it hung 90 floors above the ground with many more hours of strong wind.  Now, the crane is reattached to the building however no one is allowed within a 2 blocks radius of the building.  

Crane reattached at 57th St

It was quite a busy day!  But in all, I'm just so happy to be back in the city!

Stuffed Peppers with Turkey and Vegetables

Today for dinner I made Stuffed Peppers with Turkey and Vegetables!  I found the recipe after searching on allrecipes.com (one of my favorite sites to find recipes!) and it was absolutely delicious!

I made a few changes to that recipe so here it is:

Ingredients:

• 4 yellow bell peppers, tops removed, seeded
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion
• 1 zucchini
• 1 orange bell pepper
• 1 cup fresh spinach
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• Oregano, basil and paprika to taste
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Parmigiano reggiano 
• Shredded mozzarella

All the ingredients

Yellow peppers with the tops cut off

Directions:

1. Chop the peppers, zucchini, onion and spinach.

Chopped veggies

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
3. Wrap the yellow bell peppers in aluminum foil, and place in a baking dish.  Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven.  Remove from heat.

4. In a skillet over medium heat, cook the turkey until evenly brown.  Set aside.  

5. Heat oil in the skillet, and cook onion, mushrooms, zucchini, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, and spinach until tender.

6. Return turkey to the skillet.  Mix in the tomatoes and tomato paste, and season.  Stuff the green peppers with the skillet mixture.

6. Return peppers to the oven, and continue cooking 15 minutes.

7. Sprinkle mozzarella and parmigiano reggiano on the top and return to oven for 5 minutes.

I also cooked rice pilaf.  To plate, put rice in a bowl and add a stuffed pepper on top.

ENJOY!!!

In the future, I would have more meat and less veggies as well as more seasoning.  Additionally, I would add rice to the mixture instead of just serving the pepper over rice.  But all in all, it was delicious!!!