Life after the Honeymoon

Well, things are almost back to normal down in humid Houston. Brad's back to work. I'm back to work. And we still haven't had a weekend at home for over a month. We wouldn't trade it for the world.

We have had so much fun "playing house" the last week or so. Unwrapping presents, putting presents in piles, writing presents down to the never-ending list of thank you notes that need to be written. Then finally, last night, we were able to get the majority of things put away where they will be until they are retired or we move. YAY! Once the Christmas decor is gone, we will have a normal home :)

Speaking of Christmas, woohoo for the first one as Mr. and Mrs.!

We kept it pretty low-key since I worked Christmas Eve and Brad is working today. Marshall was last weekend with my parents, Christmas Eve was dinner with Leah, Layne and Payton and tonight is Wichita Falls with his parents. We spent yesterday morning sleeping in, cuddling on the couch, opening gifts from my parents and eating breakfast. Then we decided to go for a run -- first as a married couple, as I was quick to point out. Then we made some enchiladas and a birthday cake for Jesus and Layne came over. After being lazy all afternoon, we finished up the kitchen organization, drove around for 30 minutes looking for an open Starbucks then standing in line for 30 minutes at said open Starbucks. A little TV, then it was bed time! Christmas is all about the birth of Christ and the spirit of giving and this one had some if both! And I got to spend it with my new hubby :)

In other news, look what came in the mail last week!!!

So, folks, it's officially official! I tried to change my name today, but lo and behold it's a state holiday and the DPS and SSA offices were closed. First thing Monday morning, I suppose!

MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone!

Getting in a Groove

Well, we're back home in Houston and are trying to get back in the groove of things. Sleep. Work. Play. Repeat. Somebody at work asked me if I was crazy getting married three weeks before Christmas...now I see what they mean!


The last three days off work have really not been restful at all. Aside from sleeping in a few extra hours, I've still been on the go, go, go! We've been trying to move things around to make room for new things and it feels like I just moved in all over again! We did get the Christmas tree up, so that's a plus! Isn't it purty?





We've done our best to get as much Christmas shopping done as possible, but we haven't faired very well. It may be late, but it'll be there, darn it! We DID however, get Christmas cards out, so check your mailboxes this week :)


I've always said how much I love my job and I still do. However, after three glorious weeks off, it's going to be REALLY hard to get up in the morning and start back into a REAL routine. Enjoy the last seven days before Christmas...and don't go to Target. It's packed full of whiney spoiled kids who don't realize that Christmas is a week away and Santa is STILL WATCHING!!!

Home Sweet Texas!

I'll fill you in on Saturdays events plus what I've done and have yet to do now that we're at home in Texas.

SATURDAY
We were renting an apartment for the week and Brad accidentally shorted us a night on our reservations. By the time he figured it out, the owner had already booked it for Saturday night. So we spent Friday night and Saturday morning packing. The USS Intrepid museum was about 3 1/2 blocks from the apartment so we got up a little early to roam around for an hour or so. That was a VERY impressive museum. Flight deck. The ins and outs of the decks of the ship. Multiple hands-on activities. And in 2009, they're re-opening the submarine.

We then took a taxi to the hotel we had for Saturday night. Checked in quickly then hopped on the subway to eat lunch with an old Aggie friend of mine. We stood in line in the 36 degree weather outside Carnegie deli for the famous pastrami and corned beef sandwiches. The boys got the famous ones, I got turkey. They were HUGE. A pound of meat, easily, stuffed between two pieces of bread that looked miniature next to the pile of protein. We had to order cheesecake, too...of course!

We then took a quick trip through Bloomingdale's before going back to the hotel to pick up our hockey tickets. We decided to walk to Madison Square Garden -- 60 blocks south and 6 blocks west. It was long. It was cold. But it was worth it. The city at night during Christmas really is beautiful.

We watched two periods of hockey before heading to McSorley's. One of the physicians I work with suggested this place and we had forgotten about it until said Aggie friend said it was his favorite place in NYC. It's a bar that was established in 1854. That's over 150 years!!! Lincoln, Poe and other famous people used to drink their ale here. They only serve two kinds of beer -- light and dark. Brad had a dark and because it was extremely crowded, we left early. The best story I was told about this place: There's a light fixture hanging above the bar that is covered in inches of dust. Hanging from it are several wishbones. Story goes that before WWI, soldiers visited McSorley's and hung their wishbones. Those that returned took theirs down...meaning those that are left represent the men that never came home. Visit www.mcsorleysnewyork.com for more history. You'll be glad you did!

Sunday was spent traveling back to Texas and stripping off coats as we did so. We spent last night opening gifts, hanging Christmas decorations and starting the laundry and cleaning process. Brad had to go back to work today but luckily, I have the next three days off to attempt to get this home of ours in decent shape!

Sunshine Again!

After cold, windy, rainy days Wednesday and Thursday, we were so very excited to see the sun again yesterday morning. It's so much easier to get around without having to dodge hundreds of umbrellas while walking down the street.

We started our day Friday with another $8 spent at Starbucks. We've made a small investment to that company this week, but when it's 30* outside and 15 mph winds are blowing straight at your face, a skinny French Vanilla (or caramel) latte hits the spot every single time! We walked down a few blocks to the Empire State Building, waited in line, went through security, waited in line again a few more times before getting to the 86th floor observatory. They've got that line thing down to an art, though so we were up within a matter of 30 minutes or so. Got some spectacular views of the city, with 30* 15 mph still blowing in our faces...only much more intense up there!

We then took the train to lower Manhattan and walked the 1.2 miles across the Brooklyn Bridge. Luckily, it was mostly in the sun so we actually warmed up quite a bit. It's pretty amazing to know you're trusting something that's almost 140 years old to hold up another 20 minutes until you get across! Once in Brooklyn, we rode the train further in to Midwood, a very dense Jewish community. What's there you ask? NYC's "best" pizzeria. It was pretty much all the yummy goodness I expected. Dom DeMarco is the only person that makes pizza in this joint and one of his daughters is always there to help out. This review says it all: http://www.foodinmouth.com/restaurant-reviews/2008/09/difaras-is-pizza-heaven.html

We came back to Manhattan and stopped in at Grand Central. That's probably one of my favorite indoor places in the city thus far. Granted, we didn't go cathedral-hopping this week so I don't have much to compare it with except restaurants, retail stores and theaters. They were having an indoor Christmas market so of course, we did some shopping. After Grand Central, we ventured back up to Central Park for their outdoor Christmas market. We then opted for warmth again and headed in to the nearest mall where the huge glass stars change colors and it snows tiny bubble clusters every so often. After a walk down 9th for dinner, we turned in very early at 9:30 PM. It was glorious! :)

We're exhausted. After three days of constant go, we're pooped! The cold, continuously rainy weather for the last two days didn't help. We woke up yesterday morning and got bagels from the supposed best bagel shop in NYC, H&H Bagels. They were good. But they were bagels. Brad's requesting a case of sourdough for Christmas!

We then took the train up to the Guggenheim Museum. We reveled in the exterior, walked up to the door -- CLOSED on Thursdays! So we walked around the museum store and looked at the prints of the paintings they have on display instead. We may try to go again Saturday.

We then took the bus down to 58th and 5th and visited FAO Schwarz. Again, all it's cracked up to be. I've been removed from the toy scene for quite some time and had no clue there were so many new things. I tried to get Brad to play the huge keyboard that's seen in "Big" but his shyness got the best of him at that particular second in time.

We decided we'd like to see another show on Broadway so we went to stand in line at the TKTS booth for an hour. Mind you, it was 39* and raining the entire time. They opened at 3PM and at 2 PM, the line was already formed. We hadn't eaten lunch so after grabbing our half-price orchestra seats to "Phantom of the Opera", we literally ran over to McDonald's for a snack. I got my Mickey D's fix for another five years or so.

Then we visited the M&M's world store for a sweet treat (for others) before heading back to the apartment. We went to dinner at Mersaille at 44th and 9th. It was good but not great. My mediterranean salad, however, was to die for! "Phantom" was a stellar musical performance by all and something I'll always be glad I did.

More tomorrow (or actually today since I'm doing this the morning after).

Two Days In One

Alright, since I forgot (or rather was too tired) to blog last night, here's two doses worth of our lastest adventures in NYC.

TUESDAY:

Took the 1 train down to Battery Park and went out to see old Lady Liberty. It was our first venture into the Subway and except for the really awful smell, it wasn't that bad. I was armed with hand sanitizer so we felt clean afterwards! The Statue really is impressive. We got monument tickets, waited in line for about 45 minutes and climbed the 163 steps to [almost] the top of the base. Great views for the city skyline from up there! The ferry then took us to Ellis Island where we thought about searching for family members before we realized it would probably take us five hours. So we wandered around then headed back to the main land. We were starved by 2 PM so we grabbed an OUTRAGEOUSLY over-priced lunch at TGI Friday's. We both remembered why we'd only been there once before in our lifetimes. Not worth $15.95 for mediocre fish tacos. They also had the tip pre-calculated for you and tailored to how well the server did.

We then walked up to see Ground Zero. They're doing some major construction work trying to get Freedom Tower up, so we had very limited views. I took the pictures I could, walked by and watched the men of Ladder 10 decorate their Christmas tree and then headed up to Greenwich Village. We ambled around tyring to find the "Friends" apartment building. However, it's a well-kept secret amongst the crew so we enjoyed the view and made our way to Magnolia Bakery. EXCELLENT cupcakes. I had the hummingbird with cream cheese icing. Brad had pumpkin cheesecake.

After making our way back to the apartment for a brief nap, we UrbanSpooned (through the iPhone) our dinner choice. Delta Grill at 9th and 48th(?). They had some really good blackened tuna and shrimp creole. Not to mention sweet cornbread and jalapeno dinner biscuits. We weren't quite ready to turn in so we took a mid-evening stroll up Broadway to Columbus Circle and back.

WEDNESDAY

This morning, we woke up to light rain and a high of 60* while all the Texans were enjoying 34* and snow! Go figure. So we decided to make it a museum day. We took the subway to Central Park west and walked through to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Some of our favorite things? Picasso in real life (not the painter, just the paintings); rooms made to look like hotels from France with furniture, drapery, etc.; the REAL wood floors throughout the museum; arms and armor (they had many full suits of armor, but the highlight was Henry II's); musical instruments from then and now; the American Wing (I'd love to see this again when all galleries are complete) -- real Tiffany lamps, jewelry, etc., more rooms from older homes, etc. The Met is just one of those things you have to do while in New York, even if you aren't an art buff.

At this point, we were hungry, so we walked a good 6 blocks to Gray's Papaya for their "recession special" -- two hot dogs and a fresh fruit drink for $4.45, including tax. I recommend WITH sauerkraut and onions and having the pina colada (alcohol free). Yum! We then walked right back across Central Park to Serendipity. There's a minimum per person so we ordered a Frrrrozen Hot Chocolate AND the coward's portion of the banana split. Our honest opinion? Both were fabulous, but the banana split got more of our attention.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

It's a good thing we're doing most of our getting around on foot because I think we've eaten out enough so far this week to feed an entire family of 10. We stopped in at Bloomingdale's before headed home to change. Another 7 stories of shopper's delight!

Had dinner at a humble diner before heading to "Wicked". After that stunning performance of ALL the characters, we're going to try the TKTS booth tomorrow and see about catching another show before we leave!

Three more days and lots more to do!

Someone's got a case of the Mondays

Well, we changed our plans a bit for Monday mainly due to the weather. The high yesterday was 30 and I didn't really see us enjoying a ferry ride to Ellis when it was 24 degrees outside. So instead, we decided to stroll 5th Avenue.

After walking to the Subway station to grab our 7-day unlimited Subway and bus pass, we started down 34th toward 5th. Stopped in at KMart to pick up Brad a scarf and me some trouser socks. I'm not sure what I was thinking wearing ballet flats that exposed the tops of my feet and let air into my toes. Next up? Macy's!

7 stories of Christmas-decorated bliss! Every time I looked up, I saw something new. I have pictures of the window decorations, but they're on the other camera.

We started up Broadway, then cut across to 5th. We stopped in at Blaggard's Pub for lunch. It was warm inside and had food. That's all that mattered. And because we're starting a new life together, I thought I would start trying some new things out. So folks, I had my first burger in YEARS. It wasn't beef, it was ground chicken. And they did a VERY good job of conjealing it so I couldn't even tell it was ground.

The next 3 hours were spent on 5th avenue peeking in windows and ocassionally making our way into a store when the wind was too cold to bear. The window decorations were awesome and all seemed to follow a trend, displaying a story or their Christmas favorites. Cartier's was creative -- a solid wall of huge red gift boxes that opened up one at a time to reveal something worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. We stopped in at Tiffany's, had Starbucks in Trump Tower and then walked over to see the tree in Rockefellar Center.

We came back to the apartment, took a ten minute nap then headed out for dinner and the Rockettes. We ate at West Bank Cafe, where they had a 30th Anniversary three-course dinner for $30. Why not, right? Lobster Bisque? Amazing. My chicken and Brad's fish? Amazing. Cheesecake? Well, it IS New York. And our waitress brought us a champagne toast because she noticed our shiny new wedding bands and how we were still playing with them and thought, "I bet they just got married." Nice touch.

The Rockettes performed a stunning show at Radio City Music Hall. They're everything a fomer drill team member could dream of. Excellent precision, immaculate costuming and highly entertaining. The Toy Soldier routine, Twelve Days of Christmas tap and the nativity were probably the highlights of the show for me.

We then began the multi-block trip home on foot. I wore the wrong shoes, so we stopped in at McDonald's on Times Square for Diet Cokes then walked verrrry slowly to the apartment. Tennis shoes for the rest of the trip!

Newlyweds!

Well, it's official. We are now a new family; the Litteken family, to be exact. Although it's only been a little over 24 hours, married life is great!

First things first: the wedding. W-O-W! I can honestly say that the entire day -- from the bridesmaids brunch, to getting ready, through the ceremony and afterwards at the reception -- it was EVERYTHING I have ever dreamed of. Brad and I talked today and decided that we would not have changed anything! Thank you to those of you who were able to drive the distances, be it 5 minutes or 5+ hours, and be with us on the most important day of our lives together. We are terribly sorry if we merely glanced at you and never actually spoke two words to you. It is true when they tell you to enjoy it because some parts were a blur. For those of you who were not able to make it, thank you for sending your best wishes, gifts and prayers our way. We are truly thankful for everything everyone did to help us prepare for this day. We both realize that the wedding is over and our life together is just beginning and we are so very excited about that!

Second: HONEYMOON!!! We are here in New York City. We got out of Shreveport without a hitch. Got into the air, played one game of Sudoku on the iPhone drank 1/3 of a Diet Dr. Pepper and we were in DFW. Boarded the plane in DFW, sat on the taxi for 30 minutes due to backed up traffic in LaGuardia (snow on the ground), rode 3 hours and now we're here!

Brad booked a "chaffeur" of sorts to get us from the airport to the apartment he rented. Except for the color of the car and the fact that our driver did NOT honk one single time, it was a taxi ride marked up about 10%. It got us from point A to point B and that's all that matters.

The apartment is small as expected. We don't plan on doing much sitting around though, so it's perfect for what we need. We kept it pretty low-key tonight. We ate dinner at a restaurant appropriately named 44 SW as it sits on the corner of 44th and 9th. It was quaint and beautifully decorated. The waitress mentioned that it was one of very few family-owned restaurants in the area and has been around since 1971. She was one of the owner's daughters and the son designed the interior. He did a fine job. It felt good giving our money for a very reasonably-priced dinner to an actual family and not Big Business, Inc. We decided to brave the 27* weather and make the two-block hike from the restaurant to Times Square. Oh. My. Goodness. It's pretty much all it's cracked up to be. We stayed long enough to pay $8.50 for two cups of Starbucks coffee and take a couple of pictures. By the way, the signs at Starbucks have the calorie content of each drink next to the price. Silly New Yorkers. We then drank our over-priced coffee and trotted our numb buns over to the over-priced "super market". The only "super" thing about that place was the "super" ridiculous amounts of money they expect you to spend. EIGHT DOLLARS AND FIFTY-NINE cents for a case of water? Oh, how I love Kroger's 3 for $10 deal. We decided tap water is perfectly good enough for us!

I'll have to remember to take pictures with my iPhone since I inadvertedly left my connecting cable for my camera in Houston. That way, you can revel in the greatness we're experiencing.

STAY TUNED for tomorrow's adventures...Ellis Island and the Rockettes! If I don't write this stuff down as we go, I'll forget it!

-Brad and Megan

Welcome!

Megan here, blogging on behalf of the newly established Litteken Family. Brad and I will be married in 12 days and because the wedding website will soon go away, I thought I would keep you all updated through a different blog. So, here we are.

The first week of our marriage will be captured on here as I keep an online journal of our honeymoon to NYC. It's one of those trips I don't want to forget, so I'll post what we did, where we went and how life in the big city was for one week. Of course, you can't forget the pictures!

So stay tuned and buckle up, because we're only just beginning this ride!