thanksgiving in philly

this year we gathered in philadelphia for thanksgiving with scott + jessica, matt + barbie and jonathan's parents.  as tradition holds, we went bowling on thanksgiving day and enjoyed a delicious feast.  while there, we also toured the franklin science institute and ate a good ol philly cheese steak - when in philly, right?

work and play

these past two weeks have been a whirlwind, and we sure packed them full of a lot of work and play.

thomas visits connecticut:
thomas is another one of our good friends from the city.  he and i became instant friends while we worked together at l'oreal, and he and jon became pals while he was our neighbor on the upper west side.  now that thomas lives on the lower east side and works at ralph lauren, and we live in connecticut, we were due for a nice, long visit filled with shopping, seeing the historic sites of mystic and eating delicious new england clam chowder.

business trip to new orleans:
this week i attended divisional meetings in new orleans where i presented upcoming redken haircolor launches and promotions to our field sales team.  the hotel was right around the corner from bourbon street, and i had no idea what that even meant before my trip.  now i know.  let's just say i was glad to be with co-workers who enjoyed eating beignets at cafe du monde.

in the heights:
on friday night jonathan tested our luck at getting lottery tickets for a broadway show called "in the heights," and we won!  front row seats for $25 dollars!!  we absolutely loved it - the setting takes place about 60 blocks north of where we lived in the city, so we were able to catch on to a lot of the cultural and neighborhood references.  the music, dancing and story is fantastic and highly recommended.

yale vs. harvard football game:
yesterday we attended "the game" in boston.  this was the 127th time the schools have played, making it the second oldest continuing rivalry in college football.  admittedly, i didn't even know ivy league schools played sports; however, i quickly learned that they do, and in fact, they even play pretty well.

after the game we spent some time walking around downtown boston (i fell in love) and ate some delicious lobster at america's oldest restaurant - the union oyster house.

employee hair day:

one of the perks of my job is called "employee hair day."  a few times a year some of the redken artists come into the office and do our hair - for free!  this time i decided to be a little more adventuresome.  i work for a hair company, so i figured why not?  if i hate it, i certainly know plenty of people who could fix it for me.  so, with the help of a consultation from the artist, i decided to go for an auburnish brunette color.  i'm still a little surprised when i look in the mirror - it's definitely darker than my natural haircolor - but it's a fun change for now.

weepies concert

last night we saw one of our very favorite bands of all time - the weepies - at the hiro ballroom in the meatpacking district of nyc.  they are a folk band that is made up of a husband and wife (i just love that).  we played a lot of their songs at our wedding, so they have a special place in our hearts.  

this was definitely one of the best shows we've ever seen.  we knew the songs and loved the music.  after the show, on our way to the subway, i couldn't stop singing, and i still have songs stuck in my head...we absolutely loved it.

greg tannen (steve's brother) opened and did one song with them.

the weepies: steve tannen and his wife deb talan.

the venue.

some of our favorite songs: gotta have you, world spins madly on, all good things, orbiting, be my thrill, please speak well of me, add my effort, antarctica...okay we pretty much love everything they do!

happy halloween!

homemade costumes: salt + pepper shakers

thank you jane for the idea - this isn't the first time we've used this costume!!

the mckays in nyc

jonathan's sister jessica and her cute family moved to philadelphia this summer, and we are trying to take advantage of having them so close to us.  on saturday we met up in the city - scott and jess did a session in the manhattan temple, and anne, megan, riggs, naomi, jonathan and i played in central park's playgrounds.  we had so much fun collecting acorns (megan found over 50 acorns...and kept them in her pockets!), playing catch (riggs has an arm!), swinging on the monkey bars (i'm pretty sure anne is a monkey) and eating fruit snacks (i couldn't feed naomi fast enough!).  later that afternoon we met up for yummy pizza and pasta at patsy's.  we love having family on the east coast!

camping with the millers

last weekend we went camping at clarence fahnestock state park (about 2 hours north of the city) with our dear friends, mark and libby!  our adventure started friday evening, and after a dinner stop at a yummy greek restaurant in tarrytown, we finally made our way up to pitch our tents in the dark.  the next morning we awoke to a peaceful, gorgeous scenery of fall leaves, and later that afternoon we headed west to harriman state park for one of new york's favorite hikes.  during our little adventure we enjoyed...

 hot chocolate around the campfire.
  

 beautiful trees and landscapes.

good friends.

lib and i are wearing twinner jackets!

mark miller photography.
 their camera ran out of batteries, so we were lucky to let them borrow ours!

breakfast by whisper light. 
(instant oatmeal has never tasted so good)

taking silly pictures. 
(and wearing 3 layers of clothing)

hiking through harriman state park.

quality time with mark + libby.

ice cream at the blue pig.

best of both worlds

this past sunday we attended stake conference in ossining, new york [about an hour northwest of where we live in connecticut].  rather than driving i-95 to get there, we decided to take the more scenic route - and it was absolutely beautiful!  breathtaking, really.

later that day we drove into the city to spend the rest of the afternoon wandering through central park.  i love that in one day we can experience the best of two completely opposite worlds.