The Holiday Crush!

We appoligize to all our friends and family for the extended period of no posts, or updates of any kind on this little blog. At times I have felt like putting up one of those little "Under Construction" pictures that web sites in the early days had.

As I write this we are just now slowly moving out of the insane Holiday season with hope of actually catching the blog up. We have had a lot of things happen since our last real post. Thanksgiving and Christmas, my month of retail hell, just the normal weekend events (although to be honest on my one day off I spent most the time in bed or doing the laundry). It has been rough.

But we move on, January marks the return of the Sunday quests of something new. February brings a trip to Ireland and Italy and soon it will be St. Pattys again. So give us some time and check back every once in a while to see if there is anything new.

Cody

Top 5's of 2008

As you know every year about this time of the year all the newspapers and TV shows start running out of real news and put together their "Best of . . " lists, so in a moment of inspiration, or utter lack of real events or time to put together a new post I've decided to come up with my Top 5's of the year. It seems like the thing to do, since I am living in such a media savvy little town. Here goes, enjoy!

The Top 5 places I visited this year!

Battery Park: The tip of Manhattan Island where after a long walk from my home at 97th street I ended up in the sunshine looking out at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. This walk reminded me of what a strange and HUGE city I live in, but how quiet and peaceful it can really be. Oh yea, there was a crazy guy just down the boardwalk kicking cans into a man hole.

The Middle of the Street on St. Patrick's day: There we were, walking down the street with thousands of other people that we didn't know, and they were so happy that we were there. It was cold, but the sun was out. There were drums (which sound really cool in the middle of huge buildings), flags, and people waring kilts. How can you go wrong?

Under the George Washington Bridge: Molly wanted to rent a car to get out and see the Fall colors. I was really against the whole idea. Needless to say she won and we proceeded to get lost in northeast New Jersey trying to find some town that someone told her about. I was cranky, so she took me to a park she knew off under the GW bridge. They had a hot dog stand and made hot cider. I was happy again. That's the Hudson river and the Bronx in the background.

Beth Ann's Wedding: My cousin Beth got remarried this past June in Madison WI. and she (foolishly) invited my whole family out. I was able to see a lot of family members that I normally never see and got to hang out with my little cousins. We had so much fun playing baseball, running around the house, and just being with everyone, for just one weekend.

Steamboat: Winter Carnival, family, friends, the High School Marching Band! Can it get any better?

UCD Reunion ( 11.1.2007 - 11.4.2007 )

(Molly Post)

The first weekend of November brought Team Fortescue back together for our UCD Reunion. Jess came in on Thursday morning straight from a business trip in San Francisco. She worked from home for the day while Cody and I worked. Megan's flight arrived around 7 PM, so we figured we would have a nice dinner and go out in our neighborhood by 9. However, Megan ran into some problems. Jet Blue lost not only her bag, but all of the passenger's bags who got off in New York and didn't continue onto to Richmond. It could only happen to Megan...

She got to our apartment around 9 PM, after yelling at every Jet Blue employee at JFK. We had a quick bite to eat and headed out to Kinsale Tavern to help Megan forget about her baggage troubles. Fortunately, it gave Cody time to close the store and join us. Aren't we lovely?

For this year's reunion, we had a few additions to Team Fortescue: Amber, Tim, and Charles. The three of them ended up hanging out with us for the entire weekend, and we had a blast. We hung out at Kinsale for hours catching up and joking around.

Friday, Cody and I took the day off work to hang out with Jess and Megan. However, both Jess and I had a good amount of work to do (so much for vacation days...). Megan spent a good portion of the day on the phone with Jet Blue trying to track down her bag. In between losing her temper, she ended up making friends with the baggage claim employees in New York and Chicago (where she was coming from).

James arrived around 7, and he and Brian came over for a family-style dinner at our apartment. We were very excited to see James!

We enjoyed a lovely dinner with fruit salad, Indian-style chicken, and rice.


After dinner, we headed out to Heidelberg for some boots. We also went to a local bar for some dancing. I should mention that we are not the best dancers...between Megan hatching, all of us doing the "Terry dance", and a lot of arm waving, we probably looked like idiots. However, I know we had more fun than everyone else in the bar that was trying to look cool! :)

Saturday, we had to take Megan shopping for clothes (her bag still had not shown up). We also made the long trip downtown for some great pizza at Lombardi's. By about 5, we started getting ready for the dinner. It was Megan's birthday on Sunday, so Brian and James picked up a cake for Megan and we surprised her with before leaving for dinner. She was very surprised and even though we were all stuffed from lunch, we managed to eat a piece. At 7, we made our way downtown to the reunion via the subway. James and Brian always find a way to entertain themselves...

The dinner was wonderful - UCD again paid for a great dinner at Rose O'Grady's. In between stuffing our faces with the amazing food, we managed to get a picture with Enda, the study abroad manager.

Keeping with tradition, we went to the bar in the basement of Rose O'Grady's after the dinner for some traditional Irish Music. However, this year it was incredibly crowded! Megan was still trying to track down her luggage, and actually got on the phone with JFK while we were waiting for Cody, Amber, Tim, and Charles to arrive.

From dinner, we headed downtown to a bar for dancing. However, the place was too "cool" for our style of dancing, so we headed to Charles' apartment in Soho for some music and dancing.

Sunday morning, everyone came to our apartment for a big breakfast. Afterwards, James and Megan had to leave to catch trains/planes. While I did laundry and packed for my trip to LA the next day, Cody, Brian, and Jess went to Central Park to throw a football around. Jess wasn't so great at football...

Overall, it was a great weekend and it was very sad when it ended. Can't wait for next year!!

ps. Jet Blue still has not found Megan's bag...

Random Photos . . . . We are way too lazy to update right now!

As most of you have figured out, we are way behind in updating our blog. So in order to calm the angry masses of viewers, here are some very random photos that have been siting around with no home.

Some stairs in Central Park. You can walk up them! You can walk down them! They are quite useful.

This is the corner where my store is. Just past that fine little tree on the right. If you look up the street on the left you can see the strange castle thing that was built in the 1800's. Not sure what it protected.

Our grocery store. It may be the worst place I have ever had to shop.

That's me! In my closet. We don't have a lot of space so we have clothes that go up the walls and hang on the doors. It's like living in a college dorm room all over again. Just Molly doesn't smell as bad.

I realize that this is a lame excuse for a blog post, and it truly amounts to a few useless shots, but it does show some of the truly mundane things about my fine city life. I suppose that's what this whole thing is about anyways.

Jess's September Visit

Jess came out to visit NYC in the middle of September. She somehow managed to get a break in her crazy life to hangout here in the big city. With a little bit of effort, I was able to get three days in a row off of work so we could have a lot of fun. It had been over four months since I had seen any member of my family, and I was really glad to have a chance to hang out with her and find out how her life has been going.

She showed up on Friday night and cooked us dinner (yea, we were all surprised). After dinner, Jess and I decided to go out on the town and see the sights. The San Genaro festival was going on down in Little Italy and I thought I read somewhere that there was a Sausage eating contest at 2 AM. So we decided to make the trek downtown (over thirty min on the subway) to see this impending spectacle. Well it turns out that I was wrong (in hindsight this was fairly obvious), but the eating contest took place during the day, not at night. But what the heck, we were down there, so we went out. We bar hopped our way north till we ended up at a late night dinner.

Jess was keeping her eye on the strange late night clientele. We soon jumped in a cab and got home at about 4pm! It was a long funny night.

Next day we decided that because we missed the San Genaro Festival the night before, we were going to go down, get some pizza at Lombardi's (the best in the city) and wander the crazy booths of the yearly Little Italy festival. You can't really tell but there is a parade behind her.

Lot's of people go to this once a year thing. Basically it's your normal county fair type stuff. Rigged ring toss booths and funnel cakes. But they sell these specialty sausages that are HUGE, and good, and you can only get them once a year. Reason enough to fight the crowds!

On Sunday we had a Mets game to get to. This is a picture down in the subway. Just after this, as we were entering the stadium, we got to experience a fine moment from the NYPD: cops yelling taunts on a bullhorn at the opposing team fans.

About a week before Jess came to visit I decided that I really wanted to take her and Molly to a Mets game. It had been a while since we had gone to Queens for a game, so I bought some tickets. Last time, I bought some on the upper deck, way in the back, right behind home plate and it ended up being so cold that we had to move to the outfield. So this time I decided that I would shell out some cash and get seats on the lower level, but in the outfield, in the sun. Well what I didn't realize was the the only seats left were up against a chain link fence under the middle deck. Without a problem we were able to touch the floor of the level above, and we could not even see the first base dugout. These were bad seats.

What a view! We had to hope that every ball hit was a grounder or we could not see it. Oh, and this spot was a wind tunnel. It sucked, and everyone let me know it.

We moved to the upper deck by the second inning. Aaaahhh, the space was great.

LOOK! The field!

It was still kind of a chilly day, Molly couldn't figure out if she needed a sweater or not. I think this is her with sweater?

The standard parking lot picture. It was nice to get out of the tall buildings for a while though.

On Monday, Molly had to work, so it was Jess and I out by ourselves. We decided to walk the Upper East Side. All of it! We walked over 150 city blocks, not sure how many miles that is, but its a lot. Here we are with a giant M&M. With Jess this seems normal?

At some point we had coffee in some strange tea shop. They had the most dainty coffee cups that I have ever drank out of, along with the smallest tables. But, a plus was our own coffee pot.

Aaahh, you can take us kids out of the mountains, but you can't teach us manners!

We had a great time over the weekend, hanging out and talking. Jess has really turned into a very funny kid, and just getting time to spend with my little sister made my days here in NYC a lot more fun.

Septembaaawaaa!??

Wow, It's October 2nd! Not sure what happened to that last month. Jess visited in the middle month, and Molly had the Open way back at the beginning, but that's about it. I will soon get up some pictures. Just wanted to touch base and let everyone know we are still here, just really busy. Go Broncos, Go Pokes!

US Open ( 8.27.2007 - 9.9.2007 )

(Molly Post)

Disclaimer: this post is for those family and friends who thought I disappeared for the past 2 weeks. I apologize, I'm alive and this is what I was doing.

August was a busy month for me. Two people I've worked with for 3 years left NBCU: Erica, our VP and my old boss, and Arielle, one of my closest friends in NYC and partner at work. It was sad to see them leave, but both were moving on to better opportunities (Erica to being a mom, and Arielle to an amazing job at Discovery). With Arielle's departure, I was offered a promotion and a chance to move back into events from brand marketing. I jumped at the opportunity. However, I soon found myself completely overwhelmed with work. I never fully appreciated everything Arielle did - I now realize the number of balls she had to juggle every moment of every day, and it's a LOT. But I'm beginning to get used to it.

One thing made the transition a million times harder: the US Open Tennis Championship. The Open is on USA Network, and part of our sponsorship includes the second largest suite at Arthur Ashe Stadium (where all the big matches are held). The 40-person suite is split by 3 groups in NBCU, and we also purchase a ton of tickets throughout the stadium in various levels: Gold, Silver, and Bronze. For the 2 weeks, our group ends up with about 500 tickets. Needless to say, it's a large task trying to manage requests from 2 Presidents, several high-level VPs, our Sales team, and our Local Ad Sales Team. Additionally, we create a lot of merchandise to give to clients who attend the event, to mail to VIP clients who are unable to come, and for general merchandise to send to clients of all levels. Polo Ralph Lauren is the official sponsor, so most of our merchandise is ordered through them. Unfortunately, Polo can be a difficult company to deal with and they constantly run out of stock. It made my job more difficult.

I blinked and August was gone. The preparation leading up to the actual event took up most of my time. Finally, August 27th came and the first serve was thrown. I pretty much lived at the Open for 2 weeks (only 2 days off). My hours were determined by the lengths of the matches. (Those of you who follow tennis will understand we cringed every time we heard Blake was scheduled for the night match, as we knew this meant we would be working until at least 1 AM).

Fortunately (though Cody might say unfortunately), I was able to bring Cody with me on Labor Day for the evening match. It was really nice to be able to bring him and share the experience with him. And it was good to see him - more than half the nights I walked in at midnight, so we didn't have much quality time together over the 2 weeks. Below are some pictures from the 2 weeks (a few pictures are from Cody's super-camera).

This was my typical work "uniform" - a polo shirt and khakis.

Me and Cody at the suite. This is the typical picture everyone takes who comes to our suite with the stadium in the background.

The joys of living at our suite...we got to see all the tennis players practicing on center court in between the day and evening sessions. Above is Federer practicing in his work-out clothes before his match versus Roddick. The stadium was empty for the practice, but it got packed that night - it was the biggest match of the tournament.

As I said, Cody came with me Monday evening. He brought his fancy camera and took a bunch of pictures of the Federer match - look how high he jumps when he serves!

Yes, that is Tiki Barber! He came by our suite on the last Saturday. He was extremely nice (we talked football for a little while!).


(P.S. Thank you Cody for taking such great care of me during my stressful time.)

Beth Visit #2 ( 8.9.2007 - 8.12.2007 )

(Molly Post)

Beth and her sister, Chrissy, came to visit the second weekend in August. It was Beth's second visit to New York since we moved here. We had a great time! They arrived on Thursday and spent the day around our apartment on the Upper East Side. They got some sushi, gelato, and shopped. That night, we hung out and made a quiet dinner at the apartment.

Friday, Cody, Erica, and I had to work, so unfortunately Beth and Chrissy were on their own again. They went down to Soho to shop and find the gluten-free cupcake shop we went to last May. They had a great time finding unique boutique shops. After work, we met at a family-style Italian restaurant on the Upper West Side. It was a girls night, Erica, Amber, Beth, Chrissy and me. The place was perfect: it had a separate gluten-free menu for Beth and Chrissy (both gluten intolerant) and a regular menu for the rest of us. It was extremely delicious. After dinner, we came back to the apartment to hang out and chat. It was a great night.

On Saturday, we had a lazy morning and then took a walk around Central Park. Chrissy had only visited New York City once before and had never seen the Park. It was a gorgeous day. We walked around the reservoir and then grabbed some lunch. Around 3, we took Chrissy to Penn Station to go home. She was going back to Notre Dame the following week, so she had to get home to pack.

Saturday evening, we had a big dinner at the apartment, and Amber and Brian joined us. Lots of food, booze, and fun. After dinner, we played Monopoly. Brian was definitely on his game that night...he bankrupt Team Body within an hour.

A group shot of the Monopoly Players (minus Erica who was taking the picture).

On Sunday, we were a little slow waking up and taking showers. However, by about 1 PM, we were ready to get out of the apartment and do something. We went to Gourmet Garage to pick up some picnic fixings and went to the park. We found a big tree with a lot of shade and camped out for an hour or so. It was a perfect afternoon: friends, tons of fruit, (plenty of "macho" men playing Frisbee to make fun of), and a park. In the mid-afternoon, we took Beth to Penn Station to catch her train home. Great weekend. Beth and Chrissy, you are welcome anytime!

Central Park Zoo, Part Deux ( 8.5.2007 )

Since we were rained out the first time we tried to go to the Central Park Zoo, we decided to go back and try again. Of course, what we didn't think of this time was the fact that this Sunday was the first nice day in about two weeks. No rain, just lots of sunshine. Well the zoo and the park, and the sidewalks, and just about everywhere else was full of people. Even the hot dog stand lines were long. Sometimes I forget how many people live in this city. Especially in the summer on the Upper East Side, everyone who lives here is in the Hampton's. It was a very quiet summer. But this day was crazy, and when we finally got to the zoo, I was sick of the people and I just wanted to leave. It was a nice walk though.

We made our way over to Ciao Bella for a little gelato before our walk down to the zoo. Molly found a new flavor, key lime pie (which had a lot of real key lime pie, including the crust). To say that she liked it would be an understatement. In her defense, it was damn good! It was all she talked about all day.

Goats! This was the closest we got to the animals at the zoo. Leaning over the walls of the park looking down at the goats. Like I don't know what a goat looks like? But here I am, taking a picture of an animal that many friends of mine raised. In fact, when we move out of the city, I may just raise some of them myself. Such noble creatures, the goat.

Aaaah the money shot. Goat butts! Yep, this was the Central Park Zoo, part deux, "Return of the Goat".

The Sunset

So I don't have much to say about this. It's just a photo Molly and I took over by the reservoir one night when it was really hot and humid. This was the only time of the day that we could go outside because it had rained so hard. Just a cool photo. Enjoy.

These are both basically the same thing. We just took a whole bunch of photos because it was so cool.

Central Park Zoo ( 7.29.2007 )

So it's been awhile since we did anything on a Sunday, but we decided to put our Sunday Plan back in motion. It looked like it might rain, but we decided to test our luck and head downtown to the Central Park Zoo (at 65th and Central Park West). The plan was to made a quick stop at Bloomingdale's for Molly to get a new watch battery (her watch had been dead for a week, but she was still wearing the watch out of habit), and then walk over to the zoo. By the time we got out of the subway at Bloomingdale's, it had started to rain. It only got worse as we walked over to the zoo.

By the time we walked into the zoo and were ready to purchase our tickets, the rain was really coming down. The zoo is outside, so we decided to skip paying and we just watched the seals swim around in their big tank from outside the fence. Once bored with the barking of those noble creatures, we decided to take a walk in the rain uptown. It was a cool new walk for me, with very few people out and about, and it felt like our park for the afternoon. As many of you know, I'm not to fond of millions of people (yes I know I live in NYC, thank you), so this was a nice change for an afternoon stroll.

This is the cool little toy boat pond where you can rent sail boats and send them around the algae infested pond. It's really cool and there were a few boats out. Say "Toy Boat" three times fast!

Molly was trying to stay dry under her umbrella while I was taking pictures of the pond. Around this time, Molly got a phone call from one of her past co-workers, Camille (the one who gave me a reference at K&D) who was in town from Canada. She was visiting her mother who lives near us and asked if we wanted to go out to Kinsale for a pint. Not one to ever turn that down we said yes, and enjoyed a nice few hours in a quite pub listening the rain and talking. It was like Ireland. Oh, and we went to The Simpsons movie later on. The review: Good, too short, but very funny.