To Have & To Hold: An ETSY Wedding Event

You read that title correctly, friends. Etsy, yes Etsy hosted a wedding event in the city this weekend. My goodness was it wonderful!

Amanda and Becca came too (may thanks to Amanda for finding this event!) and it was a lovely day...if not mildly overwhelming. We took tons of pictures (to share with you, obviously).

Thankfully (for my wallet) you couldn't buy anything at the event but they did give you a book that listed everything for sale. Had anything actually been for sale, I would have spent our entire wedding fund in under an hour.

What things do you like?

And then we went to a delicious Scandinavian Restaurant for brunch!

And my very favorite picture of the entire day...thank you SO much to Amanda and Becca for coming!

Space Shuttle in NYC!

The Space Shuttle flew over NYC today! And holy crap was it awesome!

Also, apparently Justin Bieber will be across the street from my office today? These are excited girls waiting to see him. And angry cops thinking "I can't believe this is what I got assigned to do today!"

Dear 30 Rock LIVE...

Dear 30 Rock LIVE, you were the coolest thing Stephanie and I have ever been to!

Dear 30 Rock LIVE, we only saw your dress rehearsal. And NO we did not see Paul McCartney!

Dear 30 Rock LIVE, why were you filmed at Rockefeller Center? It is awful there! It is a labyrinth of darkness and heat and you have to walk basically 8 city blocks to get to the bathroom. I am not a fan, Rock Center. Not a fan at all!

Dear Cheynne Jackson, television does not do your pretty looks justice. Seriously, holy crap you are a beautiful man! You could sing Signed, Sealed, Delivered to me like you did last night always (shiny suit included!). For the rest of our lives even! But I think you have a husband?

Via

Dear 30 Rock Live, I finally had that stupid song from Mad Men out of my head. But now its back and may drive me to insanity!

Dear 30 Rock Live, I got to sit behind Stephen Baldwin last night and gosh was I excited! But no one else seemed very excited? I cannot be a real New Yorker because I will always be really excited when I see a famous person. No matter how B list...please note that Stephen does not look like this in person. Additionally, he has a number tattoo on his lower neck. I do not support that.

Via

Dear Jon Hamm, when Stephanie saw you last night she almost passed out. For serious!

Dear 30 Rock Live, we only got to see you because of Brian. Thank you, thank you, thank you BRIAN!

See other Friday Letters HERE! 

In Which I Am Seeing Alec Baldwin in Real Life!

Have you used Google Hangout?

I used it for the first time a few weeks ago with my friend Thenera and it was totally awesome! On Sunday I used it with three of my favorites, Ashley, Jared and Brian! And then, Stephanie came to my house and got on her computer and then we all talked to each other even though you know ummm Steph was right next to me! Gosh technology is so great!

Also did I mention that I'm going to 30 Rock Live tonight? Psssh because I am! Stephanie got two tickets and she invited me and I was so excited I nearly kissed her! But I didn't because she doesn't even really like when I hug her.

Via

I will attempt to seduce him from the audience but did you knowhe just got engaged to a 28 year old yoga instructor? Who is obviously very flexible. For this reason, my Mom says I do not stand a chance. But a girl can dream, can't she?

PS: See other Embrace the Camera posts here! 

Book #21: The History of Love

I actually finished Book #21 last week, but just never got around to writing my review. I wanted so badly to love Nicole Krauss' The History of Love, but I just could not get into it.

The book involves a bunch of different characters and spans about sixty years from Nazi occupied Europe to (more or less) present day New York City. I think that one of the main problems I had with the book is that I kept getting the old man in the story confused with the old man in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Also, one of the main characters runs all over NYC (much like Oskar in Extremely Loud) looking for clues to solve a self created puzzle. It sounds crazy to say that I got the characters confused, but in my jumbled head they were basically the same people. This fact made the story a real struggle for me to get through.

I also despise Coney Island for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with Coney Island and everything with a miserable 18 months where I once spent almost every weekend there (I'll spare you the details). So when Alma befriended a Russian immigrant who lived near the beach, I almost put the book down (I swear I'm not usually this irrational).

All of this is to say that the two stars The History of Love is getting has very little to do with the book itself. Though I did find it lacking a compelling plot and often times found myself wondering "Why have I spent eleven pages reading about this man's pneumonia?" and "Oh crap I just read three pages and can't remember any of what happened".

My Mom loved this book though, so maybe it was just me?

True Life: The Vacation Edition

We're going to Iceland this fall! More details soon.

Do you know what a puffin is? If not, look them up immediately and consider a vacation filled with them.

Also, Pinkberry last night. Please and thank you, New York!

My Proudest New York Moment

Have you been to the Whole Foods in Union Square?

Via

On Friday, after a somewhat busy end of the day I went to get a manicure and pedicure with my work friend slash office-mate, Amanda. Later that night, I was headed to my friend Brian's new place uptown and decided to make a few stops to pick up some things to bring.

We stopped at a liquor store on University so I could get two bottles of wine and then we kept walking to Union Square so Amanda could go to DSW and I could "run into Whole Foods fast to get some stuff to make an appetizer". Anyone who has been to Whole Foods at 6:15pm on a Friday knows how naive I was.

First of all, there is an escalator involved. And these strange wagon like things that people drag behind them with their groceries inside (kind of like a slightly larger basket on wheels). Apparently, the main level is where all the prepared food is, so downstairs I went to get the ingredients for mini Caprese Salads on tooth picks, which I thought was the best idea ever.

I could not find the toothpicks. Seriously I looked for twenty minutes and could not locate them. Additionally, I could not find anyone who worked there to ask where the might be. So I abandoned any hope of mini anything, accepted defeat and decided that we'd be having regular salads instead.

And then I had to check out.

Which was the most stressful checkout situation I've ever participated in. See those arrows? OK so you stand in a line with a colored arrow above it. Then, you look at the screen and wait for a number to roll through your colored lane (see "25" in orange?). When you get to be the first person in line, you pay attention, wait for the number and then RUN to the checkout lane to which you have been assigned. Oh and by the way there are 30 registers. Seriously, I almost had a nervous breakdown.

But I did it! I waited in line for twenty minutes next to a man with a new born baby strapped to his chest. In case you were wondering, nothing for the baby in his haul of chocolate cake, beer and celery (super strange).

I waited on line, checked out and then took the 6 train (my least favorite train) seven stops uptown. And I stood and held my bags AND read my book while listening to my iPod the whole way. And then I made it to Brian's apartment (past the 2nd Avenue subway construction...I don't know how anyone lives up there) without even having to look at the map on my phone.

Proudest NYC day of my life thus far, friends. No, I'm not joking.

Salad Success!

But then Steph and I had a subway fail and missed the last E train at 51st Street before the work on the tracks started at 11:30. And into a cab we went...

This is how you know no more trains are coming to the station!

On Sunday, Fiance and I went to our favorite brunch place. We haven't been in forever, and we figured we have to start making the "Last Of" rounds before we move to Brooklyn in June.

We're going to have to find a Mimosas included place in our new neighborhood immediately.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!