Welcome to New York, Day 2

I like to start off each day of what we look like!  Today we were in for a big adventure!  We had a lot of plans and a lot of things that we wanted to see, so here we go!!  It hit 87 for a high on this Friday but it wasn't muggy! 

 First stop,  Cheeky Sandwiches for breakfast!

They have yummy Café du Monde coffee, straight from New Orleans, YUM!!

My biscuit sandwich- eggs, muenster cheese and sausage gravy... hey, don't judge- I'm walking a lot today :)

Hubby had eggs, salmon and cheese :)

Now, off to the Financial District, to meet our tour guide!

The Woolworth building!

Waiting in City Hall Park for our Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn Heights and DUMBO tour.

Walking the Brooklyn Bridge was breathtaking!

Let's stop for a selfie :)

The awesome cables of the Brooklyn Bridge!

The "Locks of Love"  People come here and put a lock on the bridge and toss the key in the water to show their everlasting love!  Totally adorable :)

Some views from our Brooklyn tour :)


This is a 3-hour tour that begins with a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge, an icon of New York City for over 125 years, with spectacular views of Manhattan and Brooklyn.  The tour then moves on to a stroll of Brooklyn Heights, America’s and New York City’s first suburb.  The tour then explores the neighborhood DUMBO before ending at the Fulton Ferry landing. -

See more at: http://www.freetoursbyfoot.com/new-york-tours/brooklyn-tours/brooklyn-bridge-brooklyn-heights-and-dumbo-tour/#sthash.t6rPc3IP.dpuf

In front of the house where Truman Capote wrote "In Cold Blood"... yes, we thought this was pretty amazing :)

The Manhattan Skyline from the Brooklyn Promenade

Just us :)

If you look close enough, you can see the Empire State building at the bottom of the Manhattan Bridge :)

Our group from the walking tour :)

Our lunch!

A New York staple- Shake Shack!

The burgers were amazing :)

A pretty good view of World Trade Center 1!

Hubby in love with his burger!

Off to the Brooklyn Museum!

This was one of our favorites!  It had a little bit of everything and we were there just mesmerized :)

We also had same day admission to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens.

We took the train back to Manhattan, and of course needed a snack!

Vanessa's Dumpling House!

Pork & Chive dumplings

Pork Buns

Chive & Spinach pancake

After our snack and some freshening up at the hotel (charging of the phone to take more photos)... we made our way up to Washington Square to meet our tour guide for our night tour!

Washington Square Park Legend of Sid and Nancy Haunted NYU Mark Twain’s “House of Horror” Residence of Mayor Jimmy Walker Chumley’s The White Horse Tavern Church of St. Luke in the Fields Aaron Burr’s Haunted Carriage House And much more!

 - See more at: http://www.freetoursbyfoot.com/new-york-tours/walking-tours/new-york-ghost-tours/#sthash.DnX0gtD4.dpuf

The Friends apartment in NYC :)

The tour lasted almost two hours and we were ready for dinner!

We ended up at Da Andrea in Greenwich Village!  It was about 10PM, this may be the "norm" for NYC, but it was late for us, but, we didn't mind!

Complimentary bread and olive oil with olives.

A lot of wine for only $14!

I'm a happy girl :)

John's salad that we shared.

Pappardelle, homemade with sausage... amazing!!!

Hubby ordered homemade cavatelli, with shrimp, salmon and pesto sauce.

We took the subway home and settled in for the night!

FitBit for the day 37,839- 15.85 miles!  Boy, did I sleep good that night ;)

Welcome to New York, Day 1

Vacation!  That glorious time of the year!  Three months ago, my hubby mentioned seeing a show on Broadway and loving New York in June.  Well, it happened and it was amazing!  :)

At midnight, on the morning we were supposed to leave,  I got a text that our 6 am flight had been cancelled.  I called the airlines and squared away our booking and extra air miles for the inconvenience.

We got to the airport early, had a smooth transition in Detroit and finally arrived in New York City around 9AM.

After we arrived at LaGuardia, we took the MTA bus and then the subway.  It was quite an adventure with the luggage!  But, we finally got to our hotel around 11am! We were so happy to check in early so we could get out and explore!  The high got up to 71 today and it was a perfect day for exploring!

We were at the Hotel 91 in the Lower East Side.  It's a great location and near a lot!  Plus, our room had a great view of Brooklyn via the Manhattan Bridge.  This was a budget hotel.  It did have free wifi!  The rooms, were clean and there was fantastic security.  A great place! 

We got unpacked and got our walking shoes on for our adventure. 

First stop, breakfast at Cheeky Sandwiches!  This place was about three blocks away!  I had read about it on Yelp and a couple of food not to miss in NYC on Pinterest.

This is the Chicken biscuit sandwich.  It has a tasty biscuit, chicken, sausage gravy and red cabbage and it was delicious!   We also got some beignets as a dessert before we went to our next place! 

Next up, we had to try dumplings since we were near Chinatown!  Hubby had never had dumplings before, so I was super excited to get them and they were so cheap! $2 for 8!!! 

We ate these amazing pork & chive dumplings from Prosperity Dumplings.  It's a place that is highly rated on Zagat, Yelp, Trip Advisor and recommended in the travel guides.  Totally worth it!  It is cash only, but 8 dumplings and 2 waters $4. 

We sat in a nearby park and just took it all in!

Next, we began walking our way up north.  We found a cool Tibetan store and got bracelets. 

We made it to one of my "must go to" destinations!  Washington Square Park.  We loved it and it had so much going on!

After we left Washington Square Park, we made our way to the first Museum on our list, The Rubin!  This museum is very unique and based on the art of the Himalayas, India and neighboring regions, has a permanent collection focused particularly on Tibetan art.

I won't share any of the artwork, as I believe it could be a copyright issue, but we really enjoyed this museum.

Here is one of the "Virtually Masked" items that I posed for while in the museum.  It was fun, there are about 5 more that I did and they are all unique.

After all of that walking and museum walking, it was definitely time for a snack.  We didn't pre-pick a place as we were way ahead of our schedule for the day!  We were walking and saw a place called Village pizza and decided to stop!

Here is my pepperoni slice!

Here is Hubby's three meat slice!

Next, we walked to the nearby Whitney Museum.  It is recently relocated as of May 1st.  It focuses on 20th and 21st Century American artists.

The view from the top of the museum is amazing!  We had to take some photos!  :)

We stopped in the café for a cheese snack, YUM!!

Cheers!  I got my first glass of French wine and it was delish! :)

Next, we headed to Jackson Square to meet our tour guide for our "Dark Side of the High Line" walking tour!

Sites and stories covered on this tour include: The lost souls of the Titanic The Manhattan Project’s secret uranium compound Death Avenue The Curse of Ezekial Marcus London Terrace Apartments The Chelsea Hotel The tragedy of Seth Low Hascamp The West Side Cowboys

 See more at: http://www.freetoursbyfoot.com/new-york-tours/walking-tours/haunted-high-line/#sthash.nGS8eznG.dpuf

This tour was an awesome way to start off our sightseeing of New York!  After the tour was over, we took the subway back to the area of our hotel and went to a restaurant a couple of blocks away!

Pie's N Thighs, a Zagat rated restaurant!  10 PM dinner!  I guess that's what happens in New York :)

Hubby had the catfish, mac and cheese with corn bread.

I enjoyed the chicken biscuit sandwich with a Brooklyn Beer.

After dinner, we walked back to the hotel and settled in for the night.  For all you FitBit friends... 26,653 steps the first day in NYC, 11.12 miles!)

Stay tuned, more food and adventures to come :)

The day that steps changed forever

April 29th, this is the day that steps changed forever for me.  I was in California for training for work and was asked by a co-worker if I "FitBit"... I said no and was told I could get the App for free and use my phone to count my steps.  Well, okay.... little did I know how awesome, addictive this crazy little App was.

I found myself using the stairs more, swaying in place and all together trying to beat my latest step count from the day before.  I was hooked to this!  How awesome that it tells you how many steps, mileage and calories that you have burned?  FREE!  From an App on my phone!  I hit 5,000 steps on my first day and they sent me notification of a Badge I earned!  A couple of days later, I finally hit the 10,000 steps goal and received another badge!

The following week, I was invited to my first "Workweek Hustle!"  My, oh my!  This shows you how competitiveness works with these contests.  I didn't win, but ended up getting a marathon badge for walking a total of 26 miles.  This badge to me, was a crazy idea that in a little over a week, just by tracking myself, I had walked almost a marathon!

The best part about the week, was the weekly progress report!  It tells you what your step count was for the week, your most and least active days and it has a chart of you against all of your friends.  My first week step count was 44,201 steps with an average of 6314 a day.  I was out of town for work, so that's not too bad!  I was motivated to keep improving!

Fast forward to the first week that I was home and began to walk the dogs more regularly, volunteered to get groceries, and even wanted to go on extra walks!  I ended up getting three more badges and ended the week at 72,911 steps with an average of 10.416.  I was excited with my progress and noticed my clothes were fitting a little easier.  I got out some shorts and all of them from last year fit with no problem.  It's amazing how this little change, helped motivate me to keep moving.

I think I basically strong armed my husband into thinking FitBit was the coolest thing ever.  He was reading this book that said how important walking was.  So on May 30th, we both got FitBit Zips!  It was so great to have the Zip and not to carry my phone everywhere.  Plus, the first week that I had it, I felt myself even wanting to go on longer walks with the dogs and even extra walks just anywhere!

Last week's report, 89,657 steps with an average of 12,808 a day!  I'm so pumped about having the Zip!  It's small, easy to put on and it has made me leave my phone all behind.  Whoever developed that Free App for FitBit is a genius!

We recently got these cool bracelets to put our Zip in, so it looks more like a watch- which I love, as now it is a watch and my step count reminder!  I am just so happy to have found something that keeps me so motivated to walk.  The  most important part, is my family, friends and co-workers who are all on there, Cheering each other on through each challenge.

I'll chat again later.. gotta go FitBitting.... :) #steps

Making Stuffed Mushrooms

While my Mom, Sister and Nieces visited they decided they wanted stuffed mushrooms.  I had all the ingredients to do so and so I made them!   Here is what I made.

Ingredients

24 medium or large baby bella mushrooms (each about 2 inches wide)2 tablespoons chopped garlic2 oz goat cheese4 oz whipped chives cream cheese, room temperature
4 oz tablespoons shredded colby jack cheese
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 c. Mayonnaise (Hellman's)

1/4 teaspoon salt
4 oz Asiago cheese
2 teaspoons Parmesan-style grated cheese
Black pepper, crushed on top

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Gently remove the stems from the mushrooms and set both the caps and the stems aside.
Lightly spray muffin tins with nonstick spray. Place the mushroom caps inside each whole.  
Meanwhile, chop mushroom stems. In a medium bowl, combine the stems with garlic, garlic powder, goat cheese, cream cheese, mayonnaise, salt, Asiago cheese. Mix well and stir until blended.
Evenly distribute the cheese-veggie mixture among the mushroom caps. Next, add the colby jack and grate the parmesan cheese on the top of each one and add fresh black pepper.
Bake the stuffed mushrooms in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes, until the topping begins to brown. Let cool slightly and enjoy!


Here is a photo of some of the items that were made including the stuffed mushrooms, brownies and Ina Garten cookies (and my nieces favorite- olives!)