BUSY DAY - in New York City

My feet are so TIRED but we had a packed day today.

We started off the morning with a cab ride to the Metropolitan Museum of Art - or The Met. We got there around 9:15 and they opened at 9:30 - this was just by luck. It was awesome because it wasn't too packed then compared to when we were leaving later.

Anyway this place is amazing. You could spend weeks in there reading about all of the exhibits - from artifacts, to carvings, to mummies - it was all there.

Here is the outside of the building:

I went and sat in the sun in the Gossip Girls - mean girls - spot!! It was COLD at this time - 37 degrees! So the sun was nice.

To get in was a "recommended" $20 per person. Not sure if you really have to pay this - but it is definitely worth it.

We started off in the Greek/Roman Empire area. There were a LOT of carvings and sculptures (I could be calling them the wrong thing, so please don't get too hung up on that).

For example, this carved stone was a stele, or grave marker. I told Eric I want something this awesome. The carvings on the front are a brother and sister.This one was like 13 feet tall! Amazing.

These are also steles - depicting those buried under them where they actually were brought from (I know my grammar sucks too).

This picture just gives an idea of the size of one room of sculptures. Just for this area of the museum there were probably 20 rooms!

Here is a picture of one of the Monet paintings.I tried to find this exact painting on the link at Monet's name - but I couldn't.

Then - here is a painting by Renoir - this link takes you to a gallery of all of Renoir's paintings. Renoir and Monet were friends.

http://www.renoirgallery.com/gallery.asp?id=80 this links to this painting of the image I snapped.

Here is a pic snapped for Cameron. Here is a set of armor.

After leaving the Met we were in a failry nice part of town. We took the following pics here and in some other spots of some architecture that we liked.

We then headed to Times Square. It was SUPER busy on the streets. It is so funny how people literally stop traffic by crossing the street - even when they shouldn't be. Cabs are always honking at pedestrians or cars for cutting them off or not turning when they should. Oh the city life - not for me but fun to visit.

Here are some of the main shots we got of Times Square:

Target had HUGE ads all over 2 sides of one building - this is just the view from one side:

We went into Toys R Us at Times Square. I think it was 3 stories - we didn't look through the entire store. But - the really cool thing is that inside there is a 3 story ferris wheel. The kids would have loved that - especilly Kiana.

Next up - we headed to Rockafeller Center to go to the Observation deck on top of the building. On the way we passed Radio City Music Hall:

NBC is part of Rockafeller Center - so we got this shot by the door that we entered to get our tickets to go to the top of the building:

It costs $21 per person to go to the top - but it is definitely worth it. We went during the day - but we plan to go to the top of the Empire State Building tomorrow night to get night shots. Anyway here are the day shots.

Here is Central Park. If you didn't know - Central Park is HUGE - 250 acres. You can see most of it in this image. Keep in mind we are at the top of a 70 story building. You can see it in the mid left of this picture:

Here is the Empire State Building:

Here is a picture of the Statue of Liberty. It is a LONG way from the top of this building - and we didn't bring our DSLR camera - so the picture isn't that good - but we are heading there tomorrow.

Another neat thing about going to the top of the building - is that the ceiling to the elevator is clear - and their are lights all the way up - so you can see you quickly getting to the top of the 70 stories.

After leaving there we headed back over to Times Square to hang out at Dave and Busters. We had  a few drinks - including some Yeager Bombs - and played some games. Usually when we go to D & B we are there with the kids and worried about keeping our eye on them. But today - we just had ourselves to worry about - which was a nice change - although we do miss the kids.

We saw Hello Kitty on our way to D & B:

By this time our feet were about to give out. We were going to go see Paranormal Activity - even though I didn't want to do it here - I heard it is really spooky! But luckily for me the line was SO LONG to get in the movie theater we didn't go.

Instead Eric made out with this old man:

Just kidding - that was a fake thing in front of Ripley's.

We then headed to Chevy's Mexican Restaurant - for some CRAPPY food and service. One thing I have noticed in NYC - even though you think things would be fast paced - these servers would NOT survive in NWA. They SUCK. You never get a drink refill - you barely even see them!!

We had Planet Hollywood for lunch and it was HORRIBLE as well - including the service.

We are hoping for better luck tomorrow eating lunch from the stands on the corner - Eric is dying for a pretzel.

Then tomorrow night we are going to Peter Luger. We saw this on the Food Network a few monts ago on a special "Best Steaks in the US". This restaurant was #1 - so we are hoping for a good experience there!! Check it out at the links. I believe it is a 3rd generation business - and they pick their own beef out daily (full cows or whatever you call it, maybe sides of beef) and then they dry age it themselves. Again - look for my comments on that tomorrow or Monday night.

Until tomorrow!

DIY Craft Table - Inspiration Pottery Barn Beford Project Table

In our house we have an office downstairs - but we have an office/craft room that is attached to our bedroom. For a while I have been wanting a craft table for Kiana and I to do projects on - but the only one I found is this one at Pottery Barn - and it is $1157 - now $949 on sale.

Here are a couple of pics of the inspiration table from Pottery Barn:

The dimensions of the PB table is 55" wide x 38" deep x 37" high - my table is the same depth and height - but I wanted it to be longer - so mine is 72 inches wide.

So, after some time thinking about this - I decided the best thing to do would be to buy closet organizers that are similar to the ends of the PB table. So - I bought two of these closetmaid white 9 cube organizers from lowes:

These were $54.88 each plus tax - so approximately $120.

The next thing I bought at Lowes was a 5/8 inch thick piece of plywood - and 3 8 ft pieces of molding. You could use whatever base or chair molding that you like.

Luckily for me - my father-in-law has a workshop, and he put the pieces together for the top and sanded them down - and helped (mostly did) the paint job - thanks Mark!!!!

Between the molding, the plywood and the gallon of black paint I spent about another $70.

Total project $190 - saving me $1000 over the Pottery Barn version!!!

Here is my version of the table in our craft room:

Here are a couple of closer looks to see the detail of the molding:

Kiana and I each have one of these seats on order so we can work at our table:

The finishing touches on this room are still to come - so stay tuned for the final output - but that could take a month or so.

Tonight at target they had the sames shelves that I used from Lowes in multiple colors: pink, lt green, dark brown and some others I don't remember - and they were only $49.99.

Photography fun

Today we went out with the Peschel's and took pics of all the kids. Here are some of my favorites!!!

First - I LOVE how blue  their eyes look in this pic!!!

Kiana tossing some leaves.

The thinker. . .

Here are the Peschels:

I love this pic of Kelsie. I love pics where the subject isn't looking at the camera.

Then, here is one of all 4. This was hard to get as the sky was very bright and they were all having a hard time keeping their eyes open. The cutest group of kids in the world if you ask me!!!!

Hopefully we can get back out for some more pics next weekend. The trees at my favorite picture spot had not turned yet this weekend.

Barn Dance Cotillion

Saturday night Cameron's cotillion theme was Barn Dance. So, he wore a western shirt - but that is as country as this boy gets!!

The lighting in this pic is horrible - but here he is:

After cotillion, the kids got together for a bon fire (in a fire pit). They roasted marshmallows and ate chili dogs. I made some food for him to take.

First I made a pumpkin cheese ball - this didn't get much action so it must not have been very good. I don't know - I had never made it before. Here is a pic:

Then I made a caramel popcorn crunch with cashews and pecans - then drizzled with white and milk chocolate. It was so good - I made a double batch so we had some at the house. I found the recipe here.

Here it is cooling on the counter:

I am pretty sure Cameron had a good time that evening. Only 2 more times for cotillion this year.

YAY - Hubby finished up the laundry room!!!!

It took him less than 48 hours - he started at like 6 PM Friday night and was done today at 1PM!!!! WOW!!!! It does help that he used to lay tile - but way to go E!!

So here is how the rest of the process went. Here is the backsplash getting ready to be put up.

In this one Eric has the floored prepped and ready to go. If you have ever done tile - you can especially appreciate what it takes to remove tile - and thinset mortar from the floor to get it ready for new tile.

Ah - the few last finishing touches before bringing the washer and dryer back in.

Now - let's not forget the Before:

And now, drumroll, here is the after pic.

Bad news is this has left me wanting stainless stell front load washer and dryer!!! But it looks great. Thanks Eric for dedicating your whole weekend to getting this project done - love ya!!!

Turning a pile of floral stems into something

So, Friday night while Eric was being productive painting the laundry room - I didn't want to be sitting around not accomplishing anything. So I remember the flowers I had bought at Hobby Lobby a couple of months ago to repurpose my plain ivy plants from my dining room.

So here is what I started with:

While I was making these, Eric was painting in the laundry room right by me and the kids were upstairs. So we were listening to the 90s station on TV. That was awesome hearing all the songs (and singing along) that were popular around the time we started dating, got married and had Cameron - more nostalgia.

Anyway - here is how these turned out:

And how they completed the dining room look. So yippee - one productive night down!!

I have another project that I am working on that I will share soon!!

Fall - My Favorite time to Decorate the House!!

Well aside from Christmas and my multiple Christmas trees - Fall is my favorite time to decorate. I really don't recall decorating much for Fall when we lived in Pineville - but once we moved to our house in Bentonville we have always decorated.

It started the first year we lived here. My mom came and helped me pick stuff and decorate. So now I get very nostalgic when I pull out the decorations - and remember the first 2 years of living here and mom helping me.

I almost opted out this year (laziness) and then thought of my mom and decided to go ahead!!!!!

Here are the pics from this year (for you mom, wish you could be here to see it!!!) Mom also made the quilted table runner in this first pic on our hall table.

These last 2 are with the lights off to show the scarecrow and candles.