Another year older, yet not any wiser.....

Well another birthday has come and went.  Even though I'm 42 now I still feel stuck in a 30 yr mindset (ok some would probably say even younger).   It always seems around my birthday I begin to reflect on my life and the choices I've made and where I am in life.  Sometimes this can be a depressing thought process.  I'm still single with no prospects of dating in my future. I'm still overweight and on the verge of diabetes. I'm still living in a house full of repairs.  I'm still someone's assistant and having to do their expenses every other week thinking this is not what I went to college for.  But on the flip side there is always positive.  I'm not tied down to running around like a banshee chasing after kids.  I own my own home and the market is finally going in an upward trend.  I'm changing my diet to eat healthier, except with a few cheats of candy.  I have a good paying job in this tough market.
While I still wish I could do photography on a more full time basis, I"m aware this is a choice I've made. And I know it's still never too late to start trying.  I need to get over my fear of failing and not getting the "perfect" photo every time.  I recently was having a conversation on why I'm not doing more photography on the side.  I was asked to take a family portrait and initially said no, because I don't feel I'm professional level enough to do it.  But after talking it out more - the underline issue is I don't like to take people's portraits because they are so critical of themselves and I feel it reflects on me as a photographer.  Every time I do a family session I always look at the photos and look to see what I could have done better instead of looking at the great photos I created for my friends.   So after thinking more about it and wondering why shouldn't I do more photography I lined up a day to take their family portrait.
In the meantime Charlie, Lulu and Jasmine are always great models to practice on.  The day after my birthday I took the day off and headed up to Apple Hill to take some fall color photos.  Unfortunately there wasn't a lot of change in the season yet, but it still was a great day out with the family and to start teaching Jasmine the basics of photography.

Perfect combination of grapes and fall colors at Kids Inc Farm

Pretty fall colors beginning to show

Found a bunch of rams and sheep when driving out of Apple Hill

 Also for my birthday I decided to finally get my tattoo redone.  I was never really 100% happy with it as the guy didn't really discuss what I wanted.  Instead he changed up the overall drawing I brought in and didn't even do the same colors in the drawing.  I told him I wanted the middle section to be an orange ball of fire grading out to yellow.  Instead he just splat some orange on and called it good.  My sister said it best that it looked like someone spit an orange loogie on my tattoo and I've always seen it that way since.
In the last year the color in the center has started to disappear in spots (found out this was because the he didn't do it correctly and it scabbed over and took the color with it). So I figured my birthday gift to myself would be finding a great tattoo artist to work with and create something great.  I didn't want to go back to Forever Tattoo or deal with a walk-in type of shop.  Instead I looked online for the best tattoo artist in Sacramento and found several whose names kept coming up.  I first contacted Liberty Tattoo in Folsom, but he has stopped taking new clients, my piece was too small and he was booked until Feb.  Ok, I guess when you have been doing tattooing as long as he has you can be choosy about your work.  So then I found Side Show Studio that only has a few artist working.  My friend Sean recommended Shawn there and I called him up asking for a consultation. He was booked for another week so he asked me to email him my tattoo and ideas and he would work on it over email until we could met.  Well I emailed off everything and got a response that he would get back to me on Tuesday.  Well two weeks later still no response.  So the search continued.  I then found Nelson at Ink Bottle Studio on Yelp.  He had nothing but 5 star reviews so I emailed him off my ideas and tattoo and he quickly responded saying he'll do it and we could meet that next week.  We met and I really had no clear idea of what I wanted.  Nelson was awesome at helping me weed through all the ideas I had and come up with a great new concept.  We spent almost 2 hrs just talking over ideas and chatting like friends. I come in the day before to finalize the drawing.  I still had plenty of changes as I wasn't really sure what I wanted in the end.  But Nelson assured me he would do a great job and we'll draw it on me as it's truly a custom piece.  I took the afternoon off from work and a few hour delays I was ready to get it done.  We spent another hour or so drawing the sketch on my leg, tweaking it more and creating colors.   I was nervous as hell, but Nelson is so nice and patient he just would talk like old friends while he pierced my skin with what seemed like needles on fire.  My god did it hurt 100% more than I remembered.  He warned me it would as before I didn't know what to expect and it really didn't seem to hurt as much, but this is a pain I'll remember for a long time.  There were many times I thought I would have to cry or throw up, but luckily I did neither.  Nelson would stop and ask if I wanted something else done to it and would make suggestions throughout the tattoo.  2 1/2 hours later we were all done and I felt like I would NEVER do this again.  Overall he spent almost 8 hours meeting, creating and tattooing me. It was exactly the experience that I was looking for (aside from the burning tearing flesh pain) .  I'm sooo happy I found him and once I forget about the pain during and after (it feels like a sunburn on top of a bruise for the first week and then starts to itch like mad which you can't scratch and then peels) I will definitely be going back to him for my next one or two or three tattoos......  in the words of Caitlin the new tattoo is BADASS!

The new tattoo vs. the old and the chair I sat in for hours

Last weekend Jasmine went to her first Homecoming dance.  She was asked by a friend of hers, Dalton, she met at Younglife.  He asked her to the dance by having his friend hold signs along the driveway and gave her flowers.  You know nowadays you can't just ask someone without a big production. It was super cute. So on the day of the dance I came over to take photos of them before the dance.  I can't believe how grown up and beautiful my little 16 yr old niece looked.   Ok, yes I knew she was a beautiful girl but when we saw her in a grown up dress and sparkly heels, she was gorgeous.   They made an adorable couple as he shown up with suspenders, bow tie and black and white converse shoes.  Very cute!  Unfortunately the corsage he got her broke before he even got it on her wrists.  With her looking this pretty at Homecoming I can't wait to see what she'll do for Prom, as I'm sure she'll have plenty of dates lining up for her.

Looking gorgeous as ever

Trying to get the corsage on, but instead it broke

How cute are they?

 Halloween was this last Thursday and I think it's my mom's favorite holiday.  I came up the weekend before to help decorate the house (same day as Jasmine's homecoming dance)  We tied ghosts in the trees, spread cobwebs all over the fence and bushes and hung up scary masks all around.   I just mentioned oh too bad you don't have a coffin for the front.  Well she created one that week out of an old pool box, black construction paper, a creepy masks and some body parts.  She also added a bbq of body parts and a scary skeleton ghost.  I came up after work on Thursday and was greeted by my mom in a black hoodie with creepy green face makeup.  She doesn't think Halloween should be cute, it's meant to be scary.  Jasmine and her friend McKenzie come by to have dinner and then pass out candy to the kids.  They of course got bored quickly and went off trick or treating themselves and meeting up with friends.  Meanwhile mom and I passed out candy to the kids brave enough to enter the yard.  She scared a few little ones with the creepy coffin and now is thinking of new ways to scare them next year.  I see a fog machine in her future!

Jasmine (Ladybug) and McKenzie (Devil)

Mom and her skeleton friend making dinner

My glamping safari look

Charlie cute as ever as a clown

First Quarter Results

Well I see I'm not really keeping up with my New Year goals of updating my blog more often.  So instead I'll take a cue from work and instead do a first quarter wrap up.  While I'm obviously not meeting all my goals, I have started working towards them. 
1. Recover from knee surgery.  Well this one I haven't made much progress.  Instead it might have gotten worse.  I believe the cortisone shot has officially worn off and I can now feel my stitch back under the skin.  I'm been getting toe/leg cramps more often and more painful than ever before.  Now before everyone comments back to eat more bananas my potassium levels are above normal and drinking more water than ever (more about my levels later).  These cramps wake me out of a nice long sleep and I have to jump out of bed and try to stretch it out before my leg becomes a twisted mess. I've started stretching before bed and taking magnesium too (as it's suppose to help with nerve impulses) but if it keeps up I feel another visit to the doctor coming.
2. Lose weight. Speaking of the doctor, I've been seeing her more and more and not by choice.  As part of being a new patient she wanted me to take a standard blood test.  Well this led to more blood test and finally to a new diet plan.  Turns out I'm pre-diabetic and have been put what I call NO FUN diet.  This includes NO added sugar, NO diary (she called diary empty calories) and 1 whole grain serving a day.  I asked where the cake and brownies portion was on the diet and she said NO!  Are you seeing a theme here.....  Mostly what I eat now is veggies, fruit and lean meat (no pork or bacon!)  SO it seems like an Atkins diet, but its more closer to the Paleo diet, except not allowed that much red meat either.  Oh I have a medical food powder drink!  She has me on this for six weeks (this is week 5 for me) and to lose 10pds in that time.  Luckily I lost 4pds the first week, but since then nothing.  I'm sure it has something to do with lack of exercise (probably the same reason I'm not meeting my first goal).  Her main goal is to lower my A1C number which is at 6pts and to keep me off medication and testing my blood before meals.  So I've been good these last weeks and avoided temptation (except for a few cheats with 1% milk).  I go next week to see how I'm doing and will find out if my numbers gone down by June.  Cross your fingers for me and hopefully I can add some diary (and sugar free cake/brownies) into my diet again.
3. Travel. Well I had plans to finally go to Disneyland in March for Sarah's big 40th birthday as it's been since my 39th birthday that I've been, yet my car seemed to have different plans for me.  I even put money aside from my taxes for the trip, but a week before the trip I took my car in for it's 150k miles check-up.  Instead it turned into a completely new radiator, tune up and all my fluids flushed (along with my Disneyland trip money).  So I called Sarah and broke the news.  Luckily she understood that I really would have enjoyed going to celebrate her birthday instead of just driving my 13yr old car a little longer.  So instead I worked and have now built almost 70hrs of PTO - a new record for me!  Even though I don't have the money to travel anytime soon (or really this year) I'm taking a stayaciton Memorial week and going to clean up around the house and just enjoy sleeping in (as long as my leg cramps will let me)

Took a day trip to SF for Fonda's Birthday

Jasmine at Pier 39

Jasmine and I on Golden Gate Bridge

4. Take more photos. Well this one I've actually started to do.  I've tried all the settings on my DSLR, still can't figure out half of them.  I still haven't gotten my portrait lens (thank you again car repairs), but I still got out and took some photos of my niece who just got her braces off.  She is almost 16 and has grown into a beautiful young adult (would say lady if she didn't still find farting and burping so funny).  As any teenager would do, she had many outfit changes and different locations.  It was lots of fun and she was a great model.
I'm hoping to get the portrait lens before this summer and already have a few volunteers for photo sessions (human and dogs).  Luckily I always have my Charlie boy to practice on too. 

Jasmine's America's Next Top Model pose

Our ode to Senior Portraits by Nigel

Jasmine looking all grown up

5. Be more creative. Does daydreaming count for this?   I do a lot of that - what I would do if I won the lotto, what other kind of work could I do for a living, where could I go with no money, and what I would do if I won the lotto (I daydream about that one most).  In doing some spring cleaning around the house I realized I have to finally setup my Etsy site and sell these bracelets I've made.   I think everyone has received one version or another that I've made as a gift, maybe even a few.   My friend Caitlin sells her scarves very successfully on Etsy so we thought we would take a lunch and setup my site.  Well after over an hour of not finding a shop name I could use as everything with either my name, nickname, creations or creativity was used, we finally just made one up.  I spent another 4 hours trying to upload my banner, photos and edit my profile.  It's not open yet, but will be under ccreationc on Esty.  And after more pinning on Pinterest and looking at other people's jewelry I know have even more ideas of bracelets to make. 
Those are my results so far with more goals to work towards.  Some of them won't ever be complete as I hope to always be traveling, taking photos and being creative.  Hopefully my next update will be more timely, as it's always good to keep reaching for your goals!

New Year, Same Goals

I re-read my last year's new year post and realized, like most people, that I didn't achieve a lot of my goals.  I'm not even sure why, it's not like they were difficult ones, like climbing Mt Everest or get into Yale.   Most were simple everyday tasks I should be doing anyways and just never did.   I worked on some of the goals, but never really completed any. Maybe they aren't really meant to be completed, but more on-going maintenance in my life.  So I'm going to redo my goals from last year into this year.

1. RECOVER FROM KNEE SURGERY, 100%  Well it's been officially 2 years since the trip to the ER and 1 year in August since my surgery.  I got officially released from physical therapy back in May, but didn't do much on my own since.  I went back to the surgeon around Sept as my knee still hurt and couldn't bend all the way back no matter how much I stretched it.  He was kind enough to give me a cortisone shot as he said one of my stitches capsulated and was causing soft tissue irritation.  The shot didn't really kick in until late Oct and I finally got the good news in November, no further surgeries.  It still won't bend all the way, but no longer hurts to touch.  I'm taking glucosamine pills and will have to do yoga to stretch the muscles more (so I won't have toe/leg cramps every night).  So my goal will be to do just that, do yoga and take my joint pills.  Boy do I feel like an old 41 yr old.

2. LOSE WEIGHT, again!  Ok, I know this is every year for almost everyone.  I signed up with WW and actually was doing good losing weight, bringing my lunch and fitting into my pants again.   But then stress at work happened and then the holidays and now I haven't been good on my health plan for a good 3 months.  Now with the holidays coming to an end, I'll be like 90% of people getting back on track with their diets and exercise.  Which will help with goal number 1 too.  Luckily I have some great co-workers who will help me stick to plan and have fun while doing so.   And hopefully next Christmas I won't look like a crazed fat person who wandered into my family photos.

I know we all look crazy in this photo

3. TRAVEL (somewhere not just for work)  I can say I did this at least.  In May my best friend, Lisa and I went to New York City for the first time.  My only blog last year, besides the New Year's Goal was about our adventures in the city.  We had a ton of fun and would love to go back again.  Maybe in fall or Christmas time.  I also did a bit more traveling for work as we had our bi-annual conference up in Seattle.  I didn't have really any free time to explore the city besides a few hours with my friend Colleen.   The conference went great, we missed all the rain, but Colleen nearly froze to death and had to buy a sweatshirt from the hotel gift shop to wear under her coat.  We did get to wander Pikes Place and eat good food, but I wish I got to actually spend a day or weekend up there exploring more.   I'm not sure this upcoming year will have more travel in it for me, as our group at work has cut down in size as well as my bank account.  But I hope there is one trip in there for fun and I'll post all about it.

Seattle Conference - View to the left from our rooms

View to the right and where we spent the majority of our time in
Seattle (Building 66)

4. TAKE MORE PHOTOS! Ok, so now it's been 3 years since I bought my DSLR and I still don't know how to completely work it.  Nor do I have the lenses I want for it.  I'm planning to follow tips I found Pinterest (a site I spend way too much time on) about improving your photography.  http://improvephotography.com/1415/21-things-you-can-do-today-to-change-your-photography-forever/ First tip - learn every function your camera is capable of performing.  I have run through the manual, taking test photos changing all the buttons and I still have no idea what half of them do.  I miss the days of my old manual film Minolta.  Yet I long for Nikon D-90 or D7000.  I plan on purchasing a portrait lens for my dslr and would like to take more pet portraits (more than just Charlie and Lulu).  I did take a few co-workers family photos for their Christmas cards.  So at least I can say I did more this year and hope to do even more next year.   

The Fisher Family

The Schaefer Family

5. BE MORE CREATIVE!  This one I can say I have done more this year, but will need to work on more this year.  Kind of goes along with all my other goals and the blog.  If I'm more creative I'll blog more as I'll have more to talk about.  I'll need to be more creative with my diet, that is for sure, as I'm the pickiest eater ever and mostly have cereal or frozen pizza for dinner.  If I'm more creative with my food, I'll eat healthier and lose weight.  I'll get more creative and take more day trips, since my pocketbook won't allow for any big trips this year.  If I'm more creative with photography hopefully I will get more side work and start making some money doing what I love.  And I'll finally get more creative and sell these bracelets I keep pinning and making from Pinterest.  My friend, Caitlin tried to sell them with her scarves at work and I sold 2, but I'll need to set up a Etsy site and get other people to take these off my hands, literally!   I enjoy making the bracelets and the options are pretty limitless.  But my arm can only wear so much and as most of you have received them multiple times as gifts.   So I'll start blogging and posting my handywork.

Multi-chain bracelet for sale

Along with being more creative, don't know if you noticed the new banner but I decided to finally try to create a logo for myself. I played with some fonts and graphics to use and changed my "title" to Celeste's Creations, as it's easier to say than Celestial Creations (at least for me).  I tried to make the graphic look like a camera while incorporating the 2 C in the title.  Works for now!

Landscape version

Portrait version

Well those are the goals for 2013.  I'm very grateful for the friends and family I have.  There has been a lot of tragedy out there in the world lately and makes me appreciate all the love and laughter I get from my friends and family.  I hope you all have a new year filled with good health, wealth, love and laughter!  Happy New Year 2013!

Pantless and Hobbles take on New York! Part 3

May 17, 2012
Thursday morning we set out to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  We didn't get as early of a start as we had hoped, as we have been sleeping in most morning despite our alarm being set for 7:30.  After a breakfast of Nutella/Banana French Toast and a Dr Pepper we took the red line subway to the end of the line. We found the ticket line not as long as we thought and seemed hopefully until they started announcing that the wait for the boat is 1 1/2 hour long at this time.   Poor Lisa's senses were assaulted several times by the woman's perfume behind us.  We even switch lines, only to have her follow us.  After we got our tickets they tell you to exit the building and get in line.  What they should have said was turn around and exit the building from the way you came in, as that is where the line for the boats ended.  Here is a helpful hint for those thinking of going to the Statue and Ellis Island, come in from the Jersey side or purchase reserve tickets.   If you know when you are planning on visiting the monuments go online and purchase your tickets for a certain time.  This will cut your standing in line time down to NOTHING!!!  The reserve line was completely empty, while we stood in line for an hour and half before even boarding the boat.
For the next year the Statue of Liberty is under renovation so there is no going inside of her at this time.  It's still worth a quick visit to the island and get an up close look at her and great view of the city.  And they have a nice gift shop with clean restrooms. 

 There she is Miss America

We then headed over to Ellis Island for a quick lunch (grilled cheese kids meal was perfect size and cheap).  The main area of Ellis Island has been turned into a museum.  You can take a guided tour, rent headphones or do what we did and wander by yourself.  Unfortunately by this time my feet were absolutely killing me and I would have given anything for a good foot massage, but instead I took full advantage of the benches they have around the museum.  The museum is set up well and they have moving stories of how the immigrants were treating once they arrived on the island, which was not very well to the majority.  They were quickly evaluated on health and mental state, even though the majority of them did no speak English and couldnt' communicate.  Their possessions were taken away and families were separated for days, months or forever without explanation.  Welcome to America!   But as you go through the top floor museum you'll read stories from people who found happiness and new lives in the States.  It is a great history lesson to go through here.  The only disappointing thing was we thought you would be able to look up family members who passed through here.   If you could we missed it.  I would think they have it all online now, but it would have been meaningful to view a passenger log or some sort of record with your family name on it while there.   Especially since Lisa knew of family names to look up that come through the island.

The exterior/entrance to Ellis Island

 The Great Hall

 Statue Liberty through a window in the Great Hall

We were the last boat to leave the island and head back to the mainland.  It was after 5 and Lisa and I were both tired and dragging so we we went back to the hotel for a rest before heading out to find some dinner.  Once back at the hotel and when Lisa changed, she noticed how sunburned she had gotten.  Poor thing it looked like someone had colored her chest, arms and nose with a red pen.  We didn't even think about sunscreen while outside near water all day.  She even had a keyhole cutout in her top that left a nice circle/heart shape on her cleavage.

Lisa's "tanline"

Lisa mentioned Carnegie Deli for dinner as they are suppose to be famous for their cheesecake. While she napped and I iced my knee (as it finally began to show since of pain and swelling) I looked online at the menu.   NOTHING but meat.  Carnegie Deli is famous for pastrami on rye and cheesecake.  Not really vegetarian friendly.  I decided to look through our guide books for something else in the Hells Kitchen area as we had good luck there before and it's close to Carnegie Deli for dessert.  I found a recommendation for an Italian place called Nizza http://nizzanyc.com/  They had a lot of pasta, pizza and salads that were more suited to Lisa and plenty of meat and pasta for me.   We decided it was a good plan and headed out to there for dinner.   It's a dark little spot close to the theaters, so we thought it would be perfect to go around 8 when the shows are going on.  We got a table right away.  I ordered the Chicken Saltimbocca that was over garlic spinach.  It was the best meal of the trip.  
We then headed out to Carnegie Deli for dessert.  When you walk in you get a huge whiff of MEAT.  The deli portion is in the front and then the restaurant is in the back.  On the way to our table we passed several skyhigh sandwiches.  Not realizing the cheesecake would be just as big, Lisa and I both ordered a piece of NY cheesecake.  We should have shared one piece instead.  Lisa wasn't impressed by the dessert at all.  I thought it was good, but nothing to write home about or tell others to come for.   I would have taken a Fat Witch brownie or Milk and Cookies over it.  But still something to check off our list. 
May 18, 2012
Friday was our last full day in NY and we decided to make the most of it.  We started off by heading to Zabars http://www.zabars.com/ on the Upper West side before venturing into Central Park.   It wasn't quite what we were expecting, the little cafe attached to the store was out of bagels (grant it was close to 10am by now), so we had to go back into the actual store, as the other bagel shop, H&H, had shut down or burned down (we couldn't really get a straight answer from anyone on the street).  Funny thing was I was watching You've Got Mail this weekend and there is a scene in at H&H and Zabars. We ended up getting bagels and cream cheese (fresh) and walked towards Central Park.  We found a bench in the shade close to a dog park ,so as we had our breakfast we oooh and ahhhed over all the dogs going by.  For a crowded city, there were a ton of dogs being walked everywhere we went.  Lisa and I would of course squeal in delight, while the owners (or walkers) would quickly drag them in the direction away from us.  Only a few let us attack their dogs with love, while mostly people acted like we were trying to steal them whenever we tried to make contact with them.   Also a note that I never once saw a stray cat in the city.  Only a few in windows, but never saw a stray running the streets. 
Lisa feed the birds while we ate and then we headed towards the Park.  We walked down Central Park West until we got to the Dakota Hotel.  This is of course where John Lennon lived and was killed and where Yoko Ono still lives today.  We walked passed all the pedicabs and entered the park at Strawberry Fields.  I sort of thought Central Park http://www.centralparknyc.org// would be like Golden Gate, and it is and isn't.  It is, as it's smack in the middle of the city, has streets for cars to cut through, and lots of people laying around enjoying the day.  But it is HUGE!!!  It also reminded me a bit of being in Giverny, France at Monet's Garden where every turn there was something pretty to take photos of.  It was very easy to navigate and just wander the park and admire the beauty of nature.   We found the Bethesda Fountain pretty quickly which lends you by the lake and the boat house.  While taking photos of the fountain I overheard a pedicab telling his fares to go see the Bow Bridge, so of course we followed.  On the way there we saw a bride on the way to her wedding which was taking place on the other side of the bridge and right on the lake.  Apparently, this bridge has been in many movies and TV shows (Sex & the City to Spiderman).  I found a bench in the shade and just sat back and enjoyed the view of the lake with boaters rowing by. 

 Bethesda Fountain

 The Lake

 The Boat House

 The Bow Bridge

The Bow Bridge

We continued walking pass some street performers and heading down towards the Mall.  This is an area canopied by Elm trees.   Again it's in a lot of movies and TV shows based in New York City.  The one I always think of is in When Harry Met Sally and they are walking to the Met Museum and it's all pretty in fall colors. 

The Mall

We wandered the park some more, stopping at the dairy gift shop and pass where the ice skating rink usually is onto the Gapstow bridge before exiting the park.

Gapstow Bridge

At this point we were both hungry as it was after 4 and we found another good Italian place around 5th Ave.  I had the Penne de Vodka, another great meal, but too big of a portion size for me to finish.   After lunch we walked towards Rockefeller Center to go to the Top of the Rock.  It was easy to find and we got tickets for the next group with only fifteen minute wait.   This time we did purchase a map identifying all the buildings you are looking at from the top.  In the elevator ride up to the top you get some weird light show on the ceiling. Once you are outside you see all of Manhattan and beyond.  The Top of the Rock gives you great views of Central Park since its closer then Empire State Building.  I didn't know there were 3 levels to the outside viewing area, so I ended up taking the same set of photos over and over.  But nothing like one guy I stood by who just held his shutter down for about five minutes and must have taken 500 photos in one spot, WHY?  

Central Park

Empire State Building

Prometheus at 30 Rock

After the Top of the Rock, my feet just didn't want to walk on anymore.  I seriously felt like I must be missing a toe or something horrific as I seriously couldn't stand on my own two feet.  But it was our last day of sightseeing and we were only 10 blocks away from Grand Central Station, so we shuffled over there.   On the way we stopped at Bryant Park, where Fashion week is held and Project Runways contestants showcase.  But today is was typical NY park where people read newspapers, played chess and met up with friends.   Behind the park is the NY Public Library with the two lion statues guarding the entrance.

 Bryant Park hotel/park

The Lion "Patience" guarding the NY Public Library

Grand Central Station is the center of transportation in the city.  For some reason I thought it was much bigger on TV (but then again doesn't everything look bigger on TV).  It has upper scale restaurants on the top level and simpler food on the bottom.

Glimpse of the Chrysler Building

 Exterior sculptor Transportation 

Interior of Grand Central Station

We wanted to end our trip with something special and since we weren't impress with the cheesecake at Carnegie, we decided to pass on the cheesecake from Juniors (also claiming to be the best cheesecake in NY) and headed to Serendipity instead, where I know they have the best ice cream.   We caught the subway to 59th St which drops you in front of Bloomingdale's and passed Dylan's candy shop and Magnolia Bakery on the way to the little campy storefront.  The interior is just as I imagined, you don't really know what is for display and what is for sale.  It's like some eccentric old woman's closet.  But it's worth it.  We had 45min wait and got to play with the cutest little Pomeranian while sitting outside.   Unfortunately, we got sat next to a table of 4 screaming kids.  One of the waiters even had to come tell them to quiet down or leave.  But once we ordered our ice cream or in my case their famous Frozen Hot Chocolate with peanut butter added, nothing really mattered.  I don't remember exactly what Lisa ordered, but it included chocolate ice cream with peanut butter and a ton of hot fudge.  It was sooo good and the perfect way to end out trip. 

 Exterior of Serendipity

Lisa and I enjoying our ice cream

We got back to the hotel after midnight, probably when most New Yorkers are just starting to head out for the evening, and started our packing up for our return home.  I didn't notice it during the trip, but apparently Lisa bought so much such that we had to have me sit on the suitcase to close it.  Luckily we had our olive oil purchases shipped home so there was nothing breakable in there.   Saturday we woke up and finished repacking our suitcases, hoping everything would return home with us in a timely manner and headed to the street to meet the airporter.  I was so exhausted by the time we boarded the plane and got in our seats, I fell asleep almost immediately on take off and didn't wake up until the last half hour of the movie the Vow (just in time to catch a glimpse of a shirtless Channing Tatum though). We arrived in Sacramento, after a slight delay through Denver and happy to see our luggage did too! My mom picked us up and I was happy to be home to see Lulu and Charlie greeting me with kisses and dog hair.   It was a great trip and I can't wait to go back and see everything I didn't have time for.