craig and kristin in the city and elsewhere...

various outings since our very long ago previous post...

2009-06-28T10:54:00.012-04:00

baltimore, brooklyn, lauren & jeff's wedding, central park, ninja 09 (nine inch nails/jane's addiction) at jone's beach...here is a miscellaneous upload of what we've been up to in 09...

coming soon...melissa & sean's wedding in chicago! and off to visit family for july 4th...

zane patrick's day at the knitting factory march 14, 2009...

2009-03-16T20:18:00.017-04:00

saturday we snuck out of work a little early to party with zane of three sheets and his tour de force, including jim the cop, steve mccenna and all the fans.

right away, zane cozied pleepleus the monkey into his pants. and steve sported the costume.
zane was tons of fun, of course.
me and "jim the cop", who boasts a terrible chugging time against zane and tonight, against fans!
craig beat "jim the cop" by landslides. nice.
our pleepleus jr's are affectionate. awww.
kristin double fistin'...
craig's "zane" pose...
now giving pleepleus jr. a sip of beer...
then biting pleep's head!
classic - me, zane, craig. we are having such fun!
so, this was way later in the afternoon. zane had been around entertaining, and wound up back on stage like this. and then there's steve, who looks like a zany dude.
zane being zane.
what a fun time. thanks, zane, for turning our weekend into a fantastic & fun time! three sheets!

february 2009 visit to reconnect with family and friends...

2009-02-15T14:12:00.026-05:00

baby jake, the reason we headed to indiana for an extended weekend...

big brother brady hanging out in a laundry basket...
brady posed for quite a few photos for his doting auntie kristin...

b&w brado...

brady with mom in background...

craig cuddles with his new nephew jacob...

proud mama kara with jake...

i loved seeing the babies!

brady loves to "hold" his little brother...
friday night out with the guys - corey, craig and dustin.

corey and djay...

fiona and kristin...

fi and chris...
saturday the family held a 4th birthday party for lauren...
this is jake's hair after a bath, naturally...how stylish!
lauren and her birthday gifts...
erica, lauren, hannah and dave...
ben watches his son with cousin hannah...
matching sisters hannah and lauren...
hannah is intent on her 'fancy nancy' puzzle...
best friends!
grandma cuddles jake...
the bojda girls!...and jake.
kara and ben with their sweet sons...
ben and grandma watch as brady delights in lauren's birthday cake...
grandma helps hannah with the puzzle...
auntie kristin and her favorite girls!
indy crew reunion! brooke, fiona and diana...
this time making faces...!
me, fi, di and brooke...
again...

and again...

corey and brooke in famous "couple" shot!...so cute.
djay, chris, craig, corey, dustin...
twin frost bros...

di, chris and craig...
college buds...
djay and corey...
djay loves his wife...
...and he loves craig...

my family - craig, mom, brian and alaina...

and again...
brian and his wife...

we want to thank everyone for such a wonderful weekend. we miss our people while we live so far away, and we so appreciate the warm welcome we receive when we come home! thanks to all and we hope to see you again soon! xoxo

city shuffle bar crawl of the east village...

2009-01-25T12:13:00.008-05:00

saturday we decided to use craig's city shuffle "playing" cards to do some discount drinking. adam and julie joined us at 11th Street bar for some old speckled hen...

and at this bar, we debated the differences of hot dog buns in the midwest and new england.

since 11th street offered free hot dogs with purchase of beer, we were able to physically understand the notion of a hot dog bun.
then we headed to b-side.

lindsay lohan, craig, julie and adam.

then it was off to crocodile lounge for free pizza and skee ball (and beer).
kristin, adam and julie (adam with free pizza).

kristin at crocodile lounge.

craig hails victorious over adam.

but they play best 2 out of 3.

above, craig shows off his pleeplius t-shirt. below, craig and julie battle it out and adam totes two curious georges.

kristin & craig.

adam & julie.

craig and kristin continued on to lunasa and big bar.

kristin at lunasa (which we kept calling lufthansa).

manhattan bar crawls are arguably the best time ever.

cheers!

stuff we did to kick off the holidays (posted a little bit late!)...

2009-01-13T21:51:00.010-05:00

we kicked off the celebration by hosting a holiday party...

these are our homemade cookies of which we were so proud...white choco chips, craisins and oatmeal...mmmm...

here are scott, alison and their baby-to-be!
and our ever-lovely amanda j.!

moyin and her best friend patrick joined us...

and julie and adam...

craig...

julie shook my little snowman snowglobe upon my request...

wet bar in a small apartment...hmm, it's efficient??
moyin and adam are my dexter "PhD" colleagues. here, i suspect they discuss the final episode...

moyin does not buy adam's thesis...

zane joins us via dvr'ed telecast!...from his NYC Pub crawl last year...
craig and adam...

julie, amanda and kate...

adam feeds julie one last bite of cheese.
no comment.
the expression on my face here says, this is not my hat.

"are you sure these are yours?"
peace, brothers.
so cute, these two, and everyone else who came to our party! more holiday cheer to come!

manhattan thanksgiving, friends, friends and more friends...

2008-12-02T18:45:00.012-05:00

it all began with craig's beautiful pumpkin pie.
then on the holiday itself, i threw together (painstakingly!) an amazing homemade dressing.
and homemade cranberry relish, complete with granny smith tart apples.

here's the naked bird - bone-in breast only.

amanda and mark are the first new york friends on the new couch!

paul is the next...
and here's the finished product, with a nice toasted paprika color and slivers of thyme!
saturday, en route to hawaii from miami (with a giant layover in nyc!) roger, mary and their baby alexander stopped by. this image depicts alexander's first ever bagel with cream cheese!

he makes faces.

uncle craig smiles while alex makes sure mom & dad are still in the room...
auntie kristin instructs alex to be a scholar...photo courtesy roger, the dad...
here's roger's first appearance, admiring his cute family in midtown manhattan.
in bryant park, mary discovered ornaments from 3 states she and roger have lived: texas, florida and washington dc!
this was roger's idea...
showing off our dSLRs!

we worked in that building when we first moved to nyc! on the 9th floor!
we found a mcfadden's for lunch. alex feeds.

food on his face somehow looks so cute!
and that is enough for one post! stay tuned for even cuter pictures of alex, and of the adults playing Wii after alex had gone to bed!! Happy Holidays to all!

it's been so long since i've posted so now i'm going to post a lot...

2008-11-28T09:09:00.009-05:00

my parents came to nyc for a pre-thanksgiving visit. central park is lovely as ever!

colors...

mom & dad! bundled up for the cold temps...
some of these are a little out of order because photo layout is acting up...washington square area...
bryant park christmas tree...

washington sq monument...

us at the park...earlier in the day...

beer! we took mom & dad to radegast in williamsburg, brooklyn so that they could have some fun (beer, sausage, kraut)...

lynn's mom was in town, too, so she came along!
jeff and lauren were the first to arrive. how proud i was to show them off to m&d!...

nice.

jeff rarely hams it up for the camera.
like here. why is he glancing at me while he schools my mom in blackberries??
lynn opts for a french fry.

her husband eric opts for beer.

picturesque radegast. always good times.
soulful conversations...

...more of them...

L&J!!

we're close to done.

...and, now we're done. thanks for coming out everyone!!! we love you all!

north in the park on a nice october day...

2008-10-04T17:08:00.008-04:00

today we went for lunch at genesis then headed to Central Park...

i told craig i wanted to see section north of the Jackie O Reservoir...nice tunnel, right?
me on a fallen log...
woods...
waterfall??? NYC?
i'm with the waterfall.
craig is resting briefly.
then we found the conservatory garden. lovely.
me with flowered arches.
we almost missed the fountain shown here...
note the rainbow! prior to shooting this photo, a bride and groom were having their photo shot with the fountain and the rainbow. romantic.
better view of the rainbow.
a thickly grown canopy...
lots of wrought iron...
me with canopy.
and here is the fountain from afar.
craig, with a washed out fountain behind him!
we had a great time. i think we walked 5 miles or so. that's a regular afternoon in new york for ya!

long weekend with craig in the city...

2008-09-21T13:40:00.009-04:00

we took friday off to spend some time in the city.

even though we had a rule of going only to places we had never been, we did make a return visit to spitzer's corner - they serve old speckled hen, my latest fave.
after some patrons left, we took command of the fish bowl seats.
craig loves sitting in fish bowl seats.
more of our view from the window.
i like this place a lot.
craig does too.
happy to be off on a friday!
later on we found a music store and finally purchased the much-anticipated guitar stand for craig's guitar in the living room!
cab door on wall.
saturday - look who we found! an impromptu radegast re-visit.
and we met new friends from germany and austria!!
they assisted us in enjoying the beautiful afternoon in brooklyn.
and they posed for hilarious photo ops...
...while the crew to my right concentrated on a friendly game of bullsh*t.
these guys were such comedians.
craig.
cheers to a grand staycation weekend!

saturday at radegast in williamsburg...we had fun!

2008-09-17T22:23:00.009-04:00

good times. here are lauren, adam and jeff, beginning a good time.

jeff drinks beer while andrew and craig smile for the camera.
the march brothers get crazy and craig just "smiles" for the camera.
lauren is not used to beers this size.
so she tries a gulp.
and likes it?
craig shows her how to do it right.
julie, adam, eric, shavonne, and emily...they are enjoying the card game.
Mmmm, fried food.
we love euchre, despite how bad i am at it!
andrew and amanda and craig...
lauren and jeff and amanda.
craig and megan...
and julie and adam...
amanda and megan...
julie and adam. they are so cute.
she questions his ideology.
pretty girls!
and more pretty girls!
at this point, we're all ready to go home. adam proves it. :)

labor day with friends in the city...LONG ISLAND city, that is...

2008-09-10T20:53:00.008-04:00

below framed is a photo of lauren and jeff, who hosted a totally relaxing labor day barbecue on the rooftop of their apartment building. once it became dark, we gathered in their apt.

eric's brother andrew had fun.
and craig thought i misappropriated the nikon when i shot this of him.
brotherly love: andrew compares his head size to eric's. or so it would appear.
eric appears oddly dejected here, and by the hand of jeff. but i don't think that is the case.
eric is much happier in sunglasses at night so he can so he can.
craig and megan are pretty positive i'm not using the nikon correctly. i think they are right.
shavonne, amanda and sharon eventually wind up trying to play michael jackson on the turntable. thank goodness jeff is around to hide his shameful 80's records.
sharon has either decided to help serve beer or double fist the chimay - either way, she's rad!
lauren begins to eat a strawberry...
with a dramatic finish!
i love this photo. sharon clearly suspects that jeff has no idea what he's talking about here, and yet jeff appears to believe he absolutely correct.
he's probably still going on about it. but that's why we love him. he's adamant.
and he takes late night photos of the owner of the nikon.
like, repeatedly.
so here he is, yet again guilty of opening another bottle.
some chimay...sigh.
and finally, he kicks us out so his fiance can sleep. otherwise, we'd have gone all night.
happy autumn, people!!

congratulations corey and brooke, installment 2 of 2

2008-09-02T21:01:00.012-04:00

wedded bliss!! brooke and corey tied the knot!
here they are coming down the aisle, the frosts!
two ushers, hans and craig.
me and craig.
a happy couple...
and another one!
chris delivers a speech that involves comedic musical interludes.
and they dance...
fi and dustin exchange a little romance of their own!
craig dances with fi...
and dances...
and dances! they are doing the twist.
then they pose for the photog.
lauren, craig and dwight. we haven't seen them in forever!!!
craig gives dusty love...
and he gives some to me!
and to the crowd!
craig, fiona and dusty take a break from the floor.
craig and "killah".
brooke has such a great circle of friends!!! congratulations to the newlyweds! we were happy to be with you for your special day!!!

congratulations corey & brooke...installment 1 of 2.

2008-08-25T15:26:00.015-04:00

this weekend we ventured to indiana to help corey and brooke celebrate their marriage. but first thing's first...we landed in indianapolis and drove to bloomington to meet Baby Jay. he is an adorable little IU fan!

uncle craig had the honor of toting Baby Jay, complete in IU garb, out of Yogi's (total IU bar)...poor boilermaker uncle craig!
215 e. 12th, where jen (Jay's mom) and i used to live together in college...
we snuck up on the porch to reminisce about all of the long philosophical talks we had there...
and this is 404 10th street, where i lived for one summer in my freshman roommate emily's house while she was in japan...and where jen and i spent many, many nights watching matchbox 20 on mtv!
later that night, we went to visit kara, ben and brady. here is brady...he's on his feet now!
brady and his uncle craig...
brady and aunt kristin giving hugs...
the next evening, we headed to the rehearsal for corey and brooke's wedding. corey and brooke are front right.
fiona holds baby anna, just born to john and liz.
brooke and corey rehearse the ceremony.
and they head down the aisle as practice.
i didn't get photos of the whole wedding party retreating, but here are sara and chris, the maid of honor and best man.
john holds his new daughter.
brooke and sara begin the rehearsal dinner with smiles at claddaugh's in indianapolis.
diana, craig, marcia and hans.
in front of books.
the gifts for the wedding party are handed out...
craig is given an autographed mini chicago bears helmet!
hans gets a colts helmet, also autographed.
and the best man, a purdue grad, opens his full sized helmet complete with the entire purdue football team's signature! such great gifts for these sports-loving guys!
the frost dad delivers a speech.
dustin and brooke.
diana, brooke, sara and me.
a whole gang of girls to help brooke celebrate!
dustin, craig and dustin's dad doug.
kristin and brooke.
djay and chris strike a pose. djay is dustin's bro.
brooke celebrates with family and friends.
corey and fi.
craig and liz (liz is mother to anna).
a group of well-wishers for corey and brooke.
the amateur photographer takes a break to pose.
corey, chris and djay.
this is the guy we called "terrence howard". it's not a secret as to why...!
i do adore the frost twins...they are so much fun!
twin brothers.
wedded bliss is soon to be theirs! i decidedly posted way too many pictures, so stay tuned for more photos of the wedding and reception. congratulations, corey & brooke!! have a safe and beautiful honeymoon and life together!!!

saturday with some of the most beautiful weather in new york...

2008-08-17T16:29:00.006-04:00

saturday morning we headed to williamsburg, brooklyn to just walk around.
there's a little lot just off N. 8th Street and Kent where you get rare views of Manhattan.
i liked this little table situated under a sign reading "public".
then we headed to our favorite of all favorite neighborhoods, alphabet city, to find a few places craig wanted to scope out. we fell into decibel...an interesting sake bar with lots of sake options.
craig is explaining how confused he is about the multiple sake options.
sake bottles, knick-knacks and writing on the wall...
craig has had some sake.
and have i.
more asian stuff.
then we went to jewel bako, allegedly one of the top 10 sushi restaurants in the City. craig wasn't overly pleased at the prospect of raw scallops. but we otherwise had a decent raw fish experience. it was relieving to be out and about in such nice weather. it was good for me.*

richmond gale in the city...

2008-07-27T16:40:00.009-04:00

this weekend, my dear friend from richmond traveled to see me and to keep me entertained in craig's absence (vegas baby)...below, her JG melon turkey burger luncheon

we went to a bar whose name pretty much sums up both of us!...
grizzly bill! gale, bill and i all lived in the same apartment building in richmond back when.
look who we found! at the auction house, lauren, amanda, jeff, andrew...
andrew and his brother peter...missing eric though (their third bro)...
amanda and jeff...
lauren went for a snack!
jeff and andrew eyeball the new iPhone belonging to jeff...lucky guy.
girls at bar
ok, this is the point where more than likely gale was convincing jeff to vote for obama.
next afternoon...steph made an appearance! here we are at bua on st. mark's place.
this guy took decent care of us at elaine's back in the neighborhood...
no, i'm not tipsy.
cute girls.
gale and kb, reunited after a two year void!!
thanks to all of the wonderful friends, and to gale for traveling here, who helped me have a fun-filled weekend in the city mid-summertime! thanks to the girls for their shoulders and ears. :)

statues on parade in new york city and other things...

2008-07-13T15:45:00.009-04:00

yesterday we left the apartment early to spend the day with new york. in preparation of the all star game at yankee stadium this week, MLB statues have been painted and placed around the city. we decided to find a few. below, one of our city's two teams.

we saw this strange (interesting?) art installation piece at rockefeller center...
and palm trees!
i love nyc...
craig loves nyc.
LA Dodgers...this is for our friend Roger.
commemorative shea - last season at shea stadium!

right outside of radio city music hall...
the cardinals were my first favorite baseball team...
washington nationals, also for roger.meet the mets, meet the mets...
the big baseball head i always avoid when at shea...
of course, we're mets fans.
brooklyn dodgers...

bo-sox. see wally in the reflection?
and finally, cubbies for my dad. maybe they will win the world series this year!
stock exchange.
last but not least, the much deserved red speckled hen at Bua, a new favorite Alphabet City spot.
here's to the all star break 2008!

4th of july weekend with the gordons in the city...

2008-07-06T11:02:00.011-04:00

brian and julie traveled to see us from cleveland to celebrate our nation's independence.
what more patriotic thing to do than to see the yankee - red sox game in the bronx?
i'm a johnny damon fan.
manny at bat...
yankee rbi's...
americans.
this is the last year for the house that ruth built.
after the game, we headed to spanish harlem for a barbecue.
jeff wonders why i shoot his picture while he polishes off a bojda burger.
cheers. mexican beer (pacifico) in spanish harlem on america's birthday?
lauren sips vino.
we left the barbecue (thanks, amanda!) to travel toward fireworks. this was our pre-show drink. gordo, where are you putting that money?
saturday we woke to a gloomy stormy day but went on the circle line cruise, anyway.
lower manhattan...
lady liberty...
from the east river...
pier 17...
manhattan bridge with water fall art installation. there are a total of 4.
there is another art piece beneath the brooklyn bridge...
the neighborhood craig and i dream one day we'll live...DUMBO.
full frontal...
LL with sailboat...
back on land, we traveled to soho for lunch.
to gear up for the allstar game at yankee stadium (july 15), an artist painted 42 statue of liberties in MLB garb and they are located through the city. this is his statue for himself.
american flags and empire state building.
we took gordo to the white sox MLB statue. here, two sox fans with statue.
craig with statue.
then we took the gordons to alphabet city. gordo ordered "his" beer.
kristin at the grape and grain...
we had an action-packed fun-filled weekend with our friends brian and julie. they are our first repeat visitors since we moved to nyc. thanks for coming, gordons! good times!

we were supposed to be packing to move but got distracted saturday afternoon...

2008-06-22T07:42:00.010-04:00

the weather was far too gorgeous for us to stay inside saturday...
so we walked across the Park to the Upper West Side for some food and drinks...

after a light lunch of chicken salads at Hi Life Cafe we stopped for spicy tuna rolls, sake and Sapporo...

then we found another outdoor bar where craig wondered if he could have gotten a smaller slice of lemon with his Hoegaarden...
and i fancied this Guiness glass (although that's Boddington, not Guiness!)

then we met new friends!

we had a great time, as usual, and probably should have been getting things done for our move next weekend, but...you only live once, right?? below, photos from a few nostalgic rock concerts...
having lunch outdoors at the nautical mile in freeport, long island before REM saturday, june 14...
hard to see, of course, but there's michael stipe and REM! after a 2-hour lightning storm delay we finally got to see two hours of amazing live performance by an old fave band...

by the time the show ended, we were drenched...
friday, june 20, 2008 we saw The Cure at Madison Square Garden...
not a great picture, but there's robert smith! thus ends our summer series of vintage/nostalgic rock concerts.

last saturday in the city, despite the summer heat...

2008-06-14T11:40:00.015-04:00

last weekend we headed out in the heat to see the city.
craig's favorite activity is to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.
we loved this blue building with the Manhattan Bridge in the background and a faded Empire State Building...
craig with the city...
this is a temporary art installation called the Telectroscope on the Brooklyn side of the bridge...a matching version exists in London by the Tower Bridge and New Yorkers can see Londoners (and vice versa) and they wave to each other through the giant lens at the end. interesting...
i love new york city.

craig has a cute look on his face. at this time, the East River was slapping against the rocks and shooting spray up at me. no one wants East River water on them.
lots of activity happening on the River...

i can't wait to get a telescopic lens for the nikon. these experiments with the 18-55mm wide angle lens are just okay.

we hung out in DUMBO (Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass) for much of the morning...
this is an art piece inspired by the colors of fresh fruits and vegetables...
by this time, temps had risen to the 90's. we headed to Madison Square Park in Manhattan for some barbecue...we tried The Checkered Pig's pulled pork and Blue Smoke's ribs...mmm. the heat didn't prevent New York from coming out for BBQ.
later we met up with our friend jeff. we took him to satsko for sake...
and sapporo...
and things got a little wacky.

more art.

...on another note, these photos below were sent to me by one of my best friends from IU. she was in town from London and we took her to a loft party in Brooklyn a few weekends back. i'll say we pretended to be rock stars there for a night! we loved having laura in town!

we took laura to satsko, too. the "crazy milk" sake we consumed likely contributed to the crazy dancing we did later at the party...

my my...

loft partied out?...
good times. it's always an adventure around here!

craig also took photos in south carolina with our olympus...

2008-06-11T21:52:00.007-04:00

above: the bojdas enjoy a night on the pier...below, the next day, craig finds beer at an outdoor beachfront bar!
the beach seems so calm from where we sit...
below: we are excited to eat at greg norman's. he's australian, and knows the grille.
there are a few spots on the face kb forgot to cover in sunscreen. hey, nose!
nice boat shot.
welcome to charleston.

back at myrtle beach, this is one of my favorite pictures of craig's parents!!
long pier.
from a boardwalk...ok, yes, even KISS endorses just about anything! (we did have an iced latte here and it was GOOD!...)
thus ends our SC vacation pics.

south carolina vacation with family...

2008-06-01T17:38:00.015-04:00

after meeting up sunday night, may 25th, first thing memorial day we hit the beach.
kara, ben and brady and below, little brady was just too difficult to resist photographing several times...

the view down our block...off the beach, but only a 5-minute walk. looks very suburban!
craig and i had a couple of beers at this quiet little beachfront bar...
how cute is this guy??
mom's got him!
craig's parents ed and joann prior to dinner at greg norman's australian grille...
wednesday, it was off to charleston to scope out some southern charm...
kb attempted to explore the nikon D40 again and again...yielding varying results!

ed wanted to stop and see basket weavers on the side of the road, but we all settled for this...textile artists right in the heart of charleston...
i had the chance to shoot a lot of spooky cemetery photos complete with spanish moss dripping from the trees...

then we headed to the magnolia plantation...
craig and his main favorite woman - mom!!!
i became very quickly obsessed with this cute red bridge in the middle of all the moss and the greens...
more spanish moss dangling over the water...
don't they just look content to be standing on my nice red bridge??
i had to capture the weird lavendar paired with the awesome red of the bridge...

quaint...
craig lured me into the swamp in search of gators. how funny that kara, ben and brady wound up seeing gators instead of us...kara's photos to follow, when she sends them...

but we did see this savage turtle camo'ed in moss...i bet he packs a mean punch!

are these blue bonnets?? i'm such a confused flower identifier.
craig liked this bridge.
hey, look! my first appearance on vacation!!
our last complete day, the morning offered overcast skies. so we went to a pier.

the end! more photos to come, once i sort through the pictures craig took on the other camera. so much fun to spend time with family...we look forward to doing it again!!

new york city on a saturday with the nikon d40, again...

2008-05-24T07:27:00.007-04:00

traveled about last saturday, may 17th with the new toy. nothing overly exciting happened but we were out and about.

this is a bar where we've seen our friend jeff on drums a couple of times. i'm also a huge fan of their seared tuna sandwich...

good use of a fire escape...
a park in the City...
our favorite place to eat fusion sushi and drink sake...
tagging seen from against the grain (another favorite alphabet city hot spot)...

craig at satsko sake bar...

craig and kristin travel to central park with the new nikon d40...

2008-05-10T18:03:00.006-04:00

today we took my expensive new toy and tried to make sense of it in Central Park...
batman made a weird appearance on bicycle, but of course, it is nyc...
craig watches Park activity. despite the slight overcast sky, lots of new yorkers and tourists were out to enjoy the onset of spring...
above: i'm concerned and am reading the owner's manual. below: craig swears he took this picture. he's got me convinced now that he did!
below: the first picture was shot in "normal" mode, the shot below it in "vivid" mode. is "vivid" a real representation?? i'm going to go with YES.
happy mother's day tomorrow to both of our mothers! i took more than enough flower pics.

congratulations to our good friends on their marriage...

2008-05-04T10:40:00.008-04:00

on our way to the church for brian and julie's wedding, i got to hang out with alexander lew in the back seat of the rental SUV. alexander is an infant superstar with his auntie kb as paparazzi...below, roger and craig "tailgate" (sans beer) before brian's wedding. only fitting!
alexander's first wedding...
brian's mom escorts the nervous groom down the aisle...
julie accompanied by dad...
congratulations to the gordons!
kristin, roger and craig reunited...

craig, kristin, mary, alexander and roger...

above: alexander's first hummer limosine experience (he hopes not his last!)
above: alexander gets to know his auntie kb and likes it! (below: or does he...?)old detroit roommates...
best wishes to the gordons as they enter a new chapter of their lives. we love you guys! xoxo

turning 31 in nyc and burlington, vt...

2008-04-20T21:10:00.014-04:00

we kicked off my 31st birthday the night before at satsko sake bar with the help of ricardo...

and a bar-friendly bird who stayed relatively sober...
then thursday afternoon we scoped out manhattan establishments such as vol de nuit...
craig stands against the backdrop of the Empire State Building...

and friday morning we left for vermont.

craig with mountains from the essex ferry...

again...

and the birthday girl with mountains

below is a photo of our bed & breakfast - so nice...

and our room...

the pedestrian mall along church street in burlington...

and kb, glad to be away from the grind!

craig loves gary, indiana...

a beautiful dusk scene as we retreated to freshen up before a night out...

lattes at "muddy waters"...cute name for a coffee shop!

mountains seen from the distance...
kristin enjoys the 70 degrees and sunny day...

so does craig!

we had an amazing time in vermont and can't wait to go back to burlington...what a great town!

last opening day at shea stadium...1964-2008

2008-04-08T18:30:00.006-04:00

today we left work early to head to shea stadium for the last opening day at shea...
the tall stately building in the backdrop of shea is the new mets' stadium, citi field...coming 2009

here are our 2008 new york mets...
thus is thrown the final first pitch at shea!
another nice view from our seats behind home plate, mezzanine level, of shea and citi...

two mets fans grin and bear the eventual loss against the phillies...
craig stands with citi field behind him, proud as can be!

in the distance is the 7 train which runs parallel with roosevelt ave in queens and which carries the faithful fans to and from the games...
the mets lose their home opener, and fans head to the manhattan-bound 7...

and we couldn't believe our eyes, the crowds! hey, these people love their mets, win or lose!

out and about on a spring saturday...

2008-04-01T18:35:00.006-04:00

this past saturday we headed to the west village and ate breakfast at a little diner, following it up with a delicious vanilla latte from the 11th Street Cafe pictured below...

while i snapped an overabundance of west village photographs, it's difficult to do the quaint little neighborhood justice in pictures. it's much more satisfying to walk the streets...
although, i think these street vendors were nearer soho...

of course, the Empire State Building is never far from view...
then we ducked into a bar we saw on the MOJO show "three sheets"...LEDERHOSEN!

evidence: lederhosen on the wall behind craig's head!
german beer taps only. no miller lite here, folks!! craig even tried a beer brewed since 1040...

german girl in a german bar...
then craig surprised me by reminding me that i had wanted to scope out the french culinary institute in soho...(we're touring it on my birthday in two weeks!)
and he went on to surprise me with a stroll past heath ledger's apartment...we paid our respects.

this picture is nearly identical (we recreated it) to a photo i snapped of craig on a visit to this same exact bar back in 2002...
and then of course here's me and my other boyfriend zane, the host of "three sheets"! cheers!

penn station to huntington to see brian and aubree...

2008-02-24T16:33:00.006-05:00

saturday we joined our friends brian and aubree and their friends jim and carrie for dinner on long island. mac's steakhouse in huntington treated us right.
carrie and jim...

craig and me...
me and my girl aubz...
she's so pretty!

craig and brian...
thanks to brian and aubree for good food, drinks and fun!

saturday in the city with alison and scott...

2008-02-17T17:38:00.004-05:00

we had originally planned to celebrate valentine's day saturday the 16th (my mom's bday!) but changed plans to instead tour manhattan with alison and scott... alison and i found delight in the tagged walls of the dinosaur bbq bathroom...

craig, scott and alison...
kristin, scott and craig...
alison thanks ricardo for a sake bomb at satsko (as seen on Three Sheets Manhattan!!)

we love being new yorkers!!

new york knicks versus indiana pacers at madison square garden...

2008-02-09T09:21:00.001-05:00

last week we went to our first new york knicks game at madison square garden. craig's subcontractor took us for seafood beforehand and treated us to 5th row center court seats...

our view from our seats...
plaxico burress with daughter...
superbowl champions the new york giants spilled onto the court for an appearance shortly following their 2008 victory...
here's me at the garden...it was tight but the pacers won...

spending a saturday out and about...

2008-02-04T18:44:00.000-05:00

we went to our friend's modern dance recital saturday in the hell's kitchen neighborhood and following the show grabbed wine and appetizers with our other friend amanda, who ushered for the show...
this is me and amanda loving our window seat at this cute wine bar... after that, craig and i headed to brooklyn to eat a "gift" dinner on one of his subcontractors (their christmas gift to him)...and after an interesting dinner at giando on the water overlooking manhattan, we headed to against the grain in the east village, where we previously attended megan's birthday party (we really dig this place, megan, thanks for introducing us to it!)

belgian beer. only the finest.

first midwest wedding of three for the 08 season...

2008-01-27T16:57:00.000-05:00

saturday we woke up at 3.30 a.m. and traveled by plane from new york to cincinnati for paul and karen's wedding. for lunch, we ducked into the cock and bull on main street in covington, ky.
this is what a pint of beer looks like in covington, ky. oddly, closely resembles that of a pint in nyc.
the reception was held at the madison grand ballroom in covington. very convenient location near our hotel. this is their gift table early on before the wedding party arrived.
karen and paul wojo, together forever.

us at our table, strategically located close to the bar.our new friends caryn and matt who live and work in chicago - friends of karen's.this is my best friend from college's husband's cousin dave. it's a very weird story, how we are all connected. but to make a long story short, my best friend from college's husband's cousin went to college with paul. small, small world...dave officially meets "purdue boyfriend" (my best friend from college's nickname for craig.)wojo, happy to be married and to be off to mexico shortly on a long, well-deserved honeymoon...
congratulations, karen and paul!! we were so happy to be there with you for your special day.

weekend with new and old friends

2008-01-21T20:16:00.001-05:00

out for korean with jeff and craig at st. mark's place...

following an explosive performance by tim fite, here are the boys at the bar:
and here is kb, looking gleeful as ever:
kb and craig pose for a blurry grainy pub shot:
and sunday we had plans to go meet mr. langston. below is the "keeping kids cool everywhere" hoodie i found for langston at st. mark's place the night before:

langston recently outgrew his cbgb tee that craig and i mailed to LA as a birth gift. below you can see how cool this kid is and just why he should be sporting such cool gear:

and here i am with jen, the doting mother of langston - a reunion of sorts. i miss jen but am happy to have seen her with her husband and beautiful baby boy - who is made only cooler by me and craig! yeah.

saturday in the park...

2008-01-13T13:26:00.001-05:00

we spent a few hours saturday morning strolling central park. it's only a 15-minute walk from our apartment but we never seem to spend enough time there...

stopping to rest on the nice old wooden benches near the literary walk at the southern tip of CP
we found the rocks that overlook wollman rink...
more pics to come.

new york city christmas and a happy new year...

2008-01-06T10:42:00.000-05:00

during the christmas season we like to walk in the city and see the festive lights...
we love the empire state building in particular - what new yorker doesn't?? these are photos from our stroll in mid-december pre-cabo...
bundled up on a cold night in bryant park...
craig favors the chrysler building.
rockefeller center...

back from cabo and mostly recovered, we decided to scope out a neighborhood near soho new year's eve day...
craig wishes kara a happy new year from vol de nuit...
in our apartment prior to heading out for our new year's eve reservations...
we started out the night with a couple of belgian beers at b. cafe at 75th and 2nd.

then we headed to the upper west side to ring in 2008 with our friends.
jeff and lauren late 2007...

i wanted a picture in front of sharon's wall o'books...
happy new year from new york city!

uno mas cerveza...y tequila...y margarita...no mas!

2007-12-29T14:02:00.001-05:00

for christmas (feliz navidad!) we decided to escape the bustle and cold of the city and head to cabo san lucas, mexico. pictured here is the view from our room at our hotel the riu santa fe in the baja peninsula. here is craig on the balcony overlooking our view 12/24/07. here i am 12/22/07-12/23/07 (early a.m. of the 23rd) after a long day of traveling beginning in laguardia, stopping in nashville, laying over in dallas/ft. worth and finally arriving in our destination at the san jose airport. as promised our room was equipped with a stocked mini fridge containing corona, bottled water and pop. we opted for the obvious. this is the infiniti pool, spelled as such, which overlooks "the specific", as we called the Pacific.

our first full day (the 23rd) was somewhat overcast, but we didn't let that keep us from exploring the resort and its plenty pools, bars, eats and the beach.

craig with beer and mets pride standing in front of the stretch of beach outside our resort. behind him rises "Land's End," of which we later saw much more.

the overcast day, the 23rd, was the only day we actually laid on the beach itself. the pools were so nice...

ok, so our second full day delivered exactly what we hoped: blue skies, warm temps and sunshine, sunshine.

here i am as we began our walk along the beach. craig wanted to scope out cantinas and the marina, which embarked us on about a forty-five minute walk with stops along the way. by the time we hit the marina, many "la cerveza de pacificos" had been had!

tobasco beach cafe y cantina was our first stop. we loved sitting here watching the sky divers land on the beach and the cruise ships on the horizon. the signs posted here were comical...

craig enjoyed a pacifico and we happily discovered most cantinas serve cervezas 2 for 1...

...which helped save the pesos!

we ducked into mango beach for lunch and to further enjoy the views. by this time, our skin needed a break from the mexican sun so we sat under cover.

here we found delight in the silly mango murals doing various things with tequila or cerveza in hand, here happily pointing out the direction of el banos...

and we made it to the marina.

after walking around a while, we jumped into a taxi and headed back to the resort for showers and to throw on some night life gear. so the night life began...to cabo wabo for a waborita!

one tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor...

and then we met some friends the next day by the swim-up bar. they were a blend of people from down shore (jersey), memphis, chicago, toronto and milwaukee. (see me with closed eyes...it was that mexican sun or all the laughing we did - i'm not sure which!...surely not the cervezas??)

these two from memphis were a hoot - steve and doug...

and our new friends michelle and al from jersey hung out with us often. they will be a good new couple to meet for dinner in manhattan! hi michelle and al!

we like mexican music...
one day craig managed to get me in a boat, despite my overwhelming fear of the ocean. um, not this boat:
rather, this boat:
on our boat tour, which was glass-bottomed, we saw little fishies and a whole mess of sea lions flopping on top of one another on a rock formation. we also saw the famed Land's End arch, lots of crashing waves, Lover's Beach where we drank modelo from a can, and a lot of warm sunshine, sand and sky...

our whole week in mexico was perfect, relaxing, a nice blend of craig~kristin alone time and socializing with other resort loungers from around the country and even some canadians along the way. cabo was far from home, but well, well worth it... ah, cabo!