Back from NYC

I went to NYC for a wedding during Memorial Day weekend. It was fabulous. It was my first time visiting there and I loved it. I will definitely go back someday.

Places that DH and I checked out:
- Ellis Island - hard to believe they crammed so many people in those waiting rooms...DH's mom came to the US via Ellis Island from Austria so it was meaningful for him to see the place.
- Statue of Liberty
- Central Park (our hotel was only 2-3 blocks away aptly called...Park Central)
- had lunch at Serendipity 3 -- as in the famous restaurant featured in "Serendipity" with John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale (only one of my most fave movies ever!)
- Top of the Rock at the Rockefeller Center
- Times Square
- Dinner at Sushi Samba (same place in Sex and the City where Samantha poured a drink on Richard)


I loved Fifth Avenue especially Bloomingdale's and Henri Bendel. I did check out Bergdorf Goodman as well although I didn't buy anything from there. The sales weren't as good (as you guys know I never pay retail for my designer stuff except for the LV) and it was the same stuff I can find at Macy's marked down for more. I was tempted to get these Tory Burch sandals that were really pretty and on clearance...but I didn't. I really like Havaianas in the warm weather anyway.

I bought some clothes on sale at Bloomie's. Hubby bought me a pair of So Low pants. I got a So Low hoodie (not matching the pants though) and a top. And I really adored Henri Bendel. There's quite no other store like it. It's like a twenty something girl's candy shop, like Sephora but this one's better because it has accessories and clothes too! Sigh I wish we had one here. I got a Blair Waldorf looking headband from there. Long story short I should have bought more stuff but I was worried that if I go their perfume (Bendelirious is really yummy smelling!!! and I am not big on perfume and don't like a lot of dept store perfumes...they are too strong for me or tend to smell alike) that they will make toss it at the airport. So I am ordering it through their website and also the same headband I have but in pink. I haven't bought perfume in about 6 years so this the $72 for Bendelirious is a worthwhile splurge. It's another reason I don't want to risk it being confiscated at the airport because it wasn't cheap. Anyway, I don't wear perfume everyday so it's going to last. I tend to wear random body sprays or little samples that I don't particularly like, I just have it or it was given to me...well maybe not becasue now I might be inclined to wear it everyday :)

I am bummed that they dont sell their headbands online but you can do it through their concierge (get everything else in their store not showin in the website). I also adored the jewelry and purses which are in the website, so maybe for my birthday I'll mark down my favorites and ask for them :)

The wedding was in a yacht club in Long Island and it was a pretty grand wedding. I'm sure they got a good rate for holding it on Memorial Day but they had a lot of food and extras (like servers taking your drink orders from the bar during dinner. For our wedding we closed the open bar during dinner and just had wine, then reopened it afterwards).

Went to see Confessions of a Shopaholic

On Thursday, I went with my friend to see Confessions of a Shopaholic. We had dinner at this Chinese restaurant that just opened up by the theatre. I had a kung pao chicken rice plate and an iced tea that cost about $7.27 with tax. It was pretty good and I had leftovers, which I took for lunch the next day.

For the movie, I will admit that we pulled out our college IDs to get a 25 cent discount. It still cost $8.50 though! I also bought a small popcorn and a medium sprite that cost about $8. Pretty pricey but still cheaper than if we went shopping our out to the bars or something like that.

As for the movie, I read all the Shopaholic books, so I could see that the screenwriters took a lot of liberty in changing a ton of things. For starters, Luke was Becky's boss instead of being an owner of a financial PR firm. I didn' thave a problem with that, I thought it gave the story a nice little spin. The biggest issue I had was perhaps the fact that Bex was American and not Brit... :(

Otherwise it was good, I think I will buy the DVD just because I like to own these sorts of feel good chick flicks to watch when I'm bored or doing chores :) I have viewed my copy of the Devil Wears Prada tons of times!

Speaking of DVDs, Twilight comes out next Saturday (not Tuesday, which is weird) the 21st. I am reading the second book, New Moon, at the moment (i got the first two books as a Christmas gift from my BFF). I like it better than Twilight, but you bet that I'll be renting a copy of the movie next weekend. I am interested to see how they are translating this into the big screen. Did anyone see the movie in the theatre?

Signed up for the ice show

After my lesson on Saturday, I signed up for this year's ice show which will be in June. It will be 2 performances. The $90 fee covers the ice time for 4 rehearsals and costume. I'm pretty sure a small portion will also go to the coach/choreographer who will be putting together our number, but it can't be much since ice time is quite costly by itself already.

I'm pretty excited because I already have my y-spiral which I didn't have last year (i just did a plain forward spiral). Also my salchow is more consistent and looks plain better. Last year I was still too nervous about it so I stuck with the waltz jump-ballet jump combination at the show and rehearsals. I don't think I can do a salchow-toe loop combination yet --i can do them in isolation though-- since I still have a problem with picking my toe down right away after landing the first jump :P we'll see how I progress between now and May (start of rehearsals).

The $90 fee doesn't cover the souvenir hoodie, which I still want to get since I wear hoodies a lot. Last year, the hoodie cost $35. Hubby and I are fine with these costs, but I wonder about families with multiple children that skate, it must get really expensive. And how do you tell them they can't be in the show since the lessons by itself cost a lot already? Must be tough...

Went to a bridal shower today

I went to a bridal shower for the New York we are attending in Labor Day weekend. The girl is from NY but she has moved here to be with her fiance and now they live together. I am not particularly close with the bride-to-be (DH is friends with her fiance) but I am guessing that her future-mother-in-law invited all the female guests that live in IL for the shower and she doesn't have a lot of friends yet since she moved here. But the bride-to-be is a nice girl. I know that she had a separate shower/bachelorette party in NY since the rest of her family and friends are still there. It was ok because I got seated with the other wives of my DH's friends whom I have known from past parties and whose weddings we attended.

So the shower was at Maggiano's, and it was my first time there. The food was amazing...we had ravioli, mastachioli (sp?), chicken with mushrooms, some beef with spinach and crab cakes. For dessert we had tiramisu and cream puffs with ice cream. Yum.

I got her the Kate Spade Darling Point 8" x 10" frame from her registry. It' so cute, I wanted it for myself! It was more than what I was willing to spend, as I originally planned to look in the $50 range only...but it was so cute! The frame was $75. I had a Macy's credit for $13 but with the 10.25 tax and stuff I think it was $76 all in all. I also figured that DH is good pals with the groom-to-be anyway. I showed hubby the receipt but just as I thought, he didn't freak out because guys could care less. We had the money for it so I just paid off the bill from my macy's card when it arrived. Another reason I just went ahead with this item was because I bought it at the State Street location and walked there from work. The rest of the items on her registry that were in the $50 and below range were mostly crystal such as wine glasses, pitchers, vases...I really didn't want to be hauling such a bulky package back to work, and also have to carry it around as I look for a seat in the afternoon train (my train is always crowded and I always end up sitting on the stairwell). I didn't want the items to get damaged neither, and it was just more convenient for me to go shopping right at lunchtime rather than do it on the weekend.

Anyway when she opened it today she gasped upon seeing the box, and was like, "OMG this is the frame I was DYING for!" and had a big smile on her face. As a fellow Kate Spade fan I could relate. I am sure that the frame will find a nice place in their home :)

Free money

I love free money. My work announced that they are putting in additional money into the employees' 401(k) based on the company performance. So this is money in additional to the amount that they match to our contributions. There is a formula that involves the percentage they are putting in x your yearly salary etc etc, but it usually amounts to a couple hundred bucks. I think last year I got about an additional $400 - $500 in my account due to this.

I am very grateful because I didn't think they would do this in light of the recent economy but they still did...no complaints here!

I heart UnderArmour

I love UnderArmour Coldgear workout clothes for skating. I own the pants and they are worth every cent of the $60 I spent on them. They are super warm, and have a nice stretch so I can still move as I please on the ice even with doing spirals and lunges. The pants stop at just above the ankle so unlike my other sweatpants, no dragging. Anyway, I was at Nordstrom today after a bridal shower in Maggiano's in the same mall, and found that they had the UA ColdGear turtlenecks on sale. The fabric is the same as the pants and they fit just as nice. The only color left was light blue but it was in my size so I went ahead and bought one. At least I won't have to wear 2 or 3 layers anymore during my lesson. I usually have a long sleeved tee under a pull over hoodie which my coach doesn't really like because she can't really tell if I was hunching my shoulders or not...so I switched to using Juicy zip up hoodies which are more fitted, but they are not as thick so I wear my Joffrey Ballet zip up (w/o a hood) over them. But with the UA turtleneck, I can do without the extra layers. The turtleneck retails for $50 but with the sale and tax I got it for $39. I think I will wait for sales now when buying more in the future. Anyway I didn't realize this till I got home, but the light blue color of the top matches the light blue leg warmers I bought for ballet/skating a few weeks ago. I was also hoping to find the Coldgear pants on sale but they didn't have them in Nordstrom which I expected because I searched around online and other places but they had the same price everywhere I paid for it. As for hubby, he bought a pair of tennis court shoes from the pro shop at his tennis club/school for $65. He said they fit well and they were on sale from $80 and since I was "getting a bonus anyway", he figured they could be "my gift to him". lol.

Frugal afternoon

I decided to take advantage of the rare 40 degree weather in the city and went ice skating after work at Millennium Park. It is closing next week for the season so it would be nice to take advantage of it a few more times anyway. I didn't have to rent skates so I didn't pay anything except for $1 in quarters for a locker. I was actually sweating as I was gliding and practicing some moves (even attempted a sit spin, only got around 1 1/2 times, boo) because it was warmer than I expected. I kept my ski jacket on because underneath I only had my cardigan and top from work. I should have brought a hoodie to move around in or something. And I was tempted to take my jacket off, but then my cellphone and locker key were in the pockets, so I didn't.

Anyways it was a blast and before I knew it, the designated time for me to leave so I can catch my train had come. The weather is nice again tomorrow but I can't go because I'm going to dinner and see He's Not That Into You with a friend after work. Friday I have my ballet class, so no skating again till Saturday.