Just thought we'd let you know about what's going on in our lives right now. :)
We rented out our apartment in New York for the Fall semester and we moved to Florida. Yup. No job, no place to stay, no contacts to speak of, and no car. Fun, huh?
It's always been one of Isa's dreams to work at Disney World. So we saved up a little, she took a semester off of school, and we booked a one-way trip to Orlando. We rented a car for a week, got an extended stay hotel, and hoped everything would just work out.
Isa had her character/parade performer audition on Thursday, Aug 19. She did phenomenally well. Of the starting 150+ applicants, she made it all the way to the end (while I waited oh-so-patiently in the hallway for over 3 hours). She had a lot of fun and we're really confident they'll call soon with a position for her.
As for me, I tried to walk right into the casting center and get a job on the spot, but they require all employees go through the online application process. So I'm in their system awaiting an open sales position.
Pray for us, cross your fingers, and send positive thoughts our way that Disney calls back soon. We've returned our rental car to save some money, so now we're stuck in our "resort-esque" apartment complex, killing time by swimming in the pool, walking to Publix for groceries, and watching the Disney Channel.
But before we were stuck without transportation, we took a day-trip over to Cocoa Beach for some fun in the sand. We ran into a nest of some baby turtles hatching. Check it out (you may want to pause the music player first):
Friday, August 27, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
New York City for a Week
After a month in Canada and a week-long road trip through the West, we finally made it back home to the Bronx. It's nice to be home. :) After a few days to relax, we headed down to New Jersey for my Nana's birthday party.
The whole family gathered down at Aunt Jeanmarie's house for the party, which also doubled as a birthday party for Uncle Peter, and a 25th anniversary party for Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Patty. But as much as we love all them, it was an excuse for us to be stupid on a diving board.
After failing miserably at no handed cartwheels, barrel-roll dives, and 1 1/2 flip/dives and hitting the water at various painful angles (watch the video I put together of all our craziness), we played some wiffle ball and ate A LOT of food.
Sunday we went to church and to Chris's Spartan Race. If you don't know what a Spartan Race is, watch this video. This is how Chris looked at the end of the race.
Monday was our only day to play in the City, so we took our Key to the City (remember that?) and went over to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and opened a side chapel there. This was our second time there. We went with Esther and Marie a few months ago and climbed to the top. It claims to be the largest cathedral in the world.
After that, we went to Bryant Park for our favorite use of the Key. We turned on and off one of the lights. This light:
Super fun. :) I'll post a video of that soon.
Then we went home, packed, and took off on a plane for our next adventure: Florida. Stay tuned for that fun story soon.
The whole family gathered down at Aunt Jeanmarie's house for the party, which also doubled as a birthday party for Uncle Peter, and a 25th anniversary party for Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Patty. But as much as we love all them, it was an excuse for us to be stupid on a diving board.
After failing miserably at no handed cartwheels, barrel-roll dives, and 1 1/2 flip/dives and hitting the water at various painful angles (watch the video I put together of all our craziness), we played some wiffle ball and ate A LOT of food.
Sunday we went to church and to Chris's Spartan Race. If you don't know what a Spartan Race is, watch this video. This is how Chris looked at the end of the race.
Monday was our only day to play in the City, so we took our Key to the City (remember that?) and went over to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and opened a side chapel there. This was our second time there. We went with Esther and Marie a few months ago and climbed to the top. It claims to be the largest cathedral in the world.
After that, we went to Bryant Park for our favorite use of the Key. We turned on and off one of the lights. This light:
Super fun. :) I'll post a video of that soon.
Then we went home, packed, and took off on a plane for our next adventure: Florida. Stay tuned for that fun story soon.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Temple Square to Las Vegas ROAD TRIP!!
After Spokane, Isa and I flew down to Salt Lake City to see friends and stuff. Isa had never been to Utah (or Vegas) so we wanted to do and see as much as possible. So we started out at Temple Square. If you haven't been there, you should go. It's really pretty and not just for mormons. We were there on a Friday so we played "spot the bride" most of the time. There were plenty of newlyweds around and it's always fun to see (and judge) the wedding gowns they chose.
I had never been up to the top of the church office building, so we did that. It's really cool and offers fantastic views of the capital building, the temple, the grounds, and the conference center.
The guides up top are also full of cool little insights too, so I highly recommend you talk to them. For example, did you know the capital building is built on a foundation of rubber pillars, allowing it to sway up to 2 feet in any direction in case of an earthquake (which is apparently long overdue).
After a day in SLC, we took off down toward Vegas. We made a stop in St. George to go on a little hike. We went up to Snow Canyon and hiked the sand dunes (which are super cool and really fun to see the wind whipping across them - and then pelting you which is not as fun) and then we went over to Jenny's Canyon. It's a really small canyon, but it gives you a good example (albeit on a MUCH smaller scale) of what Zion's canyons look like.
After our hike, we went on to Vegas, which is always farther than I think. If you've ever driven to Vegas, you know what I mean. I always think, "This is it... Just up and around this bend and you'll see Vegas." And then it's still not there for another 50 miles. Boo. But we finally made it and visited with my little brother Jason and his family (wife Christy, 3-year-old Ty, and baby Madison Jayne). We went to dinner and to see their new house (a ridiculous 5-bedroom house that they can actually afford because of the housing crisis in Vegas) and then we headed in to play on the strip.
We saw the volcano explode at the Mirage, we walked through the Venetian through the Grand Canal, and of course we saw the water show at the Bellagio.
Vegas has also changed a lot since I was last there. The whole new Aria and City Center right in the middle of the Strip was new to me. And I don't remember the Encore next to the Wynn either. But of all the new things that I noticed, probably the most surprising was a wonderful little restaurant out front of Caesar's Palace. (Go ahead and click on the picture to enlarge it.)
Yeah! Serendipity 3 is there now, complete with $10 Frrrozen Hot Chocolates. MMMmmm. Vegas baby, YEAH!!
I had never been up to the top of the church office building, so we did that. It's really cool and offers fantastic views of the capital building, the temple, the grounds, and the conference center.
The guides up top are also full of cool little insights too, so I highly recommend you talk to them. For example, did you know the capital building is built on a foundation of rubber pillars, allowing it to sway up to 2 feet in any direction in case of an earthquake (which is apparently long overdue).
After a day in SLC, we took off down toward Vegas. We made a stop in St. George to go on a little hike. We went up to Snow Canyon and hiked the sand dunes (which are super cool and really fun to see the wind whipping across them - and then pelting you which is not as fun) and then we went over to Jenny's Canyon. It's a really small canyon, but it gives you a good example (albeit on a MUCH smaller scale) of what Zion's canyons look like.
After our hike, we went on to Vegas, which is always farther than I think. If you've ever driven to Vegas, you know what I mean. I always think, "This is it... Just up and around this bend and you'll see Vegas." And then it's still not there for another 50 miles. Boo. But we finally made it and visited with my little brother Jason and his family (wife Christy, 3-year-old Ty, and baby Madison Jayne). We went to dinner and to see their new house (a ridiculous 5-bedroom house that they can actually afford because of the housing crisis in Vegas) and then we headed in to play on the strip.
We saw the volcano explode at the Mirage, we walked through the Venetian through the Grand Canal, and of course we saw the water show at the Bellagio.
Vegas has also changed a lot since I was last there. The whole new Aria and City Center right in the middle of the Strip was new to me. And I don't remember the Encore next to the Wynn either. But of all the new things that I noticed, probably the most surprising was a wonderful little restaurant out front of Caesar's Palace. (Go ahead and click on the picture to enlarge it.)
Yeah! Serendipity 3 is there now, complete with $10 Frrrozen Hot Chocolates. MMMmmm. Vegas baby, YEAH!!
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Spokane! (with the Grandparents)
After our month-long stint in Canada (which started out as a 12-day job, but they kept asking us to extend and wow! that turned into a long month) we flew down to Spokane, WA to visit with Isa's grandparents. They weren't able to make the trip out to New York for our wedding in December, so we wanted to see them (well, I just wanted to meet them).
They were great! We really enjoyed staying with them. We ate on the patio each night. (Apparently, Spokane doesn't have any bugs. Seriously.) And we went around town and did fun things like going to the local swimming pool, playing around in the fancy, shmancy Davenport Hotel (which was a lot of fun - we went into the ballroom and danced, jumped, and goofed off. I'm sure those pictures will end up on Isa's facebook eventually) and we took Grandpa to an antique Hudson car show:
It was fun to see Grandpa in his element. :) He pointed out the "Jet" model that he used to drive years ago. It was really interesting and amazing to see pictures of the restoration jobs that these people did on their cars. They look like new now, but they had pictures of the broken, rusted hunk of metal they found them as, and then slowly but surely they turned it back into a brand new (looking) car. Crazy.
We also played a lot with McGuinness - their scottish terrier. We learned a lot about Scotties. They come in three colors - Black, Brindle, and the most rare: Wheaton (the color of a Guinness beer).
Overall, it was a great little trip. It was really nice to get out of a hotel and into a real bed and a real home. But mostly, I was happy to make some new memories with Isa and her grandpa. :)
They were great! We really enjoyed staying with them. We ate on the patio each night. (Apparently, Spokane doesn't have any bugs. Seriously.) And we went around town and did fun things like going to the local swimming pool, playing around in the fancy, shmancy Davenport Hotel (which was a lot of fun - we went into the ballroom and danced, jumped, and goofed off. I'm sure those pictures will end up on Isa's facebook eventually) and we took Grandpa to an antique Hudson car show:
It was fun to see Grandpa in his element. :) He pointed out the "Jet" model that he used to drive years ago. It was really interesting and amazing to see pictures of the restoration jobs that these people did on their cars. They look like new now, but they had pictures of the broken, rusted hunk of metal they found them as, and then slowly but surely they turned it back into a brand new (looking) car. Crazy.
We also played a lot with McGuinness - their scottish terrier. We learned a lot about Scotties. They come in three colors - Black, Brindle, and the most rare: Wheaton (the color of a Guinness beer).
Overall, it was a great little trip. It was really nice to get out of a hotel and into a real bed and a real home. But mostly, I was happy to make some new memories with Isa and her grandpa. :)
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Edmonton!
After our little stint in Calgary, we were asked to go up to Edmonton to set up and help out at a booth at their Capital EX. The booth ended up looking really cool.
Working with Del Sol is always fun, but this booth was particularly great because we got a lot of press. I did 4 different TV interviews and Isa and I both did a radio interview talking about Del Sol products.
The other nice thing is that Isa and I were able to go to church both Sundays we were in Edmonton. Here's a pic of the student ward we went to:
Other than work and church, we went to the West Edmonton Mall. Isa had never been, so we had to make a trip out there. We walked around for a while and ended up seeing Inception. It was AWESOME.
We also went to Heritage Days, which is a huge festival (bigger than the Capital EX we were at) filled with nothing but international food, dances, and traditional stuff. Very cool.
If you're hungry and you have a ton of time (the lines are really long) you should definitely go!
Working with Del Sol is always fun, but this booth was particularly great because we got a lot of press. I did 4 different TV interviews and Isa and I both did a radio interview talking about Del Sol products.
The other nice thing is that Isa and I were able to go to church both Sundays we were in Edmonton. Here's a pic of the student ward we went to:
Other than work and church, we went to the West Edmonton Mall. Isa had never been, so we had to make a trip out there. We walked around for a while and ended up seeing Inception. It was AWESOME.
We also went to Heritage Days, which is a huge festival (bigger than the Capital EX we were at) filled with nothing but international food, dances, and traditional stuff. Very cool.
If you're hungry and you have a ton of time (the lines are really long) you should definitely go!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
LinkWithin
