1 Week of Glorious News!

We've had a pretty crazy week with me back in school and Brian finishing up the app!

I started classes. My schedule was one class a week, 4 out of 5 beginning at 9am. (!!) But quite thankfully, one of the classes wasn't my cup of tea, so I rearranged my schedule. I now have a Wednesday off! (Still classes at 9am the rest of the days though).

Brian finished the RelaxNYC App!! Right now, we only have it available for Android phones. You can find it in the marketplace. You can also like our Facebook page or check it out on the website at www.relaxnycapp.com.

We also entered the app into the BigApps 3.0 competition in NYC. You can read about that and find our entry Here.

I've been hired onto a campaign for Zagat. It works super well with my school schedule and luckily it's been in the 40s (50s tonight!) so I've been staying...well, I haven't gotten frost bite.

The deal is that Zagat wants to hear from you! Your witty reviews on your favourite shopping locations in NYC (even if you don't live here!). Because you help us in creating the Zagat guide(s), once you submit at least once review, you can get a free Zagat Shopping 2012 guide (that you commented in and maybe are published in!) or the Zagat Food Lovers guide 2012, which reviews gourmet food shopping locations. Click HERE to register!

(I completely back Zagat. Not only are they backed by Google now, but they are also a great company and I've participated in this promotion before. It's a great deal!)

Working towards this (kinda) and my eye on it for awhile...I got the Longchamp Le Pliage bag! in Bilberry. :) Most money I've ever spent on a single item that wasn't a piece of furniture or good jewelry, but it's a great bag!

During my Zagat stint at Union Square main entrance today, Ames from Ashley's season of The Bachelorette (last...summer? Fall?), looked me right in the eye and semi-politely denied the free Zagat guide I offered him!

(We really want to run into JP and Ashley though...)

Here's the sad news: The Chuck series finale is tonight. Goodbye Chuck. Sarah. Casey. Morgan. Alex. General Beckman. Jeff. Lester. Good show. It shall be missed.

(There was even a short article in AMNY about this today. They are sad too.)

Vacation Part 2: The Florida Keys

Hello everybody!

Part 2 of our vacation we drove down to Big Pine Key. Here, my aunt and uncle from Detroit rent out a house for 3 months to enjoy the warm weather while back in Detroit everybody freezes.

We only had 2.5 days here, so we made it worth it. As much as you can when you're on vacation and just supposed to relax :)

We played tennis. We played bocce (my mom and Uncle Marty as a team dominated).

We kayaked as two in a one person kayak.

We saw a manatee in the canal the house was on. So we didn't have the leave the comfort of the deck.

We got bit by the no-see-um-like teeny tiny black bugs. You just feel this prick, and wha-lah. You are bit.

We got grilled about Our Future (and then complimented on the plans).

My uncle Marty argued with Brian about how to run a business and make it successful.

We saw for the first time a microwave that looks like a stove.

We went to Key West for a day.

(Saw more family)

Took a nap on the beach and the enjoyed the performers and sunset and Mallory Square.

(If you go, make sure to see the Crazy Cat Man!)

In Key West, we stopped by Del Sol. Ran into a corporate buddy and I shopped, but did not buy, those new change-colour aviators since I forgot my own sunglasses.

Squeezed 7 adults into a 5-seater Ford Edge.

Ate Key Lime Pie in it's birth spot.

I could write more (as per usual), but that's quite a bit as it is. Here are some photos!

Canal View

Manatee!!!

Some major Bocce goin' on.

At Mile 0. Mi padre (& me).

Mi madre.

At Mallory Square. Pretty cool, no?

Duval St. in Key West

Bahamas Cruise

Brian and I (along with my parents) had a nice little vacation on a cruise to the Bahamas and then to see more family in the Florida Keys. This post will be part 1: the cruise.

We sailed on Royal Caribbean's ship the Majesty of the Seas on a 3 night cruise.

We stopped in Coco Cay, Royal Caribbean's private island, and Nassau, Bahamas, home of Atlantis.

We enjoyed every moment.

We spent at least an hour, if not more, critiquing the shopping guide.

We at lots of soft serve ice cream.

We visited Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island for the first time.

Got a tour of the new Del Sol/Cariloha store/storage. And are jealous of their setup.

We saw comedian Don Friesen. He is HILARIOUS. Had us in stitches.

(clean humor. bases most of it off experiences with life and family)

We learned of a song called the Cupid Shuffle. Fo shiz goin' on the Del Sol mix.

Had an awesome cruise director named Dave Chapman. If you get a chance to cruise with him, go.

He did this list of the top 10 questions asked. ie. How high above sea level are we? Does the crew sleep on the ship? HAHA.

And here are some photos.

We hiked the to end of the CocoCay. The boys hanging out waiting for us girls.

Hanging out on the beach at CocoCay.

Photo op.

My mom went searching for Conch shells. She found 3, but they all had Conch's in them still. Mike thought it was just a hermit crab camping out, but then it began to move. And then moved quicker. I shrieked. It was scary.

We're at ATLANTIS!!!

Family photo (minus Brian)

One of the best things about cruising: the self-serve, soft serve.

The beautiful Bahamian ocean.

I took so, so many photos. Hundreds. I'm going to stop here, but if you want to see more, just go to Facebook! I'll post soon with the Key West portion of our trip!

Miguel's Cocina White Sauce Experiment

When Brian and I were in San Diego last May, on a recommendation, we ate at a restaurant called Miguel's Cocina. The food was actually not too great. HOWEVER, they have this white queso jalapeno sauce. It's delicious! So good it made up for everything.

As it turns out, they give the recipe out!

It requires quite a few ingredients that I don't normally buy, so it's taken me awhile to get around to try it. I ended up subbing jalapenos for green chili's and chicken bouillon for chicken base to make the grocery list even easier for me. I also cut the recipe in half (3.5 cups is too much -fattening- even for me, the lover of this sauce - Brian doesn't like it nearly as much...)

Everything was going great. I learned how to make clarified butter and roux (also, what that was). But when all the make-me-feel-like-a-real-cook stuff was done and I was adding the cheese, the sauce seemed really grainy.

I cut everything in half, except the sour cream.

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Oh, well. Still, part of me wants to throw it out and start all over because I know it's not as good as it could be...buuuuutt...it's good enough :)

Things are Happening!!! (not for us though)

Last night I was finally tired enough at midnight to fall asleep almost instantly, but still, I don't wake up until noon. I strongly dislike this routine of nothingness. I really must get moving again.

However, lazy-ing around this afternoon, I turn on Facebook (after watching a couple episodes of SVU) and quickly look over my newsfeed to find an engagement (Congratulations Erika & Russell!), a baby gender announcement (a girl! Congratulations Brooke, Steve, and Gage!), and a marriage (Congratulations Justin & Sabrina!). All these awesome announcements on my newsfeed! :)

And Brian's announcement:

After roughly 10 years of no doctor visits, he went today and (minus blood tests) he seems to be healthy! Yay!

Isa's Overhaul (Laziness)

Ever since I got back from Alaska and have had absolutely no obligations, I've become the lazy college student on break. I've stayed on Alaska time, so I go to bed inbetween 2 and 4am and then wake up around noon. Honestly, it's awful. And then to make it worse, I'm not very active during the day. I mean, I brought home the final 2 seasons of Will & Grace. Refreshing my memory on those final episodes is a priority.

I'm just lazy.

Today, however, was a tiny bit more productive off the couch than it has been these past days. Today I did this:

Made a rainbow bookshelf!

And I also have taken over the blog. I figure if I blog while I sit on the couch, it at least seems as though I am contributing to the world and not just being lazy.

I also posted some items for sale on Ebay. So for those of you who are interested, we are selling a Tria Laser Hair Removal system starting bids at $200.

...not really my thing...

But, if it is for you. It's HERE.

Lastly, over Christmas I took some videos. They aren't super entertaining, but I shall share anyway since I have them. The first clips are of Helena, she can't decide between which mice to go after. Also, losing them seems to be a goal for her. Jax was a new addition at Christmas Eve, he spent about a half an hour with Kari jumping off a step. Marley performed a couple songs for us (made up on the spot). This one ended with some high kicks.