Ashley’s Birthday July 2009

My huney was very sweet to take a day off on my birthday so that we could spend some quality time together. His project has been very busy and he had to work some very long hours. However, he wanted to make the day special for me. We started off with some breakfast in bed. Then we headed out to the Museum of Natural History on the Upper West side.  It was quite a neat place to visit. There were a lot of activities to do at the museum, including shows and hands-on experiments you can play with and learn from. We had lunch at the museum’s outdoor courtyard. Ray prepared a delicious and light meal that included some sandwiches, shrimp cocktail and a little bubbly. Yeap, we snuck in alcohol to the museum. Shame on us. But having mimosa along with shrimp cocktail for lunch? Hard to beat.

I couldn’t resist asking Ray to do the same pose as the bear in the display. Another funny moment. 🙂

Later that evening, he took me to a dinner for some fresh seafood, which is my favorite. We went to Aqua, a restaurant not far from the meat-packing district. The oysters were cold and fresh and once again, I had bouillabaise, a seafood stew in broth. Absolutely scrumptious. I thought dinner couldn’t get any better but it did. When we got home, he had dessert waiting for me. It was a decadent cake from Crumbs.

A few days later, Ray took me to see the Broadway show “South Pacific” at the Lincoln Center Theater.  We had seats close to the stage and it made the experience even better. The show was really good and the music sticks with you. We found ourselves buying the soundtrack later that night.

I feel so lucky to have a great husband who is so wonderful and never ceases to make me smile. He really made my day special. It made turning 32 a little easier to accept. 😉

Our 2nd Wedding Anniversary – July 2009

Ray and I started off celebrating our 2nd wedding anniversary by waking up very early in the morning and going to our building rooftop to enjoy the view. We established a little tradition that on our anniversary, we would watch the sunrise, get some coffee and and just savor the moment. This year, we went to our rooftop; last year, we went to Atlantic Station in Atlanta.

Later on that evening, we dined at Tavern on the Green.  It is located on the Upper West Side of NYC in Central Park and has been a landmark restaurant since 1934.  The ambiance was very romantic and the food was delicious.

Ray looked so handsome in his suit…

Lamb Chops…

Yummy dessert… key lime pie.

Huney got me some beautiful flowers… I love flowers. 🙂

Another great memory that we shared. It feels like it was just yesterday when we said our vows on the boat in the Bay Area and here we are, two years later, still feeling our marital bliss.

Ashley’s Birthday, A Success!

Thought I’d steal Ashley’s post title from the one she used for my birthday, she’s so dramatic! hehehe

So, we did have a lot of fun on my huney’s birthday.  She was worried I didn’t have anything planned but hey come on, that’s  what I do all day.  Here’s some pics of the weekend.  It wasn’t all part of the birthday plan but it was all really nice.

Friday night we saw Batman, the Dark Knight.  Good movie but Ash thought it was too violent and bloody.  Guess she forgot it was Batman.

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Saturday morning (the day before her birthday) we woke up early and volunteered at the local Meals on Wheels organization. Ashley has been doing a lot of volunteer work lately, I really admire what she’s doing and today I finally got to come along.  So this morning, we delivered boxed food for many seniors in the northwest Atlanta region.  Armed witha crumpled map, bad directions, music and a car load of boxed food we set out to help out.
Ashley Volunteering for Meals on Wheels

That night, we had some great Korean food per recommendation from a local foodie.  The restaurant was call Book Chang Dong, in Duluth, GA.

Spicy seafood and tofu soup which was sizzling as it came out!
Korean Food

Korean Short Ribs.
Korean Short Ribs

And a dish I now forget what it was called…
Korean Food

Sunday morning, we woke up early again and set out to do some hiking in Tullulah Gorge in northern Georgia.  Tullulah Gorge, is only about 1.5 hours drive north of Atlanta and was a fantastic hike per recommendation of another friend.  We only hiked for about 2.5 hours but we climbed a good many stairs up and down the side of the gorge for a solid stair master work out.  The views were great, including water falls, swinging bridges and rivers all against the lush Georgia backdrop.

Here are some of my pics:
Talllulah Gorge

Talllulah Gorge

Talllulah Gorge

Sunflower

Later that afternoon, post our PB&J snack break we set out for the nearby town of Helen. What a strange place! The whole town was modeled after Bavaria except no one there was remotely German. It was like Disney Epcot Center, Americans with southern accents dressed up in lederhosen! Whacked out but still entertaining and we got a really fantastic Reuben Sandwhich from the “Old Bavaria Inn”.

Helen, Georgia

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Rueben Sandwhich

We went tubing on the Chattahoochee River which ran right through the town of Helen, creating it’s main attraction aside from a fake German town. Tubing was awesome, though at times it was lots of work with Ash telling me every five minutes to watch out for the rocks! She’s so cute even when she causes trouble to me.

Helen, Georgia

Tubing on the Chatahoochee

Helen was only an hour and a half away from Atlanta so the drive was pretty quick. We ended the wonderful weekend with Ashley’s birthday cake and a rare singing from me.  Happy Birthday Ash!

Ashley's Birthday Cake

life’s more fun together

Yup, that’s our family motto.  Happy anniversary to us!  Ashley and I woke up early today to watch the sunrise over some hot chocolate and coffee.
Ashley and Ray

Since this is our first anniversary, we decided on a yearly tradition that would be meaningful, fun and something we could do regardless of where we were.  We’d wake up a dawn to watch the sunrise.  Have a lite simple dinner out, bake a cake together and watch our wedding video. 🙂

Happy 8th Anniversary

Ashley and I have been going out for 8 years and we are still going out now.

Here’s a picture of us with our friend Valeria over 8 years ago at Rockefeller Center in NYC! Look how young and innocent we were. At that point, Ashley and I had just started hanging out together.

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Ray and I had a great time in NYC skating. It was our first trip together. I can’t believe this picture was taken over 8 years ago. It is somewhat surreal that we’re celebrating our 8th year anniversary today. Time has flown by so quickly and next thing we know, we have 8 years of wonderful memories ingrained in our minds.