My Daddy is FIFTY

So as most of you know I went on a cruise last week.  We went on the biggest ship in the world, Oasis of the Seas. It was both my dad's fiftieth birthday and my aunt (his sister in law)'s fiftieth birthday, they were born like an hour apart on the same day.  So anyway our family and my aunt's family went on a birthday cruise and it was awesome! Lots of sand and sun, my favorite excursion was Jamaica where we climbed a waterfall and then tubed down a gently flowing river and ended up on a beach with sparkling white sand and turquoise water where we ate jerk chicken for lunch...doesn't get much better than that.

Here are a couple of pictures, for the full set go here

The BEACH

So this post is a little late... 45 hour work weeks are harder than they look, now I know why adults complain so much

Anyhoo Pietro and I went to the beach early in July with my friend Courtney who lives out on Long Island.  She took us to Long Beach where we had a day out of the city relaxing in the sun.  I was working on my tan for the upcoming cruise too.  Of course I brought along my camera so here are a few photos of the day.  Soon I will post cruise photos from last week I promise

<-dunno why this keeps uploading sideways

Alternatives to NYC Tourist Traps

I found this article the other day about alternatives to NYC tourist destinations that are both cheaper and less crowded
It seems interesting, I would try that rooftop bar maybe.  I don't agree with the five guys one though...even if you don't want to go to the Shake Shack there are many other burger places of much better quality.  Maybe I should try writing an article like this based on places I've been to...

anyway just thought I'd share the article

Fourth of July!

This year was my first Fourth of July spent in the city (last year I went back to DC).  Seeing as how the holiday came in the middle of the week, we decided to just have a chill day at home, sleeping in and relaxing.  In the evening we went on a quadruple date with Pietro's friend Mike (also Pietro's best man) and some of Mike's friends.  We all went out to dinner at a restaurant close to the river called the Half King and after dinner just walked outside and turned right and there were the fireworks over the Hudson river!  It was a pretty awesome experience I must say but over all very laid-back.

Enjoy the pics (cellphone again, I totally meant to bring my real camera but forgot it at home :( also the middle two were taken by Mike)

red white and blue empire state building :)

Brooklyn and BAM

Pietro's college roommate Josphat (who is from Kenya) took us to an African culture festival in Brooklyn a few weeks ago and I realized I never posted about it with everything that's been going on.  We were supposed to see an African Dance performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) but it ended up being sold out so instead we just walked around the festival enjoying the culture and music and sights.  We got some delicious food (my lunch was a fried plantain stuffed with shredded fish and chicken, sounds weird but it was SO GOOD) and I found a lady who sold AMAZING south african rooibos tea.  It was a very relaxing and interesting day so I thought I'd share some of the photos I took (cell phone quality only, my DSLR hasn't been getting enough air lately I should fix that...)

Graduations Galore

It's been awhile since the last post because I have been running around to so many graduations lately! My fiancee Pietro graduated from Princeton University a week and a half ago and My darling little brother graduated from high school last weekend! It involved a lot of travel time, family time, and party time and it was all so much fun.  I loved getting to see my family that I haven't seen in 2 years and I got to fill everyone in on wedding planning.  Most of my readers were there so I will let the pictures say the rest :)

Look at my cute hubby to be :)

Steve Carell was the Graduation Speaker at Princeton which was pretty cool

Then my baby brother graduated! (I can't say little brother because he's obviously twice my size)

I <3 my family!

Then we threw a graduation party for both Pietro and Christian

Pietro's Star Wars themed Princeton colored cupcakes

Pietro's dad and I turned them into fashion

Obviously I enjoyed the cupcakes a lot

Pictures at Last

Hey guys sorry this took so long but unpacking took a while.  There is still a lot to be done (case in point you might notice the bed is still on the floor, we couldn't build the bed Ikea sent us because it was missing a part)

but everything is there for the most part so you get the idea

Anyway here are the pictures! (forgive the quality they're cell phone pics)

Painting

Old apartment all packed up

Empty old apartment!

There was no place to put all my clothes before they delivered my wardrobe

Kitchen

Kitchen

Kitchen

Living room from bedroom

Living room from bedroom

Living room from bedroom

Living room from hall with bedroom doors closed

Living room from hall with bedroom doors open

Bedroom

Bedroom view

View from fire escape outside bedroom