December 30, 2008

Day 365 - December 30, 2008

It is the week after Christmas and unfortunately I'm busy working, but that doesn't mean there isn't time for fun after work. I went to the Northwestern Bowl Game yesterday and today, I went to meet my friend, Edlyne, for drinks. We had a martini and a little fondue. Both of which were delicious!

December 29, 2008

Day 364 (i think) - December 29, 2008

I worked all day, but I couldn't escape Bowl Mania! So I went to Blondies after work and had a few beers with my Northwestern friends. I left at the end of the 3rd Quarter, but I'm not gonna lie, I am currently watching the end of the game. Unfortunately, Northwestern was not able to win the overtime, oh well, still a great season for them. Amazing that they did so well.

December 28, 2008

Day 361 - December 28, 2008

Here is my Dad with his siblings, Jeff, Jerry and Tricia. It was really nice to get the chance to see them this weekend. I wish all of the Holtzs could have come. It was nice to see everyone we did though and it was nice to do it at Mom and Dad's house so I only had to travel to one place. I can't believe I have to go back to New York tonight. Or that it is December 28th, brother!

December 27, 2008

Day 360 - December 27, 2008

Years ago we bought this Clavinova to replace my mom's Grandma's piano. We bought a book of Christmas songs to go with it and my sisters and I were obsessed with it one year. Nicki and I resurrected it and then Mom and I sang O Holy Night. As you can see, it was beautiful.

December 26, 2008

Day 359 - December 26, 2008

My dad's side of the family came to Racine for the weekend after Christmas. We played a lot of cards as we always do when we all get together. Here is Bill, Tricia, Dad, Ben, Nicki, Jeff and Doug playing hearts. I think I won more than I lost, so I'm pretty happy.

December 25, 2008

Day 358 - December 25, 2008

Here I am on Christmas morning! We got amazing gifts from everyone. I'm wearing two scarves in this picture, but you can't really see them though. I also have my amazing stocking that Heather made me when I was a baby. I love Christmas morning.

December 24, 2008

Day 357 - December 24, 2008

I made it home for Christmas!! I was only an hour late too, which wasn't bad at all. Chelsea and Nicki had made some appetizers for dinner, so we ate those and then went to 11 PM church. Here I am with my sisters in front of the Christmas tree.

December 23, 2008

Day 356 - December 23, 2008

This picture is from Saturday, not Tuesday, but I thought it was kinda neat. When Jeet and I were walking around for our Christmas in New York Day. We came across this Wedding on the Upper East Side. They had a set of bag pipers playing and then everyone was standing with candles waiting for the bride and groom to come out. We actually saw this same couple getting their picture taken in front of the Rockefeller Christmas Tree as well. It was pretty neat.

December 22, 2008

Day 355 - December 22, 2008

They always put these ornaments outside of the Hill-McGraw building in Midtown at Christmas. I've never seen them with actual snow on them before though, so I thought that was pretty interesting. Christmas is so beautiful in New York!

December 21, 2008

Day 354 - December 21, 2008

Jeet and Jean came over to join me for what has become known as Lazy Sunday. They were not excited that I took their picture, but then when they saw it turned out like this they decided that it was the best ever and should absolutely be my blog for the day. Jean's flight to Portland was canceled because Portland's airport was closed. I like to think we made up for it however. We drank the free bottle of wine I got from work, ate Chinese food and watched The Family Stone and While You Were Sleeping. It was a great Lazy Sunday!

December 20, 2008

Day 353 - December 20, 2008

Heyyyy everybody! It's Jeet (not to be outdone by Rohin's guest post a few days back). So, since this is our third Christmas in NYC, most of our friends are over the Christmas tourist traps. I felt a bit nostalgic and decided to do all the major attractions in one afternoon. I clearly couldn't think of anyone as crazy as Emily to join me. We hit up the Rockefeller tree, Bryant Park and it's smaller tree, the Macy's windows and the holiday market at Union Square. Highlights:

1. The apple cider at Bryant Park.
2. The hot male tourists on 5th Avenue. We decided they were probably from the midwest because they were really pale and poorly dressed, but cute nevertheless.


I'm sure there were more highlites, but now it's 10:40PM on a Sunday and I have to get back to Bed-Stuy so I can be up in time to teach a hundred ingrates some science. Toodlez.

December 19, 2008

Day 352 - December 19, 2008

We went over to Kumi's for a holiday party on Friday. She made some amazing pork chops, mashed potatoes and carrots. We also had pound cake and beer bread and a lot of wine. Then after dinner we got into an intense game of Taboo, the girls kicked the boys ass! Kumi, Will and I were no match for the amazing team of Jeet, Amanda and Jay at Celebrity though.

December 18, 2008

Day 351 - December 18, 2008

Today was the Grammar School Christmas Pageant. I thought that the best part was at the end when they did the parade of nations. It was so great to see all of the kids representing their nationalities.

December 17, 2008

Day 350 - December 17, 2008

In one of the Macy's Christmas windows there is a display with all these stuffed animals and one of them is Horton from Horton Hears a Hoo. Which is one of my favorites this year ever since we saw him in the Macy's Day Parade.

December 16, 2008

Day 349 - December 16, 2008

Well I guess it is December! After 6o degrees on Monday it was snowing today. It is pretty wet snow which won't stay long, but still it is weird how quick the weather shifted. It sounds like there is plenty of snow in Wisconsin, so I'm guessing it will be a white Christmas.

December 15, 2008

Day 348 - December 15, 2008

THIS is how they painted my apartment and they expect to raise the rent. Okay, this picture doesn't show how bad it is, but you can see all of the patches and they didn't bother taping at all, so all of the door frames are covered in paint. Anyway, ridiculous!

December 14, 2008

Day 347 - December 14, 2008

I like most people, or so I thought at least, stopped watching Survivor after season two. However, Jeet had watched every episode this season, and so obviously we had to watch the season finale. This picture is ridiculous because clearly he didn't look like this after 37 days without a shower, but regardless, Matty was our favorite. With his beard he looked exactly like Leonardo DiCaprio, you can't see it here as well, but trust me. However, the 57 year-old Physics teacher ended up winning the game.

December 13, 2008

Day 346 - December 13, 2008

Here I am celebrating Rohin's birthday as Friday turns into Saturday. This was before I outlawed pictures at this bar, which Jeet found hilarious.

December 12, 2008

Day 345 - December 12, 2008

So it was Rohin's actual birthday on Friday, so clearly it was necessary to celebrate for the third time! Here is Jamie and Ryan after Jamie's fashion show with Ryan's fur coat.

December 11, 2008

Day 344 - December 11, 2008

Hi. I'm Rohin. You may remember me from such blogs as this one. Emily has currently given me carte blanche to write whatever I want on here. Today she fed me broccoli, chicken and potatoes, half a slice of pumpkin roll and a big cupcake (but don't tell Niina I ate chicken because I'm technically a pescatarian until the end of next week). Emily may be single-handedly responsible for my higher cholestrol and lowered stress levels.

Emily likes to whine a lot, but I think she's neat anyway. Today because it was raining pumas and calico cats, my cute coat got drenched and Emily instead decided to play dress-up and help me channel my inner frat-boy. If I were a frat-boy, I would punctuate my sentences with such colloquialisms as "bro" -- perhaps get into the occasional scuffle when someone tried to "cramp my style" as it were. I turn twenty-five years old in about twenty minutes. Buy me a gift. Please?

December 10, 2008

Day 343 - December 10, 2008

It is December, so it is holiday party galore! This is a picture of the Grammar School all decked out for Christmas. There was a great breakfast with Santa, and the cafeteria was certainly transformed from the usually tables and benches.

December 9, 2008

Day 342 - December 9, 2008

Ok well it is Tuesday and the weekend unfortunately is long gone, but I thought this picture of most of the people packed in my apartment was pretty great.

December 8, 2008

Day 341 - December 8, 2008

I LOVED the movie Slumdog Millionaire. Here is a great picture for the film. It is just so much better than any other movie that I've seen this year. It was really intense and there was so much character development it is unbelievable. I don't think it will disappoint anyone who goes to see it, enjoy.

December 7, 2008

Day 340 - December 7, 2008

Today was a perfect New York day. I woke up and went to the gym. Then I had gotten amazing tickets to the Knicks game from this guy Steve a copier consultant from work. So Amanda and I went to the Garden for the game. After an interesting game, with a really exciting ending (New York beat Detroit) and a beer in a pretzel mug we headed to Union Square to walk around the Christmas markets. Then we went to Jay's house for a little football. After that Amanda and I met Jeet to see Slumdog Millionaire, which was incredible!! Finally, Jeet and I grabbed Mexican for dinner. Overall, it was an amazing day! Too bad the weekend is over!

December 6, 2008

Day 339 - December 6, 2008

You know you have the right friends, when you invite them over to accomplish something and they do it with flying colors. As you can see, my leftover problem is no longer an issue at all! Everything tasted good and I am totally a believer in the second celebration of Thanksgiving. It might just have to become a tradition. That is if I can be talked into ever cooking a turkey again!

December 5, 2008

Day 338 - December 5, 2008

I still had a fridge full of leftovers and uncooked food from Thanksgiving. So last night I threw a left over party! After we finished eating and once we had been drinking a little, we ended up playing Family Feud. It was pretty hilarious, a least one good thing came of my DVR being filled of Family Feud episodes!

December 4, 2008

Day 337 - December 4, 2008

Katie and I tried to go to a movie screening tonight, but unfortunately for the first time ever I didn't get in. Oh well, we ended up walking around and going to a bar instead so it was still a nice night! On our way back to the train we saw this giant Santa on top of a Christmas Tree display and I thought that it was picture of the day worthy.

December 3, 2008

Day 336 - December 3, 2008

I LOVE this picture. It just turned out really cool with the Brooklyn Bridge and the New York skyline in the background. Otherwise, just your typical Wednesday. I'm ready for another weekend!

December 2, 2008

Day 335 - December 2, 2oo8

So my Dad came into town tonight, because he has meetings for the next two days in White Plains, NY. I decided that we were going to go to a steak house for dinner and it was absolutely delicious! I like this picture, because it shows that there was Heinz ketcup on the table and according to Dad is all you need to have a good restaurant. It was really great to see him and have dinner with him.

December 1, 2008

Day 334 - December 1, 2008

Before we get too far away from Thanksgiving, I thought I would put one picture of the holiday feast up here. So, now you can see my makeshift table and our plates full of food. It actually all came together much smoother than I anticipated and was pretty delicious. I can't believe that it is over already, well everything except the eating turkey part, that is still going on!

November 30, 2008

Day 333 - November 30, 2008

Here is something that definitely made me smile today. Jeet came over because the heat and hot water was off in his apartment and he said, wow your apartment is so much more spacious than I remember. Now that is HILARIOUS. Although, I do think the turned desk as a makeshift Thanksgiving table has added a new dimension. I think I might even get rid of the desk and add a table if I keep leaving here. Anyway, here is a blurry picture of our work area!

November 29, 2008

Day 332 - November 29, 2008

This picture is absolutely awful, but I just had to take it, because I have spent SO much of my last year in the Subway and haven't put any pictures of that up. So here you go a great view of the awful subway tracks at 34th Street, happy Saturday, you'll be waiting awhile.

November 28, 2008

Day 331 - November 28, 2008

This was the third time, Nicki had been to New York and every time she has wanted to see Van Gogh's Starry Night. Unfortunately it has never worked out. The first time we didn't have enough time to go to the MOMA. The second time the painting was put away for cleaning. Then on Wednesday, the Van Gogh exhibit was sold out for the day. So we went again today and FINALLY she got to see the painting. It was really great and a fun morning at the museum.

November 27, 2008

Day 330 - November 27, 2008

We weren't quite motivated enough to get up early for the parade, but we still made it for some of it, which was awesome. Since we weren't very close we could really only hear the bands and see the big balloons. After about 45 minutes we decided we had had enough, but we wanted to see one more balloon. Nicki was hoping it would be an elephant, and the next balloon was Horton the elephant. The rest of the day was great as well, we enjoyed our turkey dinner and played games and watched movies.

November 26, 2008

Day 329 - November 26, 2008

As part of our Thanksgiving in New York Sister Week, we went to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Here we are with my friend Kumi and her mom with our 3-D glasses form the show. It was almost exactly the same as the show I saw last year with Mom and Dad, but it was still really fun.

November 25, 2008

Day 328 - November 25, 2008

My sister's trip to New York is off to a great start. Their flight got in just about on time and they came to my office. Then we got some lunch and they went back to my place for a nap. After work, I meet them at Union Square and we walked around the Christmas markets. Then we went to SMAC for dinner. Finally, we meet up with my friend Jeet at Max Brenner. We got some amazing S'more fondue that Nicki is eating here. Umm.

November 24, 2008

Day 327 - November 24, 2008

Tonight was the Packers on Monday Night Football which was amazing, even though it was the worst game EVER for Packers fans. My friend, Carol, came with me to learn something about football and we made some friends at the bar, so that part at least was great.

November 23, 2008

Day 326 - November 23, 2008

So I have meet half the Class of 2006 from Northwestern which is ridiculous, but most of them are awesome, so it works. Anyway, Ben is the newest person who went to Northwestern and now lives in New York, here he is with Kumi on Saturday night/Sunday morning. I'm looking forward to the short week, yeah Thanksgiving.

November 22, 2008

Day 325 - November 22, 2008

It was Gary's birthday this weekend, and I'm sure he would probably not be trilled about this picture, but I think it is cute. We went to Hi Fi, which apparently is short for High Fidelity, which I would have never guessed!

November 21, 2008

Day 324 - November 21, 2008

I got together with Katie, Angela and Marc for an impromtu dinner which was amazing. I went to Katie's house first for some Dr. Mario, then we went to Ditmas Park to meet up with Angela and Marc. It was a fun night and it was great to hang out with everyone. I'm usually too tired to be interesting on Friday night, but today, I made it through! Nice photo by Katie on her iphone!

November 20, 2008

Day 323 - November 20, 2008

I tried to make Middle Eastern food tonight for my tv time with Rohin. It tasted good, but sure didn't look quite right. Also there was WAY too much of it, so Rohin had to take some to go. I can say that I have made tabouli salad now though.

November 19, 2008

Day 322 - November 19, 2008

I had the second meeting of my book club last night, which was wonderful! I did not really enjoy the book, but the discussion was still fantastic and I really enjoyed the night. Then I went to the other side of town and walked to 72nd Street. On the way, I went past the National History Museum and saw this really awesome dinosaur all lit up for Christmas.

November 18, 2008

Day 320 - November 18, 2008

So I am hosting Thanksgiving for the first time ever, and I'm getting pretty excited about it. I've been trying to finalize my menu and get things that I need this week. It should be interesting in my tiny kitchen, but I'm a pretty good cook so I'm not too worried. I can't wait for my sisters to get here in a couple days!

November 17, 2008

Day 319 - November 17, 2008

I guess this is a sign of the times. I know that Brownstones are for sale in theory, because they have big glossy pictures in real estate offices saying they are for sale for like millions of dollars. However, this was the first time, I've ever seen a for sale sign in the front of one.

November 16, 2008

Day 318 - November 16, 2008

I have no idea what was so funny? I am in a good mood this weekend though. I mean the Packers and the Badgers both won great rivalry games, what more can you want? It was very nice catching up with Kristin last night at the party.

November 15, 2008

Day 317 - November 15, 2008

Rohin and I are both showing off our new haircuts at Jeet and Rohin's 25th birthday extravaganza. It was a fun night hanging out with everyone.

November 14, 2008

Day 316 - November 14, 2008

I've been desperately needing a hair cut. So I finally went to get one and I did it at a salon on 59th Street. Then Kumi came to meet me and we went for Thai. There was a really cute store under the Triborough Bridge and I tried to take a picture, you can kinda see it.

November 13, 2008

Day 315 - November 13, 2008

Now that I've started thinking about Christmas, here are what remains of fall. I think that in New York you see fall more on the ground than on the trees, and I thought this picture captured that pretty well.

November 12, 2008

Day 314 - November 12, 2008

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, every where you go! I am really excited for Christmas this year. I can't wait to spend Christmas morning with my sisters and parents like when we were little, and it will be great to see some of the Holtz family as well. Anyway, the Christmas lights that NYC put up this week are certainly getting me excited.