Rob surprised me and asked for a Saturday shift to be covered for him on Labor Day weekend. This was so helpful because we got to paint the ENTIRE apartment. My wonderfully talented friend, Katie is an interior designer. She helped us pick out the perfect neutral cool color: Benjamin Moore, Feather Gray. The night before we painted, we spent the evening with Katie and Scott while Scott's parents were in town. Scott's mom, Pat gave us great advice for painting the trim, she said to get a small angled brush. She was so right, it really helped!
So after a fun morning in the park with Bess getting to play off leash, and brunch at the Barking Dog, we set to work. We spent all day painting and the result is so great! We painted every wall except the section around the mantle. It's a nice, crisp accent wall.
We did take one break on Saturday. We had a delicious and filling dinner at Dos Caminos in SoHo with our new friends from Colorado, Angie and Mike. We followed that up with ice cream courtesy of Mister Softee! Can't believe this was our first time grabbing this delicious soft serve ice cream this summer.
The next morning, we went up to the Hudson Valley for a fun day trip. My coworker, Erin lives in Cold Spring and had invited us to come up and visit her and her boyfriend Ed.
Me and Robby by the Hudson River in Cold Spring.
Ed made us delicious "Migas" for dinner.
Then we took a turn playing a game by Legos, called Creationary! Think Pictionary, but you build things with Legos instead of drawing. I think my Awesome-in-law, Mark would have fun with this!
Another wonderfully talented friend of mine, Erin, invited Katie and me to a Girl's Night Out in Nolita. I felt so "New York" getting to go to a private party at the Linhardt Design jewelry gallery. (Erin is a designer, she makes accessories and invitations for weddings, and pretty much anything else you can think of. Check out her website Erin Braun Design.)
Something that was a big prayer request as we searched for an apartment, was that we would find a place large enough for hosting. I am so grateful that we have pretty much been able to do that right from the start. Barry was able to live with us for about 3 weeks, and since then we get to have him over for dinner almost every week. It's great that now we actually have room so that friends and family can stay with us during their visits. The same weekend as the Girl's Night Out, a great friend of mine, Phil, from back when I was in Youth Group at Calvary Chapel Ft. Lauderdale stayed with us. He and his wife were in town for about 10 days celebrating their anniversary and needed a place to stay for one night. I'm bummed I didn't get any pictures of them while they were here, but still it was so cool.
Our first apartment in the City was charming, but it was teeny tiny and on the fifth floor of a walk up. We enjoyed the neighborhood so much, and missed it while we were living in New Rochelle, but 5K didn't exactly scream hospitality... we couldn't even have more than about 2-3 friends over at once. Are you coming to the Big Apple for a visit? Let us know if you need a place to stay and hopefully we can have you stay at our place. (To our NYC friends, come over any time!)
Around this same time, my Abuelo fainted and spent a couple of days in the hospital. Thankfully he is feeling much better, but please keep him, my Mom and my Sis, Eli in your prayers. Rob's parents went to visit Abuelo, and Eli snapped this great picture of him smiling as he looked at pictures of my niece, Addi. I love it so much!