NYC: Day 1

After researching where to eat for brunch, we decided on Sarabeth's near Central Park. We took a leisurely stroll through Central Park (pinch me) to get there. I loved seeing the kids in the park with their teachers and class, the nannies pushing the babies in the strollers and the runners.

We sat down for brunch and chose an outside table so that I could take in all the hustle and bustle of the city streets. I ordered the jalapeno and cheddar omelet with an English muffin. Which was the best English muffin I have ever eaten in my life.

I really wanted the lemon and ricotta pancakes and I am still pissed I didn't get them. I definitely could have walked them off on our way back through Central Park. It began to rain and we didn't have an umbrella, so we had to go back to the room to dry out. That afternoon we found a sports bar so we could watch the Cardinals beat the Pirates. After the game I wanted to do some shopping, so we hit DSW. Yes, a real New York gem. Haha..actually Kyle's feet hurt so much that he needed new shoes. It was 3 stories and magnificent. Then we walked over to Loehmann's where I scored some designer duds for cheap. It was probably good that the store was close to closing or I could have done more damage. Kyle has the patience of a 2 year when I am shopping. We walked to Coppola's West to have dinner. I really wanted authentic Italian food while we there. They had a framed picture of Britney Spears eating there so I knew I had to be in the right place.

We ordered the meatballs as an app, followed by eggplant parmesan for me and pepperoni pizza for Kyle. He said it was the best pizza he has ever eaten.

We ended the night sitting on our hotel rooftop looking over the NYC skyline.

1 Year...NYC Trip!

After we left our hotel in Baltimore, we grabbed a cab and headed to Penn Station. Kyle was in charge of planning our entire anniversary trip. And he nailed it. He hands me an Amtrack ticket that will take me to the one place in the US I desperately wanted to go....NYC!

I was beyond thrilled. I have been begging to go to NYC for quite some time now. And this was so great because I plan 99% of our travel. From the flight booking to hotel to rental car, I do it all. I didn't have to do any research. (Until I got there and practically lived on my Yelp app).

We loaded our luggage onto the train and began our journey. Everything was going very smoothly until our train hit and killed a person. Yes, you read that right. Our Amtrack train was involved in a suicide and we became a crime scene. We were delayed about 2 hours but luckily we didn't have to switch trains.

We got into NYC around 6:30, grabbed a cab and headed to our hotel. Kyle said he searched hundreds of hotels and finally decided on NYLO in Manhattan, the Upper West Side. We were about 4 blocks west of Central Park. Our room was so cute! It was definitely smaller than the room in Baltimore, but I can easily handle a cozy room when I am in NYC.

We freshened up and headed our for our anniversary dinner. Kyle picked Telepan for dinner, based on a blog he read listing the top 10 restaurants in the Upper West Side. We shared dry-aged grass-fed ribeye for 2, which was unbelievably huge. And they brought out the marrow with it, and Kyle died and went to delicious butter/bone marrow heaven.

And then he told me how wonderful our first year of marriage was, and I cried at the table.

We walked home from dinner (one of my absolute favorite parts of NYC) and stopped at a little store and bought hydrangeas for our hotel room, which was the flower we used in our wedding.

Despite the Amtrack delay, our anniversary day was fantastic. Now, we needed to sleep to prepare for the next 4 days in NYC!

Baltimore

Kyle and I recently took a trip to Baltimore to see his good friend "Fleck" get married. The day after their wedding was our 1 year anniversary. We left Tulsa on Friday, Oct 4th and arrived in Baltimore late that night. We stayed in the Inner Harbor, which has a beautiful view. I finally got the meet the groomsman, Jake, that was hospitalized during our wedding and unable to come to Tulsa. Saturday morning, we took a stroll around the Inner Harbor while we waited on Dante and Erin to arrive from Pittsburgh.

Also, let me mention that it was 92 in Baltimore that day. Everyone kept saying how unusually hot it was. Meanwhile, in Tulsa, it was a cold 40-something degrees. Exactly the weather that greeted us 1 year prior.

After a leisurely and not very tasty lunch and Phillips, we freshened up at the hotel and left for the wedding. 4pm full Catholic mass, this was a first for me. The church was beautiful! We headed back to the hotel for cocktail hour followed by a beautiful reception in a ballroom. The invitation said black tie optional, and since I don't own any long dresses, I decided to purchase one for this occasion. I found this beautiful emerald green dress on sale at Dillard's and I am in love. I want to wear it everyday.

The morning after, we grabbed brunch at Miss Shirley's where I ate delicious chicken and waffles with the best jalapeno butter. We returned to the hotel, packed our bags and headed out for our anniversary trip...

End of Summer

Everyone says summer is over after Labor Day weekend, but here in OK we still have blazing hot weather that would lead one to believe that summer is still very present. The Oaks closes their pool after Labor Day which I find very annoying since it is going to be perfect pool weather this weekend.

We had a fun-filled summer visiting Pittsburgh, a short trip to Hot Springs, & baby showers followed by new babies. We also experienced extreme sadness when we lost our bulldog, Jackson. I still have a hard time looking at pictures of him without crying.

The original Primanti Bros

Dinner at the Pittsburgh Field Club

Doing touristy things in the 'Burgh

Spending the day with Vincent, Dante & Erin's baby

We also celebrated upcoming arrivals....

Loving on Kristin's bump 

How gorgeous does Lilia look?!

Here are the adorable humans they created...

Dylan Rylee Webb in her new outfit from me

Bright eyed baby girl 

Lucas Sullivan...looking just like his daddy 

Nothing better than a baby and cousin (with her own baby marinating in her belly)

We also took the girls shopping for school clothes and got Jordyn all set up for her first day of school!

And we spent a lazy Labor Day weekend catching up on some sleep and completing a few small projects around the house. These photos are blurry but who cares!

"Life is too short for bad wine"
"Eat dessert first"

"Forever starts today"
Awesome gift from my mom that I finally found the perfect spot to hang

(Insert Title Here)

No, that isn't a typo in the title...I just can't think of what to actually title this post.

We have had plenty going on with us, but not one specific thing to write about. Since my last post, here is what we have done:

- Watched Allison and Jordyn participate (and rock!) triathlons in Edmond
- I didn't have anything to do this, but my cousins had their adorable baby girl, Dylan, at the end of July. I want to steal her.
- Spent a lovely Friday evening in my parents pool. Including watermelon racing in the pool.
- Drove to Hot Springs for a work party with Kyle's company. That drive is pretty, but really windy and long.
- My wonderful friend, Elaina, moved back to Tulsa!!
- Celebrated my friend, Amanda, with a lovely bridal shower. Including a margarita machine.

Mix all of these things in with work events, nights out with friends, sand volleyball and we are exhausted. And we are not about to slow down!

- This weekend: Kyle plays in a golf tournament in Pittsburgh, and I get to go to Dallas to see the new baby!
- Stella and Dot jewelry party next week. I am still waiting to have the date confirmed and then I will let everyone know.
- Labor Day weekend: weird that we don't have anything scheduled but I am sure we will find a way to be busy the entire time.
- Kyle goes to DC for work
- Restaurant Week in Tulsa (busy for me)
- Wedding in Dallas
-OSU football
- Bachelorette party in Austin!!
- Wedding in Baltimore, followed by an anniversary trip

I cannot believe that we are getting close to our 1 year of marriage. I have been mentally preparing a blog post on my reflection of my first year of marriage.

Kyle is in charge of planning our anniversary trip and I have no idea what he is planning. He is really good about surprising me, but he has gotten out of the habit of booking our trips. I always handle our flight, hotel, car and most of the itinerary. So I cannot wait to see what he has in store for us!

Thief

I have been meaning to blog the past few days about 2 things: our trip to Pittsburgh and Lilia's baby shower. But instead I decided about the week that I have had.

It started out pretty well on Monday. I got to eat Mazzio's salad for dinner which oddly enough is one of my favorite things. Tuesday I had to take my car back to the BMW dealership to get some repairs done. This was the 3rd time I had taken it in. I was slightly annoyed by that but the nice thing is they give you a loaner. A sweet little white 3 series car that I zipped around town in for 2 days. Not too bad so far.

And then on Tuesday night, I woke up to our neighbors outside light flashing like something in a scary movie. I knew a storm was coming but I didn't except this. I opened the blinds and saw the trees blowing and limbs down. Rain was blowing sideways. And then our electricity went out. Great. So we went back to sleep and suffered through the hotness that was quickly building.

Wednesday morning brought unexpected things from my work which made my day pretty exhausting. The night we decided to pack up and go to Austin and Christy's for some lights, AC and TV. I love TV, I always knew that but man I really miss it when I can't have it.

Thursday I got up and got ready. Decided to pack up and head to the house in hopes that we would have power. Nope, no such luck. And how the house is starting to smell funky. Packed up more stuff for another night at the Hannah's. Last night we had a volleyball game at 71st and Riverside. I hurriedly grabbed money from my purse to pay the ref and I must not have hit the lock button and my purse got stolen. That was a terrible feeling when I opened the car after the game and my beautiful white purse was gone. Of course, my phone and other stuff was in there. And Kyle's wedding ring.

I filed a police report in hopes that they will dig through my purse and realize I had no cash and will throw it out the window. Kyle's ring was tucked away in a tiny little pocket so maybe they won't find it and I could get it back. I know that isn't likely but it could happen.

So I have no phone, no drivers license, no lipstick/gloss, a husband with no ring, no power at my house. Oh and I am out about $300 in giftcards from our wedding.

Enjoy your new sheets at Bed, Bath and Beyond, you thief.

Jackson

When Kyle first moved to Tulsa, he was alone and had no friends. I can't imagine how scary that must be. He didn't know even 1 person in Tulsa. He grew up with a bulldog named Arlo and once he got settled in his apartment, he went on the hunt for the perfect bulldog for him. He found a sweet little guy and named him Jackson. I met Kyle very shortly after he got Jackson. Kyle asked me if I could babysit Jackson while he played in a golf tournament. Very early on a Saturday morning, I opened my front door to the cutest bulldog I have ever seen. During those first few months of Kyle and I getting to know each other, I spent lots of time with Jackson, even taking him to my parents house for a weekend at the pool.

Fast forward 4 years, Kyle & I are "for real" dating this time and I am reunited with Jackson. He is just as cute and particular as I remembered him. He likes his bed made a certain way, he walks a certain path at the park, and he still likes to beg for ice cream when Kyle gets an Oreo blast at Sonic. He now has to deal with Sophie on a daily basis, which he does with little enthusiasm. She loves him and pesters him constantly, and even tries to snuggle up in the corner of his bed. Sometimes, she sneaks into his bed at night causing him to get too hot and pant. 

But sweet Jackson was also having to deal with seizures. They started shortly after we started dating. I remember Kyle calling me and telling me that Jackson had just had a seizure. Over 3 years, they got worse. Towards the end, he was battling seizures about every 6 weeks and for an average of 24 hours. He would have them about every hour for 24 hours with one of us staying up all night with him. He would get disoriented and would wander around and pant. It was brutal but after the episode was over he would sleep it off for a day or so and then be back to normal. We never really considered putting him to sleep because he was in such good shape in between episodes. And quite honestly, I didn't think that Kyle would be able to make that decision. That dog was his best friend. His Facebook account is Jackson Gatewood if that tells you anything. 

Almost 2 weeks ago, my mom and I were at the Parade of Homes and Kyle called to say Jackson was having seizures. I knew that meant I would stay up with him all night. We both had to work the next day so I asked my mom if she could come over the next day and stay with him until we could get home. Kyle made it home first and Jackson was still having seizures. We took care of him all evening and then around bed time, I went to brush my teeth and wash my face. Kyle came running into the bedroom and said "I think Jackson is dying." By the time I got out into the living room, he was already gone. When he would have a seizure, he wouldn't take a breath for about 30 seconds and then would gasp for air. The minute I stepped out of the room, he had his last seizure and Kyle said he never took another breath. We think his poor heart just stopped. He was so exhausted and his body just couldn't do it anymore. I read somewhere that when a dog has a seizure that it is as hard on the body as a person running a marathon. 

I will spare you the details of what went on in our living room. It was horribly sad and I don't like to relive it, even though I still do too often. 

We had our sweet doggie cremated and he is resting on my nightstand. We were going to spread some of his ashes at the park, but I am not ready yet. Kyle is doing very well considering his immense love for that dog. 

Here is Kyle's eloquent post on Facebook that day after: 

Last night Jackson lost his 3 year battle with cluster seizures. He was my best friend, walking partner and farting buddy. For 8 years we caused havoc together on Tulsa. I will miss him more than words can describe and feel blessed to have been a part of his life. If you ever had a chance to meet Jackson you know how special he was, especially to me. I write this post for two reason, 1) to grieve, 2) to tell all my friends and family to give your special four legged family member an extra hug and treat today. They deserve it for always being there at the door with a wiggly butt and smile no matter what our mood or day was like. Thanks to everyone who helped watch over my special boy for the last three years while he went through this tough time. Special thanks to Christy Carter Hannah for always watching over him when we weren't able to. 

Thank you for ready my very long tribute to Jackson. He was our buddy and gave Kyle hisdoggie blessing when he told Jackson that Sophie and I were joining the Gatewood family. We will always miss him.