2 months!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nick and I are two months away from getting married! I can't believe how quickly it's coming up....we are SO EXCITED. Nick has been in NYC for about 2 weeks now...his new job is getting off to a great start and we are enjoying exploring NYC together.

It's great that we are able to be together as the wedding approaches. Here are some recent pics of us as new yorkers as well as some pics of our neighborhood and people enjoying springtime.

Walking Cole and grabbing pizza (Ben's is our favorite) on a Sunday night


A pretty West Village street


New Yorkers enjoying the Hudson River Park...two blocks from our apt, where we walk Cole daily


Start of spring on the Hudson

Visitors Make Us Feel Loved!!

One great thing about moving to NYC is that people love to visit! In 3 months we've had a lot of visitors...some come up and visit us because they're here for work or some event...some just to see us and hang out in the city! Either way we love it! We hope they had a good time too and enjoyed the double layer air mattress ;)

Here's are highlights from their visits. (I apologize for the lack of pictures for some...I forget to take them! I have a goal now to take a picture and do something new with each visitor!)

Andy & Shannon (brother & sister in law)...helped us paint our apartment (they are experts at home improvement) and we ate dinner at a fabulous Italian restaurant on our block. the picture below is of my gray-blue accent wall and excellent paint job on the kitchen cabinets :)


Mom...came up to see our new place. We saw Billy Elliott on Broadway and shopped for her dress for the wedding.


Abby Bland (longtime friend)...got Magnolia's cupcakes and saw Naomi Watts.


Kathleen & Andrew Kay and Tracy & Joe Peddicord (longtime friends)...came for valentines day weekend and visited FAO Swartz, the Top of the Rock, and ate at a great west village restaurant for valentine's day, centro vinoteca.



Rebecca Harper (longtime friend)...here with her friend from Charlotte and we had beers and burgers at Corner Bistro


Allison & Jared (friend from VT and boyfriend)...Allison was here for work and did a full day of shopping in SOHO!


Tina & Joey Cavucci...were in NJ for a wedding and came to the city for the rest of the weekend. We did the chef's tasting menu at a fabulous restaurant, Barbuto, and went to a comedy club in East Village.


Trace & Natalie (nick's good friend from college and his girlfriend)...we enjoyed the sunny weather outdoors which included drinks on some restaurant patios and lots of laughs!


You want to visit!? let us know and we'll make sure you eat well and sleep on a comfy air mattress which includes wake up kisses from a big lab puppy.

Much love from the city!

p.s. I promise I'll get better about blogging more frequently and documenting my blog topics.

Happy Weekend

It has been awhile since my last update from Texas. Matt has been flying again (finally!) and I have been running around Corpus. My friend Jacque is visiting this weekend and we are hitting the beach today. It is supposed to be 83 and sunny! Bring it on...

I will have more updates tomorrow, but thought I would wish everyone a great weekend and leave you with this little gem from Sadie.

Isn't she so helpful...

SB2K10

This past week was spring break here on North Padre Island. What was in February a sleepy beach town turned into traffic-jammed party central. I loved it! The surf shops were full, the miniature golf course was packed, and the shaved ice RV was set up on the side of the road.

Even though we weren’t partaking in the all-day drinking events and beach contests, we had our own little spring break filled with family and friends. Kristen and Nick got here late last Saturday from Richmond, Virginia and were here all week! We played games, drank Coronas, grilled out, and relaxed at the pool and beach. Even though we were sad to see them go on Friday, we didn’t slow down. My cousin Jamie and her family arrived late on Friday night. Along with the Grebes, came the cold weather and rain! But we found time to paint pottery, go to the park, go to Brewster Street, grill out, spend some time on the beach, and drink Coronas (and Natty Light for Guy)!

Instead of sharing all the nitty gritty details about our spring break, I thought I would let the pictures do the talking.

Burgers and beers (and a Smurf!)

Matt and Nick grillin' out

Homemade Irish Car Bombs on St. Patty's Day

One of many game nights

Professional pottery painters (I'm making Sadie a water bowl!)

Two kids, two puppies, one dog crate

Searching for a perfect shell

Big News!

Big News Flash! Nick got a job! He's been awesome at searching for jobs and interviewing over the past 3 months. He landed a really good opportunity with a great company...I'm so excited for him! His start date is March 22nd, so in almost a week my little family will be living together in our little loft in the big city :D

Dog Crazed

Since Cole is a city pup now I thought I'd blog about this dog crazed city....

I am a dog lover....I always want to pet any dog on the sidewalk and oohh and ahhh over the really cute ones. Now I love dogs, but people around here are dog crazed! First off I've never seen more dogs...it seems like everyone has a dog! This makes a friendly Lab difficult to walk when you pass a furry friend every 5 mins, but I must admit it's nice that most people are willing to let him come near/sniff and a lot want to pet him.

Another thing I really apperciate are the large number of dog runs/parks. Cole has lots of energy and loves to run and wrestle with new friends, so the dog runs are wonderful! Central Park also has off the leash hours early in the morning and late at night so we'll be taking advantage of that when the weather gets warmer!

Now onto the dog crazed part...

People love to dress their dogs up....coats, sweaters, fancy collars, etc. I recently saw a dog with a yellow raincoat complete with a hood and a guy with two dogs dressed alike in sweatshirt hoodies under plaid wool coats (I'm not joking!) I've seen more booties on dog's paws to protect them against the cement and weather than I've seen children being accompanied by a parent while playing outside.

Dog spas and doggy gyms exist here for those who think their dogs need extra special attention or need to lose that extra pound.

Most stores let you come in with your dog. In fact recently after a snowstorm we were out and about, Nick was shopping for a coat and Cole got REALLY wet and dirty from all the snow slush and mess. Yet a Banana Republic employee said "you can bring him in, no problem!" I said "it's ok he's pretty dirty, we'll stay out here"....apparently they did not care!

Even though we've entered NYC dog world...don't worry...you won't be seeing this lab wearing anything but a lot of drool and dirt and he won't be attending any gym classes unless it's yoga to calm him down.

At the Hudson River Park in the snow....jersey city in the background.

Congrats to the Graduate!

I didn't realize how long it has been since I posted! I have been busy in Corpus:)

Mom's visit was awesome! We were able to do everything that I wanted. We went to the lake house to scrapbook (can't believe how much we got done...), went to Rockport and Port Aransas (local beach towns), shopped, cooked, drank, walked, etc. It went by too fast! I am not sure how much longer we will be in Corpus, so I was so happy that Mom got to make it down here and see our life in Texas. Miss her already...

This past Saturday was another big day in the Swartz family. Miss Sadie Swartz graduated Puppy Preschool. After eight weeks, she was able to pass with flying colors. She started off with the nickname "wild child" and was definitely the most rambunctious of the group. Needless to say, it was a big feat for her (and us...)

Matt's sister, Kristen, and her boyfriend, Nick, are visiting next week for their spring break. We are so excited! This spring we have been so lucky to have lots of visitors (friends and family) and the fun just continues with their stay. Hopefully the beautiful weather (70s and sunny) will continue for their stay. Guess I will have to get back to cleaning those trash cans...but all for a great reason!

Have a great week:)



Jamie and I taking a break from scrapbooking!

Mom and me in Rockport.

It was quite a feat to get the graduation cap this close...

She did it!