Monday, April 25, 2011

My end table...done!

I finally did it. Now that the snow has melted and it is 10 degrees above zero! I refinished that end table that was in my living room. I started at 10am this morning and finished it about 3pm. I almost forgot to take a before picture! I took off the hardware before I took the picture.



We got this end table on kijiji for $20 back before Christmas. It was missing a handle and was in need of refinishing. I had to refill the holes from the missing handle before I started priming.



Here it is after I primed and spray painted it. I painted it an ivory gloss. And there was a big fat spider crawling around me the whole time...eek!





Then it was time to glaze. That is what took me the most time. When I was done that, I sprayed it with satin lacquer, 2 coats. I spray painted the hardware a black matt finish, put the hardware back on and...







It took a lot of work and I am so glad it is finally done. I really like it, but don't look too close, it is definitely not perfect. I wish I could have taken a picture of my hands after I glazed it. They were nasty! And I am still picking black from under my finger nails.

If you are interested in doing a project like this, check out AllThingsThrifty blog.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Our Trip to NYC!!!

Joe and I went to New York City for our 10th anniversary. We left on April 7th and just got back on April 15th. It was so much fun and I can't believe it's already over :(

My first New York experience happened on the subway on our way to our hotel from the airport. We saw our first crazy-talking-to-himself-without-actually-making-noise-guy. He kept pointing at nobody too. I was trying to ignore him and almost started laughing. I thought, "Great! We will be dealing with this kind of thing every time we take the subway." But it only happened a few times.



When we walked out of the subway, I was so excited! And this is what we saw...





This was our hotel room. Our hotel was a few blocks south of Central Park in Manhattan.



After we dropped off our bags, we walked a few blocks to Times Square.





It was so crazy busy!

The next morning we got up very early to line up for standby tickets for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. The one thing I wanted to do the most while we were in NY. We got there at 6am, which is more like 4am Edmonton time.





We were the 3rd and 4th people there. We waited the 3 hours until 9am for them to give us our standby tickets. And we saw Al Roker walk by while we waited in line. He does the NBC news on the Today show. This lady was another fan who was also Canadian!



I was so excited when we got our standby tickets, since we were 3rd and 4th, I thought we would make it into the show for sure!



After we got our tickets, we walked around Rockefeller Plaza.





And we went to Top of the Rock, the very top of Rockefeller Plaza.



It had an amazing view. Some have told me they like it better than the Empire State building view.







Then we went and got tickets to Jimmy Fallon's monologue rehearsal.



They only let 60 people in, and he goes over his monologue jokes. And since it was Friday, he went through his Thank You notes too. I was so excited!!! When I walked in he was sitting as his desk with some of the writers and I screamed "Yeah! Jimmy!" And then he looked up and said "Oh, hi." We couldn't take pictures or video. I wish we could cause it was so much fun. He was really funny and totally interacted with us. The monologue rehearsal was my favourite part of the whole trip. After, we had to line back up to see if we got into the show with our standby tickets. And we did!



I loved the show! I was grinning from ear to ear the whole time! And of course at the end of the show I got a high 5 from Jimmy!!! This day so far had been amazing! After the show, we waited in the lobby for a little while to see if Jimmy would come down. We did run into some other cool people. Quest Love, leader of the band that plays on Late Night, The Roots.



We also saw one of the writers that is on the show sometimes. He is hilarious and never cracks a smile while he is on.



We never did see Jimmy after. But that's okay, he did say hi to ME and give ME a high 5!!!

When we walked out of the building there were people already lined up to get standby tickets for SNL.



We decided not to line up for SNL, since it is impossible to get into with standby tickets.

After, we were starving, so we each got a hot dog with everything on it! It was really good. Actually the food was good everywhere we went to eat. Our favourite was a greek place called Dafni.



After we ate we were walking around and noticed at Radio City Music Hall, Charlie Sheen was do a show that night. That guy is messed up.



Then we decided to go to Madame Tussauds wax museum.



I can't believe how real these figures looked.



Jenny, this one is for you...



Oh, Edward...



All the single ladies...



This is Al Roker, we saw him in real life earlier that day.



This was Madame Tussaud, she was the creepiest thing there.



Stop right now thank you very much...



We then spent the rest of the night walking around Times Square. What a long day. Our feet were so sore, but it was worth it!



Over the next couple days, we went shopping, and walked around.







One day, we packed a huge amount of sight seeing in. We went to 4 museums, walked through Central Park, went on a boat tour around Manhattan, and then went to the Empire State building. We didn't get home until 1am.

The first museum we went to was the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was so amazing. We could have spent all day there, but we had other things to do!









I loved this vase, I want it.



Oh, these next three pictures are other areas of our hotel room.







Haha! I wish. They were rooms at the museum obviously. Aren't they gorgeous!

Next we walked to the Guggenheim Museum. I personally think to shape of the museum building was more interesting than the art that was in it.





Next we walked across Central Park to get to the next museum. It was a nice day and the park was pretty.



The only grass we saw our whole trip.



Next was the American Museum of Natural History. The one in "Night at the Museum." This one was super fun and really cool. Our feet hurt so bad by this point, and it was only 1pm.







The next museum was the Intrepid Air and Sea Museum. We got to look at really old war planes on an aircraft carrier and go inside an old submarine.





Now it was off to the boat tour around Manhattan. I thought it might be boring but it was actually pretty fun and amazing to see so many skyscrapers!

The Brooklyn Bridge.









The Statue of Liberty.



Then we walked to the Empire State building.



We wanted to make sure we did a night viewing of the city when we went. The view was amazing! I got a great view of the prettiest building in Manhattan, the Chrysler building.





The next day, we took a train to Hoboken, NJ, to go to Carlo's Bakery.



This is the bakery from the show Cake Boss on TLC. We were hoping to see Buddy there, but he was in Florida. We did see Grace, his sister, who has the most piercing New Jersey accent I have ever heard. We got cannoli's, lobster tails and cream puffs. I was so full after, I didn't eat until dinner time.

Next, we went to one of my favourite places to shop, MACY'S!!!



We were there for a long time. I think Joe liked shopping more than I did.

Then we decided to go down to Canal Street to Chinatown and Little Italy. It was crazy there. A Bzillion people trying to sell fake Prada or Coach bags. I bought a few cute scarves and some perfume for butt cheap!



Then we went to an amazing italian restaurant. So delicious!



We finished the night by going back to Times Square to see a movie. When we got there, there were dozens of police cars lined up down the street. We were like, oh crap, what is going on! We found out it was a practice thing.



We went to Battle : Los Angeles. It was really good. We were the only ones in the theatre until a few minutes before the movie started, then only 4 more people showed up.



The next day was the day we were going to see WICKED!!! I was so excited! We started the day off by going and doing a session at the Manhattan Temple.



After, across the street we walked around by Julliard school and the Metropolitan Opera House.







Jenny, I just wanted you to see who was singing at the Met that night...



We couldn't go cause we were already going to Wicked.

Next, we went and checked out St. Patrick's Cathedral. It was so beautiful inside. Check it out.





Now it was time for Wicked!!!





The show was amazing! I am so happy I get to see it again in July here in Edmonton! This might sound silly to some of you, but I was teary eyed through half the show. Great acting, amazing singing! I can't wait to see it again.

The next day was our second last day. We went on the NBC Studio Tour. It was really cool. No camera's were allowed though...boo! We got to see the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon studio (been there, done that), and the SNL set.



Then we got a picture with the page that was our tour guide. I was telling him how much I love Jimmy Fallon, then he says, oh, I just talked to him yesterday, he was doing some taping for a skit for his show called the Jersey Floor. Then he said Jimmy's really nice, I already knew that! I was a little jealous!



Then we went to the SOHO area of Manhattan to go shopping! Yessss, more shopping. We spent a lot of our trip shopping. My husband was so good about it. Let me buy whatever I wanted. Although he did spend more money than I did on shopping! This was a really cool building in SOHO.



Then we went to a New York Yankee's baseball game. I wasn't too excited about this because baseball is the most boring sport to watch. But it was pretty fun. And Joe loved it.





We were sitting in the bleachers area where all the poor/crazy fans sit. It was more entertaining to watch the fans than the game.



It was a little chilly too that night. But after I got some cheesy fries and a hot chocolate, it was all good.



The next day was the worst day, cause it was the last day. We didn't have too much planned. We did a tour of Radio City Music Hall.



I have to admit it was a little boring but the theatre was amazing. And I got a picture with one of the Rockettes!





All week we kept seeing police guys with huge guns walking around. Should I be scared or feel safe?



And here is a taste of what it looks like when you walk down to go take the subway.



We did a little more shopping and walked around some more. We ended up in Times Square for our last night. We figured out that we were in Times Square every night except for one night our whole trip.



This was such an amazing trip! It was very tiring but very fun! And I would do it all again right now!



Thanks so much to Joe's parents for watching our girls while we partied!!! And thanks to everyone who helped us find cool things to do while we were there!