Fuggedaboutit!!!!

I'm not sure if it's officially fall, or if we just got to experience what the weather man is calling "a fall preview", but the weather was definitely beautiful this weekend.  As you know, Michael and I have been out of town the past two weekends, so New York welcomed us home for the weekend with a little bit of football weather.  I love our travels and I wouldn't trade our fun, crazy life for anything in the world, but we have come to cherish our weekends home in the city. 

There is no shortage of things to do in New York City, especially during autumn.  We've lived here for a year and a half together, and we can find something new to do or somewhere new to go every weekend.  So this weekend's adventure was to the Saint Gennaro festival in Little Italy.  We recruited the Bucks to come join us for a festive evening embracing the Italian culture in New York.  It's shameful, but I have not ventured out to Little Italy for a meal since living in the city.  I think Mike always thought it was a tourist-y thing to do, and there is SO much great Italian food in Manhattan.  So we braved the crowds (literally hundreds of thousands of people) with one of our favorite couples on a perfect Saturday night.  

After navigating through the swarms of people, we stumbled upon a little Italian restaurant (aren't they all "little"?!?) and got a seat outside right on the border of the festival.  The little white Christmas lights were twinkling, Italian flags were waving, and the smell of zeppoles filled the air.  We thought we found a quaint place for a bite to eat, but it ended up being one of the most famous Italian restaurants in New York.  So famous that we ate at a table adjacent to the ONLY remaining member of the Ramones...Marky Ramone.  My husband is really good at catching rock star sightings.  But he was pretty recognizable.  

When we were seated by the adorable old Italian man, he said "the kitchen is going to be slow tonight".  Our dinner could have taken 4 hours to come out, but none of us would have cared in the slightest.  We had a delicious bottle of Chianti and enough great people watching to keep us happy and satisfied.  

But the food DIDN'T take 4 hours, and it was amazing...so amazing that I didn't even feel bad about the carbs, or the the friend mozzarella mini sandwiches for that matter.  And what Italian meal is complete without a little dessert.  I was determined to try zeppoles for the first time in my life....but was quickly distracted by the "best cannoli on planet earth" sign.  So naturally that's where I ended up...and it was delicious.  "best cannoli on platnet earth" is a big claim, and I'm not sure I've had enough cannolis to agree/disagree with that, but there are few things that I like better than a good ol' fashioned Italian cannoli.  I think we all felt a little bit more Italian after our experience....even though I'm the only REAL Italian of the group.  

 The night ended with us spending an unrealistic amount of money on carnival games.  But it paid off though, because we won three goldfish!!!  I donated one to a sweet little girl on our way home, but we did keep two of them, which I've named Cannoli and Parmesean...duh!  My husband was not happy about undertaking the huge responsibility of having two more pets...because "goldfish are a lot of work".  But they are happy and healthy and enjoying a new life in a tiki-filled paradise.

Tiger Blood, Warlocks, the Wild Thing and Winning!

In my year and a half of working on the planning team for Axe Body Spray, this was one of my favorite things I was able to participate in as an advertiser.  This past weekend, Axe was a presenting sponsor of the Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen!  And with Mike starting his new job, he was given tickets to the event from his clients who do the digital planning for Comedy Central.  So we both packed our bags and headed west to LA for a fun filled weekend of comedy.

While we both were traveling out to the west coast together, we were both on separate trips that were work related.  In fact, we hardly saw each other until Saturday after our Friday work functions were complete.  I suggested BOA as our client/Comedy Central dinner with our hosts.  For those of you who don't know....BOA is the site of Mike and my first date (back when it was a tiny little restaurant in the Grafton hotel).  So we've developed quite a friendship with the clientele there after years of dating and client dinners in LA.  It was like seeing old friends during my client dinner.  Always such a pleasure to visit our favorite restaurant even though I wasn't with Mike.  But nevertheless, dinner was amazing as always and was a hit with the crew at Unilever and Comedy Central. 

So the first time I got to spend time with Mike was Saturday morning when we were up early enough to take a trip up to our old neighborhood in West Hollywood for a quick detox hike at Runyon Canyon.  As I mentioned in my previous entry, I like to take in any opportunity I can get for some exercise in the outdoors.  So while it may have been pretty ambitious after a long night of entertaining clients and having cocktails, it was nice to take some time to wake up and smell the roses!  AND, since she lives in the neighborhood, we got to enjoy the company of our cousin Julie for our hike and a quick breakfast (at Cheebo, another Mobley favorite from our days of living in LA).   Saturday quickly got away from us so it was nice to take the morning to enjoy all the things we loved about living in Los Angeles.

Comedy Central was fabulous and gracious hosts for both Mindshare representatives and our Unilever clients.  They were extremely generous in putting us up at the beautiful Four Seasons resort in Beverly Hills for the weekend.  Not only did they host us, but they treated us to a cabana during the day on Saturday for the entire day.  The day was perfect for some Comedy

Central/Unilever/Mindshare relaxation time, not to mention that it was a beautiful, sunny day in Southern California.  The day quickly turned into an eventful evening as we left the hotel to head out to the Sony Pictures studio lot where the Roast was being taped.  We've been building this program with CC for a few months, so it was so fun to see the whole program come to life.  We are so thrilled about how Comedy Central was able to customize a program for Axe.  And we got to watch it all unfold from the star-studded red carpet. B and C list celebrity appearances included: Ron Jeremy, Kristin Cavelleri, Slash, Dog the Bounty Hunter, Kate Walsh, Kristy Swanson, Mike Tyson, Maria Menudos, William Shatner, Aaron Paul from Breaking Bad, Seth McFarlane, Charlie Sheen, and my personal favorite of the evening...the Tick himself...Patrick Warburton (LOVE!).

This was my first time going to the Roast, but it was SO much fun.  The actual Roast was hilarious (I'm a little interested to see what exactly they will be able to clear for TV!).  As you can imagine, with Charlie Sheen being the Roast subject, all of the jokes were about drugs and hookers.  But it was the hardest I've laughed in a long time.So I'm looking forward to seeing how much Comedy Central can actually air from the event. And we got HOOKED UP with our tickets to the Roast as we got front row seats at table #1.  Mike wasn't as lucky, but at least we kept tabs on each other before the after party.  

The after party was fabulous.  It was less about mingling among the celebs, and more about the fun we had with the clients and with Comedy Central.  Mike's CC clients got him tickets to the after party as well so we finally got to enjoy the fun of the weekend together.  After a few cocktails, I was a bit more brave later in the night, and felt confident enough to take a picture with Patrick Warburton.  He's so random and awesome, and was very friendly and may or may not have tried to pinch my hiney.  Chatting with him was definitely one of the highlights of the weekend.  Everyone else at the event made fun of me for my random obsession with someone who played a tick on a quickly cancelled cartoon...and who is most famous for his high-fives..and who stars on a CBS sitcom of which I think I'm the only viewer.  But it was a highlight, and he took not only one, but TWO pictures with me.  Thank you Patrick, I think I'm your biggest fan. 

It was weird being in LA this past weekend and not having time to see all my favorite people in LA, and it was strange to be in my former home for business.  However, I'm so lucky to have such wonderful colleagues and clients because it was the most fun "business trip" I think I'll ever take!!!!  Plus, I got to have my husband there too!  It was bitter sweet coming home from LA.  I'm a bit delayed in posting this week as I've had a busy week of work, but Mike and I flew back to New York on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.  We were sad to leave our old home and the beautiful lifestyle we used to live out there, but we were happy and proud to be New Yorkers, and to return to the city on such a memorable day.  During our drive back from the airport, we saw two beams of light shooting up into the sky from Ground Zero where the Twin Towers used to stand, and it was a very moving sight.  And I've never been happier to call New York City my home.  

Gem State of Mind

As our first summer as the Mobleys is coming to an end, Mike and I tried to round out a wonderful season by squeezing in one more trip.  So mid-way through August, we found an amazing deal over Labor Day weekend to go visit Mike's parents in beautiful Sun Valley, Idaho!  We hadn't been there together since Christmas 2009, so it was such a great treat not only to have a little getaway for the long weekend, but to also get to spend some time with family. 

As you can imagine, being a New Yorker means you're deprived of "nature".  Yes, we have trees, and are occasionally permitted to lay on the grass in Madison Square Park, but raw, real nature is not something we get to experience in Manhattan.  Sun Valley is basically the opposite of New York, in every wonderful way possible.  The sirens, honking horns, and noise of the city is replaced with silent nights where the loudest sound is the breeze in the Aspen Trees.  Flashing lights and blinding street lamps are absent from the pitch black darkness of the valley.  The hustle and bustle of the fast-paced city life is replaced by a need to slow down and appreciate each moment and every beautiful sight.  Subways, buses and taxis are exchanged for mountain bikes, hiking boots and big ol' 4 wheel American trucks.  Tiny, compact spaces are reserved only for closets and store rooms in Sun Valley rather than living spaces and apartments.  There are no stinky piles of trash on the side of the road, only patches of wild flowers and occasional wildlife (perhaps a deer or two!).  Mini pocket pooches wearing patent leather rain boots are traded for big beefy mountain dogs that long for the outdoors.  And "happy hour" is in a cozy sweater over looking the breath-taking mountain views rather than $20 martinis from another angry bartender.

I do feel a bit guilty for trying to pack so much in to only two full days (traveling takes up a FULL day both ways), but I wanted to get in as much "nature" as I could before heading back to the concrete jungle to kick of our 2011 fall season.  Last time we were in Sun Valley for a summer weekend, Michael had just had surgery on his lower back for a herniated disk, so we escaped for a bit of relaxation and early bed times, rather than a jam-packed weekend of outdoor sports.  So I was excited get out and enjoy the outdoors during this trip.

After arriving in Boise and driving 2 hours to my in-law's house we had a delicious meal out on the patio watching the sun set behind the mountains.  We were early to bed though because the next morning, we woke up at dawn to head out to the river for my first white-water rafting excursion!  I don't think I've ever been this excited to wake up before the sun came up since I got to skip school to go to Disneyland during grammar school.  It was quite a drive out to the Payette River, but it was well worth it.  We spent our day rafting in category 3 and category 4 rapids with some of the best professional guides in the state of Idaho (literally, they wrote a training program for the Navy Seals!).  Not only did we have exceptional rafting, but the trip through the canyon was breathtaking.  Mike and I basically got a private raft with two guides, so our raft was a bit lighter than other rafts on the trip.  And because we had the more "agile" boat...we got to do a little experimenting with our guides...experimenting that led to my husband being thrown off the raft to face a "near death experience".  After he was pulled to safety, and was back in our raft...I have to admit...it was probably the hardest I've ever laughed in my life.  But I'm glad my husband is safe! I'd like to give a shout out to the Payette River Company for the amazing experience they gave us and the memories I'll cherish forever.

Needless to say, we slept for 11 hours after our exhausting river excursion and woke up refreshed and sore for day 3 of our trip.  We were so happy to spend the entire day with Mike's parents just enjoying the day and taking it easy.

The day started with morning coffee from our favorite place, Java, and breakfast out on the front porch and a nice brisk hike up the mountains behind the Mobley's home.  The morning was followed by lunch at a Sun Valley favorite...Grumpys!
There is nothing better than enjoying a schooner and a burger outside on a beautiful day with people you love.  For our final evening in Idaho, we spent the night with family having a delicious home cooked meal outside (my husband grilled....I've never seen him cook anything besides Saturday morning bacon and maybe a sandwich).  The food was delicious, the company was perfect, and the scenery for our dinner setting was picturesque.  I was devastated to leave.

Being with our family and being out in Sun Valley was like turning a switch on for both Mike and me.  There is no room for anxiety and work worries in Sun Valley.  The fresh air and family atmosphere takes out all the stress and negativity that is inevitable during the daily lives of New Yorkers.  The trip was too quick and we can't wait to go back for a white Christmas.

Come on Irene!

For the first time ever in the history of my blogging...I felt the need to do two entries this week.  As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, New Yorkers were treated to unseasonably beautiful weather on Monday - Wednesday of this week.  The unbearable humidity and summer thunderstorms were a thing of the past, making way for a summer breeze.  And dare I say it...I actually was a little chilly during my morning walk to the office.  In California, whenever we have unseasonable temperatures...we say that it's "earthquake weather", but who knew that same thing applied to New York!  Yes, New Yorkers did experience a minor earthquake this week...which caused quite a bit of hype in the city and in social media.  Californians were mocking the quick and somewhat unnecessary panic that the earthquake caused.  And New Yorkers were fearing the worst.  The last earthquake in the city was during WWII, and the last time anyone in the city felt their building rumble in that nature...it was September 11th.  So yes, there were random building evacuations, and yes, the magnitude of the earthquake was minor compared to what California has been through, but NYC is not prepared for the disaster that comes with an earthquake, and I'm thankful that there was no damage or injuries, because in a city built entirely of ONLY skyscrapers, it could have been catastrophic.  Hopefully we don't have to deal with that again for the rest of our time in the city.

In other news, the East Coast was rocked this week by a pretty nasty hurricane....Irene.  All week, our eyes have been glued to the weather station & New York one for updates on where Irene would strike next, and how you should prepare for the potential destruction that comes along with a tropical storm.  Again, New York City has not seen damage from a hurricane since the 1800s, and the city is not exactly "geographically blessed" if a hurricane were to strike.  So the city took extreme measures to prevent devastation.  Apartments were evacuated in Manhattan as well as Brooklyn & Hoboken, and all mass transit (including trains, subways, busses) were suspended until after the hurricane was scheduled to pass.  Businesses were boarded up with plywood and windows were taped to prevent them from shattering.  Stores quickly sold out of bottled water, batteries, flashlights and the essential "survival kit" items.  Grocery stores were packed with check-out lines of up to 100 people!  The city that never sleeps was eerily quiet.






For those of you who know my husband, it shouldn't surprise you to know that he already has a fully stocked survival kit...but I think his was more in anticipation of some type of hostile takeover in America...rather than a hurricane.  So we were stocked...with the exception of food...which we quickly solved with a few take out orders.  My husband's survival kit also consisted of unrealistic amounts of booze/beer.  If we were to lose electricity, and if the city were to be shut down...at least we wouldn't be bored.











And I say it now because I know we're safe, but one thing New Yorkers are really good at doing is finding an excuse to party.  So what better way to spend the night before what was supposed to be the biggest hurricane to hit New York in over a century than with friends at a bar?  In anticipation of the storm, we all headed out to the LES to have a little mini hurricane party complete with complimentary snacks (well...chips) and shots.  The only cars on the road at all were taxis who were put on the earth to ensure that we were transported to and from our apartment safely.

The damage to NYC was minimal and I feel extremely lucky that we did not experience any flooding and power outages as was suspected.  There is still some devastating damage in other parts of the East Coast, but we're happy to be safe and spared from the wrath of Hurricane Irene.  But she has left her mark in other ways...as we are all experiencing "category 4" hangovers!!!  Thank you Irene!

You Can Still Rock in New York City

In the months leading up to our wedding, the DuPont parents paid us monthly visits.  Visits that were consumed with dress fittings, appointments with the stationers, and trips to Saks for wedding shoes & accessories.  Since our nuptials in April, the DuPonts have visited...zero times...but I don't think they love us any less!

But after a week of rain and unforgiving humidity, we were so happy when the clouds parted and New York welcomed Mom & Pops DuPont with beautiful 80 degree weather and zero humidity.  It was so pleasant we were able to enjoy a delicious meal outside on the patio during their first night here.  I made a healthy lasagna from scratch that I was so happy to share with my parents.

Our next evening with my parents brought us to Yankee stadium, where we watched the Yankees get their asses kicked by the A's.  But we were so lucky to enjoy the game and the wonderful weather from the comfort of a cozy little suite.  The beers were flowing, the food was delicious and the company was even better.  I'd have loved it if the Yankees pulled out a W, but it doesn't always work out that way!

During my parent's final night in the city, we took a "journey" out to PNC Bank Center in New Jersey to see Night Ranger, Foreigner & Journey take the stage on what was another perfect evening of weather.  Our cousin James Blades was extremely generous not only in getting tickets for the four of us but he also got back stage passes for everyone as well.  After Night Ranger played an awesome set, it was such a treat to head back to see Uncle Jack and spend a few minutes with him.  And to top it off, my Uncle Jody was at the concert as well, so we tracked him down in a crowd of 18,000 people to come sit with us for the rest of the show.  It was my first time seeing Journey in concert, ever...if you don't count the 15+ times I've seen the Journey tribute band...Voyage.  But this was BETTER!


My parents aren't exactly the most music savvy people (mom...you know it's true), and I'm not sure when they last went to a concert, so this was a really special experience to share with them.  They had such a blast. I'm glad we could host my parents for such a fun few days here in the city, and do things that were 100% unrelated to any wedding planning or stress related activities.  This is going to be a hard visit to top!

The name is Mobs...SHE-Mobs

The day after our wedding started what quickly became the bureaucratic nightmare that is CHANGING MY NAME!  But I'm using this blog entry to officially declare myself Mrs. Michael Mobley!  I've finally converted all my personal information from Stephanie DuPont to Stephanie Mobley.

Changing your name in the state of NY has the potential to ruin your life.  But I got some really great advice from the wonderful Mrs'es in my life that I'd like to share for those of you who are about to begin your journey towards wedded bliss....and the pain in the ass of taking your husband's name.

1. Social Security - You'd THINK that getting there early in the AM would be best, but everyone else also has that idea.  I took a random Friday and brought my book and went to the SS offices in the late morning, and before the lunchtime rush, around 10:30.  Make sure you bring the following:  your original SS card, your marriage license (certified copy from your county recorder) & your driver's license.

2.  DMV - In the state of New York this is probably one of the worst things ever.  But with great direction and advice once again, I was in and out of that hell hole in less than an hour.  In most states, this isn't something you can make an appointment for, so again, bring a book!  I arrived 30 minutes before the DMV opened, which isn't optimal for taking your new picture, but it was worth it to be out of there quicker.  I felt it extremely helpful to fill out my paperwork before going to the DMV, so I encourage my soon-to-be married friends to do this as well. Make sure you bring the following:  your marriage license (again...a certified copy), your old driver's license, and another form of ID (i.e. your passport or your birth certificate).  I'm not sure how much it costs in other states, but in NY it was a $65 fee.

3.  Once you have your SS and driver's license changed, you can change almost everything else through a quick phone call.  I did all my credit cards, bank account, and utilities all on the same day.  The doozie is changing your passport.  I'd recommend waiting until everything else is changed because you need to send original documents when you apply for your passport renewal.  So you may be without those documents for a few months. Do NOT change your passport before your honeymoon...It's better to just wait until you get home.  Make sure you send the following in: your original passport, your original certified marriage license (they return it to you with your new passport), a new picture and $$$ ($110 for me, but some people may differ depending on whether or not you need it expedited/renewed).

So I'd like to thank everyone who I consulted during the few months of my name-changing process, and I hope I can pass on some valuable knowledge to those who follow my blog.  It still feels weird to introduce myself as a Mrs.and as Stephanie Mobley, but life with my new identity as Mrs. Mobley has been wonderful!!!!