Hugs & Kisses

As you can probably tell the past month and a half have gone by super fast and have not been optimal for spending quality time as man & wife.  We have no weekend getaways coming up for a few more weeks, we have nightly work responsibilities, and oh, have I mentioned Mike has been traveling? :)

Winston even got a little Valentine's Day treat!
Puppy cupcakes!

I'm not the biggest Valentine's Day person (per my previous post), but this was our first Valentine's day since becoming Mr. & Mrs. Mobley.  And I'd like to give you the heads up that this entry is going to be a little bit of a rant on how amazing my husband is, so if you're not in the mood or want to make fun of us...than this would be the time to stop reading.

We only get each other bulldog cards!

Best Coffee mug ever made

My husband went out of his way to make sure that I felt special on this Valentine's Day.  We've had some great February 14ths, that included a romantic ski vacation in Sun Valley & oh yes...an engagement, so those will be hard to top.  Mike knows how much I fear becoming one of those couples who kind of falls into a routine after marriage, and getting so caught up in life that you stop taking time to make each other feel special.  But he sure knows how to make a girl feel special.

When I woke up in the AM for my 44th (woot woot) day of P90X, I had a beautiful spread of Valentine's Day surprises, personalized cards and treats!  Winston even got me a card (because he's my Valentine too, ya know).  But Valentine's day isn't just about the ladies, I had a little treat for my husband as well of course.  He loved his gun-shaped mug.  But the love didn't stop with the morning surprises, my husband kept the Valentine's day surprises coming all day.  I got another flower delivery at work as well as the itinerary below for our vintage New York-style evening.

I was counting down the minutes until 6p to meet my handsome man at the Four Seasons for an aperitif.  Surprisingly enough, I hadn't been to the Four Seasons in NY before, but I greatly enjoyed my V-day themed strawberry cocktail.  But the dinner....oh the dinner....was the highlight of the day.  Mike made a reservation at Wolfgang's on Park Ave, and it was the best steak I've had to date in my life....I know, a bold statement, but it's true.  Wolfgang's is located in the historic former Vanderbilt hotel dining room and was opened by the former head waiter at Peter Luger's.  Valentine's Day was probably not the best day to try them for the first time because the restaurant was packed with lovers.  We weren't seated until about 30 - 45 minutes later than our reservation, but it was worth the wait.  And I must say...no one there was married!!!  There were old couples, young couples, engaged couples, casual couples, but I didn't see any rings on the men in this restaurant.  It had me thinking that there was some marriage code that we didn't know about or that we were violating.

Since they are known for their excellent porterhouse for two, we had to try it...and it was cooked perfectly.  We both ate more than our normal portions and topped it off with key lime pie for dessert.  Yes...it's Valentine's day...we had dessert!  You had to roll me out of that place when we were done.  I have a long list of other historic New York establishments that I'd love to try with my husband, but Wolfgang's lived up to everything I've heard about it.  If only we could become "that couple" who becomes regulars...and all it takes is eye contact and a little head nod to be seated right away.

 I was so overwhelmed with love for my husband after all that he had done to make me feel loved & special on Valentine's day.  It was timely because it's the first week since the start of 2012 where he wasn't traveling, and he put all his effort into creating a wonderful evening for us on our 1st married February 14th.  I'm looking forward to many more!!!!

I said "Yes"!!!!

My dad was born on Valentine's day and honestly, it's a miracle that he wasn't named Valentino.  Every year, when February 14th rolls around, it's not the "day of love" for me!  It's my dad's birthday, and everyone should feel special on their birthday.  So for 25 years of my life, Valentines day = Dad's day...until February 13th, 2010!

Two years ago, on this very day, surrounded by the entire DuPont family (dogs and all!) in sunny California,  my life changed when Mike got on one knee and asked me to marry him!

Mike had to have a brewskie (or 5) to ease his nerves a little bit!

My favorite part of this picture is definitely the fact that Burton weaseled his way into this one

It was the 2nd best day of my life, second only to the day we got married, and a wonderful celebration surrounded by my family! I'll never forget how special that day was & look forward to remembering it on this day every year!

The Wife of a Traveling Salesman

There are very few things that are good about the fact that my husband travels a lot.  He's obviously gone, which makes me a sad wife.  But also while he's out of town, I don't have his usual morning singing/whistling to start off my day in a good way.  I also have to juggle the special needs of taking care of Winston...which means we're all alone on our walk to doggee daycare, instead of the normal morning family outing.  I'm usually later to work because of the extended morning routine I do alone instead of tag teaming the coffee making/Winston duties.  I don't sleep well because my mind starts to wander about things that happen on Paranormal Activity and that I'm less safe from unexpected intruders when he's gone.  I don't get to talk to him much, because most of his travels take him to a much different time zones with busy schedules.  And then there is the worst part...my sweet husband comes home from his business trips absolutely exhausted and then our weekend is uneventful so that he can fully recover before doing it all again the following week (sometimes!).

Thanks for keeping me company mom!

So after almost 4 years of enduring these frequent travels, I've started to focus on the good things that come out of Mike flying all over the country.  First and foremost, he has racked up quite the collection of frequent flyer miles.  In 2010 we were able to book at trip to Dublin on miles, our honeymoon flights were 100% miles, and we just booked at trip to Mexico in April...you guessed it....on miles!  He's been a loyal American Airlines customer way before he became the prince to the American Airline's VP, aka my pops, Mark DuPont.  When Mike is out of town, I do get to enjoy some of the embarrassing television content that he refuses to watch.  This time allows me to cuddle under my faux fur throw (we all know how much I love those throws) with my tea and watch Teen Mom or the latest Kardashian drama.  I know, I know...judge me, go ahead.  My solo nights also give me the perfect time to catch up with all the ladies and/or work events.  I've been known to pack in my schedule so that I have something to do every night that Mike is gone to minimize the amount of time I spend alone.  I've had my mom come visit, I've done girls dinners, I've scheduled monthly dates with my sorority little sis, and I've spent evenings with some of my favorite team members and work vendors designing Nike IDs, having cocktails, trying out New York hot spots, etc.  My dinners when I'm by myself are a tiny bit lower stress and ofter a bit healthier, so you have to love that.  If i feel like eating eggs, or an apple, or a sweet potato, then I'll do it!!!  And finally....my favorite thing about Mike traveling is how elated both Winston and I are when he comes home. When he walk through that door with his roller suitcase and laptop bag a huge wave or relief and happiness overcomes me every time.

But this week was different. Mike's work did not only require him to leave during the week, but he had to be gone part of the weekend also...and on SUPER BOWL!  Football and weekends are both sacred to us, so it goes without saying that this particular trip was a doozie.  So to soften the blow a bit, I took a day to myself, I took a "breather".   I think a day of pampering is a necessity for every lady every once in a while (budget permitting).  It was a perfect opportunity to do all the things that I feel guilty about doing on the weekend when my husband has been away during the week. This past Saturday, I completed 5 straight weeks of P90X. Out of 35 days, I'm proud to say I worked out on 30 of those days.  Five weeks of daily workouts for 6 days a week was definitely starting to take a toll on my body a bit.  So I started my solo Sunday with a nice visit to the Bliss spa for a massage.  I rarely get massages, and I think the last time I got one was on my honeymoon more than 9 months ago, yikes!  It was nice to massage away all the tension and stress from the first month of the year and I felt like a million bucks when I left.

 My next little splurge was a mani/pedi at my favorite neighborhood nail salon.  It's a bit more expensive than the little places you can just stumble upon in the city, it's 100% worth the extra $10. There are few things better than spending an hour getting your calves and wrists massaged and leaving the salon with clean, shiny, impeccable nails.  So a day to do all the girly things I love is just what the doctor ordered this weekend.

Mani/pedi....ahhh!!!!

My breather day continued with some retail therapy on my favorite sites.  It's naughty, I know, but while the cat's away, the mice will play....with the cat's credit card! Regardless of the fact that I'm minutes away from the wonderful Madison Avenue and a quick subway ride from the best and most impressive departments stores on 5th Ave, I prefer online shopping.  I can be more impulsive and I find I can get better deals!!! I could go on Gilt, Ruelala and HauteLook almost daily and buy something, but I have some (very little) self control. 

Yes, it was Superbowl weekend, and its always great to be in the city that takes home the big trophy, but these kinds of things just aren't as fun when it's just me...without my other/more festive half.  I'm so thankful to have a husband who works his hiney off so that we can have the wonderful life that we have and I've become more optimistic about the days he spends traveling, but it would be SO much better if he were home every day!   

A Night at the Museum

A beautiful day to go to the museum!

This is just the lobby of the museum,
there is a whole floor of dinosaurs! Mike
is clearly acting like one here....

One of the best things to do when it's cold and yucky out is enjoy some of New York's great "indoor activities".  It's the best time of year to go to a museum, catch up on all the Oscar nominations at the movies, or maybe even go see a show.  I've visited New York several times before we moved here.  And upon those visits I explored various museums and various exhibits.

Butterfly exhibit.  There were thousands
of them all over the place!

But since moving here, the only museum outing I've had was a girls day that was admittedly prompted by Lady Gaga (it was the Alexander McQueen exhibit at the Met).  As one of Mike's New Years resolutions, we vowed to be more "New York-y" in 2012, and that means we took our first trip to the museum of the year.

Super pissed off T-Rex

It has been a crazy month for both of us with Mike traveling every week.  But on Saturday we woke up to sunny skies and "fall-like" weather on this last weekend of January.  So we were eager to get out and enjoy the day.  I'd been hesitant to battle the weekend crowds/children, and attempt the long trek to the upper west side (i.e. the hardest place to get to from where we live!), but yesterday Mike and I took an adventure to the Natural History Museum.  Of all the museums in New York, this is one of the ones I thought would be a fun excursion.  There are animals and dinosaurs all over the place...plus it was the setting for that awesome Ben Stiller movie.  So rather than figuring out multiple subways & public transit....we took cabs...both ways....not so "New York-y".  

This was a prehistoric bear skeleton...any
opportunity for me to support the Bears I'll take.
BEAR DOWN!

As expected, the museum was hustling and bustling, and there was a live butterfly exhibit that was special just for the next few months.  We took a few hours and explored every floor of the Natural History Museum, including a 15 minute stint in an 85 degree room swarming with beautiful butterflies.  It felt like a little tropical retreat...with a lot more people and kids.  I've never in my life seen that many butterflies.

So tropical!

 I'm not a museum connoisseur, but the NHM HAS to have one of the best collections of dinosaur bones of any museum ever.  They literally had  full skeletons of every dinosaur imaginable.  It was absolutely my favorite part of the trip.  And who would have known that they had a collection of Pacific People artifacts that included a floor to ceiling tiki man.  The exact one that Mike has tattooed on his arm!  I'd say that was one of his highlights!

That is a giant, life sized blue wale in the
marine life exhibit

Notice the proximity to the stage

Just a little bit of Steve shredding

I also have to make a call out about the spontaneously awesome way we ended the night.  After our trip to the museum, Mike heard about a small little show at a jazz club with Steve Stevens & Sebastian Bach.  I think it goes without saying that I am one of the biggest Skid Row fans ever.  Mike even tried to figure out if there was a way to get them to play at our wedding.  Yes, it would have been a little crazy, but awesome nonetheless. We saw them in LA a few years ago on St. Patrick's day, but sadly without Baz...and Baz is awesome.  So we called up our favorite concert buddies, the Novos, and braved the theater district on a Saturday Night...that's freakin gutsy.

 We may or may not have bribed the hostess a little bit to get the front table, but it was absolutely worth it.  The show was in at an old venue called the Iridium, a historic venue where Les Paul used to play weekly shows.  Our seats were right on the stage!  I could have helped Steve Stevens play his guitar if I he'd let me.  And Matty got to sing "Youth Gone Wild" with Sebastian Bach.   It felt like the guys were just jammin' and having a good time.  They sang a little Billy Idol, AC/DC, Van Halen, and of course Skid Row.  The venue was so intimate, and the crowd was so "authentic".  It made for such an amazing experience that will be hard to match ever.  These are the types of things that you can only experience in a great city like New York and I'm thankful that we get to take advantage of these little gems as much as we can!

Yikes, someone needs a tan!

Baby it's cold outside

When I moved to New York in 2010, I can't even begin to tell you how many times people told me "just wait until winter", or "you're never going to make it through January/February in Manhattan", or "how are you liking you're first winter"....and my friends know how much that irked me.  Not only because I have in fact visited many, many winter cities, but also because, I didn't mind it at all!  I've written volumes about how much I love the fall, and summer is always a fun season, and spring is gorgeous.   But for a girl raised in California, I've surprisingly come to appreciate and welcome the winter months & weather more than I anticipated, and more than people thought I would.

Here we are, 22 days into January, and we finally had our first snow of 2012.  Last year was one of the worst winters in New York and I heard apologies from native New Yorkers as if it was their fault that my first winter brought what seemed like weekly blizzards.  But as I did in 2011 for the fall, there are some really, really great things about the winter season, regardless of how bad you might think the weather is.  Here are my favorite things about the season:

1.  Snow!  I'm not at that point in my life where I am annoyed when white, powdery stuff falls from the sky.  I was up and at 'em yesterday morning pretty early, and snuggled up under a cozy fur blanket with my book with my blinds open to watch the snow fall from the sky.  It may create a mess a few hours later, but the silence of the snow falling is still a beautiful sight to see, and it only happens a few times a year, so I have to enjoy it when I can.

2.  Snow days - Growing up as a kid, I was always jealous of my cousins in Connecticut who got to skip school in the winter because of snow days.  A random day in the middle of the week to stay inside in front of a nice warm fire is always a good thing, even if you have to get out of school one day later in June.  In the professional world, we may not get technical snow days, but there is a quiet around the agency when it snows.  People are stranded by inoperable trains, as well as closed streets and bridges, and in that case the only way to get work done is to just work from home (well not for me because I'm the lucky one to live only two subway stops from the office!).  But if there is one thing that can "slow" down the New York pace, it's snow.

3.  The quiet of the city after a blizzard - New York is a loud place to live.  Never in my life did I have to sleep with ear plugs until we moved to New York (that has something to do with Winston's snoring as well). Honking horns, sirens, and screaming people leaving the bars late at night/early in the morning, are just a few of the regular sounds, to name a few.  But there is nothing quite like waking up the morning after a blizzard to the sound of silence.  No cars are out on the streets, there are significantly less people out and about, and you can walk in the middle of Park avenue if there is enough snow.  It's one of the only times where there is actually quiet in the chaos of Manhattan.

4.  An excuse to have hot chocolate - It may not be the best idea for my waistline, but hot chocolate is delicious, and I have no qualms about a giant mug of steaming cocoa when it's snowing outside.

5.  This! 

How can this NOT make you happy....and I'd like to give a little shout out for my first video upload!  It took almost an hour, but it's so sweet to see how happy that little guy is in the snow.  He's sat in front of the sliding glass door all day yesterday longing to go out and play.

6.  Bundling up!  I'm not saying I enjoy over-sized bulky coats, or heavy snow boots that hurt my ankles when I wear them.  But a big comfy sweater, brand new cushy socks, funny little mittens and a silly hats with a big fluffy ball on top are fun to wear when it's cold outside.

7.  Fireplaces - We obviously don't have a real one in our apartment, but we have an electric one.  It doesn't give off the same warmth and crackling noises, but it makes our place feel a bit more home-y when we're stranded inside on a snowy day.  And if you can find a restaurant or drinking establishment in New York with a fireplace, it's an automatic headquarters for festivities on cold, winter-y evenings.  We are lucky enough to have a gem of a "nook" across the street called Molly's which is perfect for a little bit of Jameson or a nice scotch to warm our bellies up.

 In February and March when there is freezing rain, I might feel differently.  I will no doubt be ready to start wearing sandals and sundresses pretty soon.  And I'll be longing for an escape to some tropical destination for some relief, but who would have known that a California girl would grow to love all the seasons so much, even the "unlovable" winter.  I'm hoping for a few more days like yesterday to slow us all down from our crazy, busy lives and spend a day being lazy, without feeling bad & guilty.   That truly is the best part of winter.

Home Improvements

As you may have seen from my earlier blogs, it's my New Year's resolution to continue to update my blog and add new posts at least once a week.  Well, this week, I apologize, but I've got NOTHIN.  Usually I'm not at a shortage for words, and usually, my husband and I are out and about doing something noteworthy to document in my blog.  But this week was a little tough.  Mike has been traveling for work, the weather was cold, it was a long weekend with a lot of our friends out of town, and the weekend was consumed in NFL football playoffs.  Including an unbelievable win by the 49ers.

So I thought I'd take this opportunity to share with you a few of the little home improvements we've made to our home to make it a better place to be holed up in the event of a cold winter storm (which we haven't had yet this winter...weird!).  I know I did blog about the new couch last month when we got it, but our living room make over is now complete. It's not much this week, but the Mobleys are taking it easy in January so that we can save up for our upcoming adventures in 2012.  And I'd just like to caveat, there will probably be a few more of these anti-climactic updates over the course of the year.  But I'll do my best to keep you entertained!

Enjoy!

 OLD view of what our living/family room used to look like

NEW view of what our living/family room looks like!  Ditched the sectional for a new sofa, a cozy new matriarch's chair, a beautiful new end table/coffee table.

And a tip for my friends with furry pals, faux throw blankets are a MIRACLE if your pet likes to sit on your couch/chairs.  Winston loves his little brown faux throw, and sleeps ONLY on the throw when he gets on the couch.  As long as he's on his little throw, we have no fur on our furniture.  It just doesn't get snugglier than THIS.  Look at that little buggar!

Going to the chapel

This is a pretty difficult entry for me to write because I'm putting Mike and I out there for a little bit of judgement and finger wagging  from some (okay, many) people.  But if I want this blog to truly be an honest document of our marriage, I think that this is one of the most IMPORTANT entries that I'll write.   For our wedding in April, we both decided that we wanted to be married outside in beautiful Southern California, taking in all of God's beautiful scenery.  So it was a bit of a task to find a Catholic priest who was a bit more liberal to marry us outside, but we were so happy with our wonderful Father Brian and were so thrilled that we could have a Catholic ceremony outside with pelicans flying and dolphins jumping as Mike and I said our vows to each other.  But having a more liberal priest did not mean Mike and I were safe from the extensive pre-cana exercises that are required by Catholics before marriage. 

I'm happy to say that when our priest took us through the results of our pre-cana testing, we had GLOWING results, and scored in the 95 percentile for our compatibility.  He gave us A+ scores for everything from personality matching, family planning, problem solving, and fiscal responsibility; however, I'm sorry to say that the one area that Mike and I did not score very well in was in religion.  It's not because we disagreed on certain elements of our faith, but it meant that we just hadn't taken time to talk about it together...until our pre-cana.  Wth Mike coming from an Episcopal upbringing, and my Catholic background, we have been raised with close to identical beliefs, but religion was something we had just not made time for in our lives.  In any given month, we spend at least 2 weekends out of town, leaving little time for a weekly mass.  

As you may have noticed in our blog last weekend, one of our New Year's resolutions was to go to church at least once/month.  And every Sunday, I feel a slight pang of guilt when the neighborhood church bells chime and I'm sitting in my apartment.  While it's a beautiful sound, it reminds me every time that I'm choosing not to attend services, but to consume myself in my busy life instead.  So this morning, we got up nice and early and put on our Sunday's finest for mass at the quaint little Episcopal church in Gramercy Park.  Calvary St. George Episcopal was a great place to spend our first mass after several months of not going to church, and sadly our first mass together since our wedding last April!  AND, were so lucky that the interior was still decorated with festive Christmas lights and beautiful garland.  The Parish was extremely welcoming to people who were new to the church, and the clergy was very eager to meet us after the services concluded.

We followed mass with a delicious brunch at one of our favorite restaurants in the area...Almond.  It was nice to be in heels and pearls on a Sunday instead of sweats and a ponytail (or if it's football season, jeans & a jersey).  A delicious lobster-egg white omelet (yes...I know...it was amazing) tastes MUCH better after you enjoy a nice Sunday morning mass.  

This entry is not intended for self-promotion after going to church one week, but instead a documentation of how we're growing in our marriage together and making changes in our relationship with each other, and God.  New York is scattered with beautiful churches in every neighborhood.  Some are architectural masterpieces, and some are quaint little local chapels.  And as we get closer to one day starting a family, we feel so strongly about making religion a bigger part of our lives.  We've decided to alternate between Catholic & Episcopal churches to fulfill both our faiths & explore the beautiful places of worship that Manhattan has to offer.  We'll obviously pick our favorite, but we want to shop around a little bit until we find "the one".   But for this week, our local Gramercy Park church was extremely welcoming and more than convenient!