Celebrating and Living it Up in September

Over Labor Day weekend, we got to celebrate the marriage of two great friends Brett and Erin.  They had a beautiful wedding overlooking the Hudson Valley.  We rented a car and drove an hour and a half up state and enjoyed the picturesque views and perfect weather.

With the bonus day of a long weekend, we also got around to some DIY projects.  Drea took apart Grandma Hickson's vintage fan, cleaned it up and gave it a new paint job.

This project is definitely random, but wanted to share anyway.  Drea made a mop pad for the steam mop from a car wash mitt and an old pair of plaid shorts.  The mop pads the steamer came with were horrible, they would not absorb anything and just mucked around the dirt and steam across the floors!  So this has been a good fix so far :)

Every Friday morning, in the park across the street, there is a small farmer's market.  We wish it was on Saturdays because then we could actually go to it!!  Instead we just pass it on the way to work as they are still setting up.

The next weekend, we had a Ronald McDonald House Dinner, Rob wasn't able to make it because he was out of town at an away game, but it was still a fun night.  Brandon and Karyn are cutting up fruit for the fruit salad, which is a favorite for the kiddos.  We can't make dinner without having fruit salad on the menu!

The next week, Drea met up with a friend (Linda) for Dinner after work.  We met at Pershing Square, an adorable restaurant built under Park Avenue.  Since the weather hasn't gotten too cold yet, we sat outside where all of those red umbrellas are.  Now that we live in New Rochelle and have to catch the scheduled Metro North Trains from Grand Central or from 125th street, we have tried to be creative in finding as many places to meet up with friends near the stops so we don't have a hard time getting home.

For the first home game that Drea was finally able to attend, we made "reese's peanut butter" footballs.  Drea accidentally bought unsweet bakers chocolate to dip the rolled up peanut butter balls in, which was EXTREMELY bitter.  But the peanut butter balls were made with peanut butter, crushed graham crackers and a pound of powdered sugar, so the sweetness countered the bitterness.

Monroe's home field is at SUNY Maritime (where Rob coached the last 2 years) so we still get to enjoy the great views of the city beyond the Long Island Sound.

Drea and Kim Karg (Head Coach's wife)

After the game we had Brett & Erin (the newly weds!) and Scott and Katie over for dessert and a game of Killer Bunnies!

Notice the football game on mute while we played.

Erin won and Brett was an extremely supportive husband.

We got an unexpected surprise in the mail.  A "Happy Fall" package from B & D! Thanks so much for the candle and the cookies!!!

Last weekend, we were able to finish another DIY project by giving the desk a small face lift.  We bought new desk legs to replace the metal cylinder posts.

They came in silver, so Rob spray painted them white.  Our building manager let Rob spray paint them in the loading dock for the building and leave them there over night to dry which was helpful.

Since the desk didn't have the right holes lined up to install these legs we probably spent about 2 hours trying to get them secure, but in the end it was worth it, don't you think?

The last day in September was the Homecoming game for Monroe.  The day was absolutely gorgeous, crisp blue sky and sunshine for miles... until in the distance over the city we started to see grey skies and then we could tell it was pouring because we could no longer see the Manhattan skyline.  Monroe was in the lead the entire game and it was almost over, it seemed we would make it without getting wet, but during the 4th Quarter, the storm quickly made it's way over the Long Island Sound and froze us all to our seats!!  Thankfully by the last 5 minutes of the game the storm had passed, the sun came back out to warm us up and Monroe won 28-14!  Another exciting thing that happened after the game is that Drea got to meet the VP of the University who said, "they are working hard for your husband" to try and provide Rob with a full time position at the school once football season is over.  (November is coming up quickly!)  We are praying for God's will and hoping that there is an opportunity there for Rob.

Last picture for September is what Drea sees every morning coming up the stairs from the Metro North train track.  Just wanted to share it, it's such a gorgeous landmark building, and people just hustle and bustle their way through it, to and from work.  It's nice to pause and admire it for a moment.

Love, Rob & Drea

PS - Does anybody know about blog photo storage, we have reached our max!!!

August in our New Apartment

Let's start off by remembering what our last apartment was like...  110 year old walk-up building on the Upper East Side, five floors up, 2 closets, bedroom too small for the door to close.  It was cozy and charming and it was our home for 3 years.  We loved it, and we loved to hate the five flights of stairs.  Now that we are living in the 'burbs, check out a few pics of the building.

There's a gym with cardio machines that have their own litte TVs! What's more inspiring than watching the Olympics while working out, right?  Of course like every gym, there's one or two machines that have been broken since we moved in, but we're not complaining.  And when we miss our old stair work out from living in the city, there's always the stair master!

We've also tried to take advantage of the pool during the last few weeks of summer.  Soon this will be covered up for winter.

Here's a shot of the building from the courtyard.

Drea made her way in to the city the 2nd week of August one fine Saturday for a surprise bridal shower for Erin.  Erin and Brett were married Sept. 1st, so we'll share those pictures on the next blog update.

We were sitting right by the front window so we hid behind menus when Erin arrived.

Adorable favors with cookies from Italy inside for the guests of the shower.  Sorry no pics of the bride to be!

Durring the month of August we started some decorating of the apartment as well.  Here is a 'before' and 'after' of the bathroom.

We got some odds and ends to redecorate as well, including some great blue paisley parson chairs

Robby is assembling the second one.

Our bedroom area still pretty much looks like this, except the mattress pad is under the sheets now.  We got some new sheets and Drea has a couple of sewing projects up her sleeve, but it will take a few more weekends to get it completed.

This is the living area, and as you see below it is also pretty much the same, but has just one box left with all our framed paintings and photos to dress up the walls.

This is the new and improved desk area, it looks so great.  The desk is going to be getting a face lift soon, just waiting on the new desk legs to arrive.

We took a break from the unpacking and redecorating by enjoying a gorgeous day outdoors and watching Monroe's pre-season scrimmage.

The field is about a five minute drive from the apartment.

Rob got some great Monroe gear, shorts, warm up suits, shoes, polos and some long sleeve t-shirts.  Hopefully the football wives will get some gear soon =)

While Rob travelled to Pennsylvania for another pre-season scrimmage against Valley Forge Community College (which they won, 46-7!) Drea made two pillows out of one throw pillow that was ready for a change.

Fun fabric chosen by Rob!

Ready, Set, Sew!! (cheesy, but couldn't resist!)

I made two small rectangles out of the new fabric so that they could be filled with the contents of the larger throw pillow (white pillow case in the box).  It was stuffed with feathers, so I emptied them into the box.

The feathers pretty much stayed in the box, but there were remnants all over the apartment the rest of the week.

Bess was completely uninterested. 

Meanwhile...  After cutting the white feather pillow case in half and making two small pillow cases I filled each with the feathers.  Then covered the small cases with thew new fabric pillow covers and voila! 

That's all the craftiness for August... much more to come.

 

And lastly,  here's the view of the Sunrise every morning over the Long Island Sound that we see from our window.  It is breath-taking, and starts the day off on such a great note.  Even though we miss the many great things about living in the City, we know God has a reason and a purpose for bringing us to New Rochelle and it has already been a great transition.