December: Feliz Navidad

December was a month filled with really wonderful memories.  It started out with the highlight of football season for Robby, going to a Dolphins Game!  We made the trek out to MetLife Stadium all decked out in our Dolphins Gear.

 

Robby, ready to go!

Brett, Robby, me and Erin at the game.

We stayed warm in the sun, and the layers helped too.  We were a little nervous since we were seated in the middle of Jets territory, but we survived and the Dolphins won!

 

Later that week we got to see our families in Florida for an Early Christmas.

Robby with Grandpa.

Eli, Twinky, Abuelo, me and Bess.

Me, Mom, Eli and Robs on the Hollywood Beach Boardwalk

 

Lots and lots of my cousins!

 

Brunch at Cracker Barrel with my cuzzie, Amanda, Mom, Eli and Mickey.

 

Chris, Rob, Mom, Tyson and Eli

 

Mickey, Rob and Chris   

 

Donna and Eli

Cookie Night at Bob & Donna's!  This is one of my favorite traditions at Christmastime.  So much so, that I brought it to NYC last February to share with our friends up here.  Hoping to do it again this year.

 

Kyle and Rob

 

Family from Central Florida on Cookie Night.

 

Sweet cousins, Reece, Raelynn, me and Crystal

Addi and Uncle Rob

When we came back to NYC, we had not one, but two Mulled Wine parties on the same day.

Mulled Wine Party Number One

Rob and the Host, Chris.

Me and Robs

As we made our way to the second mulled wine party, the snow was really coming down, but we didn't care.  We had plenty of cider and mulled wine to keep us warm.

   

Mulled Wine Party Number Two

 

Me with the Hostess, Katie.

 

The Host, Scott making more mulled wine.

Jessa, ready to take on the snow.

Robs, looking rather dapper.

At church, we started volunteering with Apostles Kids.  We are with the "Excited Explorers".  It was a lot of fun getting to love on the sweet little families at church.  I am excited that we will get to do this once a month.

 

We made our way out to Brooklyn for the John Mayer Concert at the Barclays Center.  It was the last show of his tour and just a week before Christmas.  I was hoping for two things, that he would sing his latest single, "Who you Love" with Katy Perry and that he would sing a Christmas song.  During the encore, he did both!  Yay!

 

We bumped into a friend from Miami, Carolyn and her brother Ricky.

 

They gave out Santa hats at the concert, it was fun to see everyone in the arena wearing them.

  

Us with friends from church at the concert: Jessa, Christy, Kelly and Richard.

 

Bright and early the very next morning, I went to see a client in Charlottesville, VA.  This was the plane I flew in.  Needless to say, I tried to sleep the whole flight because that was one of the smallest planes I have ever been in, and it was a bit unnerving.

 

When I got back, we had fun at a White Elephant exchange with our Community Group!

 

The crew: Erin, Katie, Scott, Brett and Robs

Robby got his very own Quesadilla Maker

 

B and D joined us for Christmas in the City.  I am so happy they were able to spend it with us.  They got here on the first day of winter... and believe it or not it was 70 degrees out!

 

We had dinner at San Matteo's with the crew.

 

Took several walks through Central Park

  

Went to Times Square and also got to see the City all prepped and ready for Christmas.

  

Saw the tree at Rockefeller Center.

Enjoyed the decorations along Park Avenue

 

We watched my all-time favorite Christmas special, A Charlie Brown Christmas, went to the Christmas Eve Service at church, and of course, opened presents on Christmas morning. 

This was one of my favorite gifts, my very own Kitchen Aid Standing Mixer from my momma.  The first thing I made with it was Waffles.

 This was one of Robby's favorite gifts.  Bourbon from Caskers and a lovely decanter set.

 As we said our goodbye's to Bob and Donna, our dear friend Agu came to stay with us.  We had a waffle brunch and caught up with another friend from Miami, Lo-lo.  Bess loved having more and more visitors.

  

 

 Me with Bess and Agu

 

 Lo-Lo, Robs and Agu

 

 And in the Spirit of all things delicious, we had the Beltrez gang over at our place the next day for a Pajama brunch of Pumpkin French Toast, Bacon and Mimosas!

Me with Ethan

 

 Me and Robs

 

 Judy and Anthony

 

 Ethan hanging out, totally bored of the adults

We ended the day watching Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

December felt like a month-long celebration of Christmas.  Being with friends and family, coming together, enjoying comfort food, watching Christmas movies and listening to lots and lots of Christmas music.  I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Remembering November with a Thankful Heart

It feels like the last two months have been a blur, and here we are today, the last day of 2013.  Even though it seems like awhile ago already, I really wanted to share some pictures from the last two months, so let me just highlight what the Hickson's were up to in November.


We started out with a photo shoot in Central Park.  In about three hours, Robby snapped about 700 pictures of this lovely family we know from Church.  I had fun carrying the gear, coming up with ideas for what Steve, Becky and their daughter Maelee could do in the pictures, and holding the extra lighting to help Robby get just the right shot.


Becky and Maelee


Steve and Maelee

We had Jessa, Meghan, Richard and Scott over for our monthly dinner.  We rotate hosting every month, and technically October was our turn but we couldn't get our schedules lined up until the first weekend in November.  We served Penne Pasta with Butternut Squash and Italian Sausage; it was a great fall dish.  Jessa made a Ceasar Salad with homemade croutons (yum) and Meghan made homemade ice cream with an apple crisp (double yum).



Just a few days later, we made an unexpected trip to Florida to be with our family as Robby's grandma had passed away suddenly.  I am so thankful that we were able to be together.  It was helpful to share memories and bond during that time.  Please continue to pray for our family, especially Grandpa. 

We were glad to see Addi during this visit, and were so impressed with her communication skills!  She knows some sign language, and she is so sweet.  If she wants to ask you to give her something, she does the sign for please and then says "Peeeze".  It just melts your heart.

 
My sister, mom and abuelo also came to be with everyone.


Cousins!  Cristie, Tiffany and Crystal

Oh.  And this happened.

Robby went to play Basketball with his cousin Kyle, Jeremy and Uncle Paul.


While we were away, Erin and Brett were so gracious in taking care of Bess.  She couldn't get enough of Erin after we got back.

 
About a week or two Later, the Awesome-in-Laws came to town for Thanksgiving.  Hurricane Addi was a force to be reckoned with!  Bess didn't know that she had finally met her match!


We ventured out and about to get the last glimpses of fall and the first signs of Christmas Magic in the City.  After pizza at Lombard's we faced the crowds at Macy's to see the Christmas Land on the 8th floor, then we made our way to Bryant Park where the Christmas Shops were set up and the Skating Rink.  Afterwards, we checkd out the Main Branch of the NY Public Library.  Currently, there is a free exhibit called ABC: Why Children's Books Matter.  It was really interesting, and well worth a visit.  I would definitely recommend it (it's going on until Sunday, March 23, 2014).


Addi and Uncle Rob


Crystal and Mark


 Crystal and Addi on Thanksgiving. 

We hosted Thanksgiving at our apartment for the first time ever.  Can I just say again how thankful I am for our apartment?  God really hooked it up.  We had friends in and out all day, we had Turkey and all the fixin's.  Friends brought delicious side dishes and desserts.  We ate, and ate some more.  We shared what we were thankful for.  It was a very special day, and I am so glad that we were able to have family in town for it.  We realized it was the first Thanksgiving in four years that we have spent with family.


 Jessa, Christy, Kelly and me

 
 Jessa and me

A few days later, we had "Thai and Pie" Friendsgiving.  We met at Scott and Katie's for a fun evening of Thai food and leftover Thanksgiving Pie.  On the way home, we bought our Christmas Tree from a sidewalk vendor who was here all the way from Norway!  He comes to New York every year in December to sell Christmas Trees.  We normally don't get a tree because we go to Florida for Christmas but I am so glad we did this year.  The piney smell instantly made the apartment feel ready for the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.

Easy as Pie? Williams Sonoma Homemade Apple Pie Recipe

Last month we went to an Apple Orchard upstate, with our wonderful friends from church.  I have to share some pictures from this great time before I get to the apple pie.

We rented a zipcar, but it did not work out exactly right at fist, so this is a pic of us at the garage where we originally intended to grab the Van.  We're smiling, but Rob has the right idea... no fun!

Even though we had a late start, it was worth it.  We had the best time at the Harvest Moon Farm and Orchard.

Close up of some gorgeous apples.

Me and Jessa.  Look at the great view and the colorful trees!

Me and Rob!

Rob carrying the Half a Bushel of apples that we bought for the pies!  That's about 50 apples!  We split the bag with everyone and used them for the Apple Pie Competition the next night.

Rob, me, Meghan, Scott, Amy, Jessa, Richard, Pam, Andrew, Andrew, Deb, Katelyn and Trevor.

Now, on to the pie!

I used an Apple Pie recipe from Willams Sonoma.

Ingredients:

For the dough:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. granulated sugar

16 Tbs. (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch dice

3 to 4 Tbs. ice water

For the filling:

2 lb. Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into slices 1/4 inch

thick

2 lb. Pink Lady apples, peeled, cored and cut into slices 1/4 inch thick

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

4 tsp. cornstarch

1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice

Additional items:

2 Tbs. cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1 egg white, beaten with 1 tsp. water

2 tsp. granulated sugar

Directions:

To make the dough, in a food processor, pulse the flour, salt, and granulated sugar together until combined, about 5 pulses. Add the butter and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, about 10 pulses. Add 3 Tbs. of the ice water and pulse 2 or 3 times. The dough should hold together when squeezed with your fingers but should not be sticky. If it is crumbly, add more water 1 tsp. at a time, pulsing twice after each addition. Turn the dough out onto a work surface, divide in half and shape each half into a disk. Wrap the disks separately in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to overnight.  

I got up early before church and made the crust.  It was a lot to make in the food processor at once, so I had to make the recipe about one-fourth of the portion at a time.   I left it in the fridge about 5 hours.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll out half of the dough into a 12-inch round about 1/8 inch thick. Fold the dough in half and then into quarters and transfer it to a 9-inch deep-dish pie dish. Unfold and gently press the dough into the bottom and sides of the dish. Trim the edges flush with the rim of the dish. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

I have never made a pie crust before, and I don't have a rolling pin. Rob helped me roll the pie crust to a nice 1/8 inch thick even crust using the wine bottle!

Looking good so far!

On a large sheet of lightly floured parchment paper, roll out the remaining dough disk into a 12-inch round about 1/8 inch thick. Using leaf pie cutters, make rows of cutouts in the dough, spacing them 1/2 inch apart and leaving a 1-inch border along the edges, to create a lattice appearance. Reserve the cutouts for decorating. Reroll the dough scraps to make more cutouts. Refrigerate the lattice top and cutouts for 30 minutes.

We did not have leaf carters, but Rob came to the rescue again! He cut out three leaves in the center of the crust and we decided that would be fine for the ventilation and decoration.

Meanwhile, make the filling: In a large Dutch oven, stir together the apples, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and cornstarch. Set over medium heat, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples are just tender but not mushy, about 20 minutes. Uncover and cook until the liquid has thickened and become glossy, 5 to 7 minutes more. Remove from the heat, stir in the lemon juice and let cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes. 

Peggy helped peel and core the apples.

Position a rack in the lower third of an oven, place a baking sheet on the rack and preheat the oven to 400°F. 

Let the pie shell, lattice top and leaf cutouts stand at room temperature for 5 minutes. Transfer the apple filling to the pie shell, scatter the butter pieces on top, and gently invert the lattice top over the pie. Trim the edges flush with the rim of the dish and press the top and bottom crusts together to seal. Brush the underside of the leaf cutouts with egg wash and gently press them onto the edges of the piecrust, overlapping the leaves slightly. Decorate as desired with the remaining leaves. Brush the entire top crust with egg wash and sprinkle with the granulated sugar. 

Place the pie dish on the preheated baking sheet. Bake until the crust is crisp and golden brown, about 1 hour, covering the edges with aluminum foil if they become too dark. Transfer the pie to a wire rack and let cool for at least 1 1/2 hours before serving. Serves 8.

Gorgeous!

The apartment smelled amazing as this backed in the oven!

We made our way over to  Meghan and Scott's for the competition.  I thought it was so cool that we all made such different variations of Apple Pie.  No two were alike.  We got to all sample a piece of each pie, then vote on Taste and Appearance.  Our pie won!  We won the lovely green apple centerpiece you see on the table above.  It is now a "floating trophy" which will be awarded to next year's winner of the Apple Pie Competition.

Good Friends. Good Eating.

This fall we have had many meals with friends.  Breaking bread together with friends and family...  it's seriously one of my absolute favorite things to do.

Me with sweet Ali before she moved to Atlanta.

Rob with Barry.  We all went to The Meatball Shop that recently opened up on the UES.  Yay!

An evening of Gelato and shenanigans was had as well.  We went with Rich and Jessa to Grom, a gelateria based mainly out of Italy! Their website is even in Italian!

Rob with Richard.  What is he doing? Who knows?


Me with Jessa.

The four of us, up to no good in Washington Square Park.

Me and my Robby.


The Washington Square Arch.

Oh my gosh! It's Adam Saunders, the drummer from metal band, Naked Vengence!  Adam was visiting from Florida, so glad we could get together with him for dinner at Blockheads.

We enjoyed dinner in midtown with the Doxzon's!! They were in town for the Hillsong Worship Conference.  Denise was my mentor in high school and Todd, her hubby is the Pastor who married us.  We share the same wedding date, the day we got married was their 7th anniversary.

Me with D-Momma Doxzon!

Robzilla with the buddies!! They were our ring bearers.

The Doxzon's.  Love this picture! LOVE it!

We had a fun dessert night with our friends from Denver, Mike and Angie at Sugar and Plumm on the UWS.  It was deliciousssss!

Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate...

The insane banana split.  We had two of those. And sundaes.  Sugar coma much?

Me with Angie.

We had some dear friends visit from Miami, and were introduced to a new NYC transplant, Koepp!

Me, Koepp, Robs, Peggy, Jim!

We had brunch at Sarabeth's, then hung out at the apartment.  Peggy and Rob helped me bake an apple pie, from scratch!  (More on that, and the prize we won in another post to come!)  While we waited for it to bake, we watched football, and Bess showed us her TOUCHDOWN skills.
 
Looking forward to many more memories with friends and fam, involving food of course!

We Got Elegance

If you understand that reference to Hello Dolly in this post's title, we are friends for life.  Just wanted to share some fun time we've had enjoying the arts this fall.

Bessy enjoying a walk and stopping to smell the flowers.

JPMC is a Corporate Sponsor for many museums in NYC and around the US, so one great Saturday night in October, Robby and I got to go to the Whitney Museum of American Art.

It felt like we had the whole place to ourselves!

They had an amazing exhibit of work by Robert Indiana.  Art with the image of the word LOVE, like the light sculpture behind us, is what he most famous for.

The White Calico Flower, by Georgia O'Keeffe

The Brooklyn Bridge: Variation on an Old Theme by Joseph Stella.  He purposefully painted this to give the impression of a stained glass window in a church.

When the event was over, we walked a couple avenues over, and had dinner at Cascabel Taqueria.

Sangria, yum!

Delicious, sizzling skillet of queso fresco as an appetizer!

Later that week, we attended one of the programs in the Fall for Dance Festival.  For just $15, we got to see four companies perform!  

We got to see the Dorrance Dance SOUNDspace Company perform a tap dance piece.  We also got to see the doug elkins choreography, etc. Company perform a modern dance piece based on the Shakespeare play, Othello.  It was set to a Motown soundtrack, which I thought was very creative and beautiful.  The Royal Ballet performed a world premiere piece that was commissioned by the Fall for Dance Festival.  There was pianist playing a grand piano and a cellist on the stage playing the music as the two dancers.  It was breathtaking, one of the most beautiful ballets that I have seen.  The last piece of the evening was the one I was looking forward to the most: The Rite of Spring performed by Martha Graham Dance Company.  When I was in college taking Modern Dance classes, I learned so much about Martha Graham, and our class learned from her technique.  It was a fantastic performance, it did not disappoint!

The New York City Center was gorgeous.

Shameless Selfie!

I'm really glad we were able to take advantage of some inexpensive, artistic events in the City.

Decorating: Adding a Gallery Wall Family Tree and NYC Apartment Tour

Getting the apartment decorated has been a slow and steady creative process.  I saw some fun quotes that capture my sentiments about decorating our apartment:

“Rooms are albums that provoke memories. What you decorate with should remind you of a street you wandered down or an experience that made you happy.”

—Designer Amy Hase

Yes, I love this!!  I love looking around the apartment and seeing things that make me think of that time I studied abroad in Spain, or that time Rob was voted Coach of the Year, or our Wedding day.  Our memories are everywhere, and I feel like there are things in each room that makes it feel like I'm looking through a photo album or scrap book.

This quote is so appropriate for NYC and for our decorating style lately:

“People think you’re limited when a space is small, but I think the key is seeing everything as somewhat in flux, never standing still, always shifting, realigning. In a lot of ways, it’s like a garden.”

— Landscape architect Mario Nivera

Even just looking through these pictures which were taken about 3 weeks ago, things have already shifted.  None of these pictures are on the mantle any more.  Ha!

I put a fall leaf garland across the mantle to decorate for the season!

Here are the two finished bookshelves, styled by color coordinating all the books.  I love how it turned out!

Our room is still a work in progress.  We love the gorgeous rug we got as a good-as-new hand-me-down from Brett and Erin.  We now have some sheer curtains up on those windows, and we are starting to put some pictures up as well.  Bess loves the room too!

We added the great black and white NYC skyline panoramic set above the doorway to our room.  Rob got that as a birthday gift two years before we moved to NYC.

Bess's Food and Water bowl area.  So cute!

We shifted the Dining Room/ Office around, and now the Desk is against the opposite wall. The Dining Table is more centered now and it feels like the room is more open.  If you've seen sitcoms set in NYC, you know that one idiosyncrasy is slanted floors and ceilings (think Mad About You and How I Met Your Mother).

Our entire apartment has places here and there that are slanted, but the Dining Room is extreme.  It's pretty funny, when Bess is playing with a ball in here it will roll from one side of the room to the other on it's own.  As I sit at the desk right now there is a sensation that I'm reclining back in the chair, but it's just the slant.  So this is a view from the front of the dining room. Eventually there will be a wine rack on that wall. Below is a view from the other side of the room.  I love the shot of the little pilgrim salt and pepper shakers from behind! So cute!! That is a great painting by my roommate from college, Lauren.

Me and Rob in the Kitchen. The doorway behind us leads to the Dining Room.  See that green apple in the bookcase? That was a prize we won, which I'll post about soon!

I had seen many great Gallery Walls on Pinterest, and knew we had plenty of pictures that we could use, so we set to work.  We had one concept lay out that we hoped would work, and that shifted and changed around several times before we finally finished.  As we shifted pictures here and there, trying to come up with a fun balance, we decided to organize the pictures as a Family Tree.  I absolutely love how it turned out!

Here is the *almost* finished Gallery Wall Family Tree. I wanted to integrate family photos, art, landscape photography and words to create this gallery wall.  

Starting from the Bottom Row: Left to Right:  My Grandpa Marcial and Grandma Lucy; My Grandpa Raul and Grandma Chela on their Wedding Day; Panoramic picture of the beach in Florida; Four Generations of Joseph Robert Hickson's from The First to Robby 4!

Second Row: I am going to put a hand written recipe by my Grandma Lucy in that red frame; My Mom, Eli and Grandpa Raul; Me and my Sis Eli; soon to be Family Picture from our summer trip to Puerto Rico that includes almost everybody; Robby, Bob and Donna in Times Square; Our Wedding Vows; soon to be photos of Robby's Grandma & Grandpa Phillips and Grandma & Grandpa Hickson.

Top Row: Local Art of a Country Wedding from Cozumel, Mexico; a Canvas print of the lyrics to You and I,our first dance; Me, Rob and Bess; Mark and Crystal (we're going to update that one with a picture that includes Addi); a collage Robby made for me for our five year wedding anniversary; Post Card from Rincon, Puerto Rico (I think that frame is going to get moved down to the bottom left side).  That's it for now!

Hope you like it as much as we do!  Can't wait for the pictures we ordered to come in!

Baked Apple Stuffed with Pumpkin Pie and Hocus Pocus

Growing up, me, my sister and my neighbor Charlotte would love to watch Hocus Pocus.  Sometimes we would watch it even when it wasn't Fall or Halloween.  It's been a few years since I watched it, and I was feeling quite nostalgic so I decided to buy it off eBay!  One of my best ideas yet!!  I invited several of my girlfriends over the day before Halloween, some who had never seen Hocus Pocus before and we watched the movie.  I made a special dessert invention for the occasion:

Baked Apple Stuffed with Pumpkin Pie!

Prep: 30 mins

Cooking: 1 hour and 30 mins

Yields: 12 servings

Ingredients For Pie Filling:

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves (optional)

2 large eggs

1 can (15 oz.) LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin

1 can (12 fl. oz.) NESTLÉ® CARNATION® Evaporated Milk (I used Fat Free)

Ingredients For Baked Apples:

6 apples (I used Gala)

1 1/2 tbsp of brown sugar

3 tbsp of butter

Toppings:

Whipped cream or Vanilla Ice Cream (optional)

1 cup of crushed Graham Crackers

Directions:

To prevent extra watery apples mixed with pie filling, I chose to bake them separately and actually made the pumpkin pie filling a day ahead of time.  I just warmed it up when I was ready to use it.

For Pumpkin Pie Filling:

MIX sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk.

POUR into a small glass baking dish.

BAKE in preheated 425° F oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350° F; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate. 

For Baked Apples:

Wash Apples, Cut in half and Remove core.  Place into a large glass baking dish with about 1 inch of water.  I suppose you could use apple cider instead, the liquid will help the apples get soft and not get stuck to the dish.  Add a 1/4 tbsp of butter and 1/8 tbsp of brown sugar to each apple.  Bake at 350° F for 30 to 40 minutes, until golden and soft.

SERVE with a scoop of ice cream, top with Graham Cracker crumbs and a dash of cinnamon!

Enjoy!!

Gone Fishin' and Making Boston Cream Pie Strata

I grew up in Puerto Rico and in Florida, so I am sad to admit that up until a couple of weeks ago, I had never been fishing.  Never.  I have wanted to go for a long time, and I hinted, and hinted and hinted this fact to Robs, but we just hadn't gotten around to it.   Well, earlier this summer I found out that you can go fishing in Central Park!  So instead of continuing to hint, I finally asked Rob if we could go fishing at the Harlem Meer in the Park.  We went on a beautiful day near the end of September.  It was so sunny but not hot, and it was just so relaxing.  I think it's a little funny that my first fishing experience was in Central Park, in New York City! Next Spring, when we are in Florida, I think it would be fun to try to go fishing too.

Harlem Meer

Catch and Release guide

Robs and I getting ready to fish.  Wasn't it such a gorgeous day?

It was so relaxing, just sitting there with our fishing poles.  It felt like we were on a lake somewhere, I kept thinking, I can't believe that we are doing this in Central Park.

It was a great first-time experience for me.

Later that afternoon, I made a Boston Cream Pie Strata for the monthly dinner party we enjoy with the Thomases and Birds.  In September it was Jessa & Richard's turn to host.  Jessa continued to dazzle us with two recipes from Bread and Wine,  Breakfast Quinoa and Homemade Bread.  Meghan brought a great apple and cheese appetizer and I found my dessert recipe from Pinterest (of course).

The recipe called for graham crackers layered with vanilla custard (which, I made from scratch -- that's a Friends reference for ya!), topped with chocolate frosting (also made from scratch).  It was SO good.  The recipe said that I could have used instant vanilla pudding and pre-made frosting, but that the effort in making these items from scratch would really pay off, and it was true.  The smell of the custard as I made it was amazing.  Just thinking about it again, I couldn't agree more.  If you try this, make everything yourself! 

Building the layers...

Top layer, minus the chocolate frosting!  Why didn't I get a shot of the finished product?  Lesson learned, I just need to make this again, I guess?

Fall Appetizer

Apple Garnish for Jessa's Fall Cocktail.  Happy Fall, Y'all!!

Oh, what's this interesting picture?  That my friends, is a GINORMOUS crane, driving north (aka, wrong direction) on 2nd Avenue, right in front of our apartment.  Oh, the joys of the Second Avenue Subway construction.  It will be worth it in a few years, right?

~ Drea 

Dumbo Smorgasburg, Maelee Sitting, Sunday Fundays, Keeping Busy

Checked off one of the many things I have been wanting to do from my Bucket List that seems to continue to grow with every day we live in NYC. In early September, we went to the DUMBO Smorgasburg (spelled intentionally with the "burg" for Williamsburg) with Scott & Katie.  It consists of a fabulous selection of food from local vendors and takes place every Sunday in Brooklyn Bridge Park on the waterfront.  Check out this view, we were right between the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge.  We went around the Smorgasburg once before deciding what to eat, so we could check out all of the selections.

Gorgeous shot of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Grabbed the Maple and Bacon piece of "Jack's Chedbred".  It was that perfect balance between savory and sweet!

This is a great shot of one corner of the Smorgasburg.  You can see the Manhattan Bridge in the background.

After selecting our food, we scoped out a great spot along the water, and enjoyed the great weather and delicious lunch!

That Thursday, we had Barry & Brandon over for dinner.  Barry gave us that dining room table after he lived with us for a couple of weeks because he wouldn't be needing it anymore.  It's perfect because when it's just me and Robby, we have a small square table, but when we have friends over it expands to a larger rectangle.  Thanks Barry!

Friday night, we spent the evening with this lovely little lady, Maelee!  We spent the evening reading books to her in silly voices and making puzzles.

Rob, Maelee and Parker

Saturday Night we went to a performance of Jane Austen's Persuasion, performed by the Chicago Chamber Orchestra.  A friend of mine that I have known since the 9th grade was in the performance. It was such a treat to go see her perform!  In the picture above, she is seated at the piano.

Rob and me with Gretel after her performance.

The next morning, after church, we walked home along Lexington, which had been converted into a Street Fair.  Love these!! It went on for about 20 blocks!  We were joined by Richard & Jessa who we hadn't seen since before their anniversary trip to Europe!  We enjoyed having them come over for a homemade brunch of Hickson Breakfast Potatoes, Eggs, Fruit Mimosas, coffee and Cinnamon Roll Waffles.  Yes, you read that correctly, Cinnamon Roll Waffles!! They were delicious and so easy to make!! Here's what you do: 

Just grab a package of cinnamon rolls from Pillsbury and cook them on a waffle iron for a couple of minutes.  

Once they're ready, top them with a drizzle of the icing that comes in the package, and voila!  

I can't say enough about this easy, delicious meal.

Me, Bess & Jessa

Rob, Bess and Rich.  

In addition to our delicious brunch, we watched a lot of football... and so started the wonderful tradition of Sunday Funday!  What is Sunday Funday, you may be asking yourself?  An open door of awesome friends, coming over, hanging out and watching football at our place.  I absolutely love getting to have the apartment filled with friends every week after church. 

Later that night, we got to visit a little bit more with Gretel.  We stopped by the Wrap Party after their final NYC performance of Persuasion.

Meanwhile.... our families were having a Sunday Funday of their own in Miami!! I absolutely loved getting these pics from our families as both my side and Rob's side got together for dinner at La Carreta.  It was like a min-reuninon from our trip to Puerto Rico.  (Eli and our niece Addi in the pic above.)  

Abuelo, Bob, Addi, Donna, Eli, Mom, Mark, Tio Gerald (visiting from PR), Mark, Crystal and Titi Michi (also visiting from PR).

Later the next week, I went all the way out to Northern Long Island... trust me it was far... for a client call for work.  It took about two and half hours to get there, but lunch was so worth it... we went to the Cheesecake Factory.  Y'all, there are no Cheesecake Factory's in Manhattan.  I typically only get to enjoy a meal at one when we go back to Florida.  Take a look!  Yuummmmm!

After another two and a half hour commute back, the night was topped off with a wonderful reunion for me. I had a ladies night with Leilani and Vane.  Lani was visiting from Florida for a convention.  We have all known each other since the 9th grade as well.  Spending the evening catching up with them was just perfect.  I am so excited for Lani as she and another friend of ours, Lisa embark on opening a fashion boutique in Miami.  For as long as I have known Lani, this has been her dream!  I also can't wait to celebrate with Vane, who is getting married next March in Miami.  So many things to be thankful for in the lives of these dear friends!

After dinner, we met up with Carlos for a bit.

We also made some more progress unpacking that week.  Bessy enjoyed a nap in the sunshine in our living room.

We bought some gorgeous mirrors that had been made from repurposed windows.  You can see the latch and hinges still.  They are a great, unique touch for our bedrooms and match really well with the dressers we have already!

Bess helped as I organized all the books.  Katie and Erin inspired me to color coordinate the books on our shelves.  The finished product is so nice, can't wait to show you soon!!

September starts off right

Rob surprised me and asked for a Saturday shift to be covered for him on Labor Day weekend.  This was so helpful because we got to paint the ENTIRE apartment.  My wonderfully talented friend, Katie is an interior designer.  She helped us pick out the perfect neutral cool color: Benjamin Moore, Feather Gray.  The night before we painted, we spent the evening with Katie and Scott while Scott's parents were in town.  Scott's mom, Pat gave us great advice for painting the trim, she said to get a small angled brush.  She was so right, it really helped!  

So after a fun morning in the park with Bess getting to play off leash, and brunch at the Barking Dog, we set to work.  We spent all day painting and the result is so great!  We painted every wall except the section around the mantle.  It's a nice, crisp accent wall.  

We did take one break on Saturday.  We had a delicious and filling dinner at Dos Caminos in SoHo with our new friends from Colorado, Angie and Mike.  We followed that up with ice cream courtesy of Mister Softee!  Can't believe this was our first time grabbing this delicious soft serve ice cream this summer.

The next morning, we went up to the Hudson Valley for a fun day trip.  My coworker, Erin lives in Cold Spring and had invited us to come up and visit her and her boyfriend Ed.

Me and Robby by the Hudson River in Cold Spring.

Ed made us delicious "Migas" for dinner.

Then we took a turn playing a game by Legos, called Creationary!  Think Pictionary, but you build things with Legos instead of drawing.  I think my Awesome-in-law, Mark would have fun with this!

Another wonderfully talented friend of mine, Erin, invited Katie and me to a Girl's Night Out in Nolita.  I felt so "New York" getting to go to a private party at the Linhardt Design jewelry gallery.  (Erin is a designer, she makes accessories and invitations for weddings, and pretty much anything else you can think of.  Check out her website Erin Braun Design.)

Something that was a big prayer request as we searched for an apartment, was that we would find a place large enough for hosting.  I am so grateful that we have pretty much been able to do that right from the start.  Barry was able to live with us for about 3 weeks, and since then we get to have him over for dinner almost every week.  It's great that now we actually have room so that friends and family can stay with us during their visits.  The same weekend as the Girl's Night Out, a great friend of mine, Phil, from back when I was in Youth Group at Calvary Chapel Ft. Lauderdale stayed with us.  He and his wife were in town for about 10 days celebrating their anniversary and needed a place to stay for one night.  I'm bummed I didn't get any pictures of them while they were here, but still it was so cool.  

Our first apartment in the City was charming, but it was teeny tiny and on the fifth floor of a walk up.  We enjoyed the neighborhood so much, and missed it while we were living in New Rochelle, but 5K didn't exactly scream hospitality... we couldn't even have more than about 2-3 friends over at once. Are you coming to the Big Apple for a visit?  Let us know if you need a place to stay and hopefully we can have you stay at our place.  (To our NYC friends, come over any time!)

Around this same time, my Abuelo fainted and spent a couple of days in the hospital.  Thankfully he is feeling much better, but please keep him, my Mom and my Sis, Eli in your prayers.  Rob's parents went to visit Abuelo, and Eli snapped this great picture of him smiling as he looked at pictures of my niece, Addi. I love it so much!

Dinner Parties, Salsa, Rooftops and More Dinners

We started rotating hosting dinner every month with our friends the Thomases and the Birds.  Our first Dinner Party was at the Birds and it was delishhh!

The ladies: me, Jess & Meghan... in height order, ha!

The guys decided to play PIG, minus the basketball and court, with a pingpong ball and glass vase instead!  Not sure what was going on in the picture below, but it was part of the game.

The appetizer was courtesy of Jessa, and Oh Em Geeeeee it was delicious.  She has been cooking through the book, Bread and Wine by Shauna Niequist.  I have been reaping the benefits of her quest as she has shared many delicious recipes with me, and these Bacon Wrapped Dates did not disappoint.  Needless to say, after having this delicious appetizer, I added the book to my Amazon wish list.  (See what I did there? Easy link to the list for Donna and Mom, haha!)

Meghan made a risotto, with steamed veggies and goat cheese and we ended the night with home made ice cream (also on my wish list now as a result of this dinner - I have no shame!).

As you know, we love dancing Salsa, and it was so fun to give our friends Nate and Lauren a little intro lesson.  They caught on quick!!  (Sorry for the blurry shot!)

Kara, who was my roommate for three years in College lives in Brooklyn and is a Doctor at SUNY Downstate.  She has a busy busy schedule, so it's always great to see her.  On this particular Saturday morning, we enjoyed a Rooftop brunch at 230 Fifth as we celebrated our friend Alana's birthday.  One of my favorite things about living in the City is that we get to have regular visitors and it was so nice to see Alana who was visiting from Florida.

Kara and a sweet shot of the Empire State building behind us.

Me and the birthday girl!

AKA for life! (Alana, Kara, Andrea!)  The palm trees on the rooftop are from Florida, which was such a nice touch, since we all met in Miami.

Later that night, we volunteered at Ronald McDonald House and made dinner for the families.

Brett and Robby... where's Erin? Hah!

Oh, there she is...  Couldn't see that lovely smile.

Me and Erin

Robby and Ali!  Going to miss this Southern Belle when she moves to ATL this month.

After church the next day, the guys did their annual Fantasy Football Draft.  So I thought it would be fun for the ladies to get brunch.  We went to Yorkville Creperie, which had such a great ambiance and delicious, filling crepes!

Mmmm! Nutella filled crepe with strawberries and bananas.

After Barry moved downtown, we have kept our tradition of weekly "family dinners" going strong.  We get to see him every Thursday.  What a fun surprise that he brought cupcakes from Two Little Red Hens. 

They are definitely as good as they look here (Brooklyn Blackout, Peanut Butter Fudge Swirl and Boston Cream).  We all decided that Brooklyn Blackout was the winner.  After our dinners, we usually meet up with everyone at Biddy's Pub for trivia night. (So fun!)  We've won a couple of times so far!

Maverick, The Intrepid and Pickle Backs

Can you believe this event was free? We had the great opportunity to go to a Summer Movie Night on the U.S.S. Intrepid!  Not just any movie, TOP GUN!  I think this is one of the absolute coolest things we have done!

Rob had fun with the Nikon, capturing some amazing shots.

Me and Kelly

Later that week we had the chance to catch up with some dear friends from the first CG we were a part of at Apostles.  We went to Slide in the Village.

Chris, Rafael, Dan, Robby

Ashley, Linda, me and LaVon

The next morning we had brunch at Sarabeth's on Madison Ave with Che and Kelly.  Che lives in Miami and volunteers with Athletes in Action, the ministry I worked for after college.  Kelly is one of the University of Miami students that participated in our bible studies and that I would meet with one on one!  She is now living in NYC and Che was here for a visit.

We all walked Robby to work after brunch and got this great group picture at lululemon athletica.

Later that night we went out with friends from church to Whiskey Town.  This is a fun bar that has a DJ playing music from the 80's on up to popular songs today and it is just a blast.

Rob, adopted little sis Christy, me, Maggie.  When we were in the Hamptons, we had a lot of fun dancing with Maggie and her hubby Jonathan.  They have got some moves!! So we knew we had to plan a fun dance night with them, and it was a success.

Token blurry shot of the night.  Jessa, Christy, me, Maggie, Kelly, Amy.

Grabbed Artichoke Pizza with the Thomases after Whiskey Town.

The Artichoke Pizza is made with Artichoke Hearts, Spinach, Cream Sauce, Mozzarella and Pecorino Romano Cheese.  It was our first time having it, but certainly not our last!

Summer Streets and lot's of Sports

I don't know if this has always been a "thing" in the City, but in early August, Robby and I enjoyed taking part in our first Summer Streets NYC.  The main attraction to us was the Voice Tunnel.  This was an art installation in the Park Avenue Tunnel.  The City opened the tunnel to pedestrians for the first time since the 1930's and turned it into an interactive art show.

The tunnel would go dark and then from the middle the lights would turn on and make their way out to both ends of the tunnel at the same time.  You could just stand and wait for the light to catch up to you and it would look and sound like a rush of wind coming toward you.  The lights were linked to short voice recordings provided by those who wanted to participate.  You could stand in line and wait to record your voice, then it would loop around tunnel at the same time as other voice recordings.  All at once it just sounded like voices, but if you walked close to each light, you could hear what each person recorded.  One little girl excitedly squealed, "I love Pokemon" into the recording!

Rob taking a picture as we left the tunnel

When we got out of the tunnel, we realized that it was not just this area of Park Avenue that had been shut down.  The City shut down all of Park Ave, from Brooklyn Bridge up to the 70's.  We took advantage and walked up Park for a bit until it started to drizzle.

The following day was the first day of the NFL Preseason, and it was a game between the Miami Dolphins and the Dallas Cowboys!  Rob and Rich came to church supporting their respective teams.  We thought it was funny that Jessa and I were kind of on the same wave length too, in our maxi dresses and denim shirts.

Later that night we all made our way to East End Tavern to celebrate the start of Football Season.

Jessa, Erin, me

Rich, Andrew, Brandon, Barry, Brett, Ryan, Robby

And to continue the Sport's theme... we enjoyed a night cheering on the Detroit Tigers at Yankees Stadium.

Me, Lauren, Erin

Jessa, Katie, me

Erin, me, Katie, Jessa & Lauren.  The guys were all there too, I promise!  Just didn't get a good pic.  The game went into extra innings, but sadly the Tigers lost.

The next morning I got to participate in a Habitat for Humanity project all the way in Staten Island.  It was  long day, especially after the late night at the game.  I helped sweep the floors and then sanded and "polished" walls which I enjoyed. 

After the long day, we went to dinner with a couple that just moved here from Colorado, Angie & Mike.  We finished the evening at momfuku's Milk Bar, home of the famous Crack Pie and it was SO good!

If you live here and have never tried this, don't wait as long as we did!  And if you don't live here, come visit us and we will take you there!

Getting Settled

It's been about two months since we moved back into the City.  We have been so grateful to be back, and we are slowly but surely getting settled.  I wanted to share some moments from our first days in the new apartment.  We couldn't be happier with the apartment we found (and I would definitely recommend Rent Direct if you are searching for No Fee Apartments in NYC.)

Our Mantle - The card features a great, personalized rendition of the Friends theme song, courtesy of Rich and Jessa!

Barry was our Roomie for about 3 weeks while he hunted for an apartment. 

So many great friends helped us with our move!  They're not even all pictured here!

Lauren and Meghan

Scott, Barry and Rich

Just "Knockin' Around" as Grandpa and Grandma Phillips would say.

Katie, Erin, Scott and Brett

Ryan and Jessa

"Brerin" and Bessy!! (Check out the great little fan in the background! It kept everyone cool since we didn't have a window AC yet.  It used to belong to Grandma Hickson and is still going strong.)

And now for a little (messy) tour

Our Living Room, which leads into the Dining Room.

View of the Kitchen from the Dining Room entrance

NYC sized Bathroom

Our Bedroom

And we had some visitors!!

Jossie - who I have known since the 3rd grade in Puerto Rico, was in town studying for her Boards!  She took a small break from her studies to catch up with me for a little bit.  It was so nice to see her!!

Quality time with our Roomie, Barry!

Christy, and the Beltrez crew came to visit and get a look at our new place too.

Thanks everyone for your prayers as we searched for weeks and weeks to find an apartment. Your prayers helped us keep strong in our faith and helped us remain confident that we would find something soon. While we prayed earnestly to find an apartment, we could also sense that we were learning to have more patience, faith and trust in God and there was growth in our lives. This verse captures it well. When you have many kinds of troubles, you should be full of joy, because you know that these troubles test your faith, and this will give you patience. (James 1:2-3) It's not fun to go through trials, but I can understand what it means to be full of joy even in the midst of it. In this instance, I didn't experience a joy that came with laughter and cheerfulness, but it was a joy that ran deep and brought peace and relief. We can't thank you enough for coming along side us in this time!

XOXO

Lovin' Summer

These past few months have been incredible and challenging at the same time.  There have been so many wonderful get togethers and trips that have taken place, that I just feel so filled with gratitude for these amazing relationships.  The support has been much needed, especially during those moments of uncertainty while Robby applied for one job after another and while we hunted for an apartment in the City the last month.  This morning my devotional was on Psalm 77, and it captured perfectly how I have been feeling.

1 I cry out to God; yes, I shout.

    Oh, that God would listen to me!

2 When I was in deep trouble,

    I searched for the Lord.

All night long I prayed, with hands lifted toward heaven,

    but my soul was not comforted.

3 I think of God, and I moan,

    overwhelmed with longing for his help. Interlude

4 You don’t let me sleep.

    I am too distressed even to pray!

5 I think of the good old days,

    long since ended,

6 when my nights were filled with joyful songs.

    I search my soul and ponder the difference now.

7 Has the Lord rejected me forever?

    Will he never again be kind to me?

8 Is his unfailing love gone forever?

    Have his promises permanently failed?

9 Has God forgotten to be gracious?

    Has he slammed the door on his compassion? Interlude

10 And I said, “This is my fate;

    the Most High has turned his hand against me.”

11 But then I recall all you have done, O Lord;

    I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.

12 They are constantly in my thoughts.

    I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works.

(Psalm 77 1-11, NLT)

I am glad for the challenges we have gone through, and all the more glad for God answering our prayers.  It was not easy going through them, of course, and I had many weak moments to be sure!  But now, I don't want to forget what He has done, and how He has answered.  I want to remember how great His will has been so that I can stand firm in faith and hope because I know in life, there will always be challenges.

I wanted to share the many wonderful things we had the chance to take part in over the last two months.  We kicked off the summer by inviting friends over to our apartment for a Cookout and pool day!!  Well, the weather did not cooperate, it was in the 50's and rainy, so we had a Cook In!

View of the pool from our Apartment

Our neighbor, Barry, with the limes!! Pre-cut! He was so prepared.

We took the party upstairs to the lounge.

Jessa, Christy, Katie, Maggie, Kelly and me

Barry & Jonathan

Richard, Jonathan, Scott, Barry & Robby

Well Stocked mini-fridge for the Cook In

The gentlemen at the grill.

Brett, Scott, Robby & Richard.

Little did we know, only 2 additional guest were allowed in the lounge with residents... we were over that capacity by about 15 people, so we took the party to our apartment.

Thankfully, everyone fit, and Bess was a happy camper! (Bess with Uncle Scott)

The next evening the guys had a Whiskey & Cigar night.  So naturally, the ladies made Breakfast for dinner and enjoyed some Mimosas!

Katie!

Pancakes on the Griddle!

Erin & Katie (Erin sporting some lululemon apparel)

And the next day, we all met up again in Carl Shurz Park to celebrate Leo's 1st birthday!

Me & Katie.

Steve & Maelee

My hunk!

The Nielsen's! Miss them so much!! Laura, Zach & Leo.

The ladies!!

Notice how nice and sunny it is!! This was just two days after our Cook-In.  This was on Memorial Day, summer had finally arrived!!

Just about a week later we made another dinner at the Ronald McDonald House, and then did some fun crafts in the activity room!  Robby showing off some art :)

After RMH we had a movie night at Kelly's, she knew we'd love Strictly Ballroom! Robby, Lauren, Nate, Kelly.

Greeting at Church, UES CG all coordinated with stripes!! Robby, me, Katie & Lauren.

We had a short but sweet visit with Lani and had a Family dinner at Spice with Vane & Brandon.

The next weekend, we celebrated the marriage of one of my coworkers Sharon!  Sharon & Dan, Mr. & Mrs. Baldessari!

Robby & Me <3 p="">

We met up with the CG after the wedding.  Me, Christy, Jessa & Kelly

Ryan, Robby & Richard

Our little niece, Addi, turned one!! This is a pic of her enjoying the gift we sent her for her birthday!

We also enjoyed another short, but sweet visit from Stela and Nicolle! (Robby & Nicolle)

Me and Stela (notice the little boy copying me, lol).  We had breakfast at a French bakery in Korea Town.  Yep, you read that right... only in NYC!

Followed that breakfast up with a lunch at The Meatball Shop with Anthony & Judy!

Me and Judy

Annnd topped the day off with dessert at the Thomases.  Brett, Robby & Richard.

Jessa, me and Erin.

Then... oh yes!!! I got to see HANSON in concert. TWO NIGHTS in a row!!! (Middle School Drea's dreams came true!!!)

Me & Vane

Hanson

Just two days later, Robby and headed off to a wonderful Family trip in PR.  I just uploaded a ton of pics to FB, here are some highlights. (Big Apple sculpture, by Miami based artist, Britto... full circle!)

Me & Robby & JFK

Donna, me & Crystal

Bobbo, Addi & Robby

Uncle Robby and Addi!

Eli, Mom, Robby and me

The whole gang!!  That was one of the best Family vacations ever!! Can't wait for the next one!

Bess missed us though, she was happy to have us back home.

We got back just before Robby's 30th birthday, and the next night we went to a Dave Matthew's Concert at Jones Beach, NY.  As always, we enjoyed every minute of it!!  Can't believe the last time we saw Dave was three years ago at Citi Field.

The next evening our friends got together at Shake Shack to wish Robby a happy 30th!

Annnnd, the next day, we got up bright and early to wait in line for tickets to see A Comedy of Errors at Shakespeare in the Park.

Katie, Yanessa, Erin & me

Dave, Scott, Brett & Robby

We waited about 5 hours for tickets, but had lot's of fun in the process.

My talented husband captured this moment as we made our way back into Central Park to watch the play.  Getting to spend almost an entire Saturday in Central Park is not half bad!

Katie, Scott, Nate, Lauren, Dave, Brett, Erin, Yanessa, Nick, me & Robby

4th of July Terrace BBQ in the City. (The Gents)

The Ladies

The View

Christy modeling the highly requested, "Sneaky Beach" summer cocktail.

We headed back to New Rochelle, and to our surprise, got to see the Fireworks from our own window!!

And, most recently we spent a weekend in The Hamptons with our CG.

We celebrated FOUR birthdays!!

Jonathan (7/9), Jessa (7/17), Katie (7/18) and me (7/14)

We made a mad dash into the cold water!  Please notice that Mr. Florida had absolutely no desire of getting in the water! LOL!

And we ended the weekend spontaneously enjoying Grimaldi's Pizza from Brooklyn Bridge Park at Sunset.  We just happened to get these open tables right on the water, with views of the Statue of Liberty and Lower Manhattan!!

Now we are prepping to schlepp all our possessions to our new apartment on the Upper East Side next weekend.  Really excited for what's to come!

Happy Niagarayugaversary! And then some.

We have a quirky tradition, instead of sending out Christmas Cards in December, we send out a card in May around the time of our anniversary.  It never ceases to amaze us about how quickly the time goes by.  We wanted to share the letter that we send out with you and also a bunch of pictures from the past two months.  We'd love to hear from you too, how are things?  How can we pray for you?

May 2013 ~Our 6^th year!~

Hello Family and Friends!

As you know, we have our (now, long standing) tradition of sending out these letters every May because in our first year of marriage we didn’t get a Christmas card out in time.  It is amazing to see how God has blessed us and grown us together, and to see how each year has had its own share of celebrations and challenges.  Having the opportunity to jot a few of them down in the form of a letter to be shared with you has provided a way for us to tell the story that God is so purposefully working out in our lives.

At the end of our last letter we shared our prayer requests with you about Robby’s job and about finding a new apartment.  Shortly after that letter went out, Robby got a call from the head coach at Monroe College in New Rochelle, NY asking him if he’d be interested in interviewing for a four month coaching job.  As you know, Robby got the job, and we moved up to New Rochelle.  The coaching staff was incredible and supportive, and the hours were so much more manageable than what we had grown used to.  It was the school’s inaugural football season.  So, although they didn’t have a winning season, it was still a lot of fun. 

Just before that contract started we had the opportunity to celebrate our 5 year anniversary in Rincon, PR thanks to Tio Gerald & Titi Michi! We had such a great time and talked about it so much to our families, that we will be going there again, all together this June!  We flew from PR to Orlando and went to Disney World with our family.   After that, we drove down from Orlando to Miami and got to meet our sweet niece, Addison Grace and instantly fell in love.  Her 1^st birthday is already coming up on June 1^st.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ADDI! 

Over Labor Day weekend we got to celebrate our friends, Brett and Erin, getting married in the gorgeous Hudson River Valley.  Their wedding was so memorable; they had delicious food, fun dancing (flash mob style) and incredible views.  It was so wonderful to share that special day with them.  The rest of fall was filled with a few game nights, some sewing projects on my part, football games and apple picking (Finally got to check that off the NY bucket list. Apple cider donuts rock!).  We also went through some tough moments during that time too.  At the end of October, NY was slammed by Super Storm Sandy and although our area suffered very minimal damage, Brooklyn, Staten Island and New Jersey got hit hard and there are communities that are STILL in recovery.  The second week of November, my Godfather passed away.  I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to fly down to Miami to be with family during that time, to say goodbye and to celebrate his full, happy life.

As the end of the coaching contract neared for Robby, he continued to pursue an opportunity with the NFL, through relationships he built over the summer thanks to our friend, Jonathan.  A seasonal position opened up and there was only a one week period between the end of his coaching job at Monroe and the start of his position with the NFL. Praise God!  It goes without saying that the job at the NFL has been a dream come true for Robby!

Just before heading down to Florida for Christmas, we had the fun privilege of getting to capture our friends, Vanessa and Brandon, becoming engaged.  I was the lookout; Robby and Carlos were the cameramen.  We called it, Operation: Let it Snow.  Brandon proposed to Vane in Bryant Park on a chilly December evening with the Empire State Building behind them and a huge festive Christmas Tree lit up in front of them.  The plan went off without a hitch, and tons of photos were taken to capture the moment.

We have been trying to do a much better job of keeping up with our blog, so you should check it out!  We have lots of posts with updates and pictures to chronicle what we have been up to.  Here’s a preview of some of the goodies that you can read more about from the last few months…

We enjoyed the Miami Winter Wonderland with our families and friends for the holidays, we hosted a super bowl party, and ice skated in Central Park (another item off the bucket list).  We hosted our very own Cookie Night (inspired by the best cookie baker in the world, Donna!) and went on an EPIC, spontaneous trip to Virginia (thanks Peggy, Mark, Crystal and Natalie for inviting us!).  Robby went on the Men’s Retreat at Lake Champion in Upstate NY (even though he was sick for most of it, he was glad to go).  He worked the New York/New Jersey NFL Regional Combine and also worked the NFL Draft.  Didn’t I say it was a dream come true? The NFL Draft is one of Robby’s favorite football events, he even has a song about it set to the tune of It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, if you haven’t heard it, you are missing out!  He was even on TV a few times during the event; we also got to stay in the Marquis Hotel in Times Square for a night since he had pretty crazy hours that week.  Bob and Donna (B&D) came to visit NYC and enjoyed the spring ambiance.  We got to explore a lot of places with them in the City that we hadn’t even been to yet, like the NYC Public Library, The Meatball Shop and The Highline (an above ground railroad track that has been converted into a park).  Then I went on the Women’s Retreat, also at Lake Champion; I never feel the “need” to get away from the City but it was so refreshing to go and have nothing else to do for a short period of time except to enjoy nature and meet with the Lord.  Being outdoors is something we definitely took for granted when we lived in South Florida, so when spring and summer arrive, we, along with all the other New Yorkers, really enjoy being outside.  The sidewalks become lined with tables from restaurants for outdoor seating, and friends host rooftop parties, in fact we have already had the privilege of going to two in the last two weeks!  Most recently we also celebrated our anniversary by going to see Niagara Falls followed by a quick tour of the Cayuga Wine Trail in Finger Lakes, NY (more items from the bucket list).  What a year! We are so thankful for these awesome memories.   Like I said, check out the blog, we have lots of pictures posted.

This year we have really come full circle and are praying once again that God will provide a full-time job for Robby as the seasonal position with the NFL ends May 31^st.  We are also praying to find a new apartment because we would like to live closer to our church community.  As we pray, God continues to sustain us and His Word is such a source of peace when things get stressful.  We wanted to share some verses that have been very comforting throughout the past year.  The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.  Exodus 14:14; Hear my prayer… In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness. Psalm 143:1; And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? Luke 11:9-12; Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Romans 12:12. 

We’re so glad to have you in our lives, praying along side of us as we look forward to what God has in store for year 7!

Blessings,

Rob & Drea

www.hicksonhuddle.blogspot.com

Love 146 Benefit Concert hosted by our good friend, Becky Mason.

B&D in NYC

THE DRAFT!

Lake Champion, Retreat

1st Rooftop BBQ in May!  (Happy Birthday, Brett)

Beans & Killer Bunnies! Flo strikes again.

80's night (Happy Birthday, Kel)

Kelly's rooftop

Retro trains

PEGGY!

Peggy, Janna, Aaron & Drea

Essentially Ellington

There's always money in the Banana Stand

Cuzzie visit!

Celebrating our Anniversary.  We coined the term:  Niagarayugaversary (Niagara Falls + Cayuga Wine Trail + Anniversary)

Niagara on the Lake at Sunset

Niagara Falls at Sunrise

Cayuga Wine Trail, Finger Lakes, NY

Watkins Glen Gorge Trail

Stonecat Cafe Jazz Brunch

Frozen, but lovin' it

Okay, maybe not LOVIN' IT, but we have definitely been enjoying ourselves.  In the past month and a half we have found many ways to enjoy the great indoors (and out).  An ongoing theme has been spending time with friends and having delicious food!  I must confess though I am hoping that this long lasting winter will bring about a vibrant and beautiful Spring.  

Early in Feb we had a snow day and although we did have some fun roaming around in New Rochelle taking pics, the Metro North was down so, sadly we missed out on being able to participate in the Ronald McDonald House dinner.

View of the Long Island Sound from the top of our building.

It didn't take long for the snow to melt away, and the trains were back up and running in no time.

Flatiron Building, Manhattan

Robby, Scott, Katie and I spent Presidents day at Eataly.  Eataly is a market in Manhattan that sells Italian food, and throughout the market there are specialty restaurants where you can eat.  Before we decided on which restaurant to have lunch at, we went enjoyed a glass of wine and browsed all around the market.  

We decided to eat at the pasta restaurant, and ordered family style, so we shared everything.

I would highly recommend going!  After this delicious meal, we made our way back through the market and had espresso and gelato.

After a long work week we had an impromptu meet up with our extremely talented friend Carlos.

With all of our back and forth travels to and from the City for work and during the weekends, we have come to really admire the Grand Central Terminal.  I think it is one of my favorite buildings in Manhattan.  This year is Grand Central is celebrating its 100 year anniversary and they are hosting exhibits all year long.  There is a small exhibit in Vanderbilt Hall as you make your way in the the Grand Hall.

One of the many highlights back home is when Donna hosts Cookie Night.  I really wanted to share this experience with our friends up in NY, so we planned a Cookie Night up here.  We invited our friends over to our apartment and everyone brought cookies to share.  There were sea-Salt Nutella stuffed sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, cookies from Insomnia Cookies, and even peanut-butter-chocolate- chip-bacon Cookies (made by Scott)!

Vane, me and Jessa

Scott, Brandon, our neighbor Barry, Rich, Robby

The following week, Robby was able to work at the NY/NJ Regional Combine for the weekend. And then without much planning on our part, we were blessed with a great weekend getaway to Virginia.  We got to spend time with our church family from back in Miami and see Crystal, Mark and Addi too!

Bess loved roaming around the Ranch.

Waiting for everyone to arrive after we made the 7 hour drive down.

Mark and Addi!

Addi and Uncle Robby

Me and Crystal

Sweet, happy, Addi!

Robby, Josh, me, Lisel, David and Bess!

Addi and Uncle Robby making funny faces.

Addi and I have the same feeling about snow, it's fun for just a little while, then I'm ready to move on!  As much as we love NY, this time away from the hustle and bustle was so refreshing.  Thank you Granada College Group for letting us crash the first day of Break Away, it meant so much to us!  Our church in NYC, Apostles, had a Men's Retreat the following week, and although Robby was under the weather, the view made up for it some.  I am looking forward to going in April for the Women's Retreat.

That Saturday after doing plenty of errands, I went and got my hair done and then had a night out on the town with the ladies.

Me, Amy, Katie, Jessa and Maggie.  Deb met up with us too.

The next weekend we went had an epic evening at Mole and Game Night with the great Scatie (Scott + Katie) and Brerin (Brett + Erin)

Throughout the month of March I also had the really fun experience of getting to prep for Easter by being in the Easter Choir at church!  I haven't been in a Choir since 5th grade, so I was a bit rusty but it I eventually got the hang of it though.  

Choir Rehearsal for Easter Service. I'm kinda bummed it's already over, I really had a blast!

Just wanted to share a quick prayer request from us too.  Robby's contract at the NFL will be ending at the start of May.  We are filled with hope and faith that God has a full-time job opportunity ready for Robby.  Please pray that we would know soon what that job will be!  

Thanks!  How can we be praying for you?

Winter Wonderland: Miami & NYC (Dec-Jan)

Wow, can't believe over a month ago, we were in Sunny South Florida for Christmas and New Year's. It was so refreshing getting to spend time with our families!  Believe it or not, we took over THIRTEEN HUNDRED... that's 1-3-0-0 pictures!  I have a few here, and posted about 100 on to FaceBook.  We were able to spend the first week in Broward with my mom, and then the second week in Miami with B&D!!  We cherished every minute of our time while we were there and took advantage  of hanging out with our families and friends as much as possible!

This first picture is of me, Eli and my two cousins Stephan and Andrew.  We're a silly bunch!  We had dinner at a Cuban restaurant to get that Miami cuisine that we so often crave up here in NY.  Don't get me wrong, there are tons of restaurants up here with delicious food, but there is just something about a Cuban meal! Yum, yum, yum!

Our first weekend in Florida, The Winters from our old home church Granada Presbyterian hosted a Pot Luck Christmas Dinner.  We took the whole crew (Mom, Eli and Grandpa) down so that we could surprise B&D and get some bonus Crystal, Mark and Addi time!

Christmas day was extra special and filled with family time.  We opened presents at my mom's then headed down to Miami where Donna hosted a French Toast Brunch!  After opening presents, Mark gave us the best gift ever.  Nerf guns!  Donna got the biggest gun of all!  Then we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Phillips' for Dinner.  

Throughout our trip we got to spend time with some of our best friends.  Marty and Jen treated us to a great breakfast and we got to play with Katie and Hannah!

Later Matt and Jess hosted us for dinner and we got to love on sweet baby Madison!

We also got to meet up with Mr. Billy Browning himself at Cracker Barrel, along with Robby's bestie Todd, and my favorite Travis Boy, Matt.

Dinner with Sharonsita, Seymour, my mom and sis! Can't believe it had been two years since we had seen them!!

Cookie Night at Donna's!  Had to try at least one of each, but Chocolate Chip has to be my all time favorite.  Robby's favorite is... well, all of them really. LOL!

We brought in the New Year at Crystal & Mark's.  Happy 2013 everyone!

Honestly, most of our memorable moments on this trip also centered around food.  One such time was when Mark treated  us to a phenomenal Chicago Style pizza.  So full of flavor!

Although it was extremely difficult to head back to NY after such an incredible trip, we were happy to spend dinner at Blockheads being served by Luz for the last time!  Joaquin the bartender also joined in on the picture.

Shortly after heading down to Florida, Megan, Chris and Sophia made their long-awaited trip North and we got to spend a Saturday enjoying Mid-Town with them.  We went to Sarabeth's for Brunch, then spent the afternoon in the Central Park Zoo! 

Now that we are settling back, we have really been attempting to make the most of NY by venturing to see and do things that we haven't done before.  It seems as though every time we check something off the NY Bucket List, we add about 5 more things to it, but we are getting there!

Thankful this November

November started just after Hurricane Sandy made its way through New York and the Northeast.  As I mentioned before we were very fortunate and sustained almost no damage in our area.  We had a scare during the windiest part of the storm when a window flew open and we thought it had broken, but thankfully it just needed to be locked and it stayed put the rest of the storm.  It's hard to believe that it's been over a month since the storm and yet there are still areas where the damage is so complete that people have had to leave there homes.  Many of you have gone through hurricanes before, but to then be followed by a cold winter makes it even tougher!  Please continue to pray for the recovery efforts! 

The first weekend in November we had another fun and successful dinner at the Ronald McDonald House, we served a Mexican Fiesta themed dinner.

Robby jammed out on the drums in the Activity Room while one of the older kids that is staying in the house played the bass.

Right after the RMH dinner, we went celebrated two of our friend's birthdays at a mustache themed party.  Check out the cupcakes!

On Sunday, we took some non-perishables to a local restaurant that was arranging deliveries to the Rockaways.  Check out all the boxes!  They had sections for canned goods, toiletries, clothes, baby supplies, blankets and more! It was so moving to see all of these people giving to those who are in such great need. 

We had our first snow storm the next week.  I worked from home, and Bess helped!

Robby had to go in to the office, but thankfully it was only a 5 minute walk.

In a bitter sweet turn of events, I got to go to Florida to be with family to remember my Godfather, Orlando, who passed away from a heart attack.  He was always the life of the party, so he will be missed immensely.  I am so grateful that I was able to be with family during that time and that B & D, Mark, Crystal and Toots came by as well!

Back in New York, the City began preparing for the upcoming Holidays! One of the subway trains was even decorated inside and out for the MACY's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Robby, hanging out with Papa Smurf!

We decorated our apartment for Christmas as well!  No tree this year though, since we will not really be spending much time in New York in December.

During the days we had off from work, I got around to (finally) making the cushions for our chairs.

We had to cut the cushion to match the size of the seat.

Here are some of the supplies we used.

Check out this action shot of Rob!

I had already sewn the fabric together several weeks ago, so they were all set to staple into place.

Danger: Drea with a staple gun!

Ta DA! We are so happy with how they turned out!

In addition to cushion making, we also ventured into Pie Making!!

Yummy pie crust, courtesy of Fresh Direct!

All in all, we made FOUR pies (two traditional pumpkin pies, and two pumpkin cheesecake pies.  We also made Cornbread Casserole, Green Bean Casserole and Baked Mac and Cheese.  (So. Good.)  That weekend we also got to spend time having lunch at Serendipity with the Milian's who were visiting from Florida!  Needless to say, we are eating extremely healthy foods in preparation for the Christmas festivities!

November 27th, Robby began his 6 month seasonal position with the NFL.  What a huge answer to prayer!  Thank you everyone for joining us in praying for Robby to get this opportunity.  We still can't believe it! We are hoping that this can lead to a full-time opportunity if it's God's will.

Rob was excited to expand his wardrobe beyond his school related coaching gear, check out his Tie-tying skills! Whattup!  This pretty much sums up our month of November, and we continue to be so thankful for all that God has been doing in our lives.  This year so far we have spent two different seasons wondering what job Robby would have next, and both times, God has provided in His perfect timing!  It has been hard for us to trust God in the times of waiting, but it has been really faith-building as well.

This last "Do-it-Yourself" project is from the first weekend in December, but I wanted to share it now anyway, because I know the December update will be jam-packed with lot's of good stuff. I made Euro Sham covers for the pillows on our bed.  Above you can see the Mauve colored fabric, those were our old covers.  So I went about cutting and measuring the fabric. 

Then I ironed the seams... I have found that ironing the fabric is actually one of the easiest ways to quickly make a sewing job look a little bit more professional.  So it takes a little extra time, but it's worth it!

Then after pinning the fabric together and sewing everything up, voila!

Here's the completed view of the bed with the new Euro Shams!  Another success!

Love to you all, Drea and Rob

Tourists and Apples and Hurricanes, Oh My!!

October ushers in the wonderful fall weather and gorgeous coloring leaves.  This October also ushered in great visits from Agu and Eli, a weekend of "Apple Picking" and Super Storm Sandy.

This is picture is of the birthday girl, Agu in Central Park.  We walked through the Park from 86th and Lexington to 53rd and 5th Avenue.  We were treated to a great lunch at the MoMa to celebrate the birthday girl!

Birthday Dinner at Yuca Bar on the Lower East Side.

The next night Drea cheered Robby and the Monroe Mustangs on in the chilly fall air.  Sadly they lost, but it was a gorgeous evening.

Eli came to visit the very next weekend, and we had a great time.  She had never visited NYC in the fall.  On her first night here, we snapped this great pic when she fell asleep!!

We got together at the MoMa again for a great lunch and Eli got to see her favorite painting, "Starry Night".

After church on Sunday, we went to Shake Shack and then strolled through Central Park with the Beltrez gang.

The next weekend, Rob had a Bi-Week, so we went "Apple Picking" with Anthony, Judy and The Ethan.  Due to Super Storm Sandy, all of the apples had been removed from the trees and were in huge bins for us to select from, so we weren't able to actually pick them off the trees ourselves.  Seeing all the  trees changing colors, and the mountains rolling across the view was so gorgeous.

We bought a delicious Blackberry Pie and Apple Cider Donuts!!

Two days later, Super Storm Sandy made her way to the Northeast.  This is from the top floor of our apartment building a few hours before the storm hit land.  The clouds are so thick, you can't even see the City.  Normally, you can see the New York City Skyline very clearly from up there.

We stocked up on some Spaghettio's, Wine, Cereal, Oreos and Popcorn.  We made a couple of bags just in case we lost power.  Thankfully we actually never lost power and although the wind was scary at some points, our area suffered very minimal damage.  Just a few miles away from us in places like Brooklyn, Staten Island and New Jersey, there are communities that will be facing many months of recovery as well as a cold, cold winter.  Please pray for these communities to get back on their feet soon!