Photo A Day - June

June was full of lots of races, an unexpected medical procedure, and fun shows and outings!

Chris and I ran in our 2nd annual Long Island City 5k - so fun! I found some time to catch up with my longtime friend, Vanya, in Central Park. Always great to spend time with an old friend. I took some photos of our apartment all laid out before we started packing. Finally, I experienced an unexpected procedure requiring seven stitches to remove melanoma from my left shoulder on June 6. Beware of the dangers of the sun...and that's coming from someone who avoids it all together if at all possible.

I completed my 6th consecutive NYRR New York Mini even though I had to walk the whole time because of my stitches. I never felt more proud to complete a race! I enjoyed some fun treats - a Black Tap cotton candy strawberry milkshake and Levain chocolate chip cookies. I stood in line for rush tickets to Come From Away which turned out to be amazing - loved every moment!

I took a one day memoir writing course. Chris and I saw Matthew Perry in The End of Longing complete with a talkback and autographs after the show. My NYC Matthew Perry story came full circle. Mary and I enjoyed our annual birthday show - Anastasia. And I found myself in a completely empty subway car one night - incredibly rare!

We finished the month off with another race - a four miler in Central Park. Our friend, Omar, made his stand-up comedy debut. Baked by Melissa went out on a limb with some ice cream - not great. I highly recommend The Moth if you love reading short, true stories - very neat!

Andrea :)

Date Nights - May

There was never a lack of things to do or places to visit living in New York City. We tried to make the best of exploring Long Island City locally as well as finding fun things to do in other parts of the city as well.

Chris saw a new bowling alley called The Gutter LIC pop up in the area so we checked it out. We had fun even though Chris smoked me in both games. It definitely got crowded in there as the night went on so I'd suggest going early if you don't want to wait around for a lane to open up.

Governor's Island was on my NYC bucket list so we made the trek downtown and caught the ferry over Memorial Day weekend. The whole experience was nice. The island has a fort that can be toured as well as fun play areas and bike paths. There was a food court area on the island as well. It was a beautiful day full of lots of walking. If you've never taken the time to visit Governor's Island, I highly recommend it. It is a peaceful and relaxing escape from the busy nature of the city.

Do you play tourist in your own city or town?

Andrea :)

Murder Mystery Weekend in Vermont

Along with taking improv classes, going away for a murder mystery weekend where you dress up and play characters was high on my list of things to do before we left New York. I had seen these weekends advertised many times, but we finally made in work toward the end of April.

When I called to book the trip, I was asked a series of questions about how involved we wanted to be in the weekend and how comfortable we would be with singing/dancing. We were prepared to go all in and we got some great roles. They emailed those to Chris and me separately so we had no idea what the other one's role would be for the night.

The time period was the 20's and our entire group was really fun. There were a few other couples and even one whole family participated. On the night we arrived, we all met to go over some preliminary notes and socialize a bit. We all stayed at the Big Bear's Lodge in West Dover, Vermont.

We were able to relax and then check out the nearby towns on Saturday before we came back to the Lodge to get into character and report to the dining area around dinner time. Ironically, our group had an actual black bear nearly join us. I wasn't quick enough to capture it, but the room has floor to ceiling glass on one side and we looked up at one point and there was a bear. Eek! So wild...literally!

I won't say much about the actual mystery and our characters and how they interacted specifically, but we had THE best time!! I did have a musical number to perform at the end of dinner. It was a hit...and SO much fun. However, Chris was the star of the night...easily! He even managed to win the acting award at the breakfast vote by all the participants the next morning.

We would highly recommend a murder mystery weekend getaway. We enjoyed every moment of the entire weekend. If you decide to give it a shot, my advice is to go big...you'll have a blast!

Andrea :)

Photo A Day - May

I spent half of May in Kentucky doing a lot of celebrating and taking meetings in Nashville and Columbus in between. I managed to get quite a bit of reading accomplished as well. Fun month, indeed!

I had a blast collecting tickets with Landon at Chuck E. Cheese, jumping all over the place at Get Air with the Jordan and the kids, and celebrating with little miss 5-year old at all her fun birthday events!

I was so happy to see my sorority big sis, Hayley, and finally meet her two kiddos while I was in Lexington!  I spent a couple of days networking in Columbus and picked up Chris there so he could join everyone for McKinley's Medical School graduation fun. Love spending time with my family!

Back in New York, I saw Sara Bareilles perform in Waitress from the side box over the orchestra - so awesome! I managed to develop allergies that kept me inside in front of the TV where I managed to watch every episode of Gilmore Girls on Netflix - yes, please!. Chris and I did manage a fun outing to Governor's Island on a weekend though!

Books and food seem to sum up this last week of May! Nothing beats Pickle Me Pete and our LIC Flea Market outings that Chris loved during the summer months. Those were some delicious pickles!

Andrea :)

Date Nights - April

We had some fun with our April date nights. Chris decided to take me to one of his favorite establishments while I decided to recreate our 1st date.

Chris knows the owner at Bridge and Tunnel Brewery so he likes to support them whenever he can. The place is basically a warehouse where they actually brew their beer selections, but they also have board games and arcade games inside as well. We went to a stand-up comedy night that was a lot of fun there once as well. Chris really likes the place. They also make their own root beer which is pretty cool. I opted for it. It's always good to support a local Queens establishment.

Since this year would likely be our last living in NYC, I decided it would be fun to recreate our first date. We enjoyed a delicious dinner at Brother Jimmy's before indulging on some Pinkberry. We own a copy of Date Night on DVD so we watched that when we got home. After seven years, it was fun to recreate this special night. Lots of great memories through the years!

What is your favorite local watering hole?

Have you ever recreated a special date night?

Andrea :)

Improv at Magnet Theater - Level One

When we decided to move away from New York City, there was one major item on my list of things I could not leave the city without trying. In fact, I had been planning to try improv classes since the very first year I moved to NYC, but my schedule never seemed to line up with the class openings. And it costed a pretty penny.

Much as I did my first Christmas in New York, I requested taking classes as a gift. I signed up for Level One to begin in January. I was able to delay my start until mid-February when everything happened with Dad, but I was really excited to get started when the day arrived.

I decided to start classes with Magnet Theater in NYC. They offered eight week sessions with a class show at the end. They also provide a free intro class that I had taken in the fall. I really enjoyed it so I signed up for the session with that same instructor - Rick Andrews.

I am glad I took my first class over a series of weeks because there were a lot of new things to learn and absorb from week to week. I loved every minute of my first class. The group of people in my class proved to be a wonderful mix. I looked forward to class so much each week.

We focused on the basics and played a lot of group and team games. It was fun to play with different people each week and really hone that "yes, and" skill. Our show was in early April and I was fortunate enough to have a big crew of folks show up to support me. I was nervous, but I had fun performing that night. The best part about improv is you never know in advance how a scene will go or where an idea will end up leading. So fun and so scary all at the same time - I highly recommend it!!

Andrea :)

Photo a Day - April

April was a fun month. I finished my first improv class, we went on a murder mystery weekend getaway, and I headed out for a few weeks in the mid-west.

Chris finally managed to get me out to his favorite NY brewery - Bridge and Tunnel. I enjoyed some tasty (and generally healthy) snacks, but the highlight of the first part of April was certainly my first ever improv show. As part of my classes with the Magnet Theater, a show was the cherry on top of a fantastic eight week experience. I had lots of support from Chris and a slew of friends for my debut!

Chris and I ran a 10k in Central Park and generally enjoyed being outside as the season changed over to Spring. I watched a Case for Christ on Good Friday, and we enjoyed spending Easter with Chris' family in Long Island.

We celebrated our seven year dating anniversary by recreating our first date on April 17 - so fun!! Later in the month, we ventured to Vermont for a murder mystery weekend. Chris and I managed to keep our characters secret from one another and had an absolute blast at the event. I had a big lip-synced singing number to perform that went over swimmingly. However, Chris was the star of the show - he was even honored for his acting ability by our whole group. He truly was a hit!!

It's always good to be back in Kentucky! I ventured back for some meetings - first at Georgetown - and then Nashville and Columbus. I enjoyed hanging with my favorite niece and nephew in between meetings. Brinley and I went to see A Dog's Purpose together and she did remarkably well for an almost 5 year old! What a great way to end a lovely month!

Andrea :)