spring babies

Easter.
When we were younger, Easter was a huge family event where all the some odd families would come together at a park and all the cousins would go crazy playing and searching for Easter eggs. Of course, that died down quickly. These past few years Easter was minimally celebrated either because my brother was still living in Canada or no one just bothered to make plans. Usually we'd go to church then have lunch then go home.

This year was a first year we decided to "celebrate". Instead of paying a ridiculous amount of money at a small brunch buffet, we decided to have a potluck at our house in gilroy. I have to say i was really excited. It was like one of our regular parties. Both sides of the family showed up and all my parents friends (of course). There was crazy amounts of food...and SWEETS!

The one thing that made me even more excited about this particular celebration was the two new babies we have in our family. Annika, my god daughter, from my oldest cousin on my dads side. And Giovanni, our little white boy, from my moms side. All the attention was on them. I really think theyre bringing the family closer together. There was no bitterness in the air. Spring, hopefully a start to a new beginning.

Annika



Giovanni



jenyo|jenetics

It's Spring time when....

"To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring."


jenyo|jenetics

New York City|2009|Day 4,5,6

Day 4. Woke up earlier than usual because our tour bus pass was ending at 10am and we had one more loop to do- the uptown loop. We didn’t get of the bus at all because we wouldn’t be able to get back on. Haha. We saw a lot of mansions and high apt/condo’s where celebrities live. Saw where John Lennon lived and got assassinated- right across the street was central park and Strawberry fields. We finished that tour and we started using the Subway which would honestly scare the shit out of people but I’ve mastered the subway system in Spain I think I can manage New York. So that was fun. Went back towards the Upper East Side where we had breakfast at the Clinton Street Bakery. Best breakfast! My mom had banana walnut pancakes while I had a egg and beacon biscuit sandwich with tomato jam. Both amazing! Oh yeah, had the best $3 small ass glass of fresh squeezed orange juice id had in my life. We walked that off pretty well that day. I stopped by TrackStar bike shop- not very welcoming people but whatever still a nice shop. Then a few blocks away was The Reed Space and I LOVED their store. Guys were really friendly. Bought a sick Staple Shirt for my bestfriend (that actually I love but he’ll look better in it) and a 10Deep shirt for my boyfriend. Cool guys to talk to very nice boutique store. I loved most the books on the wall sitting on mini chairs- that was cute. We walked on towards Soho/Canal St. and actually shopped there. Kinda hectic this day because we caught rain. Canal Street is like china town all these little shops that sell knock off purses and such. Was great! Haha. Bought myself a pair of Chanel earrings. Ya boyyy! Went to Grand Central Station because we’ve never seen it before- beautiful piece of history right there. The architecture is amazing! Cool how all the train tracks were right under us and you never see it if you were just on the streets. Good for me there was a BMW car art show right inside the station- nice cars with nice art on it…that’s the best combination ever. We walked from there to our hotel because we got kinda lost. Haha. But ended up eating at this BBQ house that was pretty good so I’m glad we got lost. Stopped by Juniors to pick up a slice of Red Velvet cake- again the size of your head and ended my day on a sweet note.
clinton st. bakery.

trakstar

reedspace

chanel earrings..holllarrr

Grand Central Station




Day 5 Thursday. Thought today would be a pretty chill day. WRONG. We walked up a storm! Went to Macy’s. NYC Macy’s = HEAVEN! It’s a whole block big and 9 stories high. 9 STORIES! You can get a tourist shopping pass that gives you 11% off of pretty much everything. Did a lot of shopping there. Few blocks away was B&H Video and Photography. Of course I had to stop by and see what that place was like. That place was astonishing…yes I said astonishing. Their photography section is wall to wall of cameras, lenses, accessories. Then you purchase it, they order it from the back, and the come to the teller in a box, on a roller. I don’t know how else to explain it. To pay for it you go downstairs and stand in line. Then they send you to a separate line where they receive your box of stuff and they bag it and give it to you. It was like a factory assembly line in there. I bought a 50mm lens…finally. We walked back to our hotel to dropped off all of our bags. On the way we stopped by White Castle to eat mini burgers of goodness. Headed out again towards Lower West side. My mom wanted to go to Sac’s to buy a purse and so I left the Subway routes up to her since I thought she knew where she wanted to go. We ended up back by Bloomingdales…a good 13 blocks away. Our feet hurt but we didn’t want to pay for subway fare again so we walked it. If she didn’t buy her lovely LV purse I would have been pissed haha. From there we walked to Seredipity and she enjoyed a Fruite Crepe and I had the infamous Frozzzen Hot Chocolate. That was good. Took the subway back to our hotel. Got ready and went less then a block away to the Minskoff Theater to watch…THE LION KING! Really good Broadway shdw! Costumes and back drops are way better then anything I have ever seen. If you get a change to watch it…do it! Didn’t have dinner this night because I think we were just tired. A Broadway show was a good way to end our trip to NYC.
B&H Photography

Macy's Old School escalators

Serendipity..yum!

my favorite line: "The Word was Serendipity. The art of finding the pleasantly unexpected by chance or sagacity."

Friday- before we left. Went and had breakfast at Juniors. Then our shuttle picked us up and brought us back to JFK. By this time I was so happy to be going home. As beautiful it is to be in another state, I love California! I love the weather, I love the life style and I even love the people. I’m serious. True New Yorkers always seem to rushed and stressed out its sad to watch. I can never live like that. I’m sure not all NYorkers are like that but a few that I’ve seen and heard talk I just want to tell them to relax. We had this one guy behind us in the security line at the airport who was seriously pissed that there was only 1 line open because of shift changes, He was seriously getting pissed off and saying like he never has to stand in line, He kept asking every worker hat passed him by why other lines weren’t open. He was complining and saying “Time is Money, I have some where to be!” I’m pretty damn sure his flight wasn’t leaving yet and seriously we’re at an airport…we ALL have somewhere to be! Then when they opened another line, he got out of our line and walked around quickly…when if he just waited like 2 seconds they opened the ropes in front of us and we still ended up in front of him in line…haha, sucker!

and thats my trip! post trip thoughts will probably put up soon. heres all the pictures...
PART 1
PART 2

jenyo|jenetics

New York City|2009|Day 3

Day 3.
Went back on this Hop On Hop Off tour, this time we took the Downtown Loop again but got off the last half. This loop took us around Wall Street then towards the water- Pier 17 where we took our free water taxi ride. The water taxi took us around Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, and under the Brooklyn Bridge. GORGEOUS! Was the perfect day to be in the water. When we got back we hopped on a bus that would take us around to the Brooklyn Loop- which yeah, took us around Brooklyn. We didn’t get off at any stops because we didn’t really know where we wanted to go there. It was a good change of scenery for a little. Was suppose to go to KingKog bike shop there but I didn’t have a computer to look up where it was so we didn’t get down. We actually did get down under the Brooklyn Bridge (Old Fulton St) where this pizza shop- Grimaldi’s pizzeria- was. Best New York pizza I’ve had. You choose a size and pay per topping. All the ingredients were fresh and you can taste the difference. We actually finished a whole pizza to ourselves. Haha. We walked out sort of under the bridge and there was a Brooklyn Ice Cream shop. Got some ice cream while waiting for our bus to come again. Bus took us back over the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan then we took the Downtown loop again towards Madison Ave. We got off at the South end of central park and walked around there. Smells like shit on that end because of the horses but who cares- those horses make me laugh. Went to the glass cube Mac store to use their computer/interwebs. We actually walked all the way back to our hotel from there. Stopped at Carnigie Deli on the way home. My mom ordered a sandwich has big as my hand...seriously. She only ate half. I had deep fried french toast aka a delicious heart attack. YUM! Walked around time square to enjoy the lights then ended our night there.
First time over the Brooklyn Bridge




On the Water Taxi

ugh, the times i wish i had my 200mm.



Grimaldi's pizza


Carnigie Deli


Central Park and others around it...

reflection of gold

caught stealing interwebs. lol

my new friend i met in times square...elmo. he asked me for $2


to be continued...

jenyo|jenetics

New York City|2009|Day 2

DAY2
The next morning we went and got our 48hour hop on hop off tour bus. Its one of those double decker bright red buses filled with tourist who take pictures of anything and everything around them- yup, that was us for 48 hours. Our first tour was the Downtown Loop that took us around Chinatown, SoHo district, Madison Square Garden, Flat Iron Building, Lower East side, and would you like me to continue? We didn’t stay on that bus long because once we got to the SoHo stop, we got off and got an idea about what our shopping experience would be like. SoHo is known for their little boutique shops that really, you pay the price for. There are a lot of unique stores however, very expensive- by all means if you have the money…go ahead! We got back on our bus that actually stopped by there every 20mins and proceeded towards China town. We got off around there and looked for Katz Deli. Katz is a MUST if in Manhattan. If you appreciate good quality meat and sandwiches…oh my god! Is all I have to say. You walk in and see a whole row of about 7 “slicers” they call them. Each slicer is their own person so they have their own lines. Our slicer knew we were first timers so he let us try the meat. I ordered half corn beef and half pastrami sandwiches. He pulled out these slabs of pastrami and corned beef from the oven type thing from behind him and sliced them right in front of me. I swear I could just eat all the meat by itself. Pastrami was to die for! We got back on our bus a few blocks away back by Soho and ended up by Rockafeller Center where we found one of the Magnolia Bakery branches. We walked out of there with 6 cupcakes (don’t ask why- theres only 2 of us and my mom ordered 6; oh yeah, i still think Kara's cupcakes are better) and one of the best cups of hot chocolate I’ve had. Oh I forgot to mention from the beginning, it was FREEZING. Weather wasn’t that bad but its like San Francisco weather over the winter- cold and windy. We went back to our hotel to relax a little and enjoy our cupcakes and ended up eating a small dinner at Junior’s restaurant less than a block away. Small dinner but a BIG dessert- a Strawberry Shortcake Cheesecake the size of your face- actually probably my face now with all this eating I did over the week. Hah. That ended our Day 2. Notice: i talk a lot about food. i take pictures of a lot of food. I love food.
our first day on our bus

Flat Iron Building

SoHo shopping



Kats Deli


Magnolia Bakery


Strawberry Shortcake cheesecake from Juniors



again...to be continued.

jenyo|jenetics

New York City|2009|Day 1

"explore, wander, get lost, find yourself, and lose yourself again!!"
-Xian

Thats what Christian told me to do while in New York..and its exactly what i did. My mom and I decided to take a little mother daughter trip since my brother wasn’t able to take the time off and our spring breaks did not align. Ive been looking forward to this trip for a while because we’ve been to NYC numerous times however never really got to see everything worth seeing. We weren't able to get internet at the hotel because it was down or something..so ill be posting up the blogs separately so i dont just post one big ass long one. enjoy!

DAY1
We left SFO Saturday night, a red eye flight. Arrived at JFK Sunday morning about 7am eastern time. My uncle from New Jersey picked us up and brought us back to his place. The two guys of our OG summer family came out to have breakfast with us. We ate at this really high end Filipino restaurant that actually cooked us breakfast like we would normally do at home- garlic fried rice, tocino, longonica, tapas, and some fish. Haha. However probably expensive, it was good. We hung out at the house for a while then proceeded to go to Woodbury Common Outlets in New York- about an hour away from New Jersey. It’s the same company as our Gilroy outlets however, HEAVEN for the ultimate shopper. They had shops like Doir, Chanel, Gucci, Lacoste, Jimmy Choo, Prada, etc. Pretty much any high end fashion was there….and I was in heaven. Although I didn’t buy much because really it was my first day and I wasn’t going to use up all my money there. I ended up going back home with $30 worth of half off clothes from FCUK. We ate some Chinese food, said bye to the guys, and my uncle bought us to our hotel in NYC.

Our hotel, the Milford Plaza, was in the heart of Broadway literally right next to all the main theaters and about a block away from Time Square. Nice little cozy 2 twin bed room. Across the street were so many places to eat, little shopping, and even a Junior’s restaurant. Juniors was based in Brooklyn and has one of the best cheesecakes ever. We were dead tired, so we unpacked, and ended our day there.

with terence and lawrence in NJ

Woodbury Outlets

going through the Lincoln Tunnel to Manhattan


fog above Manhattan when we first arrived

some time square lights


to be continued...

jenyo|jenetics