At the close of March, we were excited to share that our family would be expanding. Our big day is September 28, 2017 and we cannot wait to find out if we will welcome a baby boy or baby girl to our little family!
Blog
2016 in a Nutshell
Jared and I started 2016 working on our apartment, and continued to do so with much of our free time for the next few months. This included painting, organizing, decorating, and more. Other highlights throughout the year include:
- LOTS of schoolwork. I took two classes during the spring semester, Teaching Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Students and Teaching Social Studies to Children. The first was my least favorite course at Fordham - possibly ever due to a terrible professor. And though I enjoyed Teaching Social Studies to Children it was an extremely demanding course, and I was happy when the semester came to a close.
- Winter Storm Jonas. The evening it rolled into town I was fortunate enough to visit with Jessica, Dona, and Amy (and her adorable little guys) for a mini-HFH reunion, and made it home from Harlem just as the snow began to fall. And fall it did. It snowed all day on Saturday, and was such a huge blizzard that travel bans were put in place throughout New York City and Long Island. A few images of the snow around our new apartment are below.
- First overnight houseguests. In March we hosted Tara, Nick and the kiddos overnight. They had an event to attend in Manhattan one Saturday, and spent Friday night with us, and visiting Brooklyn for part of Saturday. We went ice-skating in Prospect Park (and on a long walk to get to the rink, though it's really NOT that far from us, lol) and had brunch at Dizzy's. After their departure and later that day the rest of the Verdi clan (Mindi and Rich, Ashlyn and Ben) came in for a visit, and to see our new place. We had a glass of wine at home before enjoying dinner at the 12th Street Bar and Grill, just steps away.
- 2 Bernie Sanders Rallies. It's an election year, and Jared and I strongly supported Senator Bernie Sanders (from Vermont!!) in the primary campaign in New York. We attended two of his rallies here in the city - the first at LaGuardia Community College, the second in Prospect Park. Though the first was packed by the time they got to our place on-line, we ended up in an overflow room where he spoke to us live for about 15 minutes. The second rally was up the road in Prospect Park and we were just 2 of 28,000 people who turned out to support him. It's hardly a spoiler at this point, but Senator Sanders did not win New York, or the Democratic nomination. We are both still excited to have been part of such an incredible event, and hopefully his ideas will continue to grow.
- My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2. Katie W. and I saw it together in March and it was super cheesy and hilarious, and exactly the type of movie you see with one of your girlfriends.
- Run for the Wild. In April I did the Bronx Zoo's Run for the Wild with Katie Whalen and her sister Jackie. It was super fun, and with the generosity of some great family members and friends was able to make a $200 donation to support the Wildlife Conservation Society's elephant conservation around the world. Special thanks to: JV, Terry, Olivia, Aunt Sheila, Mindi, Tara, Ashlyn, Mom, Karel, Keri, Aunt Maggie and Maureen for your generosity and support!
- Adobe 99U After Party. Each year JV attends Adobe's Behance 99U Conference, and each year they hold the after party at MoMA. We've gone together the last two years and there is always pretty great music by a famous DJ, cocktails, and a chance to meet and chat with JV's coworkers. In general it's just a fun night out and opportunity to get a bit dressed up.
- Trip to Italy. In May we took a family trip to Italy, where Olivia was studying abroad. We travelled with my mom and dad, Olivia, Uncle Steve, cousin Josh and his girlfriend Lauren. Jared and I saw Milan and the Cinque Terre in advance of meeting everyone in Florence, where we spent 2 days, before touring through northern Tuscany and Sienna. We then drove north to where my dad's family lives, a small town called Filonica, where we spent the day, before heading to Venice. Jared and ended our trip in Venice, after three days of seeing the unique city, while the rest of the crew continued on to Lake Cuomo, and then to England.
- Graduate School Continues. I completed two summer courses, one on technology in education, the other on arts in education. They were 1-credit courses, so met just once a week for an hour, started the last week of May and were done by the close of June, thank goodness.
- Mumford and Sons. Katie Whalen accompanied me to a Mumford and Sons concert at Forest Hills Stadium in early June, after JV had to go out to California on a last-minute business trip. It was the first time I had been to a concert there and it is a great venue. We waited forever for our tacos - missing the first few songs - but it was a beautiful night and a great show, and time with Katie W. is always fun.
- July. We took in a Brooklyn Cyclones games (one rainy night) and it was a hoot. We hit Jones Beach to kick off Jared's annual week off for the Adobe shutdown and took in the NYC 4th of July Fireworks (also on a rainy night). We visited Davis Park (on Fire Island) for a few days, where we hung out with the Beickerts. Later that month Katie D., Katie W., Rachel and I went to see Coldplay at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. It was awesome; Coldplay concerts are never disappointing. JV and I headed to Cape May overnight, enjoying some Jersey Shore sunshine for a change of pace. The final highlight of the month was a girl's night out with dim sum and cocktails with Katie W., Katie D. and Ally.
- August. The month started with the Lumineers in concert at the Prospect Park Bandshell (the last concert of summer - promise). With an 8-minute commute home it was the closest concert we've ever gone to, and was really enjoyable too. We did a quick day-trip out to Montauk. I started to wind down my job at MSAHC, after a stressful summer. Some of my awesome coworkers took me to a goodbye dinner at Carmine's to celebrate. I enjoyed the last two weeks of August off, giving me time to rest up my brain before jumping into student teaching. We did one weekend out east, went to the Hampton Classic for a few hours, spent the afternoon at the beach in Montauk with Patrice and Brendan (and enjoyed dinner together too) and stayed overnight at the Montauk Manor. I did a quick overnight trip to Vermont to visit with Annalisa (and Max, and Uncle Kevin and Aunt Jenn) and finally meet baby Florence. We spent some time in Woodstock, swam in the pool, and had dinner before heading home. We also bid farewell to Katie W. at a small get together in Astoria, before her relocation to Austin.
- Birthdays, Back to School, and the Behance Retreat. We went up to Boston to help celebrate Archer and Blake's birthdays in early September. The children of NYC and I all went back to school at the beginning of the month too. I was placed at P.S. 33: the Chelsea Prep school in a 2nd grade class! (More on that another time.) Jared went to Connecticut for a few days for the annual Behance Retreat. In October we celebrated my birthday with some apple picking in Westchester and dinner at The Hudson House of Nyack. We celebrated Jared's birthday with dinner at Blenheim in the West Village. And the Menghini clan came into Brooklyn for a dinner party at our apartment, which allowed Patrice and Brendan and my Grandma to finally see our home, and for us to celebrate the October birthdays (ours plus Olivia and Brendan.)
- US Open Men's Final. We finally got tickets to the final day of the tournament: the Men's Finals, held in early September. It was one of the best matches we've seen at the tournament yet. Stan Wawrinka v. Novak Djokovic. In the end Wawrinka was victorious, and we may be hooked on being at that final day of the tournament moving forward. The energy in the stadium was intense, as attendees supported the two players. It was a great day with beautiful weather, the only downside that Jared had to leave the match before it was over...to head to California for work.
- Weddings. We attended Dayle and Matt Bruno's wedding, held at the Bellport Country Club, with the rest of the Verdi clan in late August, We also celebrated the wedding of Jared's second cousin, Kristi and her husband Jim, in Virginia. It gave us an opportunity to visit with much of his extended family, to spend a day in Washington, D.C. and to visit with Rachel and Nick.
- The Americans. We closed October with a subway ride to the Upper East Side, where we saw Keri Russel and Mathew Rhys and two producers from The Americans (one of our favorite television shows) in conversation at the 92nd Street Y.
- Election Day. Election Day was November 8th, and it ushered in the political upset of a lifetime, and quite possibly/most probably a very tumultuous four years. Hillary Clinton (who Jared and I both voted for after supporting Bernie Sanders in the New York Democratic Primary) lost the 2016 Presidential Election to Donald Trump. It is still hard to believe, some two months later. We both have so much to say about this, more than can be summarized here.
- November. I was the sickest I have ever been in my life in November, starting with a cold that left me with no voice for a week, which then morphed into a week-long stomach bug, all but ruining Thanksgiving weekend. Luckily we had a quiet holiday in Medford with us, my mom and dad, Olivia, and Terry for dessert and to celebrate my mom's birthday.
- Fordham's Annual Lessons and Carols. Held at the start of December, we attended, and was really the only fun holiday activity we did this year. Between student teaching and grad school, and Jared wrapping up work before Adobe's December shutdown, we were pretty busy. Jared attended the annual Behance holiday party, and I had dinner with Dona and Linda one evening, which was great as always.
- Christmas. Christmas activities were split across a few days. We visited the Verdi clan in Boston in the two days leading up to Christmas Eve. Jared and I were at home for Christmas Eve (with just one fish course this year, before heading to Midnight Mass at St. Saviour) and did our small gift exchange and breakfast together on Christmas morning before heading to Long Island. My mom, Olivia and I visited with Aunt Adelaide for brief time, before the Menghini clan celebrated Christmas. We did out gift exchange and enjoyed a lovely dinner, and then traveled into Bayville to the Mack's for the annual Anderson festivities, rounding out the day.
- Vaca. Jared and I skipped town bright and early on the 26th, heading to Chile for a much needed and deserved escape from New York City and reality. Much more on our trip to follow, but we were happy to spend two weeks touring the country, and ringing in the New Year in the middle of the Atacama Desert.
And interwoven throughout are lunch and happy hour get-togethers with former coworkers turned awesome friends, as well as brunch and dinners, movies and other visits with our great group of Long Island pals. Some pictures from the year are below.
