Whew!

There have been so many things, events, changes since I last blogged! Mine and Matt's 5-year anniversary, my graduation, my parents' visit (mainly for graduation) and our move to LA - just to name a few ;)

Happy Five Years!!
The main 'present' Matt and I are getting each other for our five-year anniversary is the cruise we are taking in July to Greece. However, we couldn't let our anniversary go by without some kind of celebration. So, we celebrated with dinner and a show. We went to Del Posto for dinner - a Mario Batali restaurant that was just amazing. The food was phenomenal! Seriously, Matt and I both have it on our "One of the Best Meals I've Ever Had" list, which we only have about 3-4 restaurants on each of our lists. So, you know it is pretty good :) Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the awesomeness because the atmosphere of the restaurant didn't seem to lend itself to people snapping pics of the food ;)

The nice little almond cookies they send home with you - they were yummy :)

After dinner, we saw Newsies on Broadway. As a teen, I absolutely loved the Newsies movie with Christian Bale as the lead character. While the Broadway show was good, I have to say, I think the movie was better. However, I really haven't watched the movie since I was a teen, so this review is colored by my boy-crazy, teen-colored glasses :)

Graduation (aka Pinning Ceremony in 'nurse speak') - WOO HOO!
Finally, all of the hard work has paid off! I graduated from nursing school on June 14th, and I even managed to obtain an Academic Award for having the highest GPA in our nursing curriculum - WHOOP!! (Yes, I am bragging ;)) I am very excited to have completed one more step in my journey to becoming a nurse. Now, I just need California to approve my application status and pass the NCLEX :)

Most (but not all) of our class at a potluck the day before our Pinning Ceremony

The whole class on stage at the Pinning Ceremony

Some selected group shots

These are pretty much all of the guys (minus a few) in our class

Parents' Visit
My parents came to NYC for my graduation, and of course for some visiting and site seeing. When they came up before, we took them all over Manhattan (and, I mean all over). So, this time we concentrated our site-seeing efforts outside of Manhattan. We took them to The Frick Collection, which is in Manhattan but a bit lesser known than some of the other museums, the FDR Four Freedoms Memorial Park on Roosevelt Island, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, checked out the Brooklyn Bridge Park (which is a pretty cool, eclectic park) and made our way out to Prospect Park in Brooklyn as well. I think we were successful in showing my parents the wonderful things about New York outside of Manhattan ;)

Four Freedoms Park

View from the tram on the way to Roosevelt Island

Brooklyn Bridge Park

Our Last Hurrah in NYC
For our last night in NYC (actually, it was a few nights before our actual last night, but whatever), we wanted to go out with a bang. Now, there are many other things that we thought of, but decided we should at least be a little conservative in our 'bang'. So, we picked a very nice and luxurious dinner at Eleven Madison Park, which has been ranked among one of the best restaurants in the world. I am not a food critic or what not, but the food was super, super good (although, I have to say I actually preferred Del Posto's food). However, this place wins hands down on service and creativity. Every course (and there were 16 of them!) had a special theme, or a combined theme with the course in front/behind it, and they were all incredibly creative and unlike anything I have experienced before at any other restaurant. Also, the server knew I just graduated and that we were moving to LA (of course they ask these things when you book, but still it is a nice touch). So, I received a special "Congratulations" chocolate/marshmallow bar, and our server (plus 2 of the other restaurant staff) wished us good luck in LA on our way out. So, nice! Of course, Eleven Madison Park is also on both mine and Matt's "One of the Best Meals I've Ever Had" list ;) And, for those of you who like food pics - this place was a lot more lenient in allowing food pictures, which they should be because their dishes are too fun not to share ;)

The menu - if anyone cares to read all 16 courses

The Most Interesting Courses

(I'll spare you all 16 ;))

Clambake (2 themed courses)

Left: Surf Clam, a really good clam puree put back into the actual shell and placed on a bed of real sand

Right: a bowl of clam chowder on top of actual steaming beach rocks (this came along side a cute display of bamboo shoots with small neck clams nestled in them)

Carrot Course

The server took full-sized carrots and ran them through this meat grinder (at the table) to make carrot tartare, which you then mixed in all the cute side ingredients - really tasty!

The Picnic Course (my name for it)

On the menu, this course is called "Greensward" (who knows what that means?), and I think this typically would have been when other restaurants put out a cheese course. But, of course Eleven Madison Park went the extra step to dress it up as a picnic basket and server it with beer and a pretzel! Really good beer, by the way. Matt and I were both impressed with it, but I am sure it is made exclusively for the restaurant.

Cheesecake with Mango (and a surprise!)

This was one of five awesome dessert courses! When they bring this dish out to you, the plate is resting on top of the sauce, and you don't see that they are separate pieces or the chocolate piece underneath. Then they do this fun little card trick where you pick a card out of a small deck of food-themed cards, they remove the top plate and of course your chocolate piece matches the card you picked. So cool!

(Also, the cheesecake was made of sheep's milk and freakin' awesome!)

Black and White Cookie Course (X2!)

They opened and closed the meal with a B&W cookie course. The opening B&W cookies were a savory twist and the closing B&W cookies were sweet. Considering B&W cookies are unique to New York (and one of mine and Matt's favorite New York treats), this was very appropriate :)

 

My awesome "Congratulations" bar. It was three layers - chocolate, marshmallow and caramel - really good !

The Big Move
Pretty much right after my graduation (read: 2 days later) we were on a plane to Los Angeles. After landing, we moved into an extended-stay hotel for a week, then moved into our apartment (sans furniture) and slept on an air mattress for two nights while waiting for our furniture to arrive. Finally, we are all moved in and able to relax and enjoy our new place.

I LOVE our new place :) Besides having the modern conveniences that cost an arm and a leg in NYC (read: I finally get to have a dishwasher and washer/dryer in my residence for the first time in 3 years!), our apartment is right outside the pool area, it is HUGE, it is appointed very nicely (granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances), we have TWO SINKS in the bathroom (a huge plus that we have never managed to have in any previous place), the building is super nice and all of the building management plus residents seem very nice and friendly. Also, our apartment complex is located right on the marina and has all kinds of nice amenities such as free bike and kayak rentals, free beach shuttle and monthly resident events. We attended the Martini night this past week, which featured a wide selection of heavy hors d'oeuvres, cupcakes, 3 featured martini flavors and various wines if you weren't feeling the martinis. It was a ton of fun - a fabulous welcome to our new home :)

So far, we have unpacked (blah), had several runs on the beach, around the marina and through our neighborhood and have gotten to relax by the pool. We are committed to taking advantage of all the things beach life has to offer - like the beach (obviously), biking, kayaking, paddle boarding, surfing (but after we run the marathon - don't want to risk any major injuries before), etc. Can't wait to embrace Southern California living :)

Hope all is well, and I will have more pics to put up of graduation, parents' visit and our new apt in the next week or so.