Viva Las Vegas

Once in a while, life gets in the way of blogging. This month I have been crazy with the end of my second semester of graduate school as well as visits with both my parents, my in-laws, volunteering, and a vacation.

First things first. M and I returned from our vacation on Monday night. When going through the mail I came across a postcard sent from one of my lovely followers Liz, who won the book giveaway. She thanked me for the book and for brightening her day. I'm happy to make you happy, Liz! 

 With that, I'd like to share some pictures from our Vegas vacation. We had a grand time staying at the Monte Carlo, taking a day trip to the Grand Canyon via the Hoover Dam, dining at a variety of delicious restaurants, partying it up VIP style on Saturday night, and seeing David Copperfield who made M and 12 others disappear!

Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas!

Hoover Dam from the Arizona side

Me standing in Nevada and Arizona at the same time at the Hoover Dam

The GRAND Canyon

Me and M at Tabu in MGM

Me and M outside the Monte Carlo

All in all it was a great trip! Seeing the Grand Canyon was definitely one of the highlights as I've been wanting to see it for ages. Sitting by the pool and relaxing was also much needed. Mostly, I was just happy to spend some time with my husband away from our daily routine.

Have you ever been to Vegas or the Grand Canyon?

Book Giveaway Results

Ladies and gents the results are in! 

The Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Book Giveaway had exactly one entrant! Liz Singer is the only person who followed the blog, tweeted, and commented on the original post, so she wins the book! Not bad odds there, Liz. Please email or message me with your mailing address so I can send the book to you.

Would you like me to continue with giveaways? Maybe not a book next time...

Book Review - The Passion of Artemisia

The Passion of Artemisia: A Novel by Susan Vreeland
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Historical Fiction is quickly becoming one of my favorite genres. This book did not disappoint. The book is told from the perspective of Artemesia Gentileschi beginning with the trial of her rapist, through her struggles and triumphs as a daughter, wife, mother, and woman artist. The characters and relationships are strong as are the scenic descriptions. This is a beautifully written novel. I highly recommend it.

View all my reviews on Goodreads

 Do you like historical fiction?

 Don't forget to enter the book giveaway! Only one week left.

Engagement Shoot

Mike and I had our engagement photo session with the wonderfully talented Jessica Guadagno in May of 2011, six months after we became engaged and four months before our wedding, in my hometown of Southampton. We had booked Jessica for our wedding just two days before our e-session, which was entirely her concoction. I'm so glad we did the session because it gave us a chance to get to know Jessica and we captured some breathtaking photos!

Today, a few photos from our engagement session were featured on the Well Wed Hamptons blog! SO COOL! Please click the link to see the photo collage and also to read our advice to couples for their own e-sessions. 

And now, for your viewing pleasure, a few of my personal favorites from the shoot.

This one the one we included with our invitations and also have framed in our apartment in a lovely frame that my friend Inga got us.

Mike's favorite!

We also have this one in b&w framed in our apartment.

I hope you enjoyed!

New Banner

I consider myself an artist but graphic design is not my strongest style. I'm always inspired by my brother Shane who is great with computer graphics and my bestie Jill who is a bona fide graphic designer and art director here in NYC. That being said, I was inspired by our recent trip over the Brooklyn Bridge and the pictures I took to create a new banner for Mrs. Brooklyn Life. 

What do you think of the new banner? I think it's kinda hot.

Yankees Opening Weekend

Yesterday was a busy Sunday for us! In the afternoon we went for a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge and at night we went to the Yankee game!

One of the reasons Mike fell in love with me is because I am a Yankee fan. Mike and I met in the fall right around the end of the Yankees regular season and were able to score tickets to a post-season game. Unfortunately, the game we had tickets for was never played. A few months later, for Mike's birthday, I bought a partial season ticket plan so that we could go to many games together. We've renewed the tickets every year and are celebrating our seventh season of being ticket holders. 

The booklet of tickets!

We have a 16 Game Sunday plan which has tickets to 14 Sunday games and two mid-week games. We really lucked out with our plan this year with tickets to two games against rivals The Red Sox and a game against The Mets. Other teams we have tickets to are the Rays, Rangres, Athletics, Orioles, White Sox, Mariners, Reds, and Angels.

Last night's tickets

The game yesterday against the LA Angels was great! Even though the game lasted three and a half hours, there was a lot going on on the field. The Yankees beat the Angels 11-5 with Derek Jeter and Raul Ibanez hitting home runs. In honor of Jackie Robinson day, all players wore number 42 and Jackie Robinson's daughters were there with the Jackie Robinson Foundation.

The view from our seats, you can see everything!

All in all, it was a great night of baseball!

What's your favorite sports team?

Brooklyn Bridge

I thought having lived in Brooklyn for eight months and never walking over the Brooklyn Bridge was pretty sorry. My husband, who has lived in Brooklyn his entire life had never walked over the bridge, which is even more sorry! On this gorgeous Sunday afternoon we decided to get our lazy butts off the couch, put on our walking shoes, and walk the Brooklyn Bridge once and for all.

The most famous view of all!

Brooklyn Bridge Shirts on the Brooklyn Bridge

Flyers and graffiti

Sign on the Manhattan side

"Welcome to Brooklyn"

These old ladies looked so cute consulting the Downtown Brooklyn map

Love this painted building in Brooklyn on Boerum Place and Livingston St.

Hubs' glasses: Ray Ban

Hubs' shirt: designed by Carl Eton

Hat: H&M

Glasses: Cole Haan

Shirt: Target

I'm so glad we finally took the time to be tourists in our own city! The BK Bridge is truly a spectacular sight.

I'm Back!

Mike and I returned from our fabulous vacation to Costa Rica yesterday at 3:00am. The air sure smells different here! Our trip was fantabulous and much needed, I was feeling so burnt out from school and Mike definitely needed a break from work. You can read my daily posts from Costa Rica on my travel blog and add it to your blog reel.

Quick Summary:
We took surfing lessons every morning, read by the pool, went for long walks on the beach, ate some food, ate some more, zip lined, and relaxed. What a week!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the trip in no particular order.


Playa Guiones

Live music at Casa Tucan

Zip-lining with Miss Sky tours in Nosara

View of the ocean from the top of the zip-line

Monkey!!

Going out to dinner and matching

The jungle path from our hotel to the beach

Our surf instructor Oscar getting the boards ready for our lesson

A totally awesome tree on the beach

Our hotel, Casa Romantica

Surfboard storage at the hotel

Sunset from Playa Guiones north side

Playa Guiones from the North

Sunset from La Luna in Playa Palada

Twilight from La Luna in Playa Palada

View from Nature Air flight to Nosara

With our surf instructor, Oscar, from Coconut Harry's

Heading out for some waves

Me catching a serious wave

This was my fourth time to Costa Rica and I already can't wait to go back!

Pura Vida!!!