Adventure Week: Saturday In The Park

This past week was definitely the busiest we've been in quite some time. And it was awesome.

We didn't plan for all the activities to be spaced in an every-other-day pattern, but thankfully it worked out.

(And thankfully my boss was super accommodating in letting me switch my schedule around.)

When Tammy stayed with us a few weeks ago, I was sad that Bryant didn't have the chance to see the New York Public Library. (I wanted to take him there because I knew he'd love it. And there were a few books there that I had really wanted to purchase so I needed an excuse to go buy them.)

Sporting the Aggie Gear

 I made a beeline for the bookstore in the library to scout out the books I wanted.

Bry was a sweetheart and let ME buy some books, rather than him.

(Guess what 90% of his Amazon Christmas Wish List is? BOOKS.)

Here are the two books I wanted:

 These books are awesome. 

My plan is to go through and map out what sites I really want to see, then go on a little scavenger hunt to find them.

The "Historic Shops" book mentions a few places that I've already been to: Kiehls & Veniero's. Now I have a mission to find some other cool places.

The "On Location" maps out different sections of the city and shows what movies/TV shows were shot in that location. They also have a side-by-side shot from the movie and what the location looks like today.

Again, I have an adventure to plan!

After the bookstore we went up to the main reading room, then looked at the Gutenberg Bible.

Our original plan for the day was to also visit the Central Park Zoo. It was fairly chilly outside (49 degrees) so we decided to walk from 42nd Street along Fifth Avenue towards Central Park and make our decision once we arrived.

The Chrysler Building

While walking past Rockefeller Plaza, we noticed they were working on lighting the Christmas tree!

(And like a little kid, I had to get up close to see how they were managing to do it.)

Look at the scaffolding! It's insane! 

I've seen Breakfast At Tiffany's a dozen times and I've read the book once or twice. (It's not nearly as good as the movie. Don't waste your time. Truman Capote's best work was "In Cold Blood".)

 So I was super excited when I saw the original Tiffany's Store:

(Now I have "Moon River" stuck in my head.)

17 blocks later we finally arrived at Central Park.

By then we were cold and hungry, so we opted for some delicious liege waffles and hot chocolate. 

 We enjoyed our little treat on a park bench that looked out at The Plaza Hotel.

(If you cared to book a room there tonight it would only cost you $780 before taxes.)

((And if you've ever seen "Bride Wars", this was the hotel they were fighting over.))

 By this point we were pretty worn out, so we opted to head back home and hang out with our animal children.

**This week was pretty exhausting, but I'm grateful that Bryant shares my passion for adventures.And he's grateful I share his passion for sports. :) --Minus watching the TERRIBLE Utah Spazz.**

Adventure Week: The Colbert Report

Attending the taping of The Colbert Report has most definitely been the coolest thing I've done in New York City.

Back in September I went to the show's website and saw they had tickets available, so I pounced!

On Thursday Bryant and I got to The Colbert Report studio around 4:30 pm.
(They stop letting people in at 5:30 pm)

The great thing about waiting in their line is they are nice enough to have heat lamps above to keep us warm.

 We didn't have to wait outside for more than 15 minutes. They issued us ticket numbers based on when we arrived. Our numbers were 65 & 66.

 After going through their security we were allowed in the waiting room where they had a few benches to sit on, bathrooms, and water (all of which were greatly appreciated).

 While we waited they showed clips from past shows to keep us entertained.
One of my favorites is when Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert reenacted "Even Stevphen", a segment they used to do back when they were on The Daily Show.
(Start watching this clip at about the 2:00 mark.)

Once it was finally time to head into the studio, the staff announced they would be seating the VIP group first, then they would call your group number and you could come forward to be seated. I figured we would be somewhere in the middle just base on being in the mid 60's.

After they seated the VIP group they came out and called "65!"

(We were shocked!--and stoked!)

So they led us into the studio and had us sit on the very front row, smack dab in the middle of the studio in front of Stephen's desk!! (Ahhh!! We were SO excited!!)

Below is a shot of the entire studio. You can see our seats in the bottom left corner of the picture.

I thought about turning my phone back on (they force you to turn them off) and trying to snap a quick picture, but I valued our awesome seats far more than a picture that the staff would have seen me take, then make me delete from my phone...and probably kick us out.

Once everyone was seated they had a warm-up comic come out and get the crowd excited. After a few minutes of him, Stephen Colbert came running out. He did a lap around the studio and while he was running past he gave Bry and I high-fives! (AHH!!) Stephen then took a few questions from the audience while he was out of character. He was super nice and really, really funny. Here was one example:
Random Guy: Do you play the bagpipe?
Stephen: No, I don't. Do you?
Random Guy: No.
Stephen: Why would you ask me that?
Random Guy: I could imagine you, in a kilt, playing a bagpipe.
Stephen: So you're currently picturing me in a kilt? That's really creepy...
It also lead to a few other bagpipe jokes, then he took a few more questions and got ready to start filming.
When you watch the opening of the show, the first thing Stephen says is:
"Ladies and Gentlemen, after a welcome like that...I just want to blow your bagpipe."
(Loved that he threw that in!)

It was really cool to watch how they film each segment, then to watch Stephen crack up on a few of the jokes and have to start filming from the top. 

Normally when the show starts he does what they call a "Table of Contents" that breaks down the main topics of the show. The one they filmed when we were there was cut from the broadcast. (It wasn't really that funny, and he went a little longer on his opening with the added bagpipe joke, so that's our theory on why it was cut.)

The guest was Daniel Lieberman, a Harvard professor who was promoting his new book.
Stephen also interviewed him for a lot longer than the normal interview segment, which they do so they have plenty of material to edit.

This is the entrance that guests of the show use.

When we were first seated there were souvenir pens waiting for us!

(It's the little things in life that bring us the most joy.) 

In between takes Stephen was shooting his "WristStrong-Wrist Awareness" rubber bracelets into the crowd.

So incase you missed the episode, here's the link to watch it in its entirety:

The Colbert Report- November 7, 2013 

Adventure Week: Utah Spazz

Bryant had planned on going to see the Utah Jazz play at the Brooklyn Nets as soon as we decided we were moving out here.

Tuesday night we walked to the G line and rode from Williamsburg to downtown Brooklyn.

For once it wasn't a huge fiasco getting somewhere.

(It only took us 20 minutes to get down to the Barclays Center from our apartment.)

Say hello to the "Celtics-Jazz 2.0"

(Garnett, Pierce, Terry, Williams, Kirilenko)

It took us probably 20 minutes to get through security. It was RUFFF.

You could look through a glass window in the security area and see their practice gym.

Finally made it to our seats

 Poor, sad little Spazz

 We saw one other Jazz fan.

One.

...and the Spazz lost 88-104.

Adventure Week: Saints

Sunday Bryant and I went to our first NFL game out here!

Bryant really wanted to go see the Broncos play at the Giants back in September, but those tickets were CRAZY expensive!!

So we went with our next and far cheaper option of the Saints at the Jets.

I love the Saints and DREW BREEEES so I was stoked.

(Please watch this video.)

(Then this one.)

So game day we had to tackle the huge obstacle of getting out to the Meadowlands in New Jersey.

We left our apartment at 10:30 am, got on the L train into Manhattan, transferred to the E to go Uptown, then got off at Penn Station. Once we arrived there, we had to stand in line for another half hour with all the other Jets/Saints fans to get tickets to ride the New Jersey Transit line from Penn Station to Seacaucus Junction, then transfer to the MetLife Service Line.

The train to Seacaucus left about every 10 minutes, and you don't know what track the next train is going to be on until 10 minutes before it departs. 

(Waiting in the main area made me super claustrophobic) 

 So much waiting, then rushing, then waiting in different lines, then trains.

We arrived at 12:50 pm, so 2 hours and 20 minutes to travel 14 miles.

Bry considered wearing his Peyton Manning shirt.
His mean wife wouldn't let him.

 Our seats!

(Lucky for me there were plenty of other Saints fans)

 You can see Rob Ryan and Sean Peyton on the sidelines.

The zillion calorie cheesesteak was ah-ma-zing

Bry kinda sorta cheered for the Saints.

There were probably five other Saints fans around us that were plenty obnoxious for us.

 The temperature was around 42 degrees. With the windchill it made it feel like 37.

BURRR.

 My wonderful, amazing DREW BREES.

 At this point, we knew the Saints were going to lose.

It was a sad moment for me.

While we were leaving the Stadium, I wanted one more picture.

I was photo-bombed by the security guard.

(Which is pretty funny to me.)

 Our train ride was pretty quiet considering all the Jets fans wanted to see their team go to 5-4 and my poor Saints drop to 6-2.

 I was not thrilled.

Bry was obviously indifferent.

Heading back to the city only took us one hour, so it was a much easier commute.

Since my Saints lost to the stupid Broncos last year (34-14. Yikes) when we were at the game, I'm officially retiring from cursing them.

WHO DAT!!