We Love NY!

Trey and I spent last weekend in NYC and had the BEST TIME EVER! We stayed the first night with my good friend Anne Cary and her boyfriend Steve who live in the Upper West Side. They have such a cute apartment and while Trey and I love our new house we kept saying how much fun it would be to live the true city life like them. They live in what feels like the heart of everything with fun shops and restaurants within walking distance and of course the subway is close by.

We checked into the Doubletree Suites in Times Square on Friday morning and stayed there the rest of the trip. It was such a prime location and conveniently located literally next door to the broadway show we bought tickets to- West Side Story (which was fabulous)!

We spent the weekend milling around the city, ate at yummy NY restaurants, experienced the NY night life scene, went ice skating in Bryant Park and my favorite past time- shopping!!! Though I must say I was a good girl and managed to get through the entire weekend only buying 2 purses (one for my mom) and a hat ;)

It was so wonderful being in the city at Christmastime, seeing all the displays, fancy lights, the Rockefeller Tree and of course spending time with Anne and Steve. I miss AC so much and it's always a blast when we get together.

Too bad my brother Ryan couldn't make it down from Albany like we planned. His dog Buster got sick but thankfully we found out it's not cancer! :)

Trey and I can't wait to go back to NY and hope to make this a tradition. It was the perfect getaway.

On top of the Empire State Building

In front of my favorite store in the world (biggest Macy's EVER)

It's unbelievable to stand at Ground Zero and see the progress (or destruction) that 9/11 caused. It's going to take forever to rebuild.

New York Stock Exchange

Battery Park overlooking the Statue of Liberty (we'll make it out there our next trip)

See what I mean? Look how close Doubletree Suites is to West Side Story at the Palace Theatre. Can't get much closer.

Times Square was crowded at all times of the day- it's was unbelievable how many people were in the city this weekend.

Rockefeller Center

Saturday morning in Times Square- so crowded!

Santa pub crawlers making their way through Central Park

Central Park

Trey insisted that we get this shot. How appropriate with the limo behind him. One day Trey... one day... ;)

Ice Skating in Bryant Park

View of Times Square from our hotel room

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

I love this time of year more than any other! It all starts around mid- November for my family because we all seem to have birthdays around each other. My nephew Alex turned 1 on Nov. 16, my brother Ryan turned 30 on November 20th and I turned 27 on the 23rd. It's a great way to start the holiday season with birthday parties, Thanksgiving, tree lighting at Lenox, getting out the Christmas decorations, and my favorite... shopping! Trey and I had a great Thanksgiving week and I can't believe it's back to work tomorrow. It's going to be a great month!

My Birthday dinner at Maggiano's Buckhead...

I finally got Alex to smile with me...

Alex loved sitting at the head of the table!

Alex with Abuelo and Mami at Thanksgiving dinner...

Tree lighting at Lenox on Thanksgiving night...

My brother Ryan, Trey and I met up with Justen and Jen and got to see the pre-show with Katherine McPhee. It felt great out for a November night- as you can see we're not wearing coats.

Birthday dinner at Orient Express with the rest of the family and some friends...

Ryan's 30th Birthday party at our place...

Mami loved having both little ones around...

Nana and Grandfather...

Our real tree that we bought today- along side our other new addition to the Spivey family room- Trey's favorite buy of the week- 55 in. LED tv!

Happy Halloween!

Trey and I had the best Halloween weekend this year. It was a stark contrast to last year- thank God and we celebrated by hanging out with good friends and family. We kicked off the weekend at Carrie Beth and Robby's Friday and Saturday and spent time with his parents who were in town and had fun watching Handley and Harper get ready to trick or treat. They were so cute!

Then Saturday night we headed to a costume party thrown by my cousin Ali and her friends in Marietta and got to hang out with Puja and Brian. We had so much fun dressing up as Frenchie, one of the pink ladies from Grease and a T-Bird and the party was a blast! It felt like we were in college again. They really went all out with the decorations, food, music and strobe lights/ fog machine. It felt like we were in a club and we danced the night away!


Then last night we had fun at our own neighborhood Halloween celebration. My parents, Jon, and Lisa came over for dinner and we got to see all the cute kids coming around, including one visitor, the cutest little spider Kevin- who's walking all over now.


Happy Halloween!


Puja was clearly a cowgirl...

Ali as the fairy from Fern Gully...
Brian was a redneck... ha I mean... actually I don't remember who he was. haha

San Francisco/ Wine Country

Trey and I had been planning a getaway right around the time I got the job with King and Spalding so we decided to wait until next summer for the big trip and took a trip to San Francisco, Napa and Sonoma for four days last week. We had an amazing time sipping on wine at the tastings in Napa and Sonoma and loving riding the cable cars, touring Alcatraz prison and shopping (Stefanie's favorite past time) in Fisherman's Wharf and Union Square.

Here are some pictures from the trip. Enjoy!

DAy 1- crossing the Golden Gate bridge on our way to Saulsalito and wine country...

We stopped at the Redwood Forest on the way up to wine country. It was so neat to see such huge trees so well preserved and untouched.

Wine country!!! As you can tell- this was our only sunny day and it was so pretty out there. Those people have the life...

Our first winery tasting- Sequoia Grove

V Sattui winery...

Day two- Sonoma County (which was where we were staying). We started the day with a tour of Simi winery...

Every vineyard had the most beautiful flowers out there. It was so picturesque!

Francis Ford Coppola Winery- it was like an amusement park! Coppola is a famous movie director and they have all of this memorabilia from his movies inside the tasting room like Apocalypse Now and Dracula...

Inside the Pelligrini tasting room...

Our last stop- Martinelli winery...

Next stop- San Francisco!

You could hardly see the Golden Gate Bridge through all the fog.
Alamo Square and the Painted Ladies... Recognize the middle yellow house? It's the one they shot in the beginning of Full House!

Trey's favorite- Cable Car Ride from Union Square down to Fisherman's Wharf

The ride lasted almost 40 minutes and you really got a neat view of the city hanging off the rails- you could see Alcatraz straight ahead as we were riding down the last hill.

Next we headed over the Ghirardelli Square- home this world famous chocolate factory. Mmm!

Trey thought this was so cool- it's the world's crookedest street off Lombard St.

Fisherman's Wharf (a very touristy fun area which was so close to our hotel). Definitely a good spot to stay.

View from Fisherman's Wharf of Alcatraz- it's so close- kinda creepy!

On Saturday morning we woke up early to make our tour of Alcatraz. We lucked out that rain held off until that afternoon and got to tour the island rain free. Here's a neat shot we got through the barbed wire fence looking at San Francisco's Golden Gate Bride from Alcatraz' recreation area that the prisoners got to spend 5 hours over Sat.- Sun. every weekend (their only time outside during the week).

Trey took it so seriously when he stepping into the cell... ha

Not a place you'd like to get sent to- the worst of the worst were sent to Alcatraz- like Al Capone.

This is the cell of the one the prisoner's they never found who escaped Alcatraz by making a fake head out of soap and hair from the prison's barber shop and leaving it in bed while they dug their way out the back vent into the utility corridor and up to the roof.

Alcatraz watch tower where the prison guards kept watch for escapees.

We left Alcatraz and walked up the hills toward Little Italy and Chinatown- you can tell which pictures are Chinatown. It really felt like we entered another country. Trey and I wanted to be adventurous and eat lunch there but we both said to each other after a few minutes walking through the district that we thought the food might be a little too authentic for us. We opted for some good old American sandwiches and the world famous Boudin bakery in Union Square instead :)

Entryway to Chinatown

It was a great trip- if only the weather would've cooperated a little more it would have been amazing, but still like daddy always says a rainy day on vacation still beats a sunny day at work ;)