Today M and I took Metro-North up to go to a bakery to taste cakes for our wedding. We were a bit excited, and our experience exceeded our expectations. We decided on a typical round 3 layer wedding cake. It has an off white looking frosting, and there’ll be some ribbon for decoration. The outside is pretty unremarkable, however the inside was awesome. Each layer has 3 layers in it. We went with chocolate fudge and mouse on the 1st letter, then cannoli cream with white cake for the 2nd layer, and then for the 3rd layer we went with more chocolate fudge and mouse. I preferred cheesecake layer over the cannoli but we ended up going with the cannoli. Both tasted great though I’m really excited. I typically do not eat wedding cake, so I’m hoping that my wedding cake will be the 1st that I have a big piece of.
Personal
New Refrigerator
Today we received our new refrigerator. Last week I noticed stuff in our old refrigerator wasn’t really cold. I kind of knew something was off but it took me a few days to register. After shopping around online M and I settled on basic model from Best Buy. The downside was we had to wait almost a week to get it. The delivery guys finally got here today. I was thankfully able to work from home to receive it. It’s nothing fancy but a huge improvement over we had. It was an expense we wanted especially since we are planning on moving shortly but we couldn’t live without it.
Lazy Saturday
Today M and I kept it low key. We had breakfast at a nearby place we like. Then we had loads of fun at the post office.
The High Road to/From Taos
We only planned on spending one night in Taos so we were upset to check out of the awesome hotel we were staying at. Before we left Taos we wanted to check out the Taos Pueblo. It is a UNESCO site or something like that. Any settlement that has been around for 1100 years is cool to me. We got a tour and walked around a bit. It was very interesting to see.
From the Pueblo we took off for Santa Fe. We took what everyone calls the high road to Taos, yet the guide book suggested we do it going from Taos so that is what we did. It was only about 30-45 minutes longer than the other direction. We had more breathtaking views of the countryside. We stopped at some carpet stores that do their own weaving. It was interesting but M was more into than I was.
We also stopped for a snack at Sugar Nymphs that was recommended by the books and then we had a late lunch at Rancho De Chimayo before heading off to our hotel outside Santa Fe.
For the last leg of our stay we had reservations at the Hilton Buffalo Thunder Resort. As hotels go it was by far the worst of the 3 hotels we stayed at. it was OK, but the other two were fantastic.
After we checked in we went to the indoor pool for a while before going into Santa Fe for dinner. MC got reservations at a Galisteo Bistro in downtown Santa Fe. The food was ok. Compared to the great places we had been to this was nothing spectacular.
Horseback Riding and R and R
For our last full day in Albuquerque we got up early again (not as early as yesterday) and went horse back riding at the hotel. We didn’t know this but the hotel is on an Indian Reservation. We got to rid the horses on a trail on the reservation. It was pretty cool. We saw petroglyphs. Well M did. I saw them later on photos since I couldn’t see the rocks well enough to see them.
My horse was pretty good. She actually listened when i wanted her to gallop, go left or right and sometimes stop. The only thing was she wanted to stop and eat every five minutes. I was pretty pleased with the horse choice. The only thing bad was she attacked M’s horse and someone elses. I am not kidding. M and I got lined up next to each other for a photo and my horse tried to slam her head into M’s horse. It was pretty bad ass. While we were riding back another horse got close to her and she tried to do the same thing to that one. I thought it was a bit funny.
I was glad to be finished with the ride since it was getting very hot and my legs were starting to kill me.
For lunch we went back into Albuquerque for lunch at the place that was closed on Sunday. The Grove Cafe. It was another really good lunch. After that we we drove around downtown a bit and then went to a nice espresso place before heading back to the hotel to get in some pool time, and reading.
For dinner we went to the Corn Maiden Restaurant at the hotel. It was very highly rated and it was fantastic.
Hot Air Balloons and More
Our first full day in New Mexico was pretty fantastic. M and I debated on doing a hot air Balloon ride. We both wanted to but it was pretty expensive. In the end we said it is a once in a life time experience and we were in one of the best places in the world to do it.
We got up at like 6:30AM to get picked up for the ride. We learned the only real time you do a Balloon ride is right at dawn. We got some fantastic photos of the ballon being inflated. It was a pretty big ballon. It fit 12 people and for our ride there were 10 of us.
There is so much i could write about this experience. It was simply fantastic. We got so many awsome photos. There were 3 other ballons launching when we did so we got to get a lot of them and the scenery. We got well over an hour of airtime before we set down right off a soccer field.
I learned that once we land you never just jump out or else the ballon will get lighter and fly away. Don’t worry I didn’t try it but the pilot was very informative. Once it was safe several of us got out and moved the ballon away from a building so we could deflate it. It was interesting work helping to deflate and put away a 260,000 cubic foot ballon into a big bag.
We were done and back at the hotel well before lunch time. We decided to drive to the Range Cafe for some lunch. It was nearby the hotel and got good reviews in the travel books and everyone at the hotel suggested it. We were glad that we did. The lunch was good, but for desert M and I had a piece of chocolate layer cake that we both agreed was THE BEST WE EVER HAD. From two people who love chocolate that is a stellar endorsement. M has photos of me before and after. They are pretty funny.
For the afternoon we lounged by the pool. We were going to go horse back ridding at 6pm but it was very stormy so they canceled it for the night. We rescheduled for tomorrow.
For dinner we were lazy and stayed at the bar restaurant at the hotel since the nice restaurant was closed. We had low key food. M had a cheese plate and wine and I had a delicious hot dog. Go figure that New Mexico could make good hot dogs.
Last Day Before Vacation
On my last work day before a week off I had to tie up all loose ends at work. It was tough but i think i handed everything off ok.
After work M and I meet up with Luke and some other people for a few drinks at Windfall.
Off to See a Judge
Today we went up to Pearmont to see a judge. No we didn’t get arrested for anything. This judge will be the officiant for our wedding. It was a simple meeting. We just meet for lunch to I guess interview each other. She seemed pretty cool and her story on how she started doing weddings was pretty cool. M and I both liked her. We both joked that the officiant for the wedding will be the cheapest part of the actual getting married.
Getta a Schvitz
Today M and I headed into Forest Hills again to do some apartment hunting. Before our apointment we headed over to Mens Warehouse to look for Tuxedo’s for the wedding. We ended up not picking a tux. I need to go online to find one and then go back. There were too many choices.
While we were at the store I did do some shopping for a suit. I have been saying a need a new one for a year so I finally pushed myself to get one. I found 2 I liked and ended up buying both of them. There was a buy one get one free sale so it worked out. I have to come back after vacation to pick them up.
The apartment we saw wasn’t anything to write home about. After the apartment viewing we headed into Manhattan to use our life booker coupon at the Russian Turkish Baths. We saw this place over the winter and wanted to check it out so we were happy when we saw only a few days later a lifebooker coupon for it. It was really cheap but we had been procrastinating going for months. We were glad that we went. That place was great. The different hot steam and sauna rooms were fantastic. The cold plunge was even really good. We each got a 50 minute massage.
After the schvitz we went to a sushi place called Kanoyama nearby. It was good but TJ Asian’s by our apartment is still better. I am totally loving the Sushi now. I am still new to it. I only started having some Sushi over Sashimi over the past few trips to the place by our apartment. After dinner we went to ChikaLicious for desert nearby. I had some really good macaroons, but the mini cupcake i had was only ok. It was a fantastic Saturday spent with M!
Save The Date
After pondering what to do for a few months, M and I settled on not sending out paper save the dates. Instead we sent out a save the date email to people we had addresses for. We just pointed everyone to the wedding website with all the details on the wedding.