Halloween!

Having been together a long time, my wife and I have shared nearly a decade's worth of Halloweens...which means Halloween parties, of course...which means couples costumes. I know that the schmaltziness behind the idea of a couples costume is barf-inducing to some, but I like to think we've done a tasteful job. We certainly haven't been as offensive as these people:

HAPPY HALLOWEE...Nope.

While the venues over the years have changed--college parties to bar parties, bar parties to house parties, house parties back to bar parties--the idea still remains very much the same; get dressed up, commit to your costume, go out and get tanked together. Here's a look back:

Our first Halloween party together: Rednecks

I really committed to this character, and I wore that wolf shirt for like the next 2 years.

Year two: Bees

Not my favorite, but that's probably because I didn't really commit. You have to MEAN it!

Early post-college party: Rednecks...again.

New friends means a re-do is acceptable, right?

NHV Zombie bar crawl: 

This photo is from early in the night, somewhere there are photos from the end of the night and they are way more ridiculous

Look at the love in those dead eyes.

Prize winner: Margot and Richie Tenenbaum

Total hipster costume, you know, before it was cool.

80s Prom dates:

I think this one she really got into.

Last year:  LRRH & the BBW (Big Bad Wolf, not that OTHER "bbw"...dirty birds)

We threw the 1st Annual Squirrel/Liffey's Halloween Party and it was a blast. A ton of people, lots of great costumes, loads of drunken debauchery. If you're interested in a good time this Halloween, get tickets for the party this Friday!

Sadly, we were one of three couples who showed up with this idea...still good though.

Stay tuned to see what we come up with this year...

Autumn in NYC

To celebrate me and my best friend turning thirty we planned a girls only trip to NYC with our other best friend for this past weekend. Living so close to NYC I think I take for granted how amazing it is. Although we were only there for 24 hours, it's safe to say that we definitely lived it up. Here is everything that we did:

Window shopped as we walked down 5th avenue. Stopped at The Plaza to partake in their swanky Champagne Bar:

Walked around Central Park, taking in the beautiful views:

After dinner at Pierre Loti in Midtown, headed to The Kimberly to have drinks on their rooftop:

 

Randomly decided to head to a club in the Meatpacking District:

Laughed and laughed all night:

What are your favorite things to do in NYC?

Blue Apron

Somewhere along the way, I became the one responsible for most of the cooking at home. My wife would tell you that it's because I'm controlling, and that she'd rather just let me do it and than get in my way. This line of reasoning sounds pretty convenient for her, but not so much for me. Also inconvenient, for anyone who has ever gone grocery shopping and/or cooked dinner, is planning it all out.

"What do you want to eat this week," it starts out, when one of us says this to the other just before we set out for the grocery store.

"Yeah, I'll have a 20-piece McNugget, a medium fry and a cheeseburger," it eventually ends, when I say this out my driver's side window to the speaker box at the Mac-Deezy drive-thru.

#firstworldproblems

What IS convenient, however, is the meal-planning service that she signed us up for: Blue Apron. Basically, it's a subscription service like Graze Box, Crafted Taste Cocktails Box, Birch Box, or any other sort of box, but they provide you with meal recipes and all the ingredients needed to make them.

The box upon arrival.

Our first foray included recipes and ingredient for three meals: A salmon dish, a lamb pasta dish, and a chicken with kale dish.

Buncha stuff.

We decided to make the salmon dish first; rice flake crusted salmon, with ginger mustard greens, and miso mashed Japanese sweet potatoes. If it sounds fancy, it kind of was...and I liked it. The recipe was pretty simple, and the box had everything I needed (except some basics like salt/pepper and olive oil). Fifteen minutes after we opened the box, we had a great meal that we never could have come up with on our own. I'm pumped to see what's next.

MMmm.

I wonder if there is a buffalo wings box out there I can sign up for?

Birthday Blues

Every year it comes, whether you want it to or not, another birthday and another year older. For me, birthdays are a cycle of shame that basically lead to my expectations getting really high for an amazing day of wonder that actually just turns out to be a normal day with a lot of Facebook notifications.

I'm not usually someone who worries about getting older, but this year I'm turning thirty, which has me feeling rather old and reflective. Am I where I want to be? Is this as tall as I will ever be? Could I be nicer to my co-workers? I have decided that in the next year I want to try to be my best self, which includes:

• I signed up to be a Big Brother/Big Sister mentor. I may not have all the answers, but I can try, right?
• I want to live in the moment as much as possible. We all know that life is short, but when you factor in 40 hours a week of work, it really is short. I want to be present and enjoy what free time I do have as much as possible.
• Try to eat more vegetables. I'm not the biggest fan of veggies and at best eat one a day. I need to expand my palate and eat more of the green stuff. Which may mean less potato chips?
• Don't sweat the small stuff. I tend to stress about really dumb stuff that in a few years won't even matter. I'd like to let go and just enjoy the ride a little more (see point 2). 

Whew, I'm sweating just thinking about it all! Happy Birthday to all my October Birthday friends, which I believe is truly the best birthday month.

Knicks/Celtics

The climax of baseball season upon us; exciting but short-lived. At the same time, football season in full swing; but I've never been much of a fan, which I know is sacrilegious talk for an American male. Lucky for me, however, another sports season that I very much enjoy is on the horizon. I'm talking about basketball season. The Boston Celtics first regular season game is coming up on October 29, and the UConn Huskies men play their first game just shy of a week later.

Last night, some friends and I heralded in the coming season by attending the Boston Celtics/New York Knicks pre-season game at the XL Center in awesome Hartford (for previous coverage of "New England's Rising Star" see here).

Basically Hartford.

It was my first NBA game, and despite having to haul up to Hartford, I was pretty excited. Attendance was pretty low, which was a surprise, but we got to see some of the starters get in some good play, which was also a surprise. Unfortunately, Celtics point guard and assist magician Rajon Rondo is out for the first few games of the season due to injury.

But Kelly Olynyk, Brandon Bass, and especially Jared Sullinger played great, and led the Celtics to a 20 point win over the Knicks. On the blue/orange side, Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire played nearly the whole game, and there was a pretty sick performance by some upstart named Travis Wear who isn't even listed on their roster. According to to the ticket, it was a home game for the Celtics, and they were pretty hyped about it:

17 time?! Oh, and the Knicks are playing too.

My buddy is a pretty die-hard NY fan, he got pretty bummed during the last minute of the game.

Yo, D, what are you looking at?

Oh, yeah, that.

Having a Moment: Skinny Sweatpants

Historically sweatpants have been seen as the thing you wear when you're feeling a little chubby and hiding in your room. I wore sweatpants pretty much every day in college, where the only place I could buy clothes was my school bookstore. But this season, it seems sweatpants have gotten an upgrade and are fashion forward in a new skinny fit, which is clearly why I jumped on the band wagon and bought a pair from Jcrew.

While I'm unsure how fashion forward I look, I can tell you that they are extremely comfortable and actually pretty flattering. Run out and get your own pair now, here are a few cute options:

Gap

Old Navy 

JCrew Factory

iPhone 6 miracle

A few weeks ago my job gave me the okay to get a new iPhone 6 that they would be paying for. To say I was elated would be an understatement. To add to my joy, I didn't have to wait in line with the rest of the crazies--they ordered it for me and it was here two days after they were released. I loved it and felt so special, until the unthinkable happened. Forced to wait for a new case from J.Crew I was going case-less and fancy free, when I dropped it on the pavement. The screen cracked and and so did my swagger.

All I could think about for days was this stupid crack. Every time I looked at it I was reminded of my failure. I figured I was going to have to pay a few hundred dollars to get it replaced (karma for being so sassy about my free phone) until the ultimate iPhone miracle happened. I went to the Apple store today and they replaced it completely for free! And so my iPhone 6 fairy tale continues.