Tag Archives: NYC

The Pickerts Take New York

This past week my entire family flew to New York and my brother took the train down to meet us in NYC. We stayed at a little vacation rental house in Brooklyn and took the train into Manhattan. Here are just a few of the things we did….

The Pickert Family

We ate at Lombardi’s Pizza, the first pizzeria in America. I’ve eaten here with JMO before but it was a fun place to share with my family. The day we went my friend Bonnie was with us, so we were able to get a picture of the entire family.

Mike and Meg on Ferry

We took the ferry from Battery Park to Liberty and Ellis Island. It was VERY COLD.

Emily and Lady Liberty

Emily looks adorable on the ferry. She took close to a million pictures of everything New York had to see. Our family only makes it into about 5 of her pictures. Check out her Facebook to see how little she cares about us.

Octopus and Me

We walked around Chinatown and SOHO. Michael found some spicy sauce he likes to put on all his foods. He thinks it will spice up the bland food on the farm. In this pic I am holding up a dried octopus. I have no idea what these are used for.

Bull and Parents

We walked around downtown, Wall Street, saw the NY Stock Exchange and fought other tourists to take a picture with the bull.

Black and White cookie - Emily

We ate black and white cookies, Emily was the only person who would let me photograph them eating it.

Overall, it was a fun trip. We were exhausted from walking everywhere, but we saw a lot on the four days we were there and not a lot on the days we traveled to and from the city. Michael is back at his farm and the rest of us have made it home safely.

If you are interested in the complete collection of our vacation photos, check them out on Flickr!

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2009 can actually begin now.


JMO in front of a semi-real dinosaur. As it turns out, museums use fake bones to fill in missing puzzle pieces. This seems a bit like cheating, but I guess no one wants to see half a dinosaur at a museum.

This is not a great picture of either one of us, but it took several takes to get the Brooklyn Bridge in. So behold: JMO, me, and the bridge.

I had a wonderful week off work. I’m thankful for such a nice peaceful time. Tomorrow I must go back to work. I’ve decided that tomorrow is my January 1st. I have still been living a holiday like life, it is time to get back to normal. After the holidays I had a entertain an out of town coworker week and then I had a NY week. So next week is back to life before December. I have not been to the gym since the first week of December or eaten anything particularly healthy for me in the past month and a half. So tomorrow, on my first day of 2009, I will restart my workout routine and eat better. 2009 will be a good year and I’m now ready for it.

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Last day.

Today is my last day in New York and my last day off from work for awhile. This is the third time I’ve been to NYC in the past year, with JMO coming home, it will probably be my last trip visiting a resident of the city. Any future trips will probably consist of paying for a place to stay. Gross.

This year really more than any before, I haven’t worried incessantly on a trip, thus ruining half of it. I still get concerned about getting lost or not knowing where the nearest restrooms are. But I have become more comfortable with the unknown. I’d like to give partial credit with mellowing out and partial credit JMO. The boy repeatedly tells me that something is not near as big of a deal as I make it out to be. After two years, I think the theory is starting to sink in. Some things are a big deal. A lot of things aren’t. (No more vacation for awhile is a big deal). It may sound silly to someone who does not freak out on a regular basis, but believe me- being calm is wonderful and I like it a lot.

We are about to head out to enjoy the Natural History Museum and today has warmed up to about 40. It should be a fun final day.

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Guggenheim.

When I was visiting JMO in NY last week, we went to the Guggenheim. On Fridays, starting at 5PM, they have a thing where you pay what you think the museum is worth. Above we are standing in the line, which we did not expect to see. We debated while in line what we wanted to pay. I decided on $12 for the two of us, because that is what I had in cash. After I had decided this, I noticed almost everyone paying only a dollar, or even two. I don’t think they were paying what they thought the museum was worth. I think they were paying what they wanted to pay.

The Guggenheim wasn’t really what I expected. There was lots of photography and the exhibits were a little sparse, which I think is not usual for the museum. The building itself seemed to be the greatest attraction. You can start at the bottom and move up, or take the elevator up and work your way down. We went up and worked down. It is set up like a giant spiral ramp with exhibit halls off different levels. On the bottom floor there was a pond with Pinocchio face down in it. It was truly a strange site. JMO’s interpretation was that, “There shall be no more lies.” I thought he read it off a plaque somewhere that i had missed, we asked a museum curator and she informed us that everything was left up to the visitor to interpret.

And that is my ramble about the Guggenheim and this picture.

I am loving having the internet this evening.

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Back to real life.

I’m back at work today after spending the last 4 days in New York City. Real life is not nearly exciting as visiting New York life. When I first got there I didn’t think I could handle the cold weather. I asked JMO everytime we left, “How many layers do I need to go with? This sweater and the scarf? The sweater and the jacket? What about gloves?” I even wore tights under my jeans for warmth. Now back in Houston, it is a warm 80 degrees.

Now that I am back to my real life, I am amazed at how much JMO and I squeezed into 4 days, without really rushing ourselves. We went to see a play, Speed the Plow. Jeremy Piven from Entourage was in it- which was the main reason we went to see it. We went to two museums, we went shopping in SOHO, ate various desserts from around the city, walked around Times Square, saw two movies, visited Bloomingdales three times (doing purse research), watched part of the NY marathon and caught up on TV shows.

When I went to NY a year ago, I was a nervous wreck. The crowds, the subway, the tiny rooms, the tiny spaces, the SUBWAY, the trendy people, the guide books, the amount of things, everything overwhelmed me. NY seemed far too much for little me. Although some of that still exists, I now feel more calm in NY. I have gotten more accustomed to it and have grown more fascinated by the city itself. I realize that normal people don’t need to be proud of themselves for being calm or comfortable, but I am proud and I feel like I accomplished something. Thank you New York City (and JMO).

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