New job

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zandertoy August 1, 2015

New job
I can’t believe how lucky I am. I went through a whole month of misery being unemployed and stressed.

Thanks to Michelle I got a job at MK and freaking love it.

There’s so many nice people that I work with and they all work really well together so it’s truly a team and not independent groups like it was at Coach.

I am really relieved and happy that I got this job. I truly thank God because he really saved me from the nightmare of a company.

I wake up in the morning stress free and aren’t even worried about being late because of our 10:00 start time. It’s really a dream come true.

My boss is also freaking wonderful. She’s really sincere and passionate about what she does. She has a great heart and is a believer of having a work life balance which is so wonderful.

This is the start of my 3rd week here and it’s been so pleasant. I keep thinking that I need to pinch myself and or that something awful is going to happen but it’s just a great place.

Fire Island weekend

Bart

zandertoy July 12, 2015

Finally, after our tattoos have healed and after Schnoo Schnoo took out his stitches were able to go to the beach.

We woke up this morning early and headed to Fire Island. Perfect weather today, warm and sunny but not humid.

The water was also a nice temperature so we both went into the water.

After we got off the train we went to K town for some delicious korean food. We ordered squid with pork belly which was exactly what we needed. YUMM!!!

July 4th Weekend 2015 / Grandpa Injured

Family

zandertoy July 5, 2015

So this July 4th weekend we decided to do another Pocono trip. Uncle Phil and Joe came along to Join us and also Lawrence, Aunt Cindys nephew from SF.

It was kind of nice to get a chance to spend time with Aunt Cindys side of the family.

I met Adis in NB and then went with her and Grandpa to the Poconos.

HIKE:
On Friday morning we woke up and headed to Ricketts Glen state park. There was approx 21 waterfalls on this hike It was a lot of fun because all of the falls were different sizes and was so much fun to see.

I ended up taking a fall as I was videoing myself walking along the edge of one of the falls. I scraped and bruised my arm which sucks but gladly it was my left (non-tattooed) arm.

We ended up hiking for a total of 8.4miles which was really great. We were all so wiped out afterwards and at the end of the hike there was a cluster of boulders that we climbed and ate some snacks on. It was a wonderful hike and the temperature was perfect.

BIKING:
On Saturday it was raining in the morning so we postponed our bike ride until 2:00pm. Luckily by the time we got to the bike rental the sun came out and the rain stopped. There was a few drizzles during the ride but nothing serious. We did the 15 mile ride which actually went by pretty fast. We did it last July 4th and it felt much longer.

There was one point on the ride where we climbed up this uphill mountain/rock and I ended up falling and doing a tumble down. What happened was that I climbed up maybe 5 feet and was sliding down because of my trackionless sneakers and kind of ran down the mountain. What happened was when I got to the bottom my foot slipped and my ankle turned, I decided to roll to ease into the fall which helped.

Austin on the other hand ended up climbing a lot higher and after a certain point his legs started shaking because he was scared so he turned around and decided to slide down. He started kind of bouncing as he was sliding down. Luckily he wasn’t injured and I caught most of it on video :-).

At the end of the ride we had some ice cream and had pizza for dinner. During pizza Uncle called Grandpa to check on him and told him that we would be home in an hour.

When we got home and Austin went to check on Grampie to see how he was doing and Austin BOLTED out of his room and was like “Grandpas SHAKING” “Somethings wrong!!!!”. We all ran into his room and his arms were shaking back and forth. He was shivering saying he was so cold and to call 911 or an ambulance. Aunt Cindy and I continually rubbed his back and legs to get his blood flowing through his body and by the time the ambulance came he stopped shivering.

The paramedics took his temp and it read 102. That is considered very high for someone his age so they took him to the hospital. The closest and ONLY hospital in the county was an hour away. Surprisingly enough when they got to the hospital he was immediately taken in even though the hospital was so crowded. I guess since he is elderly it’s considered more of an emergency.
After several tests they said his white blood cell count was high and that he needed to stay in the hospital for a few days.

Aunt Amy will pick him up in a few days once he is released.

What a crazy end to the trip. I am just relieved and glad that nothing bad happened.

Wounded Schnoo

Bart

zandertoy July 5, 2015

So right before Pride weekend of 2015, Schnooboo cut his leg.

It all started with us messing around in the kitchen while I was doing the dishes. He walked by the handle and immediately the handle sliced the side of his calf. It was really quick and he said that he didn’t even feel it.

All of a sudden all of this blood came pouring out. It was really scary because it was a big cut. Little “VIKI” ended up licking a little of his blood.

I bandaged him up as best as I could and we took a taxi over to St. Vincents hospital near 14th street.

He ended up getting five stitches to close the cut. He said the most painful part was the shot to numb his leg before the stitches.

I was really amazed by how quickly it all went down. We walked in around midnight and after about 45 minutes he was stitched up and out the door. I remember when I “deli sliced” my thumb with an X-acto blade I waited in the ER for around three hours in queens. It was bizarre. They basically told me there was nothing that they could do since the skin was sliced off and there was nothing to stitch closed.

I guess living in Manhattan has it’s perks. :-)

SCOTUS – Ruling for Gay marriage / Austins Birthday

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zandertoy June 26, 2015

What a momentous wonderful day today. Today the Supreme court makes Same-Sex marriage a right today.

It’s such a big deal. What’s even more amazing is that today is Austins 17th birthday. He said that he wanted to come celebrate this victory with me and the Fam in NYC because of the ruling and of course because of his birthday.

This day will definitely go down in history as a really big day. It’s like when they ended segregation. EQUALITY all the way.

We celebrated with dinner at Oootoya and of course with dessert at Harbs.

RIP Rocky 6/22/15

Uncategorized

zandertoy June 23, 2015

Yesterday was Rockys last night with us. He was put to sleep at 7:45pm.

I had a chance to see him on Saturday which was really nice since I got to say goodbye.

I got Rocky for my 18th birthday (i think) from my Moms friend and brought him home to Uncles.

When I went off to FIT in 2001 I left rocky at home and he grew up with Uncle and the family.

Rocky was always a part of the family. Anytime they went to NYC or the Poconos Rocky came along.

Every time I went to visit Uncles Rocky always came running as if he hasn’t seen me in 10 years.

Rocky was always so loving and loved just being with the family. He loved sleeping with you or just chilling on the couch hanging with you and that was why everyone love him.

One thing I will always remember Rocky for is his overwhelming love for the family.

Fathers Day Weekend / Goodbye Rocky

Family

zandertoy June 21, 2015

This weekend I spent it with the family for Fathers Day Weekend.

Spent friday with Adis and made steak for dinner and watch Transformers.

Saturday morning we took Shibby to the park and then went for dim sum lunch. Decided to try going to Shanghai bun this time but by the time we got there it was too late. Decided just to order what we normally order. Fu Ji Fei Pian which is this delicious spicy dish. I don’t know what part of the meat it is but it has gelatinized fat which is so delicious.

After lunch we went over to Uncles to start prepping. We decided that we would want to try making the Mille Crepe cake from Harbs. It was a lot of work because we had to make so many crepes. Ended up making only around twelve crepes.

Another dish we made was the Summer corn salad. It was really refreshing and delicious. It had a jalapeño basil dressing with garlic and lime.

Another reason to hang with the family this weekend was to spend time with Rocky. That was the last time that I got to see him which is really sad. They plan to put him down this week. He can’t even get up to drink or eat. It’s going to be really sad to go back to Uncles and not have rocky there. :-(

Blue Apron

Food

zandertoy June 17, 2015

Michelle referred us to Blue Apron so tonight we are giving it a go.

We made seared cod with a mustard lemon vinaigrette. For three meals it comes down to 58$ a week which is a great deal.

Comes with all of the ingredients for all of the meals and they are all super easy to make. The thing I love most about the meals is that they force you to cook at home which is a great money saver, especially since we are going to Turkey for vacation in a few months. :-)

Babysitting

Bart

zandertoy June 17, 2015

So today after work I met schnoo at Andreis baby. They have a really cute apartment in Clinton Hill.

His wife ordered in some Mexican for us and after we ate there was a perfect sunset moment. Such a stunning view from their apartment window.

I had to leave at 9:30 so that I could go walk Miki.

6th Tattoo

Bart
Home

zandertoy June 14, 2015

So yesterday I finally got my sleeve complete!

John O Hara from Gristle Tattoo worked on it. I got Dandelion flowers and leaves with a Cicada.

He did such an amazing job. I’m really lucky because he isn’t one of the artist that have crazy long wait lists which are really nice.

I would definitely go back to him and let him do a full sleeve of something. Just need to spend time thinking about it. Maybe I just need to continue up the arm onto the shoulder and go onto the chest or back.

The original artwork of the tattoo that he had is just a draft since he had to shift things around a bit to fit the Cicada. The original plan was for it to be near Mothy but that looked too weird having to bugs next to each other.