Why watch the parade on TV when you can go watch it!!!

 So many things we didn't think about life in NYC before we moved here. So much goes on! NYC is where it's all at!

 I took this picture for my sister, Monica. She loves Snoopy. We positioned ourselves in Times Square, but we were about a hundred people deep in the crowd away from the actual parade. It was hard to get the 2 boys out of bed and drag them down there, so next year I am going to plan it a little better.

 And took this picture for Charlie's niece, Lillian. We could only see the balloons from our position in the crowd, not the performers, which was a shame. Put go to a different location next year, or try to watch it from someone's apartment.

 Here comes a Paul Frank monkey. Charlie had to explain who and what this was.

 Then we headed down to the Brooklyn Bridge to walk across it. Unfortunately, it was already dark by the time we made it there, and figured out how to get on the darn thing ( a lot more complicated that you would think)

 It was SO CROWDED! It's such a popular tourist attraction. My favorite part was seeing all the cables up close. You really need to see them in person to get a sense of how massive and powerful they are.

 Our first week in NYC, we got ourselves a couple of Brooklyn Bridge tattoos. Another post for another time.

 After a trip to Junior's, which I completely failed to take photos of, we headed to our watering hole, Keg n' Lantern. Arie was there and, and by the looks of these photos, all the food from Thanksgiving settled in my chin.

And Charlie made a pilgrim hat for Godel.

Don't go misconstruing the topic of this post

Well, well, well. Here we are. Yes, we made it to NYC. It took a month to get the internet.

I should post pictures of our apartment!

Our new hood!

Our hangouts!

Ryan's office!

But no.

The first blog post as a brooklynite will be on the topic of the Pickle Eating Contest that Ryan participated in. Sponsered by Brooklyn Brine and hosted by Black Rabbit, which is one block away and made us feel quite at home here, we decided we'd invite the few friends we'd made so far to watch Ryan chug some vinegar-y delights. Ryan's friend from work, Justin, couldn't resist joining, too. Here they are, ready to go.

 This is the announcer with his mega-phone. He tells us that there was a cash prize last year, but this year, they will pick up the bar-tab for the winner as a prize. Last year's winner showed up, found out there was no cash prize, and left. Apparently, he was a professional eater. Whose profession is that? Seriously. I mean, I would love to eat professionally, but I would also like a toilet seat made of gold. That's our friend Arie, in the front, in the conductor's cap.

 The chow down begins.

 What are they looking at?

 Something has caught their attention and distracted them from eating the pickles at a winning rate. We're about 2 minutes into the contest at this point.

 There were 20 whiskey sour flavored pickles in the jar. That's a lot of pickles.

 Forget it. This guy here ate all 20 pickles AND DRANK THE BRINE in less than 5 minutes. He even enjoyed some fried pickles afterward.

 Who wants to do it next year? Me! It looked like so much fun! Ryan only polished off about 5. I can totally take him!

Well, now, this just really sucks

I am employed part-time at the local public library. Since I've been working there, 3 years now, I've actually clocked 40 hours a week by filling in extra hours at other branches who have open positions or people out on sick leave, etc. Well, a couple weeks ago, our Governor announced a budget cut for Ohio's libraries. In order to save money, the Hamilton County district says that anyone employed part-time can't pick up extra hours, in order to save $, because we're also implementing a hiring freeze. We wouldn't save any money if we just gave those hours to other people. Some branches complained, because they have, like, 2 employees, and they got some special permission to give out some extra hours. So, in one day, I went from 40 hours a week, to 20 hours, back up to 25...I guess I can't complain because I still have a job. I sent Hubby a text message about it, and 20 minutes later, he found out that all of his funding was cut out. He doesn't get to teach anymore. He'll get one more paycheck.

Thank God this was waiting for me when I got home.
Ryan and I discovered this luscious deliciousness on our honeymoon in Key West at a place called The Rum Bar, which boasts the world's largest selection of Rum. Ryan said to the bartender that he wasn't a big fan of Rum, but he really liked sipping on bourbon. The bartender told us about Pritchard's, which is concocted in Tennessee in bourbon barrels, and is, well, awesome. I bought a bottle for our anniversary, and it's comforted me in more ways that it will ever know.

Since then, things are slightly looking up. I hope I'll have some awesome announcements soon. Until then, thanks for being le super blog-o-sphere. You, hubs and Prairie Home Companion are makin' me real happy.