Good Food!

I have two new places that I will love eating at in Miami!

On Friday, Ben took me out for a steak dinner (what a nice thing for a vegetarian boyfriend to do!) to celebrate my first first author paper being accepted in the journal, Pacific Science.  I've been working on this paper since I lived in Hawaii and it was a big accomplishment to finally get it finished.  Plus, I'm the first author, so it will be cited as "Schopmeyer et al."!  Anyway, I picked a nice restaurant online (if you google "the top _______ restaurants in Miami, you can find just about anything!) called Christy's.  It's got live piano music in the lounge area and the decor was dark red walls with dark wood accents.  And, the filet was amazing (although I'm a little disappointed that it was served with gravy).  It didn't need it though- it was delicious. 

On Sunday, we went out with some of Ben's friends from Chicago who were in town for the Miami marathon (congrats to Ben for getting a new personal record for the half marathon!).  We drove up to Aventura to go to Heavy Burgers where they have one of the best burgers I've ever had!  It was Kobe beef and it had crispy prosciutto, caramelized onions, garlic aoili sauce, lettuce and tomato and I then added avocado and swiss cheese!!!  It's worth the trip up north and they have a great selection of gourmet burgers for a decent price and they have a good beer selection too!  All of their burgers are named after famous rock stars (hence the name of the place).

So, I've done a lot of eating lately and I've really enjoyed myself!

Enjoying invasive species

Normally the words "enjoying" and "invasive" shouldn't go together.  However, invasive lionfish are just so tasty!!!!
Ben participated in a research cruise down to Riley's Hump off the Dry Tortugas and he brought back some lionfish.  Luckily, he's a good shot and his group was able to eliminate about 50 fish from the reef there.  Back in April, the fish surveys only revealed two lionfish on their transects while this time they were everywhere.  Unfortunately, this is becoming very common problem around the Caribbean. 
My advice, EAT them!

Bum Update

It's been awhile since I've updated everyone on the status of my bum.....
I went back to my orthopedic on Wednesday (3 months post injury).  There is still some bruising and there is a definite ridge in the muscle where I landed.  It usually depends on how much activity I do during the day as to how I feel at the end of the day.  There are still some periods of pain, but mostly just soreness around the bone.  The problem is that most activities don't hurt while I'm doing them (swimming, walking, sitting for extended periods), so I don't know how much is too much, what I should and shouldn't be doing and what I can and can't do.  This is obviously very frustrating considering how independent I like to be and how active I normally am. 
So, still no field work and I am to start physical therapy three times a week for either ultrasound therapy or massage therapy to help the bruising and then some exercise and stretching to help get me back to some resemblance of normal......glad I didn't have to hear that I just have to keep waiting!

Congratulations, Kerry and Russell

There is no better reason to head down to Key West than to see your friends, Kerry and Russell, get married!

 Annette came into town for the event at the end of her holiday travels and after picking her up from the airport, brunch at Coral Bagel and a short trip through the Keys, we made it to Key West just in time to miss the sunset! 

 But, that didn't stop us from enjoying Key West (and neither did Annette's cold!).  We had a few drinks around town and then tapas at Santiago's (thanks for the recommendation Ben and Cristi)!  I highly recommend this place for great food!

The next morning we were up and ready for the big event at 10am!

 The wedding was held on the beach at Fort Zachary Taylor State Park.  We arrived a little early where Ben fell in love with this bus that smelled like bacon.  Here he's sporting the donut bag!

 The wedding was short, sweet and totally Kerry and Russell with the ocean as the backdrop. (Photo courtesy of Annette)

 It's official! (Photo courtesy of Annette)

 They both looked very happy and everyone had a great time!

 While the wedding party and family took photos, we were free to roam around the park and take pictures ourselves.

 Our third photo together!

 Ben discovered a rapid fire setting on his camera, so Annette and I did our best impersonation of Baywatch slow motion running....

 Two goobers at heart!

It was great to get to see Annette again.  We got to spend a couple of extra days (thank you snow storms!) together after the wedding and we had some delicious Cuban food (without ceiling tiles) and we enjoyed a nice firepit and S'mores at my place on a chilly Florida night!

 And at the end, we did our best secret agent Hawaii Five-O looks!

 The train came to pick up the wedding guests and take us to the Conch Republic Seafood Company for the reception.

 The ladies!

 Ben and Cristi were also in from Hawaii to be the photographers!

 Kerry had to put up with a lot of photos on her big day!

 But, we did get a good group shot!

 After the reception, we did a little pub crawl to two of Kerry and Russell's old haunts from when they lived in Key West, Hog's Breath and El Mason de Pepe.  There were seven of us CREDers from Hawaii there (including Kerry and Russell).  It was a great way to see friends from Hawaii and I was so happy to be able to help celebrate their big day!  Congratulations, Kerry and Russell!

Sunset on our way home!

New York New Year's

After a fantastic day out and about in the city, we made a mad dash back to Jason's apartment to get ready for New Year's Eve.  We started the evening with apps and drinks at one of Jason's friend's place.... 

where there were multiple photo ops!

Check out the cool glasses.....I was wondering how they were going to make two eye holes!

And Claus was so debonair lounging back with a look of someone who might say "Pardon me, do you have any Gray Poupon?"

For the evenings festivities, we boarded the Circle Line water taxi yacht, the Zephyr, for an evening harbor cruise with fantastic night views of the city skyline and the Statue of Liberty.

Complete with party hats and noise makers!

So, the hats were one size fits all....poor Darby!

The skyline was beautiful (even though I had to be practically dragged outside to look at it since it was sooooo cold!).

Does this tiara make me look fat? Ben is such a good sport.....

While Michelle dances the night away....

....with Darby and Jason!!!!

There were several attempts to get photos outside with the Statue of Liberty in the back ground.  We got so close to the island....it was an awesome way to see her for the first time!

See what I mean!

Brother and Sister!!!

Of course, there were fireworks at the stroke of midnight! 

Michelle and Darby continue dancing and throwing out gang signs????

Happy 2011 Everyone!  May this year bring everyone health, love and happiness! Oh, and winning the lottery wouldn't be bad either!

New York City 2010

After my wonderful snow filled Christmas in Germany, I flew back over the Atlantic Ocean to New York City to meet up with Claus, Michelle and Ben to spend New Years with my cousin, Jason.  I didn't escape the snow though.  Two days before arriving, two feet of snow dumped on the city.  That didn't stop us from getting out and exploring the city though!  

Our first night, we went out for Indian food and it was delicious!  Well worth the effort of getting there even though I practically passed out from the sheer exhaustion of traveling right after we had our samosas!

The next morning, went into the city and started our tour at the New York City Public Library.....does it look familiar from Ghostbusters?

There really is some beautiful architecture in the city.

This is the Chrysler Building.  Less famous than the Empire State building, but I think it's a prettier building (if my vote counts)!

We stopped by Grand Central Station for lunch and now I understand the meaning of the phrase...it was crowded!

We stopped at the Raw Bar for lunch and some Bloody Mary's.

And of course cheesecake for dessert at Junior's.  Yum!

Next stop...Rockefeller Center.  I have to admit that I was a little disappointed in the size of the Christmas tree.  I guess it's always looked bigger on TV.  But the lights and ice skating and other decorations were beautiful.

We passed by St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Ave.  Apparently my bad luck with construction continues.  There was scaffolding around the front of the cathedral....

And we saw Atlas...you would think he would just put the world down and get on with his life....

Radio City Music Hall

Jason got us tickets to the Top of the Rock which lets you go through the museum telling the story of the building and then puts you out on the top where we got an excellent view of the city!

This view shows Central Park.

Claus and Michelle pose with the Empire State building.

We were really lucky that the sun was out that day, but it was still pretty cold!

While on the top, I had to stop and take a little break from all the excitement! Thanks for the photo, Michelle!

After visiting 30 Rock, we had to stop and take a little break to rest our feet....walking around in boots all day is not fun....just ask Michelle!

We did get to do a little shopping along Fifth Ave and gawk at the lines of people waiting to get into stores like Hollister and Abercrombie.  Jason and I toured FAO Schwarz and saw the famous piano from Big.  Afterwards it was time to head back to Brooklyn to re-energize with sushi and TV before going out for drinks and pizza!

The next day, we started out at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

I really enjoyed the Egyptian exhibit.

They actually have part of an Egyptian temple from Dandur surrounded by other artifacts and a reflecting pool.  It was here that Ben and I took our second photo together....considering how photo happy I normally am, I'm not really sure why it's been so long without any photos!

Inside the lobby at the Met...Ben is waiting for all of us to get our acts together so we can go eat!

On our way to the deli, we strolled through Central Park.

And took pause for a little snowball fight.  I thought this photo was really cool....until they actually threw the snowballs at me.  Actually, only Claus and Ben threw them at me, so I guess I know who my real friends are!

Cleopatra's Needle is a 71 foot, 244 ton Obelisk originally erected in Egypt around 1500 BC.  In 1879, it was shipped to the United States as either a gift of the Khedive of Egypt, who offered it to the U. S. as a token of good faith to help stimulate economic relations between the two countries or it was swiped by William H. Vanderbilt against the wishes of the Egyptians. It depends on who you ask.

Belvedere Castle

There were lots of little snowmen throughout the park.  This little one was made on a fence post!

Talk about a fat squirrel!  He's definitely prepared for the winter!

On New Year's day, we journeyed to Chinatown for dim sum at the Golden Unicorn.  Then Jason took us on a tour of downtown.

Thought this was funny, but in my case it should be "Unlucky Buns".

We walked by the former site of the twin towers.

And by the church that George Washington attended immediately after being inaugurated as president.

And, of course, the New York City Stock Exchange.

From looking at the outside, you would never guess the craziness that ensues on the inside!

We ended our tour with a walk through Battery Park with a view of the Statue of Liberty.....

....and a snowball fight between Ben....

...and Claus.  Ben had to get revenge after Claus pegged him with a great shot in Central Park!

I had a wonderful time in New York and much thanks goes to Jason and Mike for being such gracious hosts and allowing us to invade their home for New Years!