A whole bunch of photos/Weekend with Boyfriend/America's Birthday

Successful first week of classes. Boyfriends [!!!!!!] came to visit.
What a wonderful way to celebrate America's Birthday!

Pictures from the patio behind Ailey. We like to sit out here during our breaks - The windows look into two different dance studios. It's fun to watch them : ]

*****

This weekend, our boyfriends came to visit us. I haven't seen Dana since he brought us down two and a half weeks ago. I was definitely in need of some boyfriend time. And I couldn't have asked for a better weekend.

Saturday, Dana arrived around 4:30 after a pretty long trip. He got a little lost in Southern Connecticut, but was able to use the GPS on his phone to get him here. Once we carted the various bags of goodies from my family up the five flights of stairs, we took the bus to Manhattan for dinner. Off of 9th Avenue, there is a road called "Restaurant Row." There are all sorts of places to eat and despite the business of the street and closeness to Times Square, it's a cute neighborhood. The restaurant that we ate at is called "Don't Tell Mama." We decided to go to this particular place because the previous night, we had wonder through and thought that they offered a pretty good menu and fair prices for NYC. For the most part, we were right. A few things bothered us about it, however. First of all, there was a musty sort of smell. We debated the possible reasons and decided that it had to do with the building and how all of them on the street are built on top of each other, which gives no possibility for air circulation. And the restaurants are in the lower part of the building (you have to go down a set of stairs from the street to get in). Whatever the real reason was, we thought it smelled a little bit like cats. Once the drinks came and I tasted my "Socialite" cocktail (recommended by the waiter) I didn't mind paying $12 dollars for it. It was soooooo good : ) Our meals were delicious, except they messed up Alivia's dinner. She asked for the sausage on the side and they put it right on top. That was a little disappointing. However she didn't want to make a fuss and ate what she could (I would have done the same thing.) When the bill came we laughed about how the garlic bread that they offered before our meal was $6 and how they included gratuity which was $25. HAHAHA! If it were up to us, we wouldn't have tipped them that much. Regardless, I think we all had a great time. It was nice to spend time with everyone and actually sit down and relax. I didn't mind being waited on either!
We came back to our sweltering apartment, played cards, laughed, took pictures and had a wonderful time just relaxing together.

We kept passing around these funny glasses. You look good babe!

*****

On Sunday, we went to Central Park for a picnic. It was so wonderful, however very, very hot and sweaty. Once we put the sheet down in the shade and laid down though, it was pretty comfortable.

Statue in front of Central Park

In front of Trump International Hotel & Tower

[We don't know these people, I was just creeping!]

We spent about three hours at the park just relaxing and left to come back to NJ for the fireworks later that night. The walk back to The Port Authority was long and hot. I could tell that we were all exhausted. Once we got back we all went straight for the air conditioned bedroom and took naps. We wanted to be fully rested for the wonderful Fourth of July fireworks on the Hudson River.

But they were more than wonderful.

We walked down to the river around 8:30 [only about five blocks from our apartment]. We were very grateful that we didn't have to go into Manhattan to see them, and honestly, I think we might have had the best view. No obstructing buildings or trees in the way.

They were simply beautiful. They were by far the best fireworks that I've ever seen. As they should be. They were in New York City.

I took a few still shots, but felt that I couldn't capture the enormous sparks of light without filming some of the 45 minute show. So I did.

[Empire State Building decorated in Red, White & Blue]

Butterflies

Today we are just hanging around. Doing laundry. Blogging. And watching movies.

Four more weeks.