Some people frame photos of their kids on their desks… I frame my doggy :)

P.s. Laptop is going to the Apple store today… fingers crossed

I’ve only been bowling once in the city since moving when I went for Andre’s Birthday party. Something that I used to do in high school and in Portland because it was an inexpensive and fun way to spend the weekend is quite the luxury here in the city. 

Chris surprised me a couple weekends ago though and we headed for the lanes! Bowlmor Lanes that is! It was the first bowling alley I’ve been into that is more than 1 floor.. 3 to be exact, although I think the top floor was actually a mini-golf course. I really liked Bowlmor because it had the classic luxury of hi-class bowling with big screens lining the lanes, and a lounge but was a little bit more on my level of what I’ve come to expect from bowling. 

The best news? I’ve still got it! I kicked some butt and even got a turkey. YES! Solid Friday night.

So, my computer is still out of commission… I need to take it to the Apple store downtown, but haven’t had a chance yet.

The good news? I’m staying late at work to get some blogging in so you all can know just where and what in the world I have been up to because there is a lot to report on!

So first things first, 

You all know that there are some of my favorite chain restaurants that I have been missing dearly out here in the big city. One of my favorites being Red Robin. Aw, sweet Red Robin, how have I lived a year and change without you?!

So, when my friend brought her car into the city from Jersey for the weekend, what do you think was the first thing I suggested? Ok, well, let’s back up a little bit. About a month ago I was missing my chains so dearly that I did some online research and made a little map of where the closest locations were. This was a smart idea being that my friend brought her car in a mere couple of weeks after I realized there is a Red Robin in Long Island and New Jersey. The unfortunate part about the locations is you really need a car to get to them.. the one in Long Island is a 40 minute drive, but a 2 and a half hour public transportation trip. While I wouldn’t mind traveling the 2 hours.. convincing any of my friends would be a difficult task that even I, a great persuader, may not be up to task to doing. 

I still had to do some pleading to get my friends on board to drive to New Jersey for a burger place they had never heard of, but after working a little of my magic we were on our way! It felt so weird to be in a car driving down the streets of Manhattan. I take cabs every now and again, but driving in a cab is more of an amusement park ride than a drive with your friends. You know having a car in the city is a novelty when we’re taking pictures inside the car, because “We’re in a car together guys!” Yes, this really happened.

The funny thing is that this Red Robin was actually only 14 miles away. It took us 3 times as long to get out of the city as it did to actually get there once we were in the tunnel, but being in the car with 3 of my favs with the radio blasting made the trip a lot of fun.

After a few missed turns and switch of directions we had finally arrived will all of us singing the commercial Red Robin… yummmm. My friends may have never been to a Red Robin, but they had certainly seen the commercials. 

I was up for the task of showing them how Red Robin pros order… french fries before with honey mustard sauce please! I was pleasantly surprised by a new burger too! If you are close to a Red Robin, make sure to go and try their Jim Bean burger! It said it was a limited-time item, but I’m not sure how limited that actually means. 

The food was fabulous and of course I documented Darcy and Chris’ first Red Robin burger experiences. 

and then there is my glorious burger…

Nom, nom, nom… and that is exactly what we did…

It was a bittersweet goodbye to one of my favorite places, but you can count that I will be hitting one up in Washington over my vaca! Oh yeah!