Macy's Flower Show

Every spring Macy's decorates the main display windows and the first floor of the store with tons and tons of flowers. The displays are absolutely amazing. This year the theme was tropical with orchids dangling from the ceiling and pink flamingos in all of the windows. Most of the flowers they used this year were pink - it was very bright and fun.

It was packed when I went, so I wasn't able to get good shots of the windows and unfortunately my indoor shots are dark. I think I needed to force the flash. I'll post a few pix just so you can get the gist of how beautiful the store is and the work that goes in to the display.

More cupcakes

Yay for birthdays because that means I get to make delicious cupcakes.

This time I whipped up a double batch of cappuccino chip cupcakes topped with mocha buttercream and shaved German sweet chocolate.

I tried to make chocolate curls, but definitely didn't have the right tools or technique because they just were chocolate shavings.

They still looked really nice and someone even asked if they were from one of our local bakeries! I considered that a big compliment.

Ahh Spring!

Well it was more like summer today, with temperatures well in to the 80's - but last weekend we had a brief taste of spring weather. Winter has held on for far too long this year, it was so nice to get up to the New York Botanical Garden and see some early blooms and let the sun soak in my bones.

They had a pretty grove of magnolia trees in full bloom - (the cherry blossoms should be next weekend at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden).

There were so many people standing around taking photos it was hard to get a shot of just the trees.

Michael going off the trail for a better shot.

And finally a Michael patented self portrait.

Thanks for the idea Mel

After an idea from Mel - it was arts and crafts time yesterday afternoon.

Using a gold paint pen, crystals, and super glue my $2.50 Old Navy flip flops are bling'd out for the summer.


My second pair is less flashy, but definitely much more interesting than a plain blue rubber flip flop.

A Trip to the Dentist

It all started last winter....

I chipped a molar, it didn't hurt so I decided to wait to get it fixed. It's hard to find time to go to the dentist over the holidays and why pay my deductible at the end of the year.

Finally I went in for my normal cleaning and of course the dentist confirmed a chunk of my tooth was missing. Unfortunately the missing piece was on top of a filling, which meant nothing to me until the dentist explained he would need to drill out some or all of the filling to fix my tooth.

Last week I went in for the appointment. After looking at the tooth he said it was a very sensitive part of the mouth and getting the injection to numb the area would probably cause more pain than just drilling. He left the decision up to me, but let me know he would go slow and if there was any sensitivity he would stop drilling and give me the injection to numb the area.

Well he was right, he was able to drill and fill and it really didn't hurt at all. I left feeling pretty darn bad ass - I mean really, how many people can get dental work like that without a little something to numb the area?

As it turns out apparently lots of people....I told Michael about my appointment and then it happened - *pop* he totally burst my bubble. He goes to the same dentist and last year he had to get work done, and guess what....the dentist gave him the same line almost verbatim. Obviously our dentist figured out that most dental work must not require numbing agents, so he saves time and money by talking his patients in to not using them. In all fairness it really didn't hurt and it was nice to walk out of the office without a face that was half numb. But I think it's funny how good he is at selling the idea.

New To Me

I saw this quote in a store window Saturday:

Rosa sat so Martin Luther could walk
Martin Luther walked so Obama could run
Obama ran so all the children could fly

In doing my research to see who said this it turns out Jay-Z paraphrased after the election in 2008. The real quote is a little different and was said by Cleo Fields in Feb of 2008. He was a former Congressman and a member of the State Senate of Louisiana.

Anyway, I thought it was clever and inspirational and even though it has been around for over a year now, it was new to me!

Shamrock Cupcakes

Inspired by the classic McDonald's Shamrock shake, I created Shamrock cupcakes for St. Patrick's Day.

They were cookies and cream cupcakes made with mint Oreos and a mint and cookie crumb butter cream frosting. The frosting was the best part. For the shamrocks on top, I piped green chocolate melts in to a shamrock pattern on wax paper and then peeled them off once they were cool.

Rave reviews from Michael's co-workers - I was en route to San Diego, so I missed the big day in NYC but did enjoy a few pints of Guinness from Casa de Wade.

Introducing the Cart Breakers

Subway Shorts

90% of the time we use the subway to move around the city. Here are some of my most memorable moments on the subway – no photos so you’ll just have to hang in there without visual aids.

5. See the Christmas 2008 blog for details – but here is the short version: good singer, acoustic guitar, “Happy Christmas” by John Lennon, and Macy’s windows…enough said.

4. Friend of Bill – you may or may not know that if you are a ‘Friend of Bill’ you are most likely a member of AA or at least know a member of AA. One afternoon I was on the subway and it wasn’t too crowded, at one stop an older gentleman boarded the train and sat down across from me – he was dressed in a disheveled suit and worn out dress shoes. He looked like someone that was just down on his luck, he was trying to dress nicely but you could tell it was probably a suit he had for a very long time or something from Goodwill that didn’t fit quite right. I gave him a smile, just to be nice and show that I respected him even if he wasn’t dressed to the nines – I appreciated his effort. Well that did it, at that point he said something to me and I couldn’t hear him. I just smiled and shrugged – well then he proceeded to yell “are you a Friend of Bill”. I smiled and shake my head ‘no’ hoping the conversation would end with that. But no, again he yells “it’s code”. I shake my head “yes” and luckily I’m at my stop so I quickly nod goodbye and head off the train. It just cracks me up that he felt the need to let me know he was talking in “code” – I’m thinking maybe he was at the early stages of his program or maybe veered off track a bit. That’s what I get for trying to be nice.

3. Michael and I were riding the subway downtown one weekend, at a stop this crazy wild man dressed in a costume of black pants and a puffy white shirt boards the train with some kind of suitcase contraption. It turns out the suitcase is a little table – he sets it up in the middle of the subway car and starts to perform magic tricks. The entire time he is dashing up and down the car and yelling things either in a foreign language or maybe he was using special words to conjure up his magic. It was fascinating in that car crash kind of way, you didn’t want to make eye contact but you wanted to see what he was doing. Well of course at one point he notices I’m watching the show – he comes right in front of me with a covered metal dish. He shows me and everyone in the area the dish is empty, he covers the dish and hands me a “magic” wand. He then tells me to tap the dish with the wand, when I tap the dish he shouts out a few “magic” words, opens the dish and out flies a small bird! The bird lands right in his hand and the show is over. Well we had to give him a dollar for that level of entertainment (in general I usually will give a dollar to the performers but not the people that just come through the cars with a hand out – I feel like they need to work for the money). I always wondered what I would do if I was on the subway and it was like the movie “Borat” and someone pulled a chicken out of a suitcase – hopefully this is the closest I will come to that situation. It certainly was unexpected (and yes, I let out a little screech when the bird came flying out of the dish).

2. Yet another time Michael and I were riding the subway. The train was mildly crowded, meaning all of the seats are full and some people were standing in the aisle. A young man entered the car from one end, walked to the middle of the car and turned on a boom box. He then proceeded to do dance/gymnastic moves in the aisle of the car. He was flipping upside down and flipping sideways using the poles and overhead bars. It was awesome, he had incredible upper body strength – I’ve never seen anything like it. He even got a round of applause when he his performance ended.

1. This happened pretty soon after I moved to NYC - it was a Friday night and I was meeting Michael to go out after work. I got on the train and it was relatively crowded, I was standing in the back corner and there was a gentleman right next to me. He was obviously mentally challenged (he had the look and he was wearing his ID and subway card in a pouch around his neck). At one point I smile at him just to be friendly (you would think this incident would have cured me of trying to be nice to people on the train – but no….) Well that of course was an open invitation for him to start talking to me. Next thing you know he tells me he has something to show me (uh oh – I’m a little concerned at this point, you know it isn’t anything good) and he starts fumbling around the inside pocket of his jacket. He pulls out a plastic badge with a pair of golden boobs and it says “Boob Inspector”. Wow, awesome – this is a great city…..thankfully it was my stop and I hustled out the door. (And even if it wasn’t my stop you know I would have been off that car so fast – there was no good end to that conversation.)

It's Snow Fun

Alternate title: The things you find on the sidewalk in NYC (aside from dog poop)

Anyone in need of a couch - will be as good as new once the snow melts.




And it has a built in cooler.

Hopping Down the Bunny Trail

The other day we were passing by Dylan's Candy Bar and I could see all of the Easter goodies - so I had to do some browsing.

I totally wanted to buy this for M, but it was $55 - so a picture will have to suffice. I would love to make one myself, or some version of an Easter bunny hutch - but I'm thinking all of the supplies would probably cost almost as much as the $55 and it would look more like what comes out of the business end of the bunny!


But maybe it will give some crafty person a good idea, a new Easter treat.

And check out the Dylan's chocolate bunny - he was so cute! And his ears are looking quite delicious - they are my favorite part of the bunny.

This Just In....Snow Day in NYC

Well this was breaking news yesterday - today the only thing that is breaking is the thermometer. Yesterday was the snow (first snow day in 5 years in the city) today is the cold - when we woke up this morning it was 12 degrees with the wind chill factor bringing the temperature down to the negative 3 range!

This pix below are the view out of our bedroom window - all of the fuzzy spots are snow flakes.

Hey, it's a snow plow. Some very smart person figured out to put plows on the front of garbage trucks, save some capital expense.

Doesn't look like the plow moved too much snow, glad I didn't have to go anywhere yesterday.

Annual Get KO Out of the Cold Getaway

Ahh - February, time for KO to get some sunshine. For my birthday Michael treated us to a 4 day cruise to the Bahamas on NCL Sky.



We landed in Miami at 11am on Friday and by noon we were on board the ship sipping complimentary champagne. It was the easiest embarkation process. We carried on all of our luggage (which wasn't very much - it was just a 4 day trip). And we had no problem getting the Rum Runners through security.

It was pretty funny, as we were walking on to the ship with our bags some guy behind us made sure to let us know that we were going to have to carry our bags around until our cabin was ready. Basically we had 2 wheeled carry-on bags and one tote bag - we were fine. I'm pretty sure our luggage for the entire trip was less than what I carried on for my two previous cruises. The guy actually seemed annoyed that we didn't care, he was loud and very New York and the rest of the day we ran in to him repeatedly.

The ship was open and airy with nice decor. It had a tropical vibe that was a mix of Hawaiian and Caribbean.

We sat out by the pool and had lunch and about 1:45 we headed to our cabin. As we were unpacking we heard someone trying to get in the door. Michael went to see what was going on and there was another couple insisting we were in their cabin. Well considering our keys worked and their keys did not work I was pretty sure they were in a different cabin. Even though the husband was sure we were in the wrong cabin or that it was double booked, the wife pulled out their reservation information and lo and behold they had the wrong number. Hee!

We found a great sun deck in the forward part of the ship and started to soak up the sun even before we pulled out from port.

It was in the high 60's - so a little chilly and it was very windy as we left Miami.

As we pulled out of Miami the sun was setting behind the city. It was really beautiful.

NCL offers 'free-style' cruising, which was perfect for us. We could go to dinner any time and at any restaurant - no assigned dinner time or tables. If you were travelling with a group I think an assigned time and table is easier; the bigger the group the fewer choices the better. But for the two of us it was great. While exploring the ship we found the library tucked behind Captain Cooks Bar (a great little inside bar that offered live piano music at night). In addition to books the library had a great selection of games and puzzles. We spent some time the first night in a heated competition of Battleship. Thanks to our Rum Runner supply we had cocktails and games! I think I won 2 out of 3, but I don't exactly remember. I do remember I wouldn't let Michael look at the picture below until we were done playing. I couldn't give away the position of my ships! We tried to play Uno, but there were too many directions post-cocktails.

That night we ate dinner in one of the two main dining rooms: Palace. The decorations reminded me of Crystal Palace in Disneyland. The menu choices and service were both excellent. The next two nights we ate at the specialty restaurants (read additional fee required). Le Bistro, the French restaurant, had delicious food but our server had a bit of an attitude. Cagney's, the steakhouse, also had delicious food and our server was excellent. Michael's steak was not as good as my steak at Cagney's and we were both annoyed at the added fees. You had to pay $25 to eat there and then if you wanted surf & turf or crab legs you had to pay an additional $10. In my opinion if you are paying an additional fee they need to work the menu so there are no extra charges. I did take some photos of our food, but they all look terrible. It is so hard to get a good picture of dinner - food stylists must have such a hard job!

The photo below is a Coast Guard ship stationed in Nassau. I liked it because of the name "Chandeleur" - it made me think of Mel's kitty Chandler and that if he was French he would be le chat Chandeleur. And Michael liked that you could be in the Coast Guard and stationed in Nassau.

We were able to pull right in to port in Nassau - no tender required. It was beautiful outside. The Atlantis resort is in the background of the photo below. I had two things I wanted to do in Nassau - visit the famous Straw Market and visit the Atlantis resort.

We hit the Straw Market first - what a waste! I had an image of women sewing together palm leaves to make fabulous hats and bags. I even remember when Mel's parents were in the Bahamas and her mom picked out this straw topless hat with red straw roses on it for Mel - I had grand plans of finding something just as special for her. Apparently the original Straw Market burned to the ground in 2001 and now it is a swap meet type collection of booths packed with knock-off hand bags and crappy souvenirs. Once I checked that off the list it was time for Atlantis. You have to either take a cab or a ferry over to the resort. We chose a ferry, it was on 'island time' and we had to sit on the boat until they packed it full of suckers, oh I mean tourists. On the ferry ride the is a 'tour guide' who is compelled to tell you about all of the celebrities that have homes in Nassau - Nick Cage, Oprah, Barry Bonds - I'm pretty sure if they ever did own a home there it was a long, long time ago. I mean if you're Oprah you've got your own island far away from any tourist operation.

Atlantis was well themed, clean, and expensive. There isn't too much to see if you aren't a hotel guest or paying over $100 for the water park ticket. The casino was smaller than we expected and the lowest minimum bet at a blackjack table was $15. Wuh wuhh.

They did have huge aquariums that were absolutely stunning. In the photos below I tried to capture shots of the huge manta rays swimming in the aquarium at the hotel entrance. There were two and the largest one must have had a wing span of at least 10 feet.

The second, and last, port of call was Great Stirrup Cay - NCL's private island. It wasn't quite Castaway Cay (Disney's private island), but there are worse ways to spend a day. They had chairs, umbrellas, and hammocks waiting along the white sandy shores. The water was a little too cold for our taste, which was disappointing because we had our tubes blown up and ready. They served a nice bbq lunch and the ships band entertained with live music all day.



It was a great 4 day get away - we really made the most of our time. It felt like we really got a nice long break even though it was only two days out of the office. I think the Disney cruise was still the very best in terms of ports, ship decor, and food. I would rate NCL over Carnival in terms of ship decor. Between Carnival and NCL the food is kind of a toss-up - Carnival had better lunch selections but I think dinner was better on NCL. NCL had great bars and lots of options for live music, but Carnival had a much better cruise director (but really, who could top Butch?) and better on-board activities. If I had to choose between the two it would probably come down to price, they offer relatively the same experience so I would go for the better price. I'm so glad we didn't go to Montreal (which is originally what I wanted to do for my birthday)! It was great wearing sandals and getting a little bit of a tan.

Christmas 2008

Of course the holidays started off in NYC. It is an amazing place during the month of December - every window has lights and decorations, there are craft fairs in all of the parks, and I can't get enough of classics like the Christmas Tree in Rockefeller Center.

This year Tony Bennett performed at the unveiling of the windows at Bloomindale's. I tried to make it down to see the performance but I was too late - wuh wuhh. I did pick up the CD of his Christmas classics and it is wonderful. The Bloomies windows were my favorite this season. Each window was based on a classic Christmas song and was done in a 50's nostalgic style with Tony singing in the background.

The Macy's windows were fun, but just too over the top for my taste. They featured crazy alien type characters making Christmas decorations. The best part of the Macy's window was the interactive toy crane - from the outside of the window you could work the controls to pick up a ball that became a star for the top of a Christmas tree. I always try to view the windows during the week after 8pm, the crowds are so much better compared to the weekends. When I was there no one was around and I could work the crane without cutting in front of some kid. My first try failed, but on the second try I picked up the ball and it became a star - I was so excited (of course there was no one around to share my enthusiasm). The night I went to see the Macy's windows there was a performer on the subway singing 'Happy Christmas' by John Lennon accompanied with just his acoustic guitar. His voice was amazing, it was such a magical moment. When he came looking for tips I threw a $5 Dunkin' Doughnuts card in his hat - then he stopped to talk to me. Apparently no one had given him a coffee card before - I really wasn't expecting to chat, no chatting just sing! Moments like that make me appreciate the experiences of living in NYC.

The rest of the holidays were spent in CA. About a week in San Diego - working and baking. We had a solid cookie exchange this year; Linda's perfectly decorated Santa face cookies were back along with Roni's nutty thumbprints, Mel's citrusy and delicate spritz cookies, and Bex wonderfully dipped peppermint Joe-Joes. I enslaved T&M for a night and they helped me bake all 13 dozen of my chewy ginger cookies. I love the way my cookies taste but hate the presentation. I got the best cookie cutter for Christmas this year - it is a gingerbread man wearing Mickey Mouse ears. My plan is to experiment during the year and figure out how to make them for the cookie tray. I also received Martha Stewart's Cookies cookbook for my birthday - there are some amazing looking cookies that might need some testing before I settle on my cookie tray selection. Bex and I made fudge to round out the tray - unfortunately at least in my cookie package the peppermint fudge contaminated the rest of the cookies with peppermint taste. No more peppermint fudge, it's banned along with the peanut butter blossoms. Bake and learn....

After SD it was off to spend some time with the fam. It was a relatively quiet Christmas for the O family, but that also meant it was quite relaxing.

We had a delightful intimate dinner party celebrating MomO's b-day. I introduced them to my new favorite way of cooking veges - oven roasting (and it was a big hit).



Jason started up the fireplace, and with a snap and crackle we were opening presents and having fun withe Rudolph antlers (even Alfonse the boxer got in to the holiday spirit).



(Yes Bex, you do seem a glimpse of those infernal stockings in the corner of the fireplace and on Jason's lap below - just when you thought they were gone!)




Little CJO was looking pretty darn cute in his Christmas plaid Mickey Mouse pj's. He's all boy and pretty much only wanted to play with his remote control car and big dump truck. 2 years old and he had no problem figuring out the remote control car - he'll be the kid you hear about on the news, backing the car out of the driveway when he's 7.





Yes, the antlers and blinking red nose!



And BDO too....

As promised Alfonse the boxer. Deemed the best dog in the world by BDO - no barking, no mess making!

Merry Christmas indeed.

Thanksgiving in Vermont

The decision was made - no long distance travel for Thanksgiving. Once we made our 'no fly' rule it was just a matter of where Amtrak would take us...back to West Virginia? Maybe Washington DC? Michael found the perfect spot: Vermont!

We left on Thursday and had a delightful dinner in our first class seats (there was so much leg room I could barely reach the footrest in front of me - OK I know I have short legs, but it really was spacious). I joked that we were going to have turkey jerky, Craisins, and sweet potato chips - but come on, you all know me better than that. For the main course I made a really tasty chicken pasta salad with home made pesto, fresh kettle corn (my homage to the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving), and gin and tonics.

And what was the best part of the night? When our shuttle pulled in to the hotel parking lot and I spied a Michael's Craft Store just across from the hotel entrance! Yes, our hotel was located next to a strip mall and Friday was the ultimate shopping day of the year. I had written off Black Friday, but now I was going to be right in the thick of the action. I was up by 7 to enjoy my free breakfast and then it was time to hit the stores. Michael was up and decided to check out the deals at Staples. He managed to find some great stuff and even came in to the craft store to show me his early morning special buys. I had a blast - next to the hotel we had a strip mall with Michael's Crafts, Jo-Ann Fabrics, Staples, Bed, Bath, and Beyond, Dick's Sporting Goods, and a grocery store. Everything a person could need or want was within walking distance of the hotel.

Totally caught up in a shopping high we drove about an hour away and spent the afternoon at a huge outlet mall in Vermont. It was interesting, not just a big mall but tons of little stores all in one area. The crowds were light and the savings were huge - made for a fun day, but so many treasures to carry home. I am stocked up on fabric for many projects to come. One thing that was hard to find in Vermont, a Star of David cookie cutter - go figure.

Saturday we headed north and drove through the cutest little town - Woodstock. It had a great covered bridge.



We stopped to take photos and visit this hotel (yes, I wanted to see the hotel because I needed to go to the bathroom - but it ended up being a really cute town with plenty of photo ops).



And what could have topped shopping on Black Friday? Yes, a craft fair - that's right, inside the hotel there was an awesome craft fair (oh and the bathrooms were nice too). I found some really neat items - hand crafted big jingle bells, carved wooden ornaments, and the catnip mat. (A small quilted mat with catnip sandwiched between layers of fabric. I was inspired by the idea and purchased more fabric to make some for all of the kitties in my life. Read: I ripped off the idea and had to go buy more fabric so I could make them for Christmas.)

Annie brought me the cutest scarf from Alaska - I wore it the entire trip and it was a huge hit with the Vermont locals, especially at the craft fair (I bet someone will be "inspired" to make something similar next year).




(It's hard to read - it says "Santa we need to talk".)

Woodstock was so quaint, even the parking meters and mail boxes were old timey.

After Woodstock we made our way to Sugarbush Farm - a family farm that offers tours and tastings. They make some darn good cheddar cheese and maple syrup.




The tour was pretty low budget - but the family was very nice and generous with the tastings. My favorite part of the tour was the sugaring barn, where they produce the maple syrup.




They had a short video and then the eye opening display of syrups that contain "0% Maple" - shocking!





After our fill of cheese and syrup we headed to New Hampshire for a quick visit to Dartmouth college. The campus was beautiful, but seemed small. Maybe we missed some of the buildings?

In the little town surrounding the college we found this great spot for lunch. The door was solid wood and super thick, I'm guessing it was made to last and has been around for many years. It was probably one of the better meals we had in Vermont- they served this smoked tomato soup that was fabulous.

And what did we find on our way back to our hotel? The King Arthur Flour baking center! (I didn't plan it, but this really turned out to be a trip tailor made for KO!) They had this huge store that sold so many different types of baking products my head was spinning - and at last I found the Star of David cookie cutter.

We took Amtrak back to reality on Sunday, as usual our vacation was way too short!