The Parting Gift

When Craig and I lived in New York we had the opportunity to go to several four-star restaurants.  One detail– aside from champagne while you waited for the rest of your party to arrive, a purse bench,  having your tea leaves snipped right off the plant table side before it was brewed, and a confections cart at the end of the meal– was the small parting gift that was given on your way out of the restaurant. 

This past weekend, Craig created a five-course tasting menu for some friends, and I was inspired to make a parting gift that they could take home with them after the meal.  At first I planned to make canelé, but it was Sunday and you can't buy liquor on Sundays in NC. Unfortunately, we didn't have the rum we needed for the recipe. I opted to make chocolate macaron with a chocolate ganache filling instead. A number of years ago, when we still lived in NYC, I made rose-water macarons with my friend Samantha. That was the one and only time I successfully made macarons– this time I was determined to make it work.

On Sunday afternoon, I went to Craig's catering kitchen and made them all by myself with a little over-the-shoulder supervision and pointers from Craig– and only one tiff about the definition of "test batch".   I'm embarrassed to say that it took me four hours to make a recipe that says it should take 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 hours. In my defense, though, I was taking special care to make sure I was doing every step perfectly. Also, it took some time to make sure the oven was staying at the correct temperature. In the end, the macarons came out pretty well. Although the foot of the macarons did not look completely perfect the overall color and shape turned out great! Most importantly, though, was that they tasted great!

I think the only down side was that for all my hard work the recipe only yielded about 20 macarons. I would have known that had I not skimmed that part of the recipe before jumping into the bulk of the recipe.  I also skipped over the part that indicated that the difficulty level for the recipe was all the way over on the, "hard," side of the scale. Oops!   

Now, I am inspired to try making other flavors.  I think the next flavor I will try is a berry flavor with a cream-cheese butter-cream filling. 

Photo Journal: Flat Stanley

Last week my sister-in-law included me in a request to help her friends child complete a school project. The children had read a book called Flat Stanley. In the book the character Stanley gets flattened when a bulletin board falls on him. He realizes that there are many things that he can do if he is flat including being mailed to friends. Part of the assignment was to mail Flat Stanley to friends and family and have them take pictures of his adventures while visiting them. Above is my photo of Flat Stanley attending a Carolina Hurricane's pre-season game. This photo was taken during the pre-skate.  Unfortunately the Hurricane's lost this game. . .

Back in the Swing of Things

Just when I was about to post an entry about having my 1 year anniversary of doing Pilates I took a 10 week break! However, yesterday I went back to class and feel great about it!

Besides going back to Pilates class I have gotten back on the bandwagon with my diet and exercise routine. I've been walking about a mile and a half during my lunch break nearly every day and I actually stepped back into the gym without self combusting!

My next step is to get to the gym before work at least 3 days a week.  I'd actually like to build that up to 5 days a week but I figure I should start slow and build myself up so that I have less chance of failing.

Wish me luck!

I'll let you know how it goes. . .

Photo Journal: Subway Shenanigans

Looking through some photos from my digital camera, I came across this photo from July. These hooligans were at the 34th street station upstairs near the F train. 

EAT Goodies!

Craig's catering company, Edible Accolades, will be one and a half years old in July.  Even though he is still building his clientele base I am already dreaming up new side projects I could manage for the business.

One side project that I am excited about is EAT: Edible Accolades Treats.  This will be an online side business where people can order gourmet treats  that will be mailed to them or picked up at the kitchen.  I want to keep it simple and start off with three or four types of cookies. I'm thinking chocolate chip, double chocolate chip, white chocolate with cranberry,  and white chocolate macadamia nut cookies.   Then, if things go well I can expand and incorporate other items such as brownies, chocolates, and pies that might ship well. Perhaps some of those other items could be seasonal specials.

Other news on the horizon to look out for is the launch of the Edible Accolades website. I think this should be happening by the end of the month. I saw some proofs of the website and I think they looked fabulous. I can't wait for the website to go live so I can share it with everyone!

Kentucky Ginger

When Craig and I were at The Campbell Apartment after Josephine and Vincent's wedding I ordered a Kentucky Ginger. This was no ordinary bourbon and ginger ale drink though, it was made with homemade ginger ale and it was garnished with fresh rosemary and a piece of candied ginger. It basically tasted awesome.  I have been wanting to have another one ever since Memorial Day weekend. Even though I have found a handful of pretty good cocktails here in Raleigh (like the time I had a really nice martini, at Zely & Ritz, that was made with pickles instead of olives) I know I'm not going to find anything like the Kentucky Ginger I had in NYC here on the home front.

Just when I thought I was going to have to accept that things were different here in Raleigh everything changed. This weekend Craig helped me to re-create the drink at home! First, he made a simple sugar syrup that he infused with fresh ginger. We mixed the simple syrup with some Makers Mark bourbon and club soda. We picked up some fresh rosemary to use as a garnish and  . . . wait for it . . . one of the nice things about having a chef for a husband is that we just happend to have candied ginger laying around!  I couldn't believe how easy it was and now it will be even easier since we have a pretty large stock pile of the simple syrup left over! 

Craig styled and photographed our homemade Kentucky Ginger (above).

You Art What You Eat Food Challenge

Last month I received an honorable mention at our Publication Department's Semi Annual Food Challenge.  The theme of the April Food Challenge was: You Art What You Eat.  For this culinary event we needed to create dishes that were inspired by works of art.

Since I moved to the NC office and the rest of the department is in NYC I was faced with the additional problem of shipping my entry up to NY! After much thought I decided to ship  chocolate & bourbon pecan pies up. Craig and I had made pies like this once to take to my Aunt's house on Thanksgiving a few years ago and I remember that everyone really liked them. This time, I made them alone with a little over the shoulder supervision from Craig.  I followed the recipe for pecan pie that was on the Karo Syrup label and added chocolate chips and some Maker's Mark Bourbon to my taste. We didn't actually have enough Karo Syrup in the pantry so there was a tad less in the pies than  the recipe actually called for.

I decided on the pies because I thought they would ship well, and I could use my favorite Paul Friedrich piece with Dr. Strangegutt contemplating evil or pie.  I stopped at the party supply store to buy boxes and tissue paper and other items that would help with the shipping.  For 24 hours I was really nervous that they would arrive as one big mess.

Actually, they shipped so well that one of my coworkers emailed me to let me know that they were still intact even after the box had been sitting on its side in the reception area! I was happy about that but then I became nervous that they were actually as hard as rocks! After the challenge was over I  received lots of emails letting me know how good the pies were and I was relieved that they were edible. My honorable mention certificate is tacked up on my cubicle wall now, below my employee of the month certificate and next to my 2nd place certificates for the "Hair of the Dog" and the "Picking & Grinning" food challenges.

4 Weddings and a Family Vacation: Wedding #2

This past weekend Craig and I flew up to NYC to  attended our second wedding of the summer.  Josephine Daño and Vincent Zurzolo's Manhattan wedding ranks high on the scale of elegance.  

Since it was a morning wedding, Craig and I left the hotel at about 9:15 a.m. and headed over to the church. At first, we both felt a little out of place on the street, all dressed up so early in the morning. However, when we reached St. Malachy's  Church on West 49th Street between 8th & 9th Avenues, we fit in much better amongst the other wedding guests. 

The 108 year old church was breathtaking.  Josephine and Vincent did not have a traditional Roman Catholic mass, but in addition to several readings, they incorporated two beautiful traditions into their ceremony. They had a veil and lasso ceremony, where a large veil was draped over Josephine's head and over Vincent's shoulders, then a long double rosary made of clear crystal was placed over both of their shoulders. This is a Filipino tradition that symbolizes infinity and everlasting fidelity.  They also had a Latin coin ceremony where Vincent dropped coins into Josephine's hands symbolizing his financial commitment to her and their future children.

Afterwards, while the bridal party took pictures in different parts of the city, guests made their way across town to the Yale Club, on Vanderbilt Avenue, across from Grand Central Station.  There was a cocktail hour in the library with an antipasti buffet with meats, cheeses, pasta salads and mini empanadas as well as numerous pass around appetizers. The cocktail hour was followed by a 3 course dinner in a ball room on the second floor of the club.  The DJ was also a singer who sounded like Frank Sinatra. There was lots of dancing, speeches and fun all around. When I wasn't dancing with craig I was having a lot of fun catching up with old friends I hadn't seen since leaving NY two years ago.

And that is not all! For an after-party, Vincent and Josephine rented the mezzanine at The Campbell Apartment which is a high class lounge located in the corner of Grand Central Station. It provided a more intimate opportunity to talk with Josephine and other wedding guests after the reception --an opportunity I didn't really think I would actually get to have.  Craig and I didn't get back to our hotel until nearly midnight! It was a long but wonderful day.

Photo Journal: Andrew's first time in the pool

Andrew takes his first dip in the pool with his Opa Dad and his Mama Marybeth!  He liked it!

4 Weddings and a Family Vacation: Wedding #1

This is the summer of four weddings and a family vacation for Craig and me. On Saturday we kicked off  the first leg of this summers nuptuals  by attending the wedding of JoAnne Elizabeth Dickens and Jonathan Wade Hodges.

JoAnne and Jonathan have known each other since the eighth grade and I think they started dating when they were sophmores or juniors in high school. They both went on to Appalachian State and soon after they gratuated they were engaged. After they return from their honeymoon they will be moving off together to Georgia to begin their new life together.

JoAnne is the youngest daughter of one of my mother's best friends from High School, and she and I have grown up referring to each other as "cousins." I also want to note here that she is the youngest of 5, which I think adds to her spunk and tenacity. She is a writer who not only planned her wedding this year, she wrote an entire novel! I really truly believe that she has the strength and determination to succeed in anything she puts her heart and mind to.

On Saturday, they didn't have a mass celebrated during their wedding, but they did have a few readings and songs which really enriched the ceremony. Father McConville spoke about marriage and was both funny and poignant. I really enjoyed his homily.

The reception was at the North Raleigh Hilton. It was the first time in a long time that I had a sit down meal at a wedding as opposed to a buffet. Both Craig and I had the prime rib-which I must say was pretty darn good! I think whenever there is a choice of beef, fish or chicken I am going to opt for the beef from now on. As the evening progressed so did the party. Lots of dancing and good times!

One of the details I really liked was that at each table they had placed different photos of themselves along with some facts about their relationship. For example at our table the facts told us about how Jo and Jonathan celebrated their anniversaries. Jonathan would take Jo out to a fancy restaurant every year and Jo would get Jonathan the appropriate year's edition of the John Madden football video game.

One of the highlights of the evening was Jo Anne and Jonathan's first dance, they had a music montage of both romantic and fun songs. They even incorporated a very cute personally choreographed line dance that just HAS to make it to youtube!

Photo Journal: The Big Surprise!

This was Mariucci's face when she saw her friend, Buffett, who had flown in from Texas as a surprise for the Christening.   It was awesome!

Busy Busy Exhausting Weekend!

I think I have finally recovered from our weekend of catering. Craig booked two parties this past weekend. On Saturday he catered a small wedding for the mother of our friend (and Craig's co-worker/employee, Kevin) and on Sunday he catered a retirement party for my mom's friend/hair dresser. I was his kitchen helper.

My role as helper actually started during my lunch break on Friday when I ran errands such as, making the car payment at the bank, picking up the car magnets and driving across town to pick up a giant cutting board, a platter and some table cloths from United  Restaurant Equipment. Then after work I ran to BJ's to get 24 loaves of bread for sandwiches and french toast that Craig would be making this week. Luckily the AKC is pretty centrally located between all of those places with I-40, I-540 and Glenwood Ave at my disposal.

Friday night we stayed at the kitchen until nearly 10 p.m. prepping and cleaning.  Then we got up at 5:07 in the morning to head back to the kitchen. I know it was 5:07 because I allowed us to hit the snooze button once.  We were actually in the kitchen and working by 5:20.  Craig left with the food at 9:30 in the morning while I stayed behind to sweep up and finish cleaning some sheet pans etc.  Then I went home, cleaned the bath room, took a shower, had a egg salad at sandwich Harmony Café, went back to the kitchen to load up my car with the food for the halfway house (this food was actually prepped on Friday so it was ready to go), drove across town and delivered it.

By the time I drove back home and relaxed just a little bit, Craig sent me a text message to tell me that it was time  to clean up at the wedding-so off I went to the wedding reception site. I helped load up the car and bring things back to the kitchen. Then I was cleaning all sorts of platters and pans all over again.

Much to my dismay, we ended up staying at the kitchen until 10 p.m. again as we prepped for Sunday's party. However, I tried to put on a happy face about this. Craig said I could go home but I didn't want to leave him to do everything by himself. Things did get a little punchy when I was slicing the cheese for the cheese platters on the slicer. Craig and I volleyed a lot of "cutting the cheese" jokes.

We were able to sleep in a little bit on Sunday--if you count sleeping until 7 a.m. as sleeping in. Then, we were off to the kitchen again! This time Kevin was working and he came in around 9 a.m. at which point I was relieved of my kitchen helper duty. (yey!) I went over to Starbucks  and bought Craig a Chai though because I thought he would like it. (Kevin didn't want anything).  After that I went home, cleaned the rest of the apartment and got ready to go over to the retirement party to take some pictures of the food.  Over all, both parties were a success and Craig received a lot of complements. I think he really got a lot of good exposure.

Here are some pictures of Sunday's event (Craig forgot to take pictures on Saturday, although I think Kevin took some and we may be able to get some from the wedding photographer):

Fruit and Cheese:

The Spread:

The Team:

Spinach Dip:

Tending the Bar:

Refilling the Vegetables:

 Mr. Powers and Dad, Ironically Dressed the Same:

Governor's Club Table:
(Wow! Did my mom drum up all that business for Eva?)

Create-A-Dog Day

This month at work we are having the second annual May Days events put on by the employee events team (EET). Last year we had a week of events (which, by the way, I headed up and subsequently was awarded Employee of the Month for). Last year, the week, called May Days, included handing out free sunscreen  to everyone; stocking some mail carts with snacks and pushing them around the building to deliver snacks and drinks to everyone at their desks; dressing up for a fiesta on Cinco de Mayo (we weren't allowed to serve margaritas like we wanted to); creating sculptures of dogs out of Play-Doh & having them judged by conformation judges as well as fellow employees, giving out Krispy Kreme donuts to everyone; and a grand finale of setting up two wii stations in a conference room so people could take their break by playing on the wii.  This year they learned from last year's trouble spots and decided to spread the events out a little so that the May Days are spread out throughout the month. I also learned from my trouble spots and opted not to be a part of the subcomittee that planned this year's events!

Yesterday, we had our "Create-A-Dog" event. Instead of making sculptures the team decided that people could use several art supplies such as construction paper, crayons, colored pencils, glue etc. to create a piece of dog artwork. The only major rules were, you could only use supplies that were provided, you could not trace anything and it had to fit on an 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper. For the second year in a row my friend, Karen, walked away from the competition as a winner. Last year she won first place with her pink play-doh Scottish Terrier. This year she won second place with a pink "hole-punch" poodle.
 
Let me back track for a moment. On Monday, my friend Jennifer who works in HR called me. She told me that she was signed up for the Create-A-Dog Contest at 11:00 and that I had to participate with her. Since, "no," was apparantly not an option I hesitated and said, "uh, okay, but Karen has to participate too then!" That is how Jennifer, Karen and I ended up participating in the contest.  While we waited for Wedneday to roll around Karen and I hemmed and hawed about not knowing what we were going to do for the contest. We also waxed philospohical about how we could create dogs that were 1D since the email advertisement for the contest said you could create 1D, 2D and 3D artwork.
 
Then, yesterday, at 11:00 a.m. we were sitting in a conference room, with our art supplies in front of us, waiting to begin. Karen, was giving the EET members in charge a hard time by asking if she could tear a page out of the Complete Dog Book they provided her with as a point of reference and then joked that she was going to glue some of the pages together (she is such the class clown!). When the signal was given to begin Karen picks up a piece of pink construction paper and a hole puncher and proceeds to rhythmically punch holes...Punch! Punch! Punch Punch! Punch! (Like a timer of some sort). She was driving the rest of us in the room crazy with her punching!  She did this whole hole punching bit for at least 5 of the 20 minutes we were given to create our dog masterpieces. At one point I even thought that she was just punching holes in that paper out of spite to annoy us all because she didn't really want to participate. In the end, she created a pretty polished looking cartoon poodle. She had glued the "pink holes" onto the paper so that it became the poodle's signature puffs, bracelets and pompons! I must say, I think it was pretty awesome.

 I made a pencil drawing of a Doberman Pinscher but it didn't place. I spent a lot of time penciling the shape of the dog but I ran out of time before I could really shade it very well. I decided to do a pencil drawing since I did a pretty good pencil drawing in a HS art class once and recieved accolades about it somewhat recently from a good friend of mine, Nina, who I consider a great artist. I think my sketch, yesterday, sort of resembled a deer more than a dobe, but my friends assured me that they thought it looked really good. I usually am my worst critic so I'll take their word for it. Maybe, if I have time, I will go out and buy a sketch book and try it again . . . this time without a time constraint and in a quiet peaceful place.

65 Red Roses

A few weeks ago I read about Eva Markvoort, a young Canadian woman who had lost her battle with Cystic Fibrosis and her body's chronic rejection of  a pair of lungs she had received two years ago when she had a double lung transplant.  She was just shy of her 26th birthday when she passed away.

Since I read about her death, I  have spent the past couple of weeks reading her LJ account 65_Red_Roses.  I started reading her blog from the beginning. Let me tell you, it is amazing. I highly recommend people read it. I don't think I can take any part of my life for granted ever again and the phrase, "at least you have your health," has a totally new meaning to me.   If you are interested in reading her blog here is a link to it: http://65redroses.livejournal.com/

It was so interesting to hear Eva's thoughts about her love of life and what her life was like living with a chronic disease.  She was vibrant and creative. She loved life and fought for her life until the very end. In the process she touched countless others whether they be people she actually knew or people she met online through her LJ account.  She posted pictures and videos of herself during her best moments, her worst moments and everything in between. At times you can see how she is a young 20-something just living life and at other times you hear about her struggles and loneliness when she is stuck in the hospital for weeks at a time. Towards the end she was receiving mail from people around the world wishing her well. She started what she called her, "Wall of Love," by putting all her cards and letters and pictures she received on her bedroom wall. She even thanked many people personally for the mail they sent by showing pictures and videos of all of the mail she received . . . until she was no longer strong enough to do so.  One of her important messages was how she was amazed by how she had put her love out into the world and she was receiving it back through the letters of people from around the world. She began to realize that even though she would die that she wouldn't be gone because she would be remembered by the love of the people she had touched.  Between her words and her photos you can tell she was just a beautiful person both inside and out!  I wish I could have discovered her blog before she died so that I could have sent her a card or a letter as well.  

Two major causes that Eva worked hard at was raising awareness about Cystic Fibrosis and the importance of being an organ donor. Friends of Eva's who were film makers made an award winning  documentary called 65_Red_Roses that showed her wait for a double lung transplant. I am going to purchase a copy. You can pre-order a copy of the documentary until the end of May at http://www.65redroses.com/

Time Flies When You Are Having Fun

Boy, it has been nearly a month since I last posted. So much for posting every day until June 30th!  So, what has happened since April 15th . . . .

Well, on April 15th Craig and I went out for appetizers and drinks at Mccormick and Schmick's with our friends Rob and Kim.   The restaurant was running a special so we got these coupons that were for $10.40 off of our next visit before the end of May (excluding mother's day of course).  We went back last week for dinner and used one of the coupons. Dinner was really good but we also had dessert which made me feel pretty guilty afterwards.

We went rode our bikes a few times on the greenway. We were able to go farther and faster every time we went out. We bought these little speedometers that we attached to the bicycles. We can record how fast we go, our maximum speed, average speed, how long we rode, how many calories and fat calories we burned, what the temperature was etc. We are keeping a spreadsheet of all of this information on our computer to see how we are doing. We are also thinking of trying new trails on the greenway for variety.

We've been out for ice cream and slushes a few times. There is a new ice cream place that is just minutes away from our apartment. They the ice cream they sell is from a local farm in Carborro. Everything is organic yada yada yada. It is pretty yummy though. I am sort of a purist when it comes to ice cream and I have had chocolate and strawberry so far. Craig has tried some of the other flavors such as Carolina Crunch and Chocolate with Almonds.  The Sunset Slush place is a little farther away from where we live but definitely worth the drive. They sell slush that is sort of like an italian ice but much better. I'd say it was like gelato but I have never actually had gelato (I think). It does not have dairy in it so it is very low in calories and I don't think it has any fat in it at all.

My God Son was baptized in April. It is pretty neat that my sister lives across the street and down the block a little bit from the church. A lot of us walked from her house to the church before the ceremony. I liked that it was a little procession with Andrew in his christening outfit and the family behind him walking together to the church. It reminded me of what it might be like if we lived in some small european town where people actually walk to church.  Afterwards my sister and her husband threw a nice party in their back yard. They had fried chicken and pork bbq, hush puppies and all the fixin's. They  had tents up in the back yard which came in handy since it rained a little bit. There were little kids running around playing and the adults sat around the tables talking, eating and drinking. It was especially nice to see friends and family from out of town who had flown in for the baptism. One of Marybeth's good friends, Jennifer, from College came to town from Texas and surprised her. It was great! I'll have to post a picture of Marybeth's face when she saw her friend standing in her kitchen! I'm especially proud since in my family I am given a hard time quite often for not being able to keep a secret, however I was an integral part of keeping the surprise a secret and I did it! Mb gave me kudos since kudos were due!

Ironically, on the same weekend of the Baptism, it was the First Communion for one of our nephews on Craig's side of the family. Craig and I woke up early on Sunday and drove to Wilmington for the occasion. It was a very nice ceremony because there was only one class of about 14 students who were receiving their communion for the first time. Most of the people at the mass were family of the recipients and the mass itself was very intimate. Afterwards we went to a Japanese Steakhouse for lunch and cake. After lunch Craig and I went over to his parents house for a little bit and had tea and just talked for a while before we had to drive back to Raleigh. Before we left, Craig's mom gave me a really pretty candle holder made of wrought iron and hand blown glass that she said she had and kept forgetting to give to me. I think she may have picked it up during our vacation in the Blue Ridge Mountains last year during the Freeman Family Vacation but I am not sure.

I went out for sushi with a co-worker one night after work. She and I had said that we would go out for sushi for at least 5 months now and we finally did it. I really like her a lot but we don't get much opportunity to hang out together. I think we have a lot in common and I hope we get more opportunities to hang out. I am a little worried though, that I may have bored her with my conversation. I hope not!

Craig and I vowed that we were going to lose weight before we went to NY for Josephine's wedding but  even though we have been trying really hard by exercising more and eating better we really haven't lost any weight--which is kind of frustrating. I guess we will have to do even more exercising and stop going out for ice cream altogether --boo!

I guess the last thing we did since my last post was that we went to a party of a friend of mine, who I went to HS and college with, last weekend. We stayed longer than I thought we would -I'm not really sure how late I actually thought we would stay but we ended up staying until about 11:30 p.m.   We were not the first to leave but there were still a good number of people there when we left. My friend's husband grilled some very nice kabobs and vegetables. He had different sauces for the kabobs, one was african, one was peanut and the last one was a cucumber dill sauce.  My friend had fresh pita bread and made a nice tsatsiki sauce and home made hummus for dipping. Their two year old daughter was the star of the party as she kept going to the cooler and getting beers out and handing them to the adults. People were joking and calling her a beer wench. My friend's husband is part Scottish and part Norwegian.  One thing that blows me away is when she talks to her little daughter in Norwegian. I told her, if anyone would have told me back in HS or college that she would know how to speak Norwegian I would  have said they were crazy! But it is true, she speaks Norwegian and even goes to Norway for several weeks every summer! How cool is that?

Photo Journal: Mice

These little mice were living in the window display of an upper east side florist.  

It kind of inspires me to write a children's story about mice living in the window display of an upper east side florist.

February Trip to NY: Part 2

The the second leg of my New York trip was meeting up with my friends May and Josephine at areally awesome Japanese restaurant called Inayaka http://www.inakayany.com/ .  I posted a photo of my desert here because even though May and Josephine are both beautiful, I unfortunately look horrible in all of the pictures we took.

It happened to be restaurant week during my visit and we were able to get quite a good three course meal at a very reasonable price. I loved how the waiter would call out our orders in Japanese to the chefs and the chefs would shout back to the waiter. I had no idea what they saying but it was very cool because it was in Japanese. Craig later made fun of me (in a lovingly joking sort of way of course) saying that it was akin to ordering at a Waffle House or something that the waiter would shout out,  "2 egg special! Side of hash browns!" and the short order cook would repeat it back.  This was A LOT better than the Waffle House though!

Another thing I thought was super neat was that since we were eating at the sushi bar our drinks and food were served to us on a paddle that the chef used to reach across from the kitchen to where we were sitting. Then, toward the middle of our meal there was a slight commotion in the dining room when two chefs were taking turns pounding sticky rice with large mallets into sheets of mochi.

One thing that really stands out to me about the friends I have made in NY is that even though nearly two years had gone by with very little action in the keeping in touch process, I feel like the three of us got together as if no time had really passed at all. Everything fell into place as if it was just one of our many get togethers when I was still living in NYC.  I wish the three of us had more time to spend together during my visit but I am really glad that we were able to get together even for a short time.

Photo Journal: Adventures at the Black Bear Lodge

This is a photo of one of my sister's best friends licking the gun of the Big Buck Hunters video game at the Big Bear Lodge during her bachelorette party weekend.  It is one of my favorite photos in the world!

Also, we have no idea who the girl actually playing the game or her friends were.  I sometimes wonder if they ever talk about the time when some random girl came up and licked the Big Buck Hunters gun!

February Trip to NY: Part 1

This past February I took a trip up to NY for a week to work and to visit with friends.  It was probably one of the coldest times of the year. The week started out with a very cold rain and later developed into one of the largest snowfalls NYC had ever had. People asked me if I missed NY, and I did, but the weather made it a little easier to say no I didn't really miss it that much.

What I do miss are the friends I have in NY. When I first arrived I stayed for two days with my friend Samantha. Samantha and I know each other because we were cubicle-mates at a magazine publishing company in lower Manhattan. (more about that later though).

During my first night we relaxed at her apartment, ordered Thai food and just caught up with each other. After work on the second night we met up at the Gramercy Park Hotel for a drink and a snack with our friend Sue. From there we walked around the park and went to an art show at the National Arts Club because two of Sam and Sue's friends were showing pieces.

It is kind of funny how when you live some place, sometimes you don't really take advantage of the things around you since you are busy living your life from day to day. I literally lived around the corner from the National Arts Club, on 23rd street, and have walked passed it countless times without ever giving it a side glance except to maybe admire the architecture. Oh well, ces't la vie!

Aside from the actual art show, which was very cool, there was a side hallway that I really enjoyed walking down. This hallway was lined with large photographs all depicting love--probably due to it being February and Valentines day.  Most, if not all of the photographs were black and white shots of couples embracing and such. One of my favorites was of a couple, mostly nude standing face to face to kiss, but there was a lampshade over their heads. Not sure why, but the photo sort of stuck me. Another photo that struck me was one of a love note that had been left on a dresser. The memory of this photo is a bit hazier though.

The photo above was taken at the National Arts Club by one of Sam and Sue's artist friends. It is of Sue, me, Sam and their other artist friend.

Photo Journal: Boating

This photo is actually from February 2006 when Craig's brother took us out on his boat. This is a picture I really love of Craig and one of his nephews.

Cycle

Back in 1997 or 1998 I bought this bicyle so that I could go riding with my friends Susan and Clay. It is a red and black Bianchi Premio racing bike--though the one I have is more for training on rather than racing.

Susan and Clay rode with a larger group of cyclists who rode together around Raleigh in areas that were less populated by cars. Or at least it seemed so to me at the time. Let me tell you, I was the worst cyclist in the group. I was always last, lagging a good way behind everyone-huffing and puffing as I rode. Someone from the group would always have to lag behind to make sure I hadn't keeled over. Then, after what seemed to be a handful of rides with the group, Susan and Clay moved to Chicago and my Bianchi Premio slowly made it's way to the crawl space underneath my parent's house where it has stayed, collecting dust, for more than a decade.

Last weekend, however, we rescued it from banishment! We hosed it down and brought it back to our apartment and today we will bring it to the bicycle shop for a major overhaul. I hope that the people in the bicycle store don't give me dirty looks because of the sad shape my bike is in. It definitely needs new tires. It basically needs to have everything about it checked out to make sure it is safe to ride.

What's more, is that I am really excited to ride it again. In the years past, I really never thought about my bicycle very much, but now I can't wait for it to be fixed!

Photo Journal: Opa Dad Attacks!

Little did I know as I was attending to the needs of my Godson that Opa Dad was about to descend upon us!

Pollen Allert

Sometime this weekend the South had its annual pollen explosion. I think today was the worst. It was as if God had been cleaning his chalkboard erasers up in heaven and the entire South was covered in a yellow-green chalky dust. Now, it is in the air and on the ground. Nothing outside has been untouched by the pollen. It is just everywhere. You can even see it swirling through the air when there is a breeze. If you have allergies you are suffering. I want to wash my car but I think I will just wait for it to rain first. It is almost a futile battle to wash the car at this point because as soon as it is clean it will start to accumulate the pollen again. Plus, everyone is in the same boat. All of the cars pretty much have at least a half inch of pollen on them anyway! . . . except that black car next to mine in the parking lot! d'oh!

Buona Pasqua!

This Easter, was a really nice one. To start off, Craig and I actually went to Church (more about my recent return to Church later). We sat with our friends Jennifer and Kevin and their families.

After Church we went home and accomplished a few chores around the house before driving to my parents house for a wonderful Easter dinner.

When we arrived my mom had a nice appetizer spread ready on the kitchen table with some anti-pasta and a 7-layer dip with some tortilla chips to snack on. Craig and I brought over some left over cheese bread puffs that Craig had made for Saturday's fancy tailgate at the Hurricane's game. We spent some time just chit chatting and also taking turns walking around with my almost 4 month old nephew who was a little fussy but fun none the less.

Dinner started with a salad and then some pasta with Italian sausage. Then we had a little break to digest. When dinner resumed we had lamb, honey glazed baby carrots, asparagus, and garlic roasted potatoes. It was delicious!

One dilemma I ended up having was that in the weeks prior to Easter I made a really big deal about having mint jelly to go with the lamb. Well, imagine my surprise when I found out that my mom, in addition to having mint jelly on hand, also made an awesome home made Tzatziki sauce to go on the lamb. I couldn't not have the mint jelly that I had so strongly requested, but I really wanted to try the Tzatziki! In the end I compromised and had a little bit of both.

After dinner, along with some coffee we feasted on the special Easter cupcakes my mom made. They looked so cute and good enough to sell in a cupcake shop! They were chocolate cupcakes with some white icing. She took some shredded coconut and mixed it with a little green food coloring to make edible eastro-turf and sprinkled it on top of the cupcakes. Then she nestled a few jelly beans on top of them and then sprinkled a few on the platter they were sitting on. They were really neat, and they tasted great too!

All in all it was a pretty nice day. The weather was great and after my sister and her family left, Craig and I stayed a little longer and sat on the back porch talking with my parents for awhile. I was a little sad to have to go home when it was time to leave.

Big Daddy Love

This past Thursday, Craig and I went to the Six String Café in Cary to see Big Daddy Love play. I have to tell you, I think that maybe I was destined to live in the south because I really like country/bluegrass music. I especially like banjo playing!

The reason I even know about this band is because one of the band members (ironically, the electric banjo player) is a relative of one of my friends here at the AKC. We had a great time and it was nice to go to a venue with a group of people we actually knew as opposed to some of the bands we saw in NY where the audience around us were strangers. I only wished that my cousin Chris could have been there with us because I think he would have really liked the band.

Although every one of the bands original songs was awesome, one of the highlights of the evening for me was when the band did a cover of Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall. The song started out as it normally would but when the chorus came around the band broke out into bluegrass giving the song it's own Big Daddy Love twist to it.

Before we left, we purchased one of the CD's they were selling and I've been listening to it in my car ever since. My friend also told me of two more dates this summer when the band would be playing close by. I hope to catch both shows when they roll around.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Even though we rarely go to the casinos for some reason Craig and I discovered that we really like to gamble. It is probably a good thing we don't live in Las Vegas or Biloxi. Even when we lived in NY we only went to Atlantic City a handful of times. When we go on vacation, however, if there is a casino around, we will try to check it out. We don't play slots when we go either--we play blackjack, craps and sometimes roulette.

On March 14th Craig and I attended the Kids in the Community Casino Night hosted by the Carolina Hurricanes. It had been some time since we've been in any casino setting so we spent a little time before we had to get ready that day practicing our blackjack strategy. It was pretty funny, at one point I said we had better pack it in before we lose track of time and miss the actual casino night!

When we first arrived at the RBC center we went down the elevator near the locker room. After getting our "Stormy Bucks" we walked out onto the Casino floor which was set up on top of the ice. The place was so well transformed that it was easy to forget that you were on top of the ice in the middle of the RBC center. There was food, an open bar, a silent auction before and during the gambling time and then a live auction towards the end of the night. We did not bid on anything since we had already paid a bit for the tickets just to be there.

We started out with a drink and we got some food, but we were still eating when the Casino opened. The result was that we did not get to play black jack at a table where a Hurricane's player was dealing. It wasn't a tragedy though because the dealer that we had was a hoot! She really made the evening fun. We got to practice our blackjack strategy in a casino setting without using, or should I say losing, real money.

We didn't hit it big but we did have a lot of fun and we were able to get a few photos taken with a couple of the Hurricane's players. The photo above, is of Rod Brind'Amour with Craig and me.

Two Years Back Below the Mason-Dixon Line!

Today was such a nice day. Clear skies for miles and the temperature was in the upper 8o's with a slight breeze. I couldn't pass up an opportunity to get out of the office for a little bit so I decided to take a walk during my lunch break. It was so peaceful and quiet I couldn't believe it. I could hear the traffic on Lumley Road and Glenwood Avenue but it was more like white static noise in the distance than anything else. As I was taking my walk I realized that today is Craig and my two year anniversary moving back to North Carolina! Crazy! Two Year's ago today we were pulling up to my parents house in a rented minivan that was packed with odds and ends that did not fit into the moving truck. Our two cats were sleeping in their cat carriers in the back seat, probably wondering what had happened to them and why they had to be locked up for such a long car ride!

I don't remember what the weather was like two years ago when we arrived in NC but I do remember when we left NY it was a torrential rain pour. I was scared to death that we were going to hydroplane and skid off the road. We made it though, and although it was sad to leave our Northern friends behind, it has been the best move we have made. Since then, everything seems to be like sunny skies.

Since we have moved we have fallen back into old friendships that have picked up where we left off and we have made new amazing friendships as well. We have moved into a very cute apartment that is convenient to both of our jobs. Craig has opened a catering business which is slowly picking up more and more business. We have purchased two cars. Craig bought a bicycle, I started taking Pilates. We are both eating a lot healthier and getting back in shape. With Craig's more regular hours we see each other a lot more than we used to. We go on walks together. Once my bicycle has had a tune up we can bike ride together. All in all I would have to say that life has really been treating us well.

Jimmy Buffett Shooters

Every March at the AKC the Community Events Team sponsors a March Madness Jimmy V. Shootout fundraiser. There are prizes for most baskets made, best team uniform, best doggie mascot, most money raised, and best cheerleading squad.

Since I transferred my job from the NY office to the NC office about two years ago and the rest of my department is up in NY, I am part of a Jimmy V shooting team that is compiled by a number of smaller departments. It is me, Internet Services, HR, Payroll and the Internal Consulting Group. One of the funny things about my team is that

most of us are non- participators. We don't like shooting, we don't like cheering, we don't want to spend our money on ordering custom T-shirts for our "cheerleading squad". In fact, when I told my husband how I was with a group of people that were worse non-participators than me his response was, "Impossible! No one is a worse non-participator than you!"

Last year, the shoot out was supposed to be on Friday March 13. I threw out the suggestion that we all dress gothic and not cheer. Much to my surprise the group went for it! We all dressed in black and acted uninterested in cheering. Our Mascot, Revs, a Siberian Husky, even donned some eyeliner type make up and a pair of shorts with skull and crossbones on them. Even though we didn't make many baskets it was actually a lot of fun. Much to our surprise we ended up winning best team uniform!

This year, we decided to make a spoof and we ended up being the Jimmy B Shooters. Although our idea of having fake shots was vetoed by the head of HR. We dressed like Parrot Heads, played Jimmy Buffett Music as we came out, held signs that said things like Margaritaville and Cheeseburger in Paradise. We even had a portable grill with us and a pink flamingo. Poor Revs wore a sun visor and even a blow up inner-tube that looked like some sort of fish. I think his T-Shirt said: Fur is the New Tan. We only made 17 baskets (I contributed 1 of the baskets) and for the second year in a row my team has won best team uniform!

The only other group that I got to see was Government Relations. They came down, people and canines alike, all bandaged up. Some employees had crutches and one of them even had a walker. Their Team name was "The Hurting Group" and their team cheer was loud cries of "Aowwwwww!" It was pretty hysterical.

All in all the employees raised over $1,600.00 with the event. I think this event is one of my favorite times that makes me really happy about working at the AKC.

Long Overdue

This past Tuesday I decided to go to the mall! The mall is not really a place you would find me very often, and not surprisingly my wardrobe unfortunately reflects this. Some time, a few years ago, when I really started gaining a lot of weight I stopped going shopping for myself. It was too depressing to try on clothes that were a size I previously fit into and find that they were too small. Even more depressing was that the size I previously fit into was a much larger size than I really wanted to be in the first place. Not to mention, that most of the styles I like look a lot better on a size 6.

My husband says that no matter what size you are you should buy clothes that fit and that you feel good in. That way, you feel good about yourself and can be more confident. I think he is completely right. By the way he always looks nice and stylish!

So, I went to the mall armed with my Christmas money and made a few purchases. Two sweaters and a pair of slacks from J.Jill and two pairs of shoes from 9 West. Recently I've lost a little bit of weight and though I am far from my goal, I found that the shopping wasn't too terribly discouraging.

Now, in an effort to make sure I don't just wear these items to death I have made a promise to myself that every time I get paid I will purchase one outfit or piece of an outfit and at the same time donate something old to good will. I already have a bag full of items that I need to drop off so I added two pairs of shoes I never wear to the bag. This weekend I will drop everything off and consider it my first success.

My Nephew

Last month, my sister had a baby boy. We didn't expect him until January, but he decided to be born a little bit before Christmas and on our dad's birthday to boot! I don't think there is any beating being the first grandchild on our side of the family, being a grand son AND being born on grandpa's birthday!

I'm a little partial but I think my new nephew is the cutest baby in the world!

Here's the story about the day he was born:

It was the second day of our Christmas cookie baking extravaganza in the catering kitchen. Ironically, the day before she had made a comment that he could come out at any time and that it was okay with her. Little did we know, that on the following day, when I was trying to roll some Mexican wedding cookies into little balls she would hang up her cell phone and announce that the doctor had told her to come on into the hospital. Apparently her water had broken!

Let me tell you, it was actually one of the most exciting days of my life! I would never have imagined in my wildest dreams that it would be me who drove my sister to the hospital when it was time for my nephew to be born. Even more exciting is that after she was all hooked up to the monitors at the hospital I got to hear my little nephew's heartbeat. I have to say, that was a pretty profound moment. I have never heard an unborn child's heart beat before and under any other circumstances I might not have had this opportunity.

He took a little over a day to actually be born (probably because he knew it would be his grandfather's birthday), and after the doctors had examined him, it was determined that he was a full term baby, which made everyone sigh with relief.

1200 Calories and Less than 20 Grams of Fat Per Day

I was talking to a co-worker recently about the weight she has lost over the past year. I'm not exactly sure how much weight she has lost but it is somewhere around 38 lbs or so. She told me that it was really simple and that she had been limiting herself to 1200 calories and less than 20 grams of fat per day. She has been exercising but she even lost weight before she started exercising.

This got me thinking. I'm pretty good about not eating too many calories, most of the time, but I never really pay attention to the grams of fat that are in the foods I eat. Perhaps that is one of the problems I have. After all, I have been plateaued at my present weight for longer than I would like to admit.

Since my co-worker imparted me with this tidbit of knowledge I have tried to keep track of my calories and fat intake so I could especially keep that fat intake less than 20 grams.

Well, it is seriously hard to do--eat less than 20 grams of fat per day! I put too much creamer in my coffee every morning and that blows quite a few grams right there--guess I better switch to the sugar free and fat free version. I have started really examining the nutrition labels on food before I commit to eating it lately.

So far, I have still managed to go over 20 grams of fat every day. However, I am not too far over the threshold--so maybe I can still improve on this.

So far, I have noticed that if I eat more like a vegetarian I may be able to accomplish this limited fat intake. I don't really have a problem eating vegetarian, I did so for several years in HS and college, albeit very unhealthily.

The problem I have is more cerebral. With all of the eco-green marketing that gets shoved down our throats every day, part of me feels annoyed to be picking up portobello garlic vegan burgers at the grocery store.-- Like I have finally succumbed to the green movement. I hope I don't line the back bumper of my car with eco-friendly slogans! Got Soy? I Brake for Local Produce!

Things Come Together

I am planning a trip to New York at the end of February. What started out as a trip to visit a friend for the weekend has blossomed into a week-long trip during which I can work in the New York office during the day and visit with friends during the evening.

At first I thought a week would be long enough, but soon I began to realize that there are actually a lot more people that I want to visit than I originally thought. Luckily I have a wedding to go to at the end of May so I hope to see a few more people when I travel up for that. Then there are two weddings during the same weekend in August--though I doubt there will be time for any extracurricular visiting then.

In my frenzy to see as many people as I can during this trip I have made plans to stay with a different person each night of the visit from Monday-Thursday. I will go from Jackson Heights to Astoria to the Bronx then back to Astoria then out to Long Island. Each time I will be working in Manhattan between each visit. The problem is I really don't want to be lugging my luggage (no pun intended) from Jackson Heights to Manhattan to Astoria to Manhattan to the Bronx to Manhattan and back to Astoria then out to Long Island. I woke up several times last night thinking about how to get my clothes from place to place without bringing my large suitcase with me all over the place.

A possible solution presented itself this morning which made me very excited. It turns out that my colleague, Bob, might be traveling to the NY office that same week! The best part is that he gets to use the company apartment which is just blocks away from the office! He and I were talking about it this morning and agreed that I could leave my larger suitcase at the company apartment and then just carry my essentials in a smaller overnight bag each night. How awesome is that? I really hope he is traveling to the NY office the same week I am! If not, I suppose I can do the same sort of thing and leave my larger suitcase at the office under the desk or something.

Nano Not So Much

Well, I didn't do so well with NaNoWriMo this year. I only wrote 11,328 words of the 50,000 word goal. The good thing is that I wrote more than I have in the past 10 years probably. Another good thing is that I plan to try it again next year.

Problems that I came across were that I wrote 11,328 words about two characters doing things but there was really no plot so it was pretty flat. I had ideas about what I ultimately wanted the end result to be but no real plan of how to get from point A to point B, so my characters kept getting up and going about doing the mundane tasks of their daily lives with nothing really happening.

The solution was that, for Christmas, I asked for and received a book called Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell. I Have started to read it and so far I think it will be extremely helpful.

One thing that I really like about the book is that it has exercises in it. This is the sort of thing I need. I have to re-educate myself in the art of creative writing. Correction: I may have to actually educate myself in the art of creative writing. Even though I studied this in college, I really think that maybe I didn't really get it. I had ideas but they never really made it past the drawing board. I think the problem was that I didn't really map out about the plot very well. Instead I focused on a lot of description and emotions which really just resulted in a lot of literary snapshots of a scene but no real scene. Hopefully, all of that is going to change!