Hey, Hey, it's my Birthday!

It was rainy and cold and I had to work on my birthday.  Not fun.  But, I made up for it that night at drinks and dinner with friends at The Jane.

We started out with drinks in the bar/lounge...one of my favorite places in NYC! (Most pictures courtesy of my friend, and food-blogger extraordinaire, Amanda).

After drinks and everyone's arrival, we walked (across the hall) to Cafe Gitane for dinner.  It was lovely!

Most of us got some of the avocado toast to

share with someone.  It was good, but not great.

 

This is my crazy meal of cous cous with a

huge mound of hummus on top!  Ha!  It

was good and I had plenty leftover for

another dinner the next night.

Lucy's salad in the back and Amanda's Salmon

Pot-Pie up front.

The girls made sure I got dessert and

a birthday candle to boot! This was a

chocolate bread pudding and was so good!

We also tried the warm chocolate cake, which was

good, but would have been better with a molten center :)

Some girls from Community Group - Robyn, Jen, Kim

Amanda and Lucy

I am sad I did not get pictures of Hillery, Mallorie, Stacy, or Mindy who were also there.  It was a fun night and I am so very thankful to have friends to celebrate my birthday with!

Dallas for the Weekend

I booked a very last-minute ticket to Texas a couple of weeks ago and went home for the weekend! I just felt the need to get-away and spend a few days with the family outside of the hustle and bustle of the big(er) city. I know I get away a lot and this summer has really been no exception, especially with some day-trips to the beach thrown in there. Regardless, I still needed a weekend away and after being back a few days, I think it was just what the DR ordered!

My main goals were to get some sun and hang out with my family. As usual, we managed to fit in quite a bit of fun. Here is what the weekend held:

-- Lots of pool time on Saturday, Sunday and a little more on Monday. The boys were usually out there with me and Beth was in the pool quite a bit as well. It was very hot, so we couldn't lay out, but had to be in the pool at all times. The boys are fun to play with and Beth has a couple of good rafts to lounge on if you can sneak a few minutes away from the rowdiness of the 3 and 5 year-olds.

These boys love to JUMP!

-- Birthday Lunch! My mom and sister pulled together a very spontaneous/impromptu birthday party for me. So sweet! We had a yummy lunch followed by Nothing Bundt Cakes. They were sooo good! Mom got 4 flavors and we split them all - carrot cake, red velvet, chocolate, and lemon. I can't say which was best - they were all delish! I also got some fun and very generous gifts!

-- A bike ride. Brian, Ryder, and I went on a bike ride Saturday afternoon and it was so fun, but my bum is not used to being on a bike. I realllyyy want a bike in NYC. I think I would put it to good use and even ride it to work!

-- Evening with the boys. Beth cancelled her babysitter for Saturday night so I could hang out with the boys instead. We swam some more and then went and got chick-fil-a for dinner. They had trouble going to sleep that night and it didn't help that the doorbell rang and when they came out of their bedroom to see who was there I was talking to a policeman! He stopped by to tell us that the back to Kay Kay's mini-van was open...oops! I have a feeling Beau's little finger pressed the button to open it when he was playing with her keys earlier in the evening.

Sheppy was there, too!

-- Estate Sale shopping. We went to some estate sales on Saturday and found nothing. We went back to one on Sunday so my mom could see if they still had some curtains at the 2nd day price...they were gone, but I found a few things this round that I am very excited about...pics to come as soon as I get some re-decor photos taken!

-- Dinner/drinks with girlfriends. On Saturday night after the kids went to bed (and they'd settled down from the police action), I was on FB and a guy I knew from college had posted a Shaved Ice with Spirits from LaGrange in Deep Ellum. I knew I had to have one! So, I texted Andi and we put a plan in motion. Luckily, all the Bachelor/ette girls were able to meet up with us on Sunday night. It was so fun to see everyone and the Shaved Ice was as good as I'd hoped it would be!

Funny that us Bachelor/ette watchers

ended up at a place where Wes was on the calendar!

We talked to the waitress about him and she said

he cancelled because he was making

crazy demands they wouldn't meet.

-- Eat, Pray, Love with mom. LOVED it. I was surprised I liked it as much as I did. I actually want to see it again and I am not the type who watches movies over and over.

-- Lunch and shopping with mom. We went to Celebrity, one of my old favorite lunch spots. We were SO disappointed. My mom's sandwich was not made the same way they used to make it. The fruit that came with my chick salad was ALL melon. I hate melon and they used to never use melon at all! It was a sad, sad day. We hit up some fun shops afterwards to make up for it. I got another little something for my apartment make-over and then we went to The Cultured Cup to see if I could get some of my favorite tea. Unfortunately, they were out of my flavor- it's a French brand that is sold in very few stores in the US (in fact I think that may be the only one). I was disappointed, but bought another flavor instead and hope it is as good! Hot tea in the afternoon at work is what gets me by some days.

It was a great weekend and I am SO glad I went and I think my family was too!

Why I Love New York

Just ran across this video and thought I would share....these people express exactly why I love New York, too!

What Is Up!

So, life has slowed down in August. And my computer cord broke so I haven't been able to update on the few things I've been up to as of late. Here's the run-down!

- Dinner with Lucy & Amanda at La Esquina. I was very nervous about this excursion as I chose the restaurant and these are my 2 super-foodie friends. Luckily, they loved it as much as I do!

- Kid's Club BBQ. Eight of the kids from kid's club are currently on a Pennsylvania excursion with 3 of the leaders. So fun for them! The BBQ was held to raise some funds to make the trip possible. I was in charge of picking up helium balloons. It was interesting walking a mile through the streets of Manhattan with 12 helium balloons. One guy said I looked like Carrie Bradshaw (I didn't really watch SATC so I don't know the scene he was referring to).

- Black Eyed Peas concert. I wasn't super impressed with this show, but it was still fun. Kim joined me as she is my NYC friend who most loves hip-hop.

- Summer Fridays! We get Friday afternoons off in July and August and those few precious hours really make a huge difference! One Friday I was able to shop at the Gap, get my haircut, and stop by Butter Lane Bakery....all before 6:00pm!! I got my haircut at a new place in the East Village that my friend Mallorie goes to. When she said she gets her haircut for just $35, I knew it was worth a try! It's a bunch of cute Polish ladies running the show and it was overall a pretty good experience. I feel like it's been a very long time since I got a really good haircut and this was no exception. It's just hard to cut curly hair, especially curly hair that has gone board-straight underneath. So annoying. But, the highlight of the trip was when I realized I was going to be close to 7th Street, which is quickly becoming known for it's deliciousness (Caracas Arepas, Porchetta, Luke's Lobster), including Butter Lane! I've been wanting to try this bakery for quite some time as it seems to get rave reviews from everyone. It was as good as they say it is, folks! They have all different flavors of cakes and icings that you can mix and match. I got the banana cake with peanut butter icing - to DIE for! I also got a white cake with raspberry icing. The white cake was good, but I thought the raspberry icing had a strange sourness to it that I did not like. Overall, though, Butter Lane gets 2 thumbs up and I look forward to trying more flavors in the future!

- The Brooklyn Flea!  It's all anyone is talking about.  The Brooklyn Flea got its start in 2008 and since then it's gotten all kinds of rave reviews from flea-people all over the place.  I've been looking forward to getting out there all summer long.  Unfortunately, I was disappointed. 

In addition to the normal vintage apparel, home decor items, and antiques you see at most flea markets, the Brooklyn Flea is also known for its food...in fact, that may be the reason why people love it so much.  From fish tacos to lobster rolls to scrumptious corn...they've got some of the best vendors out there every week.  I opted for a fish taco, some corn and a People's Pop!  I'd been wanting to go to People's Pops all summer - they make all kinds of random Popsicle flavors and you never know what they'll have on the day you go.  I choose the Raspberry/Basil version....I'm still debating on if I liked it.  I admit, basil in a Popsicle is just plain odd.

I was disappointed there wasn't more items for sale in the home decor and antiques departments.  In fact, I was expecting this flea to be HUGE and it wasn't at all. 

I did like these pillows though!  I may have to go

back and purchase some as I keep thinking about them.

And I loved this random white & blue wooden thing

(bottom right of the pic)

I had no idea what I would do with it, so I didn't buy it.

But, now I'm thinking I might could hang it over

my closet doors, so I may go back for it.

- When I got home from work one night, there were movie trailers on my street! As I walked around trying to find the set, I literally almost ran Jennifer Love Hewitt over. She was running from the set to the trailers for a quick costume change. It turns out it was just Law & Order SVU taping. I say "just" because the Law & Order shows tape in my neighborhood all the time. I'm just waiting for them to ask to use my apartment some day. It was still fun to watch for a few minutes and also get a good Mariska sighting!

And then I saw 2 more movie sets this week!  Strolling through Central Park on my way home one evening there was a film set with a bunch of really young actors/actresses.  Today, I came home to another movie set around the corner from me - they were filming a huge car scene for a movie coming out in 2011 called "Premium Rush".

- I walked down Broadway one evening after work on my way to K-Mart and enjoyed seeing the Sidewalk Catwalk exhibit that is up right now. A lot of celeb designers have mannequins they have dressed up. Fun to see who did what! This one is Donna Karan's.

- I am back in event planning mode! It does me so much good to have a creative project to work on. My church is planning to have a huge party to celebrate its 5-year anniversary and they asked me to be one of the 3 lead planners. We're working on nailing down the venue this week and that should confirm the date we're going with - sometime in October. So fun!

Today, I'm off on a flight to Texas! Totally last minute - booked it on Wednesday! I was feeling the need for a get-away (big time)! And after talking to my mom and sister about it, decided just to do it. I have a day off I have to take this month for my birthday anyway and although I had planned to just use it for an extra day in the city, I'm happy to be going back to the Big-D.

The Hamptons

Last Saturday, Jen, Kim and I hit the road for a day trip to The Hamptons.  I had only been once before and it was in the fall and I was not prepared for the crazy traffic we would encounter!  I think I prefer the Hamptons in the fall (even if you can't take advantage of the beach then).  When we got to the Hamptons, we headed to Coopers Beach in South Hampton.  It is currently ranked as the #1 beach in the USA.  It was pretty and a nice beach, but #1?  I'm not sure why.  Like many public beaches in the area, it cost money to get on to it - $40/car in this case...that's pretty steep for a few hours at the beach!  But, it was worth it for a few hours or sunshine, reading, and people watching.  We even got in the water a bit -- only up to our thighs though...the ocean is cold up here!

It's hard to tell here, but the waves were HUGE!

From the beach, we headed to the opening day of the Mercedes Benz Polo Challenge in Bridgehampton.  This was kind of a fiasco.  It took us forEVER to get there because of all the traffic.  Then, when we finally did get there, there wasn't really a good place for us to watch without the super expensive tickets to the fancy tent.  LOTS of celebs go out for this and I was hoping to spot some, but we only saw a couple of the Housewives of NY and I wouldn't recognize any of them myself.  I'm still glad we went for a bit and saw what it was all about.  The best part might be seeing the attire of the men out there...lots of pastel pants out there!

After polo, we went back to South Hampton and popped in a couple of stores and then sat down for dinner in the adorable garden at a restaurant.  I had risotto with all kinds of seafood in it - it was SO good.  Afterwards, we stopped in an art gallery that was having a little open house.

It took us exactly 2 hours to get back into the city...not bad for a day of fun in the Hamptons!