Looking Back : Crazy Christmas Travels

I arrived to Dallas late on Thursday, December 17th.  It was, again, a crazy travel experience.  Not quite as crazy as last year, but more crazy than I'd prefer.  I was scheduled to fly out of Newark and 1 train stop away from the airport, I realized I had an email, so I opened it.  It was from American saying that my flight had been rescheduled to the following evening...24 hours later!  It was the oddest email ever - no explanation at all and it was almost like a confirmation of a request I had made, but I obviously hadn't made any such request.  Since I was only 1 stop away, I kept on and went on to the airport.  Newark was a ghost town - it was like they were shutting down for the night.  At the American counter, they were packing up to go - they informed me that my flight had been canceled and there were no more American flights to anywhere that night.  I don't know for sure, but I highly suspect that my flight was canceled because it was not full.  That makes me angry.  And I felt like the situation was handled pretty poorly with the timing and wording of the email and the fact that they thought it was no big deal to reschedule me for 24 hours later.  So, I complained and then told them they could do better than that.  They tried to tell me that there were no flights I could get on before that, but I kept telling them that there must be, that they could do better, and then started offering up ideas...another aiport in NYC?  Another airline?  ANYthing...there has got to be something.  Finally, they succombed and got on the computer and realized that, oh yeah, they had a flight out first thing the next morning I could get on.  Oh, and wait, if I left right now, I might make a flight out that night from LaGuardia.  Did I have bags to check?  Yes, of course I did.  They weren't sure I could make it to LaGuardia in time to check bags.  I debated, if it was worth trying to get there and decided to go for it...after telling them that they WOULD pay for my taxi fair.   LaGuardia and Newark are pretty far from each other and I have never had a reason to do a drive from New Jersey to Queens, so I had no idea how long it would take, expected there to be traffic, and figured we'd be driving into Manhattan and back out to Queens, both of which can be nightmares at any given time.  My taxi cab driver was awesome.  No traffic and he went around the bulk of Manhattan instead of through it.  It only took about 30 minutes.  Thankfully, American did foot that bill - it was an $85 cab ride!  I got to LaGuardia in enough time to even sit down and have dinner before I went through security and I was only an hour later into Dallas than my original flight would have been.  The new flight was not full, so I had extra seats to spread out in and it was a smooth flight from there.  Pretty crazy getting to that point, but not so bad after all.

Making $$

So, I'm expecting my first (hopefully not last) trip to the Olympics to cost me a pretty penny. As a result, I've wanted to start making some extra money to help fund this little adventure. Luckily, a couple of things just happened to come up to help me with this.

I've got a temporary Saturday night babysitting job. I started last weekend and will be doing 3 more Saturdays this month. I'm just taking over for my friend, Mindy, who is currently in a play for the next month. Hopefully, once her play is over, I'll be able to continue to do it sometimes when she can't. It is the easiest job ever and good money! The kids are a boy who is almost 3 (just one week younger than Beau!) and a girl who is 6. They are extremely sweet and good kids and they go to bed between 7:30/8:00. I pretty much get there, put them to bed and then get comfy on their couch and read for a couple of hours until the parents get home. This past week, the parents even gave me extra cab money, but I opted to pocket it and take public transportation instead! And they feed me dinner and it's a night where I am not out spending the money. So, I'm earning and saving all at the same time. Nice!

I also made my first Etsy sale! I put my Game Day Beads on there a while back, but didn't advertise to anyone as I was trying to make some decisions about how/if I wanted to proceed. But, someone randomly found them and bought 3! Yea! I had to buy some more beads in different colors. I'd already bought a bunch of different colors of ribbon on sale after Christmas, so I was set for that. Anyway, I don't expect to ever get a ton of business, but it's a fun hobby and they're quick and easy to make, so if I can sell some more, that'd be great! I'm also going to start making bracelets as an alternative to the necklaces.

Taxes! I filed my tax returns and am expecting a big refund. Now, I know that getting a refund is not ideal...it's better to just get the money up front when you earn it, but I have to admit, I kind of like getting that extra cash deposited into my bank account each spring. On that note, if you don't tithe, I highly recommend it....it is the #1 reason I get a big refund every year. Obviously, I don't REALLY think that getting a tax refund is a good reason to tithe. But, I do think tithing is important to be obedient to God's commands and believe God blesses obedience. As my pastor always says, "would you rather have 90% of your income with God's blessing or 100% without His blessing"? I just consider that tax refund a little blessing in my pocket every year :)

DKNY & Restaurant Week

It's Winter Restaurant Week in NYC again. I was a little less impressed with the list this time around, but did end up going out for two dinners. Last week, I met Kim, Rosella, and Lucy at Mr. Chow in Tribeca. I loved this place! The ambiance was so cool and sleek. The food was amazing. They serve it family style and there were four options for the appetizers and entrees, so since we had four people, we got one of each and all got to try everything. For dessert, we had ice cream and sorbets, which seems pretty typical for Asian restaurants. I would definitely go back to this place - it was a fun experience and great food!

Last night, I went to Japonais with Rosella and her friends Kianti and Deyvis. This place was huge, especially for NYC. It was also packed, so I took that as a good sign. I wasn't as impressed, however, with the meal and the service. It was veryyyyy slow and their timing was a bit off on brining out our food. My appetizer, a crab cake was amazing. My chicken entree was good, but not great...I did however love the veggie rice it came with. For dessert, they only had one choice - a cheesecake, topped with pineapple mousse on an almond crust. Again, good, but not great. We still had fun.

Before dinner last night, Rosella and I went to The New School at Parsons for a Donna Karan speaking event. It was fun to be there...we were hoping to have a Tim Gunn sighting! Alas, no such luck. Donna Karan did an interview and she was a very interesting lady. She mentioned twice how much she loves uniforms - hilarious! She also loves belt bags and wore a HUGE one. She was very different - don't know how to explain it, just different, but in an interesting sort of way. I thought she was supposed to talk about women's workwear, but they really talked to her more about how she got her start, where her inspiration comes from, etc....

Guess Where?

Guess where I'm going to be in one week?

And guess what I'm going for?

Eeek!!  I'm getting so excited!

Looking Back : Christmas with Dallas Friends

While in Dallas for Christmas, I got to see many of my friends, which was nice. It can get kind of crazy when I go back trying to balance time between friends and family. For shorter trips, I tend to just plan one dinner or something and hope that all my friends can come, but then it's hard to really talk to anyone and not all my friends are friends with each other, so it's not always the best scenario (not saying that any of them dislike each other...my friends are too nice/mature for that!). It's always fun for me though :) This time, I tried to spread it out a bit more...I probably packed too much in as it made things pretty busy and it made the time go by way too quickly!! I enjoyed seeing so many people though and we did some pretty fun things!!

Michelle, Jennifer, Brooke, and Andi came over the Friday before Christmas week. I was at Beth's baby-sitting so they came over around 8:00 after the boys were in bed. We ordered pizza and salad and then made Christmas sugar cookies. It was really fun and we made A LOT of cookies. Brooke brought some awesome decorating tools and is really good at it....I learned a thing or two and may be a bit more confident now to stray from my normal simplistic decorating. While the girls were over, I also had them assemble their own Christmas gift from me. I made all my NYC and Dallas friends ornaments this year (stole the idea from Kelly's blog). But, I ran out of time that day to finish assembling the ornaments for these 4 girls so I let them make their own. Does that still count as a gift??? (Oh, and Kristen, I had one for you with an "r" for Ray and forgot to give it to you!!! I left it in "my" drawer at my mom's house so I can give it to you some other time I am back).

Brooke, the master cookie creator

These were probably all Brooke's creations

Another Brooke cookie

Um, probably not Brooke's (Andi?)

Random mix of fun cookies!

We forgot to pull out the camera until Michelle left,

but here I am with Brooke, Andi, and Worley

and some of our cookies!

Worley brought us each one of these brownie bites!  I
love how she stuck the candy cane stick in it and I
LOVED how they were brownie bites instead of cake
bites. Y'all know I love cake bites, but I think I
might like brownie bites even better!

On Saturday, I met my old Ernst & Young gang for brunch. It is always fun to see these girls and get caught up. I wish I had the chance to see Kelli a bit more that week, but things were just too busy for us!

This trip to Dallas was the first time I met up with some of my New York friends. Many of my NYC friends are from the Dallas area and now some have started to move back to Texas. So, I had the chance to catch-up with both Sarah and Kristen while I was there. All of us were in Community Group together until Kristen and Sarah moved to Texas in August/September. It was really good to see them and they are both doing so well and enjoying their new lives in Texas. On Sunday I met Sarah for church and then brunch. We went to Watermark so she could try it - she's still on the church hunt. After, we went to Gloria's for brunch - yum! On Wednesday, I met Erin and Kristen for dinner at Taco Diner. Kristen had a small ranch wedding soon after moving back to Austin and she brought her album to share with us which was so fun. It was a really sweet, intimate wedding.  I love my NYC/Texas friends.

On Sunday night, I got to (kind of ) participate in Bunco for the first time since moving away. I used to be a regular with the group. We didn't end up actually playing Bunco, but instead had an ornament exchange and a cookie exchange....two of my favorite things!! I made Gingerbread Chocolate Chunk cookies. My friend Jen made these last year for a NYC exchange and they were amazing. I don't think mine turned out like hers, but they were still good. The cookies Tamara brought were my favorite -- Chocolate Mint cookies, made with Andes Mints (which I love).

I had lunch with both my old Dallas roommates. I went to Deanna's house one day for lunch so I could see her and her boys. We had a good time catching-up and her boys are SO cute. They might be the happiest brothers I've ever seen. Smiling ear to ear the whole time. Another day, I picked up Kristen from work and we went and had a Greek lunch. It was good food and good conversation as always!

Andi and I did the Jingle Bell Run and it was so fun! I used to do it every year in Dallas, but then they quit doing it after Hurricane Katrina (it used to benefit Carter Blood and they were too busy with other things that year).  It's finally back and I want to do it every year! A lot of people came out for it...many decked out in crazy Holiday gear. The run/walk (we did a little of both!) took us through the Design District and there are a lot of new stores popping up down there. It was interesting to see what's there and I may have to go do some shopping down there some time. After the run/walk there was a little party inside The Anatole and we had fun there, too.

My week ended with an amazing mani/pedi date with Michelle at Julie's salon. Julie used to work at Maile Nails...a salon I went to almost every other week for about 5 years. I loved it! I had read that Julie had branched out on her own - she was always one of the best at Maile. So, I wanted to check it out and it was amazing!!! I actually ran out of time for my manicure, but the pedicure may have been the best I've ever had and I cannot wait to go back!! They massage your legs and feet for a very long time and even use hot stones. It was heavenly.

So, as you can see, I was busy, but got to do a lot of fun things with some fun friends! It was great to celebrate Christmas with everyone!!

Looking Back : Christmas 2009 in the City

Community Group Christmas! My CG got together for a night of good food and celebration! Robyn made delicious BBQ chicken and we all brought a little something to go with it. I ran out of time to make anything and we didn't have any bread coming, so I picked up Popovers w/ strawberry butter from the Popover Cafe....yum! We sat around talking for hours. I love this group of girls!

This city is seriously the most festive place during the Holidays!! I love it.  All of the big business buildings decorate to some extent.  They usually bring out the same decs every year.  This year, a couple of the buildings on 6th Avenue right by the NHL building had new decorations which was fun and exciting!!

The Fox building put out these new red trees

And the building next to them had these huge, fun lights!

Mindy and I decided to spend an evening after work checking out all the Holiday lights and decorations. We started out with dinner at the Burger Joint - I haven't been there in ages and LOVE it. It is so good and a little hidden treasure. Plus, it was close to the start of the Holiday Department Store Windows. We walked by several of the Department stores to see their windows....Bergdorf's, Saks, Lord & Taylor, and finally Macy's. Bergdorf's was by far the best. Their Holiday windows are beautiful! I love how they incorporate their clothing into the displays, unlike the other stores that just have crazy displays that don't actually relate to any of the products they're selling. Also, Bergdorf's windows each had a different material they used to create a work of art - one was all green grass/plant materials, one was all glass, one was all paper, etc.... They were really amazing! We also walked up 5th Avenue and saw all the smaller stores that are decked out for the Holidays. We walked into St. Pat's and got to see their choir rehearsing and see the Nativity Scene inside. We saw the Saks light/music show and the Rock Center Tree and skating rink. We stopped along the way at Magnolia Bakery for some delicious Hot Chocolate - I'd never had theirs before and it was so good! It was a very fun night and I'm glad I had a chance to enjoy the City lights before I left town.

There was a choir practicing when we stopped

in St. Pats, so we stopped for a bit to listen

I love Nativity Scenes!  This is the one

inside St. Pats.

Rockefeller

I always love the snowflake show at Saks!

Windows at Lord & Taylor

Macy's windows were interactive.  At this one, you

got to fill out some answers to questions (Mad Libs

style).  It used your answers to create a letter to

Santa.  Here's mine!

Craftacular Fair -- I decided to go to a craft fair I'd read about and it was so great! When I got there, the line to get inside was very long - they were at capacity. It was cold and I debated leaving, but decided that if all those people were there, it must be worth it. It was really cool. I didn't buy much - one baby gift, but they had a lot of really great things I enjoyed looking at. I also got to help make my own bag using cool machines that cut fabric, iron on stickable fabric, etc.... Fun!

The bag I helped create for myself!

Holiday Markets - One of my favorite things between Thanksgiving and New Years are the holiday markets that pop up all over the city. I made it to 3 of them this year - Bryant Park (multiple times), Grand Central, and Union Square. I love to browse through these things and always find at least one Christmas gift for someone and always end up buying some sort of jewelry for myself. I got some earrings and a bracelet this year.

The Holiday Market at Union Square

Bryant Park is so festive!

Kim's candle -- One of the girls in my community group lit the Candle of Peace during Advent. Kim started going to our group just weeks before she was going in for a double mastectomy. I had met her a few times through Baylor stuff, but she was a new friend for most the other girls. It was a scary time for her and she was in need of a support group, as her parent's were in Houston and her mom was recovering from a 2nd round of breast cancer herself. The girls in my group really stepped-up to help Kim out during this time and we provided her lots of meals to make it through the weeks where she wasn't feeling well and in a lot of pain. Jen and Erin made a video about the experience that was shown at the church service and then Kim lit the candle. It was a neat experience to have together.

BOOTS!

I am going to try to participate in some of the Friday "Show us Your Life" carnivals over at Kelly's Korner.  It's a good way to get some new topics for my blog and I like reading some of the others as it's a great resource for all kinds of ideas!  This week, we're blogging about where we like to shop.  Since I'm totally into my boots right now, I thought I'd blog about some recent boot related purchases.

I love boots in the winter and since moving to New York, I've gone a bit overboard.  But, it's all I wear all winter long and I love them and need them for work and play!  I recently got a new pair of black leather boots (my old ones desperately needed replacing).  I bought news ones online at Endless.com .  Have you been there yet??  It's an amazing website with shoes and accessories.  They often have specials and coupons.  My boots were on sale and I had a coupon, so I saved about $100 or half the cost of the boots!  My favorite thing about Endless is that they ship overnight for FREE!!  It's amazing.  I can place an order at 4:00pm and it will be at my desk when I arrive to work the next day.  I love that!

Also, this week I bought some Boot Bandits.  Have you seen these?  I got the Fleur de Lis ones and can't wait to try them out with my boots over jeans or with a skirt!

2Bandits makes all kinds of these cute pieces for your boots.  I went with a more neutral color so that I can wear it with all kinds of things and both my brown and black boots!  Plus, they were on the cheaper end of the line :)