What are you hoping to find under the tree this year?
A seltzer maker!!! Its really the one thing that I'm looking forward more than anything!
This way I'll be able to drink as much seltzer as I want and I won't have to feel guilty about the cans and bottles I'm using. Or the money I'm wasting.
Ryan's birthday is on Christmas day. We always celebrate it some other time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. This year we celebrated by having everyone visit us in NYC and a jam-packed weekend!
We started off on Saturday with a cocktail hour at our apartment. I made a Champagne Punch and a bunch of appetizers, including my first stab at making Cucumber Sandwhiches (totally easy and tasty as long as you have a mandolin slicer) and of course a birthday cake!
We headed out in cabs over to the Met for some fine art.
I made everyone do a photo shoot pretty much everywhere we went. The last time everyone made the trip down I didn't take any pictures so I didn't do a blog. I didn't want to make the same mistake.
Here's Ryan and Joan (family friend but practically an "aunt" for all intents & purposes)
Matt and Mom, all bundled up!
Dad and Jack, trying to avoid all my picture taking.
Inside the museum we all split up. The plan was to go see whatever art interested you most and then we'd meet back up for a drink at the Balcony Bar to discuss and compare....
Ryan's favorite pieces of the day
After the museum we met up with Justin and Tara (it was her birthday too) for dinner before our broadway show. I made reservations at Sangria 46 and it turned out perfect for the group.
The food was nice but the real treat was the sangria! We drank 7 pitchers full! Beefore we could leave we had to cause a big ol ruckus. Sharon told the waiters it was a double birthday so the whole staff came out with hats and sang and turned out the lights! I think both Ry and Tara were happy they had their share of the 7 pitchers in order to be able to endure all the attention!
And of course Matt had his share of that same sangria.....
They also sent over the Mariachi singer too, which is always fun!
After dinner we went to see God of Carnage. Its the Tony Award winner for 2009 Best Play of the Year. The play was really funny and thoughtful but I think I prefer musicals.....After the play we walked over to Rockafeller Center to see the tree. (No pics of the tree.....oops!)
But here are all the kids in Times Square.....
We pretty much went home and straight to bed after that. Everybody slept in and we went to brunch in the morning at Bone Lick Park.
Ryry and I had been here for brunch the prior weekend with Michy. The place is cute, the brunch is cheap, and the booze is unlimited (for an hour) so its a totally fun place to go to with a big group. During brunch, pretty much at the end of our little celebration, Joan made the perfect toast. Of course I can never say it how she did but the basic gist was.....Its wonderful when your family becomes your friends. Its even better when your friends become your family! And it really is true, the whole group just gets along so well and we do all consider eachother family.
(She was a little embarassed being put on the spot to make the speech but it was so worth it) The weekend was such a fun celebration and its weekends like that that make being in NYC feel more like home for us. Can't wait for the next visit!! (although everyone has already siad next time we shouldn't plan so many events! things seemed to rushed I guess, oops!)
Yes that is the most angry look my dog can possibly give. I think he's worried that I'm going to steal his wine cork "toy" away from him and clean up the terrible mess he made. He's very possessive over his wine corks. Weird dog.
By the way, Ryan informed me last night that if I die before Franks, that he will do everything he can to make Frankers a dog model. Thats the best way to honor my life. The sad thing is that I was actually touched! haha
If you want to have the most indulgent breakfast EVER......you should try this recipe!
I got it from Pillsbury.
Ingredients:
| French Toast Bake | |
| 1/4 | cup LAND O LAKES® Butter, melted |
| 2 | cans (12.4 oz each) Pillsbury® refrigerated cinnamon rolls with icing |
| 6 | Eggland's Best eggs |
| 1/2 | cup heavy whipping cream |
| 2 | teaspoons ground cinnamon |
| 2 | teaspoons vanilla |
| 1 | cup Fisher® Chef's Naturals® Chopped Pecans |
| 1 | cup maple syrup |
| Garnish | |
| Icing from cinnamon rolls | |
| Powdered sugar | |
| 1/2 | cup maple syrup, if desired |
Instructions:
| 1. |
Heat oven to 375°F. Pour melted butter into ungreased 13x9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish. Separate both cans of dough into 16 rolls; set icing aside. Cut each roll into 8 pieces; place pieces over butter in dish. |
| 2. |
In medium bowl, beat eggs. Beat in cream, cinnamon and vanilla until well blended; gently pour over roll pieces. Sprinkle with pecans; drizzle with 1 cup syrup. |
| 3. |
Bake 20 to 28 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 15 minutes. Meanwhile, remove covers from icing; microwave on Medium (50%) 10 to 15 seconds or until thin enough to drizzle. |
| 4. |
Drizzle icing over top; sprinkle with powdered sugar. If desired, spoon syrup from dish over individual servings. Serve with the additional 1/2 cup maple syrup. |
I made this for me and Ryan one morning a few weeks ago! It was so rich we couldn't eat our slices. I ended up freezing like 60% of it and then we thawed it and ate it again a few weeks later. It was totally easy to make. I think it would be best at a brunch where you have a lot of people so you could just have a little piece and have plenty of regular type food with it. Its def too sugary to have on its own for breakfast! I mean, look at all that frosting!
So I started watching True Blood from Netflix this summer and I loved it! Surprise surprise.......from my previously established love of all this pop and vampires.....so I decided to read the book series! As of now there are 9 books in the series.
I sped through this book! The books move pretty fast, just like the show. A lot of the Season 1 was in the first book. Some things are made up though and some are stretched more...but thats always the way it is. One thing I noticed IMMEDIATELY with this book is that there was a lot more detailed info about her sexual appetite than I expected.....I guess I'm not used to reading romance novels but whatever. Thats def what this series is.....a Vampire Romance novel!
I can't decide if they make Jason out better in the books or the show. I think in the show he's more likable but he kind of goes more wrong in the show.
The third book in the series was refreshing, you got introduced into a whole new set of vamps and shifters. Sookie got yet another love interest.....and then shes pretty brave and does some cool things.
Book 5 makes you totally love Eric! I know, you wouldn't think that was possible! Plus more supernatural stuff starts coming out of the woodwork. It was def one of my favorites in the series.
This book in the series was a lot of fun. Sookie is really stuck in the whole supernatural business world now so you get to learn more about everything. There are some new supernatural creatures but that idea kind of gets dropped in the last two books of the series. Plus Sookie is stuck in a whole tangled web of love and desire and its just so much fun to read about!
The "last book" was one of my favorites too. I realllllllly want Sookie to choose Eric. Its all so complicated though with the bloodbond and all that junk! Basically this series was really quick and fun to read. I definitely laughed a lot and couldn't put the books down.
Now that I'm done with the series I'm really excited to see what they do with season 3 on HBO!
If you are interested in reading them, I got them off of Amazon so I can loan them to you for 14 days. Let me know!
What's your guilty television pleasure?
That's easy: Gossip Girl of course! Despite my annoyance with most of the characters, I can't help but keep watching it week after week.
You know you love me.
XOXO, Gossip Girl...
I'm such a dork. I am addicted to doing these stupid jib jab things!
So every thanksgiving after the Macy's Day Parade the National Dog Show is aired on TV. Last year my MIL's dog won, a King Charles Cavalier.
This year we just had to watch to see her win again. But surprise surprise.....the Miniature Pinscher won the Toy division! He didn't win best in show but even placing was exciting!!!
His name was Major and he was majorly cute, but certainly not cuter than my Franker. My pic of Major just wont load.....no idea why, but he's one of the red kinds, instead of Frankie's black and rust coat.
According to this I think Frankie is too big to even think about entering the contest, so he has no hope!! Plus that whole "no balls" thing.....they can't be neutered if you want to show them.
So this Thanksgiving I was certainly thankful for my little dog, who always wins best of show in my heart!
Also, from the link above I learned that Steiner is considered the "King of Toys".....better not let him know that though!
First, we're happy to announce that the team has identified and fixed the issue with the YouTube conduit; you can now find and add videos from YouTube to your library and posts. As always, thanks for your patience!
The other news we have today is about a new addition to the Six Apart family: TypePad Micro, a new free level of TypePad that is streamlined for microblogging. We see a new form of blogging emerging that lives between the quick status updates of Twitter and Facebook and the long-form posts of "classic" blogging; TypePad Micro is designed to meet that need. You can read more about TypePad Micro in Chris Alden's post on the Everything TypePad blog.
A lot of the new capabilities we've added to TypePad this year were actually inspired by some of the best things about Vox: favoriting, member profiles, a dashboard to follow other bloggers, and easy ways to post content from other social media sites. But the things that make Vox different from TypePad are still there: Vox has always been -- and still is -- the best place for "friends and family" blogging, where you're in control over who sees what. TypePad, on the other hand, is built for the blogger who wants, no, craves, attention.
Do you have a passion or interest you want to share with people beyond your Vox neighborhood? If so, we'd love it if you tried out TypePad Micro. Maybe you've always wanted to start that obsessive blog that's just about waffle restaurants. Or want a place to share videos of your favorite band (Jonas Brothers, anyone? Anyone? ...). TypePad Micro's great for those topic-specific blogs. Take it for a spin and let us know what you think.
On the Vox front, our designers are working on some cool new themes (coming soon!). We'd also love to hear your thoughts about where we should take Vox in the coming year. What are the key things you'd like to see for Vox? If you've had a chance to use TypePad this year, what are the features there that we should bring over to Vox? And, if you're thinking big thoughts, how could we connect the Vox and TypePad communities in order to bring together bloggers and their shared passions? Your feedback is really important to us, so please leave a comment here, or shoot me a message.
And again, thanks for your patience as we found and fixed the YouTube bug!
~ daisy
