Did you see my pink glove on The Today Show?

Of all of the places that I have been on this sweet earth, my favorite city on the planet is New York. Nothing compares to the energy, the people, the shopping, or the restaurants. Since I graduated from college, I have been able to go to NYC at least every two years, and each visit is filled with amazing memories and some star sitings. This time, we saw Zach Braff walking on the street.

There are some cloudy memories as well such as Holly dragging me out of bed at 6:00 am after three hours of sleep because she knew I wanted to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, or me cajoling Joy and Holly up to dance on the Bar at Coyote Ugly at 2:30am after going to see a Broadway show, or some guys running out of a restaurant and inviting Joy, Tara and I in for a drink because they saw us walk by and their hormones flew. But that is another lifetime and another blog post.

Last Sunday at the end of our trip to Connecticut, DG and I left Hadley for the first time ever to spend the night with her Nana and Papa. We took Metro-North from New Haven, CT (or New Halen as DG likes to call it) into Grand Central Station in NYC. DG got us a screaming deal at The Algonquin Hotel in Midtown.

We were there for only 24 hours, so we had to make the most of our trip, visiting friends, eating, and doing all the fun things that I love to do around the holidays like look at the Sax 5th Avenue window and check out the hub bub in Rockerfeller Center. One thing I have never done is go to the Today Show plaza during a taping. Because it was only a few blocks from our hotel, around 9am, after checking out, we decided to do a walk through.

From an empty corner, we could clearly see Meredith Vieira inside doing the morning news. Sadly, Matt Lauer, Ann Curry, and Al Roker were on vacation. However we did get to see Lester Holt and Amy Robach as seen here in the pictures.

The camera man even filmed our side of the plaza, all of us screaming and waving for an opening seque back to the news. I think maybe my glove was in the shot.

Merry Christmas

We hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday season.

Since the grandbaby is back, my dad has finally posted again. This time he brushed off the accordian after 25 years to play Hadley the Chicken Dance. You can see the video here.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

I took this picture on Sunday during sunset when it was just finishing snowing. I loved the trees all covered in white and the pink sky in the back ground.

Happy Christmas Eve.

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

Hadley and I got to Connecticut yesterday just in time before the big snow hit. The prediction is for 8-14", but it was at least 5" when my Dad and I headed out for round one of shoveling their 160' driveway. He used the monstrous snow blower and I did clean up with the shovel. I even got to run the blower for a bit. I felt proud that my Dad would trust me with it. Kind of like the first time he gave me keys to his brand new Grand Am when I was 16 and let me drive to the grocery store to get milk. Of course I took advantage of the situation and went to a store three towns over so I could drive further.

It was great fun to be outside. Just when I would finish the walk, I would turn around and another inch had fallen. It felt like shoveling in circles. We finally had to just come in, otherwise I would still be out there trying to make it perfect.

We are hoping that the snow will stick so DG can have a White New England Christmas.

Birthday Dinner

It is an annual tradition that every year we celebrate DGs birthday with dinner at The Avenue Grill. Even last year, not wanting to miss out with having a baby and all, we managed to do it early two days before giving birth.


Even with temperatures under negative ten, we all bundled up. I was able to bring out my scat/harf again.


Hadley was more stylish than any of us in her animal print cuffed jacket and holiday red hat. I am sure that someday, when she has dyed a purple strip in her hair, and has freshly painted black fingernails, and is in her all black velvet goth outfit, she will mock me for making her wear animal print. But gosh darn if she weren't so cute in it.

Christmas Party 2008

After taking a year off in 2007 due to a new little bundle, we restarted our annual tradition of having a Christmas party last week-end. In the chaos, we did not take one picture of the food all night, much to my dismay. So here is a recreation of the table. Please imagine if you will, these empty plates filled with the following menu:

Martha Stewart's Hot Spinach Dip and Macaroni and Cheese
Jemangelaville's Red Velvet Cupcakes with White Chocolate Peppermint Cream Cheese frosting and Shrimp Cakes with a Spicy Lemon and Paprika Aioli
Rachel Ray's 5 Minute Fudge Wreath decorated with red and green M and M's
Phyllo Dough Bites
Brie Pastry Bites
Shrimp Tray and Cocktail Sauce
Smoked Salmon Platter with dill sauce, capers, and red onion
Peppered Salami
7 Layer Dip
Guacamole
Humus and Pita Chips
Cheese, Crackers, and Fig Spread
Holiday Punch (Mandarin Orange Vodka, White Cranberry Peach Juice, and Club Soda topped with lime and orange slices), Wine and Beer
There were also various other dips and Cynthia brought a 10lb veggie tray and sliced tomato and mozzarella platter.

These two tables were filled with food to the extent they were overflowing. The punch was so popular that it was gone by 10pm and fun was had with games and door prizes. Every year DG likes to add a special touch to the party. In 2005, he proposed to me with carolers (go to 3:33 in the video), in 2006 he hired Creepy Santa off of Craigslist, and this year, he created Have Your Picture Taken with the Christmas Yeti and Andy Williams.


The party finale ended with me attacking dishes around midnight. They were never ending. We went through 40+ wine glasses alone plus all of our barware. This view of the dishwasher made my owwie head ache a little more. Crazy.

Trimming the Tree

We opted to save money this year and went with the Douglas Fir over the Frasier Fir. But man, is this a good looking tree, measuring in at ten feet tall. We had to cut it down quite a bit to get the star on top. It only took DG three running Elf leaps to get it up there.

Last night, we trimmed the tree in our annual tradition of listening to some of DGs 122 Christmas albums and drinking Bailey's on Ice. This year Hadley tried to help, by pulling off all of the ornaments in arms reach. Which leads me to ask, with all these bulbs and ornaments, haven't I just filled the house with a boat load of choking hazards?

Can you see a special initial in the middle of the tree?

Santa's Little Helper

Hadley's Great Aunt Susan sent this delicious little number recently for Xmas. Seen above are the milliseconds that she allowed the hat to remain on her head. Sometimes when I see kids clothes, I wish that they made them in big people sizes. This is one of those times. I would so wear this to our holiday party this week-end. Then I could be the Ms. Claus to DGs Mr. Christmas.


Since Hadley acted like I was plucking out her toenails one at a time when I would put the hat on her, I decided to let Gibson wear it in all it's beauty so as not to go to waste.

And the winner is....

Thanks so much to everyone that participated in yesterday's gift give away. The response has been overwhelmingly wonderful. This is the most blog comments that I have ever had and I wish I could send every one of you rice packs and pins.

I typed up all the names, threw them in a hat and Hadley picked out the winner this morning. Congratulations to Goat Goddess you are the lucky winner of a lavender rice pack and pin. Please email me your mailing address.

And for proof, here's a little video of Hadley picking the winning name at 6:30 this morning.



Here were the top 3 Christmas Song Favorites:
1. Silent Night
2. O Holy Night
3. Jingle Bells


Here's a really cute blog I found during the giveaways yesterday and every Friday through this month, she will post about something fun you can make for holiday gifts. Check her out by clicking the picture above.

Make Your Own Holiday Gift Tags

SUPPLIES
Tag Craft Punch ($16.99 at Michaels)
Small Snowflake Punch ($1.00 at Michaels)
1" Circle Punch - optional ($5.00 at Michaels)
Hole Punch
Cardstock in blue, green, or red - ($.59 at Michaels)
1 Sheet each Red and White Construction Paper
2 Spools of Thin Ribbon in Red and White - ($.50 each at Michaels)
Silver Paint Pen
Small Paintbrush
Elmer's Glue
(NOTE: Don't let this list overwhelm you. With a coupon, the costs for this project are under $20)

I recently received a bee stamp from Joy that came with 3 plain tags to stamp. It was then that I got the brilliant idea to create my own price tags for the craft fair that is coming up on December 2. I ran off to Michael's Craft Store with my 40% off coupon and bought a Tag Craft Punch and some scrapbooking card stock. By the time I got home, my mind was racing with all the fun things I could do. Here is how to make your own fun holiday gift tags.

Step 1
Using the craft punch, cut out as many tags as you can from the card stock. In order to get the most amount of tags out of one sheet of paper, I turn the punch around so I can see the cut block. You should be able to get around 20 tags out of each sheet.

Step 2
Use the hole punch to add one hole in each tag for the ribbon.

Step 3
Cut pieces of ribbon to 6 1/2" in length.

Step 4
Use the snowflake punch to cut snowflakes out of paper. If you just got one sheet of cardstock, you will need about 20 snowflakes. I used red construction paper and 28lb. white Hammermill that I had on hand. If you want to get really creative, go back with a circle punch, center the space with the empty snowflake and cut a circle around the snowflake as seen in the picture above. You can also cut some plain red circles and add white snowflakes to the middle of them.

Step 5
Squirt out some Elmer's Glue onto a scrap piece of paper, use the paint brush and spread glue on the snow flakes to add them to your tags. Scrapbookers feel free to comment here and tell me if there is a better way to glue. I thought a glue stick was too cumbersome for these delicate little snowflakes.

When gluing the snowflakes, you can get really creative by going all minimalist modern and adding one snowflake per tag, or adding a snowstorm of flakes. Whatever floats your boat.

Step 6
Use the paint pen and on the back of the tag, write To: and From:

Step 7
Add the ribbon to the tag and voila, lovely gift tag.

The Twelve Days of Baby

Two weeks after Hadley was born, with 14 sleepless nights, and a little slap happy, DG and I made our own version of the 12 Days of Christmas which we performed here, for the first time for my parents.



We wish you and your families a wonderful holiday season.

Merry Xmas Eve

I've become one of THOSE people. You know, the kind that dress their dogs up like people and post excessive pictures of their newborn ad nauseum. I've never been a baby person, but it all changes when you give birth to a sweet precious angel face. I guess when they live inside of you for 9 months, kicking you in the ribs, causing heart burn, general discomfort, and then you push them out after laboring for 14 hours, it changes everything.

So gag, here's another picture I love. Notice the Pabst Blue Ribbon booties that were mine 35 years ago, and yes SAVED by my mother for me. But that's a completely separate post.

Lights, Camera, Christmas Tree

This is the look we got when we told her that we were going to get our Christmas tree yesterday.
Then she asked if she could come help pick it out.


She loves staring into the lights. We think she may already love Christmas too, just like her dad.

Christmas is Over

This weekend, the decorations were put away, the tree taken down and the Christmas music listened to for the last time. Christmas music you say? On January 6th? Isn't that a little gauche? Yes, my sentiments exactly, especially since it has been playing since the day after Thanksgiving. But you don't know my husband. Apparently it is perfectly fine to dance around to Andy Williams like you had never heard him before.

Merry Christmas and Goodbye Mr. Squirrel

We came up to Lafayette on Christmas Eve to spend the night with DGs sister and family and have had such a great holiday. All I can say is that I must have been such a good girl this year. *wink wink*

I'll give my version of the Squirrel situation later this week. Let's just say that Mr. S made it home for the holidays safely. You can read DGs account here.

Wishing you and your family and joyous and loving holiday!

One Hot Dog

Mr. Gibson is super sexxxy in his new black Coach collar and matching leash. Yes, you read correctly. My dog accessorizes in COACH. I think this could be a new bumper sticker.

I was in Chicago this week for meetings with my new company. I couldn't be more pleased to work with such a great bunch of people. One of the perks was a great company dinner on the 9th floor of the university club. After dinner we were all given some really thoughtful gifts. The owners, knowing how much I love my dogs, got the coach collar for me, in fits of giggles. It really is priceless. It almost makes him look as if he doesn't love to run outside and eat his own poop.

Good Ambiance, Good Food

On the day of our holiday party, DG and I each did what was important to us. I cooked all day and DG hung lights and got the back yard ready. Prior to me, his holiday parties consisted of a bag of chips and some ravioli thrown in a bowl for his guests. Every year, I rib him a bit for his party throwing capabilities. What he is REALLY good at though, is setting the mood. He filled the wheel barrow with snow and put in a case of holiday beer, then he hung lights on the back fence, and he got our heater cranked up to run. I was outside in a sleeveless outfit for 20 minutes under that thing and I was fine, though my forehead was the warmest part of my body.

I made a buffet of snacks including, white bean dip, guacamole, 7 layer dip, a vege tray, Rachel Ray's 5 minute fudge wreath with red and green m and m's on the top and Michelle's holiday red velvet chocolate cupcakes with white chocolate mint frosting. The recipe called for 1 full ounce of red food coloring for the cupcakes, which I excitedly found in my cupboard. As I'm making the cupcakes, I pull the coloring out of the box and in my haste, pour the entire thing in the batter. In horror, I stare down to see my cupcakes are green. The green food coloring was put in the red food coloring box. *rassity frassity IDIOT* were a few of the words that flew out of my mouth. We also put out various shades of red and green jelly beans, red and green m n m's, mixed nuts, a cheese tray with french peppered salami, phyllo dough bites, and vege egg rolls with duck sauce.

We had a great time.

Nuts in a Vice

Nooooooo, DG didn't do anything wrong, but he did do something very right. He got us tickets through work to go see the Nutcracker performed by the Denver Ballet. It was spectacular. I have never gone to see the Nutcracker and the staging was beautiful, the costumes brilliant, and the music goose bumpy. It's one of those pieces where you just know every song. I have too many favorites, but needless to say, snow dances! Could it be more perfect for DG? The dance of the snow. So fun.

Even though it was the night before our party, we went out afterwards to a nearby bar where they were having a food happy hour. The pretzel and deep fried pickle basket went great with the house merlot. I highly recommend it.

Feeling the spirit of the holidays

I love my new fancy header. DG really outdid himself this time. I have to go look at my site like every hour just to see the fun colors. It makes my jingle jangle if you know what I mean. Thanks DG!

My first guest post is up at Restroom Critic. Let me know what you think?

Walking in a Wiener Wonderland

Let's just say that I never thought I would be a dress your dog up kind of girl, but as it turns out I am. I really really am. In fact, I love it. I can't get enough of the wieners dressed up. Yes, those are blinking lights on their collars. Let's just say I went a little crazy in the $2 bins at Target. Well, at least the babies have something to wear to our party.

The "buzz" on decorating

Roxanne of Red Chair Designs came over again this year to help us decorate for our party. We had a bit more to work with because at the end of last season, David purchased all of the leftover decorations from his corner Starbucks. Walking into our house makes you want a tall, extra hot, no whip, non fat, wet cappucino, with an extra shot and a 500 calorie Maple Oat Nut Scone. Seriously.

We love the new red felt shwag with beads and mirrors. In addition to being above the mirror, it is also over all of the windows because it is magnetic and stuck like a charm to the walls! Check out last years mantel here.

Reining in the Tree

Saturday, as DG walked onto the tree lot, he immediately picked out our tree. Within moments it was on the roof of the car as we headed home.

DG always wants more lights that is humanly possible for the tree to hold. He started in a circular pattern around the tree. After 20 minutes of attempting to wrap 15 strands of lights in no particular order, I took a step back and saw, what I can only describe as a bad lighting display. When he headed to the bathroom, I turned up the Christmas music, tip toed to the tree, and regimented unfun Christy unwrapped the entire tree and rewrapped it again. This time, it was done the proper Martha Stewart way, creating the effect of a 3 dimensional tree. It was then that DG took his post behind the camera and took all of the standard pictures of us decorating. You can see all the ghosts of Christmas past on his blog here.

Traditionally, when I was growing up, we only used the large colored bulbs on the tree. My mom would buy the tree, my dad and brother would string the lights, and then my mom and I would decorate the tree, remarking on all of the wonderful ornaments, who made them, and where they came from. Here is last year's Ornament Post detailing their histories.

I have followed suit with my own traditions, though this year DG wanted all white lights on the tree. I can feel my mother cringing from here. It's ok mom, part of marriage is compromise. I'm giving him white lights this year, and only red/white/or silver ornaments, but he has to take out the trash for all of 2007. Oh wait, he already does that. He has to mow the lawn and clean the bathroom for the rest of our lives. Crap, he already does that too. I'm not sure what DG is going to compromise yet, but I'll let you know.