A blog about life, adventure, and good food.
I can not believe how quickly time has passed since my two friends became engaged last January and they asked me to be a part of their Big Day. April kicked off my two months of wedding festivities.
Theresa’s Mom and future Mother-in-law hosted a bridal shower at a delicious Italian restaurant in New Hartford. With the help of myself and the bridesmaids, I think we did a beautiful job. (more…)
After Dianna and Keith were engaged, it seemed like almost immediately we were discussing what to do for her bachelorette celebrations. She decided fairly quickly that she wanted a weekend trip to New York City with her ladies.
Now of course we wanted to really live it up, it was Dianna’s one and only Bachelorette party after all! There would be about nine of us ladies planned to be staying overnight. The rest of Dianna’s college friends already live downstate. We settled on the Marriott Marquis for our accommodations. It is located in the heart of Time Square and a perfect central location for all of our planned activities. This hotel also evokes nostalgia for Dianna and her family.
Last week was a very hectic week, personally. There were a lot of previously planned events but we were hit with quite a few unexpected as well. So, I have a lot of catching up to do on this here blog. I am currently sitting in the airport waiting to board my flight to South Florida to visit my darling Amanda. No time like the present to do some updates.
Last weekend we celebrated Dianna’s upcoming wedding with a bachelorette party in New York City. We really went all out; a true experience in the big city. There will be a much longer and more detailed post to follow but for now I give you a little teaser photo. To start our weekend off, we rented bicycles and enjoyed a three-hour ride through Central Park. Spring is finally peaking through so we stopped at a very picturesque spot for a photo op with the bridal party.
One of my closest girlfriends is having her first baby. I’m pretty excited to become another “Auntie”, not to mention the fact that Miss Hannah and her soon-to-be family of three have moved back to the area. She decided to have a Gender Reveal party with her closest family and friends and asked yours truly to do the honors of baking the cupcakes.
To make a little game out of it, I baked a dozen vanilla cupcakes with blue and pink swirled frosting. One cupcake had the gender appropriate color in the center. This way when everyone broke into their cupcakes, only one person held the special one that would reveal the baby’s gender. I thought this was a really fun and special way to announce. I must say it pretty hard being the only one who knew what Hannah and Craig were going to have. Quattro and I discussed it at length several times, you know, because he’s such a good secret keeper.
Oh, and if you must know, they are having a Baby Girl!
As I previously posted, I hosted Easter brunch with the family at mine and Nick’s house. While discussing with the twins what the menu should look like they requested these adorable festive Cinnamon Buns. Originally I did not have them on the menu as it was just another task for me to complete. However, my mom happened to have two tubes of Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls so I really could not pass up the opportunity. Besides, who doesn’t like a freshly baked cinnamon roll?
As the instructions show in the link above, you will need two cinnamon rolls per bunny head. Place one roll on the baking sheet. Unravel or break the second roll so it forms a long rope. Wrap the rope around to form the ears and press against the first roll. I used raisins for my eyes and sliced almonds for the teeth. After the buns were baked, I frosted the ears with the provided icing. They really came out so cute and everyone really enjoyed them for both their festiveness and delicious taste.
In years past, my family has always gone out for Easter Brunch. Each year it’s hard to say who will be able to make it home for the holiday weekend so it just always seemed easier to dine out. This year however my mom thought it would be nice for me to host. You know, since I did such a good job with Thanksgiving and Christmas…I guess.
I knew for the table I wanted to use the traditional pastel Easter colors. My aunt Shelagh had given me a full set of white dishes to be used for various special occasions. This was a perfect opportunity to break them out. With yellow table clothes and tapers, white serving dishes, and colorful tulips I think I came up with a simple, yet elegant table setting. (more…)
I’ve mentioned before that once a month a group of us get together for a little Girl’s Night dinner outing. We try to mix up the cuisine and restaurant to try new places and foods. This month we headed up to Saratoga Springs. The Merry Monk had mussels on special, two for one! We each enjoyed a pound with different flavorings. Accompanied with House Frites and Caramalized Brussels Sprouts we had ourselves a delicious meal. I’m looking forward to the next outing and to see what is next on our list.
It’s been a quiet couple of weeks, other than working quite a bit. I am 100% okay with this given the months ahead of me. My two girlfriends’ weddings are right around the corner which means weekends full of bachelorette festivities, showering the brides, and wedding bliss. Not to mention my upcoming trip to Florida where I will knock off another state on my Food Tour list.
Being that I was home a lot, I was able to spend quite a bit of snuggle time with my furry beast. Naturally I took dozens of pictures but this one is probably my favorite. He just looks so sweet and innocent .
St. Patrick’s Day is a pretty big holiday in New York’s capital, specifically Parade Day. You may remember my post covering the days’ events last year when my very own Mom was the Grand Marshall. This year was very similar to last without a few later evening events. Dianna’s family hosted a pre-parade boozy brunch at their house. We had everything from bagels and doughnuts to french toast and cheesy egg casserole (and of course a few pitchers of mimosas).
I then proceeded downtown to meet up with Sabrina and her family, per tradition. This year I was not participating in the parade so I was able to hang out before hand. It was a good thing too because the weather turned out to be pretty crappy. I then headed to the Irish bar downtown to try and venture through the crowds and reach another group of friends. It was interesting to say the least.
It was a low key Parade Day compared to years’ past but still fun none the less. However, I don’t think I took one picture throughout the days activities. Luckily, I can always count on Sabrina to snap our traditional shot. So this week’s photo was taken by Sabrina (well actually her boo with her phone). Thanks Adam!
Nick and I took a impromptu trip to New York City to meet up with some of his friends who were visiting for a few days. We took the train into Grand Central and headed right for the Empire State Building. No one in the group had ever ventured to the top. In fact, Nick and I realized that there are quite a few sites we have yet to see in New York City. We took advantage of the opportunity and went to the 86th Floor Observation Deck.
It was the perfect time of day to be viewing the Big Apple. We were able to see the sun set turn to twilight and eventually into night. This is when New York really came to life. The city lights were incredible from this vantage point. The picture below is my favorite of the hundred that we took. You are able to see the iconic landmarks of midtown Manhattan and beyond.
