Let's Light the Night

Hey Friends...

Again this year I'm raising money for a very important cause, through The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Light The Night Walk:  finding better treatments and cures for blood cancers so patients can live better, longer lives.  So on October 5th I'll be walking across, OK half way, the Brooklyn Bridge raising awareness for this amazing cause and I'm asking you to help me raise money by making a tax-deductible contribution!  I'd love for you to be a Titanium, but more than anything I'd really appreciate a Star donation or any donation you can afford to help me make my goal.

I thank you in advance for your support which will make a difference in the lives of thousands of patients battling blood cancers.

I really appreciate your generosity!!

You can also check out my site & the Lord & Taylor Team Page.

Thanks!

Trust me, Suri is fierce

So I've found my new favorite obsession when I need to kill some time, Suri's Burn Book. 

This blog is absolutely AMAZING and I highly recommend you take a few minutes to paruse the blog and discover that Suri does not particularly like Shiloh Pitt or the Affleck Girls.  

About: A study in Suri and the celebrities who disappoint her.  Twitter: @surisburnbook

AR informed me of this amazing blog and now I'm totally obsessed with it and love Suri's awesome burns.

Enjoy.

Eating our way through NYC on LDW

How do you spend your labor day weekend?
I spent mine with my best friend Megan checking things off her NYC "kinda tourist" list and consuming a food baby eating way too much.

So lets start at the very beginning...

Thursday Night: Cascabel
Megan finally arrives around 9:45pm after taking the subway from JFK and we head to Cascabel for some guac, tacos and margaritas.  We do the initial catch up on each others lives and schedule out the rest of the weekend.

Friday Lunch: Shake Shack @ Madison Square Park
We did the obligatory hour long wait in line to order before we consumed massive amounts of yumminess: Shack burgers, cheese fries & washed down with Arnold Palmers.  Megan and I inhaled our burgers so fast that it could have been sickening if it was documented, but they were just soo good and we were so hungry.

Friday Night: US Open
Of course tennis was on our list of events.  This wasn't really a food adventure, but more a "must" on Megan's list.  We originally had horrible seats in Arthur Ashe Stadium, row Z in section 311 but we just moved ourselves down to row D, like we were supposed to be there.  Section 300 is more like a baseball stadium when it comes to the audience members, there were people dancing in the stands, yelling/cheering for the players versus the very civil lower sections.  The best match we saw of the night was Sock vs Roddick; Sock actually made Roddick work for his win.  It was a great night, but it was a late night.  On a food note: we did enjoy the signature cocktail of the US Open, the HoneyDuce, which was quite delicious, and some tasty chicken quesadillas in the Stadium.

Saturday: Bagels, The Met & Sutton Place
We Slept in and then enjoyed some carb-tastic bagels for breakfast.  We then jaunted over to the Met for some culture and then enjoyed the roof top terrace.  Lunch at a roof top bar per Megan's request at Sutton Place.  We were surrounded by Ohio State alums watching the game, but no worries there actually weren't that many of them because lets be honest how many actual locals are in the City during Labor Day? 

This is where the food baby is starting to grow...

Saturday Night: Serafina
Megan's parents came by my apartment so they could see what a "real" NYC apartment looks like and how real 'New Yorkers' live.  The tour took about 30 seconds and then we discussed all the things they had planned to see and do while they were visiting the city.  I even surprised myself on how much I knew about the city and how to get from here to there.  When then walked on up to Serafina on 79th & Madison for some amazingly delicious Italian food.  Megan's Mom, Kerry was amazed how nice and quiet it was on the UES compared to midtown east where their hotel is.  Yea, its a lot classier where the rich people live (well the the blocks closest to the Park).  And I'm not even going to start describing my dinner or I might start salivating again as I type this recap.  OK, I had I TAGLIOLINI “DI CORTINA” home made pasta with mushrooms, peas, prosciutto, a touch of cream & white wine.  Holy balls it was so good.  But I might say the best part had to have been the tiramisu for dessert, it was heaven sent.

Sunday Brunch: Arte Cafe & 16 Handles
Arte Cafe on the UWS where we met Megan's friend, Laura for brunch.  I enjoyed brioche french toast, which was quite delectable and Megan savored a waffle with fruit.  We then attempted to walk off our brunch by cruising the UWS through the park to the UES.  I even used some walking tour cards that my Mother bought me when I first moved here to give us another little cultural experience.  On our way back from our walking cultural excursion we stopped by 16 handles for some fro yo to cool off and because we hadn't walked off enough calories from bunch we needed to add a few more on.

Sunday Night: Wicker Place, NY Vintners, Serendipity, Southern Hospitality
Early dinner at Wicker Place, nothing special, we just wanted salads.  Here's where the night gets exciting...  We headed downtown to NY Vintners for a wine tasting class, Blind Tasting.  That's right, we're that cultured and wine educated (ha).  We did 2 flights, one white and one red.  Blind tasting 3 different wines discussing the appearance, trying to determine the aromas, the palate and finally what type of wine/grape it was before the bottle label was revealed.  I learned about the 3 taste/date rule.  First taste you get the initial flavor; second taste you really get to know the wine; and third you decide if you're going to take the wine home with you.  The wine tasting class was a lot of fun and enjoyable, I also bought 4 bottles of wine from class, hehe.  We then hopped on over to Serendipity for some frozen hot chocolate.  Now, I've never actually been to Serendipity and I didn't know what to expect so both Megan and I ordered a FHC and we ordered a humble pie with hot fudge on top.  Just let me say this, FHC is good I can see the appeal and noted for next time you can share that with 4 people but the kicker was the humble pie.  Peanut butter on  graham cracker crust with hot fudge, can you say mouth orgasm?  It was f*@king amazing!! It was like a reeces peanut butter cup but million times better.  Then we slowly walked off our off gluttonous ways to enjoy a drink with Amy at Southern Hospitality.  Megan was so excited because its Justin Timberlake's bar.

Monday: Crumbs for Breakfast
What, you don't eat over indulgent cupcakes for breakfast?

Monday Lunch: OG
Well, we were in Times Square so Megan could buy some souvenirs for friends and family and we just couldn't help ourselves unlimited salad and bread sticks were calling our names.

And now the food baby is in full effect and I need to abort asap, but this food baby was well worth it.  My clothes still fit, just not that well.  I always love having Megan visit and I'm always sad to see her go and I can't wait for our next mini vacation.

Diet "started" again on Tuesday and Summer is over.  Tear.

Major Pain

So tonight I went to ballet class and within the first exercise I got the absolute worst charley horse EVER.  If you know my calves they are intensely muscular & this bitch of a charley horse was in the top portion of the muscle where the heart shape is... Ouch! The entire class during barre I was stretching my right calf in between exercises and never going on releve because it just hurt soo much.  My calf was only starting to warm up an hour into class and it still was aching.  I used the barre as a "foam" roller and it was that good hurt but that didn't even work.  I have a feeling I'm going to wake up crying in the middle of the night with a serious cramp in my calf.
I think I need some potassium, but in Alyssa fashion I don't have any bananas. 

My dear Mother looked up all the other foods that contain high levels of potassium, listed below.

Excellent sources of potassium include chard, crimini mushrooms, and spinach. 

Very good sources of potassium include fennel, kale, mustard greens, Brussel sprouts, broccoli, winter squash, blackstrap molasses, eggplant, cantaloupe, and tomatoes.

Good sources of potassium include parsley, cucumber, bell pepper, turmeric, apricots, ginger root, strawberries, avocado, banana, tuna, halibut, cauliflower and cabbage.

... and I didn't have any of those in my fridge either since the last time I stocked up was for Irene.  So my best next option was Ginger Ale.  Tomorrow morning I'll stop by the grocery store and pick up a banana and maybe some chard & spinach.

Last Irene Update (I promise)

So Irene has come and gone and you would have no idea that she even stopped by the UES.

The sun is shinning, its a little windy but the only evidence that she threatened the City is that half the shops and restaurants are still boarded up and there are a ton of leaves scattered on the street.  Boy, the clean up effort is going to be rough.  Just don't look at me to chip in because I got a mani/pedi on Friday.  Otherwise all the Upper East Sidders are out and about walking around, eating lunch (at the open restaurants) and enjoying the day.  The media hyped up Irene too much and I blame the meteorologists who got their socks off reporting on this storm.

And so far, I've accomplished almost everything left on my list:
-Make list of items I need to buy at Target: check
-File papers: check
-Finish new Jennifer Weiner book
-OCD organize my already OCD organized apartment: check
-Make another to do list
-Watch another movie (tonight maybe?)
-Drink the two bottles of wine (with dinner)
-Find something else to do?  Maybe use the medicine ball collecting dust on my bookshelf and give myself some abs? (umm....)

Irene Who?

That bitch just got downgraded to a tropical storm!  Hurricane, what?  Tornado watch, huh?

Still have to stay indoors, but at least she's not tearing up the City & I still have power!!

More to come...

Mom: You can tell Aunt Peg that I'm just fine and all is well.

Irene Update

As of 8:30am on Sunday the eye of Irene is 100 miles from Midtown Manhattan.

She hasn't done much to the UES, yet.  Here is a pic outside my window from when I woke up at 8:03am. 

I slept on my pull-out couch last night since my bed is next to the windows, maybe that wasn't necessary but all the news kept saying was the worst was coming from 4am - 6am.  Oh well, guess it's better to be safe than sorry.

Now, I'm just waiting for the "eye" to hit.  I've been very lucky that Manhattan hasn't experienced any power outages as of yet...  I guess when the eye comes around 10am we'll know for sure how mean Irene really is.  Hoboken is about to lose power, nasty!  (Now Mom do you see why I don't want to live in Hoboken?  Because they can't handle any natural disasters!)

Until then, now back to my list of things to do while I wait this thing out...

That bitch Irene

How I've prepared for the impending hurricane aka Irene:

Thursday:
-Order necessities (i.e.: baked beans, hot dogs, cheese, milk, oatmeal, milano cookies, pretzels, etc) from Fresh Direct and select the only available time slot for delivery available, Friday 8-10pm

Friday:
-Get off work at 1pm (Summer Fridays)
-Head to nail salon for manicure/pedicure and 10 minute massage, what? That earthquake on Tuesday really messed up my nails, lol
-Head to the movies with all the old biddies to see The Help
-Stop by Wine Store and pick up two bottles for Sunday
-Walk over to Duane Reade and get 6-pack of water (just in-case)
-Head to expensive grocery store to get jelly & dark chocolate covered pretzels (the important things)
-Anally vacuum my apartment.  Like use the hose and go along the base boards and behind furniture and vacuum up anything that's not permanently attached to my apartment.
-Finally get groceries delivered
-Have great conversations with Parents & Best Friend
-Watch tv
-Go to bed

Saturday: Bracing for the "worst storm of our lives"
-Wake up early
-Head to Duane Reade to buy toothpaste, that might be important
-Scan receipts
-Reconcile Finances
-Watch too much news, get freaked out by the "media hype" deceide to stop watching the news
-Tape windows
-Take walk around Upper East Side b/c I was getting stir crazy inside
-Watch first movie of the weekend
-Write blog post

Saturday/Sunday: Other things I'm going to do while preparing for Irene or while Irene stops by
-Make list of items I need to buy at Target
-Anally clean kitchen
-File papers
-Finish new Jennifer Weiner book
-OCD organize my already OCD organized apartment
-Make another to do list
-Watch another movie (if I have power)
-Drink the two bottles of wine
-Find something else to do?  Maybe use the medicine ball collecting dust on my bookshelf and give myself some abs? 

Who knows what could happen I've got at least another 36 hours stuck inside my little apartment. Anyone want to visit me?  I'm in a "no zone".

How are other people prepping for Irene?  I don't know about you, but this bitch has really ruined my weekend plans to lay in the park & get a tan. 

But one fun fact there are at least 3 new twitter handles for Irene: @HurriicaneIrene, @irene, & my favorite, @ireneonthetown

Special Cousin Time

It only takes years of pestering these girls to get them to make the hour and half trip to visit me in NYC and then finding the time in their busy calendars to actually make it happen.

My favorite cousins, Ashley & Chelsea, who seem more like my little sisters, came to visit me as a last little hurrah before the go back to School.  They showed up Friday afternoon just in time to help make the final decision on what Broadway show we were going to see that night.  I was standing in line at the Tkts booth under the red stairs in Times Square (my personal hell) deciding between a handful of options, final decision... PRISCILLA Queen of the Desert.

We stopped by the M&M store first so we could have snacks for the show.

Ash got Syracuse colors

Chels got BC colors

First we had dinner at the delicious taco shop/restaurant across the street my from Apartment.  Then we headed to Times Square to people watch & head to the show.  We got there a little early so we headed to the completely touristy over-priced bar, The View in the Marriott Marquee.  Then within a few minutes there was crazy thunder & lightening storm with thunderbolts like I've never seen before.  I was thankful to be inside but also having a huge ut-oh because I didn't bring any umbrellas.  I sent Chelsea down to the gift shop to buy us some cheap umbrellas so we could run across the street.

Rain didn't ruin our night because the show was Ah-MAZING!!

Ashley, Chelsea & Me

Saturday, was a whirlwind day.  The girls slept in, which I've actually never experienced before.  We watched two, almost three episodes of One Tree Hill for Ashley while we got ready and then we headed out for a full day of adventures.
We walked across the Park to the Natural History Museum for some culture.  Ashley took enough pictures that she would be a perfect Asian tourist (love ya, but you know it's true).

We then finally ate lunch at Brother Jimmy's on the UWS at then sauntered over to Insomniac Cookies for dessert. 
We walked off our lunch and dessert back through the Park and then took the 5th Avenue bus down to L&T so we could do a little shopping.  Chelsea and I ended up having a sock puppet show in the Shoe Department with Hunter Wellies while Ashley recorded the whole thing, I'm not sure I want to see it, lol. 
Dinner at Shake Shack was more interesting than expected only because a couple two tables down from us had 4 hot dogs and 6 burgers with fries and it was awe-inspiring and disgusting at the same time.  After being not so subtle we learned the husband had a rhythm to his consumption: hot dog then hamburger and the wife consumed 3 burgers on her own.  We wanted to stay to see them complete their entire meal but we couldn't because the girls had to head home.  Tear. 
It was a fabulous weekend spending time with some of my favorite people.

Remembering Grandma

Remembering my Grandmother was a somber yet joyous occasion. In the morning there were lots of tears (no mascara on the bottom lashes) and in the afternoon there were lots of laughs from retelling fond memories and catching up with family.

The service for Grandma was just perfect. The Pastor gave an excellent sermon, not too "Jesus-y". He recapped all the major events that she lived through in her 84 years, listed all her greatest accomplishments, told some great anecdotes and gave us great strength to know that Grandma was behind those pearly gates in Heaven.

After the Service is when we knew we could really start laughing, remembering our personal funny stories about Grandma. I haven't seen my Texas cousins since my Grandfather's funeral in 1998, wow, have we all changed. It was nice to catch up on each other's lives and really relax and enjoy each other's company. As cousins we all decided that it was too long since we've seen each other and though it was great to catch up, the circumstances behind our get-together were not what should have been and we need to make an effort as cousins to see each other more often.



Then it was time for the mandatory family pictures on the same back fence that all our family pictures have been taken on for the last 27 years at Grandma's house. Sad that these pictures will be the last ones in front of the red fence.

Greg (Dad's Cousin), Dad & Dean (Dad's Brother)

The Grandchildren (aka Cousins): Sharon, Ian, Mike, Sean, Alyssa, Kristin, Kimberly & Brian

Her Greatest Accomplishment: Her Family

My Family (Makenzie was sleeping) doing the "rawr"

Dinner with the extended family to just laugh, catch up and eat.

Me, Makenzie & Kristin

Jackson

The Family