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The Holidays Are Upon Us!!
Dec. 10th, 2009 04:10 pmI've felt so disconnected recently because we've been so busy. Each week, I posted stuff on eBay, closed sales throughout the week and applied for jobs. Almost every Thursday (except for the two Thanksgiving weeks), we hosted Game Night, which is always fun. Here's a run-down of other things:
Week 0: Made cranberry sauce and canned it. Made gourmet white wine vinegars as party favors for our upcoming Thanksgiving Dinners.
Week 1: Saw God of Carnage. Met all the actors (including James Gandolfini - SQUEEE! But our picture is crap.) after the show, which was good, but the play's dialog was a bit arduous and outdated. Had dinner at Nanking on 6th Ave - good enough. Oh, and we saw Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman coming out of the neighboring theater, too!! BONUS! Then prepped for the annual Fordham Thanksgiving Dinner (Matt's fellow alumni from Fordham - this was year 19, I think).
Week 2: Redid the lighting in our hallways and closets ourselves. Fixed a lot of little bothersome things around the house in preparation for the Fordham and real Thanksgiving Dinners. Changed most all of the pictures in the house. Posted stuff on eBay and closed sales throughout the week and applied for jobs. Had dinner at Casa Lever off Park Ave., which was very tasty, but WAY, WAY, WAY overpriced. Moved furniture around for the Fordham Thanksgiving. We took a friend's mother out to dinner at McCormick & Schmick's since he was in Australia for a couple of weeks.
Week 3: Went grocery and home-accent shopping for the Thanksgiving Dinners. Redid my (the main) bathroom with lots of decor and changed things around - including the light feature above my and Matt's bathroom sinks - huge deal. We'd been talking about doing this for about 3 years, and finally did it!
Hosted the Fordham Thanksgiving at the house and it went off great!! Only hitch - Matt had to keep cooking the turkey till much later than he had planned. But it was all good. 16 people with two turkeys, appetizers, and dessert. The wine and Steve-made cocktails flowed and everyone was happy. I made doggie/gift bags for everyone, which still barely made a dent in the food Matt cooked. Awesome!
Week 4: Recuperated from the Fordham Thanksgiving dinner and moved furniture back to original spots. Prepped for the family Thanksgiving dinner. Redecorated fully for the family's meal. And by "family" I mean Matt's aunt and cousin; his sister's family went somewhere else and MISSED OUT! Real Thanksgiving went off wonderfully and his aunt and cousin loved everything. They loved all the food (of course - Matt's a fantastic cook!) and took time to notice all the decorative elements I put around, which made me feel so good. It was great.
Then we took off to Asbury Park, NJ, for the annual Santa Saturday fund raiser - always the Saturday after Thanksgiving. That was essentially 2.5 days. Had dinner at a great place in Asbury Park called Bellmonte's. The stuffed pepper app brought a tear to my eye it was so tasty. Santa Saturday was so much fun, and later than night there was an event at the Stone Pony (yes, the Bruce Springsteen Stone Pony). We coordinated a birthday dinner for a friend and the next morning a birthday brunch for the same friend at the Salt Water Cafe - great place for brunch.
Week 5: Recuperated from Thanksgiving and Santa Saturday. Cleaned the house - again. Went to see Ragtime after having dinner at Kellari Taverna on 44th. Took lots of pics around 6th Ave with all the festive lights and later around Time's Square. Ended up in the Village for drinks. Then on Saturday (WITH THE 1ST SNOW!!!), we attended the annual Bloomfield Holiday Pajama Party! That was so much fun. Started around 7:00 and ended around 3:00 AM the next morning.
After recuperating last Sunday, we went to see a cabaret - the Last Piece of Cake. Two friends of our, Tom and Vinnie, have been doing their "Cake" act in Manhattan for about 9 years, and they retired Monday. The Duplex was PACKED solid. At the end of the show, Tom proposed to his partner on stage. It was so sweet, and Brian (of course) said, "Yes!" On the way out of the show down the stairs, I ran into the lead singer from Ragtime and got a picture with him. Awesome guy, great smile, and HUGE biceps (yep, I squeezed them...).
And that brings us up to this week as I'm redecorating for Christmas. Started in the dining room already, and here's the Christmas chandelier I put together over the dining room table. Matt's started on the Christmas cookies and he's done one biscotti and the pecan tarts so far. YUM!!
This is the chandelier.
Week 0: Made cranberry sauce and canned it. Made gourmet white wine vinegars as party favors for our upcoming Thanksgiving Dinners.
Week 1: Saw God of Carnage. Met all the actors (including James Gandolfini - SQUEEE! But our picture is crap.) after the show, which was good, but the play's dialog was a bit arduous and outdated. Had dinner at Nanking on 6th Ave - good enough. Oh, and we saw Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman coming out of the neighboring theater, too!! BONUS! Then prepped for the annual Fordham Thanksgiving Dinner (Matt's fellow alumni from Fordham - this was year 19, I think).
Week 2: Redid the lighting in our hallways and closets ourselves. Fixed a lot of little bothersome things around the house in preparation for the Fordham and real Thanksgiving Dinners. Changed most all of the pictures in the house. Posted stuff on eBay and closed sales throughout the week and applied for jobs. Had dinner at Casa Lever off Park Ave., which was very tasty, but WAY, WAY, WAY overpriced. Moved furniture around for the Fordham Thanksgiving. We took a friend's mother out to dinner at McCormick & Schmick's since he was in Australia for a couple of weeks.
Week 3: Went grocery and home-accent shopping for the Thanksgiving Dinners. Redid my (the main) bathroom with lots of decor and changed things around - including the light feature above my and Matt's bathroom sinks - huge deal. We'd been talking about doing this for about 3 years, and finally did it!
Hosted the Fordham Thanksgiving at the house and it went off great!! Only hitch - Matt had to keep cooking the turkey till much later than he had planned. But it was all good. 16 people with two turkeys, appetizers, and dessert. The wine and Steve-made cocktails flowed and everyone was happy. I made doggie/gift bags for everyone, which still barely made a dent in the food Matt cooked. Awesome!
Week 4: Recuperated from the Fordham Thanksgiving dinner and moved furniture back to original spots. Prepped for the family Thanksgiving dinner. Redecorated fully for the family's meal. And by "family" I mean Matt's aunt and cousin; his sister's family went somewhere else and MISSED OUT! Real Thanksgiving went off wonderfully and his aunt and cousin loved everything. They loved all the food (of course - Matt's a fantastic cook!) and took time to notice all the decorative elements I put around, which made me feel so good. It was great.
Then we took off to Asbury Park, NJ, for the annual Santa Saturday fund raiser - always the Saturday after Thanksgiving. That was essentially 2.5 days. Had dinner at a great place in Asbury Park called Bellmonte's. The stuffed pepper app brought a tear to my eye it was so tasty. Santa Saturday was so much fun, and later than night there was an event at the Stone Pony (yes, the Bruce Springsteen Stone Pony). We coordinated a birthday dinner for a friend and the next morning a birthday brunch for the same friend at the Salt Water Cafe - great place for brunch.
Week 5: Recuperated from Thanksgiving and Santa Saturday. Cleaned the house - again. Went to see Ragtime after having dinner at Kellari Taverna on 44th. Took lots of pics around 6th Ave with all the festive lights and later around Time's Square. Ended up in the Village for drinks. Then on Saturday (WITH THE 1ST SNOW!!!), we attended the annual Bloomfield Holiday Pajama Party! That was so much fun. Started around 7:00 and ended around 3:00 AM the next morning.
After recuperating last Sunday, we went to see a cabaret - the Last Piece of Cake. Two friends of our, Tom and Vinnie, have been doing their "Cake" act in Manhattan for about 9 years, and they retired Monday. The Duplex was PACKED solid. At the end of the show, Tom proposed to his partner on stage. It was so sweet, and Brian (of course) said, "Yes!" On the way out of the show down the stairs, I ran into the lead singer from Ragtime and got a picture with him. Awesome guy, great smile, and HUGE biceps (yep, I squeezed them...).
And that brings us up to this week as I'm redecorating for Christmas. Started in the dining room already, and here's the Christmas chandelier I put together over the dining room table. Matt's started on the Christmas cookies and he's done one biscotti and the pecan tarts so far. YUM!!
This is the chandelier.
