Citizen of the World

We've been having a wonderful weekend!!  The weekend started out on Friday with us getting our hair cuts.  We were about 2 weeks overdue for those.  Friday night, we visited our friends Tommy & Brian for Easter Egg coloring.  It was so much fun, and best to do with friends.
This is Brian with his most fabulous egg ever!  It's fun how some dying elements just happen and then if you take advantage of them - juuuuust right - you can make something amazing out of it! Brian cooks a mean Cornish hen and Tommy makes delicious guacamole! YUMMY!
That was the culmination!  Beautiful eggs, tons of colors, lots of creativity, and fun with friends. (Plus, I love Matt's face here: "That's enough pictures, Stephen!")

Yesterday, Matthew and I slept a long, long time. We didn't eat ANYTHING all day till dinner at Tony's di Napoli. There we met up with squirreltot*, texwriterbear, super_sean for the first time ever along with another Texan friend, Shane. Unfortunately,allsmilesbear didn't make it out, but mat_t did! jimwnyc and tinman11201* came out, too, and we met THEM for the first time in person, too!  It was a lot of fun, great food, and great company.

Dinner was arugula/pear salad, grilled shrimp, (libations - goes without saying), broccoli rabe, escarole and beans, veal salimbucca (thinly pounded veal cutlet with provolone and prosciutto) over spinach, chicken scarpiello with potatoes, peppers, and Italian sausage, and lobster raviolis with vodka penne. Don't forget the amazing Italian bread, and dessert: NY cheesecake, tiramisu, an ice cream cake (on the house), and cannolis.  Oh, and libations. Most everyone got appletinis.

Here are a few pictures from the evening (including some of the damage). More pictures from the dinner, you can find here.Afterwards, as everyone else retired for the evening, Matthew and I dashed off to Ty's for a nightcap. We hadn't been out in the city since about February, so were pretty overdue.  There we were glad to run into our buddy, Chris. Such a sweetheart.

Today, we're heading up to the Ramsay, NJ, for Easter Dinner at about 3:00 with Matt's family; we're not hosting this year (don't get me started!).  I'm kind sleepy from all this weekend activity so far; might have to go take a nap before breakfast and lunch!

Here comes Peter Cottontail, Hoppin' down the bunny trail,
Hippity hoppity, Easter's on its way
Bringin' ev'ry girl and boy, a basketful of Easter joy
Things to make your Easter, bright and gay...


Today, we've got Matt's family coming over at 1:00PM and BOY do we have a feast, decor, and celebration of Easter for everyone. Matt and I had so much fun putting this day together.

From the kids' Easter baskets and the Easter chandelier to the Cornish hens, braised fennel, and bunny cake as well as Glamor Pudding (resurrecting a Julia Child dessert), I think everyone's going to enjoy it.

Thing is, even though we planned everything out and got lots of things done in preparation - including trying recipes - for some reason, pulling it all together Friday and yesterday, we've only gotten about 4.5 hours of sleep! UGH!

We both threw out our backs. Praying that we get through the day, and by about 6:00 PM, we can take a really nice nap for about an hour.

Busy day! Enjoy everyone! Big-eared bunny hugs.

I just happened to see this gallery of pictures noted in the corner of a Fail Blog post about Google auto-fills. I thought, "Bunnies can be creepy," when I saw this, but I had no idea.

Check it out.

When Matt and I went shopping after my hospital visit, we went to AC Moore, one of my favorite craft stores. We went in for one little itsy bitsy $20 thing and, of course, left with $100 worth of goods.

When we got home, I got a creative hair in my wig and got to working on scrapbook Easter cards. What fun! I made one for my youngest sister, and decided that I had to make one for my elder sister as well, because god-forbid the younger tells the older one about it... The same went for Matt's sister and then his aunt and cousin ... and nieces and nephew.

I woke up with a start this morning bursting with ideas for little cards for my nephew (& parents) and my dad, too, because what if they all show up at each others' houses for Easter - their Movable Easter Feaster - and they discover someone's card that THEY didn't get. There would be rancor. There would be below-the-surface resentment. One wouldn't want that, now would they? Not at Easter when bunnies are laying eggs and people decorate their yard trees (??? - still don't get that one).

The upshot of a portion of my creative streak was Matt's creativity stepping up to the plate and him saying, "Let's put on our [Easter] ears and put photos in the cards!" I thought that would be fun, too, and here are the results (feedback welcome):