Good times in NYC

Our big trip to NYC was yesterday. It was great. We were able to take an express train and were in the city before 10 am. We took the subway from Herald Square up to and walked around Rockefeller Center and saw the giant Christmas tree (which is incredible, btw). We walked up 5th Avenue and peeked in all the fancy stores along the way. Mom and I ducked into St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was pretty impressive (both in size and beauty). W really enjoyed a spin around F.A.O. Schwarz; he especially liked the giant stuffed puppy dogs, which he would back up and run into head first, giggling with delight. We had a tasty lunch at a hamburger joint, which looked kind of like a hole-in-the-wall, but was actually really good, and well-priced, considering it was situated between 5th and Park avenues. Then we walked over to the CitiGroup Center and saw the holiday model train display (Mike loves model trains!). I was pretty amused at the woman in line in front of us. She had a little girl who was probably 2 and a half or 3, who was decked out in a Juicy Couture t-shirt, True Religion jeans, and silver cowgirl boots. Her mom was made up within an inch of her life and was carrying a couple of shopping bags from Fendi and Prada. You weren't allowed to bring strollers in to the train exhibit, and I noticed, after she abandoned her fancy-schmancy stroller, that there was a good-sized Tiffany's bag in the bottom basket. I thought, for a split second, about asking her if she thought it might be a good idea to carry it with her instead of leaving it like she had done... but something told me she probably already knew it and just didn't care.
After that, we took the subway over to Grand Central Station, where we were able to see the holiday light show on the ceiling (W thought that was pretty neat). By then it was close to time for my parents to take W back to NJ, so we escorted them back to Penn Station to catch the train. Mike and I then considered catching a train to Canada (ha!) but decided instead to amble around the Union Square area. We people-watched on a park bench for a good long while and even saw a guy wearing an LSU sweatshirt (Geaux Tigers!). We went to Strand Books, an incredible bookstore with over 18 miles of books.
By 5:30, we were getting super hungry, so we went on to Union Square Cafe. Let me cut to the chase: Our meal was incredible. We started with the calamari, which came with this anchovy mayonnaise dipping sauce. We also had their homemade garlic/parm potato chips. Mike had duck, I had steak. I had excellent red wine with my meal. The only disappointment was the mashed potatoes that came with my dish; I told Mike they tasted like school cafeteria mashed potatoes; he agreed with my assessment based on sight. We had a wonderful server; in fact, in searching for an image of USC to put in this post, I found this article about her! Very neat! After eating we considered staying in the city a little longer, but we were so tired that we just went ahead to the train station and just barely caught the 8:07 train. We were home by 10, as this wasn't an express train. All in all, a fantastic day. I'll post pictures soon.
And to top it all off, W did NOT fuss when my mom put him to bed. A miracle!

Look out, New York!

My parents have been here since Christmas Eve; it's great having them here. Tomorrow all of us are heading in to the Big Apple for a day of sight-seeing. We're taking an 8 o'clock train in (an Express one--43 minutes from our station to Penn Station!) and planning to see the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center and the store displays along 5th Avenue, among other things. Mom and Dad are going to bring W back home around 3 in the afternoon and Mike and I are going to stay in the city for dinner and some after-dinner fun (we're going to try to get tix to a show). We have had dinner reservations at Union Square Cafe for weeks now--we made the reservations 2 weeks ago and they had TWO availabilities-- 5:45 and 8:15! We opted for the earlier one. We originally planned to stay in NYC for the night--we already had a hotel booked--but I chickened out about leaving W all night with my 'rents, mainly because he still isn't sleeping through the night consistently and often wants a 4 am nursing session. Anyway, we will have a wonderful dinner and time afterwards in NYC and then take a late train (10 or 11) back home. I am pretty excited.

For your Christmas viewing pleasure

One of my favorite movies of ALL TIME is on NBC tonight--It's a Wonderful Life. My mama told me that I needed to see this movie one summer when I was home from college and in a fairly deep depression. I mean REALLY deep depression. I was depressed about, among other things, the 1997 suicide-death of a dear friend and feeling pretty ready to check-out myself. Mama had me watch this movie for obvious reasons, for those of you who have seen the film. For those of you who haven't, do yourself a favor, and either watch it, TiVo it, or tape it. You won't regret it. Sure, there might be some cheesy parts in it, and yes, it is in black-and-white (which I don't care about, but some find b/w annoying), but I think you will appreciate the sentiment of the movie.
And for the record, yes, it is a very wonderful life these days!

Christmas brownies

I just baked a bunch of brownies for our neighbors. Some have Andes mints baked into them. I bagged them up in little brown bags that I decorated with my kitty-cat "Caught up in the Christmas Spirit" stamp and then tied shut with red and green ribbons.
Shhhh! Don't tell anyone that I can actually be NICE sometimes...
By the way, when I was looking online for the image of my stamp, I noticed on Ebay where some people were selling cards (for $1.50 each!) they made by using the stamp and coloring in the little lights. That made me chuckle, since I got card stock and made my OWN Christmas cards this year with this stamp and some Crayola markers!

Pyrex?

I just got off the phone with my mom. She and my dad are flying to NJ tomorrow to spend a week with us. I'm pretty excited, especially about seeing my dad, since he hasn't been to visit since he helped us move in back in June. Anyway, Mama was calling to see if I wanted her to bring the gift that my grandfather Archie (my dad's adoptive dad--Dad's biological father died when my grandmother was 7 months preggers) gave me for Christmas. Let me preface this by saying that Archie is one of the cheapest men on the face of the earth. Let me also say that he is pretty old and can't exactly go around buying extravagant gifts for people. That being said, I will continue. So Mama said that he gave me a Pyrex dish that had belonged to my grandmother (who died when I was 4). For the past few years he has been giving me and Mama things that belonged to her--costume jewelry, mainly--as well as a regular present, such as a gift card, or, as he did last year, a cashmere-like scarf. Okay, so this year, it's a Pyrex dish. Hmm. It's nice to have it since it belonged to my grandmother and she was a really good cook. But what did my three cousins get? Money. Cash. Ducats.
I am such a horrible person to even say what I have said--it sounds immature and shallow, right? I'm not complaining, really. I just think it's a little weird.
If you're sitting there and aren't convinced, let me put the icing on the cake for you. For our wedding gift, Archie "gave" me and Mike a picture he has hanging in his house. The catch? We can't have it till he croaks. Now you'll agree with me on the weirdness factor of the whole thing.

Festivus

FYI, today is Festivus. Gather 'round Ye Olde Festivus Pole and air those grievances, people!

What a mess!

Here's a little holiday elf-ish-ness for y'all! This is W in his early-morning bed-head glory.

Here are pics of my latest cross-stitch projects that I put in the mail for friends this morning.

This is for a friend's 5-year-old daughter who is going to start losing teeth any day now. On the back of the piece is a little pocket for the tooth and money. It's to hang on the doorknob, because we all know how much the tooth fairy hates to have to search for a tooth under the pillow!

This is a Christmas ornament for the same little girl. I also got her this craft kit that lets you make your own pencil erasers. You make your erasers with the provided Sculpey clay, bake it for a certain amount of time, and volia! You've got a personalized eraser!

This ornament is for the daughter of another friend. This little girl is 2; I just sent her a "Birthday Blessings" cross-stitch for her birthday, which was last week. I also sent a door-hanging that says "Diva" in hot pink glittery letters, since that is what her mama calls her.
This is for the son of my dearest friend. Her little boy was born in March. I also sent him a touch-and-feel book with farm animals in it. W loves those types of books, so I figured her little guy might appreciate it too.
All the designs I posted above are by Lizzie Kate.