Busy Bee

This is such a cop out ~ but I have been so busy.
Don't think I don't have stories to share! Because I do! I just need a moment for everything to calm down.....
Stay tuned!

And the Oscar goes to.......

Yes friends. It is that wonderful time of year again. Award Season.

Golden Globes? Grammys? Oscars? No -

Service Awards (5yr, 10yr, 20yr), Manager of the Year Awards, Assistant Manager of the Year Awards, Rookie Manager of the Year Awards etc...at my company.

It is that wonderful time of year when I get to present a plaque and pose for a photo op. While I am happy to give awards and recognition ~ I don't so much like the photo part. Ugh...my hair is flat! (I need a haircut) I'm all washed out! (that lipstick color is not good) Meanwhile look how cute my manager is! I should have knocked her over and stolen her lipstick.

But enough about me for the moment ~ it did bring me great pleasure to surprise this particular gal with her 5 year award ~ you never saw someone so excited to get to pick a gift from a catalog of cookware, watches, golf bags and mantel clocks. (She seems to be leaning towards the cookware) She brought a tear to my eye when she told me how much she loves her job and wants to retire from this company. She never wants to leave! Such dedication. Such loyalty. It was like an Oscar speech ~ only better.

Does it look like I have trouble getting anything I want?

Oh the Birthday Celebration!

What a fantastic time I had on Friday night!
I had 3 requirements for the festivities:

• dinner
• cocktails
• cute boys (I know I should be politically correct and say attractive men)

When I arrived at Michelle's house - she informed me that of course it could be difficult to get all 3 requirements in one place - so we opted to optimize the experience by hitting 3 different places.

One place to eat, one place for cocktails, and one place for boys.

Dinner was at a familiar restaurant - (they happen to have excellent cocktails too.) I chose a simple cuban sandwich that was fantastic with my mojito. After spending a few hours chatting and eating, we headed up to stop #2 for the cocktail portion of the evening. This particular restaurant had a bar with a large selection of Sangrias. I chose a white wine sangria with peaches and cinnamon. It was delicious and comforting. Cinnamon has that effect. The bartender thought he was a cute boy, but his personality left much to be desired. Instead of lingering, we headed for our final stop.....Where the boys were.

As we arrived, I was happy to be required to show my id. I know that they were checking everyones id.....but nonetheless, for a brief shining moment I felt really young again.

As we entered the bar (a rowdy Irish pub) we were surrounded by music, cheering, laughing and fun. There was a great Irish band playing, a rowdy crowd and the drinks were flowing. Happily.....there were many cute boys all around. We ordered our beers and began to watch the show. And by show, I don't mean the band.....but the crowd. As is usual, we were chatting with various people and enjoying ourselves. Standing next to Michelle was this very tall woman. We had joked that she made us feel so short....she easily stood over 6 ft tall. Suddenly, she turned and exclaimed how much she loved my white trenchcoat! The trenchcoat led to more conversation - Her name was Theresa, she was an ICU nurse and she was very drunk. When she asked if we were there to pick up hot Irish men ~ I told her we were there to celebrate my birthday.

T ~"Today is your BIRTHDAY? OH MY GOSH! How old ARE you?!"

Me ~"I am 36 today."

T ~ "36?! No way.....I would have figured you for 28 MAYBE"

Me ~ "Theresa, you are my new best friend"

T ~ "no, seriously.....you look great. Do you use Botox?"

Umm, yeah. Thanks for the compliment and insult in under 20 seconds. I decided that I didn't like my new best friend Theresa anymore. I quickly turned my attention to someone else.

Despite my obvious snub of Theresa, she still felt comfortable reapproaching me and asking more questions. And I must admit, I found that watching Theresa was like watching a train wreck in action.

She was on a date. It was clearly a first date. And Theresa was not liking him. To drown her misery, she was drinking beer, followed by shots of whiskey, followed by more beer. She began to work her way down the bar....attempting to make friends along the way. She found a kindred spirit in 'bob girl' Bob girl had a bob haircut, and like Theresa was drinking heavily. T and B began to drink together. And then came the tequila shots.

Theresa leaned over and told me that she was a "raging bi-sexual" (those are her words) and that she was loving the big boobs on "bob girl".

I asked her how she thought she was progressing in her quest, when she said, "Does it look like I have trouble getting anything I want?"

Oh to be beautiful, young and that confident.

As the night continued, Theresa decided to make her move on 'bob girl'

'Bob Girl' was not amused. Uh, no. Hell no. NO. 'Bob Girl' got up and left. I must admit, I was pleased to see that the beauty that was Theresa did not always get everything she wanted.

I did get cute boys buying me drinks.

So in summation. I got my dinner, my cocktails and cute boys buying me drinks.

I did not have botox and I did not have a hangover in the morning. 36 looks good on me.

(don't know that Theresa will ever be able to say the same thing)

Thanks for the card!

I received the first birthday card in my life that referred to me as an old person today.
It was full of references to bifocals, gray hair, memory loss and chin hair.
Ummmm.......thanks Meghan.
When did I go from pink fairys and stardust cards to old lady with wart and chin hair cards?!


I am leading a ban on cards that call people old or have the word fart in them.


But fear not - I am still feeling fabulous....Happy Birthday to Me!
(though I may take a closer look for any rogue hairs in strange places before heading out for my festivites tonight)......gggggrrrr

Countdown to 36!

36 is looming.

I was too busy being a freakfest to enjoy 35.

I am ready to embrace 36.

(aka....almost 40, someday)

This is me on my 6th birthday....

30 years ago!!!!

I look more stunned then ~ than I feel now.

I suppose that is a good sign.

Why is this the longest week ever?

Could it be because we just had 2 "short" weeks in a row? Why do holidays have to screw up our biorhythms?

Could it be because I am not sleeping well? There is no reason for this....I am not particularly stressed and I have been eating well and excercising?

Could it be because I am bored senseless? I need a challenge, I need some excitement, perhaps a project. Hold on, I don't want to wish for too much here.

Weekend, please hurry up and get here.

Happiness Is........

My new red dress for my birthday weekend in New York!
I wanted this dress the moment I saw it in the window.
I wanted this dress the moment I saw it again on the Today show.
I wanted this dress even more when it was available today on sale and in my size!



Happiness is...........



The new skinny latte at Starbucks!
I usually go for the sugar free non fat latte in vanilla or hazelnut....
They now make mochas sugar free!
Did I not say 2008 was great?!

Giving Thanks....

I received a late Christmas gift and an early Birthday gift yesterday.

(2 different gifts)

Both gifts remind me of something.

Gift giving should come from the heart.

It is not about how much you spend, how much you save. It is not about giving because you feel you have to. It is not about giving a gift just to say you did so. The gift should be heartfelt and have meaning.

The Christmas gift was a framed photo of a building in Rome.

When I opened the framed photo - my first thought was that this was going to look so beautiful hanging in my dining room. Further investigation of the photo made me notice the words etched on the facade......a close up on the photo reveals "Diva Faustina"

Faustina is the name of my beloved grandmother. My Nonnie. When my cousins noticed her name on the old Roman facade - they snapped a photo.

It is so beautiful to see her name etched forever in the Eternal City.

And even more fitting that the connection between food and Faustina was made even before I saw her name.

The Birthday gift was a book.

The book is titled "The Lost Ravioli ~ Recipes of Hoboken.....a search for food and family"

Inside, the personal inscription reads:

Because family & food are so precious to the both of us. I'm glad you are carrying on family traditions.

~Aunt Marisa

I feel loved and well thought of.....perhaps the best gift of all.

Felice Anno Nuovo

Happy New Year!

Rising on January 1, 2008 ~ I put on my running shoes and hit the treadmill! I was going to start this new year out right.

I had been invited to a New Years Day Brunch at 11am ~ I finished in time to jump in the shower and dress.........being a new year ~ I decided to bunk tradition and not wear black. Black is usually my signature color.....Instead, I donned all white. White pants, a white top - I did wear a turquoise and silver beaded necklace and my silver ballet flats......I topped the white outfit with my white trench. (have I mentioned how fabulous that coat is?)

Brunch was amazing. It was held at my Aunt's house and she invited all the usual suspects.

(that included the Osgoods!)

We had mimosas, pomegranite martinis, coffee......stolen, assorted christmas cookies, brie, french bread, fruit salad, a wonderful parfait made from roasted pineapple and served with yogurt and granola ~ there was a ham, poached eggs served over roasted asparagus and an apple and celery root slaw.

We lingered talking and eating for about 5 hours......I have such a passion about good food, family and friends.....how can anything be better?

On top of that ~ I saw many people that I had not seen in a long time. I am not going to let myself have body image issues anymore.
Everyone made me feel beautiful and for once, I allowed myself to see that they were right. I have worked hard to get to where I am today.....this transformation did not happen overnight. How great to be starting this new year with a new body and a new positive outlook.

2008 is Great

I am loving 2008 already.

On New Year's Eve I attended 7:30pm mass. (it was for the Blessed Virgin - how appropriate...and the homily was centered upon establishing a relationship with her...that the way to Mary was the way to God. Works for me! It is all part of my master plan this year)

By 8:45pm I was on my way to a 9:00pm dinner reservation.

Dinner was really fantastic. I was lucky to secure reservations at the last possible minute. Something kicked me in the butt and said ~ you are not spending another New Years Eve at home and asleep at 9pm)

The restaurant was really beautiful, and they had a live band playing - Mainly standards during the dinner hour.

I ordered a whiskey sour! How very old school - very Frolic Room inspired!

The menu was of course a prix fixe for the night - there were 4 courses and the choices for each course were varied. That was nice to see. I hate when you only have 2 or 3 choices.

For my first course I enjoyed a lovely "Spicy, Creamy Tomato Soup - it had pumpernickel croutons and pumpkinseed oil" - this should have said super spicy - but it was tasty nonetheless.

2nd course was a cripsy prawn served with a chopped tomato salad and basil pesto....I wanted the sea scallops but someone else at the table ordered them - and I hate to order the same thing as someone else at the table.

For the 3rd course I chose a duck breast served with apricot couscous and a cherry reduction sauce......lovely.

And for dessert, I enjoyed a peanut butter/chocolate mousse yummy. It was really good.

The music was fun, I was dancing and singing along.....and my outfit was great! The gods had even blessed me with a good hair day!

The highlight of the evening had to be falling on the way to the bathroom and ending up in this man's lap. He did attempt to stand up and catch me as I was going down.....and instead I ended up falling onto him. Nice.

At that point I had not even had any alcohol.

I was so embarrassed....all I wanted to do was go back and tell him I had not even been drinking - but then decided to spare myself the further humiliation of returning to the scene of the crime.

Yikes!

We stayed long enough to scream happy new year and toast with some rather awful champagne - (who am I kidding it was not from France and not champagne - it barely qualified as mediocre sparkling wine)

However, my wish for staying awake past 9pm came true! And I had a great night. Even better ~ I woke up nice and fresh the next morning ~ no hangover!

Could it be I am growing up?

Irony in the New Year

Last night before venturing out to my festivity....I attended mass.

It was a holy day of obligation for the Blessed Mother.

Ironic isn't it?