busygirl

you capture: winter.

I grew up in the 'snowbelt' of Cleveland where snowfall is measured in feet not inches so winter isn't quite my favorite season.  And even though the snow is pretty to look at - I'm tired of the fact that it just creates a mess, is cold and causes me to kick myself daily for forgetting to put a snowbrush in my car.

So we spend most of our winters snuggled up on the couch trying to keep warm.

 For more you capture photos, head on over to ishouldbefoldinglaundry!

***Don't worry, Martha Show recap will be up soon!  I'm about to head to the airport and will load photos and such when I get home tonight!***

ohhhmmmmmgeeeee part 2

I. was. just. on. the. martha. stewart. show.   As in on TV.

In the words of Rachael Zoe...I DIE.

ohhhmmmmmgeeeee

We're at the MARTHA SHOW in NYC!!!!

 

Grace, Melissa and I just got to our seats...sooo excited!

nyc part two.

Just a quick update on today's activities.  I'm kicking myself for forgetting the cord to load my photos onto the netbook cause I can't post photos now till I get home!  Grr.

We went to Europa Cafe for a quick breakfast before getting some more shopping done.  We did come to NYC with a purpose right?  Was it blogging or shopping?  I can't remember...

I met up with one of my high school girlfriends for coffee and then met back up with Grace at MOMA.  I haven't been there in so long, some of the exhibits were fascinating, some not so much.  I'm really not into the videography art and there seemed to be a lot of video this time around.  I did enjoy the typography exhibits and getting to see the work of some of my favorite modern artists.

And now we're sitting in the hotel bar sipping some peachballs (fabulous concoction of Barcardi Peach Red and orange juice with a splash of cranberry juice) and waiting for girlymama to get here on the train.  Then it's off to get some dinner and to the NYC tweetup blogger event at the RS Hotel!

Less than 24 hours till we will be in the SAME ROOM as MARTHA STEWART!!! Eep, wayyy too excited about this.

PS - if you're following on twitter tomorrow...the trend tag is #blogshow.  We're taping at 10am and I believe the show airs at 2pm so set those DVRs!  Iam wearing purple, have brown hair, blue eyes, 5'3", enjoy long walks on the beach, etc etc.

wordless wednesday: the nyc apple store rocks!

Seriously...really cool.  REALLY cool.  I can't wait to post photos of the outside from my camera.  We had to stop in last night to get an iPhone charger (seriously, without the iPhone, Grace and I would still be trying to figure out what train to take) and it looked like a beacon in the dark city.  SO COOL.

Pardon the blurry photo, I took it with the crackberry.

 

Yeah people really judge you when you whip out a blackberry in the middle of the apple store.  My bad. (come on Verizon, get that iPhone already!)

famous kitties.

My brother and Em's cats are now famous!  Check out Bean and Hammond in their 'icanhascheezburger' debut!

 

 

how bout some where's waldo?

Guess where I am????  Nope not at work...not even in Ohio!

I'm in NEW YORK CITY with my girlfriend Grace because she scored us tickets to the MARTHA STEWART BLOGGER SHOW!!!  EEEP!

I completely forgot to write about it yesterday in the blur of packing and working and cleaning and packing...let's just say the computer was the last thing on my mind.

Other than our 4:15am wakeup call our trip has been loads of fun so far.  Got into NYC around 8am, experience the standard crazy taxi ride, did some MAJOR shopping  at Century 21...it was crazy.  And there's nothing like a room full of designer shoes ON SALE!  I have to brag, I scored a pair of $132 shoes for only $12!!

We spent some time walking around and then ate a late lunch at Pershing Square...their Waldork Salad = heaven.

 

(sorry the photo's a little blurry)

And now we're catching up on the emails and resting up before dinner...or dessert.  Dessert sounds so much better.

holiday recap.

A little overdue, but for anyone who follows me on twitter, you're well-aware that I have done nothing the last few days but pull my hair out while attempting to solve impossible issues at work.

Enough about that though, on to HAPPIER things like recapping Christmas!  I hope you all had wonderful holidays, I sure did.  I had a great Christmas morning surprise, got to spend time with both my families and got some good loot!

Other than being deathly ill with what can only be called 'the cold from h-e-doublehockeysticks', I was able to enjoy the majority of my holiday break.  I thoroughly enjoyed watching my nieces see the Christmas tree for the first time in the morning...there's nothing sweeter than a little kid being so excited that they're about to jump out of their pjs.

And although Adam and I had a little bit of an untraditional Christmas due to our new nephew, I was thrilled that we got to attend the traditional gingerbread house contest at Wren's family's house.  It's a very competitive event.  Plans are drawn throughout the years, strategic candy planning, the awards are highly-sought after.  I personally joined 'Team Gracie' with the feeling that we would be a winning team with her fairy-tale ideas and my ability to efficiently apply frosting where she pointed.  We did an AWESOME job (seriously, Ace of Cakes should be calling any day now) and as expected, took home the gold with the 'FairyTale House Award'.  Take a look:

The boys took home the Silver with the 'Best Overall Design', although they had some questionable techniques and I'm not sure it was as eco-friendly as they claimed.

Winners of the 'Silver Bolt Award'

 
(this is one of my favorites...when Chris was explaining their design and claimed that they had the 'most green' house because it ran solely on loveeee.  And there's Adam practically spitting out his wine while trying hard not to laugh)

There were some good contenders though - I especially liked Wren & Joe's rustic log cabin...

...and Em's crazy squiggles.

But the best part was having everyone today...say it with me now: 'awww...'

Anyway...the night was a success and the rest of my holiday break was spent dodging nerf darts.  It all started when we got the boys these little one-shot nerf guns last year.  Obviously we felt the need to upgrade tremendously this year.  20 and 10-shooters were the name of the game.  And I spent the majority of my time hiding behind busyteacheramy in an attempt to not feel the sting of the whistler darts.

Yup that's me, hiding like a coward behind a chair while my baby sister leaps over to shoot our attackers.

On to the loot...cause really, what's Christmas without presents? ;)  We did get some good ones, but first, here are my favorites that we gave:

My mom opening her brand-new Contemporary Calphalon pans (I'm SO JEALOUS...these WILL be on our registry)

Girlymama opening her coveted Cruisinart Grind'n'Brew coffee maker

And now onto me...I got a great new fossil watch from girlymama, a new crockpot from my mom (remember the tragic death of my last one) and...

A BRAND NEW DIGITAL SLR CAMERA from Adam!!!! SERIOUSLY!!! Look how pretty my new Nikon D3000 is:

I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!  You think I'm lucky?  He got a Samsung Netbook ;)

The Brownies continued their streak, won four games in a row (WOOT) and we did lots of snowboarding.  That pretty much sums up the holiday break, how were your holidays?

***

On a side note, a special thanks to EVERYONE who used busygirldesigns (okay, I don't have an official name, I'm just a girl with a cool computer program) to design for their holiday cards or clicked on my amazon links to order goodies for your loved ones.  Together we raised $283 (eep!!) that has been donated to a charity that provides after-school programs for underprivileged teens.  Your donation helped purchase some lovely holiday gifts for these kids that included new coats, gloves and hats!  Even a few baby dolls and legos for fun :)  Thank you ALL for helping me raise the money!!  Money made from busygirl affiliates will always be donated to those in need (the recipients will most likely change from time to time, we need to spread the wealth). THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! (you rock)

***

On another side note, these Dark Chocolate Dove candies are delicious!  I'm currently scarfing down a few since I didn't get to eat lunch today.

wordless wednesday: he was not at all pleased with his new snuggie.

 (here is me struggling to put it on him against his will...)

 

bon appetit!

I came home from work tonight and wasn't quite sure what to do.  The house was empty, cold and way too quiet.  It's Tuesday but Adam's not here tonight and Amy went to dinner with a friend.

So the pup and I curled up with a bowl of salad (helloooo sticking to my no-fat-arms-in-my-wedding-photos resolution) and watched Julie & Julia which I received as a Christmas present.  I hadn't seen it before but I'm pretty certain that I will be needing that cookbook, a few days off work and a $1000 gift card to Whole Foods so I can tackle this beef bouguignon of hers.

Although I did not state it as an official 'resolution', I did promise myself that I would try making some new recipes this year.  I have my own makeshift cookbook that really is nothing more than an old binder salvaged from my college years with some page protectors stuffed with recipes printed off the internet or torn out of magazines.  I've made a few of them, kept the ones I liked, toss those than were deemed inedible or that were made of approximately 84% butter (again, not good for the NFAIMWP diet).  I really need to work my way through my binder though because I'm running out of room to put recipes (which is not good considering I just got my new issue of Cooking Light in the mail today!  Only $5 for a year's subscription at Amazon).  So maybe you'll see some recipe attempts on here, maybe not.  Just don't expect me to be all Julie Powell and try something crazy difficult.  I was thinking of more along the lines of creating an adult-version of grilled cheese ;)

Oh man, all this talk of food is making my stomach grumble...I guess salad isn't cutting it tonight.