ou in ny

Thanks to my dear old dad, I am spending New Years in NYC visiting my old Ohio U buddy Chris. He and Jeff are so nice to be hosting me as well as Jeff's Atlanta buddies.
So I arrived bright and early in the morning - I took a Continental Express flight and it was turbulant... but at least it got me here on time. Chris and I then decided to explore the "City's Best Grilled Cheese" at Resto. It was darn good, even if I did ask a million and two questions of our very cute waiter. Then we were off to explore the city and walk off the cheesy goodness. Out of all the neighborhoods, I liked the West Village the best. We ate a cupcake from Billy's Bakery which was unlike me to have a dessert, but how could I pass it up? We walked until it was dark, then headed back for some Jeopardy and drinking. And Wii playing. And more drinking. Then Jeff's friends arrived and we were off again! To B Bar, where I have never seen more men in a women's bathroom! It was great fun, and the night was topped off with 4a.m. burgers at a diner close by. Pictures are on their way!

thanksgiving to christmas and everything in between

Many of y'all have been wondering when I will be updating this... so, as I sit in Jersey City watching Jeopardy with my buddy Chris, I decided the time is now. Here goes: (by the way, I am totally impressed with Chris's Jeopardy skills)

Thanksgiving time was fun. Chloe took about a thousand pictures of Isis and I for our Christmas card.


Mom let me make some Thanksgiving dishes. I decided to make a Paula Dean recipe and give Sweet Potato Balls a go. They were very time intensive but very festive. Overall, I liked the standard SP recipe better, but it was fun to give it a try.




I had a fantastic reunion with my old buddies at Bobby Baker's Lounge in Waldo. This was the third year we've met there. Bobby remembered us and bought us a round of Hot Nuts. Yum. It was so great to catch up with the girls. It's sad we're down to just once a year. Hopefully next Thanksgiving I'll have a place in Waldo and we can have a sleep-over!


Family Scrabble is always a great time... so is Quiddler.

A trip to the Plaza was great. We went to the downtown cathedral... I hadn't been there in a while and the renovations are so pretty. Also, we stopped in Anthropologie... I'd never been there before and I LOVED IT. If I could vomit up a style for my future house, it would look like the home section of that store.





Chloe did my hair. She was really impressed with her work. I asked if she would like me to return the favor and she politely declined. Review the picture. Can you see why she wouldn't have wanted the same lovely style for herself!?

Back to Texas where I started playing volleyball with fellow teachers. We play against other elementary schools and so far it's been super fun. We practice once a week and have a game once a week.

Now it's almost Christmas time. The 3 weeks between holidays went QUICK! There were parties, and shopping for presents... and finishing up my class. I only have 4 classes to go until I have my Masters. Wah-hoo!

Since I love all of my school family, and it would be too expensive to get everyone an individual gift, I decided to make Turtle Pretzels. This turned out to be quite an endeavor. It took 4 days in fact.
Day 1: Unwrap 200 carmels.
Day 2: Roll 104 carmels and wrap them around pretzel nuggets.
Day 3: Roll remaining 96 carmels with a rolling pin and wrap them around nuggets.
Day 4: Dip carmel/pretzle nuggets in melted chocolate and roll in almonds.
Phew! Luckily, I had the help of my neighbor buddy Stephen come over and help days 2-4. He was a life-saver to say the least. He and I had a great time and enjoyed delivering the goodies to our aparment building.


Alright - Jeapordy is over. Time to play the Wii. I'll update more later. Resolution for 2009: stay more on top of blogging!