Oh Man-hattan.

So the Mr. and I went on our long weekend trip to New York City a couple weeks ago. We had a blast! We made full use of our days there, getting up with the sun and staying out way too late (which equals little sleep and lots of exhaustion!), but we got to see and do a lot which is typically how we roll on our "vacations". We were able to check nearly everything off our to-do list...and it was a long list. Let.me.tell.ya.
Here are a few cell phone pictures...eventually I will get the good ones up! :) 
(does that first building below look familiar, 'friends'?? ;)

Yum.

 

Double yum

Cafeteria. Yum.

Grilled Cheese and Tomato soup for breakfast at Cafeteria...why not?

Jimmy!

Didn't see any filming, but saw the tshirt!

i <3 candy.

And last, not only getting to go to a taping of Jimmy Fallon, but J got selected to be ON the show! It was awesome. Check it out:

 

Addicted, Obsessed

Where have I been? Oh, just over here, pinning away! Looove it!

In other news, lots of exciting things going on lately! I will have to get my act together (and pull myself from Pinterest) and do that soon :)

trippin'

Gosh. I am just not doing well with this blog thing! I feel like before I started the blog, I had ideas all the time about what I could write, and then once I started, my mind went blank. Or maybe I don’t have as much free time as I previously thought. Things have been busy between work, full weekends, and planning two trips! Oh, and sleeping : ) We are planning two trips this year. One to NYC in June and one to Europe (London, Paris, Italy) in the Fall. So very excited!! But so much work. NYC isn’t as difficult. Two helpful things- #1, I have been there four times in the past, and #2, they speak English. Europe is another story. Neither one of us has been that far out of the country (just Canada and the Caribbean) and neither of us know how to speak French or Italian! London is the only country I’m feeling semi-ok about. But at the same time, I could not be more excited about these amazing trips coming up! There are so many things to see and do. Since we have both been to New York, we aren’t doing as many of the big touristy things (Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, etc), but it’s hard to go to New York and not do touristy things! I’ve been making lots of random notes about where to go, what to see, places to eat…so far the list includes:

-See Mary Poppins on Broadway

-Overload on cupcakes at Sprinkles, Magnolia Bakery, and Sweet Revenge

-Dylan’s Candy Bar (Lent will be over, and I will attack)

-Eat at tons of places. Tons!

-Go to the Top of the Rock, Rockefeller Center

-Stop at some Sex and the City spots- Carrie’s stoop, NY Public Library, maybe a few restaurants or bars

-Hope, hope, hope to go to a taping of Jimmy Fallon (fingers, and toes, crossed!). We heart Jimmy.

-World Trade Center site (go every time. It’s always amazing to see how much it changes each trip, the first one was in 2003, and the last was 2005)

-Central Park

-Going to venture into Brooklyn for the first time, then walk back to Manhattan over the Bridge

-Oh, and shop, of courseJ

-I would also love to run into Mariska Hargitay and Chris Meloni filming Law and Order SVU, but you know, hard to plan a run in like that :)

Still not sure where we are staying, although I would LOVE to stay in the West Village. It’s always been one of my favorite areas, but never stayed there. The good thing about NYC is that it is so small, so no matter where you stay, you aren’t very far from anything and can get almost anywhere pretty quickly. It’s been over 5 years since I’ve been there, and I can’t wait to go back!

Next, hopefully, I will have a plan for Europe :)

cookies for heart day

So, while I’m fully aware Valentine’s day was over a month ago, I just had to share these cookies I made J for Valentine’s day (they were actually post-Valentine’s day cookies because we had to buy a new food processor). He LOVES raisins. LOVES them. His mom always makes him these raisin paste filled cookies for his birthday, so when I ran across this recipe, and super cute idea of the heart shapes, I had to try them.

I thought they were very easy and fun to make. While mine didn't look as perfect as Martha's, I'm pretty sure they tasted just as good : ) Unfortunately, I am not a raisin fan and can’t give you a personal review…but J really liked them (and he would tell me if he didn’t!).

{photo by me, recipe by Martha MarthaStewart.com}

Gotta give it up.

 

I have a major sweet tooth. I mean, major. However, this sweet tooth is mostly only for candy…the chewy, sweet, pure sugar kind of candy. I can pass up a piece of cake, a cookie, or a Reese cup no problem. I’m not much of a chocolate person, but dangle a sour gummy worm in front of me and I cannot resist!  The sad thing is, before I was diagnosed with diabetes, I could care less about candy, but the second I was told "no more candy", I had to have it! This post is a little late, but this year for Lent I decided to give up my favorite candy (except the bag of jellybeans we’d already opened because this is the only time of year my favorite kind is out! Those are already long gone).

To my yummy, sweet, tasty candy I've abandoned, I will see you April 24th!

I don't get it.

{via Ecouterre.com}

Seriously? Don’t try it. 

I mean, I know this look is popping up everywhere in catalogs, fashion mags, and whatnot, but I just don’t get it. The socks and sandals combo has always just been an obvious no-no to me. Not only because it doesn’t make sense to me, but because I just don’t think it is cute. To each their own.

I did a little research, and apparently this trend has been trying to make it big for a couple of years now. Why?! If it didn’t work in 2009 or 2010, give it up. 2011 doesn’t want you either. What’s next? Toesocks with flip flops? (ew, I just threw up in my mouth a little) I think this has to definitely be one of those love it or hate it kind of things. Maybe it’s just me, but I prefer to wear sandals sans socks. 

However, if someone can pull this off and make it look cute, I’d love to see it. Right now, I'm just not feeling it.

 

{via Urban Outfitters}

turkey-loaf

I tried a new recipe last night...it was delish! We will definitely have this again. It reminded me a lot of my dad's "secret" dressing/stuffing recipe (apparently I'm the only one who calls it stuffing?). Lots of flavor...and I can still smell it when I walk in our kitchen. Anyway, although there are some complex sounding ingredients (most things I make are pretty simple, spices other than salt and the occasional cinnamon are rare) it is very easy to make and well worth the prep! I'm going to call it turkey loaf, because isn't turkey meatloaf almost like calling it meat meatloaf? Here's the recipe : )

Turkey Loaf

4 slices white bread (no crust, torn in pieces)

8 small sage leaves

1 1/2 lbs ground turkey

1 large yellow onion (cut into eighths)

1 stalk celery (cut into 2 inch pieces)

1/2 tsp dried thyme (I just used ground thyme)

1 large whole egg (lightly beaten)

2 TBSP tomato paste

4 tsp Dijon mustard

1 1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce

3/4 tsp salt

Black pepper

1 large egg white (so, 2 eggs total for the loaf)

Preheat oven to 400*. Place bread and sage leaves in food processor and pulse to form fine crumbs. Transfer to medium bowl and add ground turkey. Chop onion and celery in food processor (finely). Add to turkey mixture, using hands to combine.

Add thyme, whole egg, 1 TBSP tomato paste, mustard, 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce, and salt. Season with pepper.

looks tasty, right??

Combine well. Place in a 9x5x2 1/2in loaf pan.

In a small bowl, combine egg white with remaining TBSP tomato paste and 1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce, whisking with a fork until smooth. Spread evenly over turkeyloaf. Bake for an hour and 15 minutes, remove and let sit 15 minutes covered with foil.

And enjoy! YUM!



{recipe found on MarthaStewart.com}

                                                         

Speaking of turkey, why in bowling if you get 3 strikes in a row it's called a "turkey"??

Oh, and...

Be sure to check out my "About" section. This is also a work in progress so, stay tuned! 

Here’s how it all began…

I love, love, love reading blogs and decided in 2009 I wanted to start my own. However, I am just now, in March 2011, getting around to it. 2009 was a big year for me and I hope to eventually share all about it on this blog. Part of the reason it has taken me so long to start (other than working full-time, socializing, getting sucked in to HGTV, Law&Order:SVU, and Lifetime Movies, and just procrastinating) isn’t that I didn’t have ideas…I had/have too many ideas! I initially thought I’d start a blog that focused on my 365 photo project (taking a picture every single day for a year), but as I took pictures I realized I really like to cook, so maybe I should focus on cooking and recipes? But my husband and I also LOVE to travel, so should I focus on our travels and travel tips? And so on. But this has gone on too long! My plan for this blog is to have no restrictions- I hope to write about all aspects of our life, because life is random. I’m random. So, that’s how this blog will be. I was also a little nervous about my first post (this post) because that’s kind of a big deal, right? Maybe not. Sometimes I build things up in my head and totally over think it, but it’s time to jump “write”in! (ha, get it??) Over the past several months I really started working on my blog design and I have it pretty much where I like it (other than it being completely blank...until now!). I’ve created tabs (hopefully they will work like I’m hoping they will) where I can keep my 365 photos, recipes, travel stories and tips, and DIY projects I hope to get around to…;) I’m still learning a lot about blogger and how to use different features and get things to look how I’d like them to, so bear with me. I hope you will follow along and follow the journeys of my new life as “Mrs. J”.