A Missing Gift

There was a gift in the fire place.... From Shawn. It's many days after Christmas now. In fact, the last day of 2013. 

I opened the gift and found a gravy separator and gravy boat... The things I was missing when Shawn helped me make Thanksgiving dinner.

Thanks, Shawnie! Amazing way to end 2013.

Farewell JRo

San Fransisco has called away my Jonathan. He moves away tomorrow. He chose our last dinner together at Dallas BBQ. 

We took advantage of the poor service to do a little photo shoot. He brought me a pink unicorn thay we named SFO. He will live in Jonathan's room in my apartment.

Smiles and sillies. I'll miss you, JRo. See you in San Fransisco... Xxx

Faces with Kian

We spent some time at TNT taking silly selfies. A common occurrence for us. It was fun spending so much time with Kian, always sad to leave, I teared up once, but never cried... Yet...

Sisters

Our big night out to downtown Denver to a tapas bar. 

After 5-6 straight days of spending most of the time in pjs, except to go to the park, we got dressed, did our hair & put makeup on. 

Sisters out before I return to NY.

Exploring Colorado

It was another warm day... We took the kids to Goose Poop Park and carefully avoided stepping in goose poop while we watched them play. 

On the way home we stopped by Bear Creek Lake Park. We have driven past these lakes 50+ times on my visits to Colorado, but we've never been inside. After buying a senseless $7 day pass, we went exploring. Stables, archery, yurts, lakes, playgrounds. Good stuff. I took this photo on the edge of one of the icy lakes at Pelican Point.

It's Warm, Let's Go Outside!

Colorado got to the toasty roasty high of 50 degrees. The kids saw the sun and immediately wanted to run out and walk the dog, go to the park.

Christmas Day

The big event happened and I am exhausted! We all got into bed at 8:30 tonight. 

Loads of gifts, eating, and playing.

We opened gifts at the crack of 8am, had cookie cutter pancakes and turkey bacon & sausage for breakfast. Played with the new toys and games while I prepared dinner.

Cooking. Calls to family. Puzzles. Text messages. Board games. Xbox games. It was a fun, but exhausting day. 

Emailing Santa

The kids set up their rocking chairs in front of the tree & we took a photo to email to Santa. 

Mahala in the pink chair and Kian in the red one so Santa had a reference about whose stuff goes where. 

The tree looked so festive after Santa visited tonight...

Increased Nerd Cred

Our paper and our poster got accepted by the AMIA 2014 summit. Tom wrote to us that it increases our Nerd Cred by a factor of 10. What an exciting academic day for my group!

Caramel Process

We made caramels last night & Amanda and I spent over an hour cutting wax paper, portioning out the candies, and wrapping them...assembly line style.

We finished them up & filled the final space in the cookiepalooza tray. Followed by a day of gift wrap, tv and movies... Productive & relaxing... Hooray for the holidays. 

Colorado Cookiepalooza

We had a terrific time with the children making cookies. 3 different doughs, 4 different cookies (peanut butter and jelly, peanut butter blossoms, cream cheese jam filled, and sugar cookies--yet to be frosted) and caramels (unpictured).

Tent Bed

I'm sleeping in Kian's room... 

That's right, on a twin sized bed, inside of a tent. You're jealous, right?

Holiday Party Day

Tonight was our office holiday party. So many people to see and chit chat with... Totally forgot to take photos.

But did gather most of the team (Janelle is on Vacation, David is helping with the family business and Bess left before the pre-party began.

Royalty in Rep on Broadway

My cousin Lindsey (the theater major) is visiting New York from California. She wanted to see Waiting for Godot with Sir Ian McKellan and Sir Patrick Stewart. They are doing this show in rep with No Man's Land. 

I rushed the box office this morning to score balcony box seats for both the matinee and evening performances.

It was a spectacular experience, I enjoyed them both.

Cookie Aftermath

Every year after cookiepalooza is done, I ice all of the remaining cookies with all of the remaining icing and pack them up to go to work. 

After several last minute cancelations, I ended up with a table full of colorfly iced cookies to feed my colleagues. 

Cookiepalooza 2013

Another successful cookiepalooza. Food was noshed, cider was mulled, egg nog and brandy were consumed. Cookies were iced, foodoodled and iced. Talent was showcased. Jokes were told, people visited, met and mingled. Merriment for all.

Palooza Prep

I spent the day getting things prepared for cookiepalooza.

Baking, cooking, cleaning... It's been a lot lf work, but fun stuff.

I hung lights as with trees with candy cane ornaments above the fireplace.  

I made sugar cookies and gingerbread dough, cut them out, baked them, iced some as an experiment. 

Super excited for the party!

Out in the Snow

Jonathan needed some help this morning so I went out in the snow to do him a favor. 

Right as I got to the end of his block, I stopped to take a photo. The snowflakes were so big that they were actually visible through the iPhone camera as they were falling.

Good thing I went out early because it only got worse throughout the day.

Too Frozen for FroYo

Shockingly, no one wants frozen yogurt when it's cold outside... Silly store that opened after the summer was over & staffs the place until 11pm when it's 20 degrees out!

At least it's festive & lights up the block.

Kian's Schoolwork

Andrea sent me a photo of Kian's schoolwork. When I spoke to him this morning he told me I was coming on December 20th. That was only 8 days away!

He's apparently as excited as I am to see him. I am honored to be a part of his schoolwork!

Nutcracker Rouge

Shawn and I went down to the village to see Nutcracker Rouge at the Minneta Theater. It was a burlesque version of the nutcracker ballet. It was very entertaining with good performers. I enjoyed my evening!

SALAD!

There was a bodega/deli a few store fronts down. It closed months ago. So when it started getting rebuilt, it was exciting to see what would to there. It's a Chop't... A choose your ingredient chopped salad place. Fairly standard around NYC. But the amazing part of this one is the 6 foot lit sign announcing the salad. It's a crazy large sign. I'm not sure if you can make out the scale, but below the ginormous sign is the door; a person inside, it's insane. Why does it need to be so big?

Experimental Eye Makeup

I dropped by Rite Aid during yesterday's errands and bought some new eye makeup. 

It was hard to capture the effect like it looked in person, but I made a creepy collage out of the shots I took to send to my sister.

Out in the Snow

I went out to meet Laura and run some errands. It was fun being in the falling snow all bundled up in my puffy coat and scarf. I wasn't cold, but happy that a light snow made it feel like winter (even though it's not quite, yet). 

Last Soup Kitchen of 2013

We had a great turn out at the soup kitchen today. Including people there to volunteer and there to eat. 

We had a lot of delicious dishes to serve, donations to give away. It was a great time and mostly drama free.

Pretty on the Map

The weather has been terrible all over the country this week. Really cold in California, below zero in Colorado, but surprisingly warm here. Now we have terrible rain haunting us.

The radar looks pretty...

Sound of Music Live!

I love the Sound of Music and have been waiting for the live performance since it was announced. I DVR'd it and followed my twitter feed throughout. I was a bit sad how much people hated Carrie Underwood, granted, she isn't Julie Andrews, but this was live, and hey...she wasn't as bad as Russell Crowe in Les Mis!

Hanukkah Party

I went over to Lisa & Eben's place, tonight... They had a party to celebrate the last night of Hanukkah with friends & some family who lives in town. 

It was fun to see 3 Krinskys together, in NY to light the candles. They took some posed photos, but I liked my candid of the Aaron, Lisa and Sarah hug after. I got the menorahs ... one as it was first lit and the other as it had nearly burned out. 

I brought them a gift and I was pretty stoked on my wrapping! Crazy that Hanukkah is finished and it's only the 4th!

It's Official!

I have lived in this apartment for 18 months and *today* the super put my name on the mailbox and on the tenant buzzer list outside. I guess I officially live here now!

Layered Leftovers

I made a version of shepherd's pie from thanksgiving leftovers. Stuffing on the bottom, diced turkey, carrots, celery and onions from the roasting pan, and green bean casserole sautéed together with some stock as the 2nd layer and cheesy mashed potatoes on the top layer.

I made a small 2 cup dish for me, and a square casserole for the office tomorrow. Delicious concoction!

Atlantic City Aquarium

We went to the aquarium before heading out of Atlantic City. My favorite part was the baby ray touch tank, but it was really hard to photograph them, so here are some of others.

Atlantic City

Black Friday in AC

I didn't do much buying on Black Friday, but did spend plenty of time in the outlet mall in Atlantic City. 

We hit some stores, a buffet, and some casinos. Making the best of our time together away from the city.

We were playing in the holiday section of one store and got this gem...

Happy Thanksgiving!

After cooking since Tuesday it finally came time to enjoy the meal. Everything was delicious. 

Jonathan, Christine, Shawn and Aaron joined me for a small and mellow thanksgiving celebration.

Thanksgiving Eve

Thanksgiving Eve was productive! Worked a bit more than a half day, cleaned Coeus's fish bowl and overfed him a bit since he'll be alone for 4 days. I debated taking him home, but people agreed that it'd be disruptive to him.

I got the nod of approval from Shawn on the progress if the rutabaga roasting. 

Christine came by to help & made mini apple pies with my new kitchen toys. And I showed restraint by only making one, not 2 pumpkin pies.

I also roasted rutabaga. Roasted Brussels sprouts. Roasted butternut squash and made it into two batches of vegan and non-vegan soup. Made mashed potatoes with sour cream, cheddar and chives. Made sweet potatoes with maple syrup, butter and cinnamon (tomorrow they will get roasted with mini marshmallows on top). Made compound butter with herbs and garlic for the turkey, who has been in his brine since yesterday. Now he's in the bathtub coming up to room temperature. See, productive!

Turkey Tuesday

Preparing for thanksgiving has become a favorite activity. No big trip to the fairway this year, fresh direct delivered most of it.

I forgot to order sweet potatoes and will likely need to grab some other things, but a fresh turkey and many boxes of veggies and other fixings arrived today. I spent several hours prepping the veggies that could be peeled and cut ahead of time. Including the rutabaga. Shawn requested it. I ordered 4 thinking they'd be the size of an union but got ginormous things. I had to text Shawn to ask what to do with it. It's now peeled cubed and ready for roasting.

Jonathan and I made the brine and rearranged the fridge to fit the brining bucket inside.

It's been a fun Turkey Tuesday. 

Return to the Cold

I returned this morning on the red eye. I walked into my super cold apartment and immediately cranked the heaters that hadn't been turned on in 10 days.

39 degrees! So cold!!

Beautiful Beach

Beak and I took a walk along the boardwalk. I was super touristy, taking photos, embarrassing poor Beak, but my Instagram followers enjoyed them. Plenty of likes.

Winter Fantasy

It had been so long since I had been to the Sawdust Festival. I was so fixated on chit chatting, catching up, and looking around, I totally forgot to take a bunch of photos. So unlike me.

It was fun to visit everyone.

LACMA & Lakers

I had a bit of an LA touristy day. Went to brunch at the Grove, walked over to LACMA, saw the sculptures & installations. 

This evening we had tickets for the lakers/warriors game. The game was fun, we had an excellent view. There was a lot of sloppy basketball, but I had a great time soaking it all in... Plus, the Lakers won & I loved being a part of it.  

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

The conference is finished. It rained on and off today. Pretty rare for CA, but there was a double rainbow. It was so vivid, this picture hardly does it justice.

We checked out of the hotel around noon, took the airport shuttle to the rental

car shuttle, rented a car & headed for In N Out. Then dropped Scott off at the zoo, Mohammad at the Gaslamp district, them headed north. Between San Diego and Claremont, where we dropped Dan, we saw the bright rainbow.

Jac and I continued to LAX to return the rental & meet up with Lauren. Lauren drove Jac to her friend's place, then she and I met Courtney for another Mexican dinner!

Long, but fun rainbow day!

Last Night in SD

The Chair Push

Since many of us were doing testing for the DNS cutover, Scott has scooted his chair over to my room from his. 

After dinner, he came to my room to get his chair and Jac came to get her laptop. She asked Scott to drive her home. So down the hallway, into the elevator and down to her room...

Fun times. 

San Diego Views

When I woke up, I pulled the curtains and saw the Marina. When I sat down at dinner, I saw the whole San Diego skyline. Beautiful

The Baked Bear

We took a detour on the trek from dinner to the hotel to stop in Pacific Beach for ice cream cookie sandwiches. Scott was taking huge bites, like the bear. The rest of us at them with spoons.

Wild Animal Park & Beers

Scott and Autumn suggested the Wild Animal Park. I could not remember being there since I was a young kid. They have apparently renamed it the San Diego Zoo Safari Park and renovated a ton of the grounds.

It was a ton of fun. We fed birds, watched animals, took a tram tour of the animals of Africa. I took around 230 photos between my iPhone and iPad so it was rough picking just a few for my collage. 

Then we headed out to the Mother Earth Brew Co. a friend of Autumn's was on a a beer bus tour and we attempted to meet up with her. I had a Cali Cream ale, my first of 3 beers for the evening.

Later, after we picked up Jac and got dinner, we went to the Coaster Saloon to visit Tom. I had two Angry Orchard Ciders. We hung out chatting with some of Scott's high school buddies that ice known since they visited us in Santa Barbara 11-12 years ago. 

We had a great day followed by a fun night!

San Diego!

I arrived in San Deigo today. Couldn't find a "Welcome to San Diego" sign, so I took a photo of the installation and palm trees at the airport, plus my check in and my tiny overpacked suitcase.

Yay for the beginning of vacation & business trip week.

Purple Cases

I kept getting comments about my having a case on my new fancy iPhone, so I ordered purple cases for my phone and iPad.  Looking royal, all dressed up in purple!

New 'do

I went for a haircut in the middle of the day today. I felt like I really wanted a haircut and the salon didn't have an after work opening until mid-December, so I booked it during some open afternoon hours. I work early and late all the time, I deserve it. :)

It turned out nicely. Washed, deep conditioned--I had to sit under the dryer in a shower cap, crazy, then cut and blown out. It's not my typical style, but it looks nice!

Failure to Document

Today was the first snow of the season... I failed to take a photo of the falling snow.

Today some of the team had lunch with our former intern who came to visit from medical school... I failed to take a photo of her visit. 

Today I went out in the freezing weather, in wool pants, a sweeter, a winter coat, a scarf and *flip flops*, to get a pedicure in preparation to go to CA... I failed to take a photo of my awesome ensemble. 

I did, however, clean Coeus's fish bowl. Then faux coral has been growing some pretty gross brown and green algae/mildew. It makes the bowl dirty in a few days rather than a week to 10 days. I decided to run down to Duane Reade for a cheap tooth brush to brush away the problem algae. I had to solicit Delaney to help me brush the insides while I pried it open. Quite a classic example of my idiocy.