Happy Birthday, Sophia!

Wow, you're 7!  It's just so exciting!  I'm thrilled to see the beautiful, spunky, creative, precocious, nurturing,  charming young lady that you are becoming!  Thanks for all the giggles, knock-knock jokes that lead nowhere, observations, teaching moments and fun that you have given me and daddy!  It's going to be a great year!  xoxo,  Mom & Dad

(ps...there are 8 candles on the cake for some unknown reason...i'll blame this one on sleep deprivation!!!)

I'm SWELL!

I finally got to meet one of my idols!  Miss Martha Stewart.  Yep.  It was amazing.  By association of my Gourmet Club, I was able to secure us tickets for our group to go to the show today.  The anticipation of going has been so fun because I have been a fan of Martha and all the equity she has brought back into the home and homemaking aspect of life since I was a teenager.  I've always been fascinated with executing a lovely dinner table and making it visually appealing, interesting and fun.  I love how expeditious she is and how's she's made her life into an art, just being Martha.  I find it a compliment when someone says, "You're so Martha,"  when I've done something creative.  ( I won't get into the dark side of Martha, we all have skeletons, eh?! LOL)

Anyway, going to the show was sincerely a fun experience and with so many of my gourmet girlfriends.  The show was very interesting in and of itself.  We all fell in love with Josh Bernstein.  He was HOT-HOT-HOT and had a darling, charming personality.  Then, another segment was about refinishing fine metal. Some may yawn, but not me! It reminded me of my days working at Tiffany almost a decade ago!  She had a lovely butler's tray re-worked and refinished by a company in Queens that came to the show.  I thought it was so fascinating to see the fine metalworking in progress!  The last part of the show was with Chef Tom Colicchio of Top Chef and proprietor of several restaurants.  He made some scrumptious fare that had our mouths watering.  Disappointing that there weren't tastes for the whole audience or at least US, but we survived, it just tempted our palates for lunch at his place 'wich craft.  Delicious!

So, after the show was done taping, our group was beckoned by the stage manager to come up to her cooking island while she was answering audience questions.  The in-house photographer positioned us just so leaving a spot in the middle for the Maven herself and took several test shots and then repositioned some of us with tweaks here and there.  We really weren't sure what to expect and were excited about all the extra treatment!  When she was done, she came over and greeted us, then snuck into position for a few shots, then turned and talked to us for a few moments.  She wanted to know a little about our group and Kirstin's cause and blog.  It was really great moment!

My impressions of the show was that it is an extremely large and organized production!  I can't believe how smoothly everything runs there and the multitude of people to make it so.  Before the show, there were several workers in the greenhouse area of the stage sweeping up and moving flora around.  Then they would go back and do more tasks, etc.  She never even went into the greenhouse or addressed it, yet they had been busy at work tinkering there.  There were at least 6 people in her prep kitchen busily working like Santa's elves.  Everyone seems VERY intent on doing their job and doing it WELL.  When the show was taping and in between segments, there were about 30 crew members scurrying about.  Now I know why I can't keep algae off my slate patio for more than a week at a time, fresh flowers changed daily in my house, my windows spotless, my curio cabinets filled with interesting and up to date items changed out often and to coordinate with my daily outfit, my kitchen kept clean and organized and all my recipes rehearsed before the performance (dinner!)!!!  Because I don't have a staff of 30 at my beck and call.  It was an a-ha moment, I finally figured out  why nobody can really be "Martha" like she does it!  Because Martha is the face of a well oiled machine!!!

Keep it up Martha, we can all dream!

Sophia's Party

Girlfriends

Why are Sophia's parties so fun for me and Evan?  I think we have just as much fun as the kids! This year, I pulled it together very last minute and I have to admit that Evan did most of the party and I just did the shopping & styling part.  We are a great team! Unlike most of my parties, there was no defined theme, but I decided to go with a pink and orange color scheme.  It all came together so beautifully.  

When the girls arrived, they made firecracker necklaces out of patterned paper triangles and rolled them on sticks until they formed a long bead.  Once they had completed 20 or so, they strung them on cording.  This was a really fun and darling craft for them!

Then the girls were each given a mini cake to frost and decorate.  We brought out bags of tinted buttercream frosting with different tips and taught the girls to make flowers, polka dots,  flourishes and to get creative and have fun with the tips!  They were all elated to find out that there were endless possibilities.

Evan lead a killer game of Queen Elephant where each person has assigned an animal and a sign to do and the object of the game is to knock the Queen Elephant out of the top position so you can keep moving up.  It was a wonderful way to tone down the exhuberance that a 7 year old party can generate after much sugar and excitement and redirect their energy into winning a game.  Brilliant!

The food was normal kid-pleasing fare of corner pizza and pink lemonade and then the cake that Evan so beautifully made and decorated.  It was delicious!

Sophia, thanks for letting us share your party with you!  Glad you had a great time! xoxo

Old-fashioned Beadmaking fun

Emily's cake decorating talent

Letting the creative juices flow

Everybody do the crab

Cakes all packaged up to take home

Unplanned twinners--and they fit the color scheme too!

Evan's MUSIC

Evan has finally put his music that he made a few decades ago online.  Go here if you want to check it out!  You can listen to it and buy it if you want to download it and make us rich-- .69 at a time! 

By the way, that's not a real guitar--it's from Guitar Hero!

Update:  I guess I should explain the picture!  This in NOT his normal garb.  We were at a RockBand party hosted by our friends and we like to get into character for the fun party. RockBand is a video game that has instruments that you get to play virtually.  My favorite is the DRUMS!  There is also a bass, guitar and vocals.  You should find a RockBand party to attend and don your favorite thick black eyeliner and Metallica concert t-shirt.  You'll be glad you did!

Happy Birthday, Thom!

It's the week of Birthdays in my family!  No kidding.  My mom, my brother, my father and now my daughter!  So, here's to a great year, Thom!

First Days

I'm so behind with where I wanted to be with this blog.  I skipped such an exciting and fulfilling summer!  Hopefully I can fill in more on that later, but first, let me present my school kids....da da ta daaaa....

I take this same picture of Sophia in front of the same sign every year on the first day!  She looks great for having walked off a plane literally 2 hours before!!!  She was so excited to start school and see all of her friends that the adrenaline kept her going all day!

She was so thrilled to be in the same class with some of her girlfriends from last year!  There is so much comfort in familiar faces.  The cutest thing was that she was really excited that Nickolas was in her class.  Now she isn't particularly close with him but they have been in the same class since nursery school when we first moved here and every year since then, so she was relieved that they are still together.

Wesley started in a special Magnet program at a school nearby.  He got into this by lottery and we feel so lucky!  His school is a beautiful castle-looking building. This will be his school for Pre-K through 2nd grade.  He likes to call it the Barnyard school!

His teacher is darling and on the first day they just had the boys come to ease them into the program. The day before it was just girls and then the 3rd day is combined.  He was so excited to start a new school and find some new friends!  He has a grin every day when I go to pick him up!
Here's to a wonderful year!  I can't believe I already have a 2nd grader!

Happy Birthday, MOM!

My little bike RIDERs!

All excuses aside.  This was the week my daughter would finally be taught how to ride a bike!  I knew she was ready and the process took about 20 minutes.  Interestingly enough, she did best when Evan and I weren't watching.  (or she didn't think we were, at least!) I knew she was ready and that she could do it, I just needed to find away to make her BELIEVE!  I was pleased with the results!  Wow, my little post September 11th baby has sure come a long way!  She's growing up fast!

Then my garage saleing talent this week yielded some wonderful finds:  the most important to Wesley being a brand new Trek bike trailer that attaches to Evan's bike.  He was giddy with excitement as we got it installed!  He was so thrilled to do our 3 road loop over and over again.  Daddy got quite a workout and Wesley had an eternal smile!  Pure joy!

Yay for bikes!  I can't wait until we find a way to get me and Luke in on the action!  The infant seat we have doesn't fit any of our bikes.  We'll figure something out.  Until then, Ride ON!

The men in my LIFE!

There's something about a man in a suit and when you get your top 3 in suits, well, it's exhilarating!  Last week on one of my shopping trips, I came across a suit that was perfect for Wesley.  He was even excited about it and the prospect of looking more like Daddy!  I passed the infant aisle and couldn't resist something similar for Luke.  

Wow, my boys are handsome!

I'm sorry, I've been gone, but I've been busy trying out new hairstyles!

What do you think?  I'm thinking #1, #11 & #12 are pretty HOT!

You should try it too at YearbookYourself.com.  Enjoy the laughter!