Kids Again

After the parade Bryan and I walked around the city's upper east side looking into all of the beautifully decorated storefronts. I think New York City at Christmas time must be equivalent to a child's first Disney experience. I know my eyes filled with wonder as we gazed into the wonderfully elaborate windows and watched the ice skaters going round and round at Rockefeller Plaza!

A Thank-Filled Weekend

Bryan and I were off to New York for Thanksgiving. Did you know you could get a bus ticket from Boston to NYC for $15? me neither!... actually if we'd booked sooner we could have gotten tix for a buck.

We knew we wouldn't be able to go to Mississippi for the weekend so we thought the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade sounded like a fun thing to do! (By "we" I mean "I"... but Bryan got on board and had lots of fun... I only made him get up at 3:45 to go stake out our spot too!)

And boy oh boy was it fantastic! We were freezing before it got started! (But we were on the front row!!) I felt like the little matchstick girl sitting on the sidewalk but Bryan gave me his scarf and we had some tea and all was well once the parade started coming down the street!

We were a few blocks up from Times Square.We saw the parade coming down the block!

Then the first few Thanksgiving floats and pilgrims.

And Buzz Lightyear
And Snoopy
And the Roots and Jimmy Fallon
And Mickey Mouse
I really liked these little old ladies called the Purple Peddlers
Sponge Bob
Cindy Lauper

Miss America
Shrek

And of course at the end of the line was SANTA!

We saw so many more people and floats than I can even put pictures of up. It was so fun and so exciting! I'm so glad we did that!

Once the parade was over we found a cute little diner called JP Clarks to get Thanksgiving lunch.

And afterward walked up and down 5th Avenue and did some window shopping. Some very beautiful window displays to come tomorrow! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Moving Day

Today was moving day for Georgie (and her family)! How sad I am to see them go! I'll get to go to Florida next week to help them get settled, but I was still pretty sad driving back from the airport with an empty car.

This is how I found G this morning when I arrived... Totally surrounded by boxes.

She immediately demanded to know what happened to her room. She wanted some answers and when that finger goes in that mouth, I know she means business.

I gave it to her straight. "Georgie," I said, "You're moving today."

Then this look:

And the question... "Wait... What?"

Then I turned on the camera and she forgot all her troubles. And so did I when I saw this photo!

Lights Away

So Nolan's friend made up a Boston scavenger hunt for his birthday and we went along yesterday to help look.

We scavenged for about 30 minutes then it was over. I'd like to scavenge again if given the opportunity.

We also found this alley bookstore which all those philosophers were really excited about.

And we walked down to Faneuil Hall to watch the holiday lighting ceremony. It was dark, and then they counted down from ten, then it was lit, then we went home. How exciting it all was!

In other news, they've iced the Frog Pond in the Boston Commons (which I'm trying desperately to talk Bryan into skating on with me) and New York City is calling our names as we'll be heading to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade this week!! Keep an eye peeled for us on the tele! I'm so excited!

Oink Oink

Ok, so I don't have the swine flu thank goodness, but the fear of such was the main reason why I was outcast like a leper this weekend.I still don't feel well, but the doctor says it's not swine flu, it's not any kind of flu, and I'm not even going to die from it. It's just a common cold.

Now with that out of the way, lets talk birthdays. Mine to be exact!

I had a wonderful wonderful birthday thanks to my amazing husband! He took me to Ten Tables (named for the fact that actually only ten tables fit into the restaurant) where we dined in low light on the chef's menu, every course of which was paired with an excellent wine. Isn't he fantastic?!

He also got me a Holga! No, no... not a Swedish masseuse, a camera! A perfectly toy-esque plastic camera! I'm so excited. It shoots medium format film and can be modified to take any shape picture you want and is known for it's beautiful light leaks! I can't wait to shoot away!

I also received lots of money from family to go toward a bicycle, a gift card from Lex to H&M (who instructed me to get something cute to wear on my birthday which I (think I) did),

and some excellent slippers from my mom (to keep my toes warm when the winter begins to set in)!

You are all wonderful! Thank you for loving me!

Casserole for All

Because Bryan has met a few people from Georgia and we also have a new friend who's family is from New York we thought we should throw together some kind of casserole party! For the Southerners it was reminiscent of home... for the New Yorker it was a taste of something he'd never before seen the likes of!

Erick's first bite of casserole EVER!
He thinks it's delicious!!!

Elizabeth's casserole didn't do well on the run for the bus!... it tasted great, though!

How Thoughtful

Anthropologie sent me a birthday gift!
It's a 'birthday candle necklace.'Thanks, Anthropologie!

New England Autumn

I missed out on photographing some of the most brilliant colors of the changing leaves but I got a few late pictures yesterday.

And when I climbed to the top of a hill, I saw the city over the colored trees in the distance.

So beautiful.

A New Project

When we moved in and got everything hung on walls, we had three empty frames to fill. How exciting the endless possibilities are with empty frames! I was inspired by flipping through my old, trusty sketch book (that is almost completely filled after three years of being in my purse!) and seeing two little squares with words written in each.

I decided that stitching words onto different fabrics would be just the ticket for those empty frames.

I've finished the first one and am about 1/4 of the way through the second. I really love how they are turning out! There's something truly beautiful about row after row of crossed stitches.

Something that reminds me of my mom and grandma, as they are the ones who taught me to stitch when I was very young.

This is the first finished one. The others are on different fabrics but have the same red stitching and the same font.