Neatorama is Neat

I just happened across a new site or blog (not really sure what to call it), Neatorama. The site talks about everything, that is everything that is considered "neat". So far my favorite post is about Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade's attempt at making a Kwanzaa cake and royally screwing it up to the point that the network got hate mail. I wonder what her Kwanzaa "tablescape" looked like...

They also have a post with Hugh Laurie Photoshopped as a clown ...or how about President-elect, Barack Obama...There's a whole contest for users of Photoshop to make clowns out of celebrities.

10 Outrageous Claims 2009

Saxo Bank (a Danish online investment bank) has made some prophecies for 2009. To see the full list click here.

Some of their outrageous claims are:

2. Crude Oil to $25

The ongoing economic crisis will further dent oil demand throughout next year, sending the price ever closer to $25 a barrel, Saxo Bank said. OPEC production cuts will be hampered by disagreement and fail to stem the slide, it added. (You don't know cheap gas until it hits $25 a barrel!)

4. Italy Could Drop the Euro

Italy could make good on threats to leave the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) and may drop out in 2009, Saxo Bank said, a decision which would mean the country effectively gives up the euro. The EU is likely to crack down on excessive government budget deficits, which could prompt Italy to leave the currency regulation, it said. (Take a cue from England and stay away from the Euro!)

6. Dollar to Outstrip the Euro

The euro will fall to 0.95 cents versus the dollar in the New Year, before shifting direction and rising to 1.30 cents, according to Saxo Bank. The euro-zone will face a tough year in 2009 as the banking sector will suffer because of its exposure to Eastern Europe, a region that will increasingly falter next year, the report said. (If it turns out to be true I must see the rest of Europe!)

7. Chinese GDP Growth to 0%

Export-led China will be hit by the double blow of a slowing U.S. economy and the souring of commodity-based investments, according to Saxo Bank. Japan will not actually sink into recession, despite gross-domestic-product growth all but disappearing, the report said.

The Power of Nintendo DS

Last week, while Christmas shopping at Best Buy, I came across this "game" . My Stop Smoking Coach for your DS! First of all, you need to be a smoker and have a Nintendo DS. Without DS it'll be a bit difficult to use the coach to quit.

My punk brother is a smoker - I guess I should've bought the DS and the My Stop Smoking Coach game for him. Way to make quitting sorta fun...

They also have My Weight Loss Coach for DS. I think the Wii Fit would be more effective.

Christmas Gift Coding System

Usually I just grab wrapping paper and wrap whatever is in front of me. This year I decided we needed a coding system of sorts to keep things organized. Basically each person's gifts were wrapped all the same kind of paper. If you refer to the photo at left of my chart, you can see that my sister-in-law, Mandy, had all her gifts wrapped in red paper with snowflakes.

This worked wonderfully since we had three separate Christmas trips. On the Eve we had to drop of my parents' and brothers' gifts and other gifts went to my mother-in-law's house. The final trip was to my uncle's house. I knew which paper had to go where just by a quick glance. I highly recommend this method, if you have tons of gifts to sort like I do each year.

My MIL hosted Christmas Eve and Day events which was chock full of food and fun. The fun consisted of Christmas Crackers, Wii and white elephant gift exchange. We ended up with some floating Christmas candles and an American flag and pole set.

American Cancer Society

I just got back from Garden State Plaza shopping mall where I volunteered at the American Cancer Society gift wrapping booth. I've done volunteer gift wrapping before and really found that it was a great experience and when my colleague, Meryl, invited me this year I immediately excepted.

Basically people bring gifts to you to wrap and provide a donation to the American Cancer Society in exchange for saving them the trouble or challenge of gift wrapping.

Ugg boots, we learned, are the hot gift this year. In three hours (a slightly slow three hours due to a snowstorm we had today) we wrapped 5 pairs of Uggs!

To find a local American Cancer Society event, enter your zip code or city name at ACS' Calender of Events page.

Brand Spanking New Laptop

Meet my new laptop.

Earlier this year a power surge from a storm made my old laptop go dolally (Brit speak for crazy) After Thanksgiving I pulled the trigger and got me a new laptop. Also an HP I ended up going smaller with a 14.1 inch instead of my previous 15.4 inch.

So far it's beautiful and the screen says, "Welcome to your new HP computer."

Time to continue with the setup...

The Underground

London has a subway system called the Underground or the Tube. The Underground in it's under ground areas is quite deep. The escalators are so steep I get a bit woozy if I try to look down.

This is a picture taken over my shoulder (follow the lights down) because when I tried to turn around I got quite woozy but had to try and a get picture of it!

My colleagues and I went to Harrods on Thursday and spent about 20GBP on a cab due to traffic. On the way back we tried to save some money by taking the Tube from Knightsbridge to Holborn. Individual tube tickets are 4 GBP (=$6 USD). It took about 10 minutes to go 4 stops to Holborn. Of course upon exiting the Tube you heard over the loudspeaker, "Mind the gap." The slogan is on t-shirts and key chains around London.

Leaving London

It's my last night in London and I've spent the last couple of hours wishing I had a degree in packaging engineering. The suitcase is not zipped up because I still have stuff out and may need to rethink my carry on bag.

It's been one heck of a week between working 9am - 5pm and then trying to be a proper tourist in London.

Some pictures:















Harrods Department Store all lit up for Christmas.















The Princess Diana & Dodi Al Fayed Memorial in basement level of Harrods. In the pyramid is an hourglass (not sure why) but also the ring (maybe it's a replica) that Dodi was rumored to have bought for Diana.

Leaving for the U.S. tomorrow at 2pm and will land at 5pm. It's a 7+ hour flight - yes I wish it was only 3 hours. There's some time travel going on.

Cheerio from London

Right now it's 9:00pm in London and I am spent. My colleagues and I left New York at about 11pm NY time and arrived in London about 11am. We made our way to our hotel from Heathrow and got to see some sights in the shuttle to the hotel.

Afterwards we headed out to see Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Covent Gardens and Westminster Abbey. We even got to walk around the tiny Chinatown in London and had some pretty delicious Chinese food.

I've been having a bit of a hard time with the British Pound as I keep think I need to convert the BP value and convert into US dollars all of the time. I am finding that if it makes sense it does not usually need to be questioned.

Tomorrow it's off to work at the London of m company and there will be less tourist time.

Going Across the Pond

I'm off on another business trip - this time international to London! I've never been to Europe at all so this will be a new experience. Thank goodness they speak English.

This is a pick of my tv thingy. We're flying Virgin Atlantic so it's extra cool cause I think Richard Branson is awesome.

My favorite Brits:
Hugh Laurie (Dr. Gregory House)
Paul McCartney (Beatle)
Sir Richard Branson

We come back on Saturday. I'll post when I can.

A Rant

I watched The Office last night (U.S. version) and at the end of the episode Michael is in a fur coat. The shot pans out showing his fur coat having had paint splattered by fur protestors. I was pissed. (I know it's just a tv show.)

I am of the opinion that everyone is entitled to their own opinions and stances based upon the facts that have presented to them and their interpretation of the facts. Regardless of what that opinion is, expressing it should NEVER be physical. About a week ago, semi-celebrity, Lindsey Lohan was wearing a fur coat and some activist threw a bag of flour at her. A completely rude and elementary form of I-don't-like-you.

I am not a fur wearer but not for reasons that the flour thrower likely believes in - I just don't like it. I think that if someone wants to do or wear something they should be able to. Yes, clubbing of baby animals for coats is messed up but that's that person's choice and their own will to acknowledge the issue. Extreme activists, in fictional character Michael's and Lindsey's situations should have paint and flour, respectively, thrown back at them for being assholes.

Bottom line: do and say whatever you want about an issue (make signs, send videos, make a commerical) just don't get physical.

I feel, a little, better now.

Rockefeller Tree

The NYC holiday season has offically begun with the delivery and setup of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.

I had the privilege of viewing it being held up by a crane while workers were getting it set up.

While admiring the tree I saw former NY Governer Pataki. He almost asked me for directions but the NYPD were a step away and actually knew how to get around the tree mayhem.

It's been a long day...

My day started today at 5:30am about a good hour earlier than usual and not because of daylight savings time. I had a test to take today. Nothing easy like a blood test but a real sit-down-and-answer-a-bunch-of questions-kind-of-test-that-counts. I haven't taken one in quite a few years - since college. Thankfully for everyone - I passed. This kitten shows how happy and relieved I am to have it over and done with.

The concept of the test is dumb but in the industry I work in it's a small badge of honor. The people who created the concept have made a name (and a fortune) providing this certification and in my career it's good to have that badge (and it helps that my company paid for it).

Besides being test day (or rather morning), it's also the hubby's birthday and we're celebrating in style - got him presents, took him out to lunch, soon we'll be heading out to dinner too and topping it all off with his traditional birthday cake (Entemann's golden cake with fudge icing). For dinner, we'll be going to Minado - a local sushi and seafood buffet that we've lived near for years and we're finally getting a chance to try it. My parents swear by it, they have drive 45 minutes to eat there.

To top it off it's Indecision 2008 (according to Comedy Central) or plainly - the election. Hubby and I did our civic duty and (hopefully) made our votes count.

All that and it's only 6:46pm - I feel like this day has dragged but maybe it's because of the extra hour I managed to sneak in at 5:30am...

What a Day!

My day started late and I had a feeling it wasn't going to be a normal day...

When I arrived at the ferry terminal there were clowns there! It was actually a joint promotion of the ferry company and Cirque du Soliel. So the guy (pictured above) and a similarly dressed female snowball were handing out flyers for the Wintuk show at Madison Square Garden.

Next I bumped into Mark a former sales rep for a vendor contract I oversee. We were catching up on the ferry when the doors suddenly crashed open and about six inches of water came crashing in and flooding the cabin. People were leaping onto the seats and pulling up their bags. Luckily it was a rainy day and I wore my rainboots.

To top it off, my department is restructuring our network folders and the IT guy deleted some of my files - right before I needed them for a status meeting with the department head!

The day is done and I hope the drama has called it quits too.

Protesters

For the entire week we've had to listen to these protesters yell, beat drums and chant. Today they had a huge rat that could've been in a Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. They've marked it's chest with "Sirius" for the satellite radio company.

I think they are fighting for labor rights for Sirius in an Asian country as the protesters are all Asian.

Another interesting sight in NYC...

Decorating for Halloween

I just found this while reading the morning news. A town in NJ, Bordentown City, decorated their town for Halloween.

They floated a bunch of witch hats! How awesome is that? I am so jealous at how amazing it looks.

Sexy Halloween Costumes

One time a year women get to dress up and it's always the opportunity to be the sexy version of whatever. Costume stores have a whole section dedicated to this style of costume.

Hubby and I were at the mall this past weekend and happened upon one of these Halloween stores and saw this...a sexy sailor girl costume marked for a teen. Now that's just a little bit messed up.

This made me laugh

Just thought I'd share a recent Hallmark birthday card find that I was so tempted to buy but didn't have anyone to send it to.

The Holidays are Competing

I thought it was crazy when I started seeing Halloween stuff before Labor Day but got over it because Halloween is all about candy. The longer I have access to Halloween candy the better for the world.

We seriously live in a world of holiday insanity when Halloween and Christmas collide. The picture above was from my trip to Target about 2 weeks ago. Halloween versus Christmas in the seasonal section. I can't wait see someone pick up some Freddy costume and grab some cute snowman thing to hang on their door.

I put up our whopping 3 Halloween decorations last weekend but feel it's not yet appropriate. Mostly because the weather has been warm for this time of year (today will be 78) and pumpkins will totally rot in this warmth.

Stitch Free

Exactly nine days ago I was so very tired from work and then made the valient effort to make dinner. Everything was going so well until the steak knife (apparently balanced precariously) decided to fall...on my foot.

Thankfully the knife did not do a point first nose dive but instead did a very well balanced horizontal fall. Falling and landing on the top of my left foot and all I remember next was sitting on the floor and putting pressure on it while looking the crimson drops of blood that had made it's way out of my foot. It was gross and I have never been so queasy in my life.

The hubby took care of the wound, served up dinner and all was well until I stopped sitting still. So at 11:30pm we headed to the emergency room. It wasn't too bad but I couldn't walk without splitting the cut open again - so I got one pathetic stitch and had to wear flats for 9 freakin days! Well the stitch came out today and the scar looks like a division sign.

I have a new found respect for knives ...

Hardcore Halloween Decorating

We were at Target the other day and I happened upon this unique Halloween décor item...

So...would you buy it?

I ate the whole box!

I am an addict, a sugar addict. I am currently obsessed with candy cigarettes and once-a-year Twizzlers (aka Halloween Twizzlers).

Usually I get candy cigarettes at our local flea market for rock bottom prices. Since we haven't been able to find them, my wonderful husband got me 3 boxes from an online candy shop. That was about a week and a half ago. Today I sit here sucking down the first of the three boxes of pure sugary heaven. A box has 24 cartons of sugar and I have eaten almost every stick of sugar in box #1 (I shared with some lucky people).

My name is Jenny and I am a sugar-holic.

Gal Looking for Pencil Skirts

I am just a simple (that might be a lie) working girl in need of a corporate America wardrobe staple - the plain black pencil skirt. It's so versatile it works with a dress shirt, an argyle cardigan, even a ruffly frilly mess of a blouse.

This pencil skirt looks perfect... and it is, except for the price. It's a lovely J. Crew stretch wool pencil skirt for $98.00. That's right almost a Benjamin Franklin. As much as I love J. Crew - I will not pay full price for something that, because it is so versatile, I will wear the shit out of it in about 6 months. I do have specific criteria for my pencil skirts (most skirts) and that is that they must be fully lined. Just think - if you've ever tried to wear stockings with an unlined skirt... it is insanity as your skirt gets caught just on top of your knee when you walk.

Back to the skirts... I have not just discovered this working girl staple but rather have just trashed 2 skirts that served me so well for the last 6 months or so. They were from Old Navy and only cost about $20. I ordered 2 right off the bat and they were perfect - I went to order a dozen more but others had figured out the great buy and I was left with what I was able to get my hands on. After months they have finally met their fate as the fabric has faded nicely and no longer as the nice sheen but rather a dusty black look. I bid adieu to you Old Navy skirts and now I must find your replacements.

I have searched high and low and haven't yet found quite the right skirts. I ordered a skirt on sale from J. Crew that looks similar (we'll see how that pans out), I have a couple more from Banana Republic ready to order and have a Gap skirt being delivered this week.

Feast of San Gennaro

This past Saturday we headed to the Feast of San Gennaro with Chris and his girlfriend Amanda. This year it was much less crowded than we're used to but the food and sights were pretty much the same.

The food was even better than I remembered. The best food was a steak sandwich on garlic bread topped with mozzerella. Yummy. Of course the brasciole was delicious. At one point we decided to get a table outside at one of the restaurants. Our choice was a bit disappointing because the pizza and mozzerella salad was not very good for a place in Little Italy.

Most odd were the non-Italian stands...ones selling empanadas, make-up, faux pashiminas...

Happenings...

It's actually quite dull in my world right now... Let's see...

I've been busy cleaning every nook and cranny in our apartment.

• I learned that I cannot live without Pledge dry cloth dust wipes, Swiffer dusters, Swiffer Wetjet or those wet disinfecting wipes.
  
• I recently purchased the Clorox Toilet Wand and it is seriously amazing. Toilets give me the hibbity bibbities and toilet brushes even more so. The Toilet Wand solves just about all of my issues with toilet cleaning. It has a wand (handle thing) that has no nasty brush part but rather when you need to clean the toilet you use the handle and pop on (no need to touch) a cleaning pad and then you clean away. When you're done you use the little button to release the scrubbing pad into the trash and voila!
• I learned that Goodwill Industries helps place people, in need, in good jobs with the funds they make from selling donated items. I'm never sure what to do with the stuff we clean out of our closets and house each season and have sold things at my father-in-law's garage sale or taken things to Goodwill, Salvation Army and even dropped them in those mystery bins in parking lots.
  

I really hope the cleaning will slow down but I'm on a roll and I'm gonna keep on rolling. Happy Weekend!

Coupons!

Banana Republic Coupon for $30 off $100 purchase in regular BR store. Sorry, I redeemed the iTunes thing already (it wasn't that good).

eBags or Shoes.com code for $10 off $50 order - Enter BTS8DGV82D (not sure it's 1 time or multiple use - got it in a magazine).

Happy Labor Day weekend!

Celebrity Sightings!

Went sale shopping at lunch last Friday hitting up Gap and Tristan. Upon entering Tristan something was off... Turns out the TLC show - What Not To Wear was filming!!!

I got a bad pic of Clinton Kelly and saw the back of Stacy London! No crazy 360 mirror because this is where they show up and watch/help you shop. So cool. I totally tried not to be a crazy awestruck fan...

You Know It's a Monday...

... when you've got mismatched shoes on.

Thankfully I didn't show up to work like this. I keep pairs of black and brown pumps at work in case I want to keep it simple when I dress in the morning. Seems like a great idea until this happens.

It shouldn't be an issue except they are the same exact pump from Nine West. I bought both the brown and black versions (because they are so comfy). Other issue is that if I sit at my desk for awhile I kick my shoes off - and in the hurry to grab lunch in a quiet moment I put on one brown and one black shoe. Even more pathetic - I didn't notice the mismatch until I got to the lunch place.

Oh well - Monday is just about over and my going home flipflops match

Ethiopian Food Experience

Last night the hubby was jonesing for Ethiopian food. I know what you're thinking... who joneses for Ethiopian food? My husband does and his recollection of it was that it was cool.

We found a nearby (sort of) Ethiopian place - Mesob Ethiopian Restaurant in Montclair, NJ. Lovely ambiance and super nice staff. The wait wasn't long but definitely surprising at 9pm on a Saturday. Turns out the wait was due to a great write up in the NY Times.

Ethiopian food is meant to be eaten with your hands - very old school. You're given a huge platter that has a huge round piece of injera, Ethiopian bread. Your entree choices are then scooped onto the bread. You're then given more injera on the side to tear into small pieces to be used to scoop up your food.

For those of you that don't know me super well - I have a lot of quirks. Eating with my hands is one of them. I'm fine with the normal stuff you eat with your hands - hamburgers, hot dogs, etc. But this was like giving me a platter of taco meat and handing me some soft tacos and wishing me luck. Now if the the injera was irresistible I'd be okay, but it was oddly textured and was tart (almost lemony) so I wanted nothing to do with it. I ended up eating most of my dinner with my fingers like a little kid. The entrees and sides I had were good - mild ground meat in a sauce, portobello mushrooms and cabbage and potatoes.

Then I had a most bizarre bathroom experience. Because my fingers were my utensils I had to wash my hands when I was done. I headed to the ladies room. I had some issues getting the bathroom door to close and lock - but thought I got it and proceeded to wash my hands. Suddenly the door opens and I am faced with a fellow female patron of the restaurant. I ended up having a back and forth with her that went something like this...

Me: Excuse me. I locked the door. (I'm washing my hands)
Her: Well it wasn't locked.
Me: I thought it was locked and as you can see this is one bathroom.
Her: Well do you mind if I wash my hands?
Me: Fine.

She didn't seem to care that she was the "intruder" and wouldn't leave! I need to be more assertive and should have asked her to wait her turn - outside!

House Hunting is Horrible

Maybe I'm exaggerating ... just a little.

House hunting is exhausting. Thank goodness for our realtor, Dario, who is a family friend and for the internet. I have no idea how people did it without the internet. We've been able to learn a lot about homes and our preferences just from looking at the different homes on the various websites (best one being realtor.com).

Take this lovely home that looks so lovely. This home was so close to perfect... it had everything we wanted and more. There was a teeny compromise that would have been made on the basement but the rest was magnificent ("was" being the operative word). All the pictures and words were right, until we got there ...

We saw this...

This is badly Photoshopped , but you get the idea. The Eiffel Tower of Power in the backyard was conveniently omitted from the pictures. This great house just lost its footing and slid down the tube of oh-this-sucks. A day or so before I asked a friend about a strange gap on the Google map between the backyards of the homes and he warned me. Well of course we had already scheduled the visit but still had to see for myself. It'd definitely a conversation piece.

Less concerned with topics of conversation we worried about the health risks. We did some research and it's almost evenly inconclusive for or against living near these towers of power. Erring on the side of caution, most concluded with the further away the better. Duh. I figured worrying about three-eared children was not something I was willing to take on we backed off and added towers of power to our no compromise list.

We've seen somewhere around a baker's dozen and have narrowed things down and are super efficient at weeding out the online listings and really seeing homes we want to see and are serious contenders. We haven't seen homes in person since the tower of power but have 3 candidates that may be worthy of seeing next weekend.

Wish us luck because the apartment situation sucks - that's a post for another day.
Good night.

Testing Out the Train..

Nick and Chris (they're BFF) went fishing today and afterwards we're heading to the shore. I needed to get to Central Jersey after work without driving so I got dropped off at the ferry in the morning.

I figured I'd take the train to the Jersey Ave stop (North Brunswick) and once I got off the subway it was D-R-A-M-A! I walked one block the wrong way then couldn't find the entrance to Penn Station. On top it, buying a ticket was impossible and I had already missed the train I wanted to take. While waiting on the ticket line I called Nick to complain. Then Chris mentioned you could jump on and pay a surcharge for buying your ticket onboard. So I ran off to find track 12.

No ticketer yet but we're slowly moving through Secaucus because of "track traffic". Crud. So far the best thing is the train is air conditioned and I don't have to drive I am actually scared that the ticket taker will be mad at me. Eeek.

Angry People

Why are people so angry? I admit to being a bit of an angry driver - I yell at other cars but only when warranted (i.e. When your driving 10 miles below the speed limit and there's no way around you) My issue with angry is when there are rules/guidelines in place, for a good reason, and people don't want to follow them but get angry because of the rules.

Last Friday I got on the bus, that takes me to the ferry terminal, and sat next to a very angry woman. Angry because the bus refused to pick her up on a street corner that is NOT the bus stop (you actually have to wait at a city bus stop not a street corner). Duh. She apparently chased the bus and banged on the door dirtying and maybe hurting (she held as if it hurt) her hand. Hitting a bus is stupid. When I got on, she had called the main office for NY Waterway (the ferry company) and was complaining about the bus driver and how she's always been picked up at the corner (since she started working in NYC - 3 months ago) except for on 2 occasions when he refused. I'm okay with the phone call because it gets worse.

This was a long bus ride because it was rush hour on a Friday in the summer. The angry woman then proceded to tell the bus driver the following every 5 minutes until we got to the terminal:

(1) That she would get him fired
(2) If he's so concerned with rules why are there so many standing on the bus (bus was not over capacity)
(3) You picked him up and not me! (it was a bus stop)
(4) That she would get him fired - again

I was thisclose to following her and making a complaint, not about the bus driver, but rather the number of rude passengers (particularly her). It would've been so satisfying just make that complaint so she could her how ridiculous she sounded.

No nut jobs today - it's only Wednesday.

Hubby's Tomato Garden

Each year, for quite a few years now, my hubby's been planting tomatoes and basil for summer tomato salads. Each year Nick tries new plants, techniques and whatever else he learns.

I claim no hand in the success of these tomatoes because I am terrible with plants. Nick is the nurturer and takes great care of the tomatoes, basil and house plants. If it can't tell me it needs water - it's in trouble.

These are some of the plants and they've got green baby tomatoes already! I am so psyched because I am newly obsessed with feta cheese and have been imagining a feta and tomato salad. Totally drool worthy.

What have you planted for summer?

Honey Garlic Ribs ala Jenny

I got sick of having ribs flavored with plain ol' BBQ sauce and ketchup. So I put it upon myself to find a better, more delicious recipe. I came across a recipe online, made it and tweaked it each time I made it. I've made this recipe countless times and the masses LOVE it. Just this past weekend hubby and I did another tweak to the recipe and I think we've outdone ourselves this time.

Here's the recipe...

4 lbs pork spareribs
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses
4 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Slice ribs into individual pieces and arrange in glass baking pan. In large bowl combine honey, molasses, soy sauce, brown sugar, Worcestershire, and vinegar. Stir until honey, molasses and sugar are completely dissolved, then stir in the baking soda. Mixture will begin to foam. Pour mixture over ribs in pan. Sprinkle garlic salt over ribs.

Bake for 1 hour, turning every 20 minutes. Let ribs sit for 5-10 minutes and serve.

If you have time...
Save the liquid mixture that's left, separate it from the fat/oil that cooks off the ribs. Toss oil. In a saucepan, simmer and reduce the liquid by half or until it's a thick syrup consistency. Brush glaze on ribs for extra flavor. Serve now or throw those ribs into the broiler to caramelize the glaze.

Target Never Fails

Stopped at Target on my home today and found these baggies (minus the popcorn) in the section formerly-known-as-the-Dollar-Spot. They are Little Mermaid, Finding Nemo and Hello Kitty baggies! The Mermaid and Nemo bags come in 2 sizes regular snack bag and the small/half size ones.

I love anything that makes stuff (especially food) look cute. They also had Hello Kitty and Spiderman lunch bags (insulated paperbag looking ones) and a tupperware thing for a sandwich. I passed those up as I'd totally get made of if I bought those and the baggies.

Th popcorn is from Target's snack bar. If I haven't mentioned it yet - it is the BEST popcorn on the planet. It is perfectly crunchy, salted and buttered. The best part is that it's only a dollar (plus tax)!

Every Home Should Have One

Today I spent the day hanging out with my father-in-law. We ended up in Marshalls/Home Goods and boy do they have a ton of strange home decorating items.

The best thing in the whole store - knights. Not just one knight but there were THREE and in different finishes to match your décor. 2 large ones in silver and gold. They were $99.99 each. But if that's too rich for your blood $69.99 will buy you the gold one in front.

One word - Interesting...

This gem of a home was spotted during our first visit with Dario, our friend and real estate agent. Dario took us around the neighborhood near his office so we could "practice" looking at homes.

We weren't looking as this house but the one right next door to it. The house we looked at even had a little sign that said, "The PINK house next door is being redeveloped and is empty." So ladies and gentleman - no worries. The pink gem was all white with numerous pink accents all over the place. There was even a small carriage with a horse (fake) on the lawn.

Definitely interesting. At least the brightly painted house was much more normal - anyone could redo that paint job - no carriage removal necessary.

The Hunt Begins

Last weekend Nick and I officially started the house hunt. We met with Dario, long time friend and realtor - what a great friend!

Dario pulled out all the professional stuff where he learned a lot about us (we realized some things), we learned some more about the home buying process (like NJ always has to be the excption) and even got some homework!

On the way there and during our ride around in Metuchen NJ (where Dario's office is) we saw this Willy Wonka-ish house. It's pretty but in a over-the-top kinda way.

We're figuring out what's important to us and home likes and dislikes. Folks, this may take awhile. Wish us luck.

Blackout

Good morning. We experienced a rather sucky (can there be a good one?) blackout all through the night. It started with some crazy thunder and lightning, lots of flickering electronics and then ZAP we were in the dark. I slept through the night and just before 6am some power came back.

Our utility company first reported 50,000 without power but by 11pm it tripled to 150,000.

Right after we lost power last night I smelled something burning/smoking. It took us awhile to find it but we found it - one of Nick's extra computers that we use as a media center got fried. We think it's just the power source/box thing. Turns out my laptop won't turn on at all and we've got a couple outlets that don't work at all.

We were able to start charging my almost dead cell phone, plug the fridge into a working outlet, iron my work pants and get me off to the ferry on time. Not too shabby. We'll see if the power situation gets better throughout the day.

Off to work now.

Busy Busy Weekend

What a whirlwind weekend. It all began a bit early on Friday when I didn't have to go to work. I sorta had to work because it was a seminar for work but it was actually good and I didn't have to go to the office. I got home a little earlier too.

Once I got home I had to pack for the weekend. Hubby went fishing Friday and I was meeting him at my father-in-law's. Had to stop at Target in East Brunswick for stuff and ended up bumping into my good friend, Miichell and her daughter. So we hung out a bit a Target while shopping.

Saturday was sister-in-law, Mandy's Birthday Bonanza. Woke up early to make some food for the party. Then on the way I had to drop my car off at my dad's cause it failed inspection and needs some repairs. Partied at the bonanza and Sunday we were off to my uncle's graduation party.

Still recovering from the party filled weekend. Above is a picture of Nick and our cousin Catherine playing piano together.

Nothing Like the Last Minute

I've been staring at the Mazda logo on my steering wheel for a good 20 minutes. My car is due this month or rather today, for it's state inspection. I*e been trying to get here for 2 weeks and the other day I realized that'd it'd be my luck if my headlights were out and failed inspection for something so fixable.

Yup - front right headlight and back left stop light were gone. My awesome hubby helped me get the new bulbs and and put them in yesterday while I was at work. So now it's 7:11am and I am 27th in line. People have been waiting and probably since 6:30am cause I was parked on the street before they let everyone in.

I'm almost in the bay line for inspection. Woohoo!

First Anniversay Date

You know you've been together too long when you can go to a hole-in-the-wall burger joint for take out dinner for your first wedding anniversary.

We've had a list of local food joints to try and today we happened to be near White Manna on River Road in Hackensack, NJ. When we rolled in the place was packed - it's maybe a 50x50 ft square building. We had to wait on a mini line that formed outside - hence the outside pic above. All in al the cheeseburgers we delicious but we were missing the sauteed onions that we had psyched ourselves up for. I guess we have an excuse to go back soon.

Watched Juno while consuming the cheeseburgers. Adorable, charming and genuinely funny movie. The actress that plays Juno was amazing as the teen. The humor in this movie is memorable - a few more viewings and I'l be quoting it.

What is Bubble Tea?

It's so yummy. I know that's not enough explanation but there are so many flavors available you're bound to find one you like. My current favorite is papaya. Not every flavor is available all at once but you usually have 3-4 choices at a time. The beverage is obviously flavored but it's more a milky beverage and the awesome, fun part are the tapioca pearls and the fun straw you need to suck up the tapioca.

See good ol' Wikipedia for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_tea

It's here!

I pre-ordered Wii Fit the very day Amazon.com emailed me telling me it was ready to pre-order. I am excited cause I think this may make exercise fun. I totally wanna learn how to snowboard (sorta) via Wii Fit.

Continuing the theme of being lazy and hating exercise - I also have directions for tummy toning exercises for the lazy girl. It says things like - "while waiting for your nails to dry...".

I'll let you know how either attempt at fitness goes. It's a workout just to lift the Wii Fit box...

Bubble Tea!

I've been jonesing for bubble tea during work hours lately and was quite sad it was far away Downtown. My co-worker Linda heard my woes and had heard a local Chinese restaurant had bubble tea. Today we decided to try our luck and lo and behold - our bubble teas! I got papaya (orangey one) and Linda almond. Yummy!

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Coupons Galore!

Express 20% off
Valid May 9-10
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Yankee Candle, $15 off $45
Valid through May 11
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Borders, 30% off min of list price $10
Valid through May 11
http://www.bordersmedia.com/coup/coupon30100508.htm

Testing...

Lately my posts from my phone have been accompanied by some additional text "advertising" Verizon. I kinda don't want to be a billboard for Verizon (even if I like them). I just got a call troubleshooting the issue but I don't think they know where the text appears - the rep seemed to think it would show up on my phone and I would have to erase it.

So let's see if this post has advertising...

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Hello from Keysville VA

Meghan the Roselawn B&B foster kitty says,"Meow" (hello). We're in Keysville an extra day because our brand new Ford Edge broke. Yup the barely 2 month old lease is in for repairs. We had an hour left in our trip down and the car started going thump, thump, thump. Thankfully for us there's a Ford about a mile from the B&B and our poor car has been there for about 2 days now. We should be able to go home tomorrow as long as the part comes in (something called a bushing in the drive shaft).

Central Park Celebrity Siting

Tried to go to the Central Park Zoo but it closes in 30 minutes so it was no go. Instead my dad was made by seeing Stanley Tucci! Last movie I saw him in was the Devil Wears Prada.

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Grits in the City

Those that know me know I have a love of grits. I have no use for oatmeal, cereal or cream of wheat.

On Monday I decided to check out a fairly new establishment in the Rockefeller Center concourse - 'wich Craft. For lunch I had a massive peanut butter and jelly (strawberry) sandwich with awesome, crunchy crust white bread. I noticed they had grits and I became a very happy girl. Above are my precious grits with cheese and ham from today's breakfast. There's pepper too which I wasn't thrilled about but ate around and will remember to have omitted in the future.

Selena Visits!

I was being the good worker bee when my husband's cousin's wife, Selena, rang my cellie. She was in town for work and wanted to see if we could get together - of course! I decided since I was the "native" New Yorker I'd figure out where to meet up for dinner. I did some Googling and actually had a bit of hard time finding some place cool, fun and not too fancy. After some time I discovered, Rickshaw Dumpling Bar. Checking out the website it sounded great but wasn't sure what to expect.

I, as usual, had some work drama and left later than I wanted to. Luckily it was rush hour and the subway was running on a peak schedule so I was able to get from Rockefeller Center to 23rd Street (61 West 23rd Street (north side of the street between closer to 6th)in about 10 minutes. I love public transportation. Got there and we began to chowdown!

We split Peking Duck and Chicken & Thai Basil dumplings along with their paired salads. Everything was delicious and so good I had to bring some home for the hubby which led us to trying their dessert dumplings - Chocolate Shanghai Soup Dumplings. Those are to die for!

I am now trying to figure out the F train schedule to try and have Rickshaw dumplings for lunch as often as possible... there'll be premium to get these babies since I am not a regular strap hanger (aka subway rider) and do not have a monthly Metro card ...

Highly recommended ... I give this place an A!

Selena and I had a good time catching up as we don't see each other often. We had some taxi drama but we shall never speak of it. ;) Just kidding. It was my fault because I was all turned around and it was starting to get a bit late, 9pm, and the driver was cranky (I think he needed a nap).