Happy Thanksgiving!

Warm holiday wishes to you and yours!

Thanksgiving Eve

Today is Thanksgiving Eve and it really snuck up on me this year.  I can’t believe that we’re already getting into the holiday season!  Today I’ve been helping my mom all morning doing prep work for the Thanksgiving meal.  Anything that could be done the day before helps to make the main event go more smoothly.  Like washing and chopping veggies…

And preparing some of the side dishes like these gorgeous cranberries…

Tomorrow we’ll have tons of family over, so tonight I’m looking forward to enjoying the calm before the storm.  I’ll be relaxing under a warm blanket with a nice merlot in front of the TV.  Yum!

40th Anniversary Party

This past October 10th was my parent’s 40th wedding anniversary.  My sister and I threw them a surprise party and invited approx 80 members of our friends and family.  The 40th anniversary is traditionally the Ruby anniversary, so the decor was themed in red with gold accents.  Luckily even the event room that we found was wallpapered in a deep red.  Planning the party was essentially like throwing them a new wedding!  And keeping the secret of it, kept my sister and I busy for weeks.  I was in charge of the table decorations, and I decided to do an underwater floral centerpiece.  My mom’s wedding bouquet had orchids in it so I wanted to make orchids the focal point of the arrangement.  Here’s what they looked like:

I used tall glass cylinder vases that I got from the dollar store, and used faux orchids which I bent and posed in a corkscrew shape around the inside of the vase so they would look more sculptural.  If you can use real flowers I would suggest doing that, because the water magnifies every detail.  I filled the bottom with glass vase gems which helped weigh down the orchid stems and kept them from floating up.  Finally I filled the vases with water and put two floating candles on top.  The tables themselves were scattered with paper rose petals (cheaper than the real thing), and I put a few additional tealights around the centerpiece so it wasn’t just standing alone.  There’s nothing that sets a magical festive mood like candlelight!  The favor bags were gold organza with gold foil wrapped chocolate caramels.  Keeping the favors within the overall party’s color scheme, and putting one at each place setting, made them become part of the decor and really made the tables look more cohesively designed.  Of course, as the night wore on and we partied through dinner, drinks, and desert, the tables got a little messy – and so did we.  We had a great DJ and a fully stocked bar, which is really all my Irish Catholic family needs.  It was definitely a memorable night and I think everyone had a great time.

The Pack

It’s Friday which means it’s laundry day, so I’m stuck in the basement cleaning everyone’s clothes.  But I had to stop and post for a second because it occurs to me that I haven’t yet introduced my daytime companions.  Our pets, or as we affectionately refer to them, the Pack.  This is Tyson and Sammy:

Tyson is the one in front with white on his ears, and Sammy is the one in back with black ears.  Ear color is really the only way I can tell them apart sometimes because they’re brothers and look like twins.  They look very sweet and innocent while sleeping but don’t let that fool you.  They are still very young and full of kitten mischief.  Like Thing 1 & Thing 2 from “The Cat in the Hat“.

Next is my cat Cali:

This was actually taken via cameraphone in my old Culver City apartment.  She came all the way from LA but not in the car like I did.  I shipped her special cargo on a flight from LA to EWR where my family picked her up.  So she got to NJ about 2 1/2 weeks before I did.  My parents set her up in the basement so that is her domain now.  Which is perfect because she looks just like Basement Cat from www.ICanHasCheezburger.com.  And she’s often just as evil.

Finally, there’s Charlie:

This is his Halloween costume from last year, but its so damn cute that I couldn’t not show it.  He’s a Welsh Corgi Pembroke who thinks he’s a much bigger dog than he is when it comes to mailmen, delivery guys, and other dogs.  But he is actually a big scaredy cat.  He’s terrified of electronics and anything mechanical that makes noise.  He’s runs in circles and barks everytime my Dad’s cellphone goes off.  He runs out of the room whenever we put the dishwasher on.  He also tries to fight the vacuum cleaner like its his nemesis. 

That’s our quirky little animal family.  They keep life interesting.  Happy Friday to you and your furry friends.  Have a great weekend!

Winter Chill

The weather is starting to get officially wintery outside and I am woefully unprepared.  I’m used to LA winters which basically means, “Hey, I think I need to wear a jacket to work today”.  I don’t have any cold weather gear suitable for the northeast yet but I’m working on it bit by bit.  One thing I’ve always struggled with is finding a good winter hat.  I don’t want anything too goofy looking, so no ear flaps, faux fur, garish colors, or oversize pompoms.  I think I found my perfect hat in this Etsy shop called Argentinian Sun.  The designer Lana is from Buenos Aires, and utilizes the abundance of wool and cotton that her country is known for in her knitted creations.  This slouchy beanie with its gorgeous flower is simple, chic, and just femme enough.  It can be made for you in a variety of colors and if you request it, she can make the flower as a removable brooch pin.  Just what I’ve been looking for.  Thanks Etsy!

(photo by lanadearg)

On the Road – Part 2

Here’s the wrap-up of my road trip:

When I last left off, this journey thus far had taken me from Los Angeles to Savannah.  I had started on one coast, feeling the breeze off of the Pacific, and then just a few days later I was dipping my toes in the Atlantic.  Now it was time to turn northward.

Rocky Mount, NC:  Rocky Mount is essentially a pit stop town on the way up I-95.  A cluster of fairly nice hotels and chain restaurants with easy access on and off the highway but just far enough that you don’t have to hear the traffic all night long.  Nothing much of note here, so I’ll tell you about a wonderful place that we found on the way to Rocky Mount.  The South of the Border rest stop in South Carolina!  This place was epic.  It’s the size of a small town.  It has several huge souvenir shops, a diner, taco stand, steakhouse, ice cream parlor, 2 gas stations, a general store, hotel and convention center, RV park, reptile house, antique store, amusement park, fireworks store, and an observation tower shaped like a huge sombrero.  The kitsch factor here is positively overwhelming.  Here are some examples:

I honestly don’t even know what this last thing is, other than tacky.  But somehow it got to me after a while, and I ended up buying some hideous ashtray as a joke/conversation piece.  Although the crazy thing is, I get the sense that the people selling it to me don’t get the joke.  Scary.

Washington D.C:   I heard somewhere once that the layout of Washington D.C. was designed to confuse and intimidate visiting foreign heads of state.  Well it worked on me too.  To be a tourist in DC is to be constantly lost and aggravated.  The streets make absolutely no sense here, and meander around each other with no rhyme or reason.   As soon I we got to our destination, the Phoenix Park Hotel, I deposited my car with the valet and left it there for the duration of our two day stay.  The Phoenix Park is a historic homage to the elegant 18th century Irish country estate homes.  After all of the driving that I had been doing for the past few days I was ready for a nap, but we decided to press on and take a bus tour of the city.  We caught a double decker tour bus at Union Station.  We found a great deal that gave us a two day hop-on/hop-off pass, and since it travels all around the city, we could use the tour bus as our main method of transportation.  That first day we rode the tour from beginning to end so we could get the overall DC experience, and plan what stops to get off at the next day.  The tour takes you from Union Station past the Capitol Building, around all of the museums on the National Mall, past the Washington Monument, Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, National Archives, and Ford’s Theater.  The tour stops only briefly at each location so when grabbing a picture or two you have to be quick:

It was a good tour although the volume of the recorded tour could have been higher in order to compete with traffic noise and people chattering.  We got back to Union Station and wandered around the shops there for a while, before heading back to the hotel’s Dubliner Restaurant and Pub for dinner.  Apparently the Dubliner is an after work hot spot for young DC professionals.  We were sandwiched in at a small table next to some young Republicans.  I get it, in DC the conversation is bound to steer towards public policy and power.  Whatever your political persuasion is, I don’t care to hear it while trying to eat my shepherd’s pie. 

The next day, we grabbed the tour bus at Union Station and hopped off at the Smithsonian Institute Castle building.  The Castle is the Smithsonian’s information center and a great starting off point if you’re going to explore the museums of the National Mall.  There are so many museums on the Mall and there is so much to see, that we decided to just pick two and devote the morning to the National Museum of American History, and the afternoon to the National Museum of Natural History.  The American History Museum displays exhibits concerned with our history, technology, politics, and popular culture.  This museum houses the original flag that inspired the Star Spangled Banner, Dorothy’s ruby red slippers, the classic Kermit the frog, Archie Bunker’s easy chair, Lincoln’s stovepipe hat, and all of the inauguration dresses of the First Ladies.  One of my favorite exhibits here was a life-sized replica of Julia Child’s home kitchen. 

After lunch we explored the National Museum of Natural History.  This museum takes the visitor back to the origins of life and through the era’s of the dinosaur, early mammals, humans, and the massive variety of wildlife found across the globe today.  My favorite sections were the dinosaur exhibit, where I saw Brontosaurus eggs and a Triceratops skull, and the ocean life exhibit, where I saw a real giant squid preserved under glass.  You can roam through the plains alongside antelope and lions, and turn the corner into the next room to see polar bears.  How cool is that?  After a long hot day walking around the museums, what better place to go than the Capitol City Brewing Company for a nice cold beer and some nachos?  It was just what the doctor ordered. 

The next morning we would be headed home to northern NJ, and just in time I think.  I LOVE to travel but after around two weeks of driving and site-seeing, I was ready to stay put for a while.  I’m so glad that we took our time and were able to see all the places that we were able to see.  It was a once in a lifetime trip.

Wandering through the leaves

After some rough draft writing today for the second installment of my road trip synopsis “On the Road” (I promise I’ll publish tomorrow!), I decided to take a break and walk around my neighborhood.  One thing that I missed in California is the autumn colors in the trees.  Now I seem to have an abundance of it.  My backyard is spotted with bright yellow and orange fallen leaves.  My favorite color red is represented just down the block.  A rich alizarin red decorating every branch of my neighbor’s Japanese maples:

It’s giving me all sorts of ideas for leafy Thanksgiving decorations.  They come in a variety of shades and shapes so I’ll have tons of options.  Why not use some of the natural elements around us to class up holiday craft projects?  And by the way – they’re free!

On the Road – Part 1

I promised a recap of my cross-country move so here it is! 

The Move:  To begin, it really was a massive undertaking to take my nicely established life and wrap it up to go.  The planning of it; booking hotels, hiring a mover, servicing the car, leaving my job, and saying tearful tipsy goodbyes to dear friends.  I packed up all of my worldly possessions and sent them ahead of me with the moving service.  A stressful project to be sure.  If you ever find yourself going through the same thing, I highly recommend numbering all of your moving boxes and keeping a handy list of the contents of each numbered box.  When everything finally gets to where its going, it will save you from having to rummage through it all again blindly.  Once the bulk of all my stuff was gone, I packed up what was left in my car and started off.  I’ll love you always L.A.!  On to the next adventure.  First stop, Las Vegas.

Las Vegas:  A drive I’ve done many times at various times of the day and night, being just 4-5 hours away in L.A.  I’m not a gambler but I do love going to Vegas and going to the bars, shopping, dining out, above all people-watching.   Vegas never fails on that front.  Here I was meeting up with my mom who would be my driving companion.  Not everyone can spend hours upon hours in a car with their mother, but not everyone has a fun mom like me.  I collected her at the airport and we checked into Bally’s.  Once settled, we took a walk around the Paris Casino and then over to The Forum Shops at Caesar’s Palace for dinner at Trevi.  I like the Forum Shops, but they’re mostly out of my budget range and I think there’s something unnerving about a faux blue sky ceiling indoors.  We found this much more attractive decoration inside the lobby at the Bellagio:

With an early start scheduled for the next day we headed back to Bally’s for bed.  Next stop, The Grand Canyon.

Grand Canyon:  Never having been to the Grand Canyon before, I decided to leave it to the professionals to show us around.  We booked a tour with National Geographic that took us on a 4 hour drive around to all of the best photo-op locations, and included a 40 min IMAX film about the history of the canyon.  Best decision we could have made!  I’m not an outdoors-y girl, so I more than appreciated the nice air-conditioned shuttle bus that took us from spot to spot.  Our tour guide entertained us with geologic facts and plenty of interesting folklore about the canyon.  But words cannot hope to describe the views:

Pictures taken and souvenirs obtained, we headed back to our hotel room complete with moose-themed wallpaper.  In the morning we would move on to New Mexico.

Albuquerque:  Driving through the vast lonely desert, past dilapidated truck stops and hundreds of signs promising authentic Navajo blankets, I didn’t know what to expect once we reached Albuquerque.  Cowboys and tumbleweed?  Not quite.  Its a vibrant city with a small-town feel.  Art galleries and posh little shops, as well as live theater and music venues.  On the way into town, I just had to stop at the Albuquerque Rattlesnake museum.  Why you may ask?  Well as previously stated, I’m not outdoors-y at all so live snakes really aren’t my thing.  But I am a fan of Craig Ferguson and if you’re familiar with the Late Late Show, you may remember that he has a huge rattlesnake-shaped coffee mug.  It’s ridiculously tacky so clearly I needed to get one of my own!  Snake-mug acquired, we arrived at Hotel Andaluz, a gorgeous boutique hotel in the middle of Albuquerque.  I snapped a pic of the lovely fountain in the lobby:

The duck I had that night at the hotel’s Lucia Restaurant was possibly the best I’ve ever had.  A glass of wine later, we retired to our sumptuously appointed room.  The next morning after a mandatory breakfast of huevos rancheros, we moved on to conquer the Lone Star State.

Lubbock:  West Texas is exactly what you imagine.  Like a scene out of a movie, its single stoplight towns, white pickups, and Dairy Queens.  Arriving late afternoon in Lubbock, we did some laundry and availed ourselves of the local cuisine (Denny’s).  Then out of other entertainment options, went shopping at Walmart.  And boy was it entertaining!  American flag doo-rags.  Mumus.  Female mullets.  It was all I could do to contain myself.  My apologies for the lack of photography but I was afraid of angering the wildlife.  If I were an anthropologist, I wouldn’t bother studying some irrelevant Amazonian tribe.  I would go to the Lubbock Walmart and study Homo Sapien Trashy-ocious Americanus.  The icing on the cake was the greasy-spoon we ate breakfast in.  In the middle of some truly lovely grits, I noticed the following signage:

The camera-phone pic isn’t the best but it’s their Special of the Day sign listing the special (apparently of every day) is Jesus, Jesus, and Jesus.  Nothing against the guy, but I prefer a clear separation between church and omelettes.  On to Austin!

Austin:  By Austin the miles were starting to catch up to me and I was too exhausted to do much.  Which is really a shame because I’ve heard nothing but good things about Austin.  The live music capital of the world and an emerging art community.  Before leaving Los Angeles, my former boss informed me that when driving through Austin I absolutely had to stop at The Salt Lick BBQ.  There’s really no one I trust more when it comes to advice on good meat so we decided to try it out.  Wow!  An enormous barbecue pit as soon as you walk in.  Once you’re seated, you’re given a nice hunk of bread and their house sauce for dunking.  The brisket is to die for.  Everything I wanted in good Texas-style BBQ.  After a good night’s sleep, we wandered bleary-eyed into the hotel breakfast room to be greeted by this:

Why must Texas mess with my breakfast? 

New Orleans:  I was very excited for my first trip to New Orleans.  I have some friends who went to Tulane and their love for NoLa is evident in the many stories I’ve heard them tell.  We were lucky to score a room at the Prince Conti hotel right in the heart of the French Quarter.  A historic building that had clearly been kissed by Katrina, but lost none of its original charm.  First thing that morning we walked through the quarter to Cafe Du Monde for some beignets and cafe-au-lait.

It was only about a 10 min walk from the hotel, but with the humidity it was more like wading through a thick soup.  But nothing would deter us from souvenir shopping.  Carnival beads, postcards, voodoo dolls, even a baby alligator head that was downright disturbing from all angles.  Next we took a van tour around the city.  Again, I was so glad that we did because we never would have gotten to see as much as we did if we had tried to just wander around ourselves.  Our driver took us all over, from the most upscale neighborhoods with grand wrought-iron accented mansions, to the iconic above-ground cemeteries.  Past colorful shotgun homes of local artists and musicians, and even through the 9th ward where the Katrina damage was the most severe.  It’s shocking to see that so many of those homes are still completely unlivable, marked with spray paint and riddled with mold.  At night we followed the crowd partying up and down Bourbon St.  Even though it was a Wednesday, it felt like a raging Saturday night with music pumping out of every doorway and street performers vying for the attention of the beer-soaked tourists that passed by.  I can only imagine what Fat Tuesday would be like.

Montgomery:  My experience of Alabama was a blur.  Honestly just a rest-stop for us on the way to Savannah.  Just a dinky motel off the highway, but I was glad for a soft bed.  We did grab dinner at a colorful BBQ joint where I had my first fried green tomato.  Delicious!  This was the restaurant’s kitschy version of interior design:

It’s also where I was treated to decidedly the most incomprehensible accent I’ve ever heard aside from maybe a deep Scottish brogue.  The owner of the establishment was clearly a native Alabamian.  He was speaking English I believe, but I couldn’t possibly figure out what he was saying.  Luckily the staff seemed to have their decoder rings on.  Hilarious! 

Savannah:  Our first stop upon reaching the Savannah area was to the airport to pickup my sister Christina.  She’s always wanted to see Savannah so she would be joining us for the 48 hours we’d be there.  We checked into the lovely Inn at Ellis Square which is right in the center of town.  It was another hot humid day, but Savannah has so many pretty trees that there was plenty of nice shade as we were walking around looking for lunch.  Savannah really is a walking town with its boutique shops, pedestrian malls, and tons of little parks.  We ended up across town at the Pirate’s House Restaurant, which was a former inn that served as homebase to this port city’s local seafarers, and of course the occasional pirate.  This is also where Robert Louis Stevenson penned his famous novel “Treasure Island”, inspired in part by the hooligan sailors that stopped by here for a pint or two.  Later that night, we grabbed a few beers at a piano bar called Savannah Smiles.  It’s actually a dueling piano bar with two baby grands that play together on stage, and where the musician/comedian’s will take any request you like for a tip.  Also, there are huge mirrors behind each piano, and the highest bidding audience member can get a phrase of their choice written on the mirrors for all to see.  The night started off with the mundane ”Happy Birthday Cooter!”, and “Go Bulldogs!”, but a few hours later when the crowd was really sauced up good, we got this little gem:

If you can’t read it clearly, it says “The blonde to the right of me with the douchebag has a nice ass”.  That’s one way to pay a compliment!  Most of the songs that the rowdy crowd requested were classic rock standards and good ol’boy country favorites.  Near the end of the night, there was a man who got up on stage and danced a perfectly choreographed routine to MJ’s “Billie Jean” in honor of his wife.  He even had a silver glove!  I nearly died laughing, but it was really an adorable gesture.  Eventually the requests became a vehicle for a local college football team pride match, shifting from one alma mater’s fight song to another.  By then we were all ready for bed anyway so it was back to the hotel.

The next day we snagged a reservation at the Lady & Sons for their famous brunch buffet.  My mom got up early and grabbed a place in the reservation line at 8:30am.  She was number 20 in line even though it didn’t officially open for another hour!  My sister ran her over some coffee while I got dressed for the day.  Wow, was it worth the effort!  I myself am a fan of Paula Deen, so I knew to expect buttery fried goodness but this exceeded my expectations.  Just to give you an idea, the waitress came to our table to take our drink orders, and before we even had a chance to speak, she plopped down a stack of hoecakes and garlic cheese biscuits as a starter.  Obviously before I wade into a large soul food brunch, the first thing I want is pancakes for my appetizer!  This place is surely not for dieters.  Full to the brim, we shopped around in the gift store for a bit before heading off for an afternoon on Tybee Island. 

 About a 20 mins drive from Savannah is Tybee Island, a gorgeous little barrier island and laidback beach community.  Tybee is home to fine sandy beaches and a rich Gullah cultural heritage.  We wandered up and down the beach, which was remarkably clean and super soft for bare feet.  Of course, we had to stop in the local shops as well for some island momentos.  I could have spent all day there but we had to get back for nighttime adventure, the Savannah Ghost Tour. 

Not my choice by any means because I’m easily scared when it comes to ghost stories, but I decided to be a sport and go along.  The tour’s trolley picked us up from the Savannah Riverwalk area and drove us all around town, stopping at key locations including historic haunted homes, a former hanging site, and Colonial Park Cemetery which has 557 marked graves and over 8,000 unmarked ones!  If that’s not enough cause for some unhappy ghosts, I don’t know what is.  Finally they took us to an old darkened warehouse back on the Riverwalk, where we were subjected to a live performance show of a “ghost”, who regaled us with some more tales of local ghouls and their untimely deaths.  At the climax of each story, there were sound effects and props rattling and crashing to the floor all around us.  I knew it was a show but at the same time I was scared out of my wits.  Not my favorite part of the day but I did survive. 

The next morning, we put my sister back on a plane and my mom and I began our turn up the East Coast towards home.  More on the rest of our cross-country adventure next week.  Have a great weekend!

In Rivers

My wonderful artist friend Laura Gallico is opening an art gallery/retail space in Greenpoint Brooklyn called “In Rivers”.  If you’re not familiar with Greenpoint, it’s a heavily Polish neighborhood that’s much more laid back than its neighbor, the uber-trendy Williamsburg.  Last week I helped Lau get some paint for the walls and we shared a couple of beers while brainstorming ideas for the new space.  It will be a center for fine art, craft shows, monthly exhibitions, and community workshops.  It will also provide boutique space for local artisans to sell their creations.  I’m very excited for the opening in Dec.  In the meantime, I’ll be making frequent trips to BK to help out.  Thanks goodness for my GPS because I’m still figuring out how to navigate the 5 boroughs.  Here’s a quick snapshot I took while sitting in traffic.

Transition

It’s an odd thing to return to a place where you spent your childhood, and try to re-adapt to it as an adult.  I know because I’ve just done it  After 6 wonderful years in L.A., I decided to move back to northern NJ to be closer to my family, who still lives in the town that my sister and I grew up in.  The highlights of my cross-county road trip will be detailed in another post to come.  For now I’m a stranger in a frustratingly strange land, since most of my adult life has been lived 4 hours away at college and then 3,000 miles away.  Luckily, I have nothing but time at the moment to reorient myself to my new surroundings.  Like many of my fellow Americans I find myself gloriously unemployed.  In between job searches, I’ve decided to use my free time exploring new adventures and creating my own fun.  And of course blogging about it all for my amusement.  And hopefully yours!