Ugly Sweater Christmas Party

Before everyone left for the holidays my buddy Dan (aka Balzbedabomb.com) and I hosted an Ugly Sweater Christmas Party - the only requirements were that you dress festive and bring a small toy to donate to Toys for Tots. It was a great night filled with horrific holiday attire, stellar dance moves, and lots of laughs. Someone stole my camera for a good 45 min. and played Ansel Adams with it so there are lots of hilarious pics BUT I selected just a few so you could get a feel for what the night held :)

Janie and I in our Walmart attire. Gorgeous.

Nice turtleneck Carrie. You should definitely wear that out the next time we hit the town.

Hello boys! Tom got very festive, perhaps my favorite sweater of the night.



Donating toys makes you feel warm and fuzzy like Elmo.





Representing.

Will, Green Man and Noah

Poinsettia sweatshirt? Check.




There was lots of dancing.


LOTS of dancing.


Merry Christmas!

Just relaxing by the fire on a cold winter night.

Hello Miss Sally!

Packing up all the toys - we collected 5 or 6 bags full of toys!

Thanks to everyone that came out to celebrate the holidays and donate to Toys for Tots! You made lots of little kids very happy this Christmas and we had fun to boot!

Music Monday

I have been gone for week, but never fear....I'm back and here is your Music Monday. This Monday's song has been out for a little while and some of you may have heard it before but I've been out of the country and so I'm behind. Love this song, the lyrics and the beat....its one of those songs that I will play to death until I'm sick of it and can't stand to listen to it anymore....but FOR NOW? I love it. Download it today.

"Come On Get Higher" by Matt Nathanson

You people do know that I link to the YouTube video so you can listen to the song right? I hope so. Click above.

BVI

I know I'm very behind in my updates but I'm going to try to catch up this week so stick with me people!

Three weeks ago, I took a week off work (perfect thing to do during one of the worst economic crisis in the United States history) and headed to the British Virgin Islands with my friend Carrie and her dad, Captain Ron. I am a very lucky girl, as this is the second time I've done this sailing trip down in the BVI. The second time around was everything I remembered it to be - amazing!!
Since the best way to describe the trip is in pictures....here you go! Click on the picture below to see the whole album.

BVI

huh?

More fun with the US Airways baggage website.

Vaulting poles
Vaulting poles will be accepted in the normal baggage allowance in lieu of a piece of baggage. One item of vaulting equipment consists of 1 pole and container with a maximum length of 16 ft/4.9 meters.Vaulting poles cannot be transported on US Airways Express. Vaulting poles should be enclosed in a container of sufficient strength to protect the pole from accidental damage.

Sydney Connick Jr.

My friend Sydney and her hubby Rob got to meet Harry Connick Jr last night after his performance at the new Durham Performing Arts Center. (Durham...barf.) On a sidenote, how huge is that picture of Harry on the backstage pass stickers? As a matter of fact, the guy on the right isn't really Harry Connick Jr, its just someones backstage pass Sydney is holding.


You can't tell in this picture but Sydney actually has her hand on Harry's rear end. That's why he is smiling.

College.

So this email has been making the rounds, with the attached photo of a groom's cake. In the email, the only comment was "Frat hard or die." - clearly this groom is having a hard time letting go of his fratstar days at UNC. For those of you who are unaware, this is a replica of my go-to college bar, Pantana Bob's. The only thing that is missing is the side porch area, and a little sugar fondant version of me sneaking in underage. what, who said that? I would never try to sneak into a bar underage mother and father, I assure you.

I have many happy memories of this bar - all our friends worked there so it was quite a convenient and economical (read: free beer) place to hang out. Also I lived in the apartment complex behind it, so it was nice to look out your front door and check out what boys were there before you committed to your evening plans. Many good times were had, many funny stories generated.

That being said, its now bittersweet to return to Bob's post football and basketball games. College is over and to the current undergrads? You are just some creepy, old alumni who's permanent life soundtrack is Bruce Springsteen's "Glory Days". I vividly remember sitting on the porch with Syd and Nan and pointing and laughing at grad students and alumni, thinking "Seriously? You are like THIRTY! Move on with your life!" Oh, to be 21 again. Talk to you later, I gotta go buy some wrinkle cream.

Rudolph??

So I was just on the US Airways website checking out their baggage policies for my flight home for Christmas and I would like to share with you what I just found.

____________________________________________________________

Antlers
Antlers will be accepted as checked baggage for a charge of $100 per direction. The following conditions of acceptance apply:
- Dimension (H + W + L) must not exceed 120 in/305 cm
- On the CRJ aircraft the largest dimension cannot exceed 33 in/84 cm and the overall dimensions cannot exceed 99 in/252 cm
- On the Dash 8 aircraft the largest dimension cannot exceed 50 in/127 cm
- Head/skull must be completely clean and free of residue
- Points must be covered and protected
- 1 rack per ticketed customer
- Can’t combine or cradle 2 or more racks


I couldn't make this up if I tried. My favorite part is that they have to point out that "head/skull must be completely clean and free of residue". Cause you know that by "residue" they mean blood and guts and a little bit of your soul.

Ouch!

My buddy Rives apparently had a small altercation with a coffee table while I was crusin' round the Caribbean! Poor guy! I told him to lay off the sauce - friends don't let friends drink and walk. Here he is after getting three stitches in his eyebrow. You should see the coffee table.


And then here he is celebrating getting his stitches out today. This goes to prove that there is nothing that ice cream can't heal. NOTHING.

Music Monday

Since all last week I was in the sunshine with multiple fruity drinks in my hands, I was not able to entertain you with stories. **GASP!** Apparently this proved to be very difficult for some people as I came to work today and found many emails from you lamenting your lack of reading material for last week. I apologize.

I promise when I get more organized I will post pics from our trip, as well as some other stories you might find entertaining, but for now.....here is Music Monday.

This week’s song was referred to me by my friend Lollie. (Shout out to you!) She recommended it to me after a previous MM posting, I listened to it and now I’m hooked. Download this immediately. Do not pass go. Do not collect $100.

Multiply – Jamie Lidell

I love the lyrics:

Well, sure it never used to be, so hard, this hard

Used to get those kicks for free, But now I’m towing the line.

Oh, this ain’t no way to be

Stuck between my shadow and me

Could appear the sun don’t shine, babe

Although I tell you that I’m doing fine

Oh I’m so tired of beating myself, beating myself up

Gonna take a trip and multiply

At least go under with a smile

Oh I’m so tired of beating myself, beating myself up

Gonna take a trip and multiply

At least go under with a smile

Lessons from New York

The Suspiciously Empty Subway Car

Commuting to and from work via the New York City subway system can sometimes be stressful. Rather than rush hour traffic, we have rush hour subway traffic – a.k.a. packing as many people as physically possible into a tiny subway car. Things can get quite aggressive and I’ve seen lots of yelling, swearing and near-fights break out.

But every once a while, when you are waiting on the platform and the subway pulls up, you see a car that’s almost completely empty. And your first thought is “Nice! I’ll be able to snag a seat. Maybe read a little of my book!” Oh ye of little subway knowledge, I laugh at you. HA. Let me direct you to part of a conversation that occurred last night.

Jared: Oh, let me tell you about my ride to work this morning. So I hop in a suspiciously empty subway car…..
Marie and Ellen: (In complete and perfect unison) Oh. Homeless person.
Jared: YES!

That’s right Internet. If you are ever visiting NYC, and are attempting to brave the subway system and come across a too good to be true, suspiciously empty subway car? DO NOT BE FOOLED. It usually means that a homeless person has decided to make this car his or her own personal studio apartment for the day. Now, I’m not making fun of homeless people – I get it, its cold outside and the subway is nice and warm. However, there have been a couple occasions when I myself have been fooled by the suspiciously empty subway car, and before you can hop out and switch cars? The doors close. And that’s when the sense of sheer panic sets in. Because once those doors close, and the heater kicks on…..the smell in the circulating air is OVERWHELMING. And its hilarious because everyone slowly moves to one side of the subway car and attempts to get as far away as possible from the offending odor without actually offending the homeless person. Now, it has come to my attention that this is absurd behaviour because the homeless person is usually deeply asleep and could care less if we all move to one side of the subway. They seem to have other concerns on their mind than the jerk in the Gucci loafers and Prada sunglasses slowly inching away from them with a look of disdain in their eye.

To illustrate what this looks like, I have drawn you a picture. Now, I'm no Norman Rockwell but you are welcome.

Note: Everyone in this pictorial seems to be naked, except for the homeless man who stole Frosty's top hat and scarf. I don't know why. Its just what came out of my pen during my conference call.

Christmas explodes all over my building

Well, Christmas has arrived in New York. On Monday morning, when I popped out of the subway and started walking to my office, I noticed that tiny, nimble elves had decorated Park Avenue over the weekend. The lights up and down Park are one of my favorite parts of Christmas – they are so sparkly and tastefully done, as seen below, and run all the way up the avenue.

I was filled with the Christmas spirit and had a spring in my step as I approached my work building. And that’s when I saw it. Apparently the Christmas spirit had opted to blow chunks all over my building.

Rather than tasteful trees, lights and wreaths, there is a quite large “It’s a Small World” style display complete with no less than 10 GINORMOUS toy soldiers and speakers blasting holiday music SO LOUD that people walking by are all “Is this FAO Schwartz or a place of financial services? Have these people been so warped and twisted by the current economic climate and mass ‘workforce reductions’ that they have lost their mind creating an alternate Christmas universe?” The answer is YES. We even have Christmas music being pumped into the elevators and elevator lobbies. Loud music. Ave Maria and whatnot. Any day now, I expect them to start pumping gingerbread scented air through the heat ducts. You think I'm kidding.

Here is some footage I shot of our Christmas Cornucopia. For the record, the security guard saw me doing this and had a look on his face that was so torn I almost felt bad for him. You could see his brain thinking - "I know she's a young, white lady with a professional persons laptop bag but should I be letting her take video of our building? She could secretly be a terrorist....or a disgruntled employee. What do I do, what do I do? Argh, DARN YOU HOLIDAY DISPLAY! THIS IS TOO MUCH PRESSURE!"

From Christmas

Like I said, the music in this video is coming from the building, not me. I didn't doctor the video, mainly because I don't know how to do that.

Nero

Last Saturday night, the old crew got together for dinner at Nero's, a delicious Italian spot down in the Meatpacking district. I like eating and hanging out in that area because it makes me feel cool and trendy, even though I'm clearly not. There are always celebrity sightings, the streets are all cobblestones and there are what the kids call "clubs" (think loud music and lots of gel).

It was a great dinner catching up with old friends. Also, I was the only non-married person there which was super fun too.

Scott, Jared and Jarvis - Thumbs up to you too Jared.

Kristin and Marie

Jenny and I

Aye Ziggy Zoomba

While I thoroughly enjoyed this article, it kinda started to stress me out. And I don't even play on the team.

Those of of you who have seen my athletic prowess would agree, I'm sure.

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/28043370/

Gobble, gobble

Here are a couple pics from our Thanksgiving Extravaganza - the feast turned out quite delish if I do say so myself. On the menu was turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes with gravy, corn pudding (thanks Sally!) and rolls! Then with full bellys we curled up on the couch to watch television - the perfect Thanksgiving activity. I certainly have a lot to be thankful for - great family, wonderful friends, good health and I haven't been laid off.....yet.


The table is set and ready to go! Thanks Carrie for letting me borrow your place mats, napkins and napkin rings. These are the things that only married people would have! Yet another way your marriage has greatly improved my life.

My centerpiece...lots of good smelling candles that were on sale at Pier 1!

Hey Miss Sally!

Alston carving the turkey

Mike is supervising the turkey carving situation.

Another shot of the table

How pretty did my turkey turn out? Dad, I think you have a new rival when it comes to your Martha Stewart turkey cooking.

Music Monday

Happy December and happy Music Monday! Since today is Dec. 1st, I thought my music selection today should be on the festive side. This proved easier said than done as there are a lot of really good Christmas songs out there.

Thinking of Christmas songs got me thinking about Christmas movies....my family's favorite of which is "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" - a mere mention of this movie has been known to send my uncle and father into fits of giggling which usually result in tears streaming down their faces. And this movie has A LOT of great songs in it - (Mele Kalikimaka by Bing Crosby and the Andrew Sisters anyone?) but none were striking my fancy for Music Monday.

Then, as I was shuffling through my iPod, I found them. My two favorite Christmas songs, and my two favorite VERSIONS of these songs, can be found on the "Home Alone" soundtrack. First of all, remember when that movie came out? And all the kids in America thought Macaulay Culkin was THE MAN? I mean, the kid hung out with Michael Jackson that's how cool he was. (It should be noted that Corey Feldman, Webster, Brooke Shields and Bubbles the Chimp also hung out with Michael Jackson, and other than Brooke Shields, it didn't turn out too well for any of these folks.)

Do your holiday spirit a favor and head to iTunes and download these two songs:

White Christmas (Voice) - The Drifters (although my iTunes shows up as John Williams?)

Carol of the Bells (Voice) - John Williams

Check out the soundtrack here and listen for yourself!

I love this version of White Christmas because its its not sappy and sad, its jazzy and sounds like a 50s do-wop group is singing it. And then Carol of the Bells is just gorgeous....all those children singing are amazing. Enjoy!

Snow, snow, snow!

Rives and crew were in the Mountains for Thanksgiving this year and they got a treat! SNOW! I wish I was little again and I could sit in a sled and let people pull me around. That was the life.

I guess when it snows here in the city people head to Central Park to sled, I might have to put that on my "to do" list this winter. Along with "Purchase a sled".