My favorite ornament

I have a few very special Christmas tree ornaments, but one in particular is very dear to me: the handmade ornament we got in Venice, Italy. This ornament, which is made completely of Murano glass, has amazing attention to detail (although it's hard to see in the pictures). I can vividly recall the store we got it from, and the great conversation we had with the owner. When I put this ornament on the tree, I will always remember the wonderful vacation we had in the most romantic city in the world.

Christmas at the Kleins

Rob and I always have fun decorating for Christmas, usually over Thanksgiving weekend. Check out our 2010 Christmas tree:

We prefer the fatter trees, but the place where we usually get our trees wasn't open just yet this year so we settled for Home Depot. Last year we cut down our tree, but we were covered in sap after choosing one and felt bad for taking one down while there are so many more that are already cut. Last year's tree was pretty nice, too:

November 24, 2007

Happy three years, honey, and many more!

Anniversary Card

Check out the adorable anniversary card our niece made us. Don't you love the picture of me serving Rob food haha

A Trip to the American Girl Store

Rob totally surprised me when he suggested stopping by the American Girl Store, located on Fifth Ave and 49th Street, when we were in New York. I had an American Girl doll as a kid, so I did not turn down the chance to go see the new accessories you could by in this mega store.

Although I've heard great things about the store, I could not believe how much it had to offer. Hospital admissions, dining with your doll, a hair salon, ear piercing (yes, for your doll), and so much more. I was even impressed by the bathroom, which has a holder for your doll:


They have the new dolls - which you can get to look like you - along with the a wide array of clothes and accessories. They even have a historic section, which is where I expected my doll, Samantha, to be. Imagine my disappointment when they told me she was moved to the archives a few years ago!! On the up side, I still have her in great condition and she's a collectors item. On the down side, I'm so old that my doll has retired. Great.

If anything, I'll save Samantha for my little girl so I can share these special moments with her. I would highly recommend a trip to these stores if you have a little girl, or if you are a little girl at heart.

Review of "Elf" The Musical

As part of our anniversary evening in the city, we saw the musical "Elf." Although I was somewhat nervous seeing something that had a movie version, I was pleasantly surprised with the singing, costumes and choreography of this play, which is only in town for a special 9 week engagement.

The cast was fabulous, and I was so excited when reading the Playbill that Norm from the hit show "Cheers" played Santa. He was hilarious, and this show did a very good job of recapping the movie while putting that Broadway spin on it.

It's shows like these that make you appreciate the fine acting and singing that is found on Broadway. My only issue was how expensive tickets were. At least we had great seats - 5th row from the stage!

Below are a few shots to give you an idea of the show. I was so excited when it started 'snowing' on the crowd that I had to capture that magical moment. Don't worry, no flash disturbed the show.



We give it two thumbs up!

3 Year Anniversary in NYC

Although our anniversary is on Wednesday, November 24th, we took advantage of a relatively quiet weekend and ventured into Manhattan to celebrate on Saturday night. It was a perfect night to take advantage of the all the city has to offer - especially before the mad rush for the holidays.

We started off getting tickets to see "Elf" the musical. Although we were torn between that, Mary Poppins, and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, we decided Elf would be fun since it's a festive play, it's new, and it's only here for a few weeks. (Mary Poppins has been on Broadway for a while so we could see that anytime, and we've seen the Radio City Show before.)

After scoring 5th row orchestra seats, we decided to head to Rockefeller Center to see how the tree was coming along. Strolling along we saw the tree (which is still being decorated), lovely storefronts, interesting people and then grabbed a cup of Starbucks. That's when we stumbled upon The Sea Grill in the lower part of Rock Center. We checked out a few other menus while walking around, but since we ate here before and knew the food - and the view - was amazing we decided to grab dinner here. We were seated right by the window so we had a great view of the Rock Center Ice Rink, and even saw two couples get engaged on the ice!

The food was delicious - and didn't stop coming. We started off with a special salmon appetizer from the chef, followed by crab meat salad with avocado and lemon-tarragon aïoli. The third course was grilled calamari in a delicious Thai peanut sauce, along with a delicious gemelli pasta with fresh seafood. The food just kept coming, as our main entrees were Cacciucco a la Livornese, spicy lobster bouillon, Long Island clams, shrimp, Gulf of Maine mussels, and lobster for Rob, while I had the jumbo lump crab cake with a stone ground mustard sauce. The fresh seafood put anything you get around here to shame. We were so full but had to make room for delicious desserts: key lime pie, and a caramelized apple tart with a whipped caramel ganache and granola streusel. Rob was too full for anything but cappuccino, but I took one for the team and somehow managed to find room in my tummy for both :) AMAZING. Just when we couldn't eat more, they send out a cookie platter - homemade biscotti, truffles, even a white chocolate peanut butter and jelly that was to die for. Overall, no complaints about this restaurant. We'll definitely be back!

Joe's Basketball Game

My little brother had a basketball game today. He's #11 in the photo below. Watching the game reminds me of my days on the court - although these boys are much taller than I was in 8th grade.

Impulsive?

Anyone who knows me knows I like to be organized and have a plan. I always have a paper and pen, thanks to one college professor, and chances are it has my list of things to do on it. But, to my credit, I was like that even in high school.

Anyway, people say that before you have kids do those impulsive, spur of the moment trips while you're not tied down. So a few months ago I started looking into long weekend trip ideas for our three year anniversary. I know a few months out isn't very impulsive, but we have a very busy schedule and trying to carve out a long weekend was even tough. Either way, we wanted to go somewhere new and a place we probably wouldn't go with kids, so some ideas included Las Vegas, Cancun, and St. Kitts.

With all the drug cartels in Mexico, our horrible luck with travel, and calls from my grandmother anytime a story about something bad happened in Mexico, we decided not to pursue that trip. St. Kitts doesn't have nonstop flights, and for a 4 or 5 day trip, we didn't want to spend half the day waiting for flights, most of which would probably be delayed due to the close holiday weekend. Plus, those flights were super expensive. Then there was Vegas. I was looking into resorts, hotel reviews, pricing out packages, and then we thought of the idea of Florida since it might be a little less expensive - something that would help since we're doing a ski trip in January. So Rob looked into some discount options through work, and then we decided we wanted to go someplace new. Back to Vegas, and even a day trip to the Grand Canyon, which brings us to yesterday. I see there are a few seats left on the plane that works with our schedule. A decent price at a hotel that got good reviews. There was even a free helicopter ride over the Strip at night thrown in the deal. How romantic! I'm tempted to book, but decide to wait for Rob to get home so we can discuss the options. Then, I step away from the computer for two hours, come back and the available seats on the plane are all gone.

Now, I beyond frustrated with travel ideas and the thought of pricing out a trip that just won't come to fruition at this time. The moral of this post: I am definitely not an impulsive person. The second moral: I would not recommend getting married around a holiday weekend. Ugh.

My love/hate relationship with Sundays

I have a love/hate relationship with Sunday nights. I hate it because it means the end to the weekend and the beginning of another week of work. On the other side, I love Sundays because it's the main night of the week when I carve time out for my two TV shows - Desperate Housewives, and then Brothers & Sisters. I won't get into the shows, though. I missed most of them tonight because I was making an apple pie, ironing and sewing buttons - that sounds pretty domesticated! haha

Sundays are also a great time to sit back and think about the weekend. In retrospect, this was a pretty awesome one:

Friday night - Mix and Mingle at the Clubhouse. Although a quiet night at home would have been nice, I got to meet a few new faces which is always fun.
Saturday morning - I hung out with one of my best friends, Michele. I haven't seen Shelly in months and Saturday we had a great time shopping, eating, catching up, and watching one of our favorite shows growing up, "I Dream of Jeannie." We also made plans for our 30th birthdays. I know we're planning a few years in advance, but we're excited and it makes the big 3-0 less intimidating.
Saturday night - Went to a Tricky Tray with my other friend, Jackie. Although I didn't walk away with anything, she won an awesome designer bookshelf that's worth around $500!
Sunday morning - Although I wanted to attend Church, my niece wanted to have a surprise playdate. Rob's family stayed for lunch and a few more hours of playtime before heading home for the afternoon naps. Since it was so beautiful out, I took Buster for a run outside. I swear, I think this dog smiles when he runs - he really seems to enjoy it! When we were out and about we ran into two of his friends, Cookie and Vanilla, which I'm sure was an added bonus for him.
Sunday afternoon - My cousin, Eddie, is in 8th grade and is on the school football team, so we went to watch his playoff game. We got there right in time to watch both cheerleading teams do their halftime routines, which was an added bonus. I LOVED watching that! One day I hope to have a little girl that wants to cheer so I can coach or be that crazy sideline mom rooting them on. After the game we went to Pub 199 - this great place by our house where you can get clams and fresh lobsters for like $20! Although Dominick wasn't there (sorry bud) we went with my dad, brother, sister and cousins, and then they all came back to my house for dessert.

That brings me to tonight. My tummy is full from clams and lobster dinner - and now a delicious apple pie. To top it off, I had a great weekend with family and friends. Weekends like this start to put me in the holiday spirit - I'm really thankful for everyone in my life.

Sunday football

Congrats Little Vikings on a great season!

My little brother...

...is growing up.

This past weekend my brother, Joseph, stayed with us. He's in 8th grade now, but was about 7 when I moved out of the house and got married. Even though I don't live very far from him now, we have a busy schedule so it's hard to get together. Anytime I see him he seems a bit taller, his voice gets a little deeper, and he is more mature. He's never a problem to have over, and is always the first to volunteer to help me out. It's crazy to see how my little brother is growing up so fast. It's seems like just yesterday he was that little annoying brother putting chapstick on all my picture frames.

Blast from the past: Prepping for my high school reunion

At the end of this month I'll be attending my high school reunion. It was almost 10 years ago that I graduated from Bayley-Ellard in Madison, which has since closed down. I was trying to get some pictures together for the slideshow, and wanted to share the below shots. It's crazy how young we all look! Unfortunately, due to certain circumstances not as many people will be coming as we anticipated. Hopefully we'll have a decent turnout, but at least looking at these memories remind me of how much fun we had in high school.

Happy Halloween!

The Seasons Glen Recreation Committee hosted another great event this weekend - a Halloween Party for kids! We had fun arts and crafts activities for the kids, in addition to Merriloons the Clown who did a magic show, balloon animals and a parade of costumes. Below is a shot of our committee, all dressed up as crayons!