I can't help myself.

I tried to fight it, really I did
but yesterday I bought a Martha Stewart
Living magazine and it officially put me
in the Christmas Spirit.
We are waiting until the day after Thanksgiving
to decorate our house, but that doesn't mean
that I can't do some early planning.

I never thought of myself as a domestic bunny
but ever since we've moved, all I've wanted to do
was create a cozy home and cook. Now don't get carried
away, the kid factor still holds no appeal, but there
is something rewarding about having a nicely
decorated house, and food that isn't processed.

That said, you can imagine how excited I am
to get everything all Christmas-fied.
Here are some Living photos

























































This magazine already has my imagination
running wild with different ideas...
now I just need a large amount of money
to pull it all off.

ah anyway, I'll leave you with some
clips from a few of my favorite Christmas movies.

White Christmas




Muppet Family Christmas



Love Actually

Latest Obsession

I have found a bit of NOLA in nyc,
and I found it at Mara's Homemade.















This magical E Village eatery
is tucked between the indian restaurants
of curry row. But their food has a different kind
of spice to it, a deep southern creole spice.
And it is absolutely delicious.

Did I mention that they also serve my favorite beer?
It is all Abita, all the time.
They even had bottles of my favorite,
the strawberry harvest lager.
I tried the new pecan harvest, and it was delicious-
but nothing compares to the strawberry beer.

As for the food we had a feast!
We gorged on Crawfish Cheese toast, Gator Bites
(which actually did taste just like chicken)
Fried Green Tomatoes, Onion Rings, Mac and Cheese,
Louisiana Oysters and Hush Puppies.
I did not have any of the oysters but the bf
said that they were excellent.

For dessert it was pecan pie and beignets!
I left Mara's very stuffed, fairly drunk,
and very very happy.


That said I also have to ask everyone
to view a video that my friend Pete
posted on his blog. It is a very young
french girl telling a wonderful story.
Click here.

Ladies Night

Last night I had my friend Christina over for dinner.
She supplied the wine, I supplied the food and movie.

The menu was as follows.

Mixed greens with beets, goat cheese, candied walnuts
and roasted pumpkin seeds.

Butternut squash gnocchi with sage butter sauce
(I think I've posted that recipe before)

Pumpkin pie for dessert, which actually came out
quite good! I was quite proud of myself.

After an episode of 30 rock we decided to watch
"April Fools Day" , a campy horror flick that I
purchased at Kim's moving sale.
It was perfect.
Totally cheesy yet still had us shrieking
at parts.



















This was the summary of the movie from IMDB
"A group of nine college students staying at a friend's remote
island mansion begin to fall victim to an unseen murderer
over the April Fool's day weekend."

You can't even imagine the bizarre magic that occurs
in this story!

I think we will be headed back to Kim's to buy more soon!
We love our campy horror films!

About Me.

I have been tagged my Miss Rebecca
of Needleworks, Inc.

This means I type 7 weird things
that the average person may not
know about me.

1.)I have never visited the west coast.
this isn't on purpose, I just always had other
places in mind..Within the next few years I'd like
to get there.

2.) It's hard for me to read fiction.
Besides the Harry Potter series of course.
I just prefer to get the facts- I get lost in
books about forensic sciences, nutrition,
chinese medicine, and biographies.
This may be because of #3...

3.)I live in a fantasy world.
I still want to believe that someday,
animals will talk, wishes will come true,
and life will be ideal. Blame it on all those
Disney movies that I watched as a kid.
Perhaps all this fiction is the reason that I
prefer to read about facts.

4.)I love board games.
They make me happy.

5.)I cannot stay up late on a regular basis anymore.
When I get home from work, I just want to get to bed.
If I am out, I want to call it quits at 2 at the latest.
I like my sleep.

6.)It is extremely hard for me to be nice if I do not like someone.
If I do not like someone I do not like to associate with them,
and I especially don't see the need for me to pretend that I
actually want to be in their company. This proves especially difficult at work
with those not-so-nice customers.
This isn't my finest quality, and it is one I've been trying to deal with.

7.)I try to shop at greenmarkets as often as possible.
Food is better and cheaper right from the source,
and you know you are getting organic produce.
It's a good thing to support your local farmers.

familiar face

I woke up today and checked the gothamist
only to see a familiar face pop up on the screen.















Neil was head chef at Bar Americain when I worked there,
now he has opened up a new restaurant in the E Village,
called Apiary. Which is delicious by the way.

Check out the interview here.

Election night photos

Photos from the evening!

Yes we did, Yes we can, Yes we will.

Yesterday was an amazing day in American history.
Obama is our new president!

We had a nice little election bash at work,
the prosecco was definitely flowing last night.
and it was nice to actually spend the election
in a blue state this time.

In 04 I spent the dreadful election in Charleston.
which was all for Bush, as you can imagine
it was not as pleasant.

Last night was the first time that I had been inspired
by a speech in a very long time.
Obama's victory speech was incredible, and gave such hope
to the people of America.
Even McCain gave a good concession speech,
he almost seemed relieved that it was over!
I can't blame him, the whole process is stressful.

You can re-watch Obama's speech here.








so amazing.

apparently it's christmas...

or at least that is what the stores
want us to think.

The bf and I spent the past weekend
in Jersey, and whilst driving on Saturday night
we heard Christmas songs being played on the radio.
Then on Monday, we went to Target, and they already
had their Christmas displays up.

The day after Halloween is a little too soon.
Let us at least get through half of November?
maybe?

blah.

well at least Halloween was fun!
We hung out with my family for part 1
and then ventured over to Miss Valentine's
house for a party.
As always she was the best host and supplied
us with loads of goodies to eat.
I was especially enamored with the Johnsons Popcorn.

here are some photos from the night:

This is my nephew Joel dressed as a bunny!



















me, carly and fink















Britney, crab, madonna, rufio, guy with knife
in his head, and a fairy.















and last but not least, princess mees.