My sister is in a baking group called Bake 52 and asked me to join. The way it works is that one person hosts each week and chooses a recipe from the Family Baking Book which everyone makes. Then we all post about it on Wednesday. The recipe this week was Challah bread. Here's mine: It was beautiful and tasted pretty good. It wasn't the most incredible bread I've eaten, but after not having a crumb of bread in the house for 2 weeks, it was mostly gone in a matter of hours!
You can get the recipe and more details on this week's host blog HERE. We all seemed to have a problem with the bread not rising. So, either it's not supposed to rise much, or we all did the same thing wrong :) It turned out okay either way.
I am beginning to understand the allure of online shopping. It is NO FUN going shopping by yourself. Especially if you are as unsure about making purchase decisions as I am. I need another voice, another opinion.
My first attempt at online shopping was from my trusty tall apparel store. It resulted in this adorable blouse, this tank, and this dress which upon arrival was clearly made for someone larger chested than I, but two out of three's not bad. If I could, I would probably buy all my clothes from Long Tall Sally because they usually fit me well and their customer service is fabulous. But, they have a rather limited selection.
After a trip to the mall that left me mostly empty-handed and missing my mom & sister as shopping companions, I decided to turn back to the internet. Summer is coming, and last year I wished I'd had more summer dresses. I got an email from Ruche (lovely stuff there) saying that they added a section of longer length items. Score!
I ended up purchase this dress, which is actually by Downeast Basics. A cute, neutral dress for summer with 43 fabulous inches from shoulder to hem, which is exactly my dress length limit. It came in the mail today!!! I love getting things in the mail, don't you? I raced upstairs and put it on. Then I stood in front of the mirror and thought, "Hmm. . . something just doesn't look right about this." I wanted to love it. The color was good, the detailed top was very cute, the length was okay, but it just seemed weird. Like I was wearing a little girl's dress.
After a little tugging and tucking I figured out the problem. You see how the line where the top and bottom come together lands at the waist? It was not doing that on me. It was hitting at least 2 inches above the waist. If I tugged it down to my waist, the dress looked fine. If I tucked it up so it was just under the bust, it looked fine. I tried adding a thick belt, which helped, but I did not want to always have to wear a belt with it. I had discovered the culprit: the torso.
You might automatically think that my height comes from my legs. Actually a good deal of it comes from my torso. I learned that from swimsuit shopping. I love Lands End swimwear because they offer long torso options. This online purchase revealed that the same problem is always going to limit my dress options - a sad realization. Maybe this will motivate me to try my hand at sewing my own summer dresses. We'll see.
Now I have to trapes back to the post office and pay to return the dress I have been so excited about. This is my big woe of online shopping. It just hurts to pay to return things that didn't work out.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who has lofty plans about all the holiday crafts I'm going to do during the holidays, only to find that it is too busy to get anything extra done. So, I decided to keep our Christmas up during January until I can finish a few holiday projects that will be packed up with the decorations. That way, I'll have some new decorations next year, and I won't have to pull out the boxes again to put them away (or stare at Christmas decorations all year that never got put away)
Here's what I've been working on:
I saw these pine cone topiaries and knew I wanted some. I happened to have a bag of pine cones in the closet, so that was my first project. (FYI, I didn't spray them gold, and I used a glitter paint instead of real glitter so it wouldn't flake off.) I also wrapped one in moss and another in green fringe. The fringe is actually our favorite (it's not quite as bright green in real life). With the brass deer I got for my birthday, I think it will make a great wintery woods look.
I've been finishing up the yarn I had and almost got 2 more scarfs done. I'll tuck those away in my gifts box.
My current project is an advent calendar. I've been working on this cute embroidery of Santa and his reindeer. It's the most detailed embroidery pattern I've ever done and I think it's turning out great. I may blog the finished project later this month, or wait until I pull it out next year! You can buy the pattern here.
Even with all these wintery things around, it just doesn't feel like winter anymore. Still no snow for us, and it has been sunny and relatively warm lately. I'm ready for it to actually feel like winter, or just become spring already!
I couldn't resist the tulips at the store yesterday. Don't you just love tulips?
And this little guy is definitely ready for spring. Welcome ladybug!
We stayed and John and Audrey's (cousins) apartment on Roosevelt Island while they were in CA/UT for the Christmas break. They have a cute new baby, Weston. We're glad we were able to see them for at least an hour or so before they flew out.
On Christmas Eve we decided to wander around the Rockefeller Center area. We saw the public library where they had a Gutenberg bible on display along with many other artifacts - including the original stuffed animals of Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and Rabbit. The architecture is incredible. It's worth going to see the reading rooms. It almost seems wrong to have computers in rooms like that :)
We also stopped and walked through St. Patrick's Cathedral.
When we passed by Radio City Music Hall we decided to see if they still had tickets to the Rockette's Christmas Spectacular show. They did! After picking up our tickets, we went to dinner at Via Brasil. The food was wonderful, and it was neat to be surrounded with people speaking Portuguese. The Rockettes show was AMAZING! If you're ever in NY around Christmas you should try to see it. After each scene we thought we'd seen the best, and the next would just amaze us more.
Finally, we walked around the tree at Rockefeller Center. It is so big!
Our final stop that night was to see the Christmas decorations at Macy's. They were incredible. Since it was Christmas Eve, the store was especially busy. I don't know how anyone could actually shop in crowds like that.
Nick took this video and we had to laugh because by the time he was done, about 10 more people had gathered to take pictures/video as well. He's such a trend-setter ;)
Christmas day was a little strange this year. We had already opened most of our presents, but we did have stockings full of candy. After church we opened a few small presents and spent the afternoon on Skype. We were both more homesick for our families than any other year we've been away for Christmas, and we also missed having Daphne around.
We spent our anniversary braving the rain to check out some fun stores. We stopped at the FAO Schwartz toy store. It was really fun. We especially liked the gems/minerals section. It is so exciting to watch them break open a geode and see what's inside! We also ran into the real Lego Indiana Jones and had to take a picture with him for Dallan and Ryan!
They have a "make your own muppet" section, and sell incredibly high-priced Etch-a-Sketches. Yes, the price tag says $1,499.99. It was next to the Barbie Foosball table priced at $24,999.99! They are, of course, famous for the piano featured in the movie BIG. Here's a demonstration of the piano for you:
A sampling of the shop windows on 5th Ave. decked out in festive themes.
We liked these pretty pigeons camped out at the subway.
After taking a few days for Nick to get some work done, we ventured down to the financial district. We rode the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty. Next time we'll probably go onto the island, but it was all so crowded, we opted for the ferry view.
We didn't stop to see the large bull statue, but we did find a small financial museum. I thought it would be fun for Nick and I would be totally bored, but it was just the right size to keep us both interested without being too much.
Nick had to take a work call for a bit. How fitting.
We reserved tickets to see the 9/11 memorial and museum, but were a little late getting there. It was really confusing to know where to go, and the lines were super long. We decided to save that for another trip as well. But here's a shot of the progress they're making on the new buildings.
We stopped and ate at a local diner where Nick got his New York Cheesecake. But this one had no crust at all, which was a little much, even for him.
Just when our vacation was beginning to get a bit stale, our friends Jaclyn & Jon joined us for New Year's weekend and livened things up. We spent one day walking through Central Park and eating at Serendipity. They stopped early in the day to get our name on the list because it's a 3-4 hour wait to get in. Crazy, no?
We waited for maybe 20 minutes outside Serendipity to get in. It is a very eclectic restaurant. The food is so-so, but the frozen hot chocolate is VERY good!
To end the day we walked around Chinatown and Canal Street. Chinatown really is like being transported-so interesting. Canal St. is where you can pick up all your counterfeit goods.
It was beautiful and tasted pretty good. It wasn't the most incredible bread I've eaten, but after not having a crumb of bread in the house for 2 weeks, it was mostly gone in a matter of hours!
